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I'm getting gouged on prices for medical services when using my HSA plan. How to be billed fairly? | First, as noted in the comments, you need to pay attention to your network providers. If you are unable to pay exorbitant prices out of pocket, then find an in-network medical provider. if you are unhappy with the in-network provider list (e.g. too distant or not specialists), then discuss switching to another plan o... |
In general, is it financially better to buy or to rent a house? | The general answer is: "it depends on how long you want to live there". Here is a good calculator to figure it out: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/business/buy-rent-calculator.html Basically, if you plan to move in a few years, then renting makes more sense. It is a lot easier to move from an apartment when your l... |
Missing 401(k) dividends | Your investment is probably in a Collective Investment Trust. These are not mutual funds, and are not publicly traded. I.e. they are private to plan participants in your company. Because of this, they are not required* to distribute dividends like mutual funds. Instead, they will reinvest dividends automatically, incre... |
What is the preferred way to set up personal finances? | simplicity and roi are often at odds. the simplest plan that also supports a reasonable investment return would have 3 accounts: if you want to get better returns on your investments, things can get much more complicated. here are some optional accounts to consider: besides the mechanics of money flowing between accoun... |
UK limited company and personal bank account | I don't think there is a legal requirement that you need a separate bank account. Just remember that you can only take money from your LLC as salary (paying tax), as dividend (paying tax), or as a loan (which you need to repay, including and especially if the LLC goes bankrupt). So make very sure that your books are in... |
Filing 1040-NR when I have been outside the US the entire year? | Yes, you can still file a 1040nr. You are a nonresident alien and were: engaged in a trade or business in the United States Normally, assuming your withholding was correct, you would get a minimal amount back. Income earned in the US is definitely Effectively Connected Income and is taxed at the graduated rates that... |
Home Renovations are expensive.. Should I only pay cash for them? | Is it a safety thing? If the heat pump goes out you replace it immediately, if your floor looks bad but you aren't tripping, I would suggest saving. Use the extra time to find a great deal and educate yourself on your options. Maybe even take a class and learn to do it yourself. In these rough times, anything I can ... |
I have $10,000 sitting in an account making around $1 per month interest, what are some better options? | Put the whole lot into a couple of low-cost broad index funds with dividends reinvested (also known as accumulation funds) and then don't look at them. Invest through a low-cost broker. There are a number to choose from and once you start googling around the theme of "index fund investing" you'll find them. The S&P 500... |
Investor returns from crowdfunding | Crowdfunding can be a legitimate means of funding very small startups. It is an innovative, but obviously risky, method of raising small amounts of money. As such it is now regulated by the SEC under "Regulation Crowdfunding" They have published guides for these types of business startups to help them with required dis... |
Buying an option in the money, at the money, or out of the money | You can do some very crafty hedging with the variety of options. For instance, deep out of the money options are affected more by changes of market volatility, knowing this you can get long or short vega very easily, as opposed to necessarily betting on changes in the underlying asset. |
Finance, Cash or Lease? | Now, to buy in full (and essentially have zero savings), buy in part (£10000 deposit, followed by a loan of £4000) or PCP/HP more of the value? So, you are assessing if the car is worth having with either none or only 4,000 in savings. This is the most critical information you have provided. My outright opinion is to... |
Pensions, annuities, and “retirement” | With an annuity, you invest directly into an annuity with money you have earned as wages/salary/etc. You pay for it, and trade your payments into the annuity for guaranteed payments from the annuity issuer in the future. The more you pay in before the annuity payments begin, the more you will receive for your annuity p... |
Identifying “Dividend Stocks” | How to find good divided stocks? Research and read. Google, Yahoo, and most likely your broker offer some sort of stock screener tool where you can look for stocks with given P/E ratios, dividend payouts, pricing, and any of a number of other filters. When you've found some that appeal to you, read what others are sayi... |
Comparing IRA vs 401K's rate-of-return with dollar cost averaging | Google Docs spreadsheets have a function for filling in stock and fund prices. You can use that data to graph (fund1 / fund2) over some time period. Syntax: =GoogleFinance("symbol", "attribute", "start_date", "num_days|end_date", "interval") where: This analysis won’t include dividends or distributions. Yahoo provides... |
About dividend percentage | Dividend prices are per share, so the amount that you get for a dividend is determined by the number of shares that you own and the amount of the dividend per share. That's all. People like to look at dividend yield because it lets them compare different investments; that's done by dividing the dividend by the value of... |
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... |
First time homeowner and getting a mortgage? | If you have good credit, you already know the rate -- the bank has it posted in the window. If you don't have good credit, tell the loan officer your score. Don't have them run your credit until you know that you're interested in that bank. Running an application or prequal kicks off the sales process, which gets very ... |
