Diversification is one of the parts of investing that people may find challenging. That may be because it sounds like it’s hard to do. It may help to think about diversification this way.

What do you need for a powerful football team? The goal is a collection of players that includes a great quarterback, fast runners who can catch a ball, strong defensive linemen and a super kicker. When their individual skills are combined into one team, they can conquer the opposition.

If that makes sense, it’s probably no surprise that what smart investors buy is a variety of investments, each strong in its own way. Then even if a few of them aren’t performing as well as they could at any given period, the others may be doing even better than expected. The risk , if you own too few investments, is that one weak one could pull the whole portfolio down.

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