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If I want to take cash from Portugal to the USA, should I exchange my money before leaving or after arriving?
in my experience no-cash transactions are the best deal. Take your Portuguese credit card, get some cash ($60) for emergencies. Only pay with your credit card. It's much cheaper because it's all virtual. The best would be to set up an American bank account and transfer the money there. You can also get Paypal account,...
What to sell when your financial needs change, stocks or bonds?
You are right about the stock and index funds, with dollar cost averaging over several years, the daily price of the security (especially a dividend paying security) will not matter* because your position will have accumulated larger over several entry points, some entries with cheaper shares and some entries with more...
What should I look at before investing in a start-up?
In addition to evaluating the business (great answer), consider the potential payoff. If bonds pay off in the 5-10% range, the S&P500 has averged 10.5%. You should be expecting a payoff of 15-20% to invest in something riskier than the stock market. That means that if you invest $10k, then in 5 years you'll need to ge...
Mortgage vs. Cash for U.S. home buy now
There are a number of reasons I'm in agreement with "A house that is worth $300,000, or $50,000 of equity in a house and $225,000 in the bank." So, the update to the first comment should be "A paid off house worth $300K, or a house with $150K equity and $275K in the retirement account." Edit - On reflection, an inter...
Is it possible to influence a company's actions by buying stock?
Energy Transfer Partners, LP (stock symbol ETP) is the parent company of Dakota Access LLC, the developer of the Dakota Access Pipeline. Since ETP is a publicly traded company, it is certainly possible to purchase the stock. To answer your questions: Would it not be possible to buy their stocks, bring down the price o...
Why do banks finance shared construction as mortgages instead of financing it directly and selling the apartments in a building?
The most succinct answer is "Banks are in the Money business". Not construction, not real estate, not any of the other things they may find find themselves sometimes being dragged (foreclosure) or tempted (construction) into. "Money" is their core competence, and as good business people they recognize that straying out...
Why do banks require small businesses to open a business bank account instead of a cheaper personal one?
The bank won't let you because: Differences in required account features — Business accounts have different features (many of them legal features) that are required by businesses. For instances: Do you want to be able to deposit cheques that are written out to your business name? You need a business account for that. Y...
Google Finance gain value incorrect because of currency fluctuation
You can easily build a Google Sheet spreadsheet to track what you want as Sheet has a 'googlefinance()' function to look-up the same prices and data you can enter and track in a Google Finance portfolio, except you can use it in ways you want. For example, you can track your purchase price at a fixed exchange rate, tra...
Where can I trade FX spot options, other than saxobank.com?
You can trade currency ETF options on IB. It is SIPC insured; the options are just like vanilla options in Saxo.
If I buy a share from myself at a higher price, will that drive the price up so I can sell all my shares the higher price?
The market maker will always compare the highest bid and the lowest ask. A trade will happen if the highest bid is at least as high as the lowest ask. Adding one share (or a million shares) at a higher asking price, here: $210 instead of $200, will not have any effect at all. Nobody will buy the share. Adding a bid fo...
Why do some stores have card-only self-checkouts?
There are a couple of advantages that I can think of. Since the machines are less complicated because they don't have to handle cash, they are less expensive and require less maintenance. Machines that handle cash require lots of moving parts. Cash machines require lots of employee interaction. The machines need to b...
How can I save on closing costs when buying a home?
As a buyer, one of the easiest ways to save on closing costs is to avoid title insurance. This will only apply if you are a cash buyer, as a mortgage writer will typically require title insurance. It is also one of the most ill-advised ways to save money. You need title insurance. For the most part, there is real...
Should I learn to do my own tax?
I would advise against "pencil and paper" approach for the following reasons: You should e-file instead of paper filing. Although the IRS provides an option of "Fillable Forms", there's no additional benefit there. Software ensures correctness of the calculations. It is easy to make math errors, lookup the wrong table ...
Is it possible to influence a company's actions by buying stock?
Yes and no. This really should be taught at junior school level in a capitalist country but that is a different argument. A company is influenced by its shareholders but not in the way you are hoping. This is the only area where a Company must behave democratically with one share one vote. If you own one share in a com...
