Investing Archives | Page 151 of 193

May

2023

Guide to Choosing Where to Retire

By Kelly Boyer Sagert | Growing Wealth, invest, Investing, Preparing for Retirement | Comments Off

Perhaps retirement is years or even decades away or something you are planning right this very moment. Regardless of your timeline, your dream lifestyle is likely to be something very specific to your lifestyle and dreams. Maybe you imagine living by the shore and walking on the sand every morning. Or perhaps you see yourself in a college town, spending afternoons at bookstores and cafes. Or you might think of moving within an hour of your grandkids for frequent multigenerational gatherings.

There’s a good chance that your vision of retirement isn’t just about location. Some people may think of downsizing to a smaller home in a low-cost area so they can free up funds to travel the world. Others might want, after decades of hard work, revel in their dream home with a view of a lake or mountains.

Where to live in retirement depends on several factors but is a uniquely personal choice. If you could use some help deciding where to spend that chapter of your life, read on. You can take a quiz to help you zero in on good options, and after that, you’ll learn more about such topics as:

• What factors can help you decide where to retire?

• What are some great places to retire?

• What are some affordable ideas for retirement?

• When should you start saving for retirement?

Where to Retire Quiz

First, here is a “where to retire quiz” to help you to create your plans.

Factors to Consider When Choosing Where to Retire

Next, here are four factors to keep in mind while choosing where to live in retirement years.

Climate and Topography

When you picture yourself in your ideal location, what is the weather like? Are you the type who wants to live the “70-plus degrees and sunny” lifestyle year-round? Or do you want to experience the full array of season, with fall leaf-peeping and some wintertime snow to delight in?

As you think about your surroundings, it can be smart to daydream a bit and envision where you’d like your retirement to be. One person might want to be in the mountains, another in a small city with loads of easy walking trails but no hills, thank you.

As you contemplate these options, it can be worthwhile to delve into climate reports for each of the states in the United States and check out the “past weather” tabs to see what patterns you may observe. Which sounds most appealing to you? And, here’s a U.S. geographic website that allows you to explore the counties and rivers in a state, elevation, topography, and more.

Friends and Family

When thinking about retirement, don’t overlook the value of having loved ones and their social support nearby. Your dream may be to live where your children or your grandchildren do. If that sounds like you, consider whether these family members are rooted in their communities or if they frequently move (say, for work).

If the first is true, then the situation is probably simpler than if there’s a good chance that your family would move, leaving you in a community that you chose because they were living there.

Do you have close friends that have decided where they want to retire? If so, you might want to consider the area they have in mind. Having the continuity of their friendship could add to your quality of life and help you transition into retirement.

Peace and Quiet? Or Action?

You might love the peace and quiet of small towns, rural areas, and the like, where you can fish, stroll through the woods, and otherwise appreciate the beauty of nature. Or you may want to retire right where the most action is, living in a big city with everything you need within a block or two of your place, plus an array of restaurants, shows, museums, and other attractions to keep you busy. Or you might prefer a suburb that offers the best of both worlds.

Also worth thinking about: Do you want to be in a place where there’s always something going on that you can join? For some people, a 55+ community with ongoing planned activities can be most appealing.

Career Plans

Do you envision saying a permanent goodbye to the workplace in the future, or do you plan to keep working after retirement — perhaps part-time or as a consultant — through your 60s and 70s, and maybe beyond? Or maybe you’re looking forward to having a second act in a field of great interest.

You may have pursued your original career because you needed to earn a certain income, but now you can work in an area that brings you joy, perhaps in animal rescue. Or maybe you want to volunteer for an organization you feel passionate about. There are lots of buzzwords describing the new ways people may work as they reach retirement age, such as semi-retirement and unretirement. Regardless of what you call it, some retirement locations may offer more opportunity than others, depending on the path you envision.

Taxes

There’s no ignoring the impact of finances on where you choose to retire. Some states are more tax-friendly than others. There can be income tax, property tax, sales tax, and other taxes in the mix, so it can be wise to consider the best places to retire for tax purposes before you commit. For some people, where they choose to live in retirement can wind up making a difference of tens of thousands of dollars in taxes.

