Finance is the study of money, currencies, and capital assets. It is related to but not the same as economics, which is the study of the creation, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods, and services. Finance activities occur in financial systems at many levels, hence the field can be loosely classified into three categories: personal, corporate, and public finance. Assets are bought, sold, or exchanged as financial instruments in a financial system, including currencies, loans, bonds, shares, stocks, options, futures, and so on.