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Why is there such disparity of max contribution limits between 401K accounts and regular IRA accounts?
The investments offered in 401K are usually limited to a selection of mutual funds offered by a 401K provider. The 401K providers and the mutual funds charge fees. The mutual fund industry has a lobbying group that will push for increased 401K contributions to direct money into their mutual funds to collect fees. Th...
Can I negotiate a 0% transaction fee with my credit card company?
TL;DR summary: 0% balance transfer offers and "free checks usable anywhere" rarely are a good deal for the customer. 0% rate balance transfer offers (and the checks usable anywhere including payment of taxes) come with a transaction fee because the credit card company is paying off the balance on the other card (or t...
Net loss not distributed by mutual funds to their shareholders?
I'll try to answer using your original example. First, let me restate your assumptions, slightly modified: The mutual fund has: Note that I say the "mutual fund has" those gains and losses. That's because they occur inside the mutual fund and not directly to you as a shareholder. I use "realized" gains and losses beca...
Do Options take Dividend into account?
No can't make quick bucks. It depends very much on what the strike price was. Dividends which are below 10% of the market value of the underlying stock, would be deemed to be ordinary dividends and no adjustment in the Strike Price would be made for ordinary dividends. For extra-ordinary dividends, above 10% of t...
Multiple mortgage pre-approvals and effects on credit score
Johnny. I recently bought my first home as well, and I have worked in the credit business (not mortgage), so I think I can answer some of your questions. Disclaimer first that I'm in NY, and home buying does vary from state to state. In my experience, pre-qual is not too different from pre-approval. Neither represen...
Indicators a stock is part of a pump and dump scheme?
Note: the answer below is speculative and not based on any first-hand knowledge of pump-and-dump schemes. The explanation with spamming doesn't really makes sense for me. Often you see a stock jump 30% or more in a single day at a particular moment in time. Unlikely that random people read their emails at that time and...
What is the average cost of a portfolio on a trading site?
It sounds for the most part you are a 'buy and hold' type investor and continue to contribute monthly. I follow the same philosophy and continue to contribute monthly as well. I use Questrade.com as my online broker. For trading it costs a penny per share with a minimum cost of $4.95 (so if you only buy 100 shares yo...
What exactly is a “bad,” “standard,” or “good” annual raise? If I am told a hard percentage and don't get it, should I look elsewhere?
There are many variables to this answer. One is, how close are you to the average salary range in the industry you are working in. If you are making more than average it would make sense that you are not getting a big raise from the employer's perspective. You have to be a top performer if you are looking for the top s...
Dad paying for my new home in cash. How can I buy the house from him?
we have little money in cash for a down-payment This is a red flag to me. If you have little money in cash for a down-payment, how are you supposed to be a landlord too? You could try is to do a lease to own from your Dad. Get a renter into the other home for at least a year or more and then close on the house once yo...
Can i short securities in a normal(non-margin) account
Exact rules may be different depending on the size of the investor, the specific broker, and the country. For both the US and Canada, short sales occur only through one's margin account. And shares that are borrowed for shorting only come from a margin account. Shares held in a cash account are not available for shor...
Why do UK banks require monthly “pay in” into current account?
From the banks point of view the point of a current account like this is to get you as a regular customer. They want to be your "main bank", the bank you interact with the most, the bank you turn to first when you need financial products and services, the bank whose advertising you see every time you log into online ba...
What to ask Warren Buffet at the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting?
I would be curious how he balanced having two female life partners at once. Not sure I would ask that at the shareholder meeting though ;)
Why do gas stations charge different amounts in the same local area?
When I ran a gas station, our price was largely set by our neighbors-- the other gas stations in the area. We couldn't go below the current cost of replacement gas, but other than that we wanted to be at .05 over the average. (We got away with charging more because we were the last station on a major road.) Everybody e...
Home Valuation in a Dodgy neighborhood
Bad areas are tough to value as a owner-occupied property, because the business model for being a slumlord is to rent apartments in absentia, usually to tenants receiving goverment subsidies such as Section 8 vouchers. The vouchers are based on a prevailing rent, which are often on par with nice suburban apartment comp...
When will the U.K. convert to the Euro as an official currency?
