Which Investment Club Should You Join? Is it a Safe Stock Market Investment Club?

Posted by admin | Investing | Saturday 19 December 2009 7:30 pm
Jimmy Cox


Would you join a safe stock market investment club where you met regularly with friends to have a good time, learn something, and hopefully make some money? If you said yes to that statement, you might want to consider joining, or starting your own, investment club.

An investment club is simply a group of people who share an interest in the stock market pooling their resources into one large investment. Investment clubs are long-term commitments. They are a wonderful way to get to know the stock market, have a good time, and, over time, make some money. But making money should not be the primary reason to join an investment club – since investing is always, even in a shared setting, a risky venture.

Generally, an investment club has between 10 and 40 members, though many seem to settle around 16 as a good number. Decisions on investing are made democratically, either in a one person, one vote fashion; or with weighted votes, where each person`s voting strength is determined by the amount they have invested in the safe stock market investment club. Safe Stock Market Investment Clubs can be partnerships, or corporations, though partnerships are more common. They can meet monthly, or twice monthly. They set up different committees, they research stocks in different ways, they each have their own investment goals.

Investment clubs are as individual as the investors that make them up. What they have in common is a desire to get to know the ins and outs of the stock market. To come together with like-minded people to realize more from your investment capital, over the long-term, and to enjoy yourself while you are doing it.

Enjoyment is a key part of an investment club. If you`re not having fun while you are participating in the safe stock market investment club, it`s probably not the safe stock market investment club for you. And it should go without saying that if you are looking to make a quick profit, an investment club is not the place to be.

Unfortunately, it`s often difficult to join an established investment club. Many of them have been operating for years, even decades, with the same members and they aren`t likely to grow. Which leaves many hopeful club members with the option of starting their own safe stock market investment club. This is a great option, but it should be considered carefully. Make sure that you fully understand what needs to happen for your safe stock market investment club to be successful, and be sure you are starting for the right reasons. Here are a few points you might want to consider: . Are you being realistic? If you`re starting an investment club to make a large profit in the stock market, you`ll likely become very disappointed. The goal of an investment club is to learn more about the stock market, and to have fun. If you have dreams of becoming rich you`ll be starting the safe stock market investment club for the wrong reasons. Remember, joining an investment club means joining for a long period of time.

Are you willing to be an amateur? Starting an investment club won`t make you an expert in the stock market overnight. In fact, an investment club is ideal for a group of amateurs who want to learn about how the stock market works and what it can do for them. An investment club is a safe environment in which you can invest without the worry of losing a large amount of your hard earned dollars when something unexpected happens.

You can start with a little. Don`t think that you need a lot of money to start an investment club. You can set a minimal fee for each month`s contribution that will fit into your budget. You can determine what that minimum monthly contribution should be when you have your first meeting of the investment club.

There is strength in numbers. On your own you may not have enough money to invest in the stock market in a way that will let you realize a reasonable profit. However, when you combine your investment dollars with the dollars of others in the safe stock market investment club you`ll have a significant amount of money to invest in the stocks that you think may be successful. Keep in mind that just as there is strength in numbers there is also a shared sense of security when you`re not investing alone.

Do you like democracy? One thing that you should keep in mind is that your voice will be part of the larger group and you may not always get your way. If you`re unable to sit back when you`ve been outvoted on a favourite stock, and let another investment choice be made, then an investment club might not be for you.

Can you be satisfied with a learning experience? You should be prepared to never realize a profit from the stock market. One of the key parts of an investment club is the benefit of studying the stock market with other people with the same interests as yourself. If you never make a penny you should still be happy with your participation as part of an investment group.

Investment clubs are great ways to get to know the stock market in a safe, supportive, and fun environment. Starting your own investment club will make sure that you have a safe stock market investment club that will closely reflect your interests, though there will be compromises in any group setting. Friends, fun, a chance to study something you are keenly interested in, and a chance to make money. An investment club can be the best of all worlds.



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Posted by admin | Investing | Saturday 19 December 2009 1:08 am
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Investment From Abroad is Right or Wrong?

Posted by admin | Investing | Wednesday 9 December 2009 12:32 am
Nidheesh K B


INTRODUCTION

One of the outstanding features of globalization in the financial services industry is the increased access provided to non-local investors in several major stock markets of the world. Increasingly, stock markets from emerging markets permit institutional investors to trade in their domestic markets. Indian stock market opened to Foreign Institutional Investors in 14th September 1992, initially with lot of restrictions. The regulation on them are liberalized and minimized now, since 1993 has received a considerable amount of portfolio investment from foreigners in the form if FIIs investment in equities. This has become a turning point of India stock market. The government of India announced the policy of the government to permit the FII investment in India capital market. According to the SEBI modified the regulation on 14-11-1995. In order to make investment in India equity market they wanted to register with Security Exchange Board of India as foreign institutional investors. It is possible for foreigners to trade in India securities without registering as Foreign Institutional investors, but such cases require approval from Reserve Bank of India or the Foreign Institutional Promotion Board. They are generally concentrated in secondary market.

Domestic market alone not able to meet the growing capital requirement of the country and financing from mutilated institution has lost primary in the emerging in the global order .Besides aimed primarily at ensuring non-debt creating capital inflows at a time of extreme balance of payment crisis. It was to tie over the balance of payment crisis in the early 1990s

Portfolio flows often referred to as ‘hot- money’ are notoriously volatile capital flows. They have also responsible for spreading financial crisis causing contagion in international market. Evan though, the FIIs have been plying a key role in the financial markets since their entry into this country. The explosive portfolio flow by FII brings with them great advantages as they are engine of growth, lowering cost of capital in many emerging market. This opening up of capital markets in emerging market countries has been perceived as beneficial by some researchers while others are concerned about possible adverse consequences.

Clark and Berko (1997) emphasize the beneficial effects of allowing foreigners to trade in stock markets and outline the “base-broadening” hypothesis. The perceived advantages of base-broadening arise from an increase in the investor base and the consequent reduction in risk premium due to risk sharing. Other researchers and policy makers are more concerned about the attendant risks associated with the trading activities of foreign investors. They are particularly concerned about the herding behavior of foreign institutions and the potential destabilization of emerging stock markets.

This study addresses these issues in the context of foreign institutional investors’ (FII) trading activities in a big emerging market – India. India liberalized its financial markets and allowed FIIs to participate in their domestic markets in 1992. Ostensibly, this opening up resulted in a number of positive effects. First, the stock exchanges were forced to improve the quality of their trading and settlement procedures in accordance with the best practices of the world. Second, the information environment in India improved with the advent of major international financial institutional investors in India. On the negative side we need to consider potential destabilization as a result of the trading activity of foreign institutional investors. This is especially important in an emerging country that has embarked upon reforms to open up its market.

OBJECTIVES The objectives of this study were as follows;

(1) To study the role of FII investment in the Indian stock market, ( 2 ) To examine the causal relationship between net FII investment and BSE sensex using granger causality test (3) To examine the causal relationship between net FII investment and NSE sensex using granger causality test (4 )To examine whether FIIs were a channel of global disturbance into the Indian stock market.

TOOLS: Study was carried out with the help of unit root test, co integration test, causal regression and F statistics for FII investment and index from BSE and NSE

LETERATURE REVIEWS

Gayathri Devi .R in 2003, she conducted study on “Causal Relationship between FIIs and Stock Market: A critical study”. It revealed that there was long run relationship between net FII investment and sensex, FII investment did not respond the short-run changes or technical-position of the market and they were more driven by fundamentals, and FII investments did granger cause India stock market. “Selen Serisoy Guerin” in 2006, conducted study on “The Role of Geography in Financial and Economic Integration: A comparative Analysis of foreign direct investment, Trade and Portfolio Investment Flows”.. It found support for the argument that most FDI among Industrial countries were horizontal, whereas most FDI investment in developing countries was vertical and our results indicated that portfolio investment flows compared to FDI, were highly sensitive to change in GDP per capita, this implied that if there was a negative output stock, portfolio investment flows would be more volatile than FDI. A.Julia Priya, D. Lazar and Joseph Jeyapual in 2005, they conducted study on “Role of Foreign Institutional Investors on stock market development in India”, Results revealed that sensex, market capitalization of NSE, Turnover of BSE and NIFTY without market capitalizations were influenced by Foreign Institutional Investors“Suchismita Bose and Dipankor coondoo” in 2004, they conducted study on “The Impact of FII Regulation in India”,. These results strongly suggested The liberalization policies had the desired expansionary effect and had either increased the mean level of FII inflows and/or the sensitivity of these flows to a change in BSE returns and /or the Parthapratim pal in 2004 conducted study entitled as “Recent volatility in stock markets in India and foreign institutional investors. Findings of this study indicated that Foreign institutional investors had emerged as the most dominant investor group in the domestic stock market in India. Particularly, in the companies that constitute the Bombay stock market sensitivity index, their level of control was very highinertia of these flows.

“sandhya Ananthanaryanan, Chandrasekhar krishnamurthi and Nilajan Sen in 2003 conducted study as “Foreign institutional Investors and Security Returns: Evidence from Indian Stock Exchanges”, It found strong evidence consistent with the base-broadening hypothesis.It did not find compelling confirmation regarding momentum or contrarian strategies being employed by FIIs.It supported price pressure hypothesis.

It did not find any substantiation to the claim that foreigner’ destabilize the market. J.S. Pasricha and Umesh.C.Singh in 2001, tried to analyze the impact of FIIs investment on Indian capital market. Their study revealed that FII are here to stay and have become the integral part of Indian capital market. Their entry has led to greater institutionalization of the market. They have brought transparency in the market operations.S.S.S. Kumar in 2001, attempted in his study to find the effect of FIIs on the Indian stock market. The inference analysis of the paper suggests that FII investments are more driven by market fundamentals rather than by short term changers or technical position of the market. As per K. Seethapathi and V. Subbulakshmi study entitled “Foreign investment: Need for focus”, They concluded that, the flows have to pick up. The political will is to be demonstrated by the government. In addition, the regulators have to identify the reasons for failure in converting approvals into actual investments and those issues are to be addressed immediately. E. Han Kim and Vijay Singal in 1997, they conducted study entitled “Are open market Good for Foreign Investors and Emerging Nations?”, Conclusion revealed as. Integrating the emerging stock markets into world markets has had benefits, and will continue to have benefits for both global investor and host countries. The end result of integrated markets a better allocation of resources, improved productivity of capital, and a higher standard of living.

