Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets.
It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, which is the study of
production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services
(the discipline of financial economics bridges the two). Finance activities
take place in financial systems at various scopes, thus the field can be
roughly divided into personal, corporate, and public finance.
In a financial system, assets are bought, sold, or traded as financial
instruments, such as currencies, loans, bonds, shares, stocks, options,
futures, etc. Assets can also be banked, invested, and insured to maximize
value and minimize loss. In practice, risks are always present in any
financial action and entities.