The mutual fund world equates risk with volatility. This is wrong. Investors who believe this will never reach their true potential. In the real world, time frame is more important than anything else in determining how to structure a portfolio. The assumption of risk, avoidance of risk, rewards and perils of risk are powerful forces driving the investment experience.
Portfolio management attempts to define and deal with investment risk.
A superficial comparison of weather in Minneapolis vs. London leads to one conclusion whereas a deeper understanding of climate leads to another. The same thing can be said to be true about investing. Before most other economists, Alan Greenspan figured out that we were operating with new rules and guided the Fed accordingly. Here's what one portfolio manager thinks. If you have Y2K concerns, here are two absolutely diametrically opposed points of view that will undoubtedly help you clarify this issue.