- What Is a Surety Bond?
If you’re a business owner moving into an office that’s being renovated or you’re looking to have construction work done, you might want to consider a surety bond. It’s a contract that ensures that projects are completed and expectations are met. Not to be confused with other types of bonds, surety bonds are about transferring risk from… read more…
- How to Begin to Invest Money in Stocks
If you’re wondering how to invest your money in stocks, you must be thinking about building your wealth. Just having that intention is a step in the right direction. After all, no one ever accidentally became affluent. It takes thought and action to make money – and the stock market is one of the most… read more…
- What Is Day Trading?
Investing in the stock market is accessible to almost everyone, offering a pathway to grow wealth over time. However, when it comes to more advanced strategies like day trading, it’s often best to leave it to the experts. Day trading demands not only a well-thought-out strategy, but also an in-depth understanding of market indexes, trends… read more…
- What Is the Nasdaq?
The Nasdaq – we’ve all heard something about it at some point. You probably already know that it’s part of the stock market. And you’ve probably read a news article or heard a reporter talk about it going up or… read more…
- What Is Preferred Stock?
When people talk about investing in stocks, they usually mean common stock — the type that gives shareholders voting rights and potential for long-term growth. However, there’s another important category of stock that many investors overlook called preferred stock. Preferred stock is a hybrid between stocks and bonds, offering investors a unique blend of benefits.… read more…
- What Are Blue-Chip Stocks?
Buying a stock means getting into some risky business. Sure, they can help you earn money that you could put toward many things – a retirement account, an emergency fund, a down payment – but you also run the risk of putting yourself in… read more…
- What Are Savings Bonds?
U.S. savings bonds are essentially a loan you make to the government. When you buy a savings bond, you are giving money to the government in exchange for a guarantee you will get that money back, plus interest, at a predetermined later date. Investing in U.S. savings bonds is a good potential investment for new… read more…
- All About Dividend Investing
Publicly traded companies can decide what to do with profits. They can reinvest them to grow the company and raise share prices or they can pay some of their profits to shareholders as dividends. A company that pays dividends may do so as a compensation to shareholders – compensation for being a higher-risk investment or for low growth… read more…
- All About Incentive Stock Options
When most people think of employee benefits, they think of health insurance, 401(k)s, and maybe some free food. But for folks at the top of their fields, benefits may include stock options. If you’ve got a job that comes with… read more…
- What Are Fixed-Income Securities?
Looking for a reliable and steady source of investment income? Maybe you’re getting closer to retirement and looking to take some risk out of your 401(k). Or maybe you have a low risk tolerance that means you shy away from equities in general. We’ve got you covered with our guide to fixed-income securities – what… read more…
- Everything You Should Know About the Dow Jones Industrial Average
It’s virtually impossible to make it through the day without hearing something about the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Whether the Dow is up or down might not mean much to you if you’re a beginner investor with no knowledge of how the stock market… read more…
- What Is the Consumer Price Index?
The consumer price index (CPI) is one of the nation’s most closely watched economic metrics. The CPI, which comes out monthly, measures the year-over-year change in the cost of a basket of consumer goods, including clothing, food and furniture. The… read more…
- What Are Options?
An “option” in the finance world entitles the holder of the option to buy or sell an asset at a pre-determined price, on or before a certain date. The buyer pays a premium for the option, and may lose that… read more…
- What Are Equities or Equity Investments?
Equities are the same as stocks, which are shares in a company. That means if you buy stocks, you’re buying equities. You may also get “equity” when you join a new company as an employee. That means you’re a partial owner… read more…
- What are Treasury Bonds?
Treasury bonds — also known as T-bonds — are issued directly by the U.S. government. These bonds offer long-term stability with maturities of up to 30 years. While they typically yield lower returns compared to stocks or corporate bonds, their low risk makes them an attractive choice for conservative investors or those nearing retirement. If… read more…
- Understanding Stocks
Investing in the stock market can be a powerful way to grow your wealth over time. And harnessing the potential of compound interest can help you maximize your financial future. However, making informed decisions about buying and selling stocks requires a clear understanding of how the market works and the strategies that align with your… read more…
- What Is a Bond?
You may have heard that a balanced investing portfolio includes both stocks and bonds, with the ratio between the two varying depending on your age and risk tolerance. Most financial advisors will recommend increasing the proportion of bonds in your investment… read more…
- 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…