Question
stringlengths
14
166
Answer
stringlengths
3
17k
Which kind of investment seems feasible to have more cashflow every week or month?
Ignoring the wildly unreasonable goal, I'll answer just the Headline question asked. It's possible to choose dividend paying stocks so that you receive a dividend check each month. Dividends are typically paid quarterly, so 3 stocks chosen by quality first, but also for their dividend date will do this. To get $2000/mo...
Does a stock holder profit from a reverse-stock split?
I just had a reverse split done 1 to 35. I went from 110,000 shares and a negative 13k to 3172 shares, and I still had a negative 13k. If your company does a reverse split take the lost and get out, it's bad news all the way around.
What do I need to be aware of if I choose to resell property early (in Alberta)?
You will have no problem doing this for one home and living in it for one or two years. There's a recent court case with around six homes bought and sold by the same person in that time frame. That's what you've probably heard about. There's no hard and fast rule about when it becomes a business but here are some hi...
How do dividends of the underlying security in a security futures contract affect the security futures price?
The price of a future with an underlying that pays dividends is As you can see, since the value of dividends is subtracted from the value of the underlying equity, the future's price is lowered if dividends rise. Compounding that effect with the dividend effect on equity prices, reducing their prices, the future shoul...
What is the difference between a check and a paycheck?
There is little difference. A paycheck is a type of check used to pay wages. These days many people opt for direct deposit. So, the term paycheck can also refer to the payment itself: 1: a check in payment of wages or salary 2: wages, salary http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paycheck
I need a car for 2 years. Buy or lease (or something else)?
Have you considered getting a bike? you would be able to ride it in Europe the same as over here because of no left right bias, also cost wise they are much much cheaper to run.
I can make a budget, but how can I get myself to consistently follow my budget?
Try a tool like mint.com that will send you text messages regarding how you budget is going. If you use mint, set up your budget to send you reminders before you hit your budget. Example: if my budget for dining out is $100, I tell mint.com it is $50 and I get nagging text messages after $50 to remind me to keep a l...
Should I invest in the pre-IPO company stock offered by my employer?
Depending on your perspective of it, I can see reasons for and against this idea. Only with the benefit of hindsight can one say how wise or unwise it is to do so. Earlier in my career, I invested and lost it all. Understand if you do buy when would you be able to sell, do you have to have an account with the underwrit...
How to calculate my real earnings from hourly temp-to-hire moving to salaried employee?
Here's an alternative. There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of contract engineering firms ("job shops") in the United States, probably hundreds in California alone. They are in the business of doing what your "employer" wants you to do, they know how to do it, they have been doing it for decades, working with the bigg...
Can I profit from anticipating a drop in value?
To summarize, there are three basic ways: (3) is the truly dangerous one. If there is a lot of short interest in a stock, but for some reason the stock goes up, suddenly a lot of people will be scrambling to buy that stock to cover their short position -- which will drive the price up even further, making the problem w...
Cash-basis accounting and barter
If you don't track the accrued costs involved, then it means that the valuation of the deal will be somewhat arbitrary, but it still can be made by looking at the value of equivalent or similar goods or services. It's rather similar to accounting treatment of (noncash) gifts, for example. You make up a valuation, and a...
Which student loans to pay off first: Stafford or private?
At the current rates, stated in the question, I would push additional funds towards your Stafford loans as their higher interest rates will incur interest charges almost 3 times faster than your private loans. With my loans I have not seen much information regarding private loans jumping the interest rate close to the ...
What do I need to do to form an LLC?
You can file an LLC yourself in most states, although it might be helpful to use a service if you're not sure what to do to ensure it is correct. I filed my LLC here in Colorado online with the Secretary of State's office, which provided the fill-in-the-blank forms and made it easy. In the U.S., taxation of an LLC is ...
Understanding taxes when buying goods at a store
States have made sales tax more confusing by expanding some categories and shrinking or eliminating other categories. In days of old there were taxes on items, and specific taxes on other small categories such as fuel and cigarets . In many states there were taxes implemented state wide, and in other cases they only ap...
