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What publicly available software do professional stock traders use for stock analysis?
If you are looking to analyze stocks and don't need the other features provided by Bloomberg and Reuters (e.g. derivatives and FX), you could also look at WorldCap, which is a mobile solution to analyze global stocks, at FactSet and S&P CapitalIQ. Please note that I am affiliated with WorldCap.
I am trying to start a “hedge fund,” and by that, I really just mean I have a very specific and somewhat simple investment thesis that I want to
Kudos for wanting to start your own business. Now let's talk reality. Unless you already have some kind of substantial track record of successful investing to show potential investors, what you want to do will never happen, and that's just giving you the honest truth. There are extensive regulatory requirements for st...
How to file income tax returns for profits from ESPP stock?
I did this for the last tax year so hopefully I can help you. You should get a 1099-B (around the same time you're getting your W-2(s)) from the trustee (whichever company facilitates the ESPP) that has all the information you need to file. You'll fill out a Schedule D and (probably) a Form 8949 to describe the capital...
Borrowing money and then investing it — smart or nart?
Theory of Levered Investing Borrowing in order to increase investment exposure is a time-honored and legitimate activity. It's the optimal way to increase your exposure, according to finance theory (which assumes you get a good interest rate...more on this later). In your case it may or may not be a good idea. Based...
Is it a good idea to teach children that work is linearly related to income?
I think that is the wrong approach. You certainly need to teach the value of work, but you cannot tie it to income levels as a hard and fast rule. If you do, how do you then explain athletes making millions per year and only 'working' half a year, at most. And, then comparing that person to a person working hard in a f...
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 EU, you might be looking for Directive 2000/35/EC (Late Payment Directive). There was a statutory rate, 7% above the European Central Bank main rate. However, this Directive was recently repealed by Directive 2011/7/EU, which sets the statutory rate at ECB + 8%. (Under EU regulations, Directives must be turned i...
How to prevent myself from buying things I don't want
One of the most effective tools we have to keep ourselves from doing things is procrastination. Most of the time procrastination is a bad thing because we use it to avoid doing things we should be doing. But it's equally effective at keeping us from doing things that are not good for us, like overspending or overeati...
Supply & Demand - How Price Changes, Buy Orders vs Sell Orders [duplicate]
Yes for every order there is a buyer and seller. But overall there are multiple buyers and multiple sellers. So every trade is at a different price and this price is agreed by both buyer and seller. Related question will help you understand this better. How do exchanges match limit orders?
Renting from self during out of area remodel project - deductible?
There are certain situations where you could legally pay yourself rent, but it'd be in the context of multiple business entities interacting, never in the context of an individual renting their own property. Even if you could, any rent paid to yourself would count as rental income, so there'd be no benefit. Edit: I wa...
What does the term “match the market” mean?
There was a time when everyone felt their goal was to beat the respective index they followed. But of course, in aggregate, that's a mathematical impossibility. The result was that the average say large cap fund, whose benchmark index would be the S&P, would lag on average by 1-2%. A trend toward ETFs that would match...
What happens when PayPal overdrafts a checking account (with an ample backup funding source available)?
You should check directly with the seller. I suspect you will find they have not recieved any money. Paypal tend to hang on to money as long as possible in all transactions, and will do anything to avoid giving out cash before it has come in.
What exchange rate does El Al use when converting final payment amount to shekels?
The rate for "checks and transfers" is set by each bank multiple times during the day based on the market. It is as opposed to the rate for "cash/banknotes", also set by each bank, and the "representative rate" (שער היציג) set by the Bank of Israel. These rates can be found on the websites of most banks. Here is Bank H...
Does doing your “research”/“homework” on stocks make any sense?
The markets are not as information efficient as some might have you believe. But on the contrary, looking up what the aggregate professional analysts have said is also part of "doing your homework"
How do I know if refinance is beneficial enough to me?
It would help if we had numbers to walk you through the analysis. Current balance, rate, remaining term, and the new mortgage details. To echo and elaborate on part of Ben's response, the most important thing is to not confuse cash flow with savings. If you have 15 years to go, and refinance to 30 years, at the rate r...
How to calculate the number of months until a loan is paid off (given principal, APR and payment amount)?
Here is the derivation of the formula, with The loan is equal to the sum of the repayments discounted to present value.
Selling non-dividend for dividend stocks
Is selling Vested RSU is the same as selling a regular stock? Yes. Your basis (to calculate the gain) is what you've been taxed on when the RSUs vested. Check your payslips/W2 for that period, and the employer should probably have sent you detailed information about that. I'm not a US citizen, my account is in ETrade a...
What does a contract's worth mean?
$400M is the gross "check" the company will receive as payment for the project. The contract will specify payment schedule. And it can range from a payment per milestone achieved to a pay in full on completion. The profit will hopefully be positive, but it's not impossible for a bid to underestimate the full cost, res...
How and why does the exchange rate of a currency change almost everyday?
The basic idea is that money's worth is dependent on what it can be used to buy. The principal driver of monetary exchange (using one type of currency to "buy" another) is that usually, transactions for goods or services in a particular country must be made using that country's official currency. So, if the U.S. has so...
If the co-signer on my car loan dies, can the family take the car from me like they're threatening to?
The lead story here is you owe $12,000 on a car worth $6000!! That is an appalling situation and worth a lot to get out of it. ($6000, or a great deal more if the car is out of warranty and you are at risk of a major repair too.) I'm sorry if it feels like the payments you've made so far are wasted; often the number...
Should I finance a new home theater at 0% even though I have the cash for it?
I would never consider such an offer. As has already been mentioned, there are likely to be hidden costs and the future is never certain. If you feel that you are missing out, then negociate a lower purchase price now. People often forget that something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. With any sign...
What are some tips for getting the upper hand in car price negotiations?
I read a really good tract that my credit union gave me years ago written by a former car salesman about negotiation tactics with car dealers. Wish I could find it again, but I remember a few of the main points. 1) Never negotiate based on the monthly payment amount. Car salesmen love to get you into thinking about th...
How to get an ITIN if I don't have passport?
On the IRS site you can find a list of "acceptance agents" in your country. Talk to one of them, they'll deal with the IRS on your behalf. If you don't have any in your country, you can contact the big-4 accounting firms or any other agent elsewhere to provide you service. I'd suggest doing this through an agent.
How to avoid getting back into debt?
Spend less than you earn. If you have no job (source of income), then you can not possibly stay out of debt as you have to spend money to live and study.
What would a stock be worth if dividends did not exist? [duplicate]
A share of stock is a small fraction of the ownership of the company. If you expect the company to eventually be of interest to someone who wants to engineer a merger or takeover, it's worth whatever someone is willing to pay to help make that happen or keep it from happening. Which means it will almost always track th...
Buying a multi-family home to rent part and live in the rest
This is one of those too good to be true things that is actually true. Why? Because only you can do this. Only you can deduct for primary home mortgage interest, only you can get a low cost mortgage (others would have to get investor mortgages at a higher interest rate). So its only a great deal for you. More people wo...
Is it smarter to buy a small amount of an ETF every 2 or 3 months, instead of monthly?
Note, the main trade off here is the costs of holding cash rather than being invested for a few months vs trading costs from trading every month. Let's start by understanding investing every month vs every three months. First compare holding cash for two months (at ~0% for most Canadians right now) and then investing...
Where are Bogleheadian World ETFs or Index funds?
Half VTI (Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF) and half VEU (Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US ETF), and stop futzing. The US is roughly half the world market cap so this is like a total world equity index. Very low costs. VTI Expense ratio is 0.04% as of 04/27/2017. I don't know what you mean by RSG, but it could be either ...
Can company owners use lay offs to prevent restricted stock from vesting before an acquisition?
As littleadv says it depends on the local laws. Normally one shouldn't be too worried. Typically the stocks given to the employees are a very small portion of the overall stocks ... the owners would not try to jeopardize the deal just so that they make an incrementally small amount of money ... they would rather play...
How exactly does dealing in stock make me money?
Generally, a share of stock entitles the owner to all future per-share dividends paid by the company, plus a fraction of the company's assets net value in the event of liquidation. If one knew in advance the time and value of all such payouts, the value of the stock should equal the present cash value of that payout s...
What are the options for a 19-year-old college student who only has about $1000?
If you're looking for ways to turn $1000 into more, don't just think of ways it can make money -- also consider whether there are any ways you can use it to save money. Among the advantages of this approach is that you're not taxed for reducing your expenditures. The good news is that there are a lot more ways to save ...
Basic finance: what should everyone know?
The statement "Finance is something all adults need to deal with but almost nobody learns in school." hurts me. However I have to disagree, as a finance student, I feel like everyone around me is sound in finance and competition in the finance market is so stiff that I have a hard time even finding a paid internship ri...
Value investing
The June 2014 issue of Barclays Wealth's Compass magazine had a very nice succinct article on this topic: "Value investing – does a rules-based approach work?". It examines the performance of value and growth styles of investment in the MSCI World and S&P500 arenas for a few decades back, and reveals a surprisingly co...
Which is better when working as a contractor, 1099 or incorporating?
There is some benefit to creating a corporation or LLC -- you theoretically have a liability shield. As Michael Pryor points out in his answer, though, there will probably be little difference if you get sued. Operating the corporation or LLC incurs some extra costs: you have to pay annual fees to the state, and there'...
Negatives to increased credit card spending limit? [duplicate]
The only drawback is if you spend more than you can with the new limit and end up having to pay interest if you can't pay the balance in full. Other than that, there are no drawbacks to getting a credit increase. On the flip side, it's actually good for you. It shows that the banks trust you with more credit, and it a...
In a competitive market, why is movie theater popcorn expensive?
One explanation is that movie patrons are considering their total willingness to pay for the movie experience so that if the ticket price plus the market price of popcorn is less than their willingness to pay (WTP), the theater has an opportunity to extract more consumer surplus by charging higher than market prices fo...
The Benefits/Disadvantages of using a credit card
Credit cards have three important advantages. None of them are for day-to-day borrowing of money. Safety - Credit cards have better fraud protection than checks or cash, and better than most debit/check cards. If you buy something with a credit card, you also get the issuer's (think Visa) assurances that your will get ...
Is there any emprical research done on 'adding to a loser'
This is basically martingale, which there is a lot of research on. Basically in bets that have positive expected value such as inflation hedged assets this works better over the long term, than bets that have negative expected value such as table games at casinos. But remember, whatever your analysis is: The market can...
Car dealers offering lower prices when financing a used car
With new cars it's usually the other way around: finance at a low APR or get cash back when you buy it outright. With used cars you usually don't know how much they have invested in the car, so it's more difficult to know how low they're willing to go. Regardless, I do think it's odd that they would knock 2K off the pr...
Are solar cell panels and wind mills worth the money?
I have personally known a family in the hills of Southern Oregon, US who lived off the electricity grid. As far as being "possible" yes, but easy is a certain no. This family was very dedicated to the point of living without grid electricity. A special built home of native field stones, careful alignment with the sun...
Why are there many small banks and more banks in the U.S.?
Actually it seems you are not quite correct about the number of different banks in Canada. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banks_and_credit_unions_in_Canada According to this link there are 82-86 banks in Canada plus credit unions. This may still be lower than what would correspond to the number of banks in the U...
What financial data are analysed (and how) to come up with a stock recommendation?
The short answer: it depends. The long answer.. Off the top of my head, there are quite a number of factors that an analyst may look at when analyzing a stock, to come up with a recommendation. Some example factors to look at include: The list goes on. Quite literally, any and all factors are fair game for a recommen...
How separate individual expenses from family expenses in Gnucash?
In your words, you want to "easily determine whether an item was purchased as part of our individual accounts, or our combined family account." It's not clear exactly to me what kind of reporting you're trying to get. (I find a useful approach here to be to start with the output you're trying to get from a system, and ...
What's the best way to make money from a market correction?
Depends on how long you're willing to invest for. Broadly speaking, the best (by which I mean, more reliably repeatable) way to make money from market corrections is to accept them as a fact of life, and not sell in a panic when they happen, such that the money you already invested can ride back up again. Put another w...
