Every investing and stock market term a beginner needs, explained in plain English — no jargon, no textbook waffle. Tap through to the full lesson wherever you want to go deeper.
How you split your money across different types of investment — shares, bonds, cash, property — to balance risk against return. Full lesson →
Trying to beat the market by picking investments and timing trades, rather than simply tracking an index. Full lesson →
A period when prices have fallen 20% or more from a recent high and pessimism takes over. Full lesson →
A mental shortcut — like fear of missing out or panic-selling — that pushes investors into poor decisions. Full lesson →
A rare, unpredictable event with a huge market impact, obvious only in hindsight. Full lesson →
A loan you make to a government or company that pays you interest and returns your money at maturity. Full lesson →
A period when prices are rising broadly, typically up 20% or more from a recent low. Full lesson →
UK tax on the profit when you sell an investment for more than you paid — avoidable inside an ISA. Full lesson →
Earning returns on your returns, so money grows faster the longer it stays invested. Full lesson →
A score that judges how likely a borrower is to repay its debt, affecting the interest it must pay. Full lesson →
A digital asset secured by cryptography and recorded on a blockchain, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. Full lesson →
Discounted cash flow: estimating what a company is worth today based on the future cash it will generate. Full lesson →
Decentralised finance — financial services like lending and trading run on blockchains without a bank in the middle. Full lesson →
Spreading money across many investments so no single one can sink your whole portfolio. Full lesson →
A share of a company's profits paid out to shareholders, usually in cash. Full lesson →
Investing a fixed amount on a regular schedule regardless of price, smoothing out your average cost. Full lesson →
The drop from an investment's peak to its lowest point — a measure of how much you could lose along the way. Full lesson →
How sensitive a bond's price is to changes in interest rates; longer duration means bigger swings. Full lesson →
An exchange-traded fund — a single investment holding a basket of assets, such as every company in an index. Full lesson →
Valuing a company by studying its financials — revenue, profit, debt and ratios — rather than its chart. Full lesson →
Two styles: growth backs fast-expanding companies; value hunts for solid companies trading below their worth. Full lesson →
Taking an offsetting position to reduce the risk of losses elsewhere in your portfolio. Full lesson →
A fund that tracks a whole market index, giving instant diversification at low cost. Full lesson →
The gradual rise in prices that erodes the purchasing power of money over time. Full lesson →
An initial public offering — the first time a company sells shares to the public on a stock exchange. Full lesson →
A UK Individual Savings Account that lets you invest free of capital gains and dividend tax, up to an annual allowance. Full lesson →
Using borrowed money to increase the size of an investment — magnifying both gains and losses. Full lesson →
How easily an asset can be bought or sold without moving its price. Full lesson →
The total value of a company's shares — share price multiplied by the number of shares. Full lesson →
A basket that tracks a slice of the market, like the FTSE 100 or S&P 500, used as a benchmark. Full lesson →
Buying assets that have been rising on the theory that the trend tends to continue. Full lesson →
A non-fungible token — a unique digital item recorded on a blockchain to prove ownership. Full lesson →
Contracts giving the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an asset at a set price by a set date. Full lesson →
Price-to-earnings ratio — share price divided by earnings per share, showing how much investors pay per £1 of profit. Full lesson →
Periodically adjusting your holdings back to your target mix after market moves push them out of line. Full lesson →
A type of share that pays fixed dividends and ranks ahead of ordinary shares, but usually without voting rights. Full lesson →
The two main ways blockchains confirm transactions and stay secure. Full lesson →
How much volatility and potential loss you can handle, both emotionally and financially. Full lesson →
A shortcut for how long money takes to double: divide 72 by the annual return rate. Full lesson →
A group of companies in the same line of business, such as technology, energy or healthcare. Full lesson →
When a company buys its own shares, reducing the count and lifting the value of those that remain. Full lesson →
Betting a price will fall by borrowing and selling an asset, hoping to buy it back cheaper. Full lesson →
A cryptocurrency designed to hold a steady value, usually pegged to a currency like the US dollar. Full lesson →
A unit of ownership in a company; own one and you own a small slice of its assets and future profits. Full lesson →
Studying price charts and patterns to judge likely future moves, rather than a company's fundamentals. Full lesson →
The idea that £1 today is worth more than £1 in the future, because today's money can be invested to grow. Full lesson →
How much and how quickly a price moves up and down; higher volatility means bigger swings. Full lesson →
The income an investment pays, expressed as a percentage of its price. Full lesson →
A bond that pays no regular interest but is sold at a discount and repays full value at maturity. Full lesson →
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