What Is the Purpose of Adjusting Journal Entries?

Response: Adjusting journal entries are used to reconcile transactions that have not yet closed, but which straddle accounting periods. These can be either payments or expenses whereby the payment does not occur at the same time as delivery.


What Is an Example of Voluntary Exchange in Everyday Life?

Response: Examples of voluntary exchange abound in everyday life in the U.S. For instance, you may go to a coffee shop every morning. The owner of the store can freely choose how they would like to set their prices. As a consumer, you can freely able to choose whether or not to make a purchase.


Response: Per stirpes, used more commonly than per capita, is a great way to ensure that the descendants of your original beneficiaries are protected in the event of an untimely death.


Response: Economic equilibrium is seen as a concept or theoretical construct, rather than a realistic goal due to the unlikelihood of economic conditions lining up in such a way as to create a perfectly balanced environment for price and demand.


Do I Need an Appraisal to Refinance a Mortgage?

Response: In most cases, yes. Lenders use appraisals to determine a home's value for refinancing mortgages the way they do for purchase mortgages. There are a couple of exceptions, however. In some cases, you will not need an valuation if you are taking out an FHA refinance loan if it is what is called a "streamline" refinance loan. If you hold a VA-backed loan, you will need an appraisal if you are planning to take out a cash-out refinance loan.Due to the COVID- 19 pandemic, there is a partial waiver on appraisals from April 26, 2021, to April 26, 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.


How Does the Federal Funds Rate Affect Banks?

Response: Financial institutions typically base interest rates for consumer and business loans on the federal funds rate. For example, as the Fed conducts OMOs that raise or lower the fed funds rate, banks and credit card companies will change their rates accordingly.


Are All Fixed Costs Considered Sunk Costs?

Response: All sunk costs are fixed costs in financial accounting, but not all fixed costs are considered to be sunk. The defining characteristic of sunk costs is that they cannot be recovered.


Response: Examples of human capital include communication skills, education, technical skills, creativity, experience, problem-solving skills, mental health, and personal resilience.


Response: Yes. It was created by David Chaum's company DigiCash in 1990.


Response: Vendor notes are subordinated debt, meaning they sit below senior debt in the repayment waterfall in the event of bankruptcy. Holders of subordinated debt are always paid after holders of senior debt are paid off.


Response: As of June 10, 2022, Mark Zuckerberg's net worth is $68.2 billion. He earned his wealth as the founder and largest shareholder of Meta (formerly Facebook).


Who Said Keynesian Economics Was Spending Your Way out of a Recession?

Response: It was Milton Friedman who attacked the central Keynesian idea that consumption is the key to economic recovery as trying to "spend your way out of a recession." Unlike Keynes, Friedman believed that government spending and racking up debt eventually leads to inflation—a rise in prices that lessens the value of money and wages—which can be disastrous unless accompanied by underlying economic growth. The stagflation of the 1970s was a case in point: It was paradoxically a period with high unemployment and low production, but also high inflation and high-interest rates.


Response: An income statement is one of the three key documents used for reporting a company's yearly financial performance. The income statement includes the gains, losses, revenue, and expenses that a company reports in that period. Net income is the bottom line on an income statement.


What Is an Example of Product Differentiation?

Response: An example of product differentiation is when a company emphasizes a characteristic of a new product to market that sets it apart from others already on the market. For instance, Tesla differentiates itself from other auto brands because their cars are innovative, battery-operated, and advertised as high-end.


What Is the Difference Between Inventory and Raw Materials?

Response: In many cases, raw materials are a type of inventory. It represents goods on a balance sheet that have not yet been converted to work-in-progress or a finished product. Companies often buy, acquire, or extract raw materials for use, then report raw materials as an asset. Then, as the company uses raw materials in the production of finished goods, it converts the raw materials into products it can sell to consumers.


Response: A wash sale is not illegal—there is no wording that states you cannot sell a security and purchase a substantially similar one 30 days before or after the sale. The rule only makes it so you can't claim a loss on the sale in that year's tax filing.


Response: Schedule A is used to claim itemized deductions that reduce your taxable income and the total amount of taxes you pay. The categories that can be itemized include taxes, interest paid, gifts to charity, medical and dental expenses, casualty and theft losses, and other miscellaneous expenses.


Response: A low times multiple isn't necessarily bad. It simply means the company is being valued lower than other companies. If a seller is motivated to sell, having a low times multiple may be a good thing as it may be seen by buyers as a cheaper, potentially bargain price compared to companies with much higher multiples.


Is Trailing 12 Months the Same as Last Twelve Months?

Response: Yes, last 12 months (LTM) is another term for trailing 12 months (TTM).


Response: Yes, hydrocarbons are dangerous to humans. Gases emitted from hydrocarbons have shown to damage respiratory systems and harm the environment through climate change and the greenhouse effect. Oil spills damage ecosystems. While hydrocarbons are natural occurrences, it is their manipulation into energy sources that are harmful to humans.


Response: It's important to know because it plays a role in how your property tax bill is determined. Plus, if you're looking for a home, knowing the assessed value may give you a bargaining chip if the sale price of a home is set much higher.


Response: Mark-to-market losses are paper losses generated through an accounting entry rather than the actual sale of a security. Mark-to-market losses occur when financial instruments held are valued at the current market value, which is lower than the price paid to acquire them.


What Are CPP and CCA Short for in Inflation Accounting?

Response: CPP stands for current purchasing power; CCA stands for current cost accounting. These are the two main methods used to adjust financial statement figures in inflation accounting.


Response: The main purpose of the FDIC is to prevent "run-on-the-bank" scenarios, which devastated many banks during the Great Depression in the late 1920s and early 1930s.


What Methods Are Used to Determine Fair Value?

Response: A market approach uses the prices associated with actual market transactions for similar assets to derive a fair value. An income approach uses estimated future cash flows or earnings to determine the present value fair value. A cost approach uses the estimated cost to replace an asset to help find an item's fair value.


How Do You Trade Using Elliott Wave Theory?

Response: If a trader sees a stock moving upward on an impulse wave, they may go long until it completes its fifth wave. Anticipating a reversal, the trader may then go short on the stock. Underlying this trading theory is the idea that fractal patterns recur in financial markets. In mathematics, fractal patterns repeat themselves on an infinite scale.


Response: No. Since 1928, stocks have, on average, risen in the month of October by more than 0.6%.


Where Does the United States Rank in Terms of Tax Revenue as a Percentage of GDP?

Response: The United States ranked 32nd out of 38 OECD countries regarding the tax-to-GDP ratio in 2020. In 2021, the United States had the same ranking: 32nd out of the 38 OECD countries, with a tax-to-GDP ratio of 26.6%.


Response: A hash function utilizes complex algorithms that convert data of arbitrary length to data of fixed length (for instance, 256 characters). If you change one bit anywhere in the original data, the entire hash value changes, making it useful for verifying the fidelity of digital files and other data.


What Is the Debate Concerning a Flat Tax?

Response: Critics of the U.S. progressive or marginal tax rate system commonly propose changes to tax policies. Reforms are often proposed that would mimic other countries, such as Estonia. A flat tax rate on all income such as wages, pensions, and interest could be combined with a standard deduction for individuals and families to accommodate variances in households.


What Are the 5 Steps of Cost-Benefit Analysis?

Response: The broad process for a cost-benefit analysis is to set the analysis plan, determine your costs, determine your benefits, perform analysis of both costs and benefits, and to make a final recommendation. These steps may vary from one process to another.


Response: Loan origination is the process lenders use to assess and approve borrower applications for various forms of debt. These include loans and mortgages. Originations go from the initial application for credit through underwriting and the approval process. In order for the process to work, borrowers need to submit an application and additional documentation, such as tax returns and pay stubs. Lenders normally charge a fee, which is a small percentage of the balance, to compensate them for the work involved in reviewing and approving the application.


Response: The easiest way to invest in green tech is to buy stock in companies that are making major bets on environmentally-friendly technologies. Investors can attempt to identify individual stocks, or simply invest in a mutual fund, index fund, or another instrument that seeks to reflect the broader market for environmental investments. The advantage to the latter approach is that the investor will gain diversified exposure to the green tech industry, rather than the fortunes of a single company.


Response: Hold harmless essentially means just that: Don’t hold me responsible. It appears as an agreement in a contract and when signed should result in the party requesting it being freed from liability for damages or losses.


Why Is Getting Promoted at Work Important?

Response: For some, it isn't. If you're entirely happy with your job and your pay, a promotion may not be important to you. For others seeking more money or more responsibility, a promotion is a crucial step to developing one's career.


What Role Does Labor Play in Economic Recovery?

Response: Labor market dynamics play a crucial role in economic recovery. Factors like employment levels and skill mismatches influences recovery sustainability, as getting people back to work can help increase consumer spending (and thus business growth opportunities).


Response: Covariance and variance are used to measure the distribution of points in a data set. However, variance is typically used in data sets with only one variable and indicates how closely those data points are clustered around the average. Covariance measures the direction of the relationship between two variables. A positive covariance means that both variables tend to be high or low at the same time. A negative covariance means that when one variable is high, the other tends to be low.


Response: Audits are generally meant to ensure that businesses and individuals are being honest and accurate about their financial positions. But, the purpose of an audit depends entirely on the type of review in question.For instance, corporations are routinely audited to ensure they are compliant and are following accounting standards. Audits also ensure that businesses are representing their financial well-being accurately.Tax agencies conduct routine audits at random or may do so if someone's tax return is flagged. Things that may trigger an audit include specific tax credits and deductions, or certain types of income.


