A stock is an equity or share you buy of a given company that can be sold on a stock exchange. Stocks generally offer the potential for growth, but they also come with additional risk and volatility. Bonds are debt securities you purchase from an organization like a government entity. Generally, once you buy the bond, the organization pays interest on the investment for a set period of time until the maturity date. Then, you receive the full amount of the initial investment. Bonds with longer durations will be more sensitive to changes in interest rates, while corporate bonds will be riskier than those issued by the U.S. Treasury.