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German stock exchange, ETR vs FRA | I still can't understand why there is a price discrepancancy. There isn't. It's the same stock and price differences between such major exchanges will always be minimal. I think you simply haven't paid attention to the date range. It seems Google finance only has data for FRA:BMW reaching back to 2011, so if you try t... |
Beginning investment | The advice I have is short and sweet. Be an investor, not a speculator. Adopt the philosophy of Warren Buffet which is the 'buy and hold' philosophy. Avoid individual stocks and buy mutual funds or ETFs. Pick something that pays dividends and reinvest those dividends. Don't become a speculator, meaning avoid the 'buy l... |
Optimize return of dividends based on payout per share | What you're referring to is the yield. The issue with these sorts of calculations is that the dividend isn't guaranteed until it's declared. It may have paid the quarterly dividend like clockwork for the last decade, that does not guarantee it will pay this quarter. Regarding question number 2. Yield is generally ... |
Where does the money go when I buy stocks? | The money goes to the seller. There are a lot of behind the scenes things that happen, and some transactions are very complicated with many parties involved (evidenced by all the comments on @keshlam's perfectly reasonable high-level answer), but ultimately the money goes to the seller. Sometimes the seller is the co... |
Why is the highest quintile the only quintile whose wealth exceeds its income? | In a business environment, this phenomenon could be easily explained by 'operational leverage'. Operational leverage is the principle that increasing revenues by a small amount can have a disproportionately large impact on net income. Consider this example: you run a business that rents out a factory and produces goods... |
(Almost) no credit unions in New York City, why? | I would have been tempted to dismiss your claim, but the data I found shows that you're correct. On the plus side, the growth rate in credit union market share is higher in New York than it is in California. While there is no question that bankers hate credit unions, I can't tell you why credit unions have a smaller ma... |
Is there any way to buy a new car directly from Toyota without going through a dealership? | No you can't buy direct from Toyota. Largely because of many states' laws (assuming you're in the US) requiring a dealer relationship for car purchasing, read about Tesla's struggles with direct to customer sales. Secondly because Toyota corporate simply isn't set up to sell a car directly to a customer. I know there... |
What is a mutual fund? | The simple answer is: YES, the JP Morgan emerging markets equity fund is a mutual fund. A mutual fund is a pooling of money from investors to invest in stocks and bonds. Investors in mutual funds arrive there in different ways. Some get there via their company 401K, others by an IRA, still others as a taxable account. ... |
ETF's for early retirement strategy | I think the dividend fund may not be what youre looking for. You mentioned you want growth, not income. But I think of dividend stocks as income stocks, not growth. They pay a dividend because these are established companies that do not need to invest so much in capex anymore, so they return it to shareholders. In othe... |
I have an extra 1000€ per month, what should I do with it? | Congratulations on getting started in life! John Malloy's (American) research suggests that you should take some time to get used to living on your own, make some friends, and settle into your community. During this time, you can build up an emergency fund. If/when the stock markets do not seem to be in a bear market... |
Collecting Dividends while insulating volatility through options? | The strategy is right. As pointed out by you, will the " volatility cause the premium on the price of the options to be too high to make this worthwhile" ... this is subjective and depends on how the markets feels about the volatility and the trend ... ie if the market believes that the stock will go up, the option at ... |
Who can truly afford luxury cars? | A used luxury car coming out of lease is usually very affordable. They are usually in good condition, still look relatively new, and are within the same price range as a newer Toyota or Honda. |
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... |
What to do with your savings in Japan | Been here in Japan 12 years mate, and you're right, the investment options here suck. Be very wary of them, they will take all your money in outrageous fees--3% in and 3% out of some "investment" options. It's a scam. Send the money back home and manage it there. I recommend setting up a Vanguard account back in the UK... |
How to make money from a downward European market? | If you want to make money while European equities markets are crashing and the Euro itself is devaluing: None of these strategies are to be taken lightly. All involve risk. There are probably numerous ways that you can lose even though it seems like you should win. Transaction fees could eat your profits, especially if... |
