200+ financial terms, explained simply
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Most popular terms
Compound interest is interest earned on both the original principal and on the interest that has previously been added to the account, producing exponential growth over time.
An ETF (exchange-traded fund) is a basket of securities — usually stocks or bonds — that trades on a stock exchange like a single share, providing diversification at low cost.
A mortgage is a long-term loan secured by real estate, used to finance the purchase of a home or commercial property, repaid in monthly instalments over 10 to 30 years.
Pillar 3a is Switzerland's tax-advantaged private retirement account, where annual contributions are fully deductible from taxable income and the capital is locked until retirement (with limited early-withdrawal exceptions).
Inflation is the rate at which the general price level of goods and services rises over time, reducing the purchasing power of money.
Net income is the amount of money you actually receive after all taxes, social contributions and mandatory deductions have been subtracted from your gross earnings.
APR (Annual Percentage Rate) is the total yearly cost of a loan expressed as a percentage, including the nominal interest rate plus mandatory fees, allowing fair comparison between offers.
SARON is Switzerland's risk-free overnight reference rate, calculated from secured repo transactions in Swiss francs; since 2022 it has fully replaced CHF Libor as the benchmark for floating-rate loans and mortgages.
A dividend is a cash payment a company makes to its shareholders out of profits, typically distributed quarterly, semi-annually or annually in proportion to shares held.
Wohneigentumsförderung (WEF) is the Swiss legal mechanism that lets you withdraw or pledge your Pillar 2 and Pillar 3a capital to buy, build or amortise a primary residence.
Amortization
Amortization is the gradual repayment of a loan's principal through scheduled instalments, where each payment covers both interest and a shrinking share of the original balance.
Accounts payable (AP) is the money a business owes its suppliers for goods or services received but not yet paid for, recorded as a current liability on the balance sheet.
Accounts receivable (AR) is the money owed to a business by its customers for goods or services delivered on credit but not yet paid for, recorded as a current asset on the balance sheet.
An adjustable-rate mortgage has an interest rate that periodically adjusts based on a reference index plus a margin, often after an initial fixed-rate period — exposing the borrower to rate risk in exchange for a lower starting rate.
Amortization is the gradual repayment of a loan's principal through scheduled instalments, where each payment covers both interest and a shrinking share of the original balance.
An annuity is an insurance contract in which the buyer pays a premium (lump sum or instalments) and the insurer pays a series of guaranteed periodic payments — for a fixed period or for life — typically used for retirement income.
An appraisal is a professional, independent estimate of a property's market value, conducted by a licensed appraiser, used by lenders to size mortgages and by buyers and sellers to set prices.
APR (Annual Percentage Rate) is the total yearly cost of a loan expressed as a percentage, including the nominal interest rate plus mandatory fees, allowing fair comparison between offers.
Asset allocation is the strategic decision about what percentage of a portfolio to hold in each major asset class — stocks, bonds, real estate, cash, alternatives — chosen to match the investor's return objective, risk tolerance and time horizon.
An ATM is a self-service machine that lets bank customers withdraw cash, deposit notes or cheques, transfer between own accounts and check balances using a debit or credit card and a PIN, available 24/7 in most locations.
The balance sheet is a financial statement that shows a company's assets, liabilities and shareholders' equity at a single point in time, governed by the accounting equation Assets = Liabilities + Equity.
A bear market is a period during which broad stock prices fall at least 20% from a prior peak, typically lasting several months to a few years and accompanied by economic recession, weak corporate earnings and broad pessimism.
A bond is a debt security in which an investor lends money to a government or corporation for a defined term, in exchange for periodic interest payments (coupons) and repayment of the face value at maturity.
The break-even point is the sales volume at which total revenue exactly covers total costs, producing neither profit nor loss; every unit sold beyond it generates profit.
A budget is a written plan that allocates expected income to spending, saving and debt repayment categories over a defined period, used to control finances and reach goals.
A bull market is a prolonged period — typically months to years — during which stock prices rise persistently, conventionally defined as a gain of at least 20% from the prior trough, accompanied by investor optimism and rising economic activity.
Burn rate is the speed at which a company — typically an unprofitable startup — spends its cash reserves each month, measuring the pace of cash consumption.
The BVG pension is the periodic income paid out by a Swiss Pillar 2 pension fund at retirement, calculated by multiplying the saver's accumulated capital by the fund's conversion rate (Umwandlungssatz).
Capital expenditure is money a business spends to acquire, upgrade or maintain long-lived physical assets such as buildings, machinery, vehicles or technology infrastructure, capitalised on the balance sheet and depreciated over their useful life.
A capital gain is the profit realised when an asset (stock, fund unit, property) is sold for more than its purchase price; the loss in the opposite case is called a capital loss.
Capital gains tax is the tax due on the profit realised when you sell an asset — shares, bonds, real estate, crypto or a business — for more than you paid for it, with rules that differ sharply across European jurisdictions.
The capitalisation rate is the ratio of a property's net operating income to its current market value, used to compare the unlevered yield of investment properties and to convert income into value.
Cash flow is the net amount of cash moving into and out of a business during a period, measuring the actual liquidity created or consumed rather than accounting profit.
The cash flow statement reports the actual cash entering and leaving a business over a period, split into operating, investing and financing activities.
A central bank is the public institution that issues a country's currency, sets monetary policy by adjusting the policy interest rate, supervises commercial banks and acts as lender of last resort during financial crises.
A certificate of deposit is a time-deposit bank product in which you lock a fixed amount of cash for a defined term (1 month to 10 years) in exchange for a guaranteed interest rate that is higher than a savings account.
A checking account is a demand-deposit bank account designed for everyday transactions — receiving salary, paying bills, using a debit card and withdrawing cash at ATMs — with funds available on demand and usually paying little or no interest.
Church tax (Kirchensteuer / impôt ecclésiastique) is an additional income or wealth tax collected by the state on behalf of recognised religious communities, levied on registered members of those communities.
Closing costs are the various fees and expenses — beyond the property price — paid by buyer and seller at the completion of a real-estate transaction, typically 2–5% of the purchase price.
Compound interest is interest earned on both the original principal and on the interest that has previously been added to the account, producing exponential growth over time.
Corporate tax is the tax a company pays on its profits — revenues minus deductible business expenses, depreciation, interest and (often) loss carry-forwards — with European rates ranging from 9% in Hungary to 30% in some German municipalities.
The cost of living is the amount of money needed to maintain a certain standard of living in a particular place, covering housing, food, transport, healthcare, utilities, taxes and other essentials.
A credit card is a revolving credit instrument that lets you borrow from the card issuer at point of sale, repay the balance interest-free if cleared within the grace period, or carry the balance forward at an annual interest rate that is usually higher than 15%.
A credit score is a numerical rating — typically 300 to 850 in the US — that summarises a borrower's creditworthiness based on credit history, used by lenders to decide loan approval and pricing.
Credit utilisation is the percentage of available credit on revolving accounts (credit cards, lines of credit) that is currently being used — a major component of credit scores, with lower being better.
A debit card is a payment card linked directly to your checking account that authorises merchants and ATMs to withdraw funds from your available balance in real time, without extending any credit.
The debt avalanche method is a debt-repayment strategy in which the borrower pays minimums on every debt and channels all extra funds to the highest-interest-rate balance first, regardless of size.
The debt snowball method is a debt-repayment strategy in which the borrower pays minimums on every debt and channels all extra funds to the smallest balance first, then rolls each freed payment into the next-smallest balance.
Debt-to-income is the percentage of a borrower's gross monthly income that goes toward debt payments, used by lenders to assess affordability and creditworthiness.
Deposit insurance is a government or industry-backed guarantee that reimburses bank customers up to a defined limit (CHF 100,000 in Switzerland, EUR 100,000 in the EU) if their bank fails, designed to prevent bank runs and stabilise the financial system.
Depreciation is the systematic allocation of the cost of a tangible long-lived asset over its useful life, reflecting wear and tear as an expense on the income statement.
Derivatives are financial contracts whose value derives from an underlying asset (stock, bond, currency, commodity, index, rate), used for hedging, speculation and access to exposures that would be inefficient or impossible to obtain directly.
A direct debit is a recurring payment arrangement in which you authorise a company to pull a variable or fixed amount from your bank account on agreed dates, used for utility bills, insurance premiums, gym memberships and subscriptions.
Disability insurance replaces a portion of the insured's income — typically 50–70% — if illness or injury prevents them from working, providing financial security during inability to earn.
Diversification is the practice of spreading investments across many uncorrelated holdings — different companies, sectors, countries and asset classes — so that the failure of any one cannot destroy the portfolio.
A dividend is a cash payment a company makes to its shareholders out of profits, typically distributed quarterly, semi-annually or annually in proportion to shares held.