In many countries in Europe the prices shot through the roof, so it is not all positive. Also the switching country gives out lot of monetary control that is not welcomed by many. I think that UK is not going to change to euro for a long long time.
What happens after a counterparty defaults on a derivative trade?
The answer is in your question: derivatives are contracts so are enforced in the same way as any other contract. If the counterparty refuses to pay immediately they will, in the first instance be billed by any intermediary (Prime Broker etc.) that facilitated the contract. If they still refuse to pay the contract may ...
What would be a wise way to invest savings for a newly married couple?
Forgive me as I do not know much about your fine country, but I do know one thing. You can make 5% risk free guaranteed. How, from your link: If you make a voluntary repayment of $500 or more, you will receive a bonus of 5 per cent. This means your account will be credited with an additional 5 per cent of the value o...
What effect would currency devaluation have on my investments?
Stocks, gold, commodities, and physical real estate will not be affected by currency changes, regardless of whether those changes are fast or slow. All bonds except those that are indexed to inflation will be demolished by sudden, unexpected devaluation. Notice: The above is true if devaluation is the only thing going...
Automatic investments for cheap
For your purposes, I would recommend using direct investment in a no-load mutual fund. I mostly use Vanguard and would recommend them. They just about invented index funds, usually have the lowest (internal) expenses for index and many other funds, if you take electronic instead of paper statements there is no mainte...
Why don't share prices of a company rise every other Friday when the company buys shares for its own employees?
Let's take an example: IBM has about 430,000 employees worldwide. Assume the average yearly salary is $80K (it's probably less, since a lot of jobs are offshore). If every employee took 10% of their pay as stock, that's $132 million every two weeks. But IBM's market capitalization is about $153 billion, so stock pur...
How do I find a good mutual fund to invest 5K in with a moderately high amount of risk?
Vanguard has a lot of mutual fund offerings. (I have an account there.) Within the members' section they give indications of the level of risk/reward for each fund.
Why do volatility stocks/ETFs (TVIX, VXX, UVXY) trend down in the long-term?
Since these indices only try to follow VIX and don't have the underlying constituents (as the constituents don't really exist in most meaningful senses) they will always deviate from the exact numbers but should follow the general pattern. You're right, however, in stating that the graphs that you have presented are su...
Option Trading / Demo Account
In real life, you'd see spreads like AMZN 04/13/2017 910.00 C 4.90 +1.67 Bid: 4.75 Ask: 5.20 (with AMZN @ $897 right now) and the fill you'd get on the buy side would be closer to the ask. i.e. I'd offer $5.00 and hope that it filled. Filling a $4 bid when ask is $8 isn't likely unless the stock blipped down enough fo...
What is a rule of thumb for accruing debt on a rental property?
To start, I hope you are aware that the properties' basis gets stepped up to market value on inheritance. The new basis is the start for the depreciation that must be applied each year after being placed in service as rental units. This is not optional. Upon selling the units, depreciation is recaptured whether it's t...
Student loan payments and opportunity costs
My recommendation would be to pay off your student loan debt as soon as possible. You mention that the difference between your student loan and the historical, long-term return on the stock market is one-half percent. The problem is, the 7% return that you are counting on from the stock market is not guaranteed. You ...
Growth rate plus dividend yieid total?
Avoiding the complexities of tax [dividends likely taxed the year they are received, barring special tax accounts which many countries implement in for example, locked-in retirement type accounts; share growth is likely only taxed when sold / on death / on expatriation / similar], and assuming you reinvest the dividend...
How to chose index funds, mutual funds from a plethora of options (TD Ameritrade)
One thing to be aware of when choosing mutual funds and index ETFs is the total fees and costs. The TD Ameritrade site almost certainly had links that would let you see the total fees (as an annual percentage) for each of the funds. Within a category, the lowest fees percentage is best, since that is directly subtracte...
How to incentivize a real-estate broker to find me a cheap house
From your profile, I see you are in Israel. The process is probably different from in the US. In the US, an agent is usually happy to work with a buyer. After all, When I list a house, there are potential buyers all over my state and elsewhere. The best thing you can do is first, have your financing in order. A bank w...
Buy tires and keep car for 12-36 months, or replace car now?
