Wooden Investments
NoonTime Knowledge
NoonTime Knowledge (NTK):
Nov. 30th- A Stock Buyback is a corporation's repurchase of stock or bonds it has issued.
Nov. 29th- An Effective Tax Rate is the actual income tax paid divided by net taxable income before taxes, expressed as a percentage.
Nov. 28th- A Special Dividend is a nonrecurring dividend that is exceptional in terms of either size or date issued.
Nov. 27th- Shares Outstanding are the shares of a corporation's stock that have been issued and are in the hands of the public.
Nov. 26th- ROI (Return on Investment) measures how effectively the firm uses its capital to generate profit; the higher the ROI, the better.
Nov. 21st- A Proxy Statement is a document which the SEC requires a company to send to its shareholders that provides material facts concerning matters on which the shareholders will vote.
Nov. 20th- The CBOE (Chicago Board Options Exchange) is an exchange where stock options, equity LEAPS, index options, and interest rate options are traded.
Nov. 19th- A Blue Chip is stock of a large, national company with a solid record of stable earnings and/or dividend growth and a reputation for high quality management and/or products.
Nov. 16th- Amortization is the gradual elimination of a liability, such as a mortgage, in regular payments over a specified period of time.
Nov. 15th- An Inherited IRA is an IRA that becomes the property of someone other than the spouse of the deceased owner of the IRA.
Nov. 14th- A Spousal IRA is a traditional IRA or Roth IRA set up by a married person in the name of his/her spouse who has little or no compensation.
Nov. 13th- An Exclusion Ratio is the amount of an annuity payment that is not subject to income tax when received, since it is considered to be the return of the original principal.
Nov. 12th- ERISA is the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and it is a federal law which established guidelines for private pension plan administration and investment practices.
Nov. 9th- A Defined Benefit Plan is a company retirement plan in which a retired employee receives a specific amount based on salary history and years of service.
Nov. 8th- A Portfolio Manager is an individual who controls the assets of a mutual fund.
Nov. 7th- Annuitize means to begin to receive payments from an annuity.
Nov. 6th- A Pension is a program that provides post-retirement benefits that an employee might receive from some employers. It will pay a percentage of their earned salary during the employee's working years.
Nov. 5th- Arbitrage is the act of attempting to profit by exploiting price differences of identical or similar financial instruments, on different markets or in different forms.
Nov. 2nd- A Hedge is an investment made in order to reduce the risk of adverse price movements in a security, by taking an offsetting position in a related security, such as an option or a short sale.
Nov. 1st- A Forward P/E is a price/earnings ratio using earnings estimates for the next four quarters.
Oct. 31st- A Fortune 500 company is one of the 500 largest industrial corporations in the U.S. published by Fortune Magazine.
Oct. 30th- Office Closed
Oct. 29th- Office Closed
Oct. 26th- A Cyclical Stock is the stock of a company which is sensitive to business cycles and whose performance is strongly tied to the overall economy.
Oct. 25th- The Price to Book Ratio is a stock's capitalization divided by its book value and it is a way to measure the value in a holding.
Oct. 24th- A Target Retirement Fund is a mutual fund comprised of a portfolio of mutual funds which are allocated between conservative investments and more aggressive investments according to the financial life cycle of the investor.
Oct. 23rd- A Security is an investment instrument issued by a corporation, government, or other organization which offers evidence of debt or equity.
Oct. 22nd- A Prospectus is a legal document offering securities or mutual funds for sale.
Oct. 19th- NAV is the Net Asset Value and it is the dollar value of a single mutual fund share.
Oct. 18th- A Long Position is the state of actually owning a security, contract, or commodity.
Oct. 17th- A Load is a sales charge added to the purchase and/or sale price of some mutual funds and annuities.
Oct. 16th- A Spousal IRA is a traditional IRA or Roth IRA set up by a married person in the name of his/her spouse who has little or no compensation.
Oct. 15th- An IRA Rollover is a tax-free reinvestment of a distribution from a qualified retirement plan into an IRA or other qualified plan within a specific time frame, usually 60 days.
Oct. 12th- Passive Investing is an approach that involves buying and holding securities for long periods of time.
Oct. 11th- Active Investing is a strategy for generating profit from investments that involves continuous buying and selling as part of managing a portfolio and constantly monitoring the investments within the portfolio.
Oct. 10th- The Rule of 72 is the estimation of how long it will take for your investment to double. Divide 72 by your estimated annual rate of return and the answer is the estimated number of years it will take for your investment to double.
