Praise for RiskGrade Your Investments"In the same way that the introduction of RiskMetrics raised thelevel of the discussion (and sometimes debate) regarding marketrisk measurement and management at large financial institutions,the introduction of RiskGrades and this book represent a major stepin the understanding and application of risk measurement andmanagement techniques by individual investors."-Charles Smithson, Managing Partner, Rutter Associates, and authorof Managing Financial RiskWhat Others Are Saying About RiskGrades.comForbes' best of the web 2002:"Savvy analysis, all free.""A new and impressive Web-based service that promises to offer aclue to the question of how risky is your portfolio. RiskMetricshas been measuring portfolio risk for big financial institutionssince 1994 and now sheds some light on investor risk. RiskGradeshelps investors combine risk and return to make proper investmentdecisions."-BusinessWeek"Owning a high percentage of company stock in a retirementplan--any more than 20 percent--is one of the riskiest propositionsin investing, and yet employees almost never measure this riskobjectively or reduce their positions. . . . It is easy toapproximate investment risk. A useful tool for measuring risk isavailable through RiskMetrics Group's riskgrades.com, a servicethat will measure the volatility and return of single securities orwhole portfolios against all asset classes and internationalregions."-Financial Times"Without divining what exactly a fund owns, the system simplydistills risk down to the likelihood of finding a severe change inits value on a given day. . . . Running a few notable funds throughthe rating bath can be a useful check on what an investor isputting on the line for a given dollar of investment gains."-Barron's"Mathematicians and economists use complex computer programs toexamine the effects of different shocks on different portfolios.Such tests have been used for several years by professionals whomanage multimillion-dollar investment funds. But RiskMetrics, aspinoff of J.P. Morgan Chase, is now providing similar tools forindividual investors. RiskMetrics runs a Web site,riskgrades.com, which investors can use free of charge. The Website allows investors to stress-test individual stocks and mutualfunds as well as portfolios."-The Wall Street Journal