Paine Webber was an independent and large United States-based stock brokerage firm that boasted an impressive and nationally comprehensive 8,500 brokers located in 300 different offices throughout the United States. The firm catered successfully to wealthy clients and accredited investors. The company counted an important money management business as well. For years it was the subject of rumors regarding takeover [...]

The Panic of 1907 is also referred to as the Knickerbocker Crisis and the 1907 Bankers’ Panic. This represented an earlier financial crisis within the United States. It occurred during a three week long time frame that began mid October of 1907 as the NYSE New York Stock Exchange plummeted nearly 50 percent from the prior year peak. Naturally this [...]

Paper assets have three different meanings depending on whether you are discussing business, investments, or fiat currencies. Where business is concerned, paper assets are assets that you can not easily use or change in to cash. These paper assets possess extremely low liquidity, meaning that they are difficult to sell too. The term in this case literally arises from assets [...]

Paper investments can be several things. Where businesses are concerned, paper investments turn out to be investments in commercial paper. Commercial paper investments prove to actually be money market instruments that companies and banks sell to raise money. There are many large issuers with good credit who offer these types of paper investments to interested investors. They represent inexpensive other [...]

Passive income refers to money that, once it is arranged and established, does not require additional work from the person getting it. A variety of different types of passive income exist. Among them are movie, music, book, screenplay, television, and patent royalties. Other samples of passive income include click through income, rental income, and revenue from online advertising. Activities that [...]

Paul Krugman turns out to be a renowned American economist. He is the City University of New York Distinguished Professor of Economics at their Graduate Center. Krugman is also a New York Times regular columnist. He has been honored with the Nobel Prize in Economics, which contributed enormously to his personal reputation and fame. Paul Krugman was born on February [...]

Paul Volcker is the former Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Board who continues to be influential in policy and in an advisory role to the President of the United States. He is one of the few living individuals to have an economic policy rule named after him. Throughout his lengthy career of public service, Volcker [...]

A Paycheck refers to a check that an employer issues in order to compensate its employees for their services and on the job performance. Such checks will commonly be sent out or direct deposited once every two weeks. Alternatively these are issued once per month or once per week. Those employees who are salaried will most commonly receive 26 individual [...]

PayPal is a U.S. based company that runs a global payment system for online transfers and payments. Their online money transfer service has become invaluable as an alternative to more traditional paper payment means such as money orders and checks. In the years since they arose in 1998, the company has grown to become among the biggest companies for Internet [...]

Payroll tax refers to the specific withholding tax that employers take from their employees’ checks. They do this for their employees so that they can pay it to the national (and sometimes also state or provincial and local) government. These tax amounts are deducted based upon the salaries or wages of the employees in question. In the majority of nations [...]

The PCE Index stands for personal consumption expenditures. This economic index is used to quantify the changes in the prices of consumer services and goods. The expenditures which are included in the index are real expenditures that the U.S. government claims actual households in the U.S. spend. The index measures data that covers non durable goods, durable goods, and services. [...]

Peer to Peer Lending helps consumers who have some extra money to invest to help out those who need to borrow it. It is often abbreviated as P2P Lending. The idea behind peer to peer lending is not a new one. It has grown exponentially online in the past ten years thanks to the Internet. The benefits of this form [...]

The PEG Ratio refers to the stock PE price to earnings ratio divided up by the earnings growth rate over a certain fixed time frame. This ratio itself is popularly utilized to ascertain the real value of a stock taking into account the firm’s earnings growth. Many analysts consider it to be a better big picture view of the company [...]

Penny stocks are those securities that usually trade for comparatively lower prices, off of the big stock exchanges, and with smaller market capitalizations. Many analysts and investors look at these securities as higher in risk and extremely speculative. This is because they feature significant bid and ask spreads, less liquidity, smaller followings, and lesser capitalization and disclosure requirements. Many of [...]

A pension refers to a type of defined benefit plan. In such a plan, workers receive precisely what their employing company promised them. This would be a pre-determined and -defined monthly monetary benefit. With pensions, workers must first attain certain preset qualifications. This might include number of years working with the company. At such a time when the various conditions [...]

Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation is also referred to many times by its government given acronym the PBGC. This federal agency arose as a result of the ERISA Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Its mission is to safeguard the benefits of pensions provided by private sector benefit plans that are defined. These plans commonly promise to pay out a [...]

Pension entitlements are the monies that have been promised to employees who are guaranteed a pension by the company for which they work. The majority of newly issued pensions anymore come from Federal, state, and local government employees. Some companies still offer pension entitlements to their employees who serve a minimum number of years with the firm, such as from [...]

Pension funds are retirement plans which mandate that an employer must do contributions for the benefit of their employee’s future. They contribute such money into a pool of funds. This pool then becomes invested for the employee’s benefit. All earnings which the investments make accrue to the workers once they reach retirement. Besides these mandatory contributions, there are pension plans [...]

