A fee that investors pay when withdrawing money from an investment within a specified number of years, usually five to 10 years. The back-end load is designed to discourage withdrawals and typically declines for each year that a shareholder remains in a fund. The fee is a percentage of the value of the share being sold.

A two year, weekly, measure of volatility, or systematic risk, of a security in comparison to the market as a whole. A beta of less than 1 means that the security will be less volatile than the market, a beta larger than 1 means more volatility. Beta value cannot be calculated if less than 24 months of pricing is available.

The percentage of the fund’s assets invested in bonds. A bond is an unsecured debt security issued by companies, municipalities, states and sovereign governments to raise funds. When a company issues a bond it borrows money from the bondholder to boost the business, in exchange the bondholder receives the principal amount back plus the interest on the determined maturity date. 

See Asset Allocation.

A financial market condition in which prices are rising or are expected to rise. Bull markets are characterized by optimism, investor confidence and expectations that strong results will continue.