2011: Happy Risk Year!

Life is full of Risk..  We can not deny or totally exclude risk. Have you ever thought about living a (professional) life without taking any risk? What kind of life would that be?

There's this great actuarial risk quote of the famous economist John Maynard Keynes that states:

On the long run, we are all dead.....

So if you want some 'return' in life, you might as well take 'somewhat' risk before you 'certainly' die.

A nice illustration of total risk aversion is the 2004 movie "Along came Polly" were Reuben Feffer (actor Ben Stiller) is an actuary who, since his job involves analyzing risk for insurance purposes, likes living life in complete safety and free from any unnecessary risk.

This movie urges to ask yourself a simple question:

What's the risk of a riskless life?

Living life without risk if for dummies! Optimize the risk-return in your life.

Risk Guidelines

At the end of 2010 some simple Maggid 'Risk Guidelines' for 2011:

1. As long as there are no risks that'll kill you on the 'middle' or 'short' term: Take risk if you like the return outlook.
   
   
2. Think about how much bad luck or suffering you're willing to accept for a desired return.  Key question here is:
   Why does a marathon runner punish his body every day for weeks on end for an individual race?
   
   
3. Take a small risk every day! Invest small 'good things to do' by helping others without expecting a return. Soon you'll harvest some of your sowed investment seeds.....

Riskless Investment
Remember..., the only one riskless investment in life is.....

YOU

Anyhow, make 2011 a happy and healthy risk year!

Related Links:
- "Watch the movie 'Along came Polly' online !
- Learning about Risk and Return: A Simple Model of Bubbles and Crashes 

Happy Actuarial New Year

Did you know there are more than 100 "new year's days" in a calendar year?
It just depends on where you live or what you believe.

Before 1752, Americans celebrated New Year's Day on March 25th (Lady Day according to the old Celtic religion and the Feast of the Annunciation according to the Christian religion).

Great Britain and its colonies changed their New Year's celebrations to January 1st when they changed from the old Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar in 1751.

How shall we define our actuarial new year?

Read more about it on

Celebrate New Year's Day
Every Month of the Year!