<prompt> Human: hello, pf. i always see how in a lot of advice given in here, people say to invest their money for the long run, but the only thing that comes to my young mind is stocks... so what exactly are investments?im a noob 16 year old btw.thanksedit: thank you all for your information! i have read every single comment thus far and i know now what investments are! thank you!  <response>: The short answer for what an investment is... well, its any asset equipment, property, securities, stocks, bonds, retirement funds, etc. that you buy in the hopes of it giving you return on your initial purchase price. Theres a little more detail here if you would like it.Realistically, though, think of an investment this way: Something I can put money in now that has the potential to give me more money later. Its an over-simplified answer, and I highly encourage you to take at least one personal finance class for more detail, but it will do for a simple explanation.To answer a commenter in the thread, you dont know for certain how banks use your money exactly. You can check the public financial records for the bank and get a vague idea, but really it comes down to just asking the direct question and trusting the answer. And if you cant trust the answer, I would ask why you are banking with them. 