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I carelessly invested in a stock on a spike near the peak price. How can I salvage my investment?
Yes, you could sell what you have and bet against others that the stock price will continue to fall within a period of time "Shorting". If you're right, your value goes UP even though the stock price goes down. This is a pretty darn risky bet to make. If you're wrong, there's no limit to how much money you can owe. ...
UK: Personal finance book for a twenty-something
Consultant, I commend you for thinking about your financial future at such an early age. Warren Buffet, arguably the most successful investor ever lived, and the best known student of Ben Graham has a very simple advice for non-professional investors: "Put 10% of the cash in short-term government bonds and 90% in a ve...
Home sale: No right to terminate?
The most likely reason for this is that the relocation company wants to have a guaranteed sale so as to get a new mortgage in the new location. Understand that the relocation company generally works for a prospective employer. So they are trying to make the process as painless as possible for the homeowner (who is pr...
How to explain an income discrepancy to the IRS?
The IRS doesn't tax "increased wealth" They tax Revenue -- income. If this money or property came to you as a gift, you would owe no tax on it but the giver probably would owe gift tax. If it came to you as a loan, you would owe no tax on it but the lender would owe tax on any interest you pay (and must charge at lea...
Where can I find announcements of official GDP figures for the US and other countries?
For immediate availability, by far the fastest (and cheapest) way to get macroeconomic figures as they are released, is by following (verified) Twitter accounts of the respective Central bank and institutions alike. Indeed, Twitter is the new trader tape.
Can I buy put options on an ADR?
Some ADRs have standardized options that trade on US exchanges. If your stock/ADR is one of those, then you find the put option through most brokerages that deal with stock options and trade the option like you would on a regular stock. If your ADR does not have standardized options, then your options will depend on ...
Personal checks instead of business ones
I'll assume you are asking about a check for some kind of work or service that you provided them, that they hired your company to do. No large business will do that. In their records they have a contract with your company to provide services. If they write you a personal check it won't match with the contract, and when...
As a Canadian, what should I invest in if I'm betting that the Canadian real estate will crash?
If you believe you can time the crash, then We all know what comes after a crash… just as we know what comes after the doom, we just don’t know when….
Making money through CFD
A CFD is like a bet. Bookies don't own horses or racetracks but you still pay them and they pay you if the horses win. If you buy a CFD the money goes to the firm you bought it from and if the stock price changes in your favour, they will pay you. However, if it goes against you they may ask you for more money than you...
“Inflation actually causes people not to spend”… could it be true?
Not always. You always consider economic factors in conjunction with each other rather than in isolation, which leads to weird assumptions. People spending isn't what you should look at always. When inflation is high, means government is spending. Government is spending on public projects, creating employment, increasi...
What are the best software tools for personal finance?
Intuit Quicken. Pros: Cons:
Are the “debt reduction” company useful?
They don't do anything you can't do yourself and they charge you money for it. And of course the only way they manage to negotiate the debt down is by not paying it for a while in the first place, have it referred to collections and then negotiating with the collectors. At that time, your credit rating (if you care abo...
Why does Yahoo Finance and Google Finance not match historical prices?
The difference is that Yahoo is showing the unadjusted price that the security traded for on that date, while google is adjusting for price splits. This means that Google is showing how much you would have had to pay to get what is now one share. Since 1979, JNJ has split 3-for-1 once, and 2-for-1 four times. 3x2x2x2x2...
Can you beat the market by investing in double long ETFs? [duplicate]
If the index goes up every single day during your investment, you would indeed be better off with 2x ETFs, assuming no tracking errors. However, this is basically never the case. Indexes fluctuate up and down. And the problem is, with these sorts of ETFs, you double your win on the upside but your downside is more than...
How can I predict which way mortgage rates are moving?
If economic conditions are weakening, i.e. unemployment rising, business and consummer confidence dropping, etc., you can expect interest rates and thus mortgage rates to drop. If economic conditions are strengthening you can expect interest rates and thus mortgage rates to start rising. As you are in the US, and with ...
