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What significant negative factors affect Yahoo's valuation? | There are two very large negative factors that affect Yahoo's valuation. The first is that their search business is in decline and continues to lose ground to Google and even Bing. There's no sign that they have any plan or product in the works to offset this decline, so there's tremendous uncertainty about the comp... |
How to exclude stock from mutual fund | Owning a stock via a fund and selling it short simultaneously should have the same net financial effect as not owning the stock. This should work both for your personal finances as well as the impact of (not) owning the shares has on the stock's price. To use an extreme example, suppose there are 4 million outstanding... |
How to have a small capital investment in US if I am out of the country? | For $100 you better just hold it in Mexico. The cost of opening an account could eat 10% or more of your capital easily, and that won't be able to buy enough shares of an ETF or similar investment to make it worthwhile. |
Why would a company sell debt in order to buy back shares and/or pay dividends? | My answer is not specific, or even maybe applicable, to Microsoft. Companies don't want to cut dividends. So they have a fixed expense, but the cashflow that funds it might be quite lumpy, or cyclical, depending on the industry. Another, more general, issue is that taking on debt to retire shares is a capital allocatio... |
Indie Software Developers - How do I handle taxes? | This is not an end-all answer but it'll get you started I have been through accounting courses in college as well as worked as a contractor (files as sole proprietor) for a few years but IANAA (I am not an accountant). Following @MasonWheeler's answer, if you're making that much money you should hire a bean counter to ... |
How to incentivize a real-estate broker to find me a cheap house | Here in the U.S., a realtor can act as a "seller's agent" or a "buyer's agent". I think what you are calling a "broker" in the U.S. we call a "buyer's agent", and this may just be a difference in terminology, from your post it sounds like the concept is the same. I am answering from a U.S. perspective, please let me kn... |
Entering the stock market in a poor economy | Buy low and sell high. Right now stocks are cheap (or at least cheapish). If you wait for better forecasts, the price will be higher. They might go down still farther, but no one knows for sure when that will happen, or where the bottom is -- despite what the talking heads on TV say. Remember that what you really c... |
Calculating profits for a private fund | The total number of shares on April 1st is 100 + 180 + 275 = 555. The price on April 1st is required. The current price is stated as $2, but $2 * 555 = $1110 and the current fund values is stated as $1500. Opting to take the current value as $1500, the price on April 1st can be calculated as $1500/555 = $2.7027. The... |
taxes, ordinary income, and adjusted cost basis for RSUs | The sale of shares on vesting convolutes matters. In a way similar to how reinvested dividends are taxed but the newly purchased fund shares' basis has to be increased, you need to be sure to have the correct per share cost basis. It's easy to confuse the total RSU purchase with the correct numbers, only what remained.... |
Pensions, annuities, and “retirement” | There are broadly two kinds of pension: final salary / defined benefit, and money purchase. The text you quote above, where it talks about "pension" it is referring to a final salary / defined benefit scheme. In this type of scheme you earn a salary of £X during your working life, and you are then entitled to a propor... |
Why is the total 401(k) contribution limit (employee + employer) so high? | Because 401k's are also used by self employed. A person who has a schedule C profitable income can open a 401k and "match" in whatever ratio he wants, up to 25% of the net profits or the limits you stated. This allows self-employed to defer more income taxes to the future. Why only self-employed? Good question. Ask you... |
Which kind of investment seems feasible to have more cashflow every week or month? | Over the long run, you can expect to do about as well as the market itself. Depending on what time period you view, the stock market has typically provided returns of approximately 10%. Some years it is up, some years it is down. You may think you can get better returns, but you are mistaken. You may be able to do bett... |
Anyone please explain the meaning of turnover in this pic? | The Business Dictionary has three definitions of "turnover". When it comes to share dealing, the most likely one is the total value of shares traded on the stock exchange in a given period. |
Do altcoin trades count as like-kind exchanges? (Deferred capital gains tax) | Just a thought because this is a really good question: Would the buying and selling of blockchain based digital currency, using other blockchain based digital currencies, be subject to like kind treatment and exempt from capital gains until exchanged for a non-blockchain based good or service (or national currenc... |
Is it wise to have plenty of current accounts in different banks? | The original poster indicates that he lives in the UK, but there are likely strong similarities with the US banking system that I am more familiar with: The result is that you are likely going to be unable to be approved for 10 checking accounts opened in rapid succession, at least in the US. Finally, in the US, there ... |
On a debt collection agency's letter, what does “balance” refer to? | Without more info to go on (such as a screenshot of the relevant portion of the statement or what country you're in), I will run with the answer that "balance" is the amount the collection agency is attempting to collect from you, including any and all fees the agency may have added. One important idea to keep in mind ... |
To pay off a student loan, should I save up a lump sum payoff payment or pay extra each month? | As a new graduate, aside from the fact that you seem to have the extra $193/mo to pay more towards your loan, we don't know anything else. I wrote a lengthy article on this in response to a friend who had a loan, but was also pondering a home purchase in the future. Student Loans and Your First Mortgage discusses the ... |
Trading: who takes the money from CAC 40 Or DAX | I am guessing that when you say "FRENCH40" and "GERMAN30" you are referring to the main French and German stock market indices. The main French index is the CAC-40 with its 40 constituent companies. The main German index is the DAX, which has 30 constituents. The US30 is presumably the Dow Jones Index which also has ... |
Personal Tax Return software for Linux? | I used H&R Block this year 2013 to do my 2012 taxes and it was a snap! Ubuntu 12.10 with Firefox 20 and everything worked great! Although it is not listed as one of the "supported" platforms, Firefox breezed through the application without any problems. I used the deluxe version of H&R to calculate my mortgage and h... |
Why might a robo-advisor service like Betterment be preferable to just buying a single well-performing index fund like SPY? | What is the advantage of something like Betterment -- which diversifies my investments for me but also charges a fee -- if I can just buy SPY on Robinhood for no fees and do better? Because Betterment is more diversified than the S&P, glaringly when it comes to non-US investments. The US's economy is huge. It represe... |
Does the profit of a company directly affect its stock or indirectly by causing people to buy or sell? | Yes, the price of a stock is what investors think the value of a stock is, which is not tied to profits or dividends by any rigid formula. But to say that therefore the price could be high even though the company is doing very poorly is hypothetically true, but unlikely in practice. Consider any other product. There is... |
Am I “cheating the system” by opening up a tiny account with a credit union and then immediately applying for a huge loan? | Nope. Credit Unions are for the customers. Since the customers own them, the credit union does what is best for the members. They aren't giving you money, they are loaning it to you for for interest. Furthermore then judged you like any other bank would. High horse moment: I believe the only reason you have to open... |
15 year mortgage vs 30 year paid off in 15 | Besides the reason in @rhaskett's answer, it is important to consider that paying off a 30-year mortgage as if it was a 15-year is much more inconvenient than just paying the regular payments of a 15-year mortgage. When you pay extra on your mortgage, some lenders do not know what to do with the extra payment, and nee... |
Investments other than CDs? | First off, you have done very well to be in your financial position at your age. Congratulations. I first started investing seriously about 10 years ago, and when I started, I had a similar attitude to you. Learning how to invest is a journey, and it will take you a while to learn both the intellectual and emotional s... |
What should a 21 year old do with £60,000 ($91,356 USD) inheritance? | It's important to consider your Investor Profile when deciding the right kind of vehicle for your finances. You are a young guy, with a considerable earned income and no dependents (sorry, this was not clear from the question.) This means that you are able to take a lot of risks that people who also have a family to th... |
Why can't I withdraw the $57 in my account? | Is there a debit card accessing this account? When you spend money on a debit card for certain item, including, but not limited to gas, restaurant, hotel, a bit extra is held in reserve. For example, a $100 restaurant charge might hold $125, to allow for a tip. (You're a generous tipper, right?) The actual sales slips... |
Advice for college student: Should I hire a financial adviser or just invest in index funds? | Couple of clarifications to start off: Index funds and ETF's are essentially the same investments. ETF's allow you to trade during the day but also make you reinvest your dividends manually instead of doing it for you. Compare VTI and VTSAX, for example. Basically the same returns with very slight differences in how... |
What gives non-dividend stocks value to purchasers? [duplicate] | One way to value companies is to use a Dividend discount model. In substance, it consists in estimating future dividends and calculating their present value. So it is a methodology which considers that an equity is similar to a bond and estimates its current value based on future cash flows. A company may not be paying... |
Are my parents ripping me off with this deal that doesn't allow me to build my equity in my home? | You're paying 5.2% 'interest' on the $115K (500 * 12 / 115,000) * 100 but the amount you pay back is not $115K but 75% of the property value at sale. Is that right? A mortgage would have cost about half that rate and the balloon payment would have been fixed - you would pay back $115K at maturity plus you could have so... |
How to acquire assets without buying them? | Your question seems to be premised on your personal understanding of economics, and asking that people present to you an explanation of business transactions that is consistent with your own personal worldview. But your premises are flawed, so an accurate answer should not accept them. The basics of trade is that somet... |
Should I use put extra money toward paying off my student loans or investing in an index fund? | Yes, it's a risk. To put it in perspective, If we look at the data for S&P returns since 1871, we get a CAGR of 10.72%. But, that comes with a SDev (Standard deviation) of 18.67%. This results in 53 of the 146 years returning less than 4%. Now if we repeat the exercise over rolling 8 year periods, the CAGR drops to 9.... |
If the put is more expensive than the call, what does it mean | It is a fool's errand to attribute abnormal option volume or volatility to any meaningful move in the stock. One side of the chain is frequently more expensive than the other. The relationship between historical volatility and implied volatility is dubious at best, and also a big area of study. |
I'm in the U.S. What are vehicles to invest in international stocks? | Interactive Brokers offers many foreign markets (19 countries) for US based investors. You can trade all these local markets within one universal account which is very convenient in my view. IB offering |
Joint account that requires all signatures of all owners to withdraw money? | Savings accounts have lower fees. If you don't anticipate doing many transactions per month, e.g. three or fewer withdrawals, then I would suggest a savings account rather than a checking account. A joint account that requires both account holder signatures to make withdrawals will probably require both account holders... |
Does a bond etf drop by the amount of the dividend just like an equity etf | No, they do not. Stock funds and bonds funds collect income dividends in different ways. Stock funds collect dividends (as well as any capital gains that are realized) from the underlying stocks and incorporates these into the funds’ net asset value, or daily share price. That’s why a stock fund’s share price... |
Why does Yahoo Finance and Google Finance not match historical prices? | The difference is that Yahoo is showing the unadjusted price that the security traded for on that date, while google is adjusting for price splits. This means that Google is showing how much you would have had to pay to get what is now one share. Since 1979, JNJ has split 3-for-1 once, and 2-for-1 four times. 3x2x2x2x2... |
Tax implications of ESPP shares when company is bought out | When the deal closes, will it be as if I sold all of my ESPP shares with regards to taxes? Probably. If the deal is for cash and not stock exchange, then once the deal is approved and closed all the existing shareholders will sell their shares to the buyer for cash. Is there any way to mitigate this? Unlikely. You ne... |
How to choose a company for an IRA? | I use TIAA-Cref for my 403(b) and Fidelity for my solo 401(k) and IRAs. I have previously used Vanguard and have also used other discount brokers for my IRA. All of these companies will charge you nothing for an IRA, so there's really no point in comparing cost in that respect. They are all the "cheapest" in this res... |
Personal Tax Deduction for written work to a recognized 501c3 | If it's work you'd be producing specifically for this organization, that would not be deductable. Per Publication 526, Charitable Deductions, "You can't deduct the value of your time or services, including: … The value of income lost while you work as an unpaid volunteer for a qualified organization." On the other hand... |
How can I diversify investments across currencies in ISA? | You have to check if the investment vehicle you are planning to buy is acceptable for ISA on a case by case. Then if it is allowed by HMRC you have to check that your ISA provider offers those products (the mainstream providers might offer a more limited range of products and you might have to go to change your provide... |
Free service for automatic email stock alert when target price is met? | Yes, there are plenty of sites that will do this for you. Yahoo, and MarketWatch are a few that come to mind first. I'm sure you could find plenty of others. |
No transaction fee ETF trades - what's the catch? | what is the mechanism by which they make money on the funds that I have in my account? Risk drives TD Ameritrade to look for profits, Turukawa's storytelling about 100,000$ and 500$ is trivial. The risk consists of credit risk, asset-liability risk and profit risk. The third, based on Pareto Principle, explains the... |
Does an index have a currency? | In practice, most (maybe all) stock indices are constructed by taking a weighted average of stock prices denominated in a single currency, and so the index implicitly does have that currency - as you suggest, US dollars for the S&P 500. In principle you can buy one "unit" of the S&P 500 for $2,132.98 or whatever by buy... |
Leasing a car I intend to buy | You are still paying a heavy price for the 'instant gratification' of driving (renting) a brand-new car that you will not own at the end of the terms. It is not a good idea in your case, since this luxury expense sounds like a large amount of money for you. Edited to better answer question The most cost effective solu... |
Recommended finance & economy book/blog for a Software Engineer? | For economics I recommend mises or these videos to get you started. For daily critical analysis of financial markets, keynesian government policies, and other interesting reading I recommend zerohedge. I've learned more about financial markets and government regulations by reading the comments section on zerohedge art... |
Pay via Debit Card or Bank's portal | There are reward points that you have already mentioned. Some banks also give reward points for netbanking transfer, although very few and less than debit card. On a fraudulent site, debit card adds a layer, if compromised, easy to change. i.e just hot list the card, get a new card issued. Netbanking quite a few banks ... |
How is income tax calculated in relation to selling used items? | Yes. This income would be reported on schedule SE. Normally, you will not owe any tax if the amount is less than $400. Practically, $100 in a garage sale is not why the IRS created the form SE. I wouldn't lose sleep over keeping track of small cash sales over the course of a year. However, if you have the information ... |
When an investor makes money on a short, who loses the money? | Michael gave a good answer describing the transaction but I wanted to follow up on your questions about the lender. First, the lender does charge interest on the borrowed securities. The amount of interest can vary based on a number of factors, such as who is borrowing, how much are they borrowing, and what stock are t... |
Extended family investment or pay debt and save | I would suggest, both as an investor and as someone who has some experience with a family-run trust (not my own), that this is probably not something you should get involved with, unless the money is money you're not worried about - money that otherwise would turn into trips to the movies or something like that. If yo... |
How to protect myself against unauthorized recurring CC charges? | There is no way to stop any merchant from setting a recurring charge flag on a purchase. According to the following article, Mastercard and Visa encourages merchants to use this feature and even give them a better rate. I have found it impossible to stop these unauthorized transactions. The article sites that the merc... |
Does dollar cost averaging really work? | If you know with 100% certainty what the market will do, then invest it all at the best time. If not, spread it out over time to avoid investing it all at the worst possible time. |
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... |
Debit card funds on preauthorization hold to paypal: can it be used for another transaction? | Imagine the following scenario: You have a credit limit of $1000 and you want to by a tablet from a store. It costs $600. You then walk next door and buy a TV for $600. You would expect that you would go over your limit and the second transaction will be rejected. As long as that hold is in place, you don't have access... |
Investment property refinance following a low appraisal? | The new payment on $172,500 3.5% 15yr would be $1233/mo compared to $1614/mo now (26 bi-weekly payments, but 12 months.) Assuming the difference is nearly all interest, the savings is closer to $285/mo than 381. Note, actual savings are different, the actual savings is based on the difference in interest over the year... |
Can a trade happen “in between” the bid and ask price? | All the time. For high volume stocks, it may be tough to see exactly what's going on, e.g. the bid/ask may be moving faster than your connection to the broker can show you. What I've observed is with options. The volume on some options is measured in the 10's or 100's of contracts in a day. I'll see a case where it's ... |
I carelessly invested in a stock on a spike near the peak price. How can I salvage my investment? | I had a coworker whose stock picking skills were clearly in the 1% level. I had a few hundred shares of EMC, bought at $10. When my coworker bought at $80, I quietly sold as it spiked to $100. It then crashed, as did many high tech stocks, and my friend sold his shares close to the $4 bottom advising that the company w... |
Can anybody explain the terms “levered beta riders”, “equity long-short” and “the quant process driven discipline” for me, please? | Leverage here is referring to "financial leverage". This is the practice of "levering" [ie increasing, like the use of a lever to increase the amount of weight you can lift] the value of your investment by taking on debt. For example: if you have 100k in cash, you can buy a 100k rental property. Assume the property ma... |
Why buy insurance? | It's not a betting game, insurance policy is not akin to a casino bet. While the odds are probably low, the damage of an event may be devastating. Insurance allows mitigating that potential devastating damage, if it occurs. |
How does revenue shared with someone else go into my tax return in Canada? | Generally, report your $150,000. If/when the the tax collectors notice the anomaly, they'll attempt to contact you to remedy it. I can't speak for Canada, but in the US, it's pretty orderly. The IRS requests additional information or proof and only open it up into a full blown audit if the suspect wrongdoing. In your c... |
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" |
Theoretically, if I bought more than 50% of a company's stocks, will I own the company? | I believe Tom Au answered your key question. Let me just add in response to, "What if someone was just simply rich to buy > 50%, but does not know how to handle the company?" This happens all the time. Bob Senior is a brilliant business man, he starts a company, it is wildly successful, then he dies and Bob Junior inhe... |
What are the advantages of doing accounting on your personal finances? | I recently made the switch to keeping track of my finance (Because I found an app that does almost everything for me). Before, my situation was fairly simple: I was unable to come up with a clear picture of how much I was spending vs saving (altho I had a rough idea). Now I here is what it changes: What I can do now: I... |
Simple income and expense report in gnucash | The official guide can be found here, but that can be a little in depth as well. To make good use of you need at least a little knowledge of double-entry bookkeeping. Double-entry bookkeeping, in accounting, is a system of bookkeeping so named because every entry to an account requires a corresponding and opposite e... |
Ballpark salary equivalent today of “healthcare benefits” in the US? | For the person being hired this is a tricky situation. Specially with the new laws. There is no real magic number that can be applied as a lot will depend on what benefits you want, and what is actually available. This will really shift the spectrum quite a bit. Under the affordibal care act, everyone has to have insu... |
Moving from Google Finance to Yahoo Finance | Perhaps you should use your own tracking software, such as GnuCash, Quicken, Mint, or even Excel. The latter would work given you say you're manually putting in your transactions. There's lots of pre-done spreadsheets for tracking investments if you look around. I'm hoping that a web search gets you help on migra... |
US tax - effectively connected income | ECI is relevant to non-resident aliens who are engaged in trade or business in the US. For that, you have to be present in the US, to begin with, or to own a business or property in the US. So the people to whom it is relevant are non-resident aliens in the US or business/property owners, not foreign contractors. From... |
Why do 10 year Treasury bond yields affect mortgage interest rates? | Different bonds (and securitized mortgages are bonds) that have similar average lives tend to have similar yields (or at least trade at predictable yield spreads from one another). So, why does a 30 year mortgage not trade in lock-step with 30-year Treasuries? First a little introduction: Mortgages are pooled together ... |
What prevents investors from buying high yield stocks and selling them as soon as their dividend is paid out? | Although the market discussion by other answers is correct, the tax structure of many developed nations (I am familiar with Canada in particular) offers a preferred tax rate for dividend income compared to taxable gains. Consequently, if your portfolio is large enough to make transaction fees a very small percentage ... |
Transfering funds from India to the US | Can I transfer funds from India to USA which I have borrowed in India. Funds borrowed in India may not be transferred outside of India as per Foreign Exchange Management Act. Loans in rupees to non-residents against security of shares or immovable property in India:- Subject to the directions issued by the Reserv... |
Can a shareholder be liable in case of bankruptcy of one of the companies he invested in? | I am a tax lawyer and ALL the RESPONSES ABOVE are 1/2 Correct but also 1/2 Wrong and in tax law this means 100% WRONG (BECAUSE ANY PART INCORRECT UNDER TAX LAW will get YOU A HUGE PENALY and/or PRISON TIME by way of the IRS! So in ESSENCE ALL the above answers are WRONG! Let me enlighten you to the correct answer in 5... |
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... |
Which close price (adjusted close or close price) shall be used when calculating a stock's daily percent change? | The adjusted close price takes into account stock splits (and possibly dividends). You want to look at the adjusted close price. Calculating percentage changes gets computationally tricky because you need to account for splits and dividends. |
What are the usual terms of a “rent with an option to buy” situation? | Things I would specifically draw your attention to: the contract typically allows for an "option" to purchase; it does not typically compel purchase, although this is seen the purchase price is negotiated before anything gets signed the option to buy is typically available to the renter for the period of the lease cont... |
Would I ever need credit card if my debit card is issued by MasterCard/Visa? | I haven't had a credit card in fifteen years. I use nothing but my debit card. (I find the whole idea of credit on a micro scale loathsome.) I have yet to encounter a single problem doing so, other than a lower than usual credit score for not keeping 23(!!!) revolving lines of credit open, or that's the number CreditKa... |
Pay online: credit card or debit card? | In the UK it is almost always better to purchase with a credit card for transactions above £100 but below £30,000. This is due to Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 which makes your credit card company jointly liable if something goes wrong. In other words, if you buy something worth £1000 with your credit card... |
How to value employee benefits? | Health insurance varies wildly per state and per plan and per provider - but check them out to have a baseline to know what it should cost if you did it yourself. Don't forget vacation time, too: many contract/comp-only jobs have no vacation time - how much is that 10 or 15 days a year worth to you? It effectively mean... |
Are my parents ripping me off with this deal that doesn't allow me to build my equity in my home? | yes and no its definitely not charitable as they are making money of off you but depending on the outside conditions if you had to pay a mortgage on that condo with only 35k in payments to start off it would more than likely exceed 500 dollars a month however there would always be a point were the mortgage would end an... |
Which practice to keep finances after getting married: joint, or separate? | My wife and I have a different arrangement. I like to track everything down to the transaction level. She doesn't want everything tracked. We have everything joint and I track everything except she has one credit card where I do not see the statements only the total. She is more comfortable, because she can buy thi... |
How are exchange rates decided for each country? | Rates are arrived at by the cumulative buying and selling on the foreign exchange market, much the same way that stock prices are arrived at. If there are more people wanting to buy dollars with euros, EUR/USD goes down. If more people want to buy euros with dollars, then EUR/USD goes up. The initial rate was about $... |
Personal Loan: How to define loan purpose | Does that justify the purpose? That is for individual Banks to decide. No bank would pay for daily expenditure if you are saying primary salary you are spending on eduction. So your declaration is right. You are looking at funding your eduction via loan and you are earning enough for living and paying of the loan. I no... |
Would open source credit score formulas be feasible? | The major bureaus use the Fair Isaac scoring model, for the most part. Here's an excerpt from a web site (Versions of the FICO scoring model) to explain: One of the first things a newcomer to this board learns is the difference between FICO and FAKO scores. FAKO refers to the non-FICO scores offered by various compani... |
Why UK bank charges are not taken account when looking on interest for taxation? | When I left the UK four years ago, free banking is still an option and I'm pretty sure it still is. Therefore, you have chosen to have a bank account with a 5.00/month charge. In return for this charge, you will be eligible to receive certain benefits. For example; reduced borrowing costs, discounted mortgage rates... |
I am Brasilian resident, how to buy shares on NYSE? | I am not sure what a Brazilian equivalent is but you could just do an ADR. Keep in mind that when you are investing in a foreign company there are certain currency risks that you may need to consider. |
What are my chances at getting a mortgage with Terrible credit but High income | With bad credit but good income, I would simply save a large down payment. You're much more likely to get a mortgage with 25% down and a history of recently saving that 25% to show. |
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... |
Should I have a higher credit limit on my credit card? | As long as you're not trying to get a higher limit in order to actually spend more money, or might be tempted to do so, it's generally advantageous to have a higher limit if available. A large part of credit score is based on utilization rate (balance due at statement closing divided by credit limit). Basically, you wa... |
What constitutes illegal insider trading? | It becomes illegal when it is both material and nonpublic information. Material being defined as: Information that you would want and significantly alters the perception of the stock. To your point -- "materiality" is really up to the courts Nonpublic This is a little easier to define, but need to be careful if the inf... |
Tax on Stocks or ETF's | I think the answer you are looking for is: You are not taxed on the original basis (purchase cost) of your investment. If you pay $30 a share, and sell at $35, the $5 per share gain is taxable at time of sale. But the $30 basis cost doesn't enter into tax calculations at all. (So it's important to keep good records... |
What is a good way to keep track of your credit card transactions, to reduce likelihood of fraud? | Read your bill, question things that don't look familiar. People who steal credit card numbers don't bother to conceal themselves well. So if you live in Florida, and all of the sudden charges appear in Idaho, you should investigate. Keeping charge slips seems counter-productive to me. I already know that I bought gaso... |
Good book-keeping software? | I think Peachtree is a double entry system |
Should I get a personal loan to pay on my mortgage to go “above water” to qualify for a refinance? | If you have a mortgage backed by FHA, Fannie, or Freddie I would hold off. There is talk of a new plan that would allow refi's on mortages that were underwater. I would expect rates to stay about the same for the forseeable future. Take that money you would spend each month on the personal loan and stick it into you... |
Which credit card is friendliest to merchants? | From experience, Mastercard and Visa charge vendors about the same (around 2%-5%) while American Express and Diners Club are astonishingly expensive (6%-10%) and you'll find that few small retailers are very comfortable accepting these. The variation comes from the volume of trade that vendors provide. A big retailer ... |
Do high interest rates lead to higher bond yields or lower? | It is important to distinguish between cause and effect as well as the supply (saving) versus demand (borrowing) side of money to understand the relationship between interest rates, bond yields, and inflation. What is mean by "interest rates" is usually based on the officially published rates determined by the central ... |
Are my purchases of stock, mutual funds, ETF's, and commodities investing, or speculation? | I'd argue the two words ought to (in that I see this as a helpful distinction) describe different activities: "Investing": spending one's money in order to own something of value. This could be equipment (widgets, as you wrote), shares in a company, antiques, land, etc. It is fundamentally an act of buying. "Specu... |
Who can truly afford luxury cars? | It comes down to individual priorities. Some people prefer to spend their money on a luxury car or SUV, rather than on computer gear, a bigger house, having three extra kids, eating in restaurants, or whatever. Some people are quite happy to take out a loan to get more expensive products, and service that loan over se... |
Should I switch to this high rate checking account for my emergency fund? | I do this, and as you say the biggest downside is not having a separate account for your savings. If you're the type of person who struggles with restraint this is not for you. On the other hand this type of account gives more interest than any other type of US Checking or Savings account I've seen, so you will benefi... |
Why do employer contributions count against HSA limits? | It's going to be quite a challenge to give a definitive answer to any "Why" question about law, and especially so for a question about tax law. One would need to try to dig up statements made by the legislators (and/or their aides) crafting and debating the law. As it is, tax law is already inconsistent in many ways. (... |
When can you use existing real estate as collateral to buy more? | It would be good to know which country you are in? You are basically on the right track with your last point. Usually when you buy your first property you need to come up with a deposit and then borrow the remainder to have enough to purchase the property. In most cases (and most places) the standard percentage of loan... |
Why does capital gains tax apply to long term stock holdings? | Most well-off people have investments which they have held for long periods of time, often of very substantial value such as a large part of a company. They also have influence on legislators and officials through various social contacts, lobbyists, and contributions. They managed to convince these law makers to offe... |
How to increase my credit score | It's probably important to understand what a credit score is. A credit score is your history of accruing debt and paying it back. It is supplemented by your age, time at current residence, time at previous residences, time at your job, etc. A person with zero debt history can still have a decent score - provided the... |
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