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Diversification reduces risk, but does this base on the assumption that expected return of each asset is always in proportion to its risk? | If you are diversifying just for diversification purposes then all you are doing is averaging down your returns. You shouldn't just buy two securities because you think it is safer than putting all your money into one. A better method is to use money management and position sizing to limit your risk and exposure in any... |
Online brokers with a minimum stock purchase lower than $500 | With InteractiveBrokers there is no minimum trade amount, they also offer Australian Equities. |
Is there a difference between buying few shares of an expensive stock vs many shares of an inexpensive one? | Before the prevalence of electronic trading, trading stocks was very costly, dropping from ~15c in the late 1970s to less than a nickel per share today. Exchange fees for liquidity takers are ~0.3c per share, currently. When orders were negotiated exclusively by humans, stocks used to be quoted in fractions rather tha... |
Impact of RMD on credit worthiness | I feel like this has nothing to do with income, and as such RMDs will not really help or harm you. After a person passes, credit card companies are unlikely to collect any outstanding balance. Debts cannot be inherited, however, assets can be made to stand for debts. Many assets pass to heirs without the probate proc... |
Website for managing personal cash inflow and outflow, applicable to India? | Use buxfer.com. It's available in India and most of the features are free. |
Stocks and Bankruptcy | As Mhoran said, the risks of buying a bankrupt company are huge, and even successful bankruptcy turnarounds don't involve keeping the same stock. For instance, the GM bankruptcy was resolved by the company more or less selling all its valuable assets (brands, factories, inventory) to a new version of itself, using that... |
Is it accurate to say that if I was to trade something, my probability of success can't be worse than random? | If i do this, I would assume I have an equal probability to make a profit or a loss. The "random walk"/EMH theory that you are assuming is debatable. Among many arguments against EMH, one of the more relevant ones is that there are actually winning trading strategies (e.g. momentum models in trending markets) which inv... |
Is leveraging notoriety to raise stock prices illegal in the US? | There are obviously lots of complexities here, and there are rules against price or market manipulation that are somewhat interpretive due to the rules' inclusion of the manipulator's intent, but: Generally speaking, you can publicly promote the value of a company whose stock you own provided that you: Now, if you exto... |
When is it better to rent and when is better buy in a certain property market? | The Motley Fool suggested a good rule of thumb in one of their articles that may be able to help you determine if the market is overheating. Determine the entire cost of rent for a piece of property. So if rent is $300/month, total cost over a year is $3600. Compare that to the cost of buying a similar piece of propert... |
How can I save on closing costs when buying a home? | Mostly ditto Pete B's answer. There's little you can do about closing costs. Some closing costs are government fees. There's nothing you can do about this. Sad and unfair as it is, taxes are not optional and not generally negotiable. Title insurance and fire insurance are required by the lender. Even if you're paying c... |
How to calculate how far a shorted stock's price can rise before broker issues a margin call? | When margin is calculated as the equity percentage of an account, the point at which a broker will forcibly liquidate is typically called "maintenance margin". In the US, this is 25% for equities. To calculate the price at which this will occur, the initial and maintenance margin must be known. The formula for a long ... |
To rebalance or not to rebalance | This answer will assume you know more math than most. An ideal case: For the point of argument, first consider the following admittedly incorrect assumptions: 1) The prices of all assets in your investment universe are continuously differentiable functions of time. 2) Investor R (for rebalance) continuously buys and ... |
What is the next step to collect money after a judgment has been ignored? | A lawyer might be overkill for recovering a judgment. Do a google search for "judgment recovery service" in your area. They specialize in what you're trying to do. The service will charge you a fee (usually 10%) for any monies recovered. What happens is that you assign the right to collect on the judgment to the ser... |
When following a buy and hold investment strategy, on what conditions should one sell? | Here's an easy test... Look at the investments in your portfolio and ask yourself whether if you had the cash value, would you buy those same investments today, because effectively that is what you are doing when you continue to hold. If the answer is no, sell and pick something else. Above all else, don't react to m... |