How to share income after marriage and kids?
Now I have been trying to figure out how to split the money that we both earn. From what I can see there are several concepts but none of them really seems ideal to me. There is nothing fair or unfair in such arrangements. It is what you both agree. You can try and make this as scientific as possible. But then there is...
Why would a company issue a scrip dividend and how will this issue affect me?
Yes. Instead of paying a cash dividend to shareholders, the company grants existing shareholders new shares at a previously determined price. I'm sorry, but scrip issues are free (for all ordinary shareholders) and are in proportion to existing share holding. No payment is required from shareholders. So instead of havi...
If I helped my friend to file taxes; can I represent her on a phone call with FTB?
In order for you to be able to talk to the FTB on someone's behalf, that someone has to submit form 3520. Note that since you're not a professional, this form must be paper-filed (CRTP, EA, CPA or attorneys can have this filed on-line). Once the form is accepted by the FTB, you can contact the FTB on behalf of your fri...
renter's insurance for causing property damage
Renters' Insurance should also have some level of liability coverage. I.e.: if you caused a flooding because you went on and broke the pipe, or a fire because you smoked in the bed - there should be some level of coverage for that. However, most of the damage the tenant can do is probably not accidental. If you broke t...
Am I understanding buying options on stock correctly
Here is a quick and dirty explanation of options. In a nutshell, you pay a certain amount to buy a contract that gives you the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell a stock at a predetermined price at some date in the future. They come in a few flavors: I'll give you $100 if you let me buy 10,000 shares of XYZ...
Where can I find information on the percentage of volume is contributed by shorts?
I believe that it's not possible for the public to know what shares are being exchanged as shorts because broker-dealers (not the exchanges) handle the shorting arrangements. I don't think exchanges can even tell the difference between a person selling a share that belongs to her vs. a share that she's just borrowing....
Potential pitfalls of this volume trading strategy
People are trying ideas like this, actually. Though they generally aren't very public about it. While keshlam ventures into hyperbole when mentioning Watson, he is certainly correct human language parsing is a extremely hard problem. While it is not always true that the big players will know before the news (sometime...
Won an incentive trip in 2013, left employer in 2014, received an earning statement with no cash but a huge tangible bonus listed
I had experience working for a company that manufactures stuff and giving products to the employees. The condition was to stay employed for a year after the gift for the company to cover its cost (I think they imputed the tax), otherwise they'd add the cost to the last paycheck (which they did when I left). But they we...
Making your first million… is easy! (??)
Easy. Start with 2 millions and lose only one. Jokes aside, if you want a million USD, you should be asking yourself how you can produce products or services worth $5 millions. (expect the extra to be eaten up by taxes, marketing, sales, workforce...) If by investment you mean making risky bets on the stock market, you...
What percent of your portfolio should be in a money market account?
I would disagree with your analysis. To me there are two purposes for a money market (MM): Your emergency fund should be from 3 to 6 months of expenses. Think of it of an insurance policy against Murphy. You may want to have some money designated for big expenses, or even sinking funds. For example, I keep some mon...
Who can truly afford luxury cars?
Not a direct answer, but... a friend pointed out to me that z proper luxury limo, if loaded with four sales reps going to the same meeting, is cheaper than airfares would be and lets them hold a planning meeting en route. Yeah, most of it is conspicuous consumption. But some of the road yachts have legitimate uses.
How can an Indian citizen get exposure to global markets?
There are some ETF's on the Indian market that invest in broad indexes in other countries Here's an article discussing this Be aware that such investments carry an additional risk you do not have when investing in your local market, which is 'currency risk' If for example you invest in a ETF that represents the US S&...
Should I finance a new home theater at 0% even though I have the cash for it?