Double taxation occurs when the same income or capital is taxed twice — most commonly by two different countries claiming taxing rights — and is mitigated through bilateral tax treaties and domestic relief mechanisms.
A down payment is the upfront cash portion of a property purchase that the buyer contributes from their own savings, typically 10–25% of the price, with the remainder financed by a mortgage.
EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — a measure of a company's core operating profitability that removes financing and accounting effects.
The effective tax rate is the total tax paid divided by total taxable income — the true average percentage your income is taxed at, always lower than the top marginal rate.
The Eigenmietwert (valeur locative) is a notional rental income that Swiss homeowners must add to their taxable income for living in their own property — equivalent to the rent they would otherwise have to pay.
An emergency fund is liquid savings held in a separate account to cover unexpected expenses or income loss — job loss, medical bills, major car or home repairs — without resorting to debt.
Equity is ownership in an asset after all debts secured by it have been repaid; for a company it is the residual claim of shareholders, for a property it is value minus mortgage.
Escrow is a financial arrangement in which a neutral third party holds money or documents on behalf of a buyer and seller until the conditions of a transaction are met.
An ETF (exchange-traded fund) is a basket of securities — usually stocks or bonds — that trades on a stock exchange like a single share, providing diversification at low cost.
FIRE — Financial Independence, Retire Early — is a movement and lifestyle that uses aggressive saving (typically 50–70% of income) and low-cost index investing to build enough wealth to retire decades before the traditional age.
Fixed costs are business expenses that do not change with the level of output or sales in the short term — they must be paid whether you sell zero units or thousands.
A fixed-rate mortgage is a home loan with an interest rate that remains constant for the full term — typically 5, 10, 15, 25 or 30 years — providing predictable monthly payments and protection against rate rises.
Foreclosure is the legal process by which a lender repossesses a mortgaged property after the borrower fails to keep up payments, sells it, and uses the proceeds to recover the outstanding loan balance.
Fractional reserve banking is the system in which commercial banks keep only a small fraction of customer deposits as cash reserves and lend the remainder out, thereby creating new money each time a loan is granted.
Free cash flow (FCF) is the cash a business generates from operations after deducting the capital expenditures needed to maintain or expand its asset base — the cash truly available to shareholders, lenders and reinvestment.
Freehold is the most absolute form of property ownership, granting the holder unlimited time of possession of the land and any buildings on it, subject only to statutory obligations such as zoning, taxes and easements.
Gift tax is a tax on the transfer of value from one living person to another without consideration, typically structured as a sibling to inheritance tax to prevent people from giving everything away just before death.
Gross income is your total earnings before any taxes, social contributions or other deductions — the headline salary figure agreed in your employment contract.
Gross profit is revenue minus the direct cost of producing the goods or services sold, showing how much money a business keeps from each sale before operating expenses.
Health insurance is a contract that pays for medical care — hospital, outpatient, prescription drugs — in exchange for a monthly premium plus cost-sharing through deductibles, copays and coinsurance.
Home equity is the difference between a property's current market value and the outstanding mortgage balance — the portion of the home the owner truly owns and can convert to cash through sale, refinance, or home-equity loan.
A home-equity line of credit is a revolving credit facility secured by the equity in a borrower's home, allowing draws up to a limit at variable interest rates, typically with a draw period followed by a repayment period.
An IBAN is a standardised international account identifier of up to 34 alphanumeric characters that uniquely identifies a bank account across borders, combining the country code, two check digits and the domestic account number.
The income statement (or profit and loss statement, P&L) reports a company's revenues, expenses and profits over a specific period, showing whether the business made money and how.
Income tax is a tax levied by governments on the wages, salaries, business profits and other earnings of individuals and corporations, usually charged at progressive rates that rise with the amount of income.
An index fund is a mutual fund or ETF designed to track the performance of a specific market index (S&P 500, SPI, MSCI World) by holding the same constituents in the same weightings, at a fraction of the cost of an actively managed fund.
Inflation is the rate at which the general price level of goods and services rises over time, reducing the purchasing power of money.
Inheritance tax (or estate tax) is a tax on assets transferred from a deceased person to their heirs, calculated either on the deceased's estate as a whole or on each beneficiary's share, with rates depending on the relationship to the deceased.
An interest rate is the cost of borrowing money or the return for saving it, expressed as an annual percentage of the principal amount.
Inventory turnover is the number of times a company sells and replaces its stock over a period, measuring how efficiently inventory is converted into sales.
