Every investment has three key characteristics - Expected Return, Risk and Marketability. Expected Return refers to the amount of interest, dividends or capital gains that you expect to receive from your investment. As noted before, there is a direct correlation between expected return and risk. The higher the expected return, the greater the risk. Risk is the possibility that you could lose some of, all of, or more than your principal investment, or that you could earn less return from the investment than you expected.
Every investment has some degree of risk.
At the low end of the risk spectrum are investments like government treasury bills and Canada Savings Bonds. At the higher end are investments like futures and shares of junior venture companies. Term deposits are an example of an illiquid investment, since you generally can't withdraw your money before the end of the term without paying a significant penalty. Many other investments, such as mutual funds or listed securities, are very marketable because they can be quickly sold or redeemed on short notice and at low cost. Marketability is an important factor to be considered when selecting your investments.