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Pay off car loan entirely or leave $1 until the end of the loan period? | Nobody outside of the credit scoring agencies know exactly what goes into the scoring formula. That said, I don't think there is any evidence that keeping a fixed loan (car or mortgage) open is necessary to keep its effect on your score. It doesn't improve your utilization ratio like an open revolving credit line would... |
Why did the Swiss National Bank fix the EUR/CHF exchange rate at CHF 1.20? | Due to the issues in the Eurozone, many foreign investors were buying Swiss Francs as a hedge against a Euro devaluation. They were in effect treating the Franc like gold, silver or some other commodity with perceived intrinsic value. This causes huge problems from the Swiss, as the value of the Franc increased and the... |
If I have no exemptions or deductions, just a simple paycheck, do I HAVE to file taxes? | If you took advantage of options like a home buyers plan (HBP) you definitely need to file since you must designate how much of the plan to repay. Your employer does not know about what you do with your money so cannot take this into account for the withheld taxes. If you do not report repayment of the HBP it will be... |
Where to find CSV or JSON data for publicly traded companies listed with their IPO date? | Here is a list to Yahoo! Finance API. Not sure how much longer this will be support though: https://code.google.com/p/yahoo-finance-managed/wiki/YahooFinanceAPIs |
Can't the account information on my checks be easily used for fraud? | When an someone as esteemed and smart as Donald Knuth tells you the chequing system is busted it's time to close your cheque account, or I guess live with the associated risk. Answer to question, yes your account information can be used to commit fraud on you via your bank. |
How to share income after marriage and kids? | I started out thinking like you but I quickly realised this was a bad approach. You are a team, aren't you? Are you equals or is one of you an inferior of lower value? I think you'll generate more shared happiness by acting as a team of equals. I'd pool your resources and share them as equals. I'd open a joint account ... |
Why do consultants or contractors make more money than employees? | All the existing answers are right and the general theme is: contracting is a different kind of relationship. It's a business-to-business relationship rather than a business-to-employee relationship. This has implications such as: Of course, some contractors are effectively just over-paid employees, and some of the abo... |
what's the difference between money raised in an ipo and its valuation? | A company generally sells a portion of its ownership in an IPO, with existing investors retaining some ownership. In your example, they believe that the entire company is worth $25MM, so in order to raise $3MM it is issuing stock representing 12% of the ownership stake (3/25), which dilutes some or all of the existin... |
What's the best way to make money from a market correction? | A lot of people here talk about shorting stocks, buying options, and messing around with leveraged ETFs. While these are excellent tools, that offer novel opportunities for the sophisticated investor, Don't mess around with these until you have been in the game for a few years. Even if you can make money consistently r... |
Buy Php in Malaysia and sell to Philippines | basically the selling (for banks) means you will exchange PHP to MYR buying simply MYR to PHP the bank will buy your MYR in exchange to PHP. and you will sell your MYR to PHP. I think it has something to do with processing fee.. |
Is short selling a good hedging strategy during overzealous market conditions? | The problem with short would be that even if the stock eventually falls, it might raise a lot in the meantime, and unless you have enough collateral, you may not survive till it happens. To sell shares short, you first need to borrow them (as naked short is currently prohibited in US, as far as I know). Now, to borrow... |
Is there a mathematical formula to determine a stock's price at a given time? | The fallacy in your question is in this statement: "The formulas must exist, because prices can be followed real time." What you see are snapshots of the current status of the stock, what was the last price a stock was traded at, what is the volume, is the price going up or down. People who buy and hold their stock lo... |
Teaching school kids about money - what are the real life examples of math, budgeting, finance? | My education on this topic at this age range was a little more free-form. We were given a weeklong project in the 6th grade, which I remember pretty clearly: Fast forward 6 years (we were 12). You are about to be kicked out of your parents' house with the clothes on your back, $1,000 cash in your pocket, your high... |
Saving tax for long term stock investment capital gain by quiting my current job? | Reducing your income by 20k is guaranteed to lower your tax bill by less than 20k (because there are no tax rates greater than 100%). Your goal shouldn't be to minimize taxes but to maximize total net income. |
