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What are the pros and cons of buying an item on installments with zero percent interest?
I personally take the zero percent financing plans any day. I have done this with my car and the iphone 6s. The vendors are trying to make it more attractive for you to "afford" the product. It could show up on your credit report and impact the amount of money you can borrow in the future (e.g getting a home loan). ...
Should the poor consider investing as a means to becoming rich?
Investments earn income relative to the principal amounts invested. If you do not have much to invest, then the only way to 'get rich' by investing is to take gambles. And those gambles are more likely to fail than succeed. The simplest way for someone without a high amount of 'capital' [funds available to invest] to b...
Calculating the cost of waiting longer for money
This looks correct to me, for simple interest. If you are dealing with compound interest, the formula would be: So, A = 500000(1+0.036/365)^(30), or 501,481.57, or an interest of 1481.57, assuming the 3.6% is the annual nominal interest rate and it is compounded daily. Note that you are ignoring the depreciation and al...
What is a typical investment portfolio made up of?
Don't over think about your choices. The most important thing to start now and keep adjusting and tuning your portfolio as you move along in your life. Each individual's situation is unique. Start with something simple and straight forward, like 100 - your age, in Total Stock market Index fund and the remaining total b...
Cons of withdrawing money from an Roth IRA account?
One "con" I have not yet seen mentioned: retirement accounts are generally protected from creditors in a bankruptcy. There are limits and exceptions, Roth has a 1.2 million dollar limit and can be split by a divorce QDRO for instance. Link Since it seems you have no income this year, you may may be raiding your IRA f...
InteractiveBrokers: How to calculate overnight commissions for CFD?
IB's overnight financing cost for US CFDs below $100,000 is the Benchmark Rate + 1.5% for long positions and the Benchmark Rate -1.5% for short positions. You can check the IB CFD Contract Interest for their full list of financing costs for share CFDs. IB's commissions for an executed trade (where your monthly volume ...
property owned 50/50 between my brother and me
ASSUMING you're talking about a property in the United States, the answer generally would be "no". You aren't actually paying any of the expenses for the property and yet you want to take the deductions for doing so? That's a rather cheeky move, I'd say! (grin) It probably would lead to some real strife with your b...
Will capital gains affect my tax bracket?
I think you're misunderstanding how tax brackets work. If you make $1 more and that bumps you into a higher bracket, only THAT particular dollar will be taxed at the higher tax bracket rate... Not your entire income. Short term capital gains are treated as income. Long term capital gains have a special tax rate curre...
Paid cash for a car, but dealer wants to change price
Lets look at it this way. Your son bought the car and then 2 days later, he wants to change the price. Will the dealership let him do that after all the paperwork is signed?
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...
Who can truly afford luxury cars?
It comes down to individual priorities. Some people prefer to spend their money on a luxury car or SUV, rather than on computer gear, a bigger house, having three extra kids, eating in restaurants, or whatever. Some people are quite happy to take out a loan to get more expensive products, and service that loan over se...
Consequences of buying/selling a large number of shares for a low volume stock?
If you are the only one who puts in a large market buy order, then it would definitely push the price up. How much up would depend on how many would be willing to sell at what price point. It would also be possible that your trade will not get executed as there are no sellers. The same would be true if you put in a lar...
Is an open-sourced World Stock Index a pipe-dream?
I think that any ETF is "open source" -- the company issues a prospectus and publishes the basket of stocks that make up the index. The stuff that is proprietary are trading strategies and securities or deriviatives that aren't traded on the open market. Swaps, venture funds, hedge funds and other, more "exotic" deriva...
Would it make sense to buy a rental property as an LLC and not in my own name?
You need to first visit the website of whatever state you're looking to rent the property in and you're going to want to form the LLC in that particular state. Find the Department of Licensing link and inquire about forming a standard LLC to register as the owner of the property and you should easily see how much it co...
Where can I buy stocks if I only want to invest a little bit at a time, and not really be involved in trading?
