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What is an 'Investment'


BREAKING DOWN 'Investment'

The building of a factory used to produce goods and the investment one makes by going to college or university are both examples of investments in the economic sense.

In the financial sense investments include the purchase of bonds, stocks or real estate property.

Be sure not to get 'making an investment' and 'speculating' confused. Investing usually involves the creation of wealth whereas speculating is often a zero-sum game; wealth is not created. Although speculators are often making informed decisions, speculation cannot usually be categorized as traditional investing.

  1. Investing

  2. Capital Appreciation

  3. Speculator

  4. Long-Term Investments

  5. Capital Growth

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