Sales Charge (or Load)
The amount that investors pay when they buy (front-end load) or redeem (back-end load) shares in a mutual fund, similar to a commission. The SEC's rules do not limit sales loads a fund may charge,…
Saving and Investing Apps
“Saving and investing app” may refer to a variety of different mobile applications that use technology to help you save and invest. These apps are often marketed as an easy way to get started saving…
Savings
Income that is not spent on consumption but is put aside.
Savings Bond Calculator
If you own or are considering purchasing a U.S. savings bond, the U.S. Department of Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service has designed a useful tool for determining the present and future value--…
Savings Bonds
Savings bonds are debt securities issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to help pay for the U.S. government’s borrowing needs. U.S. savings bonds are considered one of the safest investments…
Say-on-pay Vote
Required by law, most public companies must periodically (at least every three years) provide their shareholders with an advisory vote on the compensation of the most highly compensated executives.…
Schedules 13D and 13G
Schedules 13D and 13G are commonly referred to as a “beneficial ownership reports.” The term "beneficial owner" is defined under SEC rules. It includes any person who directly or indirectly shares…
Secondary Market
Markets where existing securities are bought and sold.
Section 1035
This part of the U.S. tax code allows you to exchange an existing variable annuity contract for a new annuity contract without paying tax on the income and investment gains in your current account…
Securities Act Rule 144
Federal securities laws may deem certain securities as restricted or control securities. Selling restricted or control securities in the marketplace can be a complicated process. Under federal…
Securities Analyst Recommendations
Analyst recommendations can have a significant effect on a company’s stock price, especially when the recommendations are widely disseminated through television appearances or other electronic and…
Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC)
If your brokerage firm goes out of business, cannot meet its obligation to customers, and is a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), then your cash and securities held by…
Securities Lending
Securities lending is the market practice where securities are transferred temporarily from a securities lender to a securities borrower for a fee.
Securities lenders are generally large…
Security
An investment instrument such as a stock or bond.
Senior Bond
A bond that has a higher priority than another bond's claim to the same class of assets in case of a default or bankruptcy. Settlement Date -- The agreed date for the delivery of bonds and payment…
Settling Securities Transactions, T+2
Investors must complete or "settle" their security transactions within two business days. This settlement cycle is known as "T+2," shorthand for "trade date plus two days."
T+2 means that when…
Shareholder Lists, When You Can Get Them
Although investors sometimes ask the SEC for a list of a company's shareholders, the SEC does not maintain shareholder lists.
Under SEC rules, a company must provide shareholders with a process for…
Shareholder Service Fees
Fees paid to respond to inquiries from investors and provide them with information about their investments.
Short Sale Volume and Transaction Data
To increase the transparency surrounding short sale transactions, several self-regulatory organizations (SROs) are…
Short Sales
A short sale generally involves the sale of a stock you do not own (or that you will borrow for delivery). Short sellers believe the price of the stock will fall, or are seeking to hedge…
Short Sales
A short sale occurs when you sell stock you do not own. Investors who sell short believe the price of the stock will fall. If the price drops, you can buy the stock at the lower price and make a…
Single-stock ETFs
Single-stock ETFs are a complex type of…
Social Security Retirement Planner
The Social Security Administration has interactive tools to help you calculate what social security benefits you can…
SOFR
SOFR stands for Secured Overnight Financing Rates. SOFR is a broad measure of the…
Sources of Municipal Securities Information
Most municipal securities offerings are exempt from the registration provisions of the federal securities laws. That means municipal issuers do not have to file a registration statement with…
SPACs
“SPAC” stands for special purpose acquisition company, and it is a type of blank check company.…
Spin-Offs
In a "spin-off," a parent company distributes shares of a subsidiary to the parent company's shareholders so that the subsidiary becomes a separate, independent company. The shares are usually…
Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts (SPDR) Trust
An ETF designed to replicate the performance of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. Because of its acronym, the SPDR instrument is referred to as a "spider."
State Regulators
In addition to state securities regulators, there are a number of state agencies that may…
State Securities Regulators
While the SEC regulates and enforces the federal securities laws, each state has its own securities regulator who enforces what are known as …
Statement of Additional Information (SAI)
Conveys information about an open or closed-end fund that some investors find useful. Funds are not required to provide investors with the SAI, but they must provide it for free upon request. Also…
Stock
An instrument that signifies an ownership position (called equity) in a corporation, and a claim on its proportional share in the corporation's assets and profits. Most stocks also provide voting…
Stock Fund
"Stock fund" and "equity fund" describe a type of investment company (…
Stock Market
A general term for the organized trading of stocks through exchanges, over-the-counter, and computerized trading venues.
Stock Market Circuit Breakers
Market-Wide Circuit Breakers – The securities and futures exchanges have procedures for coordinated cross-market trading halts if a severe market price decline reaches levels that may exhaust…
Stock Quotes
Listings of prices to buy and sell a specific stock. During trading, quotes show bids, the prices buyers are willing to pay, and offers, the prices sellers are willing to accept. Historical data…
Stock Split
An increase in the number of shares of a corporation's stock without a change in the shareholders' equity. Companies often split shares of their stock to make them more affordable to investors.…
Stop Order
A stop order is an order to buy or sell a stock once the price of the stock reaches a specified price, known as the stop price. When the specified price is reached, your stop order becomes a market…
Surrender Charge
A type of sales charge that applies if you withdraw money from a variable annuity within a certain period of time, usually six to ten years. This is known as the surrender period. The charge…