• The efficient frontier includes investment portfolios that offer the highest expected return for a given level of risk.

  • The standard deviation of portfolio returns measures investment risk and the persistence of investment returns.
  • Less covariance between portfolio securities results in a smaller portfolio standard deviation.
  • Successful optimization of the return and risk paradigm should place the portfolio on the frontier of efficiency.
  • Optimal portfolios that make up the efficiency frontier usually exhibit a higher degree of diversification.