It depends how detailed you want to get in your calculation, but fundamentally, 1K < 25K. On a very basic level, divide the cost (less what you sell it for) by the time you'll have the car for. If you junk it, $1K/12 month = $83/month to buy tires to have a car for a year. If you sell it for $1K, then it become $0/m...
Is there a NY tax form to use when one is missing a K-1 (or 1065) from an LLC?
Form 10-K is filed by corporations to SEC. You must be thinking of form 1065 (its schedule K) that a partnership (and multi-member LLC) must file with the IRS. Unless the multi-member LLC is legally dissolved, it must file this form. You're a member, so it is your responsibility, with all the other members, to make sur...
Is compounding interest on investments a myth?
This post may be old anyhow here's my 2 cents. Real world...no. Compounding is overstated. I have 3 mutual funds, basically index funds, you can go look them up. vwinx, spmix, spfix in 11 years i've made a little over 12,000 on 50,000 invested. That averages 5%. That's $1,200 a year about. Not exactly getting rich on ...
Should I pay off my car loan within the year?
First, don't owe (much) money on a car that's out of warranty. If you have an engine blow up and repairs will cost the lion's share of the car's bluebook value, the entire car loan immediately comes due because the collateral is now worthless. This puts you in a very miserable situation because you must pay off the c...
How to protect your parents if they never paid Social Security?
Wow. She really is in a pickle. Even though I can intellectualize that she ought have paid more attention to her family's finances, and assuming she wasn't complicit in her husband's obvious tax evasion, I can sympathize to some extent. This is a great demonstration of how dangerous it is to just let your spouse handl...
Buy home and leverage roommates, or split rent?
I've done this, both as one of the renters and (in a different house) as the landlord. I had roommates I had not lived with before though. It's definitely doable, but can get awkward. Some advice in no particular order Make sure you can afford the house on your own. This avoids the awkward situation of making you finan...
Unemployment Insurance Through Options
This is a snapshot of the Jan '17 puts for XBI, the biotech index. The current price is $65.73. You can see that even the puts far out of the money are costly. The $40 put, if you get a fill at $3, means a 10X return if the index drops to $10. A 70X return for a mild, cyclic, drop isn't likely to happen. Sharing yout...
How to find an optimum linear combination of various investments?
You're talking about modern portfolio theory. The wiki article goes into the math. Here's the gist: Modern portfolio theory (MPT) is a theory of finance that attempts to maximize portfolio expected return for a given amount of portfolio risk, or equivalently minimize risk for a given level of expected return, by carefu...
How do I protect myself from a scam if I want to help a relative?
Since you mentioned that it is your close relative, he has never done enything dodgy and is wise with his money, then I would take it that you have some implicit trust in him. Now your options in this case are limited to either saying an outright no, which may impact familial ties adversely or to do as he has requested...
Why should we expect stocks to go up in the long term?
A lot of these answers are strong, but at the end of the day this question really boils down to: Do you want to own things? Duh, yes. It means you have: By this logic, you would expect aggregate stock prices to increase indefinitely. Whether the price you pay for that ownership claim is worth it at any given point in...
Is it a good practice to keep salary account and savings account separate?
Personally, I keep two regular checking accounts at different banks. One gets a direct deposit totaling the sum of my regular monthly bills and a prorated provision for longer term regular bills like semi-annual car insurance premiums. I leave a buffer in the account to account for the odd expensive electrical bill o...
What am I actually buying when trading in CFDs
CFDs (Contracts for Difference) are basically a contract between you and the broker on the difference in price of the underlying between the time you open a position and close a position. You are not actually buying the underlying. With share CFDs, the outcome is a bit like buying the underlying shares on margin. You p...
Calculate price to earning and price to sale value for given dataset
Too calculate these values, information contained in the company's financial statements (income, balance, or cashflow) will be needed along with the price. Google finance does not maintain this information for BME. You will need to find another source for this information or analyze another another symbol's financial...
Primary residence converted to a rental property & tax implications
You will need to look at the 27.5 year depreciation table from the IRS. It tells you how you will be able to write off the first year. It depends on which month you had the unit ready to rent. Note that that it might be a different month from when you moved, or when the first tenant moved in. Your list is pretty good. ...
