preview

Investing Smart

Good Essays

In the United States, a society plagued by capitalism, investing has become a way of life. To most Americans it begins with opening a savings account and slowly allowing that money to grow through the compounded interest rate over the years. While it may not seem like a big step in generating more income, nonetheless, this is a positive movement in the market of investments. With the many types of investments available knowing which are reliable, or safe, or yield good returns, are just some of the questions on the investors mind. Within each asset class there are investments to suit different kinds of risk, duration, returns and liquidity.

Bank savings account, as stated before, is the simplest kind of short-term investment. The …show more content…

When the market interest rate declines this makes bonds more valuable and visa-versa when the interest rate increases the bond becomes less valuable. Since the market price is unpredictable this makes long-term bonds more risky. Since the long-term bonds are more risky they produce on average higher returns.

Investment in shares of corporate stock is also very popular that can produce a great amount of profit. By investing in shares of a firm listed on a stock exchange, the investor owns part of the company and also gets the right to share in the future income of the company. Returns on stock come in two ways; first, dividends are paid out of the profit accumulated by the company over a year. Secondly, the investor can sell his or her shares of stock for more than originally paid. Gains may reflect that the company over time has grown or improved or that the investment society sees future prospects. But then capital losses can also occur. The price of shares listed for a company can vary from day to day. On a given day some shares may go up in value and some may go down in vale, depending on how investors view the prospects of each company. Also rises and falls in economic confidence or changes in a particular industry may cause the value of stocks to rise or either fall. There are ranges of factors, which influence stock prices on a daily basis stocks cannot be accurately predicted. Shares of stocks are riskier than

Get Access