Account Statement

A summary of the financial activity of a specific account for a definite period provided by any financial institution

Adjusted NAV

An NAV which is adjusted in view of perceived or suspected differences between the market value and book value.

Advisor

A person or firm offering professional financial advice.

Allocation Scheme

Means the allocation scheme(s) offered by the Pension Fund Manager in light of the Prescribed Allocation Policy issued by the Commission from time to time.

Alpha

When your mutual fund investment has earned higher returns than its benchmark index, the difference between the two returns is called Alpha. Alpha = Returns earned by your mutual fund investment minus benchmark index returns

Annual Report

A report comprising a comprehensive description of the company's activities in the whole financial year.

Annual Return

The change in percentage in the Net Asset Value (NAV) of a fund over one year based on the assumption that distributions such as dividend payment and bonuses have been reinvested.

Annualized Return

Returns generated from a fund on a compounded basis over the year which also indicate the performance of that fund

Anniversary Date

Means the Business Day following the completion of one full year from the opening of the Individual Pension Account with the Pension Fund Manager and thereafter the Business Day following completion of subsequent one full year.

Applicable NAV

AN NAV applied for a particular transaction based on the cutoff time specified by a mutual fund.

Asset

Any tangible or intangible resource of economic value.

Asset Allocation

A systematic approach for allocating the portfolio into stocks, bonds and cash, and/ or other asset classes or categories. Factors such as age, investment horizon, risk tolerance, and portfolio size play an important role in determining an individual's asset allocation.

Asset Allocation Fund

A fund that spreads its portfolio across different asset classes (equity, debt, etc.) based on a pre-determined ratio.

Asset Management Company (AMC)

A company that is registered with the SECP to manage assets of a mutual fund and make investment/divestment decisions for it.

Assets under Management (AUM)

Assets under Management (AUM) are the total value of all the investments currently being managed by the fund.

Balance Sheet

A financial statement showing a company's or fund's assets, liabilities and shareholder's equity.

Back End Load

A sales charge paid when an individual sells a mutual fund. A fee imposed by some funds when shares are redeemed (sold back to the fund) during the first few years of ownership. Also called a contingent deferred sales charge. Saturna's affiliated funds do not charge back-end loads.

Balanced Fund

A mutual fund which is composed usually of a balanced mix of both stocks and fixed income securities.

Bear Market

A prolonged period in the stock market in which prices are generally falling that is characterized by pessimism and the mass selling of stocks.

Benchmark

A suitable index against which the performance of the fund is compared. For example, mostly equity funds in Pakistan are benchmarked against KSE-100 and Islamic Funds against KMI-30 Index.

Beneficiary

An individual named as the recipient of a gift which can be made through a trust or who will receive an inheritance upon the death of another individual.

Beta

Represented by the symbol ß. A statistical tool used to measure the volatility (risk) of a stock. The volatility of a stock is measured relative to a stock market (represented by an index), which always has a beta of 1. Beta of 1 means that security's price will move along with the market. Beta of less than 1 means that the security will be less volatile than the market. Beta greater than 1 indicates that the security's price will be more volatile than the market. For example, if a stock's beta is 1.4, it's theoretically 40% more volatile than the market i.e. if the market rises or falls by 10%, the stock will rise or fall 14% (1.4 x market).

Bond

A debt security that represents the borrowing of money by a corporation, government, or other entity. The borrowing institution repays the amount of the loan plus a percentage as interest. Income funds generally invest in bonds.

Bond Fund

A fund that invests primarily in bonds and other debt instruments.

Bond Rating

A rating or grade that is intended to indicate the credit quality of a bond, considering the financial strength of its issuer and the likelihood that it will repay the debt. Agencies such as Standard & Poor's, Moody's Investors Service, and Fitch issue ratings for different bonds, ranging from AAA (highly unlikely to default) to D (in default).

Broker

A person who acts as an intermediary between the buyer and seller of a security, insurance product, or mutual fund, often paid by commission. The terms broker, broker/dealer, and dealer are sometimes used interchangeably.

