David Coombs: Too little risk is a dangerous thing

My dear old dad recently celebrated his 80th birthday. He retired back in 1981 and has lived off his relatively modest investment portfolio ever since - some 38 years. The first year, his portfolio was managed by the private client department of the bank he had been with since he first opened a chequing account. They shall remain nameless - not least because he had to sack them after 12 months due to poor performance. Thereafter he managed his own money - with the help of Investors Chronicle - until five years ago when he felt that, given I had then racked up 30 years in the business,...