Glossary- Life Insurance, Health Insurance, Retirement

Balanced fund

A fund that maintains a balanced portfolio, generally 60% bonds or preferred stocks and 40% commons stocks.

Bear market

A period of time in which the market, or securities in general lose money.

Benchmark

A reference point that is chosen for the purposes of comparing other related values.

Beneficiary

The person or party the owner of a life insurance policy names to receive the policy benefit.

Bid or sell price

The price at which a funds units or shares are redeemed (bought back) by the fund. The bid or redemption price means the current net asset value per share, less any redemption fee or back end load.

Bid / offer spread

The difference between the bid and the offer prices.

Blue chip stock fund

A fund that consists of a portfolio of large or well known companies for the purposes of achieving growth.

Body mass index (BMI)

Used for underwriting purposes in evaluating build and determining overweight and obesity. It tells us the person's health constitution. It is expressed as weight in Kg divided by height in meters to the power of two or Kg/height2.

Bond

A bond is security in the form of a convertible loan with a maturity date, where the investor lends money to a company or government.

Bull market

A good market in which prices of securities increase greatly over a specific period of time.