Returns from investment
There are two types of returns you can receive from investments.
These are income and changes in capital value. Ideally, your investment might appreciate in capital (make a capital gain).
However where the current value is less than the purchase price, this creates a capital loss.
Some assets only provide income as the return, for example, a bank account.
Some investments only provide a capital gain or loss, such as vacant land.
There are also investments that provide a return from both income and capital.
The possible types of return that could be received from different asset classes are shown in the table.
*Technically, this is known as the coupon rate or sometimes simply the yield.