Personal Finance

Investors make millions of online stock trades each day. But have you ever thought about how online stock trading works? Once you hit enter on an order to buy or sell a stock, what happens next? There might be more steps in the stock trade process than you realize.

Smartphones have been a boon to productivity and convenience. Many consumers have shifted their banking and investment transactions to the time-saving apps on their phones. But along with convenience, a reliance on mobile devices has attracted scammers looking to steal information and assets. A growing type of fraud exploiting mobile phone usage is known as SIM swapping.

If you receive a stock award from an employer, you become a part-owner of the company and can benefit if its share price goes higher. Like any other investment, though, stock awards come with risks. If your company grants you a stock award or you're considering a job that includes equity compensation, here are a few questions to consider:

You probably know that investing involves risk. Different investment products and strategies involve different degrees of risk. Generally, the higher the expected returns of a product or strategy, the greater the risk that you could lose most or all of your investment. 

So what level of risk is too much? This isn’t a simple question, and there’s no “right” answer. 

Like other fixed-income securities, baby bonds typically feature a specified maturity rate and schedule of interest payments. Baby bonds, though, are issued in smaller denominations than most other types of corporate bonds, which can make them seem like an easy way to access the bond markets. But a smaller investment minimum doesn’t mean that this type of bond has lower risks.

Shell companies—companies that have no or nominal business operations or non-cash assets for an extended period of time—can be used for legitimate purposes. However, they can also be used by fraudsters as vehicles for stock manipulation.

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From tobacco producers to payment services and more, some major businesses have been spun off from their previous corporate owners. Why do corporations spin off subsidiaries, and what does this mean for investors?

What Is a Spinoff?

A spinoff occurs when a corporation divests itself of one or multiple divisions. The parent company often keeps a large ownership stake in the spinoff, but the new entity is an independent corporation with its own officers and board of directors, and its shares trade separately from those of the parent.

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Office of Customer Education and Outreach (OCEO), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) are issuing this Investor Alert to warn investors about relationship investment scams, where fraudsters—including criminals and other bad actors—often hide their true identities, reach out to unsuspecting targets (often online or through text messages), gain their trust over time, and then defraud the

Avenues for charitable giving today go beyond traditional cash donations made directly to nonprofit organizations. Investment vehicles designed specifically for charitable donations provide opportunities to contribute other financial assets, including securities and property, and might also provide you with certain benefits, such as tax deductions or regular income payments.