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How do day-traders or frequent traders handle their taxes?
Starting of 2011, your broker has to keep track of all the transactions and the cost basis, and it will be reported on your 1099-B. Also, some brokers allow downloading the data directly to your tax software or to excel charts (I use E*Trade, and last year TurboTax downloaded all the transaction directly from them).
Do I even need credit cards?
Credits are expensive, so it's a great advantage to pay in cash. Obviously, it's even more an advantage to pay in cash for a house or a car, of course if you can afford it. But, as annoying as it could be, there are some services, where you're out of option to pay in cash, or even to pay by bank transfer. One of the mo...
Setting up general ledger/tax reporting for a Real Estate Rental LLC in GnuCash
You will need to set up accounts in your chart of accounts for each of the partners. These are equity accounts where you can track your contributions, share of the profits and losses, and distributions. You're going to have to go back into the beginning years to get this right. I'm not sure what you mean by a "Built-in...
I'm currently unemployed and have been offered a contract position. Do I need to incorporate myself? How do I do it?
I am co-owner of a business, and we incorporated federally. (Mostly to limit liability.) There is some excellent information above, and most of my wisdom I got from a trusted lawyer and accountant (find experts you trust in these two areas, they will prove invaluable in so many areas.) The one point I would add is ...
What are the differences between gold/siver “coin” vs. “round”?
littleadv gave a great answer, but neglected to mention one thing. Modern minted coins usually only contain a (high) percentage of a precious metal. For example pre-1965 quarters are 90% silver and 10% other, to maintain strength and durability. Rounds of silver bullion are usually .9999%, or fine, silver, which is c...
Term loan overpayment options: applied to principal, or…?
It may have been the standard practice for a long time, and indeed it still is the common practice for my credit union to apply all excess payment directly to the principal. At the risk of sounding a little cynical, I will suggest that there is a profit motive in the move to not applying excess payments to principal un...
Are lottery tickets ever a wise investment provided the jackpot is large enough?
I realize that most posters are US based, but the UK on Saturday had its biggest ever payout (a miserable £60m). Because of the rules there, the estimated "value" of a £2 ticket was between £3 and £5. http://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/jan/09/national-lottery-lotto-drawing-odds-of-winning-maths
How to trade “exotic” currencies?
Keep in mind that not every currency is "tradeable", i.e.: convertible. In fact, neither the Brazilian nor the Thai currencies are fully convertible, and the trading with them may be limited. There are 17 fully convertible currencies currently in the word, you can find the list here.
Why buy stock of a company instead of the holding company who has more than 99% of the stocks
In a situation like this, I presume you'd invest in the child company if you thought that the child company would increase in value at a higher rate than the parent. You'd invest in the parent company if you thought the parent company would perform well as a whole, but you did not want to assume the risk of an individu...
What are the tax liabilities for an Indian citizen working in the US?
Tax liability in US: You would need to determine if you are a resident alien or non resident alien. Resident alien are taxed normally as per US citizens. For the annual remuneration you have quoted it would be in the range of 25%. Refer http://www.moneychimp.com/features/tax_brackets.htm To determine if you are reside...
Why do people take out life insurance on their children? Should I take out a policy on my child?
A $10,000 life insurance policy on a child only makes sense for a family that: Thus, it could make sense: Many families are in this financial situation. A family in the combination of this financial situation and this emotional situation might be well served to seek religious counsel. If they find ways to remember lo...
What's the connection between P/E ratio and growth?
So, the price-earnings ratio is price over earnings, easy enough. But obviously earnings are not static. In the case of a growing company, the earnings will be higher in the future. There will be extra earnings, above and beyond what the stock has right now. You should consider the future earnings in your estimate of w...
What can I replace Microsoft Money with, now that MS has abandoned it?
I use MoneyStrands.com to manage my spending. It's a lot like Mint, but provides support for more banks, and works with most Canadian financial institutions. I can't really compare them fairly though, since I didn't bother with Mint after learning that they don't care about Canadians. If your bank isn't supported by Mo...
