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Variable Annuity inside a Roth IRA? What is this and how can I switch it to something else?
This answer is provided mostly to answer your question "what is it?" A variable annuity is a contract between you and an insurance company. The insurance company takes a bunch of money up front as a lump sum, and will pay you some money yearly - like earning interest. (In this case, they will probably be paying you the...
Can a company donate to a non-profit to pay for services arranged for before hand?
Donations need to be with no strings attached. In this case, you make the cash donation, a deduction, and then they pay you, in taxable income. It's a wash. Why not just give them the service for free? Otherwise this is just money going back and forth.
How to send money from europe to usa EUR - USD?
The website http://currencyfair.com/ provides a service which gives you both a decent exchange rate (about 1% off from mid-market rate) and a moderately low fee for the transfer: 4 USD for outgoing ACH in the US, 10 USD for same-day US wire. For the reverse (sending money from the US to EU) the fees are: 3 EUR for an A...
Can you step up your cost basis indefinitely via the 0% capital gains rate?
Your real question, "why is this not discussed more?" is intriguing. I think the media are doing a better job bringing these things into the topics they like to ponder, just not enough, yet. You actually produced the answer to How are long-term capital gains taxed if the gain pushes income into a new tax bracket? so y...
When a stock price goes down, does the money just disappears into thin air?
Cash changes hands when you buy or sell the stock. While you own the stock, you own it, not cash, so there is no cash to go anywhere. You spent your money when you bought. The seller got that money. It's gone. You hope that when you sell the stock, someone will give you more money for it than you spent. But they may gi...
Remitting Money To India Towards Home Loan Repayment
If you are still Indian Citizen for Tax purposes, then all your Global Income is taxable [There are certain exemption if you are in certain professions]. So even if you transfer or not transfer the funds to India, it is taxable in India. If you are getting a per day allowance, its exempt, this has to be looked more as ...
Shared groceries expenses between roommates to be divided as per specific consumption ratio and attendance
I asked how often grocery purchases are made in a comment, but I'm going to assume weekly for simplicity. If a roommate is present during the week following a grocery purchase, then they owe a share according to their preferences as you outlined them above. You will have to track the grocery cost by category for that w...
Would the effects of an anticipated default by a nation be mostly symbolic?
It's only symbolic if things continue as if nothing had happened. Once large segments of people start becoming poor, it ceases to be symbolic and starts becoming real. Will a Greek default be felt in the US? Hard to say, but probably not. Will it be felt in Greece? You bet it will.
Why are American-style options worth more than European-style options?
I'm sorry, but your math is wrong. You are not equally likely to make as much money by waiting for expiration. Share prices are moving constantly in both directions. Very rarely does any stock go either straight up or straight down. Consider a stock with a share price of $12 today. Perhaps that stock is a bad buy, ...
Found an old un-cashed paycheck. How long is it good for? What to do if it's expired?
In the UK the official rule is that a cheque is valid for 3 years from the date it was wrote. However after 3 months some banks can choose to turn them down. I had a cheque once that was a year old which is when I looked it up to see whether it was stil valid, and I found the laws regarding it then. I was actually qui...
Why do consultants or contractors make more money than employees?
Contractors earn less. Especially the people that are hired under them. They usually have no education, and base pay; long hours and hard work.
Why do stock prices of retailers not surge during the holidays?
That's a pretty good question for a six-year-old! In addition to the good answers which point out that expectations are priced in, let's deny the premises of the question: Sales do not increase the value of a company; a company could be, for example, losing money on every sale. Share prices are (at least in theory) cor...
As a 22-year-old, how risky should I be with my 401(k) investments?
As a 22 year old planning for your financial life, it is obvious to say that saving as much as you can to invest for the long run is the smartest thing to do from a financial point of view. In general, at this point, aged 22, you can take as much risk as you'll ever will. You're investing for the very long term (+30/+...
Why would anyone want to pay off their debts in a way other than “highest interest” first?
This is a slightly different reason to any other answer I have seen here about irrationality and how being rationally aware of one's irrationality (in the future or in different circumstances) can lead you to make decisions which on the face of it seem wrong. First of all, why do people sometimes maintain balances on h...
Responsible investing - just a marketing trick?
