We are often told that equity investments are subject to risk. What is this risk? It means earning less than what you expected from a given investment or losing part of what you invested. When it comes to investments we only talk about returns. We say: the higher the risk the higher the return. How easy it would be then to assess a mutual fund if they published, along with their returns performance, the risks involved in earning such returns. For example, a fund gave 25% return by risking losing your capital to the extent of 5% , and another gave 50% return by taking the risk of losing 100% of your capital. In the absence of risk figures, you would rate the fund that gave 60% return as better than the one that gave the 25% return. However, within the risk parameter, you would prefer a fund that risks 5% of your capital to one that risks 100% of it.
Investors solicit advice in brevity: tell us what to buy or sell, they say. But we cannot make a significant amount of money if we avoid taking risks. Risk is also an opportunity, but it should be a calculated risk you take. If the fear of losing makes you leave the money idle or put in low-return instruments, then inflation will devalue it. Hence, investment is must, and the risks associated with it must to be understood.