No, not who you'll marry, we're talking investments here not eternal happiness.
The most important decision you'll make in investing is what mix of assets you'll put your money into. We call that asset allocation. Some asset classes would include stocks, bonds, commodities, gold, etc.
Each asset class can be thought of as a market where the average value goes up and down. This rise and fall in the price of the market is called its “Beta.” Active money managers make decisions to vary their holdings of securities or instruments in an asset class. The returns from these decisions are called “Alpha.” Stated another way, the return the market gives you is your Beta and the return a manager gives you above or below the market return is your Alpha.
So why is asset allocation the most important single decision you will make? It is because more than 90% of the risk in an investment portfolio is determined by the percentage of each asset class you decide to hold in your portfolio. And since risk and return are inexorably linked in the ivestment world, it also mostly determines what your returns will be.Another way of explaining asset allocation is that the decision will determine the mix of Betas (or markets) you are exposed to.
The second most important decision you will make is the managers you choose to invest in those asset classes. This will determine how much Alpha you can harvest or whether your returns will beat the market or be below the market.
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