Fauquier Excellence in Education Foundation can now accept online donations to support after-prom events for Fauquier, Kettle Run and Liberty high schools and the graduation celebration at Southeastern Alternative School.

In a news release, the foundation said it is proud to support the free teen-appropriate [that] parties provide entertainment, food, drinks and prizes for students to enjoy post-prom and to support Southeastern Alternative School with its year-end graduation celebration.

Each school relies solely on donations to cover event costs, the news release said.

In an effort to make donating more convenient, the foundation is now accepting online donations.

New this year, the Foundation can accept online donations offering convenience for anyone wishing to donate with a credit card, the news release said.

Donors will be asked to select a school to support during the online checkout process. If no school is chosen, then donations will be shared equally among the four schools.

Donations can be made online atwww.fauquiereie.org.

Fauquier High Schools prom is Saturday, April 18, and Liberty and Kettle Run will both hold their proms on Saturday, April 25.

For more information contact: at Fauquier High School, Nancy Griffin-Bonnaire atngeebee@hotmail.com;at Kettle Run High School,Leslie Cox atLeslie.p.cox@comcast.net; at Liberty High School, Michelle Clark atlibertyhsap@gmail.com, and at Southeastern Alternative School, Shelly Neibauer atsneibauer@fcps1.org.

Fauquier Excellence in Education is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to creating, enriching and expanding educational opportunities for

Fauquier County Public Schools, teachers and students, according to the news release. Donations are tax-deductible.

More:
Fauquier Excellence In Education Foundation now accepting online donations to support after-prom and graduation events - Fauquier Times

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To work as a nurse in Montana, you must become a registered nurse (RN). To do so, you need to finish a minimum amount of schooling, gain on-the-job experience, and pass the NCLEX-RN.

But if you want to increase your chances of finding a high-paying job, the best thing to do is earn a bachelor's of science in nursing (BSN). A BSN leads to licensure as an RN, though nurses with a BSN earn nearly $30,000 more than RNs without a BSN.

Choosing the right program to become an RN and earn a BSN can impact your career, too. Better nursing schools often have connections with renowned hospitals, and these connections could help you land a job coming out of school.

Fortunately, Montana has plenty of nursing programs with great student outcomes.

Because nursing careers take different forms, the top 10 Montana nursing schools are ranked in no particular order.

City College of Montana State University Billings

Total In-State Tuition: $11,745 | Total Out-of-State Tuition: $18,020 | NCLEX Pass Rate: 91.89%

Traditional: Yes

Online: No

Accelerated: No

Bridge: No

The City College at Montana State University Billings offers programs that lead to high-employment fields, nursing included. However, anyone interested in a nursing degree won't have a BSN as an option -- instead, City College offers an associate of science in nursing (ASN). This two-year program is incredibly affordable, especially for in-state students. Also, with a high NCLEX pass rate for recent grads, this program is an excellent way to become an RN at a low cost. Graduates can always enter an RN-BSN bridge program after completing the ASN.

Montana State University

Annual In-State Tuition: $7,565 | Annual Out-of-State Tuition: $18,475 | NCLEX Pass Rate: 91.56%

Traditional: Yes

Online: No

Accelerated: Yes

Bridge: Yes

Based in Bozeman, Montana State University is home to nearly 17,000 students, only 7,800 of which are from MSU is also one of the most important public schools in Montana and offers the only generic BSN in the state. Aside from the traditional BSN, MSU has an accelerated BSN, master of science in nursing (MSN) and doctor of nursing practice (DNP). NCLEX pass rates for MSU grads are impressive, and any Montana residents interested in nursing can earn an excellent BSN at a low tuition cost.

Montana Technological University

Annual In-State Tuition: $7,440 | Annual Out-of-State Tuition: $22,500 | NCLEX Pass Rate: 100%

Traditional: Yes

Online: Yes

Accelerated: No

Bridge: Yes

Originally the Montana State School of Mines, Montana Tech has since absorbed multiple colleges and schools. Today, Montana Tech has a nursing program with two options for students: a traditional, four-year degree and an RN-BSN. The traditional BSN has incredible outcomes, and the past two years have seen every student pass the NCLEX on their first try. Current RNs can enroll in the RN-BSN and online program that can be finished in as little as a year. However, RN-BSN students must have an ASN.

University of Providence

Annual Tuition: $29,190 | NCLEX Pass Rate: N/A

Traditional: Yes

Online: Yes

Accelerated: No

Bridge: Yes

Based in Great Falls, University of Providence is a private, Catholic school. As a private school, all students are required to pay the same tuition rate, although many University of Providence students get some form of financial aid. University of Providence doesn't disclose the Division of Nursing NCLEX pass rates, but the program is well-respected. Students can enroll in the traditional BSN or an online RN-BSN. Current RNs enrolling in the RN-BSN completion program instead pay $483 per credit, making it an affordable program for nurses that just needs a few more credits.

Carroll College

Annual Tuition: $36,182 | NCLEX Pass Rate: 100%

Traditional: Yes

Online: No

Accelerated: No

Bridge: No

Consistently ranked as one of the top schools in the region, Carroll College is another Catholic school. Based in Helena, Carroll College is a bit more expensive than other schools on this list. However, students receive an average financial aid package of over $28,000, and the nursing program is well worth the cost. The 2018 class aced the NCLEX on their first try, and Carroll has a direct-entry option for students still in high school. An accelerated BSN is also available for students who already have a bachelor's degree, though this program hasn't yet received accreditation.

Helena College

Annual In-State Tuition: $3,440 | Annual Out-of-State Tuition: $9,400 | NCLEX Pass Rate: 93.94%

Traditional: Yes

Online: No

Accelerated: No

Bridge: Yes

With a small student to faculty ratio of 12:1 and an average class size of just 11 students, Helena College offers a focused education. The attention to students could be part of the reason every nursing program graduate who took the NCLEX passed on the first try (according to the school's 2019 data). While Helena College doesn't have a four-year program, students can enroll in the ASN, a two-year program that leads to NCLEX readiness and nursing licensure. Afterward, students can always choose one of the RN-BSN programs offered elsewhere in Montana.