THEORETICAL REVIEW

Between late 1990 and the middle of 1991, the economy faced severe balance of payment difficulties, coming close to defaulting on its external payment obligations in January and June of 1991. In January 1991, the Government negotiated with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for loans. What followed was the implementation of the conventional IMF-World Bank prescription of short-term ‘stabilization’, consisting of devaluation, temporary import compression, fiscal and monetary compression with a rise in interest rates, followed by more long-term ‘structural adjustment’ measures, seeking to restructure the domestic economy.

The New Economic Policy was an outcome of implementation of the ‘structural adjustment’ program. The ‘economic reforms’ or ‘economic liberalization’ program, which began to be implemented with the announcement of the New Economic Policy (NEP), included wide-ranging changes in industrial policy, trade policy and foreign investment policy, a redefinition of the role of the public sector in the economy and redesigning the architecture of the domestic financial system. By narrowing down the topic, first it concentrates on capital account liberalization.

CAPITAL ACCOUNT LIBERALIZATION

The process of capital account liberalization in India needs to be situated in its wider context, for it was shaped by the reality in the national context and the conjuncture in the international context. In response to the external debt crisis, which surfaced in 1991, the government set in motion a process of stabilization, adjustment and reform. Economic liberalization and structural reforms sought to increase the degree of openness of the economy through trade flows, investment flows, technology flows and capital flows. The process began the introduction of convertibility on trade as quantitative restrictions on imports, except for with consumer goods were dismantled and tariff levels were reduced. It was combined with a liberalization of the regimes for foreign investment and foreign technology. And restrictions on international economic transactions, including capital movements, were progressively reduced. This process was also influenced by the gathering momentum of globalization which was associated with increasing economic openness in trade flows, investment flows and financial flows.

The approach to capital account liberalization in India was much more cautious. What was liberalized was specified. Everything else remained restricted or prohibited. The contours of liberalization of the capital account were, in large part, shaped by the salutary lessons of the external debt crisis which surfaced in early 1991 and brought India close to default in meetings its international obligations. The balance of payments situation, then, was almost unmanageable.

The vulnerability was accentuated by two factors: it became exceedingly difficult to roll-over short-term debt in international capital markets and there was capital flight in the form of withdrawals from deposits held by non-resident Indians. This experience dictated the parameters of capital account liberalization8. It prompted strict regulation of external commercial borrowing especially short-term debt. It led to a systematic effort to discourage volatile capital flows associated with repatriable non-resident deposits. Most important, perhaps, it was responsible for the change in emphasis and the shift in preference from debt creating capital flows to non-debt creating capital flows. To some extent, the liberalization that was introduced was also influenced by the perceived needs of the economy: financing the current account deficit, mobilizing resources for investment and attracting international firms. But capital account convertibility remained, fortunately, in the realm of rhetoric. The Mexican crisis in late 1994 was, ironically enough, a blessing in disguise for India. It was not just an early warning signal. It dampened the enthusiasm of those who advocated capital account liberalization with a big bang. It lent support to those who questioned the wisdom of capital account convertibility that would have been premature in every sense. The contours of capital account liberalization in India were determined by these factors.

In sketching these contours, it is necessary to distinguish between different forms of private capital inflows and outflows, as there are important differences between these categories in the nature and the degree of liberalization. A complete description would mean too much of a digression. For our purpose, it would suffice to consider the contours of liberalization in the following categories of capital account transactions:

• Direct investment,

• Portfolio investment, and

• Non-resident deposits.

Foreign Direct Investment

It is defined as a long-term investment by a foreign direct investor in an enterprise resident in an economy other than that in which the foreign direct investor is based. The FDI relationship consists of a parent enterprise and a foreign affiliate which together form a transnational corporation (TNC). In order to qualify as FDI the investment must afford the parent enterprise control over its foreign affiliate.

The liberalization of the policy regime for direct foreign investment began in July 1991 with two major decisions. First, direct foreign investment with up to 51 per cent equity was to receive automatic approval in selected high priority industries subject only to a registration procedure with the Reserve Bank of India. Second, a Foreign Investment Promotion Board was constituted to consider all other proposals for direct foreign investment where approval was not constrained by pre-determined parameters and procedures. In effect, this created a dual route for inflows of direct foreign investment. The approval was automatic, within the specific parameters, from the Reserve Bank of India, while all other inflows were subject to approval through the Foreign Investment Promotion Board. The access through the automatic route has been progressively enlarged over time. Needless to add, outflows associated with direct foreign investment are not subject to any restrictions, but this was so even in the era of capital controls.

Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI)

Portfolio investment represents passive holdings of securities such as foreign stocks, bonds, or other financial assets, none of which entails active management or control of the securities’ issuer by the investor; where such control exists, it is known as foreign direct investment.

The liberalization of the policy regime was extended to portfolio investment in September1992. To begin with, foreign institutional investors such as pension funds or mutual funds were allowed to invest in the domestic capital market subject simply to registration with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. Guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India permitted such foreign institutional investors to invest in the secondary market for equity subject to a ceiling of 5per cent (subsequently raised to 10 per cent) for individual foreign institutional investors in a single Indian firm with an overall limit at 24 per cent of equity (later relaxed to 30 per cent of equity at the option of the firm) for total foreign institutional investment in a single Indian firm. Foreign portfolio investment further classified into

1. FIIs

2. ADR/GDR, and

3. Offshore funds.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs)

One who propose to invest their proprietary funds or on behalf of “broad based” funds or of foreign corporates and individuals and belong to any of the under given categories can be registered for FII.

• Pension Funds

• Mutual Funds

• Investment Trust

• Insurance or reinsurance companies

• Endowment Funds

• University Funds

• Foundations or Charitable Trusts or Charitable Societies who propose to invest on their own behalf, and

• Asset Management Companies

• Nominee Companies

• Institutional Portfolio Managers

• Trustees

• Power of Attorney Holders

• Bank

Access was provided to foreign institutional investors in the secondary market for debt. Soon thereafter, foreign institutional investors were also allowed investment or placement in the primary market, subject to approval from the Reserve Bank of India, with a maximum limit of 15per cent of the new issue. It was some time before foreign institutional investors were permitted investment in government securities in the primary and secondary markets. This came in 1996-97 and was subject to the ceiling for external commercial borrowing. Subsequently, in 1998-99, foreign institutional investors were also permitted to invest in treasury-bills. There is no reserve requirements stipulated for, or taxes imposed on, these capital inflows. It also needs to be said that foreign institutional investors are allowed to repatriate the principal, the capital gains, the dividends, the interest and any other receipt from the sale of such financial assets, without any restriction, at the market exchange rate. The income tax rate for dividends on such portfolio investment for foreign institutional investors is 20 per cent, which is much lower than the corporate income tax rate for domestic or foreign firms. But foreign institutional investors are subject to a higher short-term capital gains tax at 30 per cent compared with 20 per cent for domestic investors, while the long-term capital gains tax is the same at 10 per cent. Sales of such financial assets for the purpose of repatriation are absolutely unrestricted, provided the sales are through stock exchanges. However, disinvestment through any other route, or in any other form, requires approval from the Reserve Bank of India.

Global Depositary Receipt:

Global Depositary Receipt A negotiable certificate held in the bank of one country representing a specific number of shares of a stock traded on an exchange of another country. American Depositary Receipts make it easier for individuals to invest in foreign companies, due to the widespread availability of price information, lower transaction costs, and timely dividend distributions. Also called European Depositary Receipt.

The option of portfolio investment was also made available to domestic corporate entities from September 1992. Indian firms were allowed access to international capital markets through global depository receipts or Euro convertible bonds which converted debt into equity after stipulated period. This access, however, was not automatic. Individual applications, drawn up inconformity with the general guidelines of the government, were subject to approval. This process remains unchanged.

Offshore Funds:

An offshore fund is a collective investment scheme domiciled in an Offshore Financial Centre, for example British Virgin Islands, Luxembourg, Cayman Islands or Dublin.

Similar facilities for portfolio investment were subsequently extended to Offshore funds, non-resident Indians (as individuals) and overseas corporate bodies, only for investment in shares or debentures through stock exchanges, on the same terms as foreign institutional investors, but subject to a ceiling of 5 per cent for individual non-resident Indians or overseas corporate bodies in a single Indian firm.

Among the various components of portfolio investment, FII comprises the bulk of portfolio inflows. The main objective of foreign institutional investors is to minimize risk and maximize returns by diversifying their portfolios internationally. Major determinants of investment decisions of FII are country and region specific.

Portfolio flows often referred to as ‘hot- money’ are notoriously volatile capital flows. They have also responsible for spreading financial crisis causing contagion in international market. Evan though, the FIIs have been plying a key role in the financial markets since their entry into this country. The explosive portfolio flow by FII brings with them great advantages as they are engine of growth, lowering cost of capital in many emerging market. This opening up of capital markets in emerging market countries has been perceived as beneficial by some while others are concerned about possible adverse consequences.

Among the most active FIIs are Morgan Stanely Asset Management, jardine Fleming, Capital International, J. Henery schorder, templeton, Warburg Pinkers, Internatioanl Alliance and Quantum fund.

Foreign Institutional Investors in India

India opened her doors to foreign institutional investors in September, 1992. This event represents a landmark event since it resulted in effectively globalizing its financial services industry. Initially, pension funds, mutual finds, investment trusts, Asset Management Companies, nominee companies and incorporated/institutional portfolio managers were permitted to invest directly in the Indian stock markets. Beginning 1996-97, the group was expanded to include registered university funds, endowment, foundations, charitable trusts and charitable. Since then, FII flows which form a part of foreign portfolio investments have been steadily growing in importance in India. Other than in the year 1998, the net flows have been positive. The nuclear tests and East Asian crisis did slow down the flows but as stated by Gordan and Gupta (2003), their effects were short lived. That the percentage of total net turnover of BSE, the share of average of FII sales and purchases increased from 2.6 percent in 1998 to 5.5 percent in 2002. The cumulative net FII investment in India as on August 2003 is approximately $17400 million. As of August 2003 net FII investment was 9 percent of the BSE market capitalization which is small compared to the size of the market. However, in the words of Banaji (2002), it is not the market capitalization that matters but what is important is the level of the free float, that is, the shares that are actually publicly available for trading. With floating stock in the Indian market being less than 25 percent, about 35 percent of the free float available has been bagged by FIIs – despite the fact that they invest in just a few highly liquid stocks.