Oct. 9th- The Hang Seng Index is the major indicator of stock market performance in Hong Kong.
Oct. 8th- Political Risk is the risk of nationalization or other unfavorable government action.
Oct. 5th- Inflation Risk is the chance that the value of assets or of income will be eroded as inflation shrinks the value of a country's currency.
Oct. 4th- Compound Interest is an interest calculation that is based on the principal plus the accumulated interest.
Oct. 3rd- Simple Interest is an interest calculation based only on the original principal amount.
Oct. 2nd- Ticker Tape is a device that relays the stock symbol and the latest price and volume on securities as they are traded to investors around the world.
Oct. 1st- A Wash Sale is a purchase and sale of a security either simultaneously or within a short period of time.
Sept. 28th- Appreciation is the increase in the value of an asset such as a stock, bond, commodity or real estate.
Sept. 27th- Side-By-Side Trading is the act of trading a security as well as an option of the same security. There is a possibility of price manipulation with this scenario and therefore the SEC doe not condone this act.
Sept. 26th- Pegging is holding prices or exchange rates fixed over some time period.
Sept. 25th- Over-The-Counter (OTC) is a security which is not traded on an exchange, usually due to inability to meet listing requirements.
Sept. 24th- Capital Gains Tax is a tax assessed on profits realized from the sale of a capital asset, such as stock.
Sept. 21st- The Opening Bell is the beginning of a trading session on an exchange.
Sept. 20th- An Offshore Investment is any investment housed in a country other than the investor's country of residence.
Sept. 19th- A Block Trade is a large amount of securities being traded, typically at least 10,000 shares of stock or $200,000 in bonds.
Sept. 18th- Market Timing is attempting to predict future market directions, usually by examining recent price and volume data or economic data, and investing based on those predictions.
Sept. 17th- Algorithmic Trading is a form of automated trading in which computers execute trade orders based on a series of parameters, such as time, price and volume.
Sept. 14th- A Lockup Period is an interval which an investment may not be sold. In the case of an IPO, employees may not sell their shares for a period determined by the underwriter, usually 180 days.
Sept. 13th- A Straddle is a trading strategy utilizing both call and put options with the same exercise price and expiry date.
Sept. 12th- The Sharpe Ratio is a measure of risk-adjusted performance devised by William Sharpe. It is used to assess whether the returns on a portfolio are a result of good investments or from getting lucky with large amounts of risk.
Sept. 11th- R-Squared is a statistical value representing the percentage of the movement in the price of an asset which can be explained by the movements of an underlying index. The value can range from 0-100.
Sept. 10th- Proprietary Trading is a high-risk form of trading where instead of acting on client orders and receiving commission payments, the trader assumes his own portfolio with the capital of the firm.
Sept. 7th- An Oligopoly is when a small number of businesses (usually less than 10) control the vast majority of the market with a large number of very small competitors operating on the fringe.
Sept. 6th- Margin is a concept frequently explored in investing/trading and it refers to borrowed money which is used to invest.
Sept. 5th- London Interbank Offer Rate (LIBOR) is the official rate of interest at which banks can borrow from each other in the UK interbank market. Libor is frequently used as the benchmark for determining short-term interest rates in the UK.
Sept. 4th- A Fund of Funds is any form of fund which invests in other funds as a means of diversification.
Aug. 31st- The Federal Reserve is the central bank of the United States of America.
Aug. 30th- Deferred Income Tax is an accounting term which refers to any income which has been earned and accounted for, but has not yet had any tax paid on it.
Aug. 29th- A Basis Point is a unit of measure that is equal to 0.01 percentage points; therefore, there are 100 basis points in 1%.
Aug. 28th- An Angel Investor is an investor who provides financing for small companies or entrepreneurs, typically or more favorable terms than could otherwise be obtained.
Aug. 27th- A Fixed Annuity is an annuity in which payments to the annuitant are unchanging over a period or over the annuitant's lifetime.
Aug. 24th- An Equity Indexed Annuity is an insurance product.
Aug. 23rd- An Endowment is a permanent gift of money or property to a specified institution for a specified purpose.
Aug. 22nd- A Bull Market is a prolonged period in which investment prices rise faster than their historical average.
Aug. 21st- The 30-day Wash Rule is an IRA rule forbidding a taxpayer from claiming a loss on the sale of an investment if that same investment was purchased within 30 days before or after the sale date.
