Investment Terms - Sheet 1 Flashcards
401(k)
- A company-sponsored retirement savings plan that allows for pre-tax salary deferrals in addition to optional profit-sharing and matching contributions by the employer.
A Shares
- Mutual fund shares which charge an up-front commission deducted from the initial investment.
After Tax Yield
- The yield on an investment after taking into account the tax consequences incurred by either the capital gain or ordinary income.
Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT)
- An alternative tax which includes certain tax preference items that are added back into adjusted gross income. If higher than the regular tax, then the regular tax plus the amount by which AMT exceeds the regular tax is paid.
American Depository Receipt (ADR)
- A receipt for shares bought in the U.S. of a foreign-based corporation in an overseas market. The receipt is held by a U.S. bank, but shareholders are entitled to any dividends and capital gains.
Annuity
- A tax-deferred retirement savings vehicle that is issued as a contract between an individual and an insurance company. An annuity provides a variety of income options, including a payment one cannot outlive. May be fixed, immediate or variable.
B Shares
- Mutual fund shares which have no up front sales charge deducted from the initial investment. They are commonly called “back-end loads” because they have a declining sales charge which is charged when shares are sold.
Back-end Load
- Mutual funds which do not have an upfront sales charge. Commissions are paid through higher annual expenses and through assessment of a contingent deferred sales charge.
Balance Sheet
- A statement showing the financial condition of a company at any given point. It includes assets, liabilities and net worth. Assets always equal, or balance, liabilities plus net worth.
Bear Market
- A sharp, prolonged decline in the price of stocks, usually brought on by a slowing economy. Because a bear fights by slapping downward, this term is associated with a falling market.
Beneficiary
- An entity (either a person or an institution) named by the investor to inherit their estate or part of their estate after death.
Beta
- The measure of a stock’s volatility relative to the stock market. Stocks with a beta of one have historically moved in the same direction as the stock market, which always equals a beta of one. Stocks with beta values greater than one indicate a more aggressive movement in the same direction as the general market. Stocks with a beta lower than one have historically been less volatile than the general market.
Blue Chip Stock
- Shares of generally large companies that have a history of strong earnings growth and dividend payments. Known for strong management and excellent products and/or services, these companies usually operate in an established industry with expectations for continued success.
Bond Insurance
- Insurance purchased by the issuer of a bond from an independent insurance company guaranteeing timely payment of interest and principal.
Bond Ratings
- Ratings that evaluate the possibility of default by a bond issuer.
Bond
- A certificate representing creditorship; the issuer pays interest on specific dates and redeems by paying the principal at maturity.
Bull Market
- A sharp, prolonged rise in the price of stocks, usually lasting several months. Because a bull attacks by thrusting upward, this term is associated with a rising market.
C Shares
- Mutual fund shares which have no upfront charge to the customer, but may have a small commission to the broker. Higher annual fees are charged against the fund for as long as an investor holds the investment. These shares will have lower Contingent Deferred Sales Charge (CDSC) than B shares and the CDSC is applicable for a shorter term.
Call Feature
- The provision in a bond indenture which allows bonds or preferred stock to be redeemed or retired.
Call Risk
- The risk to a bondholder that a bond may be redeemed before scheduled maturity. The risk of having a bond called before maturity is that the investor may be unable to replace the bond’s yield with another similar-quality bond with the same yield.
Capital Gain
- Profit on the sale of a capital asset.
Capital Market
- Debt and equity securities with maturities greater than one year.
Cash Dividend
- Cash distribution (declared by a corporation’s board of directors) paid to current shareholders of record. This is normally a portion of the corporation’s earnings, however a corporation may pay a dividend even if it does not have earnings.
Cash Flow Return on Investments (CFROI)
- Operating cash flow divided by the capital invested in the business equals CFROI. It is one measurement of a company’s profitability.
Cash Flow
- Net income plus other non-cash charges, such as depreciation and amortization. Cash flow determines a company’s ability to reinvest in its operations and pay dividends.
