Investing is often seen as risky, but the level of risk depends on what the investment is and what it is for. Risks associated with investing include total loss, volatility, uncompensated risk, skewness, and inflation. To assess the risk of an investment, an investor should consider their time horizon and their tolerance for volatility. For an investor with a long time horizon and strong tolerance for volatility, the level of risk will be lower, but volatility should still not be ignored.