Two Main Types of Risk When Investing

Risk involves the chance an investment's actual return will differ from the expected return. Risk includes the possibility of losing some or all of the original investment. Different versions of risk are usually measured by calculating the standard deviation of the historical returns or average returns of a specific investment.

Risk implies future uncertainty about deviation from expected earnings or expected outcome. Risk measures the uncertainty that an investor is willing to take to realize a gain from an investment.

Risks are of different types and originate from different situations. We have liquidity risk, sovereign risk, insurance risk, business risk, default risk, etc. Various risks originate due to the uncertainty arising out of various factors that influence an investment or a situation.

Diversification is a technique that reduces risk by allocating investments among various financial instruments, industries and other categories. It aims to maximize return by investing in different areas that would each react differently to the same event.

Most investment professionals agree that, although it does not guarantee against loss, diversification is the most important component of reaching long-range financial goals while minimizing risk. Here, we look at why this is true and how to accomplish diversification in your portfolio.

Investors confront two main types of risk when investing:

Undiversifiable - Also known as "systematic" or "market risk," undiversifiable risk is associated with every company. Causes are things like inflation rates, exchange rates, political instability, war and interest rates. This type of risk is not specific to a particular company or industry, and it cannot be eliminated or reduced through diversification; it is just a risk that investors must accept.

Diversifiable - This risk is also known as "unsystematic risk," and it is specific to a company, industry, market, economy or country; it can be reduced through diversification. The most common sources of unsystematic risk are business risk and financial risk. Thus, the aim is to invest in various assets so that they will not all be affected the same way by market events.

Why We Should Diversify

Let's say we have a portfolio of only airline stocks. If it is publicly announced that airline pilots are going on an indefinite strike, and that all flights are canceled, share prices of airline stocks will drop. Your portfolio will experience a noticeable drop in value.

If, however, we counterbalanced the airline industry stocks with a couple of railway stocks, only part of your portfolio would be affected. In fact, there is a good chance that the railway stock prices would climb, as passengers turn to trains as an alternative form of transportation.

But, we could diversify even further because there are many risks that affect both rail and air because each is involved in transportation. An event that reduces any form of travel hurts both types of companies - statisticians would say that rail and air stocks have a strong correlation.

Therefore, to achieve superior diversification, we would want to diversify across the board, not only different types of companies but also different types of industries. The more uncorrelated our stocks are, the better.

It's also important that we diversify among different asset classes. Different assets - such as bonds and stocks - will not react in the same way to adverse events. A combination of asset classes will reduce our portfolio's sensitivity to market swings. Generally, the bond and equity markets move in opposite directions, so, if our portfolio is diversified across both areas, unpleasant movements in one will be offset by positive results in another.

There are additional types of diversification, and many synthetic investment products have been created to accommodate investors' risk tolerance levels. However, these products can be very complicated and are not meant to be created by beginner or small investors. For those who have less investment experience, and do not have the financial backing to enter into hedging activities, bonds are the most popular way to diversify against the stock market.

Unfortunately, even the best analysis of a company and its financial statements cannot guarantee that it won't be a losing investment. Diversification won't prevent a loss, but it can reduce the impact of fraud and bad information on your portfolio.