Investment

An earnings release, a 10-Q and a call each carry different numbers, under different SEC rules. A quarterly report is really a set of documents: a press release furnished on Form 8-K, a conference call, and a 10-Q or 10-K that an auditor has reviewed or audited. The guide maps which lines to read first, from revenue and gross margin to diluted EPS, the cash flow statement and segment notes, and explains what SEC rules require when a company shows adjusted, non-GAAP figures. A worked example uses one large company's filed results for the quarter ended July 2026, and a closing list of questions works on any report.

A share is a residual claim and a bond is a contract, and that difference decides what each can do in a plan. The comparison here is about jobs, not returns: what owning a share or a bond gives you legally, who gets paid first in a bankruptcy, and how dividends, Treasury interest, corporate interest and municipal interest are taxed differently under 2026 federal rules. A worked example turns $100,000 into after-tax income for a filer in the 24% federal and 5% state brackets, with tax-equivalent yields and the break-even bracket. There is a risk table for both assets, the March 2020 episode when Treasuries and corporate bonds moved in opposite directions, how TIPS and I bonds handle inflation and how they are taxed, and how bond markups must be disclosed.

Size, value and momentum premiums averaged far less after 1990 than before, in Fama-French data. A factor is a measurable stock characteristic that has been linked to differences in average returns, such as company size, price relative to book value, or recent performance. This guide defines the main documented factors, sets out the risk-based and behavioral explanations for why premiums might exist, and then looks at the evidence on decay: a study of 97 published predictors and a multiple-testing critique. It works through annual figures from the Kenneth French Data Library for 1927 to 2025, including a 13-year stretch in which the value spread lost ground, and closes with the cost points regulators raise about factor funds.

How REITs qualify, how their dividends are taxed and what 10- to 50-year index data show about returns. A REIT is a company that owns or finances income-producing real estate and, to keep its special tax status, must pass income, asset, ownership and payout tests written into the Internal Revenue Code. This guide walks through those tests, the difference between listed, non-traded and private REITs, why most REIT dividends are taxed as ordinary income, and how the Section 199A deduction lowers that tax. It includes an illustrative after-tax calculation, plain definitions of FFO, AFFO and NAV, REIT and S&P 500 returns over several periods from Nareit data, and the main risks, including non-traded REIT redemption limits.

A 30-year, $7,000-a-year example shows how account type and tax rates can shift the result by $70,000. Every investment account answers one question: when does the tax bill arrive? A traditional 401(k) or IRA deducts the money going in and taxes it coming out; a Roth taxes it going in and not coming out; an HSA can skip tax at all three steps when used for medical costs; a 529 skips tax on earnings spent on qualified education. The guide sets out the 2026 federal limits and income phase-outs published by the IRS, the new Roth catch-up rule for higher earners, the wider K-12 use of 529 plans, and a hypothetical comparison with its assumptions stated, so the gap between account types can be seen in dollars. Required distributions and the early-withdrawal penalty are covered in brief.