TBT: ‘Focus Investing’ For The Average Investor

Just about every person on Wall Street, or in the broader financial world, had read some sort of publication or essay by Warren Buffet. For those of you who vaguely recall the name, Buffet is the CEO and Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and his net worth is approximately $67 billion — making him one of the richest people in the world. At the same time, Buffet is dubbed the “Oracle of Omaha” due to his exceptional investing skills and ability to piece together solid, long-term trends well before anyone else can catch on.

This is how he makes his billions – zeroing in on companies of exceptional significance.

An investing program once asked him if he preferred “active” (a portfolio strategy where the manager makes specific investments with the goal of outperforming an investment benchmark index) or “index” (or passive investing through the use of mutual funds) as an investing strategy?

Buffet said he preferred to use a third option – “focus” investing.

Focus investing is a term coined by Buffet to describe the process that made him so rich. Aside from the obvious, it’s actually a strategy that I personally use and highly recommend that ALL investors use. This is a process that should easily appeal to my Millennial friends, especially since this is a great way to ensure that you are doing good for the world through socially responsible investing, plus it’s an easy strategy that literally anyone can do.

However, it requires a lot of patience and a modest amount of research. Below are the 5 major factors that make up “focus” investing, and honestly these speak for themselves…will they make you as rich as Warren Buffet? Who knows.

1. Risk management can offset the effects of a lack in diversification

Modern Portfolio Theory suggests that you need to have X number of holdings in each major stock sector in order to diversify your portfolio enough to eliminate firm-specific risk. However, this is not necessarily the case. It is possible for people like environmentalists to completely eliminate an entire stock sector (like Energy) and still gain long-term returns. How? By focusing your efforts on minimizing risk in all other sectors by holding less-risky stocks. Ultimately upping your game in risk management can substantially make up for not having a diverse portfolio.