Deferring claim of significant purchase of RRSPs | You can't defer reporting of the RRSP purchases. The financial institution will report those purchases to CRA, and the CRA expects to see you report those purchases on your return. If they don't match, expect to be audited and to pay penalties. However, you can defer the tax deduction of those purchases until later ... |
Is there any circumstance in which it is necessary to mark extra payments on a loan as going to “principal and not interest”? | I would always presume that given a choice of doing what is in its own self interest verses in the customer's interest, a bank will ALWAYS do the former rather than the latter. Banks are in the business of making money, always presume that their policies, processes and contractual terms will be slanted to maximize thei... |
Is stock in a private corporation taxable? | This stock is the same as any other, but you need to keep clear in your head that you and your company are now different entities. You (the person) will pay tax on capital gains and losses when you sell any stock that you hold in your own name. You'll also owe "regular" tax if you draw a salary, etc. The fact that i... |
Can paying down a mortgage be considered an “investment”? | Something you invest in has the ability to grow in value. So examples of investments would be buying stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities. Buying your house or a piece of real estate can be considered an investment because the house/property will hopefully be worth more as time passes. So the act of paying down a ... |
Calculating profits for a private fund | The total number of shares on April 1st is 100 + 180 + 275 = 555. The price on April 1st is required. The current price is stated as $2, but $2 * 555 = $1110 and the current fund values is stated as $1500. Opting to take the current value as $1500, the price on April 1st can be calculated as $1500/555 = $2.7027. The... |
What are the reasons to get more than one credit card? | In the case of reward cards, different cards may offer different rewards for different kind of purchases. For example, in the UK, one of the Amex cards offers 1.25% cashback on all purchases, whereas one of the Santander cards offers 3% on fuel, 2% or 1% on certain other transactions, and nothing on others. Of course, ... |
Best ISA alternative | Your question is actually quite broad, so will try to split it into it's key parts: Yes, standard bank ISAs pay very poor rates of interest at the moment. They are however basically risk free and should track inflation. Any investment in the 6-7% return range at the moment will be linked to stock. Stock always carries... |
What are some signs that the stock market might crash? | Although it is impossible to predict the next stock market crash, what are some signs or measures that indicate the economy is unstable? These questions are really two sides of the same coin. As such, there's really no way to tell, at least not with any amount of accuracy that would allow you time the market. Instea... |
When are investments taxed? | An investment is sold when you sell that particular stock or fund. It doesn't wait until you withdraw cash from the brokerage account. Whether an investment is subject to long term or short term taxes depends on how long you held that particular stock. Sorry, you can't get around the higher short term tax by leaving th... |
Should I sell when my stocks are growing? | There is an approach which suggests that each weekend you should review your positions as if they were stocks to be considered for purchase on Monday. I can't offer advice on picking stocks, but it's fair to say that you need to determine if the criteria you used to buy it the first time is still valid. I own a stock t... |
Sale of jointly owned stock | They may be confused. The combination of "my wife received stock when younger" and "her father just died" leaves questions. A completed gift, when she was a kid, means she has a basis (cost) same as the original owner of that stock. This may need to be researched. The other choice is that she gets a price based on the ... |
How to report house used for 100% business? | As DJClayworth said, be very careful with this one! The property is a residence, not a business location. Given that, it is almost a certainty that the IRS is not going to let you claim 100% of the expenses for the home as a business expense, even if nobody's actually living there. You may get away with doing this... |
Is this legal: going long on call options and artificially increasing the price of the underlying asset seconds before expiration? | Despite the fact that I think there is a litany of inaccuracies and misunderstandings related to quoted price and transaction price and the way prices move and assets transact; if you were able to, under these extremely narrow and very unlikely conditions, affect the prices of these assets that would be market manipula... |
New 1099 employee with Cobra insurance | For the first four months of the year, when you were an employee, the health insurance premiums were paid for with pre-tax money. When you receive your W-2 at the end of the year, the amount in Box 1 of the W-2 will be reduced by the amount you paid for health insurance. You can't deduct it on your tax return because... |
