Balanced Investment Strategy
  
A balanced investment strategy is a method of portfolio allocation that tries to mitigate risk while having a measure growth potential. Generally, the portfolio is comprised of fixed income securities and equities, usually 50% equities to 50% fixed income securities, although some portfolios may go more aggressive (60% equities/40% fixed income) or more conservative (40% equities/60% fixed income).
However, fixed income securities and equities don't move in the same direction. Think of a teeter-totter. When equities are up (the high side of the teeter-totter), fixed income securities are usually down (the low end of the teeter-totter) and vice versa. A good year for fixed income securities is usually a bad year for equities. A balanced portfolio is structured to use fixed income yield distributions to offset the smaller gains of less risky equities.
A balanced investment strategy is like dog paddling in a smooth, calm pool. You'll get someplace eventually, but you won't get breathless getting there.
Related or Semi-related Video
Finance: What is a Country Basket (Index...30 Views
Finance, a la shmoop. What is a country basket index fund?
All right we're picking daisies, marigolds, lilies so uh how do we [Pictures of flowers]
rephrase in Italian? Like, we want to fill a portfolio basket with just stocks [Pouring a glass of red wine]
representing the overall financial health of Italy. Is Italy healthy? While
they smoke a lot they drink a lot of wine they eat a bunch of pasta but there
always seems to be a woman from some small village who's celebrating her [Old woman at a birthday party]
117th birthday over there. Well a country basket is just an index fund of
stocks representing a country. Like we're doing Korea... South we're gonna have
in that basket dunno some Samsung, a load of Daewoo, a hunk of Hyundai and some [Company stocks being added to the basket]
nice barbecue on the side. That'd be our Korean country basket and it's a good
basket to fill if you're just bullish on a country but not really sure which
flower on which to place your bets. It's like instead of trying to decide between [The stocks in the basket turn into flowers]
roulette or poker or slots... Well you just buy stock in Las Vegas
Sands you know you bet on the entire casino, and bueno Fortuna you know good [Someone checking their cards in a casino]
luck there pal, doesn't the house always win? Yeah so why do people keep going there?...
Up Next
What is Capital Appreciation (Mutual Funds)? Capital Appreciation is the increase in the market value of an investment asset, meaning it can be sol...
What is Diversified Mutual Fund? Diversified mutual fund allow individual investors to obtain the benefits of risk mitigation through diversificati...
What are Balanced Funds? Balanced funds are a combination of different investments, hence “balanced.” They can be comprised of stocks and bonds...
What is a Family of Funds? A family of funds refers to all of the funds managed by an investment firm. These firms offer investors the ability to i...