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How do I know if refinance is beneficial enough to me? | When evaluating a refinance, you need to figure out the payback time. Refinancing costs money in closing costs. The payback time is the time it takes to recover the closing costs with the amount of money you are saving in interest. For example, if the closing costs are $2,000, your payback time is 2 years if it takes ... |
Any sane way to invest in both funds and stocks with UK ISA? | You could use a stock-only ISA and invest in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). ETFs are managed mutual funds that trade on open exchanges in the same manner as stocks. This changes the specific fund options you have open to you, but there are so many ETFs at this point that any sector you want to invest in is almost certai... |
Latest China devaluation (24/08/2015) and the affect on house prices in UK | No. There is no indication that the recent decline will have an impact on the house market in the UK. The reason(s) for the downward move these last few weeks are mainly due to: The last two points caused the Chinese government to decide to devaluate the Yuan. This in turn triggered an unforeseen panic attack among inv... |
Am I considered in debt if I pay a mortgage? | The expression "in debt" when talking about a person's financial affairs means that the sum of debit balances on all accounts exceeds the sum of credit balances on all accounts. A mortgage account is not excluded from that. This definition also does not consider whether any of the debt is secured, or ownership of as... |
First time home buyer. How to negotiate price? | Well it all kind of depends. The Realtor is your pro, and you should communicate further with him. Is this a neighborhood on the decline? Is there a good reason to make such a low offer? Are you totally off base when you think 85K is fair, and if so why? Is he just working his tail off for you (a great thing)? On... |
Is buying a lottery ticket considered an investment? | logically, yes. legally, no. any reasonable definition of an "investment" must include some types of gambling and insurance. lottery tickets specifically are really crappy high risk/high return investment. obviously most people try to avoid investments with a negative average expected future value, but from a purely s... |
Looking for a good source for Financial Statements | The best source of financial statements would be from the company in question. On corporate websites of public listed companies, you can find such financial statements uploaded in the Investor's Relations section of their website. If their company does not have an online presence, another alternative would be to go to ... |
Is it possible to trade CFD without leverage? | You can but there is no point trading CFD's seeing you may still lose more than your investment due to slippage |
How can I check my credit score? | Since no one else answered this part of your question yet: Checking your own credit score or report will not affect it in any way. It only hurts you when someone looks it up to run a credit check at your request for the purpose of possibly getting a loan, for example a car dealership. This only hurts it a tiny bit, a... |
Why is being “upside down” on a mortgage so bad? | tl;dr: when everything is going great, it's not really a problem. It's when things change that it's a problem. Finally, home loans are extended over extremely long periods (i.e. 15 or 30 years), making any fluctuations in their value short-lived - even less reason to be obsessed over their current value relative to the... |
What prevents interest rates from rising? | To protect yourself from an increase in interest rates get a fixed rate loan. The loan terms: interest rate, number of payments, monthly payments will be fixed for the loan. Of course if rate for the rest of the market drops during the period of the loan, you may be able to refinance the loan. But if you can't refinanc... |
Filing Taxes for Two Separate Jobs Being Worked at the Same Time? | You file taxes as usual. W2 is a form given to you, you don't need to fill it. Similarly, 1099. Both report moneys paid to you by your employers. W2 is for actual employer (the one where you're on the payroll), 1099 is for contractors (where you invoice the entity you provide services to and get paid per contract). You... |
In a competitive market, why is movie theater popcorn expensive? | In the theater, it's a person who can afford to buy expensive pop corn, cause he can buy the expensive movie ticket too... Also sitting at one place will make him feel hungry and buy something to eat... So maximum chances are that in the theater, that guy is your potential customer... Otherwise if the popcorn seller is... |
If gold's price implodes then what goes up? | Nothing necessarily has to "benefit." Right now, what primarily drives demand for gold is its perceived use as a hedge against the inflation of fiat currency. I.e. when inflation strikes, the price of gold goes up rapidly. Thus, for a given currency, gold decreasing in price is almost always a signal that the currency ... |