Bull Market

A prolonged period in the stock market in which prices are generally rising that is characterized by optimism and the mass purchase of stocks.

Capital gain/appreciation

It is the profit that results from investments into a capital asset, which exceeds the purchase price. It is the difference between a higher selling price and a lower purchase price.

Closed-End Mutual Fund

An investment fund that issues a specific number of shares; its capitalization is fixed. The shares are not redeemable, but are readily transferable and trade on either a stock exchange or the over-the-counter market.

Compounding

Compounding is the earnings on an investment's reinvested earnings. The term indicates that the return earned on an investment will increase, if the returns are reinvested, whether it is interest and/ or dividend income and/ or capital gains. The rate that is used to calculate the returns is based not only on the original investment, but also on the accumulated returns of prior terms.

Coupon

The interest rate that a bond pays (indicated as a percentage of its face value). For example, if the face value of a bond is Rs 100 and it pays interest at 8%, this interest rate is called the coupon.

Commodity Funds

Commodity Funds invest in commodities, for example gold, silver, crude oil, natural gas, etc and may provide excellent diversification and inflation protection to the average investor's portfolio.

Constitutive Document

Means the Trust Deed and Offering Document of the fund. Trust Deed is the principal document governing the formation, management or operation of the Trust and Offering Document is the principal document outlining investment objective, strategy, risk involved and investment details.

Contribution

Means an amount as may be voluntarily paid by a Participant at any frequency to the Trustee for credit to the Individual Pension Account of a Participant, subject to any minimum limit as specified in the Offering Document.

Country risk

The danger international investors face that a nation where they have invested, will suffer severe economic or political problems, or even a natural disaster..

Credit risk

The danger that the issuer of a corporate bond will experience financial difficulties towards satisfying it’s obligation, thus causing deterioration in credit worthiness, perhaps even a default. Treasury securities are usually considered free of this risk.

Currency risk

The risk, faced by foreign investors, that the currency in which their investment is denominated may depreciate in value in relation to their home currency.

Custodian

Usually an independent organization, that is responsible for handling, safekeeping and other custodial matters that are related to the securities belonging to the client

Cut-off time

This is the time specified by SEBI to determine the NAV at which your investment/redemption will be made. When you decide to invest in / redeem from a mutual fund scheme, you need to submit your request to the mutual fund. If your request is received before the cut off time, your investment/redemption is made at the NAV of that day.

Debt Fund

Debt funds aim to generate reasonably regular and a steady stream of income for its investors by investing in fixed income securities such as bonds, corporate debentures, etc.

Distributor

An entity or individual authorized to sell the units of open end mutual funds on behalf of the AMC.

Disclaimer Clause

Regulators require that all prospectuses have a disclaimer clearly indicating that the regulators/ securities authorities have in no way passed upon the merits of the securities being offered for sale.

Distributions/Dividend

Payments made by a fund to its investors representing dividends, capital gains and interest income.

Dividend Frequency

This is the number of times in a year that dividend is distributed to the unit holders.

Dividend History

The track record of the amount of dividend paid by a company/ mutual fund scheme till date.

Dividend Yield

The amount of cash per share a company pays out yearly to its shareowner as a percentage of the current price per share. A company with a stock price of Rs.25 per share paying a dividend of Rs.1 per share each year would have a dividend yield of 4% (1 ÷ 25 = 0.04 x 100 = 4%).

Dividend reinvestment option

A mutual fund investor can decide to reinvest the dividends declared by the scheme in order to purchase more units of the scheme. This is called the 'dividend reinvestment option'.

Diversification

The strategy of investing in multiple asset classes and securities with different risk characteristics to reduce the risk of owning any single investment.

Dollar-Cost Averaging

An investment technique by which investors buy a fixed dollar amount of a particular investment on a regular schedule. As prices decrease, the investor’s fixed amount buys them a higher number of shares; when prices go up, fewer shares are purchased.

