A friend once forwarded me a small joke about a crowded community function. A man is sitting in the front row, hungry and waiting patiently. Then he sees samosas being served from the back row. By the time the tray reaches the front, the samosas are finished. So he thinks he has learned the lesson: next time, sit at the back.

A few minutes later, chai starts from the front. By the time it reaches the back, the cups are gone. Now he is irritated. Then he sees the real prize coming out: paneer tikka. This time he decides to be clever. He sits in the middle row, convinced he has solved the problem. One tray starts from the front. Another tray starts from the back. He smiles, because surely the middle is safe. But both trays reach the middle empty.

Frustrated, he puts his face in his hands. Then someone taps him on the shoulder. A third volunteer is standing there with a covered bowl. Finally, he thinks, this is my turn. He reaches in eagerly.

Toothpicks.

That is the market.

Growth gets served, so people run to growth. Then value starts working, so they run to value. Energy doubles, so they chase energy. AI becomes the hot table, so everyone rushes there after the first plates are already empty. The problem is not that these sectors are bad. The problem is that the chaser keeps moving only after seeing who just ate.

This is how investors turn a good market into bad returns. They buy good themes too late. They sell quiet positions right before their turn comes. They confuse someone else’s profit with their own opportunity.

Work-from-home and high-growth stocks were the hot row in 2020 and 2021. People chased them after the story was already famous, only to watch many of those names collapse hard in 2022. Then energy and value had their turn. Later, AI and megacap technology became the hot row, and the same temptation returned in a new costume.

Every row gets served eventually. But if you keep changing seats after seeing who just ate, the market eventually hands you toothpicks.

Markets rotate. Money moves from one group to another: growth, value, energy, technology, small caps, defensives, AI, banks, commodities. Each group gets its season.

The mistake is not owning a hot sector. The mistake is chasing it only after everyone is already talking about it. By then, the easy money often belongs to someone else.

This is why a fixed allocation matters. An allocation is your seat in the room. Rebalancing is how you adjust that seat calmly, by rule, instead of running around every time another bowl appears.

The investor who keeps chasing what just worked is usually late twice: late to the sector he buys, and late to the sector he left. That is how the toothpicks arrive.

A sector is a group of similar companies, like technology, energy, banks, healthcare, or utilities. Sector rotation means money moves from one sector to another over time. One year, technology may lead. Another year, energy may lead.

Another year, defensive stocks may lead. Chasing means buying something mainly because it already went up and everyone is talking about it. Allocation means deciding in advance how much of your money belongs in each area. Rebalancing means bringing the portfolio back to that plan after one part grows too much or falls too far. The point is simple: do not build your portfolio by running after the sector that just made someone else money.