Missoula College

Annual In-State Tuition: $7,948 | Annual Out-of-State Tuition: $14,434 | NCLEX Pass Rate: 85.19%

Traditional: Yes

Online: No

Accelerated: No

Bridge: Yes

Missoula College is a two-year college that only offers associate degrees, so nursing students won't be able to complete their BSN. However, the RN program only takes four semesters to complete and leads to RN licensure. Only 18 students are admitted to the RN program each semester, so admissions can be competitive. However, any students that get accepted can get an affordable two-year degree and follow up with an RN-BSN at another school.

Great Falls College

Annual In-State Tuition: $3,417 | Annual Out-of-State Tuition: $10,309 | NCLEX Pass Rate: 77.27%

Traditional: Yes

Online: No

Accelerated: No

Bridge: No

Founded in 1969 as a vocational school, Great Falls College is now one of the main two-year schools in Montana. Like every other two-year college in Montana, Great Falls College doesn't have a traditional BSN program. Instead, students complete an ASN and are prepared to sit for the NCLEX and become RNs. Completing an ASN satisfies prerequisites for an RN-BSN program, so this can be a fast route to becoming a nurse and earning a BSN later.

Montana State University Northern

Annual In-State Tuition: $5,955 | Annual Out-of-State Tuition: $18,664 | NCLEX Pass Rate: N/A

Traditional: Yes

Online: Yes

Accelerated: No

Bridge: Yes

With campuses in Havre and Great Falls (and an online campus), Montana State University Northern has perhaps the least traditional route to a BSN of any school in Montana. Earning a BSN consists of two steps: first nursing students need to complete the ASN. After, they can enroll in MSU Northern's RN-BSN, available both in-person and online. MSU Northern's recent NCLEX pass rates were officially 0% -- only one student took the exam -- but prior years had pass rates as has as 89.83%.

Salish Kootenai College

Annual In-State Tuition: $5,076 | Annual Out-of-State Tuition: $10,260 | NCLEX Pass Rate: 86.67%

Traditional: Yes

Online: No

Accelerated: No

Bridge: No

Salish Kootenai College is an incredibly small school with just 801 students currently enrolled. Despite the size, Salish Kootenai's Nursing Program graduates more Native American RNs than any other school. Currently, SKC only offers an ASN, though they're retiring the program to introduce a traditional four-year BSN. The new BSN program will begin accepting students in Spring 2020. It's also worth noting that Native American students and Native American descendants receive even lower tuition than in-state students.

Keep in mind that colleges and universities reserve the right to change tuition rates at any time. The yearly tuition rates listed here will vary for each student depending on various factors including,

Check with the specific school for current tuition rates.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS),

While the national mean wage for nurses is $75,510, Montana has a relatively low cost of living, so the lower wage extends further than in other states. Montana also has a higher mean wage than neighbors Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

According to the BLS, Montana has a location quotient of RNs of 1.07. Any number larger than 1 means that more nurses are employed per 1,000 workers than the national average. This data essentially means that Montana is a relatively high employer of nurses per capita.

With a national nursing shortage already affecting hospitals and healthcare facilities around the country, it's an encouraging sign that Montana employs more nurses than most other states.

After reviewing potential colleges and nursing programs, you'll probably be interested in a few options. Before jumping in and sending applications, here are some steps you'll want to follow to increase your chances of getting accepted into your program(s) of choice:

Contact each schools admissions offices. The admissions office runs admissions, and they can tell the difference between a good and subpar application. If you have any questions about what you need to do to get accepted to the school, contact the admissions office.

Check to see if you meet the nursing school requirements. Just because you've been accepted to a college doesn't mean you've been accepted into the nursing program. Get connected with someone working for the nursing program to find out any requirements.

Submit your application(s). Once you've learned more about each school's admissions process and gotten in touch with the nursing school, the final step is to gather your materials and submit your application(s).

In your application, be prepared to submit:

No two schools are alike, and you may find yourself struggling to pick between two (or more) schools. Fortunately, as long as each school is accredited, there is no "wrong" choice. Focus on picking the best school for your personal wants and needs.

Here are things to consider when comparing schools:

Accreditation is a way for colleges to verify their academic quality. The best accreditation a school can earn is regional accreditation, and the regionally accrediting body for Montana is the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. On top of regional accreditation, the best programs (including nursing programs) have programmatic accreditation.

The two nursing accreditation organizations to look for are

If you earn a degree from an unaccredited school, you may have trouble securing federal financial aid and finding work as a nurse after graduation.

Montana is part of the Enhanced Nursing Licensure Compact (eNLC), a group of states that have standardized licensure. This means that becoming licensed is relatively straightforward, so long as you studied at an accredited school.

Along with becoming NCLEX-RN eligible, you'll need to:

With plenty of mountains and wide-open spaces, there are few places in the U.S. like Montana. While the wages earned by nurses in Montana aren't the highest, the low cost of living and high employment rates make Montana a great place to enjoy a nursing career. There are plenty of quality nursing programs in Montana, and if you're from the state you can take advantage of in-state tuition. As part of the eNLC, licensed nurses in Montana can easily move to most other states.

Methodology

This is a panel-reviewed selection based on a number of factors including,

Nurse Panel

Our selection panel includes 4 Registered Nurses with over 55 years of combined nursing experience and 7 nursing degrees.

Read the original:
Education Top 10 Best Nursing Schools in Montana - Nurse.org

In this final segment of this years Barrons Roundtable, our remaining five panelists share and defend 32 promising investments for 2020.

The investment pros spend more than half of their daylong meeting each January proposing stocks, bonds, and funds that they believe will race ahead of the crowd or fall on their faces, and this year was no different. Our other five participants picks appeared last week.

Weighing in below is Mario Gabelli of Gamco Investors.

Mario, lets hear about your 2020 picks. How many picks do you have?

Gabelli: Nine. First, Im back to baseball: Liberty Braves Group (ticker: BATRA). The stock is at $29.70, with 60 million shares and a $1.8 billion market value. The Atlanta Braves finished with a 97-65 record last season, so theyve done well on the field. Secondly, Major League Baseball is examining the minor-league ownership rules, which should increase the value of their A, AA, and AAA teams. The third point is betting, which is going to keep the eyeballs focused on the gamemeaning more advertising and money for the league.

In addition to that, theyve got SunTrust Park [renamed Truist Park], which is doing extremely well. John Malone controls the voting stock, except for the 18% our clients own. He will exit at some point. The one tiny challenge is that they dont have the rights to the television network because they licensed that off.

What could the stock be worth?

