You’ve learned several concepts throughout the Achievable material about making suitable investor recommendations. Here, we’ll focus on the strategies, styles, and techniques used to build suitable investor portfolios.
This chapter focuses on these investment considerations:
Many financial professionals cite diversification as one of the most important investing principles. Markets change quickly, and even well-known industries can be hit by unexpected events. For example, 2020 brought a resurgence in drive-in theatres and a major downturn in the airline industry, which took a large hit. American Airlines (AAL) stock traded around $30 per share in November 2019 and fell to about $11 per share in November 2020. Put differently, an investor with a $100,000 portfolio fully invested in American Airlines stock in November 2019 would have had less than $37,000 one year later.
There are many examples of investors losing significant amounts by concentrating their money in one company or a small number of companies. Well-known cases include large positions in Enron, Bear Stearns, and Silicon Valley Bank, all of which collapsed. One example is George Maddox, a plant manager at Enron who lost over $1 million in retirement accounts due to Enron’s bankruptcy. The core issue was a lack of diversification: he allegedly held almost all of his retirement savings (roughly $1.3 million) in Enron stock. That concentration helped during the stock’s dramatic rise in the late 1990s, but his retirement savings collapsed after revelations of fraudulent accounting practices caused the stock to become worthless.
A lack of diversification is a major red flag in a portfolio. Even if a concentrated investment has performed well, putting significant sums into one or a few investments is rarely a good idea.
There are exceptions. Some investments are diversified “inside” the product:
A common diversification issue comes from employment-related benefits. Employees of publicly traded companies may receive company stock at a discount or as a benefit. It’s easy to feel comfortable investing heavily in the company you work for because you feel you have an “insider’s view” of the business. Still, there are no guarantees (see the George Maddox story). Financial representatives should identify when a client is overly concentrated and recommend adding variety.
An investor’s age is an important suitability factor. In general, age and risk tolerance tend to move together:
We previously discussed the rule of 100 in the common stock unit. It’s a general guideline for asset allocation: subtract the investor’s age from 100 to estimate the percentage of the portfolio that should be allocated to stocks. The remainder is allocated to bonds. For example:
| Age | Stock % | Bond % |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | 70% | 30% |
| 45 | 55% | 45% |
| 60 | 40% | 60% |
| 70 | 30% | 70% |
The rule of 100 is not absolute. It’s a starting point for the “average” investor at a given age, and it may not fit investors with unusual circumstances. For example:
When using the rule of 100, you still need to consider the client’s full financial picture and adjust recommendations when appropriate.
Historically, many investors chose securities primarily based on risk and return. Today, many investors also consider whether an investment aligns with their personal values, even if that reduces the number of suitable choices. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations are a common form of what some analysts call “ethical investing.”
A common industry standard for evaluating ESG factors is the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) ESG score. MSCI is an investment research firm associated with Morgan Stanley. MSCI assigns a general ESG score of ‘leader,’ ‘average,’ and ‘laggard’ to the investments it evaluates.
Environmental considerations focus on an investment’s environmental impact. MSCI considers factors such as:
Social considerations focus on how an investment relates to people and human rights. MSCI considers factors such as:
Governance considerations focus on the business structure of the investment. MSCI considers factors such as:
MSCI evaluates these three pillars and assigns ratings to many widely followed investments. For example, Plug Power Inc. (ticker: PLUG), a sustainable energy company, is assigned a ‘leader’ rating by MSCI (as of June 2023). However, a high ESG rating does not guarantee strong returns. From January 2021 to June 2023, PLUG stock declined more than 80% in value.
This can create a practical challenge for investment advisers: a client may only accept recommendations if the ESG score is high, even when that narrows the opportunity set. In general, ESG constraints can mean fewer choices and potentially lower returns. Regardless, financial professionals must consider and prioritize client preferences.
Similar to ESG-based ethical investing, some investors choose securities based on religious or spiritual beliefs. Depending on the investor’s religion, spirituality, or denomination, different screens may be used to identify acceptable investments. For example, some Christian and Islamic investors avoid securities tied to addictive industries (e.g., tobacco, gambling).
It can be difficult for an investor to identify individual securities that comply with specific religious beliefs. However, several mutual funds maintain objectives tied to specific religions. Examples include:
As with ESG investing, religious-based investing may result in fewer choices and lower rates of return. Again, financial professionals must consider and prioritize their clients’ preferences.
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