How much to hold in one stock

Article Excerpt

Here are two Successful Investor rules for portfolio exposure to an individual stock: 1. If a single stock represents, say, 10% or more of your portfolio, it exposes you to a high degree of risk. You need to take a close look at it and make sure you are willing to accept that degree of risk from a single stock holding. 2. On the other hand, if a stock makes up less than 1% of your portfolio, you need to recognize that it is taking up just as much of your time as the stock that makes up 5% to 10% of your portfolio. But even if it’s a winner, you’ll generally make much less profit from it than you can make with a stock that makes up 5% to 10% (or more) of your portfolio. So, you need to decide if holding a stock that can make such a small impact on your finances is worth that big a commitment of your…