Gabelli: I wont sell for less than $42.

Whats your second-favorite sport?

Gabelli: Basketball: Madison Square Garden (MSG). It recently closed at $300 per share, with under 24 million shares and $1 billion in net cash. Theres some financial engineering going on. Instead of spinning off the sports teams, the New York Knicks, the Rangers, and some other assets are staying in a RemainCo, and theyre spinning off all their entertainment businesses via a SpinCo, hopefully this quarter.

Forbes values the Knicks at over $4 billion. And you just had Joe Tsai from Alibaba buy a piece of the Netsand he paid a fairly significant amount of money.

What about the spun-off entertainment businesses?

Gabelli: Live entertainment and live tours are very popular. Madison Square Garden is a leading live-entertainment venue operator. But Im not going to recommend the SpinCo because theyre building the Sphere [performance center] in Las Vegas, which is going to be more expensive than I expected. And theyre duplicating it in London. So I need to see the economics of that more clearly. But you want to buy the RemainCo, which is the sports teams.

On to No. 3, Mario.

Mario Gabelli: Im going to pivot to a defense company: Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings (AJRD). They make liquid-fuel, solid-fuel, air-breathing, and electric-propulsion enginesthe things that make rockets and missiles go up. The Russians, the Chinese, and the U.S. are all developing hypersonic missiles, which will make our existing missile-defense systems look like the Maginot Line. The Pentagon will have a budget this year of $738 billion, up from $716 billion. And the U.S. just created the Space Force.

What are Aerojets numbers?

Gabelli: There are 90 million diluted shares at $48, roughly $500 million of net cash, and some undervalued real estate assets. Revenues are $1.9 billion, with earnings of about $1.75 per share. Theyre down, but thats because certain products were phased out. We think their results can inch up next year. Lockheed Martin (LMT) is their best customer, and thats where hypersonics fit in. But space-launch systems are part of Aerojets expertise, and the key driver there is companies like Blue Origin and SpaceX.

Lets get back to Earth for your next pick.

[Foxs] quarter that ended in December might not be vibrant, but then results should just roar ahead. With all these politicians running for office and gathering money and spending it, this is going to be a tsunami year for TV broadcasters.

Gabelli: The next one is Fox (FOX), at $36 per share [Fox and Barrons parent company, News Corp, have common ownership]. They sold their entertainment assets to Walt Disney (DIS) since we talked about them last year. I went to their first investor conference in May, where they said theyre not going to do anything major. But theyve already done four acquisitions and a half-billion dollars in share buybacks. For example, they bought a majority stake in Credible Labs, which is a financial-technology company. They bought a position in TSG in Canada because of FOX Bet [an online gambling operation]. Theyre also putting money into WWE ; thats wrestling. Live sports and news are part of their DNA.

The quarter that just ended in December might not be vibrant, but then results should just roar ahead. With all these politicians running for office and gathering money and spending it, this is going to be a tsunami year for TV broadcasters. Buy the voting stock [Class B shares]. Youre getting it at a discount to the nonvoting stock, plus you get the vote. They can earn $3.50 per share for the year ending in June 2021.

What about another recent media mergers-and-acquisitions story, ViacomCBS (VIACA)?

Gabelli: That one has been very painful for the past four years. They finally merged on Dec. 4. Again, youve got to buy the voting stock. National AmusementsShari Redstoneowns 42 million of the 52 million shares, which sell at a $3 to $4 premium to the nonvoting shares. The whole company has a $24 billion equity value. Thats a tiny morsel for Apple [AAPL] or Amazon.com (AMZN) in the hunt for content. Their studio, Paramount, has 3,600 movie titles, and they have 140,000 TV episodes in their content library. They have NFL football. They have [CEO] Bob Bakish. Meanwhile, theyre becoming an arms dealer to all of the Peacocks, Hulus, Disney+s, and Netflixes of the world. My dream wish on this one is that Sony Pictures merges with Paramount. Lets create a content juggernaut.

In calendar 2020, we see $6.5 billion of Ebitda. Also, they are selling CBS Manhattan headquartersBlack Rock. Over the next five years, theyre going to generate about $30 billion of Ebitda. Capital expenditure is de minimislike $200 million a year. The result is significant cash flow, so they can spend $14 billion on new content and bolster their Pluto TV and other streaming properties.

Read the picksand pansfrom these panelists

Scott Black: They generate free cash flow, but theres no growth, Mario. Its all financial engineering. I dont see it. The companys impaired; it has been for a long time.

Gabelli: The stock has clearly reflected that.

Black: I agree its undervalued. But its a value trap.

Well leave that up to the market. What are your last picks, Mario?

Gabelli: My theme for the 2020s is saving planet Earth. An idea linked to that is Connecticut-based Avangrid (AGR), which trades at $50. They have a regulated utility business, and their $10 billion rate base is growing. So, well have a tailwind to earnings and a rising dividend. The second part is the renewables business; theyre a major factor in solar and wind. Iberdrola (IBE.Spain), the Spanish utility], owns over 250 million of the 310 million shares outstanding.

My seventh pick, NextEra Energy Partners (NEP), at $52, also represents a significant opportunity in renewables.

Two to go.

Gabelli: The next one makes a product that even my wife likes. Its called Aperol. Aperol spritzes are the big thing now, made by Davide Campari-Milano (CPR.Italy). Theyre selling at about eight euros. Aperol is about 20% of their revenues, Campari is 18%. They also have Wild Turkey, which is what got me interested in the company years ago. And they have extraordinarily competent management.

Finally, Swedish Match (SWMA.Sweden), at around 500 kronor. Its best known for making snus [smokeless, moist powdered tobacco] and (ZYN) nicotine pouches. Its simple. Theyre selling ZYN in more and more locations in the U.S., and growing fast. The only short-term challenge is that the Swedish krona has come down sharply, relative to the dollar, which means their significant revenues in the U.S. benefit. If the krona gets a little stronger, they lose some of that.

Thanks, Mario.

Write to Leslie P. Norton at leslie.norton@barrons.com

See more here:
Mario Gabelli Says Its Time to Invest in Stocks That Will Save the World. These Two Stocks Fit the Bill. - Barron's

What percentage of your income goes into Uncle Sams pocket?

Your answer will vary depending on how much you earn. Data shows that low and middle-income families pay a much greater share of their income towards state and local taxes than wealthy families.

