the spirit of the invention for example the system 100 may be implemented in a network configuration with individual workstations connected to a server also other input and output devices may be used as desired for example a remote user could access the server with a desktop computer a laptop utilizing the internet or with a wireless handheld device such as an ipad u2122 iphone u2122 ipod u2122 blackberry u2122 treo u2122 or the like one embodiment of the invention has been designed for use on a stand alone personal computer running in windows microsoft xp vista windows 7 another embodiment of the invention has been designed to run on a linux based server system according to one aspect of the invention it is contemplated that the computer 12 will be operated by a user in an office business trading floor classroom or home setting as illustrated in fig5 and as described in greater detail below the inputs 30 may suitably include a portfolio of investments to be analyzed a factor risk model that covers the assets in said portfolio where said factor risk model has more than one estimate of specific risk and a user selected choice for which specific risk estimate to use the user choice could be to use more than one specific risk estimate if more than one specific risk estimate is chosen then there will be output for each specific risk estimate chosen for example a portfolio manager may wish to see the risk in his portfolio using two distinct specific risk models one with a rapid response to company specific news and unusual daily asset returns the other that.