A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders. When a corporation earns a profit or surplus, it is able to pay a portion of the profit as a dividend to shareholders. Any amount not distributed is taken to be re-invested in the business. The current year profit as well as the retained earnings of previous years are available for distribution; a corporation is usually prohibited from paying a dividend out of its capital. Distribution to shareholders may be in cash or, if the corporation has a dividend reinvestment plan, the amount can be paid by the issue of further shares or by share repurchase. In some cases, the distribution may be of assets.
Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources to achieve later benefits". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broader viewpoint, an investment can be defined as "to tailor the pattern of expenditure and receipt of resources to optimise the desirable patterns of these flows". When expenditure and receipts are defined in terms of money, then the net monetary receipt in a time period is termed as cash flow, while money received in a series of several time periods is termed as cash flow stream. Investment science is the application of scientific tools for investments.
In finance, being short in an asset means investing in such a way that the investor will profit if the value of the asset falls. This is the opposite of a more conventional "long" position, where the investor will profit if the value of the asset rises.
A mutual fund is an investment fund that pools money from many investors to purchase securities. The term is typically used in the United States, Canada, and India, while similar structures across the globe include the SICAV in Europe and open-ended investment company (OEIC) in the UK.
An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a type of investment fund and exchange-traded product, i.e. they are traded on stock exchanges. ETFs are similar in many ways to mutual funds, except that ETFs are bought and sold from other owners throughout the day on stock exchanges whereas mutual funds are bought and sold from the issuer based on their price at day's end. ETFs can hold assets such as stocks, bonds, currencies, futures contracts, and/or commodities such as gold bars, and generally operates with an arbitrage mechanism designed to keep it trading close to its net asset value, although deviations can occasionally occur. Most ETFs are index funds: that is, they hold the same securities in the same proportions as a certain stock market index or bond market index. The most popular ETFs in the U.S. replicate the S&P 500, the total market index, the NASDAQ-100 index, the price of gold, the "growth" stocks in the Russell 1000 Index, or the index of the largest technology companies. The list of assets that each ETF owns, as well as their weightings, is posted on the website of the issuer daily, or quarterly in the case of active non-transparent ETFs. The largest ETFs have annual fees of 0.03% of the amount invested, or even lower, although specialty ETFs can have annual fees of 1% or more of the amount invested. These fees are paid to the ETF issuer out of dividends received from the underlying holdings or from selling assets.
The ex-dividend date is an investment term involving the timing of payment of dividends on stocks of corporations, income trusts, and other financial holdings, both publicly and privately held. The ex-date or ex-dividend date represents the date on or after which a security is traded without a previously declared dividend or distribution. Usually, but not necessarily, the opening price is the last closing price less the dividend amount.
Security market is a component of the wider financial market where securities can be bought and sold between subjects of the economy, on the basis of demand and supply. Security markets encompasses stock markets, bond markets and derivatives markets where prices can be determined and participants both professional and non professional can meet.
A rights issue or rights offer is a dividend of subscription rights to buy additional securities in a company made to the company's existing security holders. When the rights are for equity securities, such as shares, in a public company, it can be a non-dilutive pro rata way to raise capital. Rights issues are typically sold via a prospectus or prospectus supplement. With the issued rights, existing security-holders have the privilege to buy a specified number of new securities from the issuer at a specified price within a subscription period. In a public company, a rights issue is a form of public offering.
In finance, an investment strategy is a set of rules, behaviors or procedures, designed to guide an investor's selection of an investment portfolio. Individuals have different profit objectives, and their individual skills make different tactics and strategies appropriate. Some choices involve a tradeoff between risk and return. Most investors fall somewhere in between, accepting some risk for the expectation of higher returns. Investors frequently pick investments to hedge themselves against inflation. During periods of high inflation investments such as shares tend to perform less well in real terms.
In finance, securities lending or stock lending refers to the lending of securities by one party to another.
In finance, return is a profit on an investment. It comprises any change in value of the investment, and/or cash flows which the investor receives from that investment over a specified time period, such as interest payments, coupons, cash dividends and stock dividends. It may be measured either in absolute terms or as a percentage of the amount invested. The latter is also called the holding period return.