Didn't apply for credit card but got an application denied letter?
fine because the application was declined anyway. No it isn't fine. Credit card applications generally need a hard pull, so get it rectified. Firstly check if an application was really made on your behalf. Some companies use this ploy to pull you into a scheme of making you apply for a credit card. Secondly call up the...
Any reason to keep around my account with my old, 'big' bank?
I'd add that bigger banks tend to have experience doing more complicated things. As an example, my local credit union (~12 offices), simply didn't have the software to wire money to a Canadian bank, as where Chase did. The Canadian routing number wasn't in the format of a US institution, and their software user interf...
Buying insurance (extended warranty or guarantee) on everyday goods / appliances?
Most of the consumer products that you buy at retail these days are commodity priced, and have been for a long time. Margins are thin, so if there are retail salespeople milling about, their compensation isn't coming from the TV or computer with a 6% gross margin. It comes from the extended warranty programs (which are...
historical stock data starting from 1900
Robert Shiller published US Stock Market data from 1871. Ken French also has historical data on his website. Damodaran has a bunch of historical data, here is some historical S&P data.
Should I make extra payments to my under water mortgage or increase my savings?
I'd pile up as much cash as you can in a savings account - you will need money for the move (even if it's just gas money) and it's going to be hard to predict where house prices are going so you might or might not be underwater when it comes time to sell the house. Or you might be so deep underwater by then that the ex...
How does Vanguard determine the optimal asset allocation for their Target Retirement Funds?
While the Vanguard paper is good, it doesn't do a very good job of explaining precisely why each level of stocks or bonds was optimal. If you'd like to read a transparent and quantitative explanation of when and why a a glide path is optimal, I'd suggest the following paper: https://www.betterment.com/resources/how-we...
UK Online Stock Tradiing for Beginner and Small Amounts?
Try something like this: http://www.halifax.co.uk/sharedealing/our-accounts/fantasy-trader/ Virtual or fantasy trading is a great way to immerse yourself in that world and not lose your money whilst you make basic mistakes. Once real money is involved, there are some online platforms that are cheaper for lower amount i...
How do I adjust to a new social class?
The prices reflect what the market will bear. People have more money, things will likely cost more. Think of it in terms of percentages and you can start to justify the higher housing costs. My father likes to tell me that his first mortgage cost him $75 a month, and he had no idea how he was going to pay it each mon...
Why do some people say a house “not an investment”?
One reason I have heard (beside to keep you paying rent) is the cost of maintenance and improvements. If you hire someone else to do all the work for you, then it may very well be the case, though it is not as bad as a car. Many factors come into play: If you are lucky, you may end up with a lot that is worth more t...
Stock Trade Transaction Fee - at what point is it worth it
The main question is, how much money you want to make? With every transaction, you should calculate the real price as the price plus costs. For example, if you but 10 GreatCorp stock of £100 each, and the transaction cost is £20 , then the real cost of buying a single share is in fact buying price of stock + broker c...
23 and on my own, what should I be doing?
Assuming the numbers in your comments are accurate, you have $2400/month "extra" after paying your expenses. I assume this includes loan payments. You said you have $3k in savings and a $2900 "monthly nut", so only one month of living expenses in savings. In my opinion, your first goal should be to put 100% of your ex...
Bank statements - should I retain hardcopies for tax or other official purposes (or keep digital scanned copies)?
I am in the United States. There is no need to keep the statements in any form forever. Once the bank gives you a 1099 stating how much interest you have earned, you don't need to keep them. If you only have them in electronic form, that is good enough for the IRS. When you do need to show a bank statement, such as whe...
File Taxes: US Expat, now married to foreign national
Per the IRS instructions on filing as Head of Household as a Citizen Living Abroad, if you choose to file only your own taxes, and you qualify for Head of Household without them, the IRS does not consider you married: If you are a U.S. citizen married to a nonresident alien you may qualify to use the head of household ...
Claiming income/deductions on an illegal apartment
A basement unit would typically rent for less than similar space on a higher floor. Taxwise, you should be claiming the income, and expenses via schedule E, as if it were legal. Keep in mind, Al Capone was convicted on tax evasion not his other illegal activities. As long as you treat it as a legitimate business, a r...
