Investopedia
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Investing
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The act of committing money or capital to an endeavor (a business, project, real estate, etc.) with the expectation of obtaining an additional income or profit. Investing also can include the amount of time you put into the study of a prospective company, especially since time is money
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Compounding
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The ability of an asset to generate earnings, which are then reinvested in order to generate their own earnings. In other words, compounding refers to generating earnings from previous earnings.
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Stock
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type of security that signifies ownership in a corporation and represents a claim on part of the corporation's assets and earnings.
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Bond
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A debt investment in which an investor loans money to an entity (corporate or governmental) that borrows the funds for a defined period of time at a fixed interest rate. Bonds are used by companies, municipalities, states and U.S. and foreign governments to finance a variety of projects and activities.
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Capital
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Financial assets or the financial value of assets, such as cash.
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Pension Plan
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A type of retirement plan, usually tax exempt, wherein an employer makes contributions toward a pool of funds set aside for an employee's future benefit. The pool of funds is then invested on the employee's behalf, allowing the employee to receive benefits upon retirement.
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Interest
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The charge for the privilege of borrowing money, typically expressed as an annual percentage rate
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Principal
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The amount borrowed or the amount still owed on a loan, separate from interest.
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Capital
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Financial assets or the financial value of assets, such as cash.
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Capital Appreciation
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A rise in the value of an asset based on a rise in market price. Essentially, the capital that was invested in the security has increased in value, and the capital appreciation portion of the investment includes all of the market value exceeding the original investment or cost basis. Capital appreciation is one of the two main sources of investment returns, with the other being dividend or interest income.
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Speculation
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The process of selecting investments with higher risk in order to profit from an anticipated price movement.
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Volatility
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statistical measure of the dispersion of returns for a given security or market index. Volatility can either be measured by using the standard deviation or variance between returns from that same security or market index. Commonly, the higher the volatility, the riskier the security.
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Balance Sheet
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A financial statement that summarizes a company's assets, liabilities and shareholders' equity at a specific point in time. These three balance sheet segments give investors an idea as to what the company owns and owes, as well as the amount invested by the shareholders.
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Income Statement
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A financial statement that measures a company's financial performance over a specific accounting period. Financial performance is assessed by giving a summary of how the business incurs its revenues and expenses through both operating and non-operating activities. It also shows the net profit or loss incurred over a specific accounting period, typically over a fiscal quarter or year.
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Prospectus
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A formal legal document, which is required by and filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, that provides details about an investment offering for sale to the public. A prospectus should contain the facts that an investor needs to make an informed investment decision.
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Risk
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The chance that an investment's actual return will be different than expected. This includes the possibility of losing some or all of the original investment. Risk is usually measured by calculating the standard deviation of the historical returns or average returns of a specific investment.
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Risk Tolerance
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The degree of uncertainty that an investor can handle in regard to a negative change in the value of his or her portfolio.
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Economics
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A social science that studies how individuals, governments, firms and nations make choices on allocating scarce resources to satisfy their unlimited wants. Economics can generally be broken down into: macroeconomics, which concentrates on the behavior of the aggregate economy; and microeconomics, which focuses on individual consumers.
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Analyst
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A financial professional who has expertise in evaluating investments and puts together \"buy\", \"sell\" and \"hold\" recommendations for securities. Also known as a \"financial analyst\" or a \"security analyst\".
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Fund Manager
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The person(s) resposible for implementing a fund's investing strategy and managing its portfolio trading activities. A fund can be managed by one person, by two people as co-managers and by a team of three or more people. Fund managers are paid a fee for their work, which is a percentage of the fund's average assets under management.
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Growth Stock
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Shares in a company whose earnings are expected to grow at an above-average rate relative to the market.
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Dividend
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A distribution of a portion of a company's earnings, decided by the board of directors, to a class of its shareholders. The dividend is most often quoted in terms of the dollar amount each share receives (dividends per share). It can also be quoted in terms of a percent of the current market price, referred to as dividend yield.
