A portfolio doesn’t stay “balanced” on its own. As markets move, the parts of your portfolio that rise (or fall) fastest naturally take up more (or less) of the total. Rebalancing is the disciplined process of bringing your portfolio back to its intended mix—so your...

If you like building spreadsheets and tracking your financial progress, it’s tempting to treat everything with financial value as part of your “portfolio.” People often try to squeeze items like Social Security, pensions, annuity income, or even home equity into their...

A lot of long-term portfolios quietly default to a “benchmark-first” approach: own what the market owns, in roughly the same proportions the market assigns. It sounds sensible—after all, a global, market-value-weighted mix of assets can look like the ultimate...

When people think about investing, they often focus on the small stuff—choosing individual stocks, hunting for the “best” fund, or timing the market. But one of the biggest drivers of how a portfolio behaves over the long run is much simpler: asset allocation—your...

Successful investing usually isn’t about finding the next hot stock. It’s about building a repeatable system—and sticking to it through boring months and scary headlines. Here are six habits that tend to show up again and again among people who invest well over time....

If you’ve ever wondered whether you should “beat the market” or simply “buy the market,” you’re really choosing between active and passive investing. Both approaches can work—but they work differently, cost differently, and ask different things from you as an...

If your portfolio has been growing for a while, there’s a good chance it no longer matches the mix you originally chose. Rebalancing is the process of bringing your investments back to your intended allocation—so your risk level stays aligned with your goals. Done...

Diversification is one of the simplest concepts in investing—and one of the most misunderstood. It doesn’t mean you’ll never lose money. It means you’re less likely to be wrecked by one bad outcome (one company, one industry, one country, one type of investment)...

It’s normal to feel unsure about investing—especially at the beginning. Below are clear answers to questions people ask all the time, plus a few practical “do this next” tips you can use immediately.  1) What’s the difference between saving and investing? Saving...