"Bitcoin" is not only a hot investment to some people but also a hot investment term, at least according to financial news site Investopedia. In fact, the word ranked first among the site's top 10 financial terms of 2017.
The website measured the most used words and phrases according to their search volume, percentage gain, trends, investor interest and news from the past year.
"Disruptive technology" has also been an especially popular topic this year. Investopedia has also been inundated with search results for "artificial intelligence" and "blockchain," according to David Siegel, the site's CEO.
Here is a list of the top 10 terms ranked by the site for 2017:
10. Millennials
"Millennials" refers to the generation born between 1982 and 2004. They are all grown up now and making a huge impact on the financial services industry. In fact, they now outnumber baby boomers, who once held the title as the largest living generation. Baby boomers reached a count of 74.9 million in 2015, while millennials passed them with 75.4 million, according to data estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau analyzed by the Pew Research Center. This younger cohort is expected to experience one of the largest transfers of wealth in history as older generations begin passing their wealth to them.
9. Impact Investing
Now more than ever, investors are growing more conscious about the types of investments they make and the impact they will have on the world. In 2017, "impact investing" was a popular term as consumers continued to grow more interested in the environmental effects, values and social responsibility of their investments, not just in the financial gain. Socially responsible and impact (SRI) assets have experienced a 33 percent increase from 2014, according to Forbes.
8. Behavioral Economics
"Behavioral economics" explores the reasoning behind the irrational decisions people make and how that behavior fails to follow the predictions of economic models. The term slid back into the spotlight after Richard Thaler won the 2017 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for his contribution to the nudge theory.
5. MiFID II
MiFID II is a legislative framework set to go into effect in January 2018 in the European Union. (It stands for the "Markets in Financial Instruments Directive.") The regulation is meant to better protect investors while also improving the function of financial markets by weeding out conflicts of interest while also requiring more transparency from traders. The law will cost roughly $2 billion to implement, according to Bloomberg. MiFID II will replace the first MiFID, which went into effect in 2008.
6. Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the simulated intelligence programmed into machines to give them the ability to “think” like a human and mimic human behavior. As technology continues to progress, the financial services industry has been increasingly interested in ways to implement this form of programming to service clients faster. As products like self-driving cars, robo-advisors and digital assistants continued to move into the mainstream, the term "artificial intelligence" received a surge of interest in 2017.
5. Trumpcare
This year, health care has been a hot topic after President Trump took office and began his efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Thus, the term “Trumpcare” received a lot of use in 2017. While the bill has not yet been passed, the Trump administration has targeted key elements of the Affordable Care Act. In 2017, a congressional tax bill repealed the individual mandate, a provision in the ACA that requires Americans without health insurance to pay a tax penalty.
4. ICO
An "initial coin offering" is a platform used as a means of fund-raising. Start-ups often use the platform to avoid the capital-raising process required by banks and venture capitalists. New cryptocurrencies are paid in exchange for Bitcoins by investors.
3. FAANG
The "FAANG" stocks are Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google, and this year they outperformed many of their competitors and dominated the markets. They even boosted major indexes in the market. They are popular among individual investors as well as corporations. Companies like Berkshire Hathaway and Soros Fund Management have increased their stake in these companies to take advantage of the growth opportunities.
2. Blockchain
"Blockchain" refers to the public and decentralized log of all recent cryptocurrency transactions. There is no centralized record-keeping system, so the transactions are logged and sent to each “node” or computer connected to the network. In 2017, Bitcoin’s rapid growth shed light on cryptocurrencies, making the blockchain a central focus by association.
1.Bitcoin
The No. 1 ranked term of 2017 was "Bitcoin." Cryptocurrency first surfaced in 2010 following the financial crisis. Through gaming and financial communities, a decentralized digital currency was born. In 2017, Google searches for Bitcoin surpassed those of gold and stocks, according to Investopedia. Consumers have been interested in learning more about the currency while reports on massive returns filled news headlines in 2017.