As you think about your options of where to live when retired, it can be wise to research the potential tax burden of a move (you can find information via some online searching) or meet with a professional who can advise you.

On the subject of taxes and affordability, another facet to keep in mind when thinking about retirement is cost of living. If you imagine retiring to, say, Austin, Texas, you are likely going to need to spend more for that in-demand city life than to live in a small town a couple of hours away from it.

Great Places to Retire

USNews.com provides in-depth information about the best places to retire in 2022-2023. U.S. News & World Report surveys people in pre-retirement and those of retirement age to determine what’s most important to them, and then they use the following formula to come up with their conclusions:

• Quality of Life Index, 32.5%, which includes such variables as healthcare affordability, air quality, and crime rates, among others.

• Value Index, 25%, which incorporates factors like housing costs and median household income.

• Job Market Index, 20%, which reflects the area’s average salary and unemployment rate.

• Desirability Index, at 17.5%, which reports on the results of a survey of 3,500 people about which metro areas are most appealing to them.

• Net Migration, 5%, which determines if people are actually moving into or out of the area.

Top 5 Place to Retire

Here are the top five results for 2022-2023:

• Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which can offer the best of a small city, suburbs, and rolling farmland in one location.

• Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a state capital where one can walk, run, or bike along the Susquehanna River.

• Pensacola, Florida, which offers beaches, boating, and fishing in a warm climate and career opportunities as well.

• Tampa, Florida, combines the best of city life (concerts, major-league sports) with beautiful weather and access to the water.

• York, Pennsylvania, has loads of history to explore as well as a lively downtown area with an arts community, shopping, and more.

What’s best for you, of course, depends upon what’s most important to you, so it makes sense to visit places of interest, ideally for enough time that you get a sense of what it would be like to live there, rather than just visit.

For example, before you decide whether to rent or buy a home for retirement in a particular area, you might test-drive living there for a number of months to see what you really think of the climate, activities in the area, cost of living, and so forth.

And, at least in some cases, after people getting ready to retire visit locations that once seemed like the ideal place to live, they find that they’re really happier right where they are. If that’s the case, good for you.

You’ll be retiring in a place you already know well, able to maintain your circle of friends.

Helpful Resources

Beyond the U.S. News resource mentioned above, there is an array of information online, whether you want to research housing prices in a given area on a real-estate listing site or read a blog about what it’s like to retire in a foreign country. Certainly, there are books on these and additional topics as well. AARP magazine is also full of information about retirement locations.

Don’t forget about the value of word-of-mouth. Talking to friends, neighbors, colleagues, and family members about their plans and those of members of their circle can help you learn about what like-minded people are thinking.

Affordable Places to Retire

According to U.S. News, the five most affordable places to retire for 2022-2023 are:

1. Fort Wayne, Indiana

2. Ocala, Florida

3. Scranton, Pennsylvania

4. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

5. Youngstown, Ohio.

And, no matter where you want to live, funding your retirement in the style you want is crucial.

When to Start Saving

As far as when to start saving for retirement, the answer is likely to be ASAP. In terms of how to save, you may have such options as:

• 401(k) Retirement Plans: These are employer-sponsored plans and can be a convenient way to start saving for retirement.

• IRAs (Individual Retirement Accounts): Whether or not your employer offers a retirement plan, you can open this type of retirement account yourself. There are two types — traditional and Roth — which are treated differently, tax-wise.

• Self-Employment Retirement Plans: Contribution limits are higher, because you’re both the employer and the employee. There are several types, the most common being SEP IRAs, Simple IRAs and a Solo 401(k).

• Pension Plans: If you work for the government or military (or possibly for a large company), you may also benefit from a pension plan. These are less common than they used to be, but still exist.

And, besides asking yourself “Where should I retire?” you’re probably also wondering about choosing a retirement date. To cut to the chase, if you’re looking to live on $40,000 a year in your retirement, you need to save $1 million. Double that if you’re hoping to live on $80,000.

As you save, it can be wise to frequently check in on how your savings are performing. This can help you monitor whether you’re on track, regardless of which of the different types of retirement plans you are utilizing, and make any necessary adjustments.

