Category: Finance and Investing 101

I always enjoy reading Barron's annual Top 1,000 financial advisors list. While, I am way too middle class to engage the ongoing services of a financial advisor (most of the top advisors service families/people with more than $5 million in net worth), it's still interesting to note what they are…

The financial news media does it all of the time, don’t they? They assume that the millions of retail or part time investors know all of the terms used on a daily basis. When IBM announced another stock buyback, the financial news channels reported it leaving investors unsure of what…

You may know about stock markets but how about the foreign exchange market (FOREX)? If you’ve never heard of it, you should because it’s substantially larger than any single stock market. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), for example, handles $153 billion a day in volume, but the foreign exchange…

You've probably noticed by now that gold, and more specifically skyrocketing gold prices,  is just about the only thing people talk about these days. Buying gold has become the new trend in investing as the "gold-boom" continues. With the stock market looking as risky as ever, bonds at the mercy…

Annuities have been a viable investment option for many years. However, there is still a great deal of confusion on what exactly they are and how exactly they work. Understanding the concept of annuities can help you to determine if they are right for you, and if so, what type…

There's a lot to consider when choosing your bank. After all, the fate of your hard-earned money lays in the decision. The institution charged with keeping your funds secure and fostering their growth into a sizable sum has a lot of expectations to meet. Usually, consumers look for banks that…

The title of this post was based on a question I recently received from a reader - Ben - who was new to equity investing and wanted to get some basic advice on investing in the stock market. He has about $5,000 to kick start his portfolio and wanted a…

While reviewing and updating my 401K allocations at Fidelity, I noticed this relatively common graphic showing portfolio mixes (allocations) based on an investor's risk profile. Generally speaking most financial advisers and traditional market wisdom tell you that your portfolio allocation should be based on your age, which determines the duration…

As you may know, based on some recent articles, I have started my home buying process. I have looked at many factors like the economy, monies available for down payment and job security when weighing the decision to buy a place. However, I have found that the one financial factor…

[Updated] Gold prices reached record levels following S&P's sovereign credit downgrades and ongoing fears of Euro market/region instability. Coupled with volatility in global equity markets many investors and sovereign nations have rushed to invest in the yellow metal for protection and price speculation. A number of analysts are predicting that ongoing…

Dollar cost averaging (DCA) seems to be a hot topic of late with many experts saying to continue buying shares, even as they keep falling in price. For those of you who may not understand DCA, it basically means that you continue to buy more shares in companies that you…

Today's bad economic news coupled with investor fear sent the stock market spiraling to a 5 year low. A sense of panic and fear seems to have entered the hearts of many investors, including myself, and the urge to sell and get out of the market is strong. But now…

Over the last 10 years I have traded all sorts of financial instruments. One that I have found particularly useful in volatile times like we have now, are options. Options provide a way to make money from both rises or falls in stock prices. It is also allows you to…