Why Portfolios Beat Picks
Why holding many different things is not the same as holding one thing many times — correlation as the real engine, the only free lunch in finance, the efficient frontier without the algebra, and exactly where the advantage runs out.
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What makes a portfolio more than a list of holdings?
Start the first lessonUnit 1 The One-Stock Problem
- What makes a portfolio more than a list of holdings?
- Why is one stock a worse bet than its average suggests?
- Is holding ten stocks the same as holding one stock ten times?
- How many holdings does it take before the benefit runs out?
Practice Check · Unit 1 A short check · cannot be failed Start
Unit 2 Correlation, the Real Engine
- What is correlation actually measuring?
- Why are twenty tech stocks barely a portfolio?
- How much risk does a lower correlation actually remove?
- Which of your holdings are secretly the same bet?
Practice Check · Unit 2 A short check · cannot be failed Start
Unit 3 The Free Lunch and the Frontier
- Why is diversification called the only free lunch in finance?
- Why does a smoother ride end up with more money?
- What is the efficient frontier, without the matrix algebra?
- Why does nobody actually sit on the efficient frontier?
Practice Check · Unit 3 A short check · cannot be failed Start
Unit 4 What Diversification Cannot Do
- Which risks does diversification remove, and which stay forever?
- Why does the market only pay for the risk you cannot avoid?
- Why does diversification thin out exactly when it is needed?
- Why portfolios beat picks — course checkpoint
Practice Check · Unit 4 A short check · cannot be failed Start
Last Course exam
One exam, the whole course Unlocks when you have read all 16 lessons
Passing it earns the course certificate. It also counts toward the Investor track (course 5 of 6): pass every course exam in a track to earn its track certificate.