Is it a good idea to teach children that work is linearly related to income? | I think that is the wrong approach. You certainly need to teach the value of work, but you cannot tie it to income levels as a hard and fast rule. If you do, how do you then explain athletes making millions per year and only 'working' half a year, at most. And, then comparing that person to a person working hard in a f... |
Should I get a auto loan to diversify my credit lines if I have the cash to pay upfront | You should not seek a kind of debt just for it's appearance on your credit report. If you don't need an auto loan don't get an auto loan. Getting a credit card for the purpose of building credit is a little bit of a different animal because you can use a credit card such that you never pay any interest or fees. With ... |
How does owning a home and paying on a mortgage fit into family savings and investment? | 1) How does owning a home fit into my financial portfolio? Most seem to agree that at best it is a hedge against rent or dollar inflation, and at worst it should be viewed as a liability, and has no place alongside other real investments. Periods of high inflation are generally accompanied with high(er) interest rates.... |
Gold futures' margin | The initial margin is $5940 and maintenance margin $5400. A simple search of Comex Gold Margin gives the CME group site. You then need to specify CMX metals to see the margins. Gold is currently about $1300. A gold future is 100 oz. So the full contract is worth $130K. You want to 'go long' so you enter into a contra... |
$10,000 to invest in the house - Pay down principal or spruce up to increase appraisal? | There is no guarantee improvements will raise the appraised value. You also don't want your property tax appraisal to go up if you can avoid it. Since you are talking on the order of $10k I'll assume you're only a few thousand dollars more from getting to 20%. That said, any schemes you might come up with like refinan... |
What happened when the dot com bubble burst? | Well basically a lot of dot-com companies that had no real plans for having actual profit's, self-destructed. I had worked for a company called VarsityOnline.com which was depending on endless money from investor's, and had never really made any kind of profit, for which it had ample opportunity. People lost sight of r... |
What's the appropriate way to signify an S-Corp? | Subchapter S Corporations are a special type of corporation; the difference is how they are taxed, not how they relate to their vendors or customers. As a result, they are named the same way as any other corporation. The rules on names of corporations vary by state. "Corporation" and "Incorporated" (and their abbrevi... |
What is the PEG ratio? How is the PEG ratio calculated? How is the PEG ratio useful for stock investing? | PEG is Price to Earnings Growth. I've forgotten how it's calculated, I just remember that a PEG ratio of 1-2 is attractive by Graham & Dodd standards. |
Making $100,000 USD per month, no idea what to do with it | I would be more than happy to find a good use for your money. ;-) Well, you have a bunch of money far in excess of your regular expenses. The standard things are usually: If you are very confused, it's probably worth spending some of your windfall to hire professional help. It beats you groping in the dark and possibly... |
First job: Renting vs get my parents to buy me a house | Firstly, I'm going to do what you said and analyze your question taking your entire family's finances into account. That means giving you an answer that maximizes your family's total wealth rather then just your own. If instead of that your question really was, should I let my parents buy me a house and live rent free,... |
How accurate is Implied Volatility in predicting future moves? | How accurate is Implied Volatility in predicting future moves? How would you measure this? If the implied volatility says that there's a 1% chance that a stock will double, and it doubles, was it "right"? You could also say that it says there's a 99% change that it doesn't double, so was it "wrong"? What you could ... |
How do I deal with a mistaken attempt to collect a debt from me that is owed by someone else? | It may be a scam. But it also may be a company trying to find a person with the same or similar name. They may have followed a trail to her old address, and still not have the correct person. They bought number of old debts at a large discount, and are trying to track down any money they can find. It is best to ignore ... |
What is best investment which is full recession proof? | I don't think there is a recession proof investment.Every investment is bound to their ups and downs. If you buy land, a change in law can change the whole situation it may become worthless, same applies for home as well. Gold - dependent on world economy. Stock - dependent on world economy Best way is to stay ever ... |
Recommendation for learning fundamental analysis? | Definition: Fundamental analysis involves analyzing financial statements and health, management and competitive advantages, and competitors and markets. Books are a great way to learn fundamental analysis but can be time consuming for something that really isn't very difficult. So the internet might be a better way to ... |
