A

Account

Before you choose your investments, you'll need to decide where...

Accumulation units

A fund offers two types of units of shares...

Active fund

A type of fund which has a fund manager...

AJ Bell funds

AJ Bell’s own range of no-hassle investment funds, managed by...

Annual allowance

The amount you’re allowed to pay in across all of...

Annuity

A lifetime annuity is a type of insurance policy that...

Asset allocation

A term that describes how an investment or portfolio is...

Attitude to risk

When investing, the bigger the potential risk the bigger...

Authorised Unit Trust (AUT)

A type of collective investment fund authorised by the...

B

BACS

‘Bankers' Automated Clearing System’: an electronic payments scheme that allows...

Bed & ISA

A special type of transaction that lets you efficiently move...

Bond

A type of investment in which you lend money to...

Book cost

The amount you paid for an investment. This includes all...

C

Capped drawdown

A type of drawdown that was available before 6...

Carry forward (pension)

Used up your pension annual allowance for the current tax...

Cash ISA

A type of ISA (Individual Savings Account) that’s typically...

Cash savings hub

A one-stop-shop for managing your savings, offered by AJ Bell....

CDI

‘CREST Depository Interest’. This is a UK investment that represents...

CHAPS

‘Clearing House Automated Payment System’. An electronic system that lets...

Collective investments

A collective investment, such as a fund, lets multiple...

Corporate action

A corporate action (also known as a corporate event) is...

Crystallised

The part of your pension that you’ve already accessed....

D

Dealing account

An account with no maximum investment limits or allowances....

Dealing limit

On the ‘Portfolio’, ‘Dealing’ and ‘Transaction history’ pages, your dealing...

Defined benefit (pension)

A type of pension that gives you valuable guarantees:...

Defined contribution (pension)

A type of pension that you build up over...

Dividend

A type of income you receive for holding an investment....

Drawdown

Drawdown is a flexible way to access your pension. After...

E

EPIC code

‘Exchange Price Information Code’. EPIC codes are now known as...

Equalisation

If you buy income units in a fund...

ETF

‘Exchange Traded Fund’. This is a collective investment fund that’s...

F

Final salary pension

Also known as a ‘defined benefitpension, this is a special...

Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)

The UK's deposit guarantee scheme. It also pays compensation to...

First-time buyer

You qualify as a first-time buyer if you‘ve never owned...

Fixed term

Describes a savings account or form of investment with a...

Flexi-access drawdown

A type of drawdown pension. Drawdown is a flexible...

FTSE 100

An index of the largest 100 companies that have...

Fund

A collection of investments, including shares and bonds, often...

Fund factsheet

A summary document prepared by a fund manager that...

Fund manager

The person (or organisation) who manages the assets of a...

Fund of funds

Fund that invests in other funds – rather...

G

Gilts

Bonds (or fixed interest securities) issued by the UK...

Growth funds

A type of fund that aims to increase its...

I

In specie

When you transfer an investment in its current form, rather...

Income funds

Funds that aim to generate an income for investors....

Income units

An investment fund offers two types of units or shares...

Index

A list of investments and their prices. For example, the...

Index tracker

A fund which tracks the performance of an...

Inflation

The measure of how prices of goods and services (and...

Instant access account

A cash savings account that lets you withdraw money whenever...

Investment

An asset you buy with the hope of generating an...

Investment Pathways

An investment option we offer to customers who put their...

Investment trust

In the UK, an investment trust is a type of...

IPO

‘Initial Public Offer’. An IPO is the first time a...

ISA

‘Individual Savings Account’. ISAs are ‘wrappers’ in which you can...

ISA allowance

The maximum amount you can pay into ISAs in...

ISIN

‘International Securities Identification Number’. An ISIN is an international standard...

J

Junior ISA

A Junior ISA (or JISA) is a tax-efficient way to...

K

KID

‘Key Information Document’. Before you invest in a fund, you...

L

LEI

‘Legal Entity Identifier’. A unique code required whenever a legal...

Lifetime allowance

If you’ve never accessed a pension, or you’ve only accessed...

Lifetime ISA

A type of ISA you can open if you’re...

Limit order

Lets you specify the maximum or minimum price at which...

Liquidity

How quickly and easily an investment can be converted into...

