Are you an Investor? If you are an investor or do you want to be one? (Note: If you have a 401K, TSP or IRA you are an investor) If yes, then bookmark and check-into Investor.gov. It will be helpful for you.
Seek out Trusted Sources of Information: Investor.gov is operated by the United States’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This is important as government resources are an ideal place to start, as they are typically not trying to “sell” you on a certain product or service. Investor.gov is available to help you make wise investment decisions and to avoid fraud.
How can you utilize Investor.gov?
- What first got me into using investor.gov were the investor bulletins and fraud alerts which can help keep you out of trouble. One of these bulletins is: 7 Ways to Use Investor.gov. This is a good place to start when exploring this tool: https://www.investor.gov/additional-resources/news-alerts/investor-bulletins/investor-bulletin-seven-ways-use-investorgov
- “My clients find the Compound Interest Calculator | Investor.gov to be a helpful tool to visualize how much their savings and investments may grow to be in the future. The simple calculator allows you to adjust savings amounts, rate of return or time period to see how those factors impact the final balance. What if you could save $400 extra a month, what difference might that make when you’re ready to retire?” shared Marjorie McLean, Accredited Financial Counselor. Investor.gov has other calculators relevant to investments and financial planning.
- Researching a potential or current investment advisor? You can learn more about fees – how investment professionals and investments make money off of you. The Form ADV where it explains investment professionals services and fees is particularly enlightening. Protect Your Investments | Investor.gov has a tool for searching up your investment professional and other tips for safeguarding your investments and avoiding fraud and scams.
- Investor.gov is also a source of timely information. With the increasing popularity of investing in cryptocurrency, the SEC is provided a “Spotlight on Initial Coin Offerings and Digital Assets” to help investors avoid fraud and make more sound choices.
Tools You Can Use: There is a lot that can be used on this website. As accredited financial counselors at Betterfinancialcounseling.com, we take satisfaction in helping our clients learn techniques and tools that they can use to Better their lives. This is one of them.
Do you have a favorite financial tool? Let us know in the comments.
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