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Remember that there are no financial investments that can guarantee a return short of a government bond or bank certificate of deposit. In the case of the former the worth of the bond depends on the integrity of the government. In the case of the latter the CD depends on the continued existence of the bank. For stocks and stock mutual funds, the worth of a share depends on whether the company continues to be solvent.

Financial analysts gush over how stock securities have yielded 10% year over year but this praise hides a complexity. The truth is that about 50% of past years have experienced stock market growth whereas the other 50% has seen it decline. The average return over many years, however, exceeds 10%.

There are two lessons to draw from this. For people who are in the for the long run it is likely that stock market mutual funds will ultimately prevail. By long run we mean 20 to 30 years. For people who are in for a quick fix, mutual funds are likely to be not the answer.

What does long and short term mean exactly? For a good rule of thumb, 5 years is considered short term when it comes to stock markets. For people who are near retirement, investing in a volatile mutual fund is not advised. A more stable investment like a bond fund is probably a better choice.

Younger investments in their 30s and 40s will benefit from having time to ride out the fluctuations and volatility. The suggestion is that they keep anywhere from 60% to 80% of their retirement assets in stocks. But as they age, expect them to start adjusting this portfolio mix.

Young investors should still be aware that the stock market fluctuates wildly. Playing it by withdrawing from the fund or returning into the fund leads to unintended consequences later. Instead, the young investor should abide his or her time and wait out the fluctuations.

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The unfortunate fact of financial well-being is that it must be self-taught or passed from parent to child given that it is not part of our formal education. Although there is a movement afoot to push for teaching personal finance in public schools, most people simply muddle through hopefully until they become competent in later life. This is where a personal finance company might come in handy.

A personal finance company is a small firm that is geared toward helping individuals or perhaps small businesses comprising just one or two people. The employees at the personal finance company are not only versed in finance and accounting laws of the local region, but have training in understanding how to collate information, assess choices, and suggest actions to their clients that prove financially fruitful over the long run.

To take an example of how a personal finance company might work, consider the case of an individual who works in business. He sends in his monthly business transactions to the personal finance company. At the beginning of the quarterly tax period, his personal finance company works out what can be deducted and what cannot.

There are many other important methods of budgeting in addition to using a personal finance company.

For example, in case you possess an old-fashioned phone plan, it may be costing you more than you need to pay. Go online to locate a personal budgeting website where you can input your cell phone plan info and compare it with other plans that are suggested to you. A comprehensive website offers a listing of phone plans that are suggested in your city and will work with what you need. If you decide you would like to switch to a modern plan, you may be able to calculate just how much you can save.

In the event that you buy a large appliance, it may drain your budget when you buy it, then continue to drain your budget when you run it. Every consumer site will tell you that it is important to find out about the energy star ratings and energy requirements of an appliance before purchasing it. An intelligent consumer can save a lot of money on energy during the year. Products that possess the energy star rating issued by the government can save you about half of the usual amount of energy which is a great deal.

Do you have an extremely safe job as defined by the objective measures of the Bureau of Labor Statistics? You may be able to get a reduced rate on your health insurance if you are a teacher or accountant or occupy some other profession that is fairly safe. Taking advantage of reduced cost prescriptions at places like Costco, Sam’s Club and KMart can help. Despite these measures it is likely that the monthly health costs will remain challenging.

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For the last 5 decades, stock market equities have been just about the best investment possible, with yearly returns that are much higher than comparably accessible financial instruments. On good years the returns can exceed 25% although on average it has hovered near 10% Other types of financial instruments such as bonds and CDs do not come close. However, before opening up an account it is nevertheless important to understand how to assess mutual fund returns and find out about the top 100 mutual funds.

The primary way of evaluating whether a fund is a top 100 mutual fund is to look at its average return over several years, if not decades. However, the return is a number that by itself means very little. Instead, it must be compared to the performance of the entire stock market. So a good fund should exceed the average returns of 10% of total stock market indices.

The next common way to evaluating whether a fund is one of the top 100 mutual funds is to find out its volatility, or beta factor. The beta is an indicator of how wild the swings are. A beta of less than 1 means the mutual fund is less wild than the stock market, whereas a beta of greater than 1 means the mutual fund has a more strongly fluctuating price.

The prices of stocks and mutual funds may change all the time, so it is beneficial to understand how prices and values are determined for non-equity instruments.

