Most residential listing agreements are a bilateral contract, meaning both the agent and the seller must perform. The first step in canceling a listing contract is establishing the grounds for cancellation. This could be because of a lack of good communication. For instance, your agent may not be providing the updates you require. It could also boil down to a lack of good chemistry. At the other end of the spectrum is unethical behavior....

Motivational speaker and author John Maxwell once said, “A budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.” Know What You Buy Before you sit down to make a budget, you might not be aware of how many different types of things you need to buy. Most people are aware of the items that cause them to take out their wallets on a daily or weekly basis: groceries, gasoline, coffees at Starbucks, restaurant meals with friends....

Citizenship and the Unlimited Marital Deduction All U.S. residents can take the unlimited marital deduction for property transferred to a spouse who is also a U.S. citizen, but the rules change for non-citizen spouses. The deduction is not allowed if the spouse of the person making the gift is not a U.S. citizen. Instead, the gifting spouse can give their partner up to $164,000 for tax year 2022 ($175,000 in tax year 2023) without incurring gift tax consequences....

And you likely haven’t missed all the coverage of what those sky-high prices are doing to the housing market. Affordability has become an increasing problem as eager buyers exhaust the depleted inventory of homes for sale. Believe it or not, despite this sometimes frenetic seller’s market, the volume of U.S. home sales has actually fallen for a third straight month. If your budget has indeed kept your attention lately, here’s what you may not have heard....

A short sale is the sale of a property where the net revenues gained from selling the house do not cover the debts against the property. Because the government controls short sales, the process is time-consuming and can be confusing to short sale agents and sellers alike. Basic Guidelines for an FHA Short Sale There are some guidelines and criteria for short sales. These are some of the criteria the FHA uses to determine eligibility for a short sale:...

The average rate offered to homebuyers using a conventional 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 5.83% from 6.09% the previous business day. A few days ago it had vaulted to 6.19%, its highest point since at least 2019. The average for a 15-year mortgage inched down to 5.20% from 5.22% the previous business day. Last week the 15-year was at 5.26%, also the highest since at least 2019. (Our daily mortgage rate data only goes back to April 2021, but our data on yearly highs and lows date back to 2020, so we know rates weren’t higher in 2020....

The average rate offered to homebuyers using a conventional 30-year fixed mortgage rose to 4.11% from 4.01% the previous business day, reaching another new high since 2020. (Our daily mortgage rate data only goes back to April 2021, but our data on yearly highs and lows dates back to 2020, so we know it was higher in March 2020, when it hit 4.71%.) The average for a 15-year fixed mortgage rose to 3....

Given Canada’s extensive natural resources, the TSX houses more mining and energy companies than any other exchange in the world. These securities consist of not only common stock but also exchange-traded funds (ETFs), income trusts, split share corporations, and investment funds, which provide international investors with many different investment options. The exchange is open from 9:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, with a post-market session from 4:15 p.m. until 5:00 p....

Importance of Manufacturing in the U.S. Economy Manufacturing is an essential component of gross domestic product (GDP). In the third quarter of 2020, manufacturing accounted for 11% of the overall U.S. GDP. According to the Chamber of Commerce, manufactured goods accounted for 82% of all exported merchandise in 2019. Manufacturing adds a lot of value to the power of the U.S. economy. The National Association of Manufacturing estimates that every dollar spent in manufacturing adds $2....

One of the telling metrics for dividend investors is dividend yield, which is a financial ratio that shows how much a company pays out in dividends each year relative to its share price. Dividend Yield Formula Dividend yield is shown as a percentage and calculated by dividing the dollar value of dividends paid per share in a particular year by the dollar value of one share of stock. Yields for a current year can be estimated using the previous year’s dividend or by multiplying the latest quarterly dividend by 4, then dividing by the current share price....

What Is a Target Market? A target market is defined as a specific group of potential buyers for which a business positions its products and services. Or in simpler terms, it’s the group of people who are the most likely buyers of your products or services. Understanding Your Target Market Too many new small and home-based business owners don’t take the time to define their target market, which means they waste time and money as they seek clients and customers....

The U.S. economy added 235,000 jobs last month, one-third of what economists expected, seasonally adjusted government data released Friday showed. The results amounted to a sudden slam on the brakes after the economy added more than 1 million jobs in July and nearly a million in June. The monthly growth in August was the smallest since January, when 233,000 people were added to payrolls. Despite the slowdown in hiring, the unemployment rate still managed to fall to 5....

Personal income for July increased 1.1% from June, according to a monthly report released Friday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, as much as five times the pace some economists expected and far more than the 0.2% increase in June. The first round of expanded child tax credit payments—which means up to $300 per child per month for eligible families—drove much of the increase, but people were also earning more in their paychecks, analysts said, with overall wage income up 1% in July, the most since November....

Many people owe taxes because they didn’t have enough money withheld for taxes from their paychecks throughout the year. Some people may also owe because they were unaware that unemployment benefits are taxable most years, and they didn’t have money automatically withheld. Selling stock or other investments at a profit could result in capital gains taxes, which you must report. You could also wind up owing taxes because you made a math error or deliberately under-reported your income....

The IRS uses an adjusted basis to determine if there’s been a capital gain. In most cases, the adjusted basis of an asset is simply the amount it costs you to buy it. The adjusted basis—and therefore the capital gain—is determined by the item’s fair market value when you receive it if you’re given an item as a gift or you paid less than its full value. How Capital Gains Works You’ll experience a capital gain any time you sell a capital asset for more than you initially bought it....

There are several different share classes of mutual funds. Most investors are familiar with A Shares, B Shares, and C Shares. Institutional funds are classified as I shares, X shares, Y shares, or Z shares. The primary difference between institutional funds and other mutual funds classes is that the expenses are lower, and the minimum initial investment requirements are higher. How Inst Funds Work Institutional mutual funds can be purchased by more than just institutions....

Here’s an example. Instead of using $100 or $500 to open a savings account at a bank, you may be able to open a microsavings account through a savings app on your phone with just $1. You link the app to your debit card or checking account. The app then saves small amounts of money for you automatically in a separate savings account. How Microsavings Accounts Work Microsavings accounts can be offered by banks or credit unions....

The J.P. Morgan EMBI (Emerging Market Bond Index), EMBI+ (Emerging Market Bonds Index Plus), and EMBIG (Emerging Market Bond Index Global) indexes are designed to help individual and institutional investors benchmark bond performance in emerging markets around the world. Each index covers a different type of emerging market economy. Here you’ll learn about the origins and basic features of these three major market bond indexes, as well as a few other up-and-coming indexes to watch....

What Credit Score Do I Need To Buy a Car? Suppose Person A and Person Z are both shopping for used cars. They each have $2,000 to spend, and they want to pay off their loans in three years. They settle on the same $10,000 model, and the dealership happens to have two identical vehicles. The only difference between these two people is their credit scores. Person A’s score is 750, while Person Z’s score is 620....

If you’re gearing up to buy a house, you may also have to get a land survey. Also called a “property survey” or a “location survey,” land surveys are professional drawings that outline the exact boundaries of a property, as well as the dimensions and location of any home, structures, easements, or additions located on the premises. They may also include any fence locations, elevation or topographic details, and rights of way....