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How can I find/compare custodians for my HSA in the United States? | In general, things to look for are: Things to look out for: I'd recommend two places: I'd recommend reading up on HSA's in this related question here. |
Is it safer to send credit card number via unsecured website form or by e-mail? What safer options are there? | Your biggest risk with a vendor like this is not that your Credit Card Number will be stolen in transit, it is that it will be stolen from the vendor. I agree with @mhoran that using a one-time number is the best plan, provided you have a bank that offers such numbers. Bank of America calls it "Shop Safe" while Citiba... |
Do I make money in the stock market from other people losing money? | Day traders see a dip, buy stocks, then sell them 4 mins later when the value climbed to a small peak. What value is created? Is the company better off from that trade? The stocks were already outside of company hands, so the trade doesn't affect them at all. You've just received money from others for no contribution t... |
Options strategy - When stocks go opposite of your purchase? | If you buy a call, that's because you expect that the stock will go up. If it does not go up, then forget about buying more calls as your initial idea seems to be wrong. And I don't think that buying a put to make up for the loss will work either, the only thing that is sure is that you will pay another premium (on a s... |
What securities is Return of Capital applicable to? | Off the top of my head, I don't know of any publicly-traded companies that routinely earmark distributions as return of capital, but theoretically, it's certainly applicable to any publicly-traded company. The Wikipedia article gives one situation in which a publicly-traded company may use return of capital: Public bus... |
Index fund that tracks gold and other commodities | Barclays offers an iPath ETN (not quite an ETF), DJP, which tracks the total return of the Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Index. |
Should I sell my stocks to put a down payment on a house before it becomes a long term investment? | In the United States Short-term capital gains are taxed at rates similar to regular income which is 25% if you make less than $91,000 and 28% if you make more than that but less than $190,000. If you make more than $190,000 then the rate is 33%. If you hold the stock for a year or more than the tax rate is 15%, unless ... |
Converting bank statements to another currency? | If the account is not dollar-denominated, I would say it does not make sense at all to have dollar-denominated statements. Such a statement would not even be accurate for any reasonable amount of time (since FX rates constantly fluctuate). This would be a nightmare for accounting purposes. If you really need to know th... |
How are long-term/short-term capital gains tax calculated on restricted stock? | Is the Grant Date or the Vest Date used when determining the 12-month cutoff for long-term and short-term capital gains? You don't actually acquire the stock until it's vested, so that is the date and price used to determine your cost basis and short-term/long-term gain/loss. The grant date really has no tax bearing. ... |
Why might it be advisable to keep student debt vs. paying it off quickly? | Congratulations for achieving an important step in the road to financial freedom. Some view extending loan payment of loans that allow the deduction of interest as a good thing. Some view the hit on the credit score by prematurely paying off an installment loan as a bad thing. Determining the order of paying off multi... |
Is it OK to use a credit card on zero-interest to pay some other credit cards with higher-interest? | Many people who do transfer a balance from one credit card to another have no clue as to what is going on and how credit cards work. If you transfer a balance from one credit card to another, you are charged a fee of anywhere from 3% upwards (subject to a minimum of $10 or so) up front. If Credit Card A has balance $10... |
Missing opportunity cost of mortgage prepayment | You seem to really have your financial act together. Your combination of assets, and ongoing savings makes you the ideal candidate for paying it off. One way to look at it is that your mortgage offers you a place to 'invest' at a fixed 2-7/8% rate. "I'd really like to not have a house payment" is all I need to hear. ... |
Why would anyone want to pay off their debts in a way other than “highest interest” first? | Very good Ben, in a more simplistic form: If debt was about math only, we would not have payday lenders, 21% + credit cards, or sub-prime car loans. Yet these things are prevalent. Debt reduction is often about behavior modification. As such small wins are necessary to keep going much like a 12 step program; or, gam... |
Are there common stock price trends related to employee option plans? | The stock market is generally a long term investment platform. The share prices reflect more the companies potential to be profitable in the future rather than its actual value. Companies that have good potential can over perform their actual value. We saw this regularly in the early days of the internet prior to t... |