Though India receives hardly 1 percent of the FII investments in emerging markets, the portfolio flows to India have been less volatile when compared with that of many other emerging markets (Gordan and Gupta, 2003). FIIs by adopting a bottom-up approach seem to invest in top-quality, high growth, large cap stocks (Gordan and Gupta, 2003). Sytse et al. (2003) provide empirical evidence that foreign institutional investors in India, invest in large, liquid companies which enable them to exit their positions quickly at relatively lower cost and also that the foreign institutional owners have a larger impact than foreign corporate owners when performance is measured using stock market valuation criterion.

India is one of the fastest growing economies in South Asia, promising a growth of over 9 percent, second only to China, it would not be a surprise to see increased FII flows to India in the future. FIIs are now looking at the economy as a whole, with the macro-economic factors also playing their role in attracting foreign investors. Factors like a strong currency, key reforms in the banking, power and telecommunications sector, increased consumer spending and stable policies are expected to play a major role in attracting FIIs to India. The Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) along with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) jointly monitor the markets and announces the regulatory measures thus making the Indian companies more transparent and more disciplined.

According to the April 2005 report on corporate governance by CLSA Emerging Markets, India ranks fourth with a score of 55.6 percent. Banaji (2000) emphasizes that the capital market reforms like improved market transparency, automation, dematerialization and regulations on reporting and disclosure standards were initiated because of the presence of the FIIs. But FII flows can be considered both as the cause and the effect of capital market reforms. The market reforms were initiated because of the presence of FIIs and this in turn has lead to increased flows.

The Government of India gave preferential treatment to FIIs till 1999-2000 by subjecting their long term capital gains to lower tax rate of 10 percent while the domestic investors had to pay higher long-term capital gains tax. The Indo-Mauritius Double Taxation Avoidance Convention 2000 (DTAC), exempts Mauritius-based entities from paying capital gains tax in India – including tax on income arising from the sale of shares. This gives an incentive for foreign investors to invest in Indian markets taking the Mauritius route. Consequently, we now see investments coming from Mauritius while there were none before 2000.

The country wise distribution of the FIIs registered in India, with majority of them coming from USA and UK. Chakrabarti (2002) and Rao et al. (1999) point out the fact that due to existing inter-linkages, the source of the FII investment might not be the country from where the institution operates. Nevertheless, the figure gives us an idea of the country wise distribution of the FIIs in India. So as to encourage long term investments in the Indian market, Budget 2003 proposed that investors who buy stocks of listed companies from March 1, 2003 be exempt from paying tax on the gains they make on their investments, provided they hold them for more than one year. With so much to benefit from, the FII investment in India is likely to increase in the future.

Regulation on FII

Investment by FII was jointly regulated by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) through the SEBI (Foreign Institutional Investors) Regulations, 1995 and by the Reserve Bank of India through Regulation 5(2) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999. The promulgation of legislation pertaining to foreign investment by SEBI in 1995 market a watershed for FII flows to India; this led to a significant increase in the level of FII equity inflows in the pre-Asian crisis period. The SEBI FII Regulations and RBI policies are amended and modified from time to time in response to the gradual maturing of the Indian financial market and changes taking place in the global economic scenario.

In order to trade in India equity market, foreign corporation need to register with SEBI as Foreign Institutional Investors. Without registration they can invest, but cases require the approval from RBI. They are generally concentrated in secondary market. FII are allowed to invest in

a) Securities in primary and secondary market including shares, debentures and warrant of companies, unlisted, listed or to be the listed in India.

b) Units of mutual funds

c) Dated government securities

d) Derivative traded in a recognized stock market and

e) Commercial papers

FII can invest their own funds as well as invest on behalf of their over seas clients registered as such with SEBI. These client accounts that the FII manages are known as ’sub accounts’. FII sub accounts include those foreign corporate, foreign individual, institution funds or portfolio established or incorporated out side India.

FII may issue deal in or hold off share derivative instrument such as participatory notes (PN). The entities that can subscribe to the PN are : a) Any entity incorporated in a jurisdiction that requires filing of constitutional or other documents with a registrar of companies or comparable regulatory agency or body under the applicable companies legislation in that jurisdiction; b) Any entity that is regulated, authorized or supervised by a central bank, such as the Bank of England, or any other similar body provided that the entity must not only be authorized but also be regulated by the aforesaid regulatory bodies; c) Any entity that is regulated, authorized or supervised by a securities or futures commission, such as the Financial Services Authority or other securities or futures authority or commission in any country , state or territory ; d) Any entity that is a member of securities or futures exchanges such as the New York Stock Exchange or other self-regulatory securities or futures authority or commission within any country, state or territory provided that the aforesaid mentioned organizations which are in the nature of self- regulatory organizations are ultimately accountable to the respective securities financial market regulators.

Investment limit

As per the September 1992 policy permitted foreign institutional investment registered FII could individually invest in a maximum of 5% of a company’s issued capital and all FIIs together up to a maximum of 24%. From November 1996 are allowed to make 10 percentage investment in debt securities subject to the specific approval from SEBI as a separate category of FIIs or sub accounts as 100% debt fund investment such investment were of occurs subjected to the fund specific ceiling prescribed by SEBI and had to be within overall ceiling US 1.5 $. The investment was however, restricted to the debt instrument of companies listed or to be listed on the stock exchanges. In 1997, the aggregate limit on investment by FIIs was allowed to be raised from 24% to 30% by then board of directors of individual companies by passing a resolution in their meeting and by special resolution to that effect in the company’s Board meeting. In June 1998 the 5% individual limit was raised to 10%.In March 2000, the ceiling on aggregate FII portfolio investment increased to 49%.This was subsequently raised to 49%, on March 8 2001, Finance minister announced February 28 2002 that foreign institutional investors can invest in accompany under the portfolio investment rout beyond 24% of the paid up capital of the company with the approval of the general body of the share holders by a special resolution.

Benefits and costs of FII investments

The terms of reference asking the Expert Group to consider how FII inflows can be

encouraged and examine the adequacy of the existing regulatory framework to adequately address the concern for reducing vulnerability to the flow of speculative capital do not include an examination of the desirability of encouraging FII inflows. Yet, for motivating the consideration of the policy options, it is useful to briefly summarize the benefits and costs for India of having FII investment. Given the Group’s mandate of encouraging FII flows, the available arguments that mitigate the costs have also been included under the relevant points.

Benefits

Reduced cost of equity capital

FII inflows augment the sources of funds in the Indian capital markets. In a commonsense way, the impact of FIIs upon the cost of equity capital may be visualized by asking what stock prices would be if there were no FIIs operating in India. FII investment reduces the required rate of return for equity, enhances stock prices, and fosters investment by Indian firms in the country.

Imparting stability to India’s Balance of Payments

For promoting growth in a developing country such as India, there is need to augment domestic investment, over and beyond domestic saving, through capital flows. The excess of domestic investment over domestic savings result in a current account deficit and this deficit is financed by capital flows in the balance of payments. Prior to 1991, debt flows and official development assistance dominated these capital flows. This mechanism of funding the current account deficit is widely believed to have played a role in the emergence of balance of payments difficulties in 1981 and 1991. Portfolio flows in the equity markets, and FDI, as opposed to debt-creating flows, are important as safer and more sustainable mechanisms for funding the current account deficit.

Knowledge flows

The activities of international institutional investors help strengthen Indian finance. FIIs advocate modern ideas in market design, promote innovation, development of sophisticated products such as financial derivatives, enhance competition in financial intermediation, and lead to spillovers of human capital by exposing Indian participants to modern financial techniques, and international best practices and systems.

Strengthening corporate governance

Domestic institutional and individual investors, used as they are to the ongoing practices of Indian corporates, often accept such practices, even when these do not measure up to the international benchmarks of best practices. FIIs, with their vast experience with modern corporate governance practices, are less tolerant of malpractice by corporate managers and owners (dominant shareholder). FII participation in domestic capital markets often lead to vigorous advocacy of sound corporate governance practices, improved efficiency and better shareholder value.

Improvements to market efficiency

A significant presence of FIIs in India can improve market efficiency through two channels. First, when adverse macroeconomic news, such as a bad monsoon, unsettles many domestic investors, it may be easier for a globally diversified portfolio manager to be more dispassionate about India’s prospects, and engage in stabilsing trades. Second, at the level of individual stocks and industries, FIIs may act as a channel through which knowledge and ideas about valuation of a firm or an industry can more rapidly propagate into India. For example, foreign investors were rapidly able to assess the potential of firms like Infosys, which are primarily export-oriented, applying valuation principles that prevailed outside India for software services companies.

Costs

Herding and positive feedback trading

There are concerns that foreign investors are chronically ill-informed about India, and this lack of sound information may generate herding (a large number of FIIs buying or selling together) and positive feedback trading (buying after positive returns, selling after negative returns). These kinds of behavior can exacerbate volatility, and push prices away from fair values. FIIs’ behavior in India, however, so far does not exhibit these patterns. Generally, contrary to ‘herding’, FIIs are seen to be involved in very large buying and selling at the same time. Gordon and Gupta (2003) find evidence against positive-feedback trading with FIIs buying after negative returns and vice versa.

BoP vulnerability

There are concerns that in an extreme event, there can be a massive flight of foreign capital out of India, triggering difficulties in the balance of payments front. India’s experience with FIIs so far, however, suggests that across episodes like the Pokhran blasts, or the 2001stock market scandal, no capital flight has taken place. A billion or more of US dollars of portfolio capital has never left India within the period of one month. When juxtaposed with India’s enormous current account and capital account flows, this suggests that there is little evidence of vulnerability so far.

