What’s the Difference Between Value, Growth, and Index Funds? Few analysts would argue that value funds often perform better over time than growth funds in uncertain market conditions and economic environments. Growth stocks tend to perform better when markets are trending higher fueled by consumer confidence. Followers of both camps—value and growth objective investors—strive to achieve the best total returns. Neither growth nor value investors can claim an outright victory in past performance history....

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is located on 11 Wall Street. Nearby, but still considered part of Wall Street, are six other businesses. The New York Federal Reserve Bank is at 33 Liberty Street. The Nasdaq is on 1 Liberty Street, Goldman Sachs is at 200 West Street, and JPMorgan Chase is at 277 Park Avenue. The NYMEX is at 300 Vessey Street. Even the Wall Street Journal is not on Wall Street itself—it’s at 1211 Avenue of the Americas....

Walmart will partner with Ribbit Capital, an investment firm known for funding financial sector disruptors like investment platform Robinhood and credit score provider Credit Karma, the company said in a statement Monday. It didn’t release a name or many details, but did make it clear that “modern” and “tech-driven” financial services are the focus and it anticipates growing the new company through acquisitions and partnerships with leading fintech companies. Walmart offers more traditional retail banking services, including credit cards, the Walmart Money Card debit card, in-store check cashing, and money transfers....

Water quality of streams, lakes, and rivers depends on the sources that feed them. Unfortunately, water pollution is created when fertilizer, animal and human waste, plastics, and toxic industrial chemicals enter these sources. It costs the economy by impacting public health, fishing, tourism, and the environment. Governments try to control the damage by setting water-quality standards to regulate usage. Causes of Water Pollution Many of our waterways are in poor biological condition....

What are the Articles of Incorporation? Articles of incorporation are the most important governing document of a corporation. This document must be filed with the state where you want to do business. Each state charges a fee for filing. A corporation is a specific type of legal business entity that is formed in the state where the company is doing business. To form a corporation, there are specific steps that must be taken and some decisions that must be made....

If you’ve exhausted your unemployment benefits or you’re worried about your benefits running out, there may be extended benefits funded by the federal government that will provide unemployment compensation beyond the maximum number of weeks provided by your state. How Extended Unemployment Benefits Work Extended benefits are additional weeks of unemployment compensation that are available to eligible workers who have exhausted regular unemployment insurance benefits during periods of high unemployment....

Non-qualified annuities can help reduce your taxable income when you retire and provide tax-deferral on earnings until then. But this type of insurance contract isn’t a good fit for everyone. Learn how it works to see if you should add non-qualified annuities to your financial plan. Definition and Example of Non-Qualified Annuities A non-qualified annuity is a long-term retirement savings product entirely funded with after-tax dollars. The money grows tax-deferred, so you won’t have to pay any taxes until you take distributions....

Definition and Examples of Qualifying Ratios A qualifying ratio is a percentage lenders use to determine whether or not a borrower can reasonably repay their loan. The exact requirements can vary depending on the lender, and this ratio is usually considered alongside a borrower’s credit score and other factors to determine eligibility. For instance, the debt-to-income ratio is one metric mortgage lenders use to qualify a borrower for a home loan....

The four factors of production are land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship. They are the inputs needed for supply. They produce all the goods and services in an economy, measured by gross domestic product. Land as a Factor of Production Land includes all of the natural resources available to create supply, such as raw ground and anything that comes from it. It can be a non-renewable resource. That includes commodities such as oil and gold....

Sellers have negative equity when they owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. They’re “upside down” or “under water” on their mortgage loan. Legislation went into effect at the start of 2007 to help these homeowners. There was some lapse in this statute, but the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2019 extended it through 2025. The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 Suppose you sold your home in a lender-approved short sale....

Another party that plays a vital role in a real estate sale is the title company. What Is a Title Insurance Company? Title insurance companies perform title searches to verify ownership of a home before it’s sold. During the title search process, the company combs through public records and other databases to ensure there are no defects on the title before someone else buys it. Defects on a title might include unpaid taxes, property liens, record errors, fraud, or undiscovered wills that raise questions about whether the current owner has the right to sell....

A ticker symbol is an abbreviation of the company’s name. For example, Microsoft’s ticker symbol is MSFT and Netflix’s is NFLX. Ticker symbols, which got their name from the ticker tape that was originally used for quotes, are used to quickly identify a stock. The extension appears after the ticker symbol and is separated from it by a period. A rights offering is a corporate event where a company allows existing shareholders to buy new stock, often for a discounted amount, so that the shareholders can keep their existing shares of the company....

Benchmarks are an important part of choosing which mutual funds and fund managers to go with, so here’s how they work and how you should use them. Definition and Examples of a Benchmark Benchmarks are a collection of stocks or bonds used to compare against and gauge the relative performance of a stock, fund, or portfolio. A benchmark is generally an index that includes stocks or bonds of a certain size, industry classification, or geographic location....

Alternate name: Cov-lite Although covenant-lite loan lenders disregard financial maintenance covenants, they do consider incurrence covenants. These must be met if the borrower wants to take a certain action, such as incurring more debt. Let’s say you’re a business owner who wants to take out a traditional loan. The lender will check your finances to make sure you’re able to repay them and are unlikely to default. If your finances aren’t in the best shape, the lender might not extend you the loan....

With this annuity, you invest your funds with an insurance firm. You can choose between a fixed, variable, equity-indexed, or longevity annuity contract. The taxes on any money gains are put off until you take money out of the account. Any gain you withdraw before age 59½ will be subject to a 10% tax penalty. You will also have to pay income tax on the amount you withdraw. Your deferred annuity contract has an accumulation phase, which is when your money earns interest....

Forward rates can also be used to lock in rates on future foreign exchanges. For example, suppose you’re buying a home in Mexico in six months, but the exchange rate from U.S. dollars (USD) to Mexican pesos (MXN) is historically low right now. You could lock in a forward rate agreement with a bank so you can still pay that same currency exchange rate when you’re ready to buy....

While loss ratios can impact insurance rates, federal and state regulations dictate earnings and loss margins of some insurance products. Let’s look at how they work. Definition and Example of a Loss Ratio In the insurance industry, loss ratio is the amount of money an insurer pays in claims and claims-handling costs as a proportion to the amount it receives in premiums. It’s expressed as a percentage. For example, if a provider spends $600,000 paying claims, incurs $100,000 in administrative costs processing the claims, and receives $1 million in premiums, it will earn $300,000....

In this article, we’ll discuss the details of what a merchant cash advance is, how it works, and why it’s important for business owners to know the basics of this funding option. Definition and Examples of a Merchant Cash Advance A merchant cash advance is a type of short-term funding in which a business gets a set amount of cash upfront from a financing provider, and then typically repays the money with a percentage of daily or weekly credit or debit card sales....

In the contract, the lender may reduce the borrower’s monthly payments or even suspend them entirely for a set period. Through a plan set by the lender, the borrower promises to get up to date on their monthly payments by the end of that timeframe. In exchange, the lender agrees not to foreclose on the home, which is its legal right in the event of a delinquent mortgage loan....

However, there can be more than one named insured driver per policy. Often, those who are married to each other or own a vehicle together are listed together as named insured drivers. You usually can find the named insured drivers on the first page of your policy. How Named Insured Drivers Work Some auto insurance companies require you and your spouse to be named on the same policy if you’re living under the same roof, and others don’t....