- Guide to Investing in Value Funds
Choosing the right investment strategy matters when trying to build wealth in your portfolio. Some investors favor growth, for instance, while others look for value in the markets. If the latter approach sounds like your style then investing in a… read more…
- What Is a Glide Path?
Target-date funds can offer a streamlined solution for retirement investing. These mutual funds feature an asset allocation that automatically shifts over time as you get closer to your target retirement date. Each target date fund’s allocation shift is determined by… read more…
- What Is Trade Credit?
Trade credit is an arrangement that allows a business to acquire goods or services from another business without making an immediate payment. This ability to buy now and pay later is an important financing tool for businesses, especially those too… read more…
- Understanding Accounting Rate of Return (ARR)
Accounting rate of return is a tool used to decide whether it makes financial sense to proceed with a costly equipment purchase, acquisition of another company or another sizable business investment. It is the average annual net income the investment… read more…
- A Guide to Interest Coverage Ratio
Interest coverage ratio, or ICR, is used to evaluate a company’s ability to pay the interest it owes on its debts. There is no generally agreed upon standard for what makes a healthy ICR across all industries. A higher value… read more…
- SmartAsset Wins Folio Award for COVID-19 Content
SmartAsset’s editorial content has been recognized as a winner at the 2020 Folio: Eddie & Ozzie Awards! Our COVID-19 series, “Helping Consumers and Businesses Weather Economic Changes,” won the award in the Consumer, News/General Interest category. Additionally, the content series was an honorable mention in the Consumer News Coverage category, alongside coverage from Popular Science… read more…
- How to Calculate Return on Assets
The strength of a company isn’t just about how much money it makes. Investors also want to know how efficiently a company uses its assets, over a set period of time, based on its size and compared to its peers.… read more…
- What Is a Command Economy?
National economies can be run from the top down, so to speak, in what is sometimes called a command economy or they can be run from the bottom up in what is sometimes called a free market. In the former,… read more…
- Best Budgeting Apps of 2025
Maintaining a budget is one of the first steps in achieving good financial health. There are different ways to make and keep a monthly budget, including writing it out by hand, using a spreadsheet or logging your expenses in a… read more…
- What Is Indemnity Insurance?
Running a business or pursuing certain professional career paths often means having the right insurance in place to protect yourself against liability claims. Indemnity insurance is one type of business and professional insurance you may consider purchasing. This type of… read more…
- How Does Capital Budgeting Work?
Capital budgeting aims to highlight the risks and rewards of a business’s major investment proposals to determine if the ideas are really worth it. To do this, capital budgeting attempts to quantify the anticipated costs and benefits of each acquisition… read more…
- What Does a Financial Analyst Do?
When you need financial advice on how to manage your investments or create a financial plan, there are numerous experts who can help. Financial analysts, for example, spend their time diving into economic and stock market data to help create… read more…
- What Is a 501(c)(3) Organization?
The section of the Internal Revenue Service code that describes the requirements for nonprofit entities, including public charities and private foundations, is known as 501(c)3. This section explains the benefits of nonprofit status, including most notably the ability to deduct… read more…
- How to Do a SWOT Analysis for a Business
A SWOT analysis, which is an acronym for a business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, helps business managers think in new ways, sometimes about things they would prefer to avoid considering, such as the business’s weaknesses. When performed before starting a… read more…
- What Is A Lien, and How Does It Work?
Liens are bad news, at least if you’re on the receiving end. A lien is a legal claim placed on someone’s property, whether personal or business. It’s issued to settle a debt or enforce a judgment, or as a guarantee to… read more…
- A Guide to Free Market Economies
A free market economy is one in which prices and earnings are set between private actors and determined by market forces such as supply and demand. These economies can have greater or lesser degrees of government regulation, but it is… read more…
- What Is a Waiver of Premium Rider?
If you’ve ever wondered how you would make your life insurance premiums if you were unable to earn an income, then you need to know about the waiver of premium rider. When an insurance policy features a waiver of premium… read more…
- What Is Insurable Interest in Life Insurance?
In life insurance, insurable interest refers to what level of loss you’d experience should a specific person become incapacitated or die. It’s important because it helps prevent insurance fraud. If you aren’t sure whether you have insurable interest in someone,… read more…
- How to Achieve Financial Independence
The financial independence, retire early (FIRE) movement has grown in popularity as more people seek a way to escape the rate race well before normal retirement age. Financial independence can look different to everyone, depending on what it means to… read more…
- How to Choose a Filing Status on Your Tax Return
Filing taxes may not be your favorite chore, but it’s a necessary one to ensure that you stay in the good graces of the IRS. Deciding which tax filing status to choose matters for determining which tax breaks you might be eligible for and ensuring that you’re paying the right amount in taxes. There are… read more…
- The Qualified Business Income (QBI) Deduction
The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act introduced a deduction for qualified businss income (QBI) that provides a significant tax break to many business owners. The newly created Section 199A of the federal tax code lets certain owners of sole proprietorships, partnerships, LLCs, S corporations, trusts and estates – but not C corporations — deduct up… read more…
- What Is Operating Cash Flow and How Does It Work?
Operating cash flow, or OCF, refers to the amount of cash a company generates from normal business operations over a specific period of time. It’s widely used to evaluate a company’s performance and prospects. Lenders and investors often consider OCF a… read more…
- Best Cities for Young Financial Advisors to Start Their Careers – 2020 Study
Financial advisors in the U.S. tend to be on the older side. About 29% of financial advice professionals are between the ages 55 and 64, and another 12% are older than 65, according to market research firm Cerulli Associates. By contrast, only 16% of advisors are between the ages 35 and 44, and just 10%… read more…
- What Is a Tax Exemption?
Tax exemptions let individuals and organizations avoid paying taxes on some or all of their income. Exemptions were once available to almost all tax filers in the form of personal exemptions. However, in 2017 the personal tax exemption was eliminated… read more…
- The Most Valuable Tax Exemptions
The U.S. government offers American taxpayers hundreds of tax exemptions, credits, deductions and reduced rates. State and local governments also offer tax breaks. These tax breaks are available to people of all income levels, so it literally pays to understand… read more…