You are correct that, barring an equity capital raise, your money doesn't actually end up in the company. However, interest in their stock can help a company in other ways; Management/board members hopefully own shares or options themselves, thus knowing that "green" policies are favorable for the stock price (as your ...
Why are for-a-fee wires faster than 2+ day free ACH
ACH transfers are the evolution of paper check clearing houses. Transactions are conducted in bulk and do not immediately settle -- the drawer and drawee still retain liability for a period of days or weeks after the transaction date. (I'd suggest looking to the legal definition of a check or draft to understand this b...
Does borrowing from my 401(k) make sense in my specific circumstance?
I completely agree with Pete that a 401(k) loan is not the answer, but I have an alternate proposal: Reduce your 401(k) contribution down to the 4% that you get a match on. If you are cash poor now and have debts to be cleaned up, those need to be addressed before retirement savings. You'll have plenty of time to mak...
What are the reasons to get more than one credit card?
Many reasons mentioned already. The reason why I have multiple is missing: I have a personal card for my private use and a company card for company use.
Why is the stock market price for a share always higher than the earnings per share?
Imagine a stock where the share price equals the earnings per share. You pay say $100 for a share. In the next year, the company makes $100 per share. They can pay a $100 dividend, so now you have your money back, and you still own the share. Next year, they make $100 per share, pay a $100 dividend, so now you have yo...
Understanding the phrase “afford to lose” better
The advice to "Only invest what you can afford to lose" is good advice. Most people should have several pots of money: Checking to pay your bills; short term savings; emergency fund; college fund; retirement. When you think about investing that is the funds that have along lead time: college and retirement. It is never...
Can I claim a tax deduction for working from home as an employee? I work there 90% of the time
90% sounds like "principal place of business" but check these IRS resources to make sure.
What expenses do most people not prepare for that turn into “emergencies” but are not covered by an Emergency Fund?
The way you ask this is interesting, it implies (quite correctly) that for many, an annual bill for house insurance, property tax, etc, can turn into an emergency. My answer to the true emergency is a breakage that can't be foreseen (although you have to know the furnace isn't going to last forever) or a medical bill t...
How do I analyse moving averages?
If you are going to be a long term investor you are only going to buy and hold. You will not sell. Thus future price is not relevant. Only dividend payout is relevant. Divide the dividend by the price you paid to get the yeald. Edit: once again the sitesite will not allow me to add a comment, so I have to edit a prev...
Most common types of financial scams an individual investor should beware of?
In the case of an investment strategy, if you don't retain custodianship over your funds, or at least determine who is the custodian, then walk away. You should be able to get accurate account statements from a trustworthy third party at all times.
How much is inflation?
Nobel laureate economist, Paul Krugman, wrote a piece many moons ago about economic expansion and money supply. As an illustration of how money supply affects the economy, he used the example of a baby-sitting co-op. While simplistic, it provides an easy to grasp notion of how printing money and restricting it (e.g. ...
What emergencies could justify a highly liquid emergency fund?
Since no one else mentioned it, there are sometimes amazing deals that require being the first person to take advantage of them. I'm not talking about black Friday sales, I'm talking about the woman who decided to sell the Porsche (she had bought for her cheating husband) for $1000. You might not run into those types o...
Can I claim a tax deduction for working from home as an employee? I work there 90% of the time
The short answer is yes you probably can take the deduction for a home office because the space is used exclusively and you are working there for the convenience of your employer if you don't have a desk at your employers office. The long answer is that it may not be worth it to take the home office deduction as an emp...
Is paying off your mortage a #1 personal finance priority?
Generally, paying down your mortgage is a bad idea. Mortgages have very low interest rates and the interest is tax deductable. If you have a high interest mortgage, or PMI, you might consider it, but otherwise, your money is better off in some sort of index fund. On the other hand, if your choices are paying down a mor...
How can a person with really bad credit history rent decent housing?
This tale makes me sad the more I learn of it. I am impressed with your dedication and caring for your ex-wife and particularly your kids; you seem like a good person from your questions. But you are tired and exasperated too. You have every right to be. The problem isn't how this woman can rent a new apartment (whi...
Why don't SPY, SPX, and the e-mini s&p 500 track perfectly with each other?
