- How Does an Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) Work?
As part of your company’s benefits package, you may have access to an Employee Stock Purchase Plan, or ESPP. These plans allow you to purchase shares in the company you work for, typically at a discount. An ESPP is separate from a 401(k) or similar workplace retirement plan, but both can be useful to growing… read more…
- How an Accelerated Death Benefit Works
When buying life insurance, you may be asked whether you’d like to add on various riders. Riders enhance the policy’s benefits and there are a number you can choose from, including an accelerated death benefit. Adding on this benefit may… read more…
- Self-Dealing: Definition and Examples
When choosing a financial professional to work with, it’s important to find someone who’s reputable and trustworthy. One thing to consider when vetting financial advisors or other professionals is whether they’ve ever been engaged in self-dealing. Self-dealing is a term… read more…
- How to Calculate Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)
Cost of goods sold (COGS) is the determination of how much it costs retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers to produce the goods they sell. For makers and resellers of products, COGS, sometimes also referred to as “cost of sales,” appears on an… read more…
- How to Get a Debt Consolidation Loan
If you have multiple debt balances from credit cards, high-interest loans and other forms of debt, you may want to merge them into one payment. You can use a debt consolidation loan to combine them into one lower-interest loan. There… read more…
- Permanent Life Insurance: Definition and Pros & Cons
Permanent life insurance can allow you to continue to support your family members and ensure that they are financially protected after you pass away. This is a life insurance policy that never expires and pays a benefit upon the policyholder’s… read more…
- How to Use the Price-to-Book Ratio for Stock Analysis
When analyzing stocks or companies to invest in, there are different ratios for gauging financial health. The price-to-book ratio (P/B) is one way to evaluate a stock’s value, something that may be important if you’re looking for ones that are… read more…
- How to Read a Form 10-K
A publicly traded company is required by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to disclose substantial information about its governance, business model and finances. This information allows investors to make an informed decision about whether or not to trust this company with their money. Traders in particular rely on disclosures like this when deciding whether to… read more…
- Quick Ratio: Definition, Formula and Usage
A quick ratio tests a company’s current liquidity and solvency. It is a measure of whether the company can pay its short-term obligations with its cash or cash-like assets on hand. (Short term obligations are generally defined as any liability… read more…
- Burn Rate: Definition and Calculation
The burn rate of a company is a measure of its negative cash flow in a set period of time, typically a month. Investors, especially venture capitalists, monitor this metric closely to gauge when the company will be self-sustaining or… read more…
- What Is Hyperinflation and Why Should You Care?
Changing economic conditions can trigger various side effects, including an uptick in inflation, as began to happen in 2021. When inflation leads to rising prices and a decline in the purchasing power of money, your dollars and cents don’t stretch… read more…
- Qualified Personal Residence Trust (QPRT)
When creating an estate plan, one important question to consider is how to handle the transfer of personal property, including your home. A Qualified Personal Residence Trust, or QPRT, is something you may decide to create to minimize gift and… read more…
- What Is Mezzanine Financing?
Mezzanine financing is a type of corporate debt that includes an equity component. It offers advantages to both borrowers and lenders that are not available through issuing stock or conventional debt, such as bonds. Established companies often use mezzanine financing… read more…
- The Misery Index: Definition and History
The Misery Index, otherwise known as the Economic Discomfort Index, is used to measure overall hardship in an economy. It is a back-of-envelope calculation that putatively indicates how the average person is doing economically. Some economists consider it a useful… read more…
- How to Invest in Growth Stocks
Growth stocks are sometimes seen as the holy grail of investing. Many investors hope to find them; many traders promise to know them already. Finding a growth stock can help your portfolio gain years of value in a single trade,… read more…
- How to Achieve Financial Freedom
Having “financial freedom” means different things to different people. But, generally, it is understood as being able to live the lifestyle of your choosing while responsibly managing your finances. In other words, it means having enough savings, investments and cash… read more…
- Term Sheets: What Entrepreneurs Need to Know
A term sheet is a written document that spells out the key conditions of parties negotiating a proposed transaction, such as an investment in a business or the sale of a business. A term sheet is not binding, although it… read more…
- Blue Sky Laws: Definition and Examples
Every American state has its own securities laws that aim to protect investors against fraud. These laws, called blue sky laws, also oversee the licensing and reporting requirements placed on broker-dealer firms, individual brokers and financial advisors. Here’s what you… read more…
- A Comprehensive Guide to Affiliate Marketing
Marketing as an affiliate is an increasingly popular way for people to write on digital platforms about goods and services to earn money on sales that stem from their positive reviews. Reviewers, known as affiliates, get a commission when readers… read more…
- Credit Repair: How to Fix Your Bad Credit Score
Your credit score is a numerical representation of how responsible you are with your finances and, by extension, how trustworthy you are as a borrower. So if your credit score has fallen, whether through your own negligence, a mistake in… read more…
- Can You Discharge Student Loans If Your School Closes?
If your university, college, or higher education institution closes, you might be wondering if you can discharge student loans. It’s an especially pertinent question now, with many schools temporarily closing due to COVID-19 and much more potentially facing permanent closure… read more…
- How to Retire into a Bear Market
With millions of Americans depending on 401(k) and IRA assets for their retirement income, a market downturn can wipe out decades of investment in a single go. And while young workers at least have the time to rebuild their savings after a… read more…
- Small Business Grants for Women
There are a variety of small business grants specifically for female entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses. These grants primarily come from private sources, and they tend to be competitive and offer relatively modest amounts of money. Meanwhile, government assistance for women-owned businesses… read more…
- A Guide to Free Look Periods for Annuities
If you’re looking for a way to create an additional income stream for retirement, you may consider purchasing an annuity. An annuity is an insurance contract that pays out money to you during your lifetime that you can use to… read more…
- How to Read an Annual Report (And Why You Should)
If you invest in stocks then you’ve probably received an annual report in the mail at least once. While you may be tempted to toss it out, it’s worth taking the time to read through it to better understand the… read more…