Semino

About Semino

A financial dictionary built by a retail investor, for retail investors.

I got tired of searching for basic financial definitions and finding dry, academic essays: simple ideas hidden behind jargon. Semino is the dictionary I wished I'd had when I placed my first trade. Every term is in plain English, with an analogy, a real example and the red flags.

Sketch portrait of Kiril Koparanov, founder of Semino
Kiril Koparanov
Founder, writer & editor LinkedIn

My story

Investing should be for everyone.

I believe financial literacy shouldn't require a high-priced ticket. For too long, financial education has been made convoluted and expensive, and everyday investors pay for it by depending on professionals who speak a different language.

Semino is independent: no suits (I talk to you like a friend, not a banker), no courses (I don't sell $2,000 masterclasses) and no BS (if I can't explain it simply, it isn't finished).

“Everyone has the brainpower to follow the stock market. If you made it through fifth-grade math, you can do it.”Peter Lynch, 1989
  1. Age 15

    Balance sheets instead of Pokémon cards

    While other kids traded collectible cards, I was already fascinated by the stock market. I went to a specialised finance high school in Bulgaria and spent breaks reading company reports and picking apart balance sheets.

  2. The industry

    Inside the machine

    I executed equity trades at the proprietary trading firm ZiCapital and analysed financial data for private funds at Dynamo Software, about two years in total.

    Seeing both the trading and the data side taught me something frustrating: the industry often makes things complicated on purpose. Dense jargon keeps everyday investors dependent on expensive professionals.

  3. Now

    Finance student, self-taught developer

    I study International Finance & Control in the Netherlands, with a focus on stock-market research and company valuation. I built Semino myself, from the code to every definition, so it serves retail investors and nobody else.

  4. The goal

    The most accessible financial dictionary

    A clean, independent place to learn the language of money at your own pace. No upsells, no overpriced courses, no institutional noise.

How the dictionary works

Finance, finally in plain English.

The dictionary exists to do one thing well: take intimidating financial terms and explain them simply, with analogies, real-world examples and zero jargon.

Textbook

An acquisition is a corporate action in which a company buys most, if not all, of another firm's ownership stakes to assume control of it.

Semino

When a big company wants what a smaller one has (its technology, its product, its audience) it often decides buying is faster than competing.

It buys a majority of the target's shares and takes over its assets, patents and direction. Read the entry →

Anatomy of an entry

A plain-English explanation is only the start. Every entry is built from the same blocks, so you always know where to look.

Acquisition

The quick answer

When one company buys majority control (over 50%) of another company, taking ownership of its assets and future.

The Analogy

The fully furnished house. Instead of spending years building a house from scratch, you write one big check for a furnished house that already has paying tenants inside.

Real-World Example

Facebook buys Instagram. In 2012, instead of spending years building a better photo app, Facebook paid $1 billion and acquired the whole company.

Red Flags & Pitfalls

Hostile takeovers. If the smaller company refuses, the buyer can skip management and go straight to shareholders, taking control if enough of them accept the cash.

Fun Fact

The price jump. The moment an acquisition is announced, the target's share price usually jumps toward the buyout price.

Every entry ends with an at-a-glance summary and the list of sources it was built on.

How an entry gets made

  1. 01

    Research at the source

    Regulators, central banks and standard corporate-finance literature. Never by rephrasing a random blog.

  2. 02

    Translate to plain English

    Strip out the jargon and rebuild the idea from scratch, adding an analogy or a real example wherever it makes the concept click faster.

  3. 03

    The first-read test

    Read it back as a complete beginner. If anything still feels like homework, or quietly assumes you know another term, it goes back for a rewrite.

  4. 04

    Show the sources

    Every entry lists its sources, so you never have to take my word for it and can always go deeper.

Editorial standards

How every entry is researched, written and checked.

Money decisions matter, so the rules behind Semino are written down here. Last reviewed September 2026.

Who writes Semino

Semino is a one-person project. Every entry is written and checked by me, Kiril Koparanov. I use AI tools to help with drafting and wording, the way a writer works with an editor. I verify every fact, number and source myself before anything is published, and I take responsibility for all of it.

My background is in equity trading and fund analytics (see my story). That earlier work was covered by confidentiality agreements; no client data or proprietary strategies are ever used here.

Sources

  • Primary sources first: regulators such as the SEC (including EDGAR filings), Investor.gov and the FDIC, central banks such as the Federal Reserve and the ECB, and official statistics.
  • Standard corporate-finance literature and established references are used to cross-check definitions.
  • If a claim can't be traced to a reliable source, it doesn't go in.
  • Every entry lists its sources at the bottom of the page.

Plain English, tested

Each entry is rewritten until a beginner can follow it on the first read. Jargon is either explained or cut, and any other term an entry relies on links to its own definition.

Independence

  • No ads, no sponsored content and no affiliate links.
  • No payment of any kind from companies, brokers or PR firms to feature or shape anything on the site.
  • I may personally own some of the assets or companies used as examples. Examples show how a concept works; they are never recommendations.

Corrections

If something is wrong, unclear or out of date, tell me and it gets fixed. Significant corrections are noted on the entry with the date of the change.

Not financial advice

Semino explains what financial terms mean and how they work. It doesn't know your situation and never tells you what to buy or sell. For decisions about your own money, talk to a licensed professional. The full disclaimer has the details.

Spotted a mistake, or missing a term?

Every message is read by me. Expect a reply within a few days.

Get in touch