Obligation
What is an 'Obligation' An obligation in finance is the responsibility to meet the terms of a contract. If an obligation is not met, the legal system often provides recourse for the injured party. Explaining 'Obligation' Financial obligations represent any outstanding debts or regular payments that you must make. If you owe or will owe...
IMF Nonfuel Commodity Index
What is the IMF Nonfuel Commodity Index The Index is a weighted average of a broad basket of nonfuel commodities. The index was first published in July 1964 and has been calculated monthly since January 1971. The inclusion of certain commodities in the index, and their weights, are reviewed periodically to ensure that the index reflects changing patterns in global...
X-Mark Signature
What is 'X-Mark Signature' An X-mark made by a person in lieu of a signature. Due to illiteracy or disability, a person may be unable to append a full signature to a document as attestation that he or she has reviewed and approved its contents. In order to be legally valid, the X-mark signature must be witnessed....
DB(k) Plan
What is a DB(k) Plan A DB(k) plan is a type of retirement savings plan that is sponsored by an employer. The name "DB(k)" comes from the fact that the plan is a combination of a traditional defined benefit (DB) plan and a 401(k) plan. The DB portion of the plan guarantees a certain level of income in retirement, while...
Baby Berkshire
What is 'Baby Berkshire' Baby Berkshire refers to the 50:1 stock split after the market close on January 20th, 2010 by Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares. This split made the value of each share much smaller as far as price was concerned. At the market close, Berkshire Class B shares were trading at $3,476. The stock split...
Macro-Hedge
What is 'Macro-Hedge' An investment technique used to eliminate the risk of a portfolio of assets. In most cases, this would mean taking a position that offsets the whole portfolio. But this technique is difficult in practice because there is rarely one asset that will offset the risk of a broader portfolio, so applying a macro-hedge most...
Baby Boomer
What are baby boomers and what generation do they belong to A baby boomer is a person who was born between 1946 and 1964. So, currently, a baby boomer is someone who is between 56 and 74 years old. The term "baby boomer" is used to describe this demographic group because there was a significant increase in the number of...
XD
What is 'XD' A symbol used to signify that a security is trading ex-dividend. XD is an alphabetic qualifier that acts as shorthand to tell investors key information about a specific security in a stock quote. Sometimes "X" alone is used to indicate that the stock is trading ex-dividend. Qualifiers can vary depending on where the stock...
Valuation Mortality Table
What is 'Valuation Mortality Table' A statistical chart that is used by insurance companies to calculate the statutory reserve and cash surrender values of life insurance policies. A mortality table shows the death rate at any given age in terms of the number of deaths that occur for every thousand individuals of that age; it provides statistics...
Habendum Clause
What is a Habendum Clause A Habendum Clause is a real estate legal term that refers to the portion of a deed that states the title holder's intentions for the use of the property. In other words, it spells out what the property can be used for and how long the holder has the right to use it. The clause...