U

underwriter
the organization that acts as the distributor of a mutual fund units to broker / dealers and the public.

unitholder
the owner of units or shares of a mutual fund.

V

vertical integration
this is where a company merges or takes over other companies in the same supply chain. if a shoe manufacturer, takes over his supplier it would be vertical integration.

volatility
in investing, volatility refers to the ups and downs of the price of an investment. the greater the ups and downs, the more volatile the investment.

voluntary plan
a flexible plan for capital accumulation, involving no specified time frame or total sum to be invested.

value investing
the investment approach which favours buying under-priced stocks that are inexpensive relative to their intrinsic value and that may have the potential to perform well and increase in price in the future. it first seeks individual companies with attractive investment potential, then considers the economic and industry trends affecting those companies. value managers usually begin their search with fundamental analysis, in order to find companies whose current prices may fail to reflect their potential longer-term value.

Y

yield curve
the relationship between time and yield on securities is called the yield curve. the relationship represents the time value of money - showing that people would demand a positive rate of return on the money they are willing to part today for a payback into the future.

year-to-date (YTD)
a time period in a calendar year starting from the first of January upto the present date in that calendar year. this term is generally used to calculate returns on an investment from the 1st of January of that year to the present date in that year.

yield to maturity (YTM)
the yield earned by a bond if it is held until its maturity date.

Z

zero coupon bond
zero coupon bonds are bonds that do not pay interest during the life of the bonds. instead, investors buy zero coupon bonds at a deep discount from their face value, which is the amount a bond will be worth when it "matures" or comes due. when a zero coupon bond matures, the investor will receive one lump sum equal to the initial investment plus interest that has accrued.

the maturity dates on zero coupon bonds are usually long-term, many don't mature for ten, fifteen, or more years. these long-term maturity dates allow an investor to plan for a long-range goal, such as paying for a child's college education. with the deep discount, an investor can put up a small amount of money that can grow over many years.