What is the Difference Between a Debit Spread and a Credit Spread?

Response: Debit spreads and credit spreads are two types of options strategies that traders use. A debit spread occurs when the premium paid for the long option is more than the premium received for the short option. This results in a net debit or cost to set up the trade.Conversely, a credit spread is an options strategy where the premium received from the short option is greater than the premium paid for the long option. This results in a net credit, or income, when the trade is established.


Response: CAN SLIM was devised by William J. O'Neil and is an acronym representing seven traits investors should look for in a company to determine the most successful growth stocks.


Response: To calculate shrinkage in a retail store, you would look at the book inventory, which represents the inventory received and should be present in the store, and then subtract the actual amount of inventory, which is the amount of goods that are physically in the store.


Response: Capital invested is calculated as, Capital Invested = Total Equity + Total Debt (including capital leases) + Non-Operating Cash.


Response: The product life cycle has to do with how specific products or services are developed and offered to the public. This cycle has five phases: development, introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. This is separate from the industry life cycle since many products are developed within a single industry, or even within a single company.


Response: Investment companies have been around for nearly a century. The first registered investment company, the Massachusetts Investors Trust, was established in 1924 to allow small investors to invest in the stock market. It was an open-end fund, which is now the most popular type of investment company. An iteration of this fund is still around today under the ticker MITTX.


What Is the Difference Between Stock Exchanges and the OTC Market?

Response: The OTC market facilitates the trading of financial securities between two parties without the oversight of an exchange. A stock exchange is an exchange that oversees the buying and selling of stocks. Stock exchanges allow for more liquidity, oversight, and transparency than OTC markets.


How Can a Company Improve Its Net Profit Margin?

Response: The average net margin for different industries varies widely. Businesses can gain a competitive advantage and improve its net margins, in general, by increasing sales or reducing expenses (or both). Boosting sales, however, often involves spending more money, which equals greater costs.Cutting too many costs can also lead to undesirable outcomes, including losing skilled workers, shifting to inferior materials, or other losses in quality. To reduce the cost of production without sacrificing quality, the best option for many businesses is expansion. Economies of scale refer to the idea that larger companies tend to be more profitable.


Response: Yes, you can lose money with dApps in several ways. First, dApps may have native tokens that must be purchased in order to use the dApp. These tokens may fluctuate in value. In addition, if you are not careful, you may agree to grant access to your account and funds to someone else, causing your account to suffer losses due to unauthorized access. Be mindful of what transactions you sign and what account information you disclose.


Response: The higher (or lower) a z-score is, the further away from the mean the point is. This isn't necessarily good or bad; it merely shows where the data lies in a normally distributed sample. This means it comes down to preference when evaluating an investment or opportunity. For example, some investors use a z-score range of -3.0 to 3.0 because 99.7% of normally distributed data falls in this range, while others might use -1.5 to 1.5 because they prefer scores closer to the mean.


What Other Trading Hours Feature a Flurry of Trading Activity?

Response: Market openings: The opening bell of major stock markets is typically the beginning of heightened activity. Traders react to overnight news and events, leading to a surge in trading volume. In the U.S., for example, the first hour of trading on the New York Stock Exchange (9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Eastern time) is particularly active.Market close: Just before the closing bell, there's increased trading as investors adjust or close their positions before the end of the trading day. The U.S.'s last hour (3 p.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern time) is known for higher volumes and potential volatility.Overlaps in major market hours: When the trading hours of major global markets overlap, such as between the New York and London stock exchanges, there can be an uptick in volume and activity because of the increased number of traders active simultaneously. Just like when there's increased trading of the witching hour, traders might seek arbitrage opportunities between local and shares of a foreign company traded in the U.S.Release of economic data: The publishing of major economic reports for employment data, gross domestic product, and central bank decisions can trigger immediate and significant market reactions, leading to intense trading.


Why Is a Qualified Domestic Trust Important?

Response: A QDOT can be very important to the financial future of a surviving spouse who isn't a U.S. citizen because it allows for the spouse to take 100% of the marital deduction for estate taxes. Without it, the spouse wouldn't be able to take advantage of the full deduction amount.


Response: A high dividend payout ratio is not always valued by active investors. An unusually high dividend payout ratio can indicate that a company is trying to mask a bad business situation from investors by offering extravagant dividends, or that it simply does not plan to aggressively use working capital to expand.


What is a normal growth rate for a company?

Response: What is considered to be a good growth rate for a company will depend on several factors such as the industry it is in, whether it is new or well-established, the size of the company, and the overall condition of the economy. In general, a company’s growth rate should exceed the rate of nominal GDP growth as well as the rate of inflation. Newer companies in riskier industries will require a higher rate of growth to satisfy investors.


Response: Though dividends can signal that a company has stable cash flow and is generating profits, they can also provide investors with recurring revenue. Dividend payouts may also help provide insight into a company’s intrinsic value. Many countries also offer preferential tax treatment to dividends, where they are treated as tax-free income.


Response: The use tax rate in California is  7.25%, which is the same as the sales tax applied across the state.


Response: Imagine a company that manufactures high-quality exercise equipment. The company incurs both fixed costs and variable costs, and the company has additional capacity to manufacture more goods.Let's say it cost the company $500,000 to manufacture 1,000 exercise bikes. The company has determined it will cost an additional $400 to manufacture one additional bike. Although the average unit cost is $500, the marginal cost for the 1,001th unit is $400. The average and marginal cost may differ because some additional costs (i.e. fixed expenses) may not be incurred as additional units are manufactured.


What Is the Difference Between UPA and RUPA?

Response: The Uniform Partnership Act was established in 1914. In 1994, it went under certain revisions, known as the Revised Uniform Partnership Act. The Act went through further revisions in 1996 and for the last time in 1997, which is known as the Uniform Partnership Act (1997) and is the only version of the Act.


How Did J.P. Morgan Influence Jesse L. Livermore?

Response: During the panic of 1907, Livermore made $1 million on short positions in one day. When the renowned banker, J.P. Morgan, urged him to close his shorts for the good of the country, Livermore did. Livermore would then net an additional $3 million on the market rebound.


Response: Value-based pricing assesses customers’ perceived value of a product, as well as its features and services, and assigns a price to that product based on this data.


Response: In-house recruitment is when a company directly advertises, interviews, and hires a new employee to fill an open role. The alternative is to outsource hiring to a professional recruiting agency.


Response: Value stocks may be a good investment for investors looking for lower risk equities. Value stocks tend to relate to companies that have already been established but are undervalued by the market. For investors not willing to invest in start-ups or unknown entities, value stocks may make a good alternative.


Response: Solvency ratios measure a company’s cash flow, which includes non-cash expenses and depreciation, against all debt obligations. For instance, consider the debt-to-assets ratio, a popular metric that measures the degree that a company’s assets are financed by debt, where debt-to-assets equals total debt divided by total assets. Another common solvency ratio, the debt-to-equity (D/E) ratio, shows how financially leveraged a company is, where debt-to-equity equals total debt divided by total equity.


What Is the Difference Between the PCE Price Index and the Consumer Price Index?

Response: The CPI is compiled monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics based on a survey of urban households. It measures the price of a basket of household goods and services that most people buy regularly. The PCE, produced monthly by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, also records changes in the prices of a basket of goods from month to month.


Who Coined the Term "Political Economy"?

Response: Adam Smith is generally considered the father of economics and of the political economy. But the term is generally ascribed to French economist Antoine de Montchrestien, who wrote the book Traité de l'économie politique, which translates to the treaty of the political economy.


Response: Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a technology that allows people to speak over an Internet connection, similar to an ordinary telephone call. VoIP allows audio conversations for a much lower cost than traditional telephone networks, especially over a long distance. However, VoIP calls may also be subject to bandwidth limitations.


Response: The standard tax deduction for single filers is $13,850 in 2023. This is the same for married individuals filing separately. For those married and filing jointly, the deduction is $27,700 in 2023. For heads of households, it is $20,800 in 2023.For tax year 2024, the standard deduction increases to $14,600, $29,200, and $21,900, respectively.


Response: In 1997, Salomon Brothers merged with Smith Barney and formed Salomon Smith Barney. Citigroup then merged with the bank, turning Salomon Smith Barney into its investment banking arm. In 2003, Citigroup dropped all references to the Salomon name due to its association with financial scandals.


Response: Capitulation is neither good nor bad, but it can be profitable depending on an investor's position. Investors with a long position stand to profit during a bullish capitulation as short sellers close out their positions. During a bearish capitulation, speculators may have the chance to snatch up shares at a discount as other traders abandon their positions.


Response: There are numerous ways that individuals or businesses can evade paying taxes they owe. Here are a few examples:Underreporting incomeClaiming credits you're not legally entitled toConcealing financial or personal assetsClaiming residency in another stateUsing cash extensivelyClaiming more dependents than you haveMaintaining a double set of books for your business


What Is an Example of a Management Buyout?

Response: In 2013, Michael Dell partnered with a private equity firm to purchase the computer/technology company he founded from shareholders. He took Dell private before the company went public again in 2018.


Why Are Qualified Dividends Taxed More Favorably Than Ordinary Dividends?

