{"id":6516,"date":"2017-11-14T08:32:44","date_gmt":"2017-11-14T13:32:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/?p=6516"},"modified":"2017-11-14T12:46:48","modified_gmt":"2017-11-14T17:46:48","slug":"november-19-2017-risk-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/november-19-2017-risk-trust\/","title":{"rendered":"November 19, 2017–Risk and Trust"},"content":{"rendered":"

Faith Lens
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Warm-up Question<\/strong><\/p>\n

What is the riskiest thing you did last week, something that could have cost you time, money, or health.<\/p>\n

Risk and Trust
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The stock market has been booming of late.\u00a0 That has a lot of people excited, but analysts remind us that what goes up will ultimately come down.\u00a0 Investments in the market have potential to make great gains–or lose a lot of their value overnight.\u00a0 Generally speaking, riskier investments have the potential for a higher payoff.\u00a0 Safer investments are less likely to lose their value, but they seldom create vast fortunes.<\/p>\n

Some wonder why you should even be in the market.\u00a0 If you want safety, why not put your money in the proverbial mattress?\u00a0 Not investing has its own risks.\u00a0 If inflation is running at 2.2% (the rate for the past twelve months) and you are not making any interest, you are losing buying power.<\/p>\n

Whether and how you invest in the market is driven by your “risk tolerance.”\u00a0 Some people get very anxious at the prospect of losing any money at all, and they are happy with modest, but steady returns.\u00a0 Others like to roll the dice and see if they can score big gains, living with possibility that they will see big ups and down over the short run.<\/p>\n

Discussion Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n