California real estate lending hardly seems riskless today, but Mr. Jolson says First Republic's management is savvy and cautious.
The coupon yield on a bond is usually considered a relatively riskless rate of return.
If you have a stable base, you can get a stable, more or less riskless income.
Still, the equity premium over "riskless" investing in Treasury Bills came to 6.5 percent a year.
The chance to generate "riskless capital gains" is a real deal for investors with big capital losses or tax loss carry-forwards, says William E. Donoghue, publisher of Donoghue's Money Letter.
Had that person put the money in a relatively riskless savings account earning just over 5 percent annually, the after-tax, after-inflation profit might have been more than double that.