In a couple of assignments I used the word "interest" to denote investment income and I received a comment to the extent that we don't know what the assets are. I believe the idea is that some of the return may be capital increase/dividends/interest etc. My opinion was that we could use "interest" loosely to describe all returns, especially when writing to a layperson. What are your views on this and do you have any good alternatives for "interest".
I think 'interest' or 'investment returns' are both acceptable, depending on the context. Laymen would understand, for example: 'the cash sum will grow with investment returns' 'you'll receive interest on the amount you invest'
