Assets and liabilities. How to create assets and increase income What are assets and how to buy them
Most people who have a more or less significant amount understand that keeping it in their nightstands at home is stupid. Money should work. This financial axiom is deeply rooted in the minds of every person. At the same time, potential investors understand that the investment process is associated with the risk of partial or complete loss of funds. Such people are looking for not only profitable, but also reliable investments.
Moreover, for many investors, investment safety is the main criterion by which they evaluate investment instruments. Fortunately, there are currently several investment avenues that represent safe investments.
To date, all bank deposits in Russia in the amount of up to 1.4 million rubles can be considered extremely reliable. Moreover, they should be viewed as a risk-free investment. The explanation is simple.
The fact is that in accordance with the current financial legislation of the Russian Federation, each bank is obliged to insure the deposits of its customers. The strict implementation of this provision of the law is ensured by the Deposit Insurance Agency.
In recent years, when the Central Bank of the Russian Federation annually revokes licenses from several dozen commercial banks, this insurance mechanism has been repeatedly tested in practice. It really works. Moreover, in addition to the deposit amount itself, the bank's client receives interest back, which should have been accrued during the period while the financial and credit institution was still operating.
Thus, every investor who wants to increase money, but does not want to risk, can invest it in a bank. In addition, with an efficiently functioning deposit insurance system, there is no need to delve deeply into the essence of the issue. It is enough to contact the financial and credit organization that currently offers the maximum interest rate on the deposit.
Pros of investing in a bank deposit:
- it is a simple, understandable and familiar investment tool;
- even the owner of a small amount of 1000 rubles or more can open a deposit;
- a huge number of products with different conditions;
- high liquidity of the financial instrument, since the depositor can get his money in cash at any time.
Currently, bank deposits have only one drawback, but for many potential investors it is decisive and makes them look for other options for investing money. Deposits are not the most profitable investments. Often they may not even allow them to increase their capital.
The fact is that when we analyze investment, we should never forget about inflation, which depreciates money by several percent every year. Let's take 2017. According to forecasts of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and leading financiers, inflation rates for the year should be 4.5–5.5%. At the same time, the size of interest rates on deposits ranges from 5.4 to 10.5%.
Gold and precious metals
When it comes to safe investments, many people think of gold and gold bullion coins. Everything that will be said below will equally apply to other precious metals (platinum, silver). However, for convenience and brevity, we will only use the term gold.
Traditionally, investing in gold is viewed in terms of high reliability. If we look at the dynamics of the exchange value of this precious metal, we can see a constant and steady growth.
An investor who decides to invest in gold will inevitably face the problem of which financial instrument is better to choose. Gold bars and bullion coins come to mind. You can keep your money in both.
However, it is much more preferable to choose investment gold coins. By some strange whim of Russian lawmakers, anyone who wants to buy a bar of gold from a bank will be obliged to pay VAT or value added tax. His rate is 18%. But if we pay 18% in addition to the value of the investment asset, then it is impossible to talk about any highly profitable investments.
At the same time, transactions for the sale and purchase of gold investment and collectible coins are not subject to additional tax burden.
The advantages of purchasing gold are that it is also a stable and practically risk-free investment. But the disadvantages should again be sought in the extremely low reliability. If we exclude short-term speculative market moments, then the rise in precious metals prices follows inflation. That is, such an investment of money is primarily intended to save them during a period of economic instability or crisis.
Residential and commercial properties
Competent investment in real estate allows you to get a pretty solid profit in a relatively short period of time. In addition, apartments, offices, buildings and structures are tangible objects that actually exist. This circumstance always adds confidence to the investor.
High-yield real estate investments involve two main strategies. The first is to buy a property at the same price and then sell it for more. This is the usual speculative approach. The second strategy involves the acquisition of an apartment or non-residential premises with the aim of their subsequent renting out.
In addition, if an investor has serious financial capabilities, then he can purchase real estate not only in Russia, but also abroad. The greatest profit can be brought by apartments and non-residential premises located in large cities in the highly developed countries of Western Europe, East Asia and North America. We are talking about China, Japan, USA, Canada, Switzerland and Germany. If you are interested in specific cities, then these are Shanghai, Tokyo, New York, Toronto, Zurich and Dusseldorf.
Reliability is not the only asset of real estate investment. In addition, it is a highly profitable asset, the value of which will continue to grow. The last statement will be correct, provided that you buy an apartment or office in the right place.