A stable investment known as a money market account is a type of account for personal investors interested in storing money in a secure, practical place while achieving better return when compared to a regular checking account. It is not so hard to find a money market account at a standard regional branch of a major bank. Simply inquire about instructions on rates and deposit minimums before filling out any forms. Money market accounts are likewise guaranteed in the event of a bank collapse by the FDIC.

Another stable financial instrument is the GNMA fund, usually eclipsed by the sister firms Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. All three manage real estate borrowing but GNMA funds stand out for being the most conservative. In the time of the economic meltdown caused at least partly by the property meltdown of 2007, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae fell victim to hemmorhaging losses forcing a declaration from the Federal government to forestall financial panic. GNMA funds discovered that it was in a much better position, exhibiting little sign of being in need of a Federal government-mediated bail-out.

The third stable financial instrument discussed here is the bond. When the government carries out its activities it is required to in some way pay for the operations enough taxes are collected to reward employees. The borrowed financing is formalized as a bond which is basically a promise to repay the borrowed money in addition to some extra return. People buy into bonds for hitherto has been a very trustworthy promise of yield and absence of risk.

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Investors have a choice of two kinds of investment vehicles: fixed income and non-fixed income securities. The first is a financial instrument that gives reliable returns over the lifetime of the instrument. The second does not have an intrinsic return but rather fluctuates in value according to some underlying entity – often mutual funds or individual stocks for companies.

While fixed income products are steady, the returns tend to be quite low in comparison to other options. People who have recently retired or do not have alternate sources of income find this to be the best bet. And while non-fixed income products are erratic, the returns are somewhat higher (but there are exceptions as it is not predictable). People who are young or have many alternate sources of money find this to be a possible bet.

For both types of securities, the rate of return is given as a percentage over a year. Fixed income securities have a clearly defined rate, but non-fixed income securities have a rate that is historically calculated. The historical calculation may not hold for the future, so any calculations are merely projections or guesses about the future. Even top mutual funds cannot guarantee returns.

We examine three examples of fixed or somewhat fixed-income investment products here.

Personal investors who are curious about fixed income securities should check out the money market account. Such accounts are invested in mostly very short term instruments. A money market deposit account may be located at banks and related financial institutions. They are insured by the FDIC. Do not conflate the deposit account with a similarly named money market fund which are portfolios of such instruments, and thus not protected by the federal government.

A poorly known, semi-fixed investment in the world of finance is the GNMA fund, frequently overshadowed by the similar companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Most interested people might remember that in recent years Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae got severely damaged in the real estate bubble of late 2000s. Despite this, Ginnie Mae survived mostly unscathed and possibly is in a vastly superior position.

Bonds are a stalwart fixed income product. The day-to-day activities of a government, such as running a police force on the city level, or the city college system accepting students on the state level, depends upon borrowed money. The borrowed resources is in the form of a bond which is basically a promise to return the borrowed money plus a little extra return. Personal investors, companies and even foreign governments buy bonds offered by the United States government.

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The use of a checkbook register is not difficult and in fact almost intuitive. First let us consider what exactly is a checkbook register? A register is an entry form or table that can be used to record information in a systematic way. The checkbook register consists of a series of tables with a number of columns for holding information about each transaction.

In what situations do checkbook registers get used? In situations that involve some sort of activity that affect the balance in the relevant bank account, a checkbook register is brought out to record all the activity. A case in point is the writing of a check involving said bank account to a company such as a electrical utility. Another case is when using an ATM card at an establishment which does not provide updates to the balance.

What are the elements in knowing how to use a checkbook register? There are only a few points to remember in this simple process. One needs to record the check identification number, a short description of what the transaction was for, the date of the transaction, and any associated bank fees. The information is divided into columns for easy reading and organization. Another device the checkbook calculator can do many of these bookkeeping activities automatic.

Monthly cellular phone plans are subject to the same recording in checkbook registers. In the event that your cell phone plan is old, it is not unexpected that you are paying too much money every month. Go online to locate a personal finance site where you can enter your cellular phone plan info and compare it with other plans that are available to you. You may be able to compare your phone plan with those suggested to you now and choose one that will meet your requirements. You may in addition be able to determine exactly how much you will cut costs if you switch from your current cell phone plan to another.

Purchase of heavy appliances affect the bank balance very much and should be recorded in the checkbook register. Since heavy appliances are very expensive both to purchase and to run, purchasing any large appliance can drain the budget. Often, consumer online place inform that a consumer check the energy star rating of an appliance and determine how much power it requires before purchasing it. An intelligent consumer can save a lot of money on energy during the year.

