The spread of investments across the asset classes.
The underlying investments – shares, bonds, property and cash deposits.
A loan to a company or the government.
Pooled investments investing in bonds.
The money you invest.
An increase to your original investment after costs, charges and depreciation.
A way of pooling contributions from lots of people into a single investment fund.
Loans issued by companies.
Funds that invest in a selection of individual company bonds.
A bond’s fixed rate of interest as a percentage of its nominal value.
Another name for a bond.
A right or an obligation to buy or sell another type of asset – such as a share or a bond – to someone else at a specific date and time in the future.
A type of investment bond that provides a regular income.
Spreading your investments across different asset classes, or types of investments within an asset class.
Another name for shares in a company.
Fonds communs de placement. A type of open-ended investment fund.
Similar to a mutual life assurance company but with different tax rules.
The use of borrowing potentially to increase the amount you get back, but will also increase the risk.
Bonds issued by the UK government.
Before tax.
The same as bond funds but investing in higher risk bonds that offer a higher interest rate.
Investment Company with Variable Capital, also known as an OEIC. A type of open-ended investment fund.
A pooled investment; a lump sum life assurance investment.
A pooled investment. You are buying shares in a company that invests in other investments. It has shares and is quoted on the stock exchange. It is a closed-ended fund as there are a set number of shares available.
Individual Savings Account – a tax wrapper for savings and investments.
A pooled investment offered by a life assurance company.
An expression used with investment trusts to mean the value of the fund’s underlying assets.
Sometimes called the face value, this is the cost of the bond when it is issued and the amount you get back at the end of the term.
Open-Ended Investment Company, also known as an ICVC. A type of open-ended investment fund.
Personal equity plan, a wrapper for investments but no longer available to buy – similar to ISAs.
A way of putting various levels of contributions from lots of people into a single investment fund. There are different types and they work in different ways.
The change in the value of your investment taking into account both income and growth.
A formal opinion of a security’s or organisation’s investment quality and credit risk.
Usually associated with gilts or bonds – the date set in advance when the gilt or bond will be repaid by the issuing government or company and you will receive the nominal value of the bond.
A stake or share in a company.
Société d’investissement à capital variable. A type of open-ended investment fund.
Another term for shares.
6th April one year till 5th April the following year.
Expressions used with investment trusts meaning the value of all the investment trust’s shares combined are below (discount), equal to (par) or higher (premium) than the underlying investments.
A pooled investment, this is an open-ended investment that gets bigger as more people invest and smaller when they take money out.
A type of fund available within a life assurance investment. You share the return from these investments and the profits and losses of the company (if it’s a mutual) or the with-profits business fund (in the case of a plc).
What the bond pays to investors by way of interest as a percentage of the bond’s price.