Investment Vehicles: Explanation and Types (2024)

What Is an Investment Vehicle?

An investment vehicle is a product used by investors to gain positive returns. Investment vehicles can be low risk, such as certificates of deposit (CDs) or bonds, or they can carry a greater degree of risk, such as stocks, options, and futures. Other types of investment vehicles include annuities; collectibles, such as art or coins; mutual funds; and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Investment Vehicles Explained

Investment vehiclesrefer to any method by which individuals or businesses can invest and, ideally, grow their money. There is a wide variety of investment vehicles, and many investors choose to hold at least several types in their portfolios. Holding different types of investment in a portfolio minimizes risk through diversification because a portfolio constructed of different types of assets will, on average, yield higher long-term returns.

Types of Investment Vehicles

The different types of investment vehicles are subject to regulation in the jurisdiction in which they are provided. Each type has its own risks and rewards. Deciding which vehicles fit particular portfolios depends on the investor's knowledge of the market, skills in financial investing, risk tolerance, financial goals, and current financial standing.

Key Takeaways

  • Investment vehicles are used by investors to gain positive returns on their money.
  • Investment vehicles can be low risk, such as CDs or bonds, or high risk such as options and futures.
  • Other investment vehicles include lending investments, such as bonds, CDs, and TIPS; cash equivalents; and pooled investments, such as pension plans and hedge funds.

Ownership Investments

Investors who delve into ownership investments own particular assets that they expect to grow in value. Ownership investments include stocks, real estate, precious objects, and businesses. Stocks, also called equity or shares, give investors a stake in a company and its profits and gains. Real estate owned by investors can be rented or sold to provide higher net profits for the owner. Precious objects such as collectibles, art, and precious metals are considered ownership investments if they are sold for a profit. Capital used to build businesses that provide products and services for profit is another type of ownership investment.

Lending Investments

With lending investments, people allow their money to be used by another person or entity with the expectation it will be repaid. The lendor typically charges interest on the loan so that they earn a profit once the loan is repaid including the interest charges. This type of investment is low risk and provides low rewards. Examples of lending investments include bonds, certificates of deposit, and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS).

Investors investing in bonds allow their money to be used by corporations or the government with the expectation it will be paid back with profit after a set period with a fixed interest rate.

Certificates of deposit (CDs) are offered by banks. A CD is a promissory note provided by banks that locks the investor's money in a savings account for a set period with a higher interest rate.

Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) are bonds provided by the U.S. Treasury and crafted to protect investors against inflation. Investors who put their money in TIPS get their principal and interest back when their investment matures over time. Both principal and interest are indexed for inflation.

Cash Equivalents

Cash equivalents are financial investments that are considered as good as cash. These are savings accounts or money market funds. The investments are liquid but have low returns.

Pooled Investment Vehicles

Multiple investors often pool their money to gain certain advantages they would not have as individual investors; this is known as a pooled investment vehicle and can take the form of mutual funds, pension funds, private funds, unit investment trusts (UITs),and hedge funds.

In a mutual fund, a professional fund manager chooses the type of stocks, bonds, and other assets that should compose the client's portfolio. The fund manager charges a fee for this service.

A pension plan is a retirement account established by an employer into which an employee pays part of their income.

Private funds are composed of pooled investment vehicles, such as hedge funds and private equity funds, and are not considered investment companies by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Unit investment trusts provide a fixed portfolio with a specified period of investment. The investments are sold as redeemable units.

Hedge funds group together client money to make what are often risky investments using a long and short strategy, leverage, and exotic securities in the aim of achieving higher than usual returns known as alpha.

Bottom Line

The vehicles that investors can use to try to obtain returns are wide-ranging. However, the investor should understand the risks of any vehicle that they choose. A financial advisor can assess an investor's current financial situation, their goals, and their needs to develop the most appropriate portfolio and investment strategy.

Investment Vehicles: Explanation and Types (2024)

FAQs

What is the type of investment vehicle? ›

An investment medium utilized by investors as a means of generating profits is known as an investment vehicle. Stocks, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds are some examples of investment vehicles that involve a higher level of risk than certificates of deposit (CDs), which offer lower risk.

What are the types of investment answer? ›

There are many types of investments to choose from. Perhaps the most common are stocks, bonds, real estate, and ETFs/mutual funds. Other types of investments to consider are real estate, CDs, annuities, cryptocurrencies, commodities, collectibles, and precious metals.

What does an investment vehicle do? ›

The primary purpose of investment vehicles is to assist investors in the transfer of cash into the future and earn them at an increased value at that future date. They operate by enabling investors to gain money through investing their money in securities and assets for a profit in the future.

What do you mean by investment and explain its types? ›

An investment can refer to any mechanism used for generating future income. This includes the purchase of bonds, stocks, or real estate property, among other examples. Additionally, purchasing a property that can be used to produce goods can be considered an investment.

What are the 7 types of investment? ›

Among the top 7 types of investments are stocks, bonds, mutual funds, property, money market funds, retirement plans, and insurance policies.

What are the two types of investment vehicles? ›

Investment vehicles include individual securities such as stocks and bonds as well as pooled investments like mutual funds and ETFs. Investment vehicles can be categorized into two broad types: Direct investments. Indirect investments.

What are the 3 major types of investment styles? ›

The analysis process often depends on the investing style you're employing. We'll briefly look at three different styles of investing: value, growth, and income.

What are the four most common types of investments? ›

The four types of investments include cash, fixed interest, shares, and property. They are further split into two sub-categories, known as growth and defensive investments. The type of investment you pick will depend on your financial goals, as we'll unpack in this guide.

Is an investment vehicle a fund? ›

A pooled investment vehicle is an entity—often referred to as a fund—that an adviser creates to pool money from multiple investors. Each investor makes an investment in the fund by purchasing an interest in the fund entity, and the adviser uses that money to make investments on behalf of the fund.

Which investment vehicle has the most risk? ›

Equities and equity-based investments such as mutual funds, index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are risky, with prices that fluctuate on the open market each day. 2 Taking regular losses in a managed and disciplined way is essential to any stock trading plan.

What is private investment vehicles? ›

It includes investments in hedge funds, private equity funds, limited partnerships, real estate, peer to peer lending clubs and private businesses.

What is an example of a collective investment vehicle? ›

In India there are three distinct categories of collective investment vehicles in operation namely, Mutual Funds (MFs), Collective Investment Schemes (CIS) and Venture Capital Funds (VCFs), which mobilise resources from the market for investment purposes.

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