Any recurrent insurance costs are good for entry into checkbook registers also. Your job may help you to get lower insurance rates – if you are in a low-risk (safe) position, your insurance may cost you less. Some fairly “safe” jobs are teaching and accounting so if you possess this sort of job, you may be able to get lower costs on your health insurance. Health care payments can seriously affect your budget, though you can get your prescriptions for a lower cost at places like KMart and Costco. In any case, the monthly health care payments can be difficult to manage.

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What does it mean for stock market prices to be like a random walk? What is a random walk? Financial economists have come up with an interesting scenario to introduce the random walk to laymen. Imagine if you will, they say, a drunk who has been left at a lamp post. The drunk wants to get home, but every step he takes is in a random direction. What emerges is a very erratic trail, where the position of the drunk over time starts drifting away from lamp post but occasionally coming back to where he started.

Investors are well-aware that the price of a stock, high yield mutual fund, money market deposit account, fluctuates on a daily basis. These fluctuations do not go away upon zooming in to shorter times. That is, over the scale of hours and even minutes, the prices continue to fluctuate up and down. These same observations compelled mathematicians and statisticians to label stock prices as having the same behavior as the drunkard, albeit in one dimension.

Being able to map the behavior of a stock price to a mathematical theory means that the stock price should have certain statistical properties. For example, the price of a stock, bond, or mutual fund (and its yield we suppose) should move around a mean value. Moreover, the deviation away from this mean on a daily basis should never be too positive or too negative, but instead fits into a normal distribution. Interestingly many securities show these statistical behaviors which gives credence to the theory.

The random walk idea underlies an important equation in mathematical finance known as the Black-Scholes equation. It was even the basis for the Nobel Prize in economics for two researchers Scholes and Merton. Those who are interested may find the mathematics a bit daunting as it ventures into stochastic calculus and partial differential equations.

Despite the success of the random walk theory, it turns out that there are some observations that do not match the idea of the random walk. For example, many companies have increasing or decreasing stock prices over the long time period as they become successful or fail at their business. Companies also experience the negative effects of broad decline during recessionary times. Clearly the random walk theory is not applicable for these times.

The normal person who is more worried about a 401K or IRA account that contains high yield mutual funds, GNMA investments and bonds may find the discussion very theoretical. Indeed, it is likely that these mathematical concepts are only useful for a day-trader who must contend with making profits from swings in stock prices on the short term.

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All year round the Federal Reserve makes adjustments to its lending rates to commercial banks, which in turn has an impact on the rates a commercial bank offers its customers. When the economy does poorly, for example during the bubble bursting of the dot com era and the 2007 real estate debacle, the Federal Reserve lowered the rates severely to stave off a recessionary economy. This was a positive state for companies and small businesses that need to borrow money to survive, but was a negative for people who were net savers.

One way of viewing these actions is that the government is discouraging people from saving. The low interest problem savers face is made more acute by the fact that inflation slowly makes saved money worth less. Savers face the low interest rate problem most commonly at large institutional banks, especially those whose business spanned state borders and could leverage economy of scale. This has forced savers to turn to less conventional ways of saving money in low risk investments.

Interestingly, some small-town banks are able to offer higher interest rates than the big banks. This may seem paradoxical except for the fact that the high interest rates are usually tied to restrictive conditions. Therefore, if a customer is willing to put up with such restrictions he or she may be able to take advantage of high rates.

For example, the banking client will often have to set up direct deposit for the monthly paycheck with the small bank guaranteeing them a steady stream of increasing deposits. Moreover, the small bank might demand that the client use the ATM card as a check card for transaction purposes which increases the fees the bank can collect from businesses.

A second option is for a customer to shop online for an internet-only bank. Without the need to rent out a brick-and-mortar location, an internet bank has much reduced costs and therefore can afford to give higher interest rates. A good example is ING’s Orange Direct accounts that give high interest rates but minimal face-to-face service. Online comparison sites are able to offer a much more detailed view of these competitive banks.

If the traditional bank account still does not fit the bill, one may turn to a money market account. These are offered at both banks and financial institutions. The standard money market account is FDIC insured with interest rates slightly higher than run-of-the-mill checking accounts. The restriction usually entails an upper bound on how many withdrawal transactions can take place within a time frame, usually six months.

During times of low interest rates, one must be prepared to think outside the box for finding a way of saving money and making the money grow. The tactics discussed above are but three examples of a bigger universe of financial options, among which are bond funds and high yield mutual funds.

