money – Miro Zecevic

The ease with which you may sell an investment or asset at a reasonable price is referred to as liquidity.

Liquid assets are those that can be exchanged for cash:

Quickly and easily
With little or no transaction fees
At their current market prices (i.e., without having to entice a buyer with a big discount)

Something is more liquid in general if:

Many individuals would be interested in purchasing it;
It’s simple to determine its value;
It’s simple to transfer ownership from one person to another;
The object or investment is more standardized (i.e., less unique)

A share of Apple stock, for example, is liquid because it’s simple to buy and sell, and many people would want to possess it at the proper price. You can figure out how much it’s worth by looking at the stock market’s current pricing. Furthermore, the corporation has billions of outstanding shares, therefore it isn’t unique.

A piece of custom-designed luxury real estate, on the other hand, is illiquid since there may be only a few potential purchasers, it’s difficult to agree on exactly how much it’s worth, and the transfer procedure can take a long time.

Liquid

Stocks
Bonds
Mutual funds
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs)

Illiquid

Real estate
Art
Antiques
Collectibles, like coins, stamps, or baseball cards

Because you may easily convert cash into other assets, it is the most liquid asset.
Money market accounts and funds, savings accounts, and various forms of very short-term debt investments are all examples of “cash equivalent” investments. (Certificates of Deposit or CDs are a little less liquid since they lock your money up for a certain length of time and charge a fee if you need to withdraw it early.)

While there’s nothing wrong with retaining illiquid assets, people and businesses both benefit from having some liquidity.

For day-to-day needs or unexpected obligations, you’ll need some liquid assets. If your sole asset is a house, selling it immediately for a fair price to fund a car repair would be difficult.
Liquidity is required by businesses to fund short-term costs and maintain financial stability. If the company’s revenues are hit hard by a sudden economic downturn, having adequate cash on hand might help it get through it.

Liquidity refers to how quickly and easily an item may be sold for a reasonable price. Stocks, bonds, and ETFs (exchange-traded funds) are all liquid assets that are simple to sell. Real estate and fine art, for example, are illiquid assets that are more difficult to convert into cash. It is critical for both individuals and businesses to have sufficient liquid assets in order to pay short-term payments and cover any unforeseen expenses or financial difficulties.

Key points:

Liquidity refers to how quickly and easily an item may be sold for a reasonable price.
Although cash is the most liquid asset, equities, bonds, mutual funds, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are all considered extremely liquid. Houses, coin collections, and art are all illiquid because finding a buyer willing to pay a fair price takes time.
While having some illiquid assets is acceptable, you should balance them out with liquid assets that you can sell quickly if you need cash.

Liquidity text on wood block with a pile of coins on a blue and white background

Corporate Finance is about how companies make decisions about what projects to pursue and how to value those projects.

Ratio Analysis

Ratio Analysis is taking two numbers from financial statements and dividing one by the other. What we are doing is taking two pieces of accounting data, put one over the other, and this forms a ratio. We are taking two pieces of data and forming a performance metric. Ratios are usually presented as a percentage or a number depending on whether the usual case is bigger or less than one.

Time value of money

Time is money, literally. If there is a prospect of receiving a certain sum then the sooner you receive it the more it is worth. Interest rates describe this relationship between present value and future value.

Discounting Cash Flows

A company is essentially an entity that generates cash flows each year into the future. The trick is estimating those future cash flows and how much they might grow or shrink and what the risks are to realizing (receiving) them.

Present value and Future value

$100 invested for one year, earning 5% interest, will be worth $105 after one year, therefore $100 paid now and $105 paid exactly one year later both have the same value to a recipient who expects 5% return. That is $100 invested for one year at 5% interest has a future value of $105.

Net Present Value

The way we look at decisions about whether to fund a project or calculate the value of an asset is to turn that stream of future dollars into today’s dollars. Then we compare that sum of present value, we don’t do the deal, if t is less, it is considered a good deal.