In the 1983 cult classic Risky Business, a young Tom Cruise discovers that not all risks come with an equal reward – sometimes, the downside can overwhelm even the most enticing upsides.

It’s a crash course in the asymmetric risk-return trade-off, a lesson that many investors still grapple with today: the allure of gains can often blind us to the far heavier weight of potential losses. As in both Hollywood and investing, the stakes are rarely as simple as they seem.