What are good Monthly Income Funds? [Canada] | @sharam - big question. I am going to answer part of it, but not as directly as you might like. You mention 4-6 cents per unit per month, but fail to give a unit price, so it is hard to tell how much return you are really looking for. Given the amount you have to invest, depending on your time horizon, you will do muc... |
Do Square credit card readers allow for personal use? | I used square in the past for personal yard sale and they did not transfer balance to my bank acct because they told me it was against their policy and I had to have a business license that they could either refund the credit cards i process or keep the money. So they kept it I never got it back. I don't recommend anyb... |
Why does my bank suddenly need to know where my money comes from? | Bank runs very complex software to detect suspicious activity - terrorism financing, money laundering, etc. How would a program know that some person's activity is suspicious? It uses a set of rules. That set might be imperfect (that likely was not intended) - there might be some rule that triggers a warning on your ac... |
What's “wrong” with taking money from your own business? | It's wrong in several situations: One, the business owner counts this as a business expense, which it is not, and therefore reduces the company's profit and taxes. That would be tax avoidance and probably criminal. Two, someone who is not the sole owner counts this as a business expense, which it is not, reduces the ... |
Should I finance a used car or pay cash? | There are several factors here. Firstly, there's opportunity cost, i.e. what you would get with the money elsewhere. If you have higher interest opportunities (investing, paying down debt) elsewhere, you could be paying that down instead. There's also domino effects: by reducing your liquid savings to or below the mini... |
why do I need an emergency fund if I already have investments? | My take on this is that this reduces your liquidity risk. Stocks, bonds and many other investment vehicles on secondary markets you may think of are highly liquid but they still require that markets are open and then an additional 3-5 business days to settle the transaction and for funds to make their way to your bank ... |
Should I make extra payments to my under water mortgage or increase my savings? | You say you are underwater by $10k-15k. Does that include the 6% comission that selling will cost you? If you are underwater and have to sell anyway, why would you want to give the bank any extra money? A loss will be taken on the sale. Personally i would want the bank to take as much of that loss as possible, rath... |
Can I prove having savings without giving out the account number? | Have you been rejected from a rental for a specific reason (leading to this question)? Landlords are in the business of exchanging space for regular payments with no drama. Anything they ask in an application should be something to minimize the risk of drama. The "happy path" optimistic goal is that you pay your re... |
Odds of early assignment for a short in the money call | It depends how deep in the money it is, compared to the dividend. Even an in the money call has some time premium. As the call holder, if I exercise instead of selling the call, I am trading the potential for a dividend, which I won't receive, for getting that time premium back by selling. Given the above, you'll not... |
financial institution wants share member break down for single member LLC | What exactly would the financial institution need to see to make them comfortable with these regulations The LLC Operating Agreement. The OA should specify the member's allocation of equity, assets, income and loss, and of course - managerial powers and signature authorities. In your case - it should say that the LLC... |
Where to start with personal finance in Canada? | There are some great answers on this site similar to what you asked, with either a non-jurisdictional or a US-centric focus. I would read those answers as well to give yourself more points of view on early investing. There are a few differences between Canada and the US from an investing perspective that you should als... |
Investing in the stock market during periods of high inflation | The answer would depend on the equities held. Some can weather inflation better than others (such as companies that have solid dividend growth) and even outpace inflation. Some industries are also safer against inflation than others, such as consumer staples and utilities since people usually have to purchase these reg... |
Is it better to pay an insurance deductible, or get an upgrade? | I would go for the upgrade and cancel the insurance. It's been 5 years since I left the post paid subsidized phone world and I'm WAY better off. I use ATT GoPhone and I buy my phones in cash. If I shatter my phone, I replace the screen or simply buy a new one. Sites like swappa.com make buying and selling phones a b... |
In what state should I register my web-based LLC? | In this case not only that you must register in California (either as domestic, or as foreign if you decided to form elsewhere), you'll also be on the hook for back-taxes if you didn't do it from the start. FTB is notorious for going after out-of-state LLCs that Californians open in other States trying to avoid the $80... |