Is it better to buy a computer on my credit card, or on credit from the computer store? | In my experience dealing with credit cards and store cards, you may find that the store card is much more flexible than the credit card in terms of the enforcement of the card agreement. For instance, I've missed payments on credit cards and only been 1 day late and saw a rate increase, but on a store card when the sa... |
Starting with Stocks or Forex? | This is an old post I feel requires some more love for completeness. Though several responses have mentioned the inherent risks that currency speculation, leverage, and frequent trading of stocks or currencies bring about, more information, and possibly a combination of answers, is necessary to fully answer this quest... |
What are institutional investors? | Professional investors managing large investment portfolios for "institutions" -- a college, a museum, a charitable organization, et cetera. I'm not sure whether those managing investments for a business are considered institutional investors or not. The common factor tends to be large to immense portfolios (let's call... |
Why did gold dip in 2011 | The cause of the increase in 2006-2011 was the financial crisis, where, if you recall, the global banking system came close to collapse for reasons that are well documented. Rightly or wrongly, gold is seen as a safe haven asset in times of crisis. The price of gold began to decline in 2011 when the markets decided tha... |
Do I pay a zero % loan before another to clear both loans faster? | By paying the $11,000 into the 2.54% loan you will save $23.30 in interest every month. By paying the $11,000 into the 3.625% loan you will save $33.20 in interest every month. If your objective is to get rid of one loan quicker so repayments can go to the other loan to pay off sooner, I would put the $11,000 into the ... |
Does it make sense to buy a house in my situation? | I wouldn't buy a house at this time. Your credit card debt is the most expensive thing you have. Which is to say that you want to get rid of it as soon as possible. The lawyer isn't cheap, and your personal situation is not fully resolved. Congratulations on paying off the IRS, and getting up the 401k to 17.5k. Take c... |
Income Tax on per Diem (Non Accountable plan) | A per diem payment is a cost of doing business for the company, not for you. They can claim it (probably); you can't (definitely). |
When to trade in a relatively new car for maximum value | I don't disagree with the current answers, but I feel like no one really answered your question directly. Seems to me like what you were asking is when to trade in your car in relation to when/whether your loan is paid off? Assuming you are committed to trading your car in (and not selling it privately as has been sug... |
Can a buy market order be matched with a sell market order in Forex trading? | If there are no limit orders on the opposite side of the book when your market order gets its turn for execution, it should be rejected by the market. A market order should generally not "sit on the book" like your question suggests waiting for another order to arrive. Thus, the situation that you describe should not... |
Why ever use a market order? | The purpose of a market order is to guarantee that your order gets filled. If you try to place a limit order at the bid or ask, by the time you enter your order the price might have moved and you might need to keep amending your limit order in order to buy or sell, and as such you start chasing the market. A market ord... |
I have a horrible 401k plan, with high expenses. Should I stay with it or move my money elsewhere? | The first question is essentially asking for specific investment advice which is off-topic per the FAQ, but I'll take a stab at #2 and #3 (2) If my 401k doesn't change before I leave my job (not planned in the near future), I should roll it over into my Roth IRA after I leave due to these high expense ratios, corre... |
Difference between a mortgage and buy-to-let in UK | In my experience buy-to-let mortgages charge a higher rate of interest than an personal residential mortgage. They are regarded as a business enterprise and presumably the banks calculate that they carry a higher risk. A bank would probably take action if the property on an ordinary mortgage was rented out, as you wo... |
Why do credit cards have minimum limits? | I believe it's just to limit the less well-off from acquiring one. If your credit history and income do not support a $15,000 credit limit, then don't even think about applying for an Altitude Black card. If they do, then don't bother with a student card. It's primarily about market segmentation by wealth or income. |
What if I sell an stock that is going to give an stock dividend after the ex-date but before the payable date | Here's what Investopedia says about payouts for ex-dividend stocks: A stock trades ex-dividend on or after the ex-dividend date (ex-date). At this point, the person who owns the security on the ex-dividend date will be awarded the payment, regardless of who currently holds the stock. After the ex-date has been declared... |
Do I need a Like-Kind Exchange when selling a personal vehicle for a company car | You cannot do a like-kind (Sec. 1031) exchange for personal property, only for business/investment property. Since you said that you traded in your personal car - no like-kind exchange is possible. Also, since the new car doesn't belong to you - you didn't actually perform any exchange. You sold your old car, but you d... |