Todays visualization uses data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) to map the effective tax ratesor taxes paid as a share of family incomeacross income groups at the state and local level.

The data reflects the effect of tax changes enacted through September 10, 2018, using 2015 income levels (the latest year for available, detailed income data). Both single and married tax filers are included, while elderly taxpayers, dependent filers, and those with negative incomes are excluded.

Taxes Included The report includes the state and local taxes for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Taxes are broken into 3 broad groups:

Federal taxes are not considered.

Editors note: Its worth noting that federal personal income tax has progressive rates, with the lowest earning bracket at 10% and the highest earning bracket at 37% in 2019. At a national level, property taxes are not charged and there is a very low reliance on excise taxesboth of which tend to be regressive as outlined below.

Income Included The report includes both taxable and tax-exempt income such as workers compensation benefits. It also includes estimates for the amount of unreported income.

Across the U.S., there is a wide disparity in how taxes affect different income groups. Heres how it all breaks down, ranked in order of tax system inequality:

Total State and Local Taxes As a Share of Income By State and Income Group

Washington has the most unequal tax burdens. Proportional to their income, Washington taxpayers in the bottom 20% pay almost 6x more than those in the top 1%.

At the other end of the scale, California has the most progressive tax system. As a share of their income, the states poorest families pay only 0.84x what the wealthiest families pay.

Overall, however, the vast majority of tax systems are regressive.

On average, the lowest 20% of income earners pay 1.54x more of their income in taxes compared to the top 1%.

Two main factors drive a tax systems (lack of) equality: how the state designs each tax, and the states reliance on different tax sources.

To better explain how this works, lets take a closer look at each type of tax.

These taxes apply only to spent income, and exempt saved income. Since families with a higher household income are able to save a much larger percentage of their income, and the poorest families can barely save at all, the tax is regressive by nature.

The particular types of items that are taxed affect fairness as well. Quite a few states include food in their sales tax base, and low-income families spend the majority of their income on groceries and other necessities.

Not only that, excise taxes are levied on a small subset of goods that typically have a practical per-person maximum. For example, one person can only use so much fuel. As a wealthy familys income increases, they generally do not continue to increase their spending on these goods.

States rely on these taxes more than any other tax source, which only exacerbates the problem.

For the average household, the home makes up the majority of their total wealthmeaning most of their wealth is taxed. However, the wealth composition of richer families skews much more heavily towards stock portfolios, business equity, and other assets, which are exempt from property taxes.

While these types of assets are subject to taxes like capital gains and dividends, the distinction is that these taxes are levied only on earned gains. In contrast, property taxes are owed simply as a result of owning the asset.

What about those who dont own homes? Landlords generally pass on the cost of property tax to renters in the form of higher rent. Since rent comprises a much higher share of expenses for poorer families, this makes property tax even more inequitable.

State income taxes are typically progressive. This means effective tax rates go up as income goes up. Heres how the U.S. averages break down:

However, certain policy choices can turn this on its head. Some states have a flat rate for all income levels, a lack of deductions and credits for low-income taxpayers, or tax loopholes that can be beneficial for wealthier income groups.

Nine states charge no income tax at all, garnering reputations as low tax statesbut this is true only for high-income families. In order to make up for the lost revenue, states rely more heavily on tax sources that disproportionately affect the lowest earners.

Evidently, states with personal income taxes have more equitable effective tax burdens.

Regressive state tax systems negatively impact the after-tax income of low and middle-income families. This means they have less to spend on daily expenses, or to save for the future.

Not only that, because wealthier families arent contributing a proportional share of tax dollars, state revenues grow more slowly.

For states looking to create a more equitable tax system, states with progressive systems offer some guidance:

By implementing such policies, governments may see more tax equalityand more tax dollars for programs and services.

Hat tip to reddit user prikhodkop, whose visualization introduced us to this data.

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Original post:
How to Unlock the Return Potential in Factor Investing - Visual Capitalist

Kara Michelle Diamond and Andrew Nicholas Stahl were married Jan. 25 at the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Ky. Jeremy Crouthamel, a friend of the couple who became a Universal Life minister for the event, officiated.

The couple met at Columbia, from which they both received law degrees.

The bride, 34, is an investment funds associate in the New York office of Kirkland & Ellis, the Chicago law firm. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, from which she also received a masters degree in accounting.

She is a daughter of Sue Ann Diamond and Robert J. Diamond of Ponce Inlet, Fla. The brides father retired as a partner in Luckett & Farley, an architectural firm in Louisville. Her mother was a stay-at-home parent.

The groom, 31, is a litigation associate in the New York office of Sullivan & Cromwell. From August 2017 to August 2018, he served as a law clerk to Judge Jane R. Roth of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, with chambers in Philadelphia. He graduated from Georgetown.

He is the son of Marie D. Stahl and Gregory J. Stahl of Minoa, N.Y. The grooms mother is a pediatric nurse practitioner at a private pediatric practice in Cicero, N.Y. His father is a director of development for the College of Arts and Sciences at Georgetown University.

The couple met at a happy hour event that was part of an orientation at Columbia Law School in August 2012.

We talked for a couple of minutes, but I couldnt stay very long because I had tickets to a baseball game that night, Mr. Stahl said. But I had mentioned to a friend that I was definitely interested in Kara, and that there seemed to be a mutual attraction there.

Though they were in different sections of the law school and did not take any classes together, they occasionally heard about each other from mutual friends.

When Ms. Diamond happened to tell one of their more liberal friends that she liked Mr. Stahl and thought he was cute, the friend, who noted that Mr. Stahl dressed in a preppy and kind of conservative fashion, said hes in my section, and I think hes a Republican.

In March 2013, Ms. Diamond and Mr. Stahl reconnected at Columbias annual Public Interest Law Foundation gala. I saw him there and was really hoping he would come over, Ms. Diamond said. Even though we hadnt talked much since orientation, I thought he was so funny and smart and really nice, and I still liked him.

A few minutes later, Mr. Stahl was heading in her direction. We ended up talking for several hours and then went to an after-party together and talked some more, and by the next day, we were dating, he said.

They continued dating through law school graduation, and were established as a couple by the time they each began jobs at New York law firms in fall 2015.