Possibility of taking over companies

While FIIs are normally seen as pure portfolio investors, without interest in control, portfolio investors can occasionally behave like FDI investors, and seek control of companies that they have a substantial shareholding in. Such outcomes, however, may not be inconsistent with India’s quest for greater FDI. Furthermore, SEBI’s takeover code is in place, and has functioned fairly well, ensuring that all investors benefit equally in the event of a takeover.

Complexities of monetary management

A policymaker trying to design the ideal financial system has three objectives. The policy maker wants continuing national sovereignty in the pursuit of interest rate, inflation and exchange rate objectives; financial markets that are regulated, supervised and cushioned; and the benefits of global capital markets. Unfortunately, these three goals are incompatible. They form the “impossible trinity.” India’s openness to portfolio flows and FDI has effectively made the country’s capital account convertible for foreign institutions and investors. The problems of monetary management in general, and maintaining a tight exchange rate regime, reasonable interest rates and moderate inflation at the same time in particular, have come to the fore in recent times. The problem showed up in terms of very large foreign exchange reserve inflows requiring considerable sterilization operations by the RBI to maintain stable macroeconomic conditions. The Government had to introduce a Market Stabilization Scheme (MSS) from April1, 2004.

With the foreign exchange invested in highly liquid and safe foreign assets with low rates of return, and payment of a higher rate of interest on the treasury bills issued under MSS,

sterilization involves a cost. With a rapid rise in foreign exchange reserves and the need for having an MSS-based sterilization involving costs, questions have been raised about the desirability of encouraging more foreign exchange inflows in general and FII inflows in particular. While there is indeed the issue of timing the policy of encouragement appropriately to avoid the pitfalls of throwing the baby with the bath water, there can not be a turnaround from the avowed policy of gradual liberalization, including the cap ital account. All modern market economies have evolved policies to reconcile prudent monetary management with the benefits of a liberal capital account. There is no scope for any diffidence in India also moving in the same direction.

CONCLUSION

The liberalization policies had the desired expansionary effect and had either increased the mean level of FII inflows and/or the sensitivity of these flows to a change in BSE returns and /or the inertia of these flows. On the other hand, the restrictive measures aimed at achieving greater control over FII flows also did not show any significant negative impact on the net inflows, it had found that these policies mostly render FII investment sensitive to the domestic market returns and raise the inertia of the FII flows.

Foreign institutional investors had emerged as the most dominant investor group in the domestic stock market in India. Particularly, in the companies that constitute the Bombay stock market sensitivity index, their level of control was very high. Data on shareholding pattern showed that the FIIs were currently the most dominant non-promoter shareholder in most of the sensex companies and they also controlled more tradable shares of sensex companies than any other investor groups .The sensex, market capitalization of NSE, Turnover of BSE and NIFTY without market capitalizations were influenced by Foreign Institutional Investors. FIIs investment was not across the shares listed in the stock exchange but instead it was very concentrated on the top few company’s shares. Though there was a role by FII on Indian stock market. It was to be taken very cautiously because their influences were on the very few shares in the stock market, which influenced the indicator included in the study but which might not help the Indian economy to grow

The influence of FIIs on the movement of sensex became apparent after general election in India, during this period sensex experienced its worst single-day decline in its history and in the three month period between April to June 2004, it declined by about 17 percent. Moreover, this study also showed that even sharp changes in sensex did not necessarily indicted a significant alteration of actual shareholding pattern of different investor groups even in sensex companies. The activities of foreign institutional investors in emerging economies following the opening-up of the capital account were not simply positive for these countries but could also exert adverse effects. The reasons were derived from asymmetric distributions of information between local and foreign investors and between fund holders and mangers. Foreign institutional investors could be assumed to have relatively little information on specific developments in emerging markets so that ‘diluted information’ and ‘illusive competition’ could result. Their influence on these markets was likely to worsen the relative position of local investors which leads to ‘unbalanced diversification’. Moreover, due to their incentives they were likely to amplify occurring imbalances or even trigger financial shocks leading to what they call ‘obscure risks’ and ‘booming contagion’. The was long run relationship between net FII investment and sensex, FII investment did not respond the short-run changes or technical-position of the market and they were more driven by fundamentals, and FII investments did granger cause India stock market. The FIIs investments are highly concentrate in terms of their market value in very small number of companies. There seemed to be a clear distinction in the FIIs shareholding in nifty and non-nifty companies. There was a wide gap between the actual investments by FIIs and the investments allowed as per the cap.The gap in their investments existed both in nifty and non-nifty companies

REFERENCES

1 “Parthapratim pal” in 2006, he conducted study on “Foreign Portfolio Investment, Stock market and Economic Development: A case study of India”,

2 “Selen Serisoy Guerin” in 2006, conducted study on “The Role of Geography in Financial and Economic Integration: A comparative Analysis of foreign direct investment, Trade and Portfolio Investment Flows”

3 Keneeth A. Froot and Tarun Ramadorai in 2005, they conducted study on “The information content of international portfolio flows”,

4 A.Julia Priya, D. Lazar and Joseph Jeyapual in 2005, they conducted study on “Role of Foreign Institutional Investors on stock market development in India”,

5 Keneeth A. Froot and Tarun Ramadorai in 2005, they conducted study on “Currency Returns, Intrinsic value, and Institutional-Investor flows”,

6 Megumi Suto and Masashi Toshino in 2005, they conducted a study entitled as “Behavioral Biases of Japanese Institutional Investors: fund management and corporate governance”

7 “Suchismita Bose and Dipankor coondoo” in 2004, they conducted study on “The Impact of FII Regulation in India”,

8 Lakshmi sharma in 2004, he studied, “A Gap Analysis of FIIs Investment-An estimation of FIIs investment Avenues in Indian Equity Market.

9 Parthapratim pal in 2004 conducted study entitled as “Recent volatility in stock markets in India and foreign institutional investors.

10 “Michael Frenkel and Lukas Menkhoff” in 2004, they conducted study on “Are Foreign Institutional Investor Good for Emerging Markets?”,

11 “Brian Bushee” in 2004, he conducted study on “Identifying and attracting the “right” investors: evidence on the behavior of Institutional investors”,

12 “Christophe faugere and Hany A. Shaby in 2003, they analyzed study on “Volatility and Institutional Investor holdings in a declining market: A study of NASDAQ during the year 2000”.

13 Gayathri Devi .R in 2003, she conducted study on “Causal Relationship between FIIs and Stock Market: A critical study”

14 “sandhya Ananthanaryanan, Chandrasekhar krishnamurthi and Nilajan Sen in 2003 conducted study as “Foreign institutional Investors and Security Returns: Evidence from Indian Stock Exchanges”,

15 Stuart L. Gillan and Laura T. Starks in 2003, they conducted study as “corporate Governance, corporate ownership, and the Role of Institutional Investors: A Global perspective”,

16 “Vihang Errunza” in 2001, he conducted study entitled as “foreign portfolio equity investments, financial liberalization and economic development

17 J.S. Pasricha and Umesh.C.Singh in 2001, tried to analyze the impact of FIIs investment on Indian capital market.

18 S.S.S. Kumar in 2001, attempted in his study to find the effect of FIIs on the Indian stock market.

19 “Rajesh chakrabarti” in 2000 conducted study on “FII Flows to India: Nature and Causes”

20 C.H. Rajeswar in 2000, he conducted study entitled “Foreign Institutional Investors – A new force of support and discipline”

21 As per K. Seethapathi and V. Subbulakshmi study entitled “Foreign investment: Need for focus”,

22 Ila Patnik and Deepa Vasudevan in 1998, their study entitled “foreign portfolio investment to India

23 “Rene M. Stulz” in 1999, he analyzed study on “international portfolio flows and security markets”.

24 Yung Chul Park and Chi-Young Song, they conducted study on “Institutional Investors, Trade linkage, Macroeconomic similarities and contagious Thai crisis



How To Invest Successfully

Posted by admin | Investing | Monday 7 December 2009 4:58 am
Paul Hata


There are several different types of investments, and there are many factors in determining the success of your investment.Before you get there,remember that all success story began with researching the various available types of investments, determining your risk tolerance, and determining your investment style along with your financial goals.

Do Your Homework – If you were going to purchase a new car, you would do quite a bit of research before making a final decision and a purchase. You would never consider purchasing a car that you had not fully looked over and taken for a test drive. Investing works much the same way.You will of course learn as much about the investment as possible, and you would want to see how past investors have done as well. It’s common sense!

As a potential investor, you should read anything you can get your hands on about investing but start with the beginning investment books and websites first. Otherwise, you will quickly find that you are lost.

Learn From The Experts – Learning about the stock market and investments takes a lot of time but it is time well spent. There are numerous books and websites on the topic, and you can even take college level courses on the topic which is what stockbrokers do.

Test Run – While the person who sold you your brand new car or ipod will provide you with a 30 day money back warranty, there is no such thing as money back warranty in stock investment.

Once the money’s gone,its gone forever and that could be your life savings!

With access to the Internet, you can actually play the stock market with fake money to get a feel for how it works.Do a search with any search engine for “Stock Market Games” or “Stock Market Simulations.” This is a great way to start learning about investing in the stock market.

Speak with a Financial Planner – Finally, speak with a financial planner. Tell them your goals, and ask them for their suggestions, this is what they do.A good financial planner can easily help you determine where to invest your funds, and help you set up a plan to reach all of your financial goals. Many will even teach you about investing along the way,make sure you pay attention to what they are telling you!

Different Types of Investments – Overall, there are three different kinds of investments. These include stocks, bonds, and cash. Sounds simple, right? Well, unfortunately, it gets very complicated from there. You see, each type of investment has numerous types of investments that fall under it.

There is quite a bit to learn about each different investment type. The stock market can be a big scary place for those who know little or nothing about investing. Fortunately, the amount of information that you need to learn has a direct relation to the type of investor that you are. There are also three types of investors: conservative, moderate, and aggressive. The different types of investments also cater to the two levels of risk tolerance: high risk and low risk.

1.Conservative Investors – Conservative investors often invest in cash. This means that they put their money in interest bearing savings accounts, money market accounts, mutual funds, US Treasury bills, and Certificates of Deposit. These are very safe investments that grow over a long period of time. These are also low risk investments.

