Investments

Simple Rate of Return: Basic Investment Measure
An entry explaining the Simple Rate of Return, a measure of investment performance that divides income and capital gains by the initial capital invested, excluding compounding effects.
Simple Yield: Basic Interest Return Calculation
Simple Yield measures the interest return on a bond relative to its current market price, offering a straightforward calculation for bondholders and debtors.
Sinking Fund: Purpose and Mechanics
A sinking fund is a reserve created to pay off debt securities or preferred stock over time, ensuring gradual repayment and reducing default risk.
Small Investor: Individual Investor in Financial Markets
A Small Investor, often referred to as a retail investor, buys small amounts of stocks or bonds, typically in odd-lot quantities. This article delves into the roles, types, considerations, and examples related to small investors, along with historical context and related terms.
Soft Dollars: Understanding Indirect Investment Costs
Soft dollars refer to indirect payments for brokerage services, allowing investors to use commission dollars for research and related services rather than direct payments.
Sovereign Wealth Funds: Comprehensive Overview
An in-depth look at Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs), including their definition, types, examples, historical context, and applicability in global finance.
SPDR: Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipt
Comprehensive coverage of Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipt (SPDR), also known as 'spiders,' which are securities designed to track the performance of the S&P 500 Index.
Special Situation: Under-valued or Highly Fluctuating Stock
A comprehensive description of special situations in the stock market, involving stocks that are expected to change in value due to imminent events or exhibit high daily fluctuations due to specific news developments.
Speculation: Purchase of Property or Security for Quick Profit
Detailed explanation of speculation in financial markets, including types, examples, comparisons with gambling and investment, and historical context.
Speculative Risk: Uncertainty of Financial Outcomes
A comprehensive overview of speculative risk, which entails the uncertainty of financial loss or gain, with examples, special considerations, and related terms.
SPIDER: See [SPDR]
Refer to SPDR for more information about Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts (SPDRs), a type of exchange-traded fund.
Standard & Poor's Corporation: A Comprehensive Overview of Investment Services
An in-depth look at Standard & Poor's Corporation, a subsidiary of McGraw-Hill, Inc., known for its investment services including securities ratings, stock indexes, and financial information.
Stock Buyback: Corporate Share Repurchase
An in-depth look into stock buybacks, also known as share repurchase plans, where companies buy back their own shares from the marketplace.
Stock Certificate: Evidence of Corporate Ownership
A stock certificate is a formal instrument evidencing a share in the ownership of a corporation. This document represents the shareholder's equity stake in the company.
Stock Dividend: Non-Cash Corporate Dividend
An in-depth look at stock dividends, where a corporation pays a dividend to its shareholders in the form of additional shares rather than cash. Learn about types, examples, and implications.
Stock Option: Right to Purchase or Sell a Stock
Understand the intricacies of stock options, a key financial instrument offering opportunities for investment, speculation, and employee compensation.
Stock Rights: Understanding the Basics of Subscription Rights or Warrants
Comprehensive explanation of stock rights, also known as subscription rights or warrants, covering their types, uses, and examples in the context of stock markets and investments.
Stock-Transfer Agent: Responsible for Managing Stock Transfers
A Stock-Transfer Agent specializes in managing and executing the transfer of stock ownership and maintaining comprehensive records of shareholders.
Straight Debt: Fixed Obligation Debt Instrument
Straight Debt refers to a debt instrument with a fixed repayment schedule, fixed interest rate, and no convertibility features.
Street Name: Custody of Securities
A term referring to securities held in the name of a broker or another nominee instead of the customer, facilitating easier transfer at the time of sale.
Stretch IRA: Extending the Period of Tax-Deferred Earnings
A Stretch IRA is an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) set up in a way that extends the period of tax-deferred earnings beyond the lifetime of the owner.
STRIPS Bonds: Separate Trading of Registered Interest and Principal of Securities
STRIPS Bonds, also known as Separate Trading of Registered Interest and Principal of Securities, are pre-stripped zero coupon bonds that are direct obligations of the U.S. Treasury. This entry provides an in-depth look at STRIPS Bonds, their characteristics, and applications.
Subordinated Debt: Debt that is Junior in Claim on Assets
Comprehensive definition and explanation of subordinated debt, its types, special considerations, examples, historical context, and related terms in finance.
Subscription Price: Rights Offering and Subscription Warrants
The Subscription Price is the price at which existing shareholders of a corporation are entitled to purchase common shares during a rights offering, or the price at which subscription warrants can be exercised.
Subscription Privilege: Shareholder Rights
An in-depth look at the subscription privilege, which grants existing shareholders the right to purchase additional shares of a new stock issue before it is available to the public.
Support Level: Critical Price Point in Financial Markets
An in-depth exploration of support levels, a key concept in technical analysis, where a security price tends to halt its decline due to increased demand.
Switching: Moving Assets from One Mutual Fund to Another
Switching refers to the process of moving assets from one mutual fund to another. This can occur either within the same fund family or between different fund families.
Systemic Risk: Understanding Market-Wide Risk
An in-depth exploration of systemic risk, its measurement, types, examples, and implications in the financial market. Also known as market risk or systematic risk, and commonly measured by the beta coefficient.
Take a Position: Strategic Stock Acquisition Explained
To buy stock in a company with the intent of long-term holding or taking control, including regulatory requirements and strategic inventory management.
Tax Anticipation Bill (TAB): Short-term U.S. Treasury Obligation
A Tax Anticipation Bill (TAB) is a short-term obligation issued by the U.S. Treasury, offering a secure investment option for corporations to manage their tax payments efficiently.
Tax Straddle: Former Tax Postponement Technique
A former tax deferral tactic used by investors to postpone tax liabilities by creating artificial losses in the current year and realizing gains in the subsequent year.
Tax-Deferred: Investment With Postponed Taxation
Tax-Deferred refers to an investment whose accumulated earnings are free from taxation until the investor takes possession of the assets.
Technical Analysis: Research into the Demand and Supply for Securities and Commodities
Technical Analysis involves the examination of trading volume and price studies to predict price movements. By utilizing charts or computer programs, technical analysts aim to identify market trends.
Telephone Switching: Mutual Fund Asset Transfers via Telephone
Understanding the process of shifting assets from one mutual fund to another by telephone, either within the same family of funds or across different families of funds.
Tender Offer: Public Offer to Purchase Shares
A tender offer is a public, open offer or invitation to all shareholders of a publicly traded corporation to tender their stock for sale at a specific price during a specified time.
Term Bond: Bonds that Mature at the Same Date
A Term Bond is a bond from a single issue that matures on the same date. These bonds may have a call feature that allows the issuer to redeem them before the maturity date.
Third Market: Non-exchange-member Broker-Dealers and Institutional Investors Trading Over-the-Counter in Exchange-Listed Securities
The Third Market involves non-exchange-member broker-dealers and institutional investors engaging in over-the-counter (OTC) trading of exchange-listed securities, offering an alternative trading platform with benefits such as lower transaction costs and extended trading hours.
Ticker Symbol: Financial Market Identifier
A Ticker Symbol is a unique series of letters assigned to a security or stock for trading purposes on a particular stock exchange.
Tombstone Advertisement: An Essential Element in Public Offerings
Tombstone Advertisement in the context of investment banking involves placing offers in newspapers, providing essential details about public offerings of securities, and listing underwriting group members. Its name is derived from its appearance.
Top-Down Portfolio: Strategic Investment Approach
A comprehensive guide to the Top-Down Portfolio Approach, a method where investors first analyze macroeconomic trends before selecting industries and companies that benefit from those trends.
Topping Out: Understanding the End of a Bull Market
A detailed explanation of the concept of topping out in financial markets, including its significance, types, indicators, and historical context.
Trading Range: An In-Depth Guide
A comprehensive guide to understanding Trading Range in commodities and securities, including definitions, examples, and related terms.
Treasuries: Negotiable Debt Obligations of the U.S. Government
Treasuries are negotiable debt obligations of the U.S. government, secured by its full faith and credit. They are issued at various schedules and maturities, and their income is exempt from state and local, but not federal, taxes.
Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities: Inflation-Indexed Government Bonds
Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) are U.S. government bonds designed to protect investors against inflation by adjusting the principal according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS): Inflation-Indexed Treasury Bonds
Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) are inflation-indexed Treasury bonds whose principal is adjusted according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI). These securities pay a small rate of interest, with the principal increasing along with inflation as measured by the CPI.
Treasury Investors Growth Receipt (TIGER): Zero Coupon Government Security
Treasury Investors Growth Receipt (TIGER) are U.S. government-backed bonds stripped of their coupons sold at a deep discount from their face values, providing maturity value without periodic interest payments.
TreasuryDirect: Electronic System for Buying U.S. Treasury Securities
An electronic system enabling individual investors to make noncompetitive bids on U.S. Treasury securities, bypassing banks and broker-dealers to avoid fees.
