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How do I figure out if I will owe taxes | Do I get a write off for paying student loans? Maybe. See https://www.irs.gov/publications/p970/ch04.html Generally, personal interest you pay, other than certain mortgage interest, isn't deductible on your tax return. However, if your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is less than $80,000 ($160,000 if filing a jo... |
I have $12k in a Chase checking account, but want to start earning interest/saving/investing/etc to make more money. What should I do? | Lets make some assumptions. You are not close to retirement. You have no other debts. You have a job. You have no big need for the money. You should invest that. Do not invest with a bank, they are not as competitive on fees as a brokerage account. You can get specific answers that are different from every person... |
I have $100,000 in play money… what to do? | As you have already good on your retirement kitty. Assuming you have a sufficient cash for difficult situations, explore the options of investing in Shares and Mutual Funds. As you are new to Stock Market, begin slowly by investing into Mutual Funds and ETF for precious metals. This will help you understand and give yo... |
Question about MBS and how it pays | A Mortgage Backed Security or MBS is the security. It's not an entity, it's essentially a contract. As an investment they function more or less the same way a bond does. There is nothing wrong with the concept behind a Mortgage Backed Security. Functionally securities like these allows banks and other institutions t... |
What is market capitalization? [duplicate] | Market Capitalization is the value the market attributes to the company shares calculated by multiplying the current trading price of these shares by the total amount of shares outstanding. So a company with 100 shares trading at $10 has a market cap of $1000. It is technically not the same as the value of a company (i... |
Clarify on some Stocks Terminology | Volume is measured in the number of shares traded in a given day, week, month, etc. This means that it's not necessarily a directly-comparable measure between stocks, as there's a large difference between 1 million shares traded of a $1 stock ($1 million total) and 1 million shares traded of a $1000 stock ($1 billion t... |
Hearing much about Dave Ramsey. Which of his works is best in describing his “philosophy” about money? | My beef with day (and to ape Yishai's answer a little) is that his good advice is no different than anybody's good advice. The seven steps are on the home page, Clark Howard, Suze Orman and probably quite a few others all chat about spend less, save more, shop wisely and live within your means. Anything specific is ju... |
Why is the bid-ask spread considered a cost? | As an aside, on most securities with a spread of the minimum tick, there would be no bid ask spread if so-called "locked markets", where the price of the best bid on one exchange is equal to the price of the best ask on another, were permitted. It is currently forbidden for a security to have posted orders having the s... |
What is the rationale behind stock markets retreating due to S&P having a negative outlook on the USA? | Many of the major indices retreated today because of this news. Why? How do the rising budget deficits and debt relate to the stock markets? The major reason for the market retreating is the uncertainty regarding the US Dollar. If the US credit rating drops that will have an inflationary effect on the currency (a... |
Investment Options for 14-year old? | When I was about your age I had the same kind of situation. I asked my bank about possible options and one of them was a guaranteed reserve. You lock the money away for a certain amount of years and you get a guaranteed amount of interest on it. I don't know what the current rate is at the moment so you'll have to ask ... |
About to start being an Independent Contractor - Any advice on estimating taxes? | I agree with your strategy of using a conservative estimate to overpay taxes and get a refund next year. As a self-employed individual you are responsible for paying self-employment tax (which means paying Social Security and Medicare tax for yourself as both: employee and an employer.) Current Social Security Rate is ... |
Can a merchant charge you more in the US if you want to use a credit card? | This isn't so much a legal issue, the prohibition on giving discounts was written into the merchant agreements that most of the major credit card companies enforced on businesses that accepted their credit cards. That is, until the recent Financial Reform Bill (2010) passed Congress. It changes everything. (The logic o... |
Should I replace bonds in a passive investment strategy | No. That's the point of a passive strategy: you maintain a more or less constant mix of assets and don't try to figure out what's going to move where. |
Is buying a lottery ticket considered an investment? | This question feels like an EL&U question to me, and so I will treat it as one. Investment, noun form of to invest, originally from the Latin investire, meaning to clothe, means: [T]o commit (money) in order to earn a financial return Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Invest, vb. tr., definition 1 As such, when a pers... |