I don't want to get involved in trading chasing immediate profit That is the best part. There is an answer in the other question, where a guy only invested in small amounts and had a big sum by the time he retired. There is good logic in the answer. If you put in lump sum in a single stroke you will get at a single pr...
Creating S-Corp: Should I Name My Wife as a Director/Shareholder?
If you're creating an S-Corp for consulting services that you personally are going to provide, what would it give her to have 50% of the corporation when you're dead? Not to mention that you can just add it to your will that the corporation stock will go to her, and it will be much better (IMHO, talk to a professional)...
Can I Accept Gold?
Yes. But the question is do you want to have gold? If you are going to buy gold anyway, and if you can get a good conversion rate between USD:gold, then why not? If you are looking to use your earnings on things that you cannot buy using gold, then I'd recommend you take USD instead. Have fun!
Why Gamma is highest for an option that is at the money
Yes, you've got it right. The change in price is less meaningful as the instrument is further from the price of the underlying. As the delta moves less, the gamma is much less. Gamma is to delta as acceleration is to speed. Speed is movement relative to X, and acceleration is rate of change in speed. Delta is movem...
How websites like Google have access to stock market data?
To quote their disclaimer: Data is provided by financial exchanges and may be delayed as specified by financial exchanges or our data providers. Google does not verify any data and disclaims any obligation to do so. That means that they buy it from a reseller such as IDC. It probably differs in source between the diffe...
Why would a company have 2 listings on the same exchange?
Some companies like Royal Dutch Shell have multiple share classes to suit the tax regimes in Holland and the UK the A shares have dutch withholding tax applied and the B shares dont. Also some split capital investment trusts have multiple share classes http://www.trustnet.com/Education/Split.aspx?ms=1
Difference between Hedge Fund and Private Equity?
Private Equity is simply some type of an investment company, which is owned in a way not accessible to the public. ie: Warren Buffet runs Berkshire Hatheway, which is an investment company which itself is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. This means that anyone can buy shares in the company, and own a small fracti...
Can I get a dividend “free lunch” by buying a stock just before the ex-dividend date and selling it immediately after? [duplicate]
It is important to remember that the stock price in principle reflects the value of the company, so the market cap should drop upon issuance of the the dividend. However, the above reasoning neglects to consider taxes, which make the question a bit more interesting. The key fact is that different investors are going to...
Comparing the present value of total payment today and partial payments over 3 months
I got $3394.83 The first problem with this is that it is backwards. The NPV (Net Present Value) of three future payments of $997 has to be less than the nominal value. The nominal value is simple: $2991. First step, convert the 8% annual return from the stock market to a monthly return. Everyone else assumed that...
How much money do you have to make every year before you have to pay tax?
Since your YouTube income is considered self-employment income and because you probably already made more than $400 in net income (after deducting expenses from the $4000 you've received so far), you will have to pay self-employment tax and file a return. This is according to the IRS's Publication 17 (2016), Your Fede...
Good yield vs. safer route (Checking vs. Savings)
In the US bank or credit union checking, savings, CD's are insured through FDIC or NCUA. The coverage is for $250,000. This limit can be increased by having multiple accounts. You, your spouse, and a Joint account with your spouse, are considered 3 different accounts, so you could have $750K coverage. IRA funds are co...
What actions can I take against a bank for lack of customer service?
I don't think the verbal confirmation from the branch manager is worth anything, unless you got it in writing it basically never happened. That said, what did you sign exactly? An application? I'd think they would be well within their rights to deny that, no matter what the branch manager said. If you actually signed a...
How to calculate the price of a bond based with a yield to Maturity, term and annual interest?
The answer to almost all questions of this type is to draw a diagram. This will show you in graphical fashion the timing of all payments out and payments received. Then, if all these payments are brought to the same date and set equal to each other (using the desired rate of return), the equation to be solved is gene...
Is it possible to get life insurance as a beneficiary before the person insured dies?
Generally no. It does not make sense for insurance company to alter terms and if there are such rules it can be subject to misuse.
