Asset Management
The term "investment" can mean different things to different experts. It is for instance is used differently in economics and in finance. Economists refer to a real investment (such as a machine or a house) while financial economists refer to a financial asset, such as money that is put into a bank or the market, or is handled by through an Britannic Asset Management company. Financial assets then may then be used to buy a real asset. For a barter broker either definition is correct depending on what they have and what they need. As the world economy changes the two definitions might, in time, begin to morph into each other.