ShmoopTube

Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.

Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos

Finance: What is an Alternative Investment? 2 Views


Share It!


Description:

What is an Alternative Investment? Alternative investments are just different types of investments that are a little more complicated in nature. They aren’t the typical stocks and bonds; they are things like options, hedge funds, and commodities. Everyday investors don’t really use alternative investments; they are generally traded by wealthy and experienced investors and institutional investors (funds, insurance companies, etc.).

Language:
English Language

Transcript

00:00

Finance a la shmoop...What is an alternative investment hmm well maybe we

00:09

should start with the opposite to define the term here sort of like with the fine [Good Housekeeping catalog]

00:12

people at Good Housekeeping do a primary or base or fundamental investment is

00:18

something easily tangible, understandable and definable like a collection of

00:23

stocks.. Primary also includes a collection of bonds simple like what

00:28

could be more primary than a t-bill or cash yeah cash that'd be primary lumpy [T-rex walking in a jungle]

00:33

mattresses well they're hard not to love so alternative is kind of the opposite

00:38

of these things mainly stuff like esoteric hedge funds, complex ownership

00:44

structures of real estate, or REITS - real estate investment trusts, commodity

00:49

ownership oh and fancy derivatives why is there a separate category for [Examples of alternative investments]

00:53

alternative investments well because when they go wrong they go oh so wrong...

00:58

and the people who own them mostly rich people and university endowments and

01:03

union pension funds those people have to sign what's called big boy and big girl [Person signs a big boy letter]

01:09

letters so that if they wake up one day in the home they thought was blessed by

01:14

the good housekeeping people is being repossessed well then the place they go [Woman opens door and reads notice of repossession]

01:18

to complain to the people responsible for making that stupid set of

01:22

investments is a mirror yeah it was clearly cracked and more than seven years

01:27

of bad luck coming... [Girl smashes mirror]

Up Next

GED Social Studies 1.1 Civics and Government
39794 Views

GED Social Studies 1.1 Civics and Government

Related Videos

Fake News
11938 Views

How do you tell fake news from real news?

Finance: What is Bankruptcy?
260 Views

What is bankruptcy? Deadbeats who can't pay their bills declare bankruptcy. Either they borrowed too much money, or the business fell apart. They t...

Finance: What is a Dividend?
1777 Views

What's a dividend? At will, the board of directors can pay a dividend on common stock. Usually, that payout is some percentage less than 100 of ear...

Finance: How Are Risks and Rewards Related?
589 Views

How are risk and reward related? Take more risk, expect more reward. A lottery ticket might be worth a billion dollars, but if the odds are one in...