Was this a good deal on a mortgage? | I'm a visual person so the idea of a 30 year mortgage didn't make much sense to me until I could see it This isn't exact but it's pretty close. The green Interest lines represent the money you're giving to the bank as a "thank you" for lending you a large amount of cash up front. As you've already figured out, that's ... |
How can I save money on a gym / fitness membership? New Year's Resolution is to get in shape - but on the cheap! | Look for discounts from a health insurance provider, price club, professional memberships or credit cards. That goes for a lot of things besides health memberships. My wife is in a professional woman's association for networking at work. A side benefit is an affiliate network they offer for discounts of lots of thing... |
One company asks for picture of my debit card | Although it is strange, there is little risk. The first four numbers are just the card type (Visa, Master, etc.), and the last four alone don't give them much - there are still 8 digits missing that they do not have. There is nothing much they can do with that info, especially without the PIN and the CCV, so as I said,... |
Pros & cons of investing in gold vs. platinum? | Platinum use is pretty heavily overweight in industrial areas; according to the linked Wikipedia article, 239 tonnes of platinum was sold in 2006, of which 130 tonnes went to vehicles emissions control devices and another 13.3 tonnes to electronics. Gold sees substantial use as an investment as well as to hedge against... |
What options do I have at 26 years old, with 1.2 million USD? | Firstly, sorry about the accident. I am afraid you will need to do your own legwork, because you cannot trust other people with your money. It's a good thing you do not need to rush. Take your time to learn things. One thing is certain, you cannot let your money sit in a bank - inflation will digest them. You need to... |
How to get into real estate with a limited budget | You are neglecting a few very important things around real estate transactions in Belgium So in the end a 300K building may cost you more than 340K, let's take some unexpected costs into account and use 350K for remainder of calculation. Even worse if it's newly built (which I doubt) the first percentage is 21% (VAT) i... |
Is there a way to tell how many stocks have been shorted? | Generally the number of shares of a U.S. exchange-listed stock which have been shorted are tracked by the exchange and reported monthly. This number is usually known as the open short interest. You may also see a short interest ratio, which is the short interest divided by the average daily volume for the stock. The ... |
Why is the dominant investing advice for individuals to use mutual funds, exchanged traded funds (ETFs), etc | No. You're lucky, maybe, but not really a successful investor. Warren Buffet is, you're not him. Sometimes it is easier to pick stocks to bid on, sometimes its harder. I got my successes too. It is easier on a raising market, especially when it is recovering after a deep fall, like now. But generally it is very hard to... |
Boyfriend is coowner of a house with his sister, he wants to sell but she doesn't | That ain't nothing. It's really easy to get "whipped up" into a sense of entitlement, and forget to be grateful for what you do have. If this house doesn't exist, what would his costs of housing be elsewhere? Realistically. Would landlords rent to him? Would other bankers lend him money to buy a house? Would those ... |
Option on an option possible? (Have a LEAP, put to me?) | As with most strategies there are pros and cons associated with this approach: Advantages of using LEAPS: Disadvantages of using LEAPS: Read more about it in great detail on my blog: http://www.thebluecollarinvestor.com/leaps-and-covered-call-writing-2/ |
Why do stock brokers charge fees | Retail brokers and are generally not members of exchanges and would generally not be members of exchanges unless they are directly routing orders to those exchanges. Most retail brokers charging $7 are considered discount brokers and such brokers route order to Market Makers (who are members of the exchanges). All brok... |
Why would I buy a bond with a negative yield? | Perhaps something else comes with the bond so it is a convertible security. Buffett's Negative-Interest Issues Sell Well from 2002 would be an example from more than a decade ago: Warren E. Buffett's new negative-interest bonds sold rapidly yesterday, even after the size of the offering was increased to $400 millio... |
Why do sole proprietors in India generally use a current account? | Current account offers a lot of benefits for sole proprietors. Think of it like bank account for a company. The bank provides a host of facilities for the company. A sole proprietor does not have enough value as that of a company for a bank but needs similar services. Thus Indian banks offer a toned down version of the... |
Why does gold have value? | Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it. --Publilius Syrus. Gold has value because people want to buy it. Electronics manufacturers like the fact that it's conductive. Jewellers like that its shiny. Glenn Beck likes that he's selling it and his audience will buy it. Proponents of gold claim that it ha... |
Selling stocks - capital gains | In the US you specify explicitly what stocks you're selling. Brokers now are required to keep track of cost basis and report it to the IRS on the 1099-B, so you have to tell the broker which position it is that you're closing. Usually, the default is FIFO (i.e.: when you sell, you're assumed to be closing the oldest po... |
Is Real Estate ever a BAD investment? If so, when? | I'm surprised to even hear this question with the current state of devaluation of real estate. One thing I'll add to the other answers is to make sure you are doing a true apples/apples comparison to other investments when considering real estate. You can't just take subtract the purchase price from the sales price to... |
Why would my job recruiter want me to form an LLC? | I don't know about the US, but in the UK this is common practice, even required in some situations, and not sketchy at all. It's perfectly legal, saves you tax, and protects you from a legal standpoint. (i.e. what if you break something and your employer wants to sue you?) This is what companies are for, they are legal... |
What are frontier markets? Is investing in them a good idea? | From Wikipedia A frontier market is a type of developing country which is more developed than the least developing countries, but too small to be generally considered an emerging market. The term is an economic term which was coined by International Finance Corporation’s Farida Khambata in 1992. The term is commonly us... |
How much of each stock do index funds hold? | In general, the goal of an S&P 500 index fund is to replicate the performance of the S&P 500 Index. To do this, the fund will buy the same stocks in the same proportions as the weighting of the Index. The S&P 500 Index is free-float capitalization weighted. This means that the higher capitalization stocks (based on p... |
How much money should I put on a house? | Before doing anything else: you want a lawyer involved right from the beginning, to make sure that something reasonable happens with the house if one of you dies or leaves. Seriously, you'll both be safer and happier if it's all explicit. How much you should put on the house is not the right question. Houses don't sell... |
What does it mean when my Money Market account lists both a dividend share and an APY? | The dividend is what represents your ownership in the CU. The APY is a calculated figure that will help you compare apples to apples the return of the investment from many vendors and many types. (I think you CU might have had two different people writing that portion of the website, because the comparisons pages don'... |
Should I invest in real estate to rent, real estate to live in, or just stocks and bonds to earn 10-15%? | To be completely honest, I think that a target of 10-15% is very high and if there were an easy way to attain it, everyone would do it. If you want to have such a high return, you'll always have the risk of losing the same amount of money. Option 1 I personally think that you can make the highest return if you invest i... |
Insider Trading? | I am a flight attendant on a private jet and I hear a bank CEO discussing a merger or a buyout. I proceed to purchase that stock before the announcement. The CEO did not tell me to buy it, I just overheard him. If you are a flight attendant on a private jet that is operated by one of the principals, probably incl... |
What is a “margin-call” and how are they enforced? | If you don't have a margin account, then you will not have margin calls. You need a margin account if you wish to "buy on margin", to sell stocks "short", or to sell options, or maybe some other esoteric things I have not thought of. If you don't do those things, then you do not need a margin account and will not get ... |
Should I pay off my credit card online immediately or wait for the bill? | I am going to break rank slightly with the consensus so far. Here's the deal, it probably DOES help your credit slightly to pay it multiple times per month if it isn't a hassle, but the bump is likely to be minimal and very temporary. Here's why: A key component of your score is your credit usage ratio. That is the r... |
I'm upside down on my car loan and need a different car, what can I do? | There are a few things you should keep in mind when getting another vehicle: DON'T use dealership financing. Get an idea of the price range you're looking for, and go to your local bank or find a local credit union and get a pre-approval for a loan amount (that will also let you know what kind of interest rates you'll ... |
Is Bogleheadism (index fund investing) dead? | It's incredibly difficult to beat the market, especially after you're paying out significant fees for managed funds. The Bogleheads have some good things going for them on their low cost Vanguard style funds. The biggest winners in the financial markets are the people collecting fees from churn or setting up the deals ... |
Which US market indexes (Dow/DJIA, S&P500, NASDAQ) include reinvested dividends? | .INX (the S&P 500 index itself) does not include reinvested dividens. You can figure total return by going to Yahoo finance, historical data. Choose the start year, and end year. You should find that data for SPY (going back to 1993) will show an adjusted close, and takes dividends into account. This isn't perfect as ... |
When to sell a stock? | My theory is that for every stock you buy, you should have an exit strategy and follow it. It is too hard to let emotions rule if you let your default strategy be "let's see what happens." and emotional investing will almost never serve you well. So before buying a stock, set a maximum loss and maximum gain that you ... |
How to distinguish gift from payment for the service? | All of this assumes that this relationship isn't as employer-employee relationship, which would require you to withhold taxes. If you send them a small token of appreciation, and you are unable to record it as a business expense, or some other deductible expense, you don't have to be concerned about how they claim it. ... |
Covered call and put options as separate trades | Yes, if the call expires worthless, leaving you with stock. Then you can exercise your put when the stock goes below put strike price. |
A little advice please…car loan related | Suggested way to make the decision to repair or buy: Figure out what it will cost to repair your car. (If necessary, pay a garage to evaluate it "as if your daughter was interested in buying it".) Then think about whether you would pay that much to buy a car just like yours but without those problems. If the answer is ... |
How come we can find stocks with a Price-to-Book ratio less than 1? | The VDE fund is an energy fund so this is a function of recent price changes in oil (and gas, coal, &c). For example. Lets say last year when oil was $100 per barrel a bunch of companies saw a good return and put $ 100 million into a bunch of leases, boreholes, pumps, &c to return $10 million per year, and the market... |
What resources can I use to try and find out the name of the manager for a given fund? | Yahoo Finance: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/pr?s=VFINX+Profile Under "Management Information" |
Can two companies own stock in each other? | Absolutely. In fact, all stock purchases of more than 5% of a company's stock must be reported to the SEC, so assuming A and B are publicly traded companies in the US, the purchase would likely be a matter of public record. There are probably special cases where this could cause problems, however; any case where A's p... |
Debit cards as bad as credit cards? | How about just stop buying stuff? |
What does Capital Surplus mean? | I think it's easiest to illustrate it with an example... if you've already read any of the definitions out there, then you know what it means, but just don't understand what it means. So, we have an ice cream shop. We started it as partners, and now you and I each own 50% of the company. It's doing so well that we dec... |
Tax implications of diversification | (All for US.) Yes you (will) have a realized long-term capital gain, which is taxable. Long-term gains (including those distributed by a mutual fund or other RIC, and also 'qualified' dividends, both not relevant here) are taxed at lower rates than 'ordinary' income but are still bracketed almost (not quite) like ordin... |
Put idle savings to use while keeping them liquid | First of all, look for a savings account with a decent interest rate. Online banks are good at offering those, and you can transfer your money back and forth from the checking account with a couple of business days' delay. ING Direct offers 1.1% APY right now - lame, but much better than nearly-nothing. If you'd like a... |
A check I received was lost. My options? | Lost checks happen occasionally, and there are procedures in place (banking & business) to handle the situation. First and foremost you need to: Note: The money is legally yours, so the company is obligated to work with you here. If they refuse to cancel or reissue the check, at a minimum you'll want to contact the s... |
How is not paying off mortgage better in normal circumstances? | One way of looking at it is that your equity in your house is an investment in a particular class of asset, and investing further in that asset class may drive you away from, rather than towards, your preferred asset mix. It's pretty common here in New Zealand for people's only investments to be their homes and rental ... |
Is forward P/E calculated using current price(if yes, how useful is it)? | P/E can use various estimates in its calculation as one could speculate about future P/E rations and thus could determine a future valuation if one is prepared to say that the P/E should be X for a company. Course it is worth noting that if a company isn't generating positive earnings this can be a less than useful too... |
Can extra mortgage payments be made to lower the monthly payment amount? | That's tricky. Typically you lock in the minimum monthly payment when you close the loan. You can pay more but not less. Options: |
Do stock prices drop due to dividends? | In the case of mutual funds, Net Asset Value (NAV) is the price used to buy and sell shares. NAV is just the value of the underlying assets (which are in turn valued by their underlying holdings and future earnings). So if a fund hands out a billion dollars, it stands to reason their NAV*shares (market cap?) is a billi... |
