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Why buy a vertical spread if I could instead buy a naked call? | Question: are you saying that buying a call is better than buying a vertical spread regardless of fees, or only because of fees? If the former, you are saying that buying a call and selling a vertical spread will always be profitable, which effectively means you're going short an out-of-the-money call. While that's a g... |
Pay off car loan entirely or leave $1 until the end of the loan period? | a link to this article grabbed my Interest as I was browsing the site for something totally unrelated to finance. Your question is not silly - I'm not a financial expert, but I've been in your situation several times with Carmax Auto Finance (CAF) in particular. A lot of people probably thought you don't understand ho... |
In the stock market, why is the “open” price value never the same as previous day's “close”? | Nobody has mentioned the futures market yet. Although the stock market closes at 4pm, the futures market continues trading 24 hours a day and 5.5 days a week. Amongst the products that trade in the future market are stock index futures. That includes the Dow Jones, the S&P 500. These are weighted averages of stocks an... |
Does a company's stock price give any indication to or affect their revenue? | Most of stock trading occurs on what is called a secondary market. For example, Microsoft is traded on NASDAQ, which is a stock exchange. An analogy that can be made is that of selling a used car. When you sell a used car to a third person, the maker of your car is unaffected by this transaction and the same goes for s... |
Are credit cards not viewed as credit until you miss one payment? | This does not directly address the question, but how the Bank views your behaviour is not the same as a credit reporting bureau. If you do not "go deep" on your card at all, you may be deemed not to be exercising the facility, indeed they may ask you to reduce your credit limit. This is not the same as "missing a paym... |
Do I purchase stocks or not? | You didn't give enough information. What is your goal? What is your financial situation? A discount to buy company stock can seem very tempting. I was tempted by it myself, gee, almost 20 years ago. I still own some of the stock. But I held mutual funds first. There are two disadvantages that have disuaded me fr... |
Principal 401(k) managed fund fees, wow. What can I do? | The expense fees are high, and unfortunate. I would stop short of calling it criminal, however. What you are paying for with your expenses is the management of the holdings in the fund. The managers of the fund are actively, continuously watching the performance of the holdings, buying and selling inside the fund in a... |
How can I legally and efficiently help my girlfriend build equity by helping with a mortgage? | Have her pay something like a friendly monthly rent. This should be less than half of the monthly mortgage cost, since you are assuming the risk (and benefits) of a mortgage and closer to the rent of similar places near you. For when you get married and she is to have half the apartment, have a pre-agreed way to calcul... |
What are the best software tools for personal finance? | For Mac it's definitely iFinance. |
Is foreign stock considered more risky than local stock and why? | In addition to @MD-tech's answer: I'd distinguish between stock of a foreign company traded in local currency at a local exchange from the same stock traded in the foreign currency at a foreign exchange (and maybe with a foreign bank holding your accounts). The latter option will typically have higher variation because... |
What will happen when a bid price is higher than an ask price? | It depends on the sequence in which the order [bid and ask] were placed. Please read the below question to understand how the order are matched. How do exchanges match limit orders? |
How and Should I Invest (As a college 18 year old with minimal living expenses)? | While others have made a good case for how you may want to save and spend I just want to take a moment to comment on Acorn and Robinhood. Having never used either of them, I would stick to the seasoned professionals for my long term investment relationship. I'm sure they have the right licensing and proper SIPC covera... |
How is options implied volatility for a stock determined? | There are a few different "kinds" of implied volatility. They are all based on the IVs obtained from the option pricing model you use. (1) Basically, given a few different values (current stock price, time until expiration, right of option, exercise style, strike of the option, interest rates, dividends, etc), you can ... |
Options for dummies. Can you explain how puts & calls work, simply? | I'm normally a fan of trying to put all the relevant info in an answer when possible, but this one's tough to do in one page. Here's the best way, by far to learn the basics: The OIC (Options Industry Council) has a great, free website to teach investors at all levels about options. You can set up a learning path th... |
