The potential benefits of investing include the growth of your investment, income from your investment, and the potential to sell your investment at a profit. The risks of investing include the loss of your investment, the possibility that your investment will not perform as expected, and the potential for fraud. Here’s our complete list of the benefits and risks of investing:
The potential to make a profit.
This means that your investment could grow in value, which could lead to you selling it at a profit. It is also sometimes wise to stay invested in long term winners.
Inflation.
The value of your investment could go down in real terms over time if inflation goes up. Some investments are protected against inflation. Having equity in businesses with pricing power tends to do well in inflationary environments
Taxes.
You could have to pay taxes on your investment, which could reduce your profit. There’s only 2 sure things in life: death & taxes, right? You can defer taxes by holding investments for the long term and letting a business compound for you. Certain investment vehicles are also tax exempt.
War / Political Instability.
The potential for political instability means that there could be changes in the government that could affect your investment. War is also terrible and poses existential risk to the side that loses.
Economic Downturn
The economy could go into a recession, or worse, a depression. Such periods have negative impacts on the stock market and other assets such as real estate. Picking-up assets during these periods can be a great buying strategy, though.
Interest Rate Changes.
A change in interest rates will impact investments in a few ways. If you have investments cash-flow producing assets like stocks or bonds, all else being equal, the value of your investment will go down as interest rates rise.
The possibility that your investment will not perform as expected.
The possibility that your investment will not perform as expected means that your investment might not grow in value as you expect it to, which could lead to you selling it at a loss.
Competition.
If a company has a monopoly on a product or service, new competitors can drastically affect the stock price. If the company is able to maintain its market share, then the stock price may not be affected as much.
In general, new competitors tend to lower stock prices because they increase the amount of competition in the market. This may make it difficult for the company to maintain its profitability levels.
New Technology
New technologies can disrupt a company business model in a number of ways. They can make it easier for customers to find and compare products and services, which can lead to lower prices and more competition.
They can also allow customers to bypass traditional channels such as retail stores or distributors, which can reduce sales and profits. Additionally, new technologies can create new markets for products and services, which can render existing businesses obsolete.
For the new entrant disrupting the market, there is generally potential gains.
The potential for loss.
The potential for loss means that your investment could lose value, which could lead to you sell and realize your losses.
The possibility of fraud.
The possibility of fraud means that you could be scammed out of your investment, which could lead to you losing all of your money.
When deciding whether or not to invest, it is important to weigh the potential benefits against the potential risks. If the potential benefits outweigh the potential risks, then investing may be a good option for you. However, if the potential risks outweigh the potential benefits, then investing may not be the best option for you.
John Wilson
Founder of Clever Banker, John Wilson has 20 years of experience in publishing, insurance, corporate finance and personal finance. Clever Banker combines all these elements into one.
Born in Vancouver, Canada and now living in Toronto, John holds an MBA from the University of Western Ontario.
“I founded this site to contribute towards improving financial literacy in Canada. It also allows me to write about my favorite topics: finance and investments.”
John manages money from friends and family through TD Direct Investing, National Bank Brokerage, Disnat, Interactive Brokers & Wealthsimple accounts.
He's mostly invested in Canadian stocks, with long-time holdings such as Boyd Group, Constellation Software, MTY Food Group, CCL Industries and Enghouse Systems.
John has personal Canadian taxation notions he draws from having helped friends and family with taxes. He can also handle himself very well in financial modeling exercises, given that he's worked in the corporate finance world earlier in his career.
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