Why would a car company lend me money at a very low interest rate?
They aren't actually. It appears to be a low interest rate, but it doesn't cover their true cost of capital. It is a sales tactic where they are raising the sticker price/principal of the car, which is subsidizing the true cost of the loan, likely 4% or higher. It would be hard to believe that the true cost of a car lo...
Understanding the phrase “afford to lose” better
I think that people only use the phrase "only spend what you can afford to lose" when they are talking about the most risky or speculative investments, or even gambling. When talking about gambling, the following quote is a bottom line: The speculative investment that brought me to this question via google is how muc...
Why would a company care about the price of its own shares in the stock market?
Stock price is an indicator about the health of the company. Increased profits (for example) will drive the stock price up; excessive debt (for example) will drive it down. The stock price has a profound effect on the company overall: for example, a declining share price will make it hard to secure credit, attract fur...
Refinance a land loan into a mortgage loan
The Answer is yes according to multiple online sources and my local bank. This approach is a common technique to building your own home. You finance the land, build the simplest possible dwelling (say a garage with 1 bathroom/bedroom), refi into a mortgage and get cash back and then build your "real house" or add on, e...
How are mortgage payments decided? [duplicate]
It's so that your total mortgage payment stays the same every month. Obviously, the interest due each month decreases over time, as part of the principal is paid off each month, and so if the proportion of interest and principal repayments were to stay the same then your first payment would be very large and your last ...
After consulting HR Block, are you actually obligated to file your taxes with them, if they've found ways to save you money?
It sounds like they want to enter you into a contract in which they are allowed to charge a flat fee for filing contingent on money saving results from a tax review service, paid in full. Like those who answered before I have no legal experience. IRS Circular 230 defines the ethics for tax practitioners and the defini...
Where should I park my money if I'm pessimistic about the economy and I think there will be high inflation?
For diversification against local currency's inflation, you have fundamentally 3 options: Depending on how sure you are on your prediction, and what amount of money you're willing to bet to "short the country", you might also consider a mix of approaches from the above. Good luck.
How can I help others plan their finances, without being a “conventional” financial planner?
I think it's great that you want to contribute. Course Instructor You may want to take a look at becoming an instructor for a course like Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. These are commonly offered through churches and other community venues for a fee. This may be a good fit if you want to focus on basic finan...
Why would you elect to apply a refund to next year's tax bill?
sometimes we advise very old or incapacitated people to apply the refund to the next year as check writing from time to time & mailing may be a hassle for them.
Why are capital gains taxed at a lower rate than normal income?
There are many reasons, which other answers have already discussed. I want to emphasize and elaborate on just one of the reasons, which is that it avoids double taxation, especially on corporate earnings. Generally, for corporations, its earnings are already taxed at around 40% (for the US - including State income tax...
Are my parents ripping me off with this deal that doesn't allow me to build my equity in my home?
First, I don't think your parents are ripping you off, but you should get your agreement in writing. The fact that you never own more than 25% doesn't matter. If the condo's value is increasing, you are in fact building equity. Your share of the equity just doesn't increase, but it doesn't decrease either. For example,...
Can I use same stock broker to buy stocks from different stock markets?
Most stock brokers are "full service" brokers. That is to say that you can so the same broker to buy different types of stocks, bonds, options, etc. in different markets. Some brokers are very specialized and won't allow you to do that. But those are probably brokers you don't want to use.
Is it wise to invest in a stock with a large Div yield?
You should not buy soley for the dividend. The price of BHP is going down for a reason. If you hold until the full years dividend is paid you will make 11% (which is $110 if you bought $1000 worth of shares), but if the share price keeps dropping, you might lose 50% on the stock. So you make $110 on dividends but lose ...
What kind of company is USAA?
The United Services Automobile Association has a funny legal structure: it's not a corporation and has no shareholders. Policyholders and account holders are paid any profits. In that respect, it functions very much like a credit union; technically, it's structured as a Texas-based and Texas Department of Insurance reg...
Are warehouse clubs like Costco and Sam's Club worth it?
Silly as it sounds, we belong to both BJ's and Sam's club (we don't have Costco in this area). The produce at our local Sam's is top-notch, especially in the winter. The prices on fruit there are unbeatable in the winter time, and more than cover the membership cost. I also find the price/quality of canned/box grocery...
Can banks deny that you've paid your loan?
Yes, if their record keeping is faulty or failed. It is best to keep all records of repayment. Incomplete records such as signing for a loan yet no repayment receipt can be at least a headache and at most expensive. The most important document is a record of 0 balance then there is nothing that the courts will allow c...
How do I invest and buy/sell stocks? What does “use a broker” mean?
Some good answers already, but let me add a TL:DR version. Brokers work like a special type of bank account where you can deposit or withdraw money. The major difference is that they also give you the ability to buy/sell investments with the money in your account which you can do by either calling them or using their w...
Buy index mutual fund or build my own?
You better buy an ETF that does the same, because it would be much cheaper than mutual fund (and probably much cheaper than doing it yourself and rebalancing to keep up with the index). Look at DIA for example. Neither buying the same amount of stocks nor buying for the same amount of money would be tracking the DJIE....
How much money do I need to have saved up for retirement?
Invest in kids, not pension - they never inflate. Without kids your retirement will be miserable anyway. And with them you'll be good. Personally, I do not believe that that our current savings will be worth it in 30 years in these times.
Can't the account information on my checks be easily used for fraud?
The bottom line is to keep most of your money in accounts with no check privileges and to not give the account numbers for these accounts to anyone. Keep just enough in your checking account for the checks you are going to write.
What are “headwinds” and “tailwinds” in financial investments?
Headwinds in an economic situation represent events or conditions e.g. a credit crisis, rising costs, natural disasters, etc, that slow down the growth of an economy. So headwinds are negative. Tailwinds are the opposite and help to increase growth of an economy.
3-year horizon before trading up to next home: put windfall in savings, or pay off mortgage?
First, I would want cash around the time I made the move. I would like enough for a 20% down payment, moving expenses, and enough for 6 months of mortgage payments on the existing house. This way if the house does not sell quickly, you are safe. As you approach the time it comes to move, you can work backwards on ho...
High Leverage Inflation Hedges for Personal Investors
$10k isn't really enough to make enough money to offset the extremely high risks in investing in options in this area. Taking risks is great, but a sure losing proposition isn't a risk -- it's a gamble. You're likely to get wiped out with leveraged options, since you don't have enough money to hedge your bets. Timing i...
What does a Dividend “will not be quoted ex” mean?
One occastion where "will not be quoted ex" is used is when a corporate action is occurring such as a spin-off. In such a case, the rights to, and the spin-off itself may be quoted separately on the home country exchange. However, if the company is based abroad, it may not be worth the expense for them to have an add...
Should I pay off my credit card online immediately or wait for the bill?
If you carried a balance from the last month, then pay the card off as soon as possible. Otherwise I agree with @mbhunter that you should wait until close to time for the bill to become due. Then always pay the credit card off in full and you will borrowing Chase's money interest free for up to 30 days.
How does stock dilution work in relation to share volume?
Here is an example for you. We have a fictional company. It's called MoneyCorp. Its job is to own money, and that's all. Right now it owns $10,000. It doesn't do anything special with that $10,000 - it stores it in a bank account, and whenever it earns interest gives it to the shareholders as a dividend. Also, it doesn...
Some U.S. Tax Questions (CPA Concerns)
He has included this on Schedule D line 1a, but I don't see any details on the actual transaction. It is reported on form 8949. However, if it is fully reported in 1099-B (with cost basis), then you don't have to actually detail every position. Turbotax asked me to fill in individual stock sales with proceeds and cos...
How (or is it necessary) to rebalance a 401k with only one index fund?
There's nothing to rebalance, the index fund rebalances itself to continue matching the index. However, you need to understand that such an investment is not diversified and you only invest in a very specific market, and very specific stocks on that market. S&P 500 is large (500 different companies, most of the time), ...
What is the Blue Line in these stock Charts?
My guess is that both the blue and pinkish lines are hand drawn by someone. The blue line indicates 'higher lows' while the pinkish line represents 'higher highs'. Together they form a trading channel in which you can expect future prices to be (unless there is some unanticipated event that occurs). Edit: since the pr...
Options “Collar” strategy vs regular Profit/Loss stops
consider capital requirements and risk timeframes. With options, the capital requirements are far smaller than owning the underlying securities with stops. Options also allow one to constrain risk to a timeframe of ones own choosing (the expiration date of the contract). If you own or are short the underlying security,...
Is keeping track of your money and having a budget the same thing?
What you are doing is neither one. You are simply watching to make sure you don't overdraw, which itself suggests you might be living hand to mouth and not saving. Keeping track of your money and budgeting are useful tools which help people get on top of their money. Which tends to have the effect of allowing you to...
Any difference between buying a few shares of expensive stock or a bunch of cheap stock
Unless your brokerage will sell you fractional shares, the most obvious difference (without us knowing the actual identify of the companies) is that with the $260 one, you will have 3 shares plus you will have $220 minus commission left over that you wanted to invest but weren't able to simply because of the mechanics ...
Should I charge my children interest when they borrow money?
In terms of preserving good relationships one approach is to charge a nominal rate of interest. maybe a few percent of the total and agree a time when it should be paid back. This may actually make them feel better about borrowing them money, especially, especially if it is something like business loan or buying a hous...
Do my 401k/Roth accounts benefit from compounding?
You buy a share of something for $100. It goes up by 10% over a year, and you now have $110 in value. It goes up by 10% next year and you now have $121. That original $10 increase was compounded even though you're not earning interest because the gains are measured as a percentage. If, instead, you'd only invested ...
How does stabilization work during an IPO?
IPO's are priced so that there's a pop" on the opening day." If I were IPOing my company and the price "popped" on the open, I would think the underwriter priced it too low. In fact if I were to IPO, I'd seek an underwriter whose offerings consistently traded on the first day pretty unchanged. That means they priced it...
Why not pay in full upfront for a car?
There many car loans at zero percent interest. Finance the car at zero percent, then take your money and invest it. If you want to be super safe buy a CD the same length as the car loan. 5 years you will get 2%. If you still want safety and a better return take up a asset allocation strategy that moves your cash to ...
Why would a company sell debt in order to buy back shares and/or pay dividends?
Businesses have bond ratings just like people have credit ratings. It has become common for businesses to issue low rate bonds to show that they are strong, and leave the door open for further borrowing if they see an opportunity, such as an acquisition. One of the reasons Microsoft might want to build a credit reputa...
How to invest 100k
The best way to invest in college for your kid is to buy an investment property and rent it out. You might think I am really crazy to ask you to you to buy a real estate property when everyone is running from real estate. Go where others are running away from it. Look where others are not looking. Find out the need fo...
Should I pay off my 401k loan or reinvest the funds elsewhere?
This summer I used a loan from my 401(k) to help pay for the down payment of a new house. We planned on selling a Condo a few months later, so we only needed the loan for a short period but wanted to keep monthly payments low since we would be paying two mortgages for a few months. I also felt like the market might tak...
Is there a general guideline for what percentage of a portfolio should be in gold?
My personal gold/metals target is 5.0% of my retirement portfolio. Right now I'm underweight because of the run up in gold/metals prices. (I haven't been selling, but as I add to retirement accounts, I haven't been buying gold so it is going below the 5% mark.) I arrived at this number after reading a lot of different ...
Are there any catches with interest from banks? Is this interest “too good to be true”?
The 1.09% is per year, not per month, so you will be getting about 1K per year just for sitting around on your backside. Some important things. It is almost certain that you can earn a better interest rate elsewhere, if you are prepared to leave your 100K untouched. For example, even in Natwest you can earn 3.2% over t...
First home buyer, financing questions
I think we would be good with paying around $1200 monthly mortgage fees (with all other property fees included like tax etc.) You probably can't get a $250k house for $1,200 a month including taxes and insurance. Even at a 4% rate and 20% down, your mortgage payment alone will be $954, and with taxes and insurance on ...
Should the poor consider investing as a means to becoming rich?
What could a small guy with $100 do to make himself not poor To answer the question directly, not much. Short of investing in something at the exact moment before it goes bananas, then reinvesting into a bigger stock and bigger etc, it's super high risk. A better way is to sacrifice some small things, less coffee, less...
Cashing in stocks for house downpayment
I'm not sure where people keep getting this idea, but I see it come up a lot. Anyway, you pay capital gains taxes when you sell an investment that has appreciated. It makes no difference when/if you reinvest the money or what you invest it in. If you are afraid of the tax burden you can minimize it by: 1) Selling a sto...
What are the tax implications on selling the Share ISA portfolio?
Assets held within an ISA or New ISA are completely free of CGT, so you won't have to pay either income tax or capital gains tax.
How to maximize small business 401k contribution?
I would hire an accountant to help set this up, given the sums of money involved. $53,000 would be the minimum amount of compensation needed to maximize the 401k. The total limit of contributions is the lesser of: 100% of the participant's compensation, or $53,000 ($59,000 including catch-up contributions) for 2015 an...
Pros and Cons of Interest Only Loans
The main disadvantage is that interest rates are higher for the interest-only loan. It's higher risk to the bank, since the principal outstanding is higher for longer. According to the New York Times, "Interest rates are usually an eighth- to a half-percentage point higher than on fully amortized jumbo loans." They're...
What's the benefit of opening a Certificate of Deposit (CD) Account?
The benefit, as other answers have mentioned, is higher interest rates than are available compared to other comparable options. My bank keeps spamming me with offers for a sub 1% APR savings account that only requires a $10,000 balance, for example. While CDs and similar safe investments don't seem like they offer mu...
Should I use regular or adjusted close for backtesting?
You would have to compare your backtesting to what you will be doing in real trading, and try to have the backtesting as close to your real trading as possible. Note: you may never get the backtesting to match your real trading exactly but you need to get as close as possible. The whole purpose of backtesting is to che...
why do I need an emergency fund if I already have investments?
Given that the 6 answers all advocate similar information, let me offer you the alternate scenario - You earn $60K and have an employer offering a 50% match on all deposits. All deposits. (Note, I recently read a Q&A here describing such an offer. If I see it again, I'll link). Let the thought of the above settle in. ...
Should my husband's business pay my business?
I agree with some of the points of the other answers but why not avoid all the guesswork? I highly recommend you not charge him now. Wait until the end of the year when you have much more information about both of your companies and then you can run the numbers both ways and decide if it would benefit you (collectively...
For a single company listed in multiple exchanges in different countries, are the shares being offered the same?
Yes and no. There are two primary ways to do this. The first is known as "cross listing". Basically, this means that shares are listed in the home country are the primary shares, but are also traded on secondary markets using mechanisms like ADRs or Globally Registered Shares. Examples of this method include Vodafone...
Why does short selling require borrowing?
Selling short is simply by definition the selling, then later re-buying of stock you don't initially own. Say you tally your entire portfolio balance: the quantity of each stock you own, and your cash assets. Let's call this your "initial position". We define "profit" as any increase in assets, relative to this initial...
Is it ever logical to not deposit to a matched 401(k) account?
Whether or not it is logical probably depends on individual circumstance. When you take on (or maintain) debt, you are choosing to do two things: The first is clear. This is what you describe very well in your answer. It is a straightforward analysis of interest rates. The fixed cost of the debt can then be directly c...
How do stocks like INL (traded in Frankfurt) work?
They don't have to track each other, it could just be listed on more than one exchange. The price on one exchange does not have to match or track the price on the other exchange. This is actually quite common, as many companies are listed on two or more exchanges around the world.
value of guaranteeing a business loan
You are confining the way you and the other co-founders are paid for guaranteeing the loan to capital shares. Trying to determine payments by equity distribution is hard. It is a practice that many small companies particularly the ones in their initial stage fall into. I always advise against trying to make payments wi...
Do large market players using HFT make it unsafe for individual investors to be in the stock market?
In some senses, any answer to this question is going to be opinion based - nobody outside of HFT firms really know what they do, as they tend to be highly secretive due to the competitive nature of the activity they're engaged in. What's more, people working at HFT firms are bound by confidentiality agreements, so even...