How to pay with cash when car shopping?
Ask the dealer to drive to the bank with you, if they really want cash.
Historical data files for NYSE/NASDAQ daily open/close price data?
Another possibly more flexible option is Yahoo finance here is an example for the dow.. http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=%5EDJI&a=9&b=1&c=1928&d=3&e=10&f=2012&g=d&z=66&y=0 Some of the individual stocks you can dl directly to a spreadsheet (not sure why this isn't offer for indexs but copy and paste should work). http://...
Buying a house. I have the cash for the whole thing. Should I still get a mortgage to get the homeowner tax break?
Except for unusual tax situations your effective interest rate after taking into account the tax deduction will still be positive. It is simply reduced by your marginal rate. Therefore you will end up paying more if the house is financed than if it is bought straight out. Note this does not take into account other fact...
I am an American citizen but have never lived in the US. Do I need to fill a W8-BEN or a W-9?
Yes, you do. You also need to file a tax return every year, and if you have more than $50k of total savings you need to declare this every year.
Can I get a discount on merchandise by paying with cash instead of credit?
There are two fundamentally different reasons merchants will give cash discounts. One is that they will not have to pay interchange fees on cash (or pay much lower fees on no-reward debit cards). Gas stations in my home state of NJ already universally offer different cash and credit prices. Costco will not even take ...
What are pros and cons of volatility trading over directional stock trading
Can't totally agree with that. Volatility trading is just one trading type of many. In my opinion it doesn't depend on whether you are a professional trader or not. As you might have heard, retail traders are said to create 'noise' on the market, mainly due to the fact that they aren't professional in their majority. ...
Increase or decrease amount to be withheld each pay period?
If you know that your tax situation is not easily handled by the standard withholding table then you can use that line to ask for additional funds be withheld. You could also ask for less money to be withheld. Why would somebody do this? They had a small side business that made them extra income, and wanted to withho...
still have mortgage on old house to be torn down- want to build new house
I could be wrong, but I doubt you're going to be able to roll the current mortgage into a new one. The problem is that the bank is going to require that the new loan is fully collateralized by the new house. So the only way that you can ensure that is if you can construct the house cheaply enough that the difference b...
Why is the breakdown of a loan repayment into principal and interest of any importance?
Yes, the distinction between how your funds are applied to principal vs interest is very important. The interest amount charged each period (probably monthly) is not just one fixed sum calculated at the origination, but rather is a dynamically calculated amount that changes each period relative to how much principal is...
Is it a good practice to keep salary account and savings account separate?
There is no "should", but I am strongly of the view that if you have savings of several months' salary or more, they should not only be in a separate account, but with a separate financial institution, or even split between two others. A fraction of a percent of extra interest is scant reward for massively increased pe...
What is the best strategy for after hours trading?
I would never trade after hours and I have 30 years of trading experience. It is a very volatile emotion driven market without a lot of the big players that arbitrage wrong pricing. If I were you I would simply use limit orders you input while the market is closed. If you want to get kute you can put in low-ball o...
Pay down on second mortage when underwater?
I'd split whatever cash flow you have between saving money and paying down the 20% loan. The fact that you are carrying an unrealized loss isn't really too relevant -- unless you have plans to walk away from the loan or go bankrupt, it doesn't really matter until you sell. You're either going to repay now or later.
Is there a country that uses the term “dollar” for currency without also using “cents” as fractional monetary units?
Going through the list of economies that currently use the dollar, all of them list cents as a fractional unit. In Hong Kong and Taiwan, the 1/100 fractional unit is still called a cent, but it's no longer in circulation in coin form and only finds use in financial markets or electronic payments. In countries like Mal...
What tax software automatically determines the best filing status, etc?
Rob - I'm sorry your first visit here has been unpleasant. What you are asking for is beyond the capability of most software. If you look at Fairmark.com, you find the standard deduction for married filing joint is $12,200 in 2012, and $12,400 in 2013. I offer this anecdote to share a 'deduction' story - The first yea...
Most common types of financial scams an individual investor should beware of?
If an offer "is only valid right now" and "if you don't act immediately, it will expire" that is almost always a scam.
