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Is there any data that shows how diversifying results in better returns than just sticking to an all-stock portfolio?
This paper by a Columbia business school professor says: The standard 60%/40% strategy outperforms a 100% bond or 100% stock strategy over the 1926-1940 period (Figure 5) and over the 1990-2011 period (Figure 6). This is based on actual market data from those periods. You can see the figures in the PDF. These are per...
Working as a freelancer overseas, but US Citizen, what is my tax situation?
This person must pay taxes in both the overseas country and in the U.S. This is unusual; generally, only the U.S. demands this. Depending on the specific country, he would likely not be taxed twice as the U.S. generally recognises tax paid in a different country. Note there are some gotchas, though. For example, althou...
What kinds of information do financial workers typically check on a daily basis?
In addition to the information in the other answer, I would suggest looking at an economic calendar. These provide the dates and values of many economic announcements, e.g. existing home sales, durable orders, consumer confidence, etc. Yahoo, Bloomberg, and the Wall Street Journal all provide such calendars. Yahoo prov...
What should I do about proxy statements?
You own a fractional share of the company, maybe you should care enough to at least read the proxy statements which explain the pro and con position for each of the issues you are voting on. That doesn't seem like too much to ask. On the other hand, if you are saying that the people who get paid to be knowledgeable abo...
I'm 13. Can I buy supplies at a pet store without a parent/adult present?
As long as your money is green and you aren't buying something prohibited to youngsters (booze, cigarettes, etc.) I doubt any store is going to refuse your business.
Why can't the government simply payoff everyone's mortgage to resolve the housing crisis?
Government purchases of mortgages simply transfers the debt burden from households to the sovereign. Taxes pay sovereign debt (65% of whom are homeowners anyway). No debt has been restructured -- it's now paid via taxes instead of monthly mortgage payments -- and those paying include persons who responsibly avoided hou...
What exactly is BATS Chi-X Europe?
I work at BATS Chi-X Europe and wanted to provide some clarity/answers to these questions. BATS Chi-X Europe is a Recognised Investment Exchange, so it is indeed a stock exchange. Sometimes the term “equity market” could be used when explaining our business, but essentially we are a stock exchange. As some background...
W-8BEN? What's the tax from selling my software to a U.S. company, from abroad?
I realize this is a stale topic, but to anybody who may swing by looking for an answer to this question (on the recently revised W-8BEN), a foreign taxpayer can get an individual taxpayer identification number (ITIN) without being resident in the US. However, an ITIN will often not be necessary for W-8BEN purposes if ...
What should I do with my money?
Some of the other answers recommended peer-to-peer lending and property markets. I would not invest in either of these. Firstly, peer-to-peer lending is not a traditional investment and we may not have enough historical data for the risk-to-return ratio. Secondly, property investments have a great risk unless you diver...
How much power does a CEO have over a public company?
Also keep note - some companies have a combined CEO/Chairman of the board role. While he/she would not be allowed to negotiate contracts or stock plans, some corporate governance analysts advocate for the separation of the roles to remove any opportunity for the CEO to unduly influence the board. This could be the cas...
How to check the paypal's current exchange rate?
The Paypal 'classic' site option has now been removed and you will not know what you will be charged UNTIL YOU COMMIT TO BUY. Paypal told me today ( brexit day 24th ) that their site is NOT connected to the Ebay site so when Ebay tells me '$77.00 approximately £52.43' for an item I would in fact pay £59.62. You wil...
Ways to save for child's college education where one need not commit to set contributions? [duplicate]
529 is good. Though, I would avoid other kinds of investments in kids names and or setting up accounts that are too complex or difficult to use as college costs will come in may aspects starting application fees and travel expenses when looking for college as well as housing and allowance spending.
Currently sole owner of a property. My girlfriend is looking to move in with me and is offering to pay 'rent'. Am I at risk here?
Edit #2 My whole answer was based on my misunderstanding that you were renting out a totally separate property to your girl friend. I finally understand now that you're renting out a room in YOUR apartment flat to your gf. So, based on my new understanding, I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea. The answer below...
How can I increase my hourly pay as a software developer?
Start by going to Salary.com and figuring out what the range is for your location (could be quite wide). Then also look at job postings in your area and see if any of them mention remuneration (gov't jobs tend to do this). If possible go and ask other people in your field what they think the expected range of salary ...
How do day-traders or frequent traders handle their taxes?
There are two ways to handle this. The first is that the better brokers, such as Charles Schwab, will produce summaries of your gains and losses (using historical cost information), as well as your trades, on a monthly and annual basis. These summaries are "ready made" for the IRS. More brokers will provide these summa...
Why do banks insist on allowing transactions without sufficient funds?
Believe it or not, this is done as a service to you. The reason for this has to do with a fundamental difference between a credit card account and a checking account. With a credit card account, there is no money in the account; every charge is borrowed money. When you get to your credit limit, your credit transaction...
Should I pay off my credit card online immediately or wait for the bill?
It is COMPLETELY no use to pay earlier (during a billing cycle) to better your credit score! Your credit score gets affected ONLY once a month from each creditor, and that happens when they post your monthly statement. Thus, no matter what you do or pay and how many times a month or how many days earlier than your due ...
Why buy insurance?
I keep it simple. Here's what I learned when I took Personal Financial Planning: Insurance is for low likelihood, high-impact events.
Is short selling a good hedging strategy during overzealous market conditions?
I saw that an answer hasn't been accepted for this yet: Being bearish is a good hedging strategy. But being hedged is a better hedging strategy. The point being that not everything in investments is so binary (up, and down). A lot of effective hedges can have many more variables than simply "stock go up, stock go down"...
Lump sum annuity distribution — do I owe estate tax?
The page you linked shows "Federal changes eliminated Florida's estate tax after December 31, 2004" but no, estates are settled by the decedent's executor in the decedent's state. You receive an inheritance net of estate tax if any was due.
Buying a house, Bank or rent to own?
We have realized from our experience that rent to own is a scam. They want your money either way. We are at the buying part, and finding it difficult to find a lender to give us full money the seller is asking us for the the house. The house we have isn't valued at the same it was two years ago and now we are going ...
What happens to my savings if my country defaults or restructures its debt?
The danger to your savings depends on how much sovereign debt your bank is holding. If the government defaults then the bank - if it is holding a lot of sovereign debt - could be short funds and not able to meet its obligations. I believe default is the best option for the Euro long term but it will be painful in the ...
What gives non-dividend stocks value to purchasers? [duplicate]
Dividends are not fixed. A profitable company which is rapidly expanding, and thus cash-strapped may very well skip dividends, yet that same fast growth makes it valuable. When markets saturate, and expansion stops, the same company may now have a large free cash flow so it can pay dividends.
Should I pay cash or prefer a 0% interest loan for home furnishings?
A friend recently bought an 800€ TV on 0% financing. Sounded like a sensible thing to do. Why pay 800 when you can pay 80pm for 10 months? It took 30mins to set up the 'loan'. She had to sign all kinds of documents, giving away much personal information (age, employment info, income, email address etc). She now has a f...
Learning stock trading financing etc for someone from mathematical background [duplicate]
Security Analysis(very difficult for beginners )& Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham. All about(book series by McGraw) on Stocks,Derivatives,Options,Futures,Market Timings. Reminiscence of a Stock Operator (Life of jesse Livermore). Memoirs , Popular Delusions and Madness of the Crowds by Charles Mackay. Basics of...
Can somebody explain “leveraged debt investment positions” and “exposures” in this context for me, please?
Exposure is the amount of money that you are at risk of losing on a given position (i.e. on a UST 10 year bond), portfolio of positions, strategy (selling covered calls for example), or counterparty, usually represented as a percentage of your total assets. Interbank exposure is the exposure of banks to other banks eit...
Online Personal finance with QIF import
Unfortunately I don't think any of the online personal finance applications will do what you're asking. Most (if not all) online person finance software uses a combination of partnerships with the banks themselves and "screen scraping" to import your data. This simplifies things for the user but is typically limited to...
I've tracked my spending and have created a budget, now what do I do with it?
I think the answers you're going to receive are all going to be a bit subjective. Looking at it from a high-level point of view, having this budget nailed down lets you analyze: Now you've got your budget, stick to it! This is really the most important part. You've done your homework, now make sure you don't exceed it ...
gift is taxable but is “loan” or “debt” taxable?
(a) you give away your money - gift tax The person who receives the gift doesn't owe any tax. If you give it out in small amounts, there will be no gift tax. It could have tax and Estate issues for you depending on the size of the gift, the timing, and how much you give away in total. Of course if you give it away to...
Costs around a modern crowd-sourced hedge fund
Your inference in #1 is incorrect. The million dollars he has contributed is going to be part of the assets of the fund. This is common practice and is a way for the founder to express confidence that the fund will make money. He wants you to come up with a model that he can then use to trade those assets. Presumab...
Wife sent to collections for ticket she paid ten years ago
I had this happen to me with parking ticket when I was still in school. The tickets were issued by the school police and later dismissed (because I had purchased a year-long parking pass). 3 years later I got a letter alleging that I had unpaid parking ticket. So they lost the record of dismissal. But they did not ...
Buying my first car: why financing is cheaper than paying cash here and now?
The advice given at this site is to get approved for a loan from your bank or credit union before visiting the dealer. That way you have one data point in hand. You know that your bank will loan w dollars at x rate for y months with a monthly payment of Z. You know what level you have to negotiate to in order to get a...
How can I help others plan their finances, without being a “conventional” financial planner?
If you personally make any money from it then you need a Series 65, or a Series 63 license. It is a private industry/SEC regulation. The license itself basically spells out your duties and ethical standards for you.
Are there any consequences for investing in Vanguard's Admiral Shares funds instead of ETF's in a Roth IRA?
The mutual fund will price at day's end, while the ETF trades during the day, like a stock. If you decide at 10am, that some event will occur during the day that will send the market up, the ETF is preferable. Aside from that, the expenses are identical, a low .14%. No real difference especially in a Roth.
What would be a wise way to invest savings for a newly married couple?
Forgive me as I do not know much about your fine country, but I do know one thing. You can make 5% risk free guaranteed. How, from your link: If you make a voluntary repayment of $500 or more, you will receive a bonus of 5 per cent. This means your account will be credited with an additional 5 per cent of the value o...
What are the gains from more liquidity in ETF for small investors?
ETFs are both liquid (benefits active traders) and a simple way for people to invest in funds even if they don't have the minimum balance needed to invest in a mutual fund (EDIT: in which purchases are resolved at the end of the trading day). One big difference between ETFs and mutual funds is that you must buy ETFs in...
investing - where to trade online? (Greek citizen)
You will likely need to open an account in another EU country, like a broker operating out of France, Britain or Germany, to get the best options. If you are comfortable using an english language site and interface, I highly recommend Interactive Brokers as they let you trade in many markets simultaneously, have simpl...
buying a stock while the price is going down, and buy it at a lower price
In the US, it is perfectly legal to execute what you've described. However, since you seem to be bullish on the stock, why sell? How do you KNOW the price will continue downwards? Aside from the philosophical reasoning, there can be significant downside to selling shares when you're expecting to repurchase them in the ...
What are the risks of Dividend-yielding stocks?
Having a good dividend yield doesn't guarantee that a stock is safe. In the future, the company may run into financial trouble, stop paying dividends, or even go bankrupt. For this reason, you should never buy a stock just because it has a high dividend yield. You also need some criteria to determine whether that stock...
What legal action can Paypal take against me if I don't pay them and I have a negative balance?
Paypal can take exactly the same legal actions against you as any creditor could -- take you to court for wilful nonpayment of debt, sell your debt to a collections agency, or anything else a business would do with a deadbeat customer. But this is a legal question, and as such off topic here.
Is there any way to buy a new car directly from Toyota without going through a dealership?
As others have addressed the legality in their answers, I want to address the idea of the dealership being 'a middleman'. A dealership serves more of a purpose than just 'middlemanning' a car to a consumer. Actually, they consume a great deal of risk. Let's remember that a dealership is really an extension of the OEM, ...
Shares; are they really only for the rich/investors?
Put £50 away as often as possible, and once it's built up to £500, invest in a stockmarket ETF. Repeat until you retire.
Should I invest or repay my debts?
Like azam pointed out, fundamentally you need to decide if the money invested elsewhere will grow faster than the Interest you are paying on the loan. In India, the safe returns from Fixed Deposits is around 8-9% currently. Factoring taxes, the real rate of return would be around 6-7%. This is less than what you are pa...
How to use a stop and limit order together?
You need to use one of each, so a single order wouldn't cover this: The stop-loss order could be placed to handle triggering a sell market order if the stock trades at $95 or lower. If you want, you could use a stop-limit order if you have an exit price in mind should the stock price drop to $95 though that requires ...
Indicators a stock is part of a pump and dump scheme?
Pump-and-dump scams are indeed very real, but the scale of a single scam isn't anywhere near the type of heist you see in movies like Trading Places. Usually, the scammer will buy a few hundred dollars of a penny stock for some obscure small business, then they'll spam every address they have with advice that this busi...
Investment for beginners in the United Kingdom
If you havent yet maxed out your ISA, then its a no-brainer. You get excellent tax rebates and its silly not to take advantage of these before considering self investing in shares. Note that even if your ISA is maxed out, the economic turbulence means that investing in individual stocks is an intimidating place for b...
Are COBRA premiums deductible when self-employed?
http://www.ehow.com/about_4625753_cobra-as-selfemployed-health-insurance.html This link makes it clear... it has to be itemized, and is subject to the > than 7.5% AGI rule.
Is an interest-only mortgage a bad idea?
It seems you understand the risks, it seems like a fine enough idea. Hopefully it works out for you. However, you may want to talk to a few local banks about getting a short term home equity loan. I know someone who was able to do this getting a very low rate for 7 years. At the time of the loan, the prevailing rate...
Where can I buy European-style options?
On the US markets, most index options are European style. Most stock and ETF options are, as you noted, American style.
If the former owner of my home is still using the address, can it harm me?
Give it to your mailman to return to sender. For this kind of material, return service is always requested, and it will let the bank know that they have incorrect address information. If the owner needs the cards, he'll contact the bank, or the bank will contact him to verify the address. Either way, as long as its not...
Yahoo Finance not showing detailed information for foreign stocks
The cause of incomplete/inaccurate financial data's appearing on free sites is that it is both complicated and expensive to obtain and parse these data. Even within a single country, different pieces of financial data are handled by different authorities. In the US, for example, there is one generally recognized autho...
What's the difference between Term and Whole Life insurance?
Whole life is life insurance that lasts your whole life. Seriously. Since the insurance company must make a profit, and since they know they will always pay out on a whole life policy, whole life tends to be very expensive, and has lower "death" benefits than a term policy. Some of these policies are "paid-up" policie...
Is it worth investing in Index Fund, Bond Index Fund and Gold at the same time?
I'd say neither. Index Funds mimic whatever index. Some stocks that are in the index are good investment opportunities, others not so much. I'm guessing the Bond Index Funds do the same. As for Gold... did you notice how much gold has risen lately? Do you think it will keep on rising like that? For which period? (Hint:...
How to calculate my real earnings from hourly temp-to-hire moving to salaried employee?
I would not assume they would pay for any benefits. You will be responsible for paying entirely for health insurance and social security and Medicare. This move is most likely not in your best interests. At a minimum, I would charge double your current hourly rate and would charge for all hours worked including time an...
What factors make someone buy or sell a stock?
First, note that a share represents a % of ownership of a company. In addition to the right to vote in the management of the company [by voting on the board of directors, who hires the CEO, who hires the VPs, etc...], this gives you the right to all future value of the company after paying off expenses and debts. You w...
Is 401k as good as it sounds given the way it is taxed?
There are 3 options (option 2 may not be available to you) When you invest 18,000 in a Traditional 401k, you don't pay taxes on the 18k the year you invest, but you pay taxes as you withdraw. There's a Required Minimum Distribution required after age 70. If your income is low enough, you won't pay taxes on your withd...
Meaning of reinvestment
1) When it says "an investment or mutual fund", is a mutual fund not an investment? If no, what is the definition of an investment? A mutual fund is indeed an investment. The article probably mentions mutual funds separately from other investments because it is not uncommon for mutual funds to give you the option to...
Where do large corporations store their massive amounts of cash?
For tax optimization, cash is stored mostly overseas, according to the New York Times. For Apple, everytime a song or an app is bought in Europe, Africa or Middle East, money flows to iTunes Sàrl, in Luxemburg. Royalties on patents flow internally from Apple in California to Apple in Ireland. Then profits flow to the C...
If I want to take cash from Portugal to the USA, should I exchange my money before leaving or after arriving?
You can find lots of answers to this question by googling. I found at least five pages about this in 30 seconds. Most of these pages seem to say that if you must convert cash, converting it in the destination country is probably better, because you are essentially buying a product (in this case, dollars), and it will ...
What does it mean to invest in potatoes?
comments discuss investing in potato futures. Learn / ready about commodity trading or commodity futures. An investopedia article How To Invest In Commodities is a good start. There are quite a few commodities offered for normal trade or as futures. Potatos may not be offered on quite a few exchanges. Found some here ...
Should retirement fund be equal to amount of money needed for financial independence?
It depends what you mean. Finance Independence and Retirement Early (FI/RE) are two overlapping ideas. If you plan to retire early and spend the same amount of money every year (adjusted for inflation), then you need to save twenty-times your yearly spending to satisfy the 4% Safe Withdrawal rule of thumb. Carefully no...
What is the compound annual growth rate of the major markets?
Under construction, but here's what I have so far: Schwab Data from 1970-2012: About.com data from 1980-2012:
Why can it be a bad idea to buy stocks after hours?
Unless you want to be a short term day trader, then it is not foolish to be an end of day trader. If you are looking to be a medium to long term trader/investor then it is quite acceptable to put orders in after market close. Some would say it is even less risky, because you are not watching the price fluctuate up and ...
ESPP: Share vs Payroll withholding
Note that you're asking about withholding, not about taxing. Withholding doesn't mean this is exactly the tax you'll pay: it means they're withholding a certain amount to make sure you pay taxes on it, but the tax bill at the end of the year is the same regardless of how you choose to do the withholding. Your tax bil...
Child is on the way, invest for college and car fund options - opinions
Look at your options with a 529 program. If the money is used for education expenses: that currently includes tuition, room & board (even if living off campus), books, transportation; it grows tax free. Earnings are not subject to federal tax and generally not subject to state tax when used for the qualified educatio...
Advice on preserving wealth in a volatile economic/political country
You might find some of the answers here helpful; the question is different, but has some similar concerns, such as a changing economic environment. What approach should I take to best protect my wealth against currency devaluation & poor growth prospects. I want to avoid selling off any more of my local index funds...
On what dates do the U.S. and Canada release their respective federal budgets?
Canada does not have a set date on which a (Federal) budget plan is unveiled. In 2011 it was June 6th. In 2012 it was March 29th and in 2013 it was 21st March.
Are my parents ripping me off with this deal that doesn't allow me to build my equity in my home?
Are you in the United States? Is there some sort of written agreement that the money your parents paid into the house is a loan that will be paid back? I assume the deed to the home is in your name, and your parents do not have a lien on the property in any way? In the United States provided there is no lien and your ...
Would it make sense to take a loan from a relative to pay off student loans?
The interest that you are proposing to pay your MIL is actually quite low compared to even extremely conservative investing which easily earns 7% or more with quantifiable low risk. You claim that it would be no risk, but what would happen if you lost your job? The risk she faces is more or less exactly what a bank wou...
Prepaying a loan: Shouldn't the interest be recalculated like a shorter loan?
When you pay off a loan early, you pay the remaining principal, and you save all of the remaining interest. So you do save on interest, but it's the interest you would have paid in the future, not the interest you have paid in the past. (Your remaining balance when you pay off the loan only includes the principal, not ...
Buying a home - brokerage fee
I feel like you didn't actually read your agent's agreement, which should say where the money actually comes from. You sign it so that your agent can get paid by the listing agency from the net brokerage fees which the buyer pays. In the United States, "real estate agents are prohibited from being paid a commission dir...
Are solar cell panels and wind mills worth the money?
Solar water heaters are definitely worth the money (if you live in sunny states like South-South-West or Hawaii, at least). In some countries (like Greece, Cyprus and Israel, to name a few) most people use hot water from the solar heaters almost exclusively. I pay $30-$40 a month to PG&E for the privilege. Unfortunatel...
Investment Portfolio Setup for beginner
Some thoughts: 1) Do you have a significant emergency fund (3-6 months of after-tax living expenses)? If not, you stand to take a significant loss if you have an unexpected need for cash that is tied up in investments. What if you lose/hate your job or your car breaks down? What if a you want to spend some time with a ...
Should I be more aggressive in a Roth IRA, 401k, or taxable account?
I think you may be drawing the wrong conclusion about why you put what type of investment in a taxable vs. tax-advantaged account. It is not so much about risk, but type of return. If you're investing both tax-advantaged and taxable accounts, you can benefit by putting more tax-inefficient investments inside your tax-a...
Using Loan to Invest - Paying Monthly Installments by Selling Originally Bought Shares
I will add one point missing from the answers by CQM and THEAO. When you take a loan and invest the proceeds, the interest that you pay on the loan is deductible on Schedule A, Line 14 of your Federal income tax return under the category of Investment Interest Expense. If the interest expense is larger than all your ...
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 do I get into investing in stocks?
The best way I know of is to join an investment club. They club will act like a mutual fund, investing in stocks researched and selected by the group. Taking part in research and presenting results to the group for peer review is an excellent way to learn. You'll learn what is a good reason to invest and what isn't....
$200k in an IRA, unallocated. What's the safest investment?
Your funds are in a retirement account. Withdrawals from your IRA will be penalized if you withdraw before you turn 59.5 years old, and you appear to be decades away from that age. The general advice I would give you is to pick a "target year fund" that targets the year you turn 59.5. The stock market is more volatil...
What's the general principle behind choosing saving vs. paying off debt?
Depends upon the debt cost. Assuming it is consumer debt or credit card debt, it is better to pay that off first, it is the best investment you can make. Let's say it is credit card debt. If you pay 18% interst and have for example a $1,000 amount. If you pay it off you save $180 in interest ($1,000 times 18%). You wou...
Is the Swiss stock market inversely correlated with the Swiss Franc like Japan today?
Roughly about 1 of 2 Swiss francs is won abroad. So, yes it is easier for Swiss companies to export when the Swiss franc is not "too high" as it has been those last years. The main export market for Switzerland is the UE. Some companies are doing most or all of their business on the Swiss market. Others are much more e...
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 would closing price of a stock be different from different sources, and which would you take as the real price?
There is more than one exchange where stock can be traded. For example, there is the New York Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange. In fact, if you look at all the exchanges, there is essentially continuous trading 24/7 for many financial instruments (eg US government bonds). The closing price quoted in pape...
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...
Why do Americans have to file taxes, even if their only source of income is from a regular job?
Why is the US still working with paper checks when Europe went digital about a decade ago? Tax filing is just another area in which the US is lagging. Modernizing it costs money, and the US is quite close to bankruptcy (as seen by the repeated government shutdowns). Also, the US tax code is quite complicated. For inst...
I'm currently unemployed and have been offered a contract position. Do I need to incorporate myself? How do I do it?
Do you need to incorporate? This depends on whether the company prefers you to be incorporated. If you are going through a recruiting company, some of them are willing to deal with non-incorporated people (Sole Proprietor) and withhold taxes from your cheques for you. If you do want to incorporate, you can do it yours...
Want to buy expensive product online. Credit line on credit cards not big enough. How do “Preferred Account” programs work?
The preferred accounts are designed to hope you do one of several things: Pay one day late. Then charge you all the deferred interest. Many people think If they put $X a month aside, then pay just before the 6 months, 12 moths or no-payment before 2014 period ends then I will be able to afford the computer, carpet, or...
Money market account for emergency savings
I think it's only a choice of terminology. Typically with a money market account has check-writing privileges whereas a savings account does not. In terms of rates, this blog has a good list of high interest yield savings accounts. http://www.hustlermoneyblog.com/best-bank-rates/ Disclosure: I am not affiliated with t...
How does end-of-year interact with mutual fund prices (if it does)?
This answer is applicable to the US. Similar rules may hold in some other countries as well. The shares in an open-ended (non-exchange-traded) mutual fund are not traded on stock exchanges and the "market" does not determine the share price the way it does for shares in companies as brokers make offers to buy and se...
Trouble sticking to a budget when using credit cards for day to day transactions?
As long as you can be trusted with a Credit Card i find that if you have a setup that uses three accounts: 1. your Credit Card, 2. 2. a high interest internet account (most of these accounts don’t have fees), 3. a savings account. The Method that works for me is: 1st i calculate my fixed monthly bills i.e Rent and uti...
How would one follow the “smart money” when people use that term?
Smart money (Merriam-Webster, Wiktionary) is simply a term that refers to the money that successful investors invest. It can also refer to the successful investors themselves. When someone tells you to "follow the smart money," they are generally telling you to invest in the same things that successful investors inve...
Can saving/investing 15% of your income starting age 25, likely make you a millionaire?
As others have shown, if you assume that you can get 6% and you invest 15% of a reasonable US salary then you can hit 1 million by the time you retire. If you invest in property in a market like the UK (where I come from...) then insane house price inflation will do it for you as well. In 1968 my parents bought a house...
Low risk hybrid investment strategy
There are a number of strategies using options and shares together. One that sells large potential upside gains to assure more consistent medium returns is to "write covered calls". This fairly conservative and is a reasonable entry point into options for an individual investor. Deeper dive into covered calls
Why are Bank of America and Citi trading so far below book value?
Its not just Citi and BoFA, even Barclays, HSBC and other large Banks are trading below book value in markets they are listed. Are there particular assets that are causing these two banks to be valued lower relative to their book values than the other banks? There no particular assets. Given the current economic situat...
Why naked call writing is risky compare to Covered call?
There is unlimited risk in taking a naked call option position. The only risk in taking a covered call position is that you will be required to sell your shares for less than the going market price. I don't entirely agree with the accepted answer given here. You would not lose the amount you paid to buy the shares. N...
Value investing
As an aside, why does it seem to be difficult to get a conclusive answer to this question? I'm going to start by trying to answer this question and I think the answer here will help answer the other questions. Here is a incomplete list of the challenges involved: So my question is, is there any evidence that value inv...
If I have $1000 to invest in penny stocks online, should I diversify risk and invest in many of them or should I invest in just in one?
These stocks have no value to them, are just waiting for paper work to liquefy and vanish. The other gamblers are bots waiting for some sucker to buy so they can sell right away. So maybe a fresh new penny stock that hasn't been botted yet gives some higher chance of success, but you probably need to be a bot to sell i...
What is your effective tax rate if you work from home in Montreal for a company in Toronto?
Assuming that you don't own the business, it would seem to apply. The CRA says: If you were a resident of Quebec on December 31, 2016, and you did not have a business with a permanent establishment outside Quebec, your refundable Quebec abatement is 16.5% of the basic federal tax on line 55 of Schedule 1. If you had in...
How much should I be contributing to my 401k given my employer's contribution?
You can only contribute up to 5% of your salary? Odd. Usually 401(k) contributions are limited to some dollar amount in the vicinity of $15,000 or so a year. Normal retirement guidelines suggest that putting away 10-15% of your salary is enough that you probably won't need to worry much when you retire. 5% isn't likely...
Can you sell a security through a different broker from which it was purchased?
I'm in the US and I once transferred shares in a brokerage account from Schwab to Fidelity. I received the shares from my employer as RSUs and the employer used Schwab. After I quit and the shares vested, I wanted to move the shares to Fidelity because that is where all my other accounts are. I called Fidelity and ...
How can I determine if my rate of return is “good” for the market I am in?
Do you recall where you read that 25% is considered very good? I graduated college in 1984 so that's when my own 'investing life' really began. Of the 29 years, 9 of them showed 25% to be not quite so good. 2013 32.42, 2009 27.11, 2003 28.72, 1998 28.73, 1997 33.67, 1995 38.02, 1991 30...