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What are the risks of Dividend-yielding stocks?
The risk in a divident paying stock can come from 2 sources. The business of the company, or the valuation of the stock at the time you buy. The business of the company relates to how they are running things, the risks they are taking with the company, innovations in their pipeline, and their competitive landscape. Yo...
If my put option reaches expiration on etrade and I don't log in to the site will it automatically exercise if it's in the money or be a total loss?
I have held an in the money long position on an option into expiration, on etrade, and nothing happened. (Scalping expiring options - high risk) The option expired a penny or two ITM, and was not worth exercising, nor did I have the purchasing power to exercise it. (AAPL) From etrade's website: Here are a few things ...
Options profit calculation and cash settlement
Depending on the day and even time, you'd get your $2 profit less the $5 commission. Jack's warning is correct, but more so for thinly traded options, either due to the options having little open interest or the stock not quite so popular. In your case you have a just-in-the-money strike for a highly traded stock near ...
What are the ramifications of lawsuits over “breaches of fiduciary duty” for the average shareholder?
As an investor, I try to interpret the suits as an attempt to in some way influence the actions of the company - and not, usually, as a serious legal threat (or as likely to lead to serious legal consequences). My (shallow) understanding (as a non-lawyer) is that the requirements for a lawsuit to be filed as class-acti...
Why do people take out life insurance on their children? Should I take out a policy on my child?
Why do people take out life insurance on their children? They do so largely because it's being sold to them. The insurance companies generally push them on the basis that if you have to pay for a funeral and burial, the cost would devastate a family's finances. In some rare instances that might actually be true, but ...
Can I get a mortgage from a foreign bank?
You definitely used to be able to (see this BBC article from 2006), and I would imagine that you still can, although I also imagine that it would be more difficult than it used to be, as with all mortgages. EDIT: And here's an article from last year about Chinese banks targeting the UK mortgage market.
Is paying off your mortage a #1 personal finance priority?
The answer depends entirely on your mortgage terms - is the interest rate low, how many years left? Questions like this are about Cost of Capital. If your mortgage has a low interest for a lot of years, you have a low cost of capital. By paying it off early, you are dumping that low cost of capital. Use the extra mone...
What's a good way to find someone locally to help me with my investments?
I would start by talking to a Fee-Only Financial Planner to make sure the portfolio fits with your goals. You can find a list here: http://www.napfa.org/
Why would a bank need to accept deposits from private clients if it can just borrow from the Federal Reserve?
They don't need to accept deposits from normal persons, but that's how they make lots of money. Banks make money off the fees they charge retailers when those folks swipe their debit cards at the retailer. It's their bread and butter. In order to facilitate you accruing swipe fees for them, they need to allow you to...
Definitions of leverage and of leverage factor
Levarge in simple terms is how of your own money to how much of borrowed money. So in 2008 Typical leverage ratios were Investment Banks 30:1 means that for every 1 Unit of Banks money [shareholders capital/ long term debts] there was 30 Units of borrowed money [from deposits/for other institutions/etc]. This is a ve...
Debit cards as bad as credit cards?
If it is one of those debit cards you use just like a credit card without a PIN, I'd cancel it regardless of whatever you are trying to do with your finances. They just seem too dangerous to me. Unlike a credit card, if someone makes fraudulent purchases on a debit card the money is gone from your bank account until y...
As a Brit, how do I invest in US ETFs
Vanguard has just recently started listing its funds in London but it doesn't look like the High Dividend Yield ETF is available yet. You'll need to either get a broker who can trade on the U.S. markets (there might be tax and exchange rate complications), or wait until Vanguard lists this stock on the London exchange.
Do credit ratings (by Moody's, S&P, and Fitch) have any relevance?
The problems with ratings and the interpretation of ratings is that they are retrospective, and most people read them as prospective. They basically tell you that debtor is solvent right now. What does that mean? It means that the ratings are based on the audited financial statements of a company, government or other o...
Why does financial investor bother to buy derivatives and then hedge the position?
There are a number reasons to hedge a position. Here are some of the more common:
Free “Rich Dad” education, with “free gift”: Is it legitimate, or is it a sales ploy?
Kiyosaki says his methods of actions are not suitable for the average investor. They are meant for those wanting to excel at investing, and are willing to work for it. Personally, I wouldn't want to own ten apartments, because it sounds like a terrible headache. I would much rather have a huge portfolio of index funds....
Can I use FOREX markets to exchange cash?
As far as I understand, OP seems to be literally asking: "why, regarding the various contracts on various exchanges (CBE, etc), is it that in some cases they are 'cash settled' and in some 'physically settled' -?" The answer is only that "the exchange in question happens to offer it that way." Note that it's utterly co...
Does this sound like a great idea regarding being a landlord and starting a real estate empire?
A lot of people do this. For example, in my area nice townhouses go for about $400K, so if you have $80,000 you can buy one and rent it. Here are the typical numbers: So you would make $350 per month or $4,200 per year on $80,000 in capital or about 5% profit. What can go wrong: (1) The property does not rent and sits ...
US citizen married to non-resident alien; how do I file taxes?
Congrats on the upcoming wedding! Here is the official answer to this question, from the IRS. They note that you can choose to treat your spouse as a US resident for tax purposes and file jointly if you want to, by attaching a certain declaration to your tax return. Though I'm not a tax expert, if your partner has sig...
What are the disadvantages to borrowing money for energy conservation measures / solar panels?
If you sell the property before the ten years are up, the panels might have declined in value more than the amount you owe declined. In the original post's situation, this is a negligible risk. Suppose (for the sake of argument) that each year's panels are 10% better than the previous year's panels. Even if the panel...
why the currency data(such as USD/JPY) is different from different source
A day is a long time and the rate is not the same all day. Some sources will report a close price that averages the bid and ask. Some sources will report a volume-weighted average. Some will report the last transaction price. Some will report a time-weighted average. Some will average the highest and lowest prices for ...
Selling on eBay without PayPal?
Dwolla looks to be a great option. But it requires users to have an account there (Free to sign up). And there rates are absolutely amazing. Free for transactions under $10 $0.25 to receive money on transactions over $10
I have $100,000 in play money… what to do?
You can start a software company. Than your office will be around the world and you can work whenever you want. If you can appoint some people who can collect work from here and there and the coder around the world can give you the job done(this can be done by posting your work in various freelancing site). It is chall...
US: Basics of taxation of stocks
E.g. I buy 1 stock unit for $100.00 and sell it later for $150.00 => income taxes arise. Correct. You pay tax on your gains, i.e.: the different between net proceeds and gross costs (proceeds sans fees, acquisition costs including fees). I buy 1 stock unit for $150.00 and sell it later for $100.00 => no income taxes he...
Covered call when stock position is at a loss
I don't think you understand options. If it expires, you can't write a new call for the same expiration date as it expired that day. Also what if the stock price decreases further to $40 or even more? If you think the stock will move in either way greatly, and you wish to be profit from it, look into straddles.
Taxing GoFundMe Donations
To echo part of stannius' response. If it's taxable, there would be tax on $19,999, just a bit less than on $20,000. Your uncle may have a credential, and members here may not, but still he may be mistaken. Or he could be giving you advice on how to skirt the law. The taxability and the $20,000 threshold are unrelated...
What are some sources of information on dividend schedules and amounts?
There are dividend newsletters that aggregate dividend information for interested investors. Other than specialized publications, the best sources for info are, in my opinion:
How should my brother and I structure our real estate purchase?
Because this question seems like it will stick around, I will flesh out my comments into an actual answer. I apologize if this does not answer your question as-asked, but I believe these are the real issues at stake. For the actual questions you have asked, I have paraphrased and bolded below: Firstly, don't do a real ...
Why does it seem unnecessary to fully save for irregular periodic expenses?
I think we'd need to look at actual numbers to see where you're running into trouble. I'm also a little confused by your use of the term "unexpected expenses". You seem to be using that to describe expenses that are quite regular, that occur every X months, and so are totally expected. But assuming this is just some cl...
How can rebuilding a city/large area be considered an economic boost?
You are not wrong. This is called the "Broken Window" fallacy in economics. Imagine if 20% of a population was employed to go around breaking windows. This would stimulate the economy as many people would have to be employed to make new windows, repair the broken windows, etc.. The problem is that everyone would have...
How much will a stock be worth after a merger?
If this is a one to one share exchange with added cash to make up the difference in value, you're getting 1 share of XYZ plus $19.20 in cash for each share of ABC. They calculated the per share price they're offering ($36) and subtracted the value of XYZ share at the time of the offer ($16.80) to get the cash part ($...
Investing using leverage
Step 2 is wrong. Leverage is NOT necessary. It increases possible gain, but increases risk of loss by essentially the same amount. Those two numbers are pretty tightly linked by market forces. See many, many other answers here showing that one can earn "market rate" -- 8% or so -- with far less risk and effort, if one ...
Understanding the phrase “afford to lose” better
The advice to "Only invest what you can afford to lose" is good advice. Most people should have several pots of money: Checking to pay your bills; short term savings; emergency fund; college fund; retirement. When you think about investing that is the funds that have along lead time: college and retirement. It is never...
Feasibility of using long term pattern on short term investments
When structures recur at different scales, they're called "fractals", and there is something called the "fractal markets hypothesis" which attempts to analyse stock market movements as fractals and in terms of (related) chaos theory. Whether you can profit from it I have no idea. If it was easy, everyone would be doin...
Deposit a cheque in an alternative name into a personal bank account (Australia)
You actually don't have to open a business account with your bank, you can have a personal account with the bank and have your business funds go into it, whether it be from cheques or from Eftpos\Credit Card Facilities. You just have to get your customers to make the cheque out under your name (the same name used for y...
I earn $75K, have $30K in savings, no debt, rent from my parents who are losing their home. Should I buy a home now or save?
Real Estate has historically been the most sound investment of all times. Not only does property consistant increase in value (which is what you want every investment to do), it does so at the highest rate with the lowest risk. Most return on investment (like a stock in the market) the potential rate of gain is proport...
What's the best way to make money from a market correction?
A lot of people here talk about shorting stocks, buying options, and messing around with leveraged ETFs. While these are excellent tools, that offer novel opportunities for the sophisticated investor, Don't mess around with these until you have been in the game for a few years. Even if you can make money consistently r...
Do I need multiple credit monitoring services?
Monitoring all three is good practice. That way, you will be notified as soon as there is a hard pull on any of your reports. Most financial institutions only pull one of your three reports to open new credit. If you're only monitoring one, you won't be alerted to new accounts until about a month passes and they are re...
How does Vanguard determine the optimal asset allocation for their Target Retirement Funds?
Googling vanguard target asset allocation led me to this page on the Bogleheads wiki which has detailed breakdowns of the Target Retirement funds; that page in turn has a link to this Vanguard PDF which goes into a good level of detail on the construction of these funds' portfolios. I excerpt: (To the question of why s...
Automatic Extension online filing request gets denied w/ code R0000-052-01 - why?
There are penalties for failure to file and penalties for failure to pay tax. The penalties for both are based on the amount of tax due. So you would owe % penalties of zero, otherwise meaning no penalties at all. The IRS on late 1040 penalties: Here are eight important points about penalties for filing or paying lat...
Why do car rental companies prefer/require credit over debit cards?
I have looked at the conditions of a car rental company, and I believe it provides the answers: Upon pick up of your vehicle, you must present a valid credit card (*) used to make the booking and which must be in the driver´s name. If you do not have a valid credit card we will accept your debit card when you pic...
Why can't you just have someone invest for you and split the profits (and losses) with him?
Why is nobody providing a service that is basically: Give me your money. I will invest it as I see fit. A year later I will return the capital to you, plus half of any profits or losses. This means that if your capital under my management ends up turning a profit, I will keep half of those profits, but if I lose you mo...
Why is auto insurance ridiculously overpriced for those who drive few miles?
There is plenty of over-rationalisation in the majority of these answers, when the simple answer is that it is simply down to statistics. Say an insurer had two pieces of information about two separate drivers: annual mileage, and whether they had had an accident in the last 3 years. Driver A drives 10,000 miles a year...
Is Bogleheadism (index fund investing) dead?
The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. - Twain I use index funds in my retirement planning, but don't stick to just S&P 500 index funds. Suppose I balance my money 50/50 between Small Cap and Large Cap and say I have $10,000. I'd buy $5,000 of an S&P Index fund and $5,000 of a Russell 2000 index fund. ...
Should I cash out my Roth IRA to pay my mother's property tax debt, to avoid foreclosure on her home?
@foreverBroke - Ok, here are the questions - Is mom's house paid for in full? If there's any mortgage, is it current? If not, what are the numbers? Is it underwater, i.e. owe more that it's worth? Will the tax department talk to you and negotiate? Maybe let you make payments over time? If you have that kind of cash fl...
Are lottery tickets ever a wise investment provided the jackpot is large enough?
Is playing the lottery a wise investment? --Probably not. Is playing the lottery an investment at all? --Probably not though I'll make a remark on that further below. Does it make any sense to play the lottery in order to improve your total asset allocation? --If you follow the theory of the Black Swan, it actually m...
Which set of earnings is used to work out the P/E of a stock
@jlowin's answer has a very good discussion of the types of PE ratio so I will just answer a very specific question from within your question: And who makes these estimates? Is it the market commentators or the company saying "we'd expected to make this much"? Future earnings estimates are made by professional analysts...
Converting bank statements to another currency?
If the account is not dollar-denominated, I would say it does not make sense at all to have dollar-denominated statements. Such a statement would not even be accurate for any reasonable amount of time (since FX rates constantly fluctuate). This would be a nightmare for accounting purposes. If you really need to know th...
What is the Average Yield on High-Grade Corporate Bonds as of Now?
Yahoo! Finance would list it as 3.30 for the 20 year corporate AAA bonds. This is using the criteria from the Wikipedia link you stated in the initial question.
A friend wants to use my account for a wire transfer. Is this a scam or is it legitimate?
This is not only a scam but it is potentially fraud that may get you in trouble. This "friend" of yours will wire you some money in which you do not know where this money is really from. It's obvious from other answers that his story is fictitious. Thus it is likely that this money was stolen through another scam/hack ...
Should I cash out my Roth IRA to pay my mother's property tax debt, to avoid foreclosure on her home?
First, I'm really sorry to hear about your mother. My wife was recently diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, so I know that there is a possibility that your mind is in "survival" mode, trying to preserve as much as you can in the way of things that you can effect (that's how I've been feeling recently). Having a loved one wi...
How big of a mortgage can I realistically afford?
My primary concerns. There seems to still be a fair bit of distressed property (forclosures etc) on the market at current, which might well keep prices down for the next year or so that it takes to finish flushing that stuff out of the market. The gist I get from most experts/pundits is that There will be good deals a...
What happens to people without any retirement savings?
I'm afraid you have missed a few of the outcomes commonly faced by millions of Americans, so I would like to take a moment to discuss a wider range of outcomes that are common in the United States today. Most importantly, some of these happen before retirement is ever reached, and have grave consequences - yet are ofte...
Why is it rational to pay out a dividend?
The main reason, as far as I can see, is that the dividends are payments with which the shareholders may do what they want. Capital that the company has no use for does not make a significant positive return on investment, as you pointed out, yes the company could accrue interest, but that is not going to make the comp...
Are there brokers or companies who trade Forex and make money for us on our investment? And do you think fxtradeinvestment is legit?
So you think there is a business that can take $X and in two weeks turn it into $10X plus their profit. That means that in two weeks you can turn $1,000 into $10,000. So every two weeks you add a zero, in six weeks you add 3 zeros. In 12 weeks total your $1,000 is now $1,000,000,000; and in a few weeks after that you ...
Why is the fractional-reserve banking not a Ponzi scheme?
It is possible to pay down debt (including interest) without issuing new debt money to pay for it. I think this is the heart of your question. Let me present a highly contrived example in which society has four people and one bank. Here is a bank with $100 in initial deposits. Total money supply in this society is $100...
Table of how many years it takes to make a specified return on the stock market?
The Money Chimp site lets you choose two points in time to see the return. i.e. you give it the time (two dates) and it tells you the return. One can create a spreadsheet to look at multiple time periods and answer your question that way, but I've not seen it laid out that way in advance. For what it's worth, I am hal...
Should I pay off my 401k loan or reinvest the funds elsewhere?
This summer I used a loan from my 401(k) to help pay for the down payment of a new house. We planned on selling a Condo a few months later, so we only needed the loan for a short period but wanted to keep monthly payments low since we would be paying two mortgages for a few months. I also felt like the market might tak...
Does home equity grow with the investment put into the house?
In short, your scenario could work in theory, but is not realistic... Generally speaking, you can borrow up to some percentage of the value of the property, usually 80-90% though it can vary based on many factors. So if your property currently has a value of $100k, you could theoretically borrow a total of $80-90k aga...
What's the best use for this money? Its only a small amount but can make a big difference to me
First and foremost, it's about changing habits. It seems like you've learned a painful lesson with the car financing. That's a good start. I'd work on developing the habit of making a budget every month before you spend a penny. As for this money, I would pay off the Apple loan and put the rest in savings. Then pay...
How do I account for 100 percent vendor discounts in GnuCash 2.6.5
I am no expert on the situation nor do I pretend to act like one, but, as a business owner, allow me to give you my personal opinion. Option 3 is closest to what you want. Why? Well: This way, you have both the record of everything that was done, and also IRS can see exactly what happened. Another suggestion would be t...
Is there a financial benefit for buyers from using community currencies?
Short answer: NO, there is no financial benefits for you to expect in a local currency even if some might give tiny discounts on local sales. Local currencies are attractive for small business or communities, they are perfectly legal and starting to be popular in a lot of places. Local currencies encourage individuals ...
How big of a mortgage can I realistically afford?
If you are not planning on living in your condo for at least 10 years don't do it. For about 5 years your mortgage will be more then rent, after 5 years you start to break even and may start paying less. On the other hand, if you plan to be there for 10 years or more it might be a great savings tool,
For a mortgage down-payment, what percentage is sensible?
A bigger down payment is good, because it insulates you from the swings in the real estate market. If you get FHA loan with 3% down and end up being forced to move during a down market, you'll be in a real bind, as you'll need to scrape up some cash or borrow funds to get out of your mortgage.
What prevents interest rates from rising?
Interest rates are market driven. They tend to be based on the prime rate set by the federal reserve bank because of the tremendous lending capacity of that institution and that other loan originators will often fund their own lending (at least in part) with fed loans. However, there is no mandatory link between the fe...
Is is possible to dispute IRS underpayment penalties?
When you say "set aside," you mean you saved to pay the tax due in April? That's underpaying. It's a rare exception the IRS makes for this penalty, hopefully it wasn't too large, and you now know how much to withhold through payroll deductions. Problem is, this wasn't unusual, it was an oversight. You have no legitima...
Saving for a down payment on a new house, a few years out. Where do we put our money next?
In October 2011 in the United States, you just don't have any options. Save your money in a savings account and that is the best you can do. Your desire to buy a house means you are a saver not an investor, and you risk tolerance on this pile of money is 0. Save it in a bank account; I highly doubt chasing an interes...
Why are typical 401(k) plan fund choices so awful?
401k choices are awful because: The best remedy I have found is to roll over to an IRA when changing jobs.
What do I need to start trading in the NSE (National Stock Exchange)?
Yes, you can open a Trading Account at one place and a Demat Account at another place. Therefore you can open Trading Account at Sharekhan and Demat Account at OBC. However, it would be more convenient for you if both the accounts are opened at the same place which would reduce unnecessary work after every transaction.
Biggest stock price gain vs. biggest mkt cap gain
When you look at those results you'll see that it lists the actual market cap for the stocks. The ones on the biggest price move are usually close the the $1B capitalization cut-off that they use. (The don't report anything with less than $1B in capitalization on these lists.) The ones on the biggest market cap are m...
Super-generic mutual fund type
It sounds like you want a place to park some money that's reasonably safe and liquid, but can sustain light to moderate losses. Consider some bond funds or bond ETFs filled with medium-term corporate bonds. It looks like you can get 3-3.5% or so. (I'd skip the municipal bond market right now, but "why" is a matter for ...
Comprehensive tutorial on double-entry personal finance?
I had to implement a simplistic double-entry accounting system, and compiled a list of resources. Some of them are more helpful than others, but I'll share them all with you. Hope this helps! Simplifying accounting principles for computer scientists: http://martin.kleppmann.com/2011/03/07/accounting-for-computer-scient...
Saving for a non-necessity
Your question is rather direct, but I think there is some underlying issues that are worth addressing. One How to save and purchase ~$500 worth items This one is the easy one, since we confront it often enough. Never, ever, ever buy anything on credit. The only exception might be your first house, but that's it. Simp...
Investing in commodities, pros and cons?
Another disadvantage is the inability to value commodities in an accounting sense. In contrast with stocks, bonds and real estate, commodities don't generate cash flows and so any valuation methodology is by definition speculative. But as rhaskett notes, there are diversification advantages. The returns for gold, for i...
1031 Exchange and Taxes?
You bought a rental property in 2001. Hopefully you paid fair value else other issues come into play. Say you paid $120K. You said you have been taking depreciation, which for residential real estate is taken over 27.5 years, so you are about halfway through. Since you don't depreciate land, you may have taken a total...
How to prevent myself from buying things I don't want
Long ago, a friend of mine shared with me the "Lakshmi rule" which can be used for managing one's spending: 1/3rd: Save, 1/3rd: Donate, 1/3rd: Survival. Survival refers to primary needs like food, clothing, shelter, medicine, family and priority needs like travel. The word "Lakshmi" comes from the Sanskrit language an...
Mortgage or not?
Short answer: No. Longer answer: The only reason to move would be to get out of the condo and into a SFR of equal cost because condos can be quite difficult to sell and you don't really want that potential burden later on. Moving is expensive though and you can't afford to spend more when you are already living on t...
How to read DOJI chart pattern correctly?
Candle stick patterns are generally an indication of possible short term changes in price direction (if a reversal pattern). A doji is such a reversal candle, and should be read as there could be a short term change in the direction of price action. A doji is most effective at peaks or troughs, and the outcome can be a...
Why do some online stores not ask for the 3-digit code on the back of my credit card?
There are different ways of credit card purchase authorizations. if some choose less secure method it's their problem. Merchants are charged back if a stolen card is used.
Is there a dollar amount that, when adding Massachusetts Sales Tax, precisely equals $200?
Yes, it's a simple calculation. (x+0.0625x)=200 or x=200/1.0625 = $188.24 Technically $188.24 plus tax comes to $200.01. I would just eat the extra $0.01.
How to explain quick price changes early in the morning
The gap up/down and rapid movement immediately following market open is due to overnight futures activity. In your example, SP500 on June 20, 2016 saw a 20-point gap up at market open. This was because the SP500 futures were trading 20 points higher at 9:30 AM than at its close on Friday. The index will always "catch u...
Digital envelope system: a modern take
I definitely get where you're coming from. The envelope system sounds good, but doesn't appeal to most people under 50 for many of these reasons (physical cash in my hand is just a hassle - it has no appeal or reduced spending affect on me). There are various options for prepaid debit cards such as https://www.netspen...
What is the US tax owed when gifting India Shares to my brother?
Here's an excerpt from the Charles Schwab website which I think will help evaluate your position: The simple answer to your question is no, the value of a gift of stock for gift tax liability is NOT the donor's cost basis, but rather the fair market value of the stock at the time the gift is given. So let's say y...
If stock price drops by the amount of dividend paid, what is the use of a dividend
I'm not a financial expert, but saying that paying a $1 dividend will reduce the value of the stock by $1 sounds like awfully simple-minded reasoning to me. It appears to be based on the assumption that the price of a stock is equal to the value of the assets of a company divided by the total number of shares. But that...
How can I buy and sell the same stock on the same day?
you need minimum of 25k otherwise youll reach a limit. you have to wait 3 days for the sale to clear unless youre on margin. dont buy anything based on idiots on twitter or the internet. however, theres some good people to follow though that know what theyre doing. dont listen to this guy saying that etrade or those p...
My tenant wants to pay rent through their company: Should this raise a red flag?
I disagree with the other respondents. If your tenant is an individual, renting in their individual capacity, there is no reason they need your SSN. They will not be sending a 1099 to you. If your tenant is a business, then your property is not a residential property. It is at least a "corporate housing", and you would...
Renting or Buying an House
I actually didn't do the math with your numbers, but I recall Sal from Khan Academy did a nice video about your question, challenging the notion that it is always better to buy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL10H_EcB-E
When will the U.K. convert to the Euro as an official currency?
When economies are strong, it is particularly alluring to have a single currency as it makes trade and tourism simpler and helps reduce costs. The problem comes when individual member economies get into trouble. Because the Eurozone is a loose grouping of nations, there is no direct equivalent of the US Federal governm...
What are good games to play to teach young children about saving money?
We play Cash Flow and Cashflow for Kids by Robert Kiyosaki. Our kids love it.
Employer reported ESPP ordinary income on wrong year's W-2
You mentioned that the 1099B that reports this sale is for 2014, which means that you got the proceeds in 2014. What I suspect happened was that the employer reported this on the next available paycheck, thus reporting it in the 2015 period. If this ends up being a significant difference for you, I'd argue the employer...
How to find an optimum linear combination of various investments?
You're talking about modern portfolio theory. The wiki article goes into the math. Here's the gist: Modern portfolio theory (MPT) is a theory of finance that attempts to maximize portfolio expected return for a given amount of portfolio risk, or equivalently minimize risk for a given level of expected return, by carefu...
If I have all this stock just sitting there, how can I lend it out to people for short selling?
Lending of securities is done by institutional investors and mutual funds. The costs of dealing with thousands of individual investors, small share blocks and the various screw-ups and drama associated with each individual are too high. Like many exotic financial transactions, if you have to ask about it, you're probab...
Can the purchaser of a stock call option cancel the contract?
You bought the right – but not the obligation – to buy a certain number of shares at $15 from whomsoever sold you the option, and you paid a premium for it. You can choose whether you want to buy the shares at $15 during the period agreed upon. If you call for the shares, the other guy has to sell the shares to you f...
When a stock price goes down, does the money just disappears into thin air?
Cash changes hands when you buy or sell the stock. While you own the stock, you own it, not cash, so there is no cash to go anywhere. You spent your money when you bought. The seller got that money. It's gone. You hope that when you sell the stock, someone will give you more money for it than you spent. But they may gi...
183 day rule in conjunction with expatriate
There's no "183 days" rule. As a US citizen you must pay taxes on all your income, where you live is irrelevant.
How do I enter Canadian tax info from US form 1042-S and record captial gains from cashing in stock options?
I can't give you a specific answer because I'm not a tax accountant, so you should seek advice from a tax professional with experience relevant to your situation. This could be a complicated situation. That being said, one place you could start is the Canada Revenue Agency's statement on investment income, which contai...
Form as LLC or S Corp to reduce tax liability
This is actually quite a complicated issue. I suggest you talk to a properly licensed tax adviser (EA/CPA licensed in your State). Legal advice (from an attorney licensed in your State) is also highly recommended. There are many issues at hand here. Income - both types of entities are pass-through, so "earnings" are ta...
Taxing GoFundMe Donations
The $20k limit seems to be (from another answer) the threshold for GoFundMe to report the campaign. However, such a report does not change the taxability of the income. The income is either taxable or non-taxable regardless of whether the amount is $19,999 or $20,001. This is a common misconception, commonly seen when ...
How do I determine how much rent I could charge for a property or location?
Zoopla may not always accurately reflect the market price. Your best bet is to get a quote for local registered) letting agents. That way you know you are close to the real market value. Also, these quotes may come into handy if you have a mortgage on the property. Since most banks will require you to provide proof of ...
Prepaying a loan: Shouldn't the interest be recalculated like a shorter loan?
If you take a loan, you make a contract with your lender, let's call them "bank" (even if it might not be a real bank). This loan contract contains an agreed-upon way of paying back the loan. Both sides agreed upon these conditions. Any change of it (like paying back early) needs the consent of both sides. So, in g...
How come I can't sell short certain stocks? My broker says “no shares are available”
Shorts are difficult because you have to find someone to lend the stock to you. In contrast, put options don't require that. They also have some nice properties like you're only out the contract price. The options chain for BSFT will give you an idea of where the market is. Keep in mind that BSFT only IPO'd last year ...