Can signing up at optoutprescreen.com improve my credit score? | If you are the type of person that gets drawn in to "suspect" offers, then it is conceivable that if you are not signing the services offered your credit would be improved as your long term credit strengthens and the number of new lines of credit are reduced. But if you just throw it all away anyway then it is unlikely... |
Alternative means of salary for my employees | There are several local currency initiatives in the US list here. Most are attempts to normalize a value as a living wage, or encourage local consumption networks. If you are in the catchment region of one of these, see if you can get a grant or loan to get started (if you are willing to buy into the philosophy of th... |
Safe method of paying for a Gym Membership? | I've often encountered the practices you describe in the Netherlands too. This is how I deal with it. Avoid gyms with aggressive sales tactics My solution is to only sign up for a gym that does not seem to have one-on-one sales personnel and aggressive sales tactics, and even then to read the terms and conditions thoro... |
Merchant dispute with airline over missed flight, and which credit cards offer protection? | You have no grounds for a refund. The flight took off on time, and you chose not to be on board. The fact that the airline could not guarantee ahead of time that the flight would leave on time is not relevant. You can certainly try to dispute the charge with the airline, and it sounds like you have done so. The airline... |
GNUCash: How to count up equity? | I would say when starting with Gnucash to start with the level of granularity you are comfortable with while sticking to the double entry bookkeeping practices. So going through each one: Refund for Parking Pass. Assuming you treat the Parking Pass as a sunk cost, i.e. an Expense account, its just a negative entry in t... |
What publicly available software do professional stock traders use for stock analysis? | Factset also provides a host of tools for analysis. Not many people know as they aren't as prevalent as Bloomberg. CapitalQ and Thomson Reuters also provide analysis tools. Most of the market data providers also provide analysis tools to analyze the data they and others provide. |
As a 22-year-old, how risky should I be with my 401(k) investments? | At 50 years old, and a dozen years or so from retirement, I am close to 100% in equities in my retirement accounts. Most financial planners would say this is way too risky, which sort of addresses your question. I seek high return rather than protection of principal. If I was you at 22, I would mainly look at high r... |
Is there an online cost-basis calculator that automatically accounts for dividend re-investments and splits? | Google Finance portfolios take into account splits and cash deposits/withdrawals. |
What does “Settling your Debt” entail, and how does it compare to other options? | These agencies consolidate your debt and make it an easy monthly instalment for you. They also try to negotiate with credit cards. They do so for a fee. Other option is to not pay the debt. During this time , expect credit cards to keep sending you bills and reminders and ways to contact you. Once it is not paid for a ... |
Is a website/domain name an asset or a liability? | In an accounting position, a domain name would fall under an intangible asset. Copyrights and patents are intangible, while tangible assets would be buildings or land (also known as property, plant, and equipment). Noting above, you can list it as an expense for personal reasons, but that would be poor classification.... |
What is the rationale behind stock markets retreating due to S&P having a negative outlook on the USA? | Many of the major indices retreated today because of this news. Why? How do the rising budget deficits and debt relate to the stock markets? The major reason for the market retreating is the uncertainty regarding the US Dollar. If the US credit rating drops that will have an inflationary effect on the currency (a... |
Should I remodel or buy a bigger house? | After a 6% commission to sell, you have $80K in equity. 20% down on a $400K house. 5% down will likely cost you PMI, and I don't know that you'll ever see a 3.14% rate. The realtor may very well have knowledge of the cost to finish a basement, but I don't ask my doctor for tax advice, and I'd not ask a realtor for co... |
Expecting to move in five years; how to lock mortgage rates? | You could consider turning your current place into a Rental Property. This is more easily done with a fixed rate loan, and you said you have an ARM. The way it would work: If you can charge enough rent to cover your current mortgage plus the interest-difference on your new mortgage, then the income from your rental pro... |
Does a growing economy mean the economy is becoming less efficient? | Growth and efficiency can occur independently of each other. For instance, if an economy consists of one inefficient business and then a second more efficient business opens to compete agains the first the overall efficiency increases while the economy grows. New industries tend to be inefficient at the beginning (sin... |
