1. The value of a currency expressed in terms of the amount of goods or services that one unit of money can buy. Purchasing power is important because, all else being equal, inflation decreases the amount of goods or services you'd be able to purchase.2. In investment terms, the dollar amount of credit available to a customer to buy additional securities against the existing marginable securities in the brokerage account. 1. To measure purchasing power, you'd compare against price index such as CPI. A simple way to think about purchasing power is to imagine if you made the same salary as your grandfather. Clearly you could survive on much less a few generations ago, however, because of inflation, you'd need a greater salary just to maintain the same quality of living.2. Each jurisdiction has its own rules governing margin transactions. In the United States you can purchase up to 50% of securities on margin, so, if you had $10,000 in a margin account, you'd be able to purchase up to $20,000 worth of securities. Said another way, you have an extra $10,000 of purchasing power (buying power).
A grant from the Government of Canada paid directly into a beneficiary's Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP). It adds 20% to the first $2,000 in contributions made into an RESP on behalf of an eligible beneficiary each year. |||The CESG is an incentive program designed to encourage people to save for a child's education and to lessen the financial burden of a post-secondary education.
The act of making a process, good or service easy to obtain by making it as uniform, plentiful and affordable as possible. Something becomes commoditized when one offering is nearly indistinguishable from another. As a result of technological innovation, broad-based education and frequent iteration, goods and services become commoditized and, therefore, widely accessible. In the past few decades, previously “modern” things such as microchips, personal computers – even the internet itself – have become essentially commoditized. Combinations of commoditized products such as computers and business software have in effect commoditized many processes, such as business accounting and supply chain management. In a truly capitalist society, the ability to commoditize anything is seen as a benefit to all, and opens up resources that can be put to better use on innovative enterprises.
The return that an asset achieves over a certain period of time. This measure looks at the appreciation or depreciation (expressed as a percentage) that an asset - usually a stock or a mutual fund - achieves over a given period of time. Absolute return differs from relative return because it is concerned with the return of a particular asset and does not compare it to any other measure or benchmark. In general, a mutual fund seeks to produce returns that are better that its peers, its fund category, and/or the market as a whole. This type of fund management is referred to as a relative return approach to fund investing. As an investment vehicle, an absolute return fund seeks to make positive returns by employing investment management techniques that differ from traditional mutual funds. Absolute return investment techniques include using short selling, futures, options, derivatives, arbitrage, leverage and unconventional assets.Alfred Winslow Jones is credited with forming the first absolute return fund in New York in 1949. In recent years, this so-called absolute return approach to fund investing has become one of the fastest growing investment products in the world and is more commonly referred to as a hedge fund.
A strategy that aims to limit potential losses to a desired amount by using a stop-loss or stop-limit order. For example, a trader or investor may execute a protective stop by setting a stop-loss order for 10% below what he or she paid for the stock, therefore limiting the loss to 10%.
The equivalent to a contract for 1,000 units of the base currency in a forex trade. The base currency is the first currency in a pair, or the currency that the investors buys or sells. Trading in micro-lots enables traders to trade in small increments. |||When an investor places an order for a micro lot, this means they have placed an order for 1,000 units of the currency being bought or sold. For example, in a USD/AUD currency pair, the U.S. dollar is the base currency. Investors use micro-lot sizes when they prefer not to trade mini or standard lots. Ten mini lots is equal to 100 micro lots, which is equal to one standard lot.
A method of valuing a company's intangible assets. This calculation attempts to allocate a fixed value to intangible assets that does not change according to the company's market value. Examples of intangible assets include brand equity and proprietary technology. |||Usually a company's intangible assets are valued by subtracting a firm's book value from its market value. However, opponents of this method argue that because market value constantly changes, the value of intangible assets changes also, making it an inferior measure. Finding a company's CIV involves seven steps:1. Calculate the average pretax earnings for the past three years.2. Calculate the average year-end tangible assets for the past three years.3. Calculate the company's return on assets (ROA).4. Calculate the industry average ROA for the same three-year period as in Step 2.5. Calculate excess ROA by multiplying the industry average ROA by the average tangible assets calculated in Step 2. Subtract the excess return from the pretax earnings from Step 1.6. Calculate the three-year average corporate tax rate and multiply by the excess return. Deduct the result from the excess return.7. Calculate the net present value of the after-tax excess return. Use the company's cost of capital as a discount rate.
A commercial year is a 360 day year composed of 12 months with each lasting 30 days. The commercial year adjusts for differences in the number of days in each calendar month, making it easier to track changes in a business. A common application for using a commercial year can be found in the retail sector. If a manager wishes to understand changes in the revenues of stores from month to month, using a calendar year may obscure economic reality. For example, sales for January could be higher than sales in February simply because there are more days in January than in February. Thus, a manager would prefer to see results in 30 day increments to evaluate the true extent of any change in business.