Explaining the 10 financial terms Americans search for most
BestBrokers.com, an investment research platform, recently tracked the volume of queries for various financial terms made through ChatGPT. Based on this research, the company hypothesized about what the issues are that give people trouble with these terms and concepts, though many such searches also could be conducted to clarify details or derive more information.
Here are the top 10 most-searched financial terms and concepts, starting with those attracting the most internet attention and heading down the list:
Search term: 401(k)
This was the financial term for which Americans searched the most. If people are confused, much of it appears to focus on the tax benefits, contribution limits and withdrawal rules associated with these accounts, according to https://www.bestbrokers.com/forex-brokers/.
What to know: These are workplace retirement accounts named after a section of the Internal Revenue Code. The accounts are usually tax-sheltered and often include employer-matching funds as incentives. Most Americans don't invest enough to run afoul of the annual dollar contribution limits. Penalties can apply on withdrawals, which typically are taxable, too.
Search term: Inflation
Most people seem to know about inflation but don't necessarily distinguish it from 'rising prices in general,' said BestBrokers.
What to know: Inflation is the percentage increase showing how prices for different goods change from one period to the next, often on a 12-month basis. It doesn't describe high price levels generally. Here's an example: With the typical new vehicle selling for about $50,000, many people would agree that autos are at high price levels. However, the inflation rate on new vehicles was just 0.4% over the 12 months through May.
Search term: Equity
Many people inquiring about this term appear to think it has something to do with "salary or profit sharing," said BestBrokers.
What to know: Equity can be a vague term so it's not surprising that people are confused. Equity usually translates to 'ownership,' as with a person who has $50,000 equity in a $250,000 condo for which the rest represents an unpaid mortgage balance. It doesn't help that many people refer to stocks as 'equities."
Search term: GDP
This abbreviation stands for Gross Domestic Product but is 'misused as a personal prosperity indicator,' said BestBrokers.
What to know: GDP represents the bottom-line number for the broad economy and is never properly used to describe an individual's wealth or income. Changes in GDP are the main way analysts determine whether the economy is expanding or contracting, whereby two consecutive down quarters for GDP often signal a recession.
Search term: Credit score
Most people seem to recognize what credit scores are but don't know how they're calculated or how to improve their own scores.
What to know: There are different types of credit scores, such as FICO scores (from Fair Isaac Corp.) and Vantage scores. Basically, they represent quick assessments of how reliable you are in paying debts, based on your payment history. Some confusion lies in how scores are calculated, as these factors aren't always intuitive. For example, people who don't borrow much or don't use credit cards might have lower scores than would be the case if they borrowed and paid their balances promptly.
Search term: ETF
This term, short for "exchange-traded fund," is another troubling one. Many people confuse ETFs with mutual funds and aren't sure about their "unclear trading and tax rules,' BestBrokers said.
What to know. ETFs are close cousins to mutual funds in that both are broad portfolios of stocks or bonds packaged and overseen by financial companies such as Vanguard, BlackRock or Fidelity that can be purchased for modest sums, often $1,000 or so. One key difference: You can buy or sell ETFs at different prices throughout the day, while mutual funds trade only at one price, set at the end of the daily trading session.
Search term: Capital-gains tax
The confusion here seems to lie in how capital-gains tax rates differ from ordinary income tax rates.
What to know: The tax rates on long-term capital gains are typically lower than those on ordinary income, with 'long term' describing assets held more than a year. Most Americans pay a long-term capital-gains rate of 15% on their federal tax return, though the rate can be higher or lower. Adding to the confusion: Your ordinary income is used to determine what capital-gains rate you pay.
Search term: Gross income
There appears to be confusion between gross and net income, according to BestBrokers.
What to know: From a tax standpoint, gross income is what you earn before subtracting deductions or credits. After those subtractions, you wind up with net income. A common type of gross income, as defined by the Internal Revenue Service, is MAGI or 'modified adjusted gross income,' which is used to determine eligibility for various tax benefits such as retirement-account eligibility.
Search term: Compound interest
Many people apparently don't realize how these differ from simple interest.
What to know: Compound interest is the concept of earning interest on interest. For example, a $1,000 initial investment earning a 5% simple rate over five years would generate $250 over that time ($50 a year for five years). The same $1,000 earning 5% compounded would generate roughly $276. Compounding exerts a greater impact at higher interest rates and over longer periods.
