Question stringlengths 14 166 | Answer stringlengths 3 17k |
|---|---|
Gigantic point amount on rewards card - what are potential consequences? | I can't give you proper legal advice, but if I called their customer service and used half an hour of my time to wait and explain the situation in detail, and their official response was "just use the points," I would do just that. Of course you would have stronger legal standing if you had recorded their answer, or ha... |
Can I sell a stock immediately? | You can*, if the market is open, in a normal trading phase (no auction phase), works, and there is an existing bid or offer on the product you want to trade, at the time the market learns of your order. Keep in mind there are 2 prices: bid and offer. If the current bid and current offer were the same, it would immediat... |
What's the fuss about identity theft? | While everything can be fixed in the end, and you can usually get all your money back, recovering from identity theft can take months or years. In the meantime, these are some of the things which you might not be able to do: In addition, you could face the following events: For all that, checking your credit report / s... |
What is an ideal number of stock positions that I should have in my portfolio? | I would just buy one ETF (index-fund) on the market you think will perform better. It will take care to buy the 5 most solid stock in this market and many other more to reduce the risk to the bear minimum. You will also spend only few bucks in comissions, definitely less than what you would spend buying multiple stocks... |
What is the best approach to save money for College for three kids? | I'm not a 'rule of thumb' guy, but here, I'd suggest that if you can set aside 10% of your income each year for college, that would be great. That turns out to be $900/mo. In 15 years, if you saw an 8% CAGR, you'd have $311K which happens to be in your range of expenses. And you'd still have time to go as the baby won... |
The life cycle of money | Echoing JohnF, and assuming you mean the physical, rather than abstract meaning of money? The abstract concept obviously isn't replaced (unless the currency is discredited, or like the creation of the Euro which saw local currencies abandoned). The actual bits of paper are regularly collected, shredded (into itty-bitt... |
Why do people use mortgages, when they could just pay for the house in full? | I believe the reason is because society and the economy is set up a certain way, and re-enforced by the government. Your options are: So, people usually go with the most attractive of their limited options, getting a mortgage. If you want to dig deeper, do some research as to why housing is expensive. Some things to co... |
It's possible to short a stock without paying interest? | It is possible and it depends on your strategy. As short selling interest rates are annual and levied monthly at a prorated rate. Interest rates are also low in general, with the exception of hard to borrow stocks. Therefore you can maintain a short position for weeks on end and notice nothing. Months even, if the posi... |
How does one typically exit (close out) a large, in-the-money long put option position? | While open interest usually correlates to volume, the mark of liquidity is the bid ask spread. Even when trading options with spreads as large as an ask 2x the bid, a more realistic price that traders are willing to accept lies somewhere in the middle. Any option can easily be exited at intrinsic value: underlying pric... |
What is a good way to keep track of your credit card transactions, to reduce likelihood of fraud? | One trick is to make all purchases end in a particular number of your choosing, say "3". From now on, all restaurant meals,gas purchases, and anything in your control, end them in 3. When you glance at the bill, you can skip these charges, and look carefully at the rest. It's not 100%, as you couldn't easily impact sup... |
Comparison between buying a stock and selling a naked put | I sell a put for a strike price at the market. The stock rises $50 over the next couple months. I've gotten the premium, but lost the rest of the potential gain, yet had the downside risk the whole time. There's no free lunch. Edit - you can use a BS (Black-Scholes) calculator to create your own back testing. The cal... |
Long term drip (dividend reinvestment plan) stock | There are ETFs and mutual funds that pay dividends. Mutual funds and ETFs are quite similar. Your advisor is correct regarding future funds you invest. But you already had incurred the risk of buying an individual stock. That is a 'sunk cost'. If you were satisfied with the returns you could have retained the HD stock ... |
Why do only motor insurers employ “No Claims Discounts”? | Some people are better drivers than others. A collision can happen to anybody, even good drivers. The collision might not be your fault at all; it might be entirely the fault of the other party. However, the best drivers do a better job of avoiding collisions in situations where the other drivers on the road are doing... |
My account's been labeled as “day trader” and I got a big margin call. What should I do? What trades can I place in the blocked period? | You need to contact the trading company and ask them what's going on. If it's simply a matter of needing to add more cash because you are now classified as a day trader, then call them, ask them what you need to do to not be considered a day trader, and do that. It would likely consist of not trading for a week and the... |