The S&P 500 is an index. This refers to a specific collection of securities which is held in perfect proportion. The dollar value of an index is scaled arbitrarily and is based off of an arbitrary starting price. (Side note: this is why an index never has a "split"). Lets look at what assumptions are included in the pr...
Naked calls and buying the stock later
Has anyone done this before? I'm sure someone has, but it doesn't completely remove any price risk. Suppose you buy it at 10 and it drops to 5? Then you've lost 5 on the stock and have no realized gain on the option (although you could buy back the option cheaply and exist the position). To completely remove price ri...
Double-entry bookkeeping: When selling an asset, does the money come from, Equity or Income?
Selling an asset is not earning income. You are basically moving value from one asset (the laptop) to another (your bank account.) So you reduce the equity that is "value of all my electronics" and you increase the asset that is your bank account. In your case, you never entered the laptop in some category called "valu...
Conservative ways to save for retirement?
I'd say that because you are young, even the 'riskier' asset classes are not as risky as you think, for example, assuming conservatively that you only have 30 years to retirement, investing in stocks index might be a good option. In short term share prices are volatile and prone to bull and bear cycles but given enough...
How to read Google Finance data on dividends
The dividend is for a quarter of the year, three months. 80 cents is 3.9% of $20.51. Presumably the Div/yield changes as the stock price changes. On Yahoo, they specify that the yield is based on a particular stated date. So it's only the exact number if the stock trades at the price on that date.
Should I pay off my 50K of student loans as quickly as possible, or steadily? Why?
I recently paid-off $40k in student loan debt. One of the motivations for me to accelerate my payments was that over time, as my income increased, the amount of student loan interest I could write-off on taxes started to phase-out.
Why did the Swiss National Bank fix the EUR/CHF exchange rate at CHF 1.20?
As the European crisis worsened the Swiss Franc (CHF) was seen as a safe currency so Europeans attempted to exchange their Euros for Francs. This caused the Franc to appreciate in value, against the Euro, through the summer and fall of 2011. The Swiss government and Swiss Central Bank (SNB) believe mercantilism will ...
Why certain currencies are considered safe havens in times of turmoil
Switzerland is presumably where one moves the money in case of an apocalypse; although, they have lost some of that appeal now with the tax reporting to the EU and USA. Switzerland has a very old, stable banking industry, but this isn't the only appeal. Their reputation for safeguarding money, be it despot or Nazi, is...
Can a buy market order be matched with a sell market order in Forex trading?
Based on my research while asking How are unmarketable market orders (other side of the order book is empty) matched with incoming orders? and the one answer there, it seems like there are a few things for certain: All of this of course depends on the exact algorithm specified by the given exchange - I don't think ther...
At what point should I begin paying off student loans?
All great answers. The only thing I didn't see mentioned was that student loans are not dischargable in a bankruptcy. So for example if you took money that could have gone to student loans and poured it into other debt, then for some reason declared bankruptcy later, your student load debt would remain while other debt...
How does historical data get adjusted for dividends, exactly?
If you download the historical data from Yahoo, you will see two different close prices. The one labeled 'Close' is simply the price that was quoted on that particular day. The one labeled 'Adj Close' is the close price that has been adjusted for any splits and dividends that have occurred after that date. For example...
Are forward curves useful tools for trading decisions and which informations can be gathered from them?
As far as trading is concerned, these forward curves are the price at which you can speculate on the future value of the commodity. Basically, if you want to speculate on gold, you can either buy the physical and store it somewhere (which may have significant costs) or you can buy futures (ETFs typically hold futures ...
Ways to get individual securities from ETF's
Save the effort. For personal finance purpose, just use the simple tools. For example, if you like P&G very much but you want to diversify with ETF, use: http://etfdb.com/stock/PG/ https://www.etfchannel.com/finder/?a=etfsholding&symbol=PG Pick a ETF with highest weighting. Replace "PG" in the link with other tickers...
How to interpret a big ask size?
Yes, but it must be remembered that these conditions only last for instants, and that's why only HFTs can take advantage of this. During 2/28/14's selloff from the invasion of Ukraine, many times, there were moments where there was overwhelming liquidity on the bid relative to the ask, but the price continued to drop.
