Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)
A trust or association that invests in a variety of real estate. REITs are managed by one or more trustees, like a mutual fund, and trade like a stock. No federal income tax needs to be paid by the trust if 75% of the income is real-estate related and 95% of the income is distributed to investors. Individual investors can be taxed.

Recession
A downturn in economic activity, broadly defined by many economists as at least two consecutive quarters of decline in a nation's gross domestic product.

Record Date
The date on which a shareholder must own a company's stock to be entitled to receive a dividend.

Reinvestment Risk
Risk that when a fixed income investment matures, or is called, the prevailing investment environment will be less attractive then when the investor purchased the old fixed income investment.

Repurchase Agreement
An agreement between a bank and an investor for the bank to borrow money from the investor for a short time, usually less than 90 days. Repurchase agreements are widely used on the money market by governments' central banks.

Return on Investment (ROI)
A measure of how much the company earns on the money the company itself has invested. It is calculated by dividing the company's net income by its net assets.

Rights Offering
Offering of rights to existing shareholders of a company to additional shares, usually at a discount to the market price. The shares can be actively traded.

Risk Free Rate
Interest rate on Treasury securities. So termed because there is little if any chance that the U.S. government will default on its debt obligations.

Risk vs. Return
Term describing the relationship that exists between the risk of an investment and the expected return. Generally, the riskier an investment is the more return an investor will require as compensation.

Round Lots
100-share increments of stock.