Response: The favorable tax treatment for qualified dividends is intended as an incentive to regularly use a share of their profits to reward their shareholders. It also gives investors a reason to hold onto their stocks long enough to earn dividends.


Response: Simply put, a blockchain is a shared database or ledger. Pieces of data are stored in data structures known as blocks, and each network node has a replica of the entire database. Security is ensured since the majority will not accept this change if somebody tries to edit or delete an entry in one copy of the ledger.


Response: The Genesis Block is actually not that important unless you view it as a historical occasion. It is simply the first block that contains the first transaction, but it has been hyped as something special by fans.


Response: Many retail stores offer in-house financing or store credit cards because these represent an additional source of revenue from their customers. While the interest rates tend to be higher than typical credit cards, they may come with rewards or perks that can be worthwhile to frequent shoppers.


Response: Countries that use the riyal include Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Oman, Yemen.


What Are the Different Types of Profit-Sharing Plans?

Response: With a cash plan, employees are given either cash or stock on a regular basis, such as quarterly or annually. The payouts are quick, relative to a retirement plan, but they are also taxed as regular income. A deferred plan sees profits set aside for a later date, usually when the employee retires. The employee is also not taxed until retirement. Some plans combine elements of both a cash and a deferred plan.


Response: Land trusts are meant to create liability and privacy protections for landowners. Real estate investors, individuals, and entities use land trusts to help create separation for personal finances and property.


What Does a Morningstar Risk Rating of 5 Stars Mean?

Response: A 5-star risk rating indicates that a fund has been among the market's top performers in terms of risk-adjusted return over the past three, five, or ten-year period.


What Is the Minimum Tier 1 Capital Ratio for a Bank?

Response: Under the Basel Accords, banks must have a minimum capital ratio of 8% of which 6% must be Tier 1 capital. The 6% Tier 1 ratio must be composed of at least 4.5% of Common Equity Tier (CET1).


Response: When investing in a 401(k) or other retirement savings account, target-date or life cycle funds are popular. Choosing a fund that builds toward your retirement, like a hypothetical FUND X 2050 (which would target a 2050 retirement year), means investing in a mutual fund that rebalances and shifts its risk profile to a more conservative approach as the target date gets closer.


What Does the Dow Jones Industrial Average Measure?

Response: The DJIA tracks the price movements of 30 large companies in the United States. Such companies include Microsoft and Home Depot. The selected companies are from all major U.S. sectors, except utilities and transportation.


What Are Some Limitations of Forecasting?

Response: The biggest limitation of forecasting is that it involves the future, which is fundamentally unknowable today. As a result, forecasts can only be best guesses. While there are several methods of improving the reliability of forecasts, the assumptions that go into the models, or the data that is inputted into them, has to be correct. Otherwise, the result will be garbage in, garbage out. Even if the data is good, forecasting often relies on historical data, which is not guaranteed to be valid into the future, as things can and do change over time. It is also impossible to correctly factor in unusual or one-off events like a crisis or disaster.


Response: Stocks, bonds, currencies or foreign exchange, options, futures, commodities, cryptocurrencies, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are the most common type of assets that are traded. The asset class is dependent on the traders’ preference, expertise, and the market in which they operate. Also, traders can choose to specialize in one asset class or more, depending on their goals and skills.


Response: You may be subject to backup withholding if you are a foreign citizen, or are an American who has not provided your correct TIN/SSN, made the proper certifications, or reported all your taxable interest and dividends on your tax return to the IRS.


Response: Swing traders rely on price movement; if a security's price remains unchanged, it is harder to seek opportunities to profit. In general, price action is good for swing traders because traders can identify the oscillations up and down and trade accordingly.


Response: Yes. During the Clinton presidency, the federal government was able to reduce spending and increase revenues, turning a large deficit into a small surplus. The last year where the government ran a budget surplus was in 2001.


Response: Dividends are paid by companies to their common shareholders. They represent a portion of the corporate earnings or profits that companies want to share with their investors. Dividends are paid at regular intervals, either monthly, quarterly, or annually. As such, they provide a regular stream of income for investors. Dividends are commonly offered by companies whose primary focus isn't growth. Major companies like Coca-Cola, Apple, Microsoft, and Exxon Mobil.


What Exactly Do You Mean by Just-in-Time?

Response: A just-in-time (JIT) inventory system is a management strategy that has a company receive goods as close as possible to when they are actually needed. So, if a car assembly plant needs to install airbags, it does not keep a stock of airbags on its shelves but receives them as those cars come onto the assembly line.


Response: Private placements are the sale of a company's shares to a number of pre-selected investors. The process takes place privately, hence the name, meaning that a company does not have to go through the regulatory hurdles of an IPO and being a public company but is still able to raise external funds to expand the business.


Response: Based on experience and risk tolerance, investors will differ on this question. However, many financial analysts will say the best way to invest $5,000 is to put it in a mutual fund or exchange-traded fund that tracks the S&P 500 and keep it for the long run.


What Is the Capital Gains Tax on Investment Profits?

Response: If an investment is held for less than a year, profits are taxed at an individual's regular income tax bracket. If investments are held for longer than a year, profits are taxed at the capital gains tax rate. Capital gains tax brackets are 0%, 15%, and 20%.


Response: Gas fees are fees paid for transactions, such as transferring ether to someone to pay for an item or creating smart contracts.


How does Gross Sales Affect Business Decisions?

Response: Gross sales data can influence decisions related to pricing strategies, marketing campaigns, and inventory management by providing insights into sales performance.


How Can I Tell If I Am a Risk Averse Investor?

Response: You can gauge your risk tolerance for investing by taking any number of risk profiling questionnaires available online. When you sign up for a brokerage account or financial advising relationship, you may also be required to take such an evaluation.


Response: Triple top patterns occur less frequently than double top patterns, where there is one peak less to happen. But the fact that it is a rare chart formation is also the biggest weakness of a triple top.


Response: The withholding amount generally depends on a taxpayer's filing status, number of jobs, other income, and whether they have dependents.


What Is the Simple Definition of a Tariff?

Response: A tariff is an extra fee charged on an item by a country that imports that item.


Response: Echo boomers are the children of baby boomers, generally born in the years 1976 to 2001, a period of rising birth rates. In terms of other generations, the earliest echo boomers could be considered members of Gen X, while later ones are either millennials or part of Gen Z.


What Is the Difference Between the Dividend Payout Ratio and Dividend Yield?

Response: When comparing the two measures of dividends, it's important to know that the dividend yield tells you what the simple rate of return is in the form of cash dividends to shareholders, but the dividend payout ratio represents how much of a company's net earnings are paid out as dividends.


How Long Is the U.S. Statute of Limitations?

Response: In general, U.S. federal law has a statute of limitations of five years, unless there is specific legal language for offenses that stretch beyond that time. For example, for capital murder, there is no statute of limitations.


Response: Defined-benefit pension plans work by an employer guaranteeing a specific amount of retirements to be had if an employee works for a company for a designated amount of time. Both the employer and employee usually contribute to the pension plan, though the employer is the pension plan administrator who manages the fund. When the employee retires (whether they are still with the same company or not), they may file a claim for defined-benefit pension benefits.


How Many People Died During the Great Leap Forward?

Response: While there is no exact count, researchers have estimated the death toll to be between 30 million and 45 million individuals.


Response: A rise in the domestic currency's exchange rate should improve terms of trade, as this makes imports relatively less expensive while boosting the prices of exports. Increasing the competitiveness of firms will also tend to boost TOT as they can compete better internationally. Inflation can also have a short-term benefit to TOT.


Response: Nearly all ETFs provide diversification benefits relative to an individual stock purchase. Still, some ETFs are highly concentrated—either in the number of different securities they hold or in the weighting of those securities. For example, a fund that concentrates half of its assets in two or three positions may offer less diversification than a fund with fewer total portfolio constituents but broader asset distribution.


What Are the 4 Types of Economic Utility?

Response: In behavioral economics, the four types of economic utility are form utility, time utility, place utility, and possession utility. These terms refer to the psychological importance attached to different forms of utility. For example, form utility is the result of the design of a product or service, and time utility refers to the ability of a company to provide services when the customers need them.


Response: Theta measures the rate of decline in the value of an option over time. This is its sensitivity to implied volatility. Implied volatility is a separate value that is not a Greek but is often used alongside them to value an option.


Response: You cannot copy a Bitcoin because the blockchain and consensus mechanism would not accept it.


Can Yield Spreads Forecast Future Economic Performance?

Response: Yield curves are valuable tools that can shed light on the economy, which means they can be used to help forecast whether a recession or a recovery is on the horizon. As such, they are often considered leading economic indicators. When spreads widen, it leads to a positive yield curve. This means that the economy is expected to grow in the future. But when the yield curve flattens, it generally indicates that short-term rates are falling. The expectation here is that the economy won't be doing very well in the future.


What types of companies generally trade on Pink Markets?

Response: Companies that trade on Pink Markets vary widely. They can include smaller or newer companies that don't meet the listing requirements for major exchanges, foreign entities that wish to trade in the U.S., or companies preferring less regulatory scrutiny.


Is it safe to invest in an uninsured certificate of deposit (CD)?

Response: There are risks involved with an uninsured certificate of deposit (CD). Investors put their money at risk all the time in uninsured options like mutual funds, annuities, life insurance policies, stocks, and bonds. Each individual has to decide if the higher interest rates are worth the risk.


