Investing Resources
Print
You can count on Provident's Financial Consultants* to help you with your investment and insurance needs. But for some general advice and tips to help you with your investing and retirement planning, please check out the links on this page. If you have any questions, your initial consultation with a professional, experienced Financial Consultant is free. Just call (800) 632-4600, ext. 2487.
Reference
Learning Library
- Year-End Tax Planning Tips You may not be able to avoid Uncle Sam, but with careful planning, you may be able to minimize the tax bite. Here are a few year-end tax planning strategies.
- 10 Money Saving Ideas These days its more important than ever to save money for your future and for that of your family. Here are ten ideas to help you along.
- Are You Saving Enough? Most individuals understand that in order to achieve significant financial goals, they must learn to make saving a significant part of their lives. As a nation, however, how successful are we at saving?
- Five Tips For Folks Over 50 As you get older, your investment strategy changes. Here are 5 tips for those entering their silver years.
- Choosing Your Retirement Benefit Distribution Consider carefully how you want your benefits on your pension funds to be paid out during retirement. The distribution methods you select may impact your family for years to come.
- Retirement Reminder When figuring out how much money you'll need to live on during retirement, remember to budget for "wants" as well as needs. Such as...
- Withdrawing Money without Penalty Consider carefully how you want your benefits on your pension funds to be paid out during retirement. The distribution methods you select may impact your family for years to come.
- Plan Now, and Retire in Comfort The best way to ensure a comfortable retirement is with early planning. Here are some general guidelines to get you started.
- Building Wealth: It's Never Too Late Tips on how to improve your prospects for a comfortable retirement, if you didn't start saving early enough.
- Increase Your Savings to Achieve Your Financial Goals It is important to make saving a habit. We'll show you ways to jump start your savings program.
- What Makes Your Portfolio "Tick"? Market trends aren't the only things that affect how well your investments perform. Here are six more factors that make a difference.
- Five Steps to a Healthier 401(k) Don't let the investments in your 401(k) get out of whack. Follow these 5 steps to keep your 401(k) "in the pink."
- Protect Your Retirement When Leaving Your Job Changing jobs? Wondering what to do with the money in your existing employer-sponsored retirement plan? We'll help you out with some tips.
- Five Key Aspects of Family Financial Management Focus on these 5 areas to help preserve the financial security of your family, send your children to college, prepare for a comfortable retirement, and more.
- 529 Plans Offer Tax Benefits When Saving for College 529 Plans are a great, tax-smart way to save for your child's future education. Read more to find out why.
- The Financial Rewards of Aging Learn what the key ages of your life are, in relation to retirement accounts and Social Security.
Other Sites
Media Resources on the Web
The following links are to resources outside of the Provident Credit Union Web site that may also help you with your investing and money management. Provident does not control the content on any of the following links:
Net Worth - Kathleen Pender - RSS Feed
- EDD cuts back phone help to the jobless EDD cuts back phone help to the jobless
The California Employment Development Department said Thursday that it will no longer staff its unemployment insurance call centers in the afternoons beginning Monday as a result of federal funding shortfalls.
Starting May 20, EDD personnel will take calls from unemployed workers from 8 a.m. to 12 noon, Monday through Friday, except state holidays.
The current telephone service hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. By directing all available staff to answer phone...
- Federal unemployment benefits cut Federal unemployment benefits cut
More than 400,000 Californians will have their weekly federal unemployment benefits reduced by about 17.7 percent starting April 28 as a result of the federal budget cuts known as sequestration.
The cuts will affect only federal benefits, which start after someone has exhausted their regular state benefits, which typically last up to 26 weeks.
The cuts will not be implemented for unemployed individuals collecting benefits in the middle of a federal extension...
- Bank mess like Cyprus' unlikely in U.S. Bank mess like Cyprus' unlikely in U.S.
The Cypriot government's willingness to impose losses on insured as well as uninsured bank deposits highlights the fact that deposit insurance is only as good as the government standing behind it.
Little fear of contagionThat could explain why investors worldwide, at least for now, are shrugging off fears that a collapse of its banking system could spread to other eurozone countries.
The two countries have long-standing ties and their leaders deny wide...
- Costs to consolidate student loans vary Costs to consolidate student loans vary
Any student loans guaranteed by the federal government can be consolidated together into a federal direct consolidation loan.
If you ask a lender that made FFELP loans for a consolidation loan, the lender might say it no longer offers them (which is true) but fail to mention you could consolidate FFELP loans into a direct consolidation loan.
When you consolidate federal loans, the interest rate on the consolidation loan is the weighted average of the r...
- Fixed-maturity bond funds may ease rate worries Fixed-maturity bond funds may ease rate worries
For bond investors worried about what will happen to their principal when interest rates rise, a fixed-maturity bond fund is one solution.
Bond risksWhen you buy a bond, you are making a loan to the issuer, who promises to pay you a certain interest rate for a certain length of time.
At the end of that period - the maturity date - the issuer repays the par or face value of the bond, typically $1,000.
Bond funds mitigate this risk by pooling in...
- Students take hit unless Congress acts Students take hit unless Congress acts
San Francisco Chronicle
Copyright 2013 San Francisco Chronicle. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Updated 12:09 pm, Thursday, March 14, 2013
[...] rather than extending it again or letting it expire, some financial aid experts want Congress to overhaul the rate-setting process for all government-guaranteed college loans.
[...] students also had the option of...
- Household incomes, net worth rising Household incomes, net worth rising
The government released two reports last week showing continued improvement in household incomes and net worth.
The Internal Revenue Service reported that adjusted gross incomes rose 3.1 percent in 2011 from 2010, based on preliminary data in the IRS winter 2013 Statistics of Income Bulletin.
Net worth, as reported in the Fed's quarterly Flow of Funds report, measures the value of household assets minus debts.
