Safety-first Ratio

Roy’s Safety first criterion states that the optimal portfolio minimizes the probability that portfolio return, RP, falls below RL.

According to this criteria, we select the portfolio with the highest safety first ratio (SFRatio).

Example

An investor has a minimum threshold of 2%. He has to make a choice between two portfolios A and B.

 Portfolio APortfolio B
E(R)10%15%
s20%25%

According to Roy’s Safety-first criteria, which portfolio should he choose?

SFRatio of Portfolio A = (10-2)/20 = 0.40

SFRatio of Portfolio B = (15-2)/25 = 0.52

According to safety-first criteria, we should select portfolio B. Minimum threshold is 0.40 standard deviations away for portfolio A while it is 0.52 standard deviations away for portfolio B.

Related Downloads

Data Science in Finance: 9-Book Bundle

Data Science in Finance Book Bundle

Master R and Python for financial data science with our comprehensive bundle of 9 ebooks.

What's Included:

  • Getting Started with R
  • R Programming for Data Science
  • Data Visualization with R
  • Financial Time Series Analysis with R
  • Quantitative Trading Strategies with R
  • Derivatives with R
  • Credit Risk Modelling With R
  • Python for Data Science
  • Machine Learning in Finance using Python

Each book includes PDFs, explanations, instructions, data files, and R code for all examples.

Get the Bundle for $29 (Regular $57)
JOIN 30,000 DATA PROFESSIONALS

Free Guides - Getting Started with R and Python

Enter your name and email address below and we will email you the guides for R programming and Python.

Data Science in Finance: 9-Book Bundle

Data Science in Finance Book Bundle

Master R and Python for financial data science with our comprehensive bundle of 9 ebooks.

What's Included:

  • Getting Started with R
  • R Programming for Data Science
  • Data Visualization with R
  • Financial Time Series Analysis with R
  • Quantitative Trading Strategies with R
  • Derivatives with R
  • Credit Risk Modelling With R
  • Python for Data Science
  • Machine Learning in Finance using Python

Each book comes with PDFs, detailed explanations, step-by-step instructions, data files, and complete downloadable R code for all examples.