M

Make good policy

The ‘Make Good’ offer is specific to Sharia savings accounts...

Marginal tax rate

The rate of tax you pay on the next £1...

MPAA

‘Money purchase annual allowance’. This applies when you take an...

Multi-manager fund

A fund that invests in other funds – rather...

Mywealth

An AJ Bell service that lets you view all your...

N

NCI

‘National Client Identifier’. All of our customers need to give...

Net Asset Value (NAV)

The total of a fund’s assets, minus any liabilities...

Non-workplace pension

A type of pension that you set up yourself. You control...

Notice account

A type of savings account that works like a halfway...

NR-301 form

To hold Canadian shares within your ISA, ...

O

OEIC

'Open-ended investment company' – a type of fund structured...

Ongoing charges

All funds have an annual ongoing charge (sometimes abbreviated...

Open-ended fund

Collective investments that don’t have a fixed size or number...

OTC

‘Over the counter’. Describes a trade arranged directly between two...

P

Passive fund

A type of fund that attempts to track the...

PCLS

‘Pension commencement lump sum’. This is the official name for...

Pension

An account designed to help people save for their retirement....

Pension builder

The Pension builder fund is AJ Bell’s low-cost standard option,...

Pension Wise

A government service that gives you free, impartial guidance on...

Portfolio

The range of investments you hold across different accounts....

PTM levy

A £1 charge automatically applied when investors buy or sell...

R

RBCE

'Relevant Benefit Crystallisation Event'. This complicated-sounding term means any lump...

Regular investment

Investing a set amount regularly, rather a one-off lump sum....

REIT

‘Real Estate Investment Trust’. REITs are property investment firms that...

Rights issue

A type of corporate action that aims to raise...

Risk

The balance of the uncertainty of an investment. A high-risk...

S

Scheme of arrangement

A type of corporate action typically used to execute...

SEDOL

‘Stock Exchange Daily Official List’. A seven-character identification code given...

Self-invested personal pension (SIPP)

A type of pension that gives you more control...

Settlement dates

One of the two key dates when you buy an...

Shares

A share is a small part of a company. So...

Sharia-compliant savings account

A type of savings account offered by our Cash...

Stamp duty

A tax that applies when you buy most UK-listed shares...

Stock market

The name given to the exchanges where you can buy...

Stock split

When a company divides its existing shares into multiple...

Stocks

‘Stocks’ and ‘shares’ mean broadly the same thing and are...

Stop loss

A stop-loss order is an instruction to sell a UK-listed...

T

Taking benefits

A technical term for accessing your pension. You can...

Tapered Annual Allowance

If you have a high income, the tapered annual allowance...

Tax relief

The government offers tax relief to encourage people to save...

Tax year

The tax year (sometimes called the fiscal year) runs from...

Tender offer

A type of takeover bid for a company, usually made...

Term deposit

An investment in which you lock away your cash for...

Ticker code

A unique series of letters and numbers given to US-listed...

TIDM code

A unique abbreviation given to UK-listed shares so they’re...

Trade dates

One of the two key dates when you buy an...

Transaction account

In our Cash savings hub, your transaction account is where...

Trust

A legal agreement for a third party to hold and...

U

Uncrystallised

Describes any pension savings you haven’t accessed yet. You need...

Uncrystallised funds pension lump sum

Usually abbreviated to UFPLS, an uncrystallised funds pension lump sum...

Unit

Funds (for example Unit Trusts) are split into...

URN (Child Trust Fund)

The URN is the unique reference number of your child’s...

W

W-8BEN

A form you need to complete to hold US ...

Workplace pension

A type of pension set up by your employer....

Y

Yield

A way of measuring the return on an investment over...

Learn Hub

The hows, whys and whats of investing. From the basics to the nitty gritty, here’s the knowledge you need to feel good, investing.

Learn to invest

Helpful investing guides

SIPP guide cover
A guide to SIPPs

A Self-invested personal pension puts you in control of your retirement. We explain how.

ISA guide cover
Stocks and shares ISA guide

Find out how an ISA helps your investments grow tax-free.

Lifetime ISA guide cover
Lifetime ISA guide

18-39 years old? Learn how a LISA helps you save for your future.

Investing for children guide cover
Investing for children guide

Everything you need to know about each junior account.