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The DollarVisor Blog

Short guides that answer one money question at a time, across insurance, credit cards, loans and investing.

600 guides (page 19)

Investing What Is a Mutual Fund? How They Actually Work Asking what is a mutual fund has a short answer: it is a company that pools money from many investors and buys a basket of stocks or… Read the guide → Investing What Is an Expense Ratio? (What’s Too High) An expense ratio is the yearly percentage a fund takes out of your money to run itself. Our verdict: for a plain US stock or bond in… Read the guide → Investing Can You Lose Money in a 401(k)? Yes. Can you lose money in 401k accounts? You can, and millions of people did in 2022, when the average Vanguard balance fell 20%. O… Read the guide → Investing 401(k) Vesting Explained: When the Match Is Yours 401k vesting decides how much of your employer's match you actually own. Your own payroll contributions are yours from day one. The… Read the guide → Investing How to Roll Over a 401(k) Into an IRA A 401k rollover to IRA is one phone call and one instruction: make it a direct rollover, with the check payable to your new custodia… Read the guide → Investing What Happens to Your 401(k) When You Quit? Nothing happens to your 401(k) when you quit on day one. The money stays invested and it stays yours. What changes is who is in char… Read the guide → Investing 403(b) vs 401(k): What’s the Difference? The 403(b) vs 401(k) question is mostly settled by your employer: both plans run on the same tax rules and share the same $24,500 em… Read the guide → Investing What Is a 457(b)? How It Compares to a 401(k) A 457(b) plan is a retirement account for state and local government workers and some nonprofit staff. It shares the 401(k)'s $24,50… Read the guide → Investing Solo 401(k) vs SEP IRA: Which Is Better? On solo 401(k) vs SEP IRA, the solo 401(k) wins for almost every one-person business. Both plans use the exact same employer formula… Read the guide → Investing What Is a SEP IRA? 2026 Limits and Rules A SEP IRA is a retirement account your business funds for you and for every employee who qualifies. In 2026 the cap is the lesser of… Read the guide → Investing Roth Conversions: When Do They Make Sense? A Roth conversion moves money from a traditional IRA into a Roth IRA and adds the whole amount to this year’s taxable income. It pay… Read the guide → Investing Mega Backdoor Roth: Who Can Use It A mega backdoor Roth moves after-tax 401(k) money into a Roth account, up to the $72,000 total plan limit for 2026. It is the larges… Read the guide → Investing Backdoor Roth IRA: Step-by-Step for 2026 A backdoor Roth IRA is a nondeductible traditional IRA contribution that you then convert to a Roth. It is legal, and for 2026 it mo… Read the guide → Investing I Bonds vs EE Bonds: Which to Buy in 2026 Buy I bonds. Bonds issued May through October 2026 pay a 4.26% composite rate, against 2.40% for EE bonds. EE bonds only pull ahead… Read the guide → Investing What Is a Bond Ladder and How to Build One A bond ladder is a set of bonds maturing one after another, usually one a year, so a known amount of cash lands on a known date. On… Read the guide → Investing How to Rebalance Your Portfolio (And When) To rebalance your portfolio, sell a slice of whatever has grown past its target and buy whatever has fallen behind. Check once or tw… Read the guide → Investing What Is Asset Allocation? Models by Age Asset allocation is how you split your money between stocks, bonds and cash. It drives most of your risk. The popular age rules disa… Read the guide → Investing What Is Dollar-Cost Averaging? (When It Wins) Dollar cost averaging means investing a fixed amount on a fixed schedule, whatever the share price is that day. Vanguard found lump… Read the guide → Loans Loan Scams: How to Spot a Fake Lender Almost every fake lender fails the same test: money has to leave your hands before any money reaches it. A licensed lender can charg… Read the guide → Loans Debt Relief Scams: 7 Red Flags to Avoid Most debt relief scams are caught by one question: are you being asked to pay before a single debt has been settled? Since October 2… Read the guide → Loans Wage Garnishment: How It Works and How to Stop It Wage garnishment is a court or agency order telling your employer to send part of your paycheck to someone you owe. For ordinary con… Read the guide → Loans What Is a Judgment for Debt? What Happens Next A debt judgment is a court ruling that you owe a specific amount. It converts a bill your creditor had to ask you to pay into one a… Read the guide → Loans Zombie Debt: When Old Collections Come Back Zombie debt is an old account a buyer picked up for pennies and is working again, often years after you last heard about it. It may… Read the guide → Loans Statute of Limitations on Debt: The State Rules The statute of limitations on debt is the deadline for suing you, and it runs from three years in New York and North Carolina to ten… Read the guide →