Financial terms starting with “0–9”

16 terms · plain-language definitions for lifelong students and investors · Full glossary

1/N Heuristic: The tendency, documented by Benartzi & Thaler (2001), for investors to split contributions roughly equally across whatever investment options are presented — regardless of whether those options represent genuinely diverse exposures. A 401(k) plan offering 6 stock funds + 1 bond fund yielded 86% stock allocation; the same population given 1 stock fund + 6 bond funds went 14% stocks. The menu shapes the allocation more than the investor's preferences do.
10-K: The annual report every US public company files with the SEC, covering business overview, financial statements, risk factors, MD&A, and auditor sign-off. It is the single most comprehensive primary source for understanding a company. Investors who read only one document should read the 10-K.
10-Q: The quarterly report public US companies file with the SEC within 40-45 days after each of the first three fiscal quarters. Includes unaudited financial statements, MD&A, market-risk disclosures, and any updated risk factors or legal proceedings. The 10-Q is the diff between annual 10-K filings -- almost every material inter-period change surfaces here first.
10-Year Treasury: The most-watched US government bond, used as a benchmark for mortgage rates and corporate borrowing costs. When the 10-year yield rises, borrowing gets more expensive across the entire economy. Investors watch it daily as the single most important interest rate in global finance.
1031 Exchange: A tax provision allowing real estate investors to defer capital gains taxes when selling a property by reinvesting the proceeds into a "like-kind" replacement property. Named after Section 1031 of the tax code. Allows investors to keep growing their real estate portfolios without paying taxes on each sale.
10b5-1 Plan: A pre-arranged, automatic schedule for buying or selling your own company stock, named after the SEC rule that authorizes it. Because the trades are set in advance, a 10b5-1 plan lets employees diversify out of concentrated company stock on a fixed cadence without insider-trading concerns or emotional timing.
10Y Treasury: The most important rate in finance. It anchors mortgage rates, corporate borrowing costs, and how stocks are valued. Rising 10Y = headwind for risk assets.
13F: Form 13F. The SEC filing institutional investment managers with over $100M in qualifying assets must file within 45 days of each calendar quarter-end. Reports long equity positions; does NOT report short positions, swaps, total-return derivatives, or foreign-only equity. The 45-day lag + snapshot-nature limits its real-time signal value -- 13F-following strategies have decayed alpha versus the manager's actual returns.
30-Day SEC Yield: A standardized yield calculation mandated by the SEC, based on dividends and interest earned over the prior 30 days. More comparable across funds than distribution yield because every fund calculates it the same way.
401(k): An employer-sponsored retirement account where contributions are tax-deferred (you pay tax on withdrawals in retirement). Many employers match a percentage of contributions; capturing the match is one of the highest risk-adjusted cost reductions available — but verify your employer's vesting schedule (often 3-year cliff or 6-year graded). Match contributions you forfeit at separation aren't recoverable.
45-Day Lag: The maximum allowed delay between a 13F's reporting quarter-end and the public filing. Q1 (March 31) 13Fs are due May 15; Q2 (June 30) are due August 14; etc. The lag means a fund could establish a position, file the 13F, and exit the position before the filing publishes -- which is why 13F-following strategies underperform the disclosed-manager's actual returns (Cohen, Polk, Silli 2010).
5% Rule: Ben Felix's rent-vs-buy heuristic: if annual unrecoverable costs of owning (mortgage interest + property tax + maintenance + insurance, NOT principal) exceed 5% of the home's price, renting is cheaper than buying. At 6.5% mortgage / 1.2% property tax / 1% maintenance / 0.5% insurance, total = ~9% — well above 5%, so renting beats buying unless the home appreciates >4% above inflation per year. Useful starting point; stress-test against your specific numbers.
52-Wk Return: Total stock price change over the past 52 weeks (1 year), including dividends. A quick read on momentum, but says nothing about whether the price is justified by the business \u2014 a stock can be up 80% and still expensive, or down 40% and still overvalued.
529 Plan: A state-sponsored, tax-advantaged investment account for education savings. Contributions are made with after-federal-tax dollars (many states give a state tax deduction or credit), the money grows tax-free, and withdrawals are tax-free when spent on qualified education expenses. There is no federal annual contribution limit, though contributions count as gifts for gift-tax purposes.
52W Range: The stock's highest and lowest price over the past year. Helps you see where the current price sits relative to recent history.
8-K: The SEC's 'something just happened' filing, used for material events between periodic 10-K and 10-Q reports. Must be filed within 4 business days of the triggering event under Section 13/15(d) of the Exchange Act. Item numbers identify the event type: 1.01 (material agreement), 2.02 (earnings), 4.02 (restatement notice), 5.02 (officer departure), 7.01/8.01 (catch-all). The disclosure regime exists to prevent insider-trading windows.

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