2.Moderate Investors – Moderate investors often invest in cash and bonds, and may dabble in the stock market. Moderate investing may be low or moderate risks. Moderate investors often also invest in real estate, providing that it is low risk real estate.

3.Aggressive Investors – Aggressive investors commonly do most of their investing in the stock market, which is higher risk. They also tend to invest in business ventures as well as higher risk real estate. For instance, if an aggressive investor puts his or her money into an older apartment building, then invests more money renovating the property, they are running a risk. They expect to be able to rent the apartments out for more money than the apartments are currently worth or to sell the entire property for a profit on their initial investments. In some cases, this works out just fine, and in other cases, it doesn’t. It’s a risk.

Before you start investing, it is very important that you learn about the different types of investments, and what those investments can do for you. Understand the risks involved, and pay attention to past trends as well. History does indeed repeat itself, and investors know this first hand!

The Importance of Diversification – “Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.” We have all probably heard of this advice and when it comes to investing, it is very true. Diversification is the key to successful investing. All successful investors build portfolios that are widely diversified, and you should too!

Diversifying your investments might include purchasing various stocks in many different industries. It may include purchasing bonds, investing in money market accounts, or even in some real property. The key is to invest in several different areas not just one.

Diversification May Bring Better Returns – Over time, research has shown that investors who have diversified portfolios usually see more consistent and stable returns on their investments than those who just invest in one thing. By investing in several different markets, you will actually be at less risk also.

For instance, if you have invested all of your money in one stock, and that stock takes a significant plunge, you will most likely find that you have lost all of your money. On the other hand, if you have invested in ten different stocks, and nine are doing well while one plunges, you are still in reasonably good shape.

Diversification Plans – A good diversification will usually include stocks, bonds, real property, and cash. It may take time to diversify your portfolio. Depending on how much you have to initially invest, you may have to start with one type of investment, and invest in other areas as time goes by.

Lower Your Risk – If you can divide your initial investment funds among various types of investments, you will find that you have a lower risk of losing your money, and over time, you will see better returns. Experts also suggest that you spread your investment money evenly among your investments. In other words, if you start with $100,000 to invest, invest $25,000 in stocks, $25,000 in real property, $25,000 in bonds, and put $25,000 in an interest bearing savings account.



Socially Responsible Investing for Idiots

Posted by admin | Investing | Wednesday 2 December 2009 2:19 pm
Michael Grodsky, AIF®


Socially Responsible Investing for Idiots

Sí, Money! (http://simoney.us)

By Michael Grodsky

If I have to be an idiot, at the least I’m a green idiot. I believe in clean air, corporate responsibility, community activism, licorice, pizza and Thai food. And healthy living, freedom, and of course freedom raisins.



Shiny happy raisins

I love trees, sky, and ah, the OXYGEN! But I’m worried about the dismal state of health care, education funding, the ozone hole, the Medicare donut hole, and your little dog too! Did you know the North Pole is melting? That really scares me. Plus I need to cut down on my Chunky Monkey intake.

In everything I do, in every move I make, it seems that I’m part of the worldwide web of production and consumption. So I pertly place my recyclables in the blue bin, our family uses reusable grocery bags, and I vote. What more can a light-switch thumping, gasoline-pumping 21st century fox do?

C’mon, baby, light my SRI fire…



 

It was only a couple of years ago a friend remarked to me that real estate was the only investment that made any sense, as if his seat on the Ferris Wheel of investments, propelled by an invincible source, would forever be going up, up, UP! Instead, what happened was “up, up and away.”



The first Ferris wheel, from 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago

The desire for a sure thing is hard to resist. Albert Einstein, succumbing to pressure to support the idea of a static universe, in his 1917 paper added an adjustment number called the “cosmological constant” to his equation for general relativity. In 1931 he publicly renounced this static cosmology and endorsed the Big Bang expanding universe model, ditching the cosmological constant and returning to his original equation. He later called his bowing to peer pressure the greatest blunder of his entire life. You can read about the adventure in author Simon Singh’s “Big Bang – The Origin of the Universe.”

Many philanthropic foundations have long drawn a wall between their socially conscious mission statements that drive grant making, and the investment holdings of their endowment. There is a truism that investing for social benefit results in lower returns. But just as scientific peer consensus eventually embraced the Big Bang theory, so has the thinking of philanthropic foundations changed. The reasons are twofold: A recognition that corporate responsibility and societal concerns are valid parts of investment decisions, (1) and a growing number of academic studies have demonstrated that socially responsible investment (SRI) mutual funds perform competitively with non-SRI funds over time. (2)

For example, according to University of Maastricht and Erasmus University Rotterdam economists in their prize-winning paper, “we find little evidence of significant differences in risk-adjusted returns between ethical and conventional funds for the 1990-2001 period.” (3)

Foundation investment choices seem to be increasingly guided by effect upon society as a whole, not just financial gain, according to a recent Los Angeles Times article. (4) Fresh thinking in the nation’s largest foundations may be driving the impetus ever faster: The $8.5-billion William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (Menlo Park), the $6.1-billion John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (Chicago), the $7.8-billion W.K. Kellogg Foundation (Battle Creek, Michigan) all have made recent changes to improve the social effect of their investments. (5)

SRI assets are also growing faster than assets as a whole: according to the non-profit Social Investment Forum’s 2005 biennial report, SRI assets rose more than 258 percent from $639 billion in 1995 to $2.29 trillion in 2005. Over those ten years, SRI assets grew four percent faster than the entire universe of managed assets in the United States. (6)

Some have already been on the SRI track: the nation’s second largest foundation, the Ford Foundation, along with others such as the F.B. Herron Foundation, the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation and the Nathan Cumings Foundation, have for a long time aligned their charitable and investment practices.

What is Socially Responsible Investing?

Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) is a broad-based approach to investing that now encompasses an estimated $2.3 trillion out of $24 trillion in the U.S. investment marketplace today. (7) The release of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment–subscribed to by some of the world’s largest institutional investors, asset managers, and related organizations representing over $9 trillion in assets as of mid- 2007–underscores the widespread acceptance of the principle that investors cannot, in the long run, achieve their goals by investing in corporations that externalize their costs onto society. (8)

How do I research SRI funds?

A good place to start is the Social Investment Forum (http://www.socialinvest.org). Look at the resource list at the end of this article too.

How do I start investing?

If you participate in an employer-sponsored retirement plan, there may be SRI funds already available to you. If you manage your own IRA or other plan, look into what’s available. But don’t just go adding a fund without considering the entire makeup of your portfolio.

The key to earning decent long-term returns and limiting overall risk is to have a proper asset allocation, meaning you don’t have all your eggs in one basket. For do-it-yourself-ers, check out the government’s website about asset allocation (http://tinyurl.com/2825hw), or purchase “All About Asset Allocation” by Richard A. Ferri ($13.57 at Amazon), a great introduction to the topic. Your personal financial advisor or company where you have your investment or retirement accounts can help.

How do I know which funds will produce the highest returns?

You don’t, you can’t, and you won’t, so just forget about it because past performance doesn’t predict future results. The day-to-day ups and downs of the market receive the media attention, but the daily, quarterly, or even yearly returns are largely irrelevant in constructing an individual’s portfolio whose objectives are long-range.  What you want to look for are funds that perform well over the long run within their particular sector, as compared to the appropriate benchmark indices. Various areas of the economy are always moving up and down and sideways, and so far no one has ever been able to know ahead of time what the pattern will be. Asset allocation, I’ll say again, may be the key to long-term success in building a financially secure future. Not panicking helps too!

What makes an SRI fund different?

If a prospective company is a fit according to a fund’s stated objectives, research is performed to determine whether or not it’s a good idea to buy stock at the current offering price. It boils down to the question “Within the guidelines of the stated objectives of the fund, will this purchase help to achieve the highest possible return for the fund’s shareholders?”

The three core socially responsible investing strategies are screening, shareholder advocacy, and community investing. Screening means a fund will include or exclude companies based upon criteria such as alcohol, tobacco, animal testing, and human rights, among others. These screens can be positive (e.g., including companies that treat employees well) or negative (e.g., excluding companies who do business with disturbed musicians).

Keep in mind that, as with all mutual funds, SRI funds have no guarantees of future return.



In any case, you’d better take this lad’s offering of raisins!

If you use electricity, drive a car, and participate in many other activities of daily living, in a very true sense you are already investing in the companies that allow and encourage your consumption. In other words, you are part of the “market” whether or not you actually own stocks or mutual funds. Socially responsible investing can be a way to make your dollars work toward something in which you believe, and support those companies you believe have a vision in line with your own.

Resources and suggested reading

1.    “The Mission in the Marketplace: How Responsible Investing Can Strengthen the Fiduciary Oversight of Foundation Endowments and Enhance Philanthropic Missions.” Social Investment Forum Foundation’s resource guide for foundations to manage risk and leverage their investment assets more fully with their core philanthropic purpose, while creating lasting value. http://tinyurl.com/35t49h

2.    “10 best” list of companies. Corporate Responsibility Officer magazine rates the citizenship disclosures, policies and performance of large-cap, public companies in the following industries: Auto & Vehicles, Paper, Technology Hardware, Technology Software, Transport, and Travel & Lodging industries, Chemical, Energy, Financial, Media and Utilities industries. http://www.thecro.com/node/580

3.    Social Science Research Network. http://www.ssrn.com/

4.    United Nations’ “The Principles for Responsible Investment.” An investor initiative in partnership with UNEP Finance Initiative and the UN Global Compact. http://www.unpri.org/

5.    The Social Investment Forum; national membership association dedicated to advancing the concept, practice, and growth of socially and environmentally responsible investing. http://www.socialinvest.org/

6.    Social Investment Forum’s 2005 biennial report. http://tinyurl.com/258794

7.    Sristudies.org, a resource for quantitative aspects of socially responsible investing. Includes an annotated bibliography of studies of socially responsible investing. A project of the Moskowitz Research Program, which is affiliated with the Center for Responsible Business at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley.

8.    Socially Responsible Mutual Fund Charts of Financial Performance. http://www.socialinvest.org/resources/mfpc/

9.    SocialFunds.com, an advertising-driven website with information on SRI mutual funds, community investments, corporate research, shareowner actions, and daily social investment news.

