Investing is inherently risky. That’s not news. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t safe ways of avoiding losses and ultimately growing your investment portfolio. Since, by and large, the market tends upward, the best method for safer investing is not to micro-calibrate your investment portfolio with short-term investment strategies. Rather, a low-risk investing strategy involves adopting a hands-off, longer term approach.

Trying to beat the average gains of the market as a whole is certainly not a low-risk approach. Un-managed index funds—those which follow the market unaided by human input—usually outperform any attempts to beat the market. Estimates indicate that anywhere from 65%-80% of mutual funds and investment portfolios cannot beat the market. A very low 20%-35% of professional traders manage to beat the market year over year.

If most of the pros aren’t able to do it, how do those odds fare for you?

Diversifying is another excellent way to avoid losses. By investing in a wide-range of businesses and sectors, losses experienced in one area have the potential to be counteracted by gains in another.

Un-managed ETFs and index funds may not provide get-rich-quick opportunities, but the slow-and-steady approach is much more likely to get you a positive return on your investment.

And positive beats negative, any way you slice it.

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