leverage

A few weeks ago I received an email.  In the email I was asked to give a reference for two individuals who were applying for the same job.  That’s not really unusual, right? We’ll, here’s the kicker.  (I hope this doesn’t get too complicated …) One of the key decision maker’s daughter and I are [...]

Forex trading is becoming more popular in the recent years due in part to the fact that it is more accessible to the general public. It used to be that the currency market was the province of institutions and the wealthy, but technology and other factors have made forex investing, like other types of investing, [...]

Over the past few years, options trading have become more mainstream with many discount brokers advertising options trading along with other investments such as mutual funds, stocks and bonds. There are even online discount brokers with the word “options” in their names — e.g., OptionsXpress and OptionsHouse. But what exactly are options? An option is [...]

Due to the credit crisis and recession, there are a lot of houses for sale. Homeowners who are trying to avoid foreclosure are selling many of these homes. Needless to say, it’s a buyer’s market and homeowners need to know all the tricks to help them sell their homes quickly. Fortunately, there are proven techniques [...]

At an early age, it is difficult to teach children about money. Learning comes much more easily when it is fun. Game nights are a family tradition in many households and throwing in one of these board games can combine fun with a little financial education. The board games provide the basic concept for what [...]

If you’re an investor in index funds, like I am, then you probably believe that it’s impossible to beat the market in the long run. You’ve had everyone from bloggers to Warren Buffett tell you the best thing for you is to invest in mutual funds indexed to the market. We do this because we [...]

Investing is something that all of us should consider at some point in our lives. When it comes to making a long term investment, there is no better choice to make than real estate investing. A long term investment is bound to pay off at some point. This is evident because of the fact that [...]

Dave Ramsey’s Baby Steps is a financial plan designed to help you get your finances in order, get out of debt, and achieve financial freedom. Dave Ramsey has taught these Baby Steps to millions via radio, The Total Money Makeover, Financial Peace University, and on DaveRamsey.com. In this article, I’d like to walk you through [...]

Inverse ETFs are a class of ETFs that rises in value when their underlying asset falls. For example, the ProShares Short QQQ ETF (whose underlying asset is the NASDAQ) will rise, if the NASDAQ falls. So, if you expect companies in the NASDAQ to perform poorly, you could buy the ProShares Short QQQ. Recently, Inverse [...]

My company made Vanguard Target Retirement Funds available for our 401k accounts about two years ago. However, I have not used them preferring to manually manage my own portfolio using traditional funds that include bond, large-cap, small-cap, international stock, and REIT funds. However, Target Retirement Funds are not without merits — in fact, I’ve been [...]