Search term: Forex
Many people apparently relate this term with the stock market or cryptocurrency trading, said BestBrokers.
What to know: Forex is short for 'foreign exchange' and has nothing to do with the stock market or crypto. Rather, it refers to the market for trading currencies — dollars, euros, pesos, pounds, yen and so forth. The market for currencies is the largest around, reflecting the substantial amount of global trade.
Reach the writer at russ.wiles@arizonarepublic.com.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
9 minutes ago
- Business Insider
'Grammatically correct and emotionally vacant': The pitfalls of relying on AI too much in your job hunt
Job seekers are going overboard using AI. With so many relying on tools like ChatGPT to cut corners, recruiters say they're getting stuck with piles of robotic-sounding résumés and applicants who appear to be cheating during video interviews. While the recruiters BI spoke with said there's nothing wrong with using AI to save time writing, research a prospective employer, or practice answering common questions, they warn that applicants are denting their odds of success by becoming too dependent on it. They say the timing of the trend is especially bad given how many people are looking for jobs. "In this market, you've got to stand out," said Steve Levy, a recruiter in Long Island, New York. When it comes to résumés, it's not just the well-known overuse of em dashes that's tipping off recruiters. It's also the eerie perfection of the documents themselves. "Every sentence is grammatically correct, evenly spaced, and emotionally vacant," said Levy, who's been a recruiter for nearly four decades. "Real résumés have scuff marks." Buzzwords and blunders Another telltale sign is that résumés written with AI feature the same formatting and hollow buzzwords, such as "dynamic," "innovative," and "cross-functional." Many also contain the same phrases such as "accelerated time-to-market" and "exceeding stakeholder expectations." Rather than use these, job hunters should find ways to insert personal touches that add substance to their résumés, said Tejal Rives, a hiring manager in Tempe, Arizona, for a large tech company. "There's no harm in using AI or templates, but the customization is not there," she said. "You're hurting your chances by sounding like everyone else." AI tools have a tendency to introduce factual errors in résumés, which are often apparent to recruiters because dates, numbers, and other details are inconsistent with what is on a candidate's LinkedIn profile or what the person says during the interview process. "Take a real fine-tooth comb to what AI produces for you," said Desiree Goldey, a recruiter in Austin, Texas, who reviews an average of 500 résumés a week and estimates that about half are written with AI to the point that it's noticeable. "Yes, it saves you time, but you have to go back and look at it." Overall, résumés written by AI tend to come across as soulless, she added. The human element is just missing and that's a turn-off. "You're not portraying yourself with any authenticity," Goldey said. "You become this robot and nobody is going to hire a robot." AI shows up in interviews, too Some candidates are also sneaking a peek at AI apps on their phones while interviewing with recruiters over video apps such as Zoom. Recruiters say these individuals repeat the questions they've been asked out loud, then sneak glances to the side of the screen at whatever AI program they're using so they can read the results it spits out. They also usually take a brief pause before answering. Goldey said it's fine to practice interviewing with AI, but when it's time to go on camera, she expects candidates to look at her the whole time — not their phones. "To use AI in an interview to me is a no," she said. "It's the worst thing you could do." Bonnie Dilber, a senior talent-acquisition manager for a fully remote software company, said she's seen such behavior rising over the past few months. She recalled an instance in which a candidate went even further by using an AI filter to impose their face on another person's body. The other individual — the one who could only be seen from the neck down — answered the recruiter's questions. "You could see the filter glitch," she said. Dilber suspects people are going to such lengths because they lack confidence in their interviewing skills and believe AI will give them an edge. Or, she said they could be engaging in fraudulent activity, such as trying to understand the interview process so they can sell the information they glean to job seekers. She and other recruiters on her team use an AI platform that records interviews for generating transcripts and summarizing what's discussed. If they sense something is fishy, they'll review the footage. "Recording the interviews for us is a huge way that we can catch these things," Dilber said. "I imagine a future in which maybe to begin an interview, you have to scan an ID." Have a job-search story to share? Contact the reporter via email at sneedleman@ here ' s our guide to sharing.
USA Today
38 minutes ago
- USA Today
Do you need $1 million to be financially 'comfortable'? Answers here.
