Answer:
Backed by the U.S. government, these financial instruments are short-term debt obligations with a maturity of less than one year. They are considered risk-free investments. US TREASURY BILLS or T-Bills are short term investments that are extremely secure, and lately provide a slightly higher yield than longer securities backed by the US government.
Issued by corporations, these unsecured debt instruments are used to fund corporate short-term financing requirements. If issued by a financially strong company, they have less risk. COMMERCIAL PAPERS or promissory notes issued by corporations that have a maturity date of less than a year.
These financial instruments are investment pools that buy such short-term debt instruments as Treasury bills (T-bills), certificates of deposit (CDs), and commercial paper. They can be easily liquidated. MONEY MARKET MUTUAL FUNDS have the advantage of requiring low amounts for initial investments. Most of them require less than $2,000 to start investing with them, and some even require smaller amounts. They are considered very safe investments due to high portfolio diversification.
Issued by corporations, these instruments can have maturities from 1-40 years. The risk depends on the financial strength of the issuing corporation. CORPORATE BONDS are basically long term debt notes issued by corporations. They usually provide an annual or semi-annual coupon payment determined by the bond's interest rate. They are safer than stocks because in case something goes wrong with the corporation, bondholders are paid first.