Brian Beers is a digital editor, writer, Emmy-nominated producer, and content expert with 15+ years of experience writing about corporate finance & accounting, fundamental analysis, and investing.

Standard deviation is a metric that shows the variability of a security’s returns over time. It can be used to gauge volatility based on past performance and compare a future return to past returns.

I was preparing for my early morning class back in January 2025 when I received a notice regarding an asteroid called 2024 YR4. It said the probability it could hit Earth was unusually high. As ...