Category: Finance

Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, which is the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services. Finance activities take place in financial systems at various scopes, thus the field can be roughly divided into personal, corporate, and public finance.

In a financial system, assets are bought, sold, or traded as financial instruments, such as currencies, loans, bonds, shares, stocks, options, futures, etc. Assets can also be banked, invested, and insured to maximize value and minimize loss. In practice, risks are always present in any financial action and entities.

A broad range of subfields within finance exists due to its wide scope. Asset, money, risk and investment management aim to maximize value and minimize volatility. Financial analysis is the viability, stability, and profitability assessment of an action or entity. In some cases, theories in finance can be tested using the scientific method, covered by experimental finance.

Some fields are multidisciplinary, such as mathematical finance, financial law, financial economics, financial engineering and financial technology. These fields are the foundation of business and accounting.

The early history of the subject parallels the early history of money, which is prehistoric. Ancient and medieval civilizations incorporated basic functions of it, such as banking, trading and accounting, into their economies. In the late 19th century, the global financial system was formed.

In the middle of the 20th century, it emerged as a distinct academic discipline, separate from economics.

Personal, Corporate, Public, Investment management, Risk management, Quantitative.