Question
stringlengths
14
166
Answer
stringlengths
3
17k
Is there a law or regulation that governs the maximum allowable interest amount that can be charged on credit cards or in agreements where credit is extended?
In the US, usury is complicated and depends on the type of account, the bank charter and the where the bank makes credit decisions. Most major US credit cards are issued by entities in Utah, South Dakota and Delaware. None of these states have usury limits. Many states have usury limits. In New York, for example a loan...
Do real nappies (reusable / cloth diapers) really save money?
I don't think they do. And here's why. If you don't want your child to get skin irritation, you need to watch closely and change the "nappy" right when it got wet. For newborns it means like every 2 hours. It creates a big pile of laundry, but the main thing — additional burden on mother. So, even if you save a little ...
I have savings and excess income. Is it time for me to find a financial advisor?
Many of my friends said I should invest my money on stocks or something else, instead of put them in the bank forever. I do not know anything about finance, so my questions are: First let me say that your friends may have the best intentions, but don't trust them. It has been my experience that friends tell you what th...
Credit card issued against my express refusal; What action can I take?
As far as the banker himself goes, it's a customer service issue. WF is not going to tell you about their internal discipline (or oughtn't, anyway), other than potentially to confirm that the banker does or does not still work there; that's the closest they should get to telling you about it. I'm a (very) former reta...
what if a former employer contributes to my 401k in the year following my exit?
Publication 590a covers this in a fairly specific manner. Page 11, section "Are You Covered by an Employer Plan?", specifies: The Form W-2 you receive from your employer has a box used to indicate whether you were covered for the year. The “Retirement Plan” box should be checked if you were covered. So, by defaul...
Where can I find historical ratios of international stock indexes?
I found a possible data source. It offers fundamentals i.e. the accounting ratios you listed (P/E, dividend yield, price/book) for international stock indexes. International equity indices based on EAFE definitions are maintained by Professor French of French-Fama fame, at Dartmouth's Tuck Business School website. Spe...
Is it cheaper to use car Insurance or pay out of pocket?
There's not a single answer here, as the premium you pay for car insurance depends on multiple factors, including (but not limited to): All these factors contribute to the likelihood of getting into an accident, and the expected damage from an accident. So just having an accident and making a claim will likely raise y...
What would a stock be worth if dividends did not exist? [duplicate]
This is how capital shares in split capital investment trusts work they never get any dividend they just get the capital when the company is wound up
What causes discontinuities with stock prices
During the 12 plus hours the market was closed news can change investors opinion of the stock. When the market reopens that first trade could be much different than the last trade the day before.
How to help a financially self destructive person?
I learned this from a business book on managing people, but I think it applies equally well here. You can't put in what God left out of people. I know several people with this mentality about money and you simply have to make your sculpture out of the clay you have. In this case, however, it seems that ship has saile...
Has anyone compared an in-person Tax Advisor to software like Turbo Tax?
It depends on the person. i will take turbo tax over any mediocre or poor accountant ANY DAY. You get consistent, accurate tax preparation with the software (desktop - not the online version) I was in a housing rental partnership with my brothers and one of them insisted on using his accountant... what a mistake. ...
What is a rule of thumb for accruing debt on a rental property?
To start, I hope you are aware that the properties' basis gets stepped up to market value on inheritance. The new basis is the start for the depreciation that must be applied each year after being placed in service as rental units. This is not optional. Upon selling the units, depreciation is recaptured whether it's t...
Can one use dollar cost averaging to make money with something highly volatile?
That doesn't sound like dollar cost averaging. That sounds like a form of day trading. Dollar cost averaging is how most people add money to their 401K, or how they add money to some IRA accounts. You are proposing a form of day trading.
Why can I refinance my recent car loan at a lower rate than I had received originally?
The simple answer might just be that the increased credit score you mentioned was enough to suddenly make you eligible for this lenders better rate, so maybe that's why you weren't able to get that low a rate before. Another option I can think of is that this particular bank offers these loans as a "teaser rate" to hop...
How does the debt:GDP ratio affect the country's economy?
Is it not that bad? Depends how bad is bad. The problems causes by a government having large debt are similar to those caused by an individual having large debt. The big issue is: More and more of your income goes to paying interest on the debt, and is thus not available for spending on goods and services. If it gets b...
Should I fund retirement with a static asset allocation or an age based glide path?
So I did some queries on Google Scholar, and the term of art academics seem to use is target date fund. I notice divided opinions among academics on the matter. W. Pfau gave a nice set of citations of papers with which he disagrees, so I'll start with them. In 1969, Paul Sameulson published the paper Lifetime Portfolio...
Intro to Investment options for a Canadian
I got started by reading the following two books: You could probably get by with just the first of those two. I haven't been a big fan of the "for dummies" series in the past, but I found both of these were quite good, particularly for people who have little understanding of investing. I also rather like the site, Cana...
Does gold's value decrease over time due to the fact that it is being continuously mined?
Like anything else, the price/value of gold is driven by supply and demand. Mining adds about 2% a year to the supply. Then the question is, will the demand in a given year rise by more or less than 2%. ON AVERAGE, the answer is "more." That may not be true in any given year, and was untrue for whole DECADES of the 19...
Why do stock prices change? [duplicate]
In addition to D. Stanley's very fine answer, the price of stocks change as a result of changing market conditions and the resulting investor estimation of its effect on the company's future earnings. Take these examples. Right now, in the USA, there is a housing shortage; that is, there are fewer houses available for ...
Do stock prices drop due to dividends?
Yes, the stock price drops on official listing. But what gonna happen on first trade after the dividend date, is up to the market. The market is the market, the rules are the rules. I saw prices going up more than once just after the dividend date, exactly because people think will be cheaper. Market doesn't always fol...
Pay off entire mortgage or put into investments
I like this option, rather than exposing all 600k to market risk, I'd think of paying off the mortgage as a way to diversify my portfolio. Expose 400k to market risk, and get a guaranteed 3.75% return on that 200k (in essence). Then you can invest the money you were putting towards your mortgage each month. The potent...
How to acquire skills required for long-term investing?
I would say that the three most important skills are: Note that some costs are hidden. So, for example, a mutual fund investing in other countries than where you live in may mean the investment target country charges a certain percentage of dividends going to the mutual fund. The mutual fund company doesn't usually wan...
Why and why would/wouldn't a company split their stock?
The reason to do a stock split is to get the price of the stock down to an affordable range. If your stock costs $100,000 per share, you are seriously cutting in to the number of people who can afford to buy it. I can think of two reasons NOT to do a stock split. The biggest is, Why bother? If your stock is trading at ...
What to do with old company's 401k? [duplicate]
I suggest rolling it over to the 401(k) with your new employer. Particularly if they match any percentage of your contribution, it would be in your interest to take as much of that money as possible. When it comes to borrowing money from your 401(k), it looks like the issues AbraCadaver mentioned only apply if you don...
Any good software for value investment?
As @littleadv and @DumbCoder point out in their comments above, Bloomberg Terminal is expensive for individual investors. If you are looking for a free solution I would recommend Yahoo and Google Finance. On the other side, if you need more financial metrics regarding historic statements and consensus estimates, you s...
Why and why would/wouldn't a company split their stock?
A reason not to split your stock is that the value of the company might fall back again, and if its stock price falls below $1 it will be delisted from the NYSE. So if the value of your company grows tenfold so the shares go from $5 to $50, you do a ten-for-one split, and then its value shrinks back to where it started...
Estimated Taxes after surge in income
Well a definitive answer would require a lot of information. Instead of posting that kind of info online, you should take a look at the instructions for Form 2210 and in particular "Schedule AI -- Annualized Income Installment Method," which corrects the penalty for highly variable income. Using this form you will l...
What's the justification for the DJIA being share-price weighted?
The share-price weighting of the DJIA is a historical artifact. The DJIA remains share-price weighted today because that's the way it has always been done, and we're talking about an index with more than a hundred years' history. The DJIA was first calculated on May 26, 1896. Perhaps, back then, price-weighting was t...
What's “wrong” with taking money from your own business?
I'm no expert on this, but I would say that, if you own the business entirely yourself, there is nothing terribly wrong with using it for your own purposes as you would any other asset that you own. What is wrong is not keeping accurate records that distinguish between your money and the business's. As you say, this ...
Short term cutting losses in a long term investment
What might make more sense is to 'capture' your losses. Sell out the funds you have, move into something else that is different enough that the IRS won't consider it a wash sale, and you can then use those losses to offset gains (you can even carry them forward) You would still be in the market, just having made a s...
Buying a more expensive house as a tax shelter (larger interest deduction)?
Two points You don't really get the full 10,000 annual interest as tax free income. Well you do, but you would have gotten a substantial amount of that anyway as the standard deduction. ...From the IRS.... Standard deduction The standard deduction for married couples filing a joint return is at $11,900 for 2012. The s...
I can make a budget, but how can I get myself to consistently follow my budget?
Try a tool like mint.com that will send you text messages regarding how you budget is going. If you use mint, set up your budget to send you reminders before you hit your budget. Example: if my budget for dining out is $100, I tell mint.com it is $50 and I get nagging text messages after $50 to remind me to keep a l...
How to calculate car insurance quote
On top of the given answers, the type of referral will also factor in. When you're up for renewal and go to a comparison site (in the UK: CompareTheMarket, MoneySupermarket, Confused, GoCompare, ... ) and struggle accurately through all their lists of questions, you see that some of the data differs (e.g., not all the ...
Why would I buy a bond with a negative yield?
The question in my view is going into Opinion and economics. Why would I buy a bond with a negative yield? I guess you have answered yourself; Although the second point is more relevant for high net worth individual or large financial institutions / Governments where preserving cash is an important consideration. Curre...
Is it worth it to re-finance my car loan?
If you're a bit into the loan, then they're probably hoping that you'll take longer to pay off the loan. Is there a fee for refinancing the loan? If so, be sure to take that into account. A smart way to approach it (assuming that the fees are low or zero) would be to continue making the same payment you had been befor...
Confused about employee stock options: How do I afford these?
nan
Which countries allow eChecks?
eChecks (and ACH) are a (desperate?) try of the US banking system to get into the 21st century. All EU countries (and some others) have direct deposits and transfers as the standard way of transferring money since about 20 years, and since about 5 years it is cost-free and one-day across all the EU. The rest of the wor...
Why invest for the long-term rather than buy and sell for quick, big gains?
Someone entering a casino with $15 could employ a very simple strategy and have a better-than-90% chance of walking out with $16. Unfortunately, the person would have a non-trivial chance (about one in 14) of walking out with $0. If after losing $15 the person withdrew $240 from the bank and tried to win $16, the pers...
How to find a business consultant that would ensure that all your business activities are legal and compliant with all regulations?
Getting a specific service recommendation is off-topic, but the question of what type of professional you need seems on-topic to me. You may be looking for more than one professional in this case, but you could try these to start your search: Different people do things differently, but I think it would be pretty commo...
Is there a mathematical formula to determine a stock's price at a given time?
A stock market is just that, a market place where buyers and sellers come together to buy and sell shares in companies listed on that stock market. There is no global stock price, the price relates to the last price a stock was traded at on a particular stock market. However, a company can be listed on more than one st...
Are underlying assets supposed to be sold/bought immediately after being bought/sold in call/put option?
In the first case, if you wish to own the stock, you just exercise the option, and buy it for the strike price. Else, you can sell the option just before expiration, it will be priced very close to its in-the-money value.
what is difference between stock and dividend?
stocks represent ownership in a company. their price can go up or down depending on how much profit the company makes (or is expected to make). stocks owners are sometimes paid money by the company if the company has extra cash. these payments are called dividends. bonds represent a debt that a company owes. when yo...
Is there a government-mandated resource that lists the shareholders of a public company?
You can obtain a stocklist if you file a lawsuit as a shareholder against the company demanding that you receive the list. It's called an inspection case. The company then has to go to Cede and/or the Depository Trust Company who then compiles the NOBO COBO list of beneficiary stockholders. SEC.gov gives you a very lim...
What assets would be valuable in a post-apocalyptic scenario?
I find these type of questions silly, but I'll bite:
What are the tax implications if I do some work for a company for trade, rather than pay?
Yes, the business can count that as an expense but you will need to count that as income because a computer = money.
Missing 401(k) dividends
Your investment is probably in a Collective Investment Trust. These are not mutual funds, and are not publicly traded. I.e. they are private to plan participants in your company. Because of this, they are not required* to distribute dividends like mutual funds. Instead, they will reinvest dividends automatically, incre...
How to calculate how much house I can afford?
Fundamentals: Then remember that you want to put 20% or more down in cash, to avoid PMI, and recalculate with thatmajor chunk taken out of your savings. Many banks offer calculators on their websites that can help you run these numbers and figure out how much house a given mortgage can pay for. Remember that the old ...
New or Used Car Advice for Recent College Grad
17.5 thousand miles/year is pretty high mileage. You could find an Accord or Civic of comparable age with much lower mileage than that, and it wouldn't be a stretch for someone (even with your limited credit history) to get a loan on an old car like that. You might try to have your parents cosign on a loan depending ...
Is interest on a personal loan tax deductible?
When you pay interest on a loan used to fund a legitimate investment or business activity, that interest becomes an expense that you can deduct against related income. For example, if you borrowed $10k to buy stocks, you could deduct the interest on that $10k loan from investment gains. In your case, you are borrowing...
How is the price of VXX determined?
Generally, ETFs work on the basis that there exists a pair of values that can be taken at any moment in time: A Net Asset Value of each share in the fund and a trading market price of each share in the fund. It may help to picture these in baskets of about 50,000 shares for the creation/redemption process. If the NAV ...
How much power does a CEO have over a public company?
This is a very good question and is at the core of corporate governance. The CEO is a very powerful figure indeed. But always remember that he heads the firm's management only. He is appointed by the board of directors and is accountable to them. The board on the other hand is accountable to the firm's shareholders an...
What are the implications of a corporate stock repurchase or share buyback program?
A board authorizes the repurchase of shares because they feel the stock in undervalued. The hope is that the stocks will rise either directly by their repurchase, or in the near term due to the realization that the company is in better shape then the market thought. Eventually those shares will be resold back into the ...
What fiscal scrutiny can be expected from IRS in early retirement?
IRS Pub 554 states (click to read full IRS doc): "Do not file a federal income tax return if you do not meet the filing requirements and are not due a refund. ... If you are a U.S. citizen or resident alien, you must file a return if your gross income for the year was at least the amount shown on the appropriate line ...
Where I can find S&P 500 stock data history?
I assume you're after a price time series and not a list of S&P 500 constituents? Yahoo Finance is always a reasonable starting point. Code you're after is ^GSPC: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/%5EGSPC/history?p=^GSPC There's a download data button on the right side.
What effect would currency devaluation have on my investments?
My question boiled down: Do stock mutual funds behave more like treasury bonds or commodities? When I think about it, it seems that they should respond the devaluation like a commodity. I own a quantity of company shares (not tied to a currency), and let's assume that the company only holds immune assets. Does ...
Buying my first car out of college
You have a job "lined up". What if it falls through? Then you have to sell your fancy car, and you are back to scare, apart from the dough you owe your dad. For consumption items, live within your means. A cheap first car is just fine. Spend cash where it brings you more cash.
Higher mortgage to increase savings to invest?
Clearly this is doable and many people are doing exactly this. At that kind of rate many will tell you to borrow as much as you can and invest. This strategy does not work if you spend that money on dumb stuff, but you don't seem the type to do such a thing. In some will argue that it is the only logical thing to do...
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.
Is keeping track of your money and having a budget the same thing?
The two are closely related. A budget is a detailed plan for how to spend. Expense tracking is a tool to analyze your previous spending performance. Creating a plan for how to spend your money without any record of your previous spending--is an empty promise to yourself that you will never follow up on. Did I stay with...
Is compounding interest on investments a myth?
So my Question is this, in reality is investment in equities like the stock market even remotely resemble the type of growth one would expect if investing the same money in an account with compounding interest? Generally no as there is a great deal of volatility when it comes to investing in stocks that isn't wel...
Stock stopped trading, what does this mean?
It looks like JP Morgan can convert your holding to unsponsored ADRs until July.. In any event, you should not completely lose the equity. Volvo still exists as a public company, it's just not tradable on US exchanges. Q1: Yes, you'd need a JPM account. Your broker should have offered a similar service. If they didn't...
Do bond interest rate risk premiums only compensate for the amount investors might lose?
In answer to your last formulation, no. In a perfectly efficient market, different investors still have different risk tolerances (or utility functions). They're maximizing expected utility, not expected value. The portfolios that maximize expected utility for different risk preferences are different, and thus general...
Cash or Bonds (UK)
The 'appropriate' amount of cash/bonds to hold will be largely a matter of opinion, but here are the general reasons why having at least some is a good idea: Cash is very liquid, and bonds are often mostly liquid. This means you can access them very quickly, without taking on losses. To get the most liquidity out of yo...
Found an old un-cashed paycheck. How long is it good for? What to do if it's expired?
The typical rule in the US is 180 days, but some banks do it differently. However, even if the check is dead, you should be able to call the payroll department for your old job. They can stop payment on the old check and issue you another one.
Calculate Future Value with Recurring Deposits
Let's break this into two parts, the future value of the initial deposit, and the future value of the payments: D(1 + i)n For the future value of the payments A((1+i)n-1) / i) Adding those two formulas together will give you the amount of money that should be in your account at the end. Remember to make the appropriat...
Any experience with maxing out 401(k)?
I moved from contributing 10% to maxing as my salary rose over the course of three years after graduation. Because of my raises, my monthly take home still increased, so it was a pretty painless way to increase my 401(k) contribution and also avoid lifestyle inflation. That said, I would not do it if you have any cred...
Can I locate the name of an account holder by the account number and sort code? (U.K.)
No, the best you can do is (probably) determine the bank, from the sort code. using an online checker such as this one from the UK payments industry trade association. Revealing the name of an account holder is something the bank would typically require a warrant for, I'd expect, or whatever is covered in the account T...
Book or web site resources for an absolute beginner to learn about stocks and investing?
The Winning Investor http://winninginvestor.quickanddirtytips.com/ This is a blog and a podcast. Load a bunch of these onto your iPod and start listening. Stikky Stock Charts http://www.amazon.com/Stikky-Stock-Charts-professionals-smart/dp/1932974008 This is a beginner's guide on how to read charts. Lots of charts, not...
1.4 million cash. What do I do?
First--congratulations! I certainly wish I could create something worth buying for $1.4 million. In addition to what @duffbeer703 recommended, consider putting some of the money in Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS). I second the advice on staying away from annuities as well. @littleadv is right about c...
Square reported my credit card transactions as personal income?
Square is a company. They need to detail as part of their corporate taxes all of their expenses. The money they collected for you, and sent to you, is not income for themselves. Their tax form included the amount of money they sent you, along with either your Social Security Number of corporate tax id. The IRS computer...
In US, is it a good idea to hire a tax consultant for doing taxes?
Good tax people are expensive. If you are comfortable with numbers and computers, you can do it better yourself.
Why is stock dilution legal?
If that company issues another 100 shares, shouldn't 10 of those new 100 shares be mine? Those 100 shares are an asset of the company, and you own 10% of them. When investors buy those new shares, you again own a share of the proceeds, just as you own a share of all the company's assets. A company only issues new share...
How to rescue my money from negative interest?
You could buy Bitcoins. They are even more deflationary than Swiss Francs. But the exchange rate is currently high, and so is the risk in case of volatility. So maybe buy an AltCoin instead. See altcoin market capitalization for more information. Basically, all you'd be doing is changing SwissFrancs into Bitcoin/AltC...
What are the benefits of investing to IRA/Roth IRA, 401(k) in comparison to investing in long term CDs?
For the period 1950 to 2009, if you adjust the S&P 500 for inflation and account for dividends, the average annual return comes out to exactly 7.0%. Source. Currently inflation is around 2%. So your 2% APY is a 0% real return where the stock market return is 7%. I.e. on average, stocks have a return that is higher by...
How do I deal with a mistaken attempt to collect a debt from me that is owed by someone else?
I can only speak for germany/europe. Inkasso companies/lawyer would write a letter with a bill, those letters have register numbers. If in doubt, one would call the company, ask who is the debtor/what is the origin of the bill. I certainly would not react on a phone call. However, if an official entity or lawyer is con...
Should I make additional payments on a FHA loan, or save up for a refinance?
You would have to do the specific math with your specific situation to be certain, but - generally speaking it would be smarter to use extra money to pay down the principle faster on the original loan. Your ability to refinance in the future at a more favorable rate is an unknowable uncertainty, subject to a number of ...
Is it common in the US not to pay medical bills?
What you have here is an interesting argument. Right now, this is totally complicated by the state of "forced insurance" that is currently in such hot debate right now. As a general rule of thumb though, most Americans pay their medical bills in one way or another. Though It is also accurate to say that most Americans...
Why might it be advisable to keep student debt vs. paying it off quickly?
Liquidity Say you have $50k in student loan debt. You come into a large amount of money and throw $10k at it. Yes, it's now down to $40k, saving you a lot of money in interest over the long run, but it's money you can no longer 'use'. Now if you invest that same $10k instead, you still potentially have access to it i...
How to sell a worthless option
Sounds like an illiquid option, if there are actually some bidders, market makers, then sell the option at market price (market sell order). If there are not market makers then place a really low limit sell order so that you can sit at the ask in the order book. A lot of time there is off-book liquidity, so there may b...
How do I account for 100 percent vendor discounts in GnuCash 2.6.5
I am no expert on the situation nor do I pretend to act like one, but, as a business owner, allow me to give you my personal opinion. Option 3 is closest to what you want. Why? Well: This way, you have both the record of everything that was done, and also IRS can see exactly what happened. Another suggestion would be t...
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...
Buying my first car out of college
Think about it. IF you save $15K by buying a Honda or a Mazda, you can invest those money at modest 5% average, you'll have over 60K before you retire, which allows you to retire at least a year earlier.... So it is worth working an extra year in your life to have a fancier car? And that's a conservative investment.
What are the downsides that prevent more people from working in high-income countries, and then retiring in low-income (and cost of living) ones?
A lot of good answers, but there’s one more factor: ignorance. The majority haven’t considered it, or considered it and assumed it’s not an option without investigating. PLUS, the widespread myth that every other country is primitive, unhealthy, and dangerous.
How does one typically exit (close out) a large, in-the-money long put option position?
The question is, how do I exit? I can't really sell the puts because there isn't enough open interest in them now that they are so far out of the money. I have about $150K of funds outside of this position that I could use, but I'm confused by the rules of exercising a put. Do I have to start shorting the stock? Yo...
What are the financial advantages of living in Switzerland?
In addition to what George said, there are other things that probably benefit Switzerland:
Buy stock in Canadian dollars or US?
From a purely financial standpoint, you should invest using whatever dollars get you the best rate. The general rule of thumb that I've come across is that if you are making another person/company change your money into another nation's currency, they will likely charge a higher exchange rate than you could get yoursel...
I spend too much money. How can I get on the path to a frugal lifestyle?
There's plenty of advice out there about how to set up a budget or track your expenses or "pay yourself first". This is all great advice but sometimes the hardest part is just getting in the right frugal mindset. Here's a couple tricks on how I did it. Put yourself through a "budget fire drill" If you've never set a b...
Is the contribution towards Employment Insurance (EI) wasted if I never get fired, or are my premiums refunded?
Actually, most insurance policies DON'T have a cash value if you don't make a claim. The reason that some life insurance policies do this is that they are really tax sheltered investments posing as insurance. With that in mind, the root of your question is really whether insurance premiums are wasted if you never mak...
How does a tax exemption for an action = penalty for inaction?
There's a significant difference between "discount" and "surcharge". For starters - legal difference. If you have a list price of $X - that's the price you're committed to sell regardless of the payment method. So it doesn't matter if I pay with cash or credit - I'll pay $X. However, it costs you more when I pay with c...
What emergencies could justify a highly liquid emergency fund?
Having a highly liquid emergency fund can lubricate the wheels for disaster recovery. For example, several years ago I returned from a vacation to discover that, during my absence, a plumbing fixture had broken and my house was flooded. Since we had sufficient liquidity to cover the cost of the repairs in our emergenc...
Resources to begin trading from home?
Your plan won't work. Working 40 hours a week at federal minimum wage (currently $7.25 / hr) for 52 weeks is an annual income of just over $15,000. Even assuming you can reliably get a return of 15% (which you definitely can't), you'd need to start with $100,000 of assets to earn this poverty income. Assuming a more re...
Opportunity to buy Illinois bonds that can never default?
Sovereign immunity is the state's ultimate "get out of bankruptcy free" card. After all, the state has a hand in defining what bankruptcy even is in their state. Federal law is a framework, states customize it from there. The state's simplest tactic is to simply not pay you. And leave you scrambling to the courtho...
How to safely exit a falling security?
If the stock is below its purchase price, there is no way to exit the position immediately without taking losses. Since presumably you had Good Reasons for buying that stock that haven't changed overnight, what you should probably do is just hold it and wait for the stock to come back up. Otherwise you're putting yours...
company market capitalization to total (annual) stock market capitalization
Market cap is speculative value, M = P * W, where W is stock (or other way of owning) percentage of ownership, P - price of percentage of ownership. This could include "outside of exchange" deals. Some funds could buy ownership percentage directly via partial ownership deal. That ownership is not stock, but fixed-type ...
How to make money from a downward European market?
Trying to make money on something going down is inherently more complicated, risky and speculative than making money on it going up. Selling short allows for unlimited losses. Put options expire and have to be rebought if you want to keep playing that game. If you are that confident that the European market will com...
Can expense ratios on investment options in a 401(k) plan contain part of the overall 401(k) plan fees?
There are several things being mixed up in the questions being asked. The expense ratio charged by the mutual fund is built into the NAV per share of the fund, and you do not see the charge explicitly mentioned as a deduction on your 401k statement (or in the statement received from the mutual fund in a non-401k situ...
Obtaining Pound Sterling Cheque in US to pay for family history records from England?
Most US banks don't allow you the ability to draft a foreign currency check from USD. Though, I know Canadian banks are more workable. For instance, TD allows you to do this from CAD to many other currencies for a small fee. I believe even as a US Citizen you can quite easily open a TD Trust account and you'd be good t...
Taxes: Sold House this Year, Buying Next Year
When you sell your primary residence, you are required to capitalize any loss or gain at that point; you do not carry over your loss or gain (as you might in an investment property). As such, the timing of the purchase of the next house is not relevant in this discussion: you gained however much you gained already. T...
Will the ex-homeowner still owe money after a foreclosure?
It is in the bank's interest to sell the property for as much as they can (although it is doubtful they will put as much effort/time into selling it as the owner might). They will certainly not sell it for $1. The main reason for this is that the bank would prefer to own $100k, than a loan to them from a customer for $...
Brent crude vs. USD market value
It's standard to price oil in US$. That means that if the US$ gets stronger, the prices of oil drops even if its "intrinsic value" remains constant. Same thing happens for other commodities, such as gold. Think of the oil price in barrels/$. If the denominator (value of the $) goes up, then the ratio tends to go do...