Browse the glossary by topic or alphabetically.
R
- Real property
- Real estate property, including buildings and land, as opposed to personal property
- Recession
- Falling of business activity
- Recurring debt
- Any payment that occurs on a continuing basis; involves payments that cannot be easily canceled at the payer's request, including alimony or child support and loan payments; is important in a lender's consideration of how much credit one can obtain
- Refinancing
- Revising a payment schedule, usually to reduce monthly payments (i.e. reducing interest rate on a mortgage)
- Regulation
- Formulation and issuance by authorized agencies of specific rules or regulations, under governing law, for the conduct and structure of a certain industry or activity
- Request for proposal (RFP)
- Solicitation of proposals by the government for product(s) or service(s) it needs from prospective contractors; includes request for description of how the business provider intends to carry out that request and at what price
- Rèsumè
- Written document that lists one's work experience, skills and educational background; used as a marketing tool for job seekers
- Return
- Profit earned on an interest bearing account, expressed as an annual percentage yield
- Revenue
- Amount of money that a company actually receives during a specific period, including discounts and deductions for returned merchandise; the top line or gross income figure from which costs are subtracted to determine net income
- Reverse mortgage
- A special type of home equity loan for persons 62 and older; allows owners to convert some of the equity in their homes to cash; does not usually have to be repaid during the homeowner's lifetime; loan advances are not taxable and do not affect the homeowner's Social Security or Medicare benefits
- Revolving credit
- A bank line of credit on which the customer pays a commitment fee and can use funds when they are needed; normally the line involves a firm commitment from the bank for a period of several years
- Rollover
- Reinvesting funds from a mature security into a new issue of the same or a similar security; or transferring the holdings of one retirement plan to another without suffering tax consequences
- Roth IRA
- Individual retirement plan that allows taxpayers, subject to certain income limits, to save for retirement while allowing the savings to grow tax-free; taxes are paid on contributions, but withdrawals, subject to certain rules, are not taxed at all
- Routing number
- First nine numbers that appear at the bottom of a check to identify the financial institution from which funds may be drawn