Personal Finance

You've worked hard to build wealth and put your finances in order, so don't leave your financial security to chance. Saving, investing, and planning for the future won't mean much if it's all taken away due to an unforeseen emergency. Make sure you have protection where it's needed while not paying more than you have to.

The first thing you need to do as you begin setting financial goals is to figure out what is important to you. Think about your priorities. What do you want to accomplish with your money?

Two major components of tracking how you’re doing financially can be broken down into your income and debt levels. ¬Obviously, you’d like to have more income coming in than debt payments going out, but even if you are making more money than you owe, how can you tell if that’s good enough?

Have you just been blindsided by an unexpected financial emergency and don’t know what to do? Whether it’s a job loss, medical expenses, or an emergency home repair, an unexpected change in your financial situation can be incredibly stressful.

Don't let short-term market performance derail your long-term goals.

Have you ever been in the market for a new vehicle and wondered whether you should buy or lease? In recent years leasing a vehicle has become very popular and carries some definite advantages depending on certain individual preferences, but before deciding whether to lease or purchase a vehicle there are a number of important factors to be...

When something is going well, you want to keep it going, right? So if you’ve started to seriously tackle you debt problem or started to funnel more money into your savings or retirement accounts you obviously want it to continue. But things can change in the summer.

Personal finance covers a wide variety of money topics including budgeting, expenses, debt, saving, retirement and insurance among others. Understanding how each of these topics work together and affect each other is important for laying the groundwork for a solid financial foundation for you and your family.

Regular market fluctuations are common and expected, but extended periods of decline can strike fear in even seasoned investors. These bear markets can last months or even years. So, what should you do when faced with a bear market?

Compound interest is an amazing thing, and the Rule of 72 is a simple way to quickly estimate how long it will take your investment to double.

Bear markets present a challenge to even the savviest investors. It is during these declining markets your patience will be tested.

Personal finance covers a wide variety of money topics including budgeting, expenses, debt, saving, retirement and insurance among others. Understanding how each of these topics work together and affect each other is important for laying the groundwork for a solid financial foundation for you and your family.

Because it is becoming easier for thieves to obtain the information needed to steal and damage your identity, it is important to take a proactive approach and protect yourself.

One of the easiest things you can do to help keep your financial house in order is to get organized. Having your financial information stored and processed in a systematic manner will go a long way in helping maintain your finances.

Some bonds are tax-exempt, so understanding the tax-equivalent yield can help you determine your real rate of return.

Everyone has a unique situation, and there are no concrete financial numbers that define success, but there are some rules of thumb that can help you gauge your progress.

Finding the right financial planner doesn't have to be difficult.

Your net worth can be a useful tool to measure your financial progress from year to year. Your net worth is essentially a grand total of all your assets minus your liabilities.

Creating a budget may not sound like the most exciting thing in the world to do but it is vital in keeping your financial house in order.

In life you should expect the unexpected. The best you can do is to prepare for emergencies that require access to additional money and having an emergency fund is the ideal solution.

David Fisher - Bio of David Fisher

Is trying to come up with hundreds or even thousands of dollars keeping you from opening an investment account? It shouldn’t. In the past it was almost a requirement to have quite a bit of money available in order to make your initial investment in a mutual fund or open a brokerage account. Today, things are quite different. You can now start...

2009 was a year to remember in the world of finance. The economy was in the midst of a deep recession, unemployment reached new highs, over 100 banks were taken over by FDIC, real estate values continued to plummet, and the stock market has been a wild ride. All of this has uncovered many mistakes people have made with their finances.

Most investors are familiar with the two primary types of investments: stocks and bonds. Stocks are easy to understand because we hear about the stock market on a daily basis. The news constantly reminds us about whether the stock market is going up, down, and what companies are doing the best and worst. What about bonds? Most of us have bonds in our portfolios, but we hear very little about bond…

Would you be interested if I told you there’s a secret to saving money? Well, it’s true. There are a few secrets that can be used to save money, even if it doesn’t feel like you have any money to save. The bad news is that these secrets have been made public for decades and it’s simply up to you to decide whether or not to use them.

Distributions from a mutual fund are earnings from the fund's operation. Unlike individual company who can chose either to retain the profit, or return it to shareholders in the form of dividend or through share buyback, a mutual fund is required by law to be passed on profits to investors.

Certificates issued by a U.S. depository bank, representing foreign shares held by the bank, usually by a branch or correspondent in the country of issue. One ADR may represent a portion of a foreign share, one share or a bundle of shares of a foreign corporation.

A bank draft is a form of check that is issued and guaranteed by the bank.

An investment plan offered by some corporations enabling shareholders to automatically reinvest cash dividends and capital gains distributions.

Online shopping is just a way of life these days. Most people don’t even think twice about using their credit cards to make a transaction with some online entity, but that complacency could be costly if you aren’t careful. Shopping online can be a perfectly safe experience, but there are a few things to keep in mind when doing it.