Glossary

How you split your money across stocks, bonds, cash, and other assets.

Why it matters: Getting it wrong is the biggest driver of long-term returns—for better or worse.

Spreading your money across different assets so one bad bet doesn’t sink you.

Why it matters: Reduces the chance that a single blowup wipes out your portfolio.

Selling what’s up and buying what’s down to bring your mix back to target.

Why it matters: Keeps your risk profile from drifting into something you didn’t sign up for.

How far your portfolio falls from peak to trough during a selloff.

Why it matters: The number that keeps you up at night—and the one you need to stomach for your chosen allocation.

How much prices swing up and down. Higher volatility = bumpier ride.

Why it matters: More volatility usually means bigger drawdowns—and more chances to panic-sell.

How closely two assets move together. Low correlation = better diversification.

Why it matters: When stocks and bonds fall together, your “safe” assets don’t cushion.

How much loss you can stomach without bailing out at the worst time.

Why it matters: Overestimating it leads to selling low in a crash—the worst mistake you can make.

The order of gains and losses matters. Early losses can wreck a retirement plan.

Why it matters: A crash near retirement can permanently shrink your nest egg—even if long-term returns look fine.

How easily you can cash out without moving the price or waiting.

Why it matters: Illiquid assets can trap you when you need money fast.

A retirement plan for government and some nonprofit workers. Contributions are tax-deferred.

Why it matters: If you have one, it’s usually your best savings vehicle.

Governmental plans are backed by the employer; non-governmental are not. Different rules.

Why it matters: Non-governmental plans can be riskier—your money isn’t always safe if the employer goes under.

The percentage of your income you put into a retirement plan each paycheck.

Why it matters: The single biggest lever for building wealth—time in market helps, but saving more helps more.

A guaranteed income stream (pension, Social Security) that covers basic expenses.

Why it matters: With a floor, you can afford to take more risk with the rest of your portfolio.

A self-directed brokerage option inside some 457 plans that lets you buy ETFs and stocks.

Why it matters: Expands your fund menu beyond what the plan offers—useful when the default options are limited.

Percent of the Voya portion vs percent of the Schwab portion—each slice sums to 100.

Why it matters: The Builder shows what goes in each bucket; your actual split depends on your questionnaire.

The annual fee a fund charges, expressed as a percentage of assets.

Why it matters: High fees eat returns over time. Low-cost index funds usually win.

A low-risk option in many 457 plans that aims to preserve principal and earn a bit above cash.

Why it matters: Useful for the defensive portion of your portfolio when you want something safer than bonds.

A measure of how sensitive a bond’s price is to interest rate changes. Higher = more sensitive.

Why it matters: When rates rise, long-duration bonds get hit harder.

Nominal yield minus inflation. What you actually earn after inflation.

Why it matters: Negative real yields mean your bonds are losing purchasing power.

The stated yield on a bond before adjusting for inflation.

Why it matters: Looks good until you subtract inflation—then real returns can be ugly.

A plot of bond yields from short to long maturities. Inverted = short rates above long.

Why it matters: An inverted curve often signals recession risk—and can distort allocation decisions.

The extra yield you get for taking riskier bonds over Treasuries.

Why it matters: Widening spreads mean the market is nervous about defaults.

Short-term U.S. Treasury debt: very low risk, very liquid.

Why it matters: The “cash” portion of many portfolios—safe, but low return.

Broad bond index (e.g. Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate) covering government and investment-grade corporate bonds.

Why it matters: The default “bond” portion of a 60/40—diversified, but still sensitive to rates.

Bonds with short maturities—less sensitive to rate changes than long bonds.

Why it matters: When rates rise, short duration keeps you from getting crushed.

A fund that tracks a market index (e.g. S&P 500) instead of trying to beat it.

Why it matters: Low cost, broad diversification, and most active managers fail to beat them over time.

Value: cheap stocks; growth: expensive stocks with high expected earnings.

Why it matters: Different styles perform at different times—diversification across both can help.

Stocks with strong profitability, low debt, and stable earnings.

Why it matters: Quality tends to hold up better in downturns—less junk, more resilience.

Companies smaller than large-cap (S&P 500). More volatile, sometimes higher return.

Why it matters: Adds diversification beyond mega-caps—but expect a bumpier ride.

Stocks from outside the U.S. Developed and emerging markets.

Why it matters: U.S. won’t always outperform—diversification across regions reduces home-country bias.

Inflation: prices rising. Disinflation: inflation slowing. Deflation: prices falling.

Why it matters: Each regime favors different assets—bonds, stocks, and cash behave differently.

When the central bank prints money so fast that the currency loses value.

Why it matters: Drives inflation and can trash nominal bonds—real assets often hold up better.

Policy that keeps rates low (below inflation) so governments can service debt cheaply.

Why it matters: Savers get screwed; borrowers (including governments) win.

The U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency and primary settlement medium.

Why it matters: Affects global liquidity, trade, and why Fed policy matters everywhere.

U.S. dollars held outside the U.S. in an unregulated, reserveless system.

Why it matters: The real plumbing of global finance—most of the world’s dollar liquidity lives here.

Quantitative easing: Fed buys bonds to inject liquidity. QT: reverse, selling bonds to drain it.

Why it matters: Massive moves in liquidity that ripple through asset prices and volatility.

A market regime: GOLDILOCKS, REFLATION, INFLATION, or DEFLATION—based on risk and inflation signals.

Why it matters: Different regimes favor different allocations; GhostRegime helps you tune exposure.

GhostRegime's shorthand for whether markets are acting brave or scared.

Why it matters: Drives whether you scale up or down equity exposure.

Targets: baseline weights. Scales: how much to take today (full/half/off). Actual: target × scale.

Why it matters: The gap between target and actual often shows up as cash until you rebalance.

A rule that scales exposure based on volatility—higher vol = lower exposure.

Why it matters: Reduces the chance you’re overexposed when things get wild.

A limit on how much exposure to take (e.g. Bitcoin) when signals are uncertain.

Why it matters: Prevents you from going all-in on a volatile asset when the signal is weak.

A record of each signal’s vote and rule—e.g. “SPY trend → Risk On (+1)”.

Why it matters: Shows transparency: what drove the regime and why.