Some stock's prices don't fluctuate widely - Is it an advantages? | Oracle specifically is paying a dividend with a current yield of about 1.4% annually and has appreciated nearly 50% over the last 5 years. Granted, the past doesn't guarantee the future but the company has paid a pretty steady dividend since 2009. If you're buying as part of an employee program you would presumably b... |
How can I transfer and consolidate my 401k's and other options? | The simplest way to consolidate the funds your old 401(k) plans is by doing what's called a Direct Rollover (whereby the funds go directly into the new plan and skips you completely) from each of the old plans into either an IRA that you establish with a provider of your choice or even into your current employer's 401(... |
Is paying off your mortage a #1 personal finance priority? | For some people, it should be a top priority. For others, there are higher priorities. What it should be for you depends on a number of things, including your overall financial situation (both your current finances and how stable you expect them to be over time), your level of financial "education", the costs of your... |
What percentage of my stock portfolio should be international (non-US) stocks? | Rephrasing your question: Am I diversified if I have more than 50% US stocks? I would say that you can certainly be diversified and have more than 50% of your portfolio invested in US Stocks. I view the amount of international stocks (non-US) as a risk choice. My observations have been that my international stocks... |
What are the financial advantages of living in Switzerland? | Switzerland was once known for its high regard for private property rights. Recently it is has started to violate those rights by forcing banks to turn over the names of account holders to the US government. Not a great trend. Another aspect that makes Switzerland an attractive place for people and businesses is the ... |
How far into the future is a stock future? How do stock futures work? | Context is key here. Futures don't really have to do with a time in the future in this context. Futures are a capital market (futures market), just like Stocks are a market (stock market). Both capital markets have the ability to affect each other. Up until 30 years ago there was a separate use for the futures market,... |
Do post-IPO 'insider' stock lockup periods still apply if you separate from the company | There are quite a few regulations on "Insider Trading". Blackouts are one of the means companies adopt to comply with "Insider Trading" regulations, mandating employees to refrain from selling/buying during the notified period. Once you leave the employment: So unless there is an urgent need for you to sell/buy the opt... |
Why should I trust investment banks' ratings? | If there's indeed no reason to trust GS, i.e. those are just guides then the question is: Why do investors seem to care? Because there's a reason to trust. You're just reading the bottom line - the target price range. More involved investors read the whole report, including the description of the current situation, t... |
How do rich people guarantee the safety of their money, when savings exceed the FDIC limit? | With a lot excess cash you eventually have two goals: Since interest on cash bank deposits does not exceed inflation and you have currency risk, you may want to get into other asset classes. Options that might be, but not limited to are: |
Why small retail stores ask for ID with a credit card while big don't | Because large stores do not pay their cashiers enough that the companies can dock the employees' pay if they allow a bad credit card to go through. So most cashiers at large stores won't take the extra effort to check the card properly. As a result, large stores come up with other ways to handle potential credit card... |
Should I use a TSP loan? | Never borrow money to purchase a depreciating asset. Especially don't borrow money that has penalties attached. |
How do I know what loan terms I can qualify for? | You can find out the most money they will loan you for a car loan when you approach your current bank/credit union. They should be willing to layout options based on your income, and credit history. You then have to decide if those terms work for you. There are several dangers with getting loan estimates, they may be w... |
Do I need to pay tax on the amount of savings I have in the bank? | In India, assuming that you have already paid relevant [Income/Capital gains] tax and then deposited the funds into your Bank [Savings or Current] Account; there is NO INCOME tax payable for amount. Any interest earned on this amount is taxable as per Income Tax rules and would be taxed at your income slabs. Wealth... |
What to bear in mind when considering a rental home as an investment? | What are the most important facts to keep in mind as I consider this? IMHO, the most important consideration to keep in mind is - do you really want to be in the landlord business, and if so, how much experience do you have in this business? |
