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What is the incentive for a bank to refinance a mortgage at a lower rate?
Banks make money on load origination fees. The "points" you pay or closing costs are the primary benefit to the banks. A vast majority of the time risks associated with the mortgage are sold to another party. FYI, the same is true with investment banks. In general, the transaction costs (which are ignored by modern fin...
How much will a stock be worth after a merger?
If this is a one to one share exchange with added cash to make up the difference in value, you're getting 1 share of XYZ plus $19.20 in cash for each share of ABC. They calculated the per share price they're offering ($36) and subtracted the value of XYZ share at the time of the offer ($16.80) to get the cash part ($...
Do ETF dividends make up for fees?
It depends. Dividends and fees are usually unrelated. If the ETF holds a lot of stocks which pay significant dividends (e.g. an S&P500 index fund) these will probably cover the cost of the fees pretty readily. If the ETF holds a lot of stocks which do not pay significant dividends (e.g. growth stocks) there may not be...
Splitting Hackathon Prize Money to minimize tax debt
A simple option is to ask your teammates to send you their portion of the tax bill. This option makes everyone's taxes easier, especially since it is very likely that they have already sent in their tax returns.
Is this trick enough to totally prevent bankrupcy in a case of a crash?
Your strategy fails to control risk. Your "inversed crash" is called a rally. And These kind of things often turn into bigger rallies because of short squeezes, when all the people that are shorting a stock are forced to close their stock because of margin calls - its not that shorts "scramble" to close their position,...
How to deposit a cheque issued to an associate in my business into my business account?
Have the check reissued to the proper payee.
I'm only spending roughly half of what I earn; should I spend more?
Keep saving or investing, but set aside a relatively modest amount for "fun money". That way, you can go have a good time without thinking too much about what you're spending within the limits you spend for yourself. You don't need to spend lavishly to have a good time! Not having the stress on your shoulders of worry...
Do I not have a credit score?
You can't get your credit score for free, just the report with the information the score is based on. If you got credit reports through annualcreditreport.com, the Score tab would typically contain an advertisement for purchasing your score. If you have an ad-blocker enabled, that might be blocked, explaining the bl...
Incorporating real-world parameters into simulated(paper) trading
I think you're on the wrong track. Getting more and more samples from the real world does not make your backtest more accurate, it just confirms that your strategy can withstand one particular sample path of a stochastic process. The reason why you find it simple to incorporate fees, commissions, taxes, etc. is becaus...
How do I explain why debt on debt is bad to my brother?
The only thing that comes to mind is a recent HBO Real Sports segment (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDjkbgrgcmo) on a couple of NFL players who blew all of their money. Seeing how they've ended up might make the right impression, but given that your brother ran up $148K in debt, I'm not optimistic.
Why is a stock dividend considered a dividend? What makes it different from a stock split?
A stock dividend isn't exactly a split. Example: You have 100 shares of stock worth $5 a share (total value $500). The company wants to distribute a dividend worth 1%. You could expect a check for $5. But If they wanted to do a stock dividend they could send you 0.01 shares for every share you own, in your case you wil...
Pros & cons of investing in gold vs. platinum?
It is only wise to invest in what you understand (ala Warren Buffet style). Depending on how much money you have, you might see fit to consult a good independent financial advisor instead of seeking advice from this website. A famous quote goes: “Those who say, do not know. Those who know, do not say”
Can a company block a specific person from buying its stock?
A more serious problem: how do you know who's really buying your stock? "Shell companies" are an increasingly obvious problem in corporate and tax accountability. There are jurisdictions where companies can be created with secret lists of directors and shareholders. If stock is bought by one of these companies, it is v...
What caused this drop?
I do not fully understand the transactions involved, but it appears that there was a reverse stock split (20:1) and some legal status change as well on June 29th. This seems to be the cause for the change in valuation of the stock as the dates match the drop. https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/RMSLD/filings
Is it common for a new car of about $16k to be worth only $4-6k after three years?