However, investing in real estate also has significant drawbacks. First of all, it is the low liquidity of the asset. To put it simply, it is rather difficult to sell an apartment or office space quickly at an attractive market price. In addition, real estate implies fixed costs that fall on its owner. These are taxes, utility bills and repairs.
Currency
Until recently, the currency was also considered as a highly reliable and quite profitable investment object. However, today everything is not so clear-cut.
In recent years, Russians have most often invested their own savings in euros or US dollars. But at present, the situation in the United States and the European Union can hardly be called completely stable. This concerns the United States of America to a lesser extent, and the EU to a greater extent.
In this regard, if you habitually want to invest your money in foreign currency, then the American dollar should be chosen. But there are also big questions about the profitability of such investments in the near future.
conclusions
The investment moral is always very simple: there are no high-yield and low-risk investments at the same time. Remember, if some company offers you to invest money on too favorable terms and speaks of 100% guarantees, then this is another reason to be on your guard and carefully analyze the current situation.
An asset is everything that is capable of generating financial resources. And the liability, respectively, is all that takes away this money. As many economists calculate, to get rich you need to get rid of liabilities and buy assets.
Yes, this is a simple formula, but if you figure it out, then it is.
Many people who are not accustomed to the economic topic quite often confuse these concepts, but if you look at it, it is not at all difficult to understand their differences, since these are completely opposite definitions.
To answer the question of how to buy assets, it is necessary to realize for what purpose they need to be attracted to oneself, and on the contrary to move away from liabilities as far as possible.
In simple words, it is possible to say that an asset is the generation of a cash flow, in other words, the sale of what you have.
What is possible as an asset?
The following things can act as an asset:
- Bank deposit;
- Leased property;
- Stock;
- Other items that are rented for the purpose of making a profit can be cars, individual items, clothing.
But the apartment and the car where you live is a liability. since you invest in these things yourself, take care of them and spend money on their maintenance. And, for example, if you work in a taxi on your car, then it acts as an asset.
A liability is something that can take money away.
A couple of tips on how to buy assets will be outlined below. If, however, you have chosen real estate as an asset, then it is more optimal if it is foreign assets, from which it is possible to take a larger income. It is only necessary to think wisely about the choice of the country; one should not forget that it must first of all be economically developed.
If you learn everything from you, then in a year it is possible to acquire rental income of up to thirty percent.
If you do not have enough money to purchase housing, then it is possible to buy it on credit, cooperating with banks of second countries, in practice it shows that in that place there are more successful offers for clients. But if this option does not suit you, then it is possible to buy a property under construction, and at the time when the time comes, it is profitable to sell it.
Shares of developing companies will bring good income, it is only necessary to first study this area of the market.
If you want to work with assets, but do not have the opportunity to buy them, you need to start saving for them. Each salary must be set aside ten percent to invest the assets. At first glance, this may not seem profitable, but in practice it brings good income.
It is necessary not to forget that only those who invest huge funds in them will be able to get huge money on assets.
Let's talk about another fundamental and very important topic - assets and liabilities... If you have read Robert Kiyosaki, then you will understand me perfectly - there is an opportunity to refresh your knowledge, remember what you once read, think and start acting (if you have not already started).
Definitions of an asset and a liability
According to Kiyosaki's definition:
- an asset is what brings money into your pocket
- liabilities are anything that takes money out of your pocket.
An important rule follows from this: you need to acquire assets and get rid of liabilities... The statement is so simple and even banal that it is possible not even to pay special attention to such a "trifle". However, today we will consider this in more detail, because there is a lot in this simple phrase. Rich dad told young Kiyosaki that this is all you need to know to become rich.
But, as you know, the devil hides in the little things.
You need to clearly know what is an asset and what is a liability. Very often people confuse these concepts, taking one for another.
Assets - what brings money to your pocket, that is, generates cash flow (cashflow). Or it is what you have and that in the future you plan to sell and get more money for it than you spent.
What can be an asset?
1. Real estate leased - it generates cash flow to its owner.
2. Stock that you bought for a long time (buy & hold strategy - buy and hold) - in addition to the fact that dividends are paid on shares from time to time, over long periods of time the portfolio of shares of successful companies grows in price, which means that in a year or 5-10 years the shares can be will sell and earn a considerable profit.
