Low-beta stocks have performed better, on a risk-adjusted basis, than their high-beta counterparts.
The higher the beta, the higher the risk and the higher the expected return.
If investors like low beta, also known as low risk, then USAA measures up.
Mutual funds publish information about risk, including the beta, on their fund fact sheets.
Mr Ziff accordingly proposes to replace beta with a measure of total risk.
Beta, the measure of systematic risk, perfectly explains stock market returns.
Two studies found that beta-carotene supplements increased the risk of lung cancer in people who smoked more than one pack a day and drank heavily.
One way to assess risk is by determining the beta of the security under consideration.
In the case of lung cancer, studies suggest that beta carotene supplementation may actually increase your risk, even if you don't smoke.
Prior to that time, all index funds to that point were beta-seeking products that followed the risk and return of a broad market, less a small fee.
One low-volatility stock is Fortune Brands (nyse: FO - news - people ), which has a 52-week beta of 0.52 and a Barra Risk Factor of only 5.
Many eye-vitamin formulations currently on the market are based on research conducted by the National Institutes of Health in a project called Age-Related Eye Disease Study, or AREDS. The first phase of the clinical trial, completed in 2001, found that a specific combination of vitamins C and E, along with beta-carotene and zinc, reduced the risk of age-related macular degeneration by as much as 25%.
The sovereign debt crisis in Europe has provided enough systemic risk to keep money out of higher beta emerging market equities and in bonds or cash.
It is a very potent antioxidant, and numerous research studies have found an association between greater intake of beta carotene-containing fruits and vegetables and a reduced risk of disease including heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, age-related macular degeneration (the leading cause of blindness in older Americans) and even certain types of cancers.
Investors will want to be overweight below-market beta allocation, meaning investors will continue to move out of risk assets and into high end investment grade, defensive sectors like utilities and overall net long safety versus risk assets.
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They measured risk two ways, by trailing five-year volatility and beta, and got consistent results.
Modern investors are much more sophisticated in the way they think about risk, in particular separating the returns available from market movements (beta in the jargon) and managerial skill (alpha).
One proven risk reducer is a blend of high doses of vitamins C and E, beta carotene and zinc.
That shows how the real beta in this market is in the advanced economies, with the global equity markets suffering because of systematic risk stemming from Europe and the U.S. Usually, when risk is avoided, riskier assets like emerging market equities suffer even more.
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No securities market comes close in size to the U.S. But when it comes to investor appetite for risk, the flow chart shows fund managers have been more apt to remain invested in higher beta emerging markets than in the advanced economies, especially basket-case Europe which is now more riskier than any of the big emerging markets, both politically and economically.
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