When one position becomes the plan

Concentration usually arrives by accumulation rather than by decision — equity compensation that was never sold, an inherited position, or a holding that grew until it dominated the portfolio.

The distinguishing feature of concentrated risk is that it is not compensated. Broad market risk carries an expected return; the additional risk of a single company does not reliably do so.

It also correlates with everything else when the position is an employer's stock, because the same event can affect the portfolio and the paycheck at the same time.

Unwinding a concentrated position raises its own questions — embedded gains, trading restrictions, timing. Those are real constraints, which is why the conversation is usually about a deliberate path rather than an immediate action.