Entry Load

Fees that are required to be paid when one is investing in a fund.

Equities

A security or investment representing ownership in a corporation, unlike a bond, which represents a loan to a borrower. Often used interchangeably with "stock."

Equity Fund

A Mutual Fund that primarily invests in equity securities.

Exchange Traded Fund (ETF)

An investment company, such as a mutual fund, whose shares are traded throughout the day on stock exchanges at market-determined prices.

Expense Ratio

A measure of what it costs to operate an investment, expressed as a percentage of its assets or in basis points. These are costs the investor pays through a reduction in the investment's rate of return.

Expenses

Operating costs paid from fund assets.

Face Value

This is the original issue price (par value) of one unit of a scheme.

Financial Statements

The written record of the financial status of a fund or company, usually published in the annual report. The financial statements generally include a balance sheet, income statement, statement of cash flows, and other financial statements and disclosures.

Fixed Income Fund

A fund that invests primarily in bonds and other fixed-income securities to provide unitholders with current income.

Fiscal Year

A period that a company or uses for accounting purposes and preparing financial statements. The fiscal year may or may not be the same as a calendar year

Fund Manager

The person(s) responsible for devising and implementing a fund's investing strategy and who actively takes part in its on-going management, with a view to achieve the Fund’s Investment Objective.

Front End Load

A sales charge paid when an individual buys a mutual fund. The front end load is composed of Sales load and transaction cost (if any)

Fund Manager’s report (FMR)

Periodic information provided by the fund manager to the investor regarding the performance of the funds, related markets and future outlook.

Funds of funds

A mutual fund, collective investment fund, or other pooled investment that invests primarily in other mutual funds, collective investment funds, or pooled investments rather than investing directly in individual securities (such as stocks, bonds or money market securities).

Gain

An increase in value of the security.

Government Securities

Any debt obligation issued by a government (e.g., Treasury Bills, PIBs).

Growth Fund

A fund that invests primarily in the stocks of companies with above-average risk in return for potentially above-average gains. These companies often pay small or no dividends and their stock prices tend to have the most ups and downs from day to day.

Growth and Income Fund

A fund that has a dual strategy of growth or capital appreciation and current income generation through dividends or interest payment

Growth units

The type of units opted by the investor that entitles him to receive the dividend in the form of bonus units

Growth investing

A popular investment style whereby fund managers identify companies showing good or attractive earnings prospects.

Halal

Arabic term used to reference anything that is permitted according to sharia, or Islamic law.

Holding Period

The duration of time between an investor's purchase and sale of a security.

Index Fund

A fund that replicates a particular market index such as the KMI 30 Index by holding many if not all of the same stocks and in the same proportion as in the benchmark index.

Income Fund

A fund that invests in fixed income instruments with the main objective to provide current income rather than growth of capital.

Income units

The type of units opted by the investor that entitles him to receive the dividend in the form of cash

Inflation risk

The danger that the returns from one's investments will fail to keep pace with increase in the general price level in the economy. This is usually a major problem with Fixed Income investments where investment return generally lags behind increased in Inflation, thereby resulting in a decrease in return in real terms.

Initial public offering (IPO)

The sale of a company's shares or a mutual fund’s scheme to investors for the first time.

Interim Dividend

A dividend announced during a fiscal year is an interim dividend.

Interest-rate risk

The danger that the price of a bond will fall as interest rates rise. Portfolio managers gauge a fund's interest-rate risk by calculating its duration.

Investment Objective

Every mutual fund scheme has an investment objective according to which the fund manager has to make investments for the scheme. For example, in case of an equity fund, the investment objective may be to invest in large cap companies across a range of sectors in order to give investors capital appreciation.

Investment Adviser

A person or organization hired by an investment fund or an individual to give professional advice on investments and asset management practices.

Junk Bond

A bond which is rated below the investment grade and denotes high risk to the investor.

Know Your Customer (KYC)

Financial service providers like mutual funds, banks, brokerages, etc. are required to verify the identity and information furnished by their clients like their name, address, beneficiaries, etc. when they open accounts. This is called the 'Know Your Customer' or KYC.

