You see the terms large cap, mid cap, and small cap when describing a company, mutual fund, or ETF. What do they actually mean? How do they impact an investment strategy?
The “cap” portion of these terms is short for market cap or market capitalization. A company’s market cap is the total market value of a company. This is found by multiplying the stock price by the total outstanding shares of the company.
What is a Large Cap?
Large cap refers to the largest companies traded on the stock market and have a market cap of $10 billion or more. They, also, tend to be the most followed by analysts and investors.
Historically, large cap companies experience a slower growth rate and have less risk due to their size and stability. Because of this many large caps are given the Blue Chip designation. A few well known large cap companies include Microsoft, Walmart, Amazon, and Nike. Continue Reading…
Have you ever had the small misfortune to wake up, take a shower, but have no hot water, or where you’re driving to work, only to get a flat. You hope these problems are just a quick fix. But when they’re not, you know it’s going to cost more than you want to spend. The good news is you have an emergency fund set aside just for these situations, right.
The tax filing deadline is fast approaching. If you haven’t filed your taxes yet, you’re not alone. According to the IRS, about 25% of all taxpayers wait till the last two weeks to file their taxes. For those sitting in that 25%, you have until the deadline of Monday, April 18 to file your taxes this year.
The 2010 IRA contribution deadline is fast approaching. With only a few weeks left, you still have time to make your 2010 contributions. If you have done any retirement planning in the past, a traditional or Roth IRA plays a role in achieving your retirement goals.
There are two views of putting money to work in the market. The first is quietly sitting down, studying balance sheets and deciding on an investment that you’ll probably stick with for a few years. The other is the fast pace, high stress picture you get from movies like Wall Street. With row upon row of traders, two or three computer screens each, yelling at every single up and down tick of a stock. Exactly how realistic that is, I don’t know, but it makes for good movie drama.
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