Single investment across multiple accounts… good, bad, indifferent? | The main restrictions you see with IRA's involve contributions, and not the actual investments themselves. I would be indifferent to having a single investment across multiple accounts. It might be a bit trickier to manage, especially if your strategy involves some specific asset allocation. Other than account manageme... |
Source of income: from dividends vs sale of principal or security | Some people have this notion that withdrawing dividends from savings is somehow okay but withdrawing principal is not. Note, this notion. Would someone please explain the "mistake" on P214 and why it's a mistake? Because there may be times where withdrawing principal may be a good idea as one could sell off someth... |
Why is routing number called ABA/ABN number? | The ABA number you speak of is more accurately called the Routing Transit Number. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Routing_transit_number A routing transit number (RTN) is a nine digit bank code, used in the United States, which appears on the bottom of negotiable instruments such as checks identifying the financial ... |
In the USA, why is the Free File software only available for people earning less than $62k? | Free File is not software by the IRS. Free File is actually a partnership between the IRS and the Free File Alliance, a group of tax software companies. The software companies have all agreed to provide a free version of their tax software for low-income taxpayers. According to the Free File Alliance FAQ, the Allianc... |
Is giving my girlfriend money for her mortgage closing costs and down payment considered fraud? | It's a gift if there are no strings attached. If you are rationalizing it to try to make it a gift for tax or any other purpose when there really is a connection between the transactions, or when you expect any kind of value or benefit in return for it, then it's not a gift... don't make it one and don't call it one. T... |
S&P reports: number of shareholders? | Yes these are the number of shareholders that are not held in "street name" plus the different brokerages that hold the shares in "street name". So the stat is pointless since it really only lists the few people who own the stocks outside of a brokerage account and a bunch of wall street brokers. |
What is the difference between speculating and investing? | Investing is balancing the desire for return against the various risks that your money is faced with. There's also a recognition that an investment will be in place for some extended period of time. Speculation is seeking short-term maximum return, without protecting yourself against risk. "Speculation" or "Speculator... |
What can I replace Microsoft Money with, now that MS has abandoned it? | MoneyDance Is the way to go. I've been using it for years and it works well. It keeps getting better, and best of all, it's completely cross platform! Mac, Windows and linux! |
How do you invest in real estate without using money? | Sounds like the seminar is about using OPM (other people's money), which means you're going to have to find not just real estate, but investors. Those investors are going to need a business plan, contracts, and a lot of work from you to provide as much equity as possible before the property is sold. If you're serious... |
Making $100,000 USD per month, no idea what to do with it | If you already have 500k in a Schwab brokerage account, go see your Schwab financial consultant. They will assign you one, no charge, and in my experience they're sharp people. Sure, you can get a second opinion (or even report back here, maybe in chat?), but they will get you started in the right direction. I'd expect... |
How to record “short premium” in double-entry accounting? | You don't. No one uses vanilla double entry accounting software for "Held-For-Trading Security". Your broker or trading software is responsible for providing month-end statement of changes. You use "Mark To Market" valuation at the end of each month. For example, if your cash position is -$5000 and stock position is... |
Restricting a check from being deposited via cell phone | No, most check deposits are processed that way. Banks transmit the pictures of the checks between themselves, and allow business customers to deposit scans for quite some time now. I see no reason for you to be concerned of a check being in a dusty drawer, it's been deposited, cannot be deposited again. If you're conce... |
How to record a written put option in double-entry accounting? | Because you've sold something you've received cash (or at least an entry on your brokerage statement to say you've got cash) so you should record that as a credit in your brokerage account in GnuCash. The other side of the entry should go into another account that you create called something like "Open Positions" and i... |
Official Bank Check | How? Basically all banks nowadays allow online deposits from a smartphone - you take a picture from the front and back of the check, and submit it, and that's it. You still have the paper check, and it looks pristine, but it is deposited (and the paper is worthless). |
