What Is a Serious Delinquency? A serious delinquency is when a single-family mortgage is 90 days or more past due and the bank considers the mortgage in danger of default. Once a mortgage is in default, a lender may initiate foreclosure proceedings. Key Takeaways “Serious delinquency” refers to any outstanding balance owed on a mortgage
What Is Servant Leadership? Servant leadership is a leadership style and philosophy whereby an individual interacts with others—either in a management or fellow employee capacity—to achieve authority rather than power. The system embodies a decentralized organizational structure. Leaders who follow this style include customer-facing employees in company decision-making. These employees have a close relationship with
What Is Sensitivity? In finance, sensitivity is the magnitude of a market instrument’s reaction to changes in underlying factors, most often in terms of its price response to other factors. Financial instruments, such as stocks and bonds, are constantly influenced directly and indirectly by a myriad of factors. Sensitivity accounts for these factors that impact
What Is Sensitivity Analysis? Sensitivity analysis determines how different values of an independent variable affect a particular dependent variable under a given set of assumptions. In other words, sensitivity analyses study how various sources of uncertainty in a mathematical model contribute to the model’s overall uncertainty. This technique is used within specific boundaries that depend
What Is a Sentiment Indicator? A sentiment indicator is designed to represent how a group feels about the market or economy. These market psychology-based indicators attempt to quantify sentiment, in the form of figures or graphically, to predict how current beliefs and positions may affect future market behavior Sentiment indicators look at how bullish or
What Is a Simplified Employee Pension (SEP)? A simplified employee pension (SEP) is an individual retirement account (IRA) that an employer or a self-employed person can establish. The employer is allowed a tax deduction for contributions made to a SEP IRA and makes contributions to each eligible employee’s plan on a discretionary basis. Additionally, under
What Is a Separate Account? A separate account is an investment portfolio owned by an investor and managed by a professional investment firm—typically registered investment advisors (RIA). Although separate accounts are usually opened through a brokerage or financial advisor, they may also be held at a bank or opened with an insurance company. Sometimes these accounts are
What Is a Separate Return? A separate return is a Form 1040 or similar tax form filed by married taxpayers who are separately filing taxes with their spouses. Separate returns are commonly associated with married couples who have initiated divorce proceedings, or with married partners who dwell in separate residences. Key Takeaways A separate return is
What Is Separation of Powers? Separation of powers is an organizational structure where responsibilities, authorities, and powers are divided between groups rather than being centrally held. Separation of powers is most closely associated with political systems, in which the legislative, executive, and judicial powers of government are vested in separate bodies. Key Takeaways Separation of
What Is the September Effect? The September effect refers to the historically weak stock market returns observed during the month of September. In fact, September has been the worst performing month, on average, going back nearly a century. The September Effect is a case of a calendar-based market anomaly, in the sense that it occurs without
