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Why is there inconsistent returns difference between direct and regular Mutual Funds? | (This answer refers to the US investment landscape) I'm not sure your classification of funds as direct and regular accurately reflects the nature of the mutual fund industry. It's not the funds themselves that are "direct" or "regular." Rather it's the way an investor chooses to invest in them. If you make the inve... |
Are credit cards not viewed as credit until you miss one payment? | I can't think of any conceivable circumstance in which the banker's advice would be true. (edit: Actually, yes I can, but things haven't worked that way since 1899 so his information is a little stale. Credit bureaus got their start by only reporting information about bad debtors.) The bureaus only store on your file w... |
How did this day trader lose so much? | Learn something new every day... I found this interesting and thought I'd throw my 2c in. Good description (I hope) from Short Selling: What is Short Selling First, let's describe what short selling means when you purchase shares of stock. In purchasing stocks, you buy a piece of ownership in the company. You buy/sell ... |
What is title insurance, and should I get title insurance for my home? | Here is a pretty exhaustive article on that question. Long story short, it is an insurance policy against the possibility that the person selling the property to you doesn't legally own it. If there was some mistake or fraud along the way the proper owner could theoretically repossess the property without you getting y... |
In Canada, how bad must your credit be for a denial of a Secured Credit Card? | A bank or credit card agency can deny your application for pretty much any reason. That said, it's extremely unlikely they'd do so for a secured credit card. This is because the credit is secured. If your sister is to get a card with, say, a $1000 limit, she will have to provide $1000 in security. This means the banks ... |
How can I invest my $100? | Yes, it is. Got to start somewhere. Typically directly through a company itself. Check out this site that lists a bunch of them and their minimum requirements. Not many only accept $100 but there are a few. ie. ACTIVEnergy Income Fund, CIBC, COMPASS Income Fund, Suncor Energy Inc. and a few others. |
Are stock index fund likely to keep being a reliable long-term investment option? | For index funds to be a poor investment, they would have to perform worse than your alternative investments. In this case, we'll assume the alternative to be the individual stocks. Obviously, it must be possible to pick just the winning stocks and avoid the losing stocks, raising your rate of return... however, sever... |
Are you preparing for a possible dollar (USD) collapse? (How?) | I think it's apt to remind that there's no shortcuts, if someone thinks about doing FX fx: - negative sum game (big spread or commissions) - chaos theory description is apt - hard to understand costs (options are insurance and for every trade there is equivalent option position - so unless you understand how those are... |
How do margins on tracker mortgages (variable rate mortages) vary over time? | how do these margins vary over time Depends on a lot of factors. The bank's financial health, bank's ongoing business activities, profits generated from it's other businesses. If it is new to mortgages, it mightn't take a bigger margin to grow its business. If it is in the business for long, it might not be ready to tw... |
Must a company have a specific number of employees to do an IPO? | While there is no legal reason to have a minimum number of employees, there can be a practical reason. They want to look like a good solid investment so that investors will give them money, which is what an IPO is, really. Hiring lots of people is part of that. Once the investors are committed, they can cut expenses... |
Sage Instant Accounts or Quickbooks? | The company I work with uses Intuit QuickBooks Online and have had zero problems with it. The functionality is effective and it fits the size of our company as well. (Not huge, but I wouldn't consider it a 'small business') Also, you can try a 30 day free trial. QuickBooks Simple Start focuses on small business account... |
Is a fixed-price natural gas or electricity contract likely to save money? | I have some numbers to share that may help. I've been tracking my home's natural gas consumption in a spreadsheet for years. Much of that time I'd only been interested in the quantity used – to measure my home's efficiency after certain upgrades – but in 2006 I also started tracking the "Gas Supply Charge" costs from... |
Transfer from credit to debit | The new information helps a little, but you're still stuck as far as doing exactly what you asked. The question that you really should be asking is "How do I deposit money into my BofA checking account from Italy?" If you can figure that out, then the whole part about your father's AmEx card really becomes irrelevant... |
How can I borrow in order to improve a home I just bought? | Be careful that pride is not getting in the way of making a good decision. As it stands now what difference does it make to have 200K worth of debt and a 200K house or 225K of debt and a 250K house? Sure you would have a 25K higher net worth, but is that really important? Some may even argue that such an increase is... |
Can after-hours trading affect options pricing? | Typically the settlement price for a financial instrument (such as AAPL stock) underlying a derivative contract is determined from the average price of trading in that instrument during some short time window specified by the exchange offering the derivative. (Read the fine print on your contract to learn the exact da... |
Jointly filing taxes in 2 different states | Both states will want to tax you. Your tax home is where you maintain a domicile, are registered to vote, etc. and you will probably want to keep this as MA since you state that MA is your permanent residence and you are staying in a rented place in PA. But be careful about voter registration; that is one of the items ... |
Apartment Security Deposit refunds in Maryland | In Maryland, a landlord must hold your security deposit in an escrow account and pay you interest when returning the deposit. The interest is simple interest; it does not compound. The interest rate that they must pay has changed over the last 43 years. Before October 1, 2004, the rate was 4%. Until January 1, 2015,... |
Can a shareholder be liable in case of bankruptcy of one of the companies he invested in? | In an open corporation scenario a stock holder may well be found liable. It's a very narrow and uncommon bunch of scenarios but it's well worth sharing. See the paragraph on open corporations in the following document: http://nationalparalegal.edu/public_documents/courseware_asp_files/businessLaw/RightsOfShareholders/L... |
Is there an advantage to keeping a liquid emergency fund if one also has an untapped line of credit? | Let me offer what I did in a similar situation - Two points (a) we were banking $20K/yr or so to the cash fund, 2 good incomes, and the ability to go indefinitely on just one of the 2. (b) A HELOC that was prime-1.5%. The result was to mentally treat the HELOC as our emergency fund, but to enjoy the interest savings ... |
What is the preferred way to set up personal finances? | simplicity and roi are often at odds. the simplest plan that also supports a reasonable investment return would have 3 accounts: if you want to get better returns on your investments, things can get much more complicated. here are some optional accounts to consider: besides the mechanics of money flowing between accoun... |
Why would a company care about the price of its own shares in the stock market? | The most significant reason is that if the board of directors of a company neglects the stock value, the stockholders will vote them out of their jobs. |
What's the average rate of return for some of the most mainstream index funds? | This page from simplestockinvesting.com gives details of total returns for the S&P500 for each decade over the last 60 years, including total returns for the entire 60 year period. It is important to understand that, from an investors point of view, the total return includes both the change in index value (capital gain... |
Return of value to shareholders in an ISA | You will receive a combination of Verizon shares and cash whether you chose option B or C. Option B means that your "Return of Value" will be treated as capital - ie: as a capital gain. Option C means that your "Return of Value" will be treated as income - ie: as a dividend. As your ISA has favourable tax status, you d... |
What are the alternatives to compound interest for a Muslim? | I cannot tell you what is or is not allowed under Islamic law. What I can tell you is that when most investors talk about the "power of compound interest," they are not actually necessarily talking about interest! The idea of the magic of compound interest is that when you receive an interest payment on your investment... |
Refinancing a vehicle, longer term with extra in the kitty, or shorter term and just make scheduled payment? | Refinancing a car for anything other than lowering the rate is not a good idea. Keep the same term, or take a shorter one. Remember that unlike real property, a car only loses value. So when you make your payments on your 84 month (!) loan, those payments are amortized so that the interest is front loaded. The problem... |
Canada: New mortgage qualification rules, 2010: Why, what, & when in effect? | The new mortgage qualification rules were introduced to cool a hot Canadian housing real estate market. The rules are a pre-emptive measure intended to avoid a bubble (and later crash) in real estate. The government wants to make sure anybody buying a house can handle higher interest rates. Those rates, currently at re... |
I cosigned for a friend who is not paying the payment | Another option, not yet discussed here, is to allow the loan to go into default and let the loaning agency repossess the property the loan was used for, after which they sell it and that sale should discharge some significant portion of the loan. Knowing where the friend and property is, you may be able to help them ca... |
How can I investigate historical effect of Rebalancing on Return and Standard Deviation? | To answer your question directly.. you can investigate by using google or other means to look up research done in this area. There's been a bunch of it Here's an example of search terms that returns a wealth of information. effect+of+periodic+rebalancing+on+portfolio+return I'd especially look for stuff that appears ... |
Strategies to recover from a bad short-term call options purchase where the underlying dropped instead? | The nature of options requires you to understand that they are essentially a bet. In one sense, so is investing in stocks. We imagine a bell curve (first mistake) with a median return at 10%/yr and a standard deviation of about 14%. Then we say that odds are that over some period of time a monte-carlo simulation can gi... |
Can stockholders choose NOT to elect a board of directors? | Under Sarbanes–Oxley, no. There are specific responsibilities vested in the board members. Without a CEO and a CFO, the quarterly financial reports cannot be signed off. Many countries have similar responsibilities for board members, and by the same reasoning therefore a need for board members. |
Historical stock prices: Where to find free / low cost data for offline analysis? | There are several Excel spreadsheets for downloading stock quotes (from Yahoo Finance), and historical exchange rates at http://investexcel.net/financial-web-services-kb |
How can I deal with a spouse who compulsively spends? | Based on the conversations in the comments, I believe a pragmatic solution would be the best immediate course of action, while still working on the long term addiction issues. The first step is to get your husband to agree to give you all of his credit cards and let you manage the money for a set period of time, say 3 ... |
Why would people sell a stock below the current price? | Why would people sell below the current price, and not within the range of the bid/ask? There are many scenarios where this is deliberate but all of them boil down to the fact that the top level's bid doesn't support the quantity you're trying to sell (or is otherwise bogus[1]). One scenario as an example: You're day-t... |
interest rate on online banks | I beg to differ: Israel has an incredibly well managed central bank, and the usury market is wonderfully competitive. It's a shame Stanley Fischer has retired. His management is the case study in central bank management. Rates are low because inflation is low. The nominal rate is irrelevant to return because a 2% no... |
Companies that use their cash to buy back stock, issue dividends, etc. — how does this this typically affect share price? | IBM is famous for spending lots of money on stock buyback to keep the stock price higher. The technique works, and investors in growth stocks generally prefer a high market prices to a taxable dividend payment. Dividends are ways to return shareholder value when a company generates a lot of cash, but doesn't have alot ... |
Capital gains on no-dividend stocks - a theoretical question | A stock, at its most basic, is worth exactly what someone else will pay to buy it right now (or in the near future), just like anything else of value. However, what someone's willing to pay for it is typically based on what the person can get from it. There are a couple of ways to value a stock. The first way is on exp... |
If someone gives me cash legally, can my deposit trigger an audit for them? | In the event of an audit, you AND your friends need to have already reported the cash the same way in previous tax filings. Even differences between legitimate sources can result in civil and criminal sanctions from the IRS, let alone questionable, dubious and illegal sources. |
What is an ideal number of stock positions that I should have in my portfolio? | Honestly? The maximum number really doesn't matter. If you're investing long-term, you buy in when it looks like an OK deal (still undervalued but looks like it'll grow), and you sell when it looks like the stock has reached a peak it won't reach again for a while if ever. However many stocks you can keep track of on t... |
Why charge gross receipts taxes to the customer? | It sounds like "gross receipt tax" is essentially the same thing most states call "sales tax", which is always handled this way -- prices displayed are pre-tax, tax is added when the final price is calculated. One reason for doing it that way is that most prices result in taxes that involve fractions of pennies, and c... |
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... |
If I go to a seminar held overseas, may I claim my flights on my tax return? | Disclaimer: My answer is based on US tax law, but I assume Australian situation would be similar. The IRS would not be likely to believe your statement that "I wouldn't have gone to the country if it wasn't for the conference." A two-week vacation, with a two-day conference in there, certainly looks like you threw in ... |
If a stock doesn't pay dividends, then why is the stock worth anything? | Securities change in prices. You can buy ten 10'000 share of a stock for $1 each one day on release and sell it for $40 each if you're lucky in the future for a gross profit of 40*10000 = 400'0000 |
A University student wondering if investing in stocks is a good idea? | There isn't really a clear way to answer this question objectively. I'd offer my opinion that yes it is a good idea. You don't need very much money to start (I began investing on $200). To answer your second question, no there are never any "sure things." Instead on focusing on making money, focus on learning how the... |
Can I negotiate a credit card settlement by stopping payments? | At no point is it ever a good idea to "stop making payments to show them [you] mean business". When you signed up for the credit card account, you agreed to pay what you charged, and any applicable interested accrued on the accounts. You are legally responsible for that debt, and you can be sued, if they are so incline... |
What happens when a stock gets delisted? | When a delisting happens, the primary process involves, the firm or the entity, trying to buy everyone out so that they can take the firm private by delisting from the stock exchanges. As the firm wants to buy everyone out, the current owners of the equity have the upper hand. They wouldn't want to sell if they believe... |
Should I buy a home or rent in my situation? | First, let me mention that the reasons mentioned this far for renting are excellent ones. But, I disagree. Second, I would like to mention that I'm just a regular Joe, not an accountant, or a realtor. That said, I was in a similar situation not that long ago. I ended up renting, but I wish I hadn't. You should check ou... |
Is it ever a good idea to close credit cards? | It is an issue of both utilization and average age of accounts. If your cards with $0 balances on them are: A) newer cards than the ones you are carrying balances on and you don't want them B) much lower limit cards than the ones you are carrying balances on then you can raise your score by closing them, as the utiliza... |
Purchase same stock twice | how does the trading company know which one I want to sell? It doesn't need to know. You just sell one. From taxation point of view depending on the country / tax jurisdiction, it can be only be FIFO or specific stock. |
Is it wise to invest small amounts of money short-term? | This is slightly opinion based. Is it appropriate to invest small amounts for short periods of time? At your age and the time period, I would say NO. This is because although the index fund do return 6-7% on average, there are several times it blips and goes negative as well. Stock Markets in short periods like 6 mont... |
Is real (physical) money traded during online trading? | This is my two cents (pun intended). It was too long for a comment, so I tried to make it more of an answer. I am no expert with investments or Islam: Anything on a server exists 'physically'. It exists on a hard drive, tape drive, and/or a combination thereof. It is stored as data, which on a hard drive are small ... |
What is a Student Loan and does it allow you to cover a wide range of expenses relating to school? | Is a student loan a type of loan or just a generic name used to refer to a loan for someone who is going back to school? A student loan from the federal government is a specific type of loan used for education purposes (i.e. attending college). They have guidelines associated with them that are very flexible as compare... |
Is it better to miss the dividend and buy the undervalued stock? | As yet another explanation of why it does not really matter, you can look at this from the valuation point of view. Stock price is the present value of its future cash flows (be it free cash flow of the firm or dividends, depending on the model). Let's have a look at the dividends case. Imagine, the price of the stock ... |
How can I improve my auto insurance score? | Move to a small town in an insurance friendly state. - Certian states like Florida are considered high risk for doing business for insurance companies. Get a (relatively)new midsize sedan in white, tan, or brown. These colors are the least likely to get stolen and the modern midsized sedan is considered the safest v... |
Vanguard ETF vs mutual fund | See my comment for some discussion of why one might choose an identical fund over an ETF. As to why someone would choose the higher cost fund in this instance ... The Admiral Shares version of the fund (VFIAX) has the same expense ratio as the ETF but has a minimum investment of $10K. Some investors may want to event... |
Saving up for an expensive car | The question is how does $16,000/year for 6.5 years fit into your budget. Or to put it another way, what won't you be spending that money on? Housing, food, vacations, retirement fund, investments (though you can invest your car fund in the meantime), building a hefty emergency fund, kids college funds, saving for a do... |
How to calculate my real earnings from hourly temp-to-hire moving to salaried employee? | This arrangement is a scam to get around certain tax and benefits laws, both State and Federal. I know they can't get away with this with a person-as-contractor, but this "he's not a contractor, he's a business owner" may move it into a gray area. (I used to know this stuff cold, but I've been retired for a while.) The... |
When investing, is the risk/reward tradeoff linear? | Ditto Bill and I upvoted his answer. But let me add a bit. If everyone knew exactly what the risk was for every investment, then prices would be bid up or down until every stock (or bond or derivative or whatever) was valued at exactly risk times potential profit. (Or more precisely, integral of risk times potential pr... |
Which types of insurances do I need to buy? | Evaluate if the Rs 5 million term insurance is sufficient. Typically the term insurance provided by employer is in the range of 1 to 3 times the gross. Generally one should be covered in the range of 5 to 10 times the Gross. The sooner you start the lesser the premium and you can get insured for a large amount for a lo... |
Do I need to start a 529 plan for each child (2 separate plans), or can I just open one 529 plan and let both children use it? | Create one account. You can change the beneficiary of the plan (even to nephews, nieces, yourself or your wife) as many times as you need so long as you are spending the money on valid educational expenses. Are you 100% sure both of your kids are going to college? If you aren't really 100% sure, a single account tha... |
Why do stores and manufacturers use mail in rebates? A scam, or is there a way to use them effectively? | I've had positive experiences and negative ones. One key is to be sure you have followed ALL of the instructions. Once I forgot a small piece of information and lost out on $40. I was not happy. A few weeks ago I got a rebate for $50 from Staples, and it couldn't have been simpler. Stick with big companies and make sur... |
A friend wants to use my account for a wire transfer. Is this a scam or is it legitimate? | This is not only a scam but it is potentially fraud that may get you in trouble. This "friend" of yours will wire you some money in which you do not know where this money is really from. It's obvious from other answers that his story is fictitious. Thus it is likely that this money was stolen through another scam/hack ... |
How do I protect myself from a scam if I want to help a relative? | For some reason can't transfer it directly to his account overseas (something to do with security codes, authorized payees and expired cards). Don't become someone's financial intermediary. Find out exactly why he can't transfer the money himself, and then if you want to help him, solve that problem for him. Helping hi... |
Basic mutual fund investment questions | You asked 3 questions here. It's best to keep them separate as these are pretty distinct, different answers, and each might already have a good detailed answer and so might be subject to "closed as duplicate of..." That said, I'll address the JAGLX question (1). It's not an apples to apples comparison. This is a Life S... |
How do I handle fund minimums as a beginning investor? | I like Keshlam's answer and would like to add a few notes: While your enthusiasm to invest is admirable learning patience is a key aspect of wealth building and keeping. |
If the housing market is recovering, why would a REIT index ETF (e.g. VNQ) not be performing well? | VNQ only holds ~16% residential REITs. The rest are industrial, office, retail (e.g. shopping malls), specialized (hotels perhaps?) etc. Thus, VNQ isn't as correlated towards housing as you might have assumed just based on it being about "real estate." Second of all, if by "housing" you mean that actual houses have go... |
Why can't online transactions be completed outside of business hours? | Generally, unless you're doing a wire transfer, bank transactions are processed in batches overnight. So the credit card company won't be able to confirm your transfer until the next business day (it may take even longer for them to actually receive the money). |
Why invest in IRA while a low-cost index fund is much simpler? | Here are the few scenarios that may be worth noting in terms of using different types of accounts: Traditional IRA. In this case, the monies would grow tax-deferred and all monies coming out will be taxed as ordinary income. Think of it as everything is in one big black box and the whole thing is coming out to be taxed... |
How much of each stock do index funds hold? | Note that an index fund may not be able to precisely mirror the index it's tracking. If enough many people invest enough money into funds based on that index, there may not always be sufficient shares available of every stock included in the index for the fund to both accept additional investment and track the index pr... |
What emergencies could justify a highly liquid emergency fund? | If you engage in any kind of dangerous activity, the training courses will often state that an accident is not the result of a simple error. Examples of this include SCUBA and motorcycle training. Properly maintained equipment and training will mitigate many emergencies. Recently my dive buddy was 60' down, and ran ... |
Received an unexpected cashiers check for over $2K from another state - is this some scam? | It is likely a scam. In fact the whole mystery shopping "job" may be a scam. There is a Snopes page about cashier's check scams, as well as a US government page which specifically mentions mystery shopping as a scam angle. As for how the scam works, from the occ.gov site I just linked: However, cashier’s checks latel... |
How can an Indian citizen get exposure to global markets? | Other than the possibility of minimal entry price being prohibitively high, there's no reason why you couldn't participate in any global trading whatsoever. Most ETFs, and indeed, stockbrokers allows both accounts opening, and trading via the Internet, without regard to physical location. With that said, I'd strongly a... |
Do ETF dividends make up for fees? | Any ETF has expenses, including fees, and those are taken out of the assets of the fund as spelled out in the prospectus. Typically a fund has dividend income from its holdings, and it deducts the expenses from the that income, and only the net dividend is passed through to the ETF holder. In the case of QQQ, it cer... |
Are there capital gains taxes or dividend taxes if I invest in the U.S. stock market from outside of the country? | I believe that tax will be withheld (at 30%?) on dividends paid to non-residents. You can claim it back if your country has a tax treaty with the USA, but you will need to file. You probably also need to file a W-series withholding form (eg a W9-BEN). Interesting question. I would like to hear a more definitive answ... |
How do you get your Canadian stock information? | I only follow the news of stocks I already own. I use the GlobeInvest Watchlist http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/my-watchlist/ each Friday night. In the drop-down views choose ALL NEWS I believe that there is a strong "grass is greaner .." effect from always looking at what other stock are doing - lea... |
What are some simple techniques used for Timing the Stock Market over the long term? | I can think of a few simple and quick techniques for timing the market over the long term, and they can be used individually or in combination with each other. There are also some additional techniques to give early warning of possible turns in the market. The first is using a Moving Average (MA) as an indication of wh... |
401(k) not fully vested at time of acquisition | Probably not. If you were at a small company and asked such a question, you'd get advice and links to erisa or other case law, etc. it's safe to say that a Fortune 500 company such as IBM is going to have their facts in order, and not going to run afoul of the rules in these cases (vesting rules and takeover of other ... |
How do Islamic Banking give loans for housing purposes? | As I understand it, if the "borrower" puts a down payment of 20% and the bank puts down 80%, then the bank and the "borrower" own the home jointly as tenants in common with a 20%-80% split of the asset amongst them. The "borrower" moves into the home and pays the bank 80% of the fair rental value of the home each mo... |
Please explain the relationship between dividend amount, stock price, and option value? | There are a few reason why the stock price decreases after a dividend is paid: What's the point of paying a dividend if the stock price automatically decreases? Don't the shareholders just break even? Companies have to do something with their profits. They beholden to their shareholders to make them money either by in... |
How should minor children be listed as IRA beneficiaries? | I would like to bring up some slightly different points than the ones raised in the excellent answers from JoeTaxpayer and littleadv. The estate can be the beneficiary of an IRA -- indeed, as has been pointed out, this is the default beneficiary if the owner does not specify a beneficiary -- but a testamentary trust c... |
Will a credit card issuer cancel an account if it never incurs interest? | When you buy something with your credit card, the store pays a fee to the credit card company, typically a base fee of 15 to 50 cents plus 2 to 3% of the purchase. At least, that's what it was a few years back when I had a tiny business and I wanted to accept credit cards. Big chain stores pay less because they are "bu... |
Comparison between buying a stock and selling a naked put | Option prices are computed by determining the cost of obtaining the option returns using a strategy that trades the underlying asset continuously. It sounds like what you are describing is rapidly trading the option in order to obtain returns similar to those of the stock. The equality goes both ways. If the option... |
Is Cost of Living overstated? | I'm not convinced that cost of living is related to ensuring greater appreciation of assets over time, especially over a 30 year window. The importance of regional differences in cost of living to anyone's decision-making should be weighted by the percentage of their income spent on indexed items. That is, for people ... |
Why do people sell when demand pushes share price up? | If the price has gone up from what it was when the person bought, he may sell to collect his profit and spend the money. If someone intends to keep his money in the market, the trick is that you don't know when the price of a given stock will peak. If you could tell the future, sure, you'd buy when the stock was at its... |
Should I wait a few days to sell ESPP Stock? | It depends on how the program is run. If the company runs the program out of treasury stock (shares that are authorized, but not issued), then there aren't any shares being purchased on the open market. Because of that, the share price wouldn't be affected. If you look in your employer's annual report, you will pr... |
Why can't the government simply payoff everyone's mortgage to resolve the housing crisis? | Just looking at the practicality: Because the total value of outstanding mortgages in the US is about $10 trillion, and the government can't afford it without printing enough money to cause hyperinflation. The cost of saving the banks was actually much less than the "hundreds of billions of dollars" that is quoted, bec... |
Economics Books | i'm absolutely a newcomer in economics and i wish to understand how things work around finance. This is a pretty loaded question. To understand finance, you need the basics of economics. In almost every economics school in the country, you first study microeconomics and then economics. So, we'll start with micro. One o... |
How are Share Awards and Sales Treated? | You likely received the shares as ordinary income for services of $10k, since they withheld taxes at granting. Separately, you likely had a short term capital loss on sale of $2k, since your holding period seems to have been under one year. |
Historical company performance data | The S&P report (aka STARS report) for each company has 10 years of financial data. These reports are available free at several online brokers (like E-Trade) if you have an account with the brokerage. |
Do marketmakers always quote a bid and ask simultaneously | Yes, but also note each exchange have rules that states various conditions when the market maker can enlarge the bid-ask (e.g. for situations such as freely falling markets, etc.) and when the market makers need to give a normal bid-ask. In normal markets, the bid-asks are usually within exchange dictated bounds. MM's... |
What is a reasonable rate of return and fee structure for a Roth IRA? | A Roth IRA is just an account wrapper. Inside a Roth IRA you can have a plain 0.1% savings account, or a brokerage account, or an annuity or whatever. There's no rate of return for a Roth IRA. That particular calculator seems to assume you'll be wrapping a brokerage account in a Roth IRA and investing in the stock ma... |
How to use proceeds of old house sale shortly after buying new house? | I've heard that the bank may agree to a "one time adjustment" to lower the payments on Mortgage #2 because of paying a very large payment. Is this something that really happens? It's to the banks advantage to reduce the payments in that situation. If they were willing to loan you money previously, they should still be... |
Buying a home with down payment from family as a “loan” | Lenders pay attention to where your down payment money comes from. If they see a large transfer of money into your bank account within about a year before your purchase, this WILL cause an issue for you. Down payments are not just there to make the principal smaller; they are primarily used as an underwriting data-poin... |
What happens if one brings more than 10,000 USD with them into the US? | Bad plan. This seems like a recipe for having your money taken away from you by CBP. Let me explain the biases which make it so. US banking is reliable enough for the common citizen, that everyone simply uses banks. To elaborate, Americans who are unbanked either can't produce simple identity paperwork; or they got ... |
As a total beginner, how do I begin to understand finance & stocks? | Let me first give you my definitions of the words 'investor' and 'speculator'. To me, anyone looking to 'buy low, sell high' is a speculator. Only 'buy and hold' people are investors. The news agencies love to report on changes in the price of a stock. This gives them something to talk about. So speculation is encoura... |
What happens if stock purchased on margin plummets below what I have in the brokerage? | Different brokerages have different house rules for margin requirements and margin calls. You will likely get a margin call giving you a small amount of time to deposit the required funds to bring your account balance up to the required margin requirements. In reality, a stock that falls from $50 to $4 in a short per... |
What are the marks of poor investment advice? | Proverbs 11:14 states: "For lack of guidance a nation falls, but many advisers make victory sure." Asking here is a good start. You'll (hopefully) get a few opinions. |
Determining current value for real estate for inheritance purposes | how is this new value determined? According to Publication 551: Inherited Property The basis of property inherited from a decedent is generally one of the following. The FMV of the property at the date of the individual's death. The FMV on the alternate valuation date if the personal representative for the estate cho... |
Better to rent condo to daughter or put her on title? | @Pete B.'s answer is good, but there's an important note to consider for tax purposes. It's too large for a comment, so I'm adding it as an answer. And that is: you cannot claim the property as a rental property under certain conditions. This affects things like claiming mortgage interest (which you don't have), and ... |
Why are credit cards preferred in the US? | For me, it is mostly for the fraud protection. If I have a debit card and someone makes a fraudulent charge the money is removed from my bank account. From my understanding, I can then file a fraud complaint with the bank to recover my money. However, for some period of time, the money is missing from my bank account... |
Direct Registration System vs Brokerage Firm | You'll need to talk to your broker about registering positions you already hold. I would personally expect this will cost you a not-insignificant fee. And I don't think you'll be able to do this on any shares held in a tax-advantaged account. That said, I'd recommend you go to the Investors sections of the company's ... |
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