How can OTC scams affect you? | Am I being absurd? No. Should I be worrying? Yes. If I sell in the morning, I've only lost a couple hundred dollars, and learned a valuable lesson. Is there any reason to believe it won't be that simple? If you're lucky, you'll be able to dump your stocks to someone like you who'll be punching himself in the face t... |
Can my brother fix his credit? | In a nutshell, not really. That's the risk you take when you co-sign for someone. The lender only made the loan because of the strength of your brother's credit, not your mother's, so his reputation (in the form of his credit rating) is going to take the hit because of his mother's behaviors. The one thing he can do ... |
If I use stock as collateral for a loan and I default, does the bank pay taxes when they sell my stock? | The short answer is that the exchange of the stock in exchange for the elimination of a debt is a taxable exchange, and gains or losses are possible for the stock investor as well as the bank. The somewhat longer answer is best summarized as noting that banks don't usually accept stocks as collateral, mostly because ... |
In the UK, can authors split a single advance on a book over multiple tax returns? | HMRC calls it: Averaging for creators of literary or artistic works, and it is the averaging of your profits for 2 successive years. It's helpful in situations like you describe, where income can fluctuate wildly from year to year, the linked article has the full detail, but some of the requirements are: You can use av... |
Why would a long-term investor ever chose a Mutual Fund over an ETF? | There is little difference between buying shares in your broker's index fund and shares of their corresponding ETF. In many cases the money invested in an ETF gets essentially stuffed right into the index fund (I believe Vanguard does this, for example). In either case you will be paying a little bit of tax. In the ... |
Purpose of having good credit when you are well-off? | A $250K earner might have $4M in retirement savings and $500K in available funds, but doesn't wish to spend all his liquidity on the house. In general, a house might cost 2-3 times one's annual income. It would take many years to get that saved up. They might want to have the house sooner. It all goes back to choice, ... |
Pensions, why bother? | Your gut feeling is absolutely spot on - you shouldn't be worrying about pension now, not at the age of 25. Assuming that you're not a footballer in the middle of the most productive part of your career and already have a fat wad of crunchy banknotes under your pillow that you're looking to set aside for a rainy day wh... |
Credit card closed. Effect on credit score (USA) | You need to find out if the credit card has been reporting these failed automated payments as late or missed payments to your credit report. To do this, go to annualcreditreport.com (the official site to get your free credit reports) and request your report from all three bureaus. If you see late or missing payments re... |
Ways to get individual securities from ETF's | Save the effort. For personal finance purpose, just use the simple tools. For example, if you like P&G very much but you want to diversify with ETF, use: http://etfdb.com/stock/PG/ https://www.etfchannel.com/finder/?a=etfsholding&symbol=PG Pick a ETF with highest weighting. Replace "PG" in the link with other tickers... |
Placing bid in market price | Market price is just the bid or offer price of the last sell or buy order in the market. The price that you actually receive or pay will be the price that the person buying the stock off you or selling it to you will accept. If there are no other participants in the market to make up the other side of your order (i.e. ... |
What does “interest rates”, without any further context, generically refer to? | Generically, interest rates being charged are driven in large part by the central bank's rate and competition tends to keep similar loans priced fairly close to each other. Interest rates being paid are driven by what's needed to get folks to lend you their money (deposit in bank, purchase bonds) so it's again related.... |
2 houses 450k each or one 800k? | Forget the math's specifics for a moment: here's some principles. Additional housing for a renter gives you returns in the form of money. Additional housing for yourself pays its returns in the form of "here is a nice house, live in it". Which do you need more of? If you don't need the money, get a nicer house for you... |
Switching Roth IRA ( from American Funds to Vanguard) | You can have as many IRA accounts as you want (whether Roth or Traditional), so you can have a Roth IRA with American Funds and another Roth IRA with Vanguard if you like. One disadvantage of having too many IRA accounts with small balances in each is that most custodians (including Vanguard) charge an annual fee for... |
Why don't people generally save more of their income? | This question is likely to be voted closed as opinion-based. That said - In general people have become accustomed to instant gratification. They also have the media showing them luxury and are enticed every day to buy things they don't need. In the US, the savings rate is awfully low, but it's not just the lower 50%, ... |
What assets would be valuable in a post-apocalyptic scenario? | Bullets, canned goods, and farm supplies that don't need gas (e.g. seed, feed, plows). |
