Investment refers to the process that countries, enterprises and individuals sign agreements with each other for the specific purpose of promoting social development, realizing mutual benefit and transferring funds. It is also an economic behavior that a specific economic entity invests a sufficient amount of funds or physical currency equivalents in a certain field in a certain period of time in order to obtain income or capital appreciation in the foreseeable future. It can be divided into physical investment, capital investment and securities investment. The former is to use money to invest in enterprises and obtain certain profits through production and business activities, while the latter is to use money to buy stocks and corporate bonds issued by enterprises and indirectly participate in the profit distribution of enterprises.
Investment is a form of innovation and entrepreneurship project incubation, and it is an economic activity to promote the development of project industrialization complex with capital.
Investment is a profitable business activity in which monetary income or any other wealth owner measures its value in money at the expense of current consumption, purchase or purchase of capital goods in order to realize value appreciation in the future.
The word investment has several related meanings in finance and economy. It involves the accumulation of property in order to gain benefits in the future. Technically speaking, this word means "the act of putting something in another place" (which may initially be related to people's clothes or "dresses"). From the financial point of view, compared with speculation, the investment period is longer, and it is more inclined to obtain some sustained and stable cash flow income in a certain period of time in the future, which is the accumulation of future income.
Investment means that investors invest a certain amount of money in the current period, expecting to get a return in the future, and the return should be compensated:
(1) Time occupied by investment funds;
(2) Expected inflation rate;
(3) Uncertainty of future earnings. (CFA definition)
The investment activities of enterprises are clearly divided into two categories:
(1) Lay a foundation for expanding domestic reproduction, that is, cash paid for purchasing and constructing long-term assets such as fixed assets and intangible assets;
(2) External expansion, that is, cash paid for external equity and creditor's rights.