Short-Term Investments

They're liquid. You can turn these babies into cash very fast.

In some parlance, the notion of "short-term" means within a few days, or even less. In other arenas, it means they're liquid within a year (like in the case of a corporate balance sheet calculating a Quick Ratio or Acid Test).

Think: vehicles like T-Bills and CDs and cash in a savings account. All short-term investments that pay a skosh of interest and are very low risk...in return for giving the holder the reward of being able to buy stuff with those assets...fast.