It isn't common to lose that much value in 3 years, but it is possible. If you don't take care of small dents, scratches, etc., you can quickly reduce the value far beyond what you might expect looking at graphs. Another big factor is the trim level of the car that you purchase. If you spend $30,000 for the highest tr...
Are there any other investing methods I should look into?
401Ks and IRAs are types of retirement accounts. They have rules regarding maximum amount of investments per year; who can invest; destructibility; and the tax treatment of the growth. Stock, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs are all types of investments that can exist either inside or outside of the retirement account. Some ...
Is there a candlestick pattern that guarantees any kind of future profit?
I would go even farther than Victor's answer. There is little evidence that candlestick patterns and technical analysis in general have any predictive power. Even if they did in the past, of which there is some evidence, in modern times they are so easy to do on computers that if they worked algorithmic traders woul...
Prepaying a loan: Shouldn't the interest be recalculated like a shorter loan?
You seem to think that you are mostly paying interest in the first year because of the length of the loan period. This is skipping a step. You are mostly paying interest in the first year because your principle (the amount you owe) is highest in the first year. You do pay down some principle in that first year; this ...
Owning REIT vs owning real estate - which has a better hypothetical ROI?
You've already hit on the big difference. If you buy a property, you've made a big commitment, for better or worse. If you bought wisely, you'll be very happy. If not, you could go bankrupt. An REIT spreads out the risk, but the reward isn't as great. There's less barrier to entry in buying shares of an REIT than the...
Interest on Amount Exceeding CC Balance?
In the US, if your monthly statement was issued by the credit card company on January 1 and it showed a balance of $1000, then a payment must be made towards that balance by January 25 or so, not February 1 as you say, to keep the card in good standing. The minimum payment required to keep the card in good standing is ...
Is insurance worth it if you can afford to replace the item? If not, when is it?
As a rule, purchasing fairly priced (minus a spread) insurance on items you can afford to replace is a bad idea. However, in addition to the points mentioned in the previous answers, one should note that many types of insurance are UNDERpriced because on average people do not make claims even though they are entitled t...
Will there always be somebody selling/buying in every stock?
Will there be a scenario in which I want to sell, but nobody wants to buy from me and I'm stuck at the brokerage website? Similarly, if nobody wants to sell their stocks, I will not be able to buy at all? You're thinking of this as a normal purchase, but that's not really how US stock markets operate. First, just becau...
How to amend an amended return?
File a 2nd amended return that corrects the mistake I made on the 1st amended return This. Pay the $500 before April 27th and try to get it back later This.
Moving Coin Collection to Stapled Coin Pockets
I would be wary of having coins in containers with cardboard. Ideally you want the coins to be in an airtight envelope made of plastic to minimize any chance of oxidation or reaction with chemicals in the air. Cheap, retail coins like you would find in a Whitman collection are not generally going to hold value well. So...
At what age should I start or stop saving money?
As all said, the age limitation thing is nothing, and saving money not necessarily means to live poor nor Skimpy, spend your needs and try to get what you need instead of what you want, the 24 years old is a good start for saving money, the whole life still in front of you Good luck!
How to teach personal reconciliation and book balancing
If you are wanting to teach your kids basic accounting principles there is some good stuff on Khan Academy. However most of the stuff takes practice to really make it hit home and its kinda boring (Especially to kids who may or may not care about it). Maybe if you help them set up an account on Mint so that they are at...
For net worth, should I value physical property at my cost to replace it, or the amount I could get for selling it?
Valuation by definition is what an item is worth, not what you paid for it. Net worth should be market value for fixed assets or "capital" goods. I would consider this cars, real property, furniture, jewelry, appliances, tools, etc. Everything else can be valued by liquidation value. You can use valuation guides for t...
Tax deductions on empty property
If the building has no income, it also probably has minimal expenses. The heat, water and electricity costs are nearly zero. They are letting the value depreciate, and taking it off the taxes. I also suspect the condition of the building is poor, so any effort to make the building productive would be very costly. Many ...
CFD market makers: How is the price coupled to the underlying security?