Should my husband's business pay my business? | It depends on the finances involved, but particularly if you're not billing anything right now and may have no revenue this year, it's probably a good idea to bill his company. This is in part because some deductions or other tax treatments are only allowed if you have revenue and/or income. The biggest example I can ... |
Is there a standard check format in the USA? | Nope, anything is that has the required information is fine. At a minimum you need to have the routing number, account number, amount, "pay to" line and a signature. The only laws are that it can't be written on anything illegal, like human skin, and it has to be portable, not carved on the side of a building ( for ex... |
Trader Fostering Program on Futures Day Trading | I am a bit at a loss as to how you can read the same book, that inspired Warren Buffet, and take away that trading 600 contracts per month is a way to prosperity. As a fellow engineer I can say with assurance this speculation scheme is doomed to failure. Crossing out the word gamble was a mistake. Instead you shoul... |
How can I predict which way mortgage rates are moving? | Mortgage rates generally consist of two factors: The risk premium is relatively constant for a particular individual / house combination, so most of the changes in your mortgage rate will be associated with changes in the price of money in the world economy at large. Interest rates in the overall economy are usually ti... |
Equity - date of offer, or date of joining? | Options or Shares vest by date they are granted. It would strike me as odd for anyone to say their shares were given with 4 year vesting, but the clock was pre-started years prior. In my opinion, you have nothing to complain about. |
Buying and selling the same stock | Elaborating on kelsham's answer: You buy 100 shares XYZ at $1, for a total cost of $100 plus commissions. You sell 100 shares XYZ at $2, for a total income of $200 minus commissions. Exclusive of commissions, your capital gain is $100 for this trade, and you will pay taxes on that. Even if you proceed to buy 200 share... |
Getting live data from Yahoo! Finance for the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE)? | I wouldn't think so. If you read the list of features listed on the page you referred to, notice: Track Stocks It looks like it is restricted to the major U.S. stock markets. No mention of India's NSE. |
Possible to use balance transfers to avoid interest with major credit cards? | IMO, it's a good deal. Pre-paying 3% interest is better than accruing it at 1-2% per month. The other nice thing about it is that all of your payments hit the principal. |
Equity market inflow meaning | Inflows to the US equity market can come from a variety of sources; for instance: You were paid a year-end bonus and decided to invest it in US equities instead of foreign equities, bonds, savings or debt reduction. You sold foreign equities, bonds, or other non-US equities and decided to invest in US equities. You dec... |
What's the catch with biweekly mortgage payments? | Pete and Noah addressed the math, showing how this is, in effect, converting a 30yr to a ~23yr mortgage, at a cost, plus payment about 8% higher (1 extra payment per year). No magic there. The real issue, as I see it, is whether this is the best use of the money. Keep in mind, once you pay extra principal, which in eff... |
(Theoretical) Paying credit cards with other credit cards | If you had a CC issuer that allowed you to do bill-pay this way, I suspect the payment would be considered a cash advance that will trigger a fee and a pretty egregious cash advance specific interest rate. It's not normal for a credit payment portal to accept a credit card as payment. If you were able to do this as a ... |
How big of a mortgage can I realistically afford? | Let's start with income $80K. $6,667/mo. The 28/36 rule suggests you can pay up to $1867 for the mortgage payment, and $2400/mo total debt load. Payment on the full $260K is $1337, well within the numbers. The 401(k) loan for $12,500 will cost about $126/mo (I used 4% for 10 years, the limit for the loan to buy a house... |
What does it mean when my Money Market account lists both a dividend share and an APY? | The dividend is what represents your ownership in the CU. The APY is a calculated figure that will help you compare apples to apples the return of the investment from many vendors and many types. (I think you CU might have had two different people writing that portion of the website, because the comparisons pages don'... |
What is the point of the stock market? What is it for, and why might someone want to trade or invest? | The stock market is just like any other market, but stocks are bought and sold here. Just like you buy and sell your electronics at the electronics market, this is a place where buyers and sellers come together to buy and sell shares or stocks or equity, no matter what you call it. What are these shares? A share is no... |
Paid cash for a car, but dealer wants to change price | On the surface this sounds ridiculous, which makes me suspect that there might be something that the dealer intends to cling on to; otherwise it sounds like the dealer should be ashamed to even call your son about its own incompetence. I'd recommend politely refusing the request since said mistake didn't happen on your... |