Using financial news releases to trade stocks?
Yes, there are very lucrative opportunities available by using financial news releases. A lot of times other people just aren't looking in less popular markets, or you may observe the news source before other people realize it, or may interpret the news differently than the other market participants. There is also the ...
Why would a company with a bad balance sheet be paying dividends?
Ford paid off a tremendous amount of debt prior to reinstating the dividend. While they still have a sizable amount of debt on the balance sheet, they've been able to refinance this debt to a much more affordable point. Their free cash flow + cash on the balance could enable them to pay it off in the very near future (...
How bad is it to have a lot of credit available but not used?
I never give advice but I will now because you are getting poor advice. I run between 820 and 835 for a FICO score and have for years. I have a Discover, AMEX, VISA and MC. I have over 200,000 dollars of credit and I never EVER pay interest. I pay off the cards every month. So, does it matter how much credit you h...
Should I negotiate a lower salary to be placed in a lower tax bracket?
I think Feral Oink said it well here when someone asked if they should negotiate for additional benefits in lieu of a portion of salary. "You never want to take a lower salary, especially not in exchange for something that is conditional e.g. benefits. Your salary is the only thing that is guaranteed as a condition of ...
What is the difference between a stop order and a stop limit order?
Stop order is shorter term for stop-loss order. The point being that is intended as a protective measure. A buy stop order would be used to limit losses when an investor has sold a stock short. (Meaning that they have borrowed stock and sold it, in hopes that they can take advantage of a decline in the stock's price...
Are precious metals/collectibles a viable emergency fund?
If it were me, I would convert it to cash and keep it in a liquid account. The assumption that silver will increase in value is misguided. From 1985 to 2002, it was flat. It's gone up and been far more volatile since then, and there has been significant declines which could eat at the stability of an emergency fund. Pr...
Upward Spike in US Treasuries despite S&P Downgrade in August 2011
US government bonds are where money goes when the markets are turbulent and investors are fleeing from risk, and that applies even if the risk is a downgrade of the US credit rating, because there's simply nowhere else to put your money if you're in search of safety. Most AAA-rated governments have good credit ratings ...
Determining amount of inflation between two dates
You want percent change between the two numbers listed under whatever heading you'll be using in the CPI. As an example, you'd probably want to use the All Items heading listed here on Page 4 of the August 2016 CPI tables as 240.853, and from August 2015 was listed as 238.316. Percent change is So 1.06% inflation fro...
Recovering over-contribution to Social Security between two employers?
This is a common occurrence when somebody has multiple jobs in one year. The employer can't know if you have reached the annual limit. They know to stop when you have hit the maximum for their company, but don't have information on the other jobs. In fact the IRS doesn't let them factor in the other jobs. They have to ...
Are these really bond yields?
Yes those are really yields. A large portion of the world has negative yielding bonds in fact. This process has been in motion for the past 10 years for very specific reasons. So congratulations on discovering the bond market.
Where can I find open source portfolio management software?
Take a look at this: http://code.google.com/p/stock-portfolio-manager/ It is an open source project aimed to manage your stock portfolio.
Why do stores and manufacturers use mail in rebates? A scam, or is there a way to use them effectively?
Chiming in with other answers that incriminate market segmentation attempts, I would like to offer this Seth Godin video where (among other things) he speaks about breakage, the art of making coupon redemption so difficult that most people get it wrong and do not redeem them. Oh, and when comparing/deciding which/wheth...
Is a stock's trade size history publicly available?
You can buy the data and process it on your own. http://www.nyxdata.com/Data-Products/Daily-TAQ
UK companies house - what can I glean from an abbreviated balance sheet?
What this abbreviated balance sheet tells you is that this company has negative equity. The liabilities are greater than the value of the assets. The obvious problem for the company who wants to do business with you is that they are going to have a real hard time accessing credit to pay off any debts that they incur ...
How do credit card payments work? What ensures the retailer charges the right amount?
Your credit card limit is nothing more than a simple number. When you purchase something, the merchant receives a number (i.e. the amount of the transaction) from your card company (e.g. Visa) in their bank account, and that number is subtracted from your limit (added to your balance). The amount is recorded, and isn'...