How much (paper) cash should I keep on hand for an emergency?
Coming from an area that is hurricane prone, and seeing what happens to local businesses during evacuations/power outages/gas shortages, I think what you already have on hand should be sufficient. And it sounds like that's exactly what you're budgeting for. I'd say 2 weeks worth of fuel and food costs, with the budget...
Should I always hold short term bonds till maturity?
Risk is reduced but isn't zero The default risk is still there, the issuer can go bankrupt, and you can still loose all or some of your money if restructuring happens. If the bond has a callable option, the issuer can retire them if conditions are favourable for the issuer, you can still loose some of your investment....
Comparison between buying a stock and selling a naked put
Yes, of course there have been studies on this. This is no more than a question about whether the options are properly priced. (If properly priced, then your strategy will not make money on average before transaction costs and will lose once transaction costs are included. If you could make money using your strategy,...
A debt collector will not allow me to pay a debt, what steps should I take?
You say your primary goal is to clean up your credit report, and you're willing to spend some cash to do it. OK. But beware: the law in this area is a funhouse mirror, everything works upside down and backwards. To start, let's be clear: Credit reports are not extortion to force you into paying. They are a historica...
What is Fibonacci values?
This is how I've understood this concept. Fibonacci nos/levels/ratios/%s is based on concept of sequential increment. You may find lot of info about Fibonacci on net. In stock market this concept is used to predict psychological level. While a trend is form, usually price tend to accumulate/consolidate at these level. ...
Why have U.S. bank interest rates been so low for the past few years?
These rates are so low because the cost of money is so low. Specifically, two rates are near zero. The Federal Reserve discount rate, which is "the interest rate charged to commercial banks and other depository institutions on loans they receive from their regional Federal Reserve Bank's lending facility--the discount...
How does Robinhood stock broker make money?
Robinhood seems interesting. Some say it's a gimmicky site with a nice UI not an investing or trading platform. From investopedia: 1. For now, the app stays afloat for mainly two reasons. First, the business itself is extremely lean: no physical locations, a small staff, no massive public relations campaigns and only...
Evidence for Technical Analysis [duplicate]
To answer your original question: There is proof out there. Here is a paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis that might be worth a read. It has a lot of references to other publications that might help answer your question(s) about TA. You can probably read the whole article then research some of the other ...
Investment options
Option 1 is out. There are no "safe returns" that make much money. Besides, if a correction does come along how will you know when to invest? There is no signal that says when the bottom is reached, and you emotions could keep you from acting. Option 2 (dollar cost averaging) is prudent and comforting. There are always...
What is market capitalization? [duplicate]
Market capitalization is one way to represent the value of the company. So if a company has 10 million shares, which are each worth $100, then the company's market capitalization is 1 billion. Large cap companies tend to be larger and more stable. Small cap companies are smaller, which indicates higher volatility. So i...
How to get 0% financing for a car, with no credit score?
Is it possible to get a 0% interest rate for car loan for used car in US? Possible? Yes. It's not illegal. Likely? Not really. $5K is not a very high amount, many banks won't even finance it at all, regardless of your credit score. I suggest you try local credit unions, especially those that your employer is sponsori...
Purchasing a home using collateral
What do you see as the advantage of doing this? When you buy a house with a mortgage, the bank gets a lien on the house you are buying, i.e. the house you are buying is the collateral. Why would you need additional or different collateral? As to using the house for your down payment, that would require giving the house...
End-of-season car sales?
It completely varies by manufacturer, dealer, and time of year, but in general yes, you can get a (sometimes significant) discount on brand new last year models. In general though, it comes down to supply and demand. As an example, in April 2016 I was looking at a brand new 2016 in which the 2017 model had come out th...
Can I depreciate a car given to me?
That seems to indicate that you can in fact depreciate a vehicle given to you? Section 1015 discusses the calculation of basis for gifted property, it says nothing about depreciation. Personal property cannot be depreciated for tax purposes unless it is used for business purposes. So unless you drive your car as part...
How big of a mortgage can I realistically afford?
For me there are two issues. So, what to do? You have the basics of a very strong position coming together. A good salary in a good city. I'd be patient and work on consolidating my position for another year to 18 months (including building a rainy day fund) and look to buy then.