If you aren’t heading towards your targets at a good rate, you may want to rebalance your portfolio to help meet your goals.

Recommended: Understanding Portfolio Diversification

What If I Want to Retire Early?

Some people want to retire before they reach 65 or 70. If you are among that group, consider the Rule of 25, which says that someone should save 25 times their annual expenses to retire — not annual earnings, but annual retirement expenses.

So if you are calculating how to retire early with annual expenses of $75,000, that means that someone would need to save $1,875,000 to stop working (at a minimum).

Important note: As you do the math, remember that this figure can’t include Social Security benefits because those aren’t available until the designated time (meaning, not during early retirement).

It can also make sense to spend less and save more now to maximize what you’ll have saved for retirement. This can have a doubly good impact. First, spending less can lower the amount needed to save for early retirement, because you’ll have fewer expenses. In addition, the money not being spent today can be invested.

Here’s another way to calculate what may be needed. Take a look at the current budget, cut out what you reasonably can, and then figure out how this budget may change in retirement years. What may require more funds (healthcare, for instance)? Less (like money spent on one’s kids)? This can help you forecast what your line item budget may look like in the years ahead.

Open a Retirement Account With SoFi

When you open a retirement account at SoFi, we can help put your money to work. We first provide you with the educational tools to help you with goal planning, with a focus on mapping out a plan to help you achieve your goals more quickly, and to also help you stick with that plan. We can help diversify your portfolio, aiming to reduce some of your risk. In fact, we invest in hundreds of assets.

And it’s simple to get started: Setting up an investment account with SoFi can take just minutes.

Easily manage your retirement savings with a SoFi IRA.

FAQ

What are the safest places to retire?

Different sources list different locations, but according to U.S. News, the safest places to live in the U.S. are Naples, FL; Port St. Lucie, FL; Fort Myers, FL; Portland, ME; and Lakeland, FL. Once you have an approximate idea of where you want to retire, you can then research crime rates in that zone.

What are the best places to retire financially?

According to one recent report, the best places to retire financially and enjoy an affordable lifestyle are Fort Wayne, IN; Ocala, FL; Scranton, PA; Pittsburgh, PA; and Youngstown, OH.

What are the warmest places to retire?

Among the places where one can retire with good weather year-round are Florida, California, and North Carolina.

SoFi Invest®

INVESTMENTS ARE NOT FDIC INSURED • ARE NOT BANK GUARANTEED • MAY LOSE VALUE

Apr

2023

overhead view of businessman working, looking at business charts and graphs

The S&P 500 Explained and Defined

By Samuel Becker | Growing Wealth, invest, Investing, Terminology | Comments Off

What is the S&P 500 index? An exploration into the popular market index, along with a look at ways to invest in the S&P 500.

Apr

2023

Signs a Stock Is Underperforming

By Brian Nibley | Growing Wealth, invest, Investing | Comments Off

Underperform ratings are assigned when a stock isn’t expected to do as well as the overall market. Some of the signs that a stock is underperforming include a drop in earnings, underperformance compared with the company’s industry or the benchmark index.

It’s important to keep in mind that underperforming stocks are not necessarily bad investments, and the concern over the potential downside doesn’t always justify a “sell” rating.

In addition, the price of a stock could be underperforming even though fundamentals are strong, giving the word “underperforming” a bullish connotation when referring to price.

What Is an Underperforming Stock?

When an investment analyst assigns an “underperform” rating to a stock this is thought to be less bearish than an outright “sell” rating.

A rating of “underperform” is also sometimes referred to as “weak hold” or “moderate sell.”

In this sense, stocks that have underperforming prices might be considered buying opportunities.

That said, the general definition is a bearish one, similar to the downward trends in a bear market. Meaning: an underperforming security is often one that most investors might want to keep an eye on, and possibly consider selling at some point.

Indicators of Underperforming Stocks

Just as “underperforming” can have slightly different interpretations, depending on the context, there are also many ways to determine whether or not a stock might be underperforming.

