Glossary - G | Skandia UK

Gearing

A measure of indebtedness, ie the extent of borrowing as against the equity held by a person or company in an asset. The ability to increase exposure by investing in futures contracts without making the underlying cash available. See also Leverage.

Gift

Is a transfer of goods or property to another party. There are limits to the amount of gifts you can make without any tax liability.

Gilt

A loan to the government usually with a fixed rate of interest and usually over a specified period of time. The original amount is usually repaid at the end of the loan period.

Gilt edged

Low risk investment with high security.

Global CAP:Link

A stochastic asset model built by Tillinghast Towers Perrin (now Towers Watson), which uses mathematical formulae to project many hundreds of plausible, although not necessarily likely, paths for future investment returns for the asset classes. Whilst every effort has been made to make this as accurate as possible, actual future investment returns could be significantly different to those projected by the model. It focuses on the longer term and does not try to predict short term factors that might make one asset class relatively attractive compared to other classes, as such it should not be used for short term, tactical investments.

Greenback

A colloquial term for the US dollar.

Greenmail

A term that describes when a hostile bidder threatens a company with takeover by purchasing a large number of its shares, forcing the management of the company to repurchase the shares at an above market price.

Gross

The total before deductions have been taken away.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

A measurement of the aggregate goods produced and services provided within an economy over a year and excluding income earned outside the country. Considered one of the main yardsticks of the health and vitality of an economy. See also Gross National Product.

Gross interest

The amount of interest you receive without any income tax taken out.

Gross National Product

An economic statistic which includes GDP (Gross Domestic Product) plus any income earned by residents from their overseas investments, minus income earned within the domestic economy by overseas residents. See also Gross Domestic Product.

Group of Seven (G7)

The seven major capitalist powers: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK and the US.

Growth investor

One who seeks capital gain from expected further growth in company earnings. Typically, growth investors care less about price/earnings ratios and other valuation measures and more about earnings growth.

Growth stocks

Stocks, whose earnings have grown at an above-average rate over a number of years, and which are expected to continue to grow at a high rate for some time to come.

Guaranteed minimum pension

A guaranteed pension amount paid, as a condition of contracting out of SERPS (State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme) under a Final Salary Scheme, up to and including
5 April 1997, from which point different rules apply.

Guaranteed product

An investment product sold by life insurance companies that guarantees a return for a specific length of time on a large, lump-sum premium.