Building a Portfolio and Managing Risk

A portfolio is not a list of good ideas. It is how much of each one you own, and what happens when several of them go wrong at the same time. These six guides cover that side of investing, which gets far less attention than picking stocks and matters at least as much.

Diversification and portfolio construction come first, then dollar-cost averaging as a way to buy steadily without trying to time the market, then the strategies beginners usually start with. The last two are the uncomfortable ones: what a crash or a correction actually feels like while you are living through it, and how tax treatment changes what you keep once you move from practice to real money.

Work out a position size with the position size calculator, model a regular contribution with the dollar-cost averaging calculator, then run the whole plan in CustomStocks. Educational only - none of this is financial advice.