Reinvestment Risk

Definition of 'Reinvestment Risk'

The risk that future coupons from a bond will not be reinvested at the prevailing interest rate when the bond was initially purchased.

• Reinvestment risk is more likely when interest rates are declining.
• Reinvestment risk affects the yield-to-maturity of a bond, which is calculated on the premise that all future coupon payments will be reinvested at the interest rate in effect when the bond was first purchased. 
• Zero coupon bonds are the only fixed-income instruments to have no reinvestment risk, since they have no interim coupon payments.  

Investopedia explains 'Reinvestment Risk'

Two factors that have a bearing on the degree of reinvestment risk are:

• Maturity of the bond - The longer the maturity of the bond, the higher the likelihood that interest rates will be lower than they were at the time of the bond purchase.
• Interest rate on the bond - The higher the interest rate, the bigger the coupon payments that have to be reinvested, and consequently the reinvestment risk.

Read more: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/reinvestmentrisk.asp#ixzz1yNSI15fi