1. A person or a thing in front of all others, for example, in a procession or race. 2. A person who guides directs, influences or inspires others by showing them the way. 3. A person who rules is in charge of, commands others. 4. A statistic or index that gives an advance indication of the state of the economy.
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1. The method one uses, either knowingly or unknowingly, to succeed, accomplish survival, gain knowledge, be responsible, and do the greatest good for oneself and others in the most areas. 2. The fixed state or chronic level of perception, intention, implementation and result that one survives at.
1. The process of applying a small force that multiplies into a large effect. 2. The action of a lever. 2. The mechanical advantage or power gained by using a lever. 3. Power or ability to act effectively or to influence people. 4. The use of a small initial investment to gain a relatively high return. Using a small amount of your own money to make an investment of much larger value, thus gaining significant financial power. For example, if you borrow 80% of the cost of a property, you are using the leverage to buy a much more expensive asset than you could have afforded by paying cash. If you sell the property for more than you paid for it, the profit is yours. The reverse is also true if you sell at a loss, the amount you borrowed is still due and the loss is yours. Buying stock on margin is a type of leverage, as is buying a futures or options contracts. Leveraging can be risky if the underlying asset doesn’t perform to your expectations.
1. Legal responsibility for something, especially costs or damages. 2. Anything for which somebody is responsible, especially a debt. 3. Something that holds somebody back or causes trouble. 4. Somebody who prevents a successful outcome or causes social embarrassment. 5. Likelihood or probability of something happening. 6. All debts and other financial obligations that appear on a balance sheet.
1. The force or influence that gives something its vitality or strength. 2. The universal animating energy that is in all living things that is responsible for growth and evolution. 3. The creative force that is comprised of a number of different characteristics, components and qualtiies that can be measured by the effects they produce.
Increasing your spending when your income goes up. This phenomenon makes it perpetually difficult to get out of debt, save for retirement or meet financial goals. Lifestyle inflation tends to continue each time someone gets a raise, receives a bonus or an unexpected windfall, making it the primary cause of people getting stuck in the rat-race of working harder and harder just to pay the bills (because their bills grow in line with their income).
1. The state of being liquid. 2. The quality of being readily convertible into cash: an investment with high liquidity. 3. Available cash or the capacity to obtain it on demand. 4. The ease with which an asset can be converted into money. Cash is liquid but shares in a company are less liquid because they must be sold in order to convert them into money. Assets such as property are even less liquid because they take longer to sell than shares.
1. Something or someone that is no longer available to a person. 2. Something that has withdrawn from a person without their consent. 3. The feeling of emptiness, sadness, or loneliness in the absence of something or someone. 4. A losing by defeat or death. 5. The amount of money by which a company’s or person’s expenses exceed their income or profit.