Stock market volatility can be a wild ride. If you follow the daily price movements of a stock market index, it’s enough to make you dizzy at times. If you watch the same index’s performance over longer periods, however, you may notice that things tend to smooth out. Unless you’re close to retiring and will […]
The Pluses and Minuses of Business Borrowing
There are distinct pluses and minuses that small business owners should consider when looking for a loan. New small business owners typically enter the marketplace with high expectations — they want to build sales and increase profits quarter to quarter. More often than not, they hope to add employees and, perhaps, open up additional locations. […]
What to Know About Target-Date Funds
Learn how target-date funds can be a useful part of your retirement portfolio. Target-date funds are a relatively simple and convenient way to invest for a long-term goal. They can be particularly useful to investors who feel they lack the expertise or the time to invest their retirement savings effectively or to monitor their portfolios […]
Can Your Company Survive a Disaster?
Fire, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes. When they happen, they can destroy buildings, equipment, and hard-to-replace data, and even injure or kill employees. It can take a business weeks, sometimes months, to resume operations after a disaster. Some businesses never recover. You can’t pin down the time or day when a disaster may strike your business. However, […]
Not All Bonds Are Alike
Before adding bonds to your portfolio, it’s important to know some basics about how they work and the significant variations that exist among bonds. What follows is an overview. Bond Basics Bonds are essentially IOUs, issued by federal, state, and municipal governments as well as by corporations and governmental agencies. They are intended to raise […]
Switching Investments
Your retirement plan gives you the flexibility to change your investment choices if you consider it appropriate to do so. When does it make sense to add or subtract from your holdings in one or more funds in your plan account? Here are some times when you might consider making a switch. When Your Retirement […]