Glossary
In this page you can look at some terminology and its meaning, please consider that the meaning is mostly for how we use it in this specific blog. Which does include the actual meaning, just with a little addition in some cases.
Asset: Something of great value to a company or private individual. Companies list assets on their balance sheet. The asset does not have to be physical, it can be intangible. The difference between tangible and intangible is mostly that the former is a physical asset and the latter is not; intangible assets can be a credit you get (possibly by prepaying for something) or a something like intellectual property (a right to use something).
Batch: A group of products that are produced in a single go, or without switching machinery to produce something else.
Buybacks: Companies can use excess cash to buy their own shares listed on exchanges, this reduces the amount of shares by which profit and total dividends are divided.
Bond: In this blog it is a form of loaning money; the total amount is split over many bonds instead of a single loan.
Book value: Literally how much a company is worth according to its books; you take total assets, deduct what it owes and there you have it.
Carat: For stones it is 0,2 gram, a weight measurement usually used for gemstones. There is also carat in gold, where it is a purity out of 24; 18 carats out of 24 maximum is 75% pure weight.
Celestial body: Natural objects that exist outside of Earth, things like moons, stars and comets. They can exist from all manner of matter.
Compounding interest: If, during the duration of a loan, you pay absolutely no interest, and repay none of the original principal, you get compounding interest, in which you also pay interest over the interest owed. Debts can skyrocket if this applies.
Currency: The money used predominantly in a local economy. Other currencies can be used for trade, even internally. A currency can be pegged to another one; in this case it follows the movements of the other currency via interference from a central bank.
Depreciation: Any asset will at some point decrease in value. This is called depreciation, sometimes the real world value is not diminished yet, but it is depreciated for tax reasons only, in the administration.
Dividend: Cash distributed by a company to its shareholders. Sometimes they distribute more shares, this simply dilutes the value of the shares previously owned, whilst costing additional money in tax.
Digital assets: Anything that is digitised and of value can be considered a digital asset. This blog mostly discusses the cases that can be traded on a exchange, so cryptocurrencies and the like.
Ecosystem: A group of entities who exist and greatly affect each other. This creates a small world inside a bigger world.
Elderly: A private person who has reached retirement age and is not in 100% good health. If the person is in good health, elderly is to be assigned on a case by case basis.
EPS: How much profit is available for each outstanding share of a company. This is not always total shares, see buyback.
Equity: Commonly refers to the equity of a company, e.g. its shares. Can also be available wealth or total assets minus debt.
Expenses, fixed or variable: Expenses are things that cost you money. If the amount is unlikely to change irrelevant of your activities it is fixed. If the amount does change, it is variable.
FIRE: Meaning Financial Independence Retire Early, a popular online group of finance afficionados whose aim it is to retire long before their country`s respective retirement age.
Forward base camp: A physical piece of real estate located quite some distance from you main operations, distance from side operations is not a pre requisite. Often used as either a forwarding site or base of operation for the area. Can serve multiple purposes, resembles the trading posts used in ages past.
Fund: A collection of traded assets bundled together for the purpose of selling shares in the fund to investors. Common method to reduce risk or make a risky investment (appear) less risky.
Game: That which is performed to temporarily escape reality.
Gemstone: A stone consisting of particles that are generally considered as precious stones. In this blog we use it as a general name for valuable jewellery type stones. A stone is usually considered precious if it is durable and rare, also pretty but opinions differ on what is pretty.
Inflation: Increases in price across the board. Prior to the second half of the twentieth century it was somewhat rare. Inflation only occurred in two scenarios: 1 When supply was low and demand high. 2 When the amount of precious metals (either silver or gold) was reduced in general coinage; you needed more coins to pay the same amount of silver.
Insurance: A product that is supposed to give you money if something happens, it is ruled by a lot of fixed rules. These rules are heavily enforced.
Interest: Something which you get for making money available, or you pay for using the money of others.
Investment: The purchase of something that you expect to sell at a much higher price at a later time, well in excess of inflation and costs. Some investments are bought, not to sell, but to receive money over time, usually in a fixed interval.
Mitigate: To reduce risk, this is usually done by buying some type of insurance or an investment product that allows you to either buy or sell a different investment product or asset at a certain price, during a fixed time interval; does not have to be used, if it is not profitable, you can just wait for the time frame to expire.
Mortgage: A loan in which, generally speaking, real estate (your house) is used as collateral. Any asset can be used in theory.
Operational: In our articles it means that which occurs on a regular basis, it is the way in which you normally conduct things. Also in relation to work.
Pax Romana: Peace within the Roman Empire, after its fall this became a missed sentiment.
PR: Short for public relations: This exists to manage how you are perceived as either an organisation or private individual. The perception created does not have to be how you really are, otherwise, little PR would be required to achieve the desired image. Advertisement is usually a part of PR or works in tandem with it. Though their agendas differ as advertisements simply aim to sell you something.
Precious metals: Highly valuable and rare metals, usually gold/silver and platinum group metals.
Premium: The amount of money you are charged above all regular costs and standard profit margin. Larger pieces, or of a greater quantity, generally have a lower premium as the seller has less total costs.
Public/Private: Private means either a genuine person, or with a corporation it differentiates from Public; a governmental organisation.
Risk: That which poses a threat to your financial or professional situation. Can become a opportunity to do better or turn into an advantage, if handled very well.
Subsidies: The government gives money to a specific organisation to help it gain an edge against (foreign) competitors. The money does not have to wired to the organisation, it can be spend in other means, as long as the goal is to give an advantage that would otherwise not exist. Can also be applied to industries or in trade disputes.
Synergy: Perceived increase in added value due to similarities between two parties who are working on something in the exact same ecosystem. Generally assumed to only take place if both parties are genuinely working together instead of besides each other. Please be aware that this word is considered prime jargon, so is rarely used truthfully; a manager or teacher claiming it, is usually complete non-sense. The word itself goes back many millennia, to Ancient Greece, and is used through the ages.
Taxes: The government`s way of keeping the people to poor to attempt anything against them. Please investigate Elon Musk and his fickle relationship with Donald Trump, to see what happens when this mechanic fails and someone becomes sufficiently rich to go against the government. Please note that we are not judging anyone, it is simply a good example.
