If you really consider it, you will find an extraordinary range of life's situations that can be inherently risky. Nearly everything someone does is some form of gambling. Even with such mundane act of getting up and going to work, increases one's probability of being killed in a transportation accident. In face of today and everything you know about investing, whether it be in business, an asset class (stocks, bonds, real-estate, cash and toto macau commodities), or index fund, even in its most basic element, it's nothing more than "betting" that someday tomorrow is going to be better with pleasant expected returns on investment; or even not. There is only one big risk you should avoid and that's the risk of doing nothing and not taking your chance.

Come to look at it in face value, investing within any money market really is, legalized gambling, per se.