What tax laws apply to Meetup group income?
In the United States tax law, a group of people who are neither an individual nor an incorporated entity is called "partnership". Here's the IRS page on partnerships. Income derived by such a "meetup.com" group is essentially a partnership income with the group members being the partners. However, as you can see from ...
Can an unmarried couple buy a home together with only one person on the mortgage?
The mortgage and title of the house would be under both your names equally. When I applied for a mortgage with my girlfriend, I was the primary applicant because of my credit score and she was the secondary because of her income (she makes more). When all was said and done, it was explained to us that the mortgage wa...
Is it better to pay an insurance deductible, or get an upgrade?
If you repair your phone, when your current balance is paid off, could you get the same coverage for less money? Or would your monthly payment remain the same regardless? That would be the easiest comparison to make. ie: Pay an extra $49 to have the phone replaced [ie: the cost of using the insurance program for $149,...
Can a self-employed person have a Health Savings Account?
Whether you can establish an HSA has nothing to do with your employment status or your retirement plan. It has to do with the type of medical insurance you have. The insurance company should be able to tell you if your plan is "HSA compatible". To be HSA compatible, a plan must have a "high deductible" -- in 2014, $12...
What could happen to Detroit Municipal bonds because of Detroit's filing for bankruptcy?
What could happen to bonds such as these because of Detroit filing for bankruptcy? Depending on how the courts process Detroit's situation, there could be that some bonds become worthless since they are so low and the city can't pay anything on those low priority debts. Others may get pennies on the dollar. There c...
How frequently should I request additional credit?
I do this all the time, my credit rating over time plotted on a graph looks like saw blades going upward on a slope I use a credit alert service to get my credit reports quarterly, and I know when the credit agencies update their files (every three months), so I never have a high balance at those particular times Basic...
Solicitation of a Security
ASSUMING THIS IS A QUESTION OF U.S. SECURITIES LAWS You didn't explain whether you're related to the mother and son, but I'll assume you are. If that's the case, this really wouldn't qualify as a solicited sale. It wasn't advertised publicly for sale, and there is already (I assume) a long-standing relationship betwe...
How to get started with the stock market? [duplicate]
There's several approaches to the stock market. The first thing you need to do is decide which you're going to take. The first is the case of the standard investor saving money for retirement (or some other long-term goal). He already has a job. He's not really interested in another job. He doesn't want to spend thousa...
Online streaming video/audio financial/stock programs
The CNBC site is littered with videos. Whenever I click a link to one of their articles, it seems to be a video instead. Not like having the channel streamed, but most of the top stories.
What should I be aware of as a young investor?
If you are going to the frenzy of individual stock picking, like almost everyone initially, I suggest you to write your plan to paper. Like, I want an orthogonal set of assets and limit single investments to 10%. If with such limitations the percentage of brokerage fees rise to unbearable large, you should not invest t...
Is Amazon's offer of a $50 gift card a scam?
Every financial services company (and cellphone provider, cable and broadband provider, private energy supplier, and so on and so forth - it's turtles all the way down in a market economy) spends "something" to acquire a new customer. Paying attractive college students minimum wage to hand out brochures and branded fi...
I started some small businesses but need help figuring out taxes. Should I hire a CPA?
Certainly sounds worthwhile to get a CPA to help you with setting up the books properly and learning to maintain them, even if you do it yourself thereafter. What's your own time worth?
Options profit calculation and cash settlement
Depending on the day and even time, you'd get your $2 profit less the $5 commission. Jack's warning is correct, but more so for thinly traded options, either due to the options having little open interest or the stock not quite so popular. In your case you have a just-in-the-money strike for a highly traded stock near ...
Super-generic mutual fund type
Since this is your emergency fund, you generally want to avoid volatility while keeping pace with inflation. You really shouldn't be looking for aggressive growth (which means taking on some risk). That comes from money outside of the emergency fund. The simplest thing to do would be to shop around for a different sa...
Received a call to collect on a 17 year old, charged off debt. What do I do?
If they are a debt collector, they must follow the requirements of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. In particular, they must provide you with verification of the debt at your written request. If they won't give you a way to do this, they are in violation of the law, and you should contact proper authorities. If ...