Allocating IRA money, clarification needed
There was a time that a rule of thumb stated your stock allocation should be 100-your age. That rule suggests that you are at 65%stock/35% bond/cash. If you are comfortable having this money 100% invested, the best advice would be dollar cost averaging, anything more specific would suggest market timing.
Can paying down a mortgage be considered an “investment”?
Your mortgage represents a negative cash flow of $X for N months. The typical mortgage prepayment doesn't reduce your next payment, but does reduce the length of the mortgage. If you look at the amortization table of a 30 year loan, you might see a payment of $1000 but only $50 going to principal. So if on day one you ...
Less than a year at my first job out of college, what do I save for first?
I recommend saving for retirement first to leverage compound interest over a long time horizon. The historical real return on the stock market has been about 7%. Assuming returns stay at 7% in the future (big assumption, but don't have any better numbers to go off of), then $8,000 saved today will be worth $119,795 in...
Why do people buy stocks at higher price in merger?
Without any highly credible anticipation of a company being a target of a pending takeover, its common stock will normally trade at what can be considered non-control or "passive market" prices, i.e. prices that passive securities investors pay or receive for each share of stock. When there is talk or suggestion of a p...
Why would a company sell debt in order to buy back shares and/or pay dividends?
When I play Railroad Tycoon III, I often send my company deep into debt to get cash on hand to buy back shares, effectively increasing my ownership of the company as an absolute percentage. Then I issue massive dividends until my company goes bankrupt, and start a new company. It's a way to shuttle money borrowed again...
How to plan in a budget for those less frequent but mid-range expensive buys?
We have what we call "unallocated savings" that go into a fund for this purpose. We'll also take advantage of "6 months no interest" or similar financing promotions, and direct this savings towards the payments.
How can I find stocks with very active options chains?
Agree with some of the posts above - Barchart is a good source for finding unusual options activity and also open interest -https://www.barchart.com/options/open-interest-change
Is paying off your mortage a #1 personal finance priority?
Math says invest in the Market (But paying off your mortgage early is a valid option if you are very risk averse.) You are going to get a better return by investing in the stock market. In the US in 2015/2016, mortgages are 3%-4%, and give you a tax break. The rate of return on the stock market is ~10%, (closer to 6%...
Can one be non-resident alien in the US without being a resident anywhere else?
You'll need to read carefully the German laws on tax residency, in many European (and other) tax laws the loss of residency due to absence is conditioned on acquiring residency elsewhere. But in general, it is possible to use treaties and statuses so that you end up not being resident anywhere, but it doesn't mean that...
What is the process through which a cash stock transaction clears?
This is the sad state of US stock markets and Regulation T. Yes, while options have cleared & settled for t+1 (trade +1 day) for years and now actually clear "instantly" on some exchanges, stocks still clear & settle in t+3. There really is no excuse for it. If you are in a margin account, regulations permit the tradi...
Is Bogleheadism (index fund investing) dead?
Dogma always disappoints. The notion that an index fund is the end-all, be-all for investing because the expense ratios are low is a flawed one. I don't concern myself with cost as an independent factor -- I look for the best value. Bogle's dogma lines up with his business, so you need to factor that in as well. Vend...
Can someone explain the Option Chain of AMD for me?
When you buy a put option, you're buying the right to sell stock at the "strike" price. To understand why you have to pay separately for that, consider the other side of the transaction. If I agree to trade stock for money at above market rates, I need to make up the difference somewhere or face bankruptcy. That risk ...
Fundamentals of creating a diversified portfolio based on numbers?
Your question is a complex one because knowledge of the investor's beliefs about the market is required. For almost any quantitative portfolio, one must have a good estimate of the expected return vector and covariance matrix of the assets in question. The expected return vector, in particular, is far from estimable....
Td Ameritrade Roth IRA question
Failing some answers to my comment, I am going to make some assumptions: Based upon a quick review of this article I'd probably be in the Russell 2000 Value Index Fund (IWN). Quite simply it gives you broad market exposure so you can be diversified by purchasing one fund. One of the key success factors is starting, no...
