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Is the writer of a call ever required to surrender dividends to the call option buyer? | The dividend goes to he who owns the stock when it goes ex-div. A buyer (the call buyer who exercises) will not exercise unless the stock plus dividend are in the money. Otherwise they'd be buying the stock at a premium. I like the scenario your friend doesn't. If I can find a high dividend stock and sell the call for... |
How are stock buybacks not considered insider trading? | In most countries there are specific guidelines on buy backs. It is never a case where by one fine morning company would buy its shares and sell it whenever it wants. In general company has to pass a board resolution, sometimes it also requires it to be approved by share holders. It has to notify the exchange weeks in ... |
What percentage of my portfolio should be in individual stocks? | I find the question interesting, but it's beyond an intelligent answer. Say what you will about Jim Cramer, his advice to spend "an hour per month on each stock" you own appears good to me. But it also limits the number of stocks you can own. Given that most of us have day jobs in other fields, you need to decide how ... |
What low-fee & liquid exchange-traded index funds / ETFs should I consider holding in a retirement portfolio? | Here's a dump from what I use. Some are a bit more expensive than those that you posted. The second column is the expense ratio. The third column is the category I've assigned in my spreadsheet -- it's how I manage my rebalancing among different classes. "US-LC" is large cap, MC is mid cap, SC is small cap. "Intl-Dev" ... |
May 6, 2010 stock market decline/plunge: Why did it drop 9% in a few minutes? | Trading error at Citi |
How detailed do itemized deductions have to be? (source needed) | When you do your taxes, you have two choices for your deductions. You can take the standard deduction, or you can choose to itemize your deductions. If you itemize your deductions, you use Form 1040 Schedule A. By looking at Schedule A, you can see the list of deductions that are itemized: On Schedule A itself, you on... |
On claiming mileage and home office deductions | Can she claim deductions for her driving to and from work? Considering most people use their cars mostly to commute to/from work, there must be limits to what you can consider "claimable" and what you can't, otherwise everyone would claim back 80% of their mileage. No, she can't. But if she's driving from one work site... |
Supporting a Kickstarter project: Should a customer's pledge payment include sales tax, e.g. GST/HST in Canada? | You can only claim an input tax credit if tax was actually collected by the seller, irrespective of whether it should have been or not. You need to contact the seller to request an invoice that shows the GST/HST, if any, as well as the seller's GST/HST number, which is required to be printed on invoices. If the seller ... |
I'm thinking of getting a new car … why shouldn't I LEASE one? | If you are looking to build wealth, leasing is a bad idea. But so is buying a new car. All cars lose value once you buy them. New cars lose anywhere between 30-60% of their value in the first 4 years of ownership. Buying a good quality, used car is the way to go if you are looking to build wealth. And keeping the c... |
Is it true that Income Tax was created to finance troops for World War I? | Income tax was seen as a way to exploit the revenues available from the rapidly expanding ranks of people with mid to high incomes. It was initially targeted at the very wealthy. Previously, most Federal revenues came from excise taxes and tariffs, both of which have many negative economic effects, leave the government... |
How much more than my mortgage should I charge for rent? | I think you are trying to figure out what will be a break-even rental rate for you, so that then you can decide whether renting at current market rates is worth it for you. This is tricky to determine because future valuations are uncertain. You can make rough estimates though. The most uncertain component is likely to... |
Are lottery tickets ever a wise investment provided the jackpot is large enough? | Possibly, if you can get them at a discount. But not if you have to pay full price. Say there's a $1 million Jackpot for $1 tickets. The seller might sell 1.25 million of these tickets, to raise $1.25 million pay a winner $1 million, and keep $250,000. In this example, the so-called "expected value" of your $1 ticket ... |
Is this investment opportunity problematic? | If you can separate the following two points, and live with them. I think you are good to go ahead. Otherwise I would seriously recommend you to reconsider. Are you willing to give out this much money help a friend assuming that you will never get it back? This is what it means to give a gift, don't let their current ... |
About to start being an Independent Contractor - Any advice on estimating taxes? | One possibility that I use: I set up an LLC and get paid through that entity. Then I set up a payroll service through Bank of America and set up direct deposit so that it is free. I pay myself at 70% of my hourly rate based on the number of hours I work, and the payroll service does all the calculations for me and set... |