3. Any other stuff leased out and bringing money to their owners (for example, a car, equipment).
4. Shares mutual investment funds (mutual funds)
5. Deposit in the bank
However, the house (apartment) in which you live is NOT an asset, as many mistakenly believe, because this housing does not bring you profit. On the contrary, you pay the rent, buy furniture. Therefore, in this case, it is a liability.
Also, your personal car is not an asset, because not only does it not bring money, but also requires maintenance (gasoline, repairs, fines, etc.) - this is a liability. However, if you rent your car and get paid for it, or, say, you work in a taxi and make money with your car, then this can be considered an asset.
Liabilities - that which takes our money away. For example, we pay for the apartment we live in. We spend money on gas and maintenance on the cars we drive. We pay interest on bank loans. These are all liabilities!
Balance of assets and liabilities
However, you will not be able to completely get rid of liabilities. Or you will have to significantly lower your standard of living (how do you imagine living without housing?) The trick is that you need to maintain a reasonable balance between assets and liabilities. That is, you do not need to strive with all your might to acquire all kinds of luxury goods (liabilities) that will pull money from you. If you look around, you can see a lot of people who do just that - living beyond their means. On the contrary, you need to know when to stop and not get involved in the financial bondage of loans.
A financially reasonable person will strive not to increase his liabilities (as most do), but, on the contrary, to reduce them and acquire assets, because he is confident that the assets will make him rich. Look at the billionaires - they are all owners of stocks, real estate, businesses, factories, oil rigs - all these are assets, though on a different scale. Assets allow you to achieve financial independence, when it is no longer a person who works for money, but money works for him. By acquiring assets, we are approaching no longer working all our lives for money - the time will come when our assets will work for us and provide us with a comfortable existence.
Of course, rich people can afford to keep liabilities in the form of a suburban mansion, a prestigious car, but this is due to the fact that income from assets allows them to do this harmlessly.
If from assets you have only work for hire, and from liabilities - borrowed loans - you should think about where, in which direction you are going, to wealth, or through the vicious circle of poverty "earned - spent".
Assets bring income, liabilities bring expenses.
Instructions
To acquire assets, first of all, figure out what. Assets are what brings you money. They are also considered to be what you have and does not generate income, but in the future, when you sell this, you will receive more money than you spent on the purchase. For example, the property you rent out is your asset. At the same time, the apartment or house in which you live cannot be considered an asset, as many believe, but on the contrary, it is your liability, as it pulls money out of you for payment, purchase, etc.
Once you've figured out the assets, you can purchase them. To buy property for rent, check the internet for the available offers. It is better to buy ready-made housing in a developed, economically stable state. Abroad, you can find very affordable housing, and its profitability, with a good choice, will be twenty to thirty percent per annum. If you are thinking of using this option, prepare several tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars.
If you don't have enough money to buy real estate, buy it on credit. This is beneficial because the bank rate for mortgage lending abroad is significantly lower than the inflation rate in Russia. Use the services of banks in Portugal, Cyprus, Spain - they are more loyal to buyers of real estate from Russia.
If you do not want to take out a loan and you have some savings, buy a property at the initial stage of construction, and then, when the construction work is finished, sell it. This method will bring you twenty-five to thirty percent per annum, and with a fortunate coincidence, all fifty.
Do you find earning money on real estate labor-intensive? Buy shares in a fast growing company. However, before you buy shares, look at the statistics of companies and select the one that has been operating for a long time and has established itself on the market. The shares will bring you passive income, depending on the number of securities you purchased and the conditions set forth by the company when selling them. Also, the shares will bring you profit when you decide to sell them.
note
What is an asset for one person may be considered a liability for another. Therefore, if a banker tells you that your housing is an asset, he is telling the truth, but does not agree that it is not your asset, but his.
Helpful advice
If you don't know where to find the money to buy assets, use Robert Kiyosaki's advice: save ten percent from each salary, which you will only spend on investing in assets.
The liquidity of an enterprise is one of the manifestations of its financial stability. It refers to the company's ability to meet its obligations in a timely manner. A liquid company is a company that is able to fulfill its short-term obligations by selling current assets.
Instructions
The liquidity of the company is determined on the basis of relative indicators. absolute liquidity reflects the firm's ability to meet its short-term obligations through the sale of cash and short-term financial investments. This ratio shows what proportion of current liabilities can be repaid in the shortest possible time. The main factor that increases the absolute liquidity is the timely and uniform repayment of receivables.
