Where can I find information about hedge funds and their performance?
Not all hedge funds are obligated to disclose their holdings, trades, or performance. About half of them are, however, and their performance can be found online through Morningstar and other sources. This information may not be as detailed as you would like, and you may try other means. Since the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010, more information about hedge funds is available to the public. This does not mean that all the information you seek will be readily available, however, and there are many hedge funds that do not make their information public. Continue reading...
Can I Rollover My 401(k) into an IRA?
Yes, in fact this is what most people do. This is a very popular choice. Because Traditional IRAs receive the same kind of tax treatment as 401(k)s, with pretax contributions, tax-deferred growth, and taxable withdrawals, the IRS allows you to move funds over without creating a taxable event. Of course, you need to have an IRA account to do so, but it can be as easy as opening an account online and telling the custodian company the account information for your old 401(k). Continue reading...
If I Want to Establish a SEP IRA, Do I Have to Establish One for All Owners of My Business?
If a business owner is a silent partner, and not an employee, they do not need to be included in the SEP IRA. You have to offer SEP IRAs to all of your employees. If the business owners are not employees of the business, you do not need to offer a SEP IRA to them. If you intend to include one partner but not another, you should take care to ensure that whatever criteria you used to define who is eligible in your plan document will hold up to scrutiny. Continue reading...
What are the Vesting Rules for My Self-Employed 401(k)?
There is no vesting required for self-employed 401(k) (aka Solo K) plans, since you are the employer and the employee. Vesting is a process in which assets that were completely owned by one party are eventually made the property of another party who has had use of the assets. In retirement plans, employer contributions typically have a vesting schedule, partially to give employees a reason to stick around for a few more years. Continue reading...
What is an Electronic Communication Network (ECN)?
An ECN is an alternative platform to an index for making trades. An Electronic Communication Network is a type of alternative trading system that allows for trading listed stocks and other exchange-traded products. Trading on an ECN is typically limited to institutions and broker-dealers, and trades are facilitated when the price on a buy order intersects with a price on a sell order. ECN’s must register with the SEC, and you must be a subscriber to trade on one. Continue reading...
Why Use Bitcoin?
Do you like security, speed, and low to zero transaction costs when conducting financial transactions? Bitcoin aims to offer all three. Security, speed, and low transaction costs are among bitcoin’s objectives. In a peer-to-peer network, there are no middle-men charging fees for clearing transactions, operating a call center, or maintaining the security of a database. Some types of fraud are much less likely than in traditional systems since the existence of a balance and the validity of transactions are constantly checked and updated by thousands of distributed, independent nodes in the network that do not close based on traditional banking hours. Transactions clear almost immediately instead of waiting on a large market or a Federal bank to balance its books. Continue reading...
What is a Credit Crunch?
A credit crunch is when access to liquidity dries up dramatically in rapid fashion, or becomes less accessible due to a spike in borrowing rates. Central banks will often step-in to try and curb the lack of liquidity by offering the markets access to cash at lower than market rates, in the event of a crisis. Perhaps the most famous credit crunch in history occurred in late 2007 and early 2008, when bank balance sheets became highly leveraged overnight due to mark-to-market accounting rules that were applied to the mortgage backed security portfolios on their balance sheets. Continue reading...
What is Accrual Rate?
This term might apply to bonds or pensions and other financial instruments which build up interest value which is paid out at a later time. Accrual Rate is the rate at which a nominal interest rate is credited to an account that will be paid out at a later time. A bond sold in the secondary market, for instance, will take the accrual rate into account if the sale takes place in between coupon payments. Continue reading...
Can I Take a Loan From My Pension Plan?
Generally this won’t be an option that your plan allows, but the IRS has approved it if the employer wants to. Generally speaking, you cannot. Hypothetically, if allowed in the plan document, and if the pension fund had enough of a surplus to handle such withdrawals, the IRS might find it permissible. The laws concerning such loans are the same for all qualified accounts, such as 401(k)s. An enrolled actuary would need to help you define when a loan might be allowable in particular deferred benefit plan. A Pension’s main goal is to pay out in retirement for the duration of the obligation, which may be your life and possibly the life of your spouse. Because of the massive liability they shoulder, pensions are inherently rigid and uncompromising when it comes to loans and withdrawals. Continue reading...
Learn How to Get Human Intelligence Insight with Community Predictors
Tickeron’s Community Trend Predictors allows you to see how others in the community vote and follow them to hear more about their trade ideas. Check out predictors by their ranking, and learn more about prediction types and statistics. To access, from the menu bar, simply click the Marketplace tab, then click on Top Predictors. Use Instant Search for specific tickers, and Advanced Search to narrow down tickers by asset classes, confidence levels, price ranges, and prediction types (bullish vs. bearish vs. sideways). Once you set up their Advanced Search criteria, use the daily Alerts to remember the specifications, and to receive notifications about the group of stocks. Continue reading...