RiskGrade Your Investments Measure Your Risk & Create Wealth

by Elmiger, Gregory; Kim, Steve S.

• ISBN13: 9780471418610
• ISBN10: 0471418617
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-12-31
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

Praise for RiskGrade Your Investments"In the same way that the introduction of RiskMetrics raised the level of the discussion (and sometimes debate) regarding market risk measurement and management at large financial institutions, the introduction of RiskGrades and this book represent a major step in the understanding and application of risk measurement and management techniques by individual investors." -Charles Smithson, Managing Partner, Rutter Associates, and author of Managing Financial RiskWhat Others Are Saying About RiskGrades.comForbes' best of the web 2002: "Savvy analysis, all free.""A new and impressive Web-based service that promises to offer a clue to the question of how risky is your portfolio. RiskMetrics has been measuring portfolio risk for big financial institutions since 1994 and now sheds some light on investor risk. RiskGrades helps investors combine risk and return to make proper investment decisions." -BusinessWeek"Owning a high percentage of company stock in a retirement plan--any more than 20 percent--is one of the riskiest propositions in investing, and yet employees almost never measure this risk objectively or reduce their positions. . . . It is easy to approximate investment risk. A useful tool for measuring risk is available through RiskMetrics Group's www.riskgrades.com, a service that will measure the volatility and return of single securities or whole portfolios against all asset classes and international regions." -Financial Times"Without divining what exactly a fund owns, the system simply distills risk down to the likelihood of finding a severe change in its value on a given day. . . . Running a few notable funds through the rating bath can be a useful check on what an investor is putting on the line for a given dollar of investment gains." -Barron's"Mathematicians and economists use complex computer programs to examine the effects of different shocks on different portfolios. Such tests have been used for several years by professionals who manage multimillion-dollar investment funds. But RiskMetrics, a spinoff of J.P. Morgan Chase, is now providing similar tools for individual investors. RiskMetrics runs a Web site, www.riskgrades.com, which investors can use free of charge. The Web site allows investors to stress-test individual stocks and mutual funds as well as portfolios." -The Wall Street Journal

Author Biography

GREGORY ELMIGER is a retail risk product specialist at the RiskMetrics Group, a New York—based company that specializes in risk management. Greg is an original member of the group at RiskMetrics that developed RiskGrades and is responsible for helping oversee the day-to-day operations and ongoing development of the RiskGrades service. Since joining RiskMetrics in 1999, Greg has actively developed an integrated library of Web-based courses, training programs, and research to help clients increase their overall level of awareness and understanding of risk. Prior to joining RiskMetrics, Greg was a vice president at Zoologic, a company that specializes in developing computer-based training software for financial professionals.

Table of Contents

Introduction.

The Dilemma of Today's Investors.

What's All this Fuss About Risk.

We the People.

Return is Only Half the Equation.

Know When to Hold 'em, Know When to Fold 'em.

Asset Allocation.

Diversification--It's the Portfolio, Stupid!

Let Risk Take You There.

Developing Your Portfolio's True Picture of Risk.

This Old Portfolio.

Risk Grades Risk Profile: HRH Prince Alwaleed.

The Final Frontier.