I bought a Thinkpad in Dec 2007 using BillMeLater, which was working with IBM/Lenovo at that time. I was getting the notebook at the lowest price available, from the manufacturer. I had the money to pay for it -- around $1400. But I went ahead and took the offer from BillMeLater. It was essentially a 12-month zero-...
Tax on Stocks or ETF's
If you receive dividends on an investment, those are taxed.
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.
Married Couple - Open investment account Separate or Joined?
I don't believe it makes a difference at the federal level -- if you file taxes jointly, gains, losses, and dividends appear on the joint tax account. If you file separately, I assume the tax implications only appear on the owner's tax return. Then the benefits might outweigh the costs, but only if you correctly pred...
What exactly is a “bad,” “standard,” or “good” annual raise? If I am told a hard percentage and don't get it, should I look elsewhere?
There are many variables to this answer. One is, how close are you to the average salary range in the industry you are working in. If you are making more than average it would make sense that you are not getting a big raise from the employer's perspective. You have to be a top performer if you are looking for the top s...
Buying a mortgaged house
Just as a renter doesn't care what the landlord's mortgage is, the buyer of a house shouldn't care what the seller paid, what the current mortgage is, or any other details of the seller's finances. Two identical houses may be worth $400K. One still has a $450K loan, the other is mortgage free. You would qualify for th...
Variations of Dual momentum
There's a few layers to the Momentum Theory discussed in that book. But speaking in general terms I can answer the following: Kind of. Assuming you understand that historically the Nasdaq has seen a little more volatility than the S&P. And, more importantly, that it tends to track the tech sector more than the general ...
How can I help others plan their finances, without being a “conventional” financial planner?
You know there is a small group of individuals who focus on strictly planning without implementation. They are not securities licensed (no 7,6,66,63 license) so they cannot sell or discuss securities, but they do put together financial plans to help individuals recover from debt and rework spending/saving strategies. T...
Repaying Debt and Saving - Difficult Situation
Just a thought, but have you considered approaching your sister about assuming the student loans or repaying your mother (even if it is a small amount/month) for financing her college education? If she is in her last year of college, in theory she should be earning at least some income within the next 2 years. Also, it...
Why does Warren Buffett say his fund performance, relatively, is likely to be better in a bear market than in a bull market?
From the letter you link: Our performance, relatively, is likely to be better in a bear market than in a bull market so that deductions made from the above results should be tempered by the fact that it was the type of year when we should have done relatively well. In a year when the general market had a substantia...
Calculate time to reach investment goals given starting balance?
The Finance functions in spreadsheet software will calculate this for you. The basic functions are for Rate, Payment, PV (present value), FV (Future value), and NPER, the number of periods. The single calculation faces a couple issues, dealing with inflation, and with a changing deposit. If you plan to save for 30 ye...
Questioning my Realtor
even though they're only asking for 1/2 the money and have excellent credit that the mortgage company may not lend it to them if I'm over priced Yes. If the house's value, as determined by the appraisal, is less than the sale price, the bank will not finance the loan. Appraisals and the appraisal process have become mu...
Why is a stock trade flat on large volume?
Large volume just means a lot of market participants believe they know where the stock price will be (after some amount of time). The fact that the price is not moving just means that about 50% of those really confident traders think the stock will be moving up, and about 50% of those really confident traders think th...
Credit Card Points from Refund
Because your friend isn't going to like the ~2% charge they have to pay to the credit card company on the $10,000 purchase. Credit card companies make money off of transactions. The cardholder normally doesn't pay any transaction fees (and in fact can make a profit via rewards), but the merchant has to pay a certain am...
Is inflation a good or bad thing? Why do governments want some inflation?
The classic definition of inflation is "too much money chasing too few goods." Within a tight range, say 1-3%, inflation is somewhat benign. There's a nice inflation widget at The Inflation Calculator which helps me see that an item costing $1000 in 1975 would now (2010) be about $4000, and $1000 from 1984 till now, ...
Do you avoid tax when taking a home equity loan?
Loans are not taxable events. The equity you took out is not income. It's a loan, and you pay it back with interest. You pay taxes on the capital gain of the home when you sell it. The tax does not take into account any mortgages, HELOCs, or other loans secured by the house. Instead the tax is calculated based on the p...
How high should I set my KickStarter funding goal in order to have $35,000 left over?
You are wildly over-estimating your taxes. First, remember that your business expenses reduce your gross income. Second, remember that taxes are progressive, so your flat 35% only applies if you're already making a high salary that pushed you into the higher brackets of US and CA. I think the deeper problems are: 1) ...
Want to buy a car but have not enough money
When your dream car is not just 200 times your disposable income but in fact 200 times your whole monthly salary, then there is no way for you to afford it right now. Any attempt to finance through a loan would put you into a debt trap you won't ever dig yourself out. And if there are any car dealerships in your count...
Is it a good idea to get an unsecured loan to pay off a credit card that won't lower a high rate?
I think it depends on how you're approaching paying off the credit card. If you're doing some sort of debt snowball and/or throw all available cash at the card, it's not likely to matter much. If you're paying a set amount close to the minimum each month then you're probably better off getting a loan, use it to pay off...
Advice on strategy for when to sell
It was not 100% clear if you have held all of these stocks for over a year. Therefore, depending on your income tax bracket, it might make sense to hold on to the stock until you have held the individual stock for a year to only be taxed at long-term capital gains rates. Also, you need to take into account the Net In...
What should I be aware of as a young investor?
nan
Dividends - Why the push to reinvest?
There can be a good reason if you own shares issued in a different country: For example, if you are in the UK and own US shares and take the dividend payments, you get some check in US dollars that you will have to exchange to UK£, which means you pay fees - mostly these fees are fixed, so you lose a significant percen...
What is the preferred way to finance home improvements when preparing to sell your house?
You could take on more work. Pizza delivery, lawn work, babysitting, housecleaning, etc. None of those are much fun, but all are better than opening a credit card bill.
I am an American citizen but have never lived in the US. Do I need to fill a W8-BEN or a W-9?
Yes, you do. You also need to file a tax return every year, and if you have more than $50k of total savings you need to declare this every year.
Canadian Citizen and Non Resident for tax purposes
However, you might have to pay taxes on capital gains if these stocks were acquired during your prior residency.
Is a fixed-price natural gas or electricity contract likely to save money?
The answer to this question will vary considerably by state and how utilities are regulated in your area. In New York, ESCOs (Energy Supply Companies) are almost always a ripoff for consumers versus the old-style regulated utility (in NY the utility supply markups are tightly regulated, but ESCOs are less regulated). ...
If a mutual fund did really well last year, then statistically speaking, is it likely going to do bad this year?
Nearly all long-lived active funds underperform the market over the long run. The best they can hope for in almost all cases is to approximate the market return. Considering that the market return is ~9%, this fund should be expected to do less well. In terms of predicting future performance, if its average return is g...
Is there any benefit to investing in an index fund?
Index funds may invest either in index components directly or in other instruments (like ETFs, index options, futures, etc.) which are highly correlated with the index. The specific fund prospectus or description on any decent financial site should contain these details. Index funds are not actively managed, but that ...
Where should I park my money if I'm pessimistic about the economy and I think there will be high inflation?
For diversification against local currency's inflation, you have fundamentally 3 options: Depending on how sure you are on your prediction, and what amount of money you're willing to bet to "short the country", you might also consider a mix of approaches from the above. Good luck.
Taxes on selling stock
You can keep the cash in your account as long as you want, but you have to pay a tax on what's called capital gains. To quote from Wikipedia: A capital gain is a profit that results from investments into a capital asset, such as stocks, bonds or real estate, which exceeds the purchase price. It is the difference betwee...
If I pay someone else's property taxes, can I use it as a deduction on my income tax return?
You cannot deduct. Even if you could, unless you also hold the mortgage, it's unlikely that you would have sufficient deductions to exceed the standard deduction for a married couple.
Why can't you just have someone invest for you and split the profits (and losses) with him?
Such an offer has negative value, so it's hard to see how it would make sense to accept it. The offer has two components, one part that you gain and one part that you lose. The gain is that half your losses are covered. The cost is that half your profits are lost. For that to be a net benefit to you, you would have to ...
Capital Gains Tax - Does this apply only to the actual “gains” or to the entire amount of my sale?
You normally only pay taxes on the difference between the sale price and the cost basis of the asset. In your example, you would probably pay taxes on the $10 difference, not the full sale price of $110. If you paid a commission, however, you would be taxed on your gain minus the commission you paid. Since you held the...
Obtaining California SOS number for out-of-state LLC
SOS stands for Secretary of State. The California Department of State handles the business entities registration, and the website is here. See "Forms" in the navigation menu on the left. Specifically, you'll be looking for LLC-5.
“Correct” answer on Visa credit quiz doesn't make sense
I took the quiz that you linked too and answered with what I considered "ideal" answers with the exception of checking C for that particular question.... The first thing I saw was I needn't have bothered with giving the ideal answer as the result is self graded (paraphrased) as...all "A" great, mostly "A" good, mostly...
Doctor's office won't submit claim to insurance after 5 months
I'm a business law student, so medical stuff isn't really my specialty. I'll share with you what I know though. First, as to the legality, I'm not aware of anything making it illegal for them to consider their business with you concluded. Absent any contract between you and the doctor, it seems to me that you agreed to...
Can I open a Solo 401(k) if I am an independent contractor but also work part-time as an employee?
I'm in a similar situation as I have a consulting business in addition to my regular IT job. I called the company who has my IRA to ask about setting up the Individual 401k and also mentioned that I contribute to my employer's 401k plan. The rep was glad I brought this up because he said the IRS has a limit on how muc...
Why don't some places require a credit card receipt signature, and some do?
This is basically done to reduce costs and overhead, with agreement of the credit card issuers. When the card is physically present and the charge is low, the burden of keeping the signed receipts and of additional delays at the cash register is not worth the potential risk of fraud. Depending on the location and the s...
What argument(s) support the claim that long-term housing prices trend upward?
It is supported by inflation and historical values. if you look at real estate as well as the stock market they have consistently increased over a long period of history even with short term drops. It is also based on inflation and the fact that the price of land and building material has increased over time.
Free “Rich Dad” education, with “free gift”: Is it legitimate, or is it a sales ploy?
I have taken the free Kiyosaki evening course, and it does give some good information. It is an upsell to the $500 weekend course, which I also took. That course taught me enough about real-estate investing to get started. I have not yet had the need to pursue his other, more expensive courses. Read his books, take the...
How can cold-callers know about my general financial status
There are multiple social engineering ways.
If there's no volume discount, does buying in bulk still make sense?
Instead of buying in bulk, I invest the money in equity mutual funds, for an expected return of 12%, which is more than inflation. So, I make more returns. But at the cost of a slight risk, which I'm comfortable with.
How to invest in stocks without using an intermediary like a broker? Can shares be bought direct?
Am I wrong? Yes. The exchanges are most definitely not "good ole boys clubs". They provide a service (a huge, liquid and very fast market), and they want to be paid for it. Additionally, since direct participants in their system can cause serious and expensive disruptions, they allow only organizations that know what ...
Calculate investment's interest rate to break-even insurance cost [duplicate]
I wouldn't call it apples and oranges. This is literally an opportunity cost calculation. You can safely assume S&P500 will perform at least 11% over any 10 year period. Since failing companies are delisted and replaced with new growing companies, the market should continue to grow. No, it's not guaranteed. Lets u...
What is the field “Folio” in an accounting book for?
It's used as a reference column: In journals folio coloumn is used to mention the reference or “address” of ledger in which the journal entry has been posted thus giving an easy access and also easily understanding whether all the entries has been posted in the relevant accounts or not.
