Instruments

Everything you can actually buy lives in this area. It opens with equities, the ownership stake most investors start from, then moves through fixed income and the rate risk bonds carry, derivatives and options for hedging and leverage, and the alternatives and digital assets that sit beyond stocks and bonds. Pooled vehicles like ETFs and funds round it out. The explainers focus on how each instrument is built, how it is priced, and what it costs and risks to hold. Read across the sub-categories and you can tell not just what an instrument is, but when it belongs in a portfolio and what you are really taking on by owning it.