Barrier Of Entry Any factor that may prevent a new competitor from entering a market. It could be natural barriers, like a required technology or skill that is hard for competitors to get, or artificial, like a legal protection of a monopoly.

Bankrupt To be unable to pay one’s debt and seek legal protection and discharge of one’s debts. This usually involves a partial repayment plan and a custodian that sells off assets to pay off as much of your debt as possible.

Banker’s Acceptance A contract with a bank where you can make a deposit (plus fees) that can be withdrawn later by you or whoever you transfer the contract to. This is frequently used as a go-between for making a transaction where one party does not know the credit worthiness of the other party, so the bank deposit is used as the basis of the transaction.

Bank Statements Documents issued from banks to their account holders. These typically include a list of transactions made on an account, starting and ending balance, and any interest earned.

Bank Deposits The total amount of money deposited at a bank by its customers. This is the amount of money available for the bank to lend.

Bank Accounts An account at a bank or other financial institution where a customer or business deposits money for safekeeping, to earn interest, or to facilitate other financial transactions.

Bank A financial institution that issues savings and checking accounts and earns a profit by issuing loans that charge interest. Other types of banks focus solely on investing.

Balloon Payments When a loan is heavily backloaded, with small payments in the beginning of the term but a very large payment at the end of the loan term.

Balanced Budget A budget that exactly balances incoming revenues and outgoing expenses.

Balance Transfer The act of transferring the outstanding balance of one credit card to another credit card, usually with a lower interest rate or some other incentive to lower the total amount owed.

Balance Sheet A fundamental financial statement showing a company’s assets, liabilities, and shareholder’s equity.

Bad Debt Debt that is taken out for non-productive purposes, not increasing total wealth.

Back Load When the primary charges or payments as part of a contract are delayed until near the end of the contract or budgeting period.

Business to Customer (B2C) When a business primarily sells to individual customers.

Business to Business (B2B) When a business primarily sells to other businesses.

Average Daily Balance The average outstanding balance over the course of the month on a credit card. The total interest charge for a month is usually based on this amount.

Average Cost An accounting system that bases the calculation of profit or loss on the average purchase price of the assets being sold.

Automatic Payments Payments for recurring bills that are scheduled to be paid automatically from a checking account or credit card without any intervention necessary from the account holder. These are useful to ensure bills are paid on time, but risky when careful cash planning is necessary.

Auto Insurance A type of insurance covering cars. It includes, at minimum, liability insurance in case you cause damage to another person, property, or vehicle, but can also include additional coverage to protect you from damage caused by others.

Audit An exercise of reviewing financial information to detect and correct errors or identify fraud.

Auction A pricing system where potential buyers submit bids up to the true value they place on an asset. There are also reverse auctions, where sellers reduce their price until a buyer is willing to pay.

Assets Anything of monetary value that can be bought or sold.

Asset Preservation The concept of only converting the returns on an investment into cash, while allowing the original investment to remain invested and continue to grow.

Ask Price The minimum price a seller would be willing to take in order to make a trade.

Ascending Triangle A triangle where the support line increases faster than a resistance line. This is usually a sign that a positive breakout is coming.

Artificial Barrier A barrier of entry into a market imposed by a government or other legal entity to put a limit on competition.

Annual Percent Rate (APR) This is a standardized method of advertising interest rates, by clearly stating it in annual terms. Before the introduction of APR, lenders would advertise their interest weekly, monthly, yearly, or daily, making it very hard for consumers to compare loan terms.

Applicant Tracking Software A tool used by Human Resource departments to log resumes and cover letters submitted for job postings. Applicant Tracking Software frequently “processes” a submitted resume or other data into a standardized format to make it easier to filter job candidates based on specific criteria.

Annual Report A report produced once a year by a publicly traded company which contains both their audited financial statements and extra information from the company itself about their operations and outlook for the next year.

Analyst Ratings A professional opinion from an analyst on the merit of a stock or other security to another investor (buy, sell, or hold).

Analyst A professional who researches stock price movements to provide insight on what has happened before and what might happen in the future.

Amortization The act of dividing the repayment of a loan over the course of several years with equal payments each month. An “Amortized” loan payment goes mostly towards interest near the beginning of the loan, mostly towards principle near the end of the loan.

American Opportunity Tax Credit A tax credit made available for education expenses in the United States.

Age Of Exploration The historical time period from approximately 1400 through 1700 when European explorers established trade routes to Asia, Africa, India, and the Americas. This period was dominated by the Mercantilist economic viewpoint.

After Hours Placing trades outside standard market hours. After-hours trading is generally riskier than trading during market hours, since there are far fewer investors participating.

Advisory Fees Fees charged by a financial advisor in exchange for their advice, usually regarding investments.

Advertising A marketing function of a business to make consumers or other businesses aware of their products and services in a positive light.

Advanced Premium Tax Credit A tax credit earned through the Health Insurance Marketplace to help offset the cost of insurance premiums. Unlike other tax credits, this is applied directly to your health insurance premiums instead of paid back as part of a tax return.

Adjustable Rate Mortgage A type of mortgage or home loan that has an interest rate that changes over the course of the loan, usually based on the change in interest rates or some other independent index.

Active Trading The action of buying and selling stocks or other securities on a regular, ongoing basis (usually at least 1 trade per week).

Accrual Accounting The concept that expenses and revenues are counted for accounting purposes when they were earned, rather than when a cash transaction takes place.

Accounts Receivable The outstanding bills an organization has sent to other businesses or individuals that they are waiting to be paid and converted into cash. This is an asset.

Accounts Payable The outstanding bills for an organization that need to be paid to vendors or employees. This is a liability.

Accounting Equation Assets – Liabilities = Shareholder’s Equity. This is a fundamental equation stating that the final amounts for each type of account must balance.

Accounting Cycle A series of steps that businesses take to track transactions and consolidate financial information over a specific accounting period (month, quarter, year). The end result of the accounting cycle is the production of accurate financial statements for that period and preparedness for the next accounting period.

Account Number A unique number for a bank account or brokerage account. For checking accounts, it appears on the check itself to designate which bank account to transfer money to or from.

Acceptance (Contract) When one party to a contract formally accepts the offer that was presented, making the contract binding to both parties.

401 (K) A type of tax-advantaged retirement account, where an employer can make contributions alongside an employee as part of a retirement savings scheme. Contributions made by an employer into a 401(k) are generally not taxable unless withdrawn before retirement.

10-Q A quarterly report containing unaudited financial statements for publicly traded companies. This form is filed with the SEC and is made available to investors. It contains a company’s Income Statement, Cash Flow Statement, and Balance Sheet, with other supplementary data.

10-K An annual report containing audited financial statements for publicly traded companies. This form is filed with the SEC and is made available to investors. It contains a company’s Income Statement, Cash Flow Statement, and Balance Sheet, with other supplementary data.

1099 A form provided to contractors to report their income in the United States.

1040 The base form to file federal income taxes in the United States. It may be supplemented with additional forms for complex tax returns.