What Is the Main Purpose of Financial Accounting?

Response: Financial accounting is intended to provide financial information on a company’s operating performance. Though management can analyze reports generated using financial accounting, they often find it more useful to use managerial accounting, an internally geared method of calculating financial results that is not allowable for external reports. Financial accounting is the widely accepted method of preparing financial results for external use.


Response: A trade deficit occurs when a country imports more goods and services than it exports, resulting in a negative balance of trade. In other words, it represents the amount by which the value of imports exceeds the value of exports over a certain period.


Response: As it relates to EBITDA, amortization is the gradual discounting of the book value of a company's intangible assets. Amortization is reported on a company's income statement. Intangible assets include intellectual property, such as patents or trademarks, as well as goodwill.


Is Hurricane Insurance the Same as Flood Insurance?

Response: Hurricane insurance and flood insurance may sometimes be considered the same. Flood insurance covers damage from flooding, which may include flooding as a result of hurricanes but could also cover damage from other causes, like a leaked pipe. Hurricane insurance is typically a combination of flood and windstorm insurance, which covers damages caused by wind, such as from hurricanes.


Response: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) claims that it issues “most refunds in less than 21 calendar days.” If you claim the Earned Income Tax Credit or the additional child tax credit, then your refund will arrive no sooner than early March.


What's the Difference Between a Credit Rating and a Credit Score?

Response: The terms are often used interchangeably, but a credit rating evaluates a company's or government's ability to repay a debt while credit scores are assigned to individual consumers.Their functions are quite similar. Both credit ratings and credit scores are used by lenders being asked to loan money as an indication of the risk of the deal.


What Is the Definition of Great Society?

Response: The definition of Great Society harkens to a group of government policy initiatives created in the 1960s by Lyndon B. JOhnson that were designed to improve the lives of Americans.


How Do Institutional Investors Make Money?

Response: Institutional investors make money by charging fees and commissions to their members or clients. For example, a hedge fund may charge a certain percentage of a client's investment gains or total assets. There may also be flat fees for holding an account or making trades or withdrawals.


Response: The two roles are similar, but an executor carries out one's will, often under the supervision of a probate court; while a trustee is responsible for one's trust. In some cases, the two may be the same individual, although they don't have to be.


What Are Some Pros and Cons of Variable Rate Mortgages?

Response: Pros of variable rate mortgages can include lower initial payments than a fixed-rate loan, and lower payments if interest rates drop. The downsides are that the mortgage payments can increase if interest rates rise. This could lead to homeowners being trapped in an increasingly unaffordable home as interest rate hikes occur.


Response: An emerging market economy generally is considered an economy that is transitioning into a developed market economy. It has rapid GDP growth, growing per capita income, increasing debt and equity markets liquidity, and an established financial system infrastructure.


Response: Sometimes, the marketing mix can extend beyond the classic four Ps of product, price, placement, and promotion established by professor E. Jerome McCarthy in 1960. These additional categories include people, physical evidence, and process.In this way, people represent the employees who interact with customers. A company may consider company culture as it relates to its brand strategy. This may include customer relationship management (CRM), which aims to increase brand loyalty among customers.Physical evidence might include the packaging or the layout of a physical store, which can reinforce a brand and create more value to the customer.Finally, the process identifies areas, often from a logistical standpoint, that enable the customer to have the most seamless experience possible with a product or service. This may include everything from delivery logistics and shipping to managing third-party retailers.


Response: This term was publicized by U.S. Rep. Stewart McKinney (R-Conn.) in a 1984 congressional hearing, discussing the intervention of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) with the Continental Illinois bank. Although the term was previously used, it became more widely known during the global financial crisis of 2007–2008 when Wall Street received a government bailout.


What Is Another Word or Term for Economic Growth?

Response: Other words and terms for economic growth include “boom,” “prosperity,” “economic development,” “economic upswing,” “economic upsurge,” “industrial development,” and “buoyancy of the economy.”


What Can Someone Do With Your Social Security Number?

Response: Your SSN is one of the most important pieces of personal information—if not the most important—that you'll ever have. That's why it's so important that you keep it confidential. Someone who has your SSN can use it to impersonate you, obtain credit and open bank accounts, apply for jobs, steal your tax refunds, get medical treatment, and steal your government benefits.


Response: There are two main types of data mining: predictive data mining and descriptive data mining. Predictive data mining extracts data that may be helpful in determining an outcome. Description data mining informs users of a given outcome.


How Do You Calculate the JOD Exchange Rate?

Response: You can calculate the JOD exchange rate to any currency by using a currency converter, such as at XE.com. The exchange rate of the JOD to USD is fixed and so remains the same. One USD is equal to 0.709 JODs.


What Are Some Red Flags to Look Out for an Illegal MLM Pyramid Scheme?

Response: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) warns people to take note of, and avoid, MLM promoters who:Make extraordinary claims of enormous earning potentialTry to persuade people that recruiting others is where the real money liesPressure people to get involved without learning more about the companyMake it clear that an opportunity will be lost unless people get in immediatelyAnother warning sign is seeing existing distributors who continue to buy products that they can never sell so that they can qualify for some kind of reward.


What Is the Meaning of Disruptive Innovation?

Response: Disruptive innovation refers to the process of transforming an expensive or highly sophisticated product, offering, or service into one that is simpler, more affordable, and accessible to a broader population. It explains the process of how innovation and technology can change markets by presenting affordable, simple, and accessible solutions and after doing so, disrupts the market from which its predecessors were born.


What Is an Example of Market Segmentation?

Response: Upon analysis of its target audience and desired brand image, Crypto.com entered into an agreement with Matt Damon to promote their platform and cryptocurrency investing. With backdrops of space exploration and historical feats of innovation, Crypto.com's market segmentation targeted younger, bolder, more risk-accepting individuals.


What Are Examples of Disruptive Innovation?

Response: Amazon provides a clear example of disruptive innovation. Jeff Bezos, in 1995, subscribing to the notion that the internet could significantly boost commerce, launched Amazon to sell books to a growing, but largely ignored online shopping community. In doing so, he forced many bookstores to go out of business. Netflix is another prime example. After it disrupted the media industry, the dominant player, Blockbuster, went from having 9,000+ brick-and-mortar stores to one.


Response: Generally, a dividend yield between 2% and 6% is considered a good dividend yield. Yields above 6% are considered to be higher-risk stocks, which, depending on the investor's risk tolerance, may be a risky investment not worth exploring. As of March 10, 2022, the average dividend yield for the S&P 500 since inception is 4.29% and its current dividend yield is 1.42%.


Response: The foreign exchange market often controls the exchange rate for a specific currency in a soft peg. In some cases, though, the government may choose to act to strengthen or weaken the currency when the need arises. Hard pegs occur when a government sets the exchange rate for its currency.


Response: A family limited partnership is an arrangement in which family members pool money to run some sort of business, like a real estate venture.


How Do Employers Calculate How Much to Withhold From Employee Pay?

Response: After an employee fills out Form W-4, it is up to the employer to calculate how much to withhold from each paycheck for federal income taxes. Payroll software should have a built-in calculator to work all this out. Alternatively, employers can consult IRS Publication 15-T: Federal Income Tax Withholding Methods.


Response: The term "value-added" describes the economic value that a company grants to its products or services before offering them to customers. Value-added helps explain why companies are able to sell their goods or services for more than they cost to produce.


What Is the Difference Between Monopolistic Competition and Perfect Competition?

Response: In perfect competition, the product offered by competitors is the same item. If one competitor increases its price, it will lose all of its market share to the other companies based on market supply and demand forces, where prices are not set by companies and sellers accept the pricing determined by market activity.In monopolistic competition, supply and demand forces do not dictate pricing. Firms are selling similar, yet distinct products, so firms determine the pricing. Product differentiation is the key feature of monopolistic competition, where products are marketed by quality or brand. Demand is highly elastic, and any change in pricing can cause demand to shift from one competitor to another.


Can I Hold Diamonds ETF in a Tax-Advantaged Account?

Response: Yes, you can hold DIA ETF in tax-advantaged accounts such as Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and 401(k)s.


Response: A holdup occurs when a buyer has information on the capital costs of its supplier for making the commodity being purchased. The supplier’s investment may in part be based on its relationship with the buyer, customizing it particularly for the buyer. In effect, the buyer shares in the supplier’s gross return on the investment. The supplier may be said to be held up if the buyer makes the decision not to purchase the commodity because it does not like the price after the investment is already made.


Which Is More Profitable, Futures or Options?

Response: The profitability of futures versus options depends largely on the investor's strategy and risk tolerance. Futures tend to provide higher leverage and can be more profitable when predictions are correct, but they also carry higher risks. Options offer the safety of a nonbinding contract, limiting potential losses.


Response: Although it may seem daunting, an IRS audit shouldn't worry you. The agency routinely conducts audits for corporations and individuals—some randomly while others are flagged because of certain types of income, credits, and deductions. The best way to prepare for an audit is to keep your tax records, including any receipts and tax documents, in a location that's easily accessible for up to three years.


What Are Some Financial Instruments That Use Compound Interest?

Response: Most bank deposit accounts, credit cards, and some lines of credit will tend to use compound interest.


How Are Taxes on Gains Figured in an MEC?

