assets

1. The main sense in which the term asset is used is to describe anything owned by an individual or business which has a monetary value. Some assets are relatively easy to measure - debtors, cash, stock and so on. Others are more difficult - goodwill, intellectual property, and brand values. In the context of a company's balance sheet, an asset is also a deferred cost. Equipment valued at £1m in a balance sheet represents £1m which the company spent and which is being depreciated as the equipment exhausts its usable life. The question of whether that equipment is actually an asset or a liability is really whether that asset generates more in after-tax revenues than it costs. If not, it is hardly something accruing to the benefit of the company and its shareholders.
2. More generally, 'asset' is used to describe a class of investment product. So, shares, property, and bonds are all asset classes. Hence the phrase used in portfolio management - 'asset allocation'.