Whois & Analysis for ftadviser.com

A financial intermediary is an institution or individual that serves as a middleman for different parties in a financial transaction.

According to classical and neoclassical economics, as well as most mainstream economics, a financial intermediary is typically a bank that consolidates deposits and uses the funds to transform them into loans.

According to some heterodox economists and others, financial intermediaries simply do not exist.

A mortgage loan, also referred to as a mortgage, is used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate; or alternatively by existing property owners to raise funds for any purpose, while putting a lien on the property being mortgaged.

The loan is "secured" on the borrower's property.

This means that a legal mechanism is put in place which allows the lender to take possession and sell the secured property ("foreclosure" or "repossession") to pay off the loan in the event that the borrower defaults on the loan or otherwise fails to abide by its terms.

The word mortgage is derived from a "Law French" term used by English lawyers in the Middle Ages meaning "death pledge", and refers to the pledge ending (dying) when either the obligation is fulfilled or the property is taken through foreclosure.

To invest is to allocate money (or sometimes another resource, such as time) in the expectation of some benefit in the future.

A market is one of the many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange.

While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services (including labor) in exchange for money from buyers.

It can be said that a market is the process by which the prices of goods and services are established.

Markets facilitate trade and enable the distribution and allocation of resources in a society.

Markets allow any trade-able item to be evaluated and priced.

A market emerges more or less spontaneously or may be constructed deliberately by human interaction in order to enable the exchange of rights (cf.

ownership) of services and goods.

Markets generally supplant gift economies and are often held in place through rules and customs, such as a booth fee, competitive pricing, source of goods for sale (local produce or stock registration), and the threat of military or police force if these rules are broken.

A pension is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years, and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments.

A pension may be a "defined benefit plan" where a fixed sum is paid regularly to a person, or a "defined contribution plan" under which a fixed sum is invested and then becomes available at retirement age.

Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is usually paid in regular installments for life after retirement, while the latter is typically paid as a fixed amount after involuntary termination of employment prior to retirement.