What should I do with my money? | My advice would be to invest that 50k in 25% batches across 4 different money markets. Batch 1: Lend using a peer-to-peer account - 12.5k The interest rates offered by banks aren't that appealing to investors anymore, at least in the UK. Peer to peer lending brokers such as ZOPA provide 5% to 6% annual returns if you'... |
Paid by an American company but working from France: where should I pay taxes? | There's nothing wrong with your reasoning except that you expect the tax laws to make perfect sense. More often than not they don't. I suggest getting in touch with a professional tax preparer (preferably with a CPA or EA designation), who will be able to understand the issue, including the relevant portions of the Fre... |
How do you measure the value of gold? | 1) Get some gold. 2) Walk around, yelling, "Hey, I have some gold, who wants to buy it?" 3) Once you have enough interested parties, hold an auction and see who will give you the most dollars for it. 4) Trade the gold for that many dollars. 5) You have just measured the value of your gold. |
Is there a term that better describes a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) when it is negative? | My experience is in economics, so it may differ from an accounting or personal finance perspective somewhat; that being said, I find it perfectly acceptable to use a term like CAGR when the rate is positive or negative. Economists talk about negative growth rates all the time, and it's universally assumed that growth r... |
What is an ideal number of stock positions that I should have in my portfolio? | Honestly? The maximum number really doesn't matter. If you're investing long-term, you buy in when it looks like an OK deal (still undervalued but looks like it'll grow), and you sell when it looks like the stock has reached a peak it won't reach again for a while if ever. However many stocks you can keep track of on t... |
What are the advantages of doing accounting on your personal finances? | In my opinion, every person, regardless of his or her situation, should be keeping track of their personal finances. In addition, I believe that everyone, regardless of their situation, should have some sort of budget/spending plan. For many people, it is tempting to ignore the details of their finances and not worry ... |
Is it better to ask for a raise before a spin-off / merger or after? | Corporate restructuring makes everything a flux, so you might as well revisit some core fundamental questions. Here's how to do this professionally: Start floating your CV now. Line up interviews in competing companies. Attend to them. Score a job offer, and have it put into writing, with exact salary, which should be ... |
Why do stock prices of retailers not surge during the holidays? | Excellent question for a six year old! Actually, a good question for a 20 year old! One explanation is a bit more complicated. Your son thinks that after the Christmas season the company is worth more. For example, they might have turned $10 million of goods into $20 million of cash, which increases their assets by $1... |
23 and on my own, what should I be doing? | Congratulations on earning a great income. However, you have a lot of debt and very high living expenses. This will eat all of your income if you don't get a hold of it now. I have a few recommendations for you. At the beginning of each month, write down your income, and write down all your expenses for the month. Inc... |
How do I calculate the quarterly returns of a stock index? | Here's a few demo steps, first calculating the year to date return, then calculating the Q4 quarterly return based on the cumulative returns for Q3 and Q4. It's fine to use closing price to closing price as return periods. |
I'm 23 and was given $50k. What should I do? | I would be realistic and recognize that however you invest this money, it is unlikely to be a life-changing sum. It is not going to provide an income which significantly affects your monthly budget, nor is it going to grow to some large amount which will allow you to live rent-free or similar. Therefore my advice is qu... |
Are credit cards not viewed as credit until you miss one payment? | There's a difference between missing a payment and "carrying a balance" (making an on-time payments that are less than the full balance due). I have heard mortgage brokers claim that, if you have no other credit history, carrying a small balance here and there on a credit card may improve your score. ("Small" is in re... |
Are there any benefits to investing with a group of friends vs. by myself? | The benefits of pooling your money with others: The drawbacks of pooling your money with others: Practically Speaking - I say go for it. You stand to gain a lot of knowledge about how money works without having too much on the line. Good luck! |
What is the best way to stay risk neutral when buying a house with a mortgage? | To avoid risk from rising interest rates, get a fixed rate mortgage. For the life of the mortgage your principal and interest payments will remain the same. Keep in mind that the taxes and insurance portion of your monthly payment may still go up. Because you own the property, the costs to maintain the property are you... |