What is an “International Equity”? | International means from all over the world. In the U.S. A Foreign Equity fund would be non-US stocks. There's an odd third choice I'm aware of, a fund of US companies that derive their sales from overseas, primarily. |
Meaning of “credit” | You're looking at the "wrong" credit. Here's the Wikipedia article about the bookkeeping (vs the Finance, that you've quoted) term. |
Hobby vs. Business | You can list it as other income reported on line 21 of form 1040. In TurboTax, enter at: - Federal Taxes tab (Personal in Home & Business) - Wages & Income -“I’ll choose what I work on” Button Scroll down to: -Less Common Income -Misc Income, 1099-A, 1099-C. -The next screen will give you several choices. Choose "Oth... |
Should I buy a house with a friend? | There are lots of good reasons not to do this. HOWEVER if you do decide to, there are four things you need to consider: |
Where can I see the detailed historical data for a specified stock? | Yahoo Finance's Historical Prices section allows you to look up daily historical quotes for any given stock symbol, you don't have to hit a library for this information. Your can choose a desired time frame for your query, and the dataset will include High/Low/Close/Volume numbers. You can then download a CSV version ... |
Why invest for the long-term rather than buy and sell for quick, big gains? | There are people (well, companies) who make money doing roughly what you describe, but not exactly. They're called "market makers". Their value for X% is somewhere on the scale of 1% (that is to say: a scale at which almost everything is "volatile"), but they use leverage, shorting and hedging to complicate things to t... |
Execute or trade an options contract? | Your math shows that you bought an 'at the money' option for .35 and when the stock is $1 above the strike, your $35 (options trade as a contract for 100 shares) is now worth $100. You knew this, just spelling it out for future readers. 1 - Yes 2 - An execute/sell may not be nesesary, the ooption will have time value ... |
Does dollar cost averaging apply when moving investments between fund families? | The first step I would do is determine the asset class mixture for your current portfolio and the mixture for your new one. If they are the same and all you are doing is changing the funds that you use to invest in that mixture of asset class then just do the change all at once. In this case there is no market risk as ... |
How to model fees from trades on online platforms? | where A1 is the number of trades. you may have to change the number 100 to 99 depending on how the 100th trade is charged. The idea is to use the if statement to determine the price of the trades. Once you are over the threshold the price is 14*number over threshold. |
Why are there many small banks and more banks in the U.S.? | As an addendum to PeterK's answer, once upon a time, there were many Savings and Loan Associations (S&Ls) that acted as small banks, accepting savings deposits from people and lending money for home mortgages to local residents. Some of these S&Ls were chartered Federally with deposits insured by the FSLIC (similar to ... |
Does this plan make any sense for early 20s investments? | I think it's great idea. Many large brokerages give customers access to a pretty sizable list of zero commission, zero load funds. In this list of funds will certainly be an S&P 500 index. So you can open your account for free, deposit your $1,000 for free and invest it in an S&P index for no cost. You'll pay a ver... |
Stock Certificate In two names | I'd call it pretty worrisome. HOOB is trading over the counter, in fact, on the pink sheets, so it has been delisted from the major exchanges. It appears that it lacks recent financial disclosures. You'll have to investigate to see if you think it's worth keeping, but trading is thin. |
Why does BlackRock's XIN page show XIN as having only 1 holding? | EFA must be bought and sold in US dollars. XIN allows people to buy and sell EFA in Canadian dollars without exposing their investment to unpredictable swings in the USD/CAD ratio. This is what's known as a currency-hedged instrument. Now, why the chart sums up to over 100% is anyone's guess. Presumably it's the resu... |
When a stock price rises, does the company get more money? | When a stock price rises, the company's assets are worth more. This doesn't mean it gets more cash directly, but it can liquidate (= sell) some of its stocks for a higher return than before. |
Is there any way to buy a new car directly from Toyota without going through a dealership? | Any car manufacturer that undercuts their own dealer network would have that network fall apart quickly. Tesla is using a dealer-free distribution model from the start, so they don't have that problem. Toyota doesn't work that way, though. GM imposed a uniform no-haggling policy with their Saturn brand, but that poli... |
Where do I-Bonds fit into personal finance plans? | tl,dr: I-bonds do not fit well into most personal finance plans. First the questions (succinct reference): I like your thought process weighing your liquidity and risk versus your return. This is very important. However, I think you might be sidetracked a bit by I-Bonds. I-Bonds are not generally good for personal i... |