How best to grow my small amount of money starting at a young age? [duplicate]
while not stated, if you have any debt at all, use the $3000 to pay it off. That's the best investment in the short term. No risk and guaranteed reward. College can invite all sorts of unexpected expenses and opportunities, so stay liquid, protect working capital.
Should I buy a house with a friend?
I'll chime in here with the "don't do it crowd." I think it's fraught with ugly possibilities. However, you may, for various reasons, decide to say, "to hell with it, we'll make it work." If that is the case, treat it like a business transaction and not an emotional transaction. Work up a binding contract with your att...
Pros & cons in Hungary of investing retirement savings exclusively in silver? What better alternatives, given my concerns?
Like Jeremy T said above, silver is a value store and is to be used as a hedge against sovereign currency revaluations. Since every single currency in the world right now is a free-floating fiat currency, you need silver (or some other firm, easily store-able, protect-able, transportable asset class; e.g. gold, platin...
Calculate Future Value with Recurring Deposits
Let's break this into two parts, the future value of the initial deposit, and the future value of the payments: D(1 + i)n For the future value of the payments A((1+i)n-1) / i) Adding those two formulas together will give you the amount of money that should be in your account at the end. Remember to make the appropriat...
How should minor children be listed as IRA beneficiaries?
First - for anyone else reading - An IRA that has no beneficiary listed on the account itself passes through the will, and this eliminates the opportunity to take withdrawals over the beneficiaries' lifetimes. There's a five year distribution requirement. Also, with a proper beneficiary set up on the IRA account the wi...
Is it wise to switch investment strategy frequently?
A guy who does a sports talk show here in the US can be pretty smart about some things. His advice: If you are wondering if something is a good idea, say it out loud. In his book he cites the fact that people thought, at one time, it would be a good idea to allow smoking on airline flights. Keep in mind you are usi...
How to choose a company for an IRA?
I use TIAA-Cref for my 403(b) and Fidelity for my solo 401(k) and IRAs. I have previously used Vanguard and have also used other discount brokers for my IRA. All of these companies will charge you nothing for an IRA, so there's really no point in comparing cost in that respect. They are all the "cheapest" in this res...
What is the preferred way to finance home improvements when preparing to sell your house?
You should look into a home equity line of credit: A home equity line of credit (often called HELOC and pronounced HEE-lock) is a loan in which the lender agrees to lend a maximum amount within an agreed period (called a term), where the collateral is the borrower's equity in his/her house. Because a home often is a co...
Can i short securities in a normal(non-margin) account
The broker will charge borrowing fees and sometimes a charge called "hard-to-borrow fee". Other than that you will earn interest on the cash you get from selling the stocks, but you will have to pay dividends. This is because someone else (the party you sold the stocks off to) will now get the dividends and the party ...
A little advice please…car loan related
Let's assess the situation first, then look at an option: This leaves you with about $1,017/mo in cash flow, provided you spend money on nothing else (entertainment, oil changes, general merchandise, gifts, etc.) So I'd say take $200/mo off that as "backup" money. Now we're at $817/mo. Question: What have you been doi...
What does the term “match the market” mean?
If your returns match the market, that means their rate of return is the same as the market in question. If your returns beat the market, that means their rate of return is higher. There's no one 'market', mind you. I invest in mutual funds that track the S&P500 (which is, very roughly, the U.S. stock market), that tra...
Do stock prices really go down by the amount of the dividend?
It might be clearer to think of it as price going up when a dividend is expected, since that's money you'll get right back. As the delay before the next dividend payment increases, that becomes less of a factor,
How to Store Funds Generated through FX Trading
Earned income is what your software is doing, so it is taxable. So you can't really make it tax exempt. You can form a business and claim the revenues from that business as income and deduct expenses it costs you to earn that revenue. If you buy a server to run your software, then that is an acceptable expense to ded...
What effect would a company delisting from the LSE to move to china have on shareholders?
You would still be the legal owner of the shares, so you would almost certainly need to transfer them to a broker than supports the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (which allows you to trade on the Shanghai exchange). In order to delist they would need to go through a process which would include enabling shareholders to conti...
