The Money Map

How to use this page: find the word that’s confusing you, read the short definition, then follow the link if you want the full explanation. This is general educational information, not financial, investment, legal or tax advice. Every firm uses slightly different terms, so check your own account’s documents too. The images on this page are AI-generated illustrations.

For the full walkthrough, read What Do I Actually Own in My Investing Account?. This page is the quick-reference version.

1. The container: your account type

Taxable brokerage account. A regular investing account. You can usually add and withdraw money when you want, and income and gains are generally taxable in the year they happen.

IRA (traditional or Roth). An individual retirement account with its own tax treatment and rules about contributions and withdrawals.

401(k) or workplace plan. A retirement account offered through an employer, often with a limited menu of investment options.

HSA. A health savings account. Some providers let you invest the balance.

The account type sets the rules. It isn’t an investment by itself. For tax rules, use IRS.gov or a tax professional.

2. Cash

Uninvested cash. Money in your account that hasn’t been used to buy anything yet: deposits, sale proceeds, dividends and interest. Depositing money into an investing account doesn’t automatically invest it.

Cash sweep program. How many firms handle uninvested cash. The SEC’s cash sweep bulletin describes three common types.

Bank sweep. Your cash is moved into deposit accounts at one or more banks. The rate is variable.

Money market fund sweep. Your cash is moved into a money market fund, a type of mutual fund that generally holds short-term, high-quality debt. It’s not a bank product.

Free credit balance. The cash stays at the firm as a balance you’re owed. The firm may or may not pay interest.

Settled cash. Money from a sale that has finished the official exchange. Most U.S. stock, bond and ETF trades settle one business day after the trade (T+1) since May 28, 2024.

Buying power. How much your app says you can spend on investments. In some accounts, especially margin accounts, it can include money you could borrow. Read your firm’s definition before relying on it.

Pending. A deposit, trade or transfer that hasn’t finished yet.

3. Investments

Stock (share). A small piece of ownership in a company.

Fractional share. Part of a share, like 0.25 of one. FINRA’s fractional shares guide notes they currently can’t be transferred to another brokerage firm and may come with limits on trading hours and voting rights.

Fund. A pool of money from many investors that owns a collection of investments. When you buy a fund, you own fund shares, and the fund owns the underlying holdings.

Mutual fund. A fund generally bought from and sold back to the fund company or through a broker, priced once per business day after the market closes.

ETF (exchange-traded fund). A fund that trades on a stock exchange throughout the day at market prices. See the SEC’s guide to how mutual funds and ETFs differ.

Holdings. The list of what a fund owns. You can usually find it on the fund company’s website or fact sheet.

Bond. A loan to a company or government that pays interest.

Treasury. A bond, note or bill issued by the U.S. government.

CD (certificate of deposit). A deposit that pays a set rate for a set time. Some brokerages offer them.

Money market fund. A fund that holds short-term debt, often used for cash.

4. What your investments pay you

Dividend. A payment some companies and funds make to shareholders.

Interest. Income from bonds, CDs, money market funds and some cash programs.

Paid to cash. Dividends and interest land in your cash balance, which usually means a sweep program.

Reinvested (DRIP). Dividends are automatically used to buy more of the same investment. Check which setting your account uses.

5. What you pay

Expense ratio. An annual percentage that comes out of a fund’s assets. It reduces the fund’s returns instead of showing up as a separate charge.

Advisory or management fee. What an advisor or robo-advisor charges, often a percentage of your balance each year.

Account and transaction fees. Charges some firms apply for certain trades, transfers, paper statements or account maintenance.

Why small fees matter. In the SEC’s fees bulletin, a hypothetical $100,000 invested for 20 years at 4% grows to roughly $208,000 with a 0.25% annual fee and roughly $179,000 with a 1.00% fee. That’s an illustration, not a prediction of real returns.

6. Protection, and what isn't protected

SIPC. Protects customers if a SIPC-member brokerage firm fails and customer assets are missing, up to $500,000 per customer, including a $250,000 limit for cash.

FDIC. Insurance for deposits at FDIC-insured banks. Cash in a bank sweep program may be eligible at each participating bank, subject to the program’s terms and FDIC limits.

Not covered by either. Investment losses. If a stock or fund drops in value, that’s market risk. SIPC also doesn’t cover bad advice.

7. Words on your screen

Market value. What a holding is worth at the current price.

Cost basis. Roughly what you paid, used to figure gains and losses.

Unrealized gain or loss. The difference between market value and cost basis on something you haven’t sold.

Realized gain or loss. The gain or loss on something you have sold.

Ticker. The short code a stock or fund trades under.

Position. How much of a particular investment you hold.

8. Questions to ask your firm

What is my cash sweep option, and what rate does it pay?

When I deposit money, is it invested automatically or does it stay in cash?

Are my dividends reinvested or paid to cash?

What fees am I paying, including fund expenses?

Which of my assets are covered by SIPC, and which, if any, are eligible for FDIC insurance?

Go deeper

What Do I Actually Own in My Investing Account? walks through all of this in detail, with a 10-minute check you can run on your own account.

The SEC’s investor education site, Investor.gov, and FINRA’s investor insights are good official places to keep learning.

More guides live in Money & Making.

This page was last updated November 3, 2026. Rules, rates and limits change, so check the linked official sources for current details.