Is there such a thing as “stock insurance”? | Yes, you can insure against the fall in price of stock by purchasing a put option. You pay for a put and if the price of the share falls below the "strike price" of the put, then you can exercise the put. On exercise, the person who sold you the put contract agrees to buy the stock for the strike price, even though t... |
How could USA defaulting on its public debt influence the stock/bond market? | The default scenario that we're talking about in the Summer of 2011 is a discretionary situation where the government refuses to borrow money over a certain level and thus becomes insolvent. That's an important distinction, because the US has the best credit in the world and still carries enormous borrowing power -- so... |
What is a “Subscription Rights Offering” of a stock one owns? | After a company goes public, if it wants to raise more money, then it does this by secondary public offering or rights issue. In subscription rights issue gives the right to existing share holders to buy new shares at equal proportion. So if every one buys, they maintain the same percentage of ownership. Generally the ... |
Flexplan - a company is taking over another, do I pay the balance? | This is only one of a series of questions your friend needs to understand. They will also need to know what happens to: vacation balances; the vacation earning schedule; retirement fund matching; the pension program; all the costs and rules regarding health, dental and vision;life insurance amounts. Some of these can b... |
What does “Yield Curve” mean? | Yield is the term used to describe how much income the bond will generate if the bond was purchased at a particular moment in time. If I pay $100 for a one year, $100 par value bond that pays 5% interest then the bond yields 5% since I will receive $5 from a $100 investment if I held the bond to maturity. If I pay $90 ... |
Who can truly afford luxury cars? | In addition to those who are wealthy (not the same as high income), there are also a certain number of people whose professional livelihood is enhanced by projecting wealth/income they may or may not have. For example, some consultants, lawyers, financial advisors or other salespeople. The same is true of luxury homes ... |
How can I find a list of all North American ETF's including symbols? | You can use www.etfdb.com and search on geography. |
Do I pay a zero % loan before another to clear both loans faster? | At the moment, you are paying about $1,300 interest each month (£431k @ 3.625% / 12) on your mortgage and repaying capital at about $1,500 per month. Paying $11,000 off your mortgage would save you about $9,000 as it is reduces your balance by about seven monthly capital repayments: but you will only see this benefit a... |
Isn't an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) a surefire way to make tons of money? | There is no sure thing in investing. Everything has a risk component. Sure, people talk about these cryptocurrencies like they have nowhere to go but up, but there are massive risks with these. For example, they could be declared illegal, the exchanges could go bankrupt (and some have), the backing companies off the IC... |
Is paying off your mortage a #1 personal finance priority? | The answer depends entirely on your mortgage terms - is the interest rate low, how many years left? Questions like this are about Cost of Capital. If your mortgage has a low interest for a lot of years, you have a low cost of capital. By paying it off early, you are dumping that low cost of capital. Use the extra mone... |
Why invest in IRA while a low-cost index fund is much simpler? | Whoa. These things are on two dimensions. It's like burger and fries, you can also have chicken sandwich and fries, or burger and onion rings. You can invest in an taxable brokerage account and/or an IRA. And then, within each of those... You can buy index funds and/or anything else. All 4 combinations are possibl... |
Does the rise in ACA premiums affect employer-provided health insurance premiums? | Depends on the insurance company itself, as well as the costs of treatments. Imagine an ideal scenario where costs of treatments stayed the same, and that all insurance plans were segregated and pulled from the same pool of funds to pay for treatments. Then employer subsidized health insurance plans would be unaffected... |
Free service for automatic email stock alert when target price is met? | You can do it graphically at zignals.com and freestockcharts.com. |
The Benefits/Disadvantages of using a credit card | Credit card interest rates are obscene. Try to find some other kind of loan for the furnishings; if you put things on the card, try to pay them off as quickly as possible. I should say that for most people I do recommend having a credit card. Hotels, car rental agencies, and a fair number of other businesses expect to ... |
Is transfer of long term investment proceeds from India considered taxable in the U.S.? | If you are a US resident (not necessarily citizen) then yes, you do have to pay capital gains taxes on any capital gains, including interest from assets oversees (like interest from a savings account). Additionally you have to report all your foreign bank accounts according to FATCA (https://www.irs.gov/businesses/corp... |
