There is a very definite and unbreakable connection between risk and reward. Choose a financial instrument that helps provide greater potential returns, and you inevitably increase the degree that your money will be subject to investment loss. If instead you chose safety and protection over growth, expect the compromise of lower rates of return. Many retirees become frustrated as they search for the "perfect" investment that breaks this rigid risk and reward connection. Any time you hear of people getting taken advantage of and becoming the targets of fraud and financial abuse, it is typically because they wanted to believe there is some magical way to get high returns with no risk. Unfortunately, such excellence does not exist in the world of investing. And the more a person searches for this false perfection and refuses to recognize the unyielding relationship between risk and reward, the harder it will be to achieve retirement security.