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401(k)
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A 401(k) is an employer established plan, where employees make contributions, either pre or post tax, from their salary. Employers can make matching contributions. Earnings on this plan are tax-deferred. There are yearly limits on contributions.
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403(b)
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A 403(b) plan is like a 401(k), except it is used for employees of public schools, tax-exempt organizations, and sometimes churches. Employees make contributions, either pre or post tax, from their salary. Employers can make matching contributions. Earnings on this plan are also tax-deferred. There are yearly limits on contributions.
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52-Week High
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Highest price at which the security traded for the last year, including the date of the high.
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52-Week Low
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Lowest price at which the security traded for the last year, including the date of the low.
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ACH
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ACH, or Automated Clearing House, is a nationwide system that processes large amounts of electronic transactions. ACH is the best way to transfer funds to and from your SogoTrade account, since it only takes 2 to 3 business days, and is completely free.
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Account Activity
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The Account Activity section lists all your stock trades and your account funding activities, including deposits and withdrawals, as well as any stock or fund transfers. You can sort by time range, as well as the type of activity. The Account Activity section can be accessed from the main Account Overview menu.
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Account Minimum
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With a regular brokerage account, you would need a minimum dollar amount to open and maintain an account.
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Account Summary
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The Account Summary lists the most important details about your account, such as account type, cash balance, how much money is available for buying stock, and so forth. It is located on top of the main Account Overview menu.
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Affiliation
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If you are employed by a broker/dealer, you may be required to disclose any accounts you open with another broker/dealer.
If employed by FINRA member:
We need to notify your employer that you opened an account with us, and if the employer requests it, we must send them duplicate copies of all confirmations and statements.
If employed by NYSE member:
We need to obtain written approval from your employer prior to account opening, and must send them copies of all confirmations and statements.
If employed by MSRB member:
We need to notify your employer that you opened an account with us, and must send them copies of all confirmations and statements.
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Age of Majority
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The age when a person acquires all the rights and responsibilities of being an adult. In most states, the age is 18.
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AMEX
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The American Stock Exchange, or AMEX, is the third largest exchange in the US. Prior to NASDAQ�s emergence, it was the second biggest exchange. Currently, the stocks traded on the AMEX are primarily small-cap, or lower market capitalization when compared to larger companies.
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Analyst
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An analyst is the person responsible for analyzing a company�s financial performance, based on different criteria such as fundamental analysis, earnings reports, and so forth. The analyst also issues recommendations on the stock, such as "buy" "hold" and "sell"
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Annual Percentage
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Annual percentage, otherwise known as expense ratio, is a certain percentage of the total combined mutual fund assets that are used to pay for the overhead and associated expenses of the fund. This lowers the annual return that a fund achieves. If the annual return is 8%, and expense ratio is 2%, the real return is 6%.
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Annualized Return
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Annualized Return is the total yearly return. For example, if each month a portfolio returns an average of 2%, the annualized return would be 24% (2% x 12 months).
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Ask
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The price at which a seller of a security is willing to sell a stock. This is sometimes called the "offer"
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Asset
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An asset is anything owned by an individual or a company that has value. A house, car, stock portfolio, or coin collection are all assets.
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With a SogoTrade Automatic Investment Plan, you can set up automatic investments, at regular time periods, with a set amount of money, to buy any stocks or ETFs. Automatic plans can execute on any trading day, and are set up on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. Check out the "Investment With SogoTrade" Education section for more details on Automatic Investment Plans.
Funds necessary to purchase stock through scheduled investment trades must be available in your account by 1:00 PM the trading day prior to the scheduled investment day. If funds are not available by this time, your scheduled investment trade will not execute. SogoTrade offers many convenient funding options to meet this cutoff time including one-time and recurring ACH electronic transfers, check deposits, and wire transfers.
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Backup Withholding
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An IRS procedure designed to ensure that a taxpayer who does not have a Social Security number or tax identification number will still have taxes withheld on his/her income.
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Bear
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A bear market means that the economy is bad, stocks are dropping, and jobs are scarce. Investors who have a pessimistic outlook, and believe that stock prices will fall, are commonly called bearish investors, or bears.
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Beneficiary
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The Beneficiary is the person who will inherit the account in the event of the Account Holder�s death. With an ESA or Custodial Account, a Beneficiary is the person for whose benefit the account is opened.
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Bid
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The price at which a buyer of a security is willing to buy a stock.
