Portfolio diversification is a key to long-term investment success.

That’s because different investments behave differently over time.

Shares and property may help drive long-term growth
Bonds and cash may help provide stability along the way
Combining them can help manage risk

This is known as diversification.

Diversification can also happen within each investment type, such as investing across many companies, industries or countries.

These days you don’t have to invest by picking individual shares or bonds. Instead, you can use exchange traded funds (ETFs) or managed funds to invest across whole markets in a single investment.

These can give you exposure to:

many companies or bonds at once
different countries and industries
a ready-made portfolio that combines growth and defensive investments

Remember this: Rather than choosing individual investments, the focus is usually on choosing the right balance, which is where understanding your suggested investor style can help.