What is the best way to describe the risk/return relationship?
James Olson
Updated on February 07, 2026
Generally, the higher the potential return of an investment, the higher the risk. There is no guarantee that you will actually get a higher return by accepting more risk. Diversification enables you to reduce the risk of your portfolio without sacrificing potential returns.
How do you calculate risk-return?
It is calculated by taking the return of the investment, subtracting the risk-free rate, and dividing this result by the investment’s standard deviation. All else equal, a higher Sharpe ratio is better.
What is a risk and return relationship?
The risk-return tradeoff states that the potential return rises with an increase in risk. Using this principle, individuals associate low levels of uncertainty with low potential returns, and high levels of uncertainty or risk with high potential returns.
How do you calculate expected return and risk?
Expected return is calculated by multiplying potential outcomes (returns) by the chances of each outcome occurring, and then calculating the sum of those results (as shown below).
How are basis risk and expected return related?
Basis risk is accepted in an attempt to hedge away price risk. Expected Return The expected return on an investment is the expected value of the probability distribution of possible returns it can provide to investors. The return on the investment is an unknown variable that has different values associated with different probabilities.
What is the concept of risk and return?
The concept of “risk and return” is that riskier assets should have higher expected returns to compensate investors for the higher volatility and increased risk.
How to find a balance between risk and return?
That’s how most portfolios these days will help you find a balance between risk and returns: They’ll find a balance between equities, bonds, and alternative investments that gets you to the level of risk that works for your goals, while trying to maximize the returns you can get for that level of risk.
How to understand the sequence of returns risk?
To better understand the sequence of returns risk, let’s consider the sequence of returns under two five-year market scenarios: Under both scenarios the returns are identical, except that they are in reverse order. As a result, the CAGR of each scenario is the same.