What is a good way to save money on car expenses? | Can you tell I'm having fun with this question? Here's another great list, from Finally Frugal, which includes the above items, but also these gems: Avoid idling. Now, this just annoys me. Walking past a line of idling cars at the transit center waiting for their human 'pickup', makes me crazy! It makes me want to kno... |
Totally new to finance, economy, where should I start? | I'm going to be a bit off topic and recommend 'The Only Investment Book You'll Ever Need' by Andrew Tobias. It doesn't start with describe the workings of the stock market. Instead, it starts with making sure you have a budget and have your basic finances in order BEFORE going into the stock market. This may not sound ... |
Is there a kind of financial advisor for stock investors? How to find a good one? | I'm a retired stockbroker/Registered Investment Advisor. My initial discussions with prospects never had a fee. Restricted stock is unsaleable without specific permission from the issuing company, and typically involves time specifc periods when stock can be sold and/or amounts of stock that can be sold. Not for DIY. ... |
Will I be liable for taxes if I work for my co. in India for 3 months while I am with my husband in UK | Generally all the countries have similar arrangement regarding Income Tax, if you live in the UK for more than you stay in India for a given year then the Indian authorities won't be able to tax you but you might come under the UK Tax Law. |
Why do people buy new cars they can not afford? | There are many reasons for buying new versus used vehicles. Price is not the only factor. This is an individual decision. Although interesting to examine from a macro perspective, each vehicle purchase is made by an individual, weighing many factors that vary in importance by that individual, based upon their specific... |
Why are taxes on actively managed funds higher than those on index funds? | This depends on the particular index, of course. Capital gains taxes occur when stock is sold (for a profit). This occurs less frequently in an index fund: Where an active manager frequently buys and sells stocks (after all, he wants to be active :-) ), the index fund only sells stocks when the particular stock leaves ... |
Can a company donate to a non-profit to pay for services arranged for before hand? | Can a company say "StackExchange" donate to a non-profit company say $5,000 in agreement that they will spend that on paying a designer for a new website? And most importantly is this donation still tax deductible? A non-profit would have to typically create a bucket for IT Services or Website design. As long as "Stack... |
Does a disciplined stock investor stick with their original sell strategy, or stay in and make more? | One of things I've learned about trading on the stock market is not to let your emotions get to you. Greed and fear are among them. You may be overthinking. Why not keep it simple, if you think it can go up to $300 a share, put in a stop loss at $X amount where you would secure your invested money along with some gains... |
Is there such thing as a Checking account requiring pre-approval / white-list? | The account you are looking for is called a "Positive Pay" account. It generally is only for business accounts, you provide a list of check numbers and amounts, and they are cross-referenced for clearing. It normally has a hefty monthly fee due to the extra labor involved. |
Does my net paycheck decrease as the year goes on due to tax brackets filling up? | If your payroll payments are the same each period, you will generally have the same net pay per period. Some things that can cause variations: If your employer puts special payments in a specific paycheck (such as a quarterly or annual bonus, or a vacation payout) this can increase the percentage held from that specif... |
Is 401k as good as it sounds given the way it is taxed? | When you are investing for 40 years, you will have taxable events before retirement. You'll need to pay tax along the way, which will eat away at your gains. For example, in your taxable account, any dividends and capital gain distributions will need taxes paid each year. In your 401(k) or IRA, these are not taxable ... |
When an insider discloses a stock trade are they required to execute? | No. And furthermore, canceling based on insider information is not considered insider trading. SEC Interpretation from October of 2000: (a) Does the act of terminating a plan while aware of material nonpublic information result in liability under Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5? No. Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 apply "in... |
What evidence is there that rising interest rates causes Canadian condo prices to go down? | In the US market at least, there is long-term evidence that there's no strong correlation between interest rates and house prices. A less detailed Canadian study found that house prices tended to increase when rates increase. One possible reason: interest rates can increase when the economy is doing well (needs less h... |
How do I read technicals for tickers that move together but are slightly different? | Following comments to your question here, you posted a separate question about why SPY, SPX, and the options contract don't move perfectly together. That's here Why don't SPY, SPX, and the e-mini s&p 500 track perfectly with each other? I provided an answer to that question and will build on it to answer what I think ... |