How do I interpret these income tax numbers for Chinese public company Dangdang Inc. (DANG)? | It was not taxed in the previous years because it wasn't in profit. The amount for 2010 is more due to accounting treatment, on account of "Deferred Domestic Income Tax". The figures are at http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/DANG/tab/7.2 You can search for a better understanding of Deferred Domestic Income Tax, a brief explan... |
Is the need to issue bonds a telltale sign that the company would have a hard time paying coupons? | Apple is currently the most valuable company in the world by market capitalisation and it has issued bonds for instance. Amazon have also issued bonds in the past as have Google. One of many reasons companies may issue bonds is to reduce their tax bill. If a company is a multinational it may have foreign earnings that ... |
What is the benefit of investing in retirement plan versus investing directly in stocks yourself? | @Victor above has provided a very good answer, I shall try and highlight some differences. The differences are specific to a country, however, it does offer some insight regarding the difference between investing in retirement fund vis-a-vis investing in stock directly: In many countries the retirement fund is mandated... |
Early Exercise and 83(b) Election | I assume I can/will need to file an 83(b) election, in order to avoid tax repercussions? What exactly will this save me from? 83(b) election is for restricted stock grants, not for stock purchases. For restricted stocks, you generally pay income tax when they vest. For startups the price difference between the time o... |
How to learn about doing technical analysis? Any suggested programs or tools that teach it? | Recommended? There's really no perfect answer. You need to know the motivations of the participants in the markets that you will be participating in. For instance, the stock market's purpose is to raise capital (make as much money as possible), whereas the commodities-futures market's purpose is to hedge against produc... |
Bank denying loan after “subject-to” appraisal: What to do? | The first red-flag here is that an appraisal was not performed on an as-is basis - and if it could not be done, you should be told why. Getting an appraisal on an after-improvement basis only makes sense if you are proposing to perform such improvements and want that factored in as a basis of the loan. It seems very bi... |
Is my mortgage more likely to be sold if I pre-pay principal? | It's not unusual/undesirable. If everyone prepaid their mortgage, banks would not like this, but we're in no danger of that :). Also, the amount you are pre-paying is not so significant as to make them pay special attention. In many cases when a borrower pre-pays, they will not continue to do so over the life of the lo... |
Why is early exercise generally not recommended for an in-the-money option? | The crucial insight is that the alternative to early exercise of an American call is not necessarily to hold it to expiry, but to sell it. And selling it, at its value, is always better than exercising it. Note that this holds only for options on assets that don't pay dividends. Here's the proof, using Put-Call-Parity... |
Can this check still be honored? [duplicate] | You could talk to them, but (assuming you're in the U.S.), it's highly doubtful any bank would honor a check from 26 years ago. Most checks in the U.S. are only valid for 180 days, mainly to help companies and banks keep accounting simple. I would suggest talking to your late husband's former employer. Explain the si... |
What are the marks of poor investment advice? | If you see something that looks like a sales pitch, be skeptical, even if they sound informed, say things which resonate with your concerns and promise to alleviate your problems. Watch out in particular for people who pontificate about matters which are tangentially related to the investment (e.g. populist anti-Wall-S... |
Does a larger down payment make an offer stronger? | First, let me say that you have to take everything your agent says with a grain of salt. Freakonomics had a great article that discussed the math behind the motivation of the real estate agent. It described the home seller, trying to get, say $400K. On a 6% commission, the $24K is destined to be split between seller r... |
Tax me more: Can I pay extra to the government so I don't have to deal with all this paperwork? | Currently, the answer is no, you cannot get out of filing a tax return. As noted in the comments, if you want to pay more to get out of the drudgery of working on your return, you can pay an accountant to do it for you. You are not alone in thinking that the current income tax system in the U.S. is overly complicated.... |
What are my options to deal with Student Loan debt collectors? | Never speak to a debt collector. Ask them to stop calling you and STOP talking to them. Communicate only via postal mail. Do not react in an emotional way, do not use foul language, etc. If they call you and attempt to harass or intimidate you, note the date/time, name of the caller and nature of the call. Ask them to ... |