CFD providers typically offer CFDs to investors using either the direct market access (DMA) model or the market maker (MM) model. Direct Market Access The DMA model gives you access to trade the Underlying instrument on the relevant Exchange from which the CFD is then derived. All CFD Transactions under the DMA model h...
What is a reasonable rate of return and fee structure for a Roth IRA?
A Roth IRA is just an account wrapper. Inside a Roth IRA you can have a plain 0.1% savings account, or a brokerage account, or an annuity or whatever. There's no rate of return for a Roth IRA. That particular calculator seems to assume you'll be wrapping a brokerage account in a Roth IRA and investing in the stock ma...
Financial implications of purchasing a first home?
Congrats! Make sure you nail down NOW what happens to the house should you eventually separate. I know lots of unmarried couples who have stayed together for decades and look likely to do so for life; I've also seen some marriages break up that I wouldn't have expected to. Better to have this discussion NOW. Beyond th...
Calculating the total capital of a company?
I was wondering how do we calculate the total capital of a company? Which items should I look for in the financial statements? Total capital usually refers to the sum of long-term debt and total shareholder equity; both of these items can be found on the company's balance sheet. This is one of the calculations that's t...
Why doesn't Japan just divide the Yen by 100?
So their programmers don't have to deal with floating point arithmetic. This is why they're so far ahead in technology!
Which shareholders cause news-driven whole market stock swings?
News-driven investors tend to be very short-term focussed investors. They often trade by using index futures (on the S&P 500 index for instance).
Is there a good rule of thumb for how much I should have set aside as emergency cash?
If you are still paying off debt, then you should have about $1000 in savings and put all you can towards non-mortgage debt. If you don't have any debt besides your mortgage, then add up all of your monthly expenses including food, gas, utilities and keep 3-6 months in liquid savings. Whether you keep 3 or 6 months dep...
Where can I find definitive terms for a preferred share?
This site has the best information I could find, other than a Bloomberg terminal: Quantumonline.com QUANTUMONLINE.COM SECURITY DESCRIPTION: SCANA Corp., 2009 Series A, 7.70% Enhanced Junior Subordinated Notes, issued in $25 denominations, redeemable at the issuer's option on or after 1/30/2015 at $25 per share plus...
Where can I find announcements of official GDP figures for the US and other countries?
For press releases about economic data, the Bureau of Economic Analysis press release page is helpful. Depending on the series, you could also look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics press release page. For time series of both historical and present data, the St. Louis Federal Reserve maintains a database such data, in...
Is it possible to split taxation of funds earned from a crowdfunding campaign over multiple years?
I think you should really start a limited company for this. It'll be a lot simpler to spread the income over multiple years if your business and you have completely separate identities. You should also consult an accountant, if only once to understand the basics of how to approach this. Having a limited company would a...
How do I calculate ownership percentage for shared home ownership?
You and your husband are fronting all the money upfront. I'm guessing this will cost you around 67,000 once closing costs and fees are included. So obviously you would be hundred percent owners at the beginning. You'll then pay 31% of the mortgage and have your sister pay the remaining 69%. This puts your total investm...
How do I pick the right company for investing services?
Traditional brokers There are tons of players in this market, especially in USA. You have traditional brokers, brokers tied to your bank and a bunch of startups. The easiest is probably a broker tied to your bank, because you probably don't have to wait to fund your brokerage account and can start trading immediately. ...
What happened to Home Depot's Stock in 1988?
It's got to be a bad chunk of data on Google. Yahoo finance does not show that anomaly for 1988, nor does the chart from Home Depot's investor relations site:
Should I sell my stocks to reduce my debt?
Put yourself in this position - if you had no debts and no investments, would you borrow money at those rates to invest in the stock market? If no, then pay off the debts. If yes, then keep them.
How can I determine how much my car insurance will cost me?
Insurance rates are based on statistics manipulated by experts in actuarial "science". Actuaries look at how many times different makes and models get into accidents or are targeted by thieves, and how expensive it is to repair them. Many auto and finance sites will publish lists of the best and worst insurance risks. ...
