Futures are agreements to buy or sell something at a specified price at a future date. Investors usually buy futures to “speculate” on assets (for example, if an investor thinks the price of oil is going to go up, they might buy an oil future at a price agreed upon now – and if their prediction is correct they’ll be able to sell that future after the specified date for a profit)

Investment Management is a fairly general term that refers to the act of managing investments, including stocks, bonds, real estate and other assets. The term “investment manager” refers to the person or company doing the management – for example, choosing which stocks to buy, or choosing what proportion of the total investment to invest in, say, stocks versus bonds.

An interest rate is the amount of interest due per period (typically a year) as a proportion of the total amount borrowed. For example, if I lend you $100 at 5% interest p.a. (per year), you have to pay me $5 a year in interes

Almost all governments borrow money to fund their operations – like building bridges, for example. They usually borrow money by issuing bonds to investors: “government bonds”. If a government borrows money in its country’s own currency, it’s unlikely that it will ever not pay it back (i.e. default on it), because it can simply print more money.

GDP is simply the size of a country’s economy – and it’s measured by the total amount of goods produced and services provided within that economy. GDP growth and economic growth are essentially the same thing.

A hedge is an investment that, to some degree, offsets another investment. For example, if an investor wants to buy the stock of a Japanese company but doesn’t want any exposure to the Japanese yen, then the investor could buy the stock but create a hedge by making another investment whereby they agree to sell yen at some point in the future.

Inflation is the rate at which prices increase. In a healthy economy, prices usually increase about 2% per year. It’s the opposite of deflation – when prices decline. A little bit of inflation is good for the economy, but too much (“hyperinflation”) can be devastating because it makes one’s savings virtually worthless – the economy of Venezuela is a good example of this.

An investment bank is the part of a bank that focuses primarily on advising and raising money for companies (primarily in the form of new stock or bonds issued to investors). An investment bank also typically trades stocks, bonds and other investments.

An IPO is the process by which a private company becomes a public company by selling shares – which investors can then buy and sell on a public stock exchange (like the New York Stock Exchange).

Market structure refers to the number of firms that produce a certain type of product. For example, there are two major producers of aircrafts (Boeing and Airbus) and a few smaller ones (like Bombardier) – but there are hundreds of thousands of independent convenience stores in America.