Turkey in Business and Investment: Disappointing Investment
A comprehensive explanation of the term 'turkey' in business and investment contexts, detailing its use in describing disappointing investments or business decisions.
Two and Twenty: Hedge Fund Manager Compensation
The 'Two and Twenty' fee structure is a common compensation model for hedge fund managers, where 2% of total asset value is charged as a management fee and an additional 20% of profits is taken as a performance fee.
U.S. Savings Bond: Government-Issued Fixed-Income Security
A comprehensive encyclopedia entry on U.S. Savings Bonds, a fixed-income security issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, including types, special considerations, historical context, and more.
Uncovered Option: A Comprehensive Guide
An in-depth exploration of uncovered options, including types, examples, risks, and historical context in finance.
Underlying Futures Contract: Understanding the Foundations of Futures Options
An in-depth exploration of the underlying futures contracts, which serve as the basis for options on futures. This includes definitions, examples, historical context, applications, and related terms.
Underwater: Financial Conditions When Values Sink
Comprehensive explanation of the term 'Underwater' in various financial contexts, including loans, options, and investment portfolios.
Unit Investment Trust (UIT): Fixed Portfolio Investment Vehicle
Unit Investment Trust (UIT) is a type of investment vehicle registered with the SEC under the Investment Company Act of 1940. UITs purchase a fixed portfolio of securities, including bonds and stocks.
Unlisted Security: Understanding Non-Listed Stocks and Bonds
Comprehensive overview of unlisted securities, their trading mechanism in the over-the-counter market, and their significance within financial markets.
Unloading: A Comprehensive Guide on Financial and Investment Contexts
Unloading refers to the act of selling off large quantities of merchandise or securities, typically below market prices, either to quickly raise cash or to avoid further losses.
Unpaid Dividend: Definition and Explanation
A comprehensive overview of Unpaid Dividends, detailing their implications, types, historical context, and related terms.
Unrealized Profit (Loss): Definition and Overview
Unrealized Profit (Loss) refers to the gain or loss that is theoretical and has not yet been actualized through the sale of a security or commodity futures contract. Learn more about its implications and how it differs from realized profit (loss).
Vacancy Rate: Percentage of Unoccupied Units or Space
The vacancy rate represents the percentage of all units or spaces that are unoccupied or not rented. It is a crucial metric in real estate and finance, used to estimate the vacancy allowance on a pro-forma income statement, which is then deducted from Potential Gross Income (PGI) to derive Effective Gross Income (EGI).
Value Investing: Investment Philosophy Focused on Bargain Stocks
Value Investing is an investment philosophy that focuses on buying stocks that are trading at bargain prices based on fundamental analysis, and holding them until they become fully valued.
Venture Capital: Financing for Start-Up and Turnaround Ventures
Venture Capital is a crucial source of financing for start-up companies and others embarking on new or turnaround ventures, offering the potential for above-average future profits despite entailing some investment risk.
Vested Interest: Definition and Explanation
A detailed explanation of the term Vested Interest, including its types, applications in various fields, historical context, and frequently asked questions.
Volatile: Understanding Rapid and Extreme Fluctuations
Discover the meaning, historical context, application, and implications of volatility in financial markets and other domains, including detailed explanations of the Beta Coefficient.
Voluntary Accumulation Plan: A Comprehensive Guide
A comprehensive guide to understanding the Voluntary Accumulation Plan, an investment strategy allowing mutual fund shareholders to accumulate shares on a regular, discretionary basis.
Vulture Fund: A Speculative Investment Strategy
A Vulture Fund is a type of limited partnership that invests in depressed property, often real estate, aiming to profit when prices rebound.
Wash Sale: Tax Implications and Rules
A comprehensive guide to understanding the concept of wash sales, their tax implications, and related rules.
WHEN ISSUED: Condition-Based Transactions in Securities
An in-depth look into 'WHEN ISSUED' securities, focusing on condition-based transactions occurring before the formal issuance of authorized financial instruments, such as stocks, bonds, and U.S. Treasury securities.
Widow-and-Orphan Stock: High Dividends and Safety
Widow-and-Orphan Stock refers to a type of stock that pays high dividends and is considered very safe. Typically, these stocks have a low beta coefficient and are involved in non-cyclical businesses.
Wildcat Drilling: Exploring for Oil or Gas in Unproven Areas
Wildcat Drilling involves the exploration of oil or natural gas in unproven, often remote areas, posing high risks but potentially yielding substantial rewards.

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