← Home
Guides & Glossary
Deep-dive guides on every asset class, plus plain-English definitions for the terms you keep seeing.
📚 Deep-dive guides
Loading guides…
🔤 Learn the lingo
Plain-English definitions for the terms you keep seeing. No jargon, no fluff.
🔍
18 terms
🌍
★☆☆ BeginnerAlternative assets
Investments outside traditional stocks and bonds, such as art, wine, crypto, farmland, or collectibles.
💧
★☆☆ BeginnerLiquidity
How easily you can turn an asset into cash without losing value. Stocks = very liquid. A vintage Rolex = not so much.
🎯
★☆☆ BeginnerDiversification
Spreading your money across different types of investments so one bad day doesn't wipe you out.
💰
★☆☆ BeginnerCarry cost
The ongoing cost of holding an asset (storage, insurance, maintenance, etc.). Keeping wine in a cellar isn't free.
🖼️
★☆☆ BeginnerNFT
Non-fungible token. A unique digital asset on a blockchain like a digital art piece with a verified certificate of ownership.
🏢
★☆☆ BeginnerREIT
Real Estate Investment Trust. A company that owns income-producing real estate, lets you invest in property without buying a building.
📈
★☆☆ BeginnerVolatility
How much an asset's price swings up and down. Ex. Bitcoin is highly volatile while Gold is more stable.
🌱
★☆☆ BeginnerYield
The income an investment generates like rent from property or dividends from stocks (typically expressed as a percentage).
🔒
★★☆ IntermediateIlliquidity premium
The extra return investors demand for holding something they can't easily sell. Farmland pays more than Treasury bonds partly for this reason.
🔍
★★☆ IntermediateDue diligence
The research and investigation you do before making an investment. Checking if something is legit before putting money in.
🚀
★☆☆ BeginnerAppreciation
When an asset increases in value over time. A painting bought for $500 that's now worth $5,000 has appreciated 10x.
🍕
★★☆ IntermediateFractional ownership
Owning a slice of an expensive asset rather than the whole thing. Ex. Platforms like Masterworks let you own a fraction of a Banksy.
📜
★★☆ IntermediateProvenance
The documented history of who owned an asset. Critical in art and collectibles, a piece with great provenance is worth more.
⛓️
★★☆ IntermediateDeFi
Decentralized Finance. Financial services built on blockchain (lending, borrowing, earning yield) without traditional banks.
🍷
★☆☆ BeginnerVintage
In wine, the year the grapes were harvested. A good vintage bottle from a great region can be worth thousands.
🃏
★☆☆ BeginnerPSA grade
A condition score (1-10) given to trading cards by Professional Sports Authenticator. A PSA 10 (gem mint) can be worth 10-100x a lower grade.
🏠
★★★ AdvancedCap rate
Capitalization rate — the annual return a real estate property generates relative to its price. Higher cap rate = better income yield.
🪙
★★★ AdvancedTokenization
Converting ownership of a real-world asset (art, real estate, wine) into digital tokens on a blockchain so it can be traded more easily.