leverage
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Leverage
Leverage
2. The amount of debt that has been used to finance activities. A company with much more debt than equity is generally called "highly leveraged." Too much leverage is thought to be unhealthy, but many firms use leverage in order to expand operations.
leverage
Leverage.
Leverage is an investment technique in which you use a small amount of your own money to make an investment of much larger value. In that way, leverage gives you significant financial power.
For example, if you borrow 90% of the cost of a home, you are using the leverage to buy a much more expensive property than you could have afforded by paying cash.
If you sell the property for more than you borrowed, the profit is entirely yours. The reverse is also true. If you sell at a loss, the amount you borrowed is still due and the entire loss is yours.
Buying stock on margin is a type of leverage, as is buying a futures or options contract.
Leveraging can be risky if the underlying instrument doesn't perform as you anticipate. At the very least, you may lose your investment principal plus any money you borrowed to make the purchase.
With some leveraged investments, you could be responsible for even larger losses if the value of the underlying product drops significantly.
leverage
see CAPITAL GEARING.leverage
see CAPITAL GEARINGleverage

The effect borrowed money has on an investment;the concept of borrowing money to buy an asset that will appreciate in value, so that the ultimate sale will return profits on the equity invested and on the borrowed funds.
Example: Mark and Amy each have $100,000 to invest. They can buy rental houses for $100,000 per house and collect rent of $1,100 per month for each house. At the end of 5 years, they will be able to liquidate and sell their houses for $150,000 each. Amy uses leverage and Mark does not.