KSE 100 Index

KSE 100 is designed to provide investors with a sense of how the Pakistan equity market is performing. It simply consists of the top 100 companies listed on the KSE that have the highest market cap

KMI 30 Index

Tracks the 30 most liquid Shariah-compliant companies listed at KSE and are weighted by float adjusted market capitalization.

Liquidity

Liquidity generally refers to the notion as to how readily an asset or security or investment can be converted to cash. Open end mutual funds generally offer a high degree of liquidity to their investors.

Liquidity risk

This is a risk that emanates from the fact that a particular security may not be easily bought or sell without impacting it’s price

Lock in period

Lock-in period is the time period when the investor is not allowed to redeem the units that he has purchased in the mutual fund.

Load

A % charge by the fund when an investor buys or sells units in the fund.

Market Risk

The possibility that the value of an investment will fall because of a general decline in the financial markets.

Maturity Date

The date on which the principal amount of a loan, bond, or any other debt becomes due and is to be paid in full.

Money-market fund

A fund that invests in short-term Shariah compliant securities including banks, DFIs placements, commercial papers and cash. As the safest of all funds, these portfolios have a stable NAV.

Money market instruments

Debt instruments that have a short maturity period, usually of less than a year.

Mutual funds

Mutual fund is a collective investment mechanism that pools resources of many investors, issues them units and invests on their behalf." The mutual fund invests the collected funds in securities in accordance with the investment objective as disclosed in the Scheme information document of the scheme.

Net assets

The total value of a fund's cash and securities less its liabilities or obligations.

Net Asset Value (NAV)

Net Asset Value or NAV is the per unit value of a mutual fund scheme’s assets. It includes all assets owned by the scheme like cash, financial securities, receivables, etc. in the portfolio minus its expenses and liabilities, divided by the number of units issued by the scheme.

NAV (in Rs. Terms)= Market or Fair Value of Scheme's investments + Current Assets - Current Liabilities and Provision / Number of Units outstanding under Scheme on the Valuation Date

Offering Document

The official document that describes a mutual fund to prospective investors and solicits investment from them. All necessary details for a prospective investor are contained in the Offering Document.

Offer Price

The price at which a mutual fund's shares are bought by the investor.

Open-ended schemes

Open-ended funds are available for investors to purchase and redeem units continually on business days. Open-ended funds can theoretically exist in perpetuity.

Passive Management

The process or approach to operating or managing a fund in a passive or non-active manner, typically with the goal of mirroring an index. These funds are often referred to as index funds and differ from investment funds that are actively managed.

Portfolio

Portfolio is a collection of investments such as stocks and bonds that are owned by an individual, organization, or investment fund.

Portfolio Manager

Portfolio Manager is the individual, team, or firm who makes the investment decisions for an investment fund, including the selection of the individual investments.

Portfolio rebalancing

The process of periodically revising a portfolio to restore the asset-class weights for stocks, bonds, and cash to their long-run target values. This is done by selling shares in appreciated asset classes and buying shares in under-represented categories.

Principal

The original Rupee amount of an investment. Principal may also be used to refer to the face value or original amount of a bond.

Price-to-Earnings Ratio (P/E)

P/E Ratio is the share price of a company's stock divided by its reported earnings per share. The P/E ratio is also referred to as the "multiple" of a company's earnings.

No glossary terms available

Redemption Price

The price at which a mutual fund's shares are redeemed (bought back) by the fund.

Redeem

To liquidate mutual fund units by selling it back to the fund. Mutual fund shares may be redeemed on any business day.

Rupee Cost Averaging

The investment technique of investing a particular amount on a regular schedule, regardless of the unit price.

Risk

The potential for investors to lose some or all the amounts invested or to fail to achieve their investment objectives.

Risk Adjusted Returns

Returns adjusted for their level of risk, before striking a comparison between various schemes

Risk Tolerance

An investor's ability and willingness to lose some or all of an investment in exchange for greater potential returns.