Alternative to Jumbo Mortgage | Yes, banks still offer combo loans, but it is going to depend on the appraised value of your home. Typically lenders will allow you to finance up to 80% loan to value on the first mortgage (conforming loan amount) and 95% combined loan to value on a HELOC. I would start by checking with your local credit union or ban... |
Should I buy out my brother on a property we will inherit before making improvements? | If your father is still able to make financial decisions and sign contracts, I see a better option. Have your father borrow against his equity to finance the renovation. Example: the house is worth 400 now. He can borrow 100 against that. He spends it on the addition, making the house worth 500, with the same 400 of e... |
Why buy insurance? | It's not a betting game, insurance policy is not akin to a casino bet. While the odds are probably low, the damage of an event may be devastating. Insurance allows mitigating that potential devastating damage, if it occurs. |
What are the differences between an investment mortgage and a personal mortgage? | According to my wife who used to work in the industry, since an investment mortgage is more likely to fail (they are just riskier) there are higher loan to value requirements and higher interest rates. They are just different products for different situations. |
Is interest on a personal loan tax deductible? | Assuming USA: It is possible to make the interest deductible if you go to the trouble of structuring, and filing, the loan as an actual mortgage on a primary residence. Websearching "intra-family loan" will find several firms which specialize in this. It costs about $700 for all the paperwork and filing fees as of last... |
Is there a standard for naming stocks exchanges? Is there a list of abbreviated names? | Wikipedia is your friend: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stock_exchanges |
I'm 23 and was given $50k. What should I do? | Here's what I'd do: Pay off the cards and medical. Deposit 35k in the best interest bearing accounts you can find (maybe some sort of ladder). Link your student loans payments to this account. This frees up $486 a month in income, and generates a small amount of interest at the same time. Now, set up some sort of reti... |
What does dividends passed mean in terms of stock? | A "covenant" is a solemn promise to engage in or refrain from a specified action. Every company must do a balancing act while declaring the dividends in terms of companies interest (can it use the surplus cash to generate more revenue) to shareholders' interests, giving back to them the profits that due. Many countries... |
Can future rental income be applied to present debt-to-income ratio when applying for second mortgage? | They will include the rental income into the calculation. They don't give you a 100% credit for the income because they have to factor that you might have a gap between tenants. Years ago they only credited me with 66% of the expected monthly income. Example: This expense was then supposed to come from the 10% of my ... |
Are stores that offer military discounts compensated by the government? | This story is about military grocery stores - i.e.: grocery stores for military personnel on military bases. There are no discounts for military personnel in a regular grocery store. But they may have subsidised prices in grocery stores located inside a military installation, and these are those stores that the story i... |
Are Certificates of Deposit worth it compared to investing in the stock market? | For the specific example you gave, a CD with a 0.05% rate of return, I'd shop around some more, that's a VERY low rate of return. A more realistic one would be 0.5%, depending on the terms. As has been mentioned, CDs are good when you need to preserve your capital. What might be a situation for that? They are great for... |
How does the purchase of shares on the secondary market benefit the issuing company? | First, the stock does represent a share of ownership and if you have a different interpretation I'd like to see proof of that. Secondly, when the IPO or secondary offering happened that put those shares into the market int he first place, the company did receive proceeds from selling those shares. While others may prof... |
As an investor or speculator, how might one respond to QE3 taper? | Any answer for what to do in a taper will assume ceteris paribus because how markets initially react when they suspect a taper may immediately change depending on what data are released after the taper. For instance, I've seen Soros and a few other hedge fund managers hold shorts when expecting a taper because the theo... |
Where can I lookup accurate current exchange rates for consumers? | What you see on XE, is the rate at which it is being traded in the market. What you receive from a broker is the rate minus a fee, for the service being provided. You can check what rates are available for visa and mastercard on the following websites. Visa rates Mastercard rates I want to shop in the currency that wi... |
