So if you purchased a fund based on the automotive industry, it may have a lot of exposure to oil prices. How to buy IPO stock. Or you can do a little of everything, diversifying so that you have a portfolio that tends to do well in almost any investment environment. But a lot of people don’t understand how important it is to also have a strong margin of safety with their finances. But the first step is learning to think long term, and avoiding obsessively following the markets daily ups and downs.