Defensive Assets
CashCash, such as bank accounts and bank bills, are generally only considered appropriate as primary investments if your time frame is short (up to three years), or to accommodate the need for ease of access.
Fixed Interest
Many investors believe the fixed interest sector consists solely of investing in bank term deposits. A bank term deposit is where funds are ‘locked in’ for a fixed period and earn a set return. However, fixed interest investments actually come in many forms including:
- treasury notes - short term debt instruments issued by the government
- debentures - interest bearing securities commonly issued by finance companies
- fixed interest trusts - a unit trust that invests in a range of fixed interest securities. For example, mortgage trusts and bonds (government, semi government and corporate).
