Global Investment Management

What is Investment ? – Concept, Definition and Features

Concept of  Investment  

Man, it is said, lives on hope. But, hope is only a necessary condition for life, but not sufficient. There are many other materialistic things that he needs – food, clothing, shelter, etc. And, like his hope, his needs too keep changing through his life. To make things more uncertain, his ability to fulfill the needs too changes significantly. When his current ability (current income) to fulfill his needs exceeds his current needs (current expenditure), he saves the excess. The savings may be buried in the backyard, or hidden under a mattress. Or, he may feel that it is better to give up the current possession of these savings for a future larger amount of money that can be used for consumption in future.… Read the rest

Abey Francis

Role of Credit Default Swaps in Subprime Crisis

Background of Subprime Crisis

The immediate cause or trigger of the crisis was the bursting of the United States housing bubble which peaked in approximately 2005-2006. High default rates on “subprime” and adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) began to increase quickly thereafter. An increase in loan incentives such as easy initial terms and a long-term trend of rising housing prices had encouraged borrowers to assume difficult mortgages in the belief they would be able to quickly refinance at more favorable terms. However, once interest rates began to rise and housing prices started to drop moderately in 2006-2007 in many parts of the U.S.,… Read the rest

Abey Francis

Reasons Behind the Financial Crisis of 2008

Financial crisis is a bubble created by excessive investor inclination towards a particular market. It shadows the valuations and when the bubble bursts, the investors want to exit and therefore rapidly start selling their stake.

Too much of capital led to lower interest rates and this in return forced the investors to look for creative investment platforms where the yield was high. This requirement led to an unprecedented growth in the securitization market as the inclination towards such derivative instruments was high. Investors were willing to take higher risks as compared to the returns they would receive for their investments. Greed for higher returns, excessive leverage and low volatility led to the financial crisis of 2008.… Read the rest

Abey Francis

The Effects of Financial Liberalization

Financial Liberalization refers to deregulation of domestic financial market and liberalization of the capital account that implies removing the ceiling on interest rates. When it is in a liberalized system the competition between the different lending institutions for the deposits will increase interest rates on deposits which will increase the deposits. The availability of credit will increase and this will cause an increase in investment growth.

The stages of growth increases activity in the financial markets that makes the introduction and the development of financial institutions. It is argued that financial institutions, by gathering and evaluating information from borrowers, allow the allocation of funds for investment plans to become more efficient and therefore encourage growth and investment.… Read the rest

Abey Francis

Positive and Negative Effects of Debt

Debt can be viewed as good and sometimes also can bad too. Debt makes people and organizations that they would not allowed to do. All this while, people use it to purchase houses, cars, and others things with their cash on hand. With the debt, they can spend as much as they want on expensive things.

Besides, for those companies also use the debt as to influence the investment made in their assets. This influence of debt is considered as an important part in determining the riskiness of the investment. As we know that, the more the debt per equity, the more risky we will face.… Read the rest

Abey Francis

Introduction to Investments – Meaning, Objectives and Elements

Concept of Investment

Investment is the employment of funds with the aim of getting return on it. In general terms, investment means the use of money in the hope of making more money. In finance, investment means the purchase of a financial product or other item of value with an expectation of favorable future returns.

Investment of hard earned money is a crucial activity of every human being. Investment is the commitment of funds which have been saved from current consumption with the hope that some benefits will be received in future. Thus, it is a reward for waiting for money.… Read the rest

Abey Francis