I want to invest in a U.S.-based company with unquoted stocks, but I am a foreigner. How to do this? | Life would be nicer had we not needed lawyers. But for some things - you better get a proper legal advice. This is one of these things. Generally, the United States is a union of 50 different sovereign entities, so you're asking more about Texas, less about the US. So you'd better talk to a Texas lawyer. Usually, stock... |
give free budgeting advice | Legally ok? Sure. Friends frequently discuss financial matters, and share advice. This is quite far from taking money from them and managing it, where at some point you need to be licensed for such things. If you're concerned about giving bad advice, just stay generic. The best advice has no risk. If I offer a friend a... |
Deductible expenses paid with credit card: In which tax year would they fall? | I'm assuming you're operating on the cash basis of accounting, based on your comment "Cash, I think that's the only way for a sole propriator (sic)" Consider: There are two distinct but similar-name concepts here: "paid for" (in relation to a expense) and "paid off" (in relation to a debt). These both occur in the cas... |
Advice on strategy for when to sell | It's impossibly difficult to time the market. Generally speaking, you should buy low and sell high. Picking 25% as an arbitrary ceiling on your gains seems incorrect to me because sometimes you'll want to hold a stock for longer or sell it sooner, and those decisions should be based on your research (or if you need the... |
How do I figure out the next step in deciding to sell my home to the market or to a uniquely interested buyer? | We considered similar big renovations when putting our house on the market. The answer turns out to be pretty simple; unless you do renovation-type work as your day job, or have really good friends in the residential contracting business, sell as-is. You will virtually never get back the full price of bringing in a gen... |
I carelessly invested in a stock on a spike near the peak price. How can I salvage my investment? | If you're asking this question, you probably aren't ready to be buying individual stock shares, and may not be ready to be investing in the market at all. Short-term in the stock market is GAMBLING, pure and simple, and gambling against professionals at that. You can reduce your risk if you spend the amount of time an... |
Why does Yahoo! Finance report different prices for the same index? | Are you sure you're using the same date range? If you're using Max, then you're not, as ^FTMC goes back to 12/1/1985 while ^GDAXI only goes back to 11/1/1990. If I enter a custom date range of 11/1/1990 through 10/24/2015, I get: and: which, other than the dates it chose to use as labels on the x-axes, look identical... |
Separating money in bank account without opening another account | There are some banks that offer "pot" accounts like this (off the top of my head I think Intelligent Finance does, although they call them "jars"). The other option for charity specifically would be a CAF account: https://www.cafonline.org/my-personal-giving/plan-your-giving/individual-charity-account.aspx |
How to check the paypal's current exchange rate? | There is a way I discovered of finding the current exchange rate before committing to buy, go to send payments, put in your own second email, pay 1gbp as the amount and it will give you the exchange rate and fees in your own currency, in my case euro, before you have to click on send payment |
How to understand a volatility based ETF like VXX | To understand the VXX ETF, you need to understand VIX futures, to understand VIX futures you need to understand VIX, to understand VIX you need to understand options pricing formulas such as the "Black Scholes" formula Those are your prerequisites. Learn at your own pace. Short Answer: When you buy VXX you are buying t... |
Calculating Pre-Money Valuation for Startup | When the VC is asking what your Pre-Money Valuation is, he's asking what percentage of shares his $200,000 will buy. If you say your company is worth $800K, then after he puts the money in, it will be worth $1M, and he will own 20% of all shares – you'll still own the remainder. So when the VC is asking for a valuation... |
How to execute a large stock purchase, relative to the order book? | I normally just do a buy limit at the price I want to buy it at. Then it executes when it's that price or lower, but there's still a chance you might purchase some shares at a larger price. But since we're small fry and using brokerages, there's not much we can do about it. |
Is there an academic framework for deciding when to sell in-the-money call options? | If any academic framework worked, your teachers would be the richest people on the planet. However, you must read up on macro and micro economic factors and make an educated guess where the market(or stock) would be at the date of expiry. Subtract the Strike Price from your determined price and calculate your potential... |