What's the best application, software or tool that can be used to track time?
A free solution that I've been using is Task Coach. It has tasks, subtasks, categories, and all the stuff you would expect from a time tracking program. It also counts each distinct period spent on a task as a separate "effort" that you can add comments, for example to remind you what that chunk of time was spent on.
Stock not available at home country nor at their local market - where should I buy it
Theoretically, it shouldn't matter which one you use. Your return should only depend on the stock returns in SGD and the ATS/SGD exchange rate (Austrian Schillings? is this an question from a textbook?). Whether you do the purchase "through" EUR or USD shouldn't matter as the fluctuations in either currency "cancel" ...
Difference between 'split and redemption' of shares and dividend
It is the first time I encounter redemption programme and I would like to know what are my options here You can hold on to the shares and automatically receive 2.25 SEK per share some time after 31-May; depending on how fast the company and its bank process the payouts. Alternatively you can trade in the said window fo...
Can I get a discount on merchandise by paying with cash instead of credit?
Cash is very effective at getting a discount when buying from individuals (craigslist, garage sales, estate sales, flea markets, etc.). I'll make an offer, then thumb through the cash while they consider it. There eyes will dart back and forth between my eyes and the cash as they decide whether to take my offer. Ca...
Why do some symbols not have an Options chain for specific expiration dates?
All openly traded securities must be registered with the SEC and setup with clearing agents. This is a costly process. The cost to provide an electronic market for a specific security is negligible. That is why the exchange fees per electronic trade are so small per security. It is so small in fact that exchanges co...
Avoiding sin stock: does it make a difference?
This question drives at what value a shareholder actually provides to a corporation, and by extent, to the economy. If you subscribe for new shares (like in an Initial Public Offering), it is very straightforward to say "I have provided capital to the corporation, which it is using to advance its business." If you buy ...
What is the US Fair Tax?
In a nutshell - Value Added Tax. America, as usual, discovers what others have known and used for years. The idea of not taxing income that's tied to it is ridiculous. If you're only taxing spending but not income, people will just take spending elsewhere (Canada, Mexico, further away), and the economy will go down the...
Are stories of turning a few thousands into millions by trading stocks real?
It's possible to make money in the market - even millions if you "play your cards right". Taking the course being offered can be educational but highly unlikely to increase your chances of making millions. Experience and knowledge of the game will make you money. The stock market is a game.
Mailed in One-time Payment by Check
I do know that a blank check has all the information they need for the electronic transfer. They probably add it as a customer service to streamline future payments. Though I don't think automatically adding it makes good business sense. It is possible that the form used to submit the check included a line to added the...
Should I use an NRE or NRO account to transfer money from India to the US? Any reports needed?
NRE is better. It's a tax free account, exempt from income tax. NRE account is freely repatriable (Principal and interest earned) while the NRO account has restricted repatriability
Ideas for patenting/selling a trading strategy
If you have a great technical trading system that gets you winning trading 80-85% of the time in backtesting, the question should be why are you not trading it? To get a better idea of how good your trading system is you should work out your expectancy per trade. This will tell you how much you should make on average f...
Investing in low cost index fund — does the timing matter?
A much less verbose answer is. Don't worry about buying low. You have a whole lifetime to dollar cost average your retirement dollars.
Beyond RRSP deductions, how does a high income earner save on taxes?
That's not especially high income, and while I can't speak for Canadians, most of us south of the border just pay the tax. There are tax-advantged retirement savings plans, and charitable donations are often offset by a tax credit, and there are some tax incentives for mortgages, and so on.. but generally the right an...
What's the fuss about identity theft?
Real world case: IRS: You owe us $x. You didn't report your income from job y. My mother: I didn't work for y. I don't even know who y is. IRS: If the W-2 is wrong, talk to them to get it fixed. My mother: I can't find y. Please give me an address or phone. IRS: We can't. You talk to them and get it fixed. I k...
Theoretically, if I bought more than 50% of a company's stocks, will I own the company?
You'll own whatever fraction you bought. To own the company (as in, boolean - yes or no) you need to buy 100% of the outstanding stock. RE controlling the company, in general the answer is yes - although the mechanism for this might not be so straight forward (ie. you may have to appoint board members and may only be a...