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Blue Chips
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A stock that represents a financially strong company with a long track record of dividend payments and financial solvency. These are called "blue chips" because traditionally, blue chips were the most expensive chips in poker.
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Board of Directors
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The Board of Directors is a group of individuals elected by the shareholders of a public company. The Board determines corporate policy, such as management issues, major business decisions, payment of stock dividends, etc. Every publicly traded company is required to have a Board of Directors.
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Bonds
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A bond obligates the issuer, or the company who issued the bond, to pay the bondholder, or the person holding the bond, the original amount of the bond plus interest. Companies typically issue bonds to raise capital. A company will issue the bond, pay interest on the amount borrowed, and then redeem the bond by paying the bondholder the original amount that was borrowed.
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Brokerage
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A firm that acts as an intermediary between an investor and the stock market. The investor deposits funds, and then places trades through the brokerage. The brokerage holds the funds and the stock for the investor.
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Broker-Dealer
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A broker-dealer acts as a regular brokerage, but also participates in the markets itself. When acting as a broker, the firm executes trades for its clients. When acting as a dealer, the firm also executes trades for its own account.
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Bull
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The bull symbolizes supreme confidence, and healthy rising markets in good economic times. Investors who have an optimistic outlook, and believe that stocks will rise, are commonly called bullish investors, or bulls. This is great in a rising market, but when the economy turns south, it may be prudent to adopt a different strategy.
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Certificate of Deposit (CD)
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A bank certificate stating that a person has a given amount of money deposited with the bank for a certain period of time at a fixed interest rate.
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Commission
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A brokerage normally charges a set commission rate for trading. Charges can be per share traded, per trade, or any other combination.
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Compound Return
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Regular investments, no matter how small, can grow into a very sizable amount over the long term with compounding return. If you invest 1000, and make 10%, next year you will have $1100, and the year after the 10% return will be $110, so you will have $1210. This may seem small, but year over year, it makes a huge difference, since the interest you earn is reinvested, and generates its?own interest. Your money works for you.
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Contingent Beneficiary
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The Contingent Beneficiary (or Beneficiaries) will inherit the account in the event of the Primary Beneficiary�s death.
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Creditor
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Any entity that is owed money. If you have a mortgage, your bank is the creditor. Companies normally have creditors as well.
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Custodial Account
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An account opened and managed for the benefit of a minor by an adult. When the child reaches age 18 or 21, depending on state laws, he or she will gain control of the account.
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Day Order Expiration
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A day order will only be in effect on the day that the order is entered, and will expire at the market close, or 4:00 pm EST. You can enter day expiration with Limit Orders.
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Defer Taxes
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Tax deferment occurs when investment earnings accumulate without payment of taxes when investments are made. Instead, the taxes are paid when you start withdrawing the money. The main benefits of this are tax-free growth, since you have more to invest with if you don�t pay taxes immediately, and the fact that you could likely be in a lower tax bracket when you retire, therefore paying less taxes on your withdrawals.
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Dividend
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A portion of a company's profit paid to common and preferred shareholders, per share. Dividends are usually paid out on a quarterly basis.
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Diversification
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Diversification means spreading your investment out across different investments; in other words, do not put all your eggs in one basket! That way, if one investment performs poorly, your entire portfolio will not be affected as dramatically. The exposure to a single investment is reduced, and the total overall risk of your portfolio decreases.
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Dollar Cost Averaging
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Dollar Cost Averaging works on the premise that buying the same dollar amounts of stocks on a regular basis evens out the fluctuations of an investment made over time. This takes the worry out of buying high and selling low, because the timing risk is reduced. All that you have to do is consistently invest the same dollar amounts on a regular basis. With index fund purchases, the investment will grow with the market.
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Dow-Jones
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The Dow Jones Industrial Average, or DJIA, represents the top 30 stocks on the New York Stock Exchange.
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Earnings
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Earnings are the net income, or profit after expenses, of a company during a specific period, usually quoted per quarter, or every three months.
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Earnings Per Share (EPS)
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A company's profit divided by the number of outstanding shares (click here for details).
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Education Savings Account (ESA)
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An Education Savings Account (ESA) is a trust that is set up to pay the educational expenses of the Designated Beneficiary (the beneficiary is the minor for whom the account is opened).
This account must be opened prior to the beneficiary�s reaching the age of 18, and no contributions can be made after the beneficiary turns 18. The total yearly contributions cannot exceed $2,000.
