Personal Finance terms starting with S

172 terms

Safe (or Safety) Deposit Box A type of safe usually located in groups inside a bank vault and rented to customers for their use in storing valuable items.
Safekeeping A service provided by banks where securities and valuables are protected in the vaults of the bank for customers.
salary Compensation received by an employee for services performed. A salary is a fixed sum paid for a specific period of time worked, such as weekly or monthly.
Salary reduction plan A salary reduction plan is a type of employer-sponsored retirement savings plan. Typical examples are 401(k)s, 403(b)s, 457s, and SIMPLE IRAs.
Sale Leaseback In a sale-leaseback arrangement - also known as a leaseback - an owner sells his or her property, and then immediately leases it back from the buyer as…
Sales charge In the case of mutual funds, these are commissions charged to purchasers of fund units, usually based on the purchase or redemption price.
Sales tax A sales tax is a tax imposed by state and local governments on transactions that occur within their jurisdictions.
Sallie Mae This corporation purchases student loans from various lenders, such as banks, and packages the loans as bonds or short-term or medium-term notes.
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 Named after its main Congressional sponsors, Senator Paul Sarbanes and Representative Michael Oxley, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 introduced new…
Satisfaction of Mortgage A document issued by a mortgagee (the lender) when a mortgage is paid in full.
Savings account A savings account is a deposit account in a bank or credit union that pays interest on your balance-though some institutions require that you have at…
Savings bonds The US government issues two types of savings bonds: Series EE and Series I. You buy electronic Series EE bonds through a Treasury Direct account for face…
Schedule C Employee One who holds a Federal appointment for a position that is excepted from the competitive service because of its policy-determining nature or because it…
screen A screen is a set of criteria against which you measure stocks or other investments to find those that meet your criteria.
Scrip Scrip is a certificate or receipt that represents something of value but has no intrinsic value.
Scripophily Scripophily is the practice of collecting antique stocks, bonds, and other securities.
Second Lien Modification Program (2MP) program that provides homeowners a way to modify their second mortgages to make them more affordable when their first mortgage is modified under the HAMP.
Second Mortgage a loan with a second-priority claim against a property in the event that the homeowner defaults.
Secondary market When investors buy and sell securities through a brokerage account, the transactions occur on what's known as the secondary market.
Secondary Mortgage Market The market for buying and selling existing mortgages; this could be in the form of whole mortgage or MBS sales.
Secondary offering The most common form of secondary offering occurs when an investor, usually a corporation, but sometimes an individual, sells a large block of stock or…
Sector A sector is a segment of the economy that shares distinctive characteristics, such as telecommunications or energy.
Sector fund Sector mutual funds, also called specialty or specialized funds, concentrate their investments in a single segment of an industry, such as biotechnology…
Sector Mutual Fund A mutual fund that concentrates its investments in an industry, business, single country other than the United States, or bonds of a single State within…
Secular market A secular market is one that moves in the same direction - up or down - for an extended period.
Secured bond The issuer of a bond or other debt security may guarantee, or secure, the bond by pledging, or assigning, collateral to investors.
Secured credit card A secured credit card is linked to a savings account you open with the bank or other financial institution offering the card.
Secured Loan A secured loan is a loan that's guaranteed with collateral, such as a home or car.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent federal agency that oversees and regulates the securities industry in the United States and…
Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) The Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) is a nonprofit corporation created by Congress to insure investors against losses caused by the…
Securitization Securitization is the process of pooling various types of debt - mortgages, car loans, or credit card debt, for example - and packaging that debt as…
Security The term "security" covers a broad variety of financial instruments, including stock, promissory notes, bonds, debentures, limited partnership interests…
Security Interest The creditor’s right to take property or a portion of property offered as security.
Self Registration FDM allows users to register themselves to use the FDM reporting system using their CAC.
Self-amortizing loan A self-amortizing loan is one that's paid off over a specific period of time as the borrower makes regular installment payments.
Self-Amortizing Loans Loans in which periodic payments of principal and interest are scheduled over the life of the loan.
Self-directed retirement plan If you participate in a salary reduction retirement plan, such as a 401(k) or a 403(b), you usually must select the investments into which your…
self-employment loss Self-employment income minus self-employment expenses, when self-employment income is less than self-employment expenses.
self-employment profit Self-employment income minus self-employment expenses, when self-employment income is greater than self-employment expenses.
self-employment tax Similar to Social Security and Medicare taxes. The self-employment tax rate is 15.3 percent of self-employment profit.
Self-regulatory organization (SRO) All securities and commodities exchanges in the United States are self-regulatory organizations (SROs), as is NASD.
Sell short Selling short is a trading strategy that's designed to take advantage of an anticipated drop in a stock's market price.
Sell side Brokerage firms and other financial services companies that buy and sell investments as agents for retail investors as well as for their own accounts are…
Sell-off A sell-off is a period of intense selling of securities and commodities triggered by declining prices.
Senior bond Senior bonds offer slightly lower interest rates than subordinated or junior bonds because they are considered less risky.
Senior Legal Counsel (SLC) A term referring to senior ethics officials in a command, organization, or agency.
Senior Preferred Stock Purchase Agreement (PSPA) Entered into at the time the conservatorships were created, the PSPAs authorize the Enterprises to request and obtain funds from Treasury, which in turn…
Separate account An insurance company's separate account is established to hold the premiums you use to purchase funds included in variable annuity contracts the company…
Separate account fund Each variable annuity contract offers a number of separate account funds. Each of those funds owns a collection of individual investments chosen by a…
Series 6 The Series 6 is a licensing examination that you must pass to be entitled to sell mutual funds and variable annuities to investors.
Series 63 The Series 63 is a licensing examination that most states require for anyone who wants to sell securities within the state.
