Why should you worry about diversification with your investments? That’s simple. There’s a lot of risk involved when it comes to investing and to help reduce that risk and increase your chances of having a decent return it’s important to not keep all your eggs in one basket. The whole idea behind diversification is that if some of your investment decisions get hit by an economic downturn others will be there to cushion the blow.

Since investing is a risky business with volatile markets that can swing up and down at the drop of a hat it’s important to avoid being blindsided at all costs. A great way to quickly and easily diversify your investments is to invest in mutual funds which are by definition “pre-diversified.” This will help save you the headache of trying to manually sort out how you want to spread out your investments.

Another good way to diversify your portfolio is to spread out your investments over a wide array of different things. For example investing all your money in a car company that might be gone in a few years is a bad idea unless you also have some investment in other companies selling computers or groceries. If one investment fails and you lose your money you’ll have the others to cushion the blow and make the loss not so difficult to bear. A great recent example of this is the Bernie Madoff scandal where many investors lost virtually everything since they were given a “guaranteed” investment and didn’t diversify properly.

The important thing to remember is that there is no such thing as a “steady” or non-volatile stock. Every investment is subject to the economic winds of the world economy and as long as you’re investing you’re risking your money to some degree. Talking to a personal financial planner or your financial manager is a good way to get some insight into where you stand on your investing.

If you want to protect your investment and make sure you’re safe from the volatile world markets then diversifying in any and all ways is the safest route to go. If you have enough assets to practically invest in things like real estate and other physical assets this is also a good idea since it helps to diversify your finances even further. If you’re too overwhelmed with the task and details of diversification spend the few bucks it costs on a financial planner to help sort out your finances and get answers to your specific questions.