Marketable – definition and example
Marketable may refer to a product that we can sell or market or a person who is attractive to potential clients or employers. A marketable person is in demand. We use the term for goods, services, or skills that are easy to sell. They are easy to sell because many people want them.
If I say “I am studying for a degree to make myself more marketable,” I am talking about the job market. I am saying that people with degrees are in greater demand than those without degrees.
The Oxford Living Dictionaries has the following definitions of the term:
“1. Able or fit to be sold or marketed. 2. Attractive to potential employers or clients; in demand.”
Marketable securities
Marketable securities are very liquid securities because we can turn them into cash rapidly. We can also do this at a reasonable price.
Bonds, shares, or mortgage-backed financial instruments, for example, are securities. Securities are financial instruments that have a given value and that we buy and sell, i.e., trade.
In other words, securities are any proof of ownership or debt that have a value and that we can sell.
The marketability of securities is high because they usually mature in under twelve months. Also, the rates at which we can trade them have only a tiny effect on prices.
Regarding securities with good marketability, the OECD Glossary of Statistical Terms writes that they are:
“Securities that can easily be sold. On a corporation’s balance sheet, they are assets that can be readily converted into cash – for example, government securities, banker’s acceptances, and commercial paper.”
The noun marketability refers to how well or badly we can sell something. If it sells easily, we say that it has good or high marketability.
What is marketable surplus?
‘Marketable surplus‘ is a term that farmers use. It is the surplus of produce that exists after the farmer has paid for costs. Wages, fertilizers, land, tools, and agricultural machinery, for example, represent costs.
Farmers have to invest. They need to invest money in tools, fertilizers, machinery, land, and labor. They also have to invest money in seeds, especially when they start off.
Put simply; marketable surplus is the part of the harvest that a farmer can sell to earn a profit.
Regarding this profit, SmallBusiness.Chron.com says:
“With this profit, she (the farmer) can reinvest into farming operations by purchasing more land or better farming equipment. She may also simply save this profit or use it to purchase personal items.”
Video – marketable securities
In this video, Jackie McLaughlin talks about marketable securities from an accounting perspective. These securities are instruments that companies purchase if they have excess cash on hand.