What happens if my order exceeds the bid or ask sizes? | Sure. Depending on how you configure your order, it will either be fulfilled partially or wait until it can be fulfilled. You can set a time limit on your order (usually its either 1 day or 60 days, but may vary between brokerages), and allow or disallow partial fulfilment. |
Deductions greater than Income : Traditional IRA to Roth Conversion? | Yes. A most emphatic yes. I suggest you look at your 2014 return and project what 2015 will look like. I'd convert enough to "top off" the 15% bracket. Note, if you overshoot it, and in April 2016, see that you are say $5K into the 25% rate, you can just recharacterize the amount you went over and nail the bracket to ... |
Why buying an inverse ETF does not give same results as shorting the ETF | Suppose that the ETF is currently at a price of $100. Suppose that the next day it moves up 10% (to a price of $110) and the following day it moves down 5% (to a price of $104.5). Over these two days the ETF has had a net gain of 4.5% from its original price. The inverse ETF reverses the daily gains/losses of the bas... |
How and why does the exchange rate of a currency change almost everyday? | The basic idea is that money's worth is dependent on what it can be used to buy. The principal driver of monetary exchange (using one type of currency to "buy" another) is that usually, transactions for goods or services in a particular country must be made using that country's official currency. So, if the U.S. has so... |
Why call option price increases with higher volatility | The mathematics make it easier to understand why this is the case. Using very bad shorthand, d1 and d2 are inputs into N(), and N() can be expressed as the probability of the expected value or the most probable value which in this case is the discounted expected stock price at expiration. d1 has two σs which is volatil... |
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... |
How long to wait after getting a mortgage to increase my credit limit? | My recommendation is to not ask for a credit increase, but just increase the utilization of one card if you have multiple cards, and decrease the utilization of the others, and continue paying off all cards in full each month. In a few months, you will likely be offered a credit increase by the card that is getting ... |
Shorting stocks: Indicators that a stock will drop? | First, it's much safer to be shorting stocks over $5 than stocks under $5. I use 3 indicators to show that a stock has topped out and about to drop. Key is the timing cause the initial drop is often the biggest. More close you get in at the top, the higher the risk. Using 1D Charts ONLY: - MACD Indicator: I use the... |
Confused about employee stock options: How do I afford these? | nan |
How can I withdraw money from my LLC? | What you're asking about is called a "distribution" when it comes to an LLC. It's basically you paying yourself some or all of the proceeds of the business, depending on how you're set up. You can pay yourself distributions on a regular schedule, say monthly, or you can do it at the end of the year. Whatever you do i... |
Are my purchases of stock, mutual funds, ETF's, and commodities investing, or speculation? | Every investment comes with a risk. There is also a bit of speculation involved. In there is an anticipation that one expects the value to go up in normal course of events. By your definition "If I buy this equipment, I could produce more widgets, or sell more widgets," as an investment. Here again there is an anticipa... |
When shorting a stock, do you pay current market price or the best (lowest) available ask price? | In terms of pricing the asset, this functions in exactly the same way as a regular sell, so bids will have to be hit to fill the trade. When shorting an equity, currency is not borrowed; the equity is, so the value of per share liability is equal to it's last traded price or the ask if the equity is illiquid. Thus when... |
Paying over the minimum mortgage payment | Let's look at some of your options: In a savings account, your $40,000 might be earning maybe 0.5%, if you are lucky. In a year, you'll have earned $200. On the plus side, you'll have your $40,000 easily accessible to you to pay for moving, closing costs on your new house, etc. If you apply it to your mortgage, you a... |
What is an effective way to invest in electric car industry? | You could have googled this question. I did so and found a link to this article. YMMV taking investment advice from thestreet.com is very likely to lose you money. However, there do not seem to be any sector funds that specifically focus on the electric vehicle market. Along similar, but not exactly the same lines, t... |
Should Emergency Funds be Used for Infrequent, but Likely, Expenses? | I don't think there is a definite single answer for this. I think it largely depends on where you are on your financial journey. In the ideal world you'd have everything in bucket 2 built into your budget and be putting a little bit aside every paycheck to cover each of those things when they do come up but that takes ... |