Why can't poor countries just print more money?
Printing money doesn't mean that their wealth increases. It just devalues the money they already have. So it will just take more money to buy goods from another country. Printing money will also lead to over inflation which has its own set of problems such as:
mortgage vs car loan vs invest extra cash?
Since you've already maxed out your 401k and your IRA, if you wanted to invest more-- then it would either be in a brokerage account or a 529 (if you have kids/ intend on going back to school). As to investing versus paying off your loans -- the interest on them are small enough that it will depend on your preference. ...
Can a Covered Call be called away before the expiration date?
They can sell a lower price call if they expect the stock to plummet in the near term but they are bullish on the longer term. What they are looking to do is collect the call premium and hope it expires worthless. And then again 'hope' that the stock will ultimately turn around. So yes, a lot of hoping. But can you e...
If stock price drops by the amount of dividend paid, what is the use of a dividend
There are many reasons for buying stock for dividends. You are right in the sense that in theory a stock's price will go down in value by the amount of the dividend. As the amount of dividend was adding to the value of the company, but now has been paid out to shareholder, so now the company is worth less by the value...
How to reconcile these contradictory statements about the effect of volume on stock price?
These statements aren't necessarily contradictory. In the first case, investors are bearish because they anticipate selling in the future (because all the interested buyers have bought, so all that remains in the short run are people willing to sell and therefore drive down the price). In the second case, the trend is...
Under what circumstance will the IRS charge you a late-payment penalty for taxes?
Years ago I mailed my personal tax return one day after the due date, and my check was deposited as normal, and I never heard anything about it. As an employer, I once sent in my employee's withheld federal taxes one day after the due date, and I later received a letter stating my penalty for being late worked out to b...
Can a F-1 student visa holder loan a car from bmw?
Most states do have a cooling-off period where the buyer can rescind the purchase as well as a legally allowed limit to how long the dealer has to secure financing when they buyer has opted for dealer-financing. If the dealer did inform you during the allowed window, they will refund your down payment minus mileage fee...
In a buy order with a trigger, will I pay the current ask or the buy price in the order?
I think that if the price does not go very far up, then your order will open on 101, because you are setting a limit order, if suddenly the price goes up very quickly or with a gep even, then you may not be given a position. But this is with a limit order and it is better to check with the broker. There are also warran...
Would selling significantly below market affect the value of a stock
Assuming you are executing your order on a registered exchange by a registered broker, your order will be filled at the best bid price available. This is because brokers are legally obliged to get the best price available. For example, if the market is showing a bid of 49.99 and an offer of 50.01 and you submit an ord...
Should you keep your stocks if you are too late to sell?
You should distinguish between the price and the value of a company: "Price is what you pay, value is what you get". Price is the share price you pay for one share of the company. Value is what a company is worth (based on fundamental analysis, one of the principles of value investing). I would recommend selling the ...
When does a low PE ratio not indicate a good stock?
Yes, there are situations where a stock is a bad buy in spite of a low PE. PE ratio tells you the current share price divided by the prior 4 quarters earnings per share. It does not consider: Imagine someone walked up to you and said, "Do you want to buy a piece of my business? I'll sell you 1% of it for $1000. Last ye...
Do large market players using HFT make it unsafe for individual investors to be in the stock market?
I don't think that HFT is a game-changer for retail investors. It does mean that amateur daytraders need to pack it up and go home, because the HFT guys are smarter, faster and have more money than you. I'm no Warren Buffet, but I've done better in the market over the last 4 years than I ever have, and I've been active...
Would selling significantly below market affect the value of a stock
That amount of shares is too low to create "ripples" in the market. Usually you don't specify the price to sell the stock, unless you are personally on the floor trading the securities. And even then, with a volume of $50,000 it would just mean you threw away $45,000. For most people it would mean setting a $5 sell ord...
Does an option trading below parity always indicate an arbitrage opportunity?
