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Should I pay off my 50K of student loans as quickly as possible, or steadily? Why?
If you make paying off those loans a priority, you will find money where you can and also look for stuff to sell around your home and also look for as much extra work as you can stand.
How can I invest my $100?
What is your investing goal? And what do you mean by investing? Do you necessarily mean investing in the stock market or are you just looking to grow your money? Also, will you be able to add to that amount on a regular basis going forward? If you are just looking for a way to get $100 into the stock market, your best ...
How does giving to charity work?
A simpler view is that tax deductions allow you to give to charities from your gross salary, not your net salary.
How is my employer affected if I have expensive claims on my group health insurance?
I don't think so. There is a provision in ObamaCare called "community rating" that applies starting in 2014. Insurance companies must place individual and small group plans into a pool of people from the same geographical region. The same plan must cost the same for all small businesses from the same region. So having ...
Do company-provided meals need to be claimed on my taxes?
In many cases yes. In the case of an employer handing employees a credit card to use, that is clearly income if the card is used for something other than a business expense. Generally speaking, if you're receiving something with a significant value without strings attached, it is likely taxable. Google no doubt has an...
Where should I park my money if I'm pessimistic about the economy and I think there will be high inflation?
Given those assumptions (which I happen to think are reasonable) it seems to me the obvious place is to buy non-Australian assets, such as the Vanguard VTS (total US share market) and VEU (world ex-US) ETFs, and perhaps also some international fixed-interest ETFs. I think keeping a certain amount of cash would be pru...
Are all financial advisors compensated in the same way?
No, they certainly are not compensated the same way. Some are paid by commission that they earn from the products they sell (ie, certain mutual funds, insurance, etc.) Others are paid for their advice based on an hourly fee, or a percentage of the portfolio you have to invest. This is a great question, because too ma...
What options do I have at 26 years old, with 1.2 million USD?
Former financial analyst here, happy to help you. First off, you are right to not be entirely trusting of advisors and attorneys. They are usually trustworthy, but not always. And when you are new to this, the untrustworthy ones have a habit of reaching you first - you're their target market. I'll give you a little bre...
I'm 18. How to build good monthly income at my 20's?
It looks like you need a lot more education on the subject. I suggest you pick up a book on investing and portfolio management to get a first idea. Dividend yields are currently way below 5% on blue chips. Unlike coupons from fixed income instruments (which, in the same risk category, pay a lot less), dividend yields a...
Roth IRA - Vanguard or Fidelity? If a college student had to pick one?
The minimum at Schwab to open an IRA is $1000. Why don't you check the two you listed to see what their minimum opening balance is? If you plan to go with ETFs, you want to ask them what their commission is for a minimum trade. In Is investing in an ETF generally your best option after establishing a Roth IRA? sheegao...
Why Google Finance puts to two decimal places for the trading volumes?
Many brokerages offer automatic dividend reinvestment. It is very infrequent that these dividends are exactly a whole share. So, if you have signed up for automatic dividend reinvestment, many brokerages will reinvest your dividends and assign to you a fractional share. I can't speak for how these shares work with rega...
Investing: P/E Ratio basic question
While on the surface it might not make sense to pay more than one dollar to get just one dollar back, the key thing is that a good company's earnings are recurring each year. So, you wouldn't just be paying for the $1 dollar of earnings per share this year, but for the entire future stream of earnings per share, every ...
Is it common in the US not to pay medical bills?
There are some uniquely American issues in this question (and answer), but some general principles as well. Regarding the comment that you quoted, the context (some of which you excluded) needs some clarification.
Why would a country want to use the currency of some other country?
This is more of an economics question than personal finance. That said, I already started writing an answer before I noticed, so here are a few points. I'll leave it open for others to expand the list. Advantages Disadvantages Advantages Disadvantages The flip-side to the argument that more users means more stability i...
Does a larger down payment make an offer stronger?
There is some element of truth to what your realtor said. The seller takes the house off the market after the offer is accepted but the contract is contingent upon, among other things, buyer securing the financing. A lower down payment can mean a higher chance of failing that. The buyer might be going through FHA, VA ...
What happens to the original funds when a certified bank check is not cashed?
The answer probably varies with local law, and you haven't said where you're located. In most or all US states, it appears that after some statutory length of time, the bank would transfer the money to the state government, where it would be held indefinitely as "unclaimed property" in the name of the recipient (techni...
Why are daily rebalanced inverse/leveraged ETFs bad for long term investing?
In addition to the excellent answers here I might suggest a reason for investing in leveraged funds and the original purpose for their existence. Lets say you run a mutual fund that is supposed to track the performance of the S&P 500. If you have cash inflows and outflows from your fund due to people investing and s...
Personal finance app where I can mark transactions as “reviewed”?
Not web-based, but both Moneydance and You Need A Budget allow this.
ACH processing time of day
Each bank is different, so your question needs to be more specific. For instance, I believe Paypal and Chase settles at 7pm EST on business days. Bank of America at 5PM.
May 6, 2010 stock market decline/plunge: Why did it drop 9% in a few minutes?
I hate attributing an event like this to a single cause. That implies that the market is an orderly system where everything operates smoothly. I prefer to see it as much chaotic. When I see a drop like that happen, I'd say that there were a lot of sellers of stocks and all the buyers were bidding less and less for th...
What kind of traditional IRA should I use to hold funds from old employer 401K plans?
Magazines like SmartMoney often have an annual issue that reviews brokers. One broker may have a wider variety of no-fee mutual funds, and if that's your priority, then the stock commissions may be a moot issue for you. In general, you can't go wrong with a Fidelity or Schwab, and to choose investments within the accou...
Free/open source Unix software that pulls info from all my banks/brokers/credit cards?
Buxfer is a personal-finance web app which you might like. It's not open-source. But at least none of your complaints about financeworks.intuit.com apply to Buxfer. Buxfer offers a piece of software you can download to your own PC, called Firebux. This macro-recording software provides automation that helps you down...
How do wire transfers get settled?
Wire transfers normally run through either the Fedwire system or the Clearing House Interbank Payments System (CHIPS). The process generally works like this: You approach a bank or other financial institution and ask to transfer money. You give the bank a certain code, either an international bank account number or one...
Money market account for emergency savings
Depends on how urgent your need for the emergency savings might be. If the money market account allows you to get your money in the same amount of time as the savings account then there is no real downside, but if the account takes a few days for you to access and you need your money sooner then you probably shouldn't....
Make your money work for you
In addition to the other excellent answers here, check out Mr. Money Mustache's site, it's based in the US but the basics still hold here in the UK. Another great site is the Monevator which is UK based and gives some great information on passive investing. Well done on getting to this point at your age - you've got pl...
At what point is the contents of a trust considered to be the property of the beneficiary?
Both a trust and an estate are separate, legal, taxpaying entities, just like any individual. Income earned by the trust or estate property (e.g., rents collected from real estate) is income earned by the trust or the estate. Who is liable for taxes on income earned by a trust depends on who receives or retains benefit...
Can I request to change 401k offerings from my employer, e.g. to invest in ETFs?
The presence of the 401K option means that your ability to contribute to an IRA will be limited, it doesn't matter if you contribute to the 401K or not. Unless your company allows you to roll over 401K money into an IRA while you are still an employee, your money in the 401K will remain there. Many 401K programs offer ...
If I send money to someone on student visa in USA, will he need to pay taxes on that?
First: I am not a tax lawyer. This is just an educated opinion; not a legally verified answer. Taxes are to be paid on income, not on money that you handle for someone. So if the idea is only that he gets and holds the money for you until a later point in time, there should be no tax liability. If the amount is high en...
Why is company provided health insurance tax free, but individual health insurance is not?