Why are daily rebalanced inverse/leveraged ETFs bad for long term investing? | The problem with daily-rebalanced "inverse" or "leveraged" ETFs is that since they rebalance every day, you can lose money even if your guess as to the market's direction is correct. Quoting from FINRA'S guide as to why these are a bad idea: How can this apparent breakdown between longer term index returns and ETF retu... |
Bid-Ask at market open, which comes first? [duplicate] | When you place a limit sell order of $10.00 (for a stock on an option) you are adding your order to the book. Anyone who places a buy at-the-market or with a limit price over $10.00 will have that order immediately fulfilled through the offer you have placed on the book. On the other hand, if that other person places ... |
What happens if I get approved for financing, but don't make the purchase? | Nothing will happen. It will not affect your credit score. You are not in trouble. :) Assuming that you didn't already agree to a purchase contract, you are not obligated to purchase simply because you had a pre-approval credit check done. However, even if you did, since they aren't shipping yet, you could probably ca... |
After Market Price change, how can I get it at that price? | The price of the last trade... Is the price of the last trade. It indicates what one particular buyer and seller agreed upon. There is absolutely no requirement that one of them didn't offer too much or demand too little, so this is nearly meaningless as an indication of what anyone else will be willing to offer or dem... |
What are the downsides that prevent more people from working in high-income countries, and then retiring in low-income (and cost of living) ones? | I should think the primary reason is due why those countries have a higher standard of salary - its not what you get, but what it buys you. In a high-salary, low-exchange-rate country like Sweden, you get a lot of services that your taxes buy you. Healthcare and quality of life in a stable country is something you want... |
In the USA, why is the Free File software only available for people earning less than $62k? | It is very helpful to understand that Free File is not actually "by" the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The IRS does indeed offer access to the program through their website, but Free File is actually a public-private partnership program operated and maintained by the Free File Alliance. Who is the Free File Allian... |
Paid cash for a car, but dealer wants to change price | The sales manager and/or finance manager applied a rebate that did not apply. It's their fault. They have internal accounts to handle these situations as they do come up from time to time. The deal is done. They have no legal ground. |
How do I get into investing in stocks? | Start by paying down any high interest debt you may have, like credit cards. Reason being that they ultimately eat into any (positive) returns you may have from investing. Another good reason is to build up some discipline. You will need discipline to be a successful investor. Educate yourself about investing. The M... |
If gold's price implodes then what goes up? | Ok, I think what you're really asking is "how can I benefit from a collapse in the price of gold?" :-) And that's easy. (The hard part's making that kind of call with money on the line...) The ETF GLD is entirely physical gold sitting in a bank vault. In New York, I believe. You could simply sell it short. Alternativ... |
60% Downpayment on house? | Voluntarily assuming a loan is a bad idea, especially for a non-investment purpose. It would be one thing to take on a loan to operate a business or buy a piece of capital equipment, like a machine that would make you money. Borrowing money to have a more luxurious house is foolish. The smart move is to buy a good qual... |
Events that cause major movement in forex? | Sometimes the market has to be left alone. Too much interference of the policy makers to stabilize the falling market can actually result in a major crisis. Every change stabilises after sometime and it is also applicable in the Forex trading market. So, the eager investors should learn to have some patience and wait f... |
My bank refused to do a charge back | You can't make your bank do a charge back. This function is to assist with straight up fraud, not a customer service mistake. (Think spoofed or stolen card or if a vendor intentionally acted fraudulently.) While you may believe what they did is fraud, your bank will require that you provide the vendor with the opportun... |
How smart is it to really be 100% debt free? | The day I paid my last student loan payment and my last car payment was (January 4, 2000) a very happy day for me, being then 100% debt free. It is a very good feeling, especially since I was saving cash as well. It's a great thing to know that no-one "owns" you. Many others here have provided useful information abou... |
What ETF or other security tracks closest to 30 year mortgage rates? | TBF - Proshares short 20+ Year Treasury The TBF fund is designed to track (hopefully) 100 percent of the inverse daily returns of the Barclays Capital 20+ Year U.S. Treasury Index. there's some risk of tracking error, and also a compounding effect if it's down several days in a row. (invest with care) There's also... |
