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Individual Retirement Account
An individual retirement account (IRA) in the United States is a form of pension provided by many financial institutions that provides tax advantages for retirement savings. It is a trust that holds investment assets purchased with a taxpayer's earned income for the taxpayer's eventual benefit in old age. An individual retirement account is a type of individual retirement arrangement as described in IRS Publication 590, ''Individual Retirement Arrangements (IRAs)''. Other arrangements include employer-established benefit trusts and individual retirement annuities, by which a taxpayer purchases an annuity contract or an endowment contract from a life insurance company. Types There are several types of IRAs: * Traditional IRA – Contributions are often tax-deductible (often simplified as "money is deposited before tax" or "contributions are made with pre-tax assets"), all transactions and earnings within the IRA have no tax impact, and withdrawals at retirement are taxed as income ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pension
A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments. A pension may be a " defined benefit plan", where a fixed sum is paid regularly to a person, or a " defined contribution plan", under which a fixed sum is invested that then becomes available at retirement age. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is usually paid in regular amounts for life after retirement, while the latter is typically paid as a fixed amount after involuntary termination of employment before retirement. The terms "retirement plan" and "superannuation" tend to refer to a pension granted upon retirement of the individual. Retirement plans may be set up by employers, insurance companies, the government, or other institutions such as employer associations or trade unions. Called ''retirement plan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alternative Investments
An alternative investment, also known as an alternative asset or alternative investment fund (AIF), is an investment in any asset class excluding stocks, bonds, and cash. The term is a relatively loose one and includes tangible assets such as precious metals, collectibles (art, wine, antiques, cars, coins, musical instruments, or stamps) and some financial assets such as real estate, commodities, private equity, distressed securities, hedge funds, exchange funds, carbon credits, venture capital, film production, financial derivatives, cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens, and tax receivable agreements. Investments in real estate, forestry and shipping are also often termed "alternative" despite the ancient use of such real assets to enhance and preserve wealth. Alternative investments are to be contrasted with traditional investments. Research As the definition of alternative investments is broad, data and research vary widely across the investment classes. For exampl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Security (United States)
In the United States, Social Security is the commonly used term for the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program and is administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA). The original Social Security Act was enacted in 1935,Social Security Act of 1935 and the current version of the Act, as amended, 2 USC 7 encompasses several social welfare and social insurance programs. The average monthly Social Security benefit for August 2022 was $1,547. The total cost of the Social Security program for the year 2021 was $1.145 trillion or about 5 percent of U.S. GDP. Social Security is funded primarily through payroll taxes called Federal Insurance Contributions Act tax (FICA) or Self Employed Contributions Act Tax (SECA). Wage and salary earnings in covered employment, up to an amount specifically determined by law (see tax rate table below), are subject to the Social Security payroll tax. Wage and salary earnings above this amount are not tax ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tax Reform Act Of 1986
The Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA) was passed by the 99th United States Congress and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on October 22, 1986. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 was the top domestic priority of President Reagan's second term. The act lowered federal income tax rates, decreasing the number of tax brackets and reducing the top tax rate from 50 percent to 28 percent. The act also expanded the earned income tax credit, the standard deduction, and the personal exemption, removing approximately six million lower-income Americans from the tax base. Offsetting these cuts, the act increased the alternative minimum tax and eliminated many tax deductions, including deductions for rental housing, individual retirement accounts, and depreciation. Although the tax reform was projected to be revenue-neutral, it was popularly referred to as the second round of Reagan tax cuts (following the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981). The bill passed with majority support in both the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Life Insurance
Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract between an insurance policy holder and an insurer or assurer, where the insurer promises to pay a designated beneficiary a sum of money upon the death of an insured person (often the policyholder). Depending on the contract, other events such as terminal illness or critical illness can also trigger payment. The policyholder typically pays a premium, either regularly or as one lump sum. The benefits may include other expenses, such as funeral expenses. Life policies are legal contracts and the terms of each contract describe the limitations of the insured events. Often, specific exclusions written into the contract limit the liability of the insurer; common examples include claims relating to suicide, fraud, war, riot, and civil commotion. Difficulties may arise where an event is not clearly defined, for example, the insured knowingly incurred a risk by consenting to an experimenta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brokerage Firm