In the equity world, if a stock trades at 110 and is going to pay a dividend of 10 in a few days, an option expiring after the ex date would take the dividend into account and would trade as if the stock were trading at 100. (Negative) interest rates may also lead to a similar effect. In the commodity world the cost of...
Canadian RRSPs Transfer
Probably not. For your savings to enter an RRSP account, the recipient account must itself be an RRSP (duh! I hear you say). This appears to rule out any UK-based banks as they would not offer this type of account, which appears to be confirmed with a quick Google search returning no useful result for "rrsp uk". Accord...
Is it possible to influence a company's actions by buying stock?
You can execute block trades on the options market and get exercised for shares to create a very large position in Energy Transfer Partners LP without moving the stock market. You can then place limit sell orders, after selling directly into the market and keep an overhang of low priced shares (the technical analysis t...
Can I move my 401k to another country without paying tax penalty?
I doubt that there is an arrangement with any country that would allow you to transfer money out of a 401(k) and roll it over to another country that isn't governed by US Tax Laws without taking a distribution. The US government won't let you pull out like that without taking its cut. There may be, but I'd be surprise...
What percent of your portfolio should be in a money market account?
I would disagree with your analysis. To me there are two purposes for a money market (MM): Your emergency fund should be from 3 to 6 months of expenses. Think of it of an insurance policy against Murphy. You may want to have some money designated for big expenses, or even sinking funds. For example, I keep some mon...
How does giving to charity work?
Charitable donations can be deducted from your income, and in that way make your taxable income lower, hence lower taxes. That's the meaning of "tax deductible". As to "if I donate it then the money will be given right to the charity instead of spread out to many other places" - taxes are being used by the government b...
Is diversification better
There are probably 3-4 questions here. Diversification - A good index, a low cost S&P fund or ETF can serve you very well. If you add an extended market index or just go with "Total market", that might be it for your stock allocation. I've seen people with 5 funds, and it didn't take much analysis to see the overlap w...
Can I buy IPO stock during the pre-market trading on the day of IPO?
The first moment of trading usually occurs even later than that. It may take a few hours to balance the current buy/sell orders and open the stock. Watch CNBC when a hot IPO is about to open and you'll see the process in real time. If you miss it, look at a one day Yahoo chart to see when the open occurred.
What is a bond fund?
A mutual fund that purchases bonds is a bond fund. Bond funds are considered to be less risk than a traditional stock mutual fund. The cost of this less risk is that they have earned (on average) less than mutual funds investing in stocks. Sometimes, bonds have different tax consequences than stocks.
Best way to buy Japanese yen for travel?
Have you tried calling a Forex broker and asking them if you can take delivery on currency? Their spreads are likely to be much lower than banks/ATMs.
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...
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...
why do I need an emergency fund if I already have investments?
There are a few major risks to doing something like that. First, you should never invest money you can't afford to lose. An emergency fund is money you can't afford to lose - by definition, you may need to have quick access to that money. If you determine that you need, for example, $3000 in emergency savings, that mea...
What evidence is there that rising interest rates causes Canadian condo prices to go down?
If money is more expensive (costs more to borrow) then fewer people will be able to qualify to make the payments for a particular size of mortgage. This reduces the number of potential buyers for property at that price. As sellers still want to sell, they will move their prices down to where more people can afford to...
In today's low interest environment, is it generally more economical to buy or lease a new car in the US?
There are two reasons leases are generally a worse deal than buying. First, inherent in the lease is the concept of trading in the car at the end of the lease term. As we all know, cars depreciate the most in the first year or two. By repeatedly leasing cars on short time frames, you own the vehicles during those most ...
Is there a limit on the dollar amount of a personal check?
Many businesses will request that you get a bank-issued check for large amounts of money. The exception is often in cases where you're not going anywhere: you can write a 50,000 check for a deposit on a new house, and you'll never have a problem, but a car dealer will probably request a counter check for the same sum.
How to get the lowest mortgage rate on a new purchase?
