In: Economics
How do stocks and bonds differ in terms of the future payments that they are expected to make? Which type of investment (stocks or bonds) is considered to be more risky? Given what you know, which investment (stocks or bonds) do you think commonly goes by the name “fixed income”?
Answer fully and justify your answers.
How do stocks and bonds differ in terms of the future payments that they are expected to make?
Stock- is simply an ownership interest in a company
Example: There is a company called 'X'. You can go into the stock
market and buy 1% share stock of company 'X' and then you are the
owner of that 1% share. Investing in individual stocks is great but
it tends to be a little risky. Because stock prices fluctuate from
day to day, so you can buy a stock today for 100$ and by tomorrow
for some reason you may not even understand, the price may go down
to 90$ or lower. So here the returns are uncertain.
Bonds- Bonds are safer than Stocks because Bonds are like I.O.U.
You are lending company money and it's promising to pay you back
with a certain interest. That promise is legally binding which
makes bonds a lot safer than stocks. So here the returns are
certain.
Which type of investment (stocks or bonds) is considered to be more
risky?
Investing in stocks of a company is considered to be riskier because returns are uncertain as the stock prices are highly depended on the company's profit and loss.
Given what you know, which investment (stocks or bonds) do you
think commonly goes by the name “fixed income”?
Bonds are like fixed income because it represents a loan made by
an investor to a burrower with a fixed rate of return
legally.