Precedent and models for 100% equity available via initial offering?
Founder makes available 100% equity, but uses a reasonable amount of the proceeds to pay him/herself a salary (or wage) and from that salary invests in the same initial offering to acquire shares for him/herself. I see several problems. What is a reasonable salary? Also, this leaves the door open to the following...
Why would refinancing my mortgage increase my PMI, even though rates are lower?
Is that an FHA loan you have? And you're wanting to do one of those low cost FHA re-fi's, right? The answer is that in between when you first got that loan and now, the government's changed the rules on PMI for FHA loans. It more than doubled the amount of monthly PMI you have to pay. The new rates, efective April 18t...
Is it possible to dispute a wash sale?
The IRS has been particularly vague about the "substantially identical" investment part of the wash rule. Many brokers, Schwab for instance, say that only identical CUSIPs (exactly the same ETF) matter for the wash rule in their internal calculations, but warn that the IRS might consider two ETFs over the same index t...
How can I find a high-risk, high-reward investment that is not strongly correlated with the U.S. economy?
High risk, high reward doesn't really mean anything. The reason that investments are risky is that the investor is clueless. As you gain more information and experience, you reduce the risk. To answer your question, you can consider BRIC ETF's (Brazil, Russia, India and China). They are correlated to the U.S. economy. ...
How to calculate how much house I can afford?
There is no simple way to calculate how much house any given person can afford. In the answer keshlam gave, several handy rules of thumb are mentioned that are used as common screening devices to reject loans, but in every case further review is required to approve any loan. The 28% rule is the gold standard for estim...
Why buy a vertical spread if I could instead buy a naked call?
Question: are you saying that buying a call is better than buying a vertical spread regardless of fees, or only because of fees? If the former, you are saying that buying a call and selling a vertical spread will always be profitable, which effectively means you're going short an out-of-the-money call. While that's a g...
Where to invest proceeds from home sale to be used to buy new house within five years?
For a two year time frame, a good insured savings account or a low-cost short-term government bond fund is most likely the way I would go. Depending on the specific amount, it may also be reasonable to look into directly buying government bonds. The reason for this is simply that in such a short time period, the stock ...
What is the difference between speculating and investing?
Investing is balancing the desire for return against the various risks that your money is faced with. There's also a recognition that an investment will be in place for some extended period of time. Speculation is seeking short-term maximum return, without protecting yourself against risk. "Speculation" or "Speculator...
I just made $50K from selling my house. How should I invest the proceeds?
I know an answer has been accepted, but you need an emergency fund, ideally enough to cover at least 3 months of after-tax basic living expenses. As a free-lancer, 6 months would be even better. This isn't a fun way to tie up your money, but it is a prudent way. What if you lose your job, or decide you want to change y...
No-line-of-credit debit card?
Having worked at a financial institution, this is a somewhat simple, two-part solution. 1) The lendor/vendor/financial institution simply turns off the overdraft protection in all its forms. If no funds are available at a pin-presented transaction, the payment is simply declined. No fee, no overdraft, no mess. 2) This ...
How do I add my income to my personal finance balance?
Congratulations on keeping better track of your finances! Typically there will be a class of accounts labelled "Income", under which you will have a separate account for each type of income (stock dividends, paychecks, home appreciation, etc). In that case, showing your income would be a transfer from the Paycheck acco...
Does longterm investment in index funds still make sense in a reality of massive algotrading?
There is a difference between trading which is short term focussed and investing which is longterm focussed. On the long term what drives stock prices is still the overall economy and the performance of the underlying business aspects. I do not think that any trading algorithms will change this. These are more concerne...
Leasing a car I intend to buy
What does not seem reasonable about your plan is the payment and buyout. While $200/month payments are possible (but hard to find), buyouts are more typically in the five figure range. Given that your savings and desired payment for a car is low (the average car payment today is about 450/month), can you really afford...
Is there a good options strategy that has a fairly low risk?
Check out this site: http://www.m-x.ca/produits_options_actions_en.php (Under the Trading Strategies). If you have a background in math or eco or are comfortable with graphs, I suggest you graph the payoffs of each of these strategies. It will really help you understand it. If you need help with this, let me know an...