The money must be distributed if the beneficiary reaches age 30 (unless the beneficiary in question is classified as "special needs", or upon the beneficiary's death.
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Electronic Fund Transfer
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Electronic Fund Transfers are processed through ACH, or Automated Clearing House, which a nationwide system that processes large amounts of electronic transactions. ACH, or Automated Clearing House, is a nationwide system that processes large amounts of electronic transactions. ACH is the best way to transfer funds to and from your SogoTrade account, since it only takes 2 to 3 business days, and is completely free. The funds are moved directly from your checking or savings account.
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Equity
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Equity is another term used for stock. It can also refer to the total of assets minus total liabilities, here is called the shareholder´s equity
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Ex-Date
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The date on or after which a stock trades without a dividend being declared. On this date, the seller of a stock is entitled to the dividend, not the buyer, since the seller owned the stock when it still paid the dividend, and the buyer owns the stock without a previously declared dividend.
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Exchange
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Stocks are traded on exchanges, like the NYSE, AMEX and NASDAQ. There are two main types of exchanges, physical and virtual. The physical exchanges are the ones pictured in movies and on CNBC, where the crazy guys with the blue jackets wave about pieces of paper and yell out prices. The virtual exchanges are actually linked computer networks, and the entire trading process takes place electronically.
The reason stocks are traded on exchanges is that it is the best way to facilitate transactions. It would be fairly slow to place classified ads in your local paper to buy or sell stock. The exchanges act as intermediaries between the buyers and sellers. Typically, electronic exchanges are more efficient, which is why even the face-to-face exchanges normally have electronic transaction services.
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Exchange-Traded Funds (ETF)
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ETFs are securities that track an index, or follow the performance of a group of stocks. They trade just like regular stocks, charge minimal expenses (as opposed to mutual funds), and are therefore cheap and easy to buy and sell. Since they track a bunch of different stocks by following indexes like the NASDAQ 100 or the S&P 500, they are automatically diversified. You can actually buy hundreds of different stocks with every dollar invested.
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Expense Ratio
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The expense ratio, or overhead fee, is a certain percentage of the total combined mutual fund assets that are used to pay for the overhead and associated expenses of the fund, such as brokerage fees, taxes, interest expense, parking, cocktails, Broadway tickets, fruit salads, pencil sharpeners, gold cufflinks, printer ink, employee bonuses, shoe shines, airline tickets, well you get the idea.
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Fund Manager
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A portfolio manager or mutual fund/fund manager oversees the investments of the fund. The fund manager charges a fixed fee for managing the fund�s investments.
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There are no terms starting with the letter G.
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High
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Highest price at which a security traded at for the day.
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Historical Performance
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This simply means the past performance of any stock, market index, ETF, etc. Keep in mind that past performance does not guarantee future results.
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Inactivity Fees
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When you open a brokerage account, you are sometimes required to maintain a certain amount of activity, such as 1 trade a month and so forth. Otherwise, your account will be charged an "inactivity fee". SogoTrade will never charge any inactivity fees.
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Index
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Represents the relative value of a market by following a representative portfolio of stocks. For example, the NASDAQ-100 Index is the combination of the biggest 100 non-financial stocks in the NASDAQ market, and the S&P 500 represents 500 different stocks across all markets.
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Index Fund
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A portfolio of stocks that mirrors the performance of a regular index, like the NASDAQ-100 or the Dow Jones.
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Index-Tracking ETF
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An index-tracking ETF follows the performance of an index, like SPY for the S&P 500. Index-tracking ETFs trade just like regular stocks, but charge minimal expenses (as opposed to mutual funds), and are therefore cheap and easy to buy and sell. Since the index that is being tracked generally includes the largest and best-performing stocks, and the bad stocks are dropped periodically, you are always diversified, and are investing in the best that the market has to offer.
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Individual Account
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An Individual Account is an investment account that is opened for one person. You can open this type of account if you have reached the age of majority (usually age 18) in your state. The age of majority is when you are entitled to full legal rights as an adult.
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Individual Retirement Account (IRA)
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An Individual Retirement Account (IRA) is a personal retirement savings program that offers tax advantages to investors, allowing them to deposit a portion of their income into a tax-deferred brokerage account. Contributions may also be tax-deductible.
