Main Asset Classes for Investment: Stocks, Bonds, Real Estate In most cases, the best way to begin investing is to decide which asset classes you want to own: real estate, stocks, or fixed income. Each has unique risks, opportunities, and tax rules. While building a complete portfolio might seem difficult, the dividends, interest, and rents can be worth it. You likely […]

It’s amazing that it’s so easy to get into debt, but painfully difficult to get back out. It can take just a few months to create tens of thousands of dollars in debt, but sometimes decades to pay it off. Everyone who pays off their debt does it a different way and often combine strategies […]

Can medical bills affect your credit? The short answer is yes, if you don’t pay them. The U.S. spends more on health care per capita than any other country, according to a report by the Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker. So, it’s not surprising that in 2014, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that as many as 43 million […]

What is a credit score? A credit score is a number that is calculated based on the information in your credit report, which helps credit providers know how responsible you are to lend to, and whether you have the endurance to pay them back. It’s a number that is between 0 and 1200, where a […]

In order to understand the types of consumer credit, it is important to know what consumer credit is. It is simply an amount of credit used by individuals to buy products, such as goods and services and is used as an advance which is required to pay for the purchases. The purchase of goods and services involve […]

A student loan If you don’t have the money to pay for college, a student loan will enable you to borrow money and pay it back at a later date, with interest. A loan is different from a grant or a scholarship. If you receive a grant or a scholarship you’re not borrowing that money. […]

The Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) covers two types of retirement plans: defined benefit plans and defined contribution plans. A defined benefit plan promises a specified monthly benefit at retirement. The plan may state this promised benefit as an exact dollar amount, such as $100 per month at retirement. Or, more commonly, it may calculate a […]

The most common personal loan everyone is familiar with is an unsecured loan, but what other options do you have for personal loans? If you recall, an unsecured loan does not require collateral measures but, instead, raises the interest rates in cases of risk. Personal loans range from secured to fix-rate loans, yet not all are fitting […]

Loan types vary because each loan has a specific intended use. They can vary by length of time, by how interest rates are calculated, by when payments are due and by a number of other variables. Debt Consolidation Loans A consolidation loan is meant to simplify your finances. Simply put, a consolidation loan pays off […]

SBA loans Currently, the SBA offers four types of small business loans: 7(a) Loan Program: 7(a) loans, the SBA’s primary lending program, are the most basic, common and flexible type of loan. They can be used for a variety of purposes, including working capital; the purchase of machinery, equipment, furniture, and fixtures; the purchase of land […]