Real assets include all assets used in the production or sale of the firm's products or services. They can be tangible (plant and equipment) or intangible (patents or trademarks etc.). In contrast financial assets (such as stocks or bonds) are claims on the income generated by real assets.
What is physical and financial assets?
The main difference between the two is that physical assets are tangible and financial assets are not. Physical assets usually depreciate or lose value due to wear and tear, whereas financial assets do not experience such reduction in value due to depreciation.
What are the two basic types of financial assets?
Money, stocks and bonds are the main types of financial assets. Each is something you can own, and each has some amount of financial value. For money, the contractual claim is against the central bank of the government issuing the money.