How to Diversify Your Stock Portfolios When You Buy Stocks Online
As the market value of your portfolio changes, it is wise to reallocate your stock portfolios to achieve the desired percentages.
By considering your stock diversification, you can reduce your overall portfolio risk.
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Instructions
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Gather Your Financial Information - Go through your records and organize all of the financial information sent to you by your brokers. The last monthly statements provided will suffice.
If you buy stocks online, via an online stock broker, it should be as easy as printing your latest statement.
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Group Your Investments Into Similar Types - For this example, you should not worry about breaking out your stocks into the various industries. Simply breakdown your assets into one of the following major categories: stocks, bonds, and cash. Ignore real estate for this example as well.
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Compare Your Breakdown to Your Desired Targets - How does the valuations provided by your brokers compare to your targets?
Investing in stocks, should be a method for you to achieve financial success. If the value of your investments have changed significantly, you may want to consider your current stock diversification. If you were trying to achieve a portfolio mix of 60% stocks, compare this target to the actual allocations.
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Sell Over Weighted Categories / Buy Under Weighted Categories - If you are trying to achieve 60% stocks and your actual portfolio value for stocks is 80%, sell enough stocks to get your percentage down to the desired range.
Buying and selling stocks should help you achieve your desired allocation percentages.
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Repeat At Least Annually - It is always a good idea to evaluate your portfolio at least annually. It is not necessary to stress yourself out on a daily basis, like some media outlets would have you do. Develop a plan and stick to it.
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Tips & Warnings
In addition to re-balancing your OVERALL portfolio, it is a good idea to re-balance your stock portfolio as well. Do not let one sector, such as "Financials" expose you to undue risk.
Evaluate real estate based on cash flows or other asset allocation strategies
