What is Investment: definition, meaning, types, examples (2024)

What is Investment?

An investment is an asset or item accrued with the goal of generating income or recognition. In an economic outlook, an investment is the purchase of goods that are not consumed today but are used in the future to generate wealth. In finance, an investment is a financial asset bought with the idea that the asset will provide income further or will later be sold at a higher cost price for a profit.

Investment is elucidated and defined as an addition to the stockpile of physical capital such as:

  • Machinery
  • Buildings
  • Roads etc.,

i.e. anything that sums up to the future productive ability of the economy and changes in the catalogue (or the stock of finished commodities) of a manufacturer. Note that investment commodities (such as machines) are also part of the final commodities – they are not intermediate commodities like raw materials. Machines manufactured in an economy in a given year are not ‘used up’ to produce other commodities but yield their services over a number of years.

Investment decisions by manufacturers, such as whether to buy new machinery, rely to a large extent, on the market place rate of interest. However, for simplicity, we presume here that enterprises plan to invest the same amount every year. We can write the ex-ante investment demand as:

I = ī

Whereas, ī is a positive constant which represents the autonomous (given or exogenous) investment in the economy in a given year.

1 Mark Questions

Q.1-Define Investment.
Ans:

It refers to the expenditure incurred by producers on the purchase of capital goods such as machinery, plant, etc.

Q.2-What is Autonomous Investment?
Ans:

It refers to the investment which is made irrespective of income level. Instead of profit maximisation, it is made for social welfare. In general, it is made by the government.

Q.3-What is Induced Investment?
Ans:

It refers to the investment which is made to earn profits. It is directly affected by a change in the income level.

Q.4-State the Determinants of Investment.
Ans:

Marginal Efficiency of Investments (MEI) and Rate of Interest.

Or

Rate of Return on Investment and Rate of Interest (i.e. Cost of Investments).

Q.5-Out of Induced Investment and Autonomous Investment, Which One is Influenced by the Level of Income?
Ans:

Induced investment.

Q.6-Will a Firm Invest, if Its Marginal Efficiency of Investment is 10% and the Rate of Interest is 15%?
Ans:

No, because of MEI<ROI.

Q.7-Give the Meaning of Ex-ante Saving.
Ans:

It refers to the savings amount of households (or savers) plan to save at different levels of Income in the economy.

Q.8-Give the Meaning of Ex-ante Investments.
Ans:

It refers to the amount of money which firms plan to invest at different levels of income in the economy.

Q.9-What Do You Understand by Ex-post Saving?
Ans:

It refers to the realised or actual investment in an economy during a year.

Q.10-Will Ex-ante Saving Always Be Equal to the Ex-ante Investment?
Ans:

NO

Q.11- What Do You Understand by Ex-post Investment?
Ans:

It refers to the realised or actual investment in an economy during a year.

The above mentioned is the concept that is explained in detail about Investment for Class 12 Macroeconomics. To know more, stay tuned to BYJUS.

What is Investment: definition, meaning, types, examples (2024)

FAQs

What is Investment: definition, meaning, types, examples? ›

The meaning of investment is putting your money into an asset that can grow in value or produce income or both. For example, you can buy equity stock of a listed company in the hopes of receiving regular dividends and capital appreciation in the form of the share price.

What is investment meaning and types of investment? ›

What do you mean by Investment? Investment definition is an asset acquired or invested in to build wealth and save money from the hard earned income or appreciation. Investment meaning is primarily to obtain an additional source of income or gain profit from the investment over a specific period of time.

What are the six 6 different types of investment? ›

There are various types of investments: stocks, bonds, mutual funds, index funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and options.

What is the meaning and types of investment function? ›

The investment function is a summary of the variables that influence the levels of aggregate investments. It can be formalized as follows: I=f(r,ΔY,q) - + + where r is the real interest rate, Y the GDP and q is Tobin's q.

What are the basic definitions in investing? ›

Investing is putting your money into assets, such as stocks or bonds, with the expectation that your money will grow. That's it.

Which is the best definition of investment? ›

Meaning of investment in English. the act of putting money, effort, time, etc. into something to make a profit or get an advantage, or the money, effort, time, etc.

What are the four most common types of investments? ›

Bonds, stocks, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, are four basic types of investment options.

What investment makes the most money? ›

The U.S. stock market is considered to offer the highest investment returns over time. Higher returns, however, come with higher risk. Stock prices typically are more volatile than bond prices. Stock prices over shorter time periods are more volatile than stock prices over longer time periods.

What is the best first investment? ›

High-yield savings accounts, money market accounts and certificates of deposit have recently started offering yields above 5% annually. Bonds may provide slightly higher yields than savings accounts. Stocks are the most risky investments, but they can provide higher returns over the long term.

Why do people invest? ›

Investing can bring you many benefits, such as helping to give you more financial independence. As savings held in cash will tend to lose value because inflation reduces their buying power over time, investing can help to protect the value of your money as the cost of living rises.

What is the best way to explain investment? ›

Investing is the act of distributing resources into something to generate income or gain profits. The type of investment you choose might likely depend on what you seek to gain and how sensitive you are to risk. Assuming little risk generally yields lower returns, and assuming high risk typically yields higher returns.

What is the 5 rule of investing? ›

This sort of five percent rule is a yardstick to help investors with diversification and risk management. Using this strategy, no more than 1/20th of an investor's portfolio would be tied to any single security. This protects against material losses should that single company perform poorly or become insolvent.

How does investment work? ›

Investing is the act of buying financial assets with the potential to increase in value, such as stocks, bonds, or shares in Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) or mutual funds. Investments are not guaranteed to hold or increase their value over time.

What is investing and why is it important? ›

Investing is an effective way to put your money to work and potentially build wealth. Smart investing may allow your money to outpace inflation and increase in value. The greater growth potential of investing is primarily due to the power of compounding and the risk-return tradeoff.

What are the different types of investment real? ›

There are five main categories of real estate which include residential, commercial, industrial, raw land, and special use. Investing in real estate includes purchasing a home, rental property, or land. Indirect investment in real estate can be made via REITs or through pooled real estate investment.

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