Can two or more people own 1 stock in the US? | A share of stock is an asset not much different than any other asset. If the share is being held in a joint account, it's being jointly owned. If the share is being held by a company with multiple owners then the share is owned by the various owners. If you're married and in a community property state, then it's tec... |
401k vs. real estate for someone who is great at saving? | With an appropriate selection within a 401K and if operating expenses are low, you get tax deferred savings and possibly a lower tax bracket for now. The returns vary of course with market fluctuations but for almost 3 years it has been double digit growth on average. Some health care sector funds were up over 40% la... |
Are lottery tickets ever a wise investment provided the jackpot is large enough? | Lotteries are like the inverse of insurance policies. Instead of paying money to mitigate the impact of an unlikely event which is extremely negative, you are paying money to obtain a chance of experiencing an unlikely event which is extremely positive. One thing to keep in mind regarding lotteries is the diminishing m... |
Is technical analysis based on some underlying factors in the market or do they work simply because other people use them? | Technical analysis is based more on psychology than anything else. As an example, if an analyst estimates or believes that a stock is undervalued, or simply wants to re-balance their portfolio, then they will buy some amount, moving the price up. Others in the market see the upwards move as the start of an upwards tren... |
Does the expense ratio of a fund-of-funds include the expense ratios of its holdings? | I just looked at a fund for my client, the fund is T Rowe Price Retirement 2015 (TRRGX). As stated in the prospectus, it has an annual expense ratio of 0.63%. In the fine print below the funds expenses, it says "While the fund itself charges no management fee, it will indirectly bear its pro-rata share of the expens... |
Free brokerage vs paid - pros and cons | Emotion aside, you can calculate the cost of the funds you have tied up at the bank. If I can earn 5% in a CD, my "free" checking with minimum $5000 balance really costs me $250/yr. You have money tied up, I understand, but where would you place it otherwise, and at what return? The subject of frequent trading even a... |
Determining current value for real estate for inheritance purposes | My question is... how is this new value determined? Does it go off of the tax appraised value? The tax assessors values are based on broad averages and are not very useful in determining actual home value. The most defensible valuation outside of a sale is a professional appraisal, real-estate agents may or may not ... |
What happens when they run out of letters? | NYSE started allowing four letter tickers around 2009. NASDAQ allows 4-5 letter tickers. I guess they'll keep increasing when / if needed. Companies are allowed to change tickers, although there are costs. Tickers in the US are assigned through a single entity. Companies that are new need to take something that's ... |
Is inflation a good or bad thing? Why do governments want some inflation? | In general the consensus is that a small amount of inflation (usually 1.5-2% per year) is desirable. That is why the Federal Reserve sets its inflation target in that range. The reasons why are quite complex though. One reason is "wage stickiness" - ie., the observed phenomenon that employers don't like to cut wages.... |
Why are some countries' currencies “weaker”? | The answer from littleadv perfectly explains that the mere exchange ratio doesn't say anything. Still it might be worth adding why some currencies are "weak" and some "strong". Here's the reason: To buy goods of a certain country, you have to exchange your money for currency of that country, especially when you want to... |
Perform exercise-and-hold AND exercise-and-sell-to-cover? | The simplest thing to do here is to speak to your employer about what is allowed. This should be spelt out in your company's "Stock Options Plan" documentation. In particular, this document will include details of the vesting schedule. For example, the schedule may only allow you to exercise 25% in the first year, 2... |
What is a good rental yield? | Historically that 'divide by 1000' rule of thumb is what many people in Australia have thought of as normal, and yes, it's about a 5.2% gross yield. Net of expenses, perhaps 3-4%, without allowing for interest. If you're comparing this to shares, I think the right comparison is to the dividend yield, not to the overal... |
Need help with the psychology of investing: past failures and future fears | As an investor you must remember to forgive yourself. However, you must not only forgive but make it up to yourself by putting in the hours of study necessary to ensure that what you are forgiving yourself for will not happen again. Studying (finance, fundamental analysis, statistics, etc.)will also help you to worry l... |
Why do stocks tend to trade at high volumes at the end of (or start) the trading day? | Trading at the start of a session is by far higher than at any other time of the day. This is mostly due to markets incorporating news into the prices of stocks. In other words, there are a lot of factors that can affect a stock, 24 hours a day, but the market trades for only 6.5 hours a day. So, a lot of news accumula... |