Response: Taxes on gains are regular income for MEC withdrawals under last-in-first-out accounting methodology, meaning interest is disbursed before principal. However, the cost basis, or the total amount of premiums paid, in the MEC withdrawals aren't subject to taxation for withdrawals.


Response: Plans that are covered under ERISA include employer-sponsored retirement plans, such as 401(k)s, pensions, deferred compensation plans, and profit-sharing plans. ERISA also covers certain non-retirement plans like HMOs, FSAs, disability insurance, and life insurance.


What Happens When a Ground Lease Expires?

Response: Unless you or your landlord takes specific steps to end the agreement under the lease, it will simply continue on exactly the same terms. You do not need to do anything unless you receive a notice from your landlord.


Response: As a hypothetical example, a growth stock would be a biotech startup that has begun work on a promising new cancer treatment. Say that currently, the product is only in the Phase I stage of clinical trials, and there is uncertainty whether the FDA will approve the drug candidate to continue on to Phase II & III trials. If the drug passes and is ultimately approved for use, it could mean huge profits and capital gains. If, however, the drug either doesn't work as planned or causes severe side effects, all of that R&D spending may have been in vain, and the stock never reaches its potential.


Response: Some of it is stashed in a vault at the bank. Reserves also may be kept in the bank's account at one of the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks. Some small banks keep part of their reserves at larger banks and tap into them as needed. This flow of cash between vaults peaks at certain times, like during holiday seasons when consumers withdraw extra cash. Once the demand subsides, the banks ship off some of their excess cash to the nearest Federal Reserve Bank.


Response: The difference in yields on two debt instruments that have different maturity dates, issuers, credit ratings, or risk levels is known as the yield spread. Yield spreads are commonly reported in percentage or basis points. In order to determine the yield spread, you must subtract one investment's yield from that of the other.


Response: The Kelly Criteria was originally created by John Kelly, while working at AT&T's Bell Laboratories. It was first adopted by gamblers to determine how much to bet on horse races, and later adapted by some investors.


Response: There are a few ways to minimize moral hazards. The first is to encourage the risk-taking party to act more responsibly by offering them incentives. The second is to institute policies that discourage immoral behavior by making it a punishable offense. Finally, regular monitoring allows the at-risk party to remain aware of whether or not the other party is taking advantage of them.


Response: Hospital indemnity insurance is a type of supplemental insurance that pays for hospitalization costs that are not covered by other insurance. This type of insurance is frequently taken out by businesses in case their employees are injured on the job.


Response: Not to be confused with debt consolidation, debt settlement aims to reduce a consumer's financial obligations rather than the number of creditors they have. Consumers can work with debt-relief organizations or credit counseling services to settle their debts. These organizations do not make actual loans but try to renegotiate the borrower's current debts with creditors.


Response: You can assess rather than calculate fair market value in a few different ways. First, by the price the item cost the seller, via a list of sales for objects similar to the asset being sold, or an expert's opinion. For example, a diamond appraiser would likely be able to identify and calculate a diamond ring based on their experience.


Response: A conservation easement limits the usage of private land in order to protect natural resources, such as an endangered species or ecosystem. Conservation easements are always easements in gross, in that they are not attached to a neighboring piece of land.


Response: Risk analysis is the process of identifying and analyzing potential future events that may adversely impact a company. A company performs risk analysis to better understand what may occur, the financial implications of that event occurring, and what steps it can take to mitigate or eliminate that risk.


Response: The terms real estate and real property are used interchangeably, but real property is actually a broader term. Real estate is defined as land and everything attached to it. Real property extends to the interests, benefits, and rights inherent in the ownership of real estate.


Response: FINRA BrokerCheck reports are free via online, phone, fax and by mail. FINRA will collect personal information only in those situations where a request is made that a BrokerCheck report is mailed.


Does an Automatic Premium Loan Decrease the Death Benefit of a Policy?

Response: Potentially. Any outstanding loans along with interest due will be deducted from the death benefit amount if the insured passes away before these are paid back.


Response: A learning curve is important because it can be used as a planning tool to understand when operational efficiencies may occur. The learning curve identifies how quickly a task can be performed over time as the performer of that task gains proficiency. This is useful for a company to know when allocating employee's time, dedicating training for new procedures, or allocating costs across new products.


Response: The four steps of SWOT analysis comprise the acronym SWOT: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. These four aspects can be broken into two analytical steps. First, a company assesses its internal capabilities and determines its strengths and weaknesses. Then, a company looks outward and evaluates external factors that impact its business. These external factors may create opportunities or threaten existing operations.


Will I Make Money by Joining a Network Marketing Program?

Response: It is certainly possible, although not probable. Some people do enjoy great success at network marketing, largely due to their ability to recruit more members to the network. There are two main revenue sources: selling products, and commissions from sales made by team members downline. The more people there are downline from you, the more money you will accrue - the larger the team you can recruit, the more money you can make.Most people who join legitimate network marketing programs make little or no money. People may actually lose money. Some may become involved in an illegal pyramid scheme and not realize that they have joined a fraudulent venture, and can lose everything they invest. Do your research and ask around before diving in.


Response: Yes, you can sell stock purchased through your ESPP plan immediately if you want to guarantee that you profit from your discount. Otherwise, the value of the stock may go up, which increases your profit, or it may go down, causing you to lose money. However, you will pay a lower tax rate if you hold the stock for more than a year and sell it more than two years after the offering date.


Response: Accountability is the practice of being held to a certain standard of excellence. It is the idea that an individual is responsible for their actions and, if that individual chooses unfavorable actions, they will face consequences. Accountability strives to promote a high level of work, promote honesty, encourage dependability, and garner trust from members around you.


What Is Used for the Risk-Free Rate When Measuring the Market Risk Premium?

Response: In the United States, the yield on government bonds such as 2-year Treasuries are the most oft-used risk-free rate of return.


Is Index Futures Trading Riskier Than Stock Trading?

Response: Index futures trading can be riskier than stock trading, especially when leverage is involved, which can amplify both gains and losses. While index futures offer diversification since they're based on a broad market index, their volatility and the potential for rapid financial changes heighten the risk. In contrast, stock trading allows investors to avoid inherent leverage, limiting losses to the invested amount. Hedging with futures, meant to offset risks in part of a portfolio, could lower your overall risk. Still, results can vary significantly based on market knowledge, experience, and the ability to manage leverage and diversification effectively.


What Is the PRIME program at the Marshall School of Business?

Response: Established in 1997, the school's PRIME Program offers students a choice of six experiences in Southeast Asia, working with multinational companies, domestic enterprises, and governmental institutions.


How Can I Learn the Fair Market Value of My Car?

Response: The Kelley Blue Book is an online guide that can help you determine the fair market value of your car by analyzing data such as trade-in value, private party value, and other areas of research.


Response: Earnings before tax (EBT) is often referred to as profit before tax as well as pre-tax income.


Response: The win/loss ratio can indicate performance success as a trader and a probability of future success. It can also point to the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of trading strategies.


Response: Perhaps anywhere from a few months to several years. It depends on the reason it is implemented in the first place. A receivership put into place to help resolve the claim of one creditor could last less time than one used to remedy a company's ills so that the company can avoid bankruptcy.


Response: A property appraiser is responsible for assessing the market value of a property for real estate transactions. In contrast, a property assessor assesses the value of a property for tax purposes.


What Is the Difference Between Sunk Cost and Relevant Cost?

Response: When making business decisions, organizations should only consider relevant costs, which include future costs—such as decisions about inventory purchase costs or product pricing—that still need to be incurred. The relevant costs are contrasted with the potential revenue of one choice compared to another. Sunk costs are excluded from future business decisions because the cost will remain the same regardless of the outcome of a decision.


What Is the Difference Between an Index Fund and an ETF?

Response: An index fund is a fund that invests in a basket of securities that tracks the performance of a market index, such as the S&P 500. Most exchange-traded funds are also index funds. The main difference is that ETFs can be bought and sold throughout the trading day, while trades in other funds are only executed at the end of a trading day.


How Long Do Late Payments Stay on Your Credit Report?

Response: Late payments can remain on your credit reports for up to seven years. Payment history accounts for 25% of your FICO score.


Response: Short covering is buying back a security that has been short-sold to close out an open-short position. This is done either to lock in a profit or limit a loss.


Response: Data analytics is broken down into four basic types. Descriptive analytics describes what has happened over a given period. Diagnostic analytics focuses more on why something happened. Predictive analytics moves to what is likely going to happen in the near term. Finally, prescriptive analytics suggests a course of action.


Response: Binomial distribution is used to figure the probability of a pass or fail outcome in a survey, or experiment replicated numerous times. There are only two potential outcomes for this type of distribution. More broadly, distribution is an important part of analyzing data sets to estimate all the potential outcomes of the data and how frequently they occur. Forecasting and understanding the success or failure of outcomes is essential to business development.


Response: A bull call spread is implemented by choosing the asset that is likely to experience a slight appreciation over a set period of time (days, weeks, or months). Next, a trader would buy a call option for a strike price at or above the current market with a specific expiration date while simultaneously selling a call option at a higher strike price that has the same expiration date as the first call option. The net difference between the premium received for selling the call and the premium paid for buying the call is the cost of the strategy.


Response: No, NAFTA was effectively replaced by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Signed on November 30, 2018, USMCA went into effect on July 1, 2020.


Am I Responsible for Wear and Tear on a Walk-Away Lease?