Aug. 20th- A Stretch IRA is an Individual Retirement Account strategy designed to prolong or stretch the period of time over which earnings can be tax deferred.
Aug. 17th- A Defined Benefit Plan is a company retirement plan, such as a pension plan, in which a retired employee receives a specific amount based on salary history and years of service, and in which the employer bears the investment risk.
Aug. 16th- The Accumulation Period is the years of an individual's working life when he/she is making regular contributions to a deferred annuity or retirement plan.
Aug. 15th- In Options Trading, investors are given the choice to buy or sell the security at a specific price by a specific time, but they are not required to do so.
Aug. 14th- Market Capitalization Rate is the rate of return expected to be realized from a security.
Aug. 13th- A Long Position is the state of actually owning a security, contract, or commodity.
Aug. 10th- A Liquid Investment is an investment that one has immediate access to, either the ability to buy or sell the investment or the ability to access and withdraw funds.
Aug. 9th- Dividend Adjusted Return is the actual pre-tax return generated from a stock accounting for both the appreciation in the share value and the dividend income received by the investor.
Aug. 8th- A Cyclical Stock is the stock of a company which is sensitive to business cycles and whose performance is strongly tied to the overall economy.
Aug. 7th- A Convertible Bond is a corporate bond that can be exchanged, at the option of the holder, for a specific number of shares of the company's preferred stock or common stock.
Aug. 6th- Callable Stock is stock which the issuing corporation retains the right to buy back on demand at a specified price.
Aug. 3rd- Book Value Per Share is the book value of a company divided by the number of shares outstanding.
Aug. 2nd- Beta is a quantitative measure of the volatility of a given stock, mutual fund, or portfolio, relative to the overall market.
Aug. 1st- AMEX is the American Stock Exchange. It is the second-largest exchange in the U.S., after the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
July 31st- Alpha is a coefficient which measures risk-adjusted performance, factoring in the risk to the specific security, rather than the overall market.
July 30th- A 200-Day Moving Average is an indicator used by traders to determine a stock's closing average over a period of 200 consecutive days.
July 27th- A Wrap Fee is a charge for an investment program that bundles together a suite of services, such as brokerage, advisory, research and management.
July 26th- A Broker is an individual or firm which acts as an intermediary between a buyer and seller.
July 25th- Benchmark Risk is a collective measure of the various risks related to the potential for the returns of a mutual fund, or other asset, to differ significantly from the returns of the benchmark against which it is measured.
July 24th- An Accrued Dividend is a regular dividend that is considered to be earned but not declared or payable.
July 23rd- Flipping is a term to describe the practice of buying initial public offerings at the offering price and then reselling them once trading has began.
July 20th- Chapter 7 Bankruptcy is a type of bankruptcy where a person's or company's assets are required to be liquidated.
July 19th- Chapter 11 Bankruptcy is the process of reorganization of a bankrupt company under the supervision of a court or the appropriate regulator.
July 18th- Volatility is a characteristic of a security, commodity, or market to rise or fall sharply in price within a short-term period.
July 17th- Standard Deviation is a statistical measure of the degree to which an individual value in a probability distribution tends to vary from the mean of the distribution.
July 16th- A Savings and Loan Association is a depository financial institution, federally or state chartered, that obtains the bulk of its deposits from consumers and holds the majority of its assets as home mortgage loans.
July 13th- Liquidity Risk is the possibility that an investor will not be able to buy or sell a commodity or security quickly enough or in sufficient quantities because buying or selling opportunities are limited.
July 12th- A Repurchase Agreement (REPO) is an agreement between a seller and a buyer, usually of U.S. Government securities, whereby the seller agrees to repurchase the securities at an agreed upon price and, usually, at a stated time.
July 11th- Reinvestment Risk is the risk that rates will fall causing cash flows from an investment (dividends or interest), assuming reinvestment, to earn less than the original investment.
July 10th- A Recession is a downturn in economic activity, defined by many economists as at least two consecutive quarters of decline in a country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
July 9th- A Quoted Price is the price at which the last sale and purchase of a particular security or commodity took place.
July 6th- The Prime Rate is the rate that banks use in pricing commercial loans to their best and most creditworthy customers.
July 5th- The Payout Ratio is the percentage of a firm's profits that is paid out to shareholders in the form of dividends.
July 3rd- A Mutual Fund is a fund operated by an investment company that raises money from shareholders and invests in stocks, bonds, options, futures, currencies, or money market securities.
July 2nd- Par is a term to describe a price that is equal to the nominal or face value of a security.