Historically, this report showed a slow stead...
- Home buyers face dilemma with shortage Home buyers face dilemma with shortage
[...] if you wait, you could end up paying an even higher price and a higher interest rate if you need a loan.
The median price paid for a new or resale home or condo in the nine-county Bay Area was $415,000 in January.
The shortage comes at a time when demand is rising in the Bay Area, not just from regular buyers but from investors, second-home buyers and foreign buyers, especially from Asia.
'Heck of a wreck'The result is stories like this: A 1,500-...
- Is it too late to get in on stock surge? Is it too late to get in on stock surge?
[...] they have mostly missed the bull market that began in March 2009.
Since the time the financial crisis hit in late 2007 through the end of last year, individuals pulled $431 billion out of stock mutual funds and poured almost $1 trillion into the perceived safety of bond funds, according to Lipper.
"If you started investing in the 1990s, your experience is two bear markets and a housing bubble and burst," says Charles Rotblut, a vice pr...
- Dow is rising, and sky isn't falling Dow is rising, and sky isn't falling
The market goes to new all-time highs days after we fall off the sequester cliff, said James Paulsen, chief investment strategist with Wells Capital Management.
Paulsen was referring to the automatic federal spending cuts that took effect at midnight Friday after Congress and the president failed to come up with more targeted reductions.
Potential crisesThe automatic cuts, known as sequestration, are only the latest in a string of potential crises that ha...
- Community college shopping simplified Community college shopping simplified
Students shopping for a four-year college or university can find a wealth of reviews and ratings comparing them on anything from SAT scores and acceptance rates to dorm food and party scenes.
The California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office is about to release some new reports that should make comparison shopping a bit easier, at least when it comes to academic and career achievement.
Within a month, the office will issue a report comparing the medi...
- California gasoline excise tax to rise California gasoline excise tax to rise
The legislation required the board to adjust the excise tax by March 1 each year to achieve revenue neutrality, with the change taking effect July 1.
Because the sales-tax rate is a percentage, not a per-gallon amount like the excise tax, sales-tax revenue varies considerably based on gasoline prices and consumption.
The annual adjustment is based on several factors including how much the sales tax actually generated over a two-year look-back period and...
- Jobless, students face sequester threats Jobless, students face sequester threats
People receiving federal extended jobless benefits could see their payments reduced by up to 9 percent or more starting around the end of March if Congress fails to block automatic spending cuts scheduled to take effect Friday.
Some college students also could get slightly less federal financial aid in 2013-14 under the planned reductions.
Jobless benefitsThe White House says people receiving federal extended unemployment payments - which start after...
- Government credits make working pay off Government credits make working pay off
The government provides a broad array of safety-net programs to the poor and unemployed, each with its own set of elaborate rules that rival the tax code in their complexity.
Other benefits that are available only to people with minimal income and assets - such as cash welfare payments, food stamps, Medicaid/Medi-Cal, and housing and child care subsidies - begin phasing out when income increases.
The earned income tax credit and child tax credit can re...
- Academy of Art eligible for Cal Grants, judge says Academy of Art eligible for Cal Grants, judge says
The academy estimated that 100 new and 350 returning students would have been eligible for grants in 2012-13; it says it spent $1.3 million on replacement scholarships.
Even though the academy would have qualified for 2013-14 grants based on its 2011 graduation rate of 34 percent, the commission was planning to keep it out of the program for a second year because its 2011 rate still had not been made final by the Education Department, accordi...
Personal finance news - CNNMoney.com
- Health care costs to slow in 2014 Total costs for health care services, including everything from doctor visits and prescription drugs to surgeries, are expected to rise 6.5% in 2014, when the Affordable Care Act fully kicks in, according to a report released Tuesday.
- Perils of moving to a no-tax state You might think that moving to a state with no income tax would greatly simplify your tax life. Not so fast.
- Professors teach into their golden years While most people dream of the day they can retire, many college professors plan to put it off or work until their final years.
- The missing bond funds in your 401(k) Read full story for latest details.
- Should I move my IRA to my new job's 401(k)? Read full story for latest details.
- Just thinking about money can corrupt you Simply thinking about money can trigger people to lie, steal and make unethical decisions, new research shows.
- Young Americans are ditching credit cards The number of young Americans who are living without credit cards has doubled since the recession, according to new research.
- Change jobs, get poor 401(k) help Read full story for latest details.
- American Airlines plans to pack more people onto its planes American tells employees that after the merger with US Airways it's looking at adding more seats to 737 and MD-80 jets.
- Nail your home renovation budget Read full story for latest details.
- Drugstores in a pickle over 'conscience clause' on Plan B Read full story for latest details.
- Money 101 Are you saving enough for retirement? Do you have the right mix in your portfolio? Make sure you're on the right track with Money 101 -- 23 lessons in all.
- Mortgage rates near 4% barrier Read full story for latest details.
- Cities with the best parks These five cities dedicate the most land and money per resident to their park systems and the results show, with plenty of green spaces for residents to enjoy, according to the Trust for Public Land.
- Uh-oh! You're about to retire Read full story for latest details.
- Most charitable states in America Read full story for latest details.
- How to talk about money before saying 'I do' While many engaged couples are able to hash out which photographer to use at the ceremony and who to sit Aunt Edna next to at the reception, they can't seem to broach the topic of their finances -- a discussion that could make or break their marriage.
- College degrees with the best bang for your buck Read full story for latest details.
- Beer taxes: Why six-packs are pricier in some states Every state imposes a tax on beer, but the amount each state charges varies widely.
- Cutting health care's cost These Money heroes -- one in the halls of government, the other on Houston's freeways -- aim to ease the financial pain of medical treatment.
SmartMoney.com: Homepage
Fool.com Headlines
|
|