Why is it important to research a stock before buying it?
The only sensible reason to invest in individual stocks is if you have reason to think that they will perform better than the market as a whole. How are you to come to that conclusion other than by doing in-depth research into the stock and the company behind it? If you can't, or don't want to, reach that conclusion ...
Ethics and investment
Are there businesses which professionally invest ethically? Yes. The common term for this is "socially responsible investing". Looking at that page and googling that term should provide you with plenty of pointers to funds to investigate. Of course, the definitions of "ethical" and "socially responsible" vary from pe...
Is Weiss Research, Inc. a legitimate financial research company?
This company was a reputable rating agency for many years. See Weiss Research website, ratings section for a very different perspective on Martin Weiss's work than the websites with which he is now associated. I checked both links provided, and agree with the questioner in every way: These appear to be highly questiona...
Is it really possible to get rich in only a few years by investing?
Short answer: Not likely. Long answer: As a rule of thumb, over the long run if you are generating 20% compounded returns on your money consistently, you are doing very good. Since in the average case your 10k would compound to $61.4k YoY, you are very unlikely to be rich in a decade starting with 10k.
Value of credit score if you never plan to borrow again?
what are the incentives to that person to actually pay off his/her debt as opposed to just walking away from it and relying on the cash (s)he has for the future spending needs as opposed to borrowing Well, you can't just "walk away" from debt - you still owe it. Eventually your creditors would end up suing you in court...
Should retirement fund be equal to amount of money needed for financial independence?
It depends what you mean. Finance Independence and Retirement Early (FI/RE) are two overlapping ideas. If you plan to retire early and spend the same amount of money every year (adjusted for inflation), then you need to save twenty-times your yearly spending to satisfy the 4% Safe Withdrawal rule of thumb. Carefully no...
How do you get your Canadian stock information?
I only follow the news of stocks I already own. I use the GlobeInvest Watchlist http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/my-watchlist/ each Friday night. In the drop-down views choose ALL NEWS I believe that there is a strong "grass is greaner .." effect from always looking at what other stock are doing - lea...
Pay off credit card debt or earn employer 401(k) match?
Mathwise, I absolutely agree with the other answers. No contest, you should keep getting the match. But, just for completeness, I'll give a contrarian opinion that is generally not very popular, but does have some merit. If you can focus on just one main financial goal at a time, and throw every extra dollar you ha...
What will be the capital gains tax after we sell a rental home?
This will be a complex issue and you will need to sit down with a professional to work through the issues: When the house was put up for rent the initial year tax forms should have required that the value of the house/property be calculated. This number was then used for depreciation of the house. This was made more co...
How do I screen for stocks that are near to their 52 weeks low
There is a great 3rd party application out there that I use (I am a broker) along with my internal analysts and other 3rd party sources. VectorVest has a LOT of technical information, but is very easy to use. It will run any kind of screen you like, including low 52 week numbers. (No, I don't get anything for recomm...
When to trade in a relatively new car for maximum value
My suggestion would be to keep it. The value of a new car is that you get to drive it around when it's still new and shiny, and that you know its history. If you maintain it in good condition, both mechanically and cosmetically, then you can have both of those benefits for the life of the car. Your question merges the ...
Newbie question - Brokerage and selling shares
Capital gains tax is an income tax upon your profit from selling investments. Long-term capital gains (investments you have held for more than a year) are taxed significantly less than short-term gains. It doesn't limit how many shares you can sell; it does discourage selling them too quickly after buying. You can bal...
Why is mortgage interest deductible in the USA for a house you live in?
It's a scam pushed through to benefit the banking system. Tax payments become income for the banks. Any alleged benefits for property holders are ultimately reduced by increased property prices, capital gains tax and estate taxes
Why should the P/E ratio of a growth stock match its percentage earnings growth rate?
Your observation is mostly right, that 1 is a the number around which this varies. You are actually referencing PEG, P/E to Growth ratio, which is a common benchmark to use to evaluate a stock. The article I link to provides more discussion.
I trade options in the U.S. using Schwab. How could my wife do the same in Canada?
