1. Explain the difference between required rate of return and expected rate of return. If they are different at a specific point in time, what does it mean? 2. What is the difference between an expected return and a total holding period return? 3. How does investing in more than one asset reduce risk through diversification?

The answers to the questions are provided below.

Explanation:

1. The Required Rate of Return(RRR) is the absolute minimum return on an investment that an individual or firm would accept for the investment to be considered worthwhile. The required rate of return helps in deciding whether an investment is worth the cost or not.

An expected rate of return helps in knowing out how much one can expect to make from an investment. An expected rate of return is the return on investment that an individual or firm expects to make when investing in a stock.

The RRR is the least possible rate which would entice someone to invest while the expected rate of return is what the person plan to make from that investment and its calculation is based on probability.

When there is difference between the required rate of return and expected rate of return for an asset at a specific period of time, it means that the economic conditions aren't normal as there is either inflation or deflation in the market.

2. The holding period return is the total return gotten from holding an asset over a particular period of time which is known as the “holding” period while the expected return is the return based on probability-weighted average of likely returns from an investment.

3. Diversification is a technique that is applied to reduce risk through the allocation of investments among several financial instrument and industries. Diversification aims to maximize the returns through investment in different sectors because each sector will likely react differently when there's a risk. Investing in more than one asset through diversification is essential because each asset will react differently when a risk occurs.