What do you mean by the term Baby Boomer, often used in demographic and consumption trend case studies

Baby Boomer - A person who was born between 1946 and 1964. The baby boomer generation makes up a substantial portion of the North American population. Representing nearly 20% of the American public, baby boomers have a significant impact on the economy. As a result, baby boomers are often the focus of marketing campaigns and business plans.

After the end of World War II, birth rates across the world spiked. The explosion of new infants became known as the baby boom. During the boom, an estimated 77 million babies were born in the United States alone! The large increase in population produced a substantial rise in demand for consumer goods, stimulating the post-war economy.

Define Arbitrage, in context of online stock trading and high frequency trading in Forex, commodity and futures trading

Arbitrage - The simultaneous purchase and sale of an asset in order to profit from a difference in the price. It is a trade that profits by exploiting price differences of identical or similar financial instruments, on different markets or in different forms. Arbitrage exists as a result of market inefficiencies; it provides a mechanism to ensure prices do not deviate substantially from fair value for long periods of time.

Given the advancement in technology it has become extremely difficult to profit from mispricing in the market. Many traders have computerized trading systems set to monitor fluctuations in similar financial instruments. Any inefficient pricing setups are usually acted upon quickly and the opportunity is often eliminated in a matter of seconds.

Define Amortization, what is the difference between amortization and depreciation, with respect to financial valuation and balance sheet entry.

Amortization - The deduction of capital expenses over a specific period of time (usually over the asset's life). More specifically, this method measures the consumption of the value of intangible assets, such as a patent or a copyright.

Suppose XYZ Biotech spent $30 million dollars on a piece of medical equipment and that the patent on the equipment lasts 15 years, this would mean that $2 million would be recorded each year as an amortization expense.

Difference between Amortization and Depreciation
While amortization and depreciation are often used interchangeably, technically this is an incorrect practice because amortization refers to intangible assets and depreciation refers to tangible assets.

Amortization can be calculated easily using most modern financial calculators, spreadsheet software packages such as Microsoft Excel, or amortization charts and tables.

Who is an Actuary? What is the nature and scope of Actuarial Analysis with respect to finance and insurance sector.

Actuary - A professional statistician working for an insurance company. They evaluate your application and medical records to project how long you will live. Actuaries are intensively educated and their knowledge is used in many different fields in order to predict future events based upon past occurrences.

Actuarial Analysis - The examination of risk by a highly educated and certified professional statistician. Actuarial analysis uses statistical models to manage financial uncertainty by making educated predictions about future events. Insurance companies, banks, government agencies and corporations use actuarial analysis to design optimal insurance policies, retirement plans and pension plans and to analyze investment risks.

For example, actuarial analysis is an essential task performed by insurance companies to analyze data and estimate the probability of an insurance claim being filed for a given event. This work allows insurance companies to predict with a reasonable degree of accuracy the amount of claims they will pay out, which helps them determine what premiums they must charge to remain profitable.

What is the meaning of AAA (triple A) with respect to banking and finance sector especially bonds

Definition of 'AAA'
The highest possible rating assigned to the bonds of an issuer by credit rating agencies. An issuer that is rated AAA has an exceptional degree of creditworthiness and can easily meet its financial commitments. Ratings agencies such as Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings use the AAA nomenclature to indicate the highest credit quality, while Moody's uses Aaa.

As bonds that are rated AAA are perceived to have little risk of default, they offer investors the lowest yields among bonds of comparable maturity. The global credit crisis of 2008 resulted in a number of companies, including General Electric, losing their AAA rating. By the end of 2009, only four companies in the S&P 500 possessed the coveted AAA rating: Automatic Data Processing, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft and ExxonMobil.