Personal Finance

Investing isn’t a one-size-fits-all endeavor. You can choose the types of investments you want to hold and how you’d like to manage your portfolio. One significant decision you’ll need to make is whether you want to follow an active or a passive investment strategy.

Some investors have a “set it and forget it” view, intending to let their investments grow until they need to access the money. But if you leave assets untouched and have no contact with the financial institutions holding your accounts for too long, they might be labeled as “dormant,” in which case they must be turned over to the state as abandoned or unclaimed property. While there are mechanisms in place to help you recover these assets, there are also preemptive steps you can take to help you avoid this situation.

You probably wouldn’t make a major purchase without first reading product reviews, comparing an item to its competitors or assessing its features, performance, pricing and overall value to meet your needs. A similar approach can be followed before investing. Gathering the information necessary to make an informed decision about an investment is a process commonly known as due diligence.

When you buy a bond, you’re loaning money to the bond’s issuer—which could be a corporation, a local municipality, a government agency or the federal government—with the intention of receiving back your initial investment and, in most cases, interest. But not all bonds are created equal.

Pump-and-dump stock scams are nothing new. These scams have been a mainstay of financial fraudsters for centuries. And while technology has changed the way they operate, the underlying principles and motivations of these unlawful practices remain the same.

Reading, writing, arithmetic … and finance? Teaching kids about financial concepts and prudent decision-making can help them become financially proficient adults and deserves a spot alongside early learning basics. Here are four tips to help build a foundation for financial fluency.

1. Talk About Money

Beginning discussions about money, budgeting and saving when kids are young helps to normalize the conversation.

Digital integration is a key component of modern society, with investors increasingly using mobile devices to access financial accounts and online applications allowing for investments to be made quickly from anywhere with phone service or Wi-Fi. However, with this convenience comes risk—scammers understand this reliance and continue to exploit it to steal data and wealth from investors.

If you’ve ever collected a horde of spare coins in a jar—saving them for years before placing them in rolls and depositing them at the bank—you’ve had an introduction to the principle of micro-investing. Micro-investing refers to the process of regularly investing small amounts of money to build up a stake over time while participating in financial markets.

As you might have learned from your heavy coin jar, even spare change can gradually grow into a significant sum if saved regularly. And for many of us, doing without these funds wouldn’t impact our lifestyle.

Money management and investment strategies might not seem like the most romantic conversation topics, but they’re among the most important when you’re thinking of marriage or a long-term partnership. Disagreements over money are a common source of tension for couples and often cited as a reason for divorce or a parting of ways, making these discussions impossible to avoid as you build a life together and plan and save for your future.

Getting a pay raise can be exciting and even life-changing. And while there’s nothing wrong with the occasional splurge (if you can afford it), consider dedicating part of your new pay hike to a long-term wealth-building strategy.

If you want to maximize the impact of your raise, here are some ways you might use the extra cash.