What is investment?

Investing is allocating resources (such as capital) with the expectation of making a profit. This could include using the money to finance and set up a business, or purchasing land with the aim of reselling it later at a higher price. In financial markets, this usually involves investing in financial instruments in the hope of selling them later at a higher price.

Expectation of returns is the basis of the concept of investing (this is also known as ROI). Unlike trading, investing usually takes a long-term approach to increasing wealth. The investor's goal is to build wealth over a long period of time (years, or even decades). There are a lot of ways to do this, but investors usually use fundamental factors to find potentially good investment opportunities.

Due to the long-term nature of their approach, investors are not usually concerned with short-term price fluctuations. Thus, they usually remain relatively passive, without worrying much about short-term losses.