Understanding risk -- Putting risk in perspective -- Risk charts : a way to get perspective -- Judging the benefit of a health intervention -- Not all benefits are equal : understand the outcome -- Consider the downsides -- Do the benefits outweight the downsides? -- Beware of exaggerated importance -- Beware of exaggerated certainty -- Who's behind the numbers?

A practical guide to getting personal investing right Somewhere along the way, something has gone very wrong with the way individuals save and invest. Too often, households are drawn in by promotional suggestions masquerading as impartial investment advice. Consumers get saddled with more risk than they realize. Authors Zvi Bodie and Rachelle Taqqu understand the dilemma that today's investors face, and with Risk Less and Prosper they will help you find your financial footing. Written in an accessible style, this practical guide skillfully explains why personal investing is all about you—your goals, your values and your career path. It shows how to understand investment risk and choose the particular blend of risk and safety that is right for you. And it lays out several simple yet powerful ways for small investors to cast a reliable safety net to achieve their financial goals and truly prosper. Coauthors Bodie and Taqqu challenge the myth that all investments require risk, then highlight some important risks that families often disregard when deciding where to put their money. Later, they connect the dots between investment and investor, showing us all how to grasp our own investment risk profiles and how we may use these insights to make more fitting investment choices. Outlines a straightforward way to invest by aligning your investments with your goals and the risk levels you can bear Provides basic investment abc's for readers who are otherwise literate Lays out a simple, actionable plan for achieving your goals Explains the role of risk-free assets and investment insurance in assuring that you reach your most essential goals Contrary to popular belief, investing doesn't have to be complicated. You can build wealth without taking great risks. Risk Less and Prosper will show you how to make investment decisions that will make your financial life less stressful and more profitable.

If risk aversion and willingness to take on risk are driven by emotions and we as humans are bad at correctly identifying them, the finance profession has a serious challenge at hand—how to reliably identify the individual risk profile of a retail investor or high-net-worth individual. In this series of CFA Institute Research Foundation briefs, we have asked academics and practitioners to summarize the current state of knowledge about risk profiling in different key areas.

Master the most important investing skill of all—DECISION MAKING “De-risking your investments requires knowing that there is much you don’t know.” –David X Martin Risk exists because of one simple fact: Decisions are always based on incomplete information. Therefore, to meet your investment goals over the long term, you must learn to manage the risks associated with a decision-making process that is by nature flawed. Risk and the Smart Investor provides a framework for making such decisions. Avoiding unrealistic promises of completely risk-free investing, world-renowned risk management expert David X Martin familiarizes you with the principles of risk management. Based on Martin’s experience in managing risk at several of the world’s largest financial institutions, this principlebased approach presents a unique perspective that helps you manage the risk in every investment you make. Risk and the Smart Investor provides not only a framework for managing risk in today’s markets, it also prepares you to handle the next financial crisis—which is coming, sooner or later—by separating risk management into four separate processes: Assessment—know where you are, but accept the fact that you cannot know everything The Rules of the Game—determine your appetite for risk, diversify accordingly, demand transparency, and institute checks and balances Decision Making—consider all alternatives, fit your plans into specific time frames, and always have an exit strategy Reevaluation—continually monitor the outcomes of your decisions and learn from your mistakes Praise for Risk and the Smart Investor “Interesting and instructive. A good book for those who want to learn about risk and build this knowledge into their financial decisions.” —John Reed, former CEO, Citigroup “David Martin has produced a popular yet serious post-financial crisis reflection on the fundamentals of risk management as a living process. Rich in experience and wisdom, Risk and the Smart Investor is both a useful handbook brimming with insights, and a moral tale for our times. Simply a must-read for every serious investor, risk manager, and just about everyone else.” —Michael Power, professor, London School of Economics and Political Science “David Martin knows risk and the active investor and his book proves it.” —Jerry Lieberman “This book is like having your own mentor to guide you through risk management decisions.” —William Rhodes, Chairman, Citigroup and Citibank

Every day we make decisions about our health - some big and some small. What we eat, how we live and even where we live can affect our health. But how can we be sure that the advice we are given about these important matters is right for us? This book will provide you with the right tools for assessing health advice.

This content provides financial analysts, investment professionals, and financial planners with a review of how financial risk-tolerance tests can and should be evaluated. It begins by clarifying terms related to risk taking and is followed by a broad overview of two important measurement terms: validity and reliability. It concludes with examples for practice.

How much risk should we take? A Short Guide to Risk Appetite sets out to help all those who need to decide how much risk can be taken in a particular risky and important situation. David Hillson and Ruth Murray-Webster introduce the RARA Model to explain the complementary and central roles of Risk Appetite and Risk Attitude, and along the way they show how other risk-related concepts fit in. Risk thresholds are the external expression of inherent risk appetite, and the challenge is how to set the right thresholds. By progressively deconstructing the RARA Model, the authors show that the essential control step is our ability to choose an appropriate risk attitude. The book contains practical guidance to setting risk thresholds that take proper account of the influences of organisational risk culture and the individual risk preferences of key stakeholders. Alongside this, individuals and organisations need to choose the risk attitude that will optimise their chances of achieving the desired objectives.