It's natural for investors who are still skittish after a decade-long roller coaster ride with the stock market and plummeting real estate values to be risk averse and seek out investment alternatives for protecting their nest eggs for retirement, college funding or simply their emergency cash. And where there is demand, there will be supply. So naturally, financial firms will design products ... Read More
FDIC
Beware the Siren Call
Like the mythical siren's call, the pitch is enticing - a seemingly perfect investment. Investors can buy into a contract offering a minimum return with the potential to capture the upside of increases in the stock market while avoiding portfolio value declines if - and when - the market goes down. This blend of promises can be found in 'equity-indexed annuities" or EIAs offered by insurance ... Read More
How to Make Sure Your Cash Investments Have FDIC Protection
Written by Rob Williams, Director of Income Planning, Schwab Center for Financial Research, March 16, 2009. Although bank failures have been relatively rare historically, it’s prudent to evaluate the steps you can take to protect the assets you have in the banking system. Steering depositors away from panic and instilling public confidence in the banking system were reasons why Congress created ... Read More
Paying for College without Breaking Your Retirment Nest Egg
PAYING FOR COLLEGE. Do you own a business (full time or part-time)? Do you own investment real estate or a farm? Would you be interested in learning how to use IRS rules to help you pay for college? If you want to find ways to pay for college without ruining your personal retirement, there is hope (and it's not just the renames tax credit mentioned below). In this series, we'll go ... Read More
