Valuation of a company in terms of its shares is a long and effort-taking process. Yet individual investors will find it helpful to get to know about the main stages of the process as they can perform nearly all of the stages on their own. When analyzing a company one…

Sinking-Fund Provisions A sinking fund is money taken from a corporation’s earnings that is used to redeem bonds periodically, before maturity, as specified in the indenture. If a bond issue has a sinking-fund provision, a certain portion of the issue must be retired each year. The bonds retired are usually…

Investors buy corporates for a variety of reasons: Attractive Yields Corporates usually offer higher yields than comparable-maturity government bonds or CDs. This high-yield potential is generally accompanied by higher risks. Dependable Income People who want steady income from their investments, while preserving their principal, include corporates in their portfolios. Safety…

Even if you are a Harvard professor, an economist and an authority on financing a college education, finding the right college savings program is still a nettlesome process. Susan Dynarski, an assistant professor of public policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, not only knows how tough it is for…

Exchange funds allow investors a tax-free means to diversify a low-cost-basis and/or restricted stock position. Exchange funds allow investors to pool their low-cost-basis stocks in a fund. In exchange for contributing their stock to the fund, each investor owns a pro-rata share of the fund. After a set period of…

Corporate Bonds (also called corporates) are debt obligations, or IOUs, issued by private and public corporations. They are typically issued in multiples of $1,000 and/or $5,000. Companies use the funds they raise from selling bonds for a variety of purposes, from building facilities to purchasing equipment to expanding the business….