Underperforming stocks could be those that have more sluggish prices than their peers, the overall market, or a particular index.

Underperformance could be measured by earnings that lag behind competitors, dividends that haven’t increased, or any number of other economic metrics pertaining to the operations of a business.

And finally, technical or fundamental analysis indicators (those that appear on price charts) could indicate imminent underperformance.

Here are seven signs a stock could be underperforming — which are important criteria to understand when investing in stocks.

1. Falling Earnings

When a company’s earnings are declining instead of growing, this could be a sign of underperformance.

And even when earnings are growing, a stock could still be considered an underperformer if competitors in its industry are seeing greater earnings growth.

Alternatively, an earnings-positive stock could also be labeled “underperform” if a related index has outperformed the price of the stock.

For example, a tech stock listed on the Nasdaq exchange might have had earnings growth of 5% during the last quarter. But if the Nasdaq as a whole gained 10% during that time, an individual stock with 5% growth could be considered an underperformer.

The criteria of underperforming earnings can be compared to a stock’s industry, its competitors, or a related index. And earnings are not the only way to measure underperformance, although they are a common one.

2. Underperformance vs Industry

Stocks can also be said to be underperforming relative to their own industry. This method of gauging performance is often used with stocks that are in a new or highly specialized area of business.

One common way to measure performance in an industry is to look at a related exchange-traded fund that has a large market cap.

3. Underperformance vs Index

A common sign of underperforming stocks is their lack of gains compared with the broader market indices. After all, if a stock doesn’t outperform the market, what’s the point in holding it? Buying a simple index-based fund, e.g. a passive exchange-traded fund (ETF), aims to give the investor market returns over time.

It makes sense to qualify underperforming stocks by comparing them with an index that has some relation to their industry. For tech stocks, that might be the Nasdaq. A broader market index of large-cap U.S. companies would be the S&P 500.

Underperforming in comparison with an index might be the broadest interpretation of the word. A more specific metric of performance has to do with a company’s competitors.

4. Underperformance vs Competitors

Perhaps the most targeted metric of underperforming stocks might be their performance relative to industry peers. If a stock is seeing growth metrics that don’t meet or exceed those of some or all of its competitors, then it can be said that the stock is underperforming.

Companies that have a competitive edge that would be difficult for others to overcome are said to have an “economic moat” — a take on the moat, which makes it harder for people to enter a place.

In financial terminology, having an economic moat means that a company should be insulated from the possibility of its competitors stealing market share and reducing profits.

An example might be a company in the telecommunications or media industry that has the market cornered for a particular service like streaming entertainment or new wireless tech (meaning the business has a lot of customers in a certain area or little real competition). This could be considered an economic moat.

If a company has no moat and is underperforming relative to its competitors, this could spell trouble.

5. Declining Dividends

Another negative thing that tends to happen to underperforming stocks is when they cut or suspend their dividend (for dividend-yielding stocks, of course). This can happen when something called the payout ratio of a stock becomes unsustainable.

The payout ratio is simply the relationship of a company’s earnings per share with how much of those earnings get paid out to shareholders. If a company’s earnings per share are $1, for example, and the stock pays a dividend of 10 cents per share, the payout ratio is 10%.

When a company increases its dividend too much too fast, or earnings fall precipitously, the payout ratio might rise to a level that eats up all of the company’s profits (possibly as high as 100%, meaning all profits go to shareholders as dividends).

When this happens, companies might have to reduce their dividend, or in uncertain times suspend the dividend altogether.

During the financial crisis of 2020, many companies in some of the hardest-hit sectors like real estate investment trusts and retail wound up slashing or suspending their dividend payments.

6. Insider Selling

There’s no one more intimately familiar with the operations of a company than those who spend their days running it. So when insider executives sell shares, it might indicate that something about the company has taken a turn for the worse.

Of course, there are times when executives simply need to raise cash for personal or business reasons. Insider selling doesn’t always mean that a company is underperforming.

Still, looking at the actions of insiders who hold large amounts of shares can be an easy way to judge whether the near-term outlook for a stock will be bullish or bearish.

