Margaret Giles

3 days ago | morningstar.com | Christine Benz |Margaret Giles

The main types of guaranteed income that someone could bring into retirement are typically Social Security and people who have pension. Annuities also fall under this umbrella. Social Security and Treasury bonds are the closest to guaranteed income. Pensions vary in terms of their backing. Annuities are backed by the insurance company offering the annuity. Social Security and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities are mostly inflation-protected.

1 week ago | morningstar.com.au | Margaret Giles

Fears of a recession are back on investors’ minds. But predicting the onset of an economic downturn, let alone the length and severity of one, is difficult even for the experts. As a rule of thumb, two quarters of gross domestic product contraction is generally accepted as a recession, but the official start date is declared by the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

2 weeks ago | morningstar.com | Christine Benz |Margaret Giles

Bonds bring two main things to our portfolios. They bring some level of income, often a higher level of income than equities infer, and they also bring a diversification benefit, which can help lower our portfolio’s volatility. When trying to diversify your portfolio, assuming you have a base of US equities, you’d bring into the portfolio assets that are negatively correlated with stocks, so when your stocks are down, this asset is going to go up.

3 weeks ago | theepochtimes.com | Hyunmin Kim |Margaret Giles

A 529 college savings plan can be a powerful tool when saving for future education expenses because investments in the plan can increase tax-free, but many savers don’t take full advantage of all the benefits that 529 plans have to offer. One common deterrent to investing through a 529 plan is the concern that assets in a 529 account will reduce financial aid eligibility. While it’s true that 529 assets have an impact on financial aid, the effect is likely smaller than you think.

1 month ago | morningstar.no | Margaret Giles

Det amerikanske markedet ser dyrt ut, så investorene lurer kanskje på hvilke aksjer de bør kjøpe nå, med dette bakteppet. Uansett hvor markedet er på vei, kan det være lurt å eie selskaper som gir en viss trygghet når det gjelder kontantstrømmer og selskapets fundamentale forhold. Det er her Morningstars liste over "Beste selskaper å eie" kommer inn i bildet. Selskapene på denne listen har betydelige konkurransefortrinn.