In the event of a corporate spin-off, how can I calculate the correct cost basis for each company's shares? | From my understanding: Original Holding: Siemens - 10,000 units at 80 Euros/unit Cost = 800,000 euros Spin-off: Every 10 Siemens get 1 OSRAM On July 5th, 2013: Siemens closing - 78 Euros On Monday, July 8th: Ex-date (opening) - 75 Euros Hence: Market value for:- 1. Siemens: 75 * 10,000 = 750,000 euros 2. OSRAM: (10,... |
Why can't you just have someone invest for you and split the profits (and losses) with him? | On reflection there are financial products that do what you want, whole-life insurance policies that guarantee an annual dividend calculation on some index with a ceiling and floor. So you will have a return within a defined minimum and maximum range. There are a lot of opinions on the internet on this. This Consum... |
Buying a truck to write off on taxes | Assuming your country is the United States there is. See schedule C line 9 and the corresponding instructions. There are many rules associated with this, in some cases the entire purchase can be written off but typically if the truck is only used for business. Most people write off partial usage in the form of cred... |
When is it better to rent and when is better buy in a certain property market? | No magic answers here. Housing is a market, and the conditions in each local market vary. I think impact on cash flow is the best way to evaluate housing prices. In general, I consider a "cheap" home to cost 20% or less of your income, "affordable" between 20-30% and "not affordable" over 30%. When you start comparing ... |
Basic questions about investing in stocks | What is a stock? A share of stock represents ownership of a portion of a corporation. In olden times, you would get a physical stock certificate (looking something like this) with your name and the number of shares on it. That certificate was the document demonstrating your ownership. Today, physical stock certificates... |
Forex vs day trading for beginner investor | Forex vs Day Trading: These can be one and the same, as most people who trade forex do it as day trading. Forex is the instrument you are trading and day trading is the time frame you are doing it in. If your meaning from your question was comparing trading forex vs stocks, then it depends on a number of things. Forex ... |
When should I walk away from my mortgage? | The worth of a credit score (CS) is variable. If you buy your stuff outright with 100% down then your CS is worthless. If you take a loan to buy stuff then it is worth exactly what you save in interest versus a poor score. But there is also the "access" benefit of CS where loans will no longer be available to you, for... |
What increases your chance of being audited? | Here is an article that claims to know something about it. Here are a selection of quotes: The IRS says there are several ways a return can be selected for audit and the first is via the agency's computer-scoring system known as Discriminant Information Function, or DIF. The IRS evaluates tax returns based on IRS formu... |
Is it possible to make money by getting a mortgage? | I think this is possible under very special conditions. The important part of the description here is probably retired and rich. The answers so far apply to people with "normal" incomes - both in the sense of "not rich" and in the sense of "earned income." If you sit at the top tax bracket and get most of your income... |
How do owners in a partnership earn income? | If you business is incorporated, it's up to the two of you how to do it. Typically, you will have the company write cheques (or make transfers, whatever) to each of the humans: If you want to say that each of you gets a salary of 80% of the revenue you bring in, and then tweak things with bonuses, you can. If one of yo... |
How can I invest my $100? | A safe investment would be to get a 5-year CD from Ally Bank. No minimum deposit and no monthly maintenance fees. 1.74% APY at the moment. I would choose a 5-year CD since the early withdrawal penalty is only 60 days interest, which will be negligible for a $100 investment and increasing the term significantly incre... |
What's the difference when asked for “debit or credit” by a store when using credit and debit cards? | Credit in debit way - the card simply functions like a debit card for that transaction - pulling cash from your checking account. No difference. You've simply discovered the fact that some banks are using the same piece of plastic for two functions, debit which draws funds directly from your checking, and credit which... |
Put idle savings to use while keeping them liquid | This may sound a little crazy but I would take $5K of that money and buy whiskey with it (Jack Daniel's would be my preference). My guess is that in 5 years that whiskey will be worth more than the $10K you put in the bank. I just can't see how the dollar survives the next 5 years without a major downward adjustment. ... |
Why invest for the long-term rather than buy and sell for quick, big gains? | A lot of people have already explained that your assumptions are the issue, but I'll throw in my 2¢. There are a lot of people who do the opposite of long term investing. It's called high frequency trading. I'd recommend reading the Wikipedia article for more info, but very basically, high frequency traders use progr... |
