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21 Types of Investment

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An investment is a means of putting capital to work to create value. This concept is often extended to include speculation, or the process of trying to gain wealth by guessing about prices. Investments are the key to economic productivity as they allocate capital to productive uses. They are also the key to gaining and preserving wealth for purposes such as retirement and education. The following are fundamental types of investment.
Annuities
Business Ownership
Certificates of Deposit
Commodities
Corporate Bonds
Exchange-Traded Funds (ETF)
Foreign Currency Accounts
Gold
Land
Memorabilia, Art and Collectibles
Money Market Accounts
Mutual Funds
Real Estate
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)
Retirement Plans
Savings Accounts
Silver
Small Businesses
Startups e.g. venture capital
Stocks
Treasury Bonds
Non-productive assets such as gold, silver, memorabilia, art and collectibles can store value but don't produce value. In fact, they may be expensive to secure and maintain.
Cash equivalents such as savings accounts are investments where they earn interest. Otherwise, they are stores of value.
From a business perspective, the purchase of capital such as a machine, building or computer is an investment.
From a personal perspective, costs for education can be viewed as an investment in yourself.
Overview: Investment
Type
Definition (1)
A means of putting capital to work to create value.
Definition (2)
A means of storing and creating value.
Related Concepts

Investment

This is the complete list of articles we have written about investment.
Animal Spirits
Arbitrage
Behavioral Finance
Bias For Action
Business Cycle
Business Risks
Calculated Risk
Capital Flight
Capitulation
Cascading Failure
Channel Check
Competitive Advantage
Cost Of Capital
Creative Destruction
Curse Of First
Deflation
Do Nothing Strategy
Economic Problems
Economics
Efficient Market Hypothesis
Enterprise Value
Falling Knife
Fear Of Missing Out
Financial Analysis
Greater Fool Theory
Home Bias
Inflation Risk
Information Asymmetry
Information Cascade
Information Costs
Insider Information
Investing Risk
Investing Strategy
Investment
Invisible Hand
Irrational Exuberance
Liquidity Risk
Logical Error
Market Cap
Market Conditions
Market Failure
Model Risk
Moment Of Risk
Mr Market
Net Present Value
Noise Traders
Revenue Growth
Risk Avoidance
Risk Management
Risk Of Ruin
Risk Tolerance
Risk-Reward Ratio
Rule Of Three
Self-Defeating Predictability
Short Selling
Smart Money
Speculation
Speculative Bubbles
Trade War
Uneconomic Growth
Unknown Risks
Upside Risk
Value Investing
Value Trap
Wealth
Zero-sum Game
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