- What Is a Mutual Fund?
A mutual fund company pools money from individual investors and invests it, charging each investor a fee for the convenience of having someone else manage their investments. Investing in a mutual fund is an alternative to hand-selecting individual stocks and… read more…
- What Are Penny Stocks?
Every once in a while you hear about some lucky person who got rich by trading penny stocks. And we’re happy for those people – we really are. But for the average investor, penny stocks are risky business. Let’s talk… read more…
- All About Municipal Bonds
Municipal bonds are debt securities issued by local governments and public agencies to fund essential projects such as infrastructure improvements, school construction, and public utilities. When investors purchase these bonds, they are effectively lending money to the issuing government in exchange for regular interest payments and the return of the principal amount at maturity. While… read more…
- What Are Derivatives?
Derivatives are financial instruments used by experienced investors, consisting of contracts whose value depends on an underlying asset. Common types include options, futures, forward contracts, and warrants. Although the basic concept is straightforward, derivatives can become complex in practice. If you’re interested in exploring derivative investing but don’t want to lose your way, consider seeking… read more…
- What Is an Index Fund and How Do They Work?
Index funds are popular with those who want to take a slow-and-steady approach to investing. Brokerage firms that offer index funds are able to charge lower fees for index funds because they put fewer hours into managing them. Index funds don’t… read more…
- How Does the Stock Market Work?
As an outsider, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed by the stock market. News coverage of markets is often dramatized with images of brokers hollering across a trading floor, a litany of unfamiliar terms and lingo, and the threat of a catastrophic crash hanging over the proceedings. But despite all of this noise, the… read more…
- What Is a Stock Split?
You may have read about stock splits in the news. Big, successful corporations sometimes split their stocks multiple times to boost their shares outstanding. Other times they do the opposite: At the end of July 2021 recovering industrial conglomerate General Electric announced a 1-for-8 reverse stock split. But what do these kind of moves actually… read more…
- What Are Futures?
What if there were a way to make money from the up-and-down movement in the prices of financial assets without actually owning the asset? Well, there is a way- with futures. If you’re an Average Joe or Jane just looking to put aside money for retirement and watch it grow, getting in to futures might be overkill.… read more…
- Real Estate Investing
Investing in real estate has serious appeal. It can not only diversify your portfolio, but it can also create a long-term stream of income if done correctly. Whether you want to be a landlord or invest in real estate by… read more…
- Types of Bonds
Bonds can help your investments maintain value in a financial downturn, but they likely won’t make you rich. Think about dipping your toe into bond investing? Or wondering what the point of the bonds in your portfolio is? Not worry. We’ve got you covered with our guide to the basics of bonds – and some of the many bond… read more…
- A Guide to U.S. Stock Indices
The Dow is up and the NASDAQ is down, but the S&P is unchanged. These terms get tossed around by everyone, from television pundits to politicians to people on the street. Many people assume they are representative of the stock market as a whole, while others think they represent the state of the economy. Understanding what these… read more…
- The Top Ten Mutual Funds Today
Not everyone has the time or qualifications to pick individual stocks and bonds to invest their hard-earned money in. That’s why mutual funds exist, so that many investors can pool their money in order for trained fund managers to purchase… read more…
- 4 Key Investing Tips for Millennials
When it comes to investing, millennials aren’t known for being a reckless bunch. According to a study published by UBS earlier this year, Americans aged 21 to 36 are the most fiscally conservative generation since the Great Depression. Their better-safe-than-sorry attitude can be chalked up in part to the economic turmoil of the last few… read more…
- 5 Common Investment Mistakes
Everyone makes mistakes and when it comes to your investment strategy, some wrong moves can be worse than others. Whether you’re dipping your toes into the investment game for the first time or you’ve been playing the market for years,… read more…
- How to Make Smart Investments on a Small Budget
If investing seems like a foreign word to you that only those who are wealthy are able to do, this article is for you. Investing can also seem complicated and overwhelming when it conjures images of the stock market. There… read more…
- How to Master Mutual Funds vs DIY Investing
The question new and seasoned investors have puzzled over for decades is whether the better investment strategy lies in mutual funds or individual stocks. The answer is like comparing apples and oranges. They’re both investments in businesses (with some exceptions) but a better analogy would be apples to apple pie. They’re both composed of the same… read more…
- What to Do When You Find a Savings Bond
Sometimes parents and other relatives discover savings bonds they bought when they were a child but then forgot about, or find bonds that were purchased for their kids many years ago. The good news is that savings bonds gain value… read more…
- Risk and Reward in High-Yield Investing
Investing in high yield bonds can be a great way to increase your returns, but they inherently come with a greater degree of risk. Many financial advisers automatically steer their clients away from this arena, unwilling to put their reputation behind riskier assets. But that doesn’t mean you should necessarily stay away. Just understand and know what you are… read more…
- The SmartAsset Guide to Interest Rates
Interest rates are a percentage of the total amount being loaned to someone. The person paying off the loan is responsible for paying for the total amount of their loan as well as the interest rate on that loan. Individuals… read more…
- How to Invest and Save Money at the Same Time
The stock market has become a volatile and unpredictable for average investors to gamble their hard-earned dollars. Savings accounts and CDs are completely useless, as average interest rates continue to hover slightly below one percent. Sound options have grown thin for families looking to secure their financial futures, while earning a few extra bucks at… read more…