In August 2016, Mr. Stahl temporarily moved to Philadelphia for the first of his two judicial clerkships (the first with Anita B. Brody, a District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania). Ms. Diamond remained in New York, and they began a two-year, long-distance relationship between New York and Philadelphia that included spending numerous Friday evenings and early Monday mornings on the Acela.

It wasnt easy, thats for sure, and sometimes very frustrating, Ms. Diamond said. But the joy of just knowing we were going to see each other on all of those weekends really helped get us through.

Here is the original post:
Invested in Each Other, and the Acela - The New York Times

On the surface, the growth story for exchange traded funds continues: The U.S. ETF business ended 2019 with $4.4 trillion in assets under management, a 30% increase from 2018, according to etf.com. The number of ETFs also increased 8%, to 2,302.

Thanks to the continuing growth of two hot trends environmental, social and governance, or ESG, and active management the growth will continue into 2020 and beyond, but not without challenges.

Here are five of the hottest topics at this year's Inside ETF conference:

1) ESG: It finally matters. 2019 was the first year investors stopped talking about environmental, social and governance investing and finally put some money into it. It's still small: ESG funds account for only $20.9 billion in ETF assets under management, or about 0.4% of the roughly $4.5 trillion the entire industry controls.

That will increase dramatically in 2020. Blackrock's Larry Fink wrote a passionate letter saying it was time to take climate change (and ESG) seriously, and it seems to have finally pushed the conversation over the top.

One problem: ESG is inherently un-scalable. "My ESG is not your ESG is not my neighbor's ESG," said Ben Johnson of Morningstar.

Even the Securities and Exchange Commission seems to agree: The agency has asked ESG providers for more information on how they define exactly what ESG is. One solution to the confusion may be direct indexing, which would allow individual investors to customize portfolios to meet whatever criteria they want.

2) More active management:Several mutual fund companies have applied for the right to convert existing actively managed funds into an ETF wrapper. Like their mutual fund counterparts, they will not disclose their holdings on a daily basis (hence "non-transparent"). The objections are obvious: if you are a crummy underperforming active mutual fund manager, you are not going to suddenly become successful if you switch to an ETF wrapper. You're still crummy.

Regardless, active managers still have followers, and if the better ones can switch to a lower cost, more tax efficient ETF wrapper, that will pull more money into the ETF space.

Expect American Century, T. Rowe Price and Legg Mason to be some of the first launches in 2020.

3) Thematic ETFs: What's the next pot craze? Everyone loves thematic investing, until they don't. Cannabis, cybersecurity, immunotherapy, blockchain, 5G, artificial intelligence, and even space exploration have been hot themes in the past. And then faded.

This tells us that the timing of these launches is critically important. Too early, and you could languish for a long time. Too late, and you miss meaningful asset growth over the early life of the fund.

Just don't count out the old favorites. "The cannabis industry isn't going away," Tom Lydon from ETFTrends.com said. "The cannabis ETFs and cannabis stocks are half-off what they were a year ago. As more states legalize marijuana and the Fed allows proper banking we'll see more assets flow to these ETFs."

And in the "hope never dies" category: Will 2020 finally be the year for SEC approval of a bitcoin ETF? My guess: don't bet on it.

4) Fee wars continue, but impact lessens:2019 saw a "race to zero" as the largest ETF providers cut fees to the bone. That will continue in 2020.

"It's no longer just about management fees falling to zero; it's now about EVERYTHING falling to zero," Matt Hougan from Bitwise Investments told me, noting that not only have trading commissions gone to zero, but advisor custody and platform fees have fallen. And you can get investment advice cheaper as well: Vanguard's Personal Advisor Services grew to over $100 billion, offers advice for pennies on the dollar, Hougan noted.

5) Consolidate or close? The race to zero fees is producing a few big winners and a lot of others left behind. There are 141 ETF providers, but the top five firms (Blackrock, Vanguard, State Street, Invesco, and Schwab) control 91% of the assets. Wisdom Tree (WETF), one of the few public pure-ETF plays, is 85% off its historic high in 2015 and is now near a 10-year low.

Consolidation has been expected for years, but buying up low-asset ETFs does not necessarily lead to scale efficiency: "There are fewer appealing dance partners by the day," Ben Johnson, Director of Global ETF Research at Morningstar said.

Regardless, someone is likely to take a shot at the consolidation game.

John Davi, founder and CIO of Astoria Portfolio Advisors, has an intriguing idea. "Private equity funds could enter and buy out 10 to 20 ETF issuers with the idea of monetizing the ETF ecosystem," he said.

He reasoned that there is already a ton of money flowing into private equity funds buying dental practices, plumbing businesses, and taxi medallions. Why not ETFs?

Read more:
Boom in exchange traded funds continues with socially responsible investing and active management - CNBC

A one-time $7,500 contribution at birth could potentially change everything for a future retiree.

Many Americans havent saved enough for retirement, and end up relying on Social Security to fund their old age. For some, Social Security makes up 90% of their retirement income. For others, it could be about 50%. This federal program, which doles out an average monthly benefit of about $1,500, was never meant to be the sole source of retirement income for older Americans. One recent proposal aims to change that.

As part of his work with the Stanford Center on Longevity, Ric Edelman, chairman and co-founder of Edelman Financial Engines, proposed a new vehicle to generate an additional source of retirement income. This account, just like Social Security, would be untouchable, Edelman said.

See: Everyone should be worried about Social Security and 401(k) plans including the presidential candidates

The program, called the T.R.U.S.T. Fund for America (short for Tomorrows Retirement for the U.S. Today), looks like this: when born, every baby receives $7,500 in an account managed by an independent agency of the federal government. The money is placed in a new type of EE Savings Bond, called the T.R.U.S.T. EE Bond, which would be issued by the Treasury Department. The total amount of bonds issued would be about $29 billion a year, assuming about 4 million babies are born, and would be self-funding, he said.

At age 70, the account would begin generating monthly income to be, on average, equivalent to Social Security benefits. The benefit is meant to supplement Social Security.

The money would last them until their 100th birthday, well past the 80-plus-year life expectancy for Americans.

If someone were to die before turning 100, the leftover funds in that account would be returned to the Treasury Department to be distributed to those who live to be older than 100.