Is there a reason to buy a 0% yield bond? | 0% bonds are desirable for some individuals. It depends on your situation. 0% bonds are usually sold well below par value (eg a 100$ face value bond for 2020 might sell for 90$ today) Hence, your gains will be CAPITAL GAINS. A similar investment paying interest would be taxed as INCOME, and smaller portion of capital g... |
Dealer Financing Fell Through on vehicle purchase: Scam? | There's a good explanation of this type of scam at the following link; It's known as a Spot-Delivery scam. https://www.carbuyingtips.com/top-10-scams/scam1.htm Also, I read this one a while back, and immediately this post reminded me of it: http://oppositelock.kinja.com/when-the-dealership-steals-back-the-car-they-just... |
If I want a Credit Card offered through a different Credit Union should I slowly transition my banking to that CU? | No. There's no inherent reason to link the place that you bank with any other financial service. There may occasionally be benefits; for instance you can sometime get lower rates on mortgages or loans by having a a checking account with an institution. Or perhaps it'll be easier for you to make a same-day payment on a ... |
After Hours S&P 500 | My original answer contained a fundamental error: it turns out that it is not true that any exchange can create its own product to track any underlying index. If the underlying index is copyrighted (such as the S&P indices, Russell indices, Dow Jones indices, etc.) then the exchange must enter into a licensing agreeme... |
Theoretically, if I bought more than 50% of a company's stocks, will I own the company? | You'll own whatever fraction you bought. To own the company (as in, boolean - yes or no) you need to buy 100% of the outstanding stock. RE controlling the company, in general the answer is yes - although the mechanism for this might not be so straight forward (ie. you may have to appoint board members and may only be a... |
What one bit of financial advice do you wish you could've given yourself five years ago? | I wish I had learned my lesson from the dot com bubble before I took a piece of the housing bubble. |
How to pay with cash when car shopping? | Ask the dealer to drive to the bank with you, if they really want cash. |
How can I stop a merchant from charging a credit card processing fee? | This might not be the answer you are looking for, but the alternative to "don't patronize these merchants" is this: DO patronize these merchants, and pay cash. Credit cards are convenient. (I use a credit card often.) However, there is no denying that they cost the merchants an incredible amount in fees, and that o... |
First Time Home Buyer - How much down payment? Where to go for Mortgage? | You are correct that 20% has an impact on your interest rate, although it is not always hugely significant. You would have to do your own shopping around to find that information out. However 20% has an impact that I consider to be far more important than your monthly payment, and that is in your equity. If the DC m... |
New car price was negotiated as a “cash deal”. Will the price change if I finance instead? | Yes, he can retract the offer - it was a cash-only offer, and if you're financing, it's no longer "cash". Unless, of course, you get the financing through your local bank / credit union, and they hand you a check (like on a personal loan). Then it's still cash. However, the salesman can still retract the offer unless i... |
US Double Taxation - Business Trips and the Foreign Tax Credit | If you're a US citizen, money earned while in the US is sourced to the US. So you can't apply FTC/FEIE to the amounts attributable to the periods of your work while in the US even if it is a short business trip. Tax treaties may affect this. Most tax treaties have explicit provisions to exclude short trips from the sou... |
Why do US retirement funds typically have way more US assets than international assets? | You need growth in your retirement fund. Sad to say but the broad U.S. marks still has better growth perspective than the emerging markets. Look at China they are only at 6.7% growth for next year the same as this year. Russia's economy is shrinking. These are the other two super powers of 2015. The USA is still the b... |
Is an analyst's “price target” assumed to be for 12 months out? | I don't think you can always assume a 12-month time horizon. Sometimes, the analyst's comments might provide some color on what kind of a time horizon they're thinking of, but it might be quite vague. |
When is the right time to buy a new/emerging technology? | If you're looking for a purely financial answer (ignoring the social/environmental aspects) there are a few different ways you can look at it. For these types of improvements the simplest is a payback calculation. How long would it take you to recoup the initial costs? For example, if the entire installation cost $5... |
As a total beginner, how do I begin to understand finance & stocks? | Your questions seek answers to specifics, but I feel that you may need more general help. There are two things, I feel, that you need to learn about in the general category of personal finance. Your asking questions about investing, but it is not as important, IMHO, as how you manage your day-to-day operations. For ... |