Certificate of Deposit (CD)
- An investment vehicle whereby you lend a bank or a savings and loan a set amount of money, which is then invested insecurities or used for loans. For the use of your money, you are ensured the return of your principal at maturity and interest over the life of the CD. CDs offer a variety of maturities and interest payment options.
Collateralized Mortgage Obligation (CMO)
- Income investments collateralized by a pool of residential mortgages. In effect, you loan money to home owners. In return, you receive payment of principal and timely payment of interest over the life of the investment. You can buy CMOs with different maturities.
Common Stock
- Shares of a public corporation. Owners are usually entitled to receive dividends and vote on important company matters. Should the company be forced to liquidate, assets are distributed to creditors, bondholders and preferred stockholders before common stockholders. Common stocks are usually purchased for their appreciation potential and possible dividend income.
Community Property
- A joint account between a husband and wife in which upon death of one spouse his/her half of the account is transferred to his/her heirs.
Compounding
- The process of adding interest earned to principal.
Consumer Price Index
- The price of a hypothetical basket of goods selected to represent the types of products purchased by typical consumers. It is used as a measure of inflation.
Contingent Deferred Sales Charge (CDSC)
- Commission charged on the sale of some mutual funds. If an investor redeems an investment before all charges have been repaid, the CDSC will be deducted from the principal value upon redemption. The CDSC is reduced each year until all commissions/fees have been repaid.
Corporate Bond
- A loan to a corporation. When you invest in a bond, the corporation pays you interest on the bonds you own. At a stated date in the future (maturity date), the company returns your principal to you. The maturity dates on corporate bonds can range from one to 40 years.
Cost Basis
- The original cost of acquiring a security plus any expenses incurred during the acquisition. This is used for the purpose of calculating gains and losses at the time of sale.
Current Ratio
- Current assets divided by current liabilities. Indicates a company’s ability to pay its current obligations from current assets.
Current Yield
- Annual Interest divided by current market price. What a bond is actually yielding today as opposed to the yield to maturity or coupon rate.
Custodial Account
- An account established for a child that is not of legal age. The account must use of the name of the minor child as well as one adult, or custodian.
Custodian
- An adult acting on behalf of a minor in a security account.
D Shares
- Mutual fund shares which have a small upfront charge. Higher annual fees are charged against the fund for as long as an investor holds the investment. These shares will have lower CDSC than B shares and the CDSC is applicable for less time.
Day Order
- A buy or sell order that is valid only until the close of trading on the day it is placed. If A day order is entered after the close of trading, it is held and entered as A day order on the next trading day.
Debenture
- An unsecured bond. Most bonds issued by large corporations are, in fact, debentures, which are backed by the corporation’s reputation rather than secured by any collateral.
Debt Security
- A security where the issuer has promised to pay a specified amount of principal and interest to the owner of the security at a specified time in the future.
Debt-to-Total-Capital Ratio
- The proportion of total capital that is represented by long-term debt. For example, a 24 percent ratio means that 24 percent of a company’s total capital is debt.
Defensive Stock
- Stocks that are usually immune to traditional business cycles, resulting in greater stability. In a weak market, shares historically have declined less than the overall market.
Depression
- Economic condition characterized by falling prices, reduced purchasing power, rising unemployment, deflation and a general decrease in business activity.
Diversification
- A method to reduce investment risk by putting funds in several different investment categories (i.e., growth, growth and income, and income). Diversification among stocks can be by sectors within an industry or by geographic location.
Dividend Reinvestment
- Allows shareholders to automatically use dividend payments to purchase additional shares of stock.
Dividend Yield
- Annual percentage of return earned by investors Calculated by dividing a stock’s annual dividend by the current stock price.
Dividend
- A payment from a company to its shareholders, historically based on its earnings. Dividends are usually paid quarterly in the form of cash and sometimes stock. Payments are in proportion to the number of shares an investor owns.
Dollar Cost Averaging
- Investing equal dollar amounts at regular intervals; results in buying more shares when the price is low and fewer shares when the price is high, for an average cost per share lower than the average price per share.
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA)
- A price-weighted average of 30 actively traded blue-chip stocks. It is the oldest and most widely used of all stock market indicators. The average is quoted in points rather than dollars. It is calculated by adding the prices of the stocks an using a divisor that is adjusted for splits and dividends, in addition to substitutions and mergers.
