Investment Vehicles

Every instrument a portfolio can hold — equity, debt, funds, derivatives, insurance and real assets — with how each is taxed and who it suits.

Chapters

What each chapter covers

The twelve chapters run from ownership to income, then through funds, derivatives and the products outside the stock and bond markets. Each chapter page summarizes its topics; the lessons hold the rules, formulas and worked examples.

• 1.1 Equity Securities: what a share gives its owner, how stock is first sold and then traded, how ADRs bring foreign companies to US investors, how preferred stock differs from common, and the Rule 144 limits on restricted and control stock.
• 1.2 Equity Income, Tax & Analysis: dividends and the models that value them, splits and ex-dates, the tax on dividends and gains, fundamental and technical analysis, and who common and preferred stock suit.
• 1.3 Debt Securities & Issuers: bond mechanics, then corporate, Treasury, agency, municipal and international debt, with how quotes convert to dollar prices and what backs each issue.
• 1.4 Bond Yield, Tax & Suitability: the four yields and their order, duration, present value, municipal tax exemption and the tax-free equivalent yield, and the risks a bond investor carries.
• 1.5 Funds & Investment Companies: the structures the Investment Company Act of 1940 allows, and how a mutual fund is run, priced, disclosed and sold through its share classes.
• 1.6 ETFs, REITs & Fund Analysis: ETFs and ETNs, fund categories, REITs, alpha and beta, how fund payouts are taxed, and dollar cost averaging.
• 1.7 Options Fundamentals: calls and puts, contract anatomy and moneyness, intrinsic and time value, settlement and expiration timing, rights and warrants, and index options.
• 1.8 Option Positions & Strategies: maximum gain, maximum loss and breakeven for each single-option position and straddle, plus the protective and covered strategies that pair an option with stock.
• 1.9 Futures, ESOs & Derivative Tax: futures against forwards, ISO and NSO taxation, how option trades are taxed, and which investors each derivative suits.
• 1.10 Hedge Funds, LPs & Structured Products: limited partnerships and their tax pass-through, hedge fund eligibility and fees, structured products and ETNs, and the investors who can bear their risks.
• 1.11 Annuities & Life Insurance: fixed, variable and indexed annuities, term, whole and variable life, which of them are securities, how each is taxed, and who each fits.
• 1.12 Digital Assets, Real Estate & Metals: direct real estate and precious metals, cryptocurrency, stablecoins and DeFi, and the risk profile of a digital asset investor.

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