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Financial questions, answered briefly.
Short answers by topic, plus a plain-English glossary. Where a subject deserves more room, there is a link to the page that covers it.
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Topic 1
Getting started
Topic 2
Retirement
Topic 3
Life insurance
Topic 4
Annuities
Topic 5
Rollovers
Topic 6
Legacy
Topic 7
Tax basics
Finn's financial terms
Plain-English definitions.
Explore Finn's Money Dictionary
- Beneficiary
- The person or entity named to receive an account or policy benefit.
- Premium
- The payment made to keep an insurance policy in force.
- Death benefit
- The amount an insurance policy is designed to pay to beneficiaries, subject to policy terms.
- Cash value
- Value that certain permanent life insurance policies may build over time, separate from the death benefit.
- Rollover
- Moving retirement money from one qualifying account to another while generally preserving its tax treatment.
- Tax-deferred
- Growth that is generally not taxed until money is withdrawn.
- Annuity
- A contract with an insurance company designed for accumulation, income, or both.
- Surrender period
- A set number of years during which withdrawing more than the allowed amount may trigger a charge.
- Index
- A market benchmark, such as the S&P 500, sometimes used to calculate interest credits.
- Participation rate
- The percentage of index movement used in an interest-crediting calculation.
Educational information only. Not individualized financial, insurance, tax or legal advice.
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