All questions regarding why is activity X taxed but activity Y taxed differently boils down to: The legislature wanted to promote or discourage the activity. By making employer provided healthcare tax free to the employee, the average worker like the plan. Not only is a significant portion not coming out of my paycheck...
help with how a loan repayment is calculated
It appears the interest is not compounded daily. Each period of interest has the loan amount calculated on the "capital" remaining on the start of period, for each day in the period. The Excel finance functions don't handle irregular periods that well, but I can reconstruct the interest calculations:
Getting over that financial unease? Budgeting advice
Budgeting is a tool for planning, not for execution. It sounds like you don't have a problem BUDGETING (planning what to spend on what things) but rather with the execution of your plan. That is - living frugally. This is primarily an issue of self control and personal psychology - not an issue with the mechanics of bu...
Investments - Huge drop in bid price versus last close
Depends on when you are seeing these bids & asks-- off hours, many market makers pull their bid & ask prices entirely. In a lightly traded stock there may just be no market except during the regular trading day.
Best way to start investing, for a young person just starting their career?
Not 100% related, but the #1 thing you need to avoid is CREDIT CARD DEBT. Trust me on this one. I'm 31, and finally got out of credit card debt about eight months ago. For just about my entire 20s, I racked up credit card debt and saved zero. Invested zero. It pains me to realize that I basically wasted ten years of p...
Dad paying for my new home in cash. How can I buy the house from him?
There are quite some options, but without additional information, I can only provide examples. Last year I had the option to buy a house, but I decided against it because in my area it is getting harder and harder every year to sell it at a reasonable price. But if I had bought a house, my mother would have lent me the...
If I own x% of company A, and A buys company B, do I own x% of B?
Ok, so imagine I own x% of Facebook and Facebook buys WhatsApp, does this mean I own x% of WhatsApp? Yea definitely , you own x% of Whatsapp assuming Facebook buys 100% of WhatApps which is in this case How much shares of FaceBook do I need to own to have access to WhatsApp's books? As WhatsApp is a privately held...
Where can I find the nominal price of a stock prior a split into multiple companies?
Yahoo Finance provides the proper closing price. HP's historical data around the split date can be found here. The open, high and low of the day are wrong prior the split, but the closing price is right and for HP, it was $26.96 USD. The next day the closing price was $13.83 USD.
Is there any reason to buy shares before/after a split?
Assuming you plan to buy a whole number of shares and have a maximum dollar value you intend to invest, it may be better to wait for the split if the figures don't quite work out nicely. For example, if you are going to invest $1,000 and the stock pre-split is $400 and the split is 2 for 1, then you'd buy 2 shares befo...
Can I estimate other people's credit limit at the grocery store?
What you're referring to is Visa Easy Payment Services (VEPS). Other payment processors have similar programs. Basically, certain merchants (based on merchant category code - or MCC), are not required to obtain a signature under $50. This limit was raised to $50 from $25 last year. Here is the press release from Visa d...
Is 6% too high to trade stocks on margin?
Okay so we are assuming that you can sustain 6% or more return on your investments. Personally I would compare that rate to what lines of credit are going for and do what ever is least expensive. Either way your risk is the same. Your net worth is the same. Your assets will be the same. Your liabilities will be t...
Pay off car or use money for down payment
Option 2. Selling the car yourself will give you the best value, especially if you can get its full value. This will cost you time, but will return much better return for your money. Also, I would strongly recommend buying a used car from a private owner (not a dealer), rather than buying a new car. For $14,000 in cash...
Do bond interest rate risk premiums only compensate for the amount investors might lose?
In answer to your last formulation, no. In a perfectly efficient market, different investors still have different risk tolerances (or utility functions). They're maximizing expected utility, not expected value. The portfolios that maximize expected utility for different risk preferences are different, and thus general...
How (or is it necessary) to rebalance a 401k with only one index fund?
There's nothing to rebalance, the index fund rebalances itself to continue matching the index. However, you need to understand that such an investment is not diversified and you only invest in a very specific market, and very specific stocks on that market. S&P 500 is large (500 different companies, most of the time), ...
What does the phrase “To make your first million” mean?
I'd interpret it as "Net Worth" reached 1M where "net worth" = assets - liabilities.
