Catchword: take a haircut

Filed under: English, Money & Finance, Slang

Part of speech: v. phr.

Quotation: To account for the fact that the shares cannot be sold, FBR uses an accounting technique known as a “liquidity discount,” or, in the jargon of Wall Street, “taking a haircut.” Back to your house, the one with the value that increased to $300,000 from $200,000. If you decide to take out a home equity loan to pay your child’s college tuition, most lenders won’t let you borrow the full $100,000 increase in value. They’ll lend you only 80 percent of the value, which means taking a haircut of 20 percent.

Article or Document Title:
“Evaluating FBR’s Earnings: ‘Haircut’ or a Close Shave?”

Author:
Jerry Knight

Article, document, publication, web site:
Washington Post

Date of publication:
Nov. 20, 2000

Page number:
E01

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