The quick ratio characterizes the company's ability to cover current liabilities by fully repaying accounts receivable. In this case, production stocks are excluded from the calculation, as the least liquid part of the current ones. If the growth of this ratio is associated with an increase in overdue accounts receivable, then this is not a positive aspect of the company's activities. To increase quick liquidity, you need to foster growth by your own. This is possible by building up its own working capital and reducing the level of inventories.
The current liquidity ratio shows the ability to calculate on current liabilities subject to the repayment of short-term and the sale of current reserves. To increase this ratio, it is necessary to increase its own and restrain the growth of non-current assets and long-term receivables.
Ways to increase liquidity and solvency at the enterprise will depend on the factors that caused their decline. External reasons include a decline in production in the country, bankruptcy of debtors, outdated technologies, imperfect legislation, etc. To reduce the impact of these factors, the company may issue new shares to raise funds.
Internal factors of decreasing liquidity include a shortage of own working capital, an increase in accounts receivable and payable, an imperfect pricing mechanism, and low contractual discipline. In this case, the company needs to pay off the receivables on time. This can be achieved by conducting factoring operations or concluding an assignment agreement, i.e. assignment of claims and transfer of ownership. In addition, it is necessary to improve contractual work and tighten contractual requirements.
Sources:
- ways to increase liquidity and solvency
Instructions
There is one most important rule: you need to acquire assets and get rid of liabilities. It is this rule that will help you as a person. But in order to achieve your goal, remember the little things that are extremely important.
Define clearly for yourself as well. An asset is something that brings you profit, money, it can also be something that you have now and can bring you profit in the future (you bought something and plan to sell this thing for a higher price).
If you own real estate and lease it, it can be considered an asset. Also, an asset can be stocks bought for a long time. You will be able to receive dividends on, besides, the shares of successfully developing companies are growing in price, which means that in a few years you will be able to sell them and get good money. Assets can be considered a deposit in a bank, Units of mutual funds, as well as any other things rented out and making a profit.
Please note that with this definition, your apartment or house in which you live cannot be considered an asset, since it does not bring you profit, but on the contrary requires costs for its maintenance, the same is true with a personal car (unless of course you work in a taxi and don't use it to make money).
Liabilities are anything that takes your money away. Of course, it is simply impossible to eliminate all liabilities completely, otherwise you will have to significantly lower your standard of living. Just create the right balance between assets and liabilities. This means that you should not strive to acquire all possible luxuries that will be liabilities (you can see many people around who live beyond their means). Know when to stop, do not hang on yourself an excessive amount of loans that will simply pull money out of you.
If you want to become a financially literate person, then reduce your liabilities and acquire assets, they will make you rich. Take the example of billionaires, they own stocks, businesses, real estate, in a word, they are the owners of assets. Assets help to achieve financial independence, with their help you will stop working for money, money will work for you.
Naturally, wealthy people can afford to maintain such liabilities as huge country houses and expensive cars, but this is because the income from assets allows you to do this in a completely harmless way.
If all your assets are work for hire, and the rest are just liabilities in the form of a bunch of borrowed loans, then it's time to think about in which direction you are moving. Perhaps you are walking in a vicious circle: earned - spent.
It is legally established that the net assets of the organization should not be less than the amount of the authorized capital. According to the Federal Law "On Joint Stock Companies", in this case, the authorized capital is equated to the assets of the enterprise by increasing the latter.
Instructions
Improve your net worth through revaluation. According to PBU 6/01 "Accounting for fixed assets", the organization has the right to change the initial cost of fixed assets, which was initially accepted for accounting. As a result of revaluation, additional capital increases and, as a result, assets increase. The disadvantage of this method is that it is necessary to make an annual revaluation of fixed assets. Accounting work, appraisers' and property fees are also increasing. The revaluation cannot be accounted for in the accounting statements against the previous period, therefore this method is not suitable for increasing assets at a certain reporting date.
Apply for an organization or shareholder acquisition to raise assets. According to paragraphs. 11 p. 1, art. 251 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, gratuitous assistance will not be taken into account when calculating income tax if the donor owns more than 50% of the authorized capital of the enterprise. Otherwise, there will be an increase in liabilities for the income tax rate relative to the market valuation of the amount of donated assistance.
Take inventory of your business to add value to your assets. Capitalize the surplus identified as a result of the inventory in the accounting of the organization.