How does delta of an option change with time if underlying price is constant? | So, this isn't always the case, but in the example provided the option is most likely in the money or near the money since the delta is nearly 1 - indicating that a $1 move in the underlying results in a $0.92 move in the option - this will happen when the expiration is very far out or the option is in the money. As ex... |
Pensions, annuities, and “retirement” | There are broadly two kinds of pension: final salary / defined benefit, and money purchase. The text you quote above, where it talks about "pension" it is referring to a final salary / defined benefit scheme. In this type of scheme you earn a salary of £X during your working life, and you are then entitled to a propor... |
Options revisited: Gold fever | Make a portfolio with gold and put options for gold. If the price rises again, sell a part of your gold and use it to buy new put options. If the price goes down, then use your put options to sell gold at a favorable price. |
Are there limits on frequency of withdrawal from Roth 401K? | Back in the late 80's I had a co-worked do exactly this. In those days you could only do things quarterly: change the percentage, change the investment mix, make a withdrawal.. There were no Roth 401K accounts, but contributions could be pre-tax or post-tax. Long term employees were matched 100% up to 8%, newer employe... |
Income in zero-interest environment | anything that produces steady income will produce a "real return" (return above inflation) in a zero-interest rate environment: Note, however, that all of these will decline in value if interest rates rise. |
For somebody that travels the same route over and over again, what are some ways to save on airfare? | I remember when humorist Dave Barry discussed some guy who invented the software that guaranteed that no two airline passengers ever paid the same fare. As with much of Dave Barry's stuff, it has way too much truth in it. Research when the best time frame to buy your tickets is. It varies wildly with time of day, tim... |
Why are currency forwards needed? | e.g. a European company has to pay 1 million USD exactly one year from now While that is theoretically possible, that is not a very common case. Mostly likely if they had to make a 1 million USD payment a year from now and they had the cash on hand they would be able to just make the payment today. A more common scena... |
Take advantage of rock bottom oil prices | A long call options spread. In this case, a bet that the USO ETF would recover to $35. You can see, I got in when USO was $28, and it's continued to drop, but it has till Jan '17 to recover. The spread is set up to give leverage, when I entered the trade, a 50% recovery would result in a 200% gain, or 3X my bet. An opt... |
Regarding Australian CBS takeover of TEN | they are purchasing the company" is this correct? Yes this is correct. If I purchase a "company" here in Australia, I also purchase its assets and liabilities Yes that is correct. How can it be NIL? How can it be legal? The value of shares [or shareholders] is Assets - liabilities. Generally a healthy company has Asset... |
Are variable rate loans ever a good idea? | The simple answer is absolutely. With the parameters you quote, if you will pay off the loan in 82 months or less, you will be ahead taking the variable rate. You have put your finger on the important question as well. The higher initial interest is buying insurance against rates rising if you don't pay off the loan w... |
Should a high-school student invest their (relative meager) savings? | If you have no immediate need for the money you can apply the Rule of 72 to that money. Ask your parent's financial advisor to invest the money. Based on the rate of return your money will double like clockwork. At 8% interest your money will double every 9 years. 45 years from now that initial investment will have ... |
Is it possible to sell a stock at a higher value than the market price? | You can ask for 305rs, but as long as shares are available at lower prices you won't sell. Only when your ask becomes the lowest available price will someone buy from you. See many past questions about how buyers and sellers are matched by the market. |
Why do people buy stocks at higher price in merger? | There are kind of two answers here: the practical reason an acquirer has to pay more for shares than their current trading price and the economic justification for the increase in price. Why must the acquirer must pay a premium as a practical matter? Everyone has a different valuation of a company. The current tradin... |
What's are the differences between “defined contribution” and “defined benefit” pension plans? | Defined Benefit Plans: Defined benefit plans are disappearing because of their high cost to the companies that provide them. When an employee retires, the company must pay his pension for the rest of his life, even longer if the pension includes a survivor option. Thus the company's financial burden grows as more emp... |
Most important skills needed to select profitable stocks | Coolness - It's not only a matter of staying calm when being up or down. You must keep yourself from chasing a stock that appears to be running away. Or from betting all your money that something(like say a crash) will happen tomorrow because that would be great for you. Use your head not your heart. Empathy - You need... |
Why buy insurance? | For big values the loss becomes negligible. Say you have a 10% chance to get 10 million $/€/Whatever, expected value 1m. You sell that chance for 990k, which loses you 10k of expected income. Why would you throw away 10k? Because in the face of getting almost 1m the 10k are insignificant, 1m and 990k will make you roug... |
