Short-Term Debt

Categories: Bonds, Credit

Debt that comes due within the next year. Simple.

Its kissin' cousin: long-term debt. Why is it even a Thing that it's within a year or less? Well, the fact that the company then has to pay off the principal it owes within the next year puts pressure on the CFO and management team to come up with places to find money. Are the debt markets liquid, happy to lend? Is the stock super-high, such that it's easier or better to just sell a piece of ownership in the company forever in return for paying off that debt?

So many thoughts to consider, so little time...or at least less than a year.

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sure we've all heard of mystery stories, but what really makes a mystery

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a mystery? okay yeah if you're reading something called the big book of [boy picks book off shelf]

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mysteries, that's a pretty good hint. but we're looking for something a bit more

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general than that. like most stories a mystery will contain stuff like

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characters a setting and a plot, but there are a whole bunch of other

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ingredients that give mysteries that are distinctive and dare we say mysterious, [chef mixes ingredients]

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taste. and no none of those ingredients are the mystery machines. well the first

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one is a central problem aka a mystery to be solved like a crime. it's pretty

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tough to solve a mystery if there's you know no mystery to solve. well you could

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have a story where a detective goes to the beach with his friends and has a [2 men toss beach ball]

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great time but with no problem well you've got no mystery. and sure the

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detective might appreciate the day off but mystery stories aren't about

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creating fond memories for fictional detectives. well the second element is a

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list of suspects. if there's a crime to be solved then somebody must have [lineup shown]

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committed that crime. and if there's only one suspect it's gonna be a pretty short

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story, and not much of a mystery. so if you're bad at solving mysteries, well it

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might be right up your alley. well the third element is a set of clues.

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in a good mystery both the characters and the reader use clues to figure out [detective examines house]

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who committed the central crime, and know the answer is rarely Miss Scarlet with

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the candlestick in the billiard parlor. the fourth element is a bunch of red

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herrings. and no red herring isn't an alternate name for swedish fish. [red candy fish]

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we like that. in mysteries red herrings are false clues. things that suggest the

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guilt of a suspect who's really innocent. even though readers like to try and

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solve mysteries they don't want the solution to be too easy. it's like the

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difference between playing chess with your grandpa and playing chess with a

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toddler. yeah the win against the toddler well [man plays with old man, and young child]

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it's gonna be way more satisfying than the win against your grandpa. what? she's

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a prodigy. grandpa's just senile and last but not least a mystery story must

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contain a dénouement. well this is the resolution which comes at the end of the

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story. it reveals the suspect who committed the central crime and it [detective points out perp from lineup]

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solves the mystery. and if you ever had a hard time coming up with a decent ending

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to your mystery keep this in mind. Edgar Allan Poe once ended a story by

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basically saying the orangutan did it .so when in doubt you know blame the [student grimaces]

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orangutan.

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)