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Guaranteed Investment Contract
A guaranteed investment contract (GIC) is a contract that guarantees repayment of principal and a fixed or floating interest rate for a predetermined period of time. Guaranteed investment contracts are typically issued by life insurance companies qualified for favorable tax status under the Internal Revenue Code (for example, 401(k) plans). A GIC is used primarily as a vehicle that yields a higher return than a savings account or United States Treasury securities and GICs are often used as investments for stable value funds. GICs are sometimes referred to as funding agreements, although this term is often reserved for contracts sold to non-qualified institutions. Example: Funds obtained through a municipal bond issuance will generally take time to be drawn down. Depositing the bond proceeds in a GIC gives the bond issuer the liquidity of having the funds available while earning a higher rate of return than it would earn in a money market account. GICs are considered safe vehicles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Contract
A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to transfer any of those at a future date. In the event of a breach of contract, the injured party may seek judicial remedies such as damages or rescission. Contract law, the field of the law of obligations concerned with contracts, is based on the principle that agreements must be honoured. Contract law, like other areas of private law, varies between jurisdictions. The various systems of contract law can broadly be split between common law jurisdictions, civil law jurisdictions, and mixed law jurisdictions which combine elements of both common and civil law. Common law jurisdictions typically require contracts to include consideration in order to be valid, whereas civil and most mixed law jurisdictions solely require a meeting of the mind ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
401k
In the United States, a 401(k) plan is an employer-sponsored, defined-contribution, personal pension (savings) account, as defined in subsection 401(k) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. Periodical employee contributions come directly out of their paychecks, and may be matched by the employer. This legal option is what makes 401(k) plans attractive to employees, and many employers offer this option to their (full-time) workers. There are two types: traditional and Roth 401(k). For Roth accounts, contributions and withdrawals have no impact on income tax. For traditional accounts, contributions may be deducted from taxable income and withdrawals are added to taxable income. There are limits to contributions, rules governing withdrawals and possible penalties. The benefit of the Roth account is from tax-free capital gains. The net benefit of the traditional account is the sum of (1) a possible bonus (or penalty) from withdrawals at tax rates lower (or higher) than at contributio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stable Value Fund
A stable value fund is a type of investment available in 401(k) plans and other defined contribution plans as well as some 529 or tuition assistance plans. Stable value funds are often made available in these plans under a name that intends to describe the nature of the fund (such as ''capital preservation fund'', ''fixed-interest fund'', ''capital accumulation fund'', ''principal protection fund'', ''guaranteed fund'', ''preservation fund'', or ''income fund'' among others). They offer principal preservation, predictable returns, and a rate higher than similar options without proportionately increasing risk. The funds are structured in various ways, but in general they are composed of high quality, diversified fixed income portfolios that are protected against interest rate volatility by contracts from banks and insurance companies. For example, a stable value fund may hold highly rated government or corporate debt, asset-backed securities, residential and commercial mortgage ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American International Group Inc
American International Group, Inc. (AIG) is an American multinational finance and insurance corporation with operations in more than 80 countries and jurisdictions. , AIG companies employed 49,600 people.https://www.aig.com/content/dam/aig/america-canada/us/documents/investor-relations/2019/aig-2018-annual-report.pdf page 7 The company operates through three core businesses: General Insurance, Life & Retirement, and a standalone technology-enabled subsidiary. General Insurance includes Commercial, Personal Insurance, U.S. and International field operations. Life & Retirement includes Group Retirement, Individual Retirement, Life, and Institutional Markets. AIG is a sponsor of the AIG Women's Open golf tournament. AIG's corporate headquarters are in New York City and the company also has offices around the world. AIG serves 87% of the Fortune Global 500 and 83% of the Forbes 2000. AIG was ranked 60th on the 2018 Fortune 500 list. According to the 2016 Forbes Global 2000 list, AIG ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Monoline
Bond insurance, also known as "financial guaranty insurance", is a type of insurance whereby an insurance company guarantees scheduled payments of interest and principal on a bond (finance), bond or other security in the event of a payment default by the issuer of the bond or security. It is a form of "credit enhancement" that generally results in the wikt:rating, rating of the insured security being the higher of (i) the claims-paying rating of the insurer or (ii) the rating the bond would have without insurance (also known as the "underlying" or "shadow" rating). The insurer is paid a premium by the issuer or owner of the security to be insured. The premium may be paid as a lump sum or in installments. The premium charged for insurance on a bond is a measure of the perceived risk of failure of the issuer. It can also be a function of the interest savings realized by an issuer from employing bond insurance or the increased value of the security realized by an owner who purchased bon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unisys