Should I sell a 2nd home, or rent it out?
If you can generate a higher ROI by renting than by cashing out and investing, then you should rent it out. Please consider your risk tolerance as well. It's always a personal decision whether to assume higher risk for a higher return.
What should I do with my paper financial documents?
Regarding your specific types: If you can't part with anything, sure, scan them. Also, there are lots of opportunities to sign up for eStatements with just about any financial provider. They want you to sign up for them, because it reduces their expenses. If you still like having paper around (I do admit that it's com...
Best starting options to invest for retirement without a 401k
Being from the UK, I'd not heard of a Roth IRA, but it sounds very similar to our own ISA (Individual Savings Account). Having just looked it up, I couldn't believe the annual limit was so low: $5500! Still, you have to work within your jurisdiction's legal framework (or agitate for change?). I would definitely agree...
401k Rollover - on my own or through my financial advisor?
I thought the Finance Buff made a pretty solid argument for a financial advisor the other day: http://thefinancebuff.com/the-average-investor-should-use-an-investment-advisor-how-to-find-one.html But 1.5% is too expensive. The blog post at Finance Buff suggests several alternatives. He also has the great suggestion to ...
Is it wise to sell company stock to pay down a mortgage?
If by "Company Stock" you mean "stock in the company I work for" then absolutely sell your stock. It is too big a risk to have your investments tied into the same company that is also providing your salary. If you mean stock as in general investments, I like to look at it this way. If you have $25,000 stock and a $1...
The difference between Islamic Banks and Western Banks
To answer your first part, its not an opposition to profit. It's an opposition to usury - the practice of charging excessive interest on loans. There are extensive passages in the Qur'an condemning the practice, and in many cases "excessive interest" is any interest. To the second part of the question, these may well b...
What assets would be valuable in a post-apocalyptic scenario?
I find these type of questions silly, but I'll bite:
historical stock data starting from 1900
Good day! Did a little research by using oldest public company (Dutch East India Company, VOC, traded in Amsterdam Stock Exchange) as search criteria and found this lovely graph from http://www.businessinsider.com/rise-and-fall-of-united-east-india-2013-11?IR=T : Why it is relevant? Below the image I found the source ...
Do Americans really use checks that often?
There are some people that still get an old-fashioned paycheck but for the most part if you are an employee at a company you get a paystub while the money is direct deposited into your accounts. Paying for stuff at a store with a check is not very common. Most people use credit cards for that purpose. A significant ...
Effect on Bond asset allocation if Equity markets crash?
I agree that the cause of the crash can make a huge difference in the effect on the bond market. Here's a few other possibilities: All that to say that there's no definitive answer as to how the bond market will respond to an equity crash. Bonds are much more highly correlated to equities lately, but that could be due...
Loan math problem
Lachlan has $600 cash and a car worth $500. That's $1,100. The new car is priced at $21,800. Lachlan needs a loan for $20,700. However, the finance company insists that the buyer must pay a 10% deposit, which is $2,180. Lachlan only has $1,100, so no loan. The car dealer wants to make a sale, so suggests some tricks. ...
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.
what if a former employer contributes to my 401k in the year following my exit?
According to the IRS, you can still put money in your IRA. Here (https://www.irs.gov/Retirement-Plans/Plan-Participant,-Employee/Retirement-Topics-IRA-Contribution-Limits) they say: Can I contribute to an IRA if I participate in a retirement plan at work? You can contribute to a traditional or Roth IRA whether or not y...
How are mortgage payments decided? [duplicate]
It's easiest to get your payment from the PMT function in Excel or Google Sheets. So a $100,000 30 year mortgage at 3% looks like this: The basic calculation is pretty simple. You take the annual interest rate, say 3%, divided by 12, times the existing principal balance: The idea is that borrowers would like to have ...
