Articles

Estates & Trusts

• How Can My Gift Benefit Me and the Charity?

  To retain the tax advantages associated with charitable giving, your gift must be made to a qualified organization.

• Could My Family Benefit from a Family Limited Partnership?

  One estate planning strategy that families with closely held businesses could consider is the family limited partnership.

Retirement

• What Is a SEP IRA?

  A SEP IRA is a type of plan under which the employer contributes (up to a certain limit) to an employee’s IRA.

• What Is a SIMPLE?

  The SIMPLE plan may appeal to small business owners as it is easy to set up, administer, and allows for a tax deduction.

• What Is an IRA Rollover?

  If you leave a job or retire, you should consider your options regarding your employer retirement plan assets.

• Don’t Bank Your Retirement on Your Business

  Allocating too much of your retirement investments to one company, even your own, can be a risky proposition.

• What Is a Self-Employed Retirement Plan?

  Tax-deferred retirement plans for self-employed individuals have higher contribution limits than IRAs.

• What Is a Traditional IRA?

  If you do not participate in an employer-sponsored retirement plan, you might consider a traditional IRA.

• What Is a 401(k) Plan?

  401(k) employer-sponsored retirement plans have many benefits, including that the funds accumulate tax-deferred.

Tax Planning

• What Is a Required Minimum Distribution?

  Required minimum distribution is the annual amount that must be withdrawn from a qualified retirement plan/account.

• How Can I Benefit from Tax-Advantaged Investments?

  Many traditional tax-advantaged investment strategies have gone away, but there are still some alternatives.

• How Can I Keep More of My Mutual Fund Profits?

  Want to keep more of your mutual fund profits? You may be interested in strategies to help lower your tax liability.

Investing

• Growth Stocks vs. Value Stocks

  The labels growth and value reflect different approaches that can be used when making investment decisions.

• What Are Zero-Coupon Bonds?

  Zero-coupon bonds represent a type of bond that does not pay interest during the life of the bond.

• What Is Diversification?

  An important element to successful investing is to manage investment risk while maintaining the potential for growth.

• What Types of Bonds Are Available?

  Bonds are issued by many entities and share many characteristics, each type of bond has certain benefits and risks.

• What Is a Bond?

  A bond is simply evidence of a debt from a government entity or a corporation and represents a long-term IOU.

• What Do Bond Ratings Mean?

  Bond ratings gauge a bond issuer’s financial ability to repay its promised principal and interest payments.

• What Is a Stock Index?

  Stock market indexes can be useful benchmarks for gauging the performance of an investment portfolio over time.

• How Do Mutual Funds and Stocks Differ?

  The difference between purchasing an individual stock versus shares in a mutual fund to potentially earn dividends.

• What Is a Mutual Fund?

  A mutual fund is a collection of stocks, bonds, and other securities with certain benefits and risks.

• What Is a Closed-End Fund?

  With closed-end funds, investors pool their money together to purchase a professionally managed portfolio of stocks and/or bonds.

• What Is a Mutual Fund Load?

  It’s important to understand mutual fund loads, or sales charges, and exactly what they entail so you can make informed investing decisions.

• What Investment Risks Should I Know About?

  Understanding different types of investment risk can help investors manage their money more effectively.

• What Are the Different Classes of Assets?

  There are five broad asset classes that you should take into consideration when constructing your investment portfolio.

• What Is Asset Allocation?

  Asset allocation is a method used to help manage investment risk; it does not guarantee a profit or protect against investment loss.

Cash Management

• How Do Money Market Mutual Funds Work?

  Money market funds can be a highly liquid and effective cash management tool.

• How Can I Better Manage My Short-Term Cash?

  There are numerous investment alternatives available to help provide liquidity.

• How Does Inflation Affect Me?

  Historically, one of the best ways to fight the effects of inflation has been to utilize growth-oriented investments.

Risk Management

• What Is Universal Life Insurance?

  Consider a universal life insurance policy if you want the flexibility to change your premium or death benefit.

• What Is Variable Life Insurance?

  Variable life insurance gives you the control to allocate your account value among a variety of investment options.

• What Are the Basic Types of Life Insurance?

  When selecting a life insurance policy, examine all your options, as well as the positives and negatives of each type.