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Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)
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An Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) is a tax processing number issued by the Internal Revenue Service. It is a nine-digit number that always begins with the number 9 and has a 7 or 8 in the fourth digit, example 9XX-7X-XXXX.
IRS issues ITINs to individuals who are required to have a U.S. taxpayer identification number but who do not have, and are not eligible to obtain a Social Security Number (SSN) from the Social Security Administration (SSA).
ITINs are issued regardless of immigration status because both resident and nonresident aliens may have U.S. tax return and payment responsibilities under the Internal Revenue Code.
Individuals must have a filing requirement and file a valid federal income tax return to receive an ITIN, unless they meet an exception.
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Inflation
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Defines how fast the price of goods and services rises in relation to the purchasing power of money. The opposite of Inflation is Deflation, when money buys more than before. For example, if the yearly inflation rate is 3%, then items costing $2 now will cost $2.06 a year from now. In most countries, the yearly inflation rate is typically around 2-3%.
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Initial Public Offering (IPO)
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An IPO is when a company sells privately held shares to new investors and the general public for the first time. This is also known as "going public"
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Institutional Investor
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An Institutional Investor is any investor that operates with large amounts of capital, in the several hundred million range. Normally, this refers to banks and large funds.
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Investment Target
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Your financial goal, whether how long to invest, what your objective is, or both.
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Joint Account
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A Joint Account is an investment account that is opened for two or more people. You can open this type of account if both people have reached the age of majority (usually age 18) in their state of residence. The age of majority is when you are entitled to full legal rights as an adult.
Joint accounts with SogoTrade can be set up either as a Joint Tenants with Rights of Survivorship (JTWROS) or as Joint Tenants in Common (JTIC).
Joint Tenants with Rights of Survivorship is an account type where each account owner has an equal and undivided interest to the cash and securities in the account. Upon the death or declaration of incompetency of any account owner, account ownership passes to the other account owner. The estate of the incompetent or deceased account owner will have no claim on that account holder's assets in the JTWROS account. For example, if John and Mary open a JTWROS account, and John passes away, John's portion of the account assets passes to Mary, not to John's estate.
Joint Tenants in Common is an account type where each owner has a percentage interest in the account. Upon the death or declaration of incompetency of any account owner, the deceased or incompetent owner's percentage interest is retained by that owner's estate and is not passed to the surviving account owner. For example, if John and Mary open a JTIC account, and John passes away, John's portion of the account assets passes to John's estate, not to Mary.
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There are no terms starting with the letter K.
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Limit Order
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A limit order is an order to buy or sell a security at a specified price or better price.
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Liquidate
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To liquidate means to sell something in exchange for cash. In the stock market, this generally means selling your stock.
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Long-Term Investor
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Any investor that structures their investment strategy to achieve a long-term target. Typically, long-term SogoTrade investors utilize the strategies of dollar cost averaging, compound return, and diversification.
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Low
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Lowest price at which a security traded for the day.
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Management Fee
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The management fee is a fixed fee that a mutual fund manager would charge investors for managing a fund, for example a mutual fund.
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Market Capitalization (Market Cap)
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The total dollar value of all outstanding shares, or shares multiplied by market price.
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Market Index
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A market index is simply a combination of stocks selected to represent an entire market. For example, the NASDAQ-100 index represents the top 100 NASDAQ stocks, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, or DJIA, represents the top 30 stocks on the New York Stock Exchange.
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Market Maker
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A broker/dealer that acts as a facilitator in transactions in the NASDAQ market. A market maker will typically accept both buy and sell orders in a particular stock, thereby "making the market"
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Market News
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Market news can affect the price of a specific stock, a group of stocks, or the market itself. It can be anything from a interest rate hike to a CEO retirement.
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Market Order
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A market order is an order to buy or sell a security immediately at the current market price.
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Money-Market Funds
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A money-market fund typically invests in Treasury bills with one year returns, making it liquid and generally risk-free.
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Mutual Fund
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A mutual fund is a company that brings together money from many people and invests it in stocks, bonds or other assets. The combined holdings of stocks, bonds or other assets the fund owns are known as its portfolio. Each investor in the fund owns shares, which represent a part of these holdings. A portfolio manager or mutual fund manager oversees the investments of the fund. Mutual funds usually charge management fees and operating expenses.
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Mutual Fund Manager
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A portfolio manager, or mutual fund manager oversees the investments of the fund. Mutual funds usually charge management fees and operating expenses.