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Investors are fortunate to have a number of financial instruments at their disposal that generate returns far above traditional checking and savings accounts at the bank. A popular but non-liquid investment is the purchase of property which pays dividends in the form of rent. Another popular but commodified investment is gold or gold futures which are considered a safe haven during times of market turmoil. Perhaps the most popular in the United States today is stocks, in which some 50% of households participate either through direct investments or through their retirement accounts.

Investing in stock shares of a single company can be risky because the entire investment depends on the fortune of one company. What if the company experiences a poor quarter or if the company has a catastrophic event? One’s investment might be entirely wiped out. This is made more serious if the investment were the 401K or IRA retirement account that so many depend on in old age.

To address this problem, financial institutions have created composite financial instruments known as mutual funds. A mutual fund is the realization of the idea that an investor need not buy stock from a single company but stocks from many companies. It is exemplified by the fact that one share of is composed of little fractional shares of many companies. Buying into a mutual fund means buying into the many companies but without the requisite expenditure in capital. Instead of profiting from the welfare of a single company, the investor of a mutual fund profits from the average welfare of many companies.

Stock mutual funds can belong to a class known as high yield mutual funds. More interestingly, mutual funds may contain more than stocks. Investors may also pick bond funds, real estate funds, or commodity funds. Each type lies along an independent financial axis so that investors benefit from further diversification by participation in each.

As mentioned before, bond funds are mutual funds which contain many bonds. Bond may include United States Treasuries as well as corporate debt which show a distribution in length of maturity as well as yield. Sometimes bond funds are divided into short, medium and long term, three terms that describe the maturity length of the component bonds.

Another type of mutual fund is one that contains real estate investments. These could be bundles of mortgages processed through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or Ginnie Mae. These mortgages are popular because of perceived high quality and stable returns from homeowners who are loathe to default on payments and give up their homes. The financial crisis of 2007 has tarnished real estate investments to some degree but GNMA funds remain popular as they continue to be composed of higher quality mortgages.

The final fund under discussion is the commodity fund. People who do not want to buy gold, silver or items made up of such material substantially can instead invest in commodity funds which derive their value from underlying metals. When the stock market falls these commodities will usually rise, although when the market rises these commodities will in turn fall.

Even if the investor is purely interested in index funds, fees can take a large chunk of income from the investor. It may be wise to consult a firm that specializes in no load index funds.

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The rate of an investment is a metric used to measure how much the investment returns after a certain amount of time. For example, suppose a bank customer puts $1000 into a certificate of deposit (CD) account that is advertised at a rate of 5% per year. The bank customer should expect that at after a year he would get back $1050, which is 5%. Of course, the return on investment does not always mature exactly after one year, but instead is updated constantly such that at the end of the year it is at 5%.

However, the fixed rate of return for CDs and savings accounts is somewhat of a special feature. Many other types of investments such as stocks, bonds, high yield mutual funds do not have fixed rates. An investor who invests $100 into the stock market does not expect to get a guaranteed amount back over any time period. In fact, it is almost as likely that the stock has lost some money. This is true for many government bonds that fluctuate in base value even though government bonds pay out money at a bond rate.

Mutual funds behave similarly to stocks as each fund is a compilation of several kinds of stock. The return of the mutual fund will go up and down in the same way that its component stocks fluctuate. Given this information, some investors may finally understand why financial companies keep advertising “mutual fund rates”. Some companies even broadcast that they offer high yield mutual funds, but the definition of high yield mutual fund is unclear.

The rate in question is what one sees when reading over the fund information in the offering financial institution. For example, suppose Vanguard or Fidelity offers a particular index fund. A prospective investor will often read that the rate of return for the fund was 15% for 2007, 10% for 2008, and 8% for 2009. The truth is that these rates are not true rates, but rather “historical rates of return” for the index fund. That means it is merely what the index fund returned for those years, and is not guaranteed for the future.

The source of fluctuations for mutual funds from year to year is derived from two reasons. One is that the underlying securities or the component securities of a mutual fund go up and down all the time depending on the fortunes of a company, the activity of the sector to which the company belongs, or to general condition of the economy as a whole. Another is that the companies included in the mutual fund sometimes pay dividends to its shareholders. In this way mutual funds can gain value even though the stock is lackluster.

Consumers of investment products such as real estate, stock and GNMA mutual funds should always remember that mutual fund rates reflect the past and not the future. High yield mutual funds and products advertised as such should be interpreted in the right way.

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