Before you plan any of your financial investments, you need to know what are the sources you can you can look upon. Various financial assets come into picture before making any investment. Following are some of the financial assets for investment that you can focus on:
Property Investments in India have normally been a gold mine for most investors. The growth and development of cities across the country have added fuel to the rise in prices across the country. According to a survey conducted by ASSOCHAM, 65% of working individuals prefer real estate as a mode of long term investment.
Property prices in India have increased by 16.5% in the last year according to a study by Makaan.com. The question now for investors is how best to benefit from investments in realty; whether to look at investments directly in property or route the investments to real estate companies that are listed on the stock markets.
Securities:
Here is a list of the main types of investment securities:
- Bond: A bond is a type of loan or debt security for a certain period for which the issuer pays interest at a predetermined rate. Bonds can be issued by credit institutions, government agencies, corporations and public authorities.
- Equities: Also known as shares, this pertains to the amount of ownership you buy in a company. The general public usually opts for equities.
- Derivatives: These are financial instruments that drive their value from direct securities, such as equities and bonds.
Commodities:
whether they are related to food, energy or metals, are an important part of everyday life. Similarly, commodities can be an important way for investors to diversify beyond traditional stocks and bonds, or to profit from a conviction about price movements.
Years ago, most people did not invest in commodities, because doing so required significant amounts of time, money and expertise. Today there are a number of different routes to the commodity markets, and some make it fairly easy for even the average investor to participate.
Futures Market:
A popular way to invest in commodities is through a futures contract, which is an agreement to buy or sell in the future a specific quantity of a commodity at a specific price.Futures are available on commodities such as crude oil, gold and natural gas, as well as agricultural products such as cattle or corn.
Most of the participants in the futures markets are commercial or institutional users of the commodities they trade. These hedgers may use the commodity markets to take a position that will reduce the risk of financial loss due to a change in price. Other participants, mainly individuals, are speculators who hope to profit from changes in the price of the futures contract. Speculators typically close out their positions before the contract is due and never take actual delivery of the commodity (grain, oil, etc.) itself.