An IPO is the first time a private company sells shares to the public on a stock exchange, raising capital, providing liquidity to early investors and subjecting itself to listing-disclosure rules going forward.
The Kinderzulage (allocations familiales) is a cantonal monthly family allowance paid to working parents in Switzerland, intended to help cover the cost of raising children up to age 16 (or 25 if in education).
A Krankenkasse (caisse-maladie) is one of the roughly 50 Swiss private insurers approved to provide the legally required basic health insurance under the KVG / LAMal framework.
KYC, or Know Your Customer, is the regulated process by which financial institutions verify a client's identity, source of funds and beneficial ownership before opening an account, in order to prevent money laundering, tax evasion and terrorist financing.
Leasehold is a form of property tenure in which the holder owns the right to occupy and use a property for a fixed term under a lease from the freeholder, but does not own the land outright.
Life insurance is a contract in which the insurer pays a lump-sum death benefit to designated beneficiaries on the death of the insured, in exchange for a periodic premium during the policy term.
Loan-to-value is the ratio of a mortgage loan to the appraised value of the property, expressed as a percentage, used by lenders to assess the risk of the loan.
The marginal tax rate is the percentage of tax paid on the next franc or euro of additional income — the rate that applies to the highest bracket your income reaches.
Market capitalisation, or market cap, is the total market value of a company's outstanding shares, calculated as share price times shares outstanding; the standard measure of a company's size in equity markets.
The money market is the segment of the financial system where short-term debt instruments — government bills, certificates of deposit, commercial paper, repurchase agreements — are traded between banks, corporations and large investors, with maturities under one year.
A mortgage is a long-term loan secured by real estate, used to finance the purchase of a home or commercial property, repaid in monthly instalments over 10 to 30 years.
A mutual fund is a pooled investment vehicle that collects money from many investors and is managed by a professional team that buys a portfolio of stocks, bonds or other assets in line with a stated objective.
A neobank is a fully digital, mobile-first bank that operates without physical branches, typically offering lower fees, faster account opening, better currency conversion and a modern app experience compared with incumbent retail banks.
Net income is the amount of money you actually receive after all taxes, social contributions and mandatory deductions have been subtracted from your gross earnings.
Net worth is the difference between what you own (assets) and what you owe (liabilities), representing the true financial position of an individual or household at a single point in time.
The Swiss employment notice period is the legally required minimum time between giving notice and the actual end of an indefinite contract — set by Code of Obligations to one to three months depending on years of service.
Operating expenses are the ongoing costs a business incurs to run its day-to-day operations — including salaries, rent, utilities, marketing and software — expensed in the period they occur.
Operating profit (or operating income, EBIT) is what a business earns from its core operations after deducting both the direct cost of sales and all operating expenses, but before interest and tax.
An option is a derivative contract that gives the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy (call) or sell (put) an underlying asset at a fixed strike price on or before a specified expiry date, in exchange for an upfront premium paid to the seller.
An overdraft is a short-term credit facility attached to a checking account that lets you spend more than your balance, up to an agreed limit, in exchange for an interest rate that is typically among the highest charged by retail banks.
The price-to-earnings ratio divides a stock's market price by its earnings per share, expressing how many years of current profits an investor is paying for one share — the most-cited valuation metric in equity analysis.
Payroll tax is the broad term for taxes and social contributions calculated on wages — including pension, health, unemployment and family-allowance contributions — typically split between employer and employee and remitted by the employer.
Pillar 1 (AHV/AVS) is Switzerland's mandatory state pension, financed by payroll contributions to provide a basic retirement, survivor and disability income for everyone living or working in the country.
Pillar 2 (BVG/LPP) is Switzerland's mandatory occupational pension scheme, funded jointly by employee and employer, designed to top up AHV so total retirement income reaches about 60% of pre-retirement salary.
Pillar 3a is Switzerland's tax-advantaged private retirement account, where annual contributions are fully deductible from taxable income and the capital is locked until retirement (with limited early-withdrawal exceptions).
Pillar 3b is the 'free' private savings layer in Switzerland — any savings, securities or life insurance held privately that does not enjoy Pillar 3a's tax deduction but also has no withdrawal restrictions.
A portfolio is the complete collection of investments held by an investor, designed as a whole to balance return and risk in line with the investor's goals, time horizon and tolerance for loss.
The prime rate is the interest rate that commercial banks charge their most creditworthy corporate customers, used worldwide as the benchmark from which retail loan and credit-card rates are derived by adding a risk premium.