Purchase loans tend to be more challenging to get the best possible rate, because you have to balance closing the loan and getting the contract. So there isn't as much time to shop around as when you do a refinance. I disagree with the sentiment to go with your local bank. Nothing wrong with asking at your local bank ...
Free/open source Unix software that pulls info from all my banks/brokers/credit cards?
Buxfer is a personal-finance web app which you might like. It's not open-source. But at least none of your complaints about financeworks.intuit.com apply to Buxfer. Buxfer offers a piece of software you can download to your own PC, called Firebux. This macro-recording software provides automation that helps you down...
What could cause a stock to trade below book value?
The key to evaluating book value is return on equity (ROE). That's net profit divided by book value. The "value" of book value is measured by the company's ROE (the higher the better). If the stock is selling below book value, the company's assets aren't earning enough to satisfy most investors. Would you buy a CD tha...
Would every FX currency pair or public stock that is under the 30 level using Relative Strength Index (RSI) be an undervalued pair?
No. The long-term valuation of currencies has to do with Purchasing Power Parity. The long-term valuation of stocks has to do with revenues, expenses, market sizes, growth rates, and interest rates. In the short term, currency and stock prices change for many reasons, including interest rate changes, demand for goods ...
What are the marks of poor investment advice?
Anybody that offers a bigger return than a deposit claiming 100% safe is a fraud. There is always a risk: Yes, you can gain 30% in a year, but nobody can guarantee that you'll repeat that gain the next. My own experience (and I do take risks), one year I go up, the next year I go down...
Options revisited: Gold fever
You'll still lose a little bit if you buy a put option at the current price. No such thing as free hedging. Let's say you have 100 shares of IAU that you bought for exactly $12.50 per share. This is $1,250. Now let's say you bought a put option with a strike price of $13 that expires in April 2011. The current pric...
Can you beat the market by investing in double long ETFs? [duplicate]
See http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/04/30/why-the-sec-should-look-at-levered-etfs/?dlvrit=60132, http://symmetricinfo.org/2011/04/are-investors-in-levered-short-treasury-etfs-a-disaster-waiting-to-happen-pt1/, and the articles linked from it: The issue with holding a levered ETF past 1 day is that investors ...
How do annual risks translate into long-term risks?
The short answer is the annualised volatility over twenty years should be pretty much the same as the annualised volatility over five years. For independent, identically distributed returns the volatility scales proportionally. So for any number of monthly returns T, setting the annualization factor m = 12 annualises t...
Is inflation a good or bad thing? Why do governments want some inflation?
Although there are some good points made here as to the cause of inflation (mostly related to supply and demand), azcoastal does head in a different direction, one which I myself was going to take. Let me give a different angle, however. Another cause of inflation is the printing of money by the government (not simply ...
What is the difference between shares and ETF?
A mutual fund has several classes of shares that are charged different fees. Some shares are sold through brokers and carry a sales charge (called load) that compensates the broker in lieu of a fee that the broker would charge the client for the service. Vanguard does not have sales charge on its funds and you don't n...
Does an issue of bonus shares improve shareholder value?
This IS a stock split. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_split Ratios of 2-for-1, 3-for-1, and 3-for-2 splits are the most common, but any ratio is possible. Splits of 4-for-3, 5-for-2, and 5-for-4 are used, though less frequently. Investors will sometimes receive cash payments in lieu of fractional shares.
Making a big purchase over $2500. I have the money to cover it. Should I get a loan or just place it on credit?
There are a couple of things to consider here that are relevant to your situation:
Teaching school kids about money - what are the real life examples of math, budgeting, finance?
I am a numbers guy, the math is great. Instead of "jane was twice her son's age when he married, and is now 1.5 times his age....." questions in math class, I think the math problems should mostly have dollar/pound signs in front of them. In general, I like the idea of relating to the kids' situations as much as possi...
Should I charge my children interest when they borrow money?
Parents are eminently capable of gifting to their children. If it's a gift call it a gift. If it's not a gift, it's either a loan or a landmine for some future interpersonal familial interaction (parent-child or sibling-sibling). I an concerned by some phrasing in the OP that it is partially down this path here. If ...