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NASDAQ
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The NASDAQ market is a virtual exchange, also known as an OTC (over the counter) market. There is no trading floor, no specialist, and no central location. Instead, all the trading takes place via a computerized network of dealers.
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NASDAQ 100
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The NASDAQ-100 is the combination of the biggest 100 non-financial stocks in the NASDAQ market.
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Net Income
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Net income is the bottom line. It is calculated by subtracting all operating costs from revenues, which results in net income, or simply put, profit after expenses.
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NYSE
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The NYSE, or the New York Stock Exchange, is a physical exchange, where the trading takes place face to face. Whenever you hear the term "listed exchange" it refers to the NYSE. Of course, computers do assist in the trading process.
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Option
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An option is the right, not an obligation to buy or sell a specified amount of stock, at a specified price, within a specified period of time.
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Open
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Opening price of the security, or the price it traded at when the market opened in the morning.
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Order Expiration
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Order expiration means how long your order stays out in the market before it is cancelled. This only applies to Real-time limit orders. Order expiration options range from "End of Day" to "Immediate or Cancel"
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OTC
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OTC stands for Over The Counter. This refers to any stock that is not traded on an exchange, generally because it does not meet listing requirements for those exchanges.
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OTCBB
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OTCBB stands for Over the Counter Bulletin Board. This market, also knows as the Pink Sheets, contains the companies that do not qualify for listing on any of the major markets. These are also known as penny stocks. This market has very little regulation, and because of that is very risky compared to the regular markets like NYSE or NASDAQ.
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Outstanding Shares
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All stock that is not held by the company, or public stock.
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P/E Ratio
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Current stock price divided by trailing annual earnings per share or expected annual earnings per share (click here for details).
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Penalties
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An early-withdrawal penalty of 10% applies to IRA accounts when withdrawals are made before the age of 59. Exceptions are the owner�s death or disability, back-taxes, first-time home purchases (where the limit is $10,000), medical expenses, and higher education expenses.
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Pinksheets
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Pinksheets is a daily publication that contains the quotes for any OTC security that does not trade on an exchange and is not required to file reports with the SEC. These are also known as penny stocks. This market has very little regulation, and because of that is very risky compared to the regular markets.
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Primary Beneficiary
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In the event of the Account Holder�s death, the Primary Beneficiary (or Beneficiaries) will inherit the account.
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Policy-Making Officer
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Any executive or employee of a company who is entrusted with making business and/or policy decisions in the name of the company.
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Portfolio
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A portfolio is a combination of all the stocks you own. If every stock you had were a music album, your portfolio would be your "record collection"
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Portfolio Manager
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A person who manages money for other people. This can be a private individual who manages a friend�s account, or a manager at a large fund.
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Positions
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Positions are simply the stocks you are holding, at the average price they were purchased. For example, if you buy 100 shares of MSFT at $24.00 and another 100 shares of MSFT at $26.00, your position would be 200 shares of MSFT at $25.00. You can access Positions from the main Account Overview menu.
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Primary Market
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There are in fact two markets, the primary and secondary market. The primary market is where stocks are issued, usually with an IPO, before the stock trades in the actual stock market, or the secondary market.
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Profit-Sharing
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An employer will sometimes give incentives to its employees in the form of profit sharing. This can be in the form of bonuses, stock options, etc.
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Profit Margin
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The profit margin is the percentage of revenues that is profit. It is calculated by taking the gross profit, and dividing by revenue for any period of time.
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Prospectus
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The prospectus is a legal document that contains details of a securities offering, such as general company information. This allows prospective investors to objectively evaluate the possible risks of a potential investment.
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Quarter
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One of four three-month intervals on a financial calendar that together comprise the financial year. Public companies must report certain data on a quaterly basis.
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Real-time Trades
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A trade that takes place in the market, in real time, that is not part of an investment plan.
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Resident Alien
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A term applied to all non-US citizens who reside legally in the United States.
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Return on Investment (ROI)
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ROI measures how profitable a company's investments are. This is usually defined in annual return.
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Revenue
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Revenue is the total amount that is earned, before taxes and expenses are subtracted.
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Risk Exposure
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Risk Exposure is how much you risk when you invest. If you were to invest everything in one stock, your risk exposure would be completely dependent on that stock. However, spreading your investment out over several stocks would lower the risk of loss due to one particular investment.