Is my wash sale being calculated incorrectly? | Strangely enough, you have a wash sale, but, for the fact that you sold the shares and then more than 30 days passed, you can take the loss. I mistakenly used the phrase "and ended the year with no shared of the stock" elsewhere, and was corrected, as one can sell at a loss up to 12/31, and have until the end of Janua... |
My investment account is increasingly and significantly underperforming vs. the S&P 500. What should I do? | Typically you diversify a portfolio to reduce risk. The S&P 500 is a collection of large-cap stocks; a diversified portfolio today probably contains a mix of large cap, small cap, bonds, international equity and cash. Right now, if you have a bond component, that part of your portfolio isn't performing as well. The id... |
When should you use an actively managed mutual fund in a 401k? | By definition, actively managed funds will underperform passive index funds as a whole. Or more specifically: The aggregate performance of all actively managed portfolio of publicly-tradable assets will have equal performance to those of passively managed portfolios. Which taken with premise two: Actively managed funds... |
What do brokers do with bad stock? | Market makers, traders, and value investors would be who I'd suspect for buying the stock that is declining. Some companies stocks can come down considerably which could make some speculators buy the stock at the lower price thinking it may bounce back soon. "Short sellers" are out to sell borrowed stocks that if the s... |
What is the difference between speculating and investing? | Speculation means putting your money on a hunch that some event may occur, depending on current circumstances and some future circumstances. So either you win huge or lose a lot. Investment is a conscious decision made on well defined research and grounded on good reasons i.e. economy, industry, company reports etc. H... |
Why do financial institutions charge so much to convert currency? | All institutions, financial or otherwise, seek to maximize profits. In a free market, each bank would price its services to be competitive with the current state of the market. Since the currency conversion fee is generally a small part of the decision as to which bank to choose, banks can be non-competitive in this ar... |
Hiring a teenager as a household employee | Here is what I was able to find: Yes, but there are special instructions for minors: Working hours: New York State labor laws are slightly more strict than the federal: https://www.labor.state.ny.us/workerprotection/laborstandards/workprot/nyvsfed.shtm Minimum wage: The Dept of Labor's Youth & Labor page states: Occupa... |
How can I judge loan availability? | Your credit rating will rise once the loan is repaid or paid regularly (in time). It will not get back to normal instantly. If the property is dead weight you may want to sell it so your credit score will increase in the medium term. |
60% Downpayment on house? | If you decide you need the extra money, you can always go refinance and get more cash out. At the end of the day, though, if you pay off your house sooner you can invest more of your income sooner; that's just a matter of discipline. |
Foreign company incorporated in US and W9 | According to the W9 instructions you are considered a U.S. person if: According to the following section, it looks like a C corporation may be easier then an LLC: All of this information can be found here: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf Hope this helps! |
GAAP for items that you both sell and make? | First, please allow me to recommend that you do not try gimmickry when financials do give expected results. It's a sure path to disaster and illegality. The best route is to first check if accounts are being properly booked. If they are then there is most likely a problem with the business. Anything out of bounds y... |
How can I determine if leaving a lower paying, tax advantaged, job for a higher paying one makes sense financially? | It looks like a coin toss. What you have isn't bad at all. If you have enough free time with your $50k job to do extra stuff on the side, you can use that time to build a business. You're obviously a go-getter type, so this might suit you. Which job is closer to your calling? All other things being equal, the more f... |
Does the common advice about diversification still hold in times of distress | The common advice you mentioned is just a guideline and has little to do with how your portfolio would look like when you construct it. In order to diversify you would be using correlations and some common sense. Recall the recent global financial crisis, ones of the first to crash were AAA-rated CDO's, stocks and so o... |
Do I even need credit cards? | Credit cards are great. You get free money for 30+ days and a bunch of additional benefits like insurance, extended warranties and reward programs. When vendors don't behave, you dispute the charge with the credit card and they deal with it on your behalf. Just get a fee-free American Express card and pay the balance o... |
Optimal number of credit cards for a given length of credit history | I have found that between the Discover card and a Visa/Master Card a person has everything covered. In my case the Discover card had the best deal (cash back) and the Visa/Master Card took care of those times a vendor didn't take Discover. One big Box store (Costco) did trip us up, so we did end up getting an American ... |
