You can also create a “ladder” out of five or more individual bonds. A ladder is a series of bonds with different maturity dates. This option allows you to manage interest rate risk and ensure predictable cash flows. It also helps mitigate the risk of principal loss associated with bond funds. But this approach also results in a lower degree of portfolio diversification. Bridging the Gap You can address all of these needs by investing in target maturity bond exchange-traded funds, or ETFs....

Utility stocks are similar to other stocks that are necessary. For instance, these may be the stocks of companies that make toothpaste and soap. Useful, everyday items such as those most often do not return large amounts of profit at first. But they can be part of a smart lower-risk portfolio. You can invest in utility stocks through any broker. However, you should learn about them before doing so. That way, you can ensure that they meet your goals and tolerances....

To find out how much you should offer, gather information about the local market. Here are a few steps that can help. These steps won’t give you a complete picture individually, but when each is used in conjunction with the others, it will help you decide which price is best. Check the Market Check the temperature of the marketplace. It is the market hot, cold, or neutral? If you’re making an offer in a buyer’s market, you will have less competition for the home....

Make Sure You Have the Right Cards First things first: Make sure the cards in your wallet fit your spending habits and travel preferences. If you have to drastically overhaul how you shop and travel just to earn rewards, you’re not using travel cards strategically. Use what works for you. If you’re loyal to a specific airline or hotel chain, a branded travel card may be valuable. For example, a Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard card can help you earn lots of miles on American Airlines flights, and then you can redeem those for more American flights later....

The Basics Do you know what is taxable and what isn’t? If you’re thinking that everything is taxable, you’re largely right. But to build your retirement tax planning playbook, you need to go deeper. Proper tax planning involves knowing exactly how much taxable income you earn. Here are the basics: Work Income: If somebody pays you, you owe taxes. This includes money as a salaried or hourly employee, an independent contractor, or just a side business....

Your Options for Ordering Checks Whether you need personal checks or checks for your business, you have the following three choices: Let’s look at each of the options and evaluate the pros and cons. Order Checks From an Online Check Printer Inexpensive selection: For the lowest prices and the best variety of design choices, try an online check printing service. Along with an endless selection of graphics and colors, you can often personalize your checks with a favorite sports theme or hobby....

Interest Rate You can’t ignore interest rates if you want to trade the bigger picture. When you hold a currency trade for more than a day, you’ll notice something called a rollover. Depending on the currencies involved and the direction of the trade, you may be paying a little bit of interest or earning a little bit of interest. For the most part, if a country is paying sufficient interest, world traders are buying the currency against weaker currencies, creating a trend....

When it comes to loans, your credit score can either save or cost you money. Understanding your score is the first step in creating a strong credit profile. What Your Credit Score Means Your credit score represents the likelihood that you’ll repay a loan based on your history with credit accounts. Credit scoring calculations use your credit history to generate a three-digit score based on five key factors: your payment history, amount of debt, length of credit history, types of credit, and recent applications for credit....

This is great news, as money conversations early in life can set youngsters up for a successful financial future. Let’s take a closer look at what you can do to teach your kids basic money management skills that will help them as they enter adulthood and beyond. Choose Age-Appropriate Lessons Before you discuss money with your kids, it’s important to consider their ages. If they’re young, realize they probably won’t understand abstract financial concepts....

If you decide that you want to move your IRA funds to another financial institution but part or all of the funds are currently in a certificate of deposit (CD), you’ll need to call your current financial institution to learn what specific steps you need to take. While you may be able to roll over the IRA in such a way as to avoid tax-related penalties, many financial institutions still will charge early-withdrawal fees if you don’t wait until the CD matures and the time period you selected has elapsed....

There are several methods for determining this, and the proper approach can vary depending on the type and size of a company you are evaluating. Some methods look only at the company’s fundamentals, while others are based on comparing one company to another. One of the most common methods for valuing a stock is the dividend discount model (DDM). The DDM uses dividends and expected growth in dividends to determine proper share value based on the level of return you are seeking....

Here is everything you need to know to figure out if choosing a higher deductible will save you money. Should You Increase Your Deductible? If you have the money on hand and are willing to pay for damages resulting from a claim, then you can increase your deductible to save on costs. If you can afford it, then take the savings your insurance company will give you and start saving money now....

Because some people might not feel ready to board a crowded airplane and most cruises haven’t resumed just yet, road trips may turn out to be a popular option. In a survey from travel planning app TripIt, 83% of expected travelers said they’d be OK with using their own car for a road trip by June, compared with 52% who said they would be comfortable flying domestically. If you are among those who are eager to pack up the car to get out of town, learn how you can save money on your first post-pandemic road trip by leveraging your credit card rewards....

This might be the case if you’ve defaulted on a loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), or if you had a prior mortgage backed by the FHA that was foreclosed upon. An Introduction to CAIVRS The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) oversees the FHA. HUD created the Credit Alert Interactive Verification Reporting System (CAIVRS) more than 30 years ago, in June 1987, as a way to keep tabs on consumers....

At $3.27 a gallon, the national average reached a new seven-year high on Monday, according to AAA. That’s almost double the $1.77 seen in April 2020, after the onset of the pandemic’s first wave, and $1.09 more than a year ago. AAA attributed the latest uptick to a surge in the cost of crude oil, which rose after OPEC, the international cartel that controls oil prices, and several other nations said they would not increase production....

Retail and food services sales jumped 1.7% in October from September and were an impressive 16.3% higher than in October 2020, according to the Census Bureau’s monthly report on retail spending released Tuesday. The increase—the highest monthly gain since March, when the government began sending out stimulus payments of up to $1,400 per person—surprised economists. First Trust said the consensus expectation was a 1.4% gain. Moreover, spending increased faster than prices, indicating that people were buying more things, not just being forced to spend more because of inflation, economists said....

While these facts and figures demonstrate how large the insurance industry truly is, it’s important to understand how it has affected the U.S. economy in the past before being able to determine how it will impact the economy’s future. With a potential recession looming over the U.S. economy, here’s what to know about the history, trends, and outlook for the insurance industry. Insurance and Reinsurance First and foremost, insurance is an agreement between you and a business to cover your financial risk....

Interest rates vary between countries based on their current economic cycle, which creates an opportunity for investors. By purchasing foreign currency with a domestic currency, investors can profit from the difference between the interest rates of two countries. Arbitrage in investments refers to an investing strategy that capitalizes on market inefficiencies to trade nearly risk-free. This arbitrage strategy has become commonplace, with the near-instantaneous transaction abilities of the technological trader....

Get more information on why this is a common entry-level interview question, and the best way to respond, along with sample answers. What the Interviewer Really Wants to Know During an interview, your interviewer is always trying to get a sense of what you’ll be like as an employee — what’s your work ethic? How do you deal with challenges? What kind of attitude and personality do you have at work?...

What the Interviewer Wants to Know Interviewers ask this question to get a sense of the tasks you enjoy and do not. Say you’re interviewing for a role in operations that involves a lot of paperwork. If you respond to this question by mentioning that paperwork was the least rewarding part of your last job, interviewers will know you might not be a good fit for the position. Interviewers will be looking to see how you deal with unrewarding aspects of work....