How much is an asset producing $X/month is worth? | The simplest way is just to compute how much money you'd have to have invested elsewhere to provide a comparable return. For example, if you assume a safe interest rate of 2.3% per year, you would need to have about $520,000 to get $1,000/month. |
“Inflation actually causes people not to spend”… could it be true? | We need to be careful what we are talking about here. Inflation on a economy-level scale at an expected rate will not change consumer habits because the price increase is manageable. You have to realize that prices are not increasing in isolation: wages will have to rise along too. High inflation that is expected will... |
Why is a stock that pays a dividend preferrable to one that doesn't? | One reason to prefer a dividend-paying stock is when you don't plan to reinvest the dividends. For example, if you're retired and living off the income from your investments, a dividend-paying stock can give you a relatively stable income. |
What's the difference between TaxAct and TurboTax? | I prefer TaxAct. I find it simpler to use and more helpful in helping answer the questionnaire. I have a fairly complex tax return and it handles it just fine. |
Pros and cons of using a personal assistant service to manage your personal finances? | Not knowing anything about your situation or what makes it so complex, I would have to agree with the other commenters. If your accountant screws up your business goes under, but at least your personal finances are safe from that and you'll recover (unless all your wealth is tied up in your business). If your virtual... |
What choices should I consider for investing money that I will need in two years? | Never invest money you need in the short term. As already suggested, park your money in CDs. |
Does financing a portfolio on margin affect the variance of a portfolio? | Financing a portfolio with debt (on margin) leads to higher variance. That's the WHOLE POINT. Let's say it's 50-50. On the downside, with 100% equity, you can never lose more than your whole equity. But if you have assets of 100, of which 50% is equity and 50% is debt, your losses can be greater than 50%, which is to ... |
Should I invest in my house, when it's in my wife's name? | It is my opinion that part of having a successful long-term relationship is being committed to the other person's success and well-being. This commitment is a form of investment in and of itself. The returns are typically non-monetary, so it's important to understand what money actually is. Money is a token people exch... |
How to calculate 1 share movement | The price of a share has two components: Bid: The highest price that someone who wants to buy shares is willing to pay for them. Ask: The lowest price that someone who has a share is willing to sell it for. The ask is always higher than the bid, since if they were equal the buyer and seller would have a deal, make a tr... |
Free/open source Unix software that pulls info from all my banks/brokers/credit cards? | Buxfer is a personal-finance web app which you might like. It's not open-source. But at least none of your complaints about financeworks.intuit.com apply to Buxfer. Buxfer offers a piece of software you can download to your own PC, called Firebux. This macro-recording software provides automation that helps you down... |
Do market shares exhaust? | As @ApplePie pointed out in their answer, at any given time there is a finite amount of stock available in a company. One subtlety you may be missing is that there is always a price associated with an offer to buy shares. That is, you don't put in an order simply to buy 1 share of ABC, you put in an order to buy 1 shar... |
Can a put option and call option be exercised for the same stock with different strike prices? | You could have both options exercised (and assigned to you) on the same day, but I don't think you could lose money on both on the same day. The reason is that while exercises are immediate, assignments are processed after the markets close at the end of each day. See http://www.888options.com/help/faq/assignment.jsp f... |
I carelessly invested in a stock on a spike near the peak price. How can I salvage my investment? | The market doesn't know or care why you bought. What you are asking is effectively 'this share went down in price after I bought. Is there anything I can do?'. Consider what you are asking for - if there were anything you could do, then no one would ever make a loss. How do you suppose that would work? |
TFSA over-contributions: How would the penalty apply in this scenario? | First, if your stock is trading at $1 and you transfer the 5000 shares in-kind to your TFSA on August 2, 2011, you are deemed to have disbursed that stock in your (assumed) non-registered account. This may have tax consequences depending on the ACB of the original purchase. As for your TFSA overcontribution, you will o... |
How do I get bill collectors who call about people I know to stop calling me? | If they really won't stop calling you, just waste their time. Usually the best thing I do to telemarketers (the ones that constantly call even through I've told them to stop) is to say "oh yes, I'm interested I'll just get a pen" - put them on hold and keep them on hold. Do it every time they call and soon they'll get... |