How to transfer personal auto lease to business auto lease?
See what the contract says about transfers or subleases. A lease is a credit agreement, so the lessor may not allow transfers. You probably ought to talk to an accountant about this. You can probably recognize most of the costs associated with the car without re-financing it in another lease.
Peer to peer lending in Canada?
Yes and no, P2P Capital Markets is similar concept but is more geared towards business loans. Community Lend used to offer this service but has stopped.
Any good software for value investment?
As @littleadv and @DumbCoder point out in their comments above, Bloomberg Terminal is expensive for individual investors. If you are looking for a free solution I would recommend Yahoo and Google Finance. On the other side, if you need more financial metrics regarding historic statements and consensus estimates, you s...
Trading on forex news, Interactive Brokers / IDEALPRO, and slippage
In my experience thanks to algorithmic trading the variation of the spread and the range of trading straight after a major data release will be as random as possible, since we live in an age that if some pattern existed at these times HFT firms would take out any opportunity within nanoseconds. Remember that some firms...
The difference between Islamic Banks and Western Banks
One of the principles of Sharia Banking is (Wikipedia): Shariah prohibits what is called "Maysir" and "Gharar". Maysir is involved in contracts where the ownership of a good depends on the occurrence of a predetermined, uncertain event in the future whereas Gharar describes speculative transactions. Both concepts invol...
Can I transfer my Employee Stock Purchase Plan assets to a different broker?
I have an ESPP with E*Trade; you can transfer stock like that via a physical (paper) asset-transfer form. Look for one of those, and if you can't find it, call your brokerage (or email / whatever). You own the shares, so you can generally do what you want with them. Just be very careful about recording all the purchase...
What options do I have at 26 years old, with 1.2 million USD?
Until you get some financial education, you will be vulnerable to people wanting your money. Once you are educated, you will be able to live a tidy life off this-- which is exactly why this amount was awarded to you, rather than some other amount. They gave you enough money. This is not a lottery win. I mean "fin...
How do you measure the value of gold?
There are three aspects of what to value gold over. It doesn't easily chemically react with anything, so it stays pure over a long period of time (vs, say a bar of iron or a bar of butter). So it's valuable so far as it doesn't rot. It is shiny, and there is the historical allure of having a bag of shiny, jingly gold ...
What is a Student Loan and does it allow you to cover a wide range of expenses relating to school?
Is a student loan a type of loan or just a generic name used to refer to a loan for someone who is going back to school? A student loan from the federal government is a specific type of loan used for education purposes (i.e. attending college). They have guidelines associated with them that are very flexible as compare...
Why do people buy stocks at higher price in merger?
Without any highly credible anticipation of a company being a target of a pending takeover, its common stock will normally trade at what can be considered non-control or "passive market" prices, i.e. prices that passive securities investors pay or receive for each share of stock. When there is talk or suggestion of a p...
How to shop for mortgage rates ?
You can shop for a mortgage rate without actually submitting a mortgage application. Unfortunately, the U.S. Government has made it illegal for the banks to give you a "good faith estimate" of the mortgage cost and terms without submitting a mortgage application. On the other hand, government regulations make the "go...
Is an interest-only mortgage a bad idea?
Really the question you need to ask yourself is how much Risk you want to take in order to save a little on interest for 5 years. Rates are pretty close to a historic low, and if you have good credit you should shop around a bit to get a good ideal of what a 15 or 30 year fixed loan would go for. For people that are SU...
What to bear in mind when considering a rental home as an investment?
Real estate is not an investment but pure speculation. Rental income may make it look like an investment but if you ask some experienced investor you would be told to stay away from real estate unless it is for your own use. If you believe otherwise then please read on : Another strong reason not to buy real estate rig...
Further Understanding of Wash Sale Rules
Disallowed losses due to the wash sale rule are added to the basis of the repurchased shares. In your example, on day two you paid $0.70 per share. Then the disallowed $0.30 loss from the previous day gets added to the basis, making your total basis $1.00 per share. When you sell at the end of the day for $1.00 per sh...
Is this understanding of S-corp taxes correct?
I think you're misunderstanding how S-Corp works. Here are some pointers: I suggest you talk with a EA/CPA licensed in your state and get yourself educated on what you're getting yourself into.
