22 Jan 2005 08:39 AM

Like all bonds, corporates tend to rise in value when interest rates fall, and they fall in value when interest rates rise. Usually

16 Jan 2005 09:38 AM

One of the key investment features of any bond is its maturity. A bond’s maturity tells you when you should expect to get your principal back and how long you can expect to receive interest payments. (However, some corporates

15 Jan 2005 09:36 AM

Investors buy corporates for a variety of reasons:

12 Jan 2005 07:03 AM

Before we get started, I want to ask you a question. Who loans money? The Federal Reserve, commercial banks, insurance companies, mortgage backed securities, lenders such as Fannie May, Freddie Mac/HUD, local savings and loans, credit unions, mortgage brokers, wealthy private individuals, the

11 Jan 2005 08:05 AM

Mutual funds have suffered a serious blow when the public learned about serious machinations in the industry. The public has heard a number of times that the majority of the funds underperform the average return of the stock market

10 Jan 2005 09:34 AM

Corporate Bonds (also called corporates) are debt obligations, or IOUs, issued by private and public corporations. They are typically issued in multiples of $1,000 and/or $5,000. Companies use the funds they raise from selling bonds for a variety of purposes, from building facilities to purchasing

15 Dec 2004 06:56 AM

Aside from profit, one of the most important financial ratios is the revenue (sales), that is, the funds the company obtains from different sources. These can be sales revenues, customers deposits, or even capital investments. Investors need to know what kind of revenues the company gets, and how significant they are, that is why revenue is the next line of the income statement one needs to look at after analyzing the bottom line where

10 Dec 2004 10:22 AM

Investors need to get an idea of what is behind the numerous figures of the quarterly reports. It can be hard for an inexperienced investor to understand the point of this obscure paperwork. The first thing to take note of here is the company’s profit, i.e. the bottom line of the income statement called net income.

09 Dec 2004 11:11 AM

Valuation of a company in terms of its shares is a long and effort-taking process. Yet individual investors will find it helpful to get to know about the main stages of the process as they can perform nearly all of the stages on their own. When

06 Dec 2004 11:19 AM

Most Americans save for retirement over their professional lives. It pays to think of your future while you are young and active as you need more and more money for a happy life in the old age. There are many

06 Dec 2004 11:17 AM

The idea of an index fund was first presented to the board of directors of the newly formed Vanguard Group by John Bogle. He outlined the creation of a low-cost mutual fund that would not try to beat the returns of the stock market and would instead attempt to mirror the Standard & Poor’s 500 index as closely as possible by buying each

24 Nov 2004 10:43 AM

Exchange Traded Fund or ETF is a fund that tracks an index, but can be traded like a stock. They are like stocks because they: • trade all day long on the major stock market exchanges (mostly on the AMEX) • ETFs can be handles like regular stocks, which means short-sold, bought on margin, etc.

18 Nov 2004 12:06 PM

More and more homeowners opt for refinancing at the time of historically low interest rates. The hassle and expenses associated with refinancing are justified if:

18 Nov 2004 11:58 AM

A few decades ago, the home buyer could only get the only type of loan: fixed-rate 30-year mortgage. Now the borrower can choose between the rate that is fixed for the life of the loan (fixed-rate mortgage or FRM) and a rate that fluctuates in line with major indexes (adjustable-rate mortgage or ARM). Both have their advantages and disadvantages.

18 Nov 2004 11:49 AM

“Specialty financing” or “loans for someone with less than perfect credit” are polite terms used to market “subprime” or “non-prime loans”. Sometimes they are effectively the only way to homeownership for those who have frequent late payments, bankruptcies, liens, judgments or other mishaps tarnishing their credit history. People with below-standard credit histories will end up with above-market interest rates and unfavorable terms, but get a chance to re-establish their credit.