Finance for Dummies

Your ABCs to Finance and Investment

What Is a Revocable Trust?

So, what is a revocable trust? A revocable trust is a legal entity that is created to hold assets. The revocable trust could act as a self-defense tool to direct the use of assets should the creator of the trust become incapacitated. Parents can also use revocable trusts to hold assets for the benefit of […]

What Is Contribution Margin?

In accounting, contribution margin is the difference between a company’s total sales, revenue, and variable costs. You can use the contribution margin formula to determine how much of a company’s revenues will be contributing to the business’s net income and fixed costs, after deducting the variable costs. It can be presented as the amount for a […]

What Is a Triple Net Lease?

Rental leases in the residential real estate industry are fairly straightforward and similar. For example, the tenant usually pays a gross rental amount and may assume most or all responsibility for utilities. The landlord typically pays for property taxes, property insurance and maintenance on a residential investment property. With commercial real estate leases, however, there […]

What Is Stagflation?

Many economic terms are wonky, mathematical concepts that one never hears outside of the classroom or an academic paper. Economists are often the only people who know or need to know these terms. But stagflation is a concept that every American should become familiar with. They should be able to understand what is stagflation. This […]

What Is an Annuity Payment?

Annuity payments are a popular source of retirement income, but the topic is polarizing among the financial community. Some observers see annuities as an important and useful income source. Others see them as expensive and complicated instruments that don’t being much value to clients. So, what is an annuity payment, and how do annuity payments […]

What Is a Home Equity Loan?

You may have heard about home equity loans periodically over the years. However, you may not know what is a home equity loan or how this type of financing may work for you. Equity essentially is the difference between what the current market value on your home is and what you currently owe on home […]