What's the difference between Buy and Sell price on the stock exchange [duplicate]
To add to @Victor 's answer; if you are entering a market order, and not a limit order (where you set the price you want to buy or sell at), then the Ask price is what you can expect to pay to purchase shares of stock in a long position and the Bid price is what you can expect to receive when you sell stock you own in ...
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...
Why is the number of issued shares less than the number of outstanding shares
The language in the starbucks accounts is highly ambiguous. But Starbucks has no treasury shares which helps work out what is going on. Where it says "respectively" it is referring to the years 2014 and 2013 rather than "issued and outstanding"...even though it doesn't read that way. Not easy to work out. The figures ...
What type of investments should be in a TFSA, given its tax-free growth and withdrawal benefits?
I think "optimal" is a term that needs to be better qualified - what's optimal investment for one person is not necessary optimal for another, as it depends on the investor's time horizon, risk tolerance, and investment knowledge. I would personally put fix-income (or products that generates incomes that CRA considers ...
Why is the dominant investing advice for individuals to use mutual funds, exchanged traded funds (ETFs), etc
Funds - especially index funds - are a safe way for beginning investors to get a diversified investment across a lot of the stock market. They are not the perfect investment, but they are better than the majority of mutual funds, and you do not spend a lot of money in fees. Compared to the alternative - buying individu...
If our economy crashes, and cash is worthless, should i buy gold or silver
Neither. Food, fuel, and tools. Books on how to make and use basic tools -- the books published for farmers who want to kluge their own solutions might be helpful. Heck, help defend a library; it will be beyond price as soon as things settle out a bit. Having skills like blacksmithing and knowing how to teach could go ...
How do I explain why debt on debt is bad to my brother?
This is not the case with your brother only. There are many business which run on this premise. It goes till the time all the conditions are in control and get busted when things goes out of way. You have mentioned the loan amount and not the monthly repayment amount. Even if you say, a new loan will not solve his pro...
Fractional Reserve Banking and Insolvency
You bet if it was so simple. This is when financial acumen comes into its true form. The bank would never ever want to go insolvent. What it does is, take insurance against the borrower defaulting. Remember the financial crisis of 2008 which was the outcome of borrowers defaulting. The banks had created derivatives ba...
What should my finances look like at 18?
The golden rule is "Pay yourself first." This means that you should have some form of savings plan set up, preferably a monthly automatic withdrawal that comes out the day after your pay is deposited. 10% is a reasonable number to start with. You are in a wonderful situation because you are thinking about this 10-15 ye...
What does it mean to long convexity of options?
Convexity refers to vega. Gamma refers to delta. Negative carry refers to time decay.
Difference between a mortgage and buy-to-let in UK
Residential mortgages normally explicitly state that the property cannot be let without explicit permission, whereas BTL mortgages typically require that the property be let. There are other differences. Residential mortgages are regulated, which means that consumers have a degree of protection from mis-selling; most B...
Can you explain “time value of money” and “compound interest” and provide examples of each?
Compound interest means that the interest in each time period is calculated taking into account previously earned interest and not only the initial sum. Thus, if you had $1000 and invested it so that you'd earn 5% each year, than if you would withdraw the earnings each year you in 30 years you would earn 0.05*30*1000 =...
Do I even need credit cards?
Try to buy an airline ticket, rent a hotel room, or rent a car without a credit card. Doable? Perhaps. Easy? Nope. With a debit card, you run the risk of a hotel reserving more than your stay's cost for room service, parking, etc and potentially having a domino effect if other payments bounce. We just spent 3 nights i...
Where to start with personal finance?
My reading list for someone just getting into personal finance would include the following I know it's a bunch but I'm trying to cover a few specific things. Yeah it's a bit of reading, but lets face it, nobody is going to care as much about your money as YOU do, and at the very least this kind of knowledge can help fe...
How do you translate a per year salary into a part-time per hour job?
As an easy and rough rule of thumb, a job for $55,000 per year is $55 per hour as a contractor. That's roughly twice the hourly rate. In return, the company gets the rate to vary your hours or cease your employment with less financial, legal or managerial overhead than a full time employee. You have less stability, l...
