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Vanguard helped lead a passive investing revolution for ordinary investors, and as such, many investors constantly search for the best Vanguard index funds. For long-term investors, index funds have a lot to offer, from lower cost investing to potentially lower risk and reliable gains. One major advantage to investing in index funds is that they provide natural diversity. … [Read more...] about How to find the best Vanguard index funds

AT&T investors have long favored the AT&T dividend for its continuous and regular payments. But recent moves and stock performance have made some investors question the future of the AT&T dividend. AT&T (T) is a major topic in the dividend investing community along with the Disney dividend and XOM dividend. In this article, we will dissect the AT&T business … [Read more...] about AT&T Dividend: Analysis, amount and payout schedule

Businesses keep track of their financial information in a variety of ways and for a number of different reasons. The multi-step income statement is a variation of one of the key financial documents that businesses utilize. A company’s management team, as well as its investors and potential creditors, need certain financial data about the company to make sure it is performing … [Read more...] about Multi-Step Income Statement: What you need to know

Saving money is the backbone of financial planning and generating wealth. Without margin between your income and spending, which creates savings, it’s impossible to create wealth. Your savings fuel everything downstream that we typically call financial planning or investment management. It truly all begins with saving money.  When asking the question of how much should … [Read more...] about How much should you save every month?

Calculating and charting moving averages in Google Sheet is quite simple. By using the GoogleFinance function to pull historical data and a simple average formula, you can build some very handy spreadsheets to monitor your favorite stocks. Let's look at how to calculate and chart moving averages using Google Finance spreadsheets. First to get started, we will setup a few … [Read more...] about How to calculate and chart moving averages using Google Finance spreadsheets

On any given day when the stock market is open, if the broad market indices are down a percentage point or two, you'll undoubtedly hear about "stock market volatility." But what exactly is meant by this phrase? Does stock market volatility just describe the market when stocks decline? Or does it refer to a specific measurement that describes how stocks are moving up and down? … [Read more...] about Stock Market Volatility: What it is, how it’s measured and how to manage it

Do you have $100,000 ready to invest? Great. This article will show you how to invest $100k in a few different ways while considering both the risk and the reward sides of the equation. It's common for individuals to research how to invest $100k in an attempt to turn that into a much larger sum, something such as $500k. But simply asking the question of how to invest $100k … [Read more...] about How to invest $100k: A complete guide

The golden cross is a commonly referenced technical indicator in stock market analysis when a short-term moving average crosses a longer-term moving average in the positive direction indicating a possible bullish move. While this type of move can be described with a variety of moving averages, typically the golden cross refers to when the 50-day moving average crosses the … [Read more...] about The golden cross: Understanding this technical stock market indicator

Earnings before interest and taxes (often called EBIT) is a funny term but is a very commonly cited accounting metric in business. The EBIT formula is used to determine and analyze a company's profitability. EBIT is sometimes referred to as operating earnings or operating profit. Essentially, EBIT is a great way to look at the profitability health of a company. EBIT is often … [Read more...] about EBIT Formula: How to calculate earnings before interest & taxes

Businesses need to keep demand for their products as high as possible so that they can grow, but that’s not always easy. The way demand works is complex, with a number of factors affecting it. As we'll see in this article, the determinants of demand are a crucial factor in business operation and economics. Anyone can benefit from learning about the basics behind these forces … [Read more...] about The Key Determinants of Demand

Asset allocation strategies are usually over simplified and are often discussed around two groups of people: those far away from retirement and those either near or at retirement. In typical financial planning, asset allocation shifts towards more and more conservative as you get older and as you get closer to needing the money. As we've looked at previously, asset allocation … [Read more...] about Asset allocation strategies for young investors

Investing your money for a solid gain or return is always the goal when deploying capital. But how to double your money? Investing with the goal of doubling your money has a number of important variables such as risk, rate of return and duration of the time required. We’ll look at a few different ways to attempt to double your money and provide insight into what kind of returns … [Read more...] about How to double your money: 3 ways to 2x your cash

The PE ratio is one of the most common and important metrics involved in stock market analysis. The PE ratio gives investors some indicator of valuation or how expensive a stock might be at a given point in time. But what is a good PE ratio? What is the range of PE ratios that warrants buying the stock? It’s a trickier answer than you might suspect because of all the variables … [Read more...] about What is a good PE ratio? Uses and limitations of this valuation metric