VAT and German freelance working on international project
11 / 111 / 11111 looks like the (old) tax number: it is used by the tax office to know who you are, it isn't good at all for the spanish company. It would even change when you move inside Germany. VAT IDs are not exclusive to GmbHs (but a GmbH always has one). As freelancers you can get at VAT ID but you don't always ...
I'm 23 and was given $50k. What should I do?
I would advise against "wasting" this rare opportunity on mundane things, like by paying off debts or buying toys - You can always pay those from your wages. Plus, you'll inevitably accumulate new debts over time, so debt repayment is an ongoing concern. This large pile of cash allows you to do things you can't ordinar...
Search index futures in Yahoo Finance or Google Finance
Neither site offers index futures or options pricing. Your best best is likely to get the quote from a broker who supports trading those vehicles. Free sites usually limit themselves to stocks and sometimes to options chains -- the exception is Reuters where just about any security for which you have the reuters forma...
Found an old un-cashed paycheck. How long is it good for? What to do if it's expired?
The typical rule in the US is 180 days, but some banks do it differently. However, even if the check is dead, you should be able to call the payroll department for your old job. They can stop payment on the old check and issue you another one.
What happens if I just don't pay my student loans?
Let me give you some advice from someone who has experience at both ends - had student loan issues myself and parents ran financial aid department at local university. Quick story of my student loan. I graduated in debt and could not pay at first due to having kids way too early. I deferred. Schools will have rules ...
Selling Stock - All or Nothing?
Set a good till cancel GTC order, and partial fills will just roll over to the market session if it doesn't fill completely during the first market session It is a very low probability that each share will only be taken one at a time. It isn't a low probability that it will fill in two or three orders, but this is all ...
What do I need to do to form an LLC?
I know that there are a lot service on the internet helping to form an LLC online with a fee around $49. Is it neccessarry to pay them to have an LLC or I can do that myself? No, you can do it yourself. The $49 is for your convenience, but there's nothing they can do that you wouldn't be able to do on your own. What I ...
In a house with shared ownership, if one person moves out and the other assumes mortgage, how do we determine who owns what share in the end?
The ownership of the house depends on what the original deed transferring title at the time of purchase says and how this ownership is listed in government records where the title transfer deed is registered. Hopefully the two records are consistent. In legal systems that descended from British common law (including ...
Consumer Loans vs Mortgages
Here's a good definition of a consumer loan: What is a Consumer Loan? As@Pete B. pointed out, there are some states (California loves to be the oddball, doesn't it?) that treat some loans in a more unconventional manner, but the gist of it is that a consumer loan is normally unsecured, meaning there's no collateral or ...
What to do with a 50K inheritance [duplicate]
First, don't borrow any more money. You're probably bankrupt right now at that income level. 2k/month is poverty level income, especially in some of the higher cost of living areas of California. At $2k per month of income, and $1300 of rent and utilities, you've only got 700 a month for food. The student loans are...
It's possible to short a stock without paying interest?
As others have said: unless you can find someone willing to make a zero-interest loan, the answer is no. If you can figure out how to turn a "0% for first N months" credit card offer onto a leveraged investment or something of that sort -- seems unlikely -- maybe.
Why are stocks having less institutional investors a “good thing”?
Institutional investors are the "elephant" in the room. When they "sneeze," everyone else "catches cold." They're fine, if they're buying after YOU do. They're not bad, if you want to buy after they sell en masse. But when you read about moves of 10 percent, 15 percent or more in a single day, it's because a bunch of i...
Importance of dividend yield when evaluating a stock?
Dividend yields can also reflect important information about the company's status. For example, a company that has never lowered or stopped paying dividends is a "strong" company because it has the cash/earnings power to maintain its dividend regardless of the market. Ideally, a company should pay dividends for at leas...
What is the standard deviation and mean return of oil?
Oil as a commodity or investing in oil companies as a stock? As a commodity, I'd recommend none. The article Commodities – They Have (Almost) No Place in Your Portfolio and The Case Against Commodities explain why commodities are not good investments.
How to find a reputable company to help sell a timeshare?
