The Benefits And Risks Of Investing

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 means that your investment might not grow in value as you expect it to, which could lead to you selling it at a loss.

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 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 means that your investment could lose value, which could lead to you sell and realize your losses.

The possibility of fraud means that you could be scammed out of your investment, which could lead to you losing all of your money.