Financial Glossary – L

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L-Shaped Recovery – a chart showing a sharp decline in economic growth followed by a long flat period. During the flat period there is little or no GDP growth. The graph looks like the letter ‘L,’ i.e., a steep (vertical) line followed by a flat (horizontal) line at the bottom.

Label – a small piece of paper, plastic, or cloth that we attach to a product. The label has information about the product, such as its manufacturer and origin. The term also has meanings in biology and everyday English.

Labor – 1. The workforce (workers). 2. Physical or mental exertion. 3. The cost of paying workers (e.g., in the breakdown of a bill or invoice). 4. All manual workers whose work involves physical exertion. 5. The process of childbirth. 6. Labor unions collectively.

Laddering – an investment technique that requires the purchaser to buy several financial products with different maturity dates. We also call it a ladder strategy, bond ladder, or a laddered portfolio.

Laffer Curve – a graph that suggests that as you increase tax rates, government revenue rises, but begins to fall beyond a certain point. In other words, if you raise taxes too high, people and companies become less interested in working and investing, or move their activities abroad, which leads to less tax income for the government and a weaker economy. The Laffer Curve was drawn by economist Arthur Laffer in a restaurant in 1974 while he explained his point of view to his dinner companions.

Laggards – when a new product or system enters the marketplace, they are the last people to adopt them. Approximately sixteen percent of the population are laggards. They typically have an aversion to change and anything that brings about change.

Lagging Indicators – economic and financial indicators that do not change at the same time as the general economy. Lagging indicators change a few months later. Hence their name, i.e., there is a ‘lag.’ The unemployment rate, for example, is a lagging indicator.

Laissez-Faire – an economic system in which the business activities of and between private citizens, companies and other entities are free from government interference such as subsidies, tariffs, privileges and regulations. It means the same as a free-market system or pure capitalism. The emphasis is on the government having a hands-off approach.

Landlord – the owner of a property that is being rented. The person who pays the rent is the tenant. If the owner is female we say ‘landlady.’ However, in legal documents, the term ‘landlord’ may refer to either a man or a woman.

Land Pollution – where there is at least one contaminant on or under an area of land, there is land pollution. Land pollution includes the deposition of solid or liquid waste materials on or under the ground.

Lapping – the fraudulent practice of stealing or concealing cash received from one customer and using money from the next customer to offset the shortfall. It is a white collar crime. Teeming and lading, short banking, and delayed accounting mean the same as lapping.

Larceny – a crime which involves stealing something from its rightful owner. The individual who steals the property intends to become its owner. The term no longer exists in British or Irish law, but continues being used in the American legal system.

Large Capitalization Stocks – the shares of publicly listed companies with a market capitalization of $5 billion or more. In other words, the shares of the largest companies in the country. We also use the terms large cap stocks or large cap companies.

Last In, First Out (LIFO) – an accounting and valuation technique that the newest assets to be added to inventory are the first ones to be sold or used, while the older ones are the last ones to be sold.

Latent Demand – potential or dormant demand for a product or service. The demand has not yet become active because the consumer cannot afford it, it is not available, or the consumer does not know it is available. It is the opposite of effective demand.

Latent Market – a potential market that is still dormant, but in the right circumstances, would come alive. In a latent market there is demand for something. However, that item is not available, i.e., people cannot buy it.

Lawsuit – a dispute or claim that one party or parties, the plaintiff(s), bring to a court of law for adjudication. The plaintiff sues the defendant. One party sues another party for something; in most cases money.

Lawyer – somebody who studies law and is licenced to practice law. There are many names for this profession, including attorney, solicitor, and barrister.

Layoff – the suspension or permanent termination of a position (job) in a company. The verb is ‘to lay off’. When a worker is laid off, he or she has done nothing wrong – it is not their fault. Layoff, when it is permanent, means the same as redundancy. It can happen if sales decline, during a recession, the business goes bankrupt, or it cannot produce goods because it cannot get a vital component or raw material.

Leader – a person who is in charge of a company, organization, country, town, etc. We can use the term for people, products, companies, and countries. It can also be a jargon word.

Leadership – 1. The leaders of an organization, company, or country, regarded collectively. 2. The action of leading or being a leader.

Leading indicators – indicators that usually change before the whole economy changes. They are used as short-term predictors of the economy. Stock market returns – a leading indicator – usually start to decline before the general economy weakens, and pick up just before the economy starts recovering from a slump. Other examples of leading indicators include building permits, the money supply, and consumer confidence.

Lead Magnet – a free product or service that is given away by a company in order to gather contact details. By giving away a freebie, the business can gather new sales leads.

Lease – a contractual arrangement where one party grants another the right to use an asset for a specified period in exchange for periodic payment, typically subject to agreed terms and conditions.

Legacy System – a computer term that refers to an obsolete IT system in a company. It is also called a legacy platform. The term is pejorative that refers to an out-of-date computer system or application program. When ‘legacy system’ is mentioned, the speaker is suggesting that the company or organization’s computer system needs to be replaced.

Lender of Last Resort – when a bank needs money and no other bank or entity can or is willing to lend to it, the lender of last resort – usually a central bank – intervenes and supplies the required funds. This happens when a commercial bank is in trouble. The central bank often lends with strings attached; it may take control of the financial institution, find it a new owner, or close it down. The function of the lender of last resort is to: 1. Prevent the bank from failing. 2. To protect the country’s financial system.

Letter of Credit – a document from a bank saying that it guarantees payment to the exporter, as long as it meets a list of conditions. If the importer fails to pay, the bank pays. Also known as documentary credit.

Leverage – the ratio between equity capital and credit in a financial exchange. Typically, it means using borrowed money to fund the purchase of an asset.