Income tax on international income with money not deposited in India | Three points for you to keep in mind. 1. In the very first year, you should have 182 days outside India. So that in the year when you start your consultancy, you will not have any liability to pay tax on earning abroad. 2. Although you may be starting a consultancy abroad, if you do any services in India, there will be... |
Why are interest rates on saving accounts so low in USA and Europe? | Banks in general will keep saving rates as low as possible especially if there is a surplus of funds or alternative access for funding as in the case of the Fed in the USA. Generally speaking, why would bank pay you a high interest rate when they cannot generate any income from your money? Usually we will expect to see... |
Stocks given by company vest if I quit? | You were probably not given stock, but stock options. Those options have a strike price and you can do some more research on them if needed. Lets assume that you were given 5K shares at a strike of 20, and they vest 20% per year. Assume the same thing in your second year and you are going to leave in year three. You... |
Are RSUs ever taxed as long term capital gains? | Yes. You incur income tax on the RSU on they date they vest. At this point you own the actual shares and you can decide to sell them or to hold them. If you hold them for the required period, and sell them later, the difference between your price at vesting and the sales price would be taxed as long term capital gains.... |
What is the difference between “good debt” vs. “bad debt”? | When I look at debt I try to think of myself as a corporation. In life, you have a series of projects that you can undertake which may yield a positive net present value (for simplicity, let's define positive net present value as a project that yields more benefit than its cost). Let's say that one of the projects tha... |
When filing taxes in Canada, in what cases does box 39 on the T4 get reported as half of box 38? | Apparently box 39 does not receive half of box 38 if "The price of the share or unit is less than its fair market value when the agreement was made." - the last point in paragraph 110(1)(d): *http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/bsnss/tpcs/pyrll/bnfts/fnncl/scrty/stckpt03-eng.html#dspst The employee can claim a deduction under ... |
How does a bank make money on an interest free secured loan? | If interest rates are negative, a 0% load might still be profitable. |
How much power does a CEO have over a public company? | This is a very good question and is at the core of corporate governance. The CEO is a very powerful figure indeed. But always remember that he heads the firm's management only. He is appointed by the board of directors and is accountable to them. The board on the other hand is accountable to the firm's shareholders an... |
How do amortization schedules work and when are they used? | Simply put, for a mortgage, interest is charged only on the balance as well. Think of it this way - on a $100K 6% loan, on day one, 1/2% is $500, and the payment is just under $600, so barely $100 goes to principal. But the last payment of $600 is nearly all principal. By the way, you are welcome to make extra princip... |
What ETF or other security tracks closest to 30 year mortgage rates? | Mortgage rates tend to track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note. The CBOE Interest Rate 10-Year T-Note, TNX, is a security directly related to this rate. Divide the CBOE price of TNX by 10 to get the yield. One can also track the 10Y T-Note yield at yahoo finance using ticker symbol (^TNX). One can also track t... |
15 year mortgage vs 30 year paid off in 15 | Other people have belabored the point that you will get a better rate on a 15 year mortgage, typically around 1.25 % lower. The lower rate makes the 15 year mortgage financially wiser than paying a 30 year mortgage off in 15 years. So go with the 15 year if your income is stable, you will never lose your job, your app... |
How do you calculate the rate of return (ROR) when buying and selling put options? | RoR for options you bought is fairly easy: (Current Value-Initial Cost)/Initial Cost gives you the actual return. If you want the rate of return, you need to annualize that number: You divide the return you got above by the number of days the investment was in place, and then multiply that number by the number of days ... |
Are there statistics showing percentage of online brokerage customers that are actually making a profit trading forex/futures/options? | Finding statistics is exceedingly hard, because the majority of traders lose money. That is, not only they don't "beat the markets", not only they don't "beat the benchmark" (S&P 500 being used a lot as reference): they just lose money. Finding exact numbers, quality statistics and so on is very difficult. Finding rece... |
When does it make sense for the money paid for equity to go to the corporation? | The check is written to BigCo. Jack is being diluted, corporation issues more shares. There's no gain, no change in Jack's equity value. Jack didn't lose or win anything. BigCo was worth $1M before the additional money, it is worth $1.25M after the additional money, with Jack owning the same $1M, but the cake is now bi... |
