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Audrey Arkins

Articles By Audrey Arkins

  • Dream Job: Brain Surgeon

    Becoming a good neurosurgeon isn't about being the smartest guy in the room, which is well nigh impossible anyway when all your peers are mental giants. "It's not just about scholarship. People don't realize the strenuous physical demands … Read more...

  • First-Time Home Buyer Tips - Making the Offer

    Good real estate agents are invaluable when it comes time to make an offer on a house. Invariably the agent will provide you with a preprinted form of a purchase contract, which together you rework to fit your needs. The contract begins by … Read more...

  • First-Time Home Buyer Tips - Closing Time

    Closing is the last step in buying a home. Unless you are paying cash for the house, you cannot buy without backing from a lender, which comes in the form of a commitment letter. The lender will require that you have a homeowner's insurance … Read more...

  • Bonds - A Bond for Every Occasion

    Now that the roaring bull that was the stock market has been put out to pasture, let us turn our attention to bonds and bond mutual funds. With investors accepting the sad reality that stock values can drop as fast as they may rise, bonds … Read more...

  • Talking Taxes - Tax Basics for Beginners

    Most of us loathe the very idea of doing our U.S. personal income taxes, not because we expect to get fleeced each April 15 (or 16) but simply because we don't know an adjusted gross income from a standard deduction. For the many tax code … Read more...

  • Super-Safe Saving

    Saving your money in a safe place may seem like an obvious priority. Why would anyone want to put savings somewhere unsafe? But the fact remains that a large percentage of popular saving and investing vehicles provide no guarantee of … Read more...

  • Investing in Stock Mutual Funds

    Anyone who's shopped for a mutual fund knows finding the right one can be harder than locating that proverbial needle in a haystack. There are so many to choose from. Remarkably, people seem to navigate the selection process somehow, … Read more...

  • Dividend Reinvestment Plans

    If you're short on cash but keen to build an investment portfolio, you may want to consider a DRIP. Shorthand for Dividend Reinvestment Plans, DRIPs allow individual shareholders to bypass brokers and make stock transactions directly with … Read more...

  • Using Full-Service Investment Brokers

    Full-service" brokers get their name and reputation from the dogged and devoted work they're expected to do to keep clients happy. They carry business cards from distinguished brokerage firms like Salomon Smith Barney and Merrill Lynch. In … Read more...

  • Investing in Index Funds

    Who has the time, interest, or confidence to pick and track individual stocks (unless, of course, it's what you do for a living)? For those of us who don't, there are index funds. Every self-help guide on investing champions index funds as … Read more...