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A redemption charge is a charge applied when you redeem shares of a mutual fund in a deferred commission purchase structure.

What was the Tax Reform Act of 1986? Hit play to find out.

What are Passive Investing and Passive Investors? Passive investing and passive investors are ones who opt to ride the market out over the long ter...

When a bond is secured, it means it's protected, i.e. there are assets that would be forfeited if repayment is not made. When it's unsecured... it'...

The Investment Company Act of 1940 regulated and ensured fair dealings in the mutual fund industry.

What is Arbitrage? Arbitrage is a trading strategy used to make risk-free money. The investor buys a security in one market and sells it in another...

What do you need to retire? Retirement - think: 401k, pension fund, IRA, roth IRA, etc. All of these savings socked away while you worked hard are...

What is Contingent Liability? Contingent liability refers to a possible liability in the future contingent upon some other event being the trigger....

What are T-Notes, T-Bonds, and TIPS? T-Notes are debt securities (like bonds) that are issued by the government and mature within one to 10 years....

Investment objectives and styles vary from investor to investor. Some are in it for the long haul. Others, um... don't look at "Ponzi" as a dirty w...

What is liquidity? Think: water. It's liquid. It can be squeezed into little, tiny spaces and infused into large spaces. A defining trait of liquid...

What is AMBAC? AMBAC stands for American Municipal Bond Assurance Corporation. It provides insurance for municipalities that sell muni bonds, such...

What is the Federal Funds Rate? The federal funds rate is the interest rate used for overnight lending between banks. The amount banks are able to...

The Federal Open Market Committee's purpose is to manage financial outcomes through monetary policy.

A trust deed lays out the rights and obligations of the bank underwriting the purchase of inventory/assets. That said, it won't catch you in a trus...

PERLS is a bond that pays interest twice a year, but whose yield is linked to a given foreign exchange rate. It also doesn't string very well on a...

"Golden handcuffs" refers to someone vesting into their stock options by sticking it out at their company. It won't go on their permanent record.

What is ordinary income versus long-term gain income? Hit play to find out.

What is real return? Real return is the actual return made from an investment after inflation is factored in. Return is expressed as a percentage c...

What is asset allocation? Asset allocation is the process of executing an investment strategy that is tailored to a particular investor’s risk to...

What is the difference between short-term and long-term liabilities? Short-term liabilities show up on the balance sheet. They need to be paid in the short-term using the inflow from cash and accounts receivable, as shown on the balance sheet. These are things like accounts payable and employee salaries. Long-term liabilities are things like loans and such that the company won’t need to pay back for over a year.

What is opportunity cost? In short, it's the eventual monetary cost of choosing to do one thing over another (often choosing travel or experiences over their monetary equivalent). That contract guaranteeing you $100k a year might sound terrific when you're staring $200k of student loans in the face, but if it locks you out of a much higher paying job five years down the road, you can kiss wealth and financial success good-bye.

What is Capital Gains Tax? Capital gain taxes are taxes collected by the IRS on trading profits from investments in equities, real estate, or any other type of transaction in which something defined as an asset is bought and then resold at a profit. The amount of assessed capital gains taxes is contingent upon the length of time the asset was held.

Work-in-process inventory is just inventory... that is in the process of being built. In other words, it accounts for the inventory's asset value.

Tax basis is your cost for assessing how much you owe in taxes, and is determined by multiplying your gains by your tax rate.

Inventory turnover...way less delicious than an apple turnover. So...what is it?

What is term life insurance, and variable life insurance? Hit play to find out, and, uh...let's hope you live long enough to figure out the answers.

What are Dividends: Declaration date, Dated date, Pay date, Effective date, Ex-distribution date, Ex-Date, and Reset date? Dividends are sums of money or shares of stock paid to shareholders as a result of favorable earnings. The goal is to pay dividends regularly so it is possible that they could still be paid in times of not so great earnings. The declaration date begins the process of paying dividends and marks the day when dividends are announced. Dividends are paid out on the pay date and the ex-dividend date marks when stock must be purchased by in order to receive the next round of dividends. On the record date, the company determines which shareholders are eligible to receive dividends, thus the ex-dividend date is one day before this.

What is an LLC? LLC stands for Limited Liability Company. It is a hybrid type of company that combines the corporate protections of separating corporate and personal assets and liabilities with tax advantages and other elements of partnerships and sole proprietorships. The LLC’s tax liabilities are paid at the shareholder’s personal level, so the LLC only files returns without payments. Unlike the corporation, the LLC cannot outlive its founders unless there are continuation agreements. Additionally, new shareholders can be added without corporate resolution in the LLC.

What are operating profits, net profits and gross profits? Profits for a company can be calculated several different ways depending on what metric is being cited. Gross profits are measured by total revenues minus cost of goods or services sold. Of course, a company also has operating expenses, as well as depreciation and amortization, which are accounting deductions on equipment and other property belonging to the company. The Operating profit subtracts those elements from the Gross profit. The Net profit also factors in taxes and interest, which are also company costs that can apply against revenues. Naturally, the Net profit will result in the smallest number. Gross profit is also sometimes referred to as EBITDA, which is Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization.

What is stock based compensation? Stock based compensation is exactly what it sounds like: a way to compensate employees using stock. It’s used in the form of purchasing options that employees may exercise, usually after a few years.

What are systematic and unsystematic risk? Take a risk on this video and hit play.

What is the Acid Test Ratio/Quick Ratio? The Acid Test Ratio is used to determine if a company can cover their liabilities in the short-term. It only uses liquid assets in its calculation because of the short-term nature. To find the acid test, or quick ratio, all current assets are divided by current liabilities.

What are Return on Equity and Return on Assets? Return on equity is a percentage that is found by dividing net income by shareholder’s equity. It can be used to determine growth and financial health, but differs greatly among sectors, so only similar companies should be compared using ROE. Return on assets divides net income by total assets; this tells investors how profitable a company is given what they have.

A wrap account is an account that wraps into one annual fee all of the services you'd normally pay for a la carte at a given brokerage.

An omnibus account is an investment account in which a collection of investors have invested their capital to own a pro rata share of that cooperative investment. Either that, or it’s a lot of buses.

What is a balance sheet? A balance sheet is a financial document that public corporations are required to use. It shows their assets and liabilities (what they have and what they owe). It also includes shareholder’s equity, or how much is invested in the company, and this number combined with liabilities should be equal to assets (balanced).

What are Debt Service and Debt Service Ratio? Debt service is the amount of funds needed by a borrower to successfully cover interest and principal payments over a specified time period. The debt service ratio is a calculation of net operating income divided by total debt service. The quotient of the calculation gives the Debt Service Ratio and the difference of the service numbers from the income indicate if the borrower can handle additional debt if needed.

What is an Accumulated Dividend? Accumulated dividends are dividends paid on cumulative preferred stock. They are referred to as accumulated because they are a combination of previous and current dividends, none of which have been paid to the shareholder yet.

What is Earnings Per Share (EPS)? Earnings Per Share is a metric by which to measure the profitability of a public company as a result of how much profit per common share was generated, after accounting for any dividends and both the weighted average of common shares as well as diluted shares when including warrants, stock options, restricted shares, and possible debt to equity common shares via convertible bonds or preferred shares.