Common acronyms

Common acronyms provides a listing of commonly used financial acronyms that a reader might find on the wiki or on our Financial Wisdom Forum (FWF).


 * ACB: Adjusted cost base
 * BNN: Business News Network, a Canadian all-business and financial news television channel.
 * CCPC: Canadian controlled private corporation. An incorporated small business which may qualify for lower tax rates.
 * CDIC: Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation
 * CFP: Certified Financial Planner
 * CIPF: Canadian Investor Protection Fund
 * CLU: Chartered Life Underwriter
 * CRA: Canada Revenue Agency
 * CPI: Consumer Price Index
 * CPP: Canada Pension Plan
 * DB Pension: Defined benefit pension plan; one in which the future payouts are known in advance
 * DC Pension: Defined contribution pension plan; one in which future payouts depend upon pension fund returns
 * DCA: Dollar cost averaging
 * DVA: Dollar value averaging
 * DIY: Do-it-yourself (investor)
 * EAFE: Europe - Australasia - Far East Index
 * EMT: Efficient market theory (also referred to as EMH, or Efficient Market Hypothesis)
 * ETF: Exchange-traded fund. A security that trades on a stock exchange and that, in sufficient quantity, is exchangeable with a defined basket of securities.
 * FWF: Financial Wisdom Forum
 * FX: Foreign Exchange
 * GIC: Guaranteed Investment Certificate. A certificate of deposit that is government-insured, usually by the CDIC (see above).
 * IPO: Initial public offering. When a formerly-private company becomes public, the stocks are offered to investors in an IPO.
 * IPS: Investment policy statement
 * LIRA: Locked-In Retirement Account. Generally similar to an RRSP but using pension funds from a former employer. No further contributions or early withdrawals are allowed by law. Also called an LRSP.
 * LRSP: Locked-In Retirement Savings Plan. See LIRA.
 * MER: Management expense ratio
 * MMF: Money Market Fund
 * NYSE: New York Stock Exchange
 * OAS: Old Age Security
 * OSC: Ontario Securities Commission
 * OSFI: Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions
 * QIF: Quicken Interchange Format
 * REIT: Real estate investment trust. A security that provides unitholders with rental income from real estate properties.
 * RESP: Registered Education Savings Plan
 * RFP: Registered Financial Planner
 * RRB: Real Return Bonds. An inflation-indexed bond issued by the Government of Canada and/or certain provincial governments.
 * RRIF: Registered Retirement Income Fund
 * RRSP: Registered Retirement Savings Plan
 * SEDAR: System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval Securities related information for Canadian companies
 * TFSA: Tax-Free Savings Account
 * TIPS: Inflation-indexed bonds offered by the U.S. government
 * TFL: The Fund Library
 * TSX: Toronto Stock Exchange