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An organization, usually a stock brokerage firm, involved in taking a new company public (IPO), consulting on mergers and acquisitions, handling corporate borrowing, etc.

Initial investment capital necessary for starting a business. Investment capital usually consists of inventory, equipment, pre-opening expenses and leaseholds.

A specialist in the investment industry paid by fee to provide advice and research to investors with large accounts.

Securities firms that employ investment advisors to work with retail and institutional clients. Investment dealers have underwriting, trading and research departments.

A closed-end fund that offers investors the ability to buy a security that represents a portfolio of investments with a specific investment strategy. These products use funds raised through a public offering to invest in a portfolio of securities, which are actively managed to create income streams for investors, typically through a combination of dividends, capital gains, interest payments, and in some cases, income from derivative investment strategies. These funds are not directly related to an operating business. Some examples are: funds of income funds, senior loan funds, mortgage-backed security funds, and commodity funds.

A security with a solid record of dividend payments and which offers a dividend yield higher than the average common stock.

Also called income funds. Income trusts are trusts structured to own debt and equity of an underlying entity, which carries on an active business, or has royalty revenues generated by the assets of an active business. By owning securities or assets of an underlying business, an income trust is structured to distribute cash flows, typically on a monthly basis, from those businesses to unit holders in a tax-efficient manner. The trust structure is typically utilized by mature, stable, sustainable, cash-generating businesses that require a limited amount of maintenance capital expenditures. An income trust is an exchange-traded equity investment that is similar to a common share. There are four categories of income trusts: business trusts; real estate investment trusts (REITs); energy trusts; and power, pipeline, and utility trusts.

A composite representing the value of a group of stocks. 

An option whose underlying security is an index. An example would be the S&P 100 (OEX). A trader can buy index options and bet on the direction of the OEX.

See Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF).