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Is it wise to have plenty of current accounts in different banks?
I don't think there's any law against having lots of bank accounts. But what are you really gaining? Every new account is a paperwork hassle. Every new account is another target for con men who might steal your information and write bad checks or make phony credit card purchases in your name. Yes, it's not unreasonable...
If I'm cash-flow negative, should I dollar-cost-average the money from my bonus over the entire year?
Essentially, your question is "lump sum vs DCA" and your tags reflect that. In the long run, lump sum, say a Jan 2 deposit each year, will beat DCA by about 1/2 the average annual market return. $12,000 will see a 10% return, vs, $1,000/month over the year seeing 6%. What hurts is when the market tanks in the first hal...
What are the tax implications of exercising options early?
Despite a fair number of views, no one besides @mbhunter answered, so I'll gather the findings of my own research here. Hopefully, this will help others in similar situations. If you spot any errors, please let me know!
What are my chances at getting a mortgage with Terrible credit but High income
The bottom line, is that you are doing the right thing now: correcting your past indiscretions. Get those collections taken care of, then start saving for a down payment. Of course, during this time, you should pay your bills early or on time. During that time your credit will improve dramatically. I bet that this w...
What are the options for a 19-year-old college student who only has about $1000?
Put them in Cds. Better than a savings account, you won't lose capital unlike the stock market.
How do I get into investing in stocks?
Read "The intelligent Investor" book before you do anything. I started when I really didn't understand anything about stocks. I bought an internet stock for $150 per share which sold at 75cents a year later. I sold it for a profit but would've been a disaster.
How does compounding of annual interest work?
The general concept is that your money will grow at an accelerating rate because you start getting interest paid on your returns in addition to the original investment. As a simple example, assume you invest $100 and get 10% interest per year paid annually. -At the end of the first year you have your $100 + $10 inte...
Where to deduct gambling losses?
1: Gambling losses not in excess of gambling winnings can be deducted on Schedule A, line 28. See Pub 17 (p 201). Line 28 catches lots of deductions, and gambling losses are one of them. See Schedule A instructions. 2: If the Mississippi state tax withheld was an income tax (which I assume it was), then it goes on S...
Should I “hedge” my IRA portfolio with a life cycle / target date mutual fund?
I like that you are hedging ONLY the Roth IRA - more than likely you will not touch that until retirement. Looking at fees, I noticed Vanguard Target retirement funds are .17% - 0.19% expense ratios, versus 0.04 - 0.14% for their Small/Mid/Large cap stocks.
Can I register for VAT to claim back VAT without selling VAT applicable goods? (UK)
As far as I know any business can register for VAT regardless of the nature of the business. If all the goods you sell (or services you provide) are VAT-exempt or zero-rated then you will get refunds from HMRC on VAT your business pays. Any business whose non-VAT exempt turnover (which would include zero-rated goods a...
When trading put options, is your total risk decreased if you are in a position to exercise the option?
You should also consider what the cost of the Put is, especially if the strike price is set at the current price, vs the average price delta of the security during the period between when you buy the put, and the expiration date. Also note the prices for puts on stocks with a lot of price volatility. There are a good ...
As a 22-year-old, how risky should I be with my 401(k) investments?
Current evidence is that, after you subtract their commission and the additional trading costs, actively managed funds average no better than index funds, maybe not as well. You can afford to take more risks at your age, assuming that it will be a long time before you need these funds -- but I would suggest that means ...
Do I purchase stocks or not?
You didn't give enough information. What is your goal? What is your financial situation? A discount to buy company stock can seem very tempting. I was tempted by it myself, gee, almost 20 years ago. I still own some of the stock. But I held mutual funds first. There are two disadvantages that have disuaded me fr...
Is a fixed-price natural gas or electricity contract likely to save money?
I can only speak to natural gas but I imagine the answer for electricity is the same. In general, yes, it is better to lock into a fixed price contract as in the long run, natural gas prices increase over time. However, if you locked (signed a fixed price contract) in prior to the economic downturn, most likely you we...
How does a 2 year treasury note work?
There is a large market where notes/bills/bonds are traded, so yes you can sell them later. However, if interest rates go up, the value of any bond that you want to sell goes down, because you now have to compete with what someone can get on a new issue, so you need to 'discount' the principal value of your bond in or...
Is it possible for me to keep my credit card APR at 0% permanently?
No. The intro rate is a gambit by the bank - they accept losing money in the short term but expect to gain money in the long term when your intro is over and you (hopefully) start paying interest. There's not much in it for them if you never get around to paying interest. Same can be said for people who close the card ...
Gigantic point amount on rewards card - what are potential consequences?
I can't give you proper legal advice, but if I called their customer service and used half an hour of my time to wait and explain the situation in detail, and their official response was "just use the points," I would do just that. Of course you would have stronger legal standing if you had recorded their answer, or ha...
Investing in real estate when the stock market is high, investing in stocks when it's low?
The price of real estate reacts to both demand for property and the rate of inflation and rate of income growth. Mortgage rates generally move as treasury rates move. See this paragraph: As we mentioned, intermediate term bonds and long-term mortgages (more properly, Mortgage-Backed Securities, or MBS) compete for the ...
Which is better when working as a contractor, 1099 or incorporating?
I'll just re-post my comment as an answer as i disagree with Michael Pryor. According to this article (and few others) you may save money by incorporating. These factors don’t change the general payroll tax advantage of an S corporation, however: A S corporation can often save business owners substantial amount...
Hedging your personal assets
No. Such companies don't exist. Derivative instruments have evolved over a period and there is a market place, stock exchange with members / broker with obligations etc clearly laid out and enforceable. If I understand correctly say the house is at 300 K. You would like a option to sell it to someone for 300 K after 6 ...
Formula that predicts whether one is better off investing or paying down debt
The formula you are looking for is pretty complicated. It's given here: http://itl.nist.gov/div898/handbook/eda/section3/eda3661.htm You might prefer to let somebody else do the grunt work for you. This page will calculate the probability for you: http://stattrek.com/online-calculator/normal.aspx. In your case, you'd e...
How to calculate how much house I can afford?
There is no simple way to calculate how much house any given person can afford. In the answer keshlam gave, several handy rules of thumb are mentioned that are used as common screening devices to reject loans, but in every case further review is required to approve any loan. The 28% rule is the gold standard for estim...
Why do people buy insurance even if they have the means to overcome the loss?
Ignoring that liability car insurance is usually a state mandated requirement and that all banks require full coverage, there are quite a few reasons to buy it. No matter how much money you have, you can't really guarantee that you can recover financially from an accident. Yes, you can buy a new car. But what happens...
What's behind the long secular bull market in U.S. Treasuries?
In a secular bull market, strong investor sentiment drives prices higher, as participants, over time, are net buyers. Secular markets are typically driven by large-scale national and worldwide events... demographic/ population shifts, governmental policies... bear market periods occur within the longer interval, ...
How to teach personal reconciliation and book balancing
If you are wanting to teach your kids basic accounting principles there is some good stuff on Khan Academy. However most of the stuff takes practice to really make it hit home and its kinda boring (Especially to kids who may or may not care about it). Maybe if you help them set up an account on Mint so that they are at...
Is it true that the price of diamonds is based on a monopoly?
De Beers is the company most cited as the near monopoly. They used to own a massive chunk of the diamond supply and intentionally restricted that supply to increase the price. In recent decades, new sources of diamonds have reduced the De Beers' singular grip. They still have a large share though. Video about this from...
Is it possible for the average person to profit on the stock market?
I'd refer you to Is it true that 90% of investors lose their money? The answer there is "no, not true," and much of the discussion applies to this question. The stock market rises over time. Even after adjusting for inflation, a positive return. Those who try to beat the market, choosing individual stocks, on average,...
A calculator that takes into account portfolio rebalancing?
R has really good package that lets you calculate the return of rebalanced portfolios. The package is called: PerformanceAnalytics (see: http://www.inside-r.org/packages/cran/PerformanceAnalytics/docs/Return.portfolio). I quickly wrote a small script for you that lets you do exactly what you want. Code: By default the...
Do retailers ever stock goods just to make other goods sell better?
That happens all the time. The best situation for this to happen is when you have several products, each a bit better and a bit more expensive than the other, and you add a new product which is the cheapest. That gets people into the store to look at the cheapest product, and then you show the the next more expensive w...
When shorting a stock, do you pay current market price or the best (lowest) available ask price?
When you want to short a stock, you are trying to sell shares (that you are borrowing from your broker), therefore you need buyers for the shares you are selling. The ask prices represent people who are trying to sell shares, and the bid prices represent people who are trying to buy shares. Using your example, you cou...
Why do people buy new cars they can not afford?
Two reasons: Many people make lots of financial decisions (and other kinds of decisions) without actually running any numbers to see what is best (or even possible). They just go with their gut and buy things they feel like buying, without making a thoroughgoing attempt to assess the impact on their finances. I share...
How to invest in stocks without using an intermediary like a broker? Can shares be bought direct?
Yes! What you are describing is an "off-exchange" trade and can be done using stock certificates. Here, you will privately negotiate with the seller on a price and delivery details. That is the old-school way to do it. Many companies (about 20% of the S&P 500) will not issue paper certificates and you may run a hefty p...
Consumer Loans vs Mortgages
Here's a good definition of a consumer loan: What is a Consumer Loan? As@Pete B. pointed out, there are some states (California loves to be the oddball, doesn't it?) that treat some loans in a more unconventional manner, but the gist of it is that a consumer loan is normally unsecured, meaning there's no collateral or ...
Why don't banks give access to all your transaction activity?
All the other answers here are correct, but I'll add one more perspective. I am a business architect at one of the world's largest retail banks. Every day I experience the frustration of trying to get large-scale corporate IT to do anything, so I feel that your question is just one facet of the wider question: "why are...
Are buying and selling futures based on objective data?
Let's ask another question: Why do you buy X at price $Y? Here are some answers: Now, another question: Are you guaranteed to get at least $Y worth of value when you buy X? Of course not! A lot of things can happen. Your car can be a lemon. Your pedigreed Dachshund can get run over by a snowblower. Or, the prices...
401K or Indian CD
As mentioned in the comments, the problem stems with converting your U.S. Dollars to Indian Rupees so as to be able to purchase an Indian fixed deposit. At the time of writing this, 1 U.S. Dollar = 64 Indian Rupees. Consider the following economic factors: Both of the above factors are not definitive but are worth cons...
When shorting a stock, do you pay current market price or the best (lowest) available ask price?
I would never use a market order. Some brokerages have an approval process your short-sale goes through before going to market. This can take some time. So the market prices may well be quite different later. Some brokerages use a separate account for short sales, so you must get their approval for the account befor...
What are some of the key identifiers/characters of an undervalued stock?
You can't. If there was a reliable way to identify an undervalued stock, then people would immediately buy it, its price would rise and it wouldn't be undervalued any more.
Most important skills needed to select profitable stocks
Coolness - It's not only a matter of staying calm when being up or down. You must keep yourself from chasing a stock that appears to be running away. Or from betting all your money that something(like say a crash) will happen tomorrow because that would be great for you. Use your head not your heart. Empathy - You need...
Paying Off Principal of Home vs. Investing In Mutual Fund
Other answers are already very good, but I'd like to add one step before taking the advice of the other answers... If you still can, switch to a 15 year mortgage, and figure out what percentage of your take-home pay the new payment is. This is the position taken by Dave Ramsey*, and I believe this will give you a bett...
What's a reliable way for a non-permanent resident alien in the USA to get an auto loan?
I don't think that they ask you for your citizenship status when you apply in a dealership. At least I don't remember being asked. I know of at least 3 people from my closest circle of friends who are in various immigration statuses (including one on F1) and got an auto loan from a dealership without a problem and with...
Boyfriend is coowner of a house with his sister, he wants to sell but she doesn't
He needs to go see a lawyer to find out what all his options are, and the consequences of any of them. Then he needs to get help extricating himself from this situation, in whatever fashion he chooses: buyout, giveaway, what have you. This situation involves property, which involves money, so definitely get professiona...
Facebook buying WhatsApp for 19 Billion. How are existing shareholders affected?
It's a dilution of the ownership; the public used to own x% of Facebook and now they own less than x% of the bigger Facebook that incorporates Whatsapp (assuming that Whatsapp was completely private before). Logically, the $15 billion is allocated proportionately between the existing stockholders (x% of it for the gene...
How does one determine the width of a candlestick bar?
You could theoretically use any time period unit, but 1 minute and 30 minute seem to be the most common and useful. Especially for active traders. This also has the added advantage of giving you useful insight into the trade volumes throughout the day; assuming that is also included on the chart. I think most inclu...
A deferred capital gains tax similar to the real estate 1031 Exchange but for securities reinvestment?
Sale of a stock creates a capital gain. It can be offset with losses, up to $3000 more than the gains. It can be deferred when held within a retirement account. When you gift appreciated stock, the basis follows. So when I gifted my daughter's trust shares, there was still tax due upon sale. The kiddy tax helped reduc...
In India, what is the difference between Dividend and Growth mutual fund types?
A growth fund is looking to invest in stocks that will appreciate in stock price over time as the companies grow revenues and market share. A dividend fund is looking to invest in stocks of companies that pay dividends per share. These may also be called "income" funds. In general, growth stocks tend to be younger com...
How to help a financially self destructive person?
You can't help people that don't want help, period. It just doesn't work, and you will waste your time and energy while making the other person mad. Both sides end up in the same place they started except now they are frustrated with each other. In a normal situation I would advise to stop enabling her by giving her mo...
What are my chances at getting a mortgage with Terrible credit but High income
First step, pull a copy of your credit report, and score. You should monitor that score and do what you can to bring it up. Your chances are far better if (a) you first save a sizable downpayment, and (b) go with a local bank that doesn't just write the mortgage and sell it. Better still, go to that local bank and inqu...
Dollar Cost Averaging (Or value averaging) vs Lot sizes, what am I missing?
This is more than likely a thing about your financial institution and the exchanges where they trade shares. Some exchanges cannot/will not handle odd lot transactions. Most established brokerages have software and accounting systems that will deal in round lots with the exchanges, but can track your shares individuall...
Is buying or selling goods for gold or silver considered taxable?
Of course. The rationale is exactly the same as always: profit is taxed. The fact that you use intermediate barter to make that profit is irrelevant. To clarify, as it seems that you think it makes a difference that no money "changed hands". Consider this situation: So far your cost is $10000. How will the tax authorit...
Why should one only contribute up to the employer's match in a 401(k)?
Early this year I wrote an article Are you 401(k)o’ed? I described the data from a 401(k) expense survey and the punchline was that the average large retirement plan (over 1000 participants) expense was 1.08%, and for smaller plans it rose to 1.24%. As I commented below, if one's goal is to make deposits with income ...
What would the broker do about this naked call option?
If the underlying is currently moving as aggressively as stated, the broker would immediately forcibly close positions to maintain margin. What securities are in fact closed depends upon the internal algorithms. If the equity in the account remains negative after closing all positions if necessary, the owner of the ac...
Is it smarter to buy a small amount of an ETF every 2 or 3 months, instead of monthly?
Note, the main trade off here is the costs of holding cash rather than being invested for a few months vs trading costs from trading every month. Let's start by understanding investing every month vs every three months. First compare holding cash for two months (at ~0% for most Canadians right now) and then investing...
If the housing market is recovering, why would a REIT index ETF (e.g. VNQ) not be performing well?
To round out something that @Chris W. Rea pointed out, the business that a REIT is in will be either A) Equity REIT... property management, B) mortgage REIT... lending, or C) hybrid REIT (both). A very key point about why REITs broadly have been struggling lately, (and this would show up in the REIT indices/ETFs you'v...
Paying taxes on dividends even though your capital gains were $0?
You are incorrect in saying that you have a capital gains of $0. You either have no capital gains activity, because you haven't realized it or you have an unrealized capital gains of -$10k. If you were to sell immediately after receiving the dividend you would end up as a wash investment wise - the 10k of dividend offs...
Buying and selling the same stock
Sorry, no, any time you sell for a profit you owe tax.
Faster degree with debt or slower degree with no debt?
Basically do some math on the 2 schools. Let's say you know it will take 4 years if you go the cheaper route, at $8k/yr, plus the $300/month, total cost: $46,400. If you (for these purposes) do not have to pay back new loans until school is completed, (and depending on the rate of those loans), you would need approx $6...
Optimal balence of 401K and charitable savings
Two things I would recommend doing: I would save a minimum of 15% into retirement. By young I will assume that you are under 30. 15K/year + company match will grow into a sick amount of money by the time you are in your 60s. So you have a net worth that is north of 5 million. What kind of charitable giving can yo...
(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...
If I have a home loan preapproval letter for x, can the seller know this without me explicitely telling them?
The seller has a legitimate desire to know of your preapproval. I have two current anecdotes on this issue. As a realtor helping a client buy a home, I worked closely with buyer's bank, and got a pre-approval for the amount we were offering. When there was a counteroffer, and we were going to raise the price, the bank ...
Why can Robin Hood offer trading without commissions?
Robinhood does offer premium products that they charge for-I suspect we will see more of that in the future. They do not change the bid/ask spread as some have said because they have to give you the NBBO.
Why use accounting software like Quickbooks instead of Excel spreadsheets?
Here are the few points: Hope that helps,
Why are prices in EUR for consumer items often the same number as original USD price, but the GBP price applies the actual exchange rate?
The simplest answer would be: Because they can. Why charge less for something if people will pay more? One example are Apple products. While there the price number is not exactly the same in EUR and USD, they are so close that, effectively, the EUR product is more expensive. Many things go into a price. There might be ...
What options do I have at 26 years old, with 1.2 million USD?
Wow, everyone tells you different investment strategies. You have all your life ahead of you. Your main focus should not be getting the best return rate, but ensuring your existence. Who cares if you get 7% if you'll lose all in the next market crash and stand on the street with no education, no job and nothing to fall...
Why does my checking/savings account offer a higher interest rate than a standalone savings account?
The key is that you need to use your debit card to earn the higher interest rate. The bank can offer a higher interest rate on accounts connected with a debit card because: They earn additional income through debit card fees charged towards account holders, among other things. They offer the higher interest rate specif...
Methods for forecasting price?
well there are many papers on power spot price prediction, for example. It depends on what level of methodology you would like to use. Linear regression is one of the basic steps, then you can continue with more advanced options. I'm a phd student studying modelling the energy price (electricity, gas, oil) as stochasti...
Is investing in housing considered an adequate hedge against inflation?
Becoming a landlord is a pretty roundabout way to hedge against inflation. Why don't you research TIPs (Treasury Inflation Protected Securities (?)) Over the very long term, a house will just about match inflation, but no more. I observe that it (median home price) has remarkably tight correlation to the mortgage one c...
If USA defaults on its debt, will the T bond holder get back his money
There is no situation one can imagine in which the US defaults (beyond a day or three) on its obligations. The treasury can print money, and while it would be disastrous, 'monetizing' the debt would simply eliminate all outstanding debt at the risk of devaluing the dollar to hyperinflation levels.
How would I go about selling the stock of a privately held company?
SecondMarket attempts to add liquidity to privately held companies. You may be able to find a buyer there, but this is still incredibly illiquid due to accredited investor regulations constricting businesses from catering to the 99%. As around 1% of the United States population qualifies as an accredited investor.
Are all VISA cards connected with bank accounts?
Not necessarily. You can issue credit cards without a bank involved, although companies which do so may have additional legal complications, such as usury regulations. As an example, AmEx is a network which also issues cards themselves. The company is not a bank; they sold their banking subsidiary in 2007. It's also po...
Why could rental costs for apartments/houses rise while buying prices can go up and down?
Economically, you would say that purchased and rented real estate are not perfect substitutes--they are largely separate markets. Only a few people are able to easily switch from one to the other and that choice is sticky--for example, once you buy a house, prices would have to rise a lot for it to be worth it to sell...
How safe is a checking account?
If the checking account is in a FDIC insured bank or a NCUA insured Credit Union then you don't have to worry about what happens if the bank goes out of business. In the past the government has made sure that any disruption was minimal. The fraud issue can cause a bigger problem. If they get a hold of your debit card, ...
Next steps for (not me): a recently-divorced single mom, in California, with a 2yr-old
She should call 211. This is exactly how they help. The 2-1-1 service is run by the United Way, a nonprofit organization. The 2-1-1 service strives to be a clearinghouse for services within a local area.
What does “100% stock dividend” mean?
Simply put, 100% stock dividend is 1:1 or 1 for 1 bonus share, as explained above, if you held 100 shares after 1:1 bonus you would have 200 shares (100 original, another 100 as bonus). The impact on the stock price is that the price becomes 1/2 the price of the stock before bonus (supply has doubled). 1:1 bonus is nor...
Why are residential investment properties owned by non-professional investors and not large corporations?
Economy of scale on one side versus "person monetizing an illliquid asset" on the other. Most multifamily rental buildings are owned by professional real estate investors (as well as individuals growing an empire to become a professional real estate investor whom I will count in this group). The rental difference bet...
If a company has already IPO'ed and sold its shares, what is the incentive to keep making money?
A company doesn't offer up 100% of its shares to the market. There's a float amount of varying significance, maybe 30% of the shares are put up for public offer. Generally some amount of current shareholders will pledge some or all of their shares for offer to the public. This may be how the venture capital, private...
How are Canada Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB) & related tax measures changing in 2015?
The Child Care Expense Deduction (line 214) dollar limits will each increase by $1000, to new amounts of $8000 for children under 7 and $5000 for children age 7–16. Notes: As a tax deduction, your tax liability gets reduced at your marginal income tax rate, not the lowest tax rate (as would be the case for a tax credit...
Can a Line of Credit be re-financed? Is it like a mortgage, with a term?
HELOCs typically have a 10 year draw and 5 year payback. During the draw time you can pay interest only if you wish. The rate can range from Prime minus 1.5 to Prime plus (quite a bit). Of course, you can always shop around for a better deal than you currently have so long as you have equity in your home.
Deductible expenses paid with credit card: In which tax year would they fall?
Assuming that it's not inventory that is sold in the following year or a depreciable asset, you can deduct it when you make the purchase. The courts have ruled that credit cards balances are considered debt. It's treated the same way as if you went to the bank, got a loan, and used cash or a check to purchase the items...
What's a good free checking account?
Check with a small local bank or credit union, they might offer better terms. That said, my local credit union still charges $6/month for a checking account if you don't have a direct deposit into it.
Are there any hedged international funds in India?
There aren't and for a good reason. The long term trend of INR against USD, GBP, EUR and other harder currencies is down. Given the inflation differential between these economies and India's, fund managers and investors should expect this to continue. Therefore, if you are invested for any reasonable length of time, yo...
Negative Balance from Automatic Options Exercise. What to do?
Automatic exercisions can be extremely risky, and the closer to the money the options are, the riskier their exercisions are. It is unlikely that the entire account has negative equity since a responsible broker would forcibly close all positions and pursue the holder for the balance of the debt to reduce solvency risk...
How do historically low interest rates affect real estate prices?
The article John cites says no correlation, but this chart from the article says otherwise; One sees the rate drop from 14% to 4% and housing rise from an index of 50 to near 190. (reaching over to my TI BA-35 calculator) I see that at 14%, $1000/mo will buy $84,400 worth of mortgage, but at 4%, it will buy $209,500. ...
Is it true that 90% of investors lose their money?
It depends on the market that you participate in. Stock markets are not zero sum as JoeTaxpayer explained. On the other hand, any kind of derivative markets (such as options or futures) are indeed zero sum, due to the nature of the financial instruments that are exchanged. Those markets tend to be more unforgiving. I d...
Why do financial institutions charge so much to convert currency?
As mentioned in several other answers, the main reason for high rates is to maximize profit. However, here is another, smaller effect: The typical flow of getting money from an ATM: Suppose you have a minute to consider the offer, then in that time the currency may drop or rise (which you can see from an external sourc...
Are index-tracking ETF popular in Japan?
The Japanese stock market offers a wide selection of popular ETFs tracking the various indices and sub-indices of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. See this page from the Japan Exchange Group site for a detailed listing of the ETFs being offered on the Tokyo exchange. As you have suggested, one would expect that Japanese inve...
Should I pay off my car loan within the year?
Typically the power of capitalized interest would work in your favor and you could carry the loan paying it down while investing the original sum which would earn interest. BUT you aren't going to get any sort of return to compare with 15% so pay off that loan immediately. Also contrary to popular belief (and reiterate...
Costs around a modern crowd-sourced hedge fund
Your inference in #1 is incorrect. The million dollars he has contributed is going to be part of the assets of the fund. This is common practice and is a way for the founder to express confidence that the fund will make money. He wants you to come up with a model that he can then use to trade those assets. Presumab...
Why is tax loss harvesting helpful for passive investing?
You also may want to consider how this interacts with the stepped up basis of estates. If you never sell the stock and it passes to your heirs with your estate, under current tax law the basis will increase from the purchase price to the market price at the time of transfer. In a comment, you proposed: Thinking mo...
Which is the most liquid market for trading?
I would rate index futures, in particular the US index futures (e.g. the S&P 500 future) as the most liquid markets after the forex markets.
Is Cost of Living overstated?
I live in Upstate NY. It's a great, reasonable cost place to live -- provided that you have a job. In NYC, there are probably a few hundred jobs with duties similar to mine in a 45-minute radius. Upstate, there may be 5-6.
I spend too much money. How can I get on the path to a frugal lifestyle?
I would highly recommend the Dave Ramsey book "The Total Money Makeover". I read it about 5 years ago and my financial situation has slowly but steadily been improving ever since.
If the former owner of my home is still using the address, can it harm me?
Give it to your mailman to return to sender. For this kind of material, return service is always requested, and it will let the bank know that they have incorrect address information. If the owner needs the cards, he'll contact the bank, or the bank will contact him to verify the address. Either way, as long as its not...
Where can I get interesting resources on Commodities?
I would recommend that go through some forums where commodities topics be discussed so that if you have some issues related any point in commodities investment you will easily get your question sort out.
Can the U.S. government retroactively tax gains made earlier in the fiscal year?
You're certainly referring to "Ex Post Facto" laws, and while the US is constitutionally prohibited from passing criminal laws that are retroactive, the US Supreme Court has upheld many tax laws that apply tax code changes retroactively. You might ask a similar question on Law.SE for a more thorough treatment of the le...
How much does it cost to build a subdivision of houses on a large plot of land?
The basic answer is that you are comparing apples and oranges. On the one hand, you are considering a case where someone buys a single already-built house. On the other hand, you are considering a case where someone buys a large piece of land, builds 10 houses, and (presumably) sells or rents the 9 they're not living...
Should I talk about my stocks?
No, there is no significant harm to discussing this. Outside of possibly getting bad advice, excessive advice, or complaints that others just aren't interested...
What are the real risks in “bio-technology” companies?
The risk is that everything could go wrong in any phase at any time or they could run out of cash and go bankrupt waiting for results. Then there is the FDA that might take forever in approving their drug, or not approve it at all. Human trials could go horribly wrong. The company may be incompetent in bringing a produ...
Live in Florida & work remote for a New York company. Do I owe NY state income tax?
If you're not a NY (tax) resident, then as long as you're not physically present in New York - you do not owe NY taxes on compensation for your services. But that is if you're a 1099 contractor/employee. If you're a partner/shareholder in a partnership/LLC/S-Corp registered or conducting business in New York, and that ...
How do i get into investing stocks [duplicate]
Spend your first 50 euros on research materials. Warren Buffett got started as a boy by reading every book in the Library of Congress on investing and stock market analysis. You can research the company filings for Canadian companies at http://www.sedar.com, U.S companies at http://www.edgar.com, and European companies...