What are institutional investors?
FINRA defines institutional investors as: Institutional investors include banks, savings and loan associations, insurance companies, registered investment companies, registered investment advisors, a person or entity with assets of at least $50 million, government entities, employee benefit plans and qualified plans ...
If a bank has a transfer limit, what happens if another bank pushes/pulls more than that?
If bank B has a transfer limit set, you bet that there is a nice reason for that. Either risk of fraud, liability, client preferences, profiling, credit scoring, etc, etc. For a bank, the cost of denying something [1] is way lower than the potential damages and liabilities of allowing something to go through. Regardin...
Do I need a business credit card?
It can certainly help build a credit score, but remember that businesses gain credit differently from individuals. Depending on the country, there isn't usually a national register of business credit ratings the way there is for individuals. The credit record you'd be gaining is with your own bank only. Banks will us...
New car cash vs finance
Yes, maybe. Sometimes the mother company (that makes the car) covers a bit of the loss that comes from the super-offer loan, so the dealer loses a bit less. But generally, you are right. you should be able to talk them into some rebate that gets you around the given number, depending on how good you are a negotiator (a...
Whether to prepay mortgage or invest in stocks
what other pieces of info should I consider If you don't have liquid case available for unexpected repairs, then you probably don't want to use this money for either option. The 7% return on the stocks is absolutely not guaranteed. There is a good amount of risk involved with any stock investment. Paying down the mort...
What is a good way to save money on car expenses?
It is almost always cheaper to do regular maintenance then to fix problems because you didn't change the oil or check the transmission fluid.
Transfer money from a real estate sale in India to the US
How would I go about doing this? Are there any tax laws I should be worried about? Just report it as a regular sale of asset on your form 8949 (or form 4797 if used for trade/business/rental). It will flow to your Schedule D for capital gains tax. Use form 1116 to calculate the foreign tax credit for the taxes on the g...
Will I be liable for taxes if I work for my co. in India for 3 months while I am with my husband in UK
The finance team from your company should be able to advise you. From what I understand you are Indian Citizen for Tax purposes. Any income you receive globally is taxable in India. In this specific case you are still having a Employee relationship with your employer and as such the place of work does not matter. You a...
Fringe Benefits (Lodging) for single member S-Corp
None whatsoever, no. Moreover, trying something like that would very likely trigger a full audit.
My friend wants to put my name down for a house he's buying. What risks would I be taking?
Something else to consider, even if your friend is on the up and up and never misses a payment: Until the house is paid off, any time you apply for credit banks will count the mortgage payment on your friends house against your ability to pay all your existing debts in addition to whatever new loan you're applying for...
Prepaying a loan: Shouldn't the interest be recalculated like a shorter loan?
Forget about terms. Think about loans in terms of months. To simplify things, let's consider a $1000 loan with .3% interest per month. This looks like a ten month term, but it's equally reasonable to think about it on a month-to-month basis. In the first month, you borrowed $1000 and accrued $3 interest. With the...
Does a larger down payment make an offer stronger?
First, let me say that you have to take everything your agent says with a grain of salt. Freakonomics had a great article that discussed the math behind the motivation of the real estate agent. It described the home seller, trying to get, say $400K. On a 6% commission, the $24K is destined to be split between seller r...
Is it possible to improve stock purchase with limit orders accounting for volatility?
If you can afford the cost and risk of 100 shares of stock, then just sell a put option. If you can only afford a few shares, you can still use the information the options market is trying to give you -- see below. A standing limit order to buy a stock is essentially a synthetic short put option position. [1] So deci...
Automatic transaction on credit card to stay active
Put one of your monthly bills on it. (Utility bill, Netflix, monthly donation to charity, etc.) I have several automatic, recurring monthly charges on my credit card. If you don't have any current monthly bills that you want to switch, contact the Red Cross, or a charity of your choice. They would be very happy to cha...