Private mortgage insurance is an insurance policy required by US lenders when a borrower puts down less than 20% on a conventional mortgage, protecting the lender (not the borrower) against default.
Profit margin is a profitability ratio that expresses a company's profit as a percentage of its revenue, showing how many cents of profit are produced by each franc, euro or dollar of sales.
Property management is the operation, control and oversight of real estate on behalf of the owner — covering tenant relations, rent collection, maintenance, repairs and regulatory compliance, usually performed by a professional firm for a fee.
Property tax is an annual tax levied by a local or regional government on the assessed value of real estate — land and buildings — paid by the owner and used to fund municipal services.
Property value is the estimated worth of a piece of real estate, determined by appraisal, comparable sales or income approach, and used for sale pricing, mortgage underwriting, taxation and insurance.
Purchasing power is the amount of goods and services that a unit of currency can buy, used to compare wealth across time (inflation) and across places (currency exchange plus local prices).
Refinancing is the process of replacing an existing mortgage with a new one — typically to obtain a lower interest rate, change the loan term, switch between fixed and adjustable, or cash out equity.
A REIT is a listed company that owns, operates or finances income-producing real estate, required by law to distribute at least 90% of taxable income to shareholders as dividends, offering retail investors stock-like access to commercial property returns.
Rental yield is the annual rental income from an investment property expressed as a percentage of the property's value, used to compare the income performance of different real-estate investments.
Retirement planning is the process of determining retirement income goals and the actions and decisions necessary to achieve them — covering savings, investments, insurance, taxes and withdrawal strategy.
Return on equity is a profitability ratio that measures the net profit a company generates relative to its shareholders' equity, showing how efficiently management uses equity capital.
Return on investment is a profitability ratio that measures the gain or loss generated by an investment relative to its cost, usually expressed as a percentage of the amount invested.
Revenue is the total income a business generates from selling goods or services before any costs or expenses are deducted, also called the top line.
Risk tolerance is the level of investment loss an investor is psychologically and financially able to bear without abandoning the plan, used to determine the right mix of stocks, bonds and cash in a portfolio.
A robo-advisor is an automated investment service that builds and manages a diversified ETF portfolio based on a client questionnaire, rebalances and tax-optimises automatically, and charges a fraction of the fee of a traditional human adviser.
A Roth IRA is a US individual retirement account funded with after-tax dollars, in which contributions and earnings grow tax-free and qualified withdrawals in retirement are entirely tax-free.
Runway is the number of months a business — usually a startup — can continue operating at its current burn rate before it runs out of cash.
SARON is Switzerland's risk-free overnight reference rate, calculated from secured repo transactions in Swiss francs; since 2022 it has fully replaced CHF Libor as the benchmark for floating-rate loans and mortgages.
A savings account is an interest-bearing bank deposit designed to hold cash you do not need immediately, paying a higher rate than a checking account in exchange for limits on the number of free withdrawals per month or year.
The savings rate is the percentage of after-tax income that a household saves rather than spends, a key driver of long-term wealth and the timeline to financial independence.
Short selling is a strategy that profits from a fall in a security's price by borrowing shares from a broker, selling them at the current price, and buying them back later at a lower price to return to the lender — the inverse of conventional 'going long'.
The SNB policy rate is the interest rate set by the Swiss National Bank as its main monetary-policy instrument; it steers short-term Swiss-franc money-market rates, especially the Saron benchmark.
Social Security in the US (AHV/AVS in Switzerland, NI in the UK) is a government-run social-insurance programme that provides retirement, disability and survivor benefits to qualifying workers and their families, funded through payroll taxes.
Stamp duty is a tax levied on legal documents — most notably on property transfers — calculated as a percentage of the transaction value and paid by the buyer to register the transaction.
A standing order is a customer-initiated instruction to your bank to transfer a fixed amount to the same beneficiary on the same day of each month (or week, quarter, year), used for rent, savings sweeps and regular allowances.
A stock is a unit of ownership in a publicly listed company that entitles the holder to a proportional claim on the firm's assets and future profits, traded on exchanges like SIX, Xetra, Euronext or NYSE.
A SWIFT code, also called a BIC (Bank Identifier Code), is an 8 or 11-character identifier that uniquely names a financial institution worldwide, used to route international payments to the correct bank, branch and country.
The Swiss franc (CHF) is the official currency of Switzerland and Liechtenstein, internationally regarded as a safe-haven currency thanks to Switzerland's political stability, low inflation and large current-account surplus.
Swiss basic health-insurance premiums are mandatory monthly premiums that every resident must pay out of pocket to a private insurer of their choice; they are not deducted from salary and vary by canton, age and chosen model.
The Swiss tax return (Steuererklärung / déclaration d'impôt) is the annual filing every resident not taxed at source must submit to their canton, declaring worldwide income and wealth as of 31 December.
A tax allowance (or personal exemption) is a fixed amount of income that is tax-free for everyone — or for specific categories of taxpayer such as the elderly, parents or low earners — applied before the tax brackets kick in.
Tax avoidance is the legal arrangement of one's affairs to minimise tax liability within the law, while tax evasion is the illegal concealment of income or assets to escape tax — the difference being legality, not morality.
A tax bracket is a range of income taxed at a specific rate; in a progressive tax system, higher income falls into higher brackets with higher marginal rates.
A tax credit is an amount subtracted directly from the tax you owe — not from taxable income — so each franc or euro of credit reduces your tax bill by exactly one franc or euro, making credits far more valuable than equivalent deductions.
A tax deduction is an expense or contribution that you can subtract from your gross income before calculating taxable income, reducing your tax bill by the deduction multiplied by your marginal tax rate.
A tax haven is a jurisdiction that offers very low or zero taxation, strict financial secrecy and minimal substance requirements, used legally for international structuring and illegally for tax evasion and money laundering.
Tax residency determines which country has the primary right to tax your worldwide income, based on rules such as days physically present, location of permanent home, centre of vital interests and family location.
A tax return is the annual declaration filed with the tax authority that reports your income, deductions, credits and tax already paid, used to calculate your final tax liability and any refund or top-up due.
A tax treaty (double-taxation agreement) is a bilateral or multilateral agreement between countries that allocates taxing rights over cross-border income and provides procedures to relieve double taxation, exchange information and resolve disputes.
Term life insurance is the simplest form of life insurance: it pays a fixed death benefit if the insured dies within a defined term (typically 10, 20 or 30 years), with no cash-value or savings component.
Title insurance is a one-time premium insurance policy that protects property buyers and lenders against financial loss from defects in the title to the property — such as undisclosed liens, fraud, or competing ownership claims.
Transfer pricing is the set of rules that determines the prices at which related companies within a multinational group charge each other for goods, services, intangibles and financing, requiring those prices to reflect what independent parties would have agreed (the 'arm's length principle').
Variable costs are business expenses that scale directly with output or sales — every additional unit produced or delivered adds an incremental cost.
Value-added tax (VAT) is a consumption tax applied at every stage of production and distribution, ultimately paid by the final consumer and collected by businesses on behalf of the state.
Vermögenssteuer (impôt sur la fortune) is an annual cantonal and communal tax on a Swiss resident's worldwide net wealth above a tax-free threshold, levied at progressive rates that vary widely by canton.
A vested benefits account (Freizügigkeitskonto / compte de libre passage) is a parking account for your Pillar 2 capital when you temporarily leave an employer's pension fund — for example between jobs, on sabbatical or abroad.
Wealth tax is an annual tax on the net worth of an individual — total assets (real estate, investments, cash, vehicles) minus liabilities — levied in a handful of European countries including Switzerland, Spain, Norway and (limited) France.
Wohneigentumsförderung (WEF) is the Swiss legal mechanism that lets you withdraw or pledge your Pillar 2 and Pillar 3a capital to buy, build or amortise a primary residence.
A wire transfer is an electronic, account-to-account payment in which the sending bank pushes funds through a payment network (SEPA, SIC, SWIFT) directly to the receiving bank, typically settling the same day or within 1–2 business days.
Withholding tax is an amount that the payer (employer, bank, custodian) deducts from a payment to a beneficiary and remits directly to the tax authority on the beneficiary's behalf, as a prepayment of the beneficiary's eventual tax bill.
Working capital is the difference between a company's current assets and its current liabilities, measuring the short-term liquidity available to fund day-to-day operations.
Yield is the annual income (interest, coupon or dividend) generated by an investment, expressed as a percentage of its current market price; the standard measure for comparing bonds, dividend stocks, REITs and savings accounts.
The yield curve is a graph plotting the interest rate (yield) of government bonds against their time to maturity, used by investors and central bankers as a real-time forecast of growth, inflation and recession risk.
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