What are Tax Benefits of Annuities?
Annuities are unique products in that they provide the owner with tax-deferred growth, much like an IRA or a Roth IRA. Annuities can provide the owner with some tax benefits, in that the growth of the principle grows tax-deferred. Once you are ready to withdraw the money, your earnings will be taxed at your ordinary income tax rate, though the amount you contributed to the annuity will not be taxed. Continue reading...
What Investment Choices Do I Have in My IRA?
Every institution that can be your IRA trustee will offer different options within the IRA. IRA is a tax designation which can be placed on an account at various institutions that offer a compliant list of investment options. Some can be as simple as a CD characterized as an IRA at a bank or credit union. Investment institutions can offer a wide variety of investment choices in an IRA: stocks, bonds, mutual funds, CDs, annuities, and so on. Margin trading is not allowed in IRA accounts, so you might not be able to use options or other hedging strategies in your IRA. Continue reading...
What are ICOs?
ICO is an acronym for Initial Coin Offering, and it is the primary way that new companies can use blockchains to raise capital. Many entrepreneurs have gotten their start in the last decade through crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter, where anyone can contribute funds to help an idea get off the ground. Obviously, such funding methods were bound to reach new heights when peer-to-peer blockchains came onto the scene. Blockchains allow transfers of value anywhere in the world without regulatory... Continue reading...
What does 'Poison Pill' Mean?
A ‘poison pill’ is a maneuver by a company to make itself less attractive to a hostile takeover. It can be used in an effort to avoid the takeover altogether, or at least to make the takeover more painful for the bidder. One type of poison pill is a “flip-in,” which allows shareholders to buy shares of the company being targeted at a discount, which makes the takeover more expensive and more difficult. Continue reading...
What are Accounting Controls?
Internal control systems and procedures can ensure the accuracy and reliability of financial accounts at a business. Accounting controls are meant to ensure that the numbers being put onto the books are accurate. Internal controls are the practices that employees are trained to do, and may be audited on, which general involve some oversight or double-checking to filter out mistakes. This not only prevents mistakes, but also malfeasance, embezzlement and fraud. Accounting done wrong can result in criminal penalties, bankruptcy, and tax problems. Continue reading...
A/A2 — credit rating
A — S&P / Fitch A2 — Moody’s Such ratings are given to bond issues and insurance companies, primarily, and this particular one is in the Upper Medium band of the Investment Grade ratings. Investment grade bonds are considered to have a very low possibility of default. The ratings go up to AAA/Aaa and all the way down to DDD/D, with Investment Grade bonds being in the range of AAA/Aaa to BBB-/Baa3. Continue reading...
What are Accelerated Benefits?
Some life insurance policies allow for death benefits to be accelerated as living benefits under certain conditions. Accelerated benefits are often included in life insurance contracts, but it is possible that they can also be added as Riders for an additional fee. Riders are addendum to a contract that contain additional contractual provisions. What an accelerated benefits rider stipulates is that if certain conditions are met, a portion of the death benefits on a life insurance policy can be paid to the insured person during their lifetime. These conditions may be that the insured person has been diagnosed with less than 12 months to live, or that they have another serious health condition which is covered. Sometimes this includes the payment of monthly benefits if a person requires long-term care. Continue reading...
What is Dividend Growth Rate?
Dividend growth rate is the annual increase in the scale of dividend payments to stockholders. Good dividend growth is a sign of a company with solid earnings. Dividend growth rate is also referred to as dividend appreciation, and it can be computed fairly easily using historical data. Simply put, the dividend rate is the amount of dividend paid in a year divided by the share price when the dividend is paid. Continue reading...
What is a stock downtrend?
A downtrend occurs when the successive peaks of a security's price trend downward without recovering from the troughs, with successively lower market peaks each time. Downtrends may happen in a span of minutes or months, depending on the security being discussed. In a downtrend, it may not be advisable to purchase (or “go long” on) a security, since the duration of the trend is unknown. Many traders, however, see it as an opportunity for short selling. Continue reading...
What should I compare the performance of my portfolio with?
Benchmark indices are used to gauge the performance of an investment portfolio. In order to evaluate the performance of your portfolio for any given period of time, find the corresponding index for each investment in your portfolio. For example, for US Equities, use the S&P 500 For your Small Cap portion, use the Russell 2000 Index, etc. You can also compute weighted index blends that correspond to your index allocation (e.g., 40% MSCI / 60% S&P). If your manager or the portion of your portfolio significantly (by more than a couple percent) underperforms the corresponding index, be sure to carefully monitor this manager or portion of your portfolio. Continue reading...