How can I cash in a small number of delisted US shares? TLAB | If you held the shares directly, the transfer agent, Computershare, should have had you registered and your address from some point on file. I have some experience with Computershare, it turned out when Qwest restarted dividends and the checks mailed to the childhood home my parents no longer owned, they were able to ... |
When does it make sense for the money paid for equity to go to the corporation? | If the check is written as a check to BigCo, it is less clear how Jack can compensate himself for the equity sale. It is as if the equity was owned by the corporation, not by Jack. This is correct. If the check is written to BigCo, then it is BigCo issuing new shares. Jack doesn't compensate himself for the equity sa... |
If you want to trade an equity that reflects changes in VIX, what is a good proxy for it? | If you want to trade to gain from short-term volatility, you can use Derivative-based ETFs that try to track the inverse of a broad index like the S&P 500. Note that these ETFs only track the index over a 1 day period, so you shouldn't hold these. If you're looking for a longer-term investment strategy, look at low-bet... |
Solicitation of a Security | ASSUMING THIS IS A QUESTION OF U.S. SECURITIES LAWS You didn't explain whether you're related to the mother and son, but I'll assume you are. If that's the case, this really wouldn't qualify as a solicited sale. It wasn't advertised publicly for sale, and there is already (I assume) a long-standing relationship betwe... |
how late can i put money into an IRA and still have it count for 2015? | The IRA contribution for the year are allowed until the tax day of that year. I.e.: you can contribute for 2015 until April 15th, 2016 (or whatever the first business day is after that, if the 15th is a holiday). You'll have to explicitly designate your contribution for 2015, since some of the IRA providers may automat... |
How can I determine which stores are regarded as supermarkets for a rewards credit card? | Contact AmEx. They are the only ones who might have a current list. |
How can I find stocks with very active options chains? | If you're willing to shell out some cash, vendors will be quite happy to sell you everything you need. Picking one out of thin air, and no idea if this is a good price or not, the CBOE will sell you EOD data for every option for $40 for one day, and at a discount for multiple days. Beyond the high/low/close for each c... |
Learning investment--books to read? Fundamental/Value/Motley Fool | You are smart to read books to better inform yourself of the investment process. I recommend reading some of the passive investment classics before focusing on active investment books: If you still feel like you can generate after-tax / after-expenses alpha (returns in excess of the market returns), take a shot at som... |
What is a stock warrant? How do warrants work? | In Australia there are 2 type of warrants (I don't know if it is the same in the US, UK and other countries), the first are trading warrants and the second are instalment warrants. The trading warrants are exactly what it says, they are used for trading. They are similar to option and have calls and puts. As Cameron sa... |
Looking for a good source for Financial Statements | The best source of financial statements would be from the company in question. On corporate websites of public listed companies, you can find such financial statements uploaded in the Investor's Relations section of their website. If their company does not have an online presence, another alternative would be to go to ... |
Pay bill now or later? | If you've got the money to pay the bill today, do it. They are giving you a 25% discount if you do. You won't find an investment that will beat that. Let's look at the details of your scheme. Instead of paying $1696 today, you decide that you will pay $2261 over 60 months, or $37.68 per month. You also decide to inv... |
Strategies for putting away money for a child's future (college, etc.)? | I know this is a little off the wall but I bought a rental property for my son's tuition. The tenants pay down the mortgage for the next 12 years and it (hopefully) also appreciates in value. Worst case scenario is I come out with a rental and a kid with no education. He doesn't go then there's no skin off my back. |
Wisest option to pay for second career education | To me it sounds like you need to come up with 67K (30+37), part of the time you can work in the current job, part of the time you could work a lower paying part time job (for a year). Lets assume that you can earn 15K for that year, and you can save 5K from your current job. (I'd try and save more, but what ever you ... |
What should I do with $4,000 cash and High Interest Debt? | With all due respect to The David, the $1000 is best put against 20%+ debt, no sitting in checking as part of some emergency fund. I'd agree with the decision to pay off the lower rate card. Why? Because we can do the math, and can see the cost in doing so. Low enough that other factors come in, namely, a freed up car... |