How can I pay for school to finish my degree when I can't get a student loan and have bad credit?
Wesley gave a great answer and a follow up comment. Heed his advice. If you cannot make ends meet by working two jobs, either you are working very few hours or you have a spending problem. I feel it is more of a spending problem as you should have been able to complete your program and stay within the FAFSA limit. Th...
Which Novo Nordisk ticker is most tax efficient in a UK SIPP?
What I ended up doing was finding where each ticker of Novo was registered (what exchange), then individually looking up the foreign taxation rules of the containing country. Luckily, most companies only have a few tickers so this wasn't too hard in the end.
Why don't more people run up their credit cards and skip the country?
Quality of life, success and happiness are three factors that are self define by each individual. Most of the time all three factors go hand by hand with your ability to generate wealth and save. Actually, a recent study showed that there were more happy families with savings than with expensive products (car, jewelry...
I cosigned for a friend who is not paying the payment
Without all the details it's hard to tell what options you may have, but none of them are good. When you cosign you are saying that, you believe the primary signer will make good on the loan, but that if he doesn't you will. You are 100% responsible for this debt. As such, there are some actions you can take. First, r...
Buying Fixed Deposit in India from Europe
About the inflation or low interest rates in both the countries is out of the equation especially since rupee is always a low currency compared to Euro. You cannot make profit in Euros using rupee or vice-versa. It all depends on where you want to use the money, in India or Europe? If you want use the money from fixed ...
Am I responsible for an annual fee on a credit card I never picked up?
In the end, I was not required to pay the fee. After some frustrating initial attempts, I ended up writing a letter and sending a copy to card services, customer support, complaints and the legal department. It basically said: 1 - I never signed anything. 2 - I spoke to a very aggressive person at the airport who told ...
Should I have to pay income tax on contribution to home office rent from company?
This is essentially a reimbursement of your expense. Since you can deduct the expense, the fact that the reimbursement is taxable doesn't affect you much. You deduct your home office expenses on your annual tax return using form 8829. See the IRS site for more details. If you're asking about the UK tax, there may be so...
If a bank has a transfer limit, what happens if another bank pushes/pulls more than that?
If bank B has a transfer limit set, you bet that there is a nice reason for that. Either risk of fraud, liability, client preferences, profiling, credit scoring, etc, etc. For a bank, the cost of denying something [1] is way lower than the potential damages and liabilities of allowing something to go through. Regardin...
Is this investment opportunity problematic?
If you can separate the following two points, and live with them. I think you are good to go ahead. Otherwise I would seriously recommend you to reconsider. Are you willing to give out this much money help a friend assuming that you will never get it back? This is what it means to give a gift, don't let their current ...
How to find out if a company has purchased government (or other) bonds?
This is in the balance sheet, but the info is not usually that detailed. It is safe to assume that at least some portion of the cash/cash equivalents will be in liquid bonds. You may find more specific details in the company SEC filings (annual reports etc).
What amount of money can a corporation spend on entertainment
There is no simple rule like "you can/can't spend more/less than $X per person." Instead there is a reasonableness test. There is such a thing as an audit of just your travel and entertainment expenses - I know because I've had one for my Ontario corporation. I've deducted company Christmas parties, and going-away dinn...
Regarding Australian CBS takeover of TEN
they are purchasing the company" is this correct? Yes this is correct. If I purchase a "company" here in Australia, I also purchase its assets and liabilities Yes that is correct. How can it be NIL? How can it be legal? The value of shares [or shareholders] is Assets - liabilities. Generally a healthy company has Asset...
Can you step up your cost basis indefinitely via the 0% capital gains rate?
As JoeTaxpayer illustrated, yes you can. However, one thing to remember is that unless you live in a state with no state income tax, there may be state tax to pay on those gains. Even so, it's likely a good idea if you expect either your income (or the federal capital gains tax rate) to rise in the future.
What is the standard deviation and mean return of oil?
Oil as a commodity or investing in oil companies as a stock? As a commodity, I'd recommend none. The article Commodities – They Have (Almost) No Place in Your Portfolio and The Case Against Commodities explain why commodities are not good investments.
Pay off car loan entirely or leave $1 until the end of the loan period?
