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Importance Of Diversification: Explained

Importance Of Diversification: Explained

Uncertain economic environments may bring unexpected changes in economic conditions, geopolitical environments and personal circumstances. To weather such changes, it is important to diversify assets and sources of income. A portfolio of investments reduces dependence on the income from your career or business, ensuring that the financial risk is not concentrated in one stream of income or your own physical assets. A diversified portfolio of investments absorbs unexpected shocks and allows wealth to compound amidst different economic environments.

Nov 3, 2020Education- 4 min
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Traditional Diversification: Balanced Portfolios

An investment portfolio must be balanced. Concentrating in one geographical region may result in overexposure to a given currency, sector, local monetary and fiscal policy, and the geopolitical risks of that region. For example, an investment portfolio comprised exclusively of Saudi public companies listed on Tadawul is affected by changes in oil prices, the Saudi riyal and the Saudi economy. An investor who invested in Tadawul 10 years ago would have achieved a 5.5% annualized return with annualized risk of 20.5% (see Figure 1).

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Single-country risk can be mitigated by diversifying across multiple regions or countries, balancing exposure between developed and emerging markets, and different economies reliant on different industries.

A traditional balanced portfolio includes 60% in liquid fixed-income securities (e.g. bonds, or sukuk), which generally feature lower risk and regular coupon payments, and 40% in equities. Figure 2 shows that a portfolio split equally between Tadawul and a traditional balanced portfolio would have earned a higher annualized return of 6.7% with an annualized risk of 14.6%.

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Modern Diversification: Private Investments

Private investments can provide additional diversification due to their historically low correlation to liquid assets and multiple sources of return. Low correlation provides stability and minimizes losses in times of market stress.

Just like spreading investments across geographies and liquid asset classes increases returns and reduces risk through diversification, adding illiquid investments such as private equity (PE) and real estate (RE) improves diversification further. Figure 3 shows that an investment portfolio split equally between (a) Tadawul, (b) a traditional balanced portfolio and (c) PE and RE investments would have achieved an annualized return of 8.7% with annualized risk of 10.2%. The three portfolios illustrated below in Figure 3 demonstrate clearly the benefit of including illiquid investments in an investment portfolio.

diversification-paper

The Role of Alternatives in a Low-Return Environment

In a low-return environment, illiquid investments become an especially important component of the asset allocation in investment portfolios, offering superior risk-adjusted returns.

The Family Office has been focused in building diversified portfolios with allocations to PE, RE and private debt. We also offer income-oriented solutions aimed at preserving capital with diversification across asset classes, sectors, and geographies to help investors achieve their income targets.

We would be delighted to support you in your preserving and growing your wealth.

 

Disclaimer:

This presentation is provided to you by The Family Office Co. BSC(c) (“The Family Office”) for informational purposes only, and contains proprietary information that may not be reproduced, distributed to, or used by, any third parties without The Family Office’s prior written consent.

All information, figures, calculations, graphs and other numerical representations appearing in this presentation have not been audited and may be subject to change over time. Furthermore, certain valuations (including valuations of investments) appearing in this presentation are subject to change as they may be based on either estimates or historical figures that do not reflect the latest valuation. Although all information and opinions expressed in this presentation were obtained from sources believed to be reliable and in good faith, no representation or warranty, express or implied, is made as to their accuracy or completeness. The information contained herein is not a substitute for a thorough due diligence investigation. Past performance is not indicative of and does not guarantee future performance. Exit timelines, prices and related projections are estimates only, and exits could happen sooner or later than expected, or at a higher or lower valuation than expected, and are conditional, among other things, on certain assumptions and future performance relating to the financial and operational health of each business and macroeconomic conditions.

The Family Office makes no representation or warranty, express or implied, with respect to any statistics or historical or current financial data, whether created by The Family Office through its own research or quoted from other sources. With respect to any such statistics or data delivered or made available by or on behalf of The Family Office, it is acknowledged that (a) the investor takes full responsibility for making its own evaluation of the materiality of the information and the integrity of the quoted source and (b) the investor has no claim against The Family Office.

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This presentation represents a summary of certain information, the full terms of which are contained in a Private Placement Memorandum that should be reviewed for a more complete understanding of the investments and their risks. In addition, this presentation does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation to buy, any instrument or other financial product, nor does it amount to a commitment by The Family Office to make such an offer at present or an indication of The Family Office’s willingness to make such an offer in the future.

The Family Office is a Category 1 Investment Firm regulated by the Central Bank of Bahrain C.R. No. 53871 dated 21/6/2004. Paid Up Capital: US$10,000,000. The Family Office only offers products and services to ‘accredited investors’ as defined by the Central Bank of Bahrain.

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About The Family Office

Since 2004, The Family Office has been the wealth manager of choice for more than 500 ultra-high-net worth families and individuals, helping them preserve and grow their wealth through customized solutions in diversified alternatives and more. Schedule a call with our financial experts and learn more about our wealth management process.


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