What is income tax? Income tax is the tax you pay on your income, usually directly taken out of your paycheck. Everyone who works in the United States should be paying income tax on their earnings. Income is more than just wages and salaries too. If you earn rents from rental properties, investment income, interest Read More…
A key first step for any entrepreneur is setting up an organization that will be used to formally embark on the business journey, but many new business owners struggle to identify the best way to move forward. These are the most common ways to organize a business, from the simplest through the most complex. Sole Read More…
Definition “Price Controls” are artificial limits that are put on prices. If the limit is put in place to prevent prices from getting too high, they are called Ceilings. If they are in place to prevent the price from getting too low, they are called “Floors”. Price Ceilings Price Ceilings are controls put in place Read More…
What Is The Business Cycle? The Business Cycle is the broad, over-stretching cycle of expansion and recession in an economy. The Business Cycle is concerned with many things – unemployment, industrial expansion, inflation rates, but the most important indicator is GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth. Below you can see a graph of the GDP growth Read More…
What are Credit Cards? Credit cards is a form of unsecured credit (meaning a loan without collateral) that you can use to make everyday purchases. All credit card purchases are made using a loan – you borrow money from your credit card issuer, and later pay it back with interest. Credit Cards Vs Debit Cards Read More…
If you want to start building your first workable budget, it is important to know exactly what should be in it, how to keep it updated, and the specific reason you want to have this budget. What does a budget look like? A budget is usually a spreadsheet or table. On one side or column, Read More…
If you have ever wanted to protect your portfolio on HowTheMarketWorks from losses, you have definitely used Stop Orders. The biggest downside of stop orders is, of course, the fact that you have to constantly update them as your investments grow to “lock in” your gains… What are Trailing Stop Orders? Trailing Stop orders work Read More…
Do your students have a hard time getting started with their portfolio? Do you want a place where you can see all your tools in one place? Us too, which is why we added the new Dashboard to HowTheMarketWorks! The dashboard is just the newest addition to our new design, with your entire suite of Read More…
HowTheMarketWorks is growing – and the list of great educational articles you can include in your class assignments is growing too! Last week we added 3 new Personal Finance and Investing articles, plus one great new personal finance calculator! New articles Credit and Using Borrowed Money Getting and Understanding Credit Reports Finding Stocks in Different Read More…
What Is Credit? “Credit” is when you have the ability to use borrowed money. This can come in many different forms, from credit cards to mortgages. There is a wide range of ways to use credit, which means that it is often a challenge for beginners to learn all the different ins and outs of Read More…
Credit Reports are basically a report that contains your credit history – both the good and bad. If you watch late-night TV, you have probably seen a few commercials offering free credit reports, so you might know that these are important. Most people, however, don’t know just how big a role a credit report can Read More…
Have you ever been working on a trading assignment on HowTheMarketWorks, only to be frustrated when you want to check your progress on a mobile device? Not anymore! Mobile Assignments Are Here Whether you are trading on an Android tablet, Windows smartphone, or Apple Watch, you can monitor your assignment progress from anywhere! As always, Read More…
TeachPersonalFinance.com is a new resource for teachers that opened in the last year. It is a collection of recommendations, resources, and suggestions from a veteran personal finance teacher with over 30 years of experience. There is a “Personal Finance Toolkit” of recommended resources and supplements for teachers (including HowTheMarketWorks!), along with the best ways to Read More…
Frustrated with the delay between the updates in your portfolio value, and how fast you move on the rankings page? Not Anymore! Real Time Rankings on HowTheMarketWorks In the past, we needed to check everyone’s account and revalue them in a loop to update the rankings page – a process that could take up to Read More…
Definition “Economics” is often called the Dismal Science – it studies the trade-offs between making choices. The purpose of economics is to look at the different incentives, assets, and choices facing people, businesses, schools, and governments, and see if there is any way to improve outcomes. This is done by looking at how supply and Read More…
Have you ever wanted to start a business? Maybe you want to know the difference between a lemonade stand and Minute-Maid, besides just the size of the companies. Different types of companies have different levels of liability (meaning level of responsibility) for the owner or owners. What this means is that the more liability an owner has, Read More…
Definition A “Contract” is a legally binding agreement between two parties (people, companies, or both). Having a contract means that if one party does not keep their word, the other can sue them in court to either force them to fulfill their side of the agreement, or pay back compensation. What Makes A Contract Binding? Read More…
Knowing your net worth is the first step towards growing it! This tool will help you organize your assets in one place, and even help project how they will grow in the future. If you have used our Home Budget Calculator to help see where you can improve your savings, the next step is measuring Read More…
Contest: March Trading Contest Final Portfolio Value: $131,022.78 Trading Strategy For This Contest I’ve watched the market as it fluctuates, learning to buy and short gold as it adjusts. I tend to go with my gut instinct when buying stocks. Sometimes it works, sometimes, not so much. The best thing you can do, to help you Read More…
When talking about Banking, people generally group Banks, Credit Unions, and Savings & Loan companies all in one group. They do provide similar services, but they each have specific differences that might make them a better or worse fit for your financial needs. What They Have In Common All three of these institutions can do Read More…
