How Many Stocks Should I Own to Form a Portfolio? (2024)

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How Many Stocks Should I Own to Form a Portfolio? (1)

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How Many Stocks Should I Own to Form a Portfolio? (2)

“How many stocks should I own?” This is one of our most commonly asked questions from new and experienced investors. Here’s the answer.

One question that Inner Circle members often ask is, “How many stocks should I own in my investment portfolio?” The right number of stocks for you to hold depends in part on where you are in your investing career.

How Many Stocks Should I Own to Form a Portfolio? (3)

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“How many stocks should I own as I begin my investing career?”

As part of your initial portfolio management approach, you should aim to invest in a minimum of four or five stocks—one from most, if not all, of the five main economic sectors (Manufacturing & Industry; Resources; Consumer; Finance; and Utilities). But you can buy them one at a time, over a period of months or even years, rather than all at once. After that, you can gradually add new stocks to your portfolio as funds become available, taking care to spread your holdings out as we advise.

What does it mean to have a diversified portfolio?

Portfolio diversification is the process of making sure you balance your investments so they are not tied to one industry, geographic area, or investment type. Portfolio diversification gives you the greatest chance for safety and profit and is key to our three-part Successful Investor philosophy. As mentioned above, you can start to diversify your portfolio by spreading your money out across most if not all of the five main economic sectors (Finance, Utilities, Manufacturing, Resources and Consumer).

The proportions should depend on your objectives and the risk you can accept. Diversifying your portfolio can also mean balancing your investments geographically. Avoid focusing your portfolio on any one country or region. As well, a lower-risk way to add international exposure to your portfolio is to hold multinational U.S. stocks, such as IBM, McDonald’s and Walmart, which are active in markets all around the world.

Market leaders and market laggards both deserve a place in your portfolio. Over long periods, high-quality stocks play leapfrog. Some of the lowest-risk, highest-profit buys you’ll ever find are overlooked or out-of-fashion stocks of high investment quality that are coming back into investor favour.

“How many stocks should I own later on in my investing career?”

When your portfolio gets into the $100,000 to $200,000 range, you should aim for perhaps 15 to 20 stocks. If you’re married, it’s best to treat your family holdings as one big portfolio, even if you and your spouse keep your money separate. That way, you can be sure you aren’t operating at cross purposes, or investing too much of the family fortune in a single area.

When you get above $200,000 or so, you can gradually increase the number of stocks you hold. When your portfolio reaches the $500,000 to $1 million range, 25 to 30 stocks is a good number to aim for.

Of course, you may fall a few stocks below that range, or go a few above it, particularly when you’re making changes in your holdings. That won’t matter if you follow our three-part investment advice: invest mainly in well-established, mostly dividend-paying companies; spread your money out across most if not all of the five main economic sectors, and downplay stocks that are in the broker/media limelight.

Our upper limit for any portfolio is around 40 stocks. Any more than that and even your best choices will have little impact on your personal wealth.

“How many stocks should I own?” Consider quality over quantity

The best investment plans or systems use a variation of the value investing approach. That is, they revolve around choosing high-quality investments and diversifying your holdings.

Safer investing also means taking a careful and methodical approach to investing that does not jeopardize your savings or your investment goals. There will always be some inherent risk when investing, so making safer investing decisions lets you minimize that risk.

The safest way in our view for Successful Investors to invest money is to place a lot of importance on investment quality.

Keep our three-part Successful Investor philosophy in mind while making stock picks

In summary, investors should never have all their money tied to one investment idea, location, industry or type. And to reiterate, at TSI Network we recommend our three-part Successful Investor philosophy for investing:

  • Invest mainly in well-established, dividend-paying companies;
  • Spread your money out across most if not all of the five main economic sectors (Manufacturing & Industry; Resources & Commodities; Consumer; Finance; Utilities);
  • Downplay or avoid stocks in the broker/media limelight.

We think about 40 stocks should be upper limit for a diversified portfolio. How many stocks are in your portfolio? Why?

This post was originally published in April 2019 and is regularly updated.

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How Many Stocks Should I Own to Form a Portfolio? (2024)

FAQs

How Many Stocks Should I Own to Form a Portfolio? ›

There might be other practical considerations that limit the number of stocks. However, our analysis demonstrates that, whether you own ETFs, mutual funds, or a basket of individual stocks, a well-diversified portfolio requires owning more than 20-30 stocks.

