What Is a Passive Foreign Investment Company (PFIC)? A passive foreign investment company (PFIC) is a corporation, located abroad, which exhibits either one of two conditions, based on either income or assets: At least 75% of the corporation’s gross income is “passive”—that is, derived from investments or other sources not related to regular business operations….
What Is Key Money? Key money is a fee paid to a manager, a landlord, or even a current tenant to secure a lease on a residential rental property. The term is sometimes used to refer to a security deposit. However, in some competitive rental markets, key money is simply a gratuity or a bribe….
What Is the Temporal Method? The temporal method (also known as the historical method) converts the currency of a foreign subsidiary into the currency of the parent company. This technique of foreign currency translation is used when the local currency of the subsidiary is not the same as the currency of the parent company. Differing exchange…
What Is a Foreign Savings Account? A foreign savings account is more like an investment account than traditional savings accounts for U.S. individuals. Foreign savings accounts allow you to invest your money in a currency other than the dollar. A foreign savings account can be opened when you’re in a foreign country or by contacting…
A triggering term is a word or phrase that, when used in advertising literature, requires the presentation of the terms of a credit agreement. Triggering terms are intended to help consumers compare credit and lease offers on a fair and equal basis. Triggering terms are set and monitored by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC)….
What Is a Chargeback? A chargeback is a charge that is returned to a payment card after a customer successfully disputes an item on their account statement or transactions report. A chargeback may occur on debit cards (and the underlying bank account) or on credit cards. Chargebacks can be granted to a cardholder for a…
What Is the Weighted Average Coupon (WAC)? The weighted average coupon (WAC) is a measurement of the rate of return on a pool of mortgages that is sold to investors as a mortgage-backed security (MBS). The underlying mortgages are repaid at different lengths of time, so the WAC represents its return at the time it…
What Is Default Probability? Default probability is the likelihood over a specified period, usually one year, that a borrower will not be able to make scheduled repayments. It can be applied to a variety of different risk management or credit analysis scenarios. Also called the probability of default (PD), it depends, not only on the…
Many registered investment advisors (RIA) at one time or another have considered striking out on their own to form an independent financial advisory firm. But those attributes that make one a successful advisor at a larger organization don’t always translate into the skill sets that are needed to run an independent business. Still, with a…