Guaranteed Investment Returns Are Not Risk-Free

Raising fear in the age of mispriced risk.

We will make you ornaments of gold
With studs of silver.
—Song of Solomon

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Today's shell shocked investor apparently desires a guaranteed fixed return — albeit smaller — rather than some promise for far greater gains...




Now, should the fact that, no one wonders what risk could put in jeopardy a "guaranteed" return dissuade one from considering this risk in the midst of profoundly precarious financial conditions as exist today? After all, has not the current desire for fixed returns, indeed, been driven by considerable vulnerabilities already exposed? Have no doubt. Our highly leveraged, global financial system is increasingly strained, thus making any financial guarantee prospectively ephemeral.

—Tom Chechatka