Should we prepay our private student loans, given our particular profile? | You're in good shape as long as your income stays. Your only variable-rate debt now is your private student loan. I think you'd be wise to pay that down first, and you sense that already. Worst-case, in the event of a bankruptcy, student loans usually cannot be discharged, so that isn't a way out. Once that loan is go... |
What options do I have at 26 years old, with 1.2 million USD? | Since you mentioned moving, you can buy real state very cheap here in Mexico that will give you income monthly. I will tell you some numbers in case you're interested. Now to investments: you can buy houses for rent, and prices are as follows: Average house $25k which will give about $220 monthly of income. Let's say y... |
Why do I get a much better price for options with a limit order than the ask price? | I can often get the option at [a] price [between bid and ask] The keyword you use here is quite relevant: often. More realistically, it's going to be sometimes. And that's just how supply and demand should work. The ask is where you know you can buy right away. If you don't wanna buy at ask, you can try and put a hige... |
Started new job. Rollover previous employer 401k to new 401k, IRA or Roth IRA? | Rolling a 401(k) to an IRA should be your default best option. Rolling a 401(k) to another 401(k) is rarely the best option, but that does happen. I've done it once when I started a job at a company that had a great 401(k) with a good selection of low-cost mutual funds. I rolled the 401(k) from one previous job in to ... |
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 open a credit card when I turn 18 just to start a credit score? | Assuming I only use it to buy things I can afford (which I trust myself to do), essentially treating it as a debit card, is this a good idea? This is definitely a good idea. From my own experience, before I got my first credit card through my local bank (age 18), I tired to apply for a card that has cash back rewar... |
Buy index mutual fund or build my own? | Go with a Vanguard ETF. I had a lengthy discussion with a successful broker who runs a firm in Chicago. He boiled all of finance down to Vanguard ETF and start saving with a roth IRA. 20 years of psychology research shows that there's a .01 correlation (that's 1/100 of 1%) of stock/mutual fund performance to predictio... |
What tax software automatically determines the best filing status, etc? | Rob - I'm sorry your first visit here has been unpleasant. What you are asking for is beyond the capability of most software. If you look at Fairmark.com, you find the standard deduction for married filing joint is $12,200 in 2012, and $12,400 in 2013. I offer this anecdote to share a 'deduction' story - The first yea... |
Technical Analysis not working | You cannot just read one book and some articles on Technical Analysis and some indicators and expect to be an expert and everything to just start falling into place and give you signals that will tell you when to buy and sell with precision and massive profits all the time. It is like someone reading a book on how to ... |
How to rescue my money from negative interest? | You might want to talk with your financial planner about any or all of the following: as well as Some of these offer the guarantee of a minimal amount of interest, as well as the ability to take a loan out against the cash value, without lapsing the policy. They may also offer certain tax advantages depending upon you... |
Income Tax form in India for freelancing | Since you are living in India and earning income not from salary, you must file your tax return under ITR4(Profits or Gains of Business or Profession). You can do it online on IncomeTax India eFiling website, step by step guide available here. |
Is this trick enough to totally prevent bankrupcy in a case of a crash? | Adding to the answers above, there is another source of risk: if one of the companies you are short receives a bid to be purchased by another company, the price will most probably rocket... |
I'm an American in my mid 20's. Is there something I should be doing to secure myself financially? | First of all, make sure you have an emergency fund. Ideally this should be at least 6 months of living expenses in an easily accessible place. Do you have any credit card debt, school debt, or other debt? Work towards becoming debt free, especially of higher interest debt and debt on things that are only depreciating... |
GAAP or non-GAAP numbers in nasdaq.com? | You're interpreting things correctly, at least at a high level. Those numbers come from the 10Q filing and investor summary from Microsoft, but are provided to NASDAQ by Zacks Investment Research, as noted on the main page you linked to. That's a big investment data firm. I'm not sure why they reported non-GAAP Micr... |
Multiple SEO companies claiming I have a past-due invoice | Reading stuff like this makes me want to go into the debt collection business. Just send letters to random people demanding money. Sounds like an easy way to make a living. What's your name and address? Just kidding. If they are sending stuff to a Virginia PO Box, close the box with no forwarding address and consider i... |
