What are the main types of Investments?

Equities, bonds, funds, financial markets, investor profile, return, risk… It’s hard to take the plunge when you’re overwhelmed by all these terms… It’s often the first thing that stops us: “I don’t know anything about it”. Here are some explanations of simple words that seem complicated.

  Shares

When you buy a share in a company, it means you own a small part of it.

Your share entities you to a portion of the company's profits. This is your dividend. Profits not pald out as dividends increase the value of the company and so your investment.

Funds

Investing in a fund means buying a basket of equities, bonds or other investment products.

The value of your units increases according to the fund's performance.

 Bonds

When you buy a bond, it means you loan money to a company.

In addition to your initial amount, you earn interest on your loan.

What owning shares in a company actually means?

How do investment funds work?

What is a bond?

What are the most common securities?

Explanations by Philippe Ledent, Senior Economist at ING Belgium.

 I've made up my mind, I'm going to take the plunge!

If you want to make money, you only need to invest a little.             

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