You are right to be skeptical of timeshare listing companies. As you can imagine, it is very difficult to actually sell a timeshare. You know firsthand how awful they are; it takes trickery to sell them. True story: In my office building years ago, the office across the hall was occupied by a timeshare listing servic...
Should my retirement portfolio imitate my saving portfolio?
Short Answer: Length of Time invested and risk should be correlated. From what I am hearing this is pretty good game plan for your age. Minutia: Once you get closer to retirement lets say in 20 years. You might want to treat two lumps of money with different risk. For me at 49 I have a lump of money for 55-70 that ...
Who Can I Hire To Calculate the Value of An Estate?
Generally, it would be an accountant. Specifically in the case of very "private" (or unorganized, which is even worse) person - forensic accountant. Since there's no will - it will probably require a lawyer as well to gain access to all the accounts the accountant discovers. I would start with a good estate attorney, w...
Should I purchase a whole life insurance policy? (I am close to retirement)
First of all, congratulations on being in an incredible financial position. you have done well. So let's look at the investment side first. If you put 400,000 in a decent index fund at an average 8% growth, and add 75,000 every year, in 10 years you'll have about $1.95 Million, $800k of which is capital gain (more o...
Is interest on a personal loan tax deductible?
Can you deduct interest paid to your father on your personal income taxes? Interest paid on passive investments can be deducted from the amount earned by that investment as an investment expense as long as the amount earned is greater than the total paid for the interest expense. Also beware if the amount of interest p...
Is it prudent to sell a stock on a 40% rise in 2 months
Depends entirely on the stock and your perception of it. Would you buy it at the current price? If so, keep it. Would you buy something else? If so, sell it and buy that.
Does this sound like a great idea regarding being a landlord and starting a real estate empire?
This is a common and good game-plan to learn valuable life skills and build a supplemental income. Eventually, it could become a primary income, and your strategic risk is overall relatively low. If you are diligent and patient, you are likely to succeed, but at a rate that is so slow that the primary beneficiaries of ...
Why do gas stations charge different amounts in the same local area?
One factor I haven't seen mentioned is volume. Suppliers will charge a slightly lower price to the station if they buy in full tanker truck loads instead of smaller quantities. Where I am this is probably still the largest factor in price spread with all newer bigger stations being 20-30 cents cheaper than the old sm...
What steps should be taken, if any, when you find out your home's market value is underwater, i.e. worth less than the mortgage owed?
That's easy, keep making the payments and go on with life. The number that matters more than loan/market value is loan/equity. As long as you can sell it for enough to pay the balance on your loan you should be okay. Not saying it doesn't suck, but financially you are fine. If you owe more than the house is worth, I'd ...
What happens when the bid and ask are the same?
Rule 610 (Google for it) stands that if Bid and Ask are the same, the market is considered Locked, and the exchange must stop all trading. So the same person can't quote the same bid and ask price. However, HFTs have found ways to circumvent this limitation when exchanges created special order types for them, e.g. Spam...
For a mortgage down-payment, what percentage is sensible?
I am currently in the process of purchasing a house. I am only putting 5% down. I see that some are saying that the traditional 20% down is the way to go. I am a first time homebuyer, and unfortunately we no longer live in the world where 20% down is mandatory, which is part of the reason why housing prices are so high...
Is it impossible to get a home loan with a poor credit history after a divorce?
No, it is never impossible to get credit so long as there are no price controls or quotas. In most of the United States, the impetus for housing is so strong that it's one sector of credit that has nearly no price regulation, price in this case being interest rates. Corporate banks will not touch you now because Dodd-F...
What is the difference between a scrip dividend and a stock split?
Investopedia has a good definition. Stock dividends are similar to cash dividends; however, instead of cash, a company pays out stock. Stock splits occur when a company perceives that its stock price may be too high. Stock splits are usually done to increase the liquidity of the stock (more shares outstanding) and to m...
Understanding SEC Filings
There are a whole host of types of filings. Some of them are only relevant to companies that are publicly traded, and other types are general to just registered corps in general. ... and many more: http://reportstream.io/explore/has-form Overall, reading SEC filings is hard, and for some, the explanations of those fili...