Per Capita refers to a Latin language Roman phrase. It comes from per which means by or by means of, and capita which means head. Thus the full phrase signifies “for each head” or “by heads.” This translates to per person or per individual. The popular phrase finds use in a great range of both statistical research and social sciences [...]

Permanent Financing refers to a longer term loan or debt instrument. It can also be thought of as longer term equity financing or debt. Most of the time, such long term financing becomes utilized to buy or develop the kinds of long lasting fixed assets like machinery or factories. The payoffs and contributions from such longer term assets happen over [...]

Personal assets are items of value that belong to an individual. There are many examples of such tangible personal assets. Among these are houses, real estate, cars, and jewelry. Personal assets can also be any other thing with cash value. When individuals go to a bank or other institution to apply for loans, such personal assets and their values are [...]

Philanthropy refers to the action of donating something. It comes from the Greek word for the love of humanity. While many people consider the term to equate to large gifts from wealthy people, this is not necessarily the case. Any type of donation is actually an act of philanthropy. This could be giving money, services, or property. It is not [...]

Philips Curve is a concept in economics which A.W. Philips created. This curve demonstrates that the relationship between unemployment and inflation is predictable, inverse, and stable. Philips’ theory explains that when economies enjoy growth, inflation appears alongside it. This may sound like a negative side effect, but it is not necessarily according to Philips. The growth coupled with inflation is [...]

Pivotal Points refers to a system for predicting stock price movements that Jesse Livermore created and developed. Time Magazine described him as the most incomparable living American trader of his day. In the 1920’s, he used the system to amass a fortune that at its peak valued $100 million. As a share of the U.S. GDP of the time, this [...]

The Plunge Protection Team is a nickname given to the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets. It came into existence to make economic and financial recommendations on the economy when there are periods of economic chaos. On the team are the heads of the most critical U.S. financial regulatory organizations. This includes the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, the SEC [...]

Among the best defensive mechanisms for companies who are being unwontedly pursued by acquiring companies on the prowl is the colorfully but appropriately named poison pill strategy. Poison pill refers to a strategy whereby targeted companies are able to effectively discourage or outright prevent a hostile takeover. Companies which are targeted for such a takeover employ this type of a [...]

Ponzi Schemes prove to be frauds surrounding investments that are related to the pay out of returns to investors in the scheme that are covered using contributions from new investors. The individuals who run Ponzi schemes are able to attract newer investors through boasting of tremendous opportunities that will guarantee terrific investment returns, typically with little to no risk. With [...]

In the world of business and finance, a portfolio stands for an investment collection that a person or institution holds. People and other entities put together portfolios in order to diversify their holdings to reduce risk to a manageable level. A number of different kinds of risk are mitigated through the acquisition of a few varying types of assets. A [...]

Portfolio income proves to be money that is actually brought in from a group of investments. The portfolio commonly includes all of the various types of investments that an investor owns. These include bonds, stocks, mutual funds, and certificates of deposit. These various financial instruments earn a variety of different types of passive income, such as dividends, interest income, and [...]

Portfolio managers are individuals who invest the assets of a fund. They generally handle either an ETF exchange traded fund, a mutual fund, or a closed end fund. Their responsibility is to carry out the daily trading of the portfolio and to put into practice the fund’s investment strategy. When investors are considering different funds in which to invest, among [...]

Pound Sterling refers to the currency of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This basic monetary unit has been divided according to the decimal system by 100 new pence since the year 1971 when they abandoned their millennium old subdivision system. This British pound is also the official currency and monetary unit of such far flung British [...]

A power of attorney is an agreement in writing that grants another individual the authority to make some choices if the grantor is not available. This person who receives the power does not have to be an attorney. Attorneys are typically only involved in drafting up or potentially witnessing such an agreement. The phrase comes from an individual receiving status [...]

Precious metals are greatly prized elemental metals. For thousands of years they have been highly valued. These four metals are gold, silver, platinum, and palladium. Most of them have been heavily utilized in jewelry for their resistance to corrosion. Several of these have been used as currency over the centuries. Today all of them are available as an investment in [...]

Preferred stock is referred to as preference shares or preferred shares as well. Preferred stock is the name used for a particular equity security which exhibits both characteristics of a stock equity as well as an instrument of debt. Because of this, preferred stocks are commonly deemed to be hybrid types of instruments. In the claims on a company’s assets [...]

Price Controls turn out to be government decreed standards for maximum or minimum prices which they set on specific goods. These are typically put into place in order to intervene directly in an economy so they can arrange for essential goods to be made affordable. Governments are interested in affecting these controls on staple goods. These include such critical things [...]

Price gouging involves businesses charging higher prices than those that are considered to be fair or normal. It is most often done when there are crises or natural disasters strike. This gouging could also result from temporary boosts in demand that are not matched by supply. If suppliers’ expenses rises, this is not considered to be a form of gouging [...]