Relative Strength Index: Yahoo vs Google Finance | Google's RSI is using a 10 period on 2 minute bars - i.e. it is based upon the last 20 minutes of data. Yahoo's RSI is using a 14 period lookback on an undetermined timeframe (you could maybe mouse-over and see what incremental part of the chart is giving) and given the "choppier" price chart, probably 30 second or 1 m... |
How can small children contribute to the “family economy”? | @MrChrister - Savings is a great idea. Coudl also give them 1/2 the difference, rather than the whole difference, as then you both get to benefit... Also, a friend of mine had the Bank of Dad, where he'd keep his savings, and Dad would pay him 100% interest every year. Clearly, this would be unsustainable after a while... |
Upward Spike in US Treasuries despite S&P Downgrade in August 2011 | The only resources or references you need are a chart showing you what happened in those months. The exuberance for US treasuries comes from the fact that there are no better options than them for putting cash. There are better sovereign debt instruments around the world depending on your goals, but they do not offer t... |
Considering buying a house in town with few major employers (economic stability) | It seems pretty clear to me that one of two things will happen regarding your local housing market: Personally, I'd hold out until either 1 or 2 happens, and then buy. (Assuming you plan to stay in your town regardless.) If you wait you'll end up with either a stronger investment or a big discount. |
What could be the best tax saving option before a month of financial year end | I was thinking to do mix of ELSS and Tax Saving FDs. But is my choice correct? Also what other options I am left with? This depends on individual's choice and risk appetite. Generally at younger age, investment in ELSS / PPF is advisable. Other options are Life Insurance, Retirement Plans by Mutual Funds, NSC, etc |
Travel expenses for an out-of-state rental | While the question is very localized, I'll answer about the general principle. My main question is with how far away it is (over 1000 miles), how do I quantify the travel expenses? Generally, "necessary and ordinary" expenses are deductible. This is true for business and also true for rentals. But what is necessary a... |
How to read a mutual fund spec sheet? | The 0.14% is coming out of the assets of the fund itself. The expense ratio can be broken down so that on any given day, a portion of the fund's assets are set aside to cover the administrative cost of running the fund. A fund's total return already includes the expense ratio. This depends a lot on what kind of account... |
Why do banks finance shared construction as mortgages instead of financing it directly and selling the apartments in a building? | You seem to underestimate the risk of this deal for the inverstors. A person purchasing a residence is happy to pay $70K instead of $150K now, and the only risk they take is that the construction company fails to build the condo. Whatever happens on the estate market in two years, they still saved the price difference ... |
Why are capital gains taxed at a lower rate than normal income? | I think this question is very nearly off-topic for this site, but I also believe that a basic understanding of the why the tax structure is what it is can help someone new to investing to understand their actual tax liability. The attempt at an answer I provide below is from a Canadian & US context, but should be simil... |
What's the difference between a high yield dividend stock vs a growth stock? | The general difference between high dividend paying stocks and growth stocks is as follows: 1) A high dividend paying stock/company is a company that has reached its maximum growth potential in a market and its real growth (that is after adjustment of inflation) is same (more or less) as the growth of the economy. Thes... |
Tracking down stocks I own | My best answer is to simply fish out that old email account. DumbCoder makes a good point - the company whose shares you own can probably figure out what brokerage firm is holding the shares, but it'd take a lot on their end. Honestly you're better off just hitting up random brokerage firms until you find the right one... |
What happens to class action awards for a stock in an IRA? | In most cases, if you are a member of the class the law-firm will contact you via postal mail to notify you of the class action and give you an opportunity to opt-in or opt-out of participating in any settlement that happens. More often than not, they take the opt-out approach, meaning that if you don't say you want o... |
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.) |
How to determine how much to charge your business for rent (in your house)? | It depends on the structure of your business. Are you a sole proprietor filing Schedule C on your 1040, or an S-corp, or part of a partnership? The treatment of a home office will differ depending on business entity. |
