Tax Deferred:

Refers to investment earnings such as interest, dividends or capital gains that accumulate free from taxation until the investor withdraws and takes possession of them. The most common types of tax-deferred investments include those in individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and deferred annuities.

Tear Sheets:

Slang for the pages from the S&P stock reports summarizing business and financial information regarding thousands of public companies.

Term:

1. The lifespan assigned to an asset or a liability, over which the value of the asset/liability is expected to either grow or shrink, depending on its nature.

2. The period of time assigned as the lifespan of any investment. In the case of debt, the time it takes for all payments to be made by the borrower and received by the lender. In the case of an equity investment, the time that elapses between the acquisition of the equity and its sale or removal from holdings for another reason.

Time Value of Money:

The idea that money available at the present time is worth more than the same amount in the future, due to its potential earning capacity. This core principle of finance holds that, provided money can earn interest, any amount of money is worth more the sooner it is received. Also referred to as “present discounted value”.

Top-Down Investing:

An investment approach where an investor looks at a country’s economy before considering an industry to invest in. Next, they determine what industries or sectors will return well because of the economic conditions and, finally, they then buy stocks that are attractive within that industry.

Total Return:

When measuring performance, the actual rate of return of an investment or a pool of investments over a given evaluation period. Total return includes interest, capital gains, dividends and distributions realized over a given period of time.

Trailer Fee:

A fee that a mutual fund manager pays to a salesperson who sells the fund to investors.

Trailing Stop:

A stop-loss order that is set at a percentage level below (for a long position) the market price. The price is adjusted as the price fluctuates.

Treasury Bill (T-Bill):

A short-term debt obligation backed by the U.S. government with a maturity of less than one year. T-bills are sold in denominations of $1,000 up to a maximum purchase of $5 million and commonly have maturities of one month (four weeks), three months (13 weeks) or six months (26 weeks).

T-bills are issued through a competitive bidding process at a discount from par, which means that rather than paying fixed interest payments like conventional bonds, the appreciation of the bond provides the return to the holder.

Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS):

A special type of Treasury note or bond that offers protection from inflation. Like other Treasuries, an inflation-indexed security pays interest every six months and pays the principal when the security matures. The difference is that the coupon payments and underlying principal are automatically increased to compensate for inflation as measured by the consumer price index (CPI).

Trend Analysis:

An aspect of technical analysis that tries to predict the future movement of a stock based on past data. Trend analysis is based on the idea that what has happened in the past gives traders an idea of what will happen in the future.

There are three main types of trends: short-, intermediate- and long-term.