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Index mutual funds are investment vehicles comprising stocks from a wide variety of companies and track the performance of a specific index, such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Investors are able to spread their assets across many different investments with the convenience of one fund, which c...

Nearly a quarter of the adult U.S. population is “underbanked.” This means they don’t regularly use a bank (or a bank’s mobile/online capabilities) to deposit checks and pay bills. That’s about 55 million people ostensibly living from cashed paycheck to cashed paycheck.1

When these underbanked people...

Most people using the internet to shop, conduct financial transactions, or read firewall-protected content are likely familiar with the aggravation of maintaining passwords. Worse yet, tech experts now say conventional password security is only a marginal defense against hacking.1

We are now entering...

Anyone who followed the often-used investment adage, “Sell in May and go away,” is likely pleased with their decision after the markets struggled in the month of August.1

While recent market events may seem dramatic, August is historically the weakest month of the year for U.S. equities.2 By mid-Augu...

A promising way to jumpstart the U.S. economy is by helping more entrepreneurs establish their own businesses. The 30.2 million U.S. small businesses represent 99.9 percent of all businesses in this country. They employ nearly half (47.5 percent) of America’s total workforce.1

If you need further pro...

The Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) evaluates a plethora of factors before making any monetary policy decisions at meetings, which generally take place eight times a year. One source that helps inform their policy decisions is the “Beige Book,” which is the informal name for t...

There is one predominant reason why retirement portfolio design must be approached differently today than in previous years: There is an infant alive in this world, right now, who is expected to reach age 200.1

That’s the prediction from demographers researching life expectancy trends, according to O...

In our personal lives, we have a conscience that keeps us from doing not-so-nice things. Sometimes we even get a creepy-crawly feeling when we think someone may be up to no good.

Fortunately, there also are some common red flags that warn us about things we should avoid when investing. For example, i...

Researchers have estimated how much of our lifetime is spent on various activities. For example, based on a lifespan of 80 years, the average person will spend:1

• ​26 years sleeping
• 7 years trying to get to sleep​
• ​​13 years at work
  
• ​​​​8 years watching TV
  
• ​4.5 years eating
• ​3 years on social media
• ​3 years...

Annuities are nothing new; in fact, they’ve been around since Roman times, and maybe even before that.1 But they’re seeing a modern-day surge in popularity, fueled by pre-retirees and retirees concerned about stock market volatility and outliving their retirement income.

The fixed annuity market expe...