Why would you ever turn down a raise in salary?
I had a colleague turn down a raise once because he believed that female colleagues were already being paid well below his salary and it was unfair to further increase this gap. For very public figures raises are often declined as a form of leadership: showing that management is willing to forgo bonuses and salary incr...
How did this day trader lose so much?
Learn something new every day... I found this interesting and thought I'd throw my 2c in. Good description (I hope) from Short Selling: What is Short Selling First, let's describe what short selling means when you purchase shares of stock. In purchasing stocks, you buy a piece of ownership in the company. You buy/sell ...
When to start investing in an index fund? Wait for a bear market, use dollar cost-averaging, or another approach?
The fact that you are choosing index fund means you are surely not one of those investors who can correctly judge dips. But buying on dips is still important. You can use a method called Dollar Value Averaging. It is better than Dollar Cost Averaging. Just make sure you apply a lower limit and an upper limit to be more...
Transferred Stocks in 1993, sold 2017 taxes
Assuming the stock was worth more at the time she gave it to you than when she bought it, the cost basis would be the amount that she bought it for. You would then pay tax on the increase in value from that time. Generally it's better to inherit assets than receive them as gifts, since the cost basis of inherited asse...
Why don't banks give access to all your transaction activity?
If you need access to your data beyond the online availability, you download the transactions and manage the archive yourself. Six months to eighteen months is generally enough time for most people to manage their own archived data. Big banks have the power to store and retrieve all the data online. Unfortunately, the ...
How to choose a good 401(k) investment option?
Great question and good for you for starting investments. Are you young, like in your 20s? I would do all that you can in the ROTH. You will not get a tax break now, but you will get one later. Keep in mind that any company match does not go into ROTH but the IRA. I try to look at two things when judging a mutual fu...
Is it financially advantageous and safe to rent out my personal car?
The moment that you start to rent your car to strangers you are talking about using your car as a business. Will it be financially advantageous? If you can convince somebody to rent your vehicle for more than your required monthly payments then it might be. Of course you have to determine what would be the true cost of...
Which is better when working as a contractor, 1099 or incorporating?
I am surprised no one has mentioned the two biggest things (in my opinion). Or I should say, the two biggest things to me. First, 1099 have to file quarterly self employment taxes. I do not know for certain but I have heard that often times you will end up paying more this way then even a W-2 employees. Second, an ...
Calculating return on a series of stock positions with multiple uneven transactions
Generally if you are using FIFO (first in, first out) accounting, you will need to match the transactions based on the number of shares. In your example, at the beginning of day 6, you had two lots of shares, 100 @ 50 and 10 @ 52. On that day you sold 50 shares, and using FIFO, you sold 50 shares of the first lot. Th...
Should I pay myself a dividend or a salary?
In cases like this you should be aware that tax treaties may exist and that countries are generally willing to enter into them. Their purpose is to help prevent double taxation. Tax treaties often times give you a better tax rate than even being a resident of the countries in question! (For instance, the Italy to US ta...
Brief concept about price movement of a particular stock [duplicate]
The problem with predicting with accuracy what a stock price will do in any given situation is that there are two main factors that affect a stocks price. The first factor is based somewhat in math as it takes into account numbers such as supply and demand, earnings per share, expected earnings, book value, debt ratio ...
Do Americans still need extra health care / medical insurance after reform to health care? [U.S.]
I think it is too early to tell. They changed so many variables in an incredibly complex system, and a lot of it will depend on how the requirements in the legislation look once the bureaucrats and insurance companies get a chance to interpret them and implement them as policy. My gut feeling is that for most people, y...
Over contributing to workplace pension or private pension
Firstly (and this part is rather opinion-based) I would absolutely not think of making more pension contributions when you are currently totaling 6% of salary as "over contributing". There are some who argue that you should be putting a minimum of 20% away for retirement throughout your working life; you don't say how ...
Is an analyst's “price target” assumed to be for 12 months out?
The time horizon applicable to the price target is always specified by the broker or bank which published the research report. You will find this information in the disclaimer, which is present on every research report. Usually it is 12 months, but some firms give 6 months price targets. However, you should never rely...
What effect would a company delisting from the LSE to move to china have on shareholders?
Source Rule 41 of the AIM Rules sets out the procedure for delisting. In summary, a company that wishes to cancel the right of any of its trading securities must: The notification to the Exchange should be made by the company’s nominated adviser and should be given at least 20 business days prior to the intended cance...
Can I estimate other people's credit limit at the grocery store?
The minimum amount is set by the merchant services provider based on the kind of business, its location and the history. It mostly has nothing to do with you personally. However, the minimum amount differs based on the kind of credit cards being used. For example, foreign credit cards will require signatures on much lo...
Is there any “Personal” Finance app that allows 2 administrators?
We use YNAB to handle our household budget - their latest version allows cloud sync between Android/iOS devices and various desktop installs. I have the budget folder shared with my wife's Dropbox account so we both an view the budget, enter spending, and make changes.
Is there any way to buy a new car directly from Toyota without going through a dealership?
I feel your pain. It probably depends on your state, but two things we've tried with some benefit:
Losing Money with Norbert's Gambit
When you hold units of the DLR/DLR.U (TSX) ETF, you are indirectly holding U.S. dollars cash or cash equivalents. The ETF can be thought of as a container. The container gives you the convenience of holding USD in, say, CAD-denominated accounts that don't normally provide for USD cash balances. The ETF price ($12.33 an...
I have $12k in a Chase checking account, but want to start earning interest/saving/investing/etc to make more money. What should I do?
Lets make some assumptions. You are not close to retirement. You have no other debts. You have a job. You have no big need for the money. You should invest that. Do not invest with a bank, they are not as competitive on fees as a brokerage account. You can get specific answers that are different from every person...
How are they earning money in the movie “Trading Places”?
Sell 200 at 142. What does that mean? I haven't seen the movie, so I won't try to put anything in story context. "Sell 200 at 142" means to sell 200 units (usually shares, but in this case it would likely be gallons or barrels of orange juice or pounds or tons of frozen juice). In general, this could mean that you h...
Calculate Future Value with Recurring Deposits
Using the following values: The formula for the future value of an annuity due is d*(((1 + i)^t - 1)/i)*(1 + i) See Calculating The Present And Future Value Of Annuities In an annuity due, a deposit is made at the beginning of a period and the interest is received at the end of the period. This is in contrast to an or...
Where do stock traders get realtime updates on Fed announcements? Is there a feed I could scrape?
Bloomberg terminal is a pretty standard way nowadays to get this information (and a lot more) pretty much in real time.
Personal finance app where I can mark transactions as “reviewed”?
I had exactly the same need and I ended up using BillGuard and I like it. At the end of the day, it sends an alert where I need to review all the transactions - takes hardly 5seconds and I am on top of all transactions. From the last 1yr I have found 1 fraudulent and 2 duplicate charge using billguard. Didn't really ...
Can I rely on my home equity to finance large home repairs?
Personally, I'd use my emergency fund first. It is unlikely (though possible, of course) that I will entirely lose my income at the same time I need to replace my roof or my furnace. I'd rather pay my emergency fund back with installment payments than pay off a HELOC to my bank. The lost interest on my emergency fund, ...
ETF S&P 500 with Reinvested Dividend
What you seem to want is a dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP). That's typically offered by the broker, not by the ETF itself. Essentially this is a discounted purchase of new shares when you're dividend comes out. As noted in the answer by JoeTaxpayer, you'll still need to pay tax on the dividend, but that probably w...
Is there a general guideline for what percentage of a portfolio should be in gold?
Gold's valuation is so stratospheric right now that I wonder if negative numbers (as in, you should short it) are acceptable in the short run. In the long run I'd say the answer is zero. The problem with gold is that its only major fundamental value is for making jewelry and the vast majority is just being hoarded in...