Your wife could open a non-registered margin trading account with a Canadian full-service or discount broker. An account at one of the top Canadian brokers should provide access to trade U.S.-listed options. I've traded both Canadian and U.S.-listed options with my own broker. On the application, you'd need to indicate...
Why buy insurance?
The definition of insurance is the transfer of risk. Thus, you're paying for transferring of a risk (of an item/property) to the insurer (carrier), so that they bear the financial burden of a loss/accident and not you. You could always self-insure, but a lot of times, insurance is cheaper, since due to the "Law of Larg...
As a 22-year-old, how risky should I be with my 401(k) investments?
At 22 years old, you can afford to be invested 100% in the stock market. Like many others, I recommend that you consider low cost index funds if those are available in your 401(k) plan. Since your 401(k) contributions are usually made with each paycheck this gives you the added benefit of dollar cost averaging througho...
Why would you use an IFA for choosing a pension fund
Why would anyone listen to someone else's advice? Because they believe that the person advising them knows better than they do. It's as simple as that. The fact that you're doing any research at all - indeed, the fact that you know about a site on the internet where personal finance questions get asked and answered - ...
Over how much time should I dollar-cost-average my bonus from cash into mutual funds?
The OP invests a large amount of money each year (30-40k), and has significant amount already invested. Some in the United States that face this situation may want to look at using the bonus to fund two years worth of IRA or Roth IRA. During the period between January 1st and tax day they can put money into a IRA or R...
How are RSU's factored into Income during loan qualification?
Long ago when I was applying for my first mortgage I had to list all my income and assets. At the time I had some US Savings Bonds from payroll deduction. I asked about them. The loan officer told me that unless I was willing/planning on selling them to make the down payment, they were immaterial to the loan applicatio...
Given advice “buy term insurance and invest the rest”, how should one “invest the rest”?
Buy term and invest the rest is in fact the easiest plan. Just buy the term insurance based on your current and expected needs. Review those needs every few years, or after a life event (marriage, divorce, kids, buying a house...) For the invest the rest part: invest in your 401K, IRA or the equivalent. There are inde...
LLC Partnership Earned Income vs. Partnership Share
Why would you file four K-1s for each partner? You file one K-1 per partner, on which you report the total of income attributed to that partner. It shouldn't and cannot "vary". There's no variables here, the income you report is the income already earned and attributed to that partner. What's there to vary? How you dec...
I have more than $250,000 in a US Bank account… mistake?
Many brokerage accounts for trading stocks are covered under SIPC insurance, which is up to $500,000 You can also have multiple checking and savings accounts with the $250,000 balance split up. You can also check your bank's capital ratio on the FDIC website, somewhere. The FDIC won't move on them unless it falls unde...
First Time Home Buyers - Down Payment, PMI and Points
The question Why would refinancing my mortgage increase my PMI, even though rates are lower? contains a decent discussion of PMI. It's based on the total amount you borrow, not just the difference to 80% LTV. For easy math, Say you put 15% down on a $100K house. Your PMI is 1.1%, not on the 'missing' $5000, but on the...
Fund or ETF that simulates the investment goals of an options “straddle” strategy?
I am not aware of a single instrument that encapsulates what you are after; but the components do exist. At least in Canada, there are many Options traded on the Montreal Exchange that are based on Toronto ETFs. All the standard TSX ETFs are represented, as well as some of the more exotic. With a regular investment a...
Why can't the Fed lower interest rates below zero?
Keep in mind that the Federal Reserve Chairman needs to be very careful with his use of words. Here's what he said: It is arguable that interest rates are too high, that they are being constrained by the fact that interest rates can't go below zero. We have an economy where demand falls far short of the capacity of th...
Found an old un-cashed paycheck. How long is it good for? What to do if it's expired?
The check is just barely over 6 months old. I suspect it will go through with no issues.
Which set of earnings is used to work out the P/E of a stock
There are two common types of P/E ratio calculations: "trailing" and "forward" (and then there are various mixes of the two). Trailing P/E ratios are calculated as [current price] / [trailing 12-month EPS]. An alternative is the Forward P/E ratio, which is based on an estimate of earnings in the coming 12 months. The e...