Most brokerages give users access to this data in a simple bar graph format. The amount of shares and their dollar value attributed to insider buying and selling will be displayed for each month, usually going back several years or more.

7. Moving Average Death Cross

While so far, the signs of underperforming stocks covered here have focused on fundamental factors, this final sign is purely technical (meaning it’s based on charts, not economic numbers).

The so-called death cross pattern happens when a short-term moving average (often the 50-day) moves below a long-term moving average (often the 200-day). This is the opposite of a “golden cross,” which involves a long-term moving average moving below a short-term one, which is a bullish signal.

A technical pattern like this suggests that a stock’s momentum may be faltering and that traders have taken a more pessimistic view toward the security. Once an indicator like this is confirmed, it doesn’t take much time for traders around the world to recognize and act on it.

A Common Denominator

These aren’t the only signs that a stock might be underperforming. There are many relevant economic and technical indicators not mentioned here. A common theme ties them all together, though.

Underperforming stocks are those that are not doing as well as some other related benchmark, or those that have been performing worse than their own historical precedent.

The Takeaway

Underperformance could be a sell signal or a buying opportunity. It depends on the context, but most analysts assign an “underperform” rating to stocks they think might not have a compelling reason to be bought at the moment.

Signs of underperformance can include a drop in earnings, lower performance when compared with industry averages or a benchmark index, as well as other factors like declining dividends. All that said, however, an underperforming stock doesn’t automatically signal that it’s a loser — buying underperforming or undervalued securities can sometimes present an opportunity.

Ready to invest in your goals? It’s easy to get started when you open an Active Invest account with SoFi invest. You can invest in stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and more. SoFi doesn’t charge commissions, but other fees apply (full fee disclosure here), and members can access complimentary financial advice from a professional.

For a limited time, opening and funding an Active Invest account gives you the opportunity to get up to $1,000 in the stock of your choice.

SoFi Invest®

INVESTMENTS ARE NOT FDIC INSURED • ARE NOT BANK GUARANTEED • MAY LOSE VALUE

Apr

2023

How to Find a Financial Advisor

By Kelly Boyer Sagert | Growing Wealth, invest, Investing | Comments Off

Deciding you’re ready to consult with a financial advisor is a first and important step in reaching your financial goals — but finding the right professional for your needs takes some time and effort, starting with a closer look at what you need, exactly.

A financial advisor can do many things. Generally, they examine a client’s current financial picture, from debt to savings and investments; discuss financial goals (whether retirement, saving for college, or another goal); and create a plan to help the client get there.

Some financial professionals simply offer guidance or a basic plan; others may completely manage a client’s portfolio, while others may offer services that fall somewhere in between. Finding the right person hinges on whether their services match your needs, whether their cost structure makes sense, in addition to other considerations.

Benefits of Using a Financial Advisor

Financial advisors can help their clients create a financial plan that allows them to save and invest for future goals while still meeting the obligations of today. In other words, they can help craft a comprehensive plan to guide people through multiple stages of life in a way that dovetails with their unique goals. Typically, the plan has some degree of personalization.

Plus, advisors can help their clients stay the course, saving and investing for the long term. Creating a financial plan is a key step, but then it’s crucial to stick with the plan. This isn’t always easy when, for example, the market is volatile and emotions are triggered. But that’s when an experienced advisor may come in handy; they can provide perspective and help clients stay focused.

Some financial advisors help clients to become more financial savvy. Some may make trades for their clients, while many monitor investments made to help ensure that a client’s portfolio is on track. Some help with tax issues as well, e.g. whether to use a strategy like tax-loss harvesting, and more complex financial matters like estate planning.

By looking at these benefits, which seem most important to you? Sometimes making a list of requirements can be helping when trying to find a financial advisor. Under some circumstances you may even want to consider hiring a wealth advisor.

Seeking an Advisor

Next step in finding an advisor is to obtain some recommendations. To get a list of advisors to consider:

Friends and Family Recommendations

• Ask friends and family if they’ve used or are using an advisor. If so, what services are they receiving? How happy are they? Are there any concerns about any of the advisors they’re using? Ideally you want to take recs from people in similar circumstances to your own.