Investing in third world countries
I strongly recommend you to invest in either stocks or bonds. Both markets have very strict regulations, and usually follow international standards of governance. Plus, they are closely supervised by local governments, since they look to serve the interests of capital holders in order to attract foreign investment. Rea...
How to diversify IRA portfolio given fund minimum investments and IRA contribution limits?
If you have other savings, the diversification occurs across the accounts. e.g. my 401(k) has access to the insanely low .02% fee VIIIX (Vanguard S&P fund) You can bet it's 100% in. My IRAs are the other assets that make the full picture look better allocated. A new investor has the issue you suggest, although right n...
Responsible investing - just a marketing trick?
A share is just a part ownership of a company. If you buy a share of a green stock in the open market, you now just own part of a green company. Just like if you buy a house, the money you paid moves to the former owner, but what you are getting is a clear asset in return that you now own. Via mutual funds/indexes thi...
Ideal investments for a recent college grad with very high risk tolerance?
An ideal investment for a highly risk tolerant college grad with a background in software and programming, is a software company. That's because it's the kind of investment that you will be able to judge better than most other people, including yours truly. Hopefully, one day the software company for a highly risk tole...
Why would anyone buy a government bond?
Great question. There are several reasons; I'm going to list the few that I can think of off the top of my head right now. First, even if institutional bank holdings in such a term account are covered by deposit insurance (this, as well as the amount covered, varies geographically), the amount covered is generally triv...
What does “Yield Curve” mean?
Yield is the term used to describe how much income the bond will generate if the bond was purchased at a particular moment in time. If I pay $100 for a one year, $100 par value bond that pays 5% interest then the bond yields 5% since I will receive $5 from a $100 investment if I held the bond to maturity. If I pay $90 ...
Extended family investment or pay debt and save
I would suggest, both as an investor and as someone who has some experience with a family-run trust (not my own), that this is probably not something you should get involved with, unless the money is money you're not worried about - money that otherwise would turn into trips to the movies or something like that. If yo...
Is it better to wait for a market downturn to do a Roth conversion?
On average, the market will be down 1 year out of 4. 26 of the last 100 years on the S&P were negative. The Roth conversion offers a unique opportunity to convert early in the year, and decide at tax time next year whether you are happy with the result. Of course, if your fund or stock is up, you are likely better off,...
Source of income: from dividends vs sale of principal or security
The trend in ETFs is total return: where the ETF automatically reinvests dividends. This philosophy is undoubtedly influenced by that trend. The rich and retired receive nearly all income from interest, dividends, and capital gains; therefore, one who receives income exclusively from dividends and capital gains must f...
Ways to avoid being labeled a pattern day trader
Sorry but you already provided the answer to your own question. The simple answer is to 'not day trade' but hold things for a longer period and don't trade a large number of different stocks every week. Seriously, have a look at the rules and see what it implies.. an average of 20 buys and sells of longer term positio...
Learn investing as a programmer
My master's thesis was on using genetic algorithms and candle stick method. If you are familiar, the AI was used to answer questions like "what is a long day", which is not formally defined in most candle stick texts. So in theory unlimited potential for learning including teaching machines to learn. Wall street pa...
Deducting business expenses paid for by gift card
To quote the answer you linked to: Perhaps the simplest way to think about this is you can only deduct an expense that you actually incur. In other words, the expense should show up on a bank or CC statement. So, if your business purchased the $1000 gift card for $800, you should see a $800 charge appearing on a busine...
Is it ever logical to not deposit to a matched 401(k) account?
One situation where it would be prudent not to contribute would be if expenses are so tight that you cannot afford to contribute because you need that cashflow for expenses.
Do I need to write the date on the back of a received check when depositing it?
You do not need to write anything on the second line. There are a variety of helpful things that you can add, e.g.: For Deposit Only. This tells the bank to deposit the check into your account and ignore other signatures. Your account number. Especially useful when added to "For Deposit Only". A countersignature...
What happens to unvested RSUs when a public company is bought out by private firm?
I would ask your HR or benefits department to be certain, but here's how I read that without any specific knowledge of the situation: What is right to receive the RSU consideration? Company A was bought by Company B. You had unvested Restricted Stock Units in A, which is now gone. B is saying that you now have the ri...
