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Is an interest-only mortgage a bad idea? | Normally interest only mortgages are taken incase one planning to sell off the property after a few years and purchase of the property is for investment. In such a case instead of burdening oneself with a huge EMI, one opts for an interest only mortgage, and towards the end of the term, sell off the house at profit and... |
200K 10-Year Investment Safest 5% Annual Return? | Invest in a high quality dividend paying group of stocks. Look up "stock aristocrats" to find longterm quality stocks that have regularly increased their dividends for over 20'years. 10'years is a safe period of time to invest in stocks. If you had bought stocks at their hight in 2007 and kept them through the 40% d... |
Is it a good idea to teach children that work is linearly related to income? | I think that is the wrong approach. You certainly need to teach the value of work, but you cannot tie it to income levels as a hard and fast rule. If you do, how do you then explain athletes making millions per year and only 'working' half a year, at most. And, then comparing that person to a person working hard in a f... |
Wardrobe: To Update or Not? How-to without breaking the bank | New clothes isn't exactly an emergency expense :) so I would strongly suggest that you budget for it on a monthly basis. This doesn't mean you have to go spend the money every month, just put a reasonable amount of money into the clothes budget/savings every month and when you need a new shirt or two, take the money ou... |
Advice for a college student interested in investment opportunities. | Put it in a Vanguard fund with 80% VTI and 20% VXUS. That's what you'll let set for 10-15 years. For somebody that is totally new to investing, use "play money" in the stock market. It's easy for young people to get dreams of glory and blow it all on some stock tip they've seen on Twitter. |
Saving tax for long term stock investment capital gain by quiting my current job? | Reducing your income by 20k is guaranteed to lower your tax bill by less than 20k (because there are no tax rates greater than 100%). Your goal shouldn't be to minimize taxes but to maximize total net income. |
Is a car loan bad debt? | Here is another way to look at it. Does this debt enable you to buy more car than you can really afford, or more car than you need? If so, it's bad debt. Let's say you don't have the price of a new car, but you can buy a used car with the cash you have. You will have to repair the car occasionally, but this is generall... |
Where do short-term traders look for the earliest stock related news? | There's a whole industry devoted to this. Professionals use Bloomberg terminals. High Frequency Traders have computers read news feeds for them. Amateurs use trading consoles (like Thinkorswim) to get headlines quickly on stocks. |
How to move (or not move) an LLC from Illinois to New Mexico? | Why not just leave it as is and register as foreign entity in New Mexico? You won't avoid the gross receipts tax, but other than that - everything stays as is. Unless Illinois has some taxes that you would otherwise not pay - just leave it there. |
How can I calculate total return of stock with partial sale? | You have only sold 200 shares for $4.75 from those bought for $3.15. So your profit on those 200 shares is $1.60 per share or $320 or 51%. From that you have 110 shares left that cost you $3.15 and 277 shares that cost you $3.54. So the total cost of your remaining shares is $1,327.08 (110 x $3.15 + 277 x $3.54). So yo... |
Is the contribution towards Employment Insurance (EI) wasted if I never get fired, or are my premiums refunded? | It is not wasted: it bought you peace of mind. Perhaps you would have had peace of mind without it, because of the particular industry you are in. But people from any industry can get sick or give birth, and not all industries are as evergreen as people think. A number of my onetime programmer colleagues now drive a tr... |
Foreign currency conversion for international visitors to ecommerce web site? | Central banks don't generally post exchange rates with other currencies, as they are not determined by central banks but by the currency markets. You need a source for live exchange rate data (for example www.xe.com), and you need to calculate the prices in other currencies dynamically as they are displayed -- they wil... |
Should I close unused credit cards before applying for another? | You want to have 2-4 credit cards, with a credit utilization ratio below 30%. If you only have 2 cards, closing 1 would reduce your credit diversity and thus lower your credit score. You also want at least 2 years credit history, so closing an older credit card may shorten your credit history, again lowering your cre... |
What are some good software packages for Technical Analysis? | About 10 years ago, I used to use MetaStock Trader which was a very sound tool, with a large number of indicators, but it has been a number of years since I have used it, so my comments on it will be out of date. At the time it relied upon me purchasing trading data myself, which is why I switched to Incredible Charts.... |
