How Important Is it to Diversify?

By David Hunkar: Diversification helps reduce risk and volatility of a portfolio. Some investors falsely assume that diversification eliminates risks altogether. This is not true. Diversification only helps to reduces risk but not eliminate it. For example, a well-diversified portfolio of stocks may fall 15% when the market falls 20% or 25%. In a major market crash such as the one we saw in 2008-09, diversification would have helped a portfolio from a complete wipe-out.

MyPlanIQ submits: Emerging market bonds have become a large part of many investors' portfolios in recent years. This can be attributed to an increase in the credit quality of the bonds of foreign countries and companies. These bonds generally offer higher yields than Treasury bonds and domestic corporate bonds. ETFs that track this market allow investors to diversify across many international regions and across countries of various sizes and economic strengths.

Morningstar submits: By Michael Rawson, CFA With the surging popularity of exchange-traded funds, many investors feel that if they don't own ETFs, they must be missing out. Not so.

When volatility prevails in the gold market, I love seeing so many different opinions because it promotes critical thinking and healthy markets. But because gold is unlike any other commodity, many perspectives can be extreme, such as “goldenfreudes” who take pleasure in gold bugs’ pain. I continue to persuade readers to take a balanced and thoughtful approach to the yellow metal. With this in mind, here are four facts to remember about gold that should help neutralize those extreme bullish and bearish views. 1. You can’t print more gold

When volatility prevails in the gold market, I love seeing so many different opinions because it promotes critical thinking and healthy markets. But because gold is unlike any other commodity, many perspectives can be extreme, such as “goldenfreudes” who take pleasure in gold bugs’ pain. I continue to persuade readers to take a balanced and thoughtful approach to the yellow metal. With this in mind, here are four facts to remember about gold that should help neutralize those extreme bullish and bearish views.

ByMaik Schwäbe:Allocation within a portfolio aims to fulfill a very important goal: Stability. By diversifying between different stocks, commodities, bonds, cash and maybe even real estate, an investor seeks to break down correlations to smooth out his equity (or net wealth), usually sacrificing some of his total returns. I would like to make the case for an overlooked style of investing that every portfolio can benefit from and that I would like to think of as a separate asset class: system trading.

Edward Jones strategist Craig Fehr joins the table to talk about optimal portfolio choices for Canadian investors

Steven Madden, Ltd. (SHOO) Q1 2013 Earnings Conference Call May 07, 2013 8:30 am ET Executives Edward Rosenfeld - Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Jean Fontana - ICR Inc., Investor Relations Analysts Camilo Lyon - Canaccord Genuity Jeff Van Sinderen - B. Riley Danielle McCoy - Brean Capital Corinna Freedman - Wedbush Securities Scott Krasik - BB&T Capital Markets