Do I Need Life Insurance?
If you are a provider to a family and your existing assets are not adequate to provide for them after your death, and you would like to make sure they are taken care of, then, yes, you need life insurance. If you have no dependents but you want to make sure a charity you support receives an endowment in your name, then life insurance may again be the tool to use. There may also be benefits to you while alive if you do not have many options for tax-deferred savings. Continue reading...
What is a Mortgage Equity Withdrawal?
Mortgage Equity Withdrawals (MEWs) may effectively be a withdrawal when viewed in a balance sheet, but they are actually loans that use the equity in a home as the collateral. These are also known as home equity loans. A full liquidation of equity through such a loan is a reverse mortgage. When a homeowner has paid off their home, they have a lot of equity and collateral to work with if they would like to get some liquidity (money) out of a hard asset. Continue reading...
What are Fibonacci Numbers?
Fibonacci numbers are part of the Fibonacci sequence, where the two previous numbers are added together to calculate the next number in the sequence. The ratio of two Fibonacci numbers is the Golden Ratio, or 1.61803398875, which has been used since ancient times as the perfect proportion in architecture and other design. The Golden Ratio is also known as Phi (pronounced “fee”). Because Fibonacci numbers are found throughout the natural world, they have been integrated into some traders’ strategies for market analysis. Continue reading...
What is an Account Executive?
An account executive is an individual who has executive responsibility of the maintenance of client account. In certain businesses, some client accounts have a high degree of importance and priority with regards to sales and operations, perhaps because they generate significant revenue for the company. Examples of such businesses might be advertising, office products, and investment services. The title of account executive is especially fitting if there is a staff which supports the lead account executive in maintenance of the client relationship and account service, but a staff is not required to hold this title. In other businesses this position might be called an account manager. Continue reading...
What is the commodity channel index (CCI)?
The Commodity Channel Index is an oscillator introduced in 1980 in Commodities magazine, but it can be used for indexes, ETFs, stocks, and so on. It basically displays the relative daily difference above or below a simple moving average. It can be used to identify overbought and oversold conditions and to confirm trends. The CCI averages out the prices of a commodity (or security) for a day, calling it the Typical Price, and compares it to the simple moving average for a time period (usually 20 days). Continue reading...
What is Chapter 9?
Chapter 9 is a form of bankruptcy filing that is reserved for municipalities which have defaulted on their debt obligations. This could include a school district or other entities which have a municipal affiliation and the ability to generate revenue from local taxes. They cannot be made to liquidate anything. In fact, it forces the lender to accept a refinancing of the debt obligation. Because municipalities fall under state jurisdiction, the federal government, which governs bankruptcy court, does not have the ability to force liquidation of a municipal entity’s assets. Instead, this provision of bankruptcy law governs refinancing arrangements to facilitate the repayment of debts owed. Continue reading...
What is the role of asset allocation in my investments?
The single best control mechanism over the performance of your investments is the maintenance of an asset allocation strategy. When testing various methods of predicting and controlling returns in a portfolio, researchers found that having and maintaining an asset allocation strategy was the method that reaped the most predictable returns – with 80-90% accuracy. Asset allocation is the distribution of various asset classes and investments into a portfolio mix in a deliberate way to gain specific amounts of exposure to each investment. It is a practice used to diversify and manage risk. Asset Allocation is a dynamic process; it’s not something you do once and forget about. Continue reading...
How old should my portfolio manager Be?
While we do not doubt that a young advisor can be intelligent and helpful, there is really no substitution for experience and tenure. Generally speaking, it’s a good idea to choose a manager who has experienced various market cycles. Younger advisors who have never helped their clients through a recession may not be as humble, prudent, or knowledgeable as ones who have. If you can find an advisor with over 10 years of experience, we would recommend that over an advisor with only 3, all other things being equal. There are advisors and wealth managers with only a few years under their belts but who have learned a lot in a short time. Continue reading...
What does hypothesis testing mean?
A theory about what will happen and why is a hypothesis, and to prove the hypothesis has some relevancy it will have to be compared to the probability of getting those results by pure chance. A hypothesis is a testable prediction of results that should be observed due to the effects of an independent variable. Such predictions must be tested against the probability of the resulting observations happening due to complete chance instead of the influence of the independent variable. Continue reading...
Best Day Trading Guide
Day traders, by definition, trade on a very short-term time frame, seeking to generate profits by opening and closing positions hour-by-hour and having the majority of their positions closed by the end of the day. Short-term profits and income are the goals with most day-traders, and the term is used more and more for “amateur” traders who trade from home and treat it as their primary occupation without being part of a brokerage firm. Day trading has become more and more prevalent for independent, non-affiliated investors who trade from their computers at home for hours a day. Continue reading...