How do I enter Canadian tax info from US form 1042-S and record captial gains from cashing in stock options? | I can't give you a specific answer because I'm not a tax accountant, so you should seek advice from a tax professional with experience relevant to your situation. This could be a complicated situation. That being said, one place you could start is the Canada Revenue Agency's statement on investment income, which contai... |
$700 guaranteed to not be touched for 15 years+, should I put it anywhere other than a savings account? | Well, I understand this forum is about money but I think you would be far better off if you invest the money in your daughters education or something similar that can bring much more significant future gains. I am a big fan of compound interest and investing in stocks but $700 sitting until she's 21 wont grow into a si... |
Why should the P/E ratio of a growth stock match its percentage earnings growth rate? | Your observation is mostly right, that 1 is a the number around which this varies. You are actually referencing PEG, P/E to Growth ratio, which is a common benchmark to use to evaluate a stock. The article I link to provides more discussion. |
Why do stock exchanges close at night? | Most stocks are not actively trades by lots of people. When you buy or sell a stock the price is set by the “order book” – that is the other people looking to trade in the given stock at the same time. Without a large number of active traders, it is very likely the pricing system will break down and result in widely ... |
Being a 1099 for a company I part-own? | The contract he wants me to sign states I'll receive my monthly stipend (if that is the right word) as a 1099 contractor. The right word is guaranteed payment, which is what "salary" is called when a partner is working for a partnership she's a partner in. Which is exactly the case in your situation. 1099 is not the ... |
If you buy something and sell it later on the same day, how do you calculate 'investment'? | Not sure if your question is on topic, but the investment is only $9 because that is maximum amount of money the merchant ever needed to start up the business. He put in $9, started turning a profit, and never looked back. |
Should I re-allocate my portfolio now or let it balance out over time? | As you note, your question is inherently opinion-based. That said, if I were in your situation I would sell the stock all at once and buy whatever it is you want to buy (hopefully some index ETF or mutual fund). According to what I see, the current value of the HD stock is about $8500 and the JNJ stock is worth less t... |
Are lottery tickets ever a wise investment provided the jackpot is large enough? | Question: Does a billion dollars make you 1,000 times more happy than a million dollars? Answer: It doesn't. What counts is not the amount of money, but the subjective improvement that it makes to your life. And that improvement isn't linear, which is way the expected value of the inrease in your happiness / welfare /... |
Using a Roth IRA instead of a college savings account | The problem with this plan is that in order for your children to put money in their own IRA, they need earned income of their own. If your child doesn't have $3000 in earned income for the year, you won't be able to put the $3000 into their Roth IRA. |
collateralized mortgage obligations | Actually, you're missing the key feature of CDOs. Most CDOs use (much to our economic misery, ultimately) a system call tranching. To simplify this idea, I'll make a two tranch example. Suppose I buy mortgages covering a face value of $120,000,000. Because they are subprime, if I just put them in a pool and finance... |
Tax on Stocks or ETF's | If you receive dividends on an investment, those are taxed. |
How would I go about selling the stock of a privately held company? | The easiest way to find a buyer should be to ask the company to connect you to some of their other shareholders. I imagine they are much more likely to take those shares off you than a random investor on the street. Otherwise, well, talk to people. At a golf club, maybe? :) Valuation is not going to be very straightfor... |
Are you preparing for a possible dollar (USD) collapse? (How?) | I am not preparing for a sudden, major, catastrophic collapse in the US dollar. I am, however, preparing for a significant but gradual erosion of its value through inflation over the space of several years to a decade. To that end, I've invested most of my assets in the stock market (roughly 80%) through major world in... |
What are some tips for getting the upper hand in car price negotiations? | JohnFX and TTT provide excellent answers. Researching prices others have paid, being up front that you'll go buy a junker car to hold you over if they won't meet your price, and playing a few dealerships off of each other are all great tactics. In addition, I've got a few points about timing your purchase. If you're no... |
Using P/E Ratio of an ETF to decide on asset mix | P/E is a useful tool for evaluating the price of a company, but only in comparison to companies in similar industries, especially for industries with well-defined cash flows. For example, if you compared Consolidated Edison (NYSE:ED) to Hawaiian Electric (NYSE:HE), you'll notice that HE has a significantly higher PE. ... |