Response: Normal wear and tear is expected, but your lender may deem some wear and tear excessive. In that case, you may be charged an excessive wear-and-tear fee at the end of your lease.


Response: A car loan can be an example of a PMSI situation. A financial institution may agree to lend money to a borrower to finance the purchase of a new car. The bank can register its interest in the car as a PMSI because the loan funds are being directly used to buy the property it wants a secured interest in.


Response: Marginal principle theory is a very closely related topic that states that individuals make decisions on purchases based on the additional utility they will receive from each unit. In the example throughout this page, this related to the consumption of pizza. When you decide whether or not to reach for that one final slice, you are performing a marginal analysis and will ultimately make a decision that aligns with what is best for you (which upholds the marginal principle theory).


What’s the Difference Between Variable Costing and Absorption Costing?

Response: Absorption costing and variable costing treat fixed overhead costs differently. Absorption costing allocates fixed overhead costs across all units produced for the period. Variable costing, on the other hand, adds all fixed overhead costs together and reports the expense as one line item separate from the cost of goods sold or still available for sale. In other words, variable costing will yield one lump-sum expense line item for fixed overhead costs when calculating net income, while absorption costing will result in two categories of fixed overhead costs: those attributable to the cost of goods sold, and those attributable to inventory.


Response: A yield spread premium is a type of compensation paid to mortgage brokers. These individuals receive this fee from lenders when they give borrowers mortgage loans with interest rates that are higher than the lender's standard rate. The yield spread premium doesn't include any additional costs that borrowers are typically responsible for, such as commissions or other fees.


Response: Following a merger or acquisition, many companies eliminate redundancies in their combined workforce. This will typically affect the C-suite as well as any area where the new company has two departments performing similar functions. Human resource and payroll departments are a frequent target.Since it's hard to predict which workers will be laid off, mergers are inevitably a source of anxiety for all employees.


What Was the Objective of the 1933 Securities Act?

Response: The main goal of the Securities Act of 1933 was to introduce national disclosure requirements for companies selling stock or other securities. It requires companies selling securities to the public to reveal key information about their property, financial health, and executives. Prior to that law, securities were only subject to state regulations, and brokers could promise extravagant returns while disclosing little relevant information.


How Is Business Profitability Best Measured?

Response: The gross profit margin and net profit margin ratios are two commonly used measurements of business profitability. Net profit margin reflects the amount of profit a business gets from its total revenue after all expenses are accounted for. Gross profit margin indicates profit that exceeds the cost of goods sold.


Response: Equity financing involves selling a portion of a company's equity in return for capital. By selling shares, owners effectively sell ownership of their company in return for cash.


How Big Is Qatar’s Sovereign Wealth Fund?

Response: The QIA portfolio is estimated to be worth around $360 billion as of mid-2022. This puts it at the bottom of the top 10 sovereign wealth funds in terms of total assets.


Response: A capital investment works based on the benefits a company may receive over a long period of time compared to the short-term investment. In theory, a company will pay a large sum of money upfront (or over time). Then, the company will receive a benefit from the asset (potentially even after it has finished paying for it). The idea is a capital investment should provide better long-term value compared to a good or service that is being purchased and used in a single accounting period.


Response: Consider the Ivy League school, the University of Pennsylvania, where students must have a GPA of 3.4 to graduate cum laude. By contrast, New York University awards students cum laude if students fall within the top 30% of the graduating class, and some colleges within the university have their own ranking system. Ultimately, how and when these designations are awarded can vary widely across academic institutions.


Response: Traveler's checks are a secure way of carrying money while abroad. Many businesses in the tourism industry will cash traveler's checks, and they can also be deposited into a bank account. Because the checks can be easily replaced, they have a lower risk of theft or loss. However, traveler's checks have fallen out of favor due to the increased convenience of credit cards and prepaid debit cards.


How Do I Know if My Apartment Is Rent Controlled?

Response: If you live in a rent-controlled apartment you would know because the apartment would have been passed down in your immediate or extended family.


Can You Get a Payday Loan Without a Bank Account?

Response: Yes. Having a bank account isn’t universally required to borrow money, but lenders that don’t require it generally charge high interest rates. This includes many payday lenders. Payday lenders may ask for a bank account, but sometimes a prepaid card account may be enough to qualify.Because these loans cost so much and may be difficult to repay, it’s almost always best to avoid them. If you can’t pay back the loan promptly, fees can add up, leading to a debt trap that’s hard to get out of. Because of this, you should only take out a payday loan if you are absolutely sure that you can pay it back.


How Is U.S. Unemployment Data Collected?

Response: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS, surveys approximately 60,000 households in person or over the phone. The responses are later aggregated by race, ethnicity, age, veteran status, and gender, all of which—along with geography—add greater detail to the employment picture.


How Does the Securities and Exchange Commission Regulate Fair Value?

Response: In 2020, the SEC implemented rule 2a-5 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 requiring funds to value their portfolio investments using the market value of their portfolio securities when market quotations are “readily available.” If data is not readily available or if the investment is not a security, the Act requires the fund to use the investment’s fair value.The fair value is determined in good faith by the fund’s board who are required to establish fair value methodologies and oversee pricing services.


Response: Broadly speaking, identifying a market segment requires the following three criteria. To start, the main needs of a sub-group must be homogenous. Second, the segment must share distinct characteristics. Finally, the segment produces a similar response to marketing techniques. Prospective buyers are grouped into various segments, often based on how much value they place on a product or service.


Response: The JIT inventory system is popular with small businesses and major corporations alike because it enhances cash flow and reduces the capital needed to run the business. Retailers, restaurants, on-demand publishing, tech manufacturing, and automobile manufacturing are examples of industries that have benefited from just-in-time inventory.


Which Country Has the Largest Capital Account?

Response: As of 2023, the Netherlands has the largest capital account, with a surplus of $112.5 million. The countries following the Netherlands are Spain, France, Italy, and Romania.


What Is the Difference Between the Modern Portfolio Theory and the Post-Modern Portfolio Theory?

Response: The modern portfolio theory (MPT) was a breakthrough in personal investing. It suggests that a conservative investor can do better by choosing a mix of low-risk and riskier investments than by going entirely with low-risk choices. More importantly, it suggests that the more rewarding option does not add additional overall risk. This is the key attribute of portfolio diversification.The post-modern portfolio theory (PMPT) does not contradict these basic assumptions. However, it changes the formula for evaluating risk in an investment in order to correct what its developers perceived as flaws in the original.Followers of both theories use software that relies on either MPT or PMPT to build portfolios that match the level of risk that they seek.


Response: Because debentures are debt securities, they tend to be less risky than investing in the same company's common stock or preferred shares. Debenture holders would also be considered more senior and take priority over those other types of investments in the case of bankruptcy.Because these debts are not backed by any collateral, however, they are inherently riskier than secured debts. Therefore, these may carry relatively higher interest rates than otherwise similar bonds from the same issuer that are backed by collateral.In fact, strictly speaking, a U.S. Treasury bond and a U.S. Treasury bill are both debentures. They are not secured by collateral, yet they are considered risk-free securities.


What Does a Head and Shoulders Pattern Look Like on a Stock Chart?

Response: A head and shoulders pattern consists of three consecutive peaks, with the second peak rising above the other two. The straight line connecting the two troughs is called the neckline. When prices fall below the neckline after the third top, the pattern is considered to be confirmed.


How Did the Great Leap Forward Cause Famine?

Response: The failure of this program was due to the confluence of several factors. Efforts to kill off birds increased insect populations that ruined crops. The communal farms set up by the Great Leap Forward were beset by inadequate food distribution throughout the country given China's relatively primitive infrastructure at the time.At the same time, there was an overproduction of grain, much of which rotted before being able to be transported. In addition, there was a bias to feed residents of urban centers rather than to peasants across the countryside, leading to higher death rates among rural communities than in cities.


Response: Qualified borrowers can borrow up to 96.5% of the value of a home. Homebuyers are required to purchase mortgage insurance. Premium payments are made to the FHA, and if a borrower defaults on a mortgage, then the FHA pays the lender.


What Happens When the Price of an Underlying Asset Increases?

Response: Price changes to an underlying asset usually cause price changes to their derivatives as well. For example, a call option represents the right to buy a certain stock for a certain price. If the underlying stock is priced $3 higher than the strike price, the option has a price of around $3. If the underlying falls below the strike price at the time of expiration, the option has a value of $0.


Response: Generally, federal income tax is due on April 15 of every year. The day can shift slightly if April 15 falls on a weekend or because of other factors.


Response: ASIC-resistant coins are cryptocurrencies with ASIC-resistant algorithms. Mining these cryptocurrencies with ASIC mining equipment is virtually impossible; even if one tries to do so, the returns would be limited. The primary rationale for ASIC-resistant coins is to preserve the decentralization of their blockchains, which was one of the core principles behind creating Bitcoin.


Response: While highly subjective, “first world” is a term that consists of countries that may have the following characteristics: stable democracies, high standards of living, capitalist economies, and economic stability. Other measures that may be used to indicate first world countries include gross domestic product (GDP) or literacy rates. Broadly speaking, countries that may be considered first world include the United States, Japan, Canada, and Australia, among others.


Can Bitcoin Be Converted to Proof-of-Stake?

Response: It's possible that Bitcoin can change to proof-of-stake. However, it takes years to implement successfully, and the community would need to agree to the change.