Value of credit score if you never plan to borrow again?
If you're wealthy why do you think they wouldn't sue you for the money you owed?? And, as sunk818 says, credit scores can influence insurance costs. While you could self-insure your home you generally can't self-insure when it comes to liability coverage on a car.
Saving tax for long term stock investment capital gain by quiting my current job?
The capital gain is counted as part of your income. So with a million capital gain you will be in a high tax bracket, and have to pay the corresponding capital gains tax rate on the million.
Should I put more money down on one property and pay it off sooner or hold on to the cash?
I'm a little confused on the use of the property today. Is this place going to be a personal residence for you for now and become a rental later (after the mortgage is paid off)? It does make a difference. If you can buy the house and a 100% LTV loan would cost less than 125% of comparable rent ... then buy the house...
How are credit unions initially financed
​Estimated Start-Up and Operating Costs in Chartering a Credit Union notes in part: Given the significant costs involved, most groups seek grant money and non-member deposits (if pre-approved for the low-income designation) to help subsidize the pre-chartering costs and annual operating expenses. Thus, in forming...
Principal 401(k) managed fund fees, wow. What can I do?
The expense fees are high, and unfortunate. I would stop short of calling it criminal, however. What you are paying for with your expenses is the management of the holdings in the fund. The managers of the fund are actively, continuously watching the performance of the holdings, buying and selling inside the fund in a...
Should you always max out contributions to your 401k?
I think better advice would be always max out your 401K at least to the level that the company provides a match. For example, my company will match 50% up to 10% of your salary. Good luck finding another investment with a guaranteed immediate 50% return. Beyond the company match, it is probably good advice to put as mu...
Is it common for a new car of about $16k to be worth only $4-6k after three years?
It isn't common to lose that much value in 3 years, but it is possible. If you don't take care of small dents, scratches, etc., you can quickly reduce the value far beyond what you might expect looking at graphs. Another big factor is the trim level of the car that you purchase. If you spend $30,000 for the highest tr...
Got a “personal” bonus from my boss. Do I have to pay taxes and if so, how do I go about that?
I actually think your boss is creating a problem for you. Of course it's taxable. The things IRS will look at (and they very well might, as it does stand out) what kind of payment is that. Why did it not go through payroll? The company may be at risk here for avoiding FICA/FUTA/workers' compensation insurance/State pay...
Is there a good tool to view a stock portfolio's value as a graph?
I have no idea if Wikivest can handle options, but I've been pretty satisfied with it as a portfolio visualization tool. It links automatically with many brokerage accounts, and has breakdowns by both portfolio and individual investment levels.
Earning salary from USA remotely from New Zealand?
Yes. You must register for GST as well, if you will be making over the threshold (currently $60,000). That's probably a bonus for you, as your home office expenses will mostly include GST, but your income will most likely be zero-rated. Check with an accountant or with the IRD directly. Just be certain to put aside eno...
Question about car loan payment
You can earn significantly more than 0.99% in the stock market. I'd pay the $450/month and invest the rest in a (relatively conservative) stock market fund, making monthly withdrawals for the car note.
Why might it be advisable to keep student debt vs. paying it off quickly?
If the interest rate on the student loan is lower than inflation, then the student loan will be "cheaper" the longer you take to pay it. This is now a very rare instance, but there were programs and loan consolidation opportunities in the mid-200x's that allowed savvy student's to convert their loans to have an inter...
Pros / cons of being more involved with IRA investments [duplicate]
diversifying; but isn't that what mutual funds already do? They diversify and reduce stock-specific risk by moving from individual stocks to many stocks, but you can diversify even further by selecting different fund types (e.g. large-cal, small-cap, fixed- income (bond) funds, international, etc.). Your target-date f...
Is it unreasonable to double your investment year over year?
Yes. The definition of unreasonable shows as "not guided by or based on good sense." 100% years require a high risk. Can your one stock double, or even go up three fold? Sure, but that would likely be a small part of your portfolio. Overall, long term, you are not likely to beat the market by such high numbers. That s...
