In economics, consumer debt is the amount owed by consumers (as opposed to amounts owed by businesses or governments). It includes debts incurred on purchase of goods that are consumable and/or do not appreciate. In macroeconomic terms, it is debt which is used to fund consumption rather than investment.The most common forms of consumer debt are credit card debt, payday loans, student loans and other consumer finance, which are often at higher interest rates than long-term secured loans, such as mortgages. Long-term consumer debt is often considered fiscally suboptimal. While some consumer items such as automobiles may be marketed as having high levels of utility that justify incurring short-term debt, most consumer goods are not. For example, incurring high-interest consumer debt through buying a big-screen television "now", rather than saving for it, cannot usually be financially justified by the subjective benefits of having the television early. In many countries, the ease with which individuals can accumulate consumer debt beyond their means to repay has led to a growth in the debt consolidation industry and credit counseling. Debt also leads to...

It may benefit employees if you can offer them a payroll advance in times of financial emergencies. Here's how to offer an advance to your employees.

New York Stock Exchange, one of the world’s largest marketplaces for securities and other exchange-traded investments, located in New York City.

Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liability arising from such guarantee. An underwriting arrangement may be created in a number of situations including insurance, issues of security in a public offering, and bank lending, among others. The person or institution that agrees to sell a minimum number of securities of the company for commission is called the underwriter. History The term "underwriting" derives from the Lloyd's of London insurance market. Financial backers (or risk takers), who would accept some of the risk on a given venture (historically a sea voyage with associated risks of shipwreck) in exchange for a premium, would literally write their names under the risk information that was written on a Lloyd's slip created for this purpose. Securities underwriting In the financial primary market, securities underwriting is the process by which investment banks...

Dealer may refer to: Film and TV Dealers (film), a 1989 British film Dealers (TV series), a reality television series where five art and antique dealers bid on items The Dealer (film), filmed in 2008 and released in 2010 Dealer (TV series) a 2021 seriesGaming Dealer (card game), the player who deals the cards in a card game Croupier, the player who deals cards, or the employee of a gaming establishment who deals the cards Poker dealer, the player who deals cards, or the employee of a gaming establishment who deals the cards Dealer, a term in contract bridge for the player who makes the first call in the auction in the gameMusic Dealer (band), a Nu-Metalcore band based out of Australia, formed in 2019 Dealer (album), the second studio album by American emo revival band Foxing The Dealer (album), a 1966 album by jazz drummer/bandleader Chico Hamilton The Dealers, a 1964 album by jazz musician...

Opening a franchise is a business opportunity with relatively low risk and high support. Learn about franchising costs, regulations and considerations.

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the largest stock exchange in the world by market capitalization.The NYSE trading floor is located at the New York Stock Exchange Building on 11 Wall Street and 18 Broad Street and is a National Historic Landmark. A previous trading room, at 30 Broad Street, was closed in February 2007. The NYSE is owned by Intercontinental Exchange, an American holding company that it also lists (NYSE: ICE). Previously, it was part of NYSE Euronext (NYX), which was formed by the NYSE's 2007 merger with Euronext. According to a Gallup poll conducted in 2022, approximately 58% of American adults reported having money invested in the stock market, either through individual stocks, mutual funds, or retirement accounts. History The earliest recorded organization of securities trading in New York among brokers directly dealing with each other can be traced...

A credit rating is an evaluation of the credit risk of a prospective debtor (an individual, a business, company or a government), predicting their ability to pay back the debt, and an implicit forecast of the likelihood of the debtor defaulting. The credit rating represents an evaluation from a credit rating agency of the qualitative and quantitative information for the prospective debtor, including information provided by the prospective debtor and other non-public information obtained by the credit rating agency's analysts. Credit reporting (or credit score) – is a subset of credit rating – it is a numeric evaluation of an individual's credit worthiness, which is done by a credit bureau or consumer credit reporting agency. Sovereign credit ratings A sovereign credit rating is the credit rating of a sovereign entity, such as a national government. The sovereign credit rating indicates the risk level of the investing environment of a country and is used by investors when looking to invest in particular jurisdictions, and also takes into account political risk. The "country risk rankings" table...

The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 of the largest companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices. As of December 31, 2021, according to surveys, more than $7.1 trillion was invested in assets tied to the performance of the index.The S&P 500 index is a free-float weighted/capitalization-weighted index. As of September 30, 2023, the nine largest companies on the list of S&P 500 companies accounted for 30.6% of the market capitalization of the index and were, in order of highest to lowest weighting: Apple, Microsoft, Amazon.com, Nvidia, Alphabet (including both class A & C shares), Tesla, Meta Platforms, Berkshire Hathaway, and Exxon Mobil. The components that have increased their dividends in 25 consecutive years are known as the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats.: 25 The index is one of the factors in computation of the Conference Board Leading Economic Index, used to forecast the direction...