wizofoz

it helped me to think of the accounting equation

A = L + E

The left is what you do own. The right hand side is what you don't own. its your capital base, what you gave up to fund A.

for example when the company issues common stock, they get cash to buy operating assets. So E goes up and A goes up by same amount. That is the same as issuing bonds except your giving up ownership instead of an IOU.

so common stock - part of company that is owned by someone else (public).
MI - part of investment owned by someone else (who knows)