Useful Finance and Investment words from Investopedia

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Christmas Club

A short-term savings account that usually pays out the full account balance to its account holders once each year, right before Christmas. Christmas club accounts pay depositors monthly interest on their account balances and often punish early withdrawals by retracting interest earned if money is taken out before a given date.

Icahn Lift

The name given to the rise in stock price that occurs when Carl Icahn begins to purchase shares in a company. The Icahn lift occurs because of Mr. Icahn's reputation for creating value for the shareholders of the companies in which he takes an interest.

Carl Icahn is most famous for his work as an activist shareholder, but has also been referred to as a corporate raider. He purchases shares in a company that he believes is undervalued and then creates a plan to fix the problems. This usually involves spinning off profitable segments, changing management, cutting costs and buying back stock.

ARM Margin

A fixed percentage rate that is added to an index value to determine the fully indexed interest rate of an adjustable rate mortgage (ARM). The margin is constant throughout the life of the mortgage, while the index value is variable. For example, the index might be the prime rate, which varies according to market conditions, and the margin might be 2%. If the prime rate were 5% and the margin 2%, then the fully indexed interest rate would be 7%. If the prime rate rises to 6% (the margin remains constant), the fully indexed interest rate would be 8%.

Bag Man

Any person in charge of organizing, collecting and transporting money, generally in connection with illegal or illicit activities. A bag man is someone who collects and delivers money on behalf of a boss or organization. Nowadays, bag man can be used pejoratively to describe an individual who is in charge of collecting and delivering contributions to political parties or fundsgathered for political purposes.

Consumer Internet Barometer

A quarterly survey report produced by the Conference Board and TNS NFO that records, analyzes and reports on the internet usage of 10,000 U.S. households. The survey seeks to measure:

1. the importance of the internet in the daily lives of households

2. overall satisfaction of internet users

3. online purchase characteristics, times and dates

4. users' perceptions of security for online transactions and general internet usage

Trickle-Down Effect

A phenomenon where an advertisement is rapidly disseminated by word of mouth or by viral marketing. The trickle-down effect works when an ad is so compelling, either because of its uniqueness, humor, entertainment value or other outstanding trait, that people are excited to share it with their friends, family and coworkers.

Upside Gap Two Crows

A bearish market reversal signal in technical analysis. The upside gap two crows pattern is a three-day formation on candlestick charts that typically develops in the following manner:

Day 1 - A bullish day that continues the uptrend, represented by a long white candlestick, which indicates that the closing price of the index or security is well above the opening price.

Day 2 - A bearish day despite the index or security gapping higher at the open, represented by a small black or colored candlestick.

Day 3 - A second bearish day, with the index or security opening higher than the Day 2 open, but closing below the Day 2 close and above the Day 1 close. This is visually represented by a bigger black or colored candlestick that "engulfs" the Day 2 candlestick.

Turkey

Slang for an investment that yields disappointing results or turns out worse than expected. Failed business deals, securities that realize significant losses and unsuccessful initial public offerings (IPOs) could all be called "turkeys".

Intelligent ETF

An exchange-traded fund (ETF) that employs an active investment strategy based on a broad index, such as the S&P 500 or a sector-based index. The fund may choose to exclude some stocks within the index while increasing or decreasing the percentage weighting of other stocks. Most intelligent ETFs carry higher expense ratios than standard ETFs, as well as substantially higher turnover ratios.

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