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.