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Once you've identified your financial and investment goals and assessed your investing personality, you'll need to create an investment portfolio that fits your needs and understand what's involved in managing that portfolio on an ongoing basis. Entire books--actually, shelves full of books--have been written about ways to design and manage a portfolio, so this discussion obviously can only serve as a basic introduction to the process. However, it can help you understand the challenges involved and decide just how much assistance you might need, as well as how involved you want to be in managing your portfolio on an ongoing basis. Read More

You've identified your goals and done some basic research. You understand the difference between a stock and a bond. But how do you actually go about creating an investment portfolio? What specific investments are right for you? What resources are out there to help you with investment decisions? Do you need a financial professional to help you get started? Read More

The combination of investments you choose is as important as the individual investments themselves. In fact, many experts argue that it's even more important, since the mix of various types of investments accounts for most of the ups and downs of a portfolio's return. Each type of investment, or asset class, has strengths and weaknesses that let it play a specific role in your overall investing strategy. Read More

Recent market news — around social-media driven stock trading that created extreme price swings for shares of certain companies — may have you wondering whether you should jump into the excitement. Before you leap, you might consider this advice from legendary investor and teacher Benjamin Graham, considered the father of value investing: "The individual investor should act consistently as an investor and not as a speculator." Read More

When investing in a mutual fund, you may have the opportunity to choose among several share classes, most commonly Class A, Class B, and Class C. This multi-class structure offers you the opportunity to select a share class that is best suited to your investment goals. The only differences among these share classes typically revolve around how much you will be charged for buying the fund, when you will pay any sales charges that apply, and the amount you will pay in annual fees and expenses. Read More

When investing, particularly for long-term goals, there are two concepts you will likely hear about over and over again — diversification and asset allocation. Diversification helps limit exposure to loss in any one investment or one type of investment, while asset allocation provides a blueprint to help guide your investment decisions. Read More

Many women manage their own money. This includes women who have always been doing so and women who are relatively new to the world of investing, for whatever reason. Regardless of your level of investing experience, there are certain investor traits that can prove advantageous for anyone. Read More

Some people go swimming by diving into the pool; others prefer to edge into the water gradually, especially if the water's cold. A decision about putting money into an investment can be somewhat similar. Is it best to invest your money all at once, putting a lump sum into something you believe will do well? Or should you invest smaller amounts regularly over time to try to minimize the risk that you might invest at precisely the wrong moment? Read More

Legendary investor Warren Buffett is famous for his long-term perspective. He has said that he likes to make investments he would be comfortable holding even if the market shut down for 10 years. Investing with an eye to the long term is particularly important with stocks. Historically, equities have typically outperformed bonds, cash, and inflation, though past performance is no guarantee of future results and those returns also have involved higher volatility.Read More

A chocolate cake. Pasta. A pancake. They're all very different, but they generally involve flour, eggs, and perhaps a liquid. Depending on how much of each ingredient you use, you can get very different outcomes. The same is true of your investments. Balancing a portfolio means combining various types of investments using a recipe that's appropriate for you. Read More

Since 2003, when the top federal income tax rate on qualified dividends was reduced from a maximum of 38.6%, dividends have acquired renewed respect. Favorable tax treatment isn't the only reason, either; the ability of dividends to provide income and potentially help mitigate market volatility is also attractive to investors. As baby boomers approach retirement and begin to focus on income-producing investments, the long-term demand for high-quality, reliable dividends is likely to increase. Read More

One of the longest-standing debates in investing is over the relative merits of active portfolio management versus passive management. With an actively managed portfolio, a manager tries to beat the performance of a given benchmark index by using his or her judgment in selecting individual securities and deciding when to buy and sell them. A passively managed portfolio attempts to match that benchmark performance, and in the process, minimize expenses that can reduce an investor's net return. Each camp has strong advocates who argue that the advantages of its approach outweigh those for the opposite side. Read More

On August 14, 2019, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 800 points, losing 3% of its value in its biggest drop of the year. The Nasdaq Composite also lost 3%, while the S&P 500 lost 2.9%. The slide started with bad economic news from Germany and China, which triggered a flight to the relative safety of U.S. Treasury securities. High demand briefly pushed the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note below the two-year note for the first time since 2007. Read More

Bonds may not be as glamorous as stocks or commodities, but they are a significant component of most investment portfolios. Bonds are traded in huge volumes every day, but their full usefulness is often underappreciated and underestimated. Read More

A well-diversified investment portfolio contains a mix of stocks, bonds, short-term cash investments, and savings accounts that is tailored to your investment goals and risk tolerance. If you want to diversify your investment portfolio further, you can look to other investment possibilities. Here are a few of these, with brief explanations of what they are, how they can be used, and what the risks and potential rewards may be. Read More

You may not realize it, but if you're investing a regular amount in a 401(k) or another employer-sponsored retirement plan via payroll deduction, you're already using dollar cost averaging. In fact, you can use dollar cost averaging to invest for any long-term goal. It's easy to get started, too. Read More

Mutual funds have been one alternative for many investors seeking professional money management. But when you buy shares of a mutual fund, your assets are pooled with those of other fund shareholders. You gain professional money management, but the fund's manager certainly can't tailor its portfolio to meet your individual requirements. Read More

A chocolate cake. Pasta. A pancake. They're all very different, but they generally involve flour, eggs, and perhaps a liquid. Depending on how much of each ingredient you use, you can get very different outcomes. The same is true of your investments. Read More