Do you understand the risks of stock ownership?
Aka: We’re in the money!
What are REITs?
A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a real estate company that offers common shares to the public. In this way, a REIT stock is similar to any other stock that represents ownership in an operating business. But a REIT has two unique features: its primary business is managing groups of income-producing properties and it [...]
Special Invitation to the The Millionaire Conference
This week I received a “special invitation” in the mail to attend “The Millionaire Conference”. I was personally invited as a VIP guest to be trained by 5 of the wealthiest self-made multi-millionaires in America. I received two complimentary VIP tickets with a “$149 value”.
Currency Trading
Although the foreign exchange (also known as “forex” or “FX”) is the largest financial market in the world, it is relatively unfamiliar terrain to retail traders. However the big slide in the U.S. dollar since early in 2002 has opened the eyes of many investors to the global currency markets. Until the popularization of internet [...]
Loss Harvesting
For many investors, loss harvesting is the single most important area for reducing taxes now and in the future. If properly applied, it can save you taxes and help you diversify your portfolio in ways you may not have considered. Loss harvesting is the process of selling securities at a loss to offset a [...]
Can I get in on an IPO?
IPO is an acronym for Initial Public Offering. This is the first sale of stock by a company to the public. Getting a piece of a hot IPO is very difficult, if not impossible. To understand why, it helps to know how an IPO is done, a process known as underwriting. When a company [...]
Understanding Capital Gains Tax Rates
The advantage of capital gains, as opposed to ordinary income, is that the basic maximum tax rate on capital gains for property held for more than one year is currently 15 percent. In contrast, the top four ordinary income tax rates are all higher than this, with the top rate for 2005 through 2010 at [...]
Employee Stock Purchase Plans
Many large companies offer Employee Stock Purchase Plans (ESPP) that let you buy your employer’s stock at a discount. These plans are offered as an employment incentive, giving you an opportunity to share in the growth potential of your company’s stock (and, by implication, work hard to keep the stock price soaring). Usually, you [...]
Lets Talk About Leverage
In finance, leverage refers to the ratio of debt to equity. The higher the proportion of debt, the more leverage. Leverage allows you to use a small amount of your own money to make an investment that you expect to increase in value. In that way, leverage can increase your buying power and give you [...]
What is the Efficient Market Hypothesis?
In finance, the efficient market hypothesis (EMH) asserts that financial markets are “efficient”, or that the current price of a share reflects everything that is known about the company and its future earnings potential, and is, therefore, accurate in the sense that it reflects the collective beliefs of all investors about future prospects.
