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Power of attorney refers to the authorization to conduct business on legal and financial matters on behalf of another party. So...choose wisely.

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....

What's a yankee bond, and does it stick a feather in its cap and call it macaroni?

What is a Country Basket (Index Fund)? Investing internationally can be a challenge, as foreign exchange, different accounting rules, time zones an...

Market manipulation is manipulation of the, uh... market. Like...illegally. Yeah, any sort of "scheme" is probably something you want to avoid.

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'...

What are Angel Investors and Seed Funds? Angel investors provide the funds for small start-ups. They are usually family and friends (not institutio...

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

How are risk and reward related? Take more risk, expect more reward. A lottery ticket might be worth a billion dollars, but if the odds are one in...

What is Counterparty Risk? Counterparty risk is the risk to either party within a transaction that the other will not or be unable to abide by the...

What is the Dow Jones Industrial Average? The Dow Jones Industrial Average is usually just called the Dow. It’s an average of 30 of the most well...

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...

The Wilshire 5000 is an index fund, which is kind of a bummer...it sounded like a cool financial robot.

What are securities? Using the word securities is just a fancy way to say investments, for the most part. These particular investments include stoc...

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

Are monopolies evil? Should they be regulated? Should they be illegal? Monopolies in and of themselves, are neither good nor evil. How they conduct...

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 are the differences in S&P’s and Moody’s ratings? Both S&P and Moody’s give ratings that help investors determine if they are making sma...

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

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...

What is a partnership? A partnership is an arrangement where two or more parties agree to form a business in cooperation with each other. Partnerships can be created between individuals, corporations, institutions, or even governments. In most but not all cases, some kind of partnership agreement is signed that outlines the parameters and obligations of each partner. Profits and liabilities are allocated in accordance with the agreement, as not all partners are automatically equal ones. The details of each partnership is unique to the enterprise in question.

Who is Warren Buffett, and how do we get him to give us a loan...?

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 necklace.

A REIT is a mini-mutual fund for real estate investments. Aw. Sounds cute.

What is the Black Scholes Model? The Black Scholes Model is used to determine the price of call options. It looks at the change in stock price over time also using time value of money as well as the strike price and expiration date for the option.

What is a registration statement? A registration statement is the set of documents that accompany a filing of securities with the SEC for sale in the public markets. There are various types of registration statements that bear different designations. For example, the S-1 statement pertains to shares being registered in an IPO. A Form 10 registration statement requires the filing company to regularly file 10-Q quarterly and 10-K annual financial reports as per the regulations for fully reporting companies.

What is the Relative Strength Index? The Relative Strength Index is a technical analysis indicator that measures trading direction trends over the course of 14 trading sessions (on average) and calculates the degree of up and down percentages to determine whether or not the asset in question may be indicating an overbought or oversold signal.

What is a basis point? Basis points are how changes in financial securities are described. “The stock dropped 100 points” actually means that the stock price decreased by 1%. One basis point corresponds with 1/100th of 1%; as the point system has to describe changes, it makes sense that this figure would be so small, because changes are typically not that drastic, but need to be described. For example, saying a stock price changed .01% is a little confusing to grasp, but 100 points is not, assuming the lingo is understood.

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's the SEC? Easy. Seals Eating Candy. Or maybe Silly Elephants Canoodling? We can never remember. Guess it's time to watch this video and refresh our memories.

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

What is mark to market? Is it when Mark Zuckerberg writes the stock market a letter, thanking it for being a friend?

What is Accrual Accounting? Accrual accounting is used to determine how well a company is doing by looking at the present and the future. It takes into account purchases that are made and debts that are owed as soon as the transaction is made, rather than when the money is received or paid.

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.

Unearned income is more than just the lunch money you stole on the playground. Hit play to find out more about unearned and earned income. And maybe send some apology notes to your elementary school classmates while you're at it...

What is Accrued Interest? Most bonds pay interest on a fixed calendar schedule, which can be quarterly, bi-annually, or annually. The interest earned accrues from zero after each payment, until the next payment date. However, since they are tradeable, bonds that change hands in a transaction have earned a certain number of calendar days’ worth of interest for the prior owner before the date of the trade. As such, the new buyer of the bond must pay accrued interest, or the accumulated interest earned during that period, on top of the sale price of the bond.

What is a cost-benefit analysis? Prudent management of a company will often deploy cost-benefit analysis to quantify the degree of finances, resources, and man hours may go into a new project or initiative and whether or not the projected benefits, profits and advantages will be worth the costs of the launch.