Have you ever wondered what the different between a stock and an equity is? Or what the difference between a mutual fund and an ETF (exchange traded fund) is? While most in our industry assume this is common knowledge, for many people trying to keep up with wall street vernacular is a brain wrenching exercise. In investemnts 101, we do our best to expain in the simplest way possible some of the more common financial and investment topics so that the next time you’re at that cocktail party and someone asks you which mid-cap equities you own, you can answer with confidence!
In recent years, ETF’s have come to the forefront of the investing world. Touted for their low fees and passive management, investors are flocking to them like never before. But what exactly are ETF’s? And why do some believe them to be the investment of the future? ETF stands for exchange-traded-fund What this means is that an ETF can be
Now that we have a core understanding of 401(k) plan basics, we need to discuss how to go about making investment choices within the plan. Because the 401(k) is the primary retirement savings vehicle for most American’s, how you choose to allocate, or fail to allocate, your 401(k) can mean the difference between a “happily-ever-after” retirement, and a “oh shit
Due to popular demand (i.e. one vote on a recent Facebook poll conducted by Apple Tree Wealth Management), I wanted to write a brief post about how to pick a stock to invest in. Before I get too far into this post, though, I want to make it clear that while I will do my best to layout the basics
Last week, I wrote an article discussing Why Vanguard Sucks While I believe the post was one of the more insightful pieces I have written (despite the fact I was vilified by several other advisors and investors, who as the article discusses have been brainwashed and are beyond saving), it left a large, unanswered question with regard to investment selection:
I received a question from a client today that caught me a little off guard: “Why do high interest make bond prices go down?” While this is certainly an important topic and I was happy to explain it, I assumed that they would have known the answer. Rather than continue to assume this is common knowledge, I wanted to write
I’ve always wondered by the bright folks on wall street decided to create ten different names for the same item, and why Fox and CNN decided to create five more. Trying to decode wall street terminology can be a daunting task. Unfortunately, too many financial advisors assume that most people are familiar with financial terms, but never take the time