How much more than my mortgage should I charge for rent? | I think the mortgage must not be in the equation at all in order to determine how much to charge. Of course you want to cover your mortgage but the renting price is determined only by how much the renter is willing to pay (offer and demand) and not your mortgage (some people don't even have a mortgage). In other words ... |
If I have a lot of debt and the housing market is rising, should I rent and slowly pay off my debt or buy and roll the debt into a mortgage? | The only way to "roll" debt into a home purchase is to have sufficient down payment. Under the "new" lending rules that took effect in Canada earlier this year, you must have at least 5% of the purchase price as a down payment. If you have $60,000 in additional debt, the total amount of mortgage still cannot be great... |
What's the difference between Market Cap and NAV? | Market caps is just the share price, multiplied by the number of shares. It doesn't represent any value (if people decide to pay more or less for the shares, the market cap goes up or down). It does represent what people think the company is worth. NAV sounds very much like book value. It basically says "how much cash... |
Where can I find closed dates for the New York Stock Exchange for the coming year? | The NYSE holidays are listed online here: https://www.nyse.com/markets/hours-calendars |
How to avoid getting back into debt? | Congratulations on seeing your situation clearly! That's half the battle. To prevent yourself from going back into debt, you should get rid of any credit cards you have and close the accounts. Just use your debit card. Your post indicates you're not the type to splurge and get stuff just because you want it, so saving ... |
Would it make sense to buy a rental property as an LLC and not in my own name? | IANAL, but if you're planning to sell shares in your LLC you may be disappointed in the protection granted. I looked into this corporate structure for the same purpose myself, and my attorney said something like, "If an owner of one of the shares of your company is driving to look at one of the properties, and gets int... |
What is a good way to save money on car expenses? | Ride a bicycle or walk for short trips (< 5mi–10mi, depending on your level of comfort). Nothing saves as much on car expenses as simply driving less. |
What could cause a stock to trade below book value? | The key to evaluating book value is return on equity (ROE). That's net profit divided by book value. The "value" of book value is measured by the company's ROE (the higher the better). If the stock is selling below book value, the company's assets aren't earning enough to satisfy most investors. Would you buy a CD tha... |
Can ETF's change the weighting of the assets they track | Can they change the weights? Yes. Will they? It depends. are ETF's fixed from their inception to their de-listing? It's actually not possible for weights to be fixed, since different assets have different returns. So the weights are constantly changing as long as the market is moving. Usually after a certain period or ... |
Can I withdraw unsettled funds? | Yes, via a margin account, one can trade or transfer on unsettled funds. These are tight regulations that begin with the Federal Reserve, extend to FINRA, and downward. In a cash account, this is not possible. Since speed is a necessity, a margin account can actually be approved nearly instantly. |
What is the difference between a stock and a bond? | In a sentence, stocks are a share of equity in the company, while bonds are a share of credit to the company. When you buy one share of stock, you own a (typically infinitesimal) percentage of the company. You are usually entitled to a share of the profits of that company, and/or to participate in the business decision... |
Do technical indicators actually work while analyzing stocks? [duplicate] | Sure they work - right until they don't. Explanation: A stock picking strategy based on technical indicators is at worst a mix of random guessing and confirmation bias, which will "work" only due to luck. At best, it exploits a systematic inefficiency of the market. And any such inefficiency will automatically disappe... |
Buying my first car out of college | I realize I'm drudging up a somewhat old post here (apologies), but I've found myself in a similar situation recently and thought I would chime in. I was considering buying a car where the loan amount would be right around 25k. I tried justifying this by saying it's ridiculously fast (I'm young and stupid, this is appe... |
Can i short securities in a normal(non-margin) account | Exact rules may be different depending on the size of the investor, the specific broker, and the country. For both the US and Canada, short sales occur only through one's margin account. And shares that are borrowed for shorting only come from a margin account. Shares held in a cash account are not available for shor... |
How can I get a mortgage I can't afford? | Save up a bigger downpayment. The lender's requirement is going to be based on how much you finance, not the price of the house. |
Solid reading/literature for investment/retirement/income taxes? | For the mechanices/terms of stock investing, I recommend Learn to Earn by Peter Lynch. I also like The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John Bogle. It explains why indexing is the best choice for most people. For stock picking, a good intro is The Little Book of Value Investing by Chris Brown. And then there is... |
How can I determine if a FHA loan refinance offer is from a reputable lender | Start with the list of mortgage companies approved to work in your area. There are 80 within 10 miles of my house, and more than 100 in my county. Pick ones you know because they are established businesses in your area, region, or even nationally. A good place to start might be with your current lender. The risk you ... |
