Risk Wrap-Up Investment risk isn't an easy notion to get a handle on. There are myriad different risks that investors face, as well as many different ways to measure such risks.
Investors often talk about risk, but they frequently talk past each other.
This article is the first in a series of Investing 101 features on investment risk and volatility. Later installments will focus on the various ways to quantify risk and volatility. However, before diving into the mathematics of risk measurement, we'd like to lay the groundwork with the absolute basics and consider what exactly the risks are that investors face. Some of these risks may seem absurdly obvious, but it's important to consider them. And, in some cases, it's possible to lose it all.