Article Written By: Armando Jacobs
Earning money from bonds and debentures can be very lucrative. But before you decide to invest in such a plan, you should find out exactly what debentures are and how the entire deal works. You also need to know whether the benefits are higher than the risks and if your money is going to be safe or not.A majority of people, who want to get some kind of benefit from fixed interest investments, usually invest in some kind of unsecured note, bond, debenture, or fixed term deposit. The idea behind investing in these is that one should be able to get a higher return over a long period of time as compared to a short term investment. The interest paid on these forms of fixed interest investments is quite sufficient even though there is no such capital growth.Debentures are a financial tool used by companies to finance their investments. They borrow money from investors through debentures and in return they promise a fixed rate of interest to be paid regularly depending on the terms of agreement. In corporate finance, debentures fall under fixed income investments because your return is stuck at a particular interest rate.A debenture usually has a fixed interest rate so you know how much you will be getting at each interval. Debentures are a cheap way for companies to raise finance because it is fuss-free and doesn't need complex assurance of payments like collateral and other security features.Debentures are like bonds except they lack a safety feature. There is no asset or collateral that is attached to the debenture. Its essentially a loan with a high level of risk. Since there is no collaterals, there is no assurance of repayment. So if the company folds up suddenly, you wont get back your investment. But because its unsecured, the interest rate it carries is generally higher than bonds. The basic premise is that the greater the risk; the higher the return should be.The investor will get the interest payments in regular intervals. On maturity date, they will get the principal amount of the loan. So whatever they have invested at the start, they should get back that amount when the debenture matures. Companies that usually issue debentures are finance companies. They then loan the funds to those who cant get normal loans from banks due to poor credit standing.The risks involved are the same as any investment or loan, but in the case of debentures, the higher the risks, the larger the returns. This kind of fixed interest investment really does pay a lot higher than any other form of investment like bonds and such. The debenture holder can easily transfer the debenture if they choose to. And while they may not have any say in the workings of the company and they are not treated like usual share holders, they can have talks with the company for debenture rights.There are two different kinds of debentures, namely, Convertible Debentures and Non-Convertible Debentures. Although convertible debentures usually have lower interest rates, they can be converted to equity shares after a while. Non-convertible debentures, on the other hand, have higher interest rates but they cannot be exchanged for equity shares of the company involved.
This Article Has Been Published on Sat, 29 Jan 2011 and Read 325 Times