If you really consider it, you will find an amazing number of life's situations which are inherently risky. Nearly everything someone does is some type of gambling. Even with such mundane act of getting up and going to work, increases one's chances of being killed in a transportation accident. In face of today and everything you know about investing, whether it is in business, an asset class (stocks, bonds, toto 4d real-estate, cash and commodities), or index fund, even in its most basic element, it's nothing more than "betting" that someday tomorrow will probably be better with pleasant expected returns on investment; or maybe not. There is only one big risk you should avoid and that is the risk of doing nothing and not taking your chance.

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