Portfolio risk software can be a highly useful tool that substantially increases the amount of investment returns you can generate in your portfolio over time. This is something most investors don’t get from their brokers or portfolio managers, yet you can purchase and run it yourself for less than a single share of stock!Here is how this technique works: First, you input your current portfolio’s stocks, bonds, etc. You may need to download or upload some historical market data as well (this is usually the case). This is pretty easy and you can get most of this data for free from Yahoo Finance, Google, etc.Once you have your current positions and historical data in the portfolio risk software, you select your universe of potential other investments available to you. This is the “what if” part of the process the software will use to decide which stocks or bonds are better suited than others, and in what quantities. There may be another data step here as well. One of the easiest ways to do this is to use a bunch of ETFs to act as substitutes for specific stocks or bonds.The next step depends on what you want to accomplish. If you want to create an optimized portfolio, you can tell the software to do a simulation to find the right investments to add or subtract. If you want to find out what might happen if you added 1000 shares of stock X, then select the “what if” computation. If you want to see how your portfolio performed against a benchmark such as the Nikkei 225 or a Gold ETF, you can select the benchmarking analysis. Finally, if you want to know how much your portfolio is likely to gain or lose over a single day, week, or month, you can select the Value at Risk or Expected Return option.Portfolio risk software can be purchased for very little investment, yet it can help generate excellent risk-adjusted returns over time and limit your losses in stressed market conditions. Software packages range from under $25 to over $100,000, depending the type of user you are. For the individual investor, analyst, or student, it’s often best to start on the lower end. There are several tools available for Excel, or as standalone applications that can really help your investing success by providing the analytical capabilities used by Wall Street portfolio managers. If you could increase the probabilities of high returns with limited losses, it could have a tremendous effect on your retirement portfolio over long periods, even if you only get 1% extra per year!Considering the highly effective uses and limited costs, it’s well worth trying out a portfolio risk software package.