S&P 500 closes above 7,000 for the first time
The S&P 500 closed above 7,000 for the first time on record in mid-April 2026, with the Nasdaq…
News in Finance
What an emergency fund is actually for, and how big it needs to be
An emergency fund exists to cover a genuine, unplanned financial shock, job loss, a medical bill, an urgent…
The 50/30/20 budgeting rule, and why it works better as a starting point than a strict formula
The 50/30/20 rule offers a simple starting framework for budgeting: roughly 50% of after-tax income toward needs, 30%…
Index funds versus actively managed funds: what the data actually shows
The debate between index funds and actively managed funds has been studied extensively for decades, and the data…
S&P 500 starts 2026 near record highs after three straight blockbuster years
The S&P 500 entered 2026 sitting near its all-time high, having closed at a record 95 separate times…
S&P 500 closes out 2025 at a record high, up 18% for the year
The S&P 500 finished 2025 on a historic note, closing at a record 6,932.05 on December 24 and…
How to read a fund’s expense ratio, and why a small-looking number matters more than it seems
An expense ratio, the annual fee a fund charges as a percentage of assets under management, is easy…
Understanding your credit score: what actually moves the number
A credit score can feel like an opaque black box, but the major scoring models are built from…
Why diversification doesn’t mean simply owning a lot of different stocks
Diversification is often reduced, in casual investing conversation, to a simple headcount: owning more individual stocks equals being…
How compound interest actually works, and why starting early matters so much
Compound interest is often explained with a formula, but the intuition behind it matters more than the math:…
Understanding APR versus interest rate: a distinction that affects every loan comparison
A loan’s advertised interest rate and its APR, annual percentage rate, are frequently confused, but they measure different…
How inflation quietly erodes cash sitting in a low-interest account
Money sitting in an account earning little to no interest doesn’t feel like it’s losing value, since the…