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Risk Tolerance
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Risk Tolerance determines how well an investor can handle declines in their portfolio.
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Rollover IRA
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A Rollover IRA is a holding account. If you transfer money or stock from a retirement plan such as a 401(k) or 403(b), the money or stock can stay in the Rollover IRA Account for a period of 60 days. After that, the funds need to be placed into another retirement plan. The account owner controls the Rollover IRA account during those 60 days. A rollover may not be done more than once a year.
Basically, when you transfer money or stock from one retirement plan to another, you park them in the Rollover IRA account for up to 60 days.
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Roth IRA
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A Roth IRA is a like a Traditional IRA, except that you pay taxes on the money you put in, while withdrawals are tax-free. Participants up to age 70 may currently contribute up to $3,000 annually ($3,500 if over age 50).
If you think you will be in a higher tax bracket when you retire, a Roth IRA may be a better retirement solution. A Roth IRA also allows your investment to grow tax-free.
After a period of 5 years from account opening, withdrawals will not be taxed, provided that the account owner has turned 59?or the withdrawal is used for a first-time home purchase (up to a limit of $10,000). Withdrawing early carries a 10% penalty.
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S&P 500
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The S&P 500 is an index that includes 500 stocks, representing numerous industries. It is the leading indicator of the US financial market. Each stock�s value in the index is determined by its market value, so each company is reflected accurately, by size. The S&P 500 is considered by many to be the best representation of the markets. It is very difficult to buy all 500 stocks in the index, but very easy to buy the ETF that is based on this index (in this case the ETF is SPY, or Spiders).
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Secondary Market
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The secondary market is the actual stock market. Here, the stocks are traded between parties independent of the issuing companies. Once the stock has been issued in the secondary market, the company cannot control the trading of the stock. The NYSE, NASDAQ, and Amex are all secondary markets.
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Sector
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A sector is a group of stocks that represent the same industry, like medicine or gold mining.
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Sector Fund
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A fund that invests in a specific sector, such as technology or biotech.
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Security
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A security is another term for stock.
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Security and Exchange Commission (SEC)
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The SEC is the primary federal regulatory and enforcement body in the securities industry. The SEC creates and enforces securities regulations, and regulates all mutual funds and investment advisors.
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Senior Political Figure
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The term should be understood to include persons whose current or former (1 year after giving up any political function) position can attract publicity beyond the borders of the country concerned and whose financial circumstances may be the subject of additional public interest. In specific cases, local factors in the country concerned, such as the political and social environment, should be considered when deciding whether a person falls within the definition.
The following examples are intended to serve as aids to interpretation:
- Heads of state, government and cabinet ministers
- Influential functionaries in nationalized industries and
government administration
- Senior judges
- Senior party functionaries
- Senior and/or influential officials, functionaries and military
leaders and people with similar functions in international or
supranational organizations
- Members of ruling royal families
- Senior and/or influential representatives of religious
organizations (if these functions are connected with political,
judicial, military or administrative responsibilities)
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Shareholder
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A shareholder is anyone that owns a share of a company, whether an individual, bank, or any other entity.
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Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC)
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SogoTrade is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation, which provides up to $500,000 in account protection, out of which $100,000 is cash.
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Small-Cap Stocks
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Small-Cap stocks are companies that have a low market capitalization when compared to normal companies. Market Capitalization, or Market Cap, is just shares multiplied by stock price.
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Social Security Number
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In the United States, a Social Security number (SSN) is a number issued to citizens, permanent residents, and temporary (working) residents. The Social Security Administration of the government of the United States issues it to an individual.
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Specialist
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A member of the New York Stock Exchange, who controls the order flow in a specific stock in order to maintain a fair and orderly market. Every stock that trades on the NYSE has a specialist.
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Special Needs
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State law classifies "Special Needs" children and adults. This usually denotes an individual who has limited reasoning capacity, or is otherwise incapable of making his or her investment decisions independently, or for whatever reason may need further time to complete his is her higher education goal due to any type of disability.
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Statement
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Your statement will contain all of your account details, such as stock trades, cash balances, scheduled investment and funding plans, and any other type of account activity, for the month that the statement is issued. The statement is viewable online as soon as it is available.
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Stock Certificate
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The Stock Certificate is the actual piece of paper that represents a share, or ownership of a company. Normally, stock ownership is recorded electronically.
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Stock Chart
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A graph of the price movement of a stock during a certain time period. It can be combined with technical analysis for predictive purposes.
