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BUDGETING START-UP COSTS > A Business Budget > Business Risk > Time Value of Money > Risk and Return

Risk and Return 
Save & Invest 

What’s "Risk"?

When you’re talking about investing, there is risk that you could lose some or even all of your investment.

What’s "Return"?

It’s the income plus any gain in value of your investment from the time you buy to the time you sell, including earnings and profit (or loss) when you sell.

What’s the link between risk and return ?  The risk is the chance that you will lose some or all of your investment.  The return is the amount of money that you might gain on the investment.  Risk and return should be weighed carefully.  Know how much you can afford to lose before you take on investment risk.

Some types of investments have a higher risk than others. Investing money in different types of investments helps protect you against some of that risk. That’s a technique called diversification.

Back to Investing Basics


 Did You Know?

Historically money has grown more when it was invested over the long term than when it was saved for the same period. That’s because markets may go up and down over time, but have generally gone up over the long term. It’s also why people continue investing despite the possible risks.