Definition of gross income (Arizona state tax filing requirements) | I would suggest reading through page 1 of the Arizona Nonresident form instructions at the web address below: https://www.azdor.gov/Portals/0/ADOR-forms/TY2015/10100/10177_inst.pdf To quote: "You are subject to Arizona income tax on all income derived from Arizona sources. If you are in this state for a temporary or tr... |
If I invest in securities denominated in a foreign currency, should I hedge my currency risk? | Like most other investment decisions - it depends. Specifically in this case it depends upon your view of the FX (Foreign Exchange) market over the next few years, and how sensitive you are to losses. As you correctly note, a hedge has a cost, so it detracts from your overall return. But given that you need to repatria... |
How to find out the amount of preferred stock of Coca Cola Company? | From The Coca-Cola Company website, section for Investors: Stock History, Issues Year 1919 Original issue -- 600,000 shares 100,000 preferred, par $100 each 500,000 common, without nominal or par value 1926 Eliminated 100,000 preferred in November. This means there were preferred shares issued in 1919. However, all pre... |
Why is retirement planning so commonly recommended? | If you can afford it, there are very few reasons not to save for retirement. The biggest reason I can think of is that, simply, you are saving in general. The tax advantages of 401k and IRA accounts help increase your wealth, but the most important thing is to start saving at an early age in your career (as you are doi... |
When will Canada convert to the U.S. Dollar as an official currency? | Canada would most likely not convert any time in the near future. The challenge for Canada converting to the US Dollar or the fictional "Amero" mentioned by JohnFX is that : Some of the benefits would be: The challenge right now for any government would be to sell the pros over the cons and from that viewpoint the cons... |
What does dividends passed mean in terms of stock? | A "covenant" is a solemn promise to engage in or refrain from a specified action. Every company must do a balancing act while declaring the dividends in terms of companies interest (can it use the surplus cash to generate more revenue) to shareholders' interests, giving back to them the profits that due. Many countries... |
Tax whilst starting a business in full time employment | With a limited company, you'll have to pay yourself a salary through PAYE. With income from your other job taking you over the higher-rate threshold, you should inform HMRC of this and get a tax code of DO for the second job, meaning 40% tax (and also both employer's and employee's National Insurance) will be deducted ... |
Does U.S. tax code call for small business owners to count business purchases as personal income? | Expenses are where the catch is found. Not all expenditures are considered expenses for tax purposes. Good CPAs make a comfortable living untangling this sort of thing. Advice for both of your family members' businesses...consult with a CPA before making big purchases. They may need to adjust the way they buy, or t... |
Asset allocation when retirement is already secure | he general advice I get is that the younger you are the more higher risk investments you should include in your portfolio. I will be frank. This is a rule of thumb given out by many lay people and low-level financial advisors, but not by true experts in finance. It is little more than an old wive's tale and does not c... |
How to incentivize a real-estate broker to find me a cheap house | Here in the U.S., a realtor can act as a "seller's agent" or a "buyer's agent". I think what you are calling a "broker" in the U.S. we call a "buyer's agent", and this may just be a difference in terminology, from your post it sounds like the concept is the same. I am answering from a U.S. perspective, please let me kn... |
Why will the bank only loan us 80% of the value of our fully paid for home? | If you get a loan for 80% of the value of your house, that's equivalent to buying a house with a 20% down payment (assuming the appraised value is what you'd buy it for). That's the minimum down payment for Fannie Mae backed loans without PMI (mortgage insurance). See this table for more details. Freddie Mac (the oth... |
If I sell a stock that I don't have, am I required to buy it before a certain amount of time? | I don't actually have any of this stock. Apparently, it's quite common strategy This is called naked short selling. It's not illegal per se, but there can be some major penalties so you should call your broker and ask them these questions. Intentionally naked short selling is not looked upon favorably. They'll probably... |
Will my Indian debit card work in the U.S.? | Debit cards with the Visa or Mastercard symbol on them work technically everywhere where credit cards work. There are some limitations where the respective business does not accept them, for example car rentals want a credit card for potential extra charges; but most of the time, for day-to-day shopping and dining, deb... |
