Thursday, December 07, 2006

The Sharpe Ratio

An essential element in evaluating any investment is knowing the level of risk involved. If an investment involves too much risk, then it may not be suitable for your portfolio even if it has the potential for high returns. Conversely, you may be willing to accept lower returns on an investment if its risk level is relatively low.

In order to take risk into consideration, you need to find a way to compare different investments that looks at more than just performance. One measurement, called the Sharpe ratio, can help you incorporate the risk of an investment into its overall return. By looking at the Sharpe ratios of different investments, you can better understand how much of an investment's return comes from the risks it assumes.

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