Bond (Corporate, Treasury, or Municipal): A debt obligation of a company, the U.S. Treasury Department, or a city where the borrower receives funds (usually in increments of $1,000), makes semi-annual interest payments based on the coupon rate, and eventually repays the borrowed amount ($1,000) to the lender at the maturity date of the bond. Certificates Read More…

Regardless of your choice of investment types, you should learn about and understand the correlation of risk to the size and type of your investments. First, become familiar with the traditional risk levels of various types of asset groups ( [ts]stocks[tm]Stocks are “equity investments” which means that individuals that own stock shares of a company Read More…

For those just beginning, a good point of reference is the recent performance of the common investments described above. How have they done over the last five years? These charts illustrate their performance over the same time period. When looking at the charts, keep in mind what you read earlier in the lesson and what you’ve Read More…

Buying and selling real estate as an investment strategy is quite different from simply buying a home or commercial building. Just as important in determining FMV (fair market value) as comparable properties are when buying a home, the income stream generated by a property is a primary component for an investor. You typically have three Read More…

Investing in FX (foreign exchange), currency speculation, and hedging are variations of the same basic investment strategy—you are betting that one currency will strengthen or weaken against the other. Not for the faint-hearted, these investments involve more due diligence and savvy than all of the other security types we have covered so far. Trading in Read More…

Precious metals, particularly gold and silver, are attractive investments to many people. But as usual, you must learn to become a knowledgeable investor as precious metals can fluctuate in value as rapidly as common [ts]stocks[tm]Stocks are “equity investments”, which means that individuals who own stock shares of a company actually own part of that company[te]. Read More…

Stocks are “equity investments” which means that individuals who own shares of a company actually own part of that company. Bonds are a debt obligation of a company, the U.S. Treasury Department, or a city where the borrower receives funds (usually in increments of $1,000), makes semi-annual interest payments based on the coupon rate, and Read More…

ETFs are a cross between mutual funds and stocks. ETFs are simply a portfolio of stocks or [ts]bonds[tm]A debt obligation of a company, the U.S. Treasury Department, or a city where the borrower receives funds (usually in increments of $1,000), makes semi-annual interest payments based on the coupon rate, and eventually repays the borrowed amount Read More…

A mutual fund is a type of investment where a money manager takes your cash and invests it as he sees fit, usually following some rough guidelines. For example, the Fidelity Group has a fund that specializes in finding high dividend paying [ts]stocks[tm]Stocks are “equity investments”, which means that individuals that own stock shares of Read More…

Stocks are “equity investments” which means that when you own shares of a company you own part of that company. For example, if you own 1,000 shares of Apple Computer stock and Apple has 1,000,000 shares that are “issued and outstanding,” then you own 0.1% of the company. If Apple were then to be sold Read More…

A CD is an investment choice at most banks where you agree to deposit a specific amount of money for a fixed period of time (this is called the maturity). By agreeing to keep your money at the bank for a certain length of time, the bank usually pays you an interest rate higher than Read More…

So, you just got your year-end bonus of $2,000. Now what are you going to do with it? Let’s review the obvious choices… Most financial institutions, banks, credit unions, and savings and loan associations have a similar menu of investment products from which you may choose. Here are the most common and popular products: Savings Read More…

The first time Tiger Woods grabbed a golf club he couldn’t hit the ball perfectly straight 300 yards and the first time Michael Jordan touched a basketball he couldn’t dunk it, so don’t think that you will be able to earn a 100% return in the first year. Before Tiger could hit a golf ball Read More…