June 29th- A Leveraged Buyout (LBO) is the takeover of a company, using borrowed funds.
June 28th- An Investment is the use of capital to create more money, either through income-producing vehicles or through more risk-oriented ventures designed to result in capital gains.
June 27th- A Custodian is a bank or financial institution that keeps custody of stock certificates and other assets of a mutual fund, individual or corporate client.
June 26th- A Derivative is a contract whose value is based on the performance of an underlying financial asset, index, or other investment.
June 25th- Flight to Quality is the process of moving capital to the safest possible investment to protect oneself from loss during an unsettling period in the market.
June 22nd- Interest Rate Risk is the risk that changes in interest rates will adversly affect the value of an investor's securities portfolio.
June 21st- A Junk Bond is a bond with a credit rating of BB or lower by rating agencies.
June 20th- Fallen Angels is a term to describe bonds that were investment grade at the time they were issued but have since declined in quality to below investment grade.
June 19th- Fair Market Value is the price at which an asset or service passes from a willing seller to a willing buyer.
June 18th- Acquisition is the process of one company taking over controlling interest in another company.
June 15th- Arbitrage is profiting from differences in price when the same security, currency, or commodity is traded on two or more markets.
June 14th- Yield to Maturity (YTM) is a concept used to determine the rate of return an investor will receive if a long-term, interest-bearing investment, such as a bond, is held to its maturity date.
June 13th- A Ticker Symbol is letters that identify a security for trading purposes on the consolidated tape.
June 12th- Vesting is the process by which employees accrue non-forfeitable rights over employer contributions that are made to the employee's qualified retirement plan account.
June 11th- A Bull is an investor who believes that a particular security or market is heading upward.
June 8th- A bear is an investor who believes that a particular security or market is headed downward.
June 7th- A Progressive Tax is an income tax system in which those with higher incomes pay taxes at higher rates than those with lower incomes.
June 6th- A Regressive Tax is a system of taxation in which tax rates decline as the tax base rises.
June 5th- Prime Rate is the rate that banks use in pricing commercial loans to their best and most creditworthy customers.
June 4th- The Primary Market is the market for new issues of securities.
June 1st: Opportunity Cost is the cost of forgoing a safe return on an investment in hopes of making a larger profit.
May 31st: Net Profit Margin is net income as a percentage of net sales and is a measure of operating efficiency and pricing strategy.
May 30th: A Limited Partnership is an organization made up of a general partner, who manages a project, and limited partners, who invest money but have limited liability.
May 29th: Dividend Payout Ratio is the percentage of earnings paid to shareholders in cash.
May 25th: Discretionary Income is the amount of consumer's income spent after essentials like food, housing, and utilities and prior commitments have been covered.
May 24th: Deflation is the decline in the prices of goods and services.
May 23rd: A Current Liability is debt or other obligation that is coming due within a year.
May 22nd: Cost Basis is the original price of an asset, used in determining capital gains.
May 21st: An annuitant is the individual receiving benefits from an annuity.
May 18th- Common Stock is units of ownership of a public corporation.
May 17th- An individual 401(k) plan is set up for an individual running a sole proprietorship or a small business with a spouse/immediate family member and shares the same benefits of a typical company sponsored 401(k).
May 16th- An annuity is a financial product that is designed to accept and grow funds from an individual and then, upon annuitization, pay out a stream of payments to the individual at a later point in time.
May 15th- Depreciation is a method of allocating the cost of tangible assets over its useful life.
May 14th- A tangible asset is an asset that has a physical form.
May 11th: Net Income is an individual's total personal income after taking taxes and deductions from gross income.
May 10th: Gross Income is an individual's total personal income before taking taxes or deductions into account.
May 9th: A Rollover IRA is a traditional IRA that is established for the prupose of receiving rollover assets from an employer-sponsored retirement plan.
May 8th: A SIMPLE IRA is available for employers with 100 or fewer eligible employees.
May 7th: The NASDAQ Stock Market was founded in 1971.
May 4th- A stock split increases the number of shares in a public company and the price will be adjusted to reflect the additional shares without influencing the market capitalization.
May 3rd- The Dow Jones Industrial Average index was founded in 1896.
May 2nd- IPO = Initial Public Offering
May 1st- A Mutual Fund is an investment vehicle that is made up of a pool of funds collected from numerous investors and is invested in stocks, bonds, money market funds, etc.
April 30th- Liquidity involves the degree to which an asset or security can be converted to cash without affecting the asset's price.