In some states there are significantly higher automobile insurance costs and higher coverage requirements for vehicles that have a lien on them. I suspect this is not your scenario, or you probably would not be considering holding the loan open. But it is something to consider. If you live in a state where insurance ...
Why buy stock of a company instead of the holding company who has more than 99% of the stocks
In a situation like this, I presume you'd invest in the child company if you thought that the child company would increase in value at a higher rate than the parent. You'd invest in the parent company if you thought the parent company would perform well as a whole, but you did not want to assume the risk of an individu...
How to calculate new price for bond if yield increases
Edited to incorporate the comments elsewhere of @Atkins Assuming, (apparently incorrectly) that duration is time to maturity: First, note that the question does not mention the coupon rate, the size of the regular payments that the bond holder will get each year. So let's calculate that. Consider the cash flow describ...
Is it worth trying to find a better minimum down payment for a first time home buyer?
When I first purchased my home six years ago, I was able to get into a Bank of America First Time Homebuyer program that required no down payment and no PMI. While I hope you find a lower initial payment, the banks have tightened their requirements so that buyers have "more skin in the game" so to speak. Exotic loan op...
Are there any caveats to withdrawing funds from brokerage?
Assuming a USA taxable account: Withdrawing funds from a brokerage account has nothing to do with taxes. Taxes are owed on the profit when you sell a stock, no matter what you do with the funds. Taxes are owed on any dividends the stock produces, no matter what you do with the dividend. The brokerage sends you a form 1...
Homeowners: How can you protect yourself from a financial worst-case scenario?
Honestly, the best way to manage this risk is to manage your savings appropriately. Many experts recommend that maintain a reasonably liquid account with 6-9x your minimum monthly expenses for just this occurrence. I know, easier said than done. Right? As for insurance, I can only speak for what is the case in the US. ...
Can value from labor provided to oneself be taxed?
The basis of the home is the cost of land and material. That's it. Your time isn't added to basis. No different than if you spend 1000 hours in a soup kitchen. You deduct miles for your car and expenses you can document but you can't deduct your time. Over 2 years, you could have a gain up to $500K per married couple...
At what interest rate should debt be used as a tool?
Money is a commodity like any other, and loans are a way to "buy" money. Like any other financial decision, you need to weigh the costs against the benefits. To me, I'm happy to take advantage of a 0% for six months or a modest 5-6% rate to make "capital" purchases of stuff, especially for major purchases. For example,...
Are there any banks in Europe that I can have an account without being in that country?
It can be done, but I believe it would be impractical for most people - i.e., it would likely be cheaper to fly to Europe from other side of the world to handle it in person if you can. It also depends on where you live. You should take a look if there are any branches or subsidiaries of foreign banks in your country ...
Can a custodian refuse prior-year IRA/HSA deposit postmarked April 15?
The slips from your bank for your HSA account are for an account already established and thus the bank is willing to accept your deposits even if they arrive at the bank after the April 15 deadline, as long as the postmark is April 15 or earlier. The account exists in the bank, they know who you are, and that the paym...
Alternatives to Intuit's PayTrust service for online bill viewing and bill payment?
Something you may want to consider if you are still choosing a bill-paying service is the contingency policies of the service. I just suffered an extended stay in a hospital and my officially (in writing) designated Power of Attorney was NOT granted access to my PAYTRUST account. Thus they could NOT take care of my ...
Is insurance worth it if you can afford to replace the item? If not, when is it?
Insurance is for events that are both and Unexpected and, for many people, catastrophic events are, for example, sickness, disability, death, car accidents, house fires, and burglaries, for which you may buy health, disability, life, auto, home, and renter's insurance. It may be catastrophic for a family relying on a ...
How to file tax for the sale of stocks from form 1099B?
You report each position separately. You do this on form 8949. 7 positions is nothing, it will take you 5 minutes. There's a tip on form 8949 that says this, though: For Part I (short term transactions): Note. You may aggregate all short-term transactions reported on Form(s) 1099-B showing basis was reported to the ...
Is the interest on money borrowed on margin in/for an RRSP considered tax deductible?
I believe your question is based on a false premise. First, no broker, that I know of, provides an RRSP account that is a margin account. RRSP accounts follow cash settlement rules. If you don't have the cash available, you can't buy a stock. You can't borrow money from your broker within your RRSP. If you want to bo...