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Stock Index
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An instrument that tracks the performance of a group of stocks, for example the S&P 500.
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Stock Market
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The stock market is where stocks are traded, which can be either on an exchange, or over the counter (OTC).
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Stock Symbol
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Stock symbol or Ticker symbol is a shorthand code used to uniquely identify shares of a publicly traded corporation on a particular stock market. A stock symbol may either be comprised of letters, numbers or a combination of both. The majority of symbols are comprised of letters. For example, MSFT is Microsoft, C is Citigroup, and GOOG is Google.
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Street Name
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When stock is held in a broker�s name, or "street name" not in the customer�s name. This makes it easier to transfer the ownership of stock when it is bought or sold.
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Tax Bracket
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Your tax bracket is the rate you are taxed at, depending on your income. Usually, the higher your income, the higher taxes you pay, and therefore the bracket is also higher.
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Tax-Deductible
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This is the amount you subtract from your total income to reduce the total amount of taxable income. For example, if your yearly salary is $45,000 before taxes, and you invest $2,000 a year into a regular IRA, you would deduct that $2,000 from the $45,000, leaving you with $43,000 in taxable income.
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Tax Deferment
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Tax deferment occurs when investment earnings accumulate without payment of taxes when investments are made. Instead, the taxes are paid when you start withdrawing the money. The main benefits of this are tax-free growth, since you have more to invest with if you don�t pay taxes immediately, and the fact that you could likely be in a lower tax bracket when you retire, therefore paying less taxes on your withdrawals.
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Tax-Deferred Growth
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When contributing to a Traditional IRA, you do not pay any taxes on what you make until you start withdrawing money. This is known as tax-deferment. It makes sense, since chances are that when you retire, you will be in a lower tax bracket, and will therefore pay less in taxes on the earnings from your IRA account.
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Taxable Distributions
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When you start withdrawing funds from your tax-deferred retirement account, taxes must be paid on those withdrawals. Therefore, these distributions are known as "taxable distributions"
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Ticker Symbol
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Ticker symbol or Stock symbol is a shorthand code used to uniquely identify shares of a publicly traded corporation on a particular stock market. A stock symbol may either be comprised of letters, numbers or a combination of both. The majority of symbols are comprised of letters. For example, MSFT is Microsoft, C is Citigroup, and GOOG is Google.
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Time the Market
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Timing the market involves the attempt to predict and profit from future price movements in the market, based on any data such as expectations of positive news or technical analysis.
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Trade
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A trade is any transaction with any financial instrument, such as a stock, bond, option, etc.
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Trade Confirmation
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A written statement that provides details of security transaction. Trade confirmation include the security description, wheather buy or sell, the price, and the dollar amount of the transaction. Trade Confirmation are viewable online in the Order Status section.
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Trading Halt
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A temporary stoppage of trading in a particular security for a specific reason, such as pending news announcement or an order imbalance.
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Traditional IRA
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A Traditional IRA is a retirement account that allows you to defer taxes on your earnings until you start taking money out. The money you put in is tax deductible in the year you put it in. Participants up to age 70, may currently contribute up to $3,000 every year ($3,500 if over age 50).
By contributing to a Traditional IRA, you do not pay any taxes on what you make until you start withdrawing money (this is known as tax-deferment). It makes sense, since chances are that when you retire, you will be in a lower tax bracket, and will therefore pay less in taxes on the earnings from your IRA account.
Taxable distributions from a Traditional IRA can be made beginning at age 59 ?without paying penalties. Distributions must be started by April 1st of the year when the account holder reaches age 70. Withdrawing early carries a 10% penalty, as well as regular income tax.
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Trust
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A trust means that one individual, or the "trustee" oversees an account or property for the benefit of the "beneficiary" The beneficiary can be a minor, or someone unable to make his or her own investment decisions.
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US Citizen
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A person that was either born in the United States, or has been naturalized.
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Virtual Exchange
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Virtual exchanges are actually linked computer networks, and the entire trading process takes place electronically on those networks. An example of a virtual exchange is the NASDAQ market.
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Volume
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The amount of stock traded, usually quoted per day.
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Wire Transfer
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An electronic transfer of funds from one entity to another.
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There are no terms starting with the letter X.
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Yield
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Percentage rate of return paid on a stock in the form of dividends.
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There are no terms starting with the letter Z.
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