If you’ve only just begun your career and are starting to collect a decent paycheck, the last thing on your mind is probably retirement planning. When you’re in your twenties and thirties, retirement can feel light years away, but it will get here much quicker than you can imagine. And when it does, you’ll want to be prepared.
A college education, while a worthy achievement, does not come cheaply. Forbes has estimated that the price of a college education has increased 8 times faster than wages, making it a struggle for even upper middle-class families. When factoring in the cost of tuition along with room and board, books, and living expenses, a college education can quickly become an unaffordable luxury.
Personal finance, like just about everything else, is mainly common sense. Advice like “don’t spend more than you make; start investing while you’re young; don’t loan money to friends with the expectation of getting it back,” have been around for generations, and most likely will survive the next few generations as well.
Owning shares of stock or stock funds might increase the value of your portfolio in one of two fundamental ways: capital appreciation (i.e., price increases) and dividend payments. Of the two, capital appreciation carries the greatest potential for return, but it also carries the greatest potential for loss. And any gains or losses are only reaped when you sell your shares.
As we draw closer to the last quarter of 2018, Americans are starting to think more about the changes to the U.S. tax code. Though the tax code has been tweaked in recent years, it’s been 27 years since the last major revision that took place under President Reagan.
If you don’t know the difference between asset-backed securities and securities, you may want to take a look at these common financial terms and their definitions.
Asset-backed securities are bonds or notes that are backed by assets such as credit card accounts receivable, auto loans, and home equity loans.
In light of recent security breaches at Facebook and Yahoo, it’s vital that we do a better job ensuring that our personal data remains hidden from criminals and hackers. In fact, Facebook and Yahoo were just two of the over 1,500 data breaches that occurred in 2017.
The Trump administration’s new tax reform bill was signed into law in December of 2017, representing the first major tax change in over 30 years. The changes are significant and are likely to affect nearly everyone in some measure; some positively, while others may find themselves with a higher tax bill in 2018.
Professionals, executives and business owners recognize the threat that a disability poses to their financial security, which is why many have individual disability insurance. But far too many purchase a disability insurance plan without carefully considering their future needs.
These are the obstacles we all face in trying to achieve our financial goals:
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