• Do the same with business colleagues, or people who belong to the same organizations that you do.

By looking at the websites of these advisors, do they seem like a potential match?

Industry Associations

Another option when seeking an advisor is to consult industry associations and trade groups.

• The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors website (NAPFA focuses on fee-only financial planners).

• Financial Planning Association. Advisors in this network are CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNERS® (CFP®s) and you can search by location, area of specialty, how they’re paid and any asset minimums that may exist.

• Garrett Planning Network. All advisors in this network charge hourly.

Finding the Right Fit

Just as you wouldn’t buy the first car you test-drove, or the first pair of shoes you tried on, you don’t have to commit to working with the first financial planner you talk to. Many advisors offer a free consultation so you can find out more about them. While the selection process does take a little extra time, it’s worth investing that time for your future.

Questions to Consider

Some people may find that the same names keep cropping up when asking for recommendations and exploring online sites. It can therefore make sense to create a short list of financial advisors from those findings and explore those options in more depth.

Questions to ask those advisors can include:

• What specific services do you offer?

• What processes do you use to create a plan for me?

• What qualifications do you have?

• How often would we meet or otherwise communicate?

• What is your overall investment philosophy?

If you’re a beginning investor, it can help to ask about the financial advisor’s experience in getting new people started with planning and investing in a basic portfolio.

Fiduciary Rules

Another key question: is a financial advisor a fiduciary? If so, the advisor must work in the best interests of a client and either disclose conflicts of interest or avoid them. If an advisor is not a fiduciary, he or she is required only to make recommendations that are considered suitable.

In 2013, the U.S. Department of Labor tried to mandate that all financial advisors needed to follow a fiduciary standard with retirement accounts. But in 2018, the Fifth Circuit Court overruled the standard. Although this issue may be revisited, for now, investors who want a fiduciary must find out what standard a particular financial advisor follows.

Advisors who follow a fee-based payment structure are, by definition, fiduciaries. Those who get paid a commission when clients make certain investments may or may not be. When an advisor isn’t a fiduciary, they might recommend investments because they’re right for the client, but they could also be recommended because the advisor gets paid a commission.

Also, when comparing advisors, what will services for each of them cost?

Common Financial Advisor Charges

Financial advisors’ fees can be structured in a number of ways, and what you pay for a financial advisor depends on a number of factors. In general, financial advisors are either paid a flat fee (such as a retainer or a fee-for-services), commissions on products and investments they sell you (such as insurances and/or mutual funds), or a hybrid.

Retainer

Some advisors charge fixed retainer fees, due monthly, quarterly, or annually. The fees can range significantly; annually, the low end may be $2,000, with the high end at $7,500. Investors can ask an advisor to explain what they get for paying the retainer.

Commission

In this scenario, advisors get paid based on the products they sell to clients. Some advisors may receive a percentage of the assets of a client before the investments are made. Others can be paid by a financial institution after the transaction has occurred, while others may charge clients each time that a stock is bought or sold.

Advisory Fees

This can be a percentage of the assets being managed by the financial advisor. Generally speaking, paying 1% annually is reasonable under this structure when including both the fees of a financial advisor and any investment fees. When considering an advisor who charges these fees, it can make sense to ask for a breakdown and the reasoning behind the fee structure.

Planning Fees

This could be an upfront fee for a financial plan or for ongoing advice. There can also be a subscription-based fee structure, similar to a retainer. Fees for these services vary widely, so be sure to ask what your all-in costs would be when working with any advisor.

Hourly Fees

This would involve a straight hourly fee for services provided. For example, setting up your retirement portfolio might cost $X, while setting up a 529 college savings plan for your kids might cost $Y.

Robo Advising vs Financial Advisors

It may also make sense to consider an online robo-advisor, or automated investing platform. This is an algorithm-driven digital platform that provides clients with basic financial guidance and pre-set portfolio options.

First, the investor responds to a questionnaire by inputting their goals and time horizon. Typical questions may also include risk tolerance. (Here’s a helpful risk tolerance quiz.)