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Growth Investing
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A strategy whereby an investor seeks out stocks with what they deem good growth potential. In most cases a growth stock is defined as a company whose earnings are expected to grow at an above-average rate compared to its industry or the overall market.
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Value Investing
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The strategy of selecting stocks that trade for less than their intrinsic values. Value investors actively seek stocks of companies that they believe the market has undervalued. They believe the market overreacts to good and bad news, resulting in stock price movements that do not correspond with the company's long-term fundamentals. The result is an opportunity for value investors to profit by buying when the price is deflated.
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Fixed-Income Security
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An investment that provides a return in the form of fixed periodic payments and the eventual return of principal at maturity. Unlike a variable-income security, where payments change based on some underlying measure such as short-term interest rates, the payments of a fixed-income security are known in advance.
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Bond
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A debt investment in which an investor loans money to an entity (corporate or governmental) that borrows the funds for a defined period of time at a fixed interest rate. Bonds are used by companies, municipalities, states and U.S. and foreign governments to finance a variety of projects and activities.
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Risk-Free Asset
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An asset which has a certain future return. Treasuries (especially T-bills) are considered to be risk-free because they are backed by the U.S. government.
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Large Cap (Big Cap)
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A term used by the investment community to refer to companies with a market capitalization value of more than $10 billion. This is a abbreviation of the the term \"large market capitalization\". Market capitalization is calculated by multiplying the number of a company's shares outstanding by its stock price per share.
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Small Cap
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Refers to stocks with a relatively small market capitalization. The definition of small cap can vary among brokerages, but generally it is a company with a market capitalization of between $300 million and $2 billion.
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Liquidity
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The degree to which an asset or security can be bought or sold in the market without affecting the asset's price. Liquidity is characterized by a high level of trading activity.
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Cash And Cash Equivalents (CCE)
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An item on the balance sheet that reports the value of a company's assets that are cash or can be converted into cash immediately.
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Aggressive Investment Strategy
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A method of portfolio management and asset allocation that attempts to achieve maximum return
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Risk Averse
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A description of an investor who, when faced with two investments with a similar expected return (but different risks), will prefer the one with the lower risk.
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Money Market
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A segment of the financial market in which financial instruments with high liquidity and very short maturities are traded. The money market is used by participants as a means for borrowing and lending in the short term, from several days to just under a year. Money market securities consist of negotiable certificates of deposit (CDs), bankers acceptances, U.S. Treasury bills, commercial paper, municipal notes, federal funds and repurchase agreements (repos).
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Money Market
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A segment of the financial market in which financial instruments with high liquidity and very short maturities are traded. The money market is used by participants as a means for borrowing and lending in the short term, from several days to just under a year. Money market securities consist of negotiable certificates of deposit (CDs), bankers acceptances, U.S. Treasury bills, commercial paper, municipal notes, federal funds and repurchase agreements (repos).
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Certificate Of Deposit (CD)
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A savings certificate entitling the bearer to receive interest. A CD bears a maturity date, a specified fixed interest rate and can be issued in any denomination. CDs are generally issued by commercial banks and are insured by the FDIC. The term of a CD generally ranges from one month to five years.
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Inflation
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The rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services is rising, and, subsequently, purchasing power is falling.
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Diversification
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A risk management technique that mixes a wide variety of investments within a portfolio. The rationale behind this technique contends that a portfolio of different kinds of investments will, on average, yield higher returns and pose a lower risk than any individual investment found within the portfolio.
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Portfolio Management
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The art and science of making decisions about investment mix and policy, matching investments to objectives, asset allocation for individuals and institutions, and balancing risk against. performance.
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Passive Investing
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An investment strategy involving limited ongoing buying and selling actions. Passive investors will purchase investments with the intention of long-term appreciation and limited maintenance.
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Active Investing
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An investment strategy involving ongoing buying and selling actions by the investor. Active investors purchase investments and continuously monitor their activity in order to exploit profitable conditions.
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Index Fund
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A type of mutual fund with a portfolio constructed to match or track the components of a market index such as the S&P 500 Index. An index mutual fund is said to provide broad market exposure, low operating expenses and low portfolio turnover.