Is Pension Benefit Information (aboutmyletter.com) legitimate?
I have no personal knowledge of this company; I've only looked over what I found on the web. Overall, my judgement is that Pension Benefit Information, Inc. of San Rafael, CA is likely legitimate and aboutmyletter.com is one of two sites run by them (the other being pbinfo.com). These two sites are registered to Pensi...
Typically how many digits are in a cheque number?
Checks are normally numbered sequentially, to keep them unique for record-keeping purposes. The check number takes as many digits as it takes, depending on how long the account has been open and thus how many checks have been written. The most recent check I looked at had a four-digit number, but as has been pointed o...
Homeowners: How can you protect yourself from a financial worst-case scenario?
Think about your priorities in life. Everybody is a little different. In my case I have a wife and child, so these are priorities for me, and you might have your own depending on your story. So if I lost my job, and I have no more money coming in (unemployment insurance runs out, savings depleted) then the bank can h...
Helping girlfriend accelerate credit score improvement
In the short term what does it matter if she has poor credit? Just let it ride and focus on the important things. In the long term the most important part is "completing the divorce". That is separating all parts of her financial life from her ex-husband. This might mean she takes possession of the house and has him...
How can one get their FICO/credit scores for free? (really free)
I visited annualcreditreport.com to get my annual credit report. It is only the report, not the score or FICO score. This is the only outlet I know of that allows you to get your report for free, without a bunch of strings attached or crap to sign up for and cancel later. It was very easy. I was wary of putting in m...
How can I determine if my rate of return is “good” for the market I am in?
A good way to measure the performance of your investments is over the long term. 25-30% returns are easy to get! It's not going to be 25-30% in a single year, though. You shouldn't expect more than about 4% real (inflation-adjusted) return per year, on average, over the long term, unless you have reason to believe that...
Why would people sell a stock below the current price?
Occassionaly a trader will make a blatant mistake. A customer calls to buy 100 shares at $10, and the trader by mistake enters "10 shares at $100". You get one very happy seller :-) In the USA, it doesn't happen often for sales, because if the trader offers to sell 10 shares at $100, there will be nobody accepting the ...
Indian equivalent of Vanguard S&P 500
Also, when they mean SP500 fund - it means that fund which invests in the top 500 companies in the SP Index, is my understanding correct? Yes that is right. In reality they may not be able to invest in all 500 companies in same proportion, but is reflective of the composition. I wanted to know whether India also has a ...
Why trade futures if you have options
Yes, from the point-of-view to the end speculator/investor in stocks, it is ludicrous to take on liabilities when you don't have to. That's why single-stock options are far more liquid than single-stock futures. However, if you are a farmer with a huge mortgage depending upon the chaos of agricultural markets which ar...
How much of my home loan is coming from a bank, how much it goes back?
When you get a loan (car, home, student) the lending company (bank) give the (auto dealer, previous home owner, school) money. You as the borrow promise to pay this money back with interest. So in your case the 100,000 you borrow requires a payment for principal and interest of ~965 per month. After 240 payments you w...
financial institution wants share member break down for single member LLC
What exactly would the financial institution need to see to make them comfortable with these regulations The LLC Operating Agreement. The OA should specify the member's allocation of equity, assets, income and loss, and of course - managerial powers and signature authorities. In your case - it should say that the LLC...
About eToro investments
If it's money you can lose, and you're young, why not? Another would be motifinvesting where you can invest in ideas as opposed to picking companies. However, blindly following other investors is not a good idea. Big investors strategies might not be similar to yours, they might be looking for something different tha...
How do I get a list of the top performing funds between two given dates?
The closest I can think of from the back of my head is http://finviz.com/map.ashx, which display a nice map and allows for different intervals. It has different scopes (S&P500, ETFs, World), but does not allow for specific date ranges, though.
How is your credit score related to credit utilization?
1 - yes, it's fine to pay in full and it helps your score. 2 - see chart above, it's calculated based on what the bill shows each month. 3 - answered by chart. 1-19% utilization is ideal. 0% is actually worse than 41-60% Note: The above image was from Credit Karma. A slightly different image appears at the article The...