You don't need a million dollars to be financially comfortable. A little over $800,000 will do. That's the takeaway from the new Modern Wealth Survey by Charles Schwab. It may be mostly a matter of semantics, but American consumers see a big difference between the financial goals of comfort and wealth: A nearly $1.5 million difference, to be exact. Whatever else 'wealthy' might mean in 2025, numerous surveys attest, it definitely means having a net worth over $1 million. In the latest annual Schwab survey, released in July, consumers set the wealth bar at $2.3 million. But how much money does it take to be merely 'comfortable'? In four past surveys, consumers equated financial comfort to a net worth between $624,000 and $1 million. (The $1 million figure came in 2023, a year of rampant inflation.) This year's number: $839,000. What's the difference between 'comfort' and 'wealth'? What, then, is the difference between comfort and wealth? The Schwab survey didn't define the terms. Respondents were left to decide on their own. To Rob Williams, managing director of financial planning at Schwab, the distinction boils down to needs, wants and wishes. To many American consumers, Williams said, financial comfort means having enough net worth to meet their needs and wants. 'I can pay my mortgage. I have a home. I can pay my medical bills. I don't have to go paycheck to paycheck. I have enough to retire,' Williams said. 'That's what financial comfort means to me.' To be wealthy, he said, means you have enough money to satisfy your needs and wants, and also your wishes. 'Wishes are those things that are aspirational,' he said: Having enough money to retire when you want, or to vacation where and when you please. 'I think of wealth as, 'I have a lot more choices in how I use my time,'' Williams said. Here's how Americans define 'wealthy' Schwab asked survey respondents to define what wealthy means to them. Here, in descending order, are the most-cited factors: Is financial 'comfort' more dream than reality? Only 11% of consumers said they believe they are wealthy now: evidence, perhaps, that wealth is largely aspirational. Another 24% said they think they are on track to be wealthy. Gen Z and millennials were especially optimistic about wealth. More than two-fifths of both groups reported being either wealthy or on track to become so. Financial comfort, too, seems to be more of a dream than a reality. In the Schwab survey, only 20% of respondents reported feeling comfortable now. Another 28% said they're on track to achieve that status. Here, again, Gen Z and millennial Americans voiced more optimism, with more than half of each group saying they are financially comfortable, or getting there. The Schwab survey, conducted in April and May, reached a representative sample of 2,200 adults. Most American households are not particularly wealthy A net worth of $839,000, the cutoff for financial comfort in the Schwab survey, actually falls below the average net worth for American families in 2022, which was roughly $1.1 million, according to the federal Survey of Consumer Finances. But the super-wealthy skew that average. The median household net worth – think of it as the middle figure in a long list of numbers – is only $192,700. Lili Vasileff, a certified financial planner in Greenwich, Connecticut, defines financial comfort as essentially never having to worry about money. 'Comfortable, to me, means that I can meet my bills every day of the week, that I don't live paycheck to paycheck, that I have savings set aside as an emergency fund, and that I have made good progress toward achieving my financial goals,' she said. Being wealthy, she said, is about financial freedom and loftier goals. 'Wealthy, to me, means that I have savings that I don't need to dip into, and I can create a legacy for my children, that I have the ability to have a little more ego in terms of the quality of things that I want,' she said. 'You may feel like you're really comfortable at $800,000,' Vasileff said. But a lot depends on how much of the money is liquid, how much is investable, and how much is earmarked for spending, among other factors. The role of financial wellness Robert Brokamp, a senior adviser at The Motley Fool, defines financial comfort in much the same way the federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau defines financial well-being. It's a four-part definition: 'I think anyone who meets those criteria, they're comfortable,' Brokamp said. Brokamp also has a theory to explain the $2.3 million figure that Schwab survey-takers defined as 'wealthy' in 2025. It has to do with the faded luster of the American millionaire. 'If you're a millionaire, you're more than comfortable,' Brokamp said. 'But there's still this idea that being a millionaire ain't what it used to be.' Brokamp thinks that impulse may explain why the annual Schwab surveys consistently define 'wealthy' as a figure closer to $2 million: $2.2 million in 2022 and 2023, and $2.5 million in 2024. 'If you've got $2 million, you're a multimillionaire,' he said. 'And if you're a multimillionaire, you've got to be wealthy.'
USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
Men don't like how Trump treats the economy. Democrats must cash in on that.
Democrats are being given an opportunity to fix their messaging with Americans who are quickly turning on President Donald Trump. According to new polling, American men are beginning to lose faith in President Donald Trump. It took them long enough, but I'm glad they're here with the rest of us. A CBS News/YouGov poll showed that the president's approval rating among men had dropped to 47%, while 53% disapproved of the job he was doing. It's a stark contrast from the November election, when Trump won male voters by 55%. It's a troubling sign for Republicans, but an opportunity for Democrats to gain ground with male voters before 2026. While men tend to go for the GOP, there is a possibility that Trump continues to alienate them by continuing to torpedo the economy and making irrational decisions when it comes to foreign policy and immigration. Can Democrats fix their messaging? The big issue for men? How Trump handles the economy. Men are particularly upset by Trump's handling of the economy. According to the CBS News/YouGov poll, 49% of men say the economy is getting worse, and 59% disapprove of how he's handling inflation. Sixty percent of men think he's focusing too much on tariffs, while 65% say he isn't doing enough to lower the cost of goods and services. Opinion: MAGA, I feel bad Trump lied to you about the Epstein list. Who saw this coming? Democrats, who tend to have weaker messaging on the economy, should take these criticisms and run with them. The cost of tariffs is likely to be passed on to the consumer. The nation's gross domestic product just declined for the first time in three years. Inflation may be cooling, but prices aren't falling. By putting the blame on Trump for the economic strife Americans are feeling, the Democratic Party could potentially show men that Republican lawmakers may not be the ones to rely on when it comes to their finances. When the rest of us know that was always the case. Men are also dissatisfied with the conflict in Gaza, and immigration While 55% of men say the economy and inflation are critical in how they view the president, there are some issues where Trump is also beginning to lose favor. For example, 53% of men say they are dissatisfied with the Trump administration's handling of the Israel-Hamas war, which the president said he'd end on the campaign trail. Fifty-one percent disapprove of his interactions with Iran. Fifty percent of men disapprove of how Trump is handling immigration, with 47% saying the administration is deporting more immigrants than they believed it would, according to that same poll. All of these concerns are corroborated by other polls that show Trump is widely disliked. This should be a wake-up call that Democrats need to strengthen their message on the Israel-Hamas war, at least advocating for peace talks. They could also combine immigration with economic issues, and stress how Trump's deportation agenda could negatively affect the GDP and increase the cost of food. Opinion: Trump keeps brutalizing immigrants because he's failing at everything else Gen Z is particularly unhappy Generation Z, born between 1997 to 2012, also seems to have woken up to Trump's failures. The CBS News/YouGov poll found that his approval rating among 18- to 29-year-olds plummeted to 28% in July. Seventy-one percent of those under 30 disapprove of Trump's handling of the economy, and 73% disapprove of how he's handling inflation. As with men, it's a far cry from how Gen Z felt about Trump in the 2024 election, when voters ages 18-29 supported Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris by a much smaller margin than they supported former President Joe Biden in 2020. Among this age group, 56% of males voted for Trump, 1 percentage point more than among all male voters. Opinion: Trump is unpopular, polls show, and he's building an America most Americans hate It's telling that the generation whose perception of the Republican Party is entirely shaped by the rise of Trump is suddenly souring on him. Perhaps people around my age are finally realizing that targeting marginalized communities won't actually improve their quality of life, or that Trump made promises he couldn't keep. They might also be realizing that the positive emotions they felt during the first Trump administration can be chalked up to childhood nostalgia. For those of us in the generation who were old enough to vote in 2016, the negatives of Trump's first presidency were unavoidable. Opinion alerts: Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don't have the app? Download it for free from your app store. If the Democrats are clever, they'll consider this polling and begin brainstorming ways to further drive a wedge between Trump and male voters, particularly those in Gen Z. Yet I'm not sure Democrats are prepared to pick up the young voters Republicans are siphoning off. Their solution now seems to be doing nothing – Democratic leadership essentially disappeared after the 2024 election, and no one seems to know how to get the party back on track. Ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, they need to focus on more than podcasts and memes. They need to be working on crafting a populist message and focusing on economic issues, because that seems to be the deciding factor in whether or not a president is doing well. Follow USA TODAY columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter: @sara__pequeno You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter.