Can capital gains be used to fund an IRA with tax advantages?
IRA contribution must be from your earned income in the sense that you cannot contribute to IRA more than you have in earned income. If all your income is capital gains - you cannot contribute anything to IRA. Once you're within the income limit restriction, it doesn't matter what other money you have, because as you s...
How do I explain why debt on debt is bad to my brother?
This is not the case with your brother only. There are many business which run on this premise. It goes till the time all the conditions are in control and get busted when things goes out of way. You have mentioned the loan amount and not the monthly repayment amount. Even if you say, a new loan will not solve his pro...
Two 1099B for same stock
It looks like what you're calling a name change was registered as a merger that resulted in an exchange of stock. If that's the case, then what you've been told is correct. You've got one long-term sale and one short-term sale. Based a quick read of the Form 8937 that was filed, it looks like there were multiple enti...
How to interpret stock performance charts “vs S&P 500”
tl;dr: The CNN Money and Yahoo Finance charts are wildly inaccurate. The TD Ameritrade chart appears to be accurate and shows returns with reinvested dividends. Ignoring buggy data, CNN most likely shows reinvested dividends for quoted securities but not for the S&P 500 index. Yahoo most likely shows all returns withou...
How can someone with a new job but no credit history get a loan to settle another debt?
The more I think about this the more I think you are actually better off letting it go to collections. At least then you would be able to agree an affordable repayment schedule based on your real budget, and having a big dent in your credit score because it's gone to collections doesn't actually put you in any worse po...
What are some time tested passive income streams?
Last year was a great opportunity for dividend stocks and MLPs. I have a few which are earning 6-9% of my investment basis cost. Municipal bonds are a good value now. If you have the connections, passive investments in convenience franchises or other commercial property are a good income stream. A Dunkin Donuts used t...
Why do 10 year-old luxury cars lose so much value?
Personally, I buy newer luxury cars for two reasons. 1) Status symbol Newer cars have the latest looks, performance, and features like heated side mirrors and sensors that adjust cruse control speed when in heavy traffic etc. 2) Older cars have more wear and tear. No one has spent any significant amount of time in ...
What is the meaning of “short selling” or “going short” a stock?
Rich's answer captures the basic essence of short selling with example. I'd like to add these additional points: You typically need a specially-privileged brokerage account to perform short selling. If you didn't request short selling when you opened your account, odds are good you don't have it, and that's good becau...
Are services provided to Google employees taxed as income or in any way?
In many countries, giving something free to the employee is considered a taxable income equivalent, and taxes have to be paid on it. As it cannot be assigned to specific employees, the company pays a flat tax on it, so it actually costs the company more. Also, not all employees value it equally, or consider it as a par...
On what quantity the Dividend is given in India?
So My question is if I purchased the shares on 03-08-15 then will I get the dividend? Yes if you purchase on 3-Aug, the shares will actually get credited to your account on 5-Aug and hence you will hold the shares on 6-Aug, the record date.
What is the preferred way to finance home improvements when preparing to sell your house?
In planning to buy a house, and sort out how to handle the costs of some initial renovations, I've been considering using Lowes and Home Depot credit cards (hopefully this will count differently than the typical credit cards I think you're referring to): http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContentView?pn...
Using property to achieve financial independence
Be very careful about buying property because it has been going up quickly in recent years. There are some fundamental factors that limit the amount real-estate can appreciate over time. In a nutshell, the general real-estate market growth is supported by the entry-level property market. That is, when values are app...
Using credit cards online: is it safe?
The answer: don't use your actual card number. Some banks offer virtual credit card numbers (services like Apple Pay are functionally the same). Bank of America's virtual cards work like this: The virtual card number is different from your actual card number, so the merchant never sees your real card number. In fact, t...
First time investing advice (Canada)
Question One: Question Two: Your best reference for this would be a brokerage account with data privileges in the markets you wish to trade. Failing that, I would reference the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group (CME Group) website. Question Three: Considering future tuition costs and being Canadian, you are eligible to...
