Purpose
Translate a technical financial concept — options, margin, ETFs, order types, derivatives, fees, tax lots, and similar — into a layered plain-language explanation a retail customer actually understands, complete with an everyday analogy, a worked numeric example, and language that stays inside compliance guardrails. Solves the recurring problem of reps and content teams either oversimplifying to the point of inaccuracy or copy-pasting jargon that confuses and scares customers.
When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Explain a technical financial or brokerage term to a customer who isn't an expert
- Rewrite jargon-heavy help-center, FAQ, or onboarding copy for a retail audience
- Draft a plain-language answer for a support ticket, chat, or email about a product feature
- Build a glossary entry that defines a financial concept in accessible language
- Create an analogy or worked example to make a confusing product (margin, options, derivatives) click
- Turn a disclosure or product page into something a first-time investor can follow
Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- Concept to translate: The specific term, product, or mechanism (e.g., "put option," "maintenance margin call," "expense ratio")
- Audience level: Complete beginner / some investing experience / experienced but new to this product
- Channel: Support reply / help-center article / onboarding screen / email / chat
- Reading-level target: Default to 8th-grade (roughly Flesch-Kincaid 60–70) unless specified
- Jurisdiction/regulator context: US retail (SEC/FINRA), UK (FCA), or other — affects allowed claims
- Product specifics (if applicable): Real numbers, fees, or terms tied to the firm's actual offering
- Tone: Reassuring / neutral-informative / conversational
If audience level or channel is missing, default to "complete beginner" and "help-center article," and note the assumption.
Instructions
Step 1: Identify the Concept's Core Job
Before writing anything, state in one internal sentence what the concept does for the customer and what risk or cost it carries. Every explanation must answer two questions: "What is this?" and "What could it cost me or do to me?" Never explain the mechanism without the consequence.
Step 2: Build the Three-Layer Explanation
Produce the concept in three escalating layers so the customer can stop reading whenever they've understood enough:
- Layer 1 — One-line answer (≤25 words): A single plain sentence that captures the concept with zero jargon. If a term must appear, define it inline in the same sentence.
- Layer 2 — Short paragraph (60–90 words): How it works and why a customer would encounter it. Include the key trade-off (upside and downside) in the same paragraph — never split benefit from risk.
- Layer 3 — Everyday analogy (2–4 sentences): Map the concept to a familiar, non-financial situation (renting, borrowing, insurance, a deposit, a ticket). The analogy must break down honestly — add one sentence noting where the analogy stops being accurate, so it doesn't mislead.
Step 3: Write a Worked Numeric Example
Show the concept with concrete round numbers the customer can follow arithmetically. Use realistic-but-clean figures ($100 share price, $1,000 investment, 2% fee). Walk through the calculation step by step and show both a favorable and an unfavorable outcome where the concept involves risk or leverage. Label every dollar figure as illustrative, not a projection.
Step 4: Build the Jargon-to-Plain Glossary
Extract every technical term that appeared or is closely adjacent (5–10 terms) and give each a one-line plain definition in a two-column format: Term → What it actually means. This lets the customer decode any related material they encounter later.
Step 5: Run the Compliance-Safe Language Check
Scan the draft and flag or rewrite anything that violates retail-communication norms:
- Remove or qualify any language that could read as a guarantee, promise, or projection of returns ("will grow," "you'll make," "risk-free")
- Ensure risk is stated as prominently as benefit — not buried or omitted
- Replace advice-sounding phrasing ("you should buy") with educational framing ("some investors use this when...")
- Flag any claim that would require a disclosure or disclaimer and note which one (e.g., "past performance," "not investment advice," "capital at risk")
- Confirm figures are labeled illustrative / hypothetical
Present this as a short checklist of what was cleaned and any disclaimers the team should attach.
Step 6: Assemble the Final Deliverable
Combine the layers, example, glossary, and compliance notes into a single ready-to-publish block matching the requested channel. Trim to the reading-level target — prefer short sentences, active voice, and one idea per sentence.
Output Format
- Structure: Layered explanation first, then worked example, then glossary table, then compliance notes
- Length: 350–600 words total for the customer-facing content, plus the glossary and compliance checklist
- Format: Prose for the three layers and example; two-column table for the glossary; bulleted checklist for compliance notes
- Sections: One-Line Answer → How It Works → Everyday Analogy → Worked Example → Jargon Glossary → Compliance Language Notes
- Tone: Calm, respectful, and jargon-free — treats the reader as smart but unfamiliar; never condescending, never hype
Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] The one-line answer is 25 words or fewer and contains no undefined jargon
- [ ] Every layer that describes a benefit also states the matching risk or cost in the same passage
- [ ] The analogy includes an explicit sentence noting where it breaks down
- [ ] The worked example uses concrete numbers and shows both a favorable and unfavorable outcome (where risk applies)
- [ ] The glossary contains 5–10 terms, each defined in one plain sentence
- [ ] No guarantee, projection, or advice-sounding language remains; required disclaimers are named in the compliance notes
Notes
- The most common failure mode is explaining the mechanism accurately while omitting the consequence — always pair how-it-works with what-it-costs.
- Analogies are powerful but dangerous: an analogy that hides the downside (e.g., calling margin "just borrowing") creates real customer harm and compliance exposure. The "where it breaks down" sentence is non-negotiable.
- For genuinely high-risk products (options, leveraged/inverse ETFs, futures), lead with the risk rather than the benefit, even if the customer asked "what is it."
- This skill produces educational content, not personalized advice. If the customer's question is really "should I do this?", flag that it crosses into advice and route accordingly.
How to use this skill
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Installing in Claude Code:
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- Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
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For Claude Code skill details: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills