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How much in cash equivalents should I keep in the bank? [duplicate] | In personal finance circles this is called an Emergency Fund. There are many opinions about how big it needs to be but most seem to come in around 3-6 months worth of your average expenses. Any more than that and you're going to loose money to inflation, less and you will start having problems if you get laid off or ha... |
Investing tax (savings) | You'd want the money to be "liquid" and ready for you to use when tax time comes around. You also don't want to lose "principal", i.e. if you put it into stocks and have the value of what you put in be less than what you invested—which is possible—when you need the money, again, at tax time. That doesn't leave you with... |
Is it smart to only invest in mid- and small-cap stock equity funds in my 401(k)? | If the stock market dropped 30%-40% next month, providing you with a rare opportunity to buy stocks at a deep discount, wouldn't you want to have some of your assets in investments other than stocks? If you don't otherwise have piles of new cash to throw into the market when it significantly tanks, then having some of ... |
What credit card information are offline US merchants allowed to collect for purposes other than the transaction? | Zip code, as well as billing address, is used in conjunction with the Address Verification Service (AVS). AVS is a web (or phone) service that actually verifies the address with the billing address on file with the issuing bank. It does not use the credit card stripe. You can see more information from various source... |
Is it common in the US not to pay medical bills? | What you have here is an interesting argument. Right now, this is totally complicated by the state of "forced insurance" that is currently in such hot debate right now. As a general rule of thumb though, most Americans pay their medical bills in one way or another. Though It is also accurate to say that most Americans... |
If you want to trade an equity that reflects changes in VIX, what is a good proxy for it? | If you want to trade to gain from short-term volatility, you can use Derivative-based ETFs that try to track the inverse of a broad index like the S&P 500. Note that these ETFs only track the index over a 1 day period, so you shouldn't hold these. If you're looking for a longer-term investment strategy, look at low-bet... |
What's an economic explanation for why greeting cards are so expensive? | (At least in the UK) a company named Card Factory has been very successful in undercutting the competition using the classic pile 'em high and sell 'em cheap strategy with less glamorous high-street locations than 'traditional' stores. Interestingly it doesn't seem to have spawned either competition at their price poin... |
How to motivate young people to save money | I recommend pulling up a retirement calculator and having an honest conversation about how long term savings works, and the power of compound interest. Just by playing around with the sliders on an online calculator, you can demonstrate how the early years are the most important. Depending on how much they make now and... |
Does “cash in lieu of dividend” incur any tax consequences in an IRA? | In a (not Roth) IRA, withdrawals are generally already taxed as regular income. So there should be no tax disadvantage to earning payment in lieu of dividends. It's possible that there is an exception for IRAs but I was unable to find one and I cannot see the reason for one since the dividend tax rate is usually lower... |
What exactly is a “bad,” “standard,” or “good” annual raise? If I am told a hard percentage and don't get it, should I look elsewhere? | Any such number would depend on the country, the market, and the economic situation - especially inflation ratio. Generally, if you are not in a booming or a dying technology, getting a raise above the inflation ratio is 'good'; anything below is poor. |
For the first time in my life, I'm going to be making real money…what should I do with it? | Your attitude is great, but be careful to temper your (awesome) ambition with a dose of reality. Saving is investing is great, the earlier the better, and seeing retirement at a young age with smooth lots of life's troubles; saving is smart and we all know it. But as a college junior, be honest with yourself. Don't y... |
Bi-weekly payment option | One point that I don't see covered in the other answers yet: How does this affect the months that have 5 weeks. Do we actually lose two weeks a year? I get paid every two weeks, and pay day is always a Friday. Some months, I get paid 3 times - which is always great. If you live within your means, it's like an extra p... |
Should you keep your stocks if you are too late to sell? | Personally, I have been in that situation too often that now I am selling at the first tick down! (not exactly but you get the idea..) I have learned over the years to not fall in love with any stock, and this is a very hard thing to do. Limit your losses and take profit when you are satisfied with them. Nothing preven... |
How does the value of an asset (valued in two different currencies) change when the exchange rate changes? | Gold is traded on the London stock exchange (LSE) and the New York stock exchange (NYSE) under various separate asset tickers, mainly denominated in sterling and US dollars respectively. These stocks will reflect FX changes very quickly. If you sold LSE gold and foreign exchanged your sterling to dollars to buy NYSE ... |
Retirement Savings vs. Student Loan payments | Your plan sounds quite sound to me. I think that between the choices of [$800 for Loans, $300 for Retirement] and [$1100 for loans], both are good choices and you aren't going to go wrong either way. Some of the factors you might want to consider: I like your retirement savings choices - I myself use the admiral ver... |
Highest market cap for a company from historical data | Adjustments can be for splits as well as for dividends. From Investopedia.com: Historical prices stored on some public websites, such as Yahoo! Finance, also adjust the past prices of the stock downward by the dividend amount. Thus, that could also be a possible factor in looking at the old prices. |
Do retailers ever stock goods just to make other goods sell better? | There's a concept in retail called a "loss leader", and essentially it means that a store will sell an item intentionally at a loss as a way of bringing in business in the hope that while consumers are in the store taking advantage of the discounted item, they'll make other purchases to make up for the loss and generat... |
Can you explain “time value of money” and “compound interest” and provide examples of each? | Time Value of Money - The simple calculation for this is FV = PV * (1+r)^N which reads The Future Value is equal to the Present Value times 1 plus the interest rate multiplied by itself by the number of periods that will pass. A simple way to look at this is that if interest rates were 5%/yr a dollar would be worth (1.... |
At what interest rate should debt be used as a tool? | It's tough to borrow fixed and invest risk free. That said, there are still some interesting investment opportunities. A 4% loan will cost you 3% or less after tax, and the DVY (Dow high yielders) is at 3.36% but at a 15% favored rate, you net 2.76% if my math is right. So for .5%, you get the fruits of the potential r... |
How can I find a list of self-select stocks & shares ISA providers? | Try fool.co.uk for getting more information about ISAs: Everything You Need To Know About ISAs |
Can I claim a tax deduction for working from home as an employee? I work there 90% of the time | Talk to a tax professional. The IRS really doesn't like the deduction, and it's a concept (like independent contractors) that is often not done properly. You need to, at a minimum, have records, including timestamped photographs, proving that: Remember, documentation is key, and must be filed and accessible for a numbe... |
Price of a call option | When I log in to Schwab to look at these options it tells me there's only Adjusted Options available on these terms: Adjusted Options: Multiplier: 100; Deliverable: 15 PTIE; Cash: ---- It does confirm your July Call quote price of $0.05 because the contract, though priced for 100 shares, will only deliver 15 shares. ... |
How do you declare an interest free loan? | I am neither a lawyer nor a tax accountant, and if you're dealing with serious money I suggest you consult a professional. But my understanding is: If you make a loan at zero interest or at below-market rates, the IRS will consider the difference between the interest that you do charge and the market rate to be a gift.... |
How to motivate young people to save money | I posted a comment in another answer and it seems to be approved by others, so I have converted this into an answer. If you're talking about young adults who just graduated college and worked through it. I would recommend you tell them to keep the same budget as what they were living on before they got a full-time job.... |
Debt collector has wrong person and is contacting my employer | Request verification in writing of the debt. They are required to provide this by law. Keep this for your records. Send them a notice by certified mail stating that this is not your debt and not to contact you again. Indicate that you will take legal action if they continue to try and collect. Keep a log of if/when th... |
Income Tax and Investments | Unless you make those investments inside a tax-deferred account, you will have to pay income-taxes on that money this year. Because you made that money through your own business, you will also have payroll taxes due on that money this year. |
FICA was not withheld from my paycheck | According to this section in Publication 15: Collecting underwithheld taxes from employees. If you withheld no income, social security, or Medicare taxes or less than the correct amount from an employee's wages, you can make it up from later pay to that employee. But you’re the one who owes the underpayment. ... |
How does my broker (optionsXpress) calculate probabilities that the stock will hit a certain price? | Their algorithm may be different (and proprietary), but how I would to it is to assume that daily changes in the stock are distributed normally (meaning the probability distribution is a "bell curve" - the green area in your chart). I would then calculate the average and standard deviation (volatility) of historical r... |
Need something more basic than a financial advisor or planner | In addition to a fee-only advisor, brought up by dg99, you could consider asking your questions on message boards such as Bogleheads.org. I have found the advice amazing, obviously conflict-free, and free. |
Emptying a Roth IRA account | If you have multiple accounts, you have to empty them all before you can deduct any losses. Your loss is not a capital loss, its a deduction. It is calculated based on the total amount you have withdrawn from all your Roth IRA's, minus the total basis. It will be subject to the 2% AGI treshhold (i.e.: if your AGI is > ... |
Which is the most liquid market for trading? | I would rate index futures, in particular the US index futures (e.g. the S&P 500 future) as the most liquid markets after the forex markets. |
Offsetting the tax on vested RSUs with short term capital loss | No. The gain on RSU is not a capital gain, it is considered wages and treated as part of your salary, for tax purposes. You cannot offset it with capital losses in excess of $3000 a year. If you have RSUs left after they vest, and you then sell them at gain, the gain (between the vesting price and the sale price) is ca... |
How to convince someone they're too risk averse or conservative with investments? | Let the man be. If you've tried again and again to convince him, and haven't, maybe he doesn't want to be convinced. It's his money, and he has every right to manage it as he sees fit. You can advise him, but its his call whether he accepts your advice or not, and for what reasons. And suppose you push and push and it ... |
How will a 1099 work with an existing W-2? | You can do either a 1099 or a W-2. There is no limitations to the number of W-2s one can have in reporting taxes. Problems occur, with the IRS, when one "forgets" to report income. Even if one holds only one job at a time, people typically have more than one W-2 if they change jobs within the year. The W-2 is the si... |
How can I detect potential fraud in a company before investing in them? | Most of the information we get about how a company is running its business, in any market, comes from the company. If the information is related to financial statements, it is checked by an external audit, and then provided to the public through official channels. All of these controls are meant to make it very unlikel... |
Buy and sell stock at specific earnings | Enjoy the free trades as long as they last, and take advantage of it since this is no longer functionally a tax on your potential profits. On a side note, RobinHood and others in the past have roped customers in with low-to-zero fee trades before changing the business paradigm completely or ceasing operations. All bro... |
Pay online: credit card or debit card? | I use another solution: debit card with an account kept empty most of the time and another account in the same bank without any card. I keep the money on the second card-less account, and when I want to buy something, I instantly transfer the appropriate amount to the account with the card and pay. That way money is on... |
Help Understanding Market/Limit Orders and Bid/Ask Price | At any point of time, buyer wants to purchase a stock at lesser price and seller wants to sell the stock at a higher price. Let's consider this scenario Company XYZ is trading at 100$, as stated above buyer wants to purchase at lower price and seller at higher price, this information will be available in Market depth... |
Investment strategy for a 20 year old with about 30k in bank account | You don't state a long term goal for your finances in your message, but I'm going to assume you want to retire early, and retire well. :-) any other ideas I'm missing out on? A fairly common way to reach financial independence is to build one or more passive income streams. The money returned by stock investing (capit... |
Individual Client or Customer fining or charging a Company a penalty fee | What's the primary factor keeping a consumer from handing out fees as liberally as corporations or small businesses do? Power. Can an individual, or more appropriately, what keeps an individual from being able to charge, fine or penalize a Business? If it could be accomplished, but at a high cost, let's assume it's bas... |
How to value employee benefits? | Employee Stock Purchase Plans (ESPPs) were heavily neutered by U.S. tax laws a few years ago, and many companies have cut them way back. While discounts of 15% were common a decade ago, now a company can only offer negligible discounts of 5% or less (tax free), and you can just as easily get that from fluctuations in t... |
Are stores that offer military discounts compensated by the government? | Company X located outside a military base offer discounts to military as a form of marketing. They want to encourage a group of potential customers to use their store/service. In some cases they are competing with subsidized store on the base. In other cases their only competition is other stores outside the base. The ... |
Smartest Place to Put Tax Refund | Congratulations on your graduation and salary. You are in a great career field (I know from experience.) As a background, I would feel pretty confident in your salary as demand for SE is pretty high right now. During my career there were times that demand was pretty to very low. Somehow I survived 2001 & 2002, but ... |
More money towards down payment versus long-term investments | Every payment you make on your house will already be increasing your equity in it. For that reason alone, I'd recommend moving additional savings into other long-term funds. |
Personal credit card for business expenses | If you are just starting out, I would say there is no disadvantage to using a personal card for business expenses. In fact, the advantage of doing so is that the consumer protections are better on personal cards than on business cards. One possible advantage to business credit cards, is that many (but not all) will no... |
Are cashiers required to check a credit card for a signature in the U.S.? | Who cares? If your card gets stolen, most cards provide you with 100% liability protection. Just sign the thing! |
How do you report S-corporation Shareholder loans / capital contributions? | As the owner of the S-corp, it is far easier for you to move money in/out of the company as contributions and distributions rather than making loans to the company. Loans require interest payments, 1099-INT forms, and have tax consequences, whereas the distributions don't need to be reported because you pay taxes on ne... |
When you're really young and have about 2K to start investing $ for retirement, why do some people advise you to go risky? | Why it is good to be risky The reason why it is good to be risky is because risky investments can result in higher returns on your money. The problem with being risky, is there is a chance you can lose money. However, in the long term you can usually benefit from higher returns even if you have a few slip ups. Let me s... |
Where can I find accurate historical distribution data for mutual funds? | If you want to go far upstream, you can get mutual fund NAV and dividend data from the Nasdaq Mutual Fund Quotation Service (MFQS). This isn't for end-users but rather is offered as a part of the regulatory framework. Not surprisingly, there is a fee for data access. From Nasdaq's MFQS specifications page: To promote m... |
Why would people sell a stock below the current price? | The person may just want to get out of that position in order to buy a different stock, he or she feels may go up faster. There is really a lot of reasons. |
What is a 401(k) Loan Provision? | Basically, a 401(k) can have what is called a "loan", but is more properly a "structured withdrawal and repayment agreement". This allows you to access your nest egg to pay for unforeseen expenses, without having to actually cash it out and pay the 10% penalty plus taxes. You can get up to half of your current savings,... |
Can someone explain a stock's “bid” vs. “ask” price relative to “current” price? | Both prices are quotes on a single share of stock. The bid price is what buyers are willing to pay for it. The ask price is what sellers are willing to take for it. If you are selling a stock, you are going to get the bid price, if you are buying a stock you are going to get the ask price. The difference (or "spread") ... |
As a 22-year-old, how risky should I be with my 401(k) investments? | +1 on all the answers above. You're in a great position and have the right attitude. A good book on the subject is A Random Walk Down Wall Street - well worth a read. Essentially, go for low tax paying in, low tax taking out approach (in the uk that's a SIPP or ISA), a low cost well diversified unit fund (like a Vangua... |
Why diversify stocks/investments? | Any investor can make a bad bet, even Buffett. Even if you have done every bit of research on an investment possible you are exposed to random external events.. acts of god, and outright fraud. |
How much cash on hand should one have? | There are two or three issues here. One is, how quickly can you get cash out of your investments? If you had an unexpected expense, if you suddenly needed more cash than you have on hand, how long would it take to get money out of your Scott Trade account or wherever it is? I have a TD Ameritrade account which is prett... |
Can I invest in the USA or EU from an Asian 3rd-world country, over the Internet? | Absolutely. It does highly depend on your country, as US brokerages are stricter with or even closed to residents of countries that produce drugs, launder money, finance terror, have traditional difficulty with the US, etc. It also depends on your country's laws. Some countries have currency controls, restrictions on... |
Why would anyone buy a government bond? | Great question. There are several reasons; I'm going to list the few that I can think of off the top of my head right now. First, even if institutional bank holdings in such a term account are covered by deposit insurance (this, as well as the amount covered, varies geographically), the amount covered is generally triv... |
Is it possible to make money by getting a mortgage? | To keep the math simple, say you are in the 25% federal tax bracket. Your 4% mortgage effectively costs you 3%. Did Mr Advisor tell you what he suggests investing the money in? Borrowing at 3% net to put the money in .1% CDs makes little sense. And for most people, investing it in the stock market hoping to come out ah... |
Will my current employer find out if I have a sole proprietarship/corporation? | Tell your employer during your initial contract Terms of Service discussions. Ordinarily, this is boilerplate but you should ask for a rider in your contract which says - in some form - I already have IP, I will continue to work on this IP in my own time, and any benefit or opportunity derived from this IP will contin... |
How does Yahoo finance adjust stock data for splits and dividends? | For stock splits, let's say stock XYZ closed at 100 on February 5. Then on February 6, it undergoes a 2-for-1 split and closes the day at 51. In Yahoo's historical prices for XYZ, you will see that it closed at 51 on Feb 6, but all of the closing prices for the previous days will be divided by 2. So for Feb 5, it wi... |
My account's been labeled as “day trader” and I got a big margin call. What should I do? What trades can I place in the blocked period? | The SEC considers a day trade to be any trade that is opened and closed within the same trading day, and considers a day trader to be any trader that completes 4 or more day trades within 5 business days. If so they would label you day trader and in the US you are required to have at least $25K in your account. Maybe t... |
Is it bad practice to invest in stocks that fluctuate by single points throughout the day? | Its hard to write much in those comment boxes, so I'll just make an answer, although its really not a formal answer. Regarding commissions, it costs me $5 per trade, so that's actually $10 per trade ($5 to buy, $5 to sell). An ETF like TNA ($58 per share currently) fluctuates $1 or $2 per day. IXC is $40 per share an... |
Can I pay off my credit card balance to free up available credit? | Banks only send your balance to credit bureaus once a month; usually a few days after your statement date. Thus, as long as your usage is below 10% in that date range, you're ok. Regarding paying it off early: sure. Every Sunday night, I pay our cards' charges from the previous week. (The internet makes this too eas... |
Differences in conditions on shares to private vs. public shareholders? | Shares sold to private investors are sold using private contracts and do not adhere to the same level of strict regulations as publicly traded shares. You may have different classes of shares in the company with different strings attached to them, depending on the deals made with the investors at the time. Since public... |
Alternative to Jumbo Mortgage | You should also be aware that there are banks that do business in the US that do not deal with Fannie Mae, and thus are not subject to the rules about conforming loans. Here is an example of a well-known bank that lists two sets of rates, with the second being for loans of $750,000 or more (meaning the first covers ev... |
How can I cash in a small number of delisted US shares? TLAB | If you held the shares directly, the transfer agent, Computershare, should have had you registered and your address from some point on file. I have some experience with Computershare, it turned out when Qwest restarted dividends and the checks mailed to the childhood home my parents no longer owned, they were able to ... |
Is a 10 year old uncashed paycheck still good? | You probably can't deposit the check directly, but there are mechanisms in place to get your money through other means. In the US, all states and territories have an unclaimed property registry. Before you contact the company that wrote the check, you should check that registry in your state. You will have to provide p... |
Why don't boards of directors try to produce results in line with estimates? | First off, some companies do something like this. Microsoft for example was well-known for consistently hitting earnings estimates every quarter - nearly never missed them, and most of the time didn't exceed by much either. In order to do this and not be prosecuted for accounting fraud, you typically have to be a ser... |
Should I invest in my house, when it's in my wife's name? | If you are concerned about it being inequitable due to the prenuptial agreement, discuss the idea of amending the prenuptial agreement to give you some consideration for your investments in the house. Prenuptial agreements often get amended over the course of a marriage. How do you proceed? It has to start with discus... |
How does the price of oil influence the value of currency? | From an investor's standpoint, if the value of crude oil increases, economies that are oil dependent become more favourable (oil companies will be more profitable). Therefore, investors will find that country's currency more attractive in the foreign exchange market. |
Why do interest rates increase or decrease? | Fundamentally interest rates reflect the time preference people place on money and the things money can buy. If I have a high time preference then I prefer money in my hand versus money promised to me at some date in the future. Thus, I will only loan my money to someone if they offer me an incentive which would be a... |
Does doing your “research”/“homework” on stocks make any sense? | TL;DR: Sure, "do your own homework" is sometimes a cop out. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't do our homework. I agree that in many cases this is a cop-out by commentators. However, even if you believe in perfect market efficiency, there is benefit in "doing your homework" for many reasons. One of which you already me... |
What are the usual terms of a “rent with an option to buy” situation? | The typical deal would be a premium to the normal rent, say $1200 instead of $1000, in return he has the option to buy the house at a fixed price by the end of the agreement term. |
How can one get their FICO/credit scores for free? (really free) | I get my credit scores from all three bureaus for free - no gimmick. I use a combination of banks that offer this service to get my scores. I wrote about this sometime back in my blog. For credit report, the only place to go is AnnualCreditReport.com. I space it out so that I get one every 4 months since there is a ... |
“Correct” answer on Visa credit quiz doesn't make sense | I agree with you. The quiz was looking at it differently, as if you had a huge card balance and were making minimum payments. The fact that I run all my spending through my cards somehow looks like my card payments are 60-70% of my budget. But when you break it out, zero of that is interest, and it's just a budgeting ... |
Investments beyond RRSP and TFSA, in non-registered accounts? | You haven't looked very far if you didn't find index tracking exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on the Toronto Stock Exchange. There are at least a half dozen major exchange-traded fund families that I'm aware of, including Canadian-listed offerings from some of the larger ETF providers from the U.S. The Toronto Stock Excha... |
Why does a stock's price fluctuate so often, even when fresh news isn't available? | In addition to what @George Marian said, a very large portion of trades are from computer programs trained to make trades when certain apparent patterns are observed. Since these programs are not all designed in the same way, much of the supply and demand is a result of different algorithms with different "opinions" o... |
Should I stockpile nickels? | The question I think is not: "What is a certain material worth in a coin" but "What is a certain material worth in a coin and how much does it cost to get it out of there". Just because something contains a certain element doesn't mean that you can get to it cheaply. Also as George Marian said: I don't think that it is... |
Why are Rausch Coleman houses so cheap? Is it because they don't have gas? | Not only are they high volume but also most finish materials are very basic. For example lighting fixtures, most builders put ceiling fans in all bedrooms ($75) where Rausch coleman uses a flush mount ($15) in the spare bedrooms. Same with flooring they use a vinyl plank where most builders use wood. This can be $1sqf... |
Can two or more people own 1 stock in the US? | A share of stock is an asset not much different than any other asset. If the share is being held in a joint account, it's being jointly owned. If the share is being held by a company with multiple owners then the share is owned by the various owners. If you're married and in a community property state, then it's tec... |
How to process IRS check as a non-resident? | I suspect @SpehroPefhany is correct and that your bank will cash a check from the US Department of the Treasury. Especially since they're the same ones who guarantee the U.S. Dollar. They may hold the funds until the check clears, but I think you'll have good luck going through your bank. Of course, fees and exchang... |
Company asking for card details to refund over email | Definitely push for a check, they may not do anything nefarious with your credit card number however someone else may be able to read the email before it gets to its final destination. It's never safe to give out credit card number in a less than secure interface. Also, if this is a well known company, then the person ... |
Dividend vs Growth Stocks for young investors | A lot of people use dividend stocks as a regular income, which is why dividend stocks are often associated with retirement. If your goal is growth and you're reinvesting capital gains and dividends then investing growth stocks or dividend stocks should have the same effect. The only difference would be if you are manua... |
Does it make sense to take out student loans to start an IRA? | Depending on the student loan, this may be improper usage of the funds. I know the federal loans I received years ago were to be used for education related expenses only. I would imagine most, if not all, student loans would have the same restrictions. Bonus Answer: You must have earned income to contribute to an IRA... |
Can someone recommend a book that discusses the differences between types of financial statements? | I would recommend "How to Read a Financial Report : For Managers, Entrepreneurs, Lenders, Lawyers, and Investors" by John A. Tracy for the following reasons: I also think the book would bridge the gap nicely between a broad understanding of finance and a more serious technical know-how. |
How does a online only bank protect itself against fraud? | I don't see why an online-only bank would need to do anything more against fraud than a bank that also has brick-and-mortars. In the contrary, they would need less (physical) security, as they don't have to protect cash, lock boxes, and other physical assets. All banks nowadays have an online business, so they all have... |
I'm only spending roughly half of what I earn; should I spend more? | Looks like you don't want to participate in the consumerist rush but feel that you just have to do that too. First of all, you don't have to do what you don't want. Then there're researches showing that joy from a compulsive purchase only lasts for a short period of time and then you are left with a relatively useless ... |
Why would analysts recommend buying companies with negative net income? | The biotechnology sector as a whole is a popular buy recommendation among some analysts these days for a few reasons. Some analysts feel that the high costs in R&D, even without much profit, are a positive sign for growth because it means a company is working towards finding the next "blockbuster drug" or the next cla... |
Why don't banks print their own paper money / bank notes? | In Scotland, each bank issues its own separate notes. It's not uncommon to see identical-valued £10 notes, for example, from three different banks in one's wallet. |
England: Alternative to Student Finance | Since you're also looking for alternative means of funding, have you considered doing part-time work -- during the holidays or on some of the weekends? With this kind of financing you have to watch out that the work does not interfere with your study. On the other hand it can be valuable work experience that can come i... |
Strategy for investing large amount of cash | What you put that money into is quite relevant. It depends on how soon you will need some, or all, of that money. It has been very useful to me to divide my savings into three areas... 1) very short term 'oops' funds. This is for when you forget to put something in your budget or when a monthly bill is very high this... |
How to select a bank based on availability in two areas? | Asking a bank for which ATM/branch network it belongs to and where those networks are would be your best bet. |
Why is auto insurance ridiculously overpriced for those who drive few miles? | Many services charge prices that do not scale linearly with usage. This is because the service provider has fixed costs that they must recoup by charging a rate with a fixed component. A 5-mile taxi ride is unlikely to cost half what a 10-mile taxi ride costs. Even a half sandwich at a sandwich place usually costs m... |
Why is the breakdown of a loan repayment into principal and interest of any importance? | Yes, the distinction between how your funds are applied to principal vs interest is very important. The interest amount charged each period (probably monthly) is not just one fixed sum calculated at the origination, but rather is a dynamically calculated amount that changes each period relative to how much principal is... |
I've tracked my spending and have created a budget, now what do I do with it? | I'm reminded of a conversation I had regarding food. I used the word 'diet' and got pushback, as I meant it in sense of 'what one eats'. That's what a diet is, what you eat in an average week, month, year. That list has no hidden agenda unless you want it to. If your finances are in good shape, debt under control, savi... |
When a fund drops significantly, how can I research what went wrong? [duplicate] | Usually there are annual or semi-annual reports for a mutual fund that may give an idea for when a fund will have "distributions" which can cause the NAV to fall as this is when the fund passes the taxable liabilities to shareholders in the form of a dividend. Alternatively, the prospectus of the fund may also have the... |
Could capital gains from a stock sale impact my IRA eligibility? | Yes. Look at form 1040 AGI is line 37, and it comes well after you report your schedule D cap gains. I read this question as meaning you wish to contribute to a traditional IRA pretax. There is no income limit to contribute to an IRA and not take the deduction. |
What's the connection between P/E ratio and growth? | So, the price-earnings ratio is price over earnings, easy enough. But obviously earnings are not static. In the case of a growing company, the earnings will be higher in the future. There will be extra earnings, above and beyond what the stock has right now. You should consider the future earnings in your estimate of w... |
Why do so many NFL (pro football) players have charities? | BobbyScon's answer really covers this, but perhaps isn't sufficiently explicit. Reason 1 of the quotation is the largest, by far: Get an Immediate Tax Deduction, but Give Later: You get the tax deduction when the foundation is funded, then make your charitable gifts over time. Having a "personal" foundation means that... |
Tracking my spending, and incoming and outgoing (i.e cashflow) | Honing in on your last question: Is there a better way? I think there is, but it would require you to change the way you handle your spending, and that may not be of interest to you. Right now you have a lot of manual work, keeping track of expenditures and then entering the, every day. The great thing about switchin... |
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