Investopedia

Continue to Site »

Boil The Ocean

Filed Under » ,
Dictionary Says

Definition of 'Boil The Ocean'

To undertake an impossible task or project or to make a task or project unnecessarily difficult. Boiling the ocean generally means to go overboard.
Investopedia Says

Investopedia explains 'Boil The Ocean'

For example, a manager might be accused of trying to boil the ocean if he directed his employees to prepare a presentation for a business client based in Houston, Texas, and he insisted that the employees prepare versions of the presentation in Spanish, French, Japanese, Chinese and Italian, just in case someone at the presentation spoke a different language when most likely they would all speak English.

Another example of trying to boil the ocean might be a six-month-old startup company trying to get venture capital funding and go public by the end of the year. Such a goal might seem ambitious to the company's founder, but in reality, setting such an unrealistic goal is likely to lead to frustration and disappointment for everyone involved.

Articles Of Interest

  1.

    Losing To Win

    Adopting realistic expectations is essential to staying in the trading game.

  2. Manage Your Clients' Expectations

    You can't control how they react to the market, but you can help them understand the reality of the situation.

  3. What Is Your Risk Tolerance?

    Forget the cliches and uncover how much volatility you can really stand.

  4. Top 9 Solutions To An Unexpected Tax Bill

    Finding out you owe when you expected a refund is a nasty shock. Find out how to cope.

  5. Plan To Retire Rich

    Don't just hope for the best - develop a course of action to achieve your goals.

  6. What To Expect When Applying For Life Insurance

    Before jumping into a policy, check out these tips on how to score the best plan for you.

  7. Top 4 Most Competitive Financial Careers

    If your goals include a big paycheck and working for a Wall Street firm, then you need to learn how to meet employers' expectations.

  8. What is a monopoly?

    Monopoly is a fun family game, but in real life, a monopoly can be dangerous to a country's economy. A monopoly occurs when an industry or sector has only one producer of goods or retailer for ...

  9. Weighted Average Cost Of Capital (WACC)

    Weighted average cost of capital may be hard to calculate, but it's a solid way to measure investment quality

  10. Capital Expenditures (CAPEX)

    Learn more about what it costs to produce goods.
comments powered by Disqus
Marketplace
Hot Definitions

  1. Winner's Curse

    Because of incomplete information, emotions or any other number of factors regarding the item being auctioned, bidders can have a difficult time determining the item's intrinsic value. As a result, the largest overestimation of an item's value ends up winning the auction.

  2. Glocalization

    A combination of the words "globalization" and "localization" used to describe a product or service that is developed and distributed globally, but is also fashioned to accommodate the user or consumer in a local market.

  3. Disaster Loss

    A special type of tax-deductible loss, similar to a casualty loss, where a loss has been incurred by taxpayers who reside in an area that has been designated as a federal disaster area by the President.

  4. Fool In The Shower

    The notion that changes or policies designed to alter the course of the economy should be done slowly, rather than all at once.

  5. Pattern Day Trader

    An SEC designation for traders who trade the same security four or more times per day (buys and sells) over a five-day period, and for whom same-day trades make up at least 6% of their activity for that period.

  6. Cost-Push Inflation

    A phenomenon in which the general price levels rise (inflation) due to increases in the cost of wages and raw materials.
Trading Center