A type of fixed income security which carries an interest rate that may fluctuate based on changes in a benchmark or index. For example, the interest rate of an adjustable-rate mortgage security can change as the interest rates on the loans within the mortgage pool underlying the security change.

Securities issued by U.S. government-related agencies, such as Government National Mortgage Association, Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, and Federal National Mortgage Association (also called U.S. Government Agency Securities). However, not all agency securities are guaranteed by the U.S. Government.

A measure of the difference between a fund’s actual returns and its expected performance during a time period, given its level of risk as measured by Beta. A positive alpha figure indicates that the fund has performed better than its Beta would predict. A negative alpha indicates underperformance of the fund given its Beta. The accuracy of Alpha is based on the accuracy of Beta.

A certificate, issued by an American bank, which represents an interest in shares in a foreign company held by that bank.

The American Stock Exchange.

Alternative Minimum Tax. An IRS mechanism created to ensure that high-income individuals, corporations, trusts, and estates pay at least some minimum amount of tax, regardless of deductions, credits or exemptions.

A contract sold by an insurance company to provide payments to the holder at specified intervals, usually after retirement.

Attempting to profit by exploiting price differences of identical or similar financial instruments, on different markets or in different forms.

The lowest price that any investor or dealer has declared that he/she will sell a given security or commodity for.

Asset Allocation is the process of diversifying your investments into different asset categories (such as stocks, bonds, cash, real estate) that complement your investment time horizon and risk tolerance.

A type of investment, such as stocks, bonds, real estate, or cash.

A type of security in which certain assets or accounts receivable serve as the primary source for the payment of principal and interest on the security. Asset-backed securities may be issued by banks or by other entities such as credit card companies. Mortgage-related securities are one type of asset-backed security.

A pool of money or securities held by a mutual fund.

An option available to mutual fund shareholders in which fund dividend and capital gains distributions are automatically invested back into a mutual fund to buy new shares at net asset value.

The average maturity of all the bonds in a bond fund’s portfolio.