What has upswings and downturns, troughs, peaks, and plateaus? Though such terms could easily describe a roller coaster ride, they are also commonly used to describe the business cycle.

"If the current annual inflation rate is 7.9 percent, why do my bills seem like they're 10 percent higher than last year?"

Many of us ask ourselves that question, and it illustrates the importance of understanding how inflation is reported and how it can affect investments.

Diversification is an investment principle designed to manage risk. However, diversification does not guarantee against a loss. The key to diversification is to identify investments that may perform differently under various market conditions.

The growth of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has been explosive. In 2005, there were less than 500; by the latter half of 2021, there were over 8,000 investing in a wide range of stocks, bonds, and other securities and instruments…

Everyone loves a winner. If an investment is successful, most people naturally want to stick with it. But is that the best approach?

For many families, the lion’s share of education costs falls on the parents, and in some cases, the grandparents. Families rely on a combination of scholarships, grants, financial aid, part-time jobs, and parental contributions to help cover the cost. There are also a number of resources that can help individuals prepare for college, such as the College Board website and the government student aid website.

In February 2018, Jerome Powell was appointed as Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. He became the 16th chair to take over the helm of the world’s most influential central bank. Among other duties, he and the Fed governors are tasked with adjusting short-term interest rates to help control inflation in an effort to promote overall economic growth

There is no shortage of analysis for anyone interested in investing. A search for the term "stock market analysis" turned up over one billion results on Google and well over two billion on Yahoo.