This article was published on 8 October 2020. Some information may be out of date.

What is investment risk and what can you do about it?

New free booklet I wrote: Hits and Myths — an introductory guide to investing — at fma.govt.nz

Today we look at one of the booklet’s 8 Myths About Investing: “Investing is too risky”. Types of risk:

  • You won’t get the return you want because of inflation
  • You won’t get the return you want because of volatility
  • You’ll lose some or all of your money

Importance of diversification

You can also watch a webinar I did with FMA on investing, at fma.govt.nz

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Mary Holm, ONZM, is a freelance journalist, a seminar presenter and a bestselling author on personal finance. She is a director of Financial Services Complaints Ltd (FSCL) and a former director of the Financial Markets Authority. Her opinions are personal, and do not reflect the position of any organisation in which she holds office. Mary’s advice is of a general nature, and she is not responsible for any loss that any reader may suffer from following it. Send questions to [email protected] or click here. Letters should not exceed 200 words. We won’t publish your name. Please provide a (preferably daytime) phone number. Unfortunately, Mary cannot answer all questions, correspond directly with readers, or give financial advice.