Americans need as many sources of retirement income as they can get. The trust funds that support Social Security are expected to run out of money within the next 15 years, and if that happens, beneficiaries would only receive 80% of what theyre owed. At the same time, many Americans do not save enough for their futures sometimes because they cant afford to do so, and other times because they dont have access to efficient accounts. Even when workers do have a nest egg, they may have to tap those accounts for emergency situations, or other financial obligations, like paying down debt or buying a home. Private-sector pensions are increasingly rare, and more companies have shifted to a defined-contribution plans, like a 401(k).

Also see: The Secure Act is changing retirement here are the most important things to know

Having money stashed away for their entire lives, instead of just their careers, could make all the difference in a persons quality of life in retirement, Edelman said. The benefit of a program like his proposal would be utilizing compound interest to its fullest, he said.

Most Americans can only begin saving for retirement in their 20s and 30s, if theyre starting early, but by beginning their contributions at birth their eventual nest egg would increase exponentially. Someone saving $100 a month for 20 years would have contributed $24,000 in total, and have an account grow to $52,000 with a 7% rate of return. If that same person were to save $100 a month for 60 years with the same rate of return, shed eventually have an account balance of $1.1 million. The T.R.U.S.T. EE proposal would generate about $650,000 by age 66 with a one-time contribution at birth.

The government is trying to improve the countrys retirement system. The Secure Act was recently passed, which allows small businesses to band together to offer employees retirement accounts, as well as other provisions to expand retirement security. States are also getting involved by creating their own state-sponsored retirement plans for small businesses, which allows workers to automatically enroll and contribute to individual retirement accounts with their paychecks like one would a 401(k) plan.

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Want to solve the retirement crisis? Invest $7,500 for every baby born in America - MarketWatch

Income investors have choices.

Investing for income is an appealing concept for investors of all kinds. If you're focused on increasing your nest egg's size, then a reliable stream of cash is appealing because it removes some of the guesswork. And if you're at or near retirement, income-generating investments are a great way to have your portfolio pay you a little at a time instead of generating a big chunk of cash by selling off assets forever. Regardless of your age, strategy or portfolio value, income investing is an important area that should be at least a small part of how you allocate your money. Here are seven ways that have something to offer.

Bonds

One of the most common ways to invest for income is via the bond market. However, bonds are also one of the most varied and complicated asset classes. There are government bonds that involve loans to local municipalities, the U.S. federal government or even foreign governments. There are also corporate bonds that involve loans to enterprises of all shapes and sizes. And finally, the yield generated by a given bond varies based on the specifics, including the borrower's risk profile and the maturity of the bond. Properly researching individual bonds can be quite a task. As a result, most individual investors instead opt for bond funds.

Dividend stocks

Dividend stocks are generally riskier than bonds, since companies pay them out of their profits. As the financial crisis of 2008 demonstrated, even the most stable companies can have a crisis that dries up profits. Consider Citigroup (ticker: C), which slashed payouts from 54 cents a quarter in 2007 to a measly penny per share after the financial crisis. Still many are willing to take on this extra risk if it means they can enjoy the potential of a regular payday with the long-term hopes of seeing their initial investment grow alongside the rest of the stock market. Dividend stocks can be a win-win when they deliver capital appreciation and consistent income.

Preferred stock

Preferred stock is a kind of hybrid between stocks and bonds. It is less stable than bonds, since the stock value can fluctuate thanks to market forces. Preferred shares take a back seat to bondholders in the event of bankruptcy, but offer more stability than common shares. And income investors will be particularly interested in the fact that these assets tend to provide a significantly higher yield. As the name implies, preferred stock isn't just handed out to anyone. But several ETFs, such as the iShares Preferred and Income Securities ETF (PFF), allow you to invest in this asset class with only a modest amount of cash.

Real estate

Another popular investment class for income investors is real estate. That includes buying a property in your hometown and renting it for income, as well as the arms-length strategy of investing in publicly traded real estate stocks. There's a special class of stock known as the real estate investment trust that grants favorable tax treatment to a corporation if it distributes nearly all of its net income to shareholders. This creates a leg up for firms that need a ton of capital to purchase and manage properties, but also for investors seeking income. Investors can buy individual REITs or put money in an ETF for ease and diversification.

Asset allocation funds

Can't decide how to build an income portfolio with some or all of these publicly traded investments? Then consider a one-stop investment fund that will build the portfolio for you. These include a variety of asset allocation ETFs, but also income-oriented mutual funds like the iconic Vanguard Wellesley Income Fund (VWINX) that has been providing a mixed portfolio for yield-hungry investors for more than 40 years. Right now the fund is about 40% stocks and 60% bonds, but it will pivot its mix and makeup depending on market conditions, so you don't have to.

Nontraditional sources

There are several nontraditional sources that can help supplement your income potential if you're willing to put in the time and energy to seek them out. Some living near shale oil fields may find they can earn a regular paycheck by selling mineral rights to the energy under their land. Others may participate in peer-to-peer lending, where you act as a banker to loan cash to someone starting a business or expanding their house. Those with means could consider a silent partnership in a local business. These nontraditional sources all require diligence, since they are not typical investments. But they can be a useful source of diversification and, in certain cases, bigger income potential.

Story continues

Interest-bearing accounts

Another income opportunity is the tried-and-true method of parking your cash at your bank or credit union to generate surefire monthly interest payments. With a guarantee by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. up to $250,000, these are perhaps the most certain income investments on the planet. The tradeoff for that safety comes in the lower yield. A one-year certificate of deposit account offers about 2% in potential income at current rates, which would amount to $5,000 annually on that FDIC-insured maximum of $250,000. Unless you have other sources of income or wealth, a CD alone likely won't grow your nest egg or provide the cash you need in retirement.

Ways to invest for income:

-- Bonds

-- Dividend stocks

-- Preferred stocks

-- Real estate

-- Asset allocation funds

-- Nontraditional sources

-- Interest-bearing accounts

More From US News & World Report

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7 Ways to Invest for Income - Yahoo Finance

The market was hot in 2019, but investors shouldn't count on a repeat performance going forward. With that in mind, here are four smart moves to position yourself well in 2020.

What a year: 2019 is in the books and many investors experienced strong investment results. The Standard & Poors 500 Index finished 2019 with gains of over 31% including dividends its strongest performance since 2013. With 2020 upon us, some investors are wondering if the market rally will continue or if a pullback is looming especially in a presidential election year.

While many people are concerned that the 2020 election could put the brakes on stock prices, the markets track record is strong. In five of the past seven presidential elections, the U.S. stock market has produced positive returns.