April 27th- Net worth is the difference between what an individual owns and what an individual owes.
April 26th- A 529 plan is one type of investment account which will allow you to save for college.
April 25th- A hedge fund is a private investment pool that is not required to register with the SEC.
April 24th- EPS (Earnings per Share) can be calculated by subtracting dividends on preferred stock by net income and dividing that number by average outstanding shares.
April 23rd- The Russell 2000 Index measures the performance of 2,000 small and mid-cap companies.
April 20th- A Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) is a security that invests in real estate directly, either through properties or mortgages.
April 19th- Stagflation is a prolonged period with a high rate of inflation as well as a high rate of unemployment.
April 18th- Dollar Cost Averaging is a method of investing which involves investing a fixed-dollar amount at regular intervals.
April 17th- The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) was founded in 1972.
April 16th- TIPS = Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, which means the principle value of the securities is inflation adjusted based on the Consumer Price Index.
April 13th- There are two ways for a company to finance; debt financing and equity financing.
April 12th- Most stock trading is done in the secondary market (investor to investor trading).
April 11th- Penny Stocks are considered to be any stock trading less than $5 per share.
April 10th- In a Traditional IRA, any earnings accumulate on a tax deferred basis and taxes are paid only when earnings and deductible contributions are withdrawn.
April 9th- In a Roth IRA, earnings accumulate tax free.
April 5th- A Rollover IRA is a traditional IRA that is established for the purpose of receiving rollover assets from an employer-sponsored retirement plan.
April 4th- The maximum contribution for a SIMPLE-IRA in 2011 is the lesser of 100% of compensation or $11,500.
April 3rd- The maximum contribution for a SEP-IRA in 2011 is the lesser of 25% of total compensation or $49,000.
April 2nd- Cash dividends are taxable in the year in which they are received.
Mar. 30th- REIT stands for Real Estate Investment Trust.
Mar. 29th- Traditional Asset Classes = stocks, bonds and cash.
Mar. 28th- SEP = Simplified Employee Pension (A type of company retirement plan).
Mar. 27th- An investor cannot invest directly in an index.
Mar. 26th- ETF stands for Exchange Traded Funds.
Mar. 23rd- Small Cap Stock = $300 million-$2 Billion.
Mar. 22nd- Mid Cap Stock = $2-$10 Billion.
Mar. 21st- Large Cap Stock = $10 Billion or more.
Mar. 20th- The Rule of 72: simply 72/interest rate (whole number) is time needed for a lump sum to double at a given compounding rate
Mar. 19th- Penalty free withdrawals (not tax free!) from qualified retirement accounts begin at age 59.5.
Mar. 16th- Mutual fund prices do not adjust until after the close of the markets at 4:00 p.m. daily.
Mar. 15th- A dividend is nothing more than a distribution of profits to shareholders.
Mar. 14th- The New York Stock Exchange opens at 9:30 a.m. and closes at 4:00 p.m., Monday-Friday, excluding holidays.
Mar. 13th- The 2012 401k contribution limit is $17,000 (For individuals age 50 or over the additional catch-up contribution is $5,500).
Mar. 12th- Required Minimum Distributions for qualified retirement accounts (i.e. Traditional IRA, 401k, 403b, etc.) must begin by April 1st following the year an individual turns 70 1/2 (excluding certain exceptions).
Mar. 9th- Dividend Yield is calculated by dividing the annual dividend by current stock price.
Mar. 8th- Market Capitalization (Cap) of a company = number of outstanding shares multiplied by current stock price.
Mar. 7th- The price movement of bonds is inversely related to the movement of interest rates (i.e. if interest rates go up, bond prices will fall and vice versa).
Mar. 6th- Roth IRA contributions are made with after-tax dollars and do not help reduce your tax bill today.
Mar. 5th- The S&P 500, as we know it today, was introduced in 1957 (source: standardandpoors.com).
Mar. 2nd- P/E Ratio: An often quoted ratio for stock value. It is price/earnings. The lower the better.
Mar. 1st- Series EE Bonds issued from November 2011 through April 2012 will earn a fixed rate of 0.60% (source: treasurydirect.gov).
Feb. 29th- 2012 Traditional or Roth IRA contribution limit is $5,000 (catch-up contribution of $1,000 for those individuals age 50 or older).
Feb. 28th- The Dow Jones Industrial Average is comprised of 30 stocks
Feb. 27th- You have until April 17, 2012 to make a Traditional or Roth IRA contribution for 2011.