Boyfriend is coowner of a house with his sister, he wants to sell but she doesn't
He needs to go see a lawyer to find out what all his options are, and the consequences of any of them. Then he needs to get help extricating himself from this situation, in whatever fashion he chooses: buyout, giveaway, what have you. This situation involves property, which involves money, so definitely get professiona...
Options for dummies. Can you explain how puts & calls work, simply?
In addition to all these great answers, check out the Wikipedia entry on options. The most important thing to note from their definition is that an option is a derivative (and nothing about any derivative is simple). Because it is a derivative, increases or decreases in the price of the underlying stock won't automati...
Loan holder wants a check from the insurance company that I already cashed and used to repair my car
What would happen if you was to cash a check, didn’t realize it was to you and your finance company, take it to a local business that has a money center, they cash the check without even having you sign let alone having the finance companies endorsement on it . The money cleared my account like a couple months ...
$200k in an IRA, unallocated. What's the safest investment?
Your funds are in a retirement account. Withdrawals from your IRA will be penalized if you withdraw before you turn 59.5 years old, and you appear to be decades away from that age. The general advice I would give you is to pick a "target year fund" that targets the year you turn 59.5. The stock market is more volatil...
Loan to son - how to get it back
A few ideas. I suggest it would wise to consider what lesson is learned as a result of any resolution of a financial issue. Is it a lesson of responsibility and of the importance of keeping one's word, or of getting away with whatever happens (poorly planned business) with no adverse consequences. "No" consequences (e....
Where to park money low-risk on interactivebrokers account?
I would refrain from commenting on market timing strategy, but please don't park extra AUD cash in IB. Park cash in your local bank high interest savings, and get a Margin account at IB. When you want to pull the trigger, use margin loan to buy stocks immediately, then transfer cash from local bank to IB afterwards.
Asset management after leaving the USA
Yes to all three. However,
(Theoretical) Paying credit cards with other credit cards
If you had a CC issuer that allowed you to do bill-pay this way, I suspect the payment would be considered a cash advance that will trigger a fee and a pretty egregious cash advance specific interest rate. It's not normal for a credit payment portal to accept a credit card as payment. If you were able to do this as a ...
How to rebalance a portfolio without moving money into losing investments
Also, almost by definition rebalancing involves making more trades than you would have otherwise; wouldn't the additional trading fees you incurred in doing so reduce the benefits of this strategy? You forgot to mention taxes. Rebalancing does or rather can incur costs. One way to minimize the costs is to use the p...
Does a market maker sell (buy) at a bid or ask price?
I think your confusion has arisen because in every transaction there is a buyer and a seller, so the market maker buys you're selling, and when you're buying the market maker is selling. Meaning they do in fact buy at the ask price and sell at the bid price (as the quote said).
Why have I never seen a stock split?
You haven't seen one because you haven't looked for one properly. You can set a google alert for stock split and get information about major issues splitting their stocks quite regularly, as well as a daily dose of recommendations from people without a say in the matter for big companies to split their stock. Stock spl...
How can I invest my $100?
Yes, it is. Got to start somewhere. Typically directly through a company itself. Check out this site that lists a bunch of them and their minimum requirements. Not many only accept $100 but there are a few. ie. ACTIVEnergy Income Fund, CIBC, COMPASS Income Fund, Suncor Energy Inc. and a few others.
Military Separation
It's not usually a good idea to buy a house as an investment. Buy a house because you want the house, not for an investment. Your money will make more money invested somewhere other than a house. Additionally, based on talking about renting rooms to pay the mortgage and the GI bill, I assume you are planning on going t...
How should I prepare for the next financial crisis?
How would gold have protected you during the 2007/8 crisis? In no way, shape or form. The ways to protect yourself at any time are: Boring, huh?
Why won't my retirement account let me write a “covered put”?
A "covered put" of the form of being short, and buying at the strike price if the "put ... is put" (excercise), is off the table simply because you can't do shorts in the retirement account. Even if you feel you "win" the argument that you're hedged by being short, any broker can say, "we simply forbid shorts" and that...
