Glossary
Plain-language definitions for every term we use — no jargon.
Accumulating
The fund automatically reinvests dividends back into itself, so your holding grows without cash payouts.
Article8
An EU label for a fund that promotes environmental or social characteristics.
Article9
An EU label for a fund with sustainable investment as its core objective.
Bond
Loans to governments or companies that pay interest.
Commodity
Physical goods like gold or oil (usually tracked through contracts, not by storing the goods).
Distributing
The fund pays dividends out to you as cash, usually a few times a year.
Domicile
The country where the fund is legally based, which affects its tax treatment and rules.
Equity
Shares in companies (stocks).
Esg Screened
The fund filters out some companies using basic environmental, social and governance rules.
Fund Currency
The currency the fund reports in. You can often buy it in another currency; that does not change what it holds.
Fund Size
How much money is invested in the fund. Bigger funds are usually cheaper to run and easy to trade.
Holdings
The individual investments the fund owns. The largest few are shown; full lists update less often.
Index Tracked
The published list of investments (the “index”) the fund aims to copy, such as the MSCI World.
ISIN
A 12-character international code that uniquely identifies this fund share class.
Mixed
The fund does a bit of both — some dividends paid out as cash, some reinvested.
Money Market
Very short-term, low-risk loans — used to park cash rather than to grow it.
Multi Asset
A mix of different types in one fund, such as shares and bonds together.
Nav Return
Performance measured from the fund’s official daily value (its “net asset value”), rather than its market price.
Physical Full
The fund actually buys every share in the index it tracks (full replication).
Physical Sampled
The fund buys a representative sample of the index rather than every single holding.
Price Return
Performance from price change only, excluding dividends — so it looks lower than total return.
Primary Listing
The main stock-exchange listing we use as the reference for this fund. The very same fund often trades on several exchanges in different currencies — they are the same fund underneath.
Real Estate
Property companies and real-estate investment trusts (REITs).
Region
The part of the world the fund invests in — for example world, US, Europe or emerging markets.
Replication
How the fund copies its index: by buying the shares directly (physical) or using a swap contract (synthetic).
Sri
A stricter “socially responsible” version that keeps only the higher-rated companies on ESG grounds.
Sustainability
Whether the fund applies environmental, social or governance (ESG) rules when choosing what to hold.
Synthetic
The fund uses a swap contract with a bank to mirror the index, instead of holding the shares directly.
TER
The yearly running cost of the fund, shown as a % of your money. €0.20 per €100 a year at 0.20%. Lower is cheaper.
Total Return
Performance that includes reinvested dividends — the fuller picture of what you actually earned.
Finance Hamster provides educational information about ETFs and investing. It is not investment, tax, or legal advice, and not a recommendation to buy or sell any security. Markets carry risk; do your own research or consult a licensed adviser.