Alice is a retired 75-year-old who has $500,000 after selling her small business and paying taxes on the sale. She wants to invest this money. Alice would like the capital to rise faster than inflation to maintain the purcchasing power of her wealth. However, she would also like to make low-risk investments and have easy access to at least $50,000 per year for the next five years.

Explain in general how stocks, bonds, funds, futures, debts, and other investment instruments are traded in financial markets.