Proper etiquette for loans from friends
The standard approach is to reach an agreement and put it in writing. What you agree upon is up to you, but in the US if you want to avoid gift taxes larger loans need to be properly documented and must charge at least a certain minimal interest rate. (Or at least you must declare and be taxed upon that minimal income ...
For what dates are the NYSE and U.S. stock exchanges typically closed?
All public US equity exchanges are closed on the 9 US trading holidays (see below) and open on all other days. Exchanges also close early (13:00 ET) on the Friday after Thanksgiving and on the day before Independence Day if Independence Day is being observed on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. (Some venues ...
Good at investing - how to turn this into a job?
Staying in Idaho, you could pursue some additional degree and try to get a job with a bank in the area as an investment advisor of some sort. However, I have doubts as to whether or not you'd be able to employ your creativity and test your own instincts in that sort of a position. If you really want to get into the big...
How to sell option with no volume
A few observations - A limit order can certainly work, as you've seen. I've put in such an order far beyond the true value, and gotten back a realistic bid/ask within 10 minutes or so. That at least gave me an idea where to set my limit. When this doesn't work, an exercise is always another way to go. You'll get the ...
Why would a car company lend me money at a very low interest rate?
Because the federal government won't use the money to buy a car thus generating profits for the car company. The aim of cheap loans is to drive sales of cars. The difference between the amount of interest paid on the loan, and the amount they could have got by investing it elsewhere, is simply a reduction in the profit...
What expenses do most people not prepare for that turn into “emergencies” but are not covered by an Emergency Fund?
Here's a few. Is this what you're looking for? Also this should probably be a community wiki.
Why do VAT-registered businesses in the EU charge VAT to each other?
Not doing this would defeat the entire purpose of a VAT. The reason for a VAT rather than a simple sales tax is that it's harder to evade. Having a simple sales tax with the type of rates that VAT taxes typically are is unworkable because evasion is too easy. Imagine I'm a retailer. I buy products from a wholesaler and...
Will progressively investing with moderate-to-high risk help secure a future?
There are a few flaws in your reasoning: I know my portfolio will always keep going up, No, it won't. You'll have periods of losses. You are starting your investing in a bull market. Do NOT be fooled into believing that your successes now will continue indefinitely. The more risky your portfolio, the bigger the loss...
Is it better to miss the dividend and buy the undervalued stock?
I guess the answer lies in your tax jurisdiction (different countries tax capital gains and income differently) and your particular tax situation. If the price of the stock goes up or down between when you buy and sell then this counts for tax purposes as a capital gain or loss. If you receive a dividend then this coun...
Do investors go long option contracts when they cannot cover the exercise of the options?
I do this often and have never had a problem. My broker is TD Ameritrade and they sent several emails (and even called and left a message) the week of expiry to remind me I had in the money options that would be expiring soon. Their policy is to automatically exercise all options that are at least $.01 in the money. ...
23 and on my own, what should I be doing?
You are doing Great! But you might want to read a couple of books and do some studying on budgeting and personal finance - education yourself now and you will avoid pain in the future. I learned a lot from reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover, and I have found some great advice from the simple budgeting guideline...
Best way to start investing, for a young person just starting their career?
This is a tough question, because it is something very specific to your situation and finances. I personally started at a young age (17), with US$1,000 in Scottrade. I tried the "stock market games" at first, but in retrospect they did nothing for me and turned out to be a waste of time. I really started when I actuall...
Remortgaging my home to release capital for second property
I've had a hard time finding out details on remortgaging Help to Buy loans myself, but found one article (http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-3038831/Help-Buy-borrowers-risk-missing-best-remortgage-deals.html) which points out it IS possible. But also that there aren't many lenders offering such d...
Can someone explain recent AAMRQ stock price behavior to me?
There are things that are clearly beyond me as well. Cash per share is $12.61 but the debt looks like $30 or so per share. I look at that, and the $22 negative book value and don't see where the shareholders are able to recoup anything.
What does it mean to long convexity of options?
