Personal Finance and Investment Options Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering key personal savings tips, financial terms, and major investment options detailed across all lecture sources.

Automatic Saving

Setting up deductions from your paycheck that automatically deposit money straight into your savings account.

First Step in Saving

Making a commitment to save, deciding how much you will save each month, and picking an achievable amount.

High-Yield Savings Account

A savings account similar to traditional savings accounts, but offering much higher rates.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)

An independent agency created by Congress to help keep our financial system stable and our money safe by providing deposit insurance in case a bank fails.

Certificates of Deposit (CDs)

A special savings account offered by banks and credit unions with higher interest rates than traditional savings accounts, where you agree not to withdraw money for a set period of time or pay a fee.

Portfolio

A collection of financial investments like stocks, bonds, commodities, cash, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), real estate, debt, gold, cryptocurrency, and businesses.

Goal of Building a Portfolio

To build a portfolio of investments that you are knowledgeable about, that grows in value over time, and generates income for you long-term.

Savings Account

An account offered by most banks that provides monthly interest payments on the money kept in the account.

Bonds

Loans made to companies or government entities like a city, state, or country in exchange for interest and repayment at a later date.

Treasury Bills (T-Bills)

Loans made to the US federal government in exchange for being paid back at a later date plus interest.

Real Estate

Owning property like houses, apartments, office buildings, warehouses, or land.

Entrepreneurship

Starting your own business as an investment in yourself to build something of value that generates income and can be sold one day.

Education

Investing in yourself to deepen your knowledge, creating greater opportunities to generate income through expertise.

Cryptocurrency

A digital form of money that exists solely in the virtual space, has no physical bills or coins, and is not owned by any country.

Stocks

Small shares of various companies listed on an exchange, allowing you to literally own a piece of those businesses and benefit from their growth.

Stock Options

Contracts that can be bought and sold for the right to buy or sell a particular stock at some point in the future for a specific price.

Mutual Funds and Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs)

Collections or groups of stocks or different forms of investment vehicles.

Money Market Funds

A low-risk way to hold on to cash, operating much like a savings account at the bank.

Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)

Investment vehicles that allow anyone to invest in portfolios of real estate assets through individual stock or through a mutual fund or ETF on the stock exchange.

Hard Commodities

Investments in raw goods consisting of natural resources that must be mined.

Soft Commodities

Investments in raw goods consisting of agricultural products.

Futures

Contracts to buy or sell a specific underlying asset at a future date, requiring the buyer to purchase or the seller to sell whatever the market price is at the expiration date.