Employer retirement plans

Employer retirement plans are exactly what their name suggests: offered by your employer, these investment plans help you accumulate money that can provide you an income in retirement.

Estate planning

Your estate plan can be viewed as a series of steps to be taken so that, after you die, your property will be handled in a way that recognizes your values and wishes regarding your survivors and any charitable interests you may have.

Estate sale

An estate sale is a method to liquidate a family or state’s https://rksloans.com/payday-loans-tx/ belongings. Generally larger than yard sales, estate sales are most commonly used when downsizing, moving, divorcing, filing for bankruptcy, or after a death.

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs)

Like mutual funds, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are baskets of securities. Like stocks, ETFs trade on an exchange. Unlike regular mutual funds, ETFs can be bought and sold throughout the trading day. They can also be sold short and bought on margin. Anything you might do with a stock, you can do with an ETF.

Expected family contribution

This is the number that the school uses to decide how much financial aid a student is eligible to receive.

Federal Direct Subsidized Loans

Loans that can be taken out by students with financial need. Because they are subsidized, the government pays the interest on the loan while you’re in school and for six months after you graduate.

Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans

Similar to Subsidized Direct Loans, except they are not based on financial need and you have to pay interest on them from the start. If you don’t pay the interest while you’re in school, it accrues and gets added to the principal of your loan.

FICO score

The FICO score boils your credit history down to a three-digit number that instantly tells a lender whether you are creditworthy. This score dictates what terms – if any – you will be offered in a mortgage. Pioneered by the Fair, Isaac Corporation, this score and similar ones used by other credit reporting services rely on several factors.

Fiduciary

A fiduciary is a financial advisor or institution who must do what’s in your best financial interest rather than place their own interests first.

Finance

The term finance is used to describe all activities used to generate capital for trade or commerce. These include raising money by investing (buying and selling) in stocks, bonds, or other investments, and using credit for the purpose of making money. Finance is an important part of the study of economics.

Financial action plan

A financial action plan is a plan that directs how you will manage your money in order to make progress toward your goals. Simply knowing what you want will not get you there: you need a real plan to make it happen. And it should be written down, with clear goals and actionable steps that can be measured in some way. When a plan is written with concrete, measurable steps, you can gauge whether or not it has succeeded. Another benefit is that the concrete, actionable steps take the hunches and the guesswork out of your planning.

Financial planning

Financial planning is the method of managing one’s finances in order to achieve one’s goals and dreams. While everyone already does it to some extent, the term in its professional use involves a set of procedures that individuals can use methodically.

Flexible spending account (FSA)

A flexible spending account (FSA) is an employee benefit authorized by the IRS code that allows you to save before-tax dollars on certain healthcare and dependent care costs. To get one, your employer must offer this benefit and you must sign up, designating what amount of money you want to be deducted from your pay on a yearly basis.