Is it ever a good idea to close credit cards? | Assuming that a person has good financial discipline and is generally responsible with spending, I think that having a few hundred or thousand dollars extra of available credit is usually worth more to that person for the choice/flexibility it provides in unforeseen circumstance, versus the relatively minor hit that co... |
Why is stock dilution legal? | If that company issues another 100 shares, shouldn't 10 of those new 100 shares be mine? Those 100 shares are an asset of the company, and you own 10% of them. When investors buy those new shares, you again own a share of the proceeds, just as you own a share of all the company's assets. A company only issues new share... |
Boyfriend is coowner of a house with his sister, he wants to sell but she doesn't | Dear "benevolent" sister, The mortgage, utilities, and taxes for this home can no longer be paid and the bank will repossess it within the coming months. Thank you for your time |
My medical bill went to a collection agency. Can I pay it directly to the hospital? | Short Answer Collections agencies and the businesses they collect for are two different animals. If you don't want this to hurt your credit I suggest you deal directly with the hospital. Pay the bill, but prior to paying it get something in writing that specifically says that this will not be reported onto your credit.... |
Changed from job that had a 401K, and the new one doesn't. How do I answer when filing? | If you had a retirement plan at any time in 2013 you are considered covered by an plan. Are You Covered by an Employer's Retirement Plan? You’re covered by an employer retirement plan for a tax year if your employer (or your spouse’s employer) has a: Defined contribution plan (profit-sharing, 401(k), stock bonus and ... |
Is Bogleheadism (index fund investing) dead? | Dogma always disappoints. The notion that an index fund is the end-all, be-all for investing because the expense ratios are low is a flawed one. I don't concern myself with cost as an independent factor -- I look for the best value. Bogle's dogma lines up with his business, so you need to factor that in as well. Vend... |
How to correctly track a covered call write (sell to open) in double-entry accounting? | I think the issue you are having is that the option value is not a "flow" but rather a liability that changes value over time. It is best to illustrate with a balance sheet. The $33 dollars would be the premium net of expense that you would receive from your brokerage for having shorted the options. This would be your ... |
How can I get a mortgage I can't afford? | Honestly I would look for a house you can afford and one that is below the maximum amount of what they are willing to lend you. The reason is owning a house is not a quick loan that you can pay off in a year or two (unless you're rich then I would question why are you even bothering with a loan). This is a long term c... |
New 1099 employee with Cobra insurance | While COBRA premiums are not eligible to be a "business" expense they can be a medical expense for personal deduction purposes. If you're itemizing your deductions you may be able to deduct that way. However, you will only be able to deduct the portion of the premium that exceeds 10% of your AGI. Are you a full time ... |
Do I need to register as self employed in Ontario, Canada? | If your business name is your name, you are automatically considered a sole-proprietorship and any income you generate and expenses you incur can be calculated on your personal tax return. You can use QuickTax Home & Business tax software to lead you through the steps; you don't even need an accountant. One drawback of... |
How can you correlate a company stock's performance with overall market performance? | How can you correlate a company stock's performance with overall market performance. No you can't. There is no simple magic formulae that will result in profits. There are quite a few statistical algorithms that specialists have built, that work most of the times. But they are incorrect most of the times as well. |
Saving up for an expensive car | Any way you look at it, this is a terrible idea. Cars lose value. They are a disposable item that gets used up. The more expensive the car, the more value they lose. If you spend $100,000 on a new car, in four years it will be worth less than $50,000.* That is a lot of money to lose in four years. In addition to the... |
Value of a call option spread | You have to look at the real price of the share to calculate the value of the spread. 42$ at the start, 46$ at the end. Think of it this way: When price was 42$ the call 45$ was out of the money, worth 100$ of time value only=100 the call 40$ was in the money and worth 200$ of intrinsic + 100 time value=300 the differ... |
Am I still building a credit score if I use my credit card like a debit card? | I always hesitate to provide an answer to "how does this affect my credit score?" questions, because the credit agencies do not publish their formulas and the formulas do change over time. And many others have done more reverse engineering than I to figure out what factors do affect the scores. To some extent, there is... |
Should I get an accountant for my taxes? | I don't know if I would go so far as to hire an accountant. None of those things you listed really complicates your taxes all that much. If you were self-employed, started a business, got a big inheritance, or are claiming unusually large deductions, etc. then maybe. The only thing new from your post seems to be the ho... |
Pay off car loan entirely or leave $1 until the end of the loan period? | a link to this article grabbed my Interest as I was browsing the site for something totally unrelated to finance. Your question is not silly - I'm not a financial expert, but I've been in your situation several times with Carmax Auto Finance (CAF) in particular. A lot of people probably thought you don't understand ho... |
How can my friend send $3K to me without using Paypal? | Many banks offer online payment. He can add a payee and just type your name and address in. The bank will mail the check out if they cannot deliver payment electronically. Edit: Recently I came across this (Citibank Global Transfer), you and your friend should see if your bank offers a similar service. Citibank require... |
If I buy a share from myself at a higher price, will that drive the price up so I can sell all my shares the higher price? | The market maker will always compare the highest bid and the lowest ask. A trade will happen if the highest bid is at least as high as the lowest ask. Adding one share (or a million shares) at a higher asking price, here: $210 instead of $200, will not have any effect at all. Nobody will buy the share. Adding a bid fo... |
Consequences of buying/selling a large number of shares for a low volume stock? | If you are the only one who puts in a large market buy order, then it would definitely push the price up. How much up would depend on how many would be willing to sell at what price point. It would also be possible that your trade will not get executed as there are no sellers. The same would be true if you put in a lar... |
Why are there many small banks and more banks in the U.S.? | In the US, paper checks are still the rule, and there is a large amount of the population that does not care to use online banking. As a result, those people need to go to the bank once a week or more often, to deposit checks they get from anywhere, to get cash, etc.; so all those little banks have traffic. This is slo... |
My university has tranfered me money by mistake, and wants me to transfer it back | Confirming whether the payment was an error The simplest method is to confirm manually with the University whether the payment was a mistake and satisfy that between yourselves. If you're concerned it's fraudulant, I recommend calling the University finance office on a phone number you find on their website, or call on... |
Isn't an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) a surefire way to make tons of money? | My big gripe with the ICO name and corresponding mania is that it has no similarity to an IPO. At best an ICO is a seed stage investment in a wholly unproven technology/idea/theoretical use. A developer team gets together to write a fancy whitepaper, then build out a nifty website to display the idea they are working ... |
Does SIPC protect securities purchased in foreign exchanges? | I have received a response from SIPC, confirming littleadv's answer: For a brief background, the protections available under the Securities Investor Protection Act ("SIPA"), are only available in the context of a liquidation proceeding of a SIPC member broker-dealer and relate to the "custody" of securities and r... |
What if 40% of the remaining 60% Loan To Value (ratio) is not paid, or the borrower wants to take only 60% of the loan? | The loan-to-value ratio (LTV Ratio) is a lending risk assessment ratio that financial institutions and others lenders examine before approving a mortgage. It sounds like your lender has a 60% requirement. Remember the home is the collateral for the loan. If you stop making payments, they can take the house back from y... |
In a house with shared ownership, if one person moves out and the other assumes mortgage, how do we determine who owns what share in the end? | Let's look at the logical extreme. Two people get a house, no money down, 10 year mortgage. One moves out the day after the closing, and the gal left pays the full mortgage. Why in the world would the one who left be entitled to a dime? You offer no information about the downpayment or amount paid during the time both... |
Is there such a thing as “stock insurance”? | Not that I am aware. If you are trying to mitigate losses from stock purchases, you may want to consider stock mutual funds. This is why single stocks can be extremely risky. |
Why do car rental companies prefer/require credit over debit cards? | Deposit on a Debit Card have a different effect, and many people don't understand it (and make a big stink), or cannot afford it (or both). Either of it results in lots of trouble for the business: In addition, having a credit card showes that some bank trusts the customer with an unsecured credit of this height, which... |
How to work around the Owner Occupancy Affidavit to buy another home in less than a year? | Look into the definition of "primary residence" for your jurisdiction(s). In some states, living in the home for 183 days qualifies it as your primary residence for the entire year. |
Google free real-time stock quotes | Previously, Google had a delayed update for their stock prices (15 minutes I believe). That change enabled users of Google Finance to see updates to stock prices in real-time. |