How can I live outside of the rat race of American life with 300k? | The title of your question is quite different then the content. The term "Rat Race" was coined in the 70's and refers to the endless cycle of working hard to consume more. Fortunately it is very easy not to participate in the cycle and probably will lead to more happiness. Just because one "works" does not mean they... |
Which is the better strategy for buying stocks monthly? | Powers makes a good point: trading costs may eat up a significant portion of your ROI. A fee as little as 2% can consume more than 50% of your long-term ROI! A rule of thumb is keep your fees to less than 1%. One way to do that is to buy stock in companies that have a DRIP with a Share Purchase Plan (SPP). Often the SP... |
Confused about employee stock options: How do I afford these? | I've been offered a package that includes 100k stock options at 5 dollars a share. They vest over 4 years at 25% a year. Does this mean that at the end of the first year, I'm supposed to pay for 25,000 shares? Wouldn't this cost me 125,000 dollars? I don't have this kind of money. At the end of the first year, you will... |
Do there exist any wikipedia type sites for evaluating financial service providers? | It is always a good idea if you are worried about customer service and hidden gotchas to visit http://getsatisfaction.com - they operate as an independent complaint board for many companies. http://getsatisfaction.com/bankofamerica for example alerts you to many problems with using BofA. In addition, googling for commo... |
What kinds of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) should specifically be avoided? | As with ANY investment the first answer is....do not invest in any that you do not fully understand. ETF's are very versatile and can be used for many different people for many different parts of their portfolio, so I don't think there can be a blanket statement of "this" one is good or bad for all. |
Borrowing money to buy shares for cashflow? | Buying individual/small basket of high dividend shares is exposing you to 50%+ and very fast potential downswings in capital/margin calls. There is no free lunch in returns in this respect: nothing that pays enough to help you pay your mortgage at a high rate won’t expose you to a lot of potential volatility. Main issu... |
If a mutual fund did really well last year, then statistically speaking, is it likely going to do bad this year? | From a mathematical point of view the stats do not change depending on past performance. Just because a fund is lucky one year doesn't mean that it will be unlucky the next. Consider tossing a coin, the chance of heads is 50%. If you have just thrown 3 heads, the chance of heads is still 50%. It doesn't go down. If yo... |
For a major expensive home renovation (e.g. addition, finished basement, or new kitchen) should one pay cash or finance with a loan? Would such a loan be “good” debt? | The number one reason to borrow is quite simple; when you have no other choice. The primary reason to do this is when renovations or additions must be made in a timeframe that precludes you being able to save enough money to pay cash. Harmanjd's example of a kid on the way with no space to put him is a very good hypoth... |
What is the cost of “free” trades? | In the case of Wells Fargo, I believe that free trading is linked to your overall banking relationship with the firm. So if you have a checking account with a balance of $X, or a total relationship with the bank ("relationship" is usually defined as loan balances + deposit balances) over a certain amount, they give yo... |
Can increasing my tax withholding from my full-time job cover FICA taxes for my freelance work? | Technically you owe 'self-employment' taxes not FICA taxes because they are imposed under a different law, SECA. However, since SE taxes are by design exactly the same rates as combining the two halves of FICA (employer and employee) it is quite reasonable to treat them as equivalent. SE taxes (and income tax also) are... |
Principal 401(k) managed fund fees, wow. What can I do? | In my opinion, the fee is criminal. There are ETFs available to the public that have expenses as low as .05%. The index fund VIIIX an institution level fund available to large 401(k) plans charges .02%. I'll pay a total of under 1% over the next 50 years, Consider that at retirement, the safe withdrawal rate has been... |
Is Amazon's offer of a $50 gift card a scam? | Based on my personal experience with that particular offer, I can say that it's not really a scam. I signed up for an Amazon Credit Card to get $70 off a purchase, but then never used the card. In fact, I never even called to activate it! After a few months, I then called to cancel it. I did not see a significant hit t... |
Is it a good idea to get an unsecured loan to pay off a credit card that won't lower a high rate? | Go where your money is treated best. If you can lower your APR, great. It should help a little bit with getting a mortgage if you can reduce your payment. Your debt-to-income ratio would go down. |
How do amortization schedules work and when are they used? | Both Credit Card and Mortgage work on same principle. The interest is calculated on the remaining balance. As the balance reduces the interest reduces. The Mortgage schedule is calculated with the assumption that you would be paying a certain amount over a period of years. However if you pay more, then the balance bec... |
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