A prime brokerage refers to a particular category of different financial services which a number of brokerages provide to their important clients. Services they deliver under this umbrella cover a number of different types. Among these are leveraged trade orders, loaning of securities, and cash management assistance. The majority of the bigger brokerages offer such prime broker services. This includes [...]

The Prime Rate is the most typically utilized shorter term interest rate for the United State banking system. All kinds of lending institutions in the United States employ this U.S. benchmark interest rate as a basis or index rate to price their medium term to short term loans and products. This includes credit unions, thrifts, savings and loans, and commercial [...]

Principal has several different meanings. It most commonly pertains to the initial amount of money that a person either invests or borrows with a loan. A secondary meaning has to do with a bond and its face value. Sometimes the word pertains to the owners of a company or the main participants in any type of transaction. Where borrowing is [...]

Private Banking refers to an intensely personal form of banking and related financial services which a bank traditionally delivers to its HNWI high net worth individual and UHNW ultra high net worth individual clients. In terms of wealth management, it is these two principal types of banking customers who have amassed significantly greater wealth than the common man or woman. [...]

Private Equity refers to an investment capital source that comes from those institutional investors and accredited individual investors who boast high net worth. The goals of these investors are to gain a significant equity ownership in corporations. The partners at these firms raise funds and then manage them to gain higher than average returns for their client shareholders. They commonly [...]

A private equity firm is a company that provides capital which is not from public stock exchanges. It is instead made up of private investors and funds. They invest their money directly into private companies or public companies via buyouts. When they take over a public company in this way, the entity becomes delisted from its stock exchange. The capital [...]

A Private Equity Fund refers to a fund that is not carried by a public stock exchange and which does not have to be regulated by the SEC Securities Exchange Commission. Private equity itself is made up of the range of investors and funds who choose to invest directly in privately held companies. They might also pursue mergers and acquisitions [...]

PMI is the acronym for Private Mortgage Insurance, also known sometimes as Lenders Mortgage Insurance. PMI proves to be insurance that is paid to a lending institution that is required much of the time when an individual gets a mortgage loan. Such insurance is used to cover any losses that arise if a person is not capable of paying back [...]

Profit Sharing Plans are not all the same. These plans can come in a range of different formats. Many times they are utilized as a supplement to another kind of retirement account. These defined contribution plans prove to be a significant benefit with tax advantages for a number of American employees. The reason that employers establish these types of plans [...]

Progressive taxes exact a larger pound of flesh from the income of higher income earners than they do from lower income contemporaries. The idea is a tax system which is based upon the ability of an income earner to pay. In other words, the system demands a bigger percentage and absolute amount in taxes from the larger earners than from [...]

A Property Tax refers to a type of tax levied by a government in their jurisdiction on the personal or real estate property of an individual or business. The government will assess the value of the property for the purpose of taxing it. The authorities will then determine how much taxes the owners owe by multiplying the property’s fair market [...]

Proportional Taxes are a type of income tax system. In this taxation system, the identical percentage of taxes is applied to all taxpayers in an economy. It does not matter how much or how little they earn. This type of tax simply levies the same rate on all high income, middle income, and low income workers as well as businesses. [...]

Proprietary Trading refers to a type of trading in which the bank or other financial institution invests its own funds for its own benefit. They do this instead of investing the money of and for their clients and gaining a commission fee for trading for their customers. Such trading happens as a firm makes the choice to engage in market [...]

In the world of finance and investments, a prospectus proves to be a legal document. This document is utilized by businesses and institutions who must describe in great detail the type of stock or bond securities that they are issuing for potential buyers. Such a prospectus generally offers great information to investors concerning stocks, mutual funds, bonds, and even other [...]

A protective tariff is a choice by a national government to create a financial barrier or tax on the imports of one or more nation’s imports into the country. In many cases, such tariffs are not intended to raise additional national revenue as much as they are to artificially increase the prices of said imports. This helps to protect the [...]

Prudential Financial proves to be a Fortune 500 company and Fortune Global 500 firm based in the United States. This company’s hundreds of subsidiaries deliver insurance, financial services and products, and investment management for institutional and retail level clients living in the U.S. and more than thirty different nations. Among their mainstay services and products they offer are annuities, life [...]

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board turns out to be another regulatory group that Congress established to provide oversight on the auditing of public companies. This not for profit corporation is not a government agency. It does provide protection to the public and investors who are interested in the independent, accurate, and revealing audit reports that this group encourages. Besides [...]

Purchasing power parity is a method for comparing the various standards of living of different countries and through different times. It also allows economists to compare one nation’s economic productivity to another nation’s. This economic theory believes that it is possible to compare the various currencies of different countries by analyzing the cost of a basket of goods. The idea [...]

Put options are financial contracts that are entered into by two parties, the buyer of the option and the seller, or writer, of the option. They are generally called simply puts. A purchaser is able to establish a long position in a put option by buying the right to actually sell the instrument that underlies the put. This is done [...]