How does a bank make money on an interest free secured loan? | Other answers didn't seem to cover it, but most "0%" bank loans (often offered to credit card holders in the form of balance transfer checks), aside from less-obvious fees like already-mentioned late fees, also charge an actual loan fee, typically 2-3% (or a minimum floor amount) - that was the deal with every single t... |
Is it worth it to re-finance my car loan? | Seems like a good deal to me. You are paying less interest over the lifetime of the loan. And what I would do is take the difference between the new payments and the old, put it into a savings account each month, and when the savings account exceeds the balance of the loan pay it off. |
Why would a bank need to accept deposits from private clients if it can just borrow from the Federal Reserve? | They don't actually need to. They accept deposits for historical reasons and because they make money doing so, but there's nothing key to their business that requires them to do so. Here's a decent summary, but I'll explain in great detail below. By making loans, banks create money. This is what we mean when we say the... |
In a competitive market, why is movie theater popcorn expensive? | You're looking at this too rationally. People can not resist eating junk food, especially when they have to sit for 2-3 hours to watch a movie. It's pure biology, not economics. People don't always act according to economic logic. |
Which set of earnings is used to work out the P/E of a stock | This is a note from my broker, CMC Markets, who use Morningstar: Morningstar calculate the P/E Ratio using a weighted average of the most recent earnings and the projected earnings for the next year. This may result in a different P/E Ratio to those based solely on past earnings as reported on some sites and other publ... |
First job: Renting vs get my parents to buy me a house | Rent. You have no idea whether you will still be in the same part of the country five years from now; you may not even be in the same country. A house is a boat anchor you really do not need or want at this time. It's also a set of obligations you may not want to take on yet. And buying is not automatically more finan... |
15 year mortgage vs 30 year paid off in 15 | Why would anyone ever get a 15 year instead of just paying off a 30 year in 15 years? Because the rate is not the same. Never that I've seen in my 30 years of following rates. I've seen the rate difference range from .25% to .75%. (In March '15, the average rate in my area is 30yr 3.75% / 15yr 3.00%) For a $150K loan, ... |
Splitting Hackathon Prize Money to minimize tax debt | I would deduct all the other payments out as subcontractors, but I typically have all the paperwork and entities set up to make that applicable. In Turbotax I do this with as subcontracting expense under my business entity, but for the IRS the categories of the deductions do not matter This isn't tax advice, it is what... |
What emergencies could justify a highly liquid emergency fund? | I tend to agree that the need for liquidity is overplayed in this day and age. We live in a world of electronic transfers that take only a couple days at most. With my brokerage account I can go from stock to gas in my tank via debit card in about 3 days. We're a long way away from the days when it took weeks, phone ... |
Why do people buy stocks that pay no dividend? | You can think of the situation as a kind of Nash equilibrium. If "the market" values stock based on the value of the company, then from an individual point of view it makes sense to value stock the same way. As an illustration, imagine that stock prices were associated with the amount of precipitation at the company's... |
Should I finance a new home theater at 0% even though I have the cash for it? | I have abused 0% interest programs time and time again, but only because my wife and I are assiduous about paying our bills on time. We've mostly taken advantage of it with bigger purchases that we've done through Lowe's or Home Depot (eg - washing machines, carpeting, stove, fridge), but its been well worth it. There... |
Buying an option in the money, at the money, or out of the money | I look for buying a call option only at the money, but first understand the background above: Let's suppose X stock is being traded by $10.00 and it's January The call option is being traded by $0.20 with strike $11.00 for February. (I always look for 2% prize or more) I buy 100 stocks by $10.00 each and sell the optio... |
How to work around the Owner Occupancy Affidavit to buy another home in less than a year? | Look into the definition of "primary residence" for your jurisdiction(s). In some states, living in the home for 183 days qualifies it as your primary residence for the entire year. |
How to deal with the credit card debt from family member that has passed away? | First, if it is in any way a joint account, the debt usually goes to the surviving person. Assets in joint accounts usually have their own instructions on how to disperse the assets; for example, full joint bank accounts usually immediately go to the other name on the account and never become part of the estate. Non-ca... |
Should I pay off a 0% car loan? | The precise answer depends on the terms and conditions of the loan, and whether you can reasonably expect to meet them. For example, if you keep the loan, make no payments, there is a good chance that - eventually - you will trigger a clause in the contract, and suddenly be charged fees or a significant interest rate. ... |
Do Square credit card readers allow for personal use? | What I should have done in the first place was just ask them. From their customer support team: Thanks for writing in and for your interest in Square. It is perfectly acceptable to use Square for personal business, such as a yard sale. You do not need to have a registered business to take advantage of Square and the a... |
What is the difference between speculating and investing? | Colloquially, there's no difference except for the level of risk (which is an estimate anyway). Classically, investment is creating wealth through improvement or production. Purchasing a house with the intent to renovate and sell it for a profit would be an investment, as the house is worth more when you sell than whe... |
Where can I lookup accurate current exchange rates for consumers? | Current and past FX rates are available on Visa's website. Note that it may vary by country, so use your local Visa website. |
Value of credit score if you never plan to borrow again? | You're definitely not the first to pose this question. During the peak of the housing crisis I noticed a decent amount of very high dollar properties get abandoned to their fates. Individuals who can afford the mortgage on a 5 million dollar home don't necessarily need their credit to survive so it made more sense to... |
Personal credit card for business expenses | Early on, one might not be able to get credit for their business. For convenience, and the card perks, it makes sense to use the personal card. But for sake of a clean paper trail, I'd choose 1 card and use it exclusively, 100% for the business. Not one card here, one card there. |
What does quantitative easing 2 mean for my bank account? | Probably means next to zero chance of having decent rates on savings accounts for the near future - who needs your money if banks can have government money for free? Probably no short-term effects on you besides that. |
Are there capital gains taxes or dividend taxes if I invest in the U.S. stock market from outside of the country? | The country from which you purchase stock cannot charge you tax on either income or capital gains. Taxation is based on residency, so even when you purchase foreign stock its the tax laws of Malaysia (as your country of residence) that matter. At the time of writing, Malaysia does not levy any capital gains tax and the... |
Can you recommend some good websites/brokers for buying/selling stocks in India? | API wise there's just one at the retail level: Interactive Brokers (India). Brokerage is high though - 3.5 bps for F&O and 5 bps for cash. I've used Sharekhan (good, can get to 2 bps brokerage, trading client software, no API). Also used multiple other brokerages, and am advising a new one, Zerodha http://www.zerodha.... |
Do Americans really use checks that often? | I receive checks from my tenant. Also, from our medical reimbursement account. I'm sure there's an option somewhere to get that direct deposited, just haven't yet. My wife will write checks for school functions. Funny, they haven't cashed one since february, and this is the one item to look for every time I reconcile h... |
What are pros and cons of UK Building Societies compared to banks? | they may be willing to issue mortgages with smaller deposits, but may take longer to make a decision That cannot be farther from the truth. If you are getting a mortgage on a smaller deposit, you will be paying a higher interest rate. Time to take a decision depends very much on your credit situation, earnings, spendin... |
Is this follow-up after a car crash a potential scam? | I would write them a check or give them cash money. There are payment receipt forms available online, you can print one of have them fill it out and sign it. Just google "private party receipt". Money transfer (via bank account or Paypal) is also an option, but in my opinion it's more convenient to meet up and handle ... |
Sage Instant Accounts or Quickbooks? | Note: Specific to UK. I can't recommend anything higher than Crunch - they act as your accountant and have their own cloud accounting software, so it's more expensive than just using cloud accounting software, but if you use an accountant to do your year-end anyway, then they cost about the same as using cloud accounti... |
If I put a large down payment (over 50%) towards a car loan, can I reduce my interest rate and is it smart to even put that much down? | The real answer is to talk to the bank. In the case of the last car loan I got, the answer is "no". When I asked them about rates, they gave me a printed sheet that listed the loan rates they offered based on how old the car was, period. I forget the exact numbers but it was like: New car: 4%, 1 year old: 4.5%, 2-3 yea... |
What percent of your portfolio should be in a money market account? | I would disagree with your analysis. To me there are two purposes for a money market (MM): Your emergency fund should be from 3 to 6 months of expenses. Think of it of an insurance policy against Murphy. You may want to have some money designated for big expenses, or even sinking funds. For example, I keep some mon... |
Physical Checks - Mailing | Lets say you owed me $123.00 an wanted to mail me a check. I would then take the check from my mailbox an either take it to my bank, or scan it and deposit it via their electronic interface. Prior to you mailing it you would have no idea which bank I would use, or what my account number is. In fact I could have multipl... |
What are good games to play to teach young children about saving money? | Animal Crossing is great for all ages and teaches kids the importance of saving money to pay off a debt for a home and to become successful by helping out the community and what it gets you. |
Should I pay my Education Loan or Put it in the Stock Market? | I read your question that you have a comfortable amount toward retirement. If not, pad your retirement accounts if possible. If your loan rate is locked at 2.67%, invest that money in the market and pay the loan as agreed. So long as you feel comfortable in your employment and income status for the next few years, I ... |
What size “nest egg” should my husband and I have, and by what age? | There are three numbers that matter in that calculation: 1) How much do you expect per month from in pension/social security/or other retirement programs? 2) At what age will each of you retire? 3) How long will each of you live? 4) What will your annual expenses be when you retire? Unfortunately #3 is the most importa... |
Does the stock market create any sort of value? | You are correct that a share of stock in a company has zero intrinsic value. Even if the company typically pays dividends, there's no guarantee that it will continue to do so. A share's only worth comes from: So that's one step better than a Ponzi scheme, because in a Ponzi scheme there's not actually any value prese... |
Is buying a lottery ticket considered an investment? | Why must terms must be mutually exclusive? This (false) dichotomy is what seems to cause the most debate. It is the SINGLE EVENT OUTCOME that defines gambling. Gambling will involve an aleatory contract. That is, the outcome is specifically tied to a single event that determines profit/loss. This could be the outcome... |
Do “Instant Approved” credit card inquires appear on credit report? | It is not delayed and if it didn't show yet - will not show on that agency's credit report. However, you may find it on another agency's report. There are three major agencies, and creditors don't always check all of them (each inquiry costs them money). |
Why would anyone want to pay off their debts in a way other than “highest interest” first? | I recently paid off a line of credit on an investment property that I own. I had some surplus cash and decided to pay off the line of credit rather than to make a principal payment on the primary mortgage with a higher interest rate. The interest rate on the line of credit was tiny and the balance was also pretty low... |
Understanding company income statements: What is a good profit margin that would make it worthwhile to invest? | The short answer is that it depends on the industry. In other words, margin alone - even in comparison to peers - will not be a sufficient index to track company success. I'll mention Apple quickly as a special case that has managed to charge a premium margin for a mass-market product. Few companies can achieve this.... |
Where should I invest to hedge against the stock market going down? | If you believe the stock market will be down 20-30% in the next few months, sell your stock holdings, buy a protective put option for the value of the holdings that you want to keep. That would be hedging against it. Anything more is speculating that the market will fall. |
Paypal website donations without being a charity | Yes, Paypal has such a button you can use, but to be clear, the money you receive is taxable income. Your website is providing 'value' to the readers, and while they may feel they are making a gift to you, it's earned income as far as the IRS is concerned. (This assumes you are in the US, you may wish to add a tag to ... |
Why is day trading considered riskier than long-term trading? | I think, the top three answers by Joe, Anthony and Bigh are giving you all the detail that you need on a technical sense. Although I would like to add a simple picture that underlines, that you can not really compare day trading to long-term trading and that the addictive and psychologic aspect that you mentioned can n... |
Why does Warren Buffett say his fund performance, relatively, is likely to be better in a bear market than in a bull market? | Buffett is a value investor. His goal is to buy good companies when the market is overly worried and prices them below intrinsic value. When the market is highly priced it is much more difficult for him to find things that he thinks are at an attractive price. When people are very worried and the market has crashed, st... |
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