10.    “Handbook on Responsible Investment Across Asset Classes.” For asset allocation junkies, individuals and institutional investors the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship created this work. http://tinyurl.com/2ffqbu

Footnotes

1. The Maturing of Socially Responsible Investment: A Review of the Developing Link with Corporate Social Responsibility by Russell Sparkes and Christopher J. Cowton. Journal of Business Ethics, Volume 52, Number 1 / June, 2004.

2. SriStudies.org

3. International Evidence on Ethical Mutual Fund Performance and Investment Style, paper by Rob Bauer, Kees Koedijk, Rogér Otten. Limburg Institute of Financial Economics, November 2002. (socialinvest.org/resources/research)

4. Foundations align investments with their charitable goals by Charles Piller, Los Angeles Times, December 29, 2007. Section C, p 1.

5. Ibid.

6. 2005 Report on Socially Responsible Investing Trends in the United States. Social Investment Forum. (www.socialinvest.org)

7. Socially Responsible Investing Facts. Social Investment Forum. www.socialinvest.org

8. PRI Report On Progress 2007. PRI (Principles for Responsible Investment), United Nations. (www.unpri.org)

Image credits

Sun-Maid/George Bush composite image

•    First Sun-Maid packaging to feature a likeness of Lorraine Collett as the “Sun-Maid Girl,” 1916. Designer unknown, incorporates painting by ***** Scafford. Public domain in the United States.

•    Photograph of Bush speaking. Brazil, November 6, 2005. Agência Brasil, a public Brazilian news agency, produced photograph. Published under the Creative Commons License Attribution 2.5 Brazil.

Fox/Morrison composite image

•    Foxes by Franz Marc, 1913. The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. Public Domain.

•    Jim Morrison portrait, 2007, by Amadeu.taradell. Released by author into public domain.

Ferris Wheel/Superman composite image

•    The first Ferris wheel from the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The New York Times photo archive. Public Domain.

•    Screenshot of 1941 cartoon Superman. Fleischer Studios. This work is in the public domain because it was published in the United States between 1923 and 1963 with a copyright notice, and its copyright was not renewed.

Musician holding Valentine’s Day raisins composite image

•    Photo of musician Jeff Hawley, 2007.  Manager, Marketing Content Pro Audio and Combo Division, Yamaha Corporation of America. Courtesy of Mr. Hawley.

•    Photo, August 3, 2005 by Mazbln. Halberstadt, Klosterkirche St. Burchardi, Ort des John-Cage-Projektes “As slow as possible.” Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.

•    Original painting of Lorraine Collett by ***** Scafford, 1915, later used on Sun-Maid raisin packaging. Public domain in the United States.

This column is meant to provide general information, and should not be construed as providing investment, legal, or tax advice. There is no guarantee as to the accuracy or completeness of the information in this article. There are no guarantees of future return for any fund, nor an endorsement of any investment product. Mutual funds are sold by prospectus only. For complete information on mutual funds including sales charges and expenses, call your financial professional for a prospectus. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing. Links are provided herein as a courtesy, and no guarantees are made as to the accuracy of the content on the referenced websites.

Sí, Money! – Vol. 2, No. 1  February 2008 – http://simoney.us



Finance, Credit, Investments-modern Interpretation

Posted by admin | Investing | Tuesday 1 December 2009 9:48 pm
lamara qoqiauri


Finance, Credit, Investments – Economical Categories. Modern Interpretation

 

Scientific works in the theories of finances and credit, according to the specification of the research object, are characterized to be many-sided and many-leveled.

The definition of totality of the economical relations formed in the process of formation, distribution and usage of finances, as money sources is widely spread. For example, in “the general theory of finances” there are two definitions of finances:

1)            “…Finances reflect economical relations, formation of the funds of money sources, in the process of distribution and redistribution of national receipts according to the distribution and usage”. This definition is given relatively to the conditions of Capitalism, when cash-commodity relations gain universal character;

2)            “Finances represent the formation of centralized ad decentralized money sources, economical relations relatively with the distribution and usage, which serve for fulfillment of the state functions and obligations and also provision of the conditions of the widened further production”. This definition is brought without showing the environment of its action. We share partly such explanation of finances and think expedient to make some specification.

First, finances overcome the bounds of distribution and redistribution service of the national income, though it is a basic foundation of finances. Also, formation and usage of the depreciation fund which is the part of financial domain, belongs not to the distribution and redistribution of the national income (of newly formed value during a year), but to the distribution of already developed value.

This latest first appears to be a part of value of main industrial funds, later it is moved to the cost price of a ready product (that is to the value too) and after its realization, and it is set the depression fund. Its source is taken into account before hand as a depression kind in the consistence of the ready products cost price.

Second, main goal of finances is much wider then “fulfillment of the state functions and obligations and provision of conditions for the widened further production”. Finances exist on the state level and also on the manufactures and branches’ level too, and in such conditions, when the most part of the manufactures are not state.

V. M. Rodionova has a different position about this subject: “real formation of the financial resources begins on the stage of distribution, when the value is realized and concrete economical forms of the realized value are separated from the consistence of the profit”. V. M. Rodionova makes an accent of finances, as distributing relations, when D. S. Moliakov underlines industrial foundation of finances. Though both of them give quite substantiate discussion of finances, as a system of formation, distribution and usage of the funds of money sources, that comes out of the following definition of the finances: “financial cash relations, which forms in the process of distribution and redistribution of the partial value of the national wealth and total social product, is related with the subjects of the economy and formation and usage of the state cash incomes and savings in the widened further production, in the material stimulation of the workers for satisfaction of the society social and other requests”.

In the manuals of the political economy we meet with the following definitions of finances:

“Finances of the socialistic state represent economical (cash) relations, with the help of which, in the way of planned distribution of the incomes and savings the funds of money sources of the state and socialistic manufactures are formed for guaranteeing the growth of the production, rising the material and cultural level of the people and for satisfying other general society requests”.

“The system of creation and usage of necessary funds of cash resources for guarantying socialistic widened further production represent exactly the finances of the socialistic society. And the totality of economical relations arisen between state, manufactures and organizations, branches, regions and separate citizen according to the movement of cash funds make financial relations”.

As we’ve seen, definitions of finances made by financiers and political economists do not differ greatly.

In every discussed position there are:

1)      expression of essence and phenomenon in the definition of finances;

2)      the definition of finances, as the system of the creation and usage of funds of cash sources on the level of phenomenon.

3)      Distribution of finances as social product and the value of national income, definition of the distributions planned character, main goals of the economy and economical relations, for servicing of which it is used.

If refuse the preposition “socialistic” in the definition of finances, we may say, that it still keeps actuality. We meet with such traditional definitions of finances, without an adjective “socialistic”, in the modern economical literature. We may give such an elucidation: “finances represent cash resources of production and usage, also cash relations appeared in the process of distributing values of formed economical product and national wealth for formation and further production of the cash incomes and savings of the economical subjects and state, rewarding of the workers and satisfaction of the social requests”.  in this elucidation of finances like D. S. Moliakov and V. M. Rodionov’s definitions, following the traditional inheritance, we meet with the widening of the financial foundation. They concern “distribution and redistribution of the value of created economical product, also the partial distribution of the value of national wealth”. This latest is very actual, relatively to the process of privatization and the transition to privacy and is periodically used in practice in different countries, for example, Great Britain and France.

“Finances – are cash sources, financial resources, their creation and movement, distribution and redistribution, usage, also economical relations, which are conditioned by intercalculations between the economical subjects, movement of cash sources, money circulation and usage”.

“Finances are the system of economical relations, which are connected with firm creation, distribution and usage of financial resources”.We meet with absolutely innovational definitions of finances in Z. Body and R. Merton’s basis manuals. “Finance – it is the science about how the people lead spending `the deficit cash resources and incomes in the definite period of time. The financial decisions are characterized by the expenses and incomes which are 1) separated in time, and 2) as a rule, it is impossible to take them into account beforehand neither by those who get decisions nor any other person”. “Financial theory consists of numbers of the conceptions… which learns systematically the subjects of distribution of the cash resources relatively to the time factor; it also considers quantitative models, with the help of which the estimation, putting into practice and realization of the alternative variants of every financial decisions take place”.

These basic conceptions and quantitative models are used at every level of getting financial decisions, but in the latest definition of finances, we meet with the following doctrine of the financial foundation: main function of the finances is in the satisfaction of the people’s requests; the subjects of economical activities of any kind (firms, also state organs of every level) are directed towards fulfilling this basic function.

For the goals of our monograph, it is important to compare well-known definitions about finances, credit and investment, to decide how and how much it is possible to integrate the finances, investments and credit into the one total part.

Some researcher thing that credit is the consisting part of finances, if it is discussed from the position of essence and category. The other, more numerous group proves, that an economical category of credit exists parallel to the economical category of finances, by which it underlines impossibility of the credit’s existence in the consistence of finances.

N. K. Kuchukova underlined the independence of the category of credit and notes that it is only its “characteristic feature the turned movement of the value, which is not related with transmission of the loan opportunities together with the owners’ rights”.

N. D. Barkovski replies that functioning of money created an economical basis for apportioning finances and credit as an independent category and gave rise to the credit and financial relations. He noticed the Gnoseological roots of science in money and credit, as the science about finances has business with the research of such economical relations, which lean upon cash flow and credit.

Let’s discuss the most spread definitions of credit. in the modern publications credit appeared to be “luckier”, then finances. For example, we meet with the following definition of credit in the finance-economical dictionary: “credit is the loan in the form of cash and commodity with the conditions of returning, usually, by paying percent. Credit represents a form of movement of the loan capital and expresses economical relations between the creditor and borrower”.

This is the traditional definition of credit. In the earlier dictionary of the economy we read: “credit is the system of economical relations, which is formed while the transmission of cash and material means into the temporal usage, as a rule under the conditions of returning and paying percent”.

