What Are Short- Term Investments? Short- term investments, also known as marketable securities or temporary investments, are fiscal investments that can fluently be converted to cash, generally within five times. numerous short- term investments are vended or converted to cash after a period of only three- 12 months. Some common exemplifications of short- term investments include CDs, plutocrat request accounts, high- yield savings accounts, government bonds, and Treasury bills. Generally, these investments are high- quality and largely liquid means or investment vehicles.