What happens to my stocks when broker goes bankrupt? | Here is my perception of the situation, obtained from reading Degiro's Client Agreement. If Degiro shuts down, it will notify you about the fact at least one month in advance, and you will have enough time to order a transfer of your positions to a different broker. If Degiro shuts down unexpectedly, your assets will r... |
Should I use a credit repair agency? | So you are in IT, that is great news because you can earn a fabulous income. The part time is not great, but you can use this to your advantage. You can get another job or three to boost your income in the short term. In the long term you should be able to find a better paying job fairly easily. There is one way ... |
Why are capital gains taxed at a lower rate than normal income? | There are two alternative explanations: Choose the explanation you prefer based on your level of cynicism. |
Approach to share options in the UK | When your options vest, you will have the option to buy your company's stock at a particular price (the strike price). A big part of the value of the option is the difference between the price that your company's stock is trading at, and the strike price of the option. If the price of the company stock in the market is... |
What happens to personal data I disclose for joining an employee stock plan? | You aren't getting a straight answer because nobody knows why those regulations are the way they are. Everyone has to give this information to open the brokerage account or for any access to the US financial system whether it is with a bank account, or a brokerage account. Everyone also typically gives this information... |
Is the Chrysler extended warranty coverage worth it? | I haven't looked at that warranty in detail, but generally speaking this should help. What is GAP insurance? In the case of a total loss/write off gap insurance covers the outstanding finance after your regular insurance pay out. The two won't match up usually because of the depreciation right after you buy the car. Fo... |
Why naked call writing is risky compare to Covered call? | If the buyer exercises your option, you will have to give him the stock. If you already own the stock, the worst that can happen is you have to give him your stock, thus losing the money you spend to buy it. So the most you can lose is what you already spent to buy the stock (minus the price the buyer paid for your o... |
What emergencies could justify a highly liquid emergency fund? | I suppose this could really depend on the part of the world you're in, but there are still many instances of "emergencies" that need "cash". You have to decide how much cash is the right amount, but I still recommend having $1,000 or so in liquid cash. It can really make a huge difference. Let me give a few examples. ... |
Should I invest in my house, when it's in my wife's name? | Have you talked with her about this? On the one hand you have a point. Given the prenuptial agreements why should you invest in something that you can never have interest in. However, you also live in the property. You did not go into the arrangements but presumably you should be contributing to the upkeep of the ho... |
Pay Yourself With Credit Card Make Money With Cash Back [duplicate] | This is basically a form of credit card kiting, it's not necessarily illegal but it can be. It is, however, against the TOS in pretty much every merchant agreement (including Paypal and Square), so you'd most likely have your account suspended, and the merchant could pursue legal action if they felt they could prove in... |
What is the difference between a check and a paycheck? | There is little difference. A paycheck is a type of check used to pay wages. These days many people opt for direct deposit. So, the term paycheck can also refer to the payment itself: 1: a check in payment of wages or salary 2: wages, salary http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paycheck |
Why won't my retirement account let me write a “covered put”? | A "covered put" of the form of being short, and buying at the strike price if the "put ... is put" (excercise), is off the table simply because you can't do shorts in the retirement account. Even if you feel you "win" the argument that you're hedged by being short, any broker can say, "we simply forbid shorts" and that... |
What would be a wise way to invest savings for a newly married couple? | I agree with @Pete that you may be well-advised to pay off your loans first and go from there. Even though you may not be "required" to make payments on your own loan based on your income, that debt will play a large factor in your borrowing ability until it is gone, which hinders your ability to move toward home owne... |
Are there Investable Real Estate Indices which track Geographical Locations? | Yes. S&P/ Case-Shiller real-estate indices are available, as a single national index as well as multiple regional geographic indices. These indices are updated on the last Tuesday of every month. According to the Case-Shiller Index Methodology documentation: Their purpose is to measure the average change in home prices... |
