In investment you hear about trading "securities". What exaclty is a "security"? and how does it work?

Interest? % Growth? etc.?

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Thanks everyone!

Securities is a general term for a stock or bond issued by a corporation or government.

Equities - refer to ownership stakes in a company, in terms of common stock or preferred stock.

I suggest reading through wikipedia

Security is an extremely broad term - it can refer to a financial instrument representing ownership (stock), debt (bonds) or something that derives its value from one of those - a derivative (options and others). You could probably get this answer on www.investopedia.com

There are two ways a company can make money. They can either sell stock(equity) or borrow money(issue bonds). These are examples of the basic securities. How does this work? To make it brief, securities are basically a way for companies, governments, not for profits, and others to aquire money. As you notice I did not say "make money" cause sometimes it has to be paid back. Thats the very basics, hope this helps.

A security is an instrument that is traded which represents ownership, a debt obligation,or the right to ownership