gift is taxable but is “loan” or “debt” taxable? | (a) you give away your money - gift tax The person who receives the gift doesn't owe any tax. If you give it out in small amounts, there will be no gift tax. It could have tax and Estate issues for you depending on the size of the gift, the timing, and how much you give away in total. Of course if you give it away to... |
My boss wants to buy me a gift. How do I account for taxes for this? | Gifts given and received between business partners or employers/employees are treated as income, if they are beyond minimal value. If your boss gives you a gift, s/he should include it as part of your taxable wages for payroll purposes - which means that some of your wages should be withheld to cover income, social sec... |
Bi-weekly payment option | One point that I don't see covered in the other answers yet: How does this affect the months that have 5 weeks. Do we actually lose two weeks a year? I get paid every two weeks, and pay day is always a Friday. Some months, I get paid 3 times - which is always great. If you live within your means, it's like an extra p... |
Most common types of financial scams an individual investor should beware of? | Cosigning on a loan. More broadly any exchange of value between family members or friends. Despite good intentions, these often go awry. |
Is selling put options an advisable strategy for a retiree to generate stable income? | No. In good years, the income seems free. In a down year, particularly a bad one, the investor will be subject to large losses that will prove the strategy a bad one. On the other hand, one often hears of the strategy of selling puts on stock you would like to own. If the stock rises, you keep the premium, if it drop... |
When should I walk away from my mortgage? | Very few people's credit is worth $100,000. The average homeowner's credit (family of four with good to very good credit) is worth about $30,000. This is a pure business decision. The bank knew the law when they extended the mortgage to you, and part of the amount they're charging you goes to cover the risk that you mi... |
Do credit ratings (by Moody's, S&P, and Fitch) have any relevance? | They've pretty much shot any credibility they possessed. Follow the money. |
When buying a call option, is the financial stability of the option writer relevant? | Exchange traded options are issued in a way that there is no counter party risk. Consider, stocks and options are held in street name. So, for example, if I am short and you are long shares, no matter what happens on my end, your shares are yours. To be complete, it's possible to enter into a direct deal, where you h... |
How is not paying off mortgage better in normal circumstances? | There are several reasons: |
Can paying down a mortgage be considered an “investment”? | I think there are a few facets to this, namely: Overall, I wouldn't concentrate on paying off the house if I didn't have any other money parked and invested, but I'd still try to get rid of the mortgage ASAP as it'll give you more money that you can invest, too. At the end of the day, if you save out paying $20k in int... |
One of my stocks dropped 40% in 2 days, how should I mentally approach this? | Did you read Soichiro Honda's biography? He is the founder of Honda Motor. His plant was destroyed by an earthquake, and then he proceeded to build another factory which, as World War II broke out, was lost again with his money, and many of his friends', but he started again. |
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... |
If the U.S. defaults on its debt, what will happen to my bank money? | I have been through default in Ukraine august 1998. That was a real nightmare. The financial system stopped working properly for 1 month, about 30% of businesses went bankrupt because of chain effect, significant inflation and devaluation of currency. So, it is better to be prepared, because this type of processes resu... |
Should I have a higher credit limit on my credit card? | I wouldn't say you should have any particular limit, but it can't hurt to have a higher limit. I'd always accept the increase when offered, and feel free to request it sometimes, just make sure you find out if it will be a hard or soft inquiry, and pass on the hard inquires. From my own experience, there doesn't seem t... |
Is stock trading based more on luck than poker playing? | This depends strongly on what you mean by "stock trading". It isn't a single game, but a huge number of games grouped under a single name. You can invest in individual stocks. If you're willing to make the (large) effort needed to research the companies and their current position and potentialities, this can yield lar... |
Do altcoin trades count as like-kind exchanges? (Deferred capital gains tax) | Like-kind of exchanges have a list of requirements. The IRS has not issued formal guidance in the matter. I recommend to be aggressive and claim the exchange, while justifying it with a good analogy to prove good faith (and persuade the IRS official reading it the risk of losing in tax court would be to high). Worst ca... |
Should I use regular or adjusted close for backtesting? | A one year period of study - Stock A trades at $100, and doesn't increase in value, but has $10 in dividends over the period. Stock B starts at $100, no dividend, and ends at $105. However you account for this, it would be incorrect to ignore stock A's 10% return over the period. To flip to a real example, MoneyChimp... |
