Month: February 2020

Welfare refers to a range of government programs that provide financial or other aid to individuals or groups who cannot support themselves. Welfare programs are typically funded by taxpayers and allow people to cope with financial stress during rough periods of their lives. In most cases, people who use welfare will receive a biweekly or monthly payment. The goals of welfare vary, as it looks to promote the pursuance of work, education or, in some instances, a better standard of living.

A domestic relations order (DRO) is a court order that gives a spouse or dependent the right to receive all or a portion of the benefits of an employee’s qualified retirement plan in the event of divorce. A DRO is usually sent to a plan administrator or employer for review, and if it meets certain laws, it will result in the plan benefits distributed between the parties involved. The parties involved are normally the employee and their spouse.

A balanced investment strategy is a way of combining investments in a portfolio that aims to balance risk and return. Typically, balanced portfolios are divided equally between stocks and bonds.

The odd lot theory is a technical analysis hypothesis based on the assumption that the small individual investor is usually wrong and that individual investors are more likely to generate odd-lot sales. Therefore, if odd lot sales are up and small investors are selling a stock, it is probably a good time to buy, and when odd-lot purchases are up, it may indicate a good time to sell.

JPY is the currency abbreviation or the currency symbol for the Japanese yen (JPY), the national currency for Japan and the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. The yen is made up of 100 sen or 1000 rin and is often presented with the symbol ¥. The Meiji government originally introduced the yen as a measure to modernize the country economically.

A land trust is a legal entity that takes ownership of, or authority over, a piece of property at the behest of the property owner. Like other types of trust, each land trust’s terms are unique.

The Morningstar risk rating, or simply Morningstar rating, is a ranking given to publicly traded mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) by the investment research firm Morningstar. Risk is assessed across five levels designed to help investors quickly identify funds to consider for their portfolios. Funds receive ratings ranging from 1 to 5, with 1 given to the worst performers and 5 for the best. The ranking is based on variations in a fund’s monthly returns – with an emphasis on downside variations – as compared to similar funds. read more

The Loan Credit Default Swap Index – Markit LCDX is a specialized index of loan-only credit default swaps (CDS) covering 100 individual North American companies that have unsecured debt trading in the broad secondary markets. The LCDX is traded over the counter and is managed by a consortium of large investment banks, which provide liquidity and assist in pricing the individual credit default swaps. IHS Markit Ltd, headquartered in London, is the index provider.

Long-term liabilities are financial obligations of a company that are due more than one year in the future. The current portion of long-term debt is listed separately to provide a more accurate view of a company’s current liquidity and the company’s ability to pay current liabilities as they become due. Long-term liabilities are also called long-term debt or noncurrent liabilities.

An FHA 203(k) loan is a type of government-insured mortgage that allows the borrower to take out one loan for two purposes – home purchase and home renovation. An FHA 203(k) loan is wrapped around rehabilitation or repairs to a home that will become the mortgagor’s primary residence. An FHA 203(k) is also known as an FHA construction loan.