A measure of how much of a fund’s assets are used for expenses — An expense ratio is a ratio that measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative and other operating expenses such as recordkeeping, custodial services, taxes, legal expenses, accounting fees, and auditing fees. In a fund such as an exchange-traded fund (ETF), the expense ratio is deducted from…

A ratio to be familiar with — Debt-to-Income (DTI) ratio is a financial ratio that compares your monthly debt payments to your monthly gross income. It is commonly used to assess your creditworthiness when it comes to getting qualified for a mortgage. …

Make things simple for yourself — There is no hiding from personal finance. How you earn, save, invest, and spend your money will always be important. That is why it is important to take advantage of the free resources out there for you to assist in simplifying your personal finance journey. …

The largest and most actively traded ETF — The Standard & Poor’s Depositary Receipt Standard & Poor’s 500 Exchange Traded Fund (simply known as the SPDR S&P 500 ETF or SPY) is an ETF that seeks to provide investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of the S&P 500 Index. Launched on January 22nd, 1993…

The most important component of your FICO Score calculation — Your FICO Score is calculated using different pieces of credit data in your credit report. The data is grouped into five categories to calculate your FICO Score on a scale of 300 to 850: payment history, amounts owed, length of credit history, new credit, and credit mix. …

An ETF that is driven by rapid population increases and industrialization — The environmental services industry covers a broad range of activities focused on protecting and improving the environment in which we live. These activities include sewage services, sanitation services, soil mediation & clean-up, air pollution control, and noise abatement. In the United States, the environmental services industry is an approximately $400…

A financial metric to be familiar with — Earnings per share (EPS) is calculated as a company’s profit divided by the outstanding number of shares of its common stock. The number calculated from the formula serves as an indicator of a company’s profitability. …

Standardized system to classify companies — When it comes to classifying companies into a specific economic sector and industry group that defines how their business operates, there is a standard for that. That standard is known as the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS). GICS was developed jointly by Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) and Standard &…

A simple way to invest — Investing can be a challenging endeavor no matter where you are in life. That is why there is a strategy that helps simplify it known as dollar-cost averaging. Dollar-cost averaging is an investment strategy that involves investing the same amount of money into a specific security at regular intervals, regardless…