      If this same investor picked stocks on his or her own, he or she mighthave either beaten the S&P or fallen short of it. Even if the investor beatthe S&P, the relative risk that he or she took to lock in a greater returnmay have outstripped the return itself. For example, if an investor goes toLas Vegas each year with $ 100,000 to play a maximum of two handsofblackjack as his annual investment strategy, he is taking on considerablerisk. Let's say that the investor gets blackjack on the first $100,000hand. He wins $150,000. Then, on the second hand, he bets $100,000, busts,and goes home. For the year, the investor made a 50 percent return on hiscapital, which is pretty good by any standard. However, the risk that hetook to realize that return far outstripped the realized return.