Unisys Corporation is an American multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. It provides digital workplace solutions, cloud, applications, and infrastructure solutions, enterprise computing solutions, and business process solutions for organizations around the world. History Founding Unisys was formed in 1986 through the merger of mainframe corporations Sperry and Burroughs, with Burroughs buying Sperry for $4.8 billion. The name was chosen from over 31,000 submissions in an internal competition when Christian Machen submitted the word "Unisys" which was composed of parts of the words ''united'', ''information'' and ''systems''. The merger was the largest in the computer industry at the time and made Unisys the second largest computer company with annual revenue of $10.5 billion. Michael Blumenthal became CEO and Chairman. Soon after the merger, the market for proprietary mainframe-class systems—t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Junk Bond
In finance, a high-yield bond (non-investment-grade bond, speculative-grade bond, or junk bond) is a bond that is rated below investment grade by credit rating agencies. These bonds have a higher risk of default or other adverse credit events, but offer higher yields than investment-grade bonds in order to compensate for the increased risk. Default risk As indicated by their lower credit ratings, high-yield debt entails more risk to the investor compared to investment grade bonds. Investors require a greater yield to compensate them for investing in the riskier securities. In the case of high-yield bonds, the risk is largely that of default: the possibility that the issuer will be unable to make scheduled interest and principal payments in a timely manner. The default rate in the high-yield sector of the U.S. bond market has averaged about 5% over the long term. During the liquidity crisis of 1989-90, the default rate was in the 5.6% to 7% range. During the pandemic of 20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Executive Life Insurance Company
Executive Life Insurance Company (ELIC) was once the largest life insurance company in California. Its financial problems and subsequent insolvency in April 1991 shocked its policyholders and the financial world. At the time, First Executive was the biggest insurer ever to fail, which resulted primarily from money-losing investments in junk bonds. First Executive through Fred Carr had a strong association with Mike Milken and the brokerage firm Drexel Burnham Lambert, whereby at the end of 1990 the company-owned high-yield debt, much of it issued through Drexel, with a carrying value of $9 billion. According to Robert Sobel, First Executive was involved in 90% of Drexel's underwritings, which accounted for about $40 billion in bonds from 1982 to 1987. After the State of California took over Executive Life, it sold the company's junk-bond portfolio to Altus Finance, a unit of Crédit Lyonnais, in November 1991 for $3.25 billion. Because banks were prohibited under the Glass– ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Municipal Bond
A municipal bond, commonly known as a muni, is a Bond (finance), bond issued by state or local governments, or entities they create such as authorities and special districts. In the United States, interest income received by holders of municipal bonds is often, but not always, exempt from federal and state income taxation. Typically, only investors in the highest tax brackets benefit from buying tax-exempt municipal bonds instead of taxable bonds. Taxable equivalent yield calculations are required to make fair comparisons between the two categories. The U.S. municipal debt market is relatively small compared to the corporate market. Total municipal debt outstanding was $4 trillion as of the first quarter of 2021, compared to nearly $15 trillion in the corporate and foreign markets. Local authorities in many #In other countries, other countries in the world issue similar bonds, sometimes called local authority bonds or other names. History Municipal debt predates corporate debt b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fixed Interest
A fixed interest rate loan is a loan where the interest rate An interest rate is the amount of interest due per period, as a proportion of the amount lent, deposited, or borrowed (called the principal sum). The total interest on an amount lent or borrowed depends on the principal sum, the interest rate, ... doesn't fluctuate during the fixed rate period of the loan. This allows the borrower to accurately predict their future payments. Variable rate loans, by contrast, are anchored to the prevailing discount rate. A fixed interest rate is as exactly as it sounds - a specific, fixed interest tied to a loan or a line of credit that must be repaid, along with the principal. A fixed rate is the most common form of interest for consumers, as they are easy to calculate, easy to understand, and stable - both the borrower and the lender know exactly what interest rate obligations are tied to a loan or credit account. For example, consider a loan of $10,000 from a bank to a borrower. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Treasury Security
United States Treasury securities, also called Treasuries or Treasurys, are government debt instruments issued by the United States Department of the Treasury to finance government spending as an alternative to taxation. Since 2012, U.S. government debt has been managed by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, succeeding the Bureau of the Public Debt. There are four types of marketable Treasury securities: Treasury bills, Treasury notes, Treasury bonds, and Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (TIPS). The government sells these securities in auctions conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, after which they can be traded in secondary markets. Non-marketable securities include savings bonds, issued to the public and transferable only as gifts; the State and Local Government Series (SLGS), purchaseable only with the proceeds of state and municipal bond sales; and the Government Account Series, purchased by units of the federal government. Treasury securities are bac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territories, nine Minor Outlying Islands, and 326 Indian reservations. The United States is also in free association with three Pacific Island sovereign states: the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. It is the world's third-largest country by both land and total area. It shares land borders with Canada to its north and with Mexico to its south and has maritime borders with the Bahamas, Cuba, Russia, and other nations. With a population of over 333 million, it is the most populous country in the Americas and the third most populous in the world. The national capital of the United States is Washington, D.C. and its most populous city and principal financial center is New York City. Paleo-Americ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
