Stands for Real Estate Investment Trust. It is a company that owns, operates, or finances income-generating real estate. Modeled after mutual funds, REITs pool the capital of numerous investors. This makes it possible for individual investors to earn dividends from real estate investments—without having to buy, manage, or finance any properties themselves.

Stands for Long-Term Equity Anticipation Securities, which are publicly traded options contracts with expiration dates that are longer than one year. As with all options contracts, a LEAPS grant a buyer the advantage, but not the necessity, to purchase or sell—depending on if the option is a call or a put—the underlying asset at the predetermined price on or before its expiration date.

This is a transaction in the financial market in which the investor selling call options owns the equivalent amount of the underlying security. To execute this an investor holding a long position in an asset then writes (sells) call options on that same asset to generate an income stream. The investor’s long position in the asset is the “cover” because it means the seller can deliver the shares if the buyer of the call option chooses to exercise. If the investor simultaneously buys stock and writes call options against that stock position, it is known as a “buy-write” transaction.

Most investors assume their taxes will decrease in retirement. In fact, generating most of your income from Social Security and investments can have surprising tax consequences.

Any profits you earn from selling stocks, bonds, mutual funds or real estate are still subject to capital gains taxes. If you’ve held an investment for longer than a year, the current rate is 15%. Short-term capital gains (held less than a year) are taxed at your regular income tax rate. Withdrawals from tax- deferred accounts such as traditional IRAs and 401(k)s are also taxed as ordinary income.

Those taxes can eat away at your profits at any stage of life. In retirement, with no full-time job as your main source of income, taxes can erode your nest egg.

Check out the Special Report Y

which explains in detail how to address your tax issues in retirement.

Your goals are likely to change over time, and so can the right investing system. Here are the most common investing systems followed by Cabot Retirement Club members:

Growth InvestingGrowth investors buy stocks that are rising and that they believe are likely to keep rising.

Value InvestingThe objective of value investing is to find stocks priced incorrectly by the market. Specifically, value investors seek companies that are worth substantially more than their current stock prices.

High Yield InvestingHigh yield investors’ top priority is current income, so they buy securities primarily for their high current yields.

Dividend Growth InvestingDividend growth investors want income now, but also want higher income in the future. They buy investments with rising payouts that will create a robust future income stream.

Safe Income Investing Safe income investors want to own holdings that are low risk, low volatility, a generate very reliable income. These high-quality investments can usually be held for years, through most market conditions.

Fixed Income Fixed income is appealing for investors with very low risk tolerance. Although the upside potential of fixed income investments is very limited, individual fixed income investments come with guaranteed interest payments and a guaranteed return of principal.