In the manual of the political economy published under reduction of V. A. Medvedev the following definition is given: “credit, as an economical category, expresses the created relations between the society, labour collective and workers during formation and usage of the loan funds, under the terms of paying present and returning, during transmission of sources for the temporal usage and accumulation”.Credit is discussed in the following way in the earlier education-methodological manuals of political economy: “credit is the system of money relations, which is created in the process of using and mobilization of temporarily free cash means of the state budget, unions, manufactures, organizations and population. Credit has an objective character. It is used for providing widened further production of the state and other needs. Credit differs from finances by the returning character, while financing of manufactures and organizations by the state is fulfilled without this condition”.

We meet with the following definition if “the course of economy”: “credit is an economical category, which represents relations, while the separate industrial organizations or persons transmit money means to each-other for temporal usage under the conditions of returning. Creation of credit is conditioned by a historical process of fulfilling the economical and money relations, the form of which is the money relation”.

Following scientists give slightly different definitions of credit:

“Credit – is a loan in the form of money or commodity, which is given to the borrower by a creditor under the conditions of returning and paying the percentage rate by the borrower”.

Credit is giving the temporally free money sources or commodity as a debt for the defined terms by the price of fixed percentage. Thus, a credit is the loan in the form of money or commodity. In the process of this loan’s movement, a definite relations are formed between a creditor (the loan is given by a juridical of physical person, who gives certain cash as a debt) and the debtor.

Combining every definition named above, we come to an idea, that credit is giving money capital of commodity as a debt, for certain terms and material provision under the price of firm percentage rate. It expresses definite economical relations between the participants of the process of capital formation. Necessity of the credit relations is conditioned, from one side, by gathering solid quantity of temporarily free money sources, and from the second side, existence of requests of them.

Though, at the same time we must distinguish two resembling concepts: loan and credit. Loan is characterized by:

·         Here, the discussion may touch upon transmission of money and also things form one side (loaner) to another (borrower): a)under the owning of the borrower and, at the same time, b) under the conditions of returning same amount or same quantity and quality of the things;

·         The loaning of money may bear no interest;

·         Any person may take part in it.

With the difference with loan, credit, which is somehow a private occasion of the loan, represents:

·         One side (loaner) gives to the second one (borrower) only money, and _ for temporal usage;

·         It may not bear no interest (if the assignment doesn’t foresee something);

·         In it creditor is not any person, but a credit organization (at the first place, banks).

So, a credit is the bank credit. To our mind, it is not correct to use “credit” and “loan” as the synonyms.

Banking crediting is the union of relations between bank (as a creditor) and its borrower. These relations touch upon:

a)      Giving a certain amount of money to the borrower for definite purpose (though, we meet with the so-called free credits, aims and objects of crediting are not appointed in the assignment);

b)      Its opportune returning;

c)      Getting percentage rate from the borrower for using the sources under his/her disposal.

The essential foundation of the credit essence and its important element is existence of trust between the two sides (in Latin “credo”, from which comes the word “credit”, means “trust”).

From the position of circulation of money forms (in the abstraction, historical process of formation economical relations and social budget and banking systems expressed by them) comparing different definitions of finances and credit, the paradox conclusion appears: credit is the private occasion of finances. And truly, from the position of movement of the money forms, finances represent the process of formation and usage of the funds of cash means. Very often such movements are fulfilled without returning, but sometimes, it is possible to give loans from the budget for the investment projects of other needs. Also, when a manufacture or corporations use their cash funds and we mean the finances of industrial subject, such usage may be realized as inside the manufacture or corporation (there is no subject about returning or not returning of the usage), so gratis under conditions of returning. This latest is called commercial form because of transmitting the sources to others, but even in this occasion, it is the element of financial system of the manufacture and corporation.

From the point of cash means movement, main character of credit is the process of formation and usage of the funds of cash means under the conditions of returning and, as a rule, taking the value-percentage. If gating the credit value doesn’t take place (even in the exceptional occasions), according to the movement form, credit becomes a private occasion of finances, as from the net financial funds (consequently from the state budget) the loans which bear no interests may be used. If gating credit value takes place, by the appearance form, credit is discussed to be financial modification.

From the historical point of view, finances (especially in the sort of the state budget) and credit (beginning with usury, later commercial and banking) were developing differently for considering credit to be the part of finances. Though, from the genetic-historical point of view, previous loaners, before giving loan, needed gathering the permanent capital not returning, that is the net financial foundation. The banks analogously needed concentration of the important own capital for influxing the consumers’ means and for getting higher percentage rate under the conditions of returning. Herewith, exactly on the financial basis, in the sort of financial fund (which later partially becomes loan fund) part of the bank capital appears to be the reservation (insurance) part of the fund, which by nature is financial and not loan. So notwithstanding the essential distinctions between finances and credit form the genetic-historical point of view, credit appears to be formed from finances and represent their modification.

From the essential position of expressing economical relations of finances and credit, we meet with cardinal distinctions between these two categories. Which mostly expressed by the distinction of the movement forms notwithstanding they are returnable or not. Finances express relations in the aspects of distribution and redistribution of social product and part of the national wealth. Credit expresses distribution of the appropriate value only in the section of percentage given for loan, while according to the loan itself, a only a temporal distribution of money sources takes place.

Herewith, there is a lot of common between the finances and credit as from the essential point of view, so according to the form of movement. At the same time, there is a significant distinction between finances and credit as in the essence, so in the form too. According to this, there must be a kind of generally economical category, which will consider finances and credit as a total unity, and in the bounds of this category itself, the separation of the specific essence of the finances and credit would take place.

Funding of the cash means is common to the researched economical categories. It takes place in any separate system of finances and credit, which have been touched upon during the analyses of defining finances and credit. Word combination “funding of the cash sources (fund formation)” reflects and defines exactly essence and form of economical category of more general character, those of finances and credit categories. Though in the in economical texts and practice, it is very uncomfortable to use a termini, which consists of three words. Also, “unloading” with an information hardens greatly its influxing into the circulation even in the conditions of its strict substantiation and thoroughness.

In the discussing context we consider:

1)      wide and narrow understanding of economical category of the finances;

2)      discussing finances in narrow understanding under general traditional meaning;

3)      discussing finances, as funding of the cash means, in wide understanding, which concerns finances – in narrow meaning and credit – in complete meaning.

Termini “funding” and its equivalent “fund formation” are used by us as the purposeful structuring of cash means, which is based on two poles – accumulation of money sources (gathering) and its usage for definite purpose in the way of financing and crediting.

We have established a new termini – “finance-investment sphere” (FIS). Analyses about interrelation of finances and credit made by us give us an opportunity of proving, that in the given termini, the word “financial” is used with the meaning of funding cash sources, its purposeful structuring. In this process we consider at the same time financial, credit and investments’ economical categories.

Let’s sum up middle results of discussing new concept – “finance-investment sphere” and discuss its investment consisting parts.

The concept “investments” was brought into the native economical science from the West. In the Soviet economical science they for a long time used in the place “investments” the termini “capital placement”, which expressed the usage of the industrial factors in the sphere of real industrial activities during realization of capital projects. From one glance, this termini in its concept is identical to the “investments”, consequently it is possible to use them as synonyms. Though the termini “investments” and “investing” have the advantage towards the termini “capital placement” from linguistic and philological points of view, because they are expressed with one word. This is not only economical and comfortable in the process of working with the termini “investment” itself, but also it gives an opportunity of termini formation. More concretely: “investment process”, “investment domain”, “finance-investment sphere” – all these termini are much more acceptable.

Changing native economical termini with foreign ones is purposeful, if it really matters (by keeping parallel usage of the native termini for the inheritance). Though we must not change native economical termini into foreign ones all together, when by ordinal traditional language easy to explain private and narrow concrete processes and elements get their own termini. The “movement” of these termini is approved in the narrow professional bounds, but their “spitting out” into the economical science may turn economical language into the tangled slang.

Let’s discuss termini – “investment” and “capital placement’s” usage in the economical literature.

Investments are placement of funds into the main and circulation capital for the purpose of getting profit. “Investments in material assets – are the placements of funds into the mobile and real estate (land, buildings, furniture and so on). Investments in financial assets are the placements of funds into the securities bank accounts and other financial instruments”.

We don’t meet with the termini “investments” in the earlier economical dictionary, but we meet the combined termini “investment policy” – the union of the industrial decisions, which guarantee main directions of the capital investments, the activities of their concentration in the determinant suburbs, on which the reaching of planned rates of development of the society production is depended, balancing and effectiveness, getting more and more production and profit of the national income for every lost Ruble”. For today, in the most actual definitions, the capital investments are bounded only by financial means, when not only financial, but also the investment of natural, material-technical and informational resources takes place. Labour resources take an actual place in the investment process. They themselves fulfill this or that investment process.

A positive side of the discussed definitions is that they connect investment policy and capital placements (investments):

-          economical development according to the key directions to the concentration;

-          providing high rates of economical growth;

-          raising an economical effectiveness, which is expressed:

a)      by growing the throw off of the production and national income for every lost Ruble;

b)      by fulfilling the branch structure of the investments;

c)      by improving their technological structure;

d)     by optimization of their further production structure.

Compared with such definition of the investments (capital placement) the definition of investments in the dictionary attaching the “Economics” seems to be unimproved: “investments  – the expenses of gathering production and industrial means and increasing material reserve”. In this definition current expenses (production expenses) are mixed with the investment (capital) expense. Also, not the investment expenses but (though the investments are followed by the appropriate expenses) exactly advancing. It differs from the expenses by that the means (means) are put by returning the advanced values, also, under the conditions of growth, to which the concept-advanced capital is corresponding. the advancing may be realized in the money, natural-material and informational forms.

Except the termini “investments”, there are two more termini related with the investment. They are shown below.

 “Human capital investment” – any activity provided for rising the workers labour productivity (in the way of growing their qualification and developing their abilities); at the expenses of improving the workers’ education, health and raising the mobility of the working forces”. It is very useful to use the mentioned termini, though it needs one correction: the human capital investments do not concern only workers, but also the servants, representatives of every kind of labour.

“Investment commodity, capital goods – a capital.”

In the official manuals of political economy of the reformation time the capital investments are discussed as “expenses for creating new main funds and widening, reconstruction and renewing the active ones”. In this definition the investments (capital placements) during separation of the forms (types) of further production of the main funds are bounded only by main funds (without increases of the circulation funds and insurance reserves): a) creating new ones; b) widening; c) reconstruction; d) renewing. Also, the concept of the industrial gathering appears, at the expenses of widening of basic, circulation funds and also insurance reserves takes place”.