What are capital projects in government?

Response: Government capital projects are large-scale, costly projects to maintain or improve public assets, such as parks, roads, and schools.


How Do I Make a Line Chart in Google Sheets?

Response: As with Excel, line charts are good to use when you have text labels, dates, or a few numeric labels on the horizontal axis (x-axis). Here’s how to do it Google Sheets:After entering your values, select the data range. Highlight the range of data you want to include in your line chart. For example, if your numbers are in cells A1 to B7, select this range.Go to the “Insert” tab located in the menu bar. In the drop-down menu, find and click on “Chart.” This opens the Chart Editor on the right side of your screen.In the Chart Editor, under the “Chart Type” drop-down, choose “Line Chart.” You can select a specific type like “Line with Markers,” which will place distinct markers at each data point on the line.The Chart Editor lets you further tailor the chart, like the names of the chart and different axes, line colors, and the format of your data labels, for more clarity and visual appeal.


How Is a Triple Net Lease Payment Calculated?

Response: There are various ways the amount of a triple net lease is calculated. Sometimes landlords will add all the property taxes, insurance, maintenance, and common area expenses for a building and divide the total by 12. This number is the monthly cost. This process is simplified when only one tenant is leasing a building. The monthly base rental amount is typically calculated based on a rate per square footage.


Response: Mortgage excess servicing is a fee based on the excess cash flow after a basket of loans are pooled together and securitized. This is paid out to mortgage services as a fee to maintain a mortgage-backed security.


What Do Sites Gain From Web Syndication?

Response: The distributing site attracts more users because it's able to provide more content. The content site also increases its traffic and exposure.


What Is the Difference Between Microeconomics and Macroeconomics?

Response: Microeconomics focuses on interactions between individual consumers and the producers of goods and services, while macroeconomics looks at the economy as a whole.


What are the benefits of private finance initiatives?

Response: One of the main benefits of private finance initiatives is alleviating the immediate financial burden on a government and taxpayers to finance major public-sector projects. PFIs can also transfer some of the risks associated with a project from the public sector to the private sector.


What Is the Difference Between a Solvency Ratio and a Liquidity Ratio?

Response: Solvency ratios—also referred to as leverage ratios—analyze the impact on long-term obligations, and a company’s ability to continue operating over a longer horizon. By contrast, liquidity ratios look at two main objectives: a company’s ability to pay for short-term liabilities due under a year and the ability to quickly sell assets to raise cash.


Response: You do not have to serve refreshments at an open house, but it might be nice to offer potential buyers coffee, tea, water, and cookies. If it is an evening event or a specialized open house, you could offer mocktails or cocktails with hors d'oeuvres.


What Is the Difference Between Type I and Type II Errors?

Response: A type I error occurs if a null hypothesis is rejected that is actually true in the population. This type of error is representative of a false positive. Alternatively, a type II error occurs if a null hypothesis is not rejected that is actually false in the population. This type of error is representative of a false negative.


Response: The Nasdaq 100 is a stock index that tracks some of the most prominent large-cap companies in the world. As such, it's used to indicate the overall health of the economy and the specific sectors that are included in the index. The performance of the index allows investors to understand the performance of a part of the economy and make investment decisions based on that data.


What Is the Difference Between UCITS and ETF?

Response: An exchange-traded fund (ETF) that is UCITS compliant is a type of fund that abides by the UCITS framework for funds based and managed in the EU.


Response: GAAP is important because it helps maintain faith in the financial markets. If not for GAAP, investors could be more reluctant to trust the information presented to them by public companies. Without that trust, we might see fewer transactions, potentially leading to higher transaction costs and a less robust economy. GAAP also helps investors analyze companies by making it easier to perform "apples to apples" comparisons between one company and another.


Is Exploration and Production (E&P) Upstream?

Response: Yes, exploration and production (E&P) is considered part of the upstream phase, which is the initial part of the oil and gas process that consists of exploration, drilling, and extraction.


Response: There are five types of supply—market supply, short-term supply, long-term supply, joint supply, and composite supply. Meanwhile, there are two types of supply curves—individual supply curves and market supply curves. Individual supply curves graph the individual supply schedule, while market supply curves represent the market supply schedule.


Response: The simplest example of a smart contract is a transaction between a consumer and a business, where a sale is made. The smart contract executes the customer's payment and the business's shipment or transfer of ownership.


Response: Together with the law of supply, the law of demand helps us understand why things are priced at the level that they are, and to identify opportunities to buy what are perceived to be underpriced (or sell overpriced) products, assets, or securities. For instance, a firm may boost production in response to rising prices that have been spurred by a surge in demand.


What's the Difference Between a Preliminary and a Final Prospectus?

Response: The preliminary prospectus is the first offering document provided by a security issuer and includes most of the details of the business and transaction. However, the preliminary prospectus doesn't contain the number of shares to be issued or price information. Typically, the preliminary prospectus is used to gauge interest in the market for the security being proposed.The final prospectus contains the complete details of the investment offering to the public. The final prospectus includes any finalized background information, as well as the number of shares or certificates to be issued and the offering price.


Response: The more participants are engaged in a market, the more efficient it will become as more people compete and bring more and different types of information to bear on the price. As markets become more active and liquid, arbitrageurs will also emerge, profiting by correcting small inefficiencies whenever they might arise and quickly restoring efficiency.


What Technical Indicators Can Momentum Traders Use?

Response: There are several momentum indicators that technical analysts can use in momentum trading. Among the most popular include the relative strength indicator (RSI), price rate of change (ROC), stochastics, and moving average convergence divergence (MACD).


Response: Gold bugs argue that fiat money, or government-issued currency not backed by a commodity such as gold, allows governments to engage in fiscally reckless behaviors such as relying on chronic government borrowing to finance persistent budget deficits.


Response: Thirty days past due means that you haven't made a payment on your loan obligation in 30 days. This is the turning point where it may impact your credit history. Typically, if your account is 30 days past due, or in some cases, 60, you will be reported to the credit bureaus and your credit profile will take a hit. The longer the time goes by without payment, the worse it is.


Response: Some of the most common examples of tendering include the submission process by contractors to various levels of government. For instance, private companies compete with one another to become government contractors. The process involves submitting proposals with costs based on the work required. Government agencies that typically put out calls for proposals are the Department of Energy, Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of Homeland Security.


Response: Friedrich Hayek had many beliefs in relation to economics. He was part of the Austrian School of Economics and believed in free-market capitalism. He also believed that free markets allowed for creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship, which are necessary for societies to bloom and citizens to prosper.


What is the Difference Between a Broker and a Clearinghouse?

Response: A broker is a person or entity through with customers can access the financial markets and place trades. The clearinghouse handles the back office operations after the trade is placed, ensuring the trade is cleared.


Response: An interest rate swap occurs when two parties exchange interest payments to be made at a future point in time. Swaps are typically made over the counter, not on exchanges. They're based on the principal value of the underlying assets. They commonly come into play between loans with floating and fixed rates.


Response: In finance, the run rate extrapolates a firm's current performance in order to predict future performance with the assumption that current conditions will persist. The projections are usually for an entire year which is why this process is sometimes called "annualizing." For example, if a company has revenues of $100 million in its latest quarter, the CEO might infer that the company is operating at a $400 million annualized run rate.


Response: A high solvency ratio is usually good as it means the company is usually in better long-term health compared to companies with lower solvency ratios. On the other hand, a solvency ratio that is too high may show that the company is not utilizing potentially low-cost debt as much as it should. While solvency is mostly used as a barometer of financial health and higher is good, it is also used to evaluate some of the operational efficiencies where higher is not always better.


Response: NINJA loans (no income, no job, no assets) are a category of low/no documentation (low/no doc) loan, also known as "liar loans."


Response: Market breadth indicators derive their information from price and volume. They judge market sentiment. But like all indicators it is always best to confirm information with price. A good rule of thumb is to never base trading decisions on what the indicator is saying. Always confirm with price.


Response: Unlike a discrete distribution, a continuous probability distribution can contain outcomes that have any value, including indeterminant fractions. A normal distribution, for instance, is depicted by a bell-shaped curve with an uninterrupted line covering all values across its probability function.


Response: Core capital goods are a class of capital goods that excludes aircraft and goods produced for the Defense Department, such as automatic rifles and military uniforms. The Census Bureau’s monthly Advance Report on Durable Goods Orders includes data on purchases of core capital goods, also known as Core CAPEX, for capital expenditure.


What Is the Difference Between a Progressive Tax and a Regressive Tax?

Response: A regressive tax system is where the tax rate decreases as the taxpayer's income increases. A progressive tax system is one in which the tax rate increases as the taxpayer's income increases.


Response: If the terms include the phrase "FOB origin, freight collect," the buyer is responsible for freight charges. If the terms include "FOB origin, freight prepaid," the buyer assumes the responsibility for goods at the point of origin, but the seller pays the cost of shipping.


Response: An investment thesis is a written proposal or research-based analysis of why investors or companies should pursue an investment. In some cases, it may also serve as a historical guide as to whether the investment was a good move or not. Whatever the reason, an investment thesis allows investors to make better, more informed decisions about whether to put their money into a specific investment. This written document provides insight into what the investment is, the goals of the investment, any associated costs, the potential for returns, as well as any possible risks and losses that may result.


