What is the “Joint and Survivor” Option?
The “Joint and Survivor” option on annuities generally provides an income guarantee for the owner and his/her spouse. This option can be applied to an IRA or qualified plan, even though that can only have one owner. Payments from an annuity, even if it is part of a qualified plan or IRA which can only technically have one owner, can be based on two annuitants. This will usually be a married couple, and it ensures that either spouse will receive payments from the annuity, even if one pre-deceases the other. Sometimes the survivorship payout is only a percentage of the original payout, such as 50% or 70%, but this is agreed upon by the annuitants at the time of application, and cannot be changed arbitrarily by the company or the annuitants. Continue reading...
When Can I Access Money in My Roth IRA?
Roth IRAs have some interesting provisions that make them a little more liquid than other retirement accounts. Roth IRAs contain after-tax contributions that actually remain accessible to you at any time, without tax or penalty. The stipulations on withdrawals are only concerned with earnings in the account, not the principal amount. In order to withdraw earnings without paying a 10% penalty and income taxes, you must be at least 59½ and five years must have passed since you first began contributing. Continue reading...
What is an Income Trust?
Income trusts are a type of company that has been structured to pass through all earnings to shareholders. A trust is a legal entity, that seeks to use assets in the best interest of beneficiaries. Some pooled investments are categorized as trusts, and they pass all income (and the tax implications) on to investors. Examples include a real estate investment trust (REIT), a royalty trust, a utility trust, or a business investment trust (also known as a master limited partnership, or MLP). Mutual funds can also fall into this category, but they are not necessarily designed just for income. Continue reading...
What is the Rectangle Bottom (Bearish) Pattern?
The Rectangle Bottom pattern forms when the price of a security is stuck in a rangebound motion, bouncing between support and resistance levels. Two horizontal lines (1, 3, 5) and (2, 4) form the pattern. Depending on who gives up first buyers or sellers the price can Breakout in either direction. This pattern is commonly associated with directionless markets. Usually the pattern performs better when there is a strong downtrend leading into the formation. Continue reading...
How to use the Detrended Price Oscillator in trading
The Detrended Price Oscillator (DPO) is a relatively uncomplicated tool of analysis that can be used to simplify a chart and identify conditions ripe for buying or selling. It turns the moving average line of a price chart into a flat horizontal axis, with prices plotted according to their distance from the moving average. Moving averages are important components of many technical indicators. A simple moving average determines the average of a range of closing prices for a security or index for a specific period of time. An exponential moving average is a moving average that gives more weight to the most recent data. Simple moving averages are not weighted for time the way that exponential moving averages are, which has the effect of snapping the chart to the most current information, while simple moving averages have lag. Continue reading...
What is a Mortgage?
A mortgage is a debt instrument typically used as a finance mechanism to purchase real estate. When purchasing a piece of property or a home, new owners typically do not purchase the entire piece of real estate up front. As a mechanism to make a claim on the property while agreement to a set arrangements of payments to purchase it, a mortgage can be initiated. Over a period of several years, the borrower repays the loan, plus interest, until he/she eventually owns the property free and clear. Continue reading...
What is currency exchange?
Currencies can be exchanged for other currencies, and there are more reasons to do this than most people realize. People are familiar with the currency exchange in the context of tourists stopping by a currency exchange kiosk so that they can buy trinkets at the local tourist traps, but the Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, where currencies are traded, is the largest market in the world by far. Currencies are exchanged for each other on a massive scale on the international Forex market. Thousands of banks connect through electronic trading systems which are part of the interbank forex market. Millions of smaller-scale traders and individuals also engage in Forex trading, either over-the-counter or on regulated international exchanges. Continue reading...
What is a CUSIP?
CUSIP is basically like a Dewey Decimal number for stocks and U.S./local government bonds. CUSIP stands for Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures. CUSIPs are alphanumeric identifiers of certain types of securities, but most commonly used for stocks and bonds. The first six characters identify the issuer and use letters; the seventh and eighth characters (which can be alphabetical or numerical) identify the type of issue; and the last digit is used as a check digit. Continue reading...
What does notional value mean?
Notional Value is used in futures, options, and forex markets to describe the total value of the principal of a contract or transaction, especially when either none or only part of that value has actually been exchanged. Notional value is used most often in interest rate swaps and futures contracts, and is "notional" because either no principal changed hands at the beginning of the contract (such as in an interest rate swap), or only a small payment was used to buy a larger position (such as in a futures contract). Continue reading...
What is intraday trading?
Intraday trading means opening and closing a position, or buying and selling (or short-selling and covering) a security within the same trading day. Intraday traders are active during market hours, buying, selling, shorting, and so forth, to capitalize on the movements of the markets during the day, and they primarily trade positions which are opened and closed during the same day. Intraday traders use technical indicators to find inefficiencies or price fluctuations that they believe will correct. Continue reading...