Why pay estimated taxes? | Same argument and answer for investing instead of paying off debt, or borrowing to invest. Risk. What happens if the stocks drop by 10%? Sure, you might come out ahead on average, but a drop in the market could be catastrophic from a cash flow point of view. In addition, federal tax debt is arguably the worst kind. Th... |
How do index funds actually work? | Now company A has been doing ok for couple of weeks, but then due to some factors in that company its stock has been tanking heavily and doesn't appear to have a chance to recover. In this kind of scenario, what does happen? In this scenario, if that company is included in the index being tracked, you will continue ho... |
Why don't more people run up their credit cards and skip the country? | Even if you could get it with no major hassle, $100,000 is just not that much money. In a cheap third world country, as an expat you're looking at spending about $800-$2000/month, plus unexpected expenses. Locals live on less, but very few of us would be happy with the lifestyle of a Honduran or Thai farmer. Your 100k... |
Hypothetical: can taxes ever cause a net loss on otherwise-profitable stocks? | You have a sequence of questions here, so a sequence of answers: If you stopped at the point where you had multiple wins with a net profit of $72, then you would pay regular income tax on that $72. It's a short term capital gain, which does not get special tax treatment, and the fact that you made it on multiple transa... |
1 EIN doing business under multiple business names | You're confusing a lot of things here. Company B LLC will have it's sales run under Company A LLC, and cease operating as a separate entity These two are contradicting each other. If B LLC ceases to exist - it is not going to have it's sales run under A LLC, since there will be no sales to run for a non-existent compan... |
To sell or to rent the house? | So either scenario has about $10K upfront costs (either realtor/selling expenses or fixing up for rental). Furthermore, I'm sure that the buyers would want you to fix all these things anyway, or reduce the price accordingly, but let's ignore this. Let's also ignore the remaining mortgage, since it looks like you can co... |
How can I determine if my rate of return is “good” for the market I am in? | A good measurement would be to compare to index's. Basically a good way to measure your self would be to ask "If I put my money somewhere else how much better or worse would I have done?" Mutual funds and Hedge funds use the SP500 as a bench mark. Some funds actually wave their fee if they do not outperform the SP or o... |
Does it make sense to trade my GOOGL shares for GOOG and pocket the difference? | It appears very possible that Google will not have to pay any class C holders the settlement amount, given the structure of the settlement. This is precisely because of the arbitrage opportunity you've highlighted. This idea was mentioned last summer in Dealbreaker. As explained in a Dealbook article: The settlement ... |
My bank often blocks my card during purchases - what is the most reliable bank card? (UK) | Having worked in the financial industry, I can say 9:10 times a card is blocked, it is not actually the financial industry, but a credit/credit card monitoring service like "Falcon" for VISA. If you have not added travel notes or similar, they will decline large, our of country purchases as a way to protect you, from w... |
What are futures and how are they different from options? | For futures, you are obligated to puchase the security at $x when the contract expires. For an option, you have the right or option to do so if it's favorable to you. |
Automate Savings by Percentage on varying paychecks? | You just need to average out the weekly hours and income over the year. So if his yearly income is $100,000 p.a. then this would average out to $2000 per week of which 15% would be $300 per week. It does not have to be exactly 15% per week as long as over the long run your saving your target 15%. If he gets a pay rise ... |
Is diversification better | Diversification is the only real free lunch in finance (reduction in risk without any reduction in expected returns), so clearly every good answer to your question will be "yes." Diversification is good." Let's talk about many details your question solicits. Many funds are already pretty diversified. If you buy a mu... |
Where to park money low-risk on interactivebrokers account? | The standard low-risk/gain very-short-term parking spot these days tends to be a money market account. However, you have only mentioned stock. For good balance, your portfolio should consider the bond market too. Consider adding a bond index fund to diversify the basic mix, taking up much of that 40%. This will also h... |
Should I take a personal loan for my postgraduate studies? | I would delay purchase of a condo or apartment until you have at a minimum, 6 months of living expenses including mortgage set aside in other investments that could be liquidated. If you lost your source of income though disability or layoff or an unexpected termination of a grant, you need to have that cushion or a s... |