Write off accounts payable, for which the statute of limitations has expired, in order to increase the assets of the enterprise. Reflect the amount of the written off accounts payable in tax accounting as unrealized income, which will lead to an increase in the base on which income tax is calculated.
"Buy assets, get rid of liabilities"- roughly the same conclusion is made by a person who has firmly decided and gathered a variety of useful advice from popular literature on wealth and hundreds of sites on the topic.
If you remember that the great and terrible Robert Kiyosaki wrote “an asset - everything that puts money in your pocket, a liability - everything that sucks money out of it, outwardly everything looks great.
That's just - not quite the same as the American millionaire seems to be. And following this simple advice can lead to problems with your personal finances.
So what's wrong with the "buy assets" formula?
The thing is that this formula, as well as the description of the concepts of liabilities and assets, which was stolen from Kiyosaki's books on hundreds of websites and guides on personal money, is very simplified and distorts the real state of affairs. This is natural: the concepts that are given in popular books on finance simple on their own, but difficult to use because there are many additional conditions to be kept in mind. Now everything will become clear to you.
The point is that in a simple definition of assets and liabilities, there really isn't allows you to clearly separate them... Here's a very simple example. Let's say you have a certain asset, say, a high-yield commercial property. You get high rents, which are more than enough for maintenance and other working costs. But then, suddenly, a railway and an airport were built next to your house. The tenants fled in all directions, it is simply unrealistic to rent out living space at the same prices. And you still need to pay for utilities! As a result, income from the building less maintenance costs.
And what is this house like? An asset or a liability? After all, the house itself has not changed. It stands as it stood. But he began to suck money out of your pocket.
The house example is still very simple and straightforward. Certain objects can move from liabilities to assets with staggering consistency. This is pretty obvious and understandable. Well, now ask yourself: is it easy, will it be convenient to build your budget, your business, your financial plan based on such concepts? If they are so fickle? Should this be the foundation of your well-being?
Another example. An expensive car for which a loan is paid is, of course, the "king of liabilities"! Yes? But it can bring a lot of benefits, including in monetary terms:
- pleasure from a comfortable ride;
- high status (not only "show-off", but also a real increase in the prestige of a person in the eyes of business partners);
- finally, the car can be borrowed at 15% per annum, and the owner's business brings 40% per annum, and it is more difficult than asking for a consumer loan.
Well, how do you like this passive?
What was written above is all the lyrics you need to get you up to speed. Let's look at the problem more specifically.
First, some summary.
a) It is often hard to separate assets and liabilities (according to Kiyosaki). A lot of IMPORTANT AND USEFUL things do not bring us income - even our body: feed it, dress it, treat it, entertain it. Oh-oh-oh, but it takes our money!
b) Possession of things that require money, investments is not a sign of financial illiteracy.
In fact, dividing your property into two lists is absolutely unnecessary work. As I already wrote in a previous article on this topic (), Kiyosaki needed this separation to simply explain to any fool on his fingers and with a picture that he needs to strive to generate income and get rid of expenses (isn't it a terrible original idea?).
So that's it. For practical purposes (real financial planning, making decisions about investing or obtaining a loan, and so on and so forth) it is much more convenient to use the real concept of liabilities and assets - see the link above.
In short, liabilities do not really exist at all. They are in human relationships. These are loans, lending, accumulated profit over a lifetime (which no longer exists - it has turned into assets that actually exist - that's all we have).
So how do you use this new understanding? What will our formula look like in this case? It's very simple: manage your balance sheet wisely... Watch both column "A" and column "P". Don't be afraid to buy assets that have some liabilities (example with an expensive car above), but manage them wisely. And the correct (accepted all over the world!) Understanding of this balance will help in this. You just need to look at "what threatens" this or that action in relation to your budget. Any deal simultaneously affects both assets and liabilities- and this must be remembered.
To put it even more correctly, you need to operate with the balance sheet, and not with real-life objects. Let's remember the house in the first example. He became a source of liabilities from a source of income. But he himself remained unchanged. This means that we need to make a minimum impact that will help get rid of the harmful effects of the surrounding buildings, increase its attractiveness for tenants in other ways - then the profit will increase. Do you understand? The task is not so mechanical: buy / sell profitable or unprofitable. The task is precisely to adjust the balance with your skillful management.
(If you've managed to read the article all the way down to here - and you still have a sense of misunderstanding - don't worry! Just keep working on your financial literacy - and understanding - real, deep understanding! - will definitely come!)