Liability – in accounting a liability is a legal debt or obligation that a company or other entity is required to pay back. Liabilities are reported on the right side of a balance sheet.

Libor – also known as the London Interbank Offered Rate or ICE Libor, is the rate at which banks offer to lend wholesale money to other financial institutions in the international interbank market.

Life Expectancy – the number of years we expect an organism, person, or group of people to live. We also refer to it as ‘expected lifespan‘ or ‘expectancy of life.’ Life expectancy globally has been increasing rapidly for the past one-hundred years.

Life Insurance – a contract made between an individual and an insurance company. The person being insured pays a premium in return for a lump-sum payment  (“a death benefit”)  to a designated beneficiary following the their death. Cover may either be temporary or permanent.

Light-emitting diode (LED) – an electronic device that lights up when electricity passes through it. By manipulating the physical properties of LEDs, manufacturers can set the types of light that they emit. The devices have many applications and benefits. As room lights, for instance, they consume less energy and have a longer lifetime than filament bulbs.

Limited Company – a business entity we can set up to run our business. It is responsible in its own right for all its activities. Its finances are separate from the personal finances of those who own shares in it. Profit made (after paying tax) is owned by the company. A limited company can pay dividends to shareholders from its net profit. There are two main types: 1. Private Limited Company. 2. Public Limited Company.

Line of Credit – or credit line, is the amount you can borrow on a flexible loan. In other words, your credit limit. We also call it a revolving credit agreement or bank line. You only borrow what you need, as long as you remain within your limit. You only pay interest on what you borrowed.

Lipper Index – a set of benchmarking tools used to track the performance of a portfolio or of various mutual funds.

Liquid Assets – current assets that can be quickly turned into cash (usually within a period of a month). Cash and checking accounts are the ‘most liquid’ of assets.

Liquidity – refers to how rapidly an asset can be converted into cash and spent, if so desired. Cash is the most liquid of all assets. In accounting, liquidity is a measure of an entity’s ability to pay its bills as they come due, as well as its ability to access money when it needs it. The term also refers to how much activity there is in a market. A liquid market has many buyers and sellers.

Liquidity Trap – a situation in which cash injections from the central bank into the private banking system to decrease interest rates and thus kick-start the economy have no effect. The aim of the cash injections is to get people and companies to borrow and thus spend more. However, for some reason everybody wants to hoard cash and are risk averse. The USA and UK experienced a liquidity trap during the Great Depression of the 1930s, and so did Japan in the 1990s.

Litecoin – a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency and also an open software project. Litecoin uses an open-source cryptographic protocol to transfer and create coins. Like all cryptocurrencies, Litecoin has no central bank. It is nearly identical to Bitcoin, but is much faster.

Litigation – the process of using the courts of law to resolve disputes. An example of litigation is a lawsuit.

Living Wage – the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet their basic needs, including housing, food, healthcare, and other essentials, while maintaining a decent standard of living.

LLC – which stands for Limited Liability Company, is a flexible business structure (in the USA) offering personal liability protection for its members and tax efficiencies, often ideal for small to medium-sized enterprises.

Loan – something that is borrowed (usually in the form of money or property) that is eventually paid back to the lender with interest. There are many types of loans, such as a mortgage, which is money borrowed to buy a property.

Loan Capital – money that a company borrows from banks, other organizations and people for an agreed period on which it pays interest. The most common ways to raise loan capital are with a bank loan, a bank overdraft or debentures.

Loan Guarantee – this is a loan where a person, government or other entity pledges to become liable for a debtor’s debt obligation in the event of a default.

Loan Modification – changes that are made to an existing mortgage loan, due to the borrower’s long-term inability to pay. It is not the same as a refinance.

Loan Shark – a moneylender who charges exorbitant rates of interest. Many of them work outside the law, threaten borrowers with violence, and sometimes force defaulters into criminal activities.

Loan to Value Ratio (LTV Ratio) – calculates the risk of people who want to borrow money. The LTV ratio is commonly used by banks and financial institutions. The greater the LTR ratio, the higher the risk.

Logistics – a subset of supply chain management that focuses on the challenge of planning and coordinating the flow of information and materials, all the way from purchasing raw materials, making the product, storing it, right through to delivering to customers.

Logo – a drawing, sketch, or image that a company, school, organization, or even a person uses to mark who they are and what they do. It is part of their brand image. Logos may also have letters, whole words, or even a short phrase in them.

London Stock Exchange (LSE) – the principal stock exchange of the United Kingdom. It is Europe’s biggest stock exchange and one of the world’s Big 3, together with the New York Stock Exchange and Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Long-Tail Keywords – highly specific, multi-word phrases that attract targeted traffic with lower competition and higher conversion potential.

Lupus – or Systemic Lupus Erythematosus is a chronic disease that causes inflammation of the joints, skin, and other organs. It is an autoimmune disease, i.e., the body’s immune system attacks good tissue. Lupus is not curable, but treatment can control symptoms and protect organs.

Lupus Causes – researchers are not sure what causes lupus. They believe that it is due to a combination of genetic, environmental, and hormonal factors.

Lupus Signs and Symptoms – this article is part of the ‘What is Lupus‘ hub. It lists all the signs and symptoms, and describes them in detail.

Lupus Treatment Options – this in-depth article goes through all the treatment options and self-help measures for lupus patients.

Luxuries – goods or services that are not necessary for living, but are highly-desired by consumers. They are more expensive than ‘normal’ or cheap items. People’s ability to buy or finance luxuries is directly proportionate to their assets or income. Rich people purchase luxuries more often than individuals further down the socioeconomic ladder. ‘Little luxuries’ are simple things that can make somebody happy, such as a quiet evening watching TV with a glass of wine and some chocolates while the children spend the night away at their grandparents’.