If there's no volume discount, does buying in bulk still make sense?
If they don't spoil, you can still get some marginal benefit if buying in bulk means you avoid the need for a trip to the shops to get a replacement. If the item is a commodity that you will use eventually you are unlikely to lose out as the prices tend to remain fairly stable. There's also the inconvenience factor, I ...
What is the fastest way to retire, using passive income on real estate
It is worth noting first that Real Estate is by no means passive income. The amount of effort and cost involved (maintenance, legal, advertising, insurance, finding the properties, ect.) can be staggering and require a good amount of specialized knowledge to do well. The amount you would have to pay a management compa...
Is the concept of an “odd lot” adjusted to stock price?
I will assume that you are not asking in the context of high frequency trading, as this is Personal Finance Stack Exchange. It is completely acceptable to trade odd lots for retail brokerage customers. The odd lot description that you provided in your link, from Interactive Brokers is correct. But even in that context,...
Stranger in Asia wants to send me $3000 in Europe over Western Union because he “likes me”? [duplicate]
It can be a money laundering scheme. The stranger gives you cash for free at first, then proposes to give you more but this time asks you to "spend" a fraction of it (like 80%). So on his side the money comes from a legitimate source. So you do it because after all you get to keep the rest of it and it is "free" money...
How do I go about finding an honest & ethical financial advisor?
You want a fee-only advisor. He charges like an architect or plumber: by the hour or some other "flat fee". That is his only compensation. He is not paid on commission at all. He is not affiliated with any financial services company of any kind. His office is Starbucks. He does not have a well lit office like the ...
Consequences of not closing an open short sell position?
You would generally have to pay interest for everyday you hold the position overnight. If you never close the position and the stock price goes to zero, you will be closed out and credited with your profit. If you never close the position and the stock price keeps going up and up, your potential loss is an unlimited a...
Definition of gross income (Arizona state tax filing requirements)
Many states have a simple method for assessing income tax on nonresidents. If you have $X income in State A where you claim nonresident status and $Y income overall, then you owe State A a fraction (X/Y) of the income tax that would have been due on $Y income had you been a resident of State A. In other words, comp...
Company asking for card details to refund over email
Personally, I would just dispute this one with your CC. I had a situation where a subscription I had cancelled the prior year was billed to me. I called up to have a refund issued, they couldn't find me in their system under three phone numbers and two addresses. The solution they proposed was "send us your credit c...
Simple income and expense report in gnucash
The official guide can be found here, but that can be a little in depth as well. To make good use of you need at least a little knowledge of double-entry bookkeeping. Double-entry bookkeeping, in accounting, is a system of bookkeeping so named because every entry to an account requires a corresponding and opposite e...
How can I cash out a check internationally?
Your friend probably cannot deposit the check to your U.S. bank account. U.S. banks that I've worked with will not accept a deposit from someone who is not an owner of the account. I don't know why not. If some stranger wants to make unauthorized deposits to my account, why should I object? But that's the common rule. ...
Should I pay cash or prefer a 0% interest loan for home furnishings?
0% furniture loans can hurt your credit rating. I was told by a bank mortgage officer (sorry I can't cite a document) that credit rating algorithms consider "consumer" loans like 0% appliance loans and certain store-specific credit cards as a negative factor, lowering your overall score. The rationalization given was t...
Selling an app, sharing income, how does it work tax-wise?
There are a few different ways to organize this, but mostly I think you need to talk to a lawyer. The 50/50 split thing should be in writing along with a bunch of other issues. You could have one of you doing a sole proprietorship where the other person is a contractor that receives half of all revenues/profits. The ...
In US, is it a good idea to hire a tax consultant for doing taxes?
There are few things going on here: My advice would be: with 75k income and a regular pay check there isn't a whole let you can do to adjust your tax burden. It's unlikely that any adviser will save enough money to warrant professional advice and the associated cost. Use off the shelf software for tax return and tax pl...
Should I buy a house or am I making silly assumptions that I can afford it?