What is a good investment vehicle for introducing kids to investing? | There are mutual funds oriented toward kids or that are suitable in some way (e.g. they have low minimums). Here are two articles with mention of some of them: Of those only USAA First Start Growth is explicitly for kids: http://quote.morningstar.com/fund/f.aspx?t=UFSGX or https://www.usaa.com/inet/pages/mutual_funds_r... |
Why would anyone want to pay off their debts in a way other than “highest interest” first? | There are a number of bona fide reasons to consider here. If there is a cost to discharging a security packet, or a mortgage, it may not be convenient if we are advanced in the repayment schedule. Early exit fees may apply, or the interest may be "pre-determined". As a rule of thumb, when we are talking about rates abo... |
How much money should I lock up in my savings account? | One issue which I don't see addressed in the answers so far is how to structure bank accounts to get the highest return possible. What you're describing sounds like a certificate of deposit (CD): 'ranging from 1% for 9 months to 2.3% for 5 years' There is a concept which was once more common called a CD Ladder, which s... |
What is a good rental yield? | I've never heard of rent quoted per week. Are you in the US? In general, after the down payment, one would hope to take the rent, and be able to pay the mortgage, tax, insurance, and then have enough left each year to at least have a bit of emergency money for repairs. If one can start by actually pocketing more than ... |
How to report “foreign tax paid” from 1099-DIV? | You can always take deduction for foreign tax paid on Schedule A, or calculate foreign tax credit using form 1116. Credit is usually more beneficial, but in some cases you will be better of with a deduction. However, in very specific cases, you can claim the credit directly on your 1040 without using the form 1116. Loo... |
Is it possible to sell a stock at a higher value than the market price? | You can ask for 305rs, but as long as shares are available at lower prices you won't sell. Only when your ask becomes the lowest available price will someone buy from you. See many past questions about how buyers and sellers are matched by the market. |
Can the risk of investing in an asset be different for different investors? | In a perfect market, share prices are by definition a perfect reflection of the true value of a share. Hence, you always get $10 for a share that's worth that much. In reality, the market is imperfect. Prices are somewhat of an average of all different estimates, and there's a cost-of-trading margin between sales and b... |
Best way for for soon to turn 18 to learn about money? | Excellent questions! Asking such questions indicates something special about yourself. The desire to learn and adjust your beliefs will increase your chance of success in your life. I would use a wide variety of authors to increase your education. Myself I prefer Dave Ramsey to Clark Howard, but I think Clark is ve... |
Ghana scam and direct deposit scam? | The scammer is definitely up to something fishy. He (it's certain that the she is a he) may deposit some money into your father's account to gain his trust. After which, he will propose to come meet your dad. That's where the scamming begins. He will come up with a story about flight, VISA issues, or a problem he has t... |
What are the alternatives to compound interest for a Muslim? | I am not sure if these are available today in your country: but supposedly, back when Catholic countries similarly forbade usury, sinecures were invented to circumvent religious restrictions on finance. Meaning literally 'without care', sinecures were formally prestigious salary-paying jobs with few responsibilities. ... |
Is it better to use DRIP or invest when stock drops before ex-date? | The benefit of a dividend reinvestment program is you, generally, don't pay transaction costs or commissions and you don't have to remember to do it. Whether or not you may be able to eek out a little more by managing this yourself is a crapshoot and the equivalent of timing the market. If you're so good at timing t... |
Why do consultants or contractors make more money than employees? | There are a couple of reasons, including: |
What's a good personal finance management web app that I can use in Canada? | I use MoneyStrands (formerly called Expensr), but mostly just to track expenses and look at reports on my spending habits. It has some really pretty charts, with the ability to drill down into categories and sub-categories, or graph monthly spending for any custom date range. It does a half-decent job of auto-categoriz... |
What should I consider when I try to invest my money today for a larger immediate income stream that will secure my retirement? | TL:DR: You should read something like The Little Book of Common Sense Investing, and read some of the popular questions on this site. The main message that you will get from that research is that there is an inescapable connection between risk and reward, or to put it another way, volatility and reward. Things like gov... |
