How is a Roth 401(k) Different From a Regular 401(k)?
The main difference is that Roth contributions go in after tax and are not taxed on withdrawal. People sometimes don’t realize that Roth 401(k)s only exist as extensions of Traditional 401(k) plans. Some plans have been designed to also permit after-tax contributions, which become that employee’s Roth 401(k) account. This Roth side account has all of the same investment options as the rest of the plan on the traditional side. In fact, an employee can contribute to both the traditional 401(k) and Roth 401(k) with each payroll cycle. Continue reading...
What are some examples of Investment Instruments I can use?
There is a wide variety of investments available for every kind of investor: Stocks, bonds, Mutual Funds, ETFs, Annuities, real estate, private equity, hedge funds, and so on. The vehicles for these investments also vary widely – you can buy stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and ETFs, for instance, in a brokerage account at a major custodian, or an IRA or 401(k) offered through a retirement plan. Annuities and other insurance products are often sold directly from the insurance companies, and often times banks offer vehicles and accounts you can use to invest. Continue reading...
What is a Home Office Expense?
IRS Link to Form — Found Here The home office expense deduction allows people who work from home to take a tax deduction reflecting the loss of square footage in their home for the purpose of doing business there. The space must be used exclusively for doing business on a regular basis and it must be the principal place of business, not just a place to work outside of the actual office. Many people fail to file for the home office expense deduction because they believe it will be more trouble than its worth or that it may even trigger an IRS audit of their reporting. Continue reading...
How to use the Advance/Decline Ratio in trading
The Advance/Decline Ratio (AD Ratio) is a market breadth indicator, calculated by placing the number of advancing stocks over the number of declining stocks for a day or time period in order to view the direction of the market. It is one way of viewing the daily breadth, or difference in the number of advancing issues and declining issues. The Advance/Decline Ratio uses the same numbers as the Advance/Decline Line but presents them as a ratio instead. The AD Ratio is sometimes more useful than an AD Line, including in instances where comparing AD for different indexes which have different metrics; the ratio is the standardization with which comparisons can be made. Continue reading...
What is Unlevered Beta?
Unlevered beta measures the Beta (a volatility indicator that denotes how closely an investment follows movements in the market as a whole) of a company when the effects of debt (leverage) are removed, allowing investors to gauge risk strictly as a function of company assets. The beta of a company’s equity stock is a measure of volatility relative to the rest of the market, impacting Price-to-Earnings (P/E) calculations and other valuations. When beta increases, the cost of equity increases, and results in a higher P/E. Unlevering the beta can give a clearer picture of the market risk of a company’s equity shares, as higher debt relative to equity usually constitutes more risk to investors. Continue reading...
What is Federal Debt?
Federal debt is the money owed by the government. The primary source of this debt is Treasury Bonds (Notes), which constitute debt obligations. About 25% of the current national debt is owed internally between different government agencies, mostly to the Social Security Trust Funds. The Federal Debt is also, and perhaps more commonly, referred to as the National Debt. Currently the debt is approximately $19 Trillion. Continue reading...
What are “Dark Pools” of Money?
Large institutional investors sometimes trade on “Electronic Trading Crossing Networks," which allow them to conduct trades without publicly exposing them. They are used by financial institutions to move large blocks of shares without public investors even knowing about such transactions. Such examples of networks are “Liquidnet,” “Pipeline,” “SIGMA X,” and many others. It might be difficult to fathom the size of the transactions conducted over these networks, but the ownership of dark pools involves almost every institutional trading house. This is a huge business and regulators are carefully looking into their activities. Continue reading...
Should I Trust an Article Such as “What Are The Best 10 Stocks For The Next 10 Years?”
It can be useful to at least give some deep thought to the picks that appear in such articles. There is some investment wisdom in reading and taking action on the advice of such articles, since they point you in the direction of the industries which are poised to grow in the foreseeable future. Unlike short-term stock picks, these articles are concerned with growth that will go beyond the short term uptrend that will undoubtedly follow the appearance of a ticker symbol in such a list. Continue reading...
What is the Black-Scholes formula?
The Black-Scholes formula is a formula and market model for explaining or determining the price of European-style options. It was developed in 1973 by two world-renowned economists, Fischer Black and Myron Scholes, and it led to a Nobel Prize in 1997. As opposed to the American-style of options, which can be exercised at any time, European-style options can only be exercised on their expiration date, they are not exposed to dividends, and they have no commission structure to consider. Some are content to use Black-Scholes for quick applications to American-style, but It is not as accurate as it should be. Continue reading...
Should I use options in my portfolio?
Options can be a valuable tool in portfolio management, but investors should be well-versed in how options work, and the risks involved, before actively engaging in options trading. Options can provide you a hedge, or provide the potential for unlimited gains or losses. They can also give you a relatively conservative income stream. Proper use of options can be highly profitable, but requires some level of expertise and a watchful eye. Continue reading...