Saving for a non-necessity | The same as you would save for anything else, buget and make sure your expenses are less than your income each week. Put away a little each week for the item you want to buy, and when you have saved up enough for the item you can buy it. In the mean time whilst you are saving for it, you can shop around to see where yo... |
Why is there some latency between the time a check deposit was processed and when one can withdraw the money on Fidelity CMAs? | Every bank and credit union in the US has a Deposit Agreement and Disclosures document, Bank of America is no different. Our general policy is to make funds from your cash and check deposits available to you no later than the first business day after the day of your deposit. However, in some cases we place a hold ... |
A friend wants to use my account for a wire transfer. Is this a scam or is it legitimate? | I know people who work in the gulf and most contracts are of the 14 days on/ 14 days (or so) off flavor. I've never heard of someone being onboard a ship or platform for a year. I bet this is a scam. |
Advice for college student: Should I hire a financial adviser or just invest in index funds? | Two things to consider: When it comes to advice, don't be "Penny wise and Pound foolish". It is an ongoing debate whether active management vs passive indexes are a better choice, and I am sure others can give good arguments for both sides. I look at it as you are paying for advice. If your adviser will teach you about... |
Saving $1,000+ per month…what should I do with it? | Daniel, first of all, I'm jealous of your predicament. That said, I think you've gotten some good advice already, so I won't repeat what's been said. But I will throw out a few ideas that haven't come up. My first thought is that you may be underestimating upcoming expenses. It sounds like your current expenses are... |
What software do you recommend for Creating a To-The-Penny, To-The-Day Budget? | I wrote a little program one time to try to do this. I think I wrote it in Python or something. The idea was to have a list of "projected expenses" where each one would have things like the amount, the date of the next transaction, the frequency of the transaction, and so on. The program would then simulate time, det... |
When investing, is the risk/reward tradeoff linear? | The risk-reward relation depends on what you are changing. In the most cases people ask about, it is not linear but I will give examples of both. Nonlinear case 1: As you diversify your portfolio, the firm-specific risks of various stocks cancel each other out without necessarily affecting the expected return of the p... |
Analysis of Valuation-Informed Indexing? | My reaction to this is that your observation @D.W. is spot on correct: It sounds like long-term market timing: trying to do a better job than the rest of the market at predicting, based upon a simple formula, whether the market is over-priced or under-priced. I read the post by the founder of Valuation Informed Ind... |
Resources to begin trading from home? | As JoeTaxpayer has commented, the markets are littered with the carcasses of those who buy into the idea that markets submit readily to formal analysis. Financial markets are amongst the most complex systems we know of. To borrow a concept from mathematics - that of a chaotic system - one might say that financial ma... |
How to invest in gold at market value, i.e. without paying a markup? | I agree that there is no reliable way to buy gold for less than spot, no more than there is for any other commodity. However, you can buy many things below market from motivated sellers. That is why you see so many stores buying gold now. It will be hard to find such sellers now with the saturation of buyers, but if... |
Are there any disadvantages to DHA Investment Properties? | Along with the above reasons, the fact that DHA are under investigation by the Federal Police, should be a red flag to any potential investor. The Federal Police aren't called in over parking fines. The rules that are in place for effective and appropriate management appear to have been compromised. I would like to se... |
Do rental car agencies sell their cars at a time when it is risky for the purchaser? | I've been told by staff in my local car hire agency that they get such big discounts that they actually make money selling the cars, so they replace all their cars every six months (in the UK the number plate indicates when the car was registered, in six month periods). This suits the manufacturers, because it means th... |
UK: Personal finance book for a twenty-something | I will definitely recommend the following books The above books will open lot of eyes to exactly know what you are doing with your personal finances in a day to day basis.These books will surely be in the top of my list which I will be giving away to my kins in my later stage. The concepts are universally the same, fee... |
