American Investors Believe Real Estate, Stocks, & Bonds Will Be The Safest Investments In 2021
At Sophisticated Investor, we understand in this utterly unprecedented year that has been 2020, Americans are striving to find investments that will prove to be the best option at keeping their hard-earned money safe. We conducted a survey asking 5,001 Americans which...Self-Directed 401(k): The Ultimate Guide for 2020-2021
Retirement investors are often stuck having to choose between the volatility of the stock market and the underwhelming stability of money markets and bond yields. Self-directed retirement savings accounts are the perfect middle ground solution between these two...Self Directed IRA and Real Estate: The Ultimate Guide for 2020/2021
Mark Twain once wrote, “Buy land, they aren’t making it anymore.” Though he wasn’t known for his sage financial wisdom, Mark might’ve been onto something. Real estate is a finite commodity, and housing is a basic, universal human need. The characteristics of scarcity...401(k) Plan Termination: What To Do if You Lose Your Job or If Your Employer Suspends Your 401(k) Match
An employer-matched 401(k) is an excellent retirement savings vehicle. As a tax-advantaged account, 401(k) plans let your money grow tax-free while also lowering your upfront income tax burden. Unlike a regular savings account, you won’t have to pay taxes on the...Want to Pay Off Your Student Loans Faster? Follow These 5 Rules for Paying Off Student Loans
In 2020, U.S. student loan debt eclipsed $1.56 trillion. The median debt burden for the graduating Class of 2019 is nearly $30,000, up over 2% from the year prior. It seems that every year, American students are becoming more indebted and less economically advantaged...Highly Asymmetric Investments: A Golden Opportunity in 2020, Or Too Risky?
Accurate financial predictions are difficult at best. This is because uncertainty and risk are inherent characteristics of free markets. Fortunately, you can sway uncertainty in your favor by finding highly asymmetric investments and trading opportunities. An...Average Savings by Age: How Does Your 401(k) Compare to the National Average?
In most aspects of life, it’s probably not a good idea to compare yourself to others. Retirement saving is a different story. Knowing how your 401(k) stacks up against your peers’ can help with post-career planning and can help you set benchmarks on the road to...Money Markets vs Certificates of Deposit (CDs): Differences Explained for Investors
A money market account (MMA) and a certificate of deposit (CD) are two financial products that generate interest income from cash savings. Both products can be thought of as fixed-income investments, like bonds, that provide predictable interest over a defined...Millennial Retirement Investing: The Complete Guide for 2020
Two-thirds of Millennials have nothing saved for retirement. Can you blame them? Millennials, born between 1981 and 1996, entered the job market amid one of the worst periods of wage stagnation and unemployment in recent history—not to mention an average student loan...Rules of Investing: 5 Timeless Investing Rules That You Need to Follow in 2020
It’s been a rollercoaster of a year for financial markets. In February 2020, global stock markets reported their steepest one-week declines since the global financial crisis. Three weeks later, the price of crude oil fell by a staggering 26% due to geopolitical...Fed to the Rescue? US Central Bank Cuts Interest Rates by 50 Basis Points on the Heels of Recession Scare
On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve announced emergency interest rate cuts amid a worsening coronavirus situation. Shuttered Chinese factories, negative bond yields, and record-setting losses across all major US indexes tell a story of an economy in decline. In response,...