Is it unreasonable to double your investment year over year?
Wealth gained hastily will dwindle but whoever gathers little by little will increase it. Proverbs 13:11 (ESV) Put another way... "Easy come, easy go" You cannot sustain 100% annual ROI. Sooner than you think you will hit a losing streak. Casinos depend on this truth. You may win a few rolls of the dice. But betting ...
Recent college grad. Down payment on a house or car?
Buy a car. Unless you definitely know you are living in the area for a good long time, avoid buying a house and get a car instead.
Is it worth it to buy TurboTax Premier over Deluxe if I sold investments in a taxable account?
For tax year 2014, TurboTax Deluxe no longer supports Schedule D.* TurboTax Premier is required if you need to use Schedule D. Alternatively, H&R Block Tax Software Deluxe will handle Schedule D at a fraction of the cost of TurboTax Premier. Update: Beginning with tax year 2015, TurboTax has reversed their disastrous ...
Why can't house prices be out of tune with salaries
There's a few things going on here. If we fixed rates (and terms) over time we'd expect a pretty tight chart of home prices to income, almost lockstep. Add a layer of growth above that in boom times due to the wealth effect (when stocks are way up, we have extra money to blow on bigger houses) and the opposite when mar...
Best way to start investing, for a young person just starting their career?
The most important thing is to start. Don't waste months and years trying to figure out the "optimal" strategy or trying to read all the best books before you start. Pick a solid, simple choice, like investing in your company sponsored 401(k), and do it today. This I Will Teach You To Be Rich post on barriers has s...
How safe is a checking account?
Money in a U.S. checking account is FDIC insured, so it's "safe" in the sense that you don't have to worry about a run on the bank or going out of business. Purchase fraud is something else entirely -- you need to check with your bank and see what their policy is for unauthorized charges made with your debit card. Fede...
Are services provided to Google employees taxed as income or in any way?
Companies often provide cafeteria, or catering services, to employees tax-free at subsidized rates. I'll use "cafeteria" as an illustration. The IRS says that in order to avoid lunch being taxed as income, the employees must pay the "direct costs" of the lunch, food and labor. In addition to those costs, cafeterias add...
Ongoing Automatic Investment Fee
Reading the plan documentation, yes, that is what it means. Each purchase by bank debit, whether one-time or automatic, costs $2 plus $0.06 per share; so if you invested $50, you would get slightly less than $48 in stock as a result (depending on the per-share price). Schedule of Fees Purchases – A one-time $15.00 enr...
Where can I get interesting resources on Commodities?
Here are some pretty big name news agencies which have a section dedicated to commodities: CNN Bloomberg Reuters
Payroll taxes on exercised stock options
The trickiest thing is the federal tax. It's typical to withhold 25% federal on this type of event. If your federal marginal rate was already towards the top of that bracket, you'll owe the missing 3% as you enter the 28% bracket. Nothing awful, just be aware.
Investing: P/E Ratio basic question
While on the surface it might not make sense to pay more than one dollar to get just one dollar back, the key thing is that a good company's earnings are recurring each year. So, you wouldn't just be paying for the $1 dollar of earnings per share this year, but for the entire future stream of earnings per share, every ...
Pay off credit card debt or earn employer 401(k) match?
For easy math, say you are in the 25% tax bracket. A thousand deposited dollars is $750 out of your pocket, but $2000 after the match. Now, you say you want to take the $750 and pay down the card. If you wait a year (at 20%) you'll owe $900, but have access to borrow a full $1000, at a low rate, 4% or so. The payment ...
How to compute real return including expense ratio
Returns reported by mutual funds to shareholders, google, etc. are computed after all the funds' costs, including Therefore the returns you see on google finance are the returns you would actually have gotten.
Is it possible for US retail forex traders to trade exotic currencies?
The vast majority of retail Forex brokers are market makers, rather than ECNs. With that said, the one that fits your description mostly closely is Interactive Brokers, is US-based, and well-respected. They have a good amount of exoitcs available. Many ECNs don't carry these because of the mere fact that they make mon...