Stock valuation - Volkswagen | The prices dropped because the scandal could mean: This some people estimated that the company could lose money, or have smaller profit. Thus each share was worth less money going forward. The mechanism is that in order to sell their shares the current share owners had to settle for lower prices. |
Any reason to be cautious of giving personal info to corporate fraud departments? | I can't address the psychology of trust involved in your question, but here are some common sense guidelines for dealing with your issue. Make sure you know who you are talking to. Call the company you need to speak to via a publicly available phone number. An email or something you got in a letter might be from a dif... |
What does “points” mean in such contexts (stock exchange, I believe)? | Points are the units of measurement of the index. They're calculated based on the index formula, which in turn based on the prices of the underlying stocks. Movement in points is not really interesting, the movement as a percentage of the base price (daily opening, usually) is more interesting since it gives more conte... |
Should I open a credit card when I turn 18 just to start a credit score? | Assuming I only use it to buy things I can afford (which I trust myself to do), essentially treating it as a debit card, is this a good idea? This is definitely a good idea. From my own experience, before I got my first credit card through my local bank (age 18), I tired to apply for a card that has cash back rewar... |
How does end-of-year interact with mutual fund prices (if it does)? | This answer is applicable to the US. Similar rules may hold in some other countries as well. The shares in an open-ended (non-exchange-traded) mutual fund are not traded on stock exchanges and the "market" does not determine the share price the way it does for shares in companies as brokers make offers to buy and se... |
15 year mortgage vs 30 year paid off in 15 | Consider the "opportunity cost" of the extra repayment on a 15 year loan. If you owe money at 30% p.a. and money at 4% p.a. then it is a no brainer that the 30% loan gets paid down first. Consider too that if the mortgage is not tax deductable and you pay income tax, that you do not pay tax on money you "save". (i.e. ... |
Mortgage refinancing fees | tl;dr: I think you can find a much better deal. Doing a strait refi will cost you some amount of money. However, a 2.5% fee ont top of closing costs seems really high. You can get a quote from Quicken loans pretty quick and compare their fee. Also I would check with a local bank, preferably one you already do busine... |
How do I make a small investment in the stock market? What is the minimum investment required? | There are more than a few ideas here. Assuming you are in the U.S., here are a few approaches: First, DRIPs: Dividend Reinvestment Plans. DRIP Investing: How To Actually Invest Only A Hundred Dollars Per Month notes: I have received many requests from readers that want to invest in individual stocks, but only have t... |
What significant negative factors affect Yahoo's valuation? | There are two very large negative factors that affect Yahoo's valuation. The first is that their search business is in decline and continues to lose ground to Google and even Bing. There's no sign that they have any plan or product in the works to offset this decline, so there's tremendous uncertainty about the comp... |
Should I pay cash or prefer a 0% interest loan for home furnishings? | There are several issues with paying for furniture and appliances with 0% credit instead of paying with cash. When you pay with 0% credit, you might be tempted to spend more on something than you would have if you paid with cash, because it feels like free money, and you've justified in your mind that the extra you ear... |
What's the best way to manage all the 401K accounts I've accumulated from my past jobs? | I'd roll them all into one account, just for your own convenience. It's a pain to keep track of lots of different accounts, esp. since you need logins/passwords, etc for all of them, and we all have plenty of those. :) Pick a place like Vanguard or Fidelity (for example), where you can find investment options with lo... |
Calculate investment's interest rate to break-even insurance cost [duplicate] | I believe the following formula provides a reasonable approximation. You need to fill in the following variables: The average annual return you need on investing the 15% = (((MP5 - MP20) * 12) + (.0326 * .95 * PP / Y)) / (PP *.15) Example assuming an interest rate of 4% on a 100K home: If you invest the $15K you'll br... |
On what quantity the Dividend is given in India? | So My question is if I purchased the shares on 03-08-15 then will I get the dividend? Yes if you purchase on 3-Aug, the shares will actually get credited to your account on 5-Aug and hence you will hold the shares on 6-Aug, the record date. |
Do retailers ever stock goods just to make other goods sell better? | Use of this is demonstrated in this video: https://youtu.be/Ip5jG3djdyk Stocking products that you have no intention of selling can be used to make other products look more appealing by comparison. It's more psychological than anything but it isn't an uncommon practice. |
