I was the second youngest cousin in a very large family based in Virginia. I lived in Michigan with my parents as a child. I write this as a memory of a 12 year old boy. My family would travel to Virginia for Christmas, and certain other holidays to a farm outside of the District […]
First of all, if you are only holding assets in IRAs or 401(k)s, this is largely irrelevant and you should stop reading now. If you hold assets in individual accounts or trust accounts, this is something that needs to be understood. Short-term vs Long-term Taxation Short-term capital gains treatment will apply to assets sold after […]
A pure holding company is a business entity that owns a controlling position in other companies. A pure holding company itself does not produce anything. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies and manage those investments on the behalf of shareholders. Control Typically holding companies will own at least 50% of a company […]
When I was a child there was a neighborhood garage sale that would take place every year where I lived. I would sell lemonade, as would many other children. My lemonade was made with real lemons and it was delicious. I would serve it in larger quantities than my competitors and therefore charged more, but […]
Is it true that Frosty the Snowman was as alive he can be? Yes, I can confirm. Frosty was a strange dinner guest because he was always melting. However, he was great company. Though he was slowly defrosting, he still made excellent conversation at the table. He was a good snowman. In retrospect, I should […]
I recently taught a friend to play chess, which is a passion of mine. Within a year, she is defeating me 50% of the time. I could have felt resentment. I did not. I felt proud that I was able to teach someone a fairly complex game and be defeated by my “apprentice”. How Does […]
Trading volume is a metric used in the equity market that identifies the total number of shares in a company which were traded during a defined time period. What Does This Tell You? Institutional Activity Large volume increases or declines may suggest that buying or selling by large institutions is occurring. These will generally be […]
A P/E ratio, or Price to Earnings Ratio, is a simple financial metric used to examine the value of a company. It tells you how much the market is willing to pay for $1 of a company’s earnings. The Math The price of a company’s stock is divided by the earnings per share of that […]
Planning I started my career in the middle of a recession. A friend of mine pointed out to me when we were at a very busy grocery store, that the reason for the chaotic crowd was because it was a Friday and many of the shoppers had just received pay, so could now purchase groceries […]
Required Minimum Distributions are minimum amounts that the government requires most retirement account holders to withdraw annually, starting at a specific age. They apply to tax-deferred retirement accounts and are required to ensure that people eventually pay taxes on money that has been growing with tax deferral. The following types of retirement accounts are subject […]