What are the opportunities/implications of having a designated clearing bank in my home country?
For an individual there will not be much impact immediately. This arrangement will help Corporates and Banks settle payments more easily. - It would typically help companies dealing with Yuan [Buying or selling to China or Countries that accept Yuan as payment] to make payments at a cheaper cost & in less time. - In th...
Does the premium of an option of a certain strike price increase at a slower rate from OTM to ITM as gamma affects delta?
If we assume constant volatility, gamma increases as the stock gets closer to the strike price. Thus, delta is increasing at a faster rate as the stock reaches closer to ITM because gamma is the derivative of delta. As the stock gets deeper ITM, the gamma will slow down as delta reaches 1 or -1 (depends if a call or a ...
I'm 23 and was given $50k. What should I do?
Here's what I'd do: Pay off the cards and medical. Deposit 35k in the best interest bearing accounts you can find (maybe some sort of ladder). Link your student loans payments to this account. This frees up $486 a month in income, and generates a small amount of interest at the same time. Now, set up some sort of reti...
What causes US Treasury I bond fixed interest to increase?
The Fed is trying to keep the money supply growing at a rate just slightly faster than the increase in the total production in the economy. If this year we produced, say, 3% more goods and services than last year, than they try to make the money supply grow by maybe 4% or 5%. That way there should be a small rate of in...
Why would you elect to apply a refund to next year's tax bill?
If your refunds are subject to seizure because of certain debt arrears, it makes sense to let the IRS hold onto them until next year.
Tax implications of corporate housing
If the employer provides housing to the employee, the employer has to identify whether it is taxable or not. If it is - the amounts would be added to the taxable income on your W2. All the withholding and FICA tax calculations will be performed based on that taxable income. If the employer fails to do that, and you get...
Curious about Liverpool FC situation
AFAIK gillet and hicks received massive loans to fund their purchase and they have not been keeping up the repayments so now the creditors own the club. Its like getting a car on the never never, or a mortgage, i fyou don't keep up repayments the credit company take back the car or the bank repossess your house. I am s...
Nominal value of shares
They are 2 different class of shares belonging to the same company. Class A shares [par value of 0.01] have 100 voting rights per share. Class B shares [par value of 0.0002] have one voting rights. Both are listed separately with different ISN and trade at slightly different values. The Class A at higher value than Cl...
What's the most conservative split of financial assets for my portfolio in today's market?
If you can afford the time and are looking for more deep, and fun, investment tips, check out http://gurufocus.com. Great for more fundamental analysis of "Intelligent Investor" type Benjamin Graham-style businesses. No use scatter-shooting the stock exchange hoping to find good value businesses. Even blue-chips have ...
Importance of dividend yield when evaluating a stock?
Probably the most important thing in evaluating a dividend yield is to compare it to ITSELF (in the past). If the dividend yield is higher than it has been in the past, the stock may be cheap. If it is lower, the stock may be expensive. Just about every stock has a "normal" yield for itself. (It's zero for non-dividend...
What increases your chance of being audited?
Here is an article that claims to know something about it. Here are a selection of quotes: The IRS says there are several ways a return can be selected for audit and the first is via the agency's computer-scoring system known as Discriminant Information Function, or DIF. The IRS evaluates tax returns based on IRS formu...
How to invest in gold at market value, i.e. without paying a markup?
ETF's are great products for investing in GOLD. Depending on where you are there are also leveraged products such as CFD's (Contracts For Difference) which may be more suitable for your budget. I would stick with the big CFD providers as they offer very liquid products with tight spreads. Some CFD providers are MarketM...
How to account for a shared mortgage in QuickBooks Online?
You could classify the mortgage as a different assets class and then create automated additions and deductions to the account as deems fit. other than that quickbooks online is a bit fishy so it seems.
Why does short selling require borrowing?
You can't make money on the way down if it was your money that bought the shares when the market was up. When you sell short, borrowing lets you tap into the value without paying for it. That way, when the price (hopefully) drops you profit from the difference. In your example, if you hadn't paid the £20 in the first ...
