GCPA Glossary

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Large-cap
A large sized company or a mutual fund that invests in the stock of large, established companies.

Lehman Brothers Aggregate Index
Lehman Brothers Aggregate Index is a corporate bond index composed of the Lehman Brothers Govt./Credit Index, the Mortgage-Backed Securities Index, and the Asset-Backed Securities Index. The returns for this index are total returns, which include the reinvestment of dividends.

Lehman Brothers Government/Corporate Bond Index
An index used to generally gauge the performance of the U.S. bond market. An index is unmanaged and you cannot invest directly in an index.

Lehman Brothers Intermediate Treasury Bond Index
An index used to generally gauge the performance of U.S. government bond with maturities between one and 10 years. An index is unmanaged and you cannot invest directly in an index.

Lien
A creditor's claim against property. For example, a mortgage is a lien against a house; if the mortgage is not paid on time, the house can be seized to satisfy the lien. Similarly, a bond is a lien against a company's assets; if interest and principal are not paid when due, the assets may be seized to pay the bondholders. As soon as a debt is paid, the lien is removed. Liens may be granted by courts to satisfy judgments.

Life expectancy
The age an average person is expected to live, as calculated by an actuary. Insurance companies base their projections of benefit payouts on actuarial studies of such factors as sex, heredity and health habits and base their rates on actuarial analysis. Life expectancy can be calculated at birth or at some other age and generally varies according to age. Thus, all persons at birth might have an average life expectancy of 70 years and all persons aged 40 years might have an average life expectancy of 75 years. Life expectancy projections determine such matters as the ages when an individual may start and finish withdrawing funds from an Individual Retirement Account. Annuities payable for lifetimes are usually based on separate male or female tables, except that a qualified plan or trust must use unisex tables.

Life insurance
A type of insurance which provides a sum of money when the person who is insured dies while the policy is in effect.

Limited partnership
An organization made up of a general partner, who manages a project and limited partners, who invest money but have limited liability, are not involved in day-to-day management and usually cannot lose more than their capital contribution. Usually limited partners receive income, capital gains and tax benefits; the general partner collects fees and a percentage of capital gains and income. Typical limited partnerships are in real estate, oil and gas and equipment leasing, but they also finance movies, research and development and other projects. Typically, public limited partnerships are sold through brokerage firms, for minimum investments of $5,000, whereas private limited partnerships are put together with fewer than 35 limited partners who invest more than $20,000 each.

Liquid asset
Cash or assets easily convertible into cash. Some examples: money-market fund shares, U.S. Treasury bills, bank deposits.

Liquidity
The degree to which an investment may be quickly sold in exchange for cash.

Long run or long term
A period of time in which short-term volatility or risk of the market does not play a significant role. Long term can be considered a time period of ten years or more.

Low risk investments
Investments considered stable with respect to capital preservation.

Lump sum distribution
A single payment to a beneficiary covering the entire amount of an agreement. Participants in Individual Retirement Accounts, pension plans, profit sharing, and executive stock option plans generally can opt for a lump sum distribution if the taxes are not too burdensome when they become eligible.

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