Market Orders vs. Limit Orders: A Beginner's Guide
Market order vs limit order: one fills now at an uncertain price, the other only at your price or better. 3 worked examples, plus stop orders and time limits.
Investing for Beginners
Compound interest, index funds, risk and the fundamentals of long-term investing.
Investing jargon decoded
What Are Dividends? A Plain-English Explainer for First-Time Investors
What are dividends? Cash or shares a company pays its owners. Why they are part of your return, not extra, and the 3 main ways a payout can reach you.
Asset classes explained
Stocks vs. Bonds: How Their Risks and Rewards Differ
Stocks vs bonds: owning versus lending, who is paid first if a company fails, the risks of each, and why US stocks and Treasuries both fell about 18% in 2022.
Is Gold a Good Investment? What History Shows and What It Doesn't
Is gold a good investment? It pays no income, lost about three-quarters of its buying power after US inflation from 1980 to 2001, yet held up in some crashes.
Investing basics
Compound Interest Explained: Why Starting Early Can Make Such a Difference
Compound interest explained: the formula in plain words, a worked table of early and late starters at 3, 5 and 7%, and what fees, inflation and tax take.
Investing for Beginners: How It Works and Where to Start
Investing for beginners: how stocks, bonds and funds work, what 126 years of US returns show, and 7 steps based on US and UK regulators' guidance.
Investor psychology
The Behavior Gap: How Investors End Up Earning Less Than Their Own Funds
Fund investors often earn less than their funds report. How the behavior gap is measured, why estimates range from about 8.5 points to 0.1, and what to do.
Crashes, bear markets, and inflation
Bear Markets Explained: What They Are and How Long They've Lasted Historically
A bear market is usually a fall of 20% or more, a convention rather than a rule. US bear markets since 1929 fell for 1 month to about 2.5 years.
Building a portfolio
Dollar-Cost Averaging vs. Lump Sum: What the Research Says
Dollar-cost averaging vs lump sum: why investing each paycheck is a different question, and what Vanguard and research since 1979 found about windfalls.
Diversification Explained: Why Spreading Your Money Reduces Risk
Diversification explained: why spreading cuts one company's risk but not the market's, and why one US study found the stocks needed rose from about 20 to 50.
Funds, ETFs, and fees
What Is an Index Fund? How Tracking a Market Index Works
An index fund copies a market index instead of trying to beat it. How tracking works, why the copy is never exact, and 5 questions to ask before you buy.