Numbers dressed up in fancy suits pretending to be words.
Money set aside for a future obligation you're pretty sure will happen—basically an educated guess with teeth.
A cost you've incurred but haven't paid for yet—basically expenses you owe but haven't got the bill for.
Protected by an insurance policy against financial loss from specified risks. To be insured means you've paid a company to promise they'll cover your catastrophes—whether it's your house burning down, your car becoming an accordion, or your lawyer making a terrible joke.
A sum you legally remove from your taxable income to pay less to the government—basically society's way of saying 'if you spent it on this, we'll forgive you some taxes.' Also a logical reasoning method, but accountants care way more about the money part.
In finance, debt or claims that get paid last in the hierarchy of bankruptcy proceedings—basically the financial equivalent of standing at the back of the line. Subordinated debt holders only get paid after senior creditors are satisfied, making it riskier but typically offering higher returns. It's the 'you'll get yours if there's anything left' category of obligations.
A subjective assessment of how much reported earnings reflect actual economic reality versus accounting gimmicks and one-time items. High-quality earnings come from sustainable operations; low-quality earnings come from financial engineering and hope.
Banking euphemism for a loan that's gone bad and isn't generating income anymore, like a car that won't start but you still owe payments on. It's the financial equivalent of politely calling a disaster a "challenge."
Financial intermediation that happens outside traditional regulated banks, including hedge funds, money market funds, and other entities that act like banks without pesky regulations. It's called 'shadow' because regulators prefer not to see what's happening there.
Anything related to money, currencies, or the financial systems designed to control how much you're allowed to have. Central banks get very excited about this word.
The involuntary repo-man experience of having your property taken back because you failed to pay for it—basically, the lender's way of saying 'thanks for the free use of our asset.' A financial term that makes both creditors and debtors deeply uncomfortable.
Compensation from employment that's so pitiful you'd need government assistance to survive, even with a job. These poverty-level wages force workers to supplement income with public benefits just to cover basic necessities.
The financial magic trick of bundling your messy loans into shiny securities and selling them to investors who definitely won't regret it. It's basically alchemy, except regulated and prone to spectacular failure.
Past tense of owing money or obligations—the financial hangover that lingers. When you're stuck with a debt or duty that should have been paid/performed already.
When you acquire a company for less than the fair value of its identifiable net assets, essentially buying a dollar for seventy cents. Also called a 'bargain purchase,' it's as rare as it sounds and usually indicates something's wrong.
The ability to meet long-term obligations and survive beyond next quarter—unlike liquidity, which only cares about immediate bills. A company can be liquid but insolvent (cash now, doomed later) or illiquid but solvent (asset-rich, cash-poor).
Legally separating certain assets or operations to protect them from creditors or risks in other parts of the business. It's building financial walls to ensure that when one division explodes, it doesn't take the whole company down.
Money that companies hand back to shareholders because they couldn't figure out how to burn it all on expansion. It's the reward for owning a piece of a company that actually makes profit—a rare and increasingly mythical creature in the startup world.
An accounting entry that increases assets or decreases liabilities in the left column of the ledger, or in normal-person terms, money leaving your bank account. It's the financial industry's fancy word for "subtraction" that confuses everyone because in banking, a debit increases your account from the bank's perspective but decreases it from yours. The reason accountants have job security is explaining why debits aren't always subtractions.
A measure of whether a company can meet its long-term obligations, typically comparing assets to liabilities or earnings to debt service. It answers the question: 'Will this company exist next year?'
Money pooled together for investment purposes, usually managed by someone in a power suit who claims they can beat the market. Mutual funds, hedge funds, and venture funds all fall into this bucket of 'other people's money.'
Using financial instruments or strategies to reduce risk exposure—essentially betting against yourself to sleep better at night.
A data-hungry individual whose job is literally to count things and convert reality into spreadsheets. The unsung hero of statistics who transforms "a bunch of stuff" into actual numbers.
One of every hundred—the metric that makes statistics sound official even when they're basically just guesses. Your new favorite way to confuse people with math.
A curated roadmap to finding stuff in a document or database, the thing your pointer finger is named after, or a numerical benchmark that tells you if markets are having a good day or a panic attack. In finance, it's the scorecard everyone obsesses over.