In general, is it financially better to buy or to rent a house? | Forget, for the moment, which will pay off most over the long term. Consider risk exposure. You've said that you (hypothetically) have "little or no money": that's the deal-breaker. From a risk-management perspective, your investment portfolio would be better off diversified than with 90% of your assets in a house. Con... |
Is there data and proof that a diversified portfolio can generate higher returns than the S&P 500 Index? | Yes, a diversified portfolio can generate greater returns than the S&P 500 by going OUTSIDE it. For instance, small stocks (on average) generate higher returns than the "large caps" found in the S&P 500. So if you own a diversified portfolio of stocks, some of which are smaller (in market cap) than the typical S&P 500 ... |
Is a real estate attorney needed for builder deposit contract? | You are planning on signing a contract for, likely, hundreds of thousands of dollars, and plan on paying, likely, tens of thousands of dollars in a deposit. For a house that is not built yet. This isn't particularly unusual, lots of people do this. But, you need a lawyer. Now, before you sign anything. Your agent may b... |
Are mutual funds a good choice for a medium to low risk investment with a two year horizon? | First, you don't state where you are and this is a rather global site. There are people from Canada, US, and many other countries here so "mutual funds" that mean one thing to you may be a bit different for someone in a foreign country for one point. Thanks for stating that point in a tag. Second, mutual funds are me... |
Tax me more: Can I pay extra to the government so I don't have to deal with all this paperwork? | Actually, if you don't care about paying a bit more, either hire an accountant and dump the paper on them, or (may be cheaper but a bit more work) spring for tax software. Modern tax programs can often download most of your data directly. If you don't care about claiming deductions you can skip a lot of the rest. I'm p... |
Book capital losses in gnucash | According to the gnucash guide, losses are recorded as negative transactions against Income:Capital Gains. I've followed this model in the past when dealing with stocks and commodities. If on the other hand, you're talking about an asset which could normally follow a depreciation schedule, you might want to look at t... |
Has anyone compared an in-person Tax Advisor to software like Turbo Tax? | Generally speaking no person or program is really going to be able to help you lower your current tax burden, most tax decisions are done well before you reach the tax time. You either qualify for the deduction/credit or your don't. Where a good accountant will really be able to help you out is in planning that will li... |
What's the best application, software or tool that can be used to track time? | Time Tracker I'm a software engineer and have been using this tool. It is free and has a good user interface. I believe it can very well be used by professional of other areas too. It does support the features that you're looking for regarding project and task tracking. |
What does a well diversified self-managed investment portfolio look like? | Diversification is spreading your investments around so that one point of risk doesn't sink your whole portfolio. The effect of having a diversified portfolio is that you've always got something that's going up (though, the corollary is that you've also always got something going down... winning overall comes by pickin... |
New to Stock Trading | Investopedia got some good tutorials on stocks and a good simulator to play around without loosing hard earned money. http://www.investopedia.com/university/stocks/ http://www.investopedia.com/simulator/ |
Is there a time limit to cover an open short position? [duplicate] | There are situations where you can be forced to cover a position, particular when "Reg SHO" ("regulation sho") is activated. Reg SHO is intended to make naked short sellers cover their position, it is to prevent abusive failure to delivers, where someone goes short without borrowing someone else's shares. Naked shortin... |
Why ever use a market order? | What you are saying is a very valid concern. After the flash crash many institutions in the US replaced "true market orders" (where tag 40=1 and has no price) with deep in the money limit orders under the hood, after the CFTC-SEC joint advisory commission raised concerns about the use of market orders in the case of l... |
Employer options when setting up 401k for employees | If you were looking to maximize your ability to save in a qualified plan, why not setup a 401K plan in Company A and keep the SEP in B? Setup the 401K in A such that any employee can contribute 100% of their salary. Then take a salary for around 19K/year (assuming under age 50), so you can contribute and have enough t... |
What one bit of financial advice do you wish you could've given yourself five years ago? | When I was contracting I wish I had joined a tax efficient umbrella organisation rather than just work as a sole trader. I also wish I had put money aside to pay my taxes rather than just spend it all. :( |
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