What are equities when talking about investments?
Answers:
In simple terms an equity is when you buy a stock or share in a company, this is risky because you are taking a gamble that if the company does well then you do well, but if the company does badly, then your net worth of the shares you hold is less than what you had at inception.
Contrastly a fixed income type scenario could be a bond, where you are essentially a financier to the company, you loan the company some money and they repay you back every set unit of time + interest. This is analagous to a mortgage company in real human terms.
In times of troubles for the company the bond holders are always the first to get paid, this is added security for the bond holders, however if the company does fantastically well, the share holders holders do very well, but the bond holders always receive their fixed income, loan amount + interest, hence the phrase fixed income.
Any more questions dont hesitate to ask, I work for a large investment bank.
Usually it means stock. It means you buy a piece of a company. Contrast this with debt investments like bonds, where you are making a loan to the company.
equities are companies shares that are quoted on the stock exchange as opposed to other forms of investments such as government bonds, property or cash
The term "equities" used by itself refers to stocks.
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