Over 90 percent of investment returns are determined by how investors allocate their assets versus security selection, market timing and other factors.

Use this calculator to help determine the potential interest growth and tax liability on your Certificate of Deposit.

Dividends paid by a corporation can make up a significant portion of the cash flow generated by a stock purchase.

It may surprise you how sales charges, management fees and lost opportunity cost can erode the total return on your mutual fund.

Typically you can receive higher crediting rates on a CD if you commit to leaving your money with the bank for a longer period of time. This lack of liquity causes many people to choose shorter-term CDs at the expense of receiving the higher interest rates. CD laddering is a strategy that gives you the benefit of receiving the higher-interest crediting rates of longer term CDs but still provide you with some liquidity.

Many investments are taxed differently. For example with bonds, some may be taxed federally only, some may be taxed at the state level only, and some may be taxed both at the state and federal level.

Bond values are very sensitive to market interest rates. For example, if you purchased bond with a stated/coupon rate of 10% and market rates had declined to 8% since you purchased the bond, then the value of your 10% bond in a market crediting 8% would be higher.

Purchase price, loan terms, appreciation rate, taxes, expenses and other factors must be considered when you evaluate a real estate investment.

Compound interest can have a dramatic effect on the growth of an investment.

A Call option represents the right (but not the requirement) to purchase a set number of shares of stock at a pre-determined 'strike price' before the option reaches its expiration date. A call option is purchased in hopes that the underlying stock price will rise well above the strike price, at which point you may choose to exercise the option. Exercising a call option is the financial equivalent of simultaneously purchasing the shares at the strike price and immediately selling them at the now higher market price.

Tax-deferral can have a dramatic effect on the growth of an investment.

On your way home from work, do you drive in the slow lane or the fast lane? Each person has a different propensity for risk. When investing, this risk propensity can be used to determine the percentage of your portfolio that is exposed to equities.

It may surprise you how much more you could accumulate in savings simply by repositioning assets to achieve potentially a slightly higher return.