Is there any instrument with real-estate-like returns? | nan |
Creating S-Corp: Should I Name My Wife as a Director/Shareholder? | There are many aspects to consider in deciding what sort of company you want to form. Instead of an S-corporation, you should determine whether it would be better to form a Limited Liability Company (LLC), Limited Partnership (LP) or even a professional company (PC). Littleadv is correct: There is minimal benefit in fo... |
What are 'business fundamentals'? | From http://financial-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Business+Fundamentals The facts that affect a company's underlying value. Examples of business fundamentals include debt, cash flow, supply of and demand for the company's products, and so forth. For instance, if a company does not have a sufficient sup... |
What are some sources of information on dividend schedules and amounts? | I have 3 favorite sites that I use. http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/mcd/dividend-history - lists the entire history of dividends and what dates they were paid so you can predict when future dividends will be paid. http://www.dividend.com/dividend-stocks/services/restaurants/mcd-mcdonalds/ - this site lists key stats like ... |
Is it unreasonable to double your investment year over year? | Yes, it is unreasonable and unsustainable. We all want returns in excess of 15% but even the best and richest investors do not sustain those kinds of returns. You should not invest more than a fraction of your net worth in individual stocks in any case. You should diversify using index funds or ETFs. |
Adjusting a value for inflation each month using rolling 12-monthly inflation figures | In the style of the Bank of England's Inflation Calculator, you can do the calculation like so. The third column is an index made from the inflation figures and the forth column shows the inflation-adjusted values. Using the index to calculate the difference in costs, for example: The formulas used to produce the tabl... |
Sell or keep rental Property? | How is the current mortgage payment broken out? I have a mortgage on a rental property with a payment of $775, but $600 is principal. If I were at breakeven on a sale or a bit underwater, I'd be better off just holding still, the tenant paying the loan down over $7000/year. You question is a good one, but a good answe... |
How can one protect oneself from a dividend stock with decreasing price? | If by saying you wish to invest "for the long term 5-10 years" I take it you mean to hold a stock for between 5-10 years. If this is the case, this is the fundamental flaw in your screening algorithm. No company stock price continues to go up without end for 5-10 years. The price of every company's stock goes down at s... |
What did John Templeton mean when he said that the four most dangerous words in investing are: ‘this time it’s different'? | This refers to the faulty idea that the stock market will behave differently than it has in the past. For example, in the late 1990s, internet stocks rose to ridiculous heights in price, to be followed soon after with the Dot-Com Bubble crash. In the future, it's likely that there will be another such bubble with anot... |
What is inflation? | Inflation refers to the money supply. Think of all money being air in a balloon. Inflation is what happens when you blow more air in the balloon. Deflation is what happens when you let air escape. Inflation may cause prices to go up. However there are many scenarios possible in which this does not happen. For example, ... |
What are some good ways to control costs for groceries? | Probably my biggest cost saving is to make my own sandwiches for lunch. I take this one step further by buying joints of meat to roast and slice for the filling. This not only tastes better but is quite a bit cheaper. For example today I roasted a 5 kg ham (about 11 lbs), it cost me £16 to buy (around $25), but I've sl... |
Equation to determine if a stock is oversold and by how much? | There are those who would suggest that due to the Efficient Market Hypothesis, stocks are always fairly valued. Consider, if non-professional posters on SE (here) had a method that worked beyond random chance, everyone seeking such a method would soon know it. If everyone used that method, it would lose its advantage. ... |
Connection between gambling and trading on stock/options/Forex markets | There are moral distinctions that can be drawn between gambling and investing in stocks. First and I think most important, in gambling you are trying to get money for nothing. You put $100 down on the roulette wheel and you hope to get $200 back. In investing you are not trying to get something for nothing. You are buy... |
Why do card processing companies discourage “cash advance” activities | I thought this was because credit card companies charge the retailer a fee to accept credit card payments. If you spend $100, the retailer pays $1 (or whatever percentage they have negotiated) to the credit card provider. Handing over $100 cash and paying $1 fee to Visa means a loss to the retailer. The same transacti... |