Why are residential investment properties owned by non-professional investors and not large corporations? | Your experience is anecdotal (outside Australia things are different). There are many companies and real estate investment trusts (REITs) that own residential properties (as well as commercial in many cases to have a balanced portfolio). They are probably more common in higher-density housing like condos, apartment bui... |
Do Americans still need extra health care / medical insurance after reform to health care? [U.S.] | I think it is too early to tell. They changed so many variables in an incredibly complex system, and a lot of it will depend on how the requirements in the legislation look once the bureaucrats and insurance companies get a chance to interpret them and implement them as policy. My gut feeling is that for most people, y... |
Should I use a bank or a credit union for my savings account? | Your instructor's numbers do not seem to have any basis in current reality. At this page you can see a comparison of interest rates offered by banks and credit unions. In the most recent table for June 2014, banks paid an average interest rate of 0.12 percent on savings accounts, while credit unions paid an average of... |
How should I pay off my private student loans that have a lot of restrictions? | Not that I doubted everyone's assumption but I wanted to see the math so I did some spreadsheet hacking. I assumed a monthly payments for 30 years which left us with total payments of 483.89. I then assumed we'd pay an extra $200/month in one of two scenarios. Scenario 1 we just paid that $200 directly to the lender.... |
Is it legal if I'm managing my family's entire wealth? | I am not going to discuss legality, because with family members you are able to give a lot of guidance and assistance without running into legal issues. The biggest problem is that when they transfer the funds to you and you invest the money, all the tax rates and tax limits are determined by your situation; plus you ... |
Is there a formula to use to analyse whether an investment property is a good investment? | When you invest in a property, you pay money to purchase the property. You didn't have to spend the money on the property though - you could have invested it in the stock market instead, and expected to make a 4% annualized real rate of return or thereabouts. So if you want to know whether something's a "good investmen... |
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 can I help others plan their finances, without being a “conventional” financial planner? | If you personally make any money from it then you need a Series 65, or a Series 63 license. It is a private industry/SEC regulation. The license itself basically spells out your duties and ethical standards for you. |
Large BUY LIMIT orders' effect on a stock's price | If an offered price is below what people are willing to sell for, it is simply ignored. (What happens if I offer to buy lots of cars as long as I only have to pay $2 each? Same thing.) |
Company is late in paying my corporate credit card statement - will it hurt my credit? | According to an article on Bankrate.com from 2011, yes, it can hurt your credit: With individual liability accounts, the employee holds all responsibility for the charges, even if the company pays the issuer directly. Joint liability means the company and employee share the responsibility for payments, says Mahendra Gu... |
Will a credit card issuer cancel an account if it never incurs interest? | Remember, the card company gets a percentage at the time of purchase, as well as any interest you let them collect from you. Yes, they're still making a profit on our accounts, and they can always hope that at some point we'll run up a high enough bill to be willing to pay some interest. They may kill completely inacti... |
Am I liable for an auto accident if I'm a cosigner but not on the title, registration, or insurance policy? | It might be possible to sue you successfully if someone brought evidence that your brother was absolutely totally unsuitable to drive a car because of some character flaw, and without your financial help he wouldn't have been able to afford a car. So helping a brother to buy a car, if that brother is a drinking alcohol... |
Why do so many NFL (pro football) players have charities? | In addition to tax-related benefits, one answer may be that it helps them avoid being inundated with requests to support other foundations. Most charities have access to public records that indicate potential donors based on income and demographic. They can use that info to solicit for donations. "Hey NFL Player, you h... |
Why do gas stations charge different amounts in the same local area? | Location, Location, Location. The closer to the highway, the more they can charge. People want to go less than a mile from the exit to get gas. Therefore they save time, but spend more money. That is understandable, so the gas station takes advantage of the situation. |
Why would a bank need to accept deposits from private clients if it can just borrow from the Federal Reserve? | Banks cannot just borrow from the Federal Reserve and use that money to make loans. The first thing you need to understand is how fractional reserve banking works. The banks can make loans with money that their customers have deposited in their accounts. The interest and fees from those loans go to pay the salaries of ... |