Why does an option lose time value faster as it approaches expiry
This is because volatility is cumulative and with less time there is less cumulative volatility. The time value and option value are tied to the value of the underlying. The value of the underlying (stock) is quite influenced by volatility, the possible price movement in a given span of time. Thirty days of volatilit...
Credit card issued against my express refusal; What action can I take?
I would go speak to the bank manager. With Wells, you have to make sure it is the bank manager and not a service manager or something you are talking to (I learned that a few months ago). Tell her/him exactly what happened in detail and that you want the credit card closed and the credit inquiry removed from your cred...
Are there online brokers in the UK which don't require margin account?
I don't know what you are on about, as most online brokers should offer standard brokerage without margin. As trading with magin is considered more risky by most (especially if you don't know what you are doing), so one would have to fill out additional application forms and possibly undergo some training before gettin...
Why do I get a much better price for options with a limit order than the ask price?
I can often get the option at [a] price [between bid and ask] The keyword you use here is quite relevant: often. More realistically, it's going to be sometimes. And that's just how supply and demand should work. The ask is where you know you can buy right away. If you don't wanna buy at ask, you can try and put a hige...
How did my number of shares get reduced?
Your question is missing information. The most probable reason is that the company made a split or a dividend paid in stock and that you might be confusing your historical price (which is relevant for tax purposes) with your actual market price. It is VERY important to understand this concepts before trading stocks.
Can I change my loan term from 60 to 36 months?
Just call your credit union and ask if they will let you refinance at the lower rate. If they won't, then just increase your payment every month so that your car is paid off early (in 36 months instead of 60). You won't get the lower rate, but since your loan will be paid early, you'll be saving interest anyway.
What is an ideal number of stock positions that I should have in my portfolio?
There is no ideal number of stocks you should own. There are several factors you should consider though. First, how actively do you want to manage your portfolio. If you want to be very active then the number of stocks you own should be based on the amount of time you have to research the company, by reading SEC filing...
Steps to buying a home
Pre-edit, Pete mentioned that he feels real estate agents would (a) like you to buy as much house as you afford, and (b) would love to show you three houses and have you choose one. As a real estate agent myself, I believe his warnings were understated. As with any industry, there are good and bad people. Agents are p...
Is it worth it to reconcile my checking/savings accounts every month?
I quit diligently reconciling monthly statements some years before everything was online, when I realized that for years before that, every time I thought I found a mistake, it was always my own error. I was spending a fair amount of time (over the years) doing something that wasn't helping me. So I quit. That said, I ...
How to bet against the London housing market?
Well, Taking a short position directly in real estate is impossible because it's not a fungible asset, so the only way to do it is to trade in its derivatives - Investment Fund Stock, indexes and commodities correlated to the real estate market (for example, materials related to construction). It's hard to find thos...
Offer Price for my stock not shown on quote and a subsequent sale higher than my offer
It depends on the way you have directed the order and the execution agreement you have signed with your broker. In case of DMA (direct market access) you would direct your order to the specific exchange - and that exchange would post your offer, assuming you did not tag it as hidden. However, if you just gave your orde...
Why sometimes payable date is BEFORE the ex-dividend date?
Do you realise that the examples you have given are for stock splits not for dividends, that is why the date payable is before the ex-date for the split. The payments for the split occur on 30th June and the first day the stock trades with the new split is on the next trading day, being the ex-date, 1st July.
Basic questions about investing in stocks
A stock represents your share of ownership in a corporation. All of these shares indicate towards your part of ownership in a corporation a shareholder, stockholder or a shareowner in a company. In order to get a stock, be sure to secure the assistance of a licensed stockbroker to buy securities on your behalf. Yes, an...
How can I get a wholesaler ID number?
Seems like it's more dependent on who you want to be your supplier. The times I've been involved in requesting this, each company had its own application form. They usually need proof of business activity, which gets back to SpecKK's answer.
Pros & cons in Hungary of investing retirement savings exclusively in silver? What better alternatives, given my concerns?
The points given by DumbCoder are very valid. Diversifying portfolio is always a good idea. Including Metals is also a good idea. Investing in single metal though may not be a good idea. •Silver is pretty cheap now, hopefully it will be for a while. •Silver is undervalued compared to gold. World reserve ratio is arou...
Asset management after leaving the USA
Yes to all three. However,