Finding An Investing Strategy That Suits Your Needs

Andrew — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:33:16 +0000

Choosing an investing strategy can be one of the hardest things an investor does. Many investors also change their investing strategy from time to time depending on market conditions and other contributing factors. An investing strategy should accurately reflect your investing goals, your available funds, and your personal investing style. There are three basic investing strategies and each has hundreds, if not thousands of variations.
A conservative investing strategy is perfect for investors who are afraid of taking risk and losing money. A conservative strategy may involve investing in certificates of deposit, money markets, bonds, and possibly certain mutual funds, such as bond funds. Conservative investing doesn’t have as much potential for high returns as the other two strategies, but you aren’t as likely to lose much principal (your invested money) due to price variations.
A moderate investing strategy offers generally higher returns than a conservative strategy, but is less risky than an aggressive approach. A moderate strategy can include a mix of mutual funds, or a mix of individual stocks, bonds, and a money market. If you choose the individual securities route, a good moderate investment mix could be 5-10% money market, 30-50% stocks, and 30-50% bonds. A moderate investor can rest assured that he or she has good earning potential without a huge risk.
The last of the three basic investing strategies is the aggressive strategy. An aggressive strategy has potential for extremely high returns, depending on the market’s performance. An aggressive strategy also involves a significant amount of risk. An investor is more likely to lose principal when using an aggressive strategy. An aggressive strategy will most likely include 70-80% stocks, 20-30% bonds, and probably very little notable money market or cash reserves. Although 70/30 and 80/20 is very risky, some investors would say this split is only moderately aggressive. A very aggressive portfolio may include 90% or more stocks.
When choosing an investment strategy you should determine three very important things: how much risk you willing to take, how much earning potential you want, and how concerned you are with losing principal. Once you’ve made a firm determination of these three things, you can choose an investing strategy that meets those needs.
Another option is simply to educate yourself in a wealth education area. Many people want the quick money and find that the real fast money is in longer term education towards wealth.

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Finding An Investing Strategy That Suits Your Needs