Earnings Per Share (EPS)
- A company’s net income divided by the total number of outstanding common shares.
Equity
- Ownership interest in a corporation, held by investors through common or preferred stock. Corporations issue equity to raise fund for the investment in the company.
Eurodollars
- U.S. dollars deposited in foreign, mainly European, banks. These dollars are used in transactions of international business.
Expense Ratio
- Annual Operating Expenses divided by Average Annual Net Assets. The amount that mutual fund shareholders pay for management fees and operating expenses.
Fannie Mae
- Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), a government-sponsored, publicly owned corporation whose stock trades on the NYSE. FNMA purchases mortgages from lenders and resells them to investors through the sale of fixed income securities, pass-throughs and equity.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
- An agency of the Federal Government established to insure the deposits of account holders at FDIC member institutions.
Federal Farm Credit System
- A system of 37 banks that provides loans to farmers and farm-related businesses. Securities include those issued by Federal Intermediate Credit Banks, Banks for Cooperatives and Federal Land Banks. They also include bonds issued through the Federal Farm Credit System as a whole. These securities are guaranteed by the Farm Credit Administration only. They are not direct obligations of the U.S. Government.
Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLB)
- Government agency consisting of twelve regional banks owned by savings and homestead associations which issues bonds and notes to finance home building and mortgage loans of their member associations.
Federal Reserve Board
- The governing board of the Federal Reserve System.
Federal Reserve System
- The Fed, established by Congress to monitor and regulate the U.S. monetary and banking system.
Financial Risk
- The uncertainty of the future financial abilities of the issuer to pay stockholders and creditors principal and interest.
FINRA
- The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, known as FINRA, is the largest non-governmental regulator for all securities firms doing business with the United States publicmore than 5,000 firms employing more than 660,000 registered representatives. FINRA was created in 2007 through the consolidation of NASD and NYSE Member Regulation.
Firm Name
- (Street name) Securities owned by a client but registered in the name of the brokerage firm for safekeeping and ease of transferability.
Fiscal Policy
- Federal spending and taxation policies designed to affect the business cycle and attain price stability, sustained economic growth and full employment.
Fixed Annuity
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Forward Split
- Procedure a corporation would use to increase the number of shares outstanding without changing shareholders’ equity.Example: 2 for 1 split; the shareholder will double his holdings, but price per share will drop by half.
Freddie Mac
- Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), a federally created corporation which issues two types of mortgage certificates, to finance its purchase of conventional residential mortgages, thus maintaining a secondary market in conventional home mortgages.
Fundamental Analysis
- The study of a company’s record of sales, earnings, assets, management and other factors to predict future trends. These projections are used to determine if the stock is undervalued or overvalued based on its current price.
Funds from Operations (FFO)
- Portion of a real estate investment trust’s (REIT) profit allocated to each outstanding share of common stock. FFO is basically net income plus depreciation. It is a key statistic in evaluating a REITs outlook and is substituted for earnings per share in calculating the dividend payout or the price -to-earnings ratio.
Ginnie Mae
- Government National Mortgage Association (GNMA), a government agency pass-through obligation supporting primary mortgages and backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government, subject to all taxes.
Global Fund
- Funds that invest in stocks of foreign companies. A global fund may own securities from both the U.S. and non-U.S. market.
Good Till Canceled Order (GTC)
- An order to buy or sell stock at a specific price that is left in force until executed or canceled by the client.
Growth Stock
- A stock whose earnings increases occur more rapidly than more mature companies or companies in slow-growth industries. The growth record of these companies is expected to continue in the future. Growth stocks tend to carry higher risk, generally trade at higher price-to-earnings ratios and pay little or no dividends.
Growth-and-Income Stock
- A common stock with a relatively high current yield and whose company has historically paid out a large portion of its earnings in dividends. Many utility stocks with higher yields are considered growth-and-income stocks.
Guardian
- Court-appointed fiduciary, assigned to take care of the property of another person.
House Maintenance
- The minimum equity that must be maintained in a margin account as prescribed by the brokerage firm.