When you invest, you make choices about what to do with your financial assets.
Risk is any uncertainty with respect to your investments that has the potential to negatively affect your financial welfare.
For example, your investment value might rise or fall because of market conditions (market risk). Corporate decisions, such as whether to expand into a new area of business or merge with another company, can affect the value of your investments (business risk). If you own an international investment, events within that country can affect your investment (political risk and currency risk, to name two).
There are other types of risk. How easy or hard it is to cash out of an investment when you need to is called liquidity risk. Another risk factor is tied to how many or how few investments you hold. Generally speaking, the more financial eggs you have in one basket, say all your money in a single stock, the greater risk you take (concentration risk).
In short, risk is the possibility that a negative financial outcome that matters to you might occur.
There are several key concepts you should understand when it comes to investment risk.
RISK AND REWARD
The level of risk associated with a particular investment or asset class typically correlates with the level of return the investment might achieve.
The rationale behind this relationship is that investors willing to take on risky investments and potentially lose money should be rewarded for their risk.
In the context of investing, reward is the possibility of higher returns.
Historically, stocks have enjoyed the most robust average annual returns over the long term (just over 10 percent per year), followed by corporate bonds (around 6 percent annually), Treasury bonds (5.5 percent per year) and cash/cash equivalents such as short-term Treasury bills (3.5 percent per year). The trade-off is that with this higher return comes greater risk: as an asset class, stocks are riskier than corporate bonds, and corporate bonds are riskier than Treasury bonds or bank savings products.
EXCEPTIONS ABOUND
Although stocks have historically provided a higher return than bonds and cash investments (albeit, at a higher level of risk), it is not always the case that stocks outperform bonds or that bonds are lower risk than stocks.
Both stocks and bonds involve risk, and their returns and risk levels can vary depending on the prevailing market and economic conditions and the manner in which they are used.
So, even though target-date funds are generally designed to become more conservative as the target date approaches, investment risk exists throughout the lifespan of the fund.
AVERAGES AND VOLATILITY
While historic averages over long periods can guide decision-making about risk, it can be difficult to predict (and impossible to know) whether, given your specific circumstances and with your particular goals and needs, the historical averages will play in your favour.
Even if you hold a broad, diversified portfolio of stocks such as the S&P 500 for an extended period of time, there is no guarantee that they will earn a rate of return equal to the long-term historical average.
The timing of both the purchase and sale of an investment are key determinants of your investment return (along with fees). But while we have all heard the adage, “buy low and sell high,” the reality is that many investors do just the opposite. If you buy a stock or stock mutual fund when the market is hot and prices are high, you will have greater losses if the price drops for any reason compared with an investor who bought at a lower price. That means your average annualized returns will be less than theirs, and it will take you longer to recover.
RISK AND TIME
Based on historical data, holding a broad portfolio of stocks over an extended period of time (for instance a large-cap portfolio like the S&P 500 over a 20-year period) significantly reduces your chances of losing your principal.
However, the historical data should not mislead investors into thinking that there is no risk in investing in stocks over a long period of time.
>>Example: Suppose an investor invests $10,000 in a broadly diversified stock portfolio and 19 years later sees that portfolio grow to $20,000. The following year, the investor’s portfolio loses 20 percent of its value, or $4,000, during a market downturn. As a result, at the end of the 20-year period, the investor ends up with a $16,000 portfolio, rather than the $20,000 portfolio she held after 19 years. Money was made—but not as much as if shares were sold the previous year. That’s why stocks are always risky investments, even over the long-term. They don’t get safer the longer you hold them.
This is not a hypothetical risk. If you had planned to retire in the 2008 to 2009 timeframe—when stock prices dropped by 57 percent—and had the bulk of your retirement savings in stocks or stock mutual funds, you might have had to reconsider your retirement plan.
Investors should also consider how realistic it will be for them to ride out the ups and downs of the market over the long-term.
> Will you have to sell stocks during an economic downturn to fill the gap caused by a job loss?
> Will you sell investments to pay for medical care or a child’s college education?
Predictable and unpredictable life events might make it difficult for some investors to stay invested in stocks over an extended period of time.