Reblog from www.BrokeMillennial.com

“Broke Millennial” sets up an interesting proposal: why don’t millennials take the time to understand financial acronyms as well as our own millennial slang?

I realized a while ago, that most of the time I’m able to intuit new-to-me web acronyms quite quickly. After years of typing “Lol” “ttyl” and the like, I’m wondering if other millennials sense this familiarity with short-hand language? It sort of disturbed me, like maybe millennials are getting smarter, or way dumber. I’m not so sure…

Anyway, check it out! Very interesting insight into millennials.

Spell Check Ruined Millennials #LOL

Social media didn’t ruin millennials. Copious participation trophies didn’t ruin millennials. A bad economy didn’t ruin millennials. Spell check ruined millennials. Spell check is the original “Google it.” Spell check meant we no longer had to educate ourselves with those cumbersome dictionaries. An angry, red squiggle under a word just meant we had to click spell check and accept the change. No learning necessary. We relied on spell check like the crutch it is and continued to embrace technological improvements.

Then instant messaging came along and we couldn’t even be bothered to spell words out anymore. We created an entirely unique language. It started with simple shorthand, a BrB here or a G2G there transitioned into idk which morphed into LOL and before you know it we couldn’t even be bothered to say carpe diem because Latin is dead, JSYK. We coined YOLO, which really makes me SMH. But ladies and gentleman, YOLO isn’t just an acronym, it’s a lifestyle. OMG, we also aren’t original; I stole that YOLO line from my sister.

For Boomer’s with exploding brains right now, here is a collection of commonly used and some absolutely awful millennial slang.

YOLO – You Only Live Once
OMG – Oh My God
LOL – Laugh out loud
IDK – I don’t know
IDC – I don’t care
G2G – Got to go
BrB – Be right back
BTW – By the way
 (sometimes spoken as B-T-dubs)
DTF – Down to F%&$ (you can credit Jersey Shore for popularizing that one)
# – It’s not just on Twitter. “Hashtag” is also spoken, semi-ironically.
FML – F!*@ my life
JSYK – Just so you know
SOML – Story of my life
SMH – Shake my head

(This may or may not have also happened to me…)

We aren’t the only ones using confusing shorthand. The financial world starting throwing down acronyms before millennials were born. As conversations about money develop, it’s important to understand the language of finances. Here are a few good-to-know acronyms and financial expressions.

ROI – Return on Investment
APY– Annual Percentage Yield
APR – Annual Percentage Rate
ETF – Exchange-Traded Fund
401(k) – A way to save for the future with salary deferrals and hopefully employer matches, check out my series here.
IRA – Individual Retirement Account (or Arrangement).
Roth – Contributions to an IRA or 401(k) which isn’t tax deductible, but qualified withdraws are tax free.
Net worth– The amount in your name once you’ve subtracted your liabilities from your assets.
Bull – In short, an optimistic investor.
Bear – The opposite of a Bull, Bears are “pessimistic investors.”
Mutual Funds
 – “An investment vehicle that is made up of a pool of funds collected from many investors for the purpose of investing in securities such as stocks, bonds, money market instruments and similar assets.”

There are so many more, but I’m a millennial so I need to get back on my social media grind and catch up on my stories. As my posts start to take a turn towards exploring investing these terms and plenty of others will be explored.

(You Oughta Look Out…for future posts…SEE WHAT I DID THERE?! Click on the picture for an amazing digital short.)

What do you consider the most important financial acronyms to know and the most annoying millennial slang?