Let's talk about investing Pt 2 - Asset Allocation

Everyone obsesses over which stock to pick or when to time the market — but the research says the real driver of your investment outcome is something far less exciting: how you split your money across asset classes in the first place.

In this episode, we trace asset allocation back to its unlikely origin — a 25-year-old graduate student named Harry Markowitz who, in 1952, was the first person to mathematically prove that diversification isn't just a good instinct, it's provable. From there, we get into why asset allocation is really a behavioural question dressed up as a math problem — why a "textbook correct" portfolio can still fail if you can't emotionally stick with it through a downturn.

We also unpack the three different risks pulling on every portfolio (market, longevity, and inflation), why "playing it safe" often means trading a visible risk for an invisible one, and — because it wouldn't be this show without it — why club selection on the golf course is the perfect metaphor for building a portfolio you can actually live with.

If you've ever wondered why your mix matters more than your picks, this one's for you.

https://novelinvestor.com/asset-class-sector-and-global-market-quilts-updated-for-2025/