Should I start investing in property with $10,000 deposit and $35,000 annual wage | In general people make a few key mistakes with property: 1) Not factoring in depreciation properly. Houses are perpetually falling down, and if you are renting them perpetually being trashed by the tenants as well - particularly in bad areas. Accurate depreciation costs can often run in the 5-20% range per year dependi... |
How can I transfer and consolidate my 401k's and other options? | You should ask your broker of choice for paperwork to move funds to them. You can't move into an account that doesn't exist, so when I wanted to move my money from an old pension plan to an IRA I set up the IRA with the broker first. When I told them it was to receive this money, they weren't asking for any initial dep... |
Accepted indicators for stock market valuation | There are several camps for stock valuation, and much of it boils down to your investment style. A growth investor will not consider something with a 50x P/E ratio to be overvalued, but a value investor certainly would. I would recommend looking up the Fama-French n-factor model (it was 3-factor, I believe they have r... |
What should my finances look like at 18? | Assume you will need to retire with a few million in the bank to maintain an average lifestyle. I had an analysis done for me (at 33) that shows my family, to keep it up lifestyle will need to have 3.4MM in the bank so in retirement I can draw down enough cash. This number reflects inflation. Now that you are 18, if y... |
Can an Indian citizen/resident invest in a US company and collect the profits in India? | Every month I will get a return in from my share of the profit which would be used for repayment of capital and interest in India. Not to sure what the business plan is. Please factor all the modalities, Exchange rate fluctuations, etc. My concern is regarding RBI rules and regulations, FEMA guidelines, and Income tax.... |
Relation between inflation rates and interest rates | I haven't read the terms here but the question may not have a good answer. That won't stop me from trying. Call the real rate (interest rate - inflation) and you'll have what is called negative real rates. It's rare for the overnight real rate to be negative. If you check the same sources for historical data you'll... |
Is there a rule that a merchant must identify themself when making a charge | Obviously, the credit card's administators know who this charge was submitted by. Contact them, tell them that you don't recognize the charge, and ask them to tell you who it was from. If they can't or won't, tell them you suspect fraud and want it charged back, then wait to see who contacts you to complain that the pa... |
What effect would a company delisting from the LSE to move to china have on shareholders? | Source Rule 41 of the AIM Rules sets out the procedure for delisting. In summary, a company that wishes to cancel the right of any of its trading securities must: The notification to the Exchange should be made by the company’s nominated adviser and should be given at least 20 business days prior to the intended cance... |
How smart is it to really be 100% debt free? | I think about debt as a good option for capital investments that offer a return. In my opinion, a house and clothes you need for that new job are good things to borrow for. School is ok, depending on the amount. Car is ok, if it's a 3 year loan. The rest is not good. You should try to carry as little debt as possible, ... |
Incentive Stock Option (ISO) tax question - more specific this time | I've bought ISO stock over they years -- in NYSE traded companies. Every time I've done so, they've done what's called "sell-to-cover". And the gubmint treats the difference between FMV and purchase price as if it's part of your salary. And for me, they've sold some stock extra to pay estimated taxes. So, if I got t... |
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 ... |
Including the region where you live in your investment portfolio? | Diversification is just one aspect in an investment portfolio. The other aspects in Investment are Risk Taking Ability, Liquidity, Local Regulations, Tax benefits, Ease & Convenience, Cost of carrying out transactions etc. Investing in other regions is prone FX risk and other risks depending on the region of investment... |
Optimal way for withdrawing vested company match from my 401k? | You can borrow against a 401k for 5 years. This defers any penalty fees that the IRS mandates. Put the cash back in your 401k within those 5 years. you can also solo administer 401k plans even if you have an unincorporated business, so you can start one of those if you have any other form of cashflow, and there may be ... |
How does one's personal credit history affect one's own company's credit rating? | For a newly registered business, you'll be using your "personal" credit score to get the credit. You will need to sign for the credit card personally so that if your business goes under, they still get paid. Your idea of opening a business card to increase your credit score is not a sound one. Business plastic might n... |
