Instead of comparing them based on the average expected value and the variance, and trying to evaluate the trade-off between them in your head, how about compar

Instead of comparing them based on the average expected value and the variance, and trying to evaluate the trade-off between them in your head, how about comparing them based on the median case, the 40th percentile case, the 30th percentile case. That allows returns and variance to be combined into one number, allowing more intuitive comparison and evaluation of the trade-off.