A

• Advance fee scam – Occurs when the victim pays money to someone in anticipation of receiving something of greater value—such as a loan, contract, investment, or gift—and then receives little or nothing in return.
• Annuity – A financial product that pays out a fixed stream of payments to an individual, primarily used as an income stream for retirees. Annuities are created and sold by financial institutions, which accept and invest funds from individuals and then, upon annuitization, issue a stream of payments at a later point in time. The period of time when an annuity is being funded and before payouts begin is referred to as the accumulation phase. Once payments commence, the contract is in the annuitization phase.
• Anonymity – The quality or state of being unknown or unacknowledged, without a name.
• Asset Protection Trust (APT) – A trust that protects the trust assets from potential future creditors and liabilities of the beneficiaries.

B

• Bear market – a condition in which securities prices fall and widespread pessimism causes the stock market’s downward spiral to be self-sustaining.
• Binary option (or asset-or-nothing option) – A type of option in which the payoff is structured to be either a fixed amount of compensation if the option expires in the money, or nothing at all if the option expires out of the money.
• Britain’s overseas crown territories (OCTs) – Also known as the British Overseas Territories (BOT) or United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), these are 14 territories under the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United Kingdom. … Most of the permanently inhabited territories are internally self-governing, with the UK retaining responsibility for defense and foreign relations.
• Bull market – a financial market of a group of securities in which prices are rising or are expected to rise.

C

• C corporation – A corporation in which the owners, or shareholders, are taxed separately from the entity. C corporations, the most prevalent of corporations, are also subject to corporate income taxation. The taxing of profits from the business is at both corporate and personal levels, creating a double taxation situation.
• Common active scam – Unlike passive scams, this type requires the scammer to go after you based on something that makes them think that you will be susceptible.

D

• Debt collection scam – Con artists posing as debt collectors and collection agencies. Phony debt collectors probably predate recorded time, but these fraudsters are adding a sophisticated twist: They troll Internet databases for your personal or financial information, so that they appear to be “collecting” debts that you actually owe, making the scam that much more convincing.
• Decanting – When a trustee distributes the trust’s assets into a different trust with different terms for one or more of the same beneficiaries of the original trust.
• Deferred sales trust (DST) – A tax deferral and asset diversification strategy that can be a compelling alternative to a 1031 Exchange for appropriate clientele owning highly appreciated real and personal property, and businesses.
• Deferred Variable Annuity (DVA) – A type of annuity contract that delays payments of income, installments or a lump sum until the investor elects to receive them. This type of annuity has two main phases: the savings phase in which you invest money into the account, and the income phase in which the plan is converted into an annuity and payments are received.
• Domestic Asset Protection Trust (DAPT) – Allows the trust creator, the settlor, to be a discretionary beneficiary, and yet the trust assets are still protected from the settlor’s creditors.
• Domicile – Geographic place where you have a fixed and permanent home for legal purposes (also known as legal resistance).
• Dynasty Trusts – A trust designed to avoid or minimize estate taxes on wealth transfers to subsequent generations.

F

• Family limited partnerships (FLP) – A type of arrangement in which family members pool money to run a business project. Each family member buys units or shares of the business and can profit in proportion to the amount of shares he or she owns, and as outlined in the partnership operating agreement.
• Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) – A tax law that compels U.S. citizens at home and abroad to file annual reports on any foreign account holdings. FATCA was endorsed in 2010 as part of the HIRE Act in order to promote transparency in the global financial services sector.
• Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) –Required when a U.S. person has a financial interest in, or signature authority over, one or more foreign financial accounts with an aggregate value greater than $10,000 at any time during the reporting period (calendar year).

G

• Gifting – Voluntary transfer of property or of a property interest from one individual to another, made gratuitously to the recipient. The individual who makes the gift is known as the donor, and the individual to whom the gift is made is called the done.

I

• International Monetary Fund (IMF) – An international organization that promotes the stabilization of the world’s currencies and maintains a monetary pool from which member nations can draw in order to correct a deficit in their balance of payments: a specialized agency of the United Nations. Abbreviation: IMF, I.M.F.
• Indexed annuity – A special class of annuities that yields returns on contributions based on a specified equity-based index. These annuities can be purchased from an insurance company, and similar to other types of annuities, the terms and conditions associated with payouts depend on what is stated in the original annuity contract.
• Irrevocable trust – A trust that can’t be modified or terminated without the beneficiary’s permission. The grantor, having transferred assets into the trust, effectively removes all of his rights of ownership to the assets and the trust. This is the opposite of a revocable trust, which allows the grantor to modify the trust.

L

• Life insurance trust – An irrevocable trust set up with a life insurance policy as the asset, allowing the grantor to exempt assets from a taxable estate.
• Limited Liability Company (LLC) – A corporate structure whereby the members of the company cannot be held personally liable for the company’s debts or liabilities. Limited liability companies are essentially hybrid entities that combine the characteristics of a corporation and a partnership or sole proprietorship. While the limited liability feature is similar to that of a corporation, the availability of flow-through taxation to the members of an LLC is a feature of partnerships.
• Living trust – A type of trust created during a person’s lifetime. It’s designed to allow for the easy transfer of the trust creator or settlor’s assets, while bypassing the often complex and expensive legal process of probate. Living trust agreements designate a trustee who holds legal possession of assets and property that flow into the trust.