Response: A NINJA loan is a loan that is granted to people who have no job, no income, and no assets. Essentially, they are mortgages for people who can likely not repay them. NINJA loans are essentially illegal now as a result of the Dodd Frack Act.


Response: The normal wrap fee is 1% to 3% per year of the assets under management. Whether that's reasonable depends on what it covers. The wrap fee may not include certain charges.Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations require that investment advisors give their clients a wrap fee program brochure stating what services and charges are included in the fee.The investor may still have to pay some fees, such as those charged by a mutual fund provider or charges related to third-party providers. Even some uncommon brokerage fees may not be covered in a wrap fee.


Response: A nominal quotation is a hypothetical price at which a share of stock or other security might trade. These are used as "what ifs" by traders to determine if they should place a trade in the future. They are preceded with the prefixes For Your Information (FYI) or For Valuation Only (FVO). They are the opposite of a firm quotation, which is the current real quotation of the security.


Response: A credit card skimmer is a fraudulent instrument or device placed inside a legitimate reader, such as an automated teller machine or a gas pump to copy the data off cards used in that ATM or pump.


Response: The capital gains tax is a tax on the profits from selling securities or other investments. Most investors can reduce their capital gains taxes by holding their investments for over one year. If you sell before one year, the gains are taxed at your ordinary income level, which is generally higher than the long-term capital gains tax rate. If you suffer a capital loss, you can use those losses to offset other gains.


What Is the AMT Exemption for Tax Years 2022 and 2023?

Response: For tax year 2023, the AMT exemption for individuals is $81,300 and $126,500 for married couples filing jointly. For tax year 2024, the figures are $85,700 and $133,300, respectively.


What Is the Downside to Pareto Efficiency?

Response: Pareto efficiency considers the overall distribution efficiency. However, it does not reflect the equity or distribution of resources among parties. Though the distribution of a resource may be efficient, it may not maximize overall social welfare or leave certain negatively impacted parties feeling worse off.


What Are the Pros and Cons of Overdrafts?

Response: The pros of overdraft involve providing coverage when an account unexpectedly has insufficient funds, avoiding embarrassment and "returned check" charges from merchants or creditors. But it's important to weigh the costs. Overdraft protection often comes with a significant fee and interest which, if not paid off in a timely manner, can add an additional burden to the account holder. According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, customers who had overdraft protection, in fact, often paid more in fees than those without it.


Response: It's an order placed once you've taken a position in a security (on the buy side or sell side) with instructions to close out your position by selling (or buying) the security at the market if the price of the security reaches a specific level.


Response: Bitcoin mining is the process of solving for the two-digit encrypted number contained in a block's hash called the nonce. A miner adds values (the nonce) to a block's hash trying to generate a number less than the difficulty target. When it is solved, the hash is solved, and the block is validated. The validator receives a reward.


How Long Can Banks Put a Hold on Uncollected Funds?

Response: According to the U.S. Office of the Comptroller, banks must make $225 from your deposit available the day after you make the deposit. And then, normally, the uncollected funds should be available on the second business day after the deposit was made. Holds can be extended if there is cause for concern involving the funds or the accountholder or the source of the money for deposit.


How Do You File a Complaint With the Federal Trade Commission?

Response: Consumers can file complaints with the Federal Trade Commission online or call 1-877-FTC-HELP.The FTC also maintains the Identity theft hotline (1-877-ID-THEFT) and the National Do Not Call Registry (1-888-382-1222).


What Does Joint Tenancy with Right of Survivorship Mean?

Response: A joint tenancy with right of survivorship is a form of ownership where each party shares equal rights in a property. If one of the owners dies, their share of the property is not probated with their estate—instead, it is passed on to the other joint tenants.


Which Country Has the Biggest Knowledge Economy?

Response: The factors of a knowledge economy are measured by the United Nations Development Program's Global Knowledge Index, which replaced the World Bank Knowledge Economy Index after 2012. This metric scores each country based on "enabling factors" for the knowledge economy, such as education levels, technical and vocational training, innovation, and communications technology. According to the latest issue, Switzerland is the top-ranked knowledge economy with a total score of 71.5%. The next two are Sweden and the United States with scores of 70.0 each.


Are Insurance Policies Financial Instruments?

Response: An insurance policy is a legally binding contract established with the insurance company and policy owner that provides monetary benefits if certain conditions are met (e.g., death in the case of life insurance). If the insurer is a mutual company, the policy may also confer ownership and a claim to dividends. Insurance policies also have a specified value in terms of both the death benefit and living benefits (e.g., cash value) for permanent policies.Insurance policies are not considered securities, but one could possibly view them as an alternative type of financial instrument because they confer a claim and certain rights to the policyholder and obligations to the insurer.


What Is Meant by Net Realizable Value of Accounts Receivable?

Response: NRV for accounts receivable is a reference to the net amount of accounts receivable that will be collected. This is the gross amount of accounts receivable less any allowance for doubtful accounts reducing the total amount of A/R by the amount the company does not expect to receive. NRV for accounts receivable is a conservative method of reducing A/R to only the proceeds the company thinks they will get.


Response: Poison pills prevent an activist investor or a potential acquirer from gaining control of a publicly traded company without the consent of the company's board. Deals involving the board's consent to a change of control typically provide a significant premium over the market price for all shareholders, in contrast to the share purchases in market transactions the poison pills seek to deter.


Are There Any Other Ways of Becoming an Accredited Investor?

Response: Under certain circumstances, an accredited investor designation may be assigned to a firm's directors, executive officers, or general partners if that firm is the issuer of the securities being offered or sold. In some instances, a financial professional holding a FINRA Series 7, 65, or 82 can also act as an accredited investor. There are a few additional methods that are less relevant, such as somebody managing a trust with more than $5 million in assets.


Are All Nonprofits 501(c)(3) Organizations?

Response: No. The 501(c)(3) designation made by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) only goes to charitable organizations. Social groups and sports clubs are two examples of organizations that can be tax exempt but not have 501(c)(3) status. Generally, organizations existing for scientific, religious, or public safety purposes can be tax exempt but not have 501(c)(3) status.


Should You Accept Non-Qualified Stock Options As Compensation?

Response: In general, stock options are riskier than salary compensation, but potentially more lucrative if the company has a chance for strong growth. When offered non-qualified stock options, employees should consider their company's risks and the potential value of their shares, both in dollar value and as a percentage of the company's total equity. If they are offered only a tiny percentage of their company or it has a low chance of growth, employees may be better off negotiating for a higher salary instead.


Response: Financial leverage can be calculated in several different ways. There is a suite of financial ratios referred to as leverage ratios that analyze the level of indebtedness a company experiences against various assets. The two most common financial leverage ratios are debt-to-equity (total debt/total equity) and debt-to-assets (total debt/total assets).


Response: In the course of making a profit, arbitrage traders enhance the efficiency of the financial markets. As they buy and sell, the price differences between identical or similar assets narrow. The lower-priced assets are bid up, while the higher-priced assets are sold off. In this manner, arbitrage resolves inefficiencies in the market’s pricing and adds liquidity to the market.


Response: Finance jobs can vary a lot in pay. Among the most common positions:A personal financial advisor's median annual compensation is $94,170, according to the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) statistics.The median pay for budget analysts—the professionals who examine how a company or organization spends money—is a solid $79,940 annually. A job as a treasury analyst pays $60,730 a year on average, according to Payscale. However, corporate treasurers, who have more experience, make an average salary of $118,704.Financial analysts make a median of $81,410, though salaries can run in the six figures at major Wall Street firms.Accountants and auditors' median pay clocks in at $77,250. According to Payscale, the average salary for CPAs ranges from $50,000 to $126,000 per year.Financial managers—who create financial reports, direct investment activities, and develop plans for the long-term financial goals of their organization—have a median pay of $131,710 per year, reflecting the fact that theirs is a fairly senior position.Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents—brokers and financial advisors who connect buyers and sellers in financial markets—make a median of $62,910 per year. However, their compensation is often commission-based, and so a salaried figure may not fully reflect their earnings.According to an Indeed.com survey, Chief Finance Officers (CFOs) have the highest salaried jobs in finance. As of mid-2022, CFOs earned an average of $123,265 before bonuses.


Response: Yes, demand drafts can generally be canceled or stopped by the purchaser. If a demand draft needs to be canceled, the purchaser should contact the issuing bank immediately and provide the necessary details. The bank will guide the purchaser through the cancellation process which may involve submitting a written request and paying cancellation fees.


What Information Is Required on Form 8949?

Response: Information required for each asset reported on Form 8949 includes the description of the stock or other asset, the purchase price, purchase date, selling price, and selling date.


Response: Monetarism is a macroeconomic theory stating that governments can foster economic stability by targeting the growth rate of the money supply. Closely associated with economist Milton Friedman, monetarism is a branch of Keynesian economics that emphasizes the use of monetary policy over fiscal policy to manage aggregate demand, which contrasts with the theories of most Keynesian economists.


Response: You can open a trading account with your brokerage or investment firm of choice by filling out an application with your personal information and funding the account. If you want margin capabilities for trading, you'll need to complete the margin agreement and submit to initial margin requirements, house margin requirements, and all applicable regulatory policies.


What Is the Difference Between Copyright and Trademark?

Response: A copyright protects a creator's original work from being used or duplicated without their permission. A trademark protects the reputation of a business that is associated with identifying material such as their logo or slogan. Both are ways or protecting intellectual property.