As a physician, you know that almost any medication or procedure carries some risk. As an investor, the same holds true.

Even the broadest portfolio entails some peril, notes The Washington Post. But risk comes in two forms: market or systematic risk, and idiosyncratic or extra risk.

You can’t avoid market risk. Over the past 75 years, the Post says, market risk, as measured in standard deviation, has hovered around 20%. Think of it this way: In two-thirds of the years, the S&P’s annual return has ranged between a loss of 9% and a gain of 31%. That’s the risk you have to live with if you invest in stocks.

There are things we can control and others we cannot. Financial risk adheres to this actuality-there are controllable and uncontrollable risks. Successful physician-investors must be able to identify the difference between the two types before they can take advantage of the opportunities presented by learning to manage risk well.

Collaborative Investing is an investment research philosophy that I have followed for 11 years. It has proven its worth time and time again. Essentially, it is uniting the knowledge base of industry experts — practitioners in specific industries with a working knowledge of products — with your financial expertise.

Some ideas are so obvious it takes a genius to think of them.

Steven Abernathy does not claim to be a financial genius, but he is quick to call you a fool if you think you can beat his investments. Yet it is not a matter of pride; in fact, he needs your help.

These solid choices from Wall Street’s savviest minds will see you through any short-term market setbacks.

Some physicians are finding their clinical knowledge can be as valuable in the marketplace as it is in the hospital or examining room. They’re partnering with investment specialists to identify companies with promising new medical products.

For some, the results have been spectacular. From Jan. 1, 1991, through Dec. 31, 1995, physician investors pursuing an aggressive growth strategy with fund manager Steven Abernathy at New York investment house Cowen & Co. have seen their money grow by more than 1,000%. That’s among the highest rates of return for any money manager on Wall Street, according to Barron’s, about 10 times the growth in the Standard & Poor’s 500 during the same period.

Being a physician can be lucrative—so what you do with your money may be as important as how you earn it, especially because managed care has tightened the financial screws. But you play the Big Board and dabble in some mutual funds that a colleague recommended; so your money is working for you. Right?

Actually, it is doubtful that your portfolio is performing as well as it could be. “The usual mistake that physicians make is that they are so successful in so many areas—they are successful economically, academically and professionally—they think that their expertise should naturally extend to financial investments,” said Dr. Louis Mitchell, an anesthesiologist from Lubbock, Tex.

When Steven H. Abernathy talks about interactive investing, those who knew him in his former career might flinch. But the boxer-turned-money manager’s idea of a useful contact has changed dramatically since the early 1980s.

Rather than relishing a good right jab, the contact he now values is bouncing ideas off the healthcare and technology professionals that invest in the Steven Abernathy Group.

The bumpy stock market has thrown some high-tech investors off the track in the past year. But Steven Abernathy is not one of them.

Mr. Abernathy, hired several years ago to form his own investor group at Cowen & Co., specializes in what he calls “Interactive InvestingTM” for technology and healthcare professionals.

In this case, interactive isn’t a new-media game. It refers to Mr. Abernathy’s reliance on the industry insight of leading technology and media executives, many of whom set the trends and the agendas at their companies.

In the ever-evolving dictionary of financial terms, Steven Abernathy of Cowen & Company’s Steven Abernathy Group has added a new entry – Interactive Investing. The concept implies proactive interaction between the investment manager and their investing clients for identifying and researching investment opportunities. Abernathy Group, consisting of a partner of Cowen & Company, and his research, investment and marketing teams, uses these techniques to manage $80 million worth of assets of which $45 million are in three hedge fund like composite strategies.