Opening 5 credit cards at once with no history to ruin, is it a good idea? | Yes, this is definitely possible. You can optimize your credit worthiness within 18 months, you would first start with a secured credit card just to establish a little bit of credit history and then use that as a jumping point 6 months later to do several unsecured credit card applications. As a student, your primary l... |
How is unmarketable stock valued for tax purposes? | How you are taxed will depend on what kind of stock awards they are. The value will be determined by the company that issues it, and appropriate tax forms will be sent to you to include with your taxes. The way the value is determined is an accounting question that is off-topic here, but the value will be stated on you... |
What is the median retirement savings in the United States today? | I find this very hard to believe Believe it. The bottom quarter of American households have negative net worth, and the bottom three quarters have no more than a tiny amount saved up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_in_the_United_States#/media/File:MeanNetWorth2007.png In an emergency, 63% of Americans would not ... |
Should I exclude bonds from our retirement investment portfolio if our time horizon is still long enough? | This is always a judgement call based on your own tolerance for risk. Yes, you have a fairly long time horizon and that does mean you can accept more risk/more volatility than someone closer to starting to draw upon those savings, but you're old enough and have enough existing savings that you want to start thinking a... |
Is Real Estate ever a BAD investment? If so, when? | All other factors being equal, owning your primary residence is almost always a good investment over the long haul. Why? Because you have to live somewhere, and rentals, especially long-term leases that are important when you have kids in school, etc., are generally in the same ballpark as a mortgage in most markets. ... |
No-line-of-credit debit card? | I think what you are looking for is a secured credit card. They are mostly used by people who have ruined their credit and want to rebuild it, but it might also serve your purpose. Essentially you deposit some money in an account and the credit card can be used up to the amount left in the account. Each month when you... |
Understanding stock market terminology | Opening - is the price at which the first trade gets executed at the start of the trading day (or trading period). High - is the highest price the stock is traded at during the day (or trading period). Low - is the lowest price the stock is traded at during the day (or trading period). Closing - is the price at which t... |
Is there any reason not to put a 35% down payment on a car? | If you know that you have a reasonable credit history, and you know that your FICO score is in the 690-neighborhood, and the dealer tells you that you have no credit history, then you also know one of two things: Either way, you should walk away from the deal. If the dealer is willing to lie to you about your credit s... |
What is the best approach to save money for College for three kids? | I'm not a 'rule of thumb' guy, but here, I'd suggest that if you can set aside 10% of your income each year for college, that would be great. That turns out to be $900/mo. In 15 years, if you saw an 8% CAGR, you'd have $311K which happens to be in your range of expenses. And you'd still have time to go as the baby won... |
Help! I've cancelled their service, but this company continues to bill my credit card an annual fee. What can I do? | I'm not a lawyer, and am certainly not familiar with your jurisdiction, but the general guidelines I've seen around this kind of situation are: If all else fails, you could just cancel the card, though I'm not sure what liability you have to honour the contract. I cancelled a card once to stop being charged by a partic... |
Wardrobe: To Update or Not? How-to without breaking the bank | New clothes isn't exactly an emergency expense :) so I would strongly suggest that you budget for it on a monthly basis. This doesn't mean you have to go spend the money every month, just put a reasonable amount of money into the clothes budget/savings every month and when you need a new shirt or two, take the money ou... |
Is Cost of Living overstated? | after 30 years, you'd have a million dollar house vs a quarter million dollar house. You've captured three quarters of a million dollars in rent, given my napkin math hypothetical. As I figure the math, a 250,000 house appreciating to a million dollar house in 30 years requires a sustained ~4.9% appreciation every year... |
Is it a good practice to keep salary account and savings account separate? | Well the idea of 'good practice' is subjective so obviously there won't be an objectively correct answer. I suspect that whatever article you read was making this recommendation as a budgeting tool to physically isolate your reserve of cash from your spending account(s) as a means to keep spending in check. This is a c... |
How to sell a stock in a crashing market? | Assuming you are referring to macro corrections and crashes (as opposed to technical crashes like the "flash crash") -- It is certainly possible to sell stocks during a market drop -- by definition, the market is dropping not only because there are a larger number of sellers, but more importantly because there are a la... |
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