Not paying cash for a house | Pay cash for the house but negotiate at least a 4% discount. You already made your money without having to deal with long term unknowns. I don't get why people would want invest with risk when the alternative are immediate realized gains. |
How to shop for mortgage rates ? | Pre-qualification is only a step above what you can do with a rate/payment calculator. They don't check your credit history and credit score; they don't ask for verification of your income; or verify that you have reported your debts correctly. They also don't guarantee the interest rate. But if you answer truthfully,... |
Which Benjamin Graham book should I read first: Security Analysis or Intelligent Investor? | I would recommend reading Intelligent Investor first. It was written slightly more recently (1949) than Security Analysis (1934). More important is that a recently revised edition* of Intelligent Investor was published. The preface and appendix were written by Warren Buffett. Intelligent Investor is more practical as a... |
Buy the open and set a 1% limit sell order | One should also point out that you make a major assumption in that the high of the day doesn't occur on a gap up in morning trading. It's unlikely that you'd fill at a reasonable price, thereby throwing your strategy into disarray. |
Is paying off your mortage a #1 personal finance priority? | Math says invest in the Market (But paying off your mortgage early is a valid option if you are very risk averse.) You are going to get a better return by investing in the stock market. In the US in 2015/2016, mortgages are 3%-4%, and give you a tax break. The rate of return on the stock market is ~10%, (closer to 6%... |
Do people tend to spend less when using cash than credit cards? | First, let me answer the question the best way I can: I don't know if there are any studies other than those that have already been mentioned. Now, let's talk about something more interesting: You don't need to base your behavior on any study, even if it is scientific. Let's pretend, for example, that we could find a s... |
Which types of insurances do I need to buy? | Evaluate if the Rs 5 million term insurance is sufficient. Typically the term insurance provided by employer is in the range of 1 to 3 times the gross. Generally one should be covered in the range of 5 to 10 times the Gross. The sooner you start the lesser the premium and you can get insured for a large amount for a lo... |
What does a contract's worth mean? | It means $400m expected revenue, likely spread out over multiple years as it gets implemented, and not entirely guaranteed to happen as they still need to fulfill the contract. The impact on the stock price is complex - it should be positive, but nowhere close to a $400m increase in market cap. If the company is expect... |
Is the Chrysler extended warranty coverage worth it? | I haven't looked at that warranty in detail, but generally speaking this should help. What is GAP insurance? In the case of a total loss/write off gap insurance covers the outstanding finance after your regular insurance pay out. The two won't match up usually because of the depreciation right after you buy the car. Fo... |
What does Dividend 165% mean in stock market? | Do not confuse the DIV (%) value and the dividend yield. As you can see from this page, the DIV (%) is, as you say, 165%. However, the dividend yield is 3.73% at the time of writing. As the Investopedia page referenced above says: The payout ratio is calculated as follows: Annual Dividends per Share / Earnings per Sh... |
Would I qualify for a USDA loan? | All the above advices plus this: For you first house, you should start smaller. Buy a 100k or less condo if possible, then grow from there. You sell every 5 years or so when the market is favorable and you will slowly get to that nice 250k house. |
Will depositing $10k+ checks each month raise red flags with the IRS? | Your main concern seems to be to be accused of something called 'smurfing' or structuring. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structuring Depositing money amounts (cash or checks) under the 10k limit to circumvent the reporting requirement. People have been investigated for depositing under the limit, e.g. small business own... |
Friend was brainwashed by MLM-/ponzi investment scam. What can I do? | Your friend is investing time & money in a business that does not list an address or phone number on its website, not even in its 'press kit'. Even when they make a press release about moving into a new building, it does not list the address or even the street! C'mon, this is obviously a scam. No real business acts li... |
Personal taxes for Shopify / Paypal shop? | I'm assuming you're in the United States for this. I highly recommend getting a CPA to help you navigate the tax implications. Likely, you'll pay taxes as a sole proprietor, on top of any other income you made. Hopefully you kept good records because you'll be essentially paying for the profits, but you'll need to show... |
Is this mortgage advice good, or is it hooey? | I think the idea here is that because of the way mortgages are amortized, you can drop additional principal payments in the early years of the mortgage and significantly lower the overall interest expense over the life of the loan. A HELOC accrues interest like a credit card, so if you make a large principal payment us... |
Blog income taxes? | If the money comes to you, then it's income. If the money goes out from you, it's an expense. You get to handle the appropriate tax documentation for those business transactions. You may also have the pleasure of filing 1099-MISC forms for all of your blogging buddies if you've paid them more than $600. (Not 100% su... |
Dispute credit card transaction with merchant or credit card company? | You should dispute the transaction with the credit card. Describe the story and attach the cash payment receipt, and dispute it as a duplicate charge. There will be no impact on your score, but if you don't have the cash receipt or any other proof of the alternative payment - it's your word against the merchant, and he... |
Why doesn't Japan just divide the Yen by 100? | Some answers already informed about denomination. There are currencies, doing the cut off of two digits, for example the french franc. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_franc#New_franc When you look to old french movies, they often talked about 'old franc' when talking about values (at least in French original, ... |
Creating S-Corp: Should I Name My Wife as a Director/Shareholder? | There are many aspects to consider in deciding what sort of company you want to form. Instead of an S-corporation, you should determine whether it would be better to form a Limited Liability Company (LLC), Limited Partnership (LP) or even a professional company (PC). Littleadv is correct: There is minimal benefit in fo... |
More money towards down payment versus long-term investments | Another vote for a bigger downpayment, for the reasons Benjamin mentions. Also, from experience, I would save up at least a small pile as a separate house emergency fund because you will find things that are wrong and/or that got bodged by the previous owner and it's probably not going to last past the first few months... |
What's the best application, software or tool that can be used to track time? | The best one I've found is TimeSnapper, I have the worst memory but this basically allows me to visually play back the day. It has a bunch of reporting functionality too. |
Should I purchase a whole life insurance policy? (I am close to retirement) | First of all, congratulations on being in an incredible financial position. you have done well. So let's look at the investment side first. If you put 400,000 in a decent index fund at an average 8% growth, and add 75,000 every year, in 10 years you'll have about $1.95 Million, $800k of which is capital gain (more o... |
How can a credit card company make any money off me? I have a no-fee card and pay my balance on time | Of course they make money. They double dip in a lot of instances they make 2 - 3% plus $0.30 per transaction from the merchant and then whatever interest you pay on your card. So let's just say in one day you make stops at Starbucks for a $4 Latte, then at Wendy's for lunch for about $8, then you put about $20 worth of... |
What considerations are there for making investments on behalf of a friend? | Pool their money into my own brokerage account and simply split the gains/losses proportional to the amount of money that we've each contributed to the account. I'm wary of this approach due to the tax implications and perhaps other legal issues so I'd appreciate community insight here. You're right to be wary. Y... |
What is 'consolidating' debt and why do people do it? | This can mean a few things to me. Some of which has been mentioned already. It can mean one (or all) of the following to me: You take out a new credit card and transfer ALL other credit balances to it. (Only good if you destroy the others, this is a 0% offer, AND you plan on paying this card off furiously.) You do the... |
Is there a good rule of thumb for how much I should have set aside as emergency cash? | We aim to keep 6 months of expenses. The rationale is that its enough time to recover from most serious illnesses (that you can recover from) or a redundancy or pay for a large unexpected problem not covered by the insurance (e.g. the boiler dying). It also gives us enough time to reorganise finances if needed. For exa... |
First time investor and online brokerage accounts | Most mutual funds are designed to make the investment banks that sell them money, not to make investers money. They do this by taking significant fees out. Because they make lots of money on these funds, they advertise them a lot, and give them important-sounding names, like "Advanced technology global diversity long t... |
Would it make sense to buy a rental property as an LLC and not in my own name? | I'd have a good look at how much anonymity an LLC offers in your state - as far as I'm aware this varies from state to state. Out here in NV an LLC owner's privacy is supposedly fairly well protected, but in other states, not quite as much. Also keep in mind that while the LLC offers some protection (and I'm a big advo... |
Do my 401k/Roth accounts benefit from compounding? | Sure, stocks don't pay interest. I just looked up the word "compound" in a couple of dictionaries and the relevant definition in all of them just mentioned interest and not growth in the value of stock. So it may be technically inaccurate to talk about "compound growth" of a stock. I'll yield to someone more knowledgea... |
Is Bogleheadism (index fund investing) dead? | It's incredibly difficult to beat the market, especially after you're paying out significant fees for managed funds. The Bogleheads have some good things going for them on their low cost Vanguard style funds. The biggest winners in the financial markets are the people collecting fees from churn or setting up the deals ... |
What is the best way to help my dad consolidate his credit card debt at a lower rate? | I agree with you that you need to consolidate this debt using a loan. It may be hard to find a bank or credit organization that will give you an unsecured personal loan for that much money. I know of one, called Lending Club (Disclaimer - I'm an investor on this platform. Not trying to advertise, it's just the only pl... |
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... |
Where do stock traders get realtime updates on Fed announcements? Is there a feed I could scrape? | Tthe easiest place to see Fed announcements as soon as they're published is the Federal Reserve itself. If you want the information as soon as it's made publicly available, scrape the Federal Reserve press releases. I assume you're most interested in the announcements after the FOMC meetings, so you might want to scrap... |
Are services provided to Google employees taxed as income or in any way? | (Regarding one aspect of the question) Here's a survey suggesting new programmers value "free lunch", old programmers do not care about it: https://stackoverflow.blog/2017/06/12/new-kids-block-understanding-developers-entering-workforce-today/?cb=1 |
Alternatives to Intuit's PayTrust service for online bill viewing and bill payment? | Paytrust seems to be the only game in town. We've changed banks several times over the last 15 years and I can tell you that using a bank's bill pay service locks you in, big time. I loved paytrust because I could make one change if we changed banks. If you're using a bank directly for your bills, the ides of recrea... |
Intro to Investment options for a Canadian | I got started by reading the following two books: You could probably get by with just the first of those two. I haven't been a big fan of the "for dummies" series in the past, but I found both of these were quite good, particularly for people who have little understanding of investing. I also rather like the site, Cana... |
What's the best way to make money from a market correction? | For a non-technical investor (meaning someone who doesn't try to do all the various technical analysis things that theoretically point to specific investments or trends), having a diverse portfolio and rebalancing it periodically will typically be the best solution. For example, I might have a long-term-growth portfoli... |
Why are real-term bond yields systematically declining, and what does it mean for investors? | On a longer time scale, the plot thickens: It almost looks random. A large drop in real rates in the mid-70s, a massive spike in the early 80s, followed by a slow multi-decade decline. The chaos doesn't seem to be due to interest rates. They steadily climbed and steadily fell: All that's left is inflation: First, ... |
Steps and timing of the SEIS investment (in the UK) | You make the investment in Jan 2016. Assuming the SEIS certificate is issued before 5th April 2016, then you will enter the SEIS investment on your 2015-2016 tax return and claim the relief in that year. If the certificate is not issued in time then you will enter it in the 2016-2017 tax return and get the relief then.... |
Does a US LLC owned by a non-resident alien have to pay US taxes if it operates exclusively online? | Since as you say, an LLC is a pass-through entity, you will be making income in the U.S. when you sell to U.S. customers. And so you will need to file the appropriate personal tax forms in the US. As well as potentially in one or more States. The US government does not register LLCs. The various States do. So you'... |
Why is volatility in a positive direction clubbed in the same risk category as volatility in a negative direction? | Mostly, when an equity's price rises, its statistical and implied volatilities fall and vice versa. The reason why is a mathematical phenomenon mixed with the reality that a unceasingly falling asset price will soon not exist, skewing the results with survivorship bias. Since volatility is standard deviation of price... |
How can I get a mortgage I can't afford? | Save up a bigger downpayment. The lender's requirement is going to be based on how much you finance, not the price of the house. |
Why does ExxonMobil's balance sheet show more liabilities than assets? | You are reading the balance sheet wrong. Everything Joe says is completely correct, but more fundamentally you have missed out on a huge pile of assets. "Current assets" is only short term assets. You have omitted more than $300B in long-term assets, primarily plant and equipment. The balance sheet explicitly says: Net... |
Where to park money while saving for a car | I would split the savings as you may need some of it quickly for an emergency. At least 1/2 should be very liquid, such as cash or MMA/Checking. From there, look at longer term CDs, from 30 day to 180 day, depending upon your situation. Don't be surprised if by the time you've saved the money up, your desire for the ... |
Ask FBI permission to withdraw large sums from your checking or savings? | Is it true you have to file papers with the government in the US to withdraw large sums of cash at your local bank branch? It's true that a currency transaction report (CTR) gets filed with FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network) when you make a cash transaction in excess of $10,000. Banks have systems that do ... |
How to calculate S corporation distribution from past K-1s? | Disclaimer: I'm not a tax professional, or an expert on S-Corps. However, I do have my own S-Corp, and my decision process for taking a distribution has nothing (directly) to do with K-1 past or present, or profit and loss. If I have "extra" cash in my S-Corp, I take a distribution. Assuming I do my taxes correctly, ... |
Is it better to buy put options or buy an inverse leveraged ETF? | The only use of options that I will endorse is selling them. If you believe the market is going down then sell covered, out of the money, calls. Buying calls or buying puts usually wastes money. That is because of a quality called Theta. If the underlying security stays the same the going price of an option will decre... |
Is it a gift or not? | There are a few things that this question prompts - |
What causes discontinuities with stock prices | During the 12 plus hours the market was closed news can change investors opinion of the stock. When the market reopens that first trade could be much different than the last trade the day before. |
Estate taxes and the top 1 percent by net worth | Of course, you've already realized that some of that is that smaller estates are more common than larger estates. But it seems unlikely that there are four times as many estates between $10 and $11 million as above that range. People who expect to die with an estate subject to inheritance tax tend to prepare. I do... |
What is a 401(k) Loan Provision? | 401K accounts, both regular and Roth, generally have loans available. There are maximum amounts that are based on federal limits, and your balance in the program. These rules also determine the amount of time you have to repay the loan, and what happens if you quit or are fired while the loan is outstanding. In these l... |
What's a Letter of Credit? Are funds held in my bank for the amount in question? | Wikipedia has a detailed article explaining this. A standard, commercial letter of credit (LC) is a document issued mostly by a financial institution, used primarily in trade finance, which usually provides an irrevocable payment undertaking. So yes, they are primarily for use by businesses. If you will read the articl... |
Investing in real estate when the stock market is high, investing in stocks when it's low? | The right time to buy real estate is easy to spot. It's when it is difficult to get loans or when real estate agents selling homes are tripping over each other. It's the wrong time to buy when houses are sold within hours of the sign going up. The way to profit from equities over time is to dollar-cost average a divers... |
Why does a stock price drop as soon an I purchase several thousand shares at market price? | Any time a large order it placed for Buy, the sell side starts increasing as the demand of Buy has gone up. [Vice Versa is also true]. Once this orders gets fulfilled, the demand drops and hence the Sell price should also lower. Depending on how much was the demand / supply without your order, the price fluctuation wou... |
Home Renovations are expensive.. Should I only pay cash for them? | I know that both Lowes and Home Depot (in Canada at least) will offer a 6 month deferred interest payment on all purchases over a certain dollar amount (IIRC, $500+), and sometimes run product specific 1 year deferred interest specials. This is a very effective way of financing renovations. Details: You've probably see... |
Why would this kind of penny stock increase so much in value? | Well I'm not going to advise whether it's a good idea to invest in this company (though often OTC is pretty scary), but it DOES have a product (vivio, an ad blocker), it did post financials and it's trading on the OTC-QB (which is better than the pink sheets), so you need to look these over and study up on the product ... |
What is the correct pronunciation of CAGR? | I always hear people pronounce it to rhyme with "bagger". |
How come we can find stocks with a Price-to-Book ratio less than 1? | Note that the formula for Price to Book ratio is: Stock Price / {[Total Assets - (Intangible Assets + Liabilities)] / Stock Outstanding} http://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/price-to-bookratio.asp http://www.investopedia.com/articles/fundamental/03/112603.asp There's a number of factors that could lead to a lower th... |
How can I diversify $7k across ETFs and stocks? | You don't really have a lot of money, and that isn't a criticism as much as that you are limited to diversification. For example, I would estimate you can only have one or two stocks for a buy-write scheme. Secondly you may be only to buy one fund with a high minimum investment, and a second fund with a smaller minim... |
How to share income after marriage and kids? | You remind me a lot of myself as I was thinking about marriage. Luckily for me, my wife was much smarter about all this than I was. Hopefully, I can pass along some of her wisdom. Both of us feel very strongly about being financially independent and if possible we both don't want to take money from each other. In marri... |
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... |
Do mutual fund companies deliberately “censor” their portfolios/funds? | If I invest in individual stocks I will, from time to time, sell stocks that aren't performing well. If the value of my portfolio has gone up by 10%, then the value of my portfolio has gone up by 10%, regardless of whether selling those stocks is labeled as "delete[ing] failures". Same thing for mutual funds: selling u... |
Option on an option possible? (Have a LEAP, put to me?) | There are options on options. Some derivative instruments assets ARE options (some ETFs), and you are able to buy shares of those ETFs OR options on those ETFs. Secondly, options are just a contract, so you just need to write one up and find someone to buy the contract. The only thing is that the exchange won't facil... |
What's the general principle behind choosing saving vs. paying off debt? | Debt creates risk. Plain and simple. Comparing interest rates of debt vs. possible investing. To me, it is all meaningless. When you are in debt, you options are limited. If you are not in debt, you have more freedom. To me, it is a no brainer. Become debt free ASAP. |
Can Per Diem deductions include family travel, meals and housing? | You cannot deduct anything. Since you're actually moving, your tax home will move with you. You can only deduct the moving expenses (actual moving - packing, shipping, and hotels while you drive yourself there). |
Where can one find intraday prices for mutual funds? | Mutual funds don't have intraday prices. They have net asset values which are calculated periodically (daily or weekly or any other period depending on the fund). |
GnuCash: expense tracking/amounts left under limits | Yes. The simplest option to track your spending over time is to familiarize yourself with the "Reports" menu on the toolbar. Take a look specifically at the "Reports > Income/Expense > Income Statement" report, which will sum up your income and spending over a time frame (defaults to the current year). In each report... |
Rental Property - have someone look for you | Actually sounds like an interesting concept for a business, potentially! (grin) You know, depending on where you live and how big the market is, you might see if there's a local "concierge" service. These are companies that will act like personal shoppers/assistants for you in all kinds of ways. I can't speak to the ... |
Expecting to move in five years; how to lock mortgage rates? | You could consider turning your current place into a Rental Property. This is more easily done with a fixed rate loan, and you said you have an ARM. The way it would work: If you can charge enough rent to cover your current mortgage plus the interest-difference on your new mortgage, then the income from your rental pro... |
Will I get a tax form for sale of direct purchased stock (US)? | I think I found the answer, at least in my specific case. From the heading "Questar/Dominion Resources Merger" in this linked website: Q: When will I receive tax forms showing the stock and dividend payments? A: You can expect a Form 1099-B in early February 2017 showing the amount associated with payment of your sha... |
How much would it cost me to buy one gold futures contract on Comex? | In order to understand how much you might gain or lose from participating in the futures markets, it is important to first understand the different ways in which the slope of the futures markets can be described. In many of the futures markets there is a possibility of somebody buying a commodity at the spot price and ... |
If gold's price implodes then what goes up? | Nothing necessarily has to "benefit." Right now, what primarily drives demand for gold is its perceived use as a hedge against the inflation of fiat currency. I.e. when inflation strikes, the price of gold goes up rapidly. Thus, for a given currency, gold decreasing in price is almost always a signal that the currency ... |
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