Are you preparing for a possible dollar (USD) collapse? (How?) | I've thought of the following ways to hedge against a collapsing dollar: |
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... |
mortgage vs car loan vs invest extra cash? | Without knowing actual numbers it's tough to say. Personally, I would pay off the car then, going forward, use the money that would have been paid on your car note toward your mortgage. I always think of things in the worst possible scenario. It's easier, and faster, to repossess a car than to foreclose on real esta... |
Explanations on credit cards in Canada | I think it's worth pointing out explicitly that the biggest difference between a credit card (US/Canada) and a debit card (like your French carte de crédit) is that with a credit card, it's entirely possible to not pay the bill or to pay only the "minimum payment" when asked. This results in you owing significantly mor... |
Diversification reduces risk, but does this base on the assumption that expected return of each asset is always in proportion to its risk? | if I have a asset A with expected return of 100% and risk(measured by standard deviation) 1%, and asset B with expected return of 1% and risk 100%, would it be rational to put asset B into the portfolio ? In the capital asset pricing model (CAPM), investors are rational and have access to perfect information. Asset A s... |
Tax deductions on empty property | If the building has no income, it also probably has minimal expenses. The heat, water and electricity costs are nearly zero. They are letting the value depreciate, and taking it off the taxes. I also suspect the condition of the building is poor, so any effort to make the building productive would be very costly. Many ... |
Prepaid Rent (Accrual Based Accounting) | Your account entries are generally correct, but do note that the last transaction is a mixture of the balance sheet and income statement. If Quickbooks doesn't do this automatically then the expense must be manually removed from the balance sheet. The expense should be recognized on the balance sheet and income statem... |
Why is the dominant investing advice for individuals to use mutual funds, exchanged traded funds (ETFs), etc | Funds - especially index funds - are a safe way for beginning investors to get a diversified investment across a lot of the stock market. They are not the perfect investment, but they are better than the majority of mutual funds, and you do not spend a lot of money in fees. Compared to the alternative - buying individu... |
Why are some long term investors so concerned about their entry price? | I'm not sure who specifically you are talking about. Those are some pretty broad generalizations. Where do you draw the line about what is too much concern about entry price? On what basis do you make the assertion that they are overly concerned with it? For those that do: Probably because when you are buying anything,... |
Can an Indian citizen/resident invest in a US company and collect the profits in India? | Every month I will get a return in from my share of the profit which would be used for repayment of capital and interest in India. Not to sure what the business plan is. Please factor all the modalities, Exchange rate fluctuations, etc. My concern is regarding RBI rules and regulations, FEMA guidelines, and Income tax.... |
Is it ever a good idea to close credit cards? | Credit scoring has changed recently and the answer to this question will have slightly changed. While most points made here are true: But now (as of July 2017) it is possible having a large available credit balance can negatively effect your credit score directly: ... VantageScore will now mark a borrower negatively f... |
Is there such a thing as “stock insurance”? | Put options are basically this. Buying a put option gives you the right but not the obligation to sell the underlying security at a certain date for a fixed price, no matter its current market value at that time. However, markets are largely effective, and the price of put options is such that if you bought them to cov... |
What's a good personal finance management web app that I can use in Canada? | Now, keep in mind I'm biased because I'm an engineer at this company, but FutureAdvisor.com provides advice on your savings and investments. We currently help users optimize their portfolios for retirement savings, but plan on rolling our more savings goals in the future. |
What is a rule of thumb for accruing debt on a rental property? | To start, I hope you are aware that the properties' basis gets stepped up to market value on inheritance. The new basis is the start for the depreciation that must be applied each year after being placed in service as rental units. This is not optional. Upon selling the units, depreciation is recaptured whether it's t... |
What are your experiences with 'self directed' 401ks? | My employer matches 6% of my salary, dollar for dollar. So you have a great benefit. The self-directed side has no fees but $10 trades. No option trading. Yours basically allows you to invest your own funds, but not the match. It's a restriction, agreed, but a good plan. |
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