How do I adjust to a new social class? | Under what conditions did you move? My favourite method of judging prices objectively comes from concepts written in Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez. Essentially it normalizes money spent by making you figure out how much an item costs with respect to the number of hours you needed to work to afford it. I pref... |
In a competitive market, why is movie theater popcorn expensive? | In my experience, there's usually only one or two theatres within a small city. Maybe a few more in larger cities, but those are also larger areas. So there really isn't much competition. Sure, there are other places to get popcorn, but not movie theatre popcorn. It won't be lathered with 4000 calories worth of tasty b... |
How to properly do background check for future tenant in my own house? | If you can find a tenant by networking -- co-worker, friend of a friend, etc. -- rather than openly advertising, that often gives you a better pool. Side advice: Check what local housing laws apply to renting a room rather than having a housemate. Once you start advertising this you may be subject to fair housing laws... |
When (if) I should consider cashing in (selling) shares to realize capital gains? | The only general rule is "If you would buy the stock at its current price, hold and possibly buy. If you wouldn't, sell and buy something you believe in more strongly." Note that this rule applies no matter what the stock is doing. And that it leaves out the hard work of evaluating the stock and making those decisions.... |
At what point should I go into credit card debt? | Credit cards are a reasonable if relatively expensive tool to gain liquidity. If you have $50k in liquid cash, you don't have a liquidity problem for credit to help you solve. You have 100 months of expenses in cash. I suppose you could see a balance as a motivational tool, but it's all stick and no carrot. Take the... |
Taxes due for hobbyist Group Buy | From the poster's description of this activity, it doesn't look like he is engaged in a business, so Schedule C would not be appropriate. The first paragraph of the IRS Instructions for Schedule C is as follows: Use Schedule C (Form 1040) to report income or loss from a business you operated or a profession you pract... |
Ideal investments for a recent college grad with very high risk tolerance? | Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. Then check their prices daily. With daily price swings of over 10% (both up and down) being a common occurrence, you'll quickly learn how high your risk tolerance really is. :) A lot of IT people believe that cryptocurrencies will stay. Whether Bitcoin or Ethereum will be amon... |
If someone gives me cash legally, can my deposit trigger an audit for them? | In the event of an audit, you AND your friends need to have already reported the cash the same way in previous tax filings. Even differences between legitimate sources can result in civil and criminal sanctions from the IRS, let alone questionable, dubious and illegal sources. |
Stock options value | What you will probably get is an option to buy, for £10,000, £10,000 worth of stock. If the stock price on the day your option is granted is £2.50, then that's 4,000 shares. Companies rarely grant discounted options, as there are tax disincentives. The benefit of the stock option is that when you exercise it, you still... |
Why invest in becoming a landlord? | Let me add a few thoughts that have not been mentioned so far in the other answers. Note that for the decision of buying vs. renting a home i.e. for personal use, not for renting out there's a rule of thumb that if the price for buying is more than 20 year's (cold) rents it is considered rather expensive. I don't know... |
Should I participate in a 401k if there is no company match? | Another consideration that is not in the hard numbers. Many people, myself included, find it hard to have the discipline to save for something that is so far off. The 401K plan at work has the benefit of pulling the money out before you see it, so you learn to live on what is left more easily. Also, depending on the t... |
Should we prepay our private student loans, given our particular profile? | Don't frett to much about your retirement savings just put something towards it each year. You could be dead in ten years. You should always try to clear out debt when you can. But don't wipe yourself out! Expedite the repayment process. |
Does the stock market create any sort of value? | The stock market exists for two reasons. It lets companies raise money to invest, and it lets company owners cash out and get money instead of part-ownership of a company when they are ready to do so. But to accomplish these goals effectively, it needs many more transactions than just those kinds of transaction, becaus... |
Value of credit score if you never plan to borrow again? | what are the incentives to that person to actually pay off his/her debt as opposed to just walking away from it and relying on the cash (s)he has for the future spending needs as opposed to borrowing Well, you can't just "walk away" from debt - you still owe it. Eventually your creditors would end up suing you in court... |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.