The Best Chair in the House
The chief executive officer of the U.S. central bank and the primary policymaker guiding American monetary policy, interest rates, and financial regulation
Who is the Fed Chair?
This Person is required to manage assets with "undivided loyalty," prioritizing the public's interests above their own or any third party.
What is a fiduciary?
The U.S. Federal Reserve concluded 2025 with three rate cuts, bringing the target range for the fed funds rate to this level.
What is 3.5% to 3.75%?
California Government Code 53600.5 states that these are the objectives when investing public funds (in order of precedence).
What are Safety, Liquidity, and Return/Yield?
The economic indicator that measures the total value of final goods and services produced within a country.
What is Gross Domestic Product (GDP)?
The acronym CSMFO stands for what organization?
What is California Society of Municipal Finance Officers?
The two main mandates of the Fed?
What is Unemployment and Price Stability?
The name of the California State-managed pool?
What is the Local Agency Investment Fund (LAIF)?
This 2020 pandemic caused the Fed to cut interest rates from 2.25% - 2.5% down to 0% - 0.25%
What is Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)?
The standard maximum maturity for fixed-income securities.
What is 5 years?
The single company or entity that is the sole provider of a particular product or service, possessing complete control over supply, prices, and high barriers to entry.
What is a monopoly?
When the government spends more money than it collects in revenue in a single fiscal year.
What is a budget deficit?
When the Fed raises/lowers insterest rates, the rate they adjust is called
What is Fed Funds/Overnight Rate?^
The document that outlines permitted investments, diversification requirements, and risk controls for public funds.
What is an investment policy statement (IPS)?^
This recession started in 2007, and was started by predatory lending for subprime mortgages.
What is the Financial Crisis/Great Recession?
The maximum maturity of this security was recently changed from 270 days to 397 days effective January 1, 2026.
What is Commercial Paper?
The term describes two consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth.
What is a recession?
Outside of investment income, these are the two primary methods governments generate revenue.
What are taxes and fees?
The Chair of the Federal Reserve.
Who is Jerome Powell?^
The most common and also considered a risk-free type of asset in municipal portfolios.
What is a U.S. Treasury?
This severe economic downturn started in 1929.
What is the Great Depression?
The percentage of collateral that banks must pledge for public deposits over the FDIC limit.
What is 110%?
The name of the type of economy where large businesses and high-income earners experience vastly diverging outcomes compared to small businesses and service workers, visually resembling a specific letter of the alphabet.
What is the K-shaped economy?^
The independent board that sets the financial accounting and reporting standards for state and local governments.
What is the GASB (Governmental Accounting Standards Board)?
The Federal Reserve regularly meets this many times per year.
What is eight times?
Public fund managers schedule investment maturities based on this forecast of revenues and expenditures.
What is a cash flow projection (or cash flow analysis)?
If it were a county, California is the world’s ___ largest economy.
What is the 5th?
Under 53601 (f), these types of securities/instrumentalities are issued by agencies like Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
What are Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSE's)?
The Feds preferred gauge to monitor inflation.
What is Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE)?
The total value of all outstanding U.S. government debt recently surpassed this amount, hitting a new milestone in early 2026.
What is $39 trillion?