How is Asset Allocation Different from Diversification?

Asset allocation and diversification are two fundamental strategies that are commonly used in investment management. While frequently used interchangeably, they do refer to different aspects of creating a prudent and efficient investment portfolio. Knowing the distinction and application of both can help investors make informed decisions throughout their journey of investing.

What is Asset Allocation?

Asset Allocation is the process of dividing your investments among different assets, such as stocks, bonds, and cash.1With asset allocation, investors or investment advisors who serve them, work to balance their potential risks and rewards from their investments by adjusting the percentage in each portfolio asset to suit their objective, risk tolerance, and investment horizon.

Asset Allocation key points:

Investment Objective – the financial goals that motivate investors to invest their funds.2 Investment objectives are usually determined by two factors; how much risk you want to take with your investments and what your time horizon is for the investments before you intend to utilize them.

Risk Tolerance – The degree of risk that an investor is willing to endure given the volatility in the value of an investment.3 Your risk tolerance will typically determine how much you will have invested in stocks vs. bonds as stocks tend to skew more aggressively as an investment vehicle while bonds are typically considered more conservative.

Time Horizon – The time period one expects to hold an investment.4 Time Horizons are usually associated with short-term, medium-term, or long-term periods for events such as retirement, a home purchase, or college savings. 

What is meant by Diversification?

Diversification is an investing strategy used to manage risk.5 Diversification is the process of spreading your investments across various industries and asset categories to potentially reduce exposure to market volatility in any single investment or asset class. The common analogy with diversification is “not having all your eggs in one basket”. The analogy of diversification refers to the importance of not being over-exposed to market volatility because of over-investment in one stock, type of stock, or sector of the economy. Not diversifying and choosing one investment can potentially destroy a lifetime of earnings. Examples of these in the past include Enron (2001)6, WorldCom (2002)6, and Coinbase (2021)7, many of which were considered to some as “too big to fall”.

Diversification key points:

Risk Diversification – Spreading your investments over a variety of asset classes can help offset the negative performance of some asset classes with the positive performance of other assets.

Types of Diversification – Prudent diversification can be achieved in a number of ways: by broad-scale asset class when considering stocks and bonds, globally by allocating across various domestic asset classes and international asset classes, and more granularly by investing in small vs large companies or growth vs value companies.

Volatility – A prudently diversified portfolio can more effectively weather market swings by investing in asset classes with dissimilar price movements across various asset classes the world over.

Potential Advantages of Portfolio Diversification and Asset Allocation Being Integrated

Both investment strategies used together can create a prudent and well-rounded portfolio. At Matson Money, we believe in the power of using disciplined approaches to investing which includes combining diversified funds and allocating your assets in classes to optimize your risk and expected return. This typically can help ensure your portfolio is not only balanced according to your risk tolerance and goals, but also can help guide you through market volatility and avoid stock picking. No one can predict the future and which stock is going to perform well.

Ready to Build a Prudent Portfolio? If you’re ready to take control of your financial future with a prudently globally diversified portfolio for yourself as an investor or for your clients as an advisor, contact Matson Money today at connect@matsonmoney.com. The independent co-advisors that work with Matson Money are trained and developed with these principles that can help provide a strategy tailored to your investing goals.


DISCLOSURES:

This content is based on the views, opinions, beliefs, or viewpoints of Matson Money, Inc.  This content is not to be considered investment advice and is not to be relied upon as the basis for entering into any transaction or advisory relationship or making any investment decision.  

All of Matson Money’s advisory services are marketed almost exclusively by either Solicitors or Co-Advisors.  Both Co-Advisors and Solicitors are independent contractors, not employees or agents of Matson.  

Other financial organizations may analyze investments and take a different approach to investing than that of Matson Money. All investing involves risks and costs. No investment strategy (including asset allocation and diversification strategies) can ensure peace of mind, guarantee profit, or protect against loss.    

PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS 

Matson Money Investment Philosophy 

Matson Money believes that the stock market is efficient and that free markets work.  Based on this belief, Matson focuses on attempting to capture market returns utilizing asset class or structured funds, seeks to utilize broad diversification, and attempts to eliminate stock picking, track record investing, and market timing from the investment process.  

Matson Money manages client investments utilizing a fund-of-funds strategy.  Client accounts are invested in a mix of a proprietary series of mutual funds advised by Matson, which allocate investments across three broad asset classes:  domestic equity, international equity, and fixed income.  Matson-advised funds seek to allocate across these broad asset classes by investing in various mutual funds or ETFs. The specific target allocation of each client’s Matson-advised strategy depends on the individual investor’s risk tolerance and investment horizon, and is selected by the client at account opening.  More information on mutual funds, ETFs, and associated fees, is available in fund prospectus documents, available online at: http://funddocs.filepoint.com/matsonmoney/.  


SOURCES:

  1. Asset Allocation | Investor.gov. (n.d.). www.investor.gov. https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/getting-started/asset-allocation#:~:text=Asset%20allocation%20involves%20dividing%20your
  2. ‌Team, W. (2023, February 22). Investment Objective. WallStreetMojo. https://www.wallstreetmojo.com/investment-objective/
  3. ‌Twin, A. (2022, July 7). What is risk tolerance, and why does it matter? Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/risktolerance.asp
  4. Understanding investment time Horizons | Moonfare. (2023, December 5). https://www.moonfare.com/glossary/time-horizon
  5. Berger, R. (2023, November 29). How diversification works, and why you need it. Forbes Advisor. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/what-is-diversification/
  6. Kottasova, I. (2015, October 14). 7 of the biggest corporate scandals. CNNMoney. https://money.cnn.com/gallery/news/2015/10/14/biggest-corporate-scandals/index.html
  7. Ross, J. (2023, September 11). The 25 Worst Stocks by Shareholder Wealth Losses (1926-2022). Visual Capitalist. https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-25-worst-stocks-by-shareholder-wealth-losses-1926-2022/

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