Psigma's Becket: Time to turn portfolio risk upside down

Turning risk upside down

PSigma Investment Management's Tom Becket analyses what portfolio risk means nowadays - and suggests this time really may be different after all.

History forms the bedrock of our investment knowledge. Whether it is the most recent financial crisis, the tech bubbles or oil price spikes, we have an inherent tendency to look at the past and garner information from it. But what happens when we are in a time so unique, that we have no history books to look back on? With interest rates at near zero in the developed world, markets have moved into unchartered water and traditional cautious assets could now be amongst the riskiest in portfolios. We believe it could be time to turn the long-held view of portfolio risk upside down. ...