Investments
What are Investments?
Planning for your future includes making educated decisions about investing. An investment is an up-front purchase of financial products with the intention of generating future profit based on interest or appreciation. The financial market offers a wide variety of different investment products for investors to purchase—from relatively straightforward investment types (called securities) like stocks and bonds to portfolios that combine these investment types, such as mutual funds.
Basic Types of Investments
Equities
Equity securities, such as stocks, represent shares of ownership in a company. Their value rises and falls with investor perception of the company’s potential and market factors, such as the outlook for the company’s industry, political climate, and strength of the economy.
Fixed Income
Fixed Income securities, such as bonds, are instruments of debt that represent loans issued by the government or a company. Investors who purchase bonds receive a stated interest rate and the promise of repayment when the bond reaches its maturity date.
Cash Equivalents
Cash equivalent securities, such as money-market securities, are short term, low- or no-risk investments that generally have lower expected returns than stocks, bonds, and other investments. cash-equivalents may not yield enough to keep up with the rate of inflation.
Managing Your Wealth
Different investment products can help you work toward a variety of financial goals, including retirement and estate planning as well as education financing. Investors should be aware of the risk/return potential of any investment products they consider purchasing and select appropriate investment products based on your goals, comfort with risk, timeline, and a product’s fees and tax considerations.
Our Wealth Management Advisors can guide you through the growing number and complexity of available investments. It is our job to ensure your investment plan fits your short- and long-term financial goals.