What is a negotiable security and how are they related to derivatives? | negotiability is a legal concept that permits free transfer of a security without the requirement of prior consent of the issuer. that means the issuer must pay the current holder of the security, irrespective of who he is. negotiability also protects a good faith buyer of the instrument from adverse ownership claims... |
How can a person with really bad credit history rent decent housing? | Explain the situation to a landlord and offer to prepay a few months of rent in advance as a guarantee. This may or may not work, but being honest and committed may just be the answer. |
Are lottery tickets ever a wise investment provided the jackpot is large enough? | According to a financial adviser I spoke to, lottery is the riskiest of investments, whereas cash is the safest. Everything else falls between these 2 extremes. |
Job Offer - Explain Stock Options [US] | There are a few other items that you should be aware of when getting options: The strike price is usually determined by an independent valuation of the common shares (called a 409a valuation). This should give you a sense on what the options are worth. Obviously you are hoping that the value becomes many multiple of th... |
Dividend Yield | Hart's answer regarding the difference between an index and a stock aside, remember that dividend yield is a passive measure. It takes the announced dividend (which is a $/share amount) and divides it by the current market price. So you can't assume that if you buy a stock that had a dividend yield of 4% for $100 th... |
Why are credit cards preferred in the US? | The real reason credit cards are so popular in the US is that Americans are lazy and broke, and the credit card companies know how to market to that. Have you ever heard of the $30k millionaires? These were individuals that purchased as if they were some of the wealthy elite, but had no real money to back it up. Ameri... |
Do I have to pay the internet installation charges for my home's company internet? | Of course you don't have to pay them - you just might not like the result. As a matter of law - given that I am not a lawyer - I am not aware of any requirement for a company to pay employees business-related expenses. An example might be having a cell phone, and according to this article companies aren't required to p... |
Are credit histories/scores international? | It's not just that credit history is local; it's that it's a private business run for profit. The "big three" credit bureaus in the US are Experian, Equifax and Transunion. They collect information on debt usage and abuse from various companies in the US, and charge a fee to provide that information (and their judgeme... |
What percentage of my portfolio should be in individual stocks? | How much should a rational investor have in individual stocks? Probably none. An additional dollar invested in a ETF or low cost index fund comprised of many stocks will be far less risky than a specific stock. And you'd need a lot more capital to make buying, voting, and selling in individual stocks as if you were run... |
When and how should I pay taxes on ForEx trades? | I don't know how taxes work in Israel, but I imagine it is relatively similar to taxes in the US. In the US you need to pay taxes on investment earnings when you sell them or in this case trade them for something of value. The amount that would typically would be taxed on would be the difference between how much you pa... |
Are leverage/ko products the only reasonable way to trade stocks? | I am assuming you mean derivatives such as speeders, sprinters, turbo's or factors when you say "derivatives". These derivatives are rather popular in European markets. In such derivatives, a bank borrows the leverage to you, and depending on the leverage factor you may own between 50% to +-3% of the underlying value. ... |
Investing Account Options | Immediately move your Roth IRA out of Edward Jones and into a discount broker like Scottrade, Ameritrade, Fidelity, Vanguard, Schwab, or E-Trade. Edward Jones will be charging you a large fraction of your money (probably at least 1% explicitly and maybe another 1% in hidden-ish fees like the 12b-1). Don't give away s... |
When a stock price goes down, does the money just disappears into thin air? | Yes and no. There is no actual money involved - just assumed value. Imagine you own a picture that you painted yourself, and all your friends agree it is worth 1000 $. You feel like you have a 1000 $-picture. Now a guy with some more knowledge visits you, and tells you that it is really only worth about a 100 $. Did yo... |
What is the best use of “spare” money? | There's a hellova lot to be said for investing in real estate (simple residential real estate), even though it's grandma's advice. The two critical elements are 1) it's the only realistic way for a civilian to get leverage. this is why it almost always blows away "tinkering in the stock markets" in the 10-year frame. 2... |
What evidence exists for claiming that you cannot beat the market? | There seems to be a common sentiment that no investor can consistently beat the market on returns. What evidence exists for or against this? First off, even if the markets were entirely random there would be individual investors that would consistently beat the market throughout their lifetime entirely by luck. There ... |
