If you say the words “What Assets do you have?” to someone one of three things usually happens. The first thing is sniggering as you’ve openly said the word ass; the second is blank incomprehension and the third will be something about their physical appearance being fine thank you very much. The only other time it’s ok to say it is when you’re about to bankrupt someone in a Monopoly and they look forlornly at all those little green houses on the Old Kent Road they are now going to have to sell and mortgage to keep the game going on into the wee small hours of December 28th. If only there was someone to tell you what they are in detail as this piece is only going to give you an overview.
After the tale of the green Monopoly houses you’re probably guessed a little as to what an asset in financial terms is. Very basically it’s something that you own that can be sold, used or traded bringing you in money. There are two definitions of an asset one is the tangible asset and the other is the intangible asset. The little green houses in Monopoly are tangible because they are buildings, owning the Old Kent Road itself is also an asset as it is, very basically, something physical. It’s not just buildings that are tangible assets, so are Bottles of Wine from a certain vintage, pieces of art, cars and resources such as a material producing mine or woodland.
The other asset is the intangible asset. These are tricky to put a value on but still count as they can be sold our bring you in an income, the trouble is that it is easier to put a value on a physical thing. For example a copyright on an idea is an asset but it is difficult to put a worth on it as you may not know how much money you are going to make from it. Trade names are another and so are trademarks (the Golden arches of McDonalds for example). The real issue for the defining of a tangible/intangible asset is a Website like the ones you can have created by a Gloucester Website Design company. At present the definition of what they are falls under which country you live and what the government has decided they are.
Have too many assets that you sell and you’re looking at coming under the attention of the tax office for capital gains. It really is a good idea to have a team like the one above looking after it all for you.
