Life Isn’t Short, It’s Wasted
People often remark that life is short. Perhaps this idea is misguided. “It’s not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it,” remarked Roman philosopher Seneca. He continued “generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested.”
While passive investing has its place in nearly every portfolio, a new community of investors are learning the joys of taking a more individualized approach. Users on KINFO understand that the rewards of investing aren’t limited to annual returns. Part of the excitement is rooted in the experience, discovering what it’s like to invest in yourself.
The KINFO community is a group of investors who want to play their hand in the market rather than commit everything to a passive fund.
Too often we consider investing to be a binary choice. You’re either passive or active. At KINFO we take a different approach. We believe that there are ways to be both. That is, diversification goes beyond choosing a variety of stocks. Diversification also means adopting various methods. In fact, there are segments of the market that practically demand this dual approach.
Braving the Storm
Many of the best investing opportunities occur in corners of the market. This phenomenon presents a problem for the passive approach. These areas are sometimes not covered by passive funds. Moreover, specific sectors are better accessed with an active approach.
Research from financial advisor Baird revealed that “Over the past 15 years, sectors, where active managers have tended to beat indexes the most, are those such as international stocks and stocks of small U.S. companies.” In short: less efficient markets create opportunities for active investment.
Dedicating a portion of your portfolio to active investing does more than offer opportunity, it can offer protection. When macroeconomic factors are strong, the broad market performs well.
However, problems arise when the market faces a correction. These periodic events are simply part of the investing game, but that doesn’t mean you need to take it lying down. With a portion of assets devoted to an active approach, you can weather the storm by sourcing out of favor stocks that have become temporarily cheap. This strategy puts sideline money to work. To capitalize on inevitable downturns, you need to be ready to deploy money at a moments notice.
The KINFO community is a group of savvy, strategic thinkers that put ideas like this to use so that they can enjoy the best of both worlds. Passive investing is like watching the game, but active investing lets us play. More people are awakening to this concept.
If the trepidations of active investing take hold simply remember the words of Edmond Dantes in The Count of Monte Cristo. “Life is a storm,” he remarked, “You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next.” He ends, “You must look into that storm and shout… ‘do your worst for I shall do mine.'”