An investment policy statement (IPS) is traditionally a document that a financial planner produces for an investor in which the investor signs off on the document. The investment policy statement states the overall objectives of the investment plan and guides future adjustments and changes to the investments. As more investors manage their own investments and assets, more … [Read more...] about Investment Policy Statement Guide: How to write one (or use our example)

If you’re investing money, you have probably explored the world of stocks, which are a very common way to build wealth. Typically when people mention investing and building wealth, they are referring to the stock market. While stocks have been around for many decades, other instruments offer investors ways to deploy capital into the stock market such as mutual funds and ETFs. … [Read more...] about How is an ETF different from a stock?

Boat financing has many similarities to other types of loans, but there are some distinct characteristics when getting a boat loan. The basic premise is similar in that there typically involves a down payment that represents a portion of the purchase price, and the remaining portion of the purchase being paid over time (and you pay interest on this portion). The bank or lender … [Read more...] about Boat Financing Guide: How to most effectively get a boat loan

A credit card is an essential financial tool in today’s world and choosing your first credit can be a challenging decision. If you’re getting your first credit card, you’ll want to consider a few key things before crossing this major money milestone. You can save a lot of time and money if you understand the basic features of credit cards and how to compare them. With the … [Read more...] about 10 Things to Know Before Getting Your First Credit Card

The 2020 stimulus bill, known as the CARES Act, was signed into law by President Trump on March 27, 2020 in order to combat the economic impact from the coronavirus pandemic which spread globally in early 2020. The $2 trillion bill is considered the largest economic aid package in US history. The 2020 stimulus bill is a spending bill of over $2 trillion in spend mostly … [Read more...] about The 2020 stimulus bill

The Netflix vs. Disney conversation entered a new phase as 2020 got underway. Both streaming services (Netflix and Disney+) were launched and widely used in the United States. With the coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic shutdown now in effect, 2020 is something else altogether now. So, how should we look at Netflix vs. Disney in 2020? How should we compare the … [Read more...] about Netflix vs. Disney: Comparing the streaming platforms and the stock in 2020 and beyond

The Trek credit card is a store credit card offered by the popular bike brand and by many local bike stores that are licensed Trek product dealers. While the Trek credit card does not differ wildly from many store credit cards, depending on your needs it may be something worth considering. In this Trek credit card guide we will look at the overview of the card itself, where you … [Read more...] about Everything you need to know about the Trek credit card

Setting goals is an important step in financial planning. If you don’t map out specific goals, it can be hard to make significant progress in your financial life. Writing out example goals can give you a framework upon which you can set budgets, set savings schedules, make decisions and more. Without it, you’re flying blind a bit.  It’s important to establish financial goals … [Read more...] about A guide to making (and hitting) your short-term and long-term financial goals

What is the income statement formula? What is the income statement formula? Let's first take a quick step back. Income statement is one of the three primary financial statements that describe the financial performance of a business or a company. The income statement, the balance sheet and the cash flow statement are the three primary financial statements. The income … [Read more...] about Income statement formula explained

When setting up automatic payments for a utility company, direct deposit or other automated services involving your checking account, you can often be asked to provide a voided check with your paperwork. Knowing how to void a check correctly is important so that you can ensure you provide the appropriate information, but also keep your bank account and information secure. … [Read more...] about How to void a check

This is a scenario I've put a lot of thought in, because frankly, this is my situation. Attempting to time the market is really hard for a number of reasons that I'm not going to get into here (google it, there's plenty out there on it). But I also don't go to the other extreme where you stick to your asset allocation strategy 100% regardless of what the market is doing. I … [Read more...] about Case study: I’m in accumulation mode and nervous about how high the stock market is, but I don’t really believe in market timing. What should I be doing?

Health sharing ministries, commonly referred to as medishare plans, have grown in increasing popularity in recent years as traditional healthcare insurance plans have seen their costs rise dramatically. The Affordable Care Act (ACA, also referred to as ObamaCare) also led to an increase in medishare participation for a number of reasons. Regardless of political affiliation, the … [Read more...] about Medishare Reviews: A guide to choosing the right health sharing ministry