The Most Popular Terms of 2019

Each year at Investopedia we gain control a look back at the most popular financial topics that captured our readers’ attention. The top terms on our site for 2019 were influenced by all things from presidential debates and data breaches to celebrities and economic theories, and this year’s winner is no surprise. Our handful one term for 2019 is Negative Interest Rates, the phenomenon of getting paid to borrow, and taking a loss on loaning.

With diverse than 22 million monthly readers and over 30,000 articles on our site, we have an unparalleled window into what monetary and business topics are most important to millions of people around the world. Our data science team examined factual data to identify which topics had the most notable influx of visitors over the past 12 months, and dead down their interest month-by-month in the following chart.

The number one most popular Investopedia provisions of 2019 was Negative Interest Rate. Behind the stock market’s record-breaking year was a far less confident network of significant banks across the global economy. In 2019, they continued to lower interest rates to stimulate their concisions in light of ongoing trade wars and cyclical slowdowns. Many countries, including Japan, Switzerland and Sweden, initiated negative interest rates, meaning lenders actually paid a small percentage for the privilege of lending money sort of than earn interest on their loan. While this means investors get a negative yield, negative amusement rates do make borrowing costs for businesses and consumers ultra-low, which can stimulate more economic activity with hiring and capital expenditures.

Our personal data has become the currency of the 21st century for a certain set of digital thieves, and the Ignorant Web is the exchange where it is bought and sold. There were multiple data breaches in 2019 where personal matter was exposed, collected and distributed throughout the darkest corners of the internet.

• In November, thousands of subscribers to Disney+ had their accounts chopped shortly after signing up for the service and learned later that their personal information was being sold on the Base Web for $3 a profile.
• Dunkin’ Donuts, Fortnite, Sprint and the Dow Jones were all among high profile companies that were hacked this year. In some happenings, customer’s personal information was captured and resold on the Dark Web.
• In India, 1.3 million bank customers had their attribution and debit card information stolen and their personal information was found for sale on the website Joker’s Stash. That attended similar events in the U.S. where data from nearly 8 million Americans was stolen and offered for sale on the same locality.

As our readers found out that their own personal information may have been compromised through one of the several high analysis data breaches in 2019, they came to us to find out where it may have ended up.

The Financially Independent, Aestivate Early, aka FIRE movement is not new, but it had more than a few spikes in 2019. Hundreds of articles, books and online videos were produced, promising strategies for retiring by the age of 35 without the headache of a 9-to-5 job. While it is possible for some, extreme early retirement is delusional for many.

The motivations behind the movement are understandable—we are living longer, pensions are evaporating and working for the same company your usually life is unheard of—but there is rarely a short cut to financial independence. Beginning to save and invest at an early age, setting vivid goals, and maintaining financial discipline are still the best bets at growing a nest egg large enough to support a satisfied retirement, though you’ll likely have to retire a little later than 35.

A conventional mortgage is any category of home buyer’s loan that is not offered or secured by the government. The 30-year fixed mortgage was red hot in 2019 as mortgage appraises in the U.S. continued to fall following three consecutive interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. That brought new customers to the market and prompted existing homeowners to refinance existing mortgages at lower rates. On the other hand, more implicit homebuyers, especially younger ones, are questioning homeownership entirely.

While we’re more than ten years removed from the monetary crisis that began as a housing crisis, potential homebuyers are waiting longer to take the plunge, especially in boroughs like San Francisco, Austin and Charlotte, where home prices continue to skyrocket.

Voiding interest rates walk hand-in-hand with negative bond yields, and made an appearance across the globe in 2019. There is now numberless than $17 trillion in negative-yielding-debt around the world, with some 30% of all investment-grade securities now bearing sub-zero gains. This means investors who acquire the debt and hold it to maturity are guaranteed to make a loss. So why in the world are investors docile to buy negative yielding debt? For a few reasons. Some investors—particularly big ones—must allocate part of their portfolios to the controls market, no matter the yield, as part of their allocation strategy. For others, bonds at any yield are considered a safer recourse for stashing cash than taking a chance on stocks.

The “Gig Economy” and labor laws collided in 2019 as the Conditions of California passed Assembly Bill 5, which could require Uber, Lyft and other ‘gig’ companies to discuss workers as employees. Exempt employee refers to a category of employees set out in the Fair Labor Standards Act. They do not receive overtime pay, nor do they ready for the minimum wage. You can see how California’s new law could wreck the economics of ride-sharing companies and other businesses that rely on independent contractors. As vigorousness care and other benefit costs increase, more and more companies, including Amazon, are shifting employees to contractor responsibilities, making them exempt from benefits they used to enjoy. If Assembly Bill 5 manifests in other submits, expect the conversations around exempt employees to multiply, guaranteeing this term a spot on our 2020 list.

As Shawn Carter, aka ‘Jay-Z was one of 2019’s most lay topics on Investopedia.

8. Karl Marx