The FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) is an independent agency of the U.S. Government which insures all bank deposits up to $250,000. The FDIC was created after the Great Depression to instill confidence in the U.S. banking system. Today, it guarantees you won’t lose all your money if your bank goes belly up.
Archive for the ‘Level 1’ Category
The FDIC is…
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009Credit is…
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009Credit is an arrangement in which you gain something of value now in exchange for your promise to pay the lender back at some later time (usually with added interest). For example, when you buy a pair of jeans with your credit card, you agree to pay the credit card company later in return for the money you need to buy the jeans now.
The IRS is…
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009The IRS stands for “Internal Revenue Service” and is the government organization responsible for handling everyone’s taxes. If something is wrong with your taxes, you may have a friendly run-in with one of its auditors.
Profit is…
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009Profit is the positive monetary gain after subtracting the amount earned and the amount spent over the course of a period of time. For example, if you bought a pair of sneakers for $80 and then sold them on eBay for $120, your profit would be $120 (income) – $80 (expense) = $40 (profit).
Currency is…
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009Currency is any object or set of objects designated as money – usually by the government. Currency must be in public circulation, have a predetermined value, and be exchangeable for other objects, goods, or services.
An Index is…
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009An index is an estimate of the value of several different properties (such as stocks, bonds, art, commodities, etc.) taken together. In other words, an index is a bunch of different items that are combined and assigned a monetary value. For example, the S&P 500 is an index that tracks 500 individual stocks and translates their performance into one number. So instead of you tracking all 500 of those stocks, you can just look at the S&P 500 to get the gist.
A Bond is…
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009A bond is an instrument of debt sold by governments and corporations to raise money. Basically, when you buy a bond, you’re buying the seller’s promise to pay you back (usually with a fixed interest) on a predetermined date.
A Stock is…
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009A stock is a unit of ownership in a corporation representing a share in the corporation’s assets and profits. For instance, if a company has 1,000 shares of stock available and you own 100 of those shares, you have a 10% ownership of the company. Stocks are traded (bought and sold) on a stock market, and there are two types of stocks: common stock and preferred stock. Capital stock is the total ownership of a business and includes common stock and preferred stock.
Why would you donate your old car?
Monday, June 15th, 2009Donating your used car is a win-win situation, and who doesn’t like to win?
If you have a car just sitting in the driveway that may not be worth the hassle of selling, donation is a very good option. Many different kinds of charities accept cars – even if they don’t use the cars themselves, they can sell each vehicle at auction and keep the profit as a monetary donation. If you don’t want to go through a big charity, you can look around in your community and think about where a donated car could make a difference.
Not only will you get the great feeling of helping out a person or an organization in need, but there’s a simple incentive for you as well: donations to many charities are tax-deductible, which means you may be able to write off the value of your automobile donation and save money on your taxes this year!
A Fixed Income Security is…
Friday, June 12th, 2009A fixed income security is an investment that promises to pay interest at a set rate for a certain amount of time. Think of it as buying an IOU plus a bonus. If you give me $10 today, in three months, I’ll pay you back your $10 plus 5% interest.