Buying my first car out of college
Generally speaking, buying a fancy new car out of college is dumb. Buying a 3 year old flashy car with a 60 month loan is going to eat up your income, and when the thing starts breaking down, you'll get sick of buying $900 mufflers and $1,000 taillights pretty quickly. Buy a car that nobody wants for cheap and save up ...
Advantage of Financial Times vs. free news sources for improving own knowledge of finance?
I recommend using Morning Brew. They email you a free daily newsletter with the top financial news stories and earnings events. I have subscribed to the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times before. Morning Brew basically covers all of the headlines you would see on those sites.
I earn $75K, have $30K in savings, no debt, rent from my parents who are losing their home. Should I buy a home now or save?
The biggest red flag is the fact that your parents may lose their house. There are multiple parts of the decision. The red flag comes in because you are stretching your finances to the max to afford the house you are interested in. Buying down the interest rate makes some sense depending on how long you plan on stayin...
If I invest in securities denominated in a foreign currency, should I hedge my currency risk?
No. This is too much for most individuals, even some small to medium businesses. When you sell that investment, and take the cheque into the foreign bank and wire it back to the USA in US dollars, you will definitely obtain the final value of the investment, converted to US$. Thats what you wanted, right? You'll get...
Dispute credit card transaction with merchant or credit card company?
It's very straightforward for an honest vendor to refund the charge, and the transaction only costs him a few pennies at most. If you initiate a chargeback, the merchant is immediately charged an irreversible fee of about $20 simply as an administrative fee. He'll also have to refund the charge if it's reversed. To ...
60% Downpayment on house?
To answer your precise question, your plans are not at all misguided, and are in fact very reasonable. You are clearly financially very comfortable, and from the tone of your post it sounds like you value security and simplicity over maximizing your investment return over the coming years. If money was the most import...
Are there statistics showing percentage of online brokerage customers that are actually making a profit trading forex/futures/options?
Finding statistics is exceedingly hard, because the majority of traders lose money. That is, not only they don't "beat the markets", not only they don't "beat the benchmark" (S&P 500 being used a lot as reference): they just lose money. Finding exact numbers, quality statistics and so on is very difficult. Finding rece...
Capital gains on no-dividend stocks - a theoretical question
You are overlooking the fact that it is not only supply & demand from investors that determines the share price: The company itself can buy and sell its own shares. If company X is profitable over the long haul but pays 0 dividends then either Option (2) is pretty ridiculous, so (1) will hold except in an extreme "man...
Can my employer limit my maximum 401k contribution amount (below the IRS limit)?
Companies are required BY THE IRS to try to get everybody to contribute minimal amounts to the 401K's. In the past, there were abuses and only the execs could contribute and the low paid workers were starving while the execs contributed huge amounts. On a year-by-year basis, if the low-paid employees don't contribut...
Is there any way to know how much new money the US is printing?
The Fed doesn't exactly have a specific schedule when they decide to create a new dollar. Instead, they engage in open market operations, creating and destroying money as is necessary to preserve a certain interest rate for lending and borrowing. It's an ongoing process. When the Fed meets periodically and they see tha...
Why is economic growth so important?
There is an economic principle called "non-satiation," which translated into plain English means "people always want more." (This was best illustrated in the movie, Oliver Twist, "Please sir, can I have MORE?") Over time, most people won't be satisfied with "things as they are." Which is why growth is so important. Man...
Do stock prices really go down by the amount of the dividend?
Ex-Dividend Price Behavior of Common Stocks would be a study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and University of Minnesota if you want a source for some data. Abstract This study examines common stock prices around ex-dividend dates. Such price data usually contain a mixture of observations - some with and...
Do those who invest large amounts of money in stocks pay typical brokerage commissions?
Other than the brokerage fee you should also consider the following: Some brokerages provide extra protection against the these and as you guessed it for a fee. However, there could be a small bonus associated with your trading at scale: You are probably qualified for rebates from the exchanges for generating liquidity...
Does financing a portfolio on margin affect the variance of a portfolio?
Yes, more leverage increases the variance of your individual portfolio (variance of your personal net worth). The simple way to think about it is that if you only own only 50% of your risky assets, then you can own twice as many risky assets. That means they will move around twice as much (in absolute terms). Expected ...