Sector risk

The danger that a particular industry such as software/biotechnology will plunge.

Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP)

SECP is the Regulator for Asset Management Companies in Pakistan.

Shariah Advisor

The Shariah advisor is a person or institution who is appointed to ensure strict Shariah-compliance in all areas of the mutual funds operations.

Sharpe Ratio

Developed by Nobel laureate William F. Sharpe, it helps investors evaluate a portfolio's return in terms of risk exposure. A higher Sharpe ratio indicates lower risk exposure relative to the return generated, while a lower ratio indicates relatively high risk exposure. The Sharpe ratio is calculated by subtracting the risk-free interest rate (e.g., that of Treasury bills) from a portfolio's return, then dividing by the standard deviation of the portfolio's returns

Sponsors

An individual or corporate body who establishes and registers a mutual fund with SEBI also contributing 40% or more of the net worth of the AMC

Sector Fund

A fund which invests in stocks from a specific industry aimed at growth, making them risky by nature

Stock

A share of ownership or equity in a corporation.

Systematic Investment Plan (SIP)

A service enabling you to have a designated sum of money transferred regularly from your bank account or pay-check to the fund account. SIP enables an investor to benefit from compounding and Rupee cost averaging.

Standard Deviation

The measure of how closely a set of data matches the mean (average) value of that data. The higher the standard deviation, the more spread out (or variable) the data points are. The lower the standard deviation, the more closely each data point matches the mean value of the group. Standard deviation can be used to measure the historical variability of a mutual fund's annual return.

Stock Market

It is the market in which shares of publicly held companies are issued and traded either through exchanges or over-the-counter markets.

Total Return

Total return is the change in value of an investment over a given period, assuming reinvestment of any dividends and capital gain distributions, expressed as a % of the initial investment.

Transfer Agent

The organization employed by a mutual fund to prepare and maintain records relating to investors’ accounts.

Trustee

An independent entity authorized to safeguard the shareholders' best interests with respect to the Funds.

Trust Deed

A formal document which outlines the terms of a trust agreement between the trustee and the asset management company.

Tax rebate/credit

The tax credit is a kind of discount by reduction in tax liability offered by the Government to Tax Payers aimed at promoting disciplined savings & investment culture. The amount of tax credit you can get is dependent on:

• Your income tax rate
• The amount you wish to invest

Transaction costs

Expenses and charges incurred in a particular financial transaction.

Unit Holder

A person who holds units in a fund or under any plan of the Scheme.

Voluntary Pension Schemes

These schemes seek to provide participants a regular Halal Income stream after retirement when one can no longer earn regular income to support their living so that they are not dependent on other members of the society.

Volatility

The amount and frequency of fluctuations in the price of a security, commodity, or a market within a specified time period. Generally, an investment with high volatility is said to have higher risk because there is an increased chance that the price of the security will have fallen when an investor wants to sell.

Weighted Average

The calculated average of some given values in which certain values are assigned more influence (greater weight) over the outcome than the other values.

No glossary terms available

Yield

Yield is the dividend or interest that an investor gets on an investment. It is normally expressed as a percentage with respect to the current market price of the investment.

Yield on a debt security = interest divided by market price of the debt security
Yield on an equity = dividend divided by market price of the equity share

Yield Curve

An upward-sloping curve that reflects the relationship between yields on a bunch of fixed income securities and varying maturities namely notes, bonds, treasury bills, etc.

Yield to Maturity

A tool to determine the rate of returns received by an investor in case of a long-term investment bearing interests, like bonds, are held all the way up to its date of maturity

Zero Coupon Bond

A bond that pays no coupons but compensates investors with price gains.

Disclaimer:

The information herein is meant only for general reading purposes and the views being expressed only constitute opinions and therefore cannot be considered as guidelines, recommendations or as a professional guide for the readers. Before making any investments, the readers are advised to seek independent professional advice, verify the contents in order to arrive at an informed investment decision.