Investments - long-term capital investment for profit.

Investments are an integral part of the modern economy. Investment loans from different levels of risk for the investor (lender) - loan and interest must be repaid in whether express terms regardless of the profitability of the project, investment return and generate revenue only in profitable projects. If the project is unprofitable - investment may be lost fully or partially.

investment activities

Investment activity - making investments and taking action in order to make a profit and (or) to achieve other beneficial effects.

The classification of investments

There are different classifications of investments.

Isolated on the project investment:
Real investment (direct purchase of real capital in various forms):
in the form of tangible assets (fixed assets, land), payment of construction or reconstruction;
- Overhaul of fixed assets;
- Investments in intangible assets: patents, licenses, rights of use, copyrights, trademarks, know-how, human capital (education, training, science) and so on. D.

Financial investments (indirect purchase of capital through financial assets):
- Securities, including through mutual funds;
- Loans;
- Leases (for the lessor).

Speculative investment (purchase of assets solely for the possible changes in the price):
- Currency;
- Precious metals (in the form of unallocated metal accounts);
- Securities (stocks, bonds, certificates of collective investment institutions, and so on. N.).

For the main objectives of investment:
- Direct investment.
- Portfolio investment.
- Real investment.
- Non-financial investment.
- Intelligent investments (c linked training professionals, conducting courses and many others).

By maturity investments:
Short-term (up to one year);
medium-term (1-3 years);
long-term (over 3-5 years).

The form of ownership for investment resources:
- Private;
- State;
- Foreign;
- Mixed.

Risk and reward

Investments are characterized by, among other things, two interrelated parameters: risk and profitability (return). As a rule, the higher the investment risk, the higher the expected return them. To describe the relation between risk and return is often used model CAPM.

The value of investment risk shows the probability of loss of investments and the income from them. The value of the total integral risk consists of seven types of risk: the legislative, political, social, economic, financial, criminal, environmental. In this case, the average risk is assumed to be unity, and actual results may deviate regions.