purchasing power risk

Purchasing power risk

Related: Inflation risk

---

purchasing power risk

The risk that unexpected changes in consumer prices will penalize an investor's real return from holding an investment. Because investments from gold to bonds and stock are priced to include expected inflation rates, it is the unexpected changes that produce this risk. Fixed income securities, such as bonds and preferred stock, subject investors to the greatest amount of purchasing power risk since their payments are set at the time of issue and remain unchanged regardless of the inflation rate.