M

• Market power – a company’s relative ability to manipulate the price of an item in the marketplace by manipulating the level of supply, demand or both.
• Multilevel marketing – A monetary strategy used by direct sales companies to encourage existing distributors to recruit new distributors.

N

• Nevada Asset Protection Trust (NAPT) – Law stating if settlors strictly comply with statutory requirements, they can name themselves as beneficiaries of their own trusts and have the same creditor protection as third-party beneficiaries of the trust.

P

• Passive scam – Results from the failure to disclose information when there is a duty to do so.
• Partnerships limited (PTE) – Exists when two or more partners unite to jointly conduct a business in which one or more of the partners is liable only to the extent of the amount of money that partner has invested. Limited partners do not receive dividends, but enjoy direct access to the flow of income and expenses. This term is also referred to as a “limited liability partnership” (LLP). The main advantage to this structure is that the owners are typically not liable for the debts of the company.
• Ponzi scheme – A fraudulent investing scam promising high rates of return with little risk to investors. A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investing scam promising high rates of return with little risk to investors.
• Private placement – A capital raising event that involves the sale of securities to a relatively small number of select investors. Investors involved in private placements can include large banks, mutual funds, insurance companies and pension funds. A private placement is different from a public issue in which securities are made available for sale on the open market to any type of investor.
• Pump and dumb – A scheme that attempts to boost the price of a stock through recommendations based on false, misleading or greatly exaggerated statements. The perpetrators of this scheme, who already have an established position in the company’s stock, sell their positions after the hype has led to a higher share price.
• Pump and dumb scam (also referred to as Market Manipulation Fraud) – Creates artificial buying pressure for a targeted security, generally a low-trading volume issuer in the over-the-counter securities market largely controlled by the fraud perpetrators.

Q

• Qualified business income (QBI) – A domestic business income other than investment income connected with a qualified trade or business. QBI does not include investment income, such as dividends or capital gains. If the taxpayer’s QBI results in a loss, the loss can be carried over to the next year to offset future positive QBI.
• Qualified longevity annuity contracts (QLACs) – A deferred annuity funded with an investment from a qualified retirement plan or IRA. The annuity contract is a guarantee of monthly payments until death. It is shielded from the downturns of the stock market.

R

• Required minimum distribution (RMD) – The amount that traditional, SEP or SIMPLE IRA owners and qualified plan participants must begin withdrawing from their retirement accounts by April 1 following the year they reach age 70 1/2. The retiree must they withdraw the RMD amount each subsequent year based on the current RMD calculation.
• Reverse mortgage scam – An engineered by unscrupulous professionals in a multitude of real estate, financial services, and related companies to steal the equity from the property of unsuspecting senior citizens or to use these seniors to unwittingly aid the fraudsters in stealing equity from a flipped property.
• Roth IRA – An individual retirement plan that bears many similarities to the traditional IRA, but contributions are not tax deductible and qualified distributions are tax free.

S

• S corporation – A form of corporation that meets specific Internal Revenue Code requirements. The requirements give a corporation with 100 shareholders, or less, the benefit of incorporation while being taxed as a partnership. The corporation may pass income directly to shareholders and avoid double taxation. Requirements include being a domestic corporation, not having more than 100 shareholders which include only eligible shareholders, and having only one class of stock.
• Security of communication (COMSEC) – Ensures the security of telecommunications confidentiality and integrity – two information assurance (IA) pillars. Generally, COMSEC may refer to the security of any information that is transmitted, transferred or communicated.
• Security of information – Designed to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer system data from those with malicious intentions. Confidentiality, integrity and availability are sometimes referred to as the CIA Triad of information security.
• Self-Directed IRA (SD-IRA) – An individual retirement account (IRA) in which the investor is in charge of making all the investment decisions.
• Sole proprietorship (also known as a sole trader or a proprietorship – An unincorporated business with a single owner who pays personal income tax on profits earned from the business. With little government regulation, a sole proprietorship is the simplest business to set up or take apart, making sole proprietorships popular among individual self-contractors, consultants or small business owners. Many sole proprietors do business under their own names because creating a separate business or trade name isn’t necessary.

T

• Three-cornered play – Consists of 1) your current U.S. citizenship, 2) the country where you obtain your new citizenship, and 3) your ultimate chosen destination.
• Traditional IRA – Allows individuals to direct pretax income towards investments that can grow tax-deferred; no capital gains or dividend income is taxed until it is withdrawn.
• Trusts – Legal entity created by a party (the trustor) through which a second party (the trustee) holds the right to manage the trustor’s assets or property for the benefit of a third party (the beneficiary). The four main types of trusts are: (1) Living: trust created by the trustor while he or she is alive. (2) Testamentary: trust established through a will and which comes into effect (is created) when the trustor dies. (3) Revocable: trust that can be modified or terminated by the trustor after its creation. (4) Irrevocable: trust that cannot be modified or terminated by the trustor after its creation.

V

• Variable annuity – A type of annuity contract that allows for the accumulation of capital on a tax-deferred basis.
• Variable Universal Life (VUL) – A permanent life insurance policy with a savings component in which cash value can be invested.