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risk is inevitable, it is imperative that individuals learn of items that pose themselves as risk and create ways to mitigate them.
risk maps are a cool way to work through risks as a risk manager.

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Definition of Risk Averse

Risk averse refers to investors who prefer lower risk over the high rate of returns. They choose to invest their money to earn a guaranteed return even if it is less so that there remains very little or no risk of loss. Generally, the rate of returns remains the same or exceeds slightly depending upon inflation for risk averse investors.

Explanation

Risk averse describes the attitude of the investors willing to get a guaranteed return. There is always a risk in investment, but it follows that higher returns attract higher risks as well. Some investors don't want to risk their savings getting subsumed with any kind of loss. Hence, they prefer to invest in such investments where they can constantly earn, no matter low or high. These kinds of investors are not attracted by the high rate of return but get facilitated with the idea of earning constantly, and due to their lower risk appetite, they want to take a very low risk.

Example

Consider investments like fixed deposits, certificate deposits, or other fixed-income instruments. These kinds of investments offer fixed returns with no or a very low level of risks. An investor who is risk averse would consider such investments for the portfolio to maintain the risk at the lowest level possible.

Types of Investors Risk Averse

There are three types of investors depending upon their way of dealing with the risks:

Risk averse: Such investors avoid risk as much as they can. They prefer a lower rate of return with no risk rather than a high rate of return with higher risk as they are afraid to bear any kind of loss in their investments.

Risk Neutral: Such investors neither take too much risk nor avoid risks. They take a calculated risk because they don't want to bear heavy losses. They usually take medium risks as they want to get a medium or high rate of return.

Risk Loving: Such investors love to take the risk, and they look at investment as a gamble in which they can earn a huge rate of return or bear huge losses. They are not afraid of the losses because they always get lured by the high rate of returns.

Measures of Risk Averse

Measures of Risk Averse are:

1. Absolute Risk Averse (ARA)

When the risk is high, the curvature of u(c) will also get higher. However, there is a measure 'Arrow-Pratt measure of absolute risk aversion that stays constant with respect to these transformations. It is named Arrow Prat measure after the names of the economists Kenneth Arrow and John W. Pratt. It is defined as

Where,

u ¹ (c) and u n (c) stands for first and second derivatives with respect to (c)

2. Relative Risk Aversion (RRA)

The Arrow-Pratt measure of relative risk aversion (RRA) is defined as

where,

u(c) represents the utility curve as a function of wealth being "c" It is not like ARA whose units are $⁻¹; RRA measure is a dimension-less measure due to which it is applied universally. This measure of risk averse is still valid.

The implication of increasing/decreasing absolute and relative risk aversion: The implication of increasing or decreasing absolute and relative risk aversion helps in the formation of the portfolio with one asset risky and the other asset risk-free. If the investor's wealth increases, then there is an increase in the risk asset; likewise, if there is a decrease in the investor's wealth, then the investor will choose to increase the risk-free assets.

3. Portfolio Theory

According to the theory 'Portfolio Theory, ' risk aversion can be assumed as an extra or additional reward that can be achieved if the investor is ready to take an extra or additional risk. The Portfolio Theory can be defined as.

A=dE(c) / dσ

Advantages

Some of the advantages are given below:

Investment without fear: A risk averse investor can invest without any fear of getting losses as the money invested here provides a guarantee of return. This attracts investors who don't want to bear any kind of loss in investment.

Constant return: Risk averse investors enjoy the constant return on their investment. They get almost the same or similar returns.

Low risk: There is a very low or almost no risk for risk averse investors.

Disadvantages

Some of the disadvantages are given below:

Loss of opportunity: The main fallback of risk averse approach is that the investor loses the opportunity of earning a high return as they are not ready to take any significant risk.

Almost No Increase in Return: The returns which the investors get are almost the same as there is no increment in the return, or a very little increase in return can be seen.

Dependent On Inflation: The increase in the rate of return for risk averse investors is totally dependent on inflation, which means the rate of return increases only when there is inflation in the country.

Conclusion

Every investor has their own preference for investments. Risk averse investors are those people who are not attracted by high return or by a chance of getting a huge profit. They just don't want their investment to bear any kind of loss; they want guaranteed return on investments no matter if the returns are low.

Recommended Articles

This is a guide to Risk Averse. Here we also discuss the definition and types of investors risk averse along with advantages and disadvantages. You may also have a look at the following articles to learn more -

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Risk Averse | Types and Measures of Risk Averse with Advantages

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Risk averse refers to investors who prefer lower risk over the high rate of returns. They choose to invest their money to earn a guaranteed return even if it is less so that there remains very little or no risk of loss.

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Discussion forum: Read case study of AON and identify five risk, quantify these risks and then create a risk map.