Asset

Personal Finance

An asset is anything you own that has economic value — cash, investments, real estate, vehicles, ownership interests in businesses. Personal-finance assets are typically grouped into liquid (cash, checking, savings), invested (brokerage, retirement accounts), and tangible (home, car, valuables). Robert Kiyosaki popularized the distinction between assets that generate income (rental property, dividend stocks, a business) and assets that consume income (the family home, personal vehicles). True wealth comes from accumulating income-producing assets. On a balance sheet, assets sit on one side; liabilities and equity sit on the other, and they must always balance.