A bond is a fixed income instrument that represents a loan made by an investor to a borrower (typically corporate or governmental). A bond could be thought of as an I.O.U. between the lender and borrower that includes the details of the loan and its payments.

Under this educational savings vehicle, parents and guardians are allowed to make non-deductible contributions to an education individual retirement account (IRA) for a child under the age of 18.

A traditional IRA (individual retirement account) allows individuals to direct pre-tax income toward investments that can grow tax-deferred. The IRS does not assess capital gains or dividend income taxes until the beneficiary makes a withdrawal. 

Roth IRA is an individual retirement plan (a type of qualified retirement plan) that bears many similarities to the traditional IRA. The biggest distinction between the two is how they’re taxed.

Roth IRA distributions tax - free if made 5 years after the initial contribution to the plan and you are over 59 1/2.

A SIMPLE IRA is a retirement savings plan that can be used by most small businesses with 100 or fewer employees. "SIMPLE" stands for "Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees," and "IRA" stands for "Individual Retirement Account."

A simplified employee pension (SEP, or SEP IRA) is a retirement plan that an employer or self-employed individuals can establish. The employer is allowed a tax deduction for contributions made to the SEP plan and makes contributions to each eligible employee's SEP IRA on a discretionary basis.

A Treasury Bill (T-Bill) is a short-term debt obligation backed by the U.S. Treasury Department with a maturity of one year or less. Treasury bills are usually sold in denominations of $1,000. 

A treasury note is a marketable U.S. government debt security with a fixed interest rate and a maturity between one and 10 years.

A brokerage account is an arrangement between an investor and a licensed brokerage firm permitting the investor to deposit funds with the firm and place investment orders through the brokerage. 

A common stock fund is a mutual fund that invests in the common stock of numerous publicly traded companies. Common stock funds provide investment diversification and offer time savings over researching, buying and selling individual stocks.

A Roth IRA is a type of qualified individual retirement account that accrues gains tax-free but uses after-tax money to fund it. Money withdrawn in retirement is tax-free.

 Variable annuities probably rank second only to variable life insurance in terms of complexity. They resemble their fixed and indexed cousins in that they are issued as contracts that grow on a tax-deferred basis regardless of whether they are placed inside an individual retirement account (IRA) or other tax-deferred retirement plan.