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...
Funding an ira or roth ira
And on the last sentence, it doesn't matter when or where the money was earned (money is fungible, so there's generally not even any way to tell), but you do have to have sufficient earned income (that's basically money you earn from working, not from dividends and interest or selling stock and the like) in the contrib...
How much percent of my salary should I use to invest in company stock?
I agree with the other comments that you should not buy/hold your company stock even if given at a discount. If equity is provided as part of the compensation package (Options/Restrictive Stock Units RSU)then this rule does not apply. As a matter of diversification, you should not have majority equity stake of other co...
Why do stores and manufacturers use mail in rebates? A scam, or is there a way to use them effectively?
Rebates are a great way to give discounts to customers who are cost sensitive. A long time ago, I worked for a retailer that extensively used rebates as a marketing tool. From my point of view, about 90% of the complaints that I investigated were a result of people not following directions. Biggest single thing was not...
In what state should I register my web-based LLC?
I would prefer to see you register in your home state, and then focus on making money, rather than spending time looking to game the system to save a few bucks. People worry way too much about these trivial fees when they should be focused on making their business successful. Get registered, get insurance, and then p...
Am I considered in debt if I pay a mortgage?
Yes. A mortgage is a kind of debt. Someone lends you money to buy your house, and you owe them the money, so you have debt.
Primerica: All it claims to be?
Probably not, though there are a few things to be said for understanding what you are doing here. Primerica acts as an independent financial services firm and thus has various partners that specialize in various financial instruments and thus there may exist other firms that Primerica doesn't use that could offer bett...
What is inflation?
Inflation is basically this: Over time, prices go up! I will now address the 3 points you have listed. Suppose over a period of 10 years, prices have doubled. Now suppose 10 years ago I earned $100 and bought a nice pair of shoes. Now today because prices have doubled I would have to earn $200 in order to afford the...
Why are interest rates on saving accounts so low in USA and Europe?
The United States Federal Reserve has decided that interest rates should be low. (They think it may help the economy. The details matter little here though.) It will enforce this low rate by buying Treasury bonds at this very low interest rate. (Bonds are future money, so this means they pay a lot of money up front, fo...
strategy for the out of favour mining sector
At this particular time, I would strongly suggest holding on and not bailing. I've been following this sector pretty closely for 10+ years now. It has taken an absolute beating since 2011 (up to 90% down in many areas), and has been in a slow downward grind all year. Given the cyclical nature of the markets, you're ...
Why are we taxed on revenue and companies on profit?
I pay taxes on revenue. You do have the ability to deduct expenses, though it's not as comprehensive as what companies can do: These figures apply to everybody, so those that earn more get taxed more on thee additional income in each bracket (meaning the first $100,000 of taxable income is taxed the same for everybody...
Individual Investor Safe Reinvest Gains Strategy?
Your idea is a good one, but, as usual, the devil is in the details, and implementation might not be as easy as you think. The comments on the question have pointed out your Steps 2 and 4 are not necessarily the best way of doing things, and that perhaps keeping the principal amount invested in the same fund instea...
Can saving/investing 15% of your income starting age 25, likely make you a millionaire?
I just want to point out a couple of things, and I do not have enough reputation to comment. Saving 50% is totally possible. I know people saving 65%. For more see here EDIT: Let me repeat that 4% it the maximum you can assume if you want to be sure to have at least that return in the long term. It's not the average, i...
Should I pay off my credit card online immediately or wait for the bill?
It does not matter. Your credit score is affected by late payments, by credit usage and by age of credit. DO NOT PAY LATE. Paying early is only good in that it means you don't pay late. Your credit usage is calculated by percentage of the credit you have that you actually use. Keep your usage to under 20% of your lim...
Is there a widely recognized bond index?
The iShares Barclays Aggregate Bond - ticker AGG, is a ETF that may fit the bill for you. It's an intermediate term fund with annual expenses of .20%. It "seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Barclays Capital U.S. Aggregate Bond Index"