A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confused with that of an agent—one who acts on behalf of a principal party in a deal. Definition A broker is an independent party whose services are used extensively in some industries. A broker's prime responsibility is to bring sellers and buyers together and thus a broker is the third-person facilitator between a buyer and a seller. An example would be a real estate or stock broker who facilitates the sale of a property. Brokers can furnish market research and market data. Brokers may represent either the seller or the buyer but generally not both at the same time. Brokers are expected to have the tools and resources to reach the largest possible base of buyers and sellers. They then screen these potential buyers or sellers for the p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mutual Fund
A mutual fund is a professionally managed investment fund that pools money from many investors to purchase securities. The term is typically used in the United States, Canada, and India, while similar structures across the globe include the SICAV in Europe ('investment company with variable capital') and open-ended investment company (OEIC) in the UK. Mutual funds are often classified by their principal investments: money market funds, bond or fixed income funds, stock or equity funds, or hybrid funds. Funds may also be categorized as index funds, which are passively managed funds that track the performance of an index, such as a stock market index or bond market index, or actively managed funds, which seek to outperform stock market indices but generally charge higher fees. Primary structures of mutual funds are open-end funds, closed-end funds, unit investment trusts. Open-end funds are purchased from or sold to the issuer at the net asset value of each share as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because banks play an important role in financial stability and the economy of a country, most jurisdictions exercise a Bank regulation, high degree of regulation over banks. Most countries have institutionalized a system known as fractional reserve banking, under which banks hold liquid assets equal to only a portion of their current liabilities. In addition to other regulations intended to ensure accounting liquidity, liquidity, banks are generally subject to minimum capital requirements based on an international set of capital standards, the Basel Accords. Banking in its modern sense evolved in the fourteenth century in the prosperous cities of Renaissance Italy but in many ways functioned as a continuation of ideas and concept ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
457 Plan
The 457 plan is a type of nonqualified, tax advantaged deferred-compensation retirement plan that is available for governmental and certain nongovernmental employers in the United States. The employer provides the plan and the employee defers compensation into it on a pre tax or after-tax (Roth) basis. For the most part, the plan operates similarly to a 401(k) or 403(b) plan with which most people in the US are familiar. The key difference is that unlike with a 401(k) plan, it has no 10% penalty for withdrawal before the age of 55 (59 years, 6 months for IRA accounts) (although the withdrawal is subject to ordinary income taxation). These 457 plans (both governmental and nongovernmental) can also allow independent contractors to participate in the plan, where 401(k) and 403(b) plans cannot. Changes with EGTRRA 2001 The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 (EGTRRA) made a number of changes in how governmental 457 plans are treated, the most notable of which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Economic Growth And Tax Relief Reconciliation Act Of 2001
The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 was a major piece of tax legislation passed by the 107th United States Congress and signed by President George W. Bush. It is also known by its abbreviation EGTRRA (often pronounced "egg-tra" or "egg-terra"), and is often referred to as one of the two " Bush tax cuts". Bush had made tax cuts the centerpiece of his campaign in the 2000 presidential election, and he introduced a major tax cut proposal shortly after taking office. Though a handful of Democrats supported the bill, most support came from congressional Republicans. The bill was passed by Congress in May 2001, and signed into law by Bush on June 7, 2001. Due to the narrow Republican majority in the United States Senate, EGTRRA was passed using the reconciliation process, which bypasses the Senate filibuster. EGTRRA lowered federal income tax rates, reducing the top tax rate from 39.6 percent to 35 percent and reducing rates for several other tax bracket ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Environmental, Social And Corporate Governance
ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) data reflect the negative externalities (costs to others) caused by an organization with respect to the environment, to society and to corporate governance. ESG data can be used by investors to assess the material risk the organization is taking and by the organization itself as metrics for strategic and managerial purposes. Investors may also use ESG data beyond assessing material risks to the organization in their evaluation of enterprise value, specifically by designing models based on assumptions that the identification, assessment and management of sustainability-related risks and opportunities in respect to all organizational stakeholders leads to higher long-term risk-adjusted return. Organizational stakeholders include but not limited to customers, suppliers, employees, leadership, and the environment. Since 2020, there has been accelerating interest in overlaying ESG data with the Sustainable Development Goals ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Socially Responsible Investing
Socially responsible investing (SRI), social investment, sustainable socially conscious, "green" or ethical investing, is any investment strategy which seeks to consider both financial return and social/environmental good to bring about social change regarded as positive by proponents. Socially responsible investments often constitute a small percentage of total funds invested by corporations and are riddled with obstacles. Recently, it has also become known as "sustainable investing" or "responsible investing". There is also a subset of SRI known as "impact investing", devoted to the conscious creation of social impact through investment. In general, socially responsible investors encourage corporate practices that they believe promote environmental stewardship, consumer protection, human rights, and racial or gender diversity. Some SRIs avoid investing in businesses perceived to have negative social effects such as alcohol, tobacco, fast food, gambling, pornography ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
