It is part of life, and part of the investment process. Any investor that thinks he has banished risk is just fooling himself. He has traded one risk he understands for another he doesn't. Or sometimes investors simply choose to ignore some risks. In particular, investors often underestimate or ignore the devastation that inflation can cause on a fixed income.
Inflation is like a slow-growing cancer.
At first you may not notice it, but eventually it will kill you. Each risk can be mitigated and managed using well-defined techniques. The trick is to manage your portfolio to achieve the maximum level of return at any level of risk you are willing to accept, achieve your goals with the least risk possible, and develop a strategy that has the highest possible probability of success. Most investors are risk-averse. You can take lots more risk than what we advocate here.