Investing Basics

All kinds of stock market terms and metaphors are associated with Wall Street trading. Knowing the language can sometimes help investors better understand what’s going on.

Stocks and bonds are both securities. Learn about these investment securities and understand the difference between equity securities and debt securities.

Bonds are typically considered a more conservative investment that can help diversify your portfolio and attempt to ride out stock market volatility.

Do you have the right financial advisor? Learn some of the key traits of a great financial advisor and some of the warning signs that may suggest you choose a different financial advisor.

Are you—or would you like to become—a municipal bond investor? Understand the basic types of municipal, or muni, bonds and the potential benefits and risks.

The stock market has had circuit breakers—temporary trading halts imposed if U.S. stock markets fall by certain percentages—in place since 1987, but they've rarely been triggered until March 2020. Here's what investors should know.

If you’re interested in pursuing a long-term dividend strategy, understanding dividend yield could help you make investment decisions.

Learn the fundamentals, strategies, and signals of cyclical stocks and how the outlook may be different in the wake of the pandemic.

If you want more diversification in your portfolio, don’t forget about the humble mutual fund, which can help provide exposure to many parts of the market.

A company’s board of directors is responsible for providing sound guidance and a fiduciary responsibility to shareholders. Investors should learn the important basics.

Even long-term investors can sometimes use timing strategies to go in and out of the market, but spending long-term time in the market could beat timing the market.

What happens when a SPAC makes an acquisition? A cooling of the SPAC market in 2021 may be a good time to look at the full SPAC life cycle.

When a stock is made available to the public, there’s a process in place. In some high-demand issues, the IPO process involves an allocation. How does it work?

How do you read the market ticker? If you watch financial news or read stock charts, you’ve seen tickers or stock symbols. Here’s a primer.

Looking to make sense of markets and money? Trading and investing pros from TD Ameritrade weigh in on their favorite financial books.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) doesn’t tell the whole story. What’s your personal inflation rate? How can you use it to assess your long-term goals?

The Employment Situation (also known as the jobs report, nonfarm payrolls, or unemployment) offers insight into many facets of the economy.

Learn the difference between penny stocks and micro-cap stocks, plus the potential risks of such investments, to help you decide if you should consider them.

You may have heard of stock splits, but reverse stock splits—when a company reduces its number of outstanding shares—are another story. There may be many reasons companies complete a reverse stock split. So, before investing in such companies, you may want to do your due diligence.

Considering exchange-traded funds (ETFs)? Understand fit, style, and value before you shop.

Why do stock indices change their components and what happens when there's a change?

Special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have been around awhile, but they’ve gotten some new attention in 2020. Here’s a look at the mechanics and risks for investors involved in blank-check companies.

Got kids? Learn how to teach them about money, especially during their teenage years. Here’s what you need to know about investing for teens.

Interpreting reports on industrial production and capacity utilization can help traders and investors identify the state of the economic business cycle.

Education is key to trading stocks. The decision to start trading and investing in stocks depends on your personal situation—including whether you have investable assets.

Many people review their investments once a year. But many things can happen over the course of 12 months that might impact your investment portfolio, and this year it's especially important to review your financial situation as the COVID-19 crisis continues to upend markets.

Learn about consumer confidence, consumer sentiment, personal income, and personal spending reports. Understanding measures of market sentiment can help traders and investors see a more complete picture of market fundamentals.

Whether you use the official name—the Employment Situation—or call it the jobs report, nonfarm payrolls, or unemployment, this report offers insight into many facets of the economy. Here’s a primer.

Bear markets are often viewed negatively, but they’re part of a normal market cycle. Recognizing and understanding bear markets can put you in a better position to make strategic investment decisions when they come around.

Mutual funds are one of the most popular investment choices some people make when seeking to build a diversified portfolio. Find out why and learn how to choose mutual funds that align with your savings goals.

Are you a shareholder and want to have some say in a company’s decisions? Vote your proxy.

Large caps might get a lot of attention, but small-cap stocks are still a popular investment subset. And it’s important to track them separately from their larger siblings. Learn about small-cap stocks and the Russell 2000 Index.

How might interest rate increases and cuts impact long-term investing decisions? Learn strategies long-term investors might consider to help weather volatility.

Ready to start investing, but worried about debt? Here’s how to invest even if you still have debt on the books.

When seeking portfolio balance and diversification, many investors choose bonds and other fixed-income securities. But just like all investments, bonds carry risk. Learn about bonds and bond risk, and when you should consider fixed-income investing.

A shift among retail brokers to a zero-commission structure has led some investors to ask if it’s time to make a change. If you’re thinking about switching to TD Ameritrade, here are a few things you should know.

If you’re considering fixed-income investments as a way to diversify your portfolio and target a steady stream of income, you might want to give fixed-income mutual funds a look. Here’s what you need to know.

If you're familiar with StockX and similar online shoe reselling platforms, you might see similarities to the financial market system. What can we learn about investing and stock markets from the sneaker trade?

Financial advisors can do more than help you establish a portfolio. You can turn to a professional for help with a number of financial challenges in life.

Learn about convertible bonds, what appeal they might have for investors, and how they differ from corporate bonds.

Finding meaningful gifts for loved ones can be a challenge. Here are three ways to give financial gifts to a child, grandchild, or loved one to help save and invest for their future.

Eager to learn how to invest in the stock market? Some basic info and tools to get you started.

If you’re considering investing in marijuana stocks, it’s important to know some of the unique risks associated with the marijuana industry including scams. Read more for information on stock scams and differences between federal and state laws.

What are tax-free muni bonds? Learn the unique benefits and risks of this debt-security investment vehicle.

The classic definitions of bear and bull markets—rising and falling prices, respectively—only tell part of the story. Learn the details and nuances.

Develop a better understanding of stock valuation metrics and how to locate potentially undervalued investment opportunities.

Like generations before them, millennials want to be financially secure. Learn six saving and investing strategies that can help you pursue your goals.

New to stock investing? Learn the basics of stocks, earnings, dividends, and how a stock’s value is determined.

Many young investors aren’t sure how to start investing and may be surprised to learn it actually begins by managing expenses and paying off loans. Discover why.

Junk bonds—or high-yield bonds—can be quite risky, but may still have a place in a portfolio.

Long-term investors may be tempted to gloss over the minutiae, but the small print can often tell a company’s story. Learn some of the terms to know and why.