How many stocks should you own in your portfolio? ›

“Most research suggests the right number of stocks to hold in a diversified portfolio is 25 to 30 companies,” adds Jonathan Thomas, private wealth advisor at LVW Advisors.

How much should a stock be in a portfolio? ›

Stock allocations by age

Investors in their 20s, 30s and 40s all maintain about a 41% allocation of U.S. stocks and 9% allocation of international stocks in their financial portfolios. Investors in their 50s and 60s keep between 35% and 39% of their portfolio assets in U.S. stocks and about 8% in international stocks.

Is 35 stocks too many for a portfolio? ›

Private investors with limited time may not want to have this many, but 25-35 stocks is a popular level for many successful investors (for example, Terry Smith) who run what are generally regarded as relatively high concentration portfolios. This bent towards a 30-odd stock portfolio has many proponents.

Is owning 100 stocks too many? ›

It's a good idea to own a few dozen stocks to maintain a diversified portfolio. If you load up on too many stocks, you might struggle to keep tabs on all of them. Buying ETFs can be a good way to diversify without adding too much work for yourself.

Is it OK to have 100% stocks in my portfolio? ›

The research by three U.S. finance professors led by University of Arizona professor Scott Cederberg comes to the surprising conclusion that a portfolio holding 100% stocks and no bonds is best, even for people already in retirement.

What is the best ratio for a portfolio? ›

Finding the right mix for your portfolio. One of the first things you learn as a new investor is to seek the best portfolio mix. Many financial advisors recommend a 60/40 asset allocation between stocks and fixed income to take advantage of growth while keeping up your defenses.

What is a good portfolio size? ›

“It is generally recommended to have a portfolio size of at least $100,000 before considering investing in individual securities, and at least $500,000 before moving away from investment products and investing directly in stocks and bonds.”

What is the ideal stock portfolio allocation? ›

Income, Balanced and Growth Asset Allocation Models

Income Portfolio: 70% to 100% in bonds. Balanced Portfolio: 40% to 60% in stocks. Growth Portfolio: 70% to 100% in stocks.

How to build a stock portfolio for beginners? ›

Learn about financial portfolio management
  1. Establish the different types of portfolio investments. ...
  2. Put your money into different funds. ...
  3. Diversify across the same asset classes. ...
  4. Diversify across different asset classes. ...
  5. Determine your asset split based on your age. ...
  6. Continue to tweak your portfolio.

How much do I need to invest to make $1000 a month? ›

A stock portfolio focused on dividends can generate $1,000 per month or more in perpetual passive income, Mircea Iosif wrote on Medium. “For example, at a 4% dividend yield, you would need a portfolio worth $300,000.

What is the ideal number of shares in a portfolio? ›

The ideal number which one can track while pursuing his other jobs & responsibilites simultaneously is 10-12 stocks. This number can be high if you are into stock trading as a profession or could be low if your daily job is too demanding and doesnt leave you with enough time for research."

What is the minimum number of stocks in a portfolio? ›

There might be other practical considerations that limit the number of stocks. However, our analysis demonstrates that, whether you own ETFs, mutual funds, or a basket of individual stocks, a well-diversified portfolio requires owning more than 20-30 stocks.

What is a good number of stocks to own? ›

Assuming you do go down the road of picking individual stocks, you'll also want to make sure you hold enough of them so as not to concentrate too much of your wealth in any one company or industry. Usually this means holding somewhere between 20 and 30 stocks unless your portfolio is very small.

How many stocks does Warren Buffett own? ›

Among the 45 stocks Berkshire Hathaway holds, the top 10 represent about 87% of the company's holdings. Here's a rundown of Buffett's 10 largest holdings based on Berkshire Hathaway's most recent 13F filing, filed Feb. 14, 2024.

What is a good stock portfolio? ›

A diversified portfolio should have a broad mix of investments. For years, many financial advisors recommended building a 60/40 portfolio, allocating 60% of capital to stocks and 40% to fixed-income investments such as bonds. Meanwhile, others have argued for more stock exposure, especially for younger investors.

Is a 10 stock portfolio good? ›

The right number of stocks to own is different for every investor. Most investors aim to own somewhere between 10–30 stocks in their portfolio. In my experience, owning fewer than 10 stocks is too little diversity and too much risk concentrated on just a few positions.

Is 10% in one stock too much? ›

Once a holding exceeds 10%, however, it represents a greater risk that merits more immediate planning. “The risk of a concentrated position can be magnified by additional career risk in the case of company stock,” says Marty Allenbaugh, CFP®, CPWA®, a senior advisor with the T.

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