What is Kurtosis? Kurtosis is a statistical measure that defines how heavily the tails of a distribution differ from the tails of a normal distribution. In other words, kurtosis identifies whether the tails of a given distribution contain extreme values. Along with skewness, kurtosis is an important descriptive statistic of data distribution. However, the two…
What are Black Swan Events? In this article, we provide examples of black swan events as they relate to the financial industry. The financial markets are the context in which black swan events are most commonly referred to. In the investing world, a black swan event is an extremely negative event or happening that is…
Who is an Annuitant? An annuitant is an entity that is entitled to a series of payments on an interval basis. Annuitants are often investors or retirees receiving their pension payments. Primarily, financial institutions and life insurance companies utilize an annuity payment structure to provide income on a periodic basis. Annuities often begin…
What is Money Management? Money management refers to the process of tracking and planning an individual or group’s use of capital. In personal and corporate finance, money management usually includes budgeting, spending, saving, and investing. Private banking financial advisors provide money management services to individual customers. Commercial banking provides money management to corporate clients. In…
What is Parameter? A parameter is a useful component of statistical analysis. It refers to the characteristics that are used to define a given population. It is used to describe a specific characteristic of the entire population. When making an inference about the population, the parameter is unknown because it would be impossible to collect…
What is Fraud? Fraud refers to any deceptive activity engaged in by an individual with the aim of gaining something through means that violate the law. One keyword in fraud is deception, wherein the perpetrator leads their victim to believe in an untruth in order to obtain a benefit or value. The most common place…
How Does the Government Make Money? The primary way that the United States government makes money is through taxation. In Section 8 of the first article of the Constitution, the U.S. Congress is afforded the right to assign and collect taxes. There are several sources of tax revenue. The breakdown of the federal government’s tax…
What is the National Average Wage Index (NAWI)? The National Average Wage Index (NAWI) is a benchmark used as a metric of inflation – tracking wage growth among American workers. The Social Security Administration (SSA) calculates the NAWI annually, using it for two primary purposes: To make updates to the Old Age, Survivors and Disability…
What is the Natural Gas Storage Indicator (EIA Report)? The Natural Gas Storage Indicator is an estimate of working gas in storage at both the national and regional levels, as reported by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The EIA Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report is released at 10:30 a.m. EST on Thursday every week….