Should I pay cash or prefer a 0% interest loan for home furnishings? | A friend recently bought an 800€ TV on 0% financing. Sounded like a sensible thing to do. Why pay 800 when you can pay 80pm for 10 months? It took 30mins to set up the 'loan'. She had to sign all kinds of documents, giving away much personal information (age, employment info, income, email address etc). She now has a f... |
Is it legal if I'm managing my family's entire wealth? | There are two issues. The first is that you can manage all of your family's money. The second issue arises if you now "own" all of your family's money. As far as entities go, it is best to keep money or assets in as many different hands as possible. Right now, if someone sued you and won, they could take away not only ... |
I'm only spending roughly half of what I earn; should I spend more? | Heck no, don't spend more! I saved a ton of money when I got my first real job. You won't always be able to do this. Save a bundle while you can. |
Shorting versus selling to hedge risk | The point of short-selling as a separate instrument is that you can you do it when you can't sell the underlying asset... usually because you don't actually own any of it and in fact believe that it will go down. Shorting allows you to profit from a falling price. Another (non-speculative) possibility is that you don't... |
What is a “Junk Bond”? | A junk bond is, broadly, a bond with a non-negligible risk of default. ("Bond" ought to be defined elsewhere, but broadly it's a financial instrument you buy from a company or government, where they promise to pay you back the principal and some interest over time, on a particular schedule.) The name "junk" is a bit e... |
Condo Purchase - Tax Strategies [US] | You will need to see a tax expert. Your edited question includes the line For the short term, we will be "renting" it to my wife's grandmother at a deep discount. According to the instructions for schedule E If you rented out a dwelling unit that you also used for personal purposes during the year, you may not be abl... |
Can I get a mortgage from a foreign bank? | You definitely used to be able to (see this BBC article from 2006), and I would imagine that you still can, although I also imagine that it would be more difficult than it used to be, as with all mortgages. EDIT: And here's an article from last year about Chinese banks targeting the UK mortgage market. |
Has anyone compared an in-person Tax Advisor to software like Turbo Tax? | I have fairly simple tax returns and my experience was that TurboTax software produced roughly the same result as human accountant and costs much less. The accountant was never able to find any deductions that the program couldn't find. Of course, if you have business, etc. you probably need an accountant to help you ... |
Ballpark salary equivalent today of “healthcare benefits” in the US? | You could probably see prices at one of the Obamacare websites. I'm on Obamacare in Massachusetts, and the premiums for me ranged from about $300-600 per month. For a couple, you just multiply by two (couples don't get any discounts over single people). So for a couple, the cost is about $600-$1200 per month. I neve... |
Do there exist any wikipedia type sites for evaluating financial service providers? | Excellent question. I'm not aware of one. I was going to say "go visit some personal finance blogs" but then I remembered that I write on one, and that I often get a commission if I talk about online accounts, so unless something is really bad I'm not going to post on it because I want to make money, not chase it away... |
Multiple mortgage pre-approvals and effects on credit score | The problem is not the credit score; it is the "competing" inquiries. Multiple inquiries will be considered as one if done withing a short time period (2 month, IIRC) and for the same kind of credit, because people do shop for rates, you're not the first one to do that. So don't worry about that. What you should be wor... |
Switching Accountants - who does the audit review for past years? | It depends on what you paid for, but usually audit support is an unrelated engagement to the return preparation. If the accountant made a professional mistake, you can request correction and compensation from that accountant, other than that any accountant can help you with audit regardless of who prepared the return. ... |
Why do only motor insurers employ “No Claims Discounts”? | Some people are better drivers than others. A collision can happen to anybody, even good drivers. The collision might not be your fault at all; it might be entirely the fault of the other party. However, the best drivers do a better job of avoiding collisions in situations where the other drivers on the road are doing... |
What Happens To Stocks During Hyperinflation | Stocks in the Weimar hyperinflation are discussed in When Money Dies. I don't own a copy of the book but here is a link to a blog post about it. Speculation on the stock exchange has spread to all ranks of the population and shares rise like air balloons to limitless heights Basically, the stock market did very well ... |
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