Earn rewards to use towards travel expenses — A travel credit card is a type of credit card that provides you with rewards, usually in the form of miles or points, based on your purchases to be used towards travel expenses. Now that a new year is upon us, I know you may be looking to travel sometime…

An ETF that provides exposure to financial services — The financial sector is a section of the economy made up of companies that provide financial services such as retail banking, commercial banking, insurance, and mortgage finance. It is a key sector to be aware of since you likely have a bank account, auto loan, and/or mortgage with a company…

An individual’s total earnings before taxes and other deductions — Gross income is an individual’s total earnings before taxes and other deductions. Income is not limited to income received in cash. It can also include properties or services received. Gross income is also a term used in the business world, but today the focus will be on individuals. When it…

Keep track of securities you are interested in — A watchlist is a set of securities an investor monitors for a potential investment or trading opportunity. Building your own watchlist makes it easier to understand the key securities you want to monitor and track. Whether you are using a brokerage such as TD Ameritrade or a financial platform such…

Your most important credit score — Your FICO Score is a credit score used by 90% of the top United States lending institutions to determine your creditworthiness for products such as mortgages, auto loans, and personal loans. Moving into 2023, it is important to be of the ways you can improve your FICO Score to ensure…

An ETF that provides exposure to the health care sector — Health care is one of the most important sectors in the United States. Some of its key segments include health insurance, health care marketing, pharmaceuticals, health care technology, and health administration. According to the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, United States’ national health care expenditure reached $4.1 trillion…

A metric to be familiar with — Institutional ownership is the amount of a company’s available stock owned by a fund, investment firm, private foundation, endowment, or any large entity that manages investments on behalf of others. Stocks with a large amount of institutional ownership are often looked upon favorably since large entities that manage investments tend…

A performance measure to know about — Return on investment (ROI) is a performance measure used to evaluate the profitability of an investment or compare the efficiency of several different investments. ROI essentially tries to directly measure an investment’s return relative to its cost. ROI is a measure you should be familiar with as an investor. The…

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…