Convexity refers to vega. Gamma refers to delta. Negative carry refers to time decay.
Does a stock really dip in price on the ex-dividend date? And why would it do this?
Suppose the price didn't drop on the ex-dividend date. Then people wanting to make a quick return on their money would buy shares the day before, collect the dividend, and then sell them on the ex-dividend date. But all those people trying to buy on the day before would push the price up, and they would push the price ...
What factors should I consider when evaluating index funds?
The idea of an index is that it is representative of the market (or a specific market segment) as a whole, so it will move as the market does. Thus, past performance is not really relevant, unless you want to bank on relative differences between different countries' economies. But that's not the point. By far the most ...
Where to find site with earnings calendar?
Google finance will allow you to import earnings report dates directly to your Google calendar. See screenshot with calendar import button circled in red below.
What's a good personal finance management web app that I can use in Canada?
Now, if you're still intrested, Mint.com works also for Canadian banks. Mint Canada
I'm thinking of getting a new car … why shouldn't I LEASE one?
It's a very simple equation. If we forget about the stress and limitations that come with the so-called "lease", and make the following assumptions: Then after 3 years of using this new car: I will never understand why people still "lease" a car. Even for very low income people who have to have a car, financing a per-o...
To rebalance or not to rebalance
In theory, investing is not gambling because the expected outcome is not random; people are expecting positive returns, on average, with some relationship to risk undertaken and economic reality. (More risk = more returns.) Historically this is true on average, that assets have positive returns, and riskier assets have...
Is it possible to trade CFD without leverage?
You can but there is no point trading CFD's seeing you may still lose more than your investment due to slippage
Is my wash sale being calculated incorrectly?
Strangely enough, you have a wash sale, but, for the fact that you sold the shares and then more than 30 days passed, you can take the loss. I mistakenly used the phrase "and ended the year with no shared of the stock" elsewhere, and was corrected, as one can sell at a loss up to 12/31, and have until the end of Janua...
Best starting options to invest for retirement without a 401k
First, check out some of the answers on this question: Oversimplify it for me: the correct order of investing When you have determined that you are ready to invest for retirement, there are two things you need to consider: the investment and the account. These are separate items. The investment is what makes your mone...
If throwing good money after bad is generally a bad idea, is throwing more money after good Ok?
I have heard that investing more money into an investment which has gone down is generally a bad idea*. "Throwing good money after bad" so to speak. Is investing more money into a stock, you already have a stake in, which has gone up in price; a good idea? Other things being equal, deciding whether to buy more st...
Friend was brainwashed by MLM-/ponzi investment scam. What can I do?
So here's the sad truth. He might actually be making a return on his investment. Not because it's right or because the system works, but in all these schemes there are a range of people that actually do make money. In addition to that, there is that fact that he "believes" that he is doing a good thing, and is unwilli...
Why are American Express cards are not as popular as Visa or MasterCard?
American Express was originally a mail business that moved into money-orders. Traditionally their cards have been charge cards instead of a credit card (though they have credit products now as well). They've been marketed specifically as a "premium" product for people who have a significant amount of money (and are wil...
What should I do with my money?
If you are in an economy which has a decent liquid debt market (corporate bonds, etc.), then you may look into investing in AA or AA+ rated bonds. They can provide higher returns than bank deposits and are virtually risk-free. (Though in severe economic downturns, you can see defaults in even very high-rated bonds, lea...
Can a CEO short his own company?
If we take only the title of the question "can the CEO short the stock": It was probably different before Enron, but nowadays a CEO can only make planned trades, that is trades that are registered a very long time before, and that cannot be avoided once registered. So the CEO can say "I sell 100,000 shares in exactly s...
Can capital loss in traditional IRA and Roth IRA be used to offset taxable income?
No, you cannot. If you withdraw everything from all your Roth IRA's and end up with less than the total basis - you can deduct the difference on your schedule A (at the time of the last withdrawal) as an itemized deduction (as misc. deductions with 2% AGI cap). Regular IRA's are pre-tax, you cannot deduct anything from...