October 2018 will go down as one of the worst months for the U.S stock market with an estimated loss of more than $3 trillion across industry sectors. Despite this significant setback many investors experienced, approximately 60% of American households still own securities investments through fixed assets, taxable accounts, IRAs and employer-sponsored retirement plans. The primary reason for investing is undoubtedly to earn sufficient returns in order to achieve specific financial goals including a worry-free retirement or to have a well-stocked emergency fund. Your monetary returns will rely greatly upon not only your investment timeline and your ability to adhere to your investment plan but also how you diversify your investments across multiple asset classes.

Diversify your portfolio

Diversifying your portfolio is a pivotal part of successful investing over an extended period of time.  This rebalancing typically revolves around buying and selling certain stocks and other securities in a bid no maintain your established asset allocation. With a myriad of bonds, stocks, mutual funds, and secure assets to choose from, it can be very confusing to pick the investments that will be most beneficial in the long run. It is natural that there will be periods that some of your investments will lose money which is why it is important to have other investments that can offset this decline.

Best ways to diversify your investment portfolio

One of the easiest forms of asset diversification is without a doubt asset allocation. Asset allocation can provide numerous benefits to portfolios that can otherwise not be achieved by investing in a singular asset class. By sporting components of various investment classes in your portfolio including bonds, cash, gold, cryptocurrency, real estate, and art you can effectually protect your portfolio from losing the same value it would have if you chose to put all your eggs in one basket and opted for a singular asset category.

Read also: Forex Tips and Tricks in 2019.

Benefits of asset allocation

Some of the most prolific benefits of asset allocation include absolute return and significant risk reduction. It is evident that varying asset classes reach different heights in different market types. Because of this, an asset allocator has the impressive ability to perform well in both rising and falling markets. A portfolio that is diversified will undoubtedly be exposed to a much lower investment risk due to the fact that the various growth prospects are not limited to single precarious security but, instead, to a host of dicey and non-dicey securities.

Asset allocation strategies

There are no set rules in terms of asset allocation that determine exactly how much must be invested where. There are, however, two predominant strategies that are utilized to influence pertinent investment decisions. Age-based asset allocation entails an investment decision based solely on the age of the investor while in life-cycle asset allocation, the investor maximizes his return on investment (ROI) based on a variety of factors including risk tolerance, investment goals, and age.

There will always be some risk involved in investing, regardless of how much research your conduct and how well you attempt to diversify your investment portfolio. By making educated investment decisions, however, you can effectually minimize your risk as much as possible.