Based on the investor’s preferences, the technology on the backend comes up with a basic plan and a recommended portfolio option (e.g. one that’s more aggressive or more conservative).

Because most automated portfolios are built with low-cost index or exchange-traded funds (ETFs), these services are considered efficient and low cost compared with using a human advisor.

Robo portfolios often involve an annual fee, perhaps 0.25% to 1% of the account balance. In some instances, a robo advisor may charge a small monthly dollar amount for lower balances, e.g. $4 per month, instead of a percentage. Remember, these costs are in addition to the fees for the underlying funds in your portfolio.

Automated investing platforms may not be the right choice for people who need advice for complex financial situations, such as tax planning. It also wouldn’t fit the needs of investors who simply prefer to sit down with a human advisor, of course.

Just like with human advisors, different robo advisor programs offer different services. So if the idea of robo advising sounds appealing, it can help to check more than one option.

Free Financial Advice

Some companies offer complimentary financial advice for their customers. In some cases this feature is only offered if your account balance is high enough. But even though an advisory service might be touted as ‘no cost’, remember that different investment products always come with a fee, such as an expense ratio. Topics discussed can include how to:

• Set and reach financial goals, based on the current financial landscape.

• Create a budget and practice good spending habits.

• Leverage debt strategically by balancing repayment of debt with saving for long-term goals.

• Build an emergency fund and save for the future.

• Create an investment strategy that dovetails with personal risk tolerance and goals.

The Takeaway

Deciding to work with a financial advisor is an exciting step toward taking control of your financial future. Finding the right person, however, takes time and diligence. Financial advisors can come with a range of qualifications and specialties. The services they offer and the fees they charge also vary.

Fortunately, there are a number of organizations that can help you do a search for someone who is the right fit. And you can also consider taking a more tech-driven route and using a robo-advisor.

For a limited time, opening and funding an Active Invest account gives you the opportunity to get up to $1,000 in the stock of your choice.

SoFi Invest®

INVESTMENTS ARE NOT FDIC INSURED • ARE NOT BANK GUARANTEED • MAY LOSE VALUE

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Apr

2023

What Is the Dow Jones?

By Matthew Zeitlin | Growing Wealth, invest, Investing, Terminology | Comments Off

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is one of the earliest examples of a stock index, a collection of 30 blue-chip company stocks that are calculated into one number that’s supposed to represent the U.S. stock market as a whole or a subset of it.

Now there are hundreds of indices, which represent everything from smaller companies (The Russell 2000), to specific industries, like the KBW Bank Index, to the S&P 500 — the oft-cited index that represents a broad cross-section of America’s largest companies. But the Dow is still watched, domestically and worldwide, as a leading market indicator.

What Is the Dow Jones Industrial Average?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is based on the performance of 30 companies that represent the industry leaders in the world economy: Apple, Microsoft, JP Morgan Chase, Nike, Coca-Cola, Walmart, Disney, along with companies like Dow or Caterpillar that you may not be as familiar with, but are massive and play an important role in business in the United States and around the world.

The Dow is considered an index of blue-chip companies, which signals not only some of the largest companies, but also the most solid and well established.

Nonetheless, the companies on the Dow Jones Industrial Average change regularly, reflecting changes in the U.S. economy.

It’s important for investors to follow the Dow, as it’s one of the leading stock market indicators. And while it’s certainly not the only one, understanding the Dow’s movements in addition to other indicators can help inform your investing strategy.

What Makes the Dow Jones Industrial Average Different?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is just one of many collections of stocks whose value is represented in a single number. The Dow Jones Industrial Average isn’t just distinct because of its age, but because of how it’s calculated.

The other two major stock indices that are frequently cited as bellwethers of the overall market, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite, are both “market capitalization weighted,” whereas the Dow Jones Industrial Average is “price-weighted.”

That means that the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s “points” are calculated from the per-share price of every stock in the index, as opposed to the company’s overall value. As such, the DJIA doesn’t reflect the overall stock market return, but rather it can be used as a gauge of market trends and/or investor sentiment.

In a market-weighted index, the influence any given stock has over the index’s overall value is determined by a company’s market capitalization or market cap. A company’s market cap is determined by multiplying the number of shares by the value of the stock.

