How to Reduce Your Investment Risk
When it comes to investment, hedging is not a strange word. Though many of you have already heard of the name hedging, not many of you may be able to explain what hedging is. Without the ability to explain the term, I guess you have not yet participated in the hedging world, which actually can be useful to protect yourself. Let us now understand it.
Why there are so many people and well established enterprises use hedging? You need opportunities from investments. But no free lunch, there are risks linked to such investments. To reduce the risks on such investments, many of them choose hedging as one of the methods. There are many different types of hedging products available to cover different types of investments. You can find foreign currency ones, interest rate ones, future ones, options ones and stock price ones.
You have to remember the golden rule that hedging is not a way to help you earn more money. It is a tool to help you reduce the risk. By that, you will invest in two different products that are negatively correlated. The risk is reduced by the offset between the gain and the loss from each of the investment. Or, when investment A is in a gain position, investment is on the contrary a loss position. The gain offsets the loss.
It always makes sense that, the higher the risk, the high the opportunity. When the risk is reduced by hedging, you can expect the highest possible earning to be reduced, too. But on the other hand, as the risk is reduced, when you are losing money, the amount that you are going to lose can be lesser.
Let me give you an example on interest rate swap. If you have a loan from the bank of $100,000 and the bank is charging you a floating interest rate (or market rate). You biggest concern must the increase in interest rate (“interest rate risk”), which than you have to pay more interest. To reduce the interest rate risk, you can enter into an interest rate swap with the bank.
As mentioned, the hedge reduces your risk and at the same time reduces your possible earning. Depending on how much risk that you wish to reduce, you can enter into swap that amounts to exactly $100,000 or you can just enter one that is $50,000. Let us now assume you have entered into a $100,000 interest rate swap that you receive floating interest income.
When the LIBOR increases, the bank will charge you higher interest on the $60,000 loan. This higher interest pay out can be offset by the higher interest income from the interest rate swap. Or, if the LIBOR decreases, the bank will charge you less for interest. But, you will also have lesser interest income from the interest rate swap. For this simple case, you may notice that the hedge is perfect as all the risks are totally offset. But in reality, it is seldom the case. You may still have a little bit gain or a little loss.
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