Half-life

The point in the life of a mortgage-backed security guaranteed or issued by the Government National Mortgage Association, the Federal National Mortgage Association or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation when half the principal has been repaid.

Half Life

In a pool of mortgages underlying a mortgage-backed security, the length of time it takes for half the aggregate principal to be repaid. A half life is normally about 12 years, but this may vary depending on how often homeowners refinance their mortgages (which pays off all principal at once). Half lives are calculated for mortgage-backed securities issued or guaranteed by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, and Ginnie Mae.

Weighted Average Life

The amount of time for the principal on a loan or a mortgage to be paid off. The length of the weighted average life depends on the amount of principal paydowns and how often they are made. Once the WAL is calculated, one can determine how long it will take to pay off half of the remaining principal.

half-life

The length of time before half the principal on a debt is expected to be repaid through amortization or sinking fund payments. For example, a 25-year bond issue may require the issuer to retire 5% of the beginning principal commencing 5 years after the issue date. Thus, the bond issue has a half-life of 5 years plus the number of years required to retire half the issue, or 15 years. Mortgage-backed securities often have a relatively short half-life because many homeowners pay off or refinance their mortgages early. Also called average life.

Wall Street Words: An A to Z Guide to Investment Terms for Today's Investor by David L. Scott. Copyright © 2003 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. All rights reserved.

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References in periodicals archive

It also indicates that to make the evaluation possible, the dietary exposures on the dietary-exposed day also need to be large; the biologic half-life of the chemical, [T.sub.1/2], needs to be short because k is proportional to 1/[T.sub.1/2]; and a substantial fraction of the metabolites should be eliminated through the urinary pathway.

Equations for calculating [R.sub.inhalation], [R.sub.nondietary], and [P.sub.dietary] were keyed in, and variables of interest, such as biologic half-life, dust loading, air concentration, and nondietary intake, were set in such a way that they could be easily varied to conduct the simulation.

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