I've never heard anyone say, ‘The prospective return isn't high enough to warrant bearing all that volatility.’ What they fear is the possibility of permanent loss.” Now volatility, to be sure, can cause permanent loss, because it can put investors in a situation where they choose, or are forced, to crystallize losses by selling after a drop.
Unfortunately, volatility’s ease of measurement has put it at the center of risk management, leading to all sorts of problems when, as in 2008, we get unprecedented volatility and correlation, leading to permanent loss which was never predicted by the risk management systems and experts in charge.
2. A volatile investment is more risky.