If I have a home loan preapproval letter for x, can the seller know this without me explicitely telling them?
I will preface saying that I only have personal experience to go on (purchased home in KS earlier this year, and have purchased/sold a home in AR). You do not give the seller the document stating the amount you have been approved for. Your real estate agent (I recommend having one if you don't) will want to see it to m...
What options do I have at 26 years old, with 1.2 million USD?
If you were the friend of my daughter or some other "trusted" relationship, I would tell you to head on over to Bogleheads.org, follow their advice and do research there. I would advise you to aim for about a 60/40 allocation. They would advise you to make a very simple, do it yourself portfolio that could last a lif...
What would a stock be worth if dividends did not exist? [duplicate]
A share of stock is a small fraction of the ownership of the company. If you expect the company to eventually be of interest to someone who wants to engineer a merger or takeover, it's worth whatever someone is willing to pay to help make that happen or keep it from happening. Which means it will almost always track th...
Health insurance deduction on schedule C if also full time employee with w2?
Do you satisfy the necessary criteria listed there? Then why not?... It sounds like you do.
What is the purpose of endorsing a check?
The best reason for endorsing a check is in case it is lost. If the back is blank, a crooked finder could simply write "pay to the order of " on it and deposit it in his own account. You do not need a signature for the endorsement. The safest way to endorse a check is to write "FOR DEPOSIT ONLY" followed by an account ...
Tax relief on UK salary income
The broker that is issuing the moneys after vesting is more than likely deducting a notional amount of tax and NI based on UK income tax laws. If you are not a UK resident, then you should pay income tax on those stock options based on your own tax residency. Best thing to do is speak directly with the broker to explai...
Why does the Fed use PCE over CPI?
Consumers aren't the only economic participants impacted by a change in the Fed rate.... Inflation has WIDE ranging implications from the future liabilities of pension funds to the ongoing cost of our national debt. It doesn't make sense to consider only consumer inflationary experience. PCE is considered because it ...
Why invest in becoming a landlord?
The value of getting into the landlord business -- or any other business -- depends on circumstances at the time. How much will it cost you to buy the property? How much can you reasonably expect to collect in rent? How easy or difficult is it to find a tenant? Etc. I owned a rental property for about ten years and I l...
Is it better to buy a computer on my credit card, or on credit from the computer store?
Since you have a credit card, I recommend you use it for the purchase. It gets you two things at the very least: Gets the purchases reported as credit utilization. If you handle that correctly, you can improve your score Most card vendors give free extended warranty and return policies that a retailer or manufacturer d...
Why would you ever turn down a raise in salary?
It would make sense to refuse a raise when it pushes your effective marginal 'tax' (including reduced benefits) above 100%. The working poor (family of 4, 20K-40K in the US) often face marginal rates above 100% when you consider the phase out of various government benefits (EITC, insurance, housing,etc.) You can see ...
Should I make more conservative investments in my company 401(K) if I'm going to leave the job in a couple of years?
My advice would be to invest in the 401k with the same type of funds you'd purchase when you rollover to your IRA. They are both retirement accounts. If the stock market tanks, your 401k balance will be low but you'll also be purchasing stocks at a much cheaper price when you establish your roth. You should create an a...
For the first time in my life, I'm going to be making real money…what should I do with it?
If I may echo the Roth comment - The Roth is a tax designation, not an end investment, so you still need to research and decide what's appropriate. I recommend the Roth for the long term investments, but keep in mind, even if you feel you may need to tap the Roth sooner than later, all deposits may be withdrawn at any ...
What happens to personal data I disclose for joining an employee stock plan?
You aren't getting a straight answer because nobody knows why those regulations are the way they are. Everyone has to give this information to open the brokerage account or for any access to the US financial system whether it is with a bank account, or a brokerage account. Everyone also typically gives this information...
Are there any statistics that support the need for Title Insurance?
I'm really surprised at the answers here. Claims/year per region isn't a statistic that is meaningful here... you need to think about the risk factors and the purpose of the insurance. First, what does title insurance do? It protects you against defects in the deed -- defects that may crop up and mean that your mortgag...