Series 7 To be licensed to sell securities to individual investors, brokers must pass the Series 7 exam, also called the General Securities Registered…
Service Charge A charge assessed by a depository institution for processing transactions and maintaining accounts.
Service Credit A member’s earned service, prior service, and/or purchased service.
Service Fee Per Month The monthly fee that is charged to the account holder under the terms of the account. Also called a maintenance fee.
Servicemen’s Readjustment Act Enacted in 1944 and also known as the GI Bill, this Act offered veterans of the Second World War educational and financial benefits, including long-term…
Servicer A business, often a bank or mortgage company, that accepts and records mortgage payments from borrowers, negotiates workout plans and supervises the…
Servicing transfer when one servicer is replaced by another.
Set-up fee A fee that may be charged when you open a new credit card account.
Settlement (or Closing) Costs Fees paid at a loan closing. May include application fees; title examination, abstract of title, title insurance, and property survey fees; fees for…
Settlement agent In some states, a settlement agent, or closing agent, handles the real estate transaction when you buy or sell a home.
Settlement date The date on which a securities buyer must pay for a purchase or a seller must deliver the securities sold.
SF 278 Filer Person required to file the SF-278 disclosure report under the authority of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978, as amended (and for DoD employees, the…
SF 278 of Record The official version of the filer's SF 278 report that is complete and subject to release upon proper request.
share Share means the basic unit of capital of a Connecticut credit union. Members may receive dividends based on the number of shares held.
Share Account Credit unions call savings accounts share accounts because at a credit union you are a part owner of the credit union.
Share Certificate A form of savings instrument where the member agrees to maintain the deposit in the credit union for a specific period of time in exchange for interest…
Share class Some stocks and certain mutual funds subdivide their shares into classes or groups to designate their special characteristics.
Share Draft Account Credit unions call checking accounts share draft accounts. Share draft accounts are a transaction accounts.
Shareholder If you own stock in a corporation, you are a shareholder of that corporation. You're considered a majority shareholder if you alone or in combination with…
Sharpe ratio Using the Sharpe ratio is one way to compare the relationship of risk and reward in following different investment strategies, such as emphasizing growth…
Short interest Short interest is the total number of shares of a particular stock that investors have sold short in anticipation of a decline in the share price and have…
Short position If you sell stock short and have not yet repurchased shares to replace the ones you borrowed, you are said to have a short position in that stock.
Short Sale when the servicer allows the homeowner to list and sell the mortgaged property with the understanding that the net proceeds from the sale may be less than…
Signature Card A card signed by each depositor and customer of a bank which may be used as a means of identification.
Signature Date The date that a filer or reviewer digitally or electronically signed (eSigned) the financial disclosure report.
SIMPLE A SIMPLE, also known as a SIMPLE IRA, is short for Savings Incentive Match Plans for Employees, an employer sponsored retirement savings plan that may be…
Simple interest If you earn simple interest on money you deposit in a bank or use to purchase a certificate of deposit (CD), the interest is figured on the amount of your…
Simplified employee pension plan (SEP) An SEP is a qualified retirement plan set up as an individual retirement annuity (IRA) in an employee's name.
sin tax A tax on goods such as tobacco and alcohol.
single filing status If on the last day of the year, you are unmarried or legally separated from your spouse under a divorce or separate maintenance decree and you do not…
Single-Sum Distribution Non-periodic distribution from a qualified retirement plan received before an annuity start date. TERI payouts are considered single-sum distributions.
Sinking fund To ensure there's money on hand to redeem a bond or preferred stock issue, a corporation may establish a separate custodial account, called a sinking…
Slow market A slow market is one with sluggish trading and static prices. In this environment, it may be difficult to find buyers willing to pay the price at which…
Small order execution system (SOES) The small order execution system automatically routes, executes, reports, and compares market and limit orders between 100 and 1,000 shares in Nasdaq…
Small-capitalization stock Shares of relatively small publicly traded corporations with a total market capitalization of less than $2.
Smishing A combination of “SMS” and phishing. Smishing uses cell phone text messages or SMS (Short Message Service) to deliver a message in order to get you to…
Social Security Social Security is a federal government program designed to provide income for qualifying retired people, their dependents, and disabled people who meet…
Social Security Tax Provides benefits for retired workers and their dependents as well as for the disabled and their dependents.
Socially responsible fund When socially responsible mutual funds, also known as green funds or conscience funds, select securities to meet their investment goals, the securities…
Soft dollars Soft dollars are amounts that money managers, including mutual fund managers, pay out of their clients' accounts to a brokerage firm to cover the cost of…
Soft market A soft market, also known as a buyer's market, is one in which there is inactive trading in an individual stock or the market as a whole at current prices.
Software Developer Develops software for the purposes of (1) formatting electronic tax return information according to IRS specifications, and/or (2) transmitting electronic…
Sole proprietor A sole proprietor is the owner and operator of a business that isn't registered as either a corporation or a limited liability company.
South Carolina Retirement System (SCRS) This is the name of the retirement system covering state employees, public school employees, public higher education personnel, and employees of other…
South Carolina Retirement Systems This is the name commonly used to refer to the Retirement Division of the State Budget and Control Board .
Special Flood Hazard Area (SFHA) An area defined on a Flood Insurance Rate Map with an associated risk of flooding.
Special Government Employee (SGE) SGEs are defined at 18 U.S.C. 202(a): Generally, employees performing temporary duty for 130 days or less in any 365 day period, including Reserve and…
Special situation An undervalued stock that one or more analysts expects to increase in price in the very near future because of an anticipated - and welcome - change…
Specialist A specialist or specialist unit is a member of a securities exchange responsible for maintaining a fair and orderly market in a specific security or…