However, history does show us that its unlikely the 2020 stock market will enjoy results similar to 2019. The S&P 500 has only experienced two consecutive years of double-digit returns five times in the past 20 years.

Given this scenario, what is an investor to do?

Here are four actions to take that can help investors manage fluctuations in the stock market in 2020:

With recent large gains in stocks, many people now own portfolios that are heavily weighted maybe too heavily weighted in equities. For example, if you prefer a mix of 60% stocks and 40% bonds, gains by Apple, Microsoft and other technology companies in 2019 could have easily pushed stocks much higher than 60% of your portfolio.

Consider rebalancing your investment account so stocks are back to your ideal target range. This can be done by taking some of the gains from your stock returns and redeploying those funds into bonds, real estate, cash or other parts of your portfolio.

Investors with taxable brokerage accounts can offset some gains by selling individual stocks that performed poorly and lost money. Some department store stocks, such as Kohls and The Gap, were down double digits in 2019. By selling or harvesting these losses, investors are able to offset taxes on both gains and income. The security that is sold can be replaced by another stock, maintaining an optimal asset allocation and expected returns.

Keep in mind that stocks owned less than 12 months will incur a higher short-term capital gains tax than those stocks youve held more than 12 months, so look at your purchase date before selling any stocks you own in taxable brokerage accounts. On the other hand, because there is no tax on stocks that have appreciated as part of 401(k) and 403(b) plans retirement plans, as well as deferred compensation accounts, investors have more flexibility to sell winners and reinvest those funds.

Investors who need to withdraw money in coming years to pay for major expenses, such as college tuition, a vacation home or their retirement, should look carefully at how aggressively invested that money currently is. A good rule of thumb is to place funds needed for large expenses in the next one to two years in a bank account instead of investing it.

Even mid-term cash needs could become more conservative now. For example, if you own a 529 college savings plan and your child is in high school, consider dialing back the risk in the fund by moving some money into bonds, cash or other safe investments.

With many bank accounts and certificates of deposit paying less than they were a decade ago, retirees have looked to other investments for income, including bonds and dividend-paying stocks. Many retirees will enjoy a longer retirement than their working years, spanning several decades, where inflation becomes a risk that must be addressed. As such, stocks will continue to play an important role in a retirees portfolio.

For many early retirees, a portfolio consisting of 50% to 70% stocks works well, especially for those with cash set aside to pay for their living expenses for two years or more. For older retirees, dropping the stock mix to 30% to 40% of their total investments is reasonable, because they will need income for a shorter period and face less chance that inflation will erode their purchasing power.

Another year where equities jump 30% or more would please most investors. Rather than hoping for another strong year, instead use your 2019 gains to make strategic short- and long-term decisions that fit your own financial goals.

Lisa Brown, author of "Girl Talk, Money Talk, The Smart Girl's Guide to Money After College," is the Chief Strategy Officer for corporate professionals and executives at wealth management firm Brightworth in Atlanta. Advising busy corporate executives on their finances for nearly 20 years has been her passion inside the office. Outside the office she's an avid runner and supporter of charitable causes focused on homeless children and their families.

Comments are suppressed in compliance with industry guidelines. Click here to learn more and read more articles from the author.

This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.

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2019 Was a Great Year for Investors. How Should You Invest Your Money in 2020? - Kiplinger's Personal Finance

The rise of the cloud has been one of the best investment themes of the last decade. What started out as little more than a buzzword among techies has grown into a massive industry, hauling in hundreds of billions of dollars a year worldwide. A quick look at the First Trust Cloud Computing ETF (NASDAQ:SKYY), which tracks an index focused on the accelerating cloud computing industry, shows that cloud stocks are collectively up 200% since the fund's inception in July 2011.

In spite of their fast rise, though, cloud stocks will likely continue as a prominent driver of investment returns in the next decade, serving as a key ingredient in the "digital transformation" of many organizations as they update operations for the 21st century. This guide will help get you started selecting the best of the many dozens of pure-play cloud companies available to invest in.

Image source: Getty Images.

So what is this high-in-the-sky technology term actually referring to? In simple terms, the cloud is a global network of data centers. These remote servers are used to deliver a service or complete a task for a user via the internet or other network. Functions of these data centers are diverse: They store data, run applications like email and business software, operate social networks, and deliver services like streaming TV. Generally, there are four methods by which the cloud is delivered to end users.

Organizations are making use of the cloud in myriad ways, but no matter the type of data center, all of them are still on the rise after a decade of busy construction activity.

The concept of services being stored remotely and available on demand is nearly as old as the concept of the internet itself, but it wasn't until the 1990s that the term "cloud" actually came into use in the tech world. An early pioneer of the concept was salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM), which was founded in 1999 and was the first software application developed from scratch to run in the cloud. In 2002, Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) quietly launched its cloud service, dubbed Amazon Web Services, or AWS. The e-tailer hit on the concept of renting out its excess computing power to businesses and quickly became a leader in the cloud movement as a result.

Since the late 2000s, a flood of cloud businesses has come online. However, the marketplace is dominated by several big players, such as Amazon's AWS, Microsoft's (NASDAQ:MSFT) Azure, IBM's (NYSE:IBM) Cloud, and Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) Google Cloud. Across the Pacific, Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) and Tencent (OTC:TCEHY) are leading the charge in China's fast-growing cloud industry and are also an important part of the conversation.

Just like different layers of the atmosphere, there are layers to the cloud, too. Generally, cloud services are split into three tiers. Some companies offer just one tier of service, while larger companies often span two or all three.

The first tier and the base for all cloud offerings is infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS). IaaS provides the nuts and bolts for a business wanting to operate in the cloud. An IaaS provider offers the actual server space for storage, computing, networking, and security. Notable IaaS companies include Amazon, Microsoft, Google, IBM, and VMware (NYSE:VMW). Companies that don't operate their own cloud infrastructure host their services on another company's IaaS.

Many tech companies tout their software "platforms." Sometimes this is a generic term for their overall suite of software, but as it pertains to the cloud, a platform-as-a-service (PaaS) enables software developers to build, manage, and deploy applications. PaaS is built on top of an IaaS service, and many of the abovementioned IaaS providers also operate as a PaaS as well. Some software providers, like Salesforce for example, offer a PaaS in addition to SaaS (see below), as they allow developers to custom build apps using a set of tools. Another notable example of a PaaS is communications company Twilio (NYSE:TWLO).

