Financial Assets Flashcards
What is Finance?
- Transfer funds from surplus spending units to deficit spending units (from those who have funds to those who need funds)
- Reallocation of scarce resources from non-productive to productive uses
Example of Non-Productive Uses
Keeping cash in tins instead of depositing in the banks.
What is a Credit Cycle?
- Put cash in banks
- Bank can issue loans and funds for people who need it (e.g. startups that need funding)
- Business grow
- Employees wages grow
- Employees increase their consumption
- Goes back to point 1
* In simple terms, for more info, visit https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/credit-cycle.asp
What are Financial Assets?
- Any possession that has value in exchange.
- > Able to be resold.
- > Able to provide cash flows
What are some examples of Tangible Assets?
Value of assets is based on physical properties.
- Land
- Buildings
- Machinery
- Vehicles
What are some examples of Intangible Assets?
Legal claims to future benefits.
- Stocks
- Bonds
- Derivative Instruments (Value is derived from the underlying financial assets, they themselves has no value)
What are some examples of future benefits for intangible assets?
- Stocks: Dividends/ Whatever is left of the company if it goes bankrupt
- Bonds: Coupons + Par Value of the Coupon
- Derivative Instruments: Options and Futures
Roles of Financial Assets?
- Helps in transfer of funds from surplus spending units to deficit spending units (non-productive to productive uses)
- Efficient pooling of funds (e.g. issue bonds and stocks to increase funds)
- Efficient distribution of ownership (e.g. issuing stocks)
- Management of risk
Types of Financial Assets (Debt/liabilities)
Fixed payments (periodically)
- Bank Loans
- Government bonds (T-bill; T-bonds)
- Corporate bonds (Coupons, par value)
Types of Financial Assets (Equity)
Payments are based on earnings (Not fixed)
e.g. Company have no obligation to give dividends based on their retained earnings
- Common Stock
- Preferred Stock
Money or near money (Properties of Financial Assets)
How easy the financial asset can convert into money.
Near money (quasi-money): Can be converted easily + quickly to cash.
- Saving deposits
- Fixed deposits
- Negotiable Certificate of Deposit (NCD)
- Debit cards
- Cashless payments
What is M1 and M2 under MAS definition?
M1 = Currency in active circulation M2 = M1 + near money
What is a Negotiable Certificate of Deposit?
A certificate of deposit (CD) with a minimum face value of $100,000, though NCDs are typically $1 million or more.
An NCD is short term, with maturities ranging from two weeks to one year. Interest is paid, usually either twice a year or at maturity, or the instrument is purchased at a discount to its face value. Interest rates are negotiable, and yield from an NCD is dependent on money market conditions.
- Does not mean terms & conditions are negotiable
- Only ownership can be tradable/sellable/transferrable
LOW RISK BUT: Generally considered riskier as compared to T-bills, because the chances of a bank failing are greater than that of insurrection in the U.S. government ranks. As such, i/r for NCDs > i/r for Treasury bills.
Divisibility (Properties of Financial Assets)
Minimum size for liquidation or exchange for money.
What are infinitely divisible assets?
Deposits. (up to 2 dp)
$2.147947384……THEREFORE, it is (ALMOST) infinitely divisible.