One is Not Enough
This article appears as part of Casey Weade's Weekend Reading for Retirees series. Every Friday, Casey highlights four hand-picked articles on trending retirement topics and delivers them straight to your email inbox. Get on the list here.
Weekend Reading
To create a simple yet effective investment portfolio, consider starting with an S&P 500 index fund for broad stock market exposure. This fund offers diversification and includes major successful companies, but it has some issues.
READ THE ARTICLEThe S&P 500 is heavily weighted toward a few large tech companies, which can introduce risk if these companies face problems. Additionally, the index has become less diversified, with technology and financial services dominating, and its valuation is higher than historical averages. To address these concerns, you can diversify further by including international stocks, mid- and small-cap stocks, and value stocks. Alternatively, consider an equally weighted S&P 500 fund to balance the influence of large companies.
Why it matters: Despite the high returns of the S&P 500 over the past 20 years, balancing your portfolio with a mix of stocks and bonds is crucial, as it impacts long-term performance and risk. The bottom line is, when you diversify, you’re also managing risks and providing flexibility within your portfolio and withdrawals.