Settlement of Shares Underlying a Covered Call Option
It's a covered call. When I want to create a covered call position, I don't need to wait before the stock transaction settles. I enter it as one trade, and they settle at different times.
Is it possible to make money by getting a mortgage?
The likely reason the mortgage is "tricky to get" is the adviser is probably recommending an interest-only mortgage in which there is no repayment of principle before maturity. That would allow you to deduct the amount of the interest expense from your taxable income. Your investment grows compound tax deferred and t...
Is it safer to send credit card number via unsecured website form or by e-mail? What safer options are there?
Most people cannot use pgp/gpg and setting it up would, in order to do that correctly, require voice fingerprint verification. Don't. Just write a word doc and either encrypt it when saving using the "save as" function or encrypt it using zip and email that to them. Then call them and tell them the password. Done.
May I Invest as a non accredited investor?
Without knowing the specifics it is hard to give you a specific answer, but most likely the answer is no. If they limit the participation in the site to accredited investors, this is probably not something they are doing willingly, but rather imposed by regulators. Acredited investors have access to instruments that do...
Should I worry too much about saving my 20% down before buying my first house?
The only problem that I see is that by not giving the 20% right away, you might need to pay PMI for a few months. In addition, in the case of conventional loans, I heard that banks will not remove the PMI after reaching 80% LTV without doing an appraisal. In order to be removed automatically, you need to reach 78% LTV....
Effect of Job Change on In-Progress Mortgage Application
I recommend you ask this question to a qualified mortgage broker. We just closed on our first house. My wife & I have had several years of stable jobs, good credit scores, and a small side business with 1040 Schedule-C income... and we were surprised by the overwhelming amount of documentation we needed for the loan....
Which countries allow eChecks?
eChecks (and ACH) are a (desperate?) try of the US banking system to get into the 21st century. All EU countries (and some others) have direct deposits and transfers as the standard way of transferring money since about 20 years, and since about 5 years it is cost-free and one-day across all the EU. The rest of the wor...
Can I write off time I spent working on my business?
To expand a little on what littleadv said, you can only deduct what something cost you. Even if you had done volunteer work for a charity as a sole prop you could only deduct your actual costs. If you paid an employee to do charity work or to learn something related to the business that would be deductible as a normal ...
Principal 401(k) managed fund fees, wow. What can I do?
Would anything happen if you bring this issue to the attention of the HR department? Everyone in the company who participates in the 401(k) is affected, so you'd think they'd all be interested in switching to a another 401k provider that will make them more money.
Any problem if I continuously spend my credit card more than normal people?
Sometimes when you are trying to qualify for a loan, the lender will ask for proof of your account balances and costs. Your scheme here could be cause for some questions: "why are you paying $20-30k to your credit card each month, is there a large debt you haven't disclosed?". Or perhaps "if you lost your job, would yo...
Better ways to invest money held by my small, privately-held Canadian corporation?
Since you are talking about a small firm, for the long term, it would be advisable to invest your money into the expansion - growth, diversification, integration - of your business. However, if your intention is to make proper use of your earnings in the short term, a decent bank deposit would help you to increase the ...
If I want a Credit Card offered through a different Credit Union should I slowly transition my banking to that CU?
I don't have an account with either of those CUs, but I do have membership at 2 different CUs. If they accept credit card payments online via transfer from another institution, there's no reason to move your money, unless there are other benefits (higher interest rates). All the CUs would likely require is membership ...
Using Fibonacci Extensions to set profit targets?
I have never seen a backtest showing that prices tended to be attracted by / to revert around Fibonacci levels. The fact that many people use them doesn't mean that they can be turned into a profitable system... I have on the other hand seen many backtests showing that they don't do anything, such as the one described ...
Are option contracts subject to mark to market rules
If I sell a covered call, on stock I own 100%, there is no risk of a margin call. The stock goes to zero, I'm still not ask to send in more money. But, if bought on margin, margin rules apply. A naked put would require you to be able to buy the stock if put to you. As the price of the stock drops, you still need to be...