How to build a U.S. credit history as a worker on a visa?
When you start living in US, it doesn't actually matter what was your Credit history in another country. Your Credit History in US is tied to your SSN (Social Security Number), which will be awarded once you are in the country legally and apply for it. Getting an SSN also doesn't guarantee you nothing and you have to b...
Why don't share prices of a company rise every other Friday when the company buys shares for its own employees?
Let's take an example: IBM has about 430,000 employees worldwide. Assume the average yearly salary is $80K (it's probably less, since a lot of jobs are offshore). If every employee took 10% of their pay as stock, that's $132 million every two weeks. But IBM's market capitalization is about $153 billion, so stock pur...
Online tools for monitoring my portfolio gains/losses in real time?
I use Google Finance too. The only thing I have problem with is dividend info which it wouldn't automatically add to my portfolio. At the same time, I think that's a lot to ask for a free web site tool. So when dividend comes, I manually "deposit" the dividend payment by updating the cash amount. If the dividend comes ...
What are the differences between an investment mortgage and a personal mortgage?
According to my wife who used to work in the industry, since an investment mortgage is more likely to fail (they are just riskier) there are higher loan to value requirements and higher interest rates. They are just different products for different situations.
Is this understanding of S-corp taxes correct?
I think you're misunderstanding how S-Corp works. Here are some pointers: I suggest you talk with a EA/CPA licensed in your state and get yourself educated on what you're getting yourself into.
Do rental car agencies sell their cars at a time when it is risky for the purchaser?
Every car model/type has a know interval when things need maintenance or replacement. This info comes mainly from the manufacturer and the rental companies use these info to determine how long and at what rate a car should be rented (I mean in total, not rented to an individual) This is easiest calculated with a long t...
In today's low interest environment, is it generally more economical to buy or lease a new car in the US?
There are two reasons leases are generally a worse deal than buying. First, inherent in the lease is the concept of trading in the car at the end of the lease term. As we all know, cars depreciate the most in the first year or two. By repeatedly leasing cars on short time frames, you own the vehicles during those most ...
Profiting from the PWC Money Tree
The hardest part seems to be knowing exactly when to sell the stock. Well yes, that's the problem with all stock investing. Reports come out all the time, sometimes even from very smart people with no motivation to lie, about expected earnings for this company, or for that industry. Whether those predictions come true...
What is a mutual fund?
The simple answer is: YES, the JP Morgan emerging markets equity fund is a mutual fund. A mutual fund is a pooling of money from investors to invest in stocks and bonds. Investors in mutual funds arrive there in different ways. Some get there via their company 401K, others by an IRA, still others as a taxable account. ...
For Federal Crimes, where does the money collected from penalties go?
The SFGate had an article on this a few years ago: http://www.sfgate.com/business/networth/article/When-government-fines-companies-who-gets-cash-3189724.php "Civil penalties, often referred to as fines, usually go to the U.S. Treasury or victims." Short answer in the case you references it would be the US Treasury. In ...
I've got $100K to invest over the next 2 to 7 years. What are some good options?
Well, a proper answer needs a few more details: 1) What's your marginal tax bracket? (A CD is just plain silly for someone in a high tax bracket and in a high tax state) 2) What's your state of residence? 3) Do you have a 401k to draw on for a house loan in case of badly timed volatility? 4) What does will the rest of ...
Best Time to buy a stock in a day
You can't predict when to buy a stock during the day to guarantee not having a loss for the day. In the short run stock prices are really pretty random. There are many day traders who try to accomplish exactly this and most of them lose money. If you don't believe me, create an account on Investopedia and use their fre...
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...
Which type of investments to keep inside RRSP?
Milliondollarjourney.com has a couple of articles on this topic. How Investing Taxes Work part 1 and part 2. The following is a summary of that article. Capital gains and dividends are taxed at a preferred rate, while interest tax is taxed at your regular rate. Interest is taxed at your marginal rate, but capital gains...