You’ll meet below the definitions of investments from “the course of economy”: the investments are called “placements of fund into the basic capital (basic means of production), reserves, also other economical objects and processes, which request long-termed influxing of material and cash means. “According to the division of capital into physical and money forms, the investments too must be divided into material and cash investments”.

They apportion investment commodity, to which belong industrial and nonindustrial building objects, vehicles purposed for changing or widened technical park and the furniture, increasing reserves and others.

“They call the total investments of production an investment product, which is directed towards keeping and increasing the basic capital (basic means) and reserve. Total investments consist of two parts. One of them is called the depreciation; it represents important investment resources for compensation of renewal till the level of before industrial usage, wearing out and repairing of the basic means. Second consisting part of the total investments is represented by net investments – capital investments for the purpose of increasing basic means”. Depreciation is not a compensation resource of wearing the basic funds out, but it is the purposeful financial source of such resources.

Human capital investment is “a specific kind of investments, mostly in education and health protection”.

“Real investments are the investments in the economical branches and also, they are kinds of economical activities, which provide influxing the increases of real capital, that is increasing material values of the industrial means”. We can agree with such definition with one specification that material and nonmaterial values too belong to the real capital (wealth), consequently science-researching experimental-construction results, various information, education of he workers and others. Such service as organization of the excitable games, also the service of redistribution social wealth from one private person to another (except charity).

“Financial investments represent placement of funds into the shares, obligations, promissory notes, other securities and instruments. Such investments, of course, do not give increases of the real material capital, but they help getting profit, consequently at the expenses of changing the course of the securities in the time of speculation, or distinguishing the course in different places of sell and purchasing”. We share wholly such definition, hence it follows that financial investments (if it is not followed by real investments as a result) do not increase real material wealth and real nonmaterial wealth. According to this context, the expression below is very important: “we must distinguish financial investments, which represent placement of the funds in the ways of selling and purchasing the securities for the purpose of getting profit and financial investments, which become cash and real, moved to real physical capital.”

In the “economical course” quoted before long and short-termed investments are separated. Recognizing the existence of the bounds between them, the authors ascribe short-termed investments to “one month or more” investments. If we get such conditioned criteria, that we can call the investments which overcome the terms of some months, long-termed ones, which is very doubtful and we don’t agree with it. A long-termed character of the fund placement is a significant feature of the investments (short-term doesn’t combine with the concept of investments). Principally, it would be better to point out quick compensative, middle termed compensative and long-termed compensative investments:

-          less then 6 months – quick compensative;

-          from 6 months up to the year and a half – middle termed compensative;

-          more then the year and a half – long termed compensative.

We stopped at the definition of the investments in the capital work “economical course” for the special purpose, as, in it the author tried to discuss the concept of investments systemically and quite completely, herewith the book is published just now.

We’ll return to the discussion the definition economical category of “investments” in different publications in the following chapter. The definitions given here are quite enough for having a notion of the level of lighting up the given category in the economical literature.

What conclusions may be made according the definition of the mentioned economical category in the published works, except the made notions and specifications?

There is quite deeply, concretely and thoroughly defined the concept of “investments”, different definitions in the economical literature; but mostly in every works about the investments discussed by us until now, there is not opened the essence of investments as an economical category. In every monograph, even if it has a title investment, as an economical category, there is given only the definition, concept of investments. But, as the Academician Vasil Chantladze explains, “a concept is a discussion, which proves something about the distinguishing feature of the researched object. A concept out of much essential characteristic features represents only one, and essential in it is only – definition”.

But the categories are much wider; it is “a key, the most fundamental concept of every science”. Economical categories theoretically represent real, objectively existed productive relations. A category is the defining of occasions of existed characters, connections, relations of the objective world. Generally, any educational process is fulfilled by the categories, which give opportunities for dividing the processes and occasions semantically, for expressing the definitions of a subject and realize their specific peculiarities and economical relations of a material world.

Our goal is exactly to substantiate investments – as an economical category and also, as a financial category in the narrow understanding.

Here we apply for another manual thesis made by the academician Vasil Chantladze: “every financial relation is an economical one and every financial category is and economical one, but not every economical relation and economical category is financial relation and financial category”.

In the process of defining the investments, it is important to take in mind the sides of resources, expenses and incomes, because investment, from one side, is the result of the manufacture’s activity, and, from another one, – a part of income, which, in this case, is not used for usage.

Another occasion: it is advisable to discuss investments in two aspects: as a category of reserve and flow, which will reflect exactly the connection between “placement of funds” and “investments”.

As we’ve mentioned above, not long ago, in the well-known Soviet literature the concepts of “the placement of funds” and “investments” were accepted to be the synonyms and concerned to be investment of sources for further production of the main funds and formation of the turnover funds. We meet with such understanding of the concept of “investment” (here, they separate three types of the investment expenses: investments in the basic capital of investments, investments in the house building and investments in the reserves) in the modern economical publications and it is mostly used on the macro level during a statistical analyze of economical processes. In this concrete occasion investment is the category of reserve.

According to the aspect of flow the investments may be discussed in the process of analyzing industrial activity, when it is necessary to learn the variety of the economical relations related with the investments’ further production and formation, sources, objects and subjects, that is on the micro level.

Main distinguishing criteria of different methods of approach towards the concept of “investment” the aspect of prolonging of measuring this showing. Is it possible or not to measure the investment showing separate from the term factor (the norm of gathering, the volume of capital property, the reserves of production and so on). If it is possible, then it is the category of reserve, and if it is not, then it is measured in the section of time and belongs to the category of flow.

Thus, investment, as an economical category, is quite consuming concept. It concerns the elements defining the regularities of function and regulation of the investment domain, privately:

First, resources and values put into the industrial activity. Here, investments may be realized in the following ways:

1.      mobile and real estates (buildings, constructions, furniture and other material values);

2.      cash sources, purposeful bank accounts, credits, shares and other long-termed securities;

3.      owners rights according to the author’s rights, licenses, Now-How, experience and other intellectual values;

4.      the rights for using land and other natural resources, also other owners rights.

Notwithstanding any forms, investments are results of capital gathering. Leading investments – regularity of gathering defines its volume and dynamics and, generally, whole investment activity.

Second, the incomes ruling volume and dynamics of the resource investment. Herewith, we must underline the circumstance, that the process of getting profit, the regularity of its creation, isn’t a constant of the concept “investment”. The factors of production (also the conditions of exploitation of capital values) and selling (market conjuncture), also the process of capital gathering is the leading and important condition only for the investment formation. Though, we underline again, that the process of getting and distributing the income is a significant component of the investment activity.

The transformation of investments makes the basis for the investment activity, which concern the following circles: resources – investment (expense) – capital property – income. The practice of realization such circles of the investments transformation is exactly the investment activity (investing). The investment activity, except the investments itself, concern motivation and stimulation of the capital gathering, relations of capital gathering and ruling, also, totality of the defined level of profitability on the capital and the goals of capital growth.

According to the mentioned above, in the definitions of the investment as economical category sometimes the needed exactness and clearness is not felt, some categories of the wealth are represented tightly enough. For example, real prosperity is bounded only by material estimation. This leads us to the unvalued investment resources in the era of transformation industrial society into the investment one; also to the recognition of yet uninvolved valuable scientific researches in the production, securities turned into speculation objects, and unreal property in the consistence of one and the same parts; to there equalization. On the basis of the made analyses, we can cite a wide definition of the investments together with the leading categories.

Investment resources – are values, invested into this or that project in this or that kind for the purpose of getting profit beginning with material ones, finished with cash.

Kinds of the prosperity are equal to the kinds of the investment resources and is divided into real and cash, consequently into financial resources.

Real investment resources concern all kinds:

-          natural resources;

-          labour resources;

-          material resources, the usage of which is possible in the economical development (buildings, constructions, vehicles and furniture, transport and communication means and so on;

-          investment resources (in the widest understanding, that is from scientific-research and experimental-construction works, till the education potential of the society and till all kinds of gathering useful information, written about every possible, that is typing and electronic bearer).

Cash, consequently financial resources concern every cash means for usage in this way in definite conditions or directed in the sort of investments.

Cash means (resources) turn into the financial resources in the case of structuring of funds of purposeful destination foreseen for investments of this or that kind.

After defining investment resources we can make wide definition of the investments as economical category.

Investments – are the placements of real, financial and intellectual resources into the projects, the fulfillment of which leads us to getting the increases from real wealth, in the material and informational forms. It is followed by a cash (financial) prosperity or its increases (at the expenses of the distribution of the cash means).

As an economical category, investments express economical relations, which are created in the ways of using and formation of the investment resources between the participants of the investment process for the purpose of improving and widening of the enterprise.



What kind of investments could I get for my newborn daughter for long term financial gain?

Posted by admin | Investing | Friday 20 November 2009 11:07 am
Randall M


I want to give her a good if not great start once she is 18. I hope to have a good enough investment to at least pay for college, but I would love to find one that would have her set up financially even after college.

I know very little about investments, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Investments?

Posted by admin | Investing | Thursday 5 November 2009 10:00 am
rgmg8173


I am taking an investment class this semester. I need to make 500K in “phantom investments” into a program called Stock-Trak Simulation.

100K is allocated to a speculative portfolio and 400K is considered a permanent portfolio. In my permanent portfolio I need to buy 10 to 15 stocks from various industries and hold them to the end of semester (11/17/06). No more than 10 percent of the 400K can be from one industry.

Does anyone have any recommendations for this breakup of the 10 to 15 stocks for this timeframe? Any website recommendation for research or advice?

Which is better way to start investments in US , life insurance or mutual funds?

Posted by admin | Investing | Monday 12 October 2009 6:07 am
elan


Hi I would like to start in investments,what are the top rated companies in life insurance or mutual funds?which gives more profit?

How often should an investments manager be in touch?

Posted by admin | Investing | Sunday 11 October 2009 8:47 pm
motomanmatt


I use a financial planner, and he manages my investments – $140,000 in stocks and mutual funds. Over the course of a year how often should he be in touch?

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