Difference between Edward Jones or Betterment | Instead of saying which one is better, which is too subjective, I think it is more important to understand what these institutions are. They are kind of different animals. Edward Jones pretty much a full service wealth manager. They meet with you in person, advise you on what retirement and savings accounts to get, t... |
Changing Bank Account Number regularly to reduce fraud | We change it every so often to reduce fraud. This is idiocy. They receive regular payments. They are asking the people who pay them to regularly change where their money is being sent. This increases their exposure to fraud dramatically as each time the account is changed, there is a risk it will be changed to an accou... |
Are the AARP benefits and discounts worth the yearly membership cost? | It depends on you. If you're not an aggressive shopper and travel , you'll recoup your membership fee in hotel savings with one or two stays. Hilton brands, for example, give you a 10% discount. AARP discounts can sometimes be combined with other offers as well. From an insurance point of view, you should always shop a... |
Does Edmunds get a kick-back from the use of Edmunds Price Promise? | Yes, Edmunds gets money from the dealerships in this program. According to this USA Today article from 2013, dealers pay Edmunds a monthly fee to participate in the program. This contrasts with TrueCar.com, a similar service, where dealers pay a fee for each sale. And yes, it is certainly possible to negotiate a lower... |
Can you deduct hobby expenses up to hobby income in Canada? | Yes, your business needs to be in the business of making money in order for you to deduct the expenses associated with it. I suppose in theory this could mean that if you take in $10,000 and spend $30,000 every year, you not only don't get a net deduction of $20,000 (your loss) but you have to pay tax on $10,000 (your ... |
I earn $75K, have $30K in savings, no debt, rent from my parents who are losing their home. Should I buy a home now or save? | This solution obviously wouldn't work for everyone, and is contingent on the circumstances of your parents' finances with regards to their house, but... Have you considered buying your parents' house? This way your parents' desire for you to get a house as an investment would be satisfied, they wouldn't have to worry... |
First time homeowner and getting a mortgage? | If you have good credit, you already know the rate -- the bank has it posted in the window. If you don't have good credit, tell the loan officer your score. Don't have them run your credit until you know that you're interested in that bank. Running an application or prequal kicks off the sales process, which gets very ... |
I spend too much money. How can I get on the path to a frugal lifestyle? | Lots of good answers here about budgeting and other ideas. Here's a couple more: Think about offense and defense. Offense is how much money you make. Are you making enough to survive on? Is there a way you could bring in more income? Defense is what you do with your money. Do you have expensive habits? Do you ha... |
Is it safer to send credit card number via unsecured website form or by e-mail? What safer options are there? | Here's one option: Telephone is a lower-tech yet relatively more secure means for transmitting your payment information when a secure web site isn't available. And yet another option: You could send them an encrypted email, but this would require tools (e.g. GPG), setup (public keys), and expertise on their end which... |
In general, is it financially better to buy or to rent a house? | The general answer is: "it depends on how long you want to live there". Here is a good calculator to figure it out: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/business/buy-rent-calculator.html Basically, if you plan to move in a few years, then renting makes more sense. It is a lot easier to move from an apartment when your l... |
Extra cash - go towards mortgage, or stock? | the math makes sense to invest instead of paying down, but... how much would you borrow at 3.5%, to invest the money into the stock market? It's the same question, just turned around. |
What is a decent rate of return for investing in the markets? | Seems like you should be aiming to beat the professionals, otherwise why not let them handle it? So 4.01% is a logical start. Perhaps round that up to 4.05% |
IS it the wrong time to get into the equity market immediately after large gains? | Its best to dollar cost average adding say 5%-10% a quarter into the fund. That's what Clark Howard would suggest. Also make sure you do not need the money for 5 years, then you should be okay. Its tough to lose money if you keep your money there for a long period of time. |
How to get the lowest mortgage rate on a new purchase? | Start with the bank where you have your checking and savings account. They can streamline some of the paperwork, because they can see how much you make, and have access to several years worth of bank statement. Legitimate mortgage companies do publish their rates. But there is no guarantee that you will qualify for the... |
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