Credit Card Approval | Bigger than the three mentioned above is on-time payment and/or collections activity. If your report shows you have not paid accounts on time, or have accounts in collections, that is almost guaranteed decline except for the least desirable cards. Another factor is number of hard inquiries. If you have been on a recent... |
Is there a free, online stock screener for UK stocks? | Most free stock screeners for UK stocks, even those mentioned above, are very poor and not worth the effort really, and searching for stock screeners on a search engine will only bring up stock screeners for USA stocks. The best free UK stock screener (registration is required although this is FREE) is without any doub... |
Is it worth buying real estate just to safely invest money? | People in the United States in the mid-2000's thought that real estate was safe. Then they discovered that when the bubble burst the value of their house dropped 10 to 50%. Then they realized that they couldn't sell, even if they had the cash to make the lender whole. Some lost their houses to foreclosure, others walk... |
What is the meaning of “short selling” or “going short” a stock? | This is a gross simplification as there are a few different ways to do this. The principle overall is the same though. To short a stock, you borrow X shares from a third party and sell them at the current price. You now owe the lender X shares but have the proceeds from the sale. If the share price falls you can buy ba... |
Limited Liability Partnership capital calculation | Retained earnings is different from partner capital accounts. You can draw the money however the partners agree. Unless money is specifically transferred to the capital funds, earnings will not show up there. |
Why do stores and manufacturers use mail in rebates? A scam, or is there a way to use them effectively? | It's an effective way to achieve market segmentation without having to ask your customers how rich they are, and you get the benefit of finding out additional information like their address, email etc. The principle is similar to coupons on cereal boxes, anybody can get the rebate/discount if they go to the effort, but... |
Re-financing/consolidating multiple student loans for medical school? | Several student loans are backed by government guarantee and this will allow you to get attractive rates. This may require them to consolidate the three classes of loans separately. Many commercial banks offer consolidation services, one example is Wachovia discussed at https://www.wellsfargo.com/student/private-loan-c... |
Where to start with personal finance? | First thing I'd say is don't start with investing. The foundation of solid finances is cash flow. Making more than you spend, reliably; knowing where your money goes; having a system that works for you to make sure you make more than you spend. Until you have that, your focus may as well be on getting there, because yo... |
Why is it that stock prices for a company seem to go up after a layoff? | As others have pointed out, there are often many factors that are contributing to a stock's movement other than the latest news. In particular, the overall market sentiment and price movement very often is the primary driver in any stock's change on a given day. But in this case, I'd say your anecdotal observation i... |
How to measure how the Australian dollar is faring independent of the US dollar | The best answer to your question would to be what the interest rates are like in Australia itself. The Reserve Bank sets the target ‘cash rate’, which is the market interest rate on overnight funds. It uses this as the instrument for monetary policy, and influences the cash rate through its financial market oper... |
Is being a landlord a good idea? Is there a lot of risk? | Based on what you've said I think buying a rental is risky for you. It looks like you heard that renting a house is profitable and Zillow supported that idea. Vague advice + a website designed for selling + large amounts of money = risky at the very least. That doesn't mean that rental property is super risky it just m... |
Does my net paycheck decrease as the year goes on due to tax brackets filling up? | No, you will (generally speaking) not see a decrease in your net earnings from crossing a tax bracket: This means that your highest marginal rate (the top bracket you fall into) only applies to the portion of your income that is in that bracket, not your total income. This helps ensure that your total tax burden does n... |
What's the fuss about Credit Score / History? | If human beings were Homo Economicus, i.e. textbook rational and self-interested economic-minded beings, as opposed to simply human, then yes, simple advice like "just stay out of debt and your credit score will take care of itself" could work. Your simplification would be very persuasive to such a being. However, peo... |
Using Fibonacci Extensions to set profit targets? | fibonacci levels (retracements,expansions, arcs) are all arbitrary numbers with no statistical significance. that said thousands of traders world over use, view and depend on fib numbers in their trading ranging from forex, stock commodities etc the point is if it's traded a fibonacci number has been used on it, becaus... |
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