When I bought my own place, mortgage lenders worked on 3 x salary basis. Admittedly that was joint salary - eg you and spouse could sum your salaries. Relaxing this ratio is one of the reasons we are in the mess we are now. You are shrewd (my view) to realise that buying is better than renting. But you also should ...
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...
Does the stock market create any sort of value?
You are right, it is a Ponzi scheme unless it pays all of the profits as dividends. Here's why: today's millenials are saving a lot less, and instead they choose to be spenders. It's just that their mentality is different. If the trend continues there will be more spenders and less savers. That means that in 20 years ...
Buying a home without a Real Estate Agent - Who should I get to do the paperwork?
Generally, the paperwork realtors use is pre-written and pre-approved by the relevant State and real-estate organizations. The offers, contracts, etc etc a pretty straightforward and standard. You can ask a realtor for a small fee to arrange the documents for you (smaller than the usual 5% sellers' fee they charge, I w...
Is it possible to trade US stock from Europe ?
Yes, it's possible and even common but it depends on your bank or broker. One of the main differences is that you might assume FX risk if your account is in EUR and you trade stock denominated in USD. You might also encounter lower liquidity or price differences if you don't trade on the primary exchange where stocks a...
In a competitive market, why is movie theater popcorn expensive?
A better question would be to ask "Why don't movie theaters charge to use the bathroom?", or "Why don't movie theaters charge for parking?". In America, either government regulation or the mall itself forbids charging for parking, or limits the amount that can be charged for parking. This tends to be more true in subur...
TD Webbroker.ca did not execute my limit sell order even though my stock went .02 over limit
What happened here is pretty obvious: You were trying to sell 2000 shares and apparently didn't mark your order to permit partial execution. While they had a buyer at 94.66 they didn't want 2000 shares. Thus your order went unfilled.
What is the contribution limit for a SEP-IRA?
Both are saying essentially the same thing. The Forbes articles says "as much as 20% [...] up to a maximum of $50,000". This means the same as what the IRS page when it says the lesser of a percentage of your income or a total of $53,000. In other words, the $53k is a cap: you can contribute a percentage of your ear...
Calculating Future Value: Initial deposit and recurring deposits of a fixed but different Value
If I is the initial deposit, P the periodic deposit, r the rent per period, n the number of periods, and F the final value, than we can combine two formulas into one to get the following answer: F = I*(1+r)n + P*[(1+r)n-1]/r In this case, you get V = 1000*(1.05)20 + 100*[(1.05)20-1]/0.05 = 5959.89 USD. Note that the ac...
Has anyone created a documentary about folks who fail to save enough for retirement?
Since your question was first posted, I happened to watch PBS FRONTLINE's The Retirement Gamble, about "America's Retirement Crisis" and the retirement industry. You can watch the entire episode online at the previous link, and it's also available on DVD. Here's a link to the episode transcript. Here's a partial blurb...
Double-entry accounting: how to keep track of mortgage installments as expenses?
The best thing for you to do will be to start using the Cash Flow report instead of the Income and Expense report. Go to Reports -> Income and Expense -> Cash Flow Once the report is open, open the edit window and open the Accounts tab. There, choose your various cash accounts (checking, saving, etc.). In the General...
Are stocks suitable for mid term money storage?
The volatility of an index fund should usually be a lot lower than that of an individual stock. However even with a broad index fund you should consider the fact that being down by 10% in the time frame you refer to is quite possible! So is being up by 10% of course. A corporate bond might be a better choice if you can...
How do I know when I am financially stable/ready to move out on my own?
I recently moved out from my parents place, after having built up sufficient funds, and gone through these questions myself. I live near Louisville, KY which has a significant effect on my income, cost of living, and cost of housing. Factor that into your decisions. To answer your questions in order: When do I know tha...
Books, Videos, Tutorials to learn about different investment options in the financial domain
Those are some very broad questions and I don't think I can answer them completely, but I will add what I can. Barron's Finance and Investment Handbook is the best reference book I have found. It provides a basic description/definition for every type of investment available. It covers stocks, preferred stocks, various ...
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...