Share repurchase, also known as share buyback or stock buyback, is the re-acquisition by a company of its own shares. It represents an alternate and more flexible way of returning money to shareholders. When used in coordination with increased corporate leverage, buybacks can increase share prices.
A stock transfer agent, transfer agent, share registry or transfer agency is an entity, usually a third party firm unrelated to security transactions, that manages the change in ownership of company stock or investment fund shares, maintains a register of ownership and acts as paying agent for the payment of dividends and other distributions to investors. The name derives from the impartial intermediary role a transfer agent plays in validating and registering the purchase of new ownership shares and, in the case of a transfer of ownership, cancelling the name and certificate of shareholders who sell shares and substituting the new owner's name on the official master shareholder register.
In corporate finance, a scrip issue, also known as capitalisation issue or bonus issue, is the process of creating new shares which are given free of charge to existing shareholders. It is a form of secondary issue where a company's cash reserves are converted into new shares and given to existing shareholders, or an issue of additional shares to shareholders in proportion to the shares already held. A scrip issue is usually done when a company does not have sufficient liquidity to pay a cash dividend.
A systematic investment plan (SIP) is an investment vehicle offered by many mutual funds to investors, allowing them to invest small amounts periodically instead of lump sums. The frequency of investment is monthly, quarterly, semi-annually and annually.
In finance, stock consist of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporation in proportion to the total number of shares. This typically entitles the shareholder (stockholder) to that fraction of the company's earnings, proceeds from liquidation of assets, or voting power, often dividing these up in proportion to the amount of money each stockholder has invested. Not all stock is necessarily equal, as certain classes of stock may be issued for example without voting rights, with enhanced voting rights, or with a certain priority to receive profits or liquidation proceeds before or after other classes of shareholders.
Temper of the Times Investor Services, Inc. is a specialized broker/dealer that enroll potential investors in Dividend Reinvestment Plans by buying initial shares and transferring ownership to the investor. First incorporated in 1981 as Temper of the Times Communications, Inc., it was the publishing company for the financial newsletter The Moneypaper. In the May 1986 issue of The Moneypaper, Temper first printed an order form for subscribers to use to become enrolled in company DRP programs. In 1996, Temper split into two separate companies: The Moneypaper, Inc. became the publishing company, and Temper of the Times Communications, Inc. was renamed Temper of the Times Investor Services, Inc. and was registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) as a broker/dealer. To date, it is the only brokerage whose only service is to facilitate enrollment in Dividend Reinvestment Plans, and has been used by The Motley Fool in its "Starting Direct Investment Plans" article, where it was referred to as "the most reasonable service that we know of for enrolling in DRPs." Forbes.com wrote concerning Temper:
If you're still convinced that DRIPs are for you, here's more:
Most plans require that new members already own stock in the company, often as little as one share. Buy this share through a broker, but be sure it is registered in your own name, not in a street name. The broker will probably charge a fee for the paper certificate.
You can buy into a DRIP through the company's plan administrator...or through a service like Temper of the Times Communications, a... company that charges a flat (fee) to set up a DRIP account with most companies' programs. Temper enrolls you in the program, charging a commission of between 5 cents and 50 cents a share to buy stock for your DRIP account. Depending on your circumstances, such a plan makes sense.
Corporate finance is the area of finance that deals with the sources of funding, and the capital structure of corporations, the actions that managers take to increase the value of the firm to the shareholders, and the tools and analysis used to allocate financial resources. The primary goal of corporate finance is to maximize or increase shareholder value.
M1 Finance is an American financial services company. Founded in 2015, the company offers a robo-advisory investment platform with brokerage accounts, digital checking accounts, and lines of credit. M1 offers an electronic trading platform for the trade of financial assets including common stocks, preferred stocks, fractional-share ownership, and exchange-traded funds. It provides margin lending, automatic rebalancing services, automatic dividend reinvestment services, and cash management services including debit cards. The company receives payment for order flow. The platform has over $6 billion in assets under management. M1's headquarters is located in Chicago, Illinois. As of November 2021, the company had over 500,000 members.
A shareholder benefit is an incentive system offered by a joint-stock company to its shareholders who own a certain number of stocks on the date of right allotment (vesting).