In this type of index, the influence of a company is determined by how valuable the company is, not solely by the price of a stock.

Example of How Stock Price Can Skew an Index

Apple only joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average after it did a stock split, lowering its per share price from around $650 to under $100, but increasing the number of shares by seven. Had it split its stock before joining the Dow, it would have entered the index with a price of nearly $900, as opposed to around $126, giving the company an outsize role on the index.

Because the Dow Jones Industrial Average is price weighted, adding companies with hefty per-share price tags could cause problems. That’s the main reason that companies like Alphabet, the parent company of Google, and Amazon, aren’t included in the index. On the other hand, Microsoft, which is worth over $1 trillion, is priced at below $200 a share and is a member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The Dow Divisor

Today’s economy is far different from the late 19th century or the late 1920s — the number of industries in which the U.S. has large, established companies has grown, and the size of those companies is bigger.

In order to account for some of these changes over time, the Dow Divisor is used to determine the value of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Using the Dow Divisor can help in historical comparisons and account for differences that may arise due to a stock split or other factors.

How the Dow Jones Industrial Average Changed Over Time

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is intimately tied up with the history of the markets and American financial journalism. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is just eight years younger than the Wall Street Journal, which was founded in 1889, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was founded as a 12-company index in 1896.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was originally developed by Charles Dow and Edward Jones.

But it wasn’t the first ever stock index; that title belongs to the Dow Jones Transportation Average, a collection of railroad stocks that Dow came up with in 1884.

The 12 companies initially included in 1896 were companies that reflected the shape of the American economy — largely manufacturing and agricultural companies and the transportation networks that helped move goods. The companies included in that first year were:

• American Cotton Oil

• American Sugar

• American Tobacco

• Chicago Gas

• Distilling & Cattle Feeding

• General Electric

• Laclede Gas

• National Lead

• North American

• Tennessee Coal & Iron

• U.S. Leather

• U.S. Rubber

The Dow Jones Industrial Average in the 20th Century

The index was expanded to its current number of 30 in 1928, and by 1932 the Index started to resemble the American economy as we might recognize it today, with a mixture of manufacturing (General Motors, Chrysler), retail (Sears, Woolworth), consumer (Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble) technology (IBM) and energy (multiple descendants of John Rockefeller’s Standard Oil).

The first companies associated with the personal computer revolution came much later (IBM being an exception), with Hewlett-Packard getting added in 1997, Intel and Microsoft added in 1999, and Apple only joining the Dow in 2015, when it replaced AT&T.

Walmart was added to the index in 1997. America’s entertainment industry, one of its leading export industries, was only represented in the index in 1991, when Disney was added.

Right now the Dow Jones Industrial Average “covers all industries except transportation and utilities,” according to S&P Dow Jones Indices.

While the Dow Jones Industrial Average is managed by S&P Dow Jones Indices, it still retains a connection with the Wall Street Journal and its publishing company, Dow Jones. The editor of the paper is part of the committee that determines membership in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

The Takeaway

Investors can look to the Dow Jones Industrial Index as an overall indicator of how the largest companies in the U.S. are performing. Historically, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has shown similar returns to the S&P 500, which tracks 500 large-cap U.S. companies.

Indexes, like the Dow Jones Industrial Index, can provide helpful insight for investors. They can be used to help investors compare current and past stock prices, to determine the market performance. Understanding this information can be helpful to investors as they review their own portfolio and adjust their investing strategy.

Ready to invest in your goals? It’s easy to get started when you open an Active Invest account with SoFi invest. You can invest in stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and more. SoFi doesn’t charge commission, but other fees apply (full fee disclosure here), and members can access complimentary financial advice from a professional.

For a limited time, opening and funding an Active Invest account gives you the opportunity to get up to $1,000 in the stock of your choice.

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What Is the Dow Jones?

What Is the Dow Jones Industrial Average?

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Example of How Stock Price Can Skew an Index

The Dow Divisor

How the Dow Jones Industrial Average Changed Over Time

The Dow Jones Industrial Average in the 20th Century

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