Built on top of IaaS and PaaS is the end result of the cloud, the applications themselves. Companies that operate and sell software applications are known as software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers. SaaS outfits build and provide ready-to-use apps for a wide variety of both business and consumer tasks. Often the most visible part of the cloud to everyday consumers, notable SaaS apps many people run daily are Netflix and Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) for entertainment and Microsoft Office 365 and Salesforce on the business productivity end of the spectrum.

The cloud has grown to epic proportions in relatively short order and has become a driving force behind technological advancement. According to researcher Gartner (NYSE:IT), global public cloud spending should come in around $266 billion in 2020, up from $228 billion in 2019. When considering the entire realm of cloud computing, research from Statista and CenturyLink (NYSE:CTL) expects general global cloud spending to top $400 billion in 2020.

Digital transformation -- a phrase describing the wave of businesses and organizations using data center-based computing to update their operations -- is expected to fuel double-digit growth in cloud spending for the foreseeable future. Gartner's report expects global spending to increase by 13% a year in both 2021 and 2022. Fellow researcher IDC thinks spending will more than double by 2023 and top $500 billion.

Image source: Getty Images.

Business analysts and economists generally think the 2010s were the first half of the cloud's development and that the 2020s will be phase two of the computing concepts' rapid global deployment.

As it gets bigger, though, it is playing a role in the advance of other technologies. Edge computing, for example, is the move to push computing from the cloud to locations closer to the end user -- either at smaller localized data centers or within devices themselves. Edge computing is quickly becoming a new category for cloud providers as they try to speed up the computing and data delivery process and is on its way to being worth tens of billions of dollars a year. The cloud is also powering applications like artificial intelligence as businesses use data centers to train and then deploy AI-based systems. Over the next decade, these could be powerful investment trends to watch that the cloud is making possible behind the scenes.

For those who want a comprehensive cloud portfolio, IaaS and PaaS providers are the place to start. Incidentally, even though IaaS and PaaS are already covered by some of the largest stocks around -- Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet's Google, Alibaba, even Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and its PaaS for advertisers -- these building blocks for cloud-based services are expected to be the fastest-growing segments of the cloud. Gartner expects annual IaaS and PaaS spending, which came in at $40 billion and $32 billion, respectively, to nearly double by the end of 2022. As large, diversified tech giants, these companies can make up the core of an investment portfolio.

Not to be forgotten, though, are the hardware companies that make cloud infrastructure and platform services possible. Hardware must exist before applications can be built. Arista Networks and NVIDIA are two of the largest companies in this space, but investors who want to broaden their search even further should look for companies categorized as "network hardware, storage, and peripherals." The best bets will have business segments labeled as "cloud" or "data center" revenue, with those segments at least keeping up with the double-digit average growth forecast.

Now on to the software itself. SaaS is the largest portion of the cloud pie, making up nearly half of annual spending in 2019 per Gartner. As the largest chunk, it is also, on average, the slowest-growing segment, expected to "only" increase 50% by 2022 and top $150 billion a year.

Within this massive subset of the industry, though, are an overwhelming number of options. For every nontech company, there is a SaaS that can help (or disrupt) the industry -- from retail to finance to healthcare. Here are a few examples by sector.

Image source: Getty Images.

There is no shortage of cloud stocks to choose from, but choosing which ones to own is the real trick. For the well-established, large, and profitable cloud companies, traditional valuation metrics still apply. For smaller firms operating at little or negative profitability, some business and revenue growth metrics are the best indicators to consult.

Many investors look at price-to-earnings multiples (the stock price divided by earnings per share from the last 12 months) when selecting a stock, but that metric only tells part of the story. In the high-growth cloud computing industry, the PEG ratio can be more helpful, as it accounts for elevated price-to-earnings multiples by comparing to expected growth rates.

Another profitability metric to weigh is price to free cash flow. Free cash flow is revenue minus cash operating expenses and capital expenditures. Unlike basic earnings, free cash flow excludes noncash items like depreciation, amortization, and stock-based compensation and thus provides a clearer picture of a company's true profitability profile. For example, Salesforce currently has a sky-high price-to-earnings ratio of 173.8, but price to free cash flow values it at 39.6. Using price to free cash flow makes quite the difference here and would indicate Salesforce isn't all that bad a deal for a company that has consistently been able to grow over 20% year-in and year-out.

Traditional methods of valuing a stock often break down when evaluating the cloud industry -- especially the fastest-growing SaaS providers. When a company is expanding fast and sees ample opportunity ahead, profits are often foregone in lieu of reinvestment for rapid growth.

Fortunately, business growth metrics provide an alternative method. Growth in total users or customers can be telling. Is customer count accelerating? Then quickly rising expenses might be an acceptable situation. Is customer count decelerating? If so, expense growth should also be falling.

Another key component is the dollar-based net expansion rate, sometimes called the revenue retention rate. This metric shows investors how much money the average existing customer is spending on a cloud service. A rate of less than 100% implies the average customer is spending less than a year ago (not good), while greater than 100% implies they are spending more. If customer count is decelerating, a dollar-based net expansion rate over 100% means a cloud company can afford to add customers at a slower pace. For example, cloud communications firm Twilio reported dollar-based net expansion of 132% in Q3 2019, implying existing customer spending jumped an impressive 32% higher compared to the year prior.

All of those business metrics ultimately feed into revenue, the headline figure that investors watch when it comes to the cloud. Increased revenue, however, is only good if it translates into increased profits -- or at least the promise of an eventual bottom-line payoff.

Whatever your findings may be when searching for high-growth cloud companies, it's important to remember that stocks such as these tend to be very volatile -- both up and down. Therefore, diversify your holdings, keep individual positions small, and add to them periodically -- monthly, quarterly, or on the dips, perhaps whenever a stock dips by a certain percentage (like 10% from recent highs). Consistency is key, as is some patience with small companies that are in expansion mode and tend to bounce around a lot in value.

Above all, remember that investing in the cloud is all about the long game, whether the companies owned are large or small. The industry has had a lot of success, and there's plenty more to come. The 2020s should provide more strong returns for the cloud, so don't get too hung up on what happens in the short term, and remember that investing results play out over years -- not days, months, and quarters.

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How to Invest in Cloud Stocks - Motley Fool