The term stocks and shares are used nowadays to represent each other. A stock is known as a ‘security’ and it demonstrates and shows ownership of part of that business. This entitles the owner of it to a proportion of the company’s profits equal to how much stock they own. Units of stock are known as ‘shares’ of that company, and are purchased you by a company’s such as Hargreaves Lansdown or eToro, from the stock market, on your behalf.

Bonds are different from stocks in several ways. Firstly, holders of Bonds or Securities are known as ‘bondholders’ and are classified as ‘creditors’ to the business. Bonds/Securities are a way for companies or the Government to raise money by borrowing money from investors. 

When they are issued by the UK Government are also called ‘gilts’ or ‘gilt-edged securities’, while securities issued by companies are known as Bonds or Corporate Bonds. They can be purchased from many companies, often the same ones who sell Stocks, ISA’s and Savings or Investing Accounts,

They are entitled to interest plus the repayment of principal sum paid for the Bond. They are given legal priority over other stakeholders in the event of a bankruptcy and will be made whole first if a company is forced to sell assets in order to repay them. They can also be called Loan stocks or Debit Securities.

Property can be extremely rewarding, profitable and sometimes stressful. As with investments such as Stocks and Shares, they do carry a degree of risk. Providing you have means of acquiring a large chunk of capital as most Buy-to-Let mortgages insist on a minimum of 25% as opposed to the regular 5-10% needed to buy your personal home, it can generate regular payments, as well as increased asset value, and sometimes the costs can be offset against your taxes. The one key difference between stocks and property is, it’s legally yours and you can touch it. People don’t wake up one morning to find they property has vanished or gone bankrupt, as it can with other investments.

Similar and often confused with Stocks, you are technically doing something similar… i.e. you are buying a company. Often it involves start-up businesses who are looking to raise money (capital) to aid their growth and or even get started. You may have seen television shows such as Dragons Den? Well this is direct business investing, and involves many areas such as Venture capital, Angel finance Crowdfunding, Flexible business loans and Business expansion funding to name but a few.

Items such as fine wines, Gold, Art, antiques are often known as tangible assets, leaning legally they can be touched. They are often rare and well sought after, and the less of them in existence the greater their value can rise.

Fine Wines for example. If a particular wine was in demand and classified by experts as one of the best, for that year, it’s price may be worth £100 per bottle. 5 years later, if most owners have drunk theirs, you may find your bottle of wine is now worth double its value or more. You often see vintage ports and whiskeys from the 1800s go for hundreds of thousands of pounds, again, depending on their condition, age, manufacturer and how many are left in existence.

Arts and collectables often seem to go up in value, again you need to know plenty about this world. Tastes can change often, as well as can fashion so it’s always a good idea to keep an eye on the trends.