What Are Long-Term Investments?

什么是长期投资？

A long-term investment is an account on the asset side of a company's balance sheet that represents the company's investments, including stocks, bonds, real estate, and cash. Long-term investments are assets that a company intends to hold for more than a year.

长期投资是体现公司投资的公司资产负债表上资产端的一个会计科目，包括股票、债券、房地产和现金。长期投资是公司打算持有一年以上的资产。

The long-term investment account differs largely from the short-term investment account in that short-term investments will most likely be sold, whereas the long-term investments will not be sold for years and, in some cases, may never be sold.

长期投资会计科目与短期投资会计科目的主要区别在于短期投资很可能会被出售，而长期投资几年内不会被出售，而且在某些情况下可能永远不会被出售。

Being a long-term investor means that you are willing to accept a certain amount of risk in pursuit of potentially higher rewards and that you can afford to be patient for a longer period of time. It also suggests that you have enough capital available to afford to tie up a set amount for a long period of time.

成为长期投资者即意味着你愿意接受一定的风险以追求潜在的更高回报，并且你有能力在更长的时间内保持耐心。这也表明你有足够的资金，从而可以长期套牢固定金额。

Long-Term Investments Explained

长期投资释义

A common form of long-term investing occurs when company A invests largely in company B and gains significant influence over company B without having a majority of the voting shares. In this case, the purchase price would be shown as a long-term investment.

当A公司大量投资于B公司，并在没有多数表决权股份的情况下对B公司产生重大影响时，就会出现长期投资的一种常见形式。在这种情况下，购买价格将显示为长期投资。

When a holding company or other firm purchases bonds or shares of common stock as investments, the decision about whether to classify it as short-term or long-term has some fairly important implications for the way those assets are valued on the balance sheet. Short-term investments are marked to market, and any declines in value are recognized as a loss.

当控股公司或其他公司购买债券或普通股作为投资时，决定将其分类为短期还是长期对这些资产在资产负债表上的估值方式具有相当重要的影响。短期投资按市值计价，任何价值下降均被确认为损失。

However, increases in value are not recognized until the item is sold. Therefore, the balance sheet classification of investment—whether it is long-term or short-term—has a direct impact on the net income that is reported on the income statement.

但是，价值的增加直到项目售出后才被确认。因此，投资的资产负债表分类—无论是长期投资还是短期投资—均对损益表中报告的净收入产生直接影响。

Held to Maturity Investments

持有至到期投资

If an entity intends to keep an investment until it has matured and the company can demonstrate the ability to do so, the investment is noted as being "held to maturity." The investment is recorded at cost, although any premiums or discounts are amortized over the life of the investment.

如果一个实体打算将一项投资持有至到期，并且该公司能够证明其有此能力，则该投资被称为“持有至到期投资”。投资按成本入账，但任何溢价或折价均在投资期限内摊销。

For example, a classic held to maturity investment was the purchase of PayPal by eBay in 2002. Once PayPal had significantly grown its infrastructure and user base, it was then spun out as its own company in 2015 with a five-year agreement to continue processing payments for eBay. This investment helped PayPal grow and at the same time allowed eBay the benefit of owning a world-class payment processing solution for nearly two decades.

例如，一项经典的持有至到期投资实例就是eBay在2002年收购PayPal。一旦PayPal的基础设施和用户基数大幅增长，它就在2015年被分拆为自己的公司，并签署了一份为期五年的协议，以便继续为eBay处理支付业务。这笔投资帮助PayPal发展壮大，同时让eBay在近20年的时间从拥有了世界一流的支付处理解决方案中获得益处。

The long-term investment may be written down to properly reflect an impaired value. However, there may not be any adjustment for temporary market fluctuations. Since investments must have an end date, equity securities may be not be classified as held to maturity.

长期投资可能会被减记，以适当反映减值价值。但是，可能不会就暂时的市场波动进行任何调整。鉴于投资必须有一个结束日期，因此权益性证券可能不会被归类为持有至到期投资。

Available for Sale and Trading Investments

可供出售和交易投资

Investments held with the intention of resale within a year, for the purpose of garnering a short-term profit, are classified as current investments. A trading investment may not be a long-term investment. However, a company may hold an investment with the intention to sell in the future.

为获取短期利润而持有并打算在一年内转售的投资被归类为短期投资。交易投资可能不是长期投资。但是，一家公司可能持有一项投资，并打算在未来出售。

These investments are classified as "available for sale" as long as the anticipated sale date is not within the next 12 months. Available for sale long-term investments are recorded at cost when purchased and subsequently adjusted to reflect their fair values at the end of the reporting period. Unrealized holding gains or losses are kept as "other comprehensive income" until the long-term investment has been sold.

只要预期出售日期不在未来12个月内，这些投资就被归类为“可供出售投资”。可供出售长期投资在购买时按成本入账，随后进行调整以反映其在报告期末的公允价值。未实现的持有损益作为“其他综合收益”入账，直至长期投资已被出售。

（英文来源：Investopedia）