Every time I hear the term "risk-free rate" it drives me crazy. That is an insane term. Can't believe we've let it spread this far.

entrepreneur, writer, and former professional chef / mylessnider.com

Why? In what context? It’s a theoretical benchmark, in reality no investment is entirely risk free.

tricks with polynomials. Computational monadologist. Prev: ML HealthCareInc 🦄 | R&D PeopleFund | AI & Stats lecturer

"in reality no investment is entirely risk free." 

My point exactly..

I understand it's widely used, and I see what you're saying. But I just think it's an odd term because it doesn't describe reality. It's a semantics issue. 

But I understand nothing about my complaints will change things so I am simply screaming into the void.

It’s literally a theoretical benchmark useful for a lot of things:
- minimum threshold for investment returns
- assessing the risk premium of other investments 
- calculating present value of future cash flows (like in DCF models)
- foundation of CAPM equation
- used in black-scholes and other option pricing models
- sharpe ratio calculation 
- WACC calculation 
- bond valuations
- VaR calculations
I could go on…