still have mortgage on old house to be torn down- want to build new house | I could be wrong, but I doubt you're going to be able to roll the current mortgage into a new one. The problem is that the bank is going to require that the new loan is fully collateralized by the new house. So the only way that you can ensure that is if you can construct the house cheaply enough that the difference b... |
Why are fund managers' average/minimum purchase price from form 13F the same? | The GuruFocus Link is just reporting the high and low price of the quarter. Price Range (Average) – The estimated trade prices. The average price is calculated from the time weighted average during the period. If no price range is shown, the trade prices are estimated trade prices, which are more accurate estima... |
Incorporating real-world parameters into simulated(paper) trading | I think you're on the wrong track. Getting more and more samples from the real world does not make your backtest more accurate, it just confirms that your strategy can withstand one particular sample path of a stochastic process. The reason why you find it simple to incorporate fees, commissions, taxes, etc. is becaus... |
Why buying an inverse ETF does not give same results as shorting the ETF | The most fundamental answer is that when you short a stock (or an ETF), you short a specific number of shares on a specific day, and you probably don't adjust this much as the price wobbles goes up and down. But an inverse fund is not tied to a specific start date, like your own transaction is. It adjusts on an ongoin... |
Do stock prices drop due to dividends? | Yes, the stock price drops on the ex-dividend date by roughly the amount of the dividend. There is even academic research testing this and confirming that the popular rule of thumb works well. |
Under specific conditions can I write off Spotify or other streaming audio services? | Nice try. No. If you were in the music industry, you might have a case. Depending on the exact job, certain things related to music would be a business expense. I don't see how this would pass an audit as it really is unrelated to the work you do. |
Free service for automatic email stock alert when target price is met? | You can do it graphically at zignals.com and freestockcharts.com. |
What are the downsides that prevent more people from working in high-income countries, and then retiring in low-income (and cost of living) ones? | I'm currently working as an expat, and my grandparents used to work overseas but retired to Canada so you could say my family has done things completely the opposite of what you suggest. However there are a number of very good reasons that my grandparents have done things the way we have, and I think it's worth sharing... |
How to prevent myself from buying things I don't want | One approach is to control your budget more effectively. For example work out your essential living expenses things like food, rent and other bills you are committed to and compare this to your regular income. Then you can set up a regular automatic payment to a savings account so you limit the disposable income in yo... |
What is the best way to get a “rough” home appraisal prior to starting the refinance process? | I see your remarks regarding Zillow, but would add a question. Why not look only for recent sales? If you find homes similar to yours with recent sales, that's similar to how the appraisers do it. I've refinanced many times and each time, I looked at sales within three miles of my house. I hit the appraised price very ... |
Closing a futures position | For exchange contracts, yes. A trader can close a position by taking an offsetting position. CME's introduction to Futures explains it quite well (on page 22). Exiting the Market Jack entered the market on the buy side, speculating that the S&P 500 futures price would move higher. He has three choices for exiting ... |
How will a 1099 work with an existing W-2? | You can have multiple W2 forms on the same tax return. If you are using software, it will have the ability for you to enter additional W2 forms. If you are doing it by paper, just follow the instructions and combine the numbers at the correct place and attach both. Similarly you can also have a 1099 with and without a... |
What to do with small dividends in brokerage account? | Some brokerages will allow you to enroll your account in a dividend reinvestment plan -- TD Ameritrade and I think Schwab for example. The way the plan works is that they would take your $4 and give you whatever fractional share of the ETF it is worth on the payment date. There are no fees associated with this purchase... |
Investing using leverage | Step 2 is wrong. Leverage is NOT necessary. It increases possible gain, but increases risk of loss by essentially the same amount. Those two numbers are pretty tightly linked by market forces. See many, many other answers here showing that one can earn "market rate" -- 8% or so -- with far less risk and effort, if one ... |
Why are taxes on actively managed funds higher than those on index funds? | First, consider what causes taxes to apply to a mutual fund, index or actively managed. Dividends and capital gains are generally what will be distributed to shareholders given the nature of a mutual fund since the fund itself doesn't pay taxes. For funds held in IRAs or other tax-advantaged accounts, this isn't a co... |
what are the pros and cons of structured deposits? | Say we are in 'normal times.' Passbook rates are 5% or so. Longer rates, 6-7%. I offer you a product with these terms, for $10,000 I will return a "Guaranteed" $10,000 in 6 years and based on the stock market, 1% for every 2% the S&P is up beyond 10% at maturity. As the seller of this product, I take $6666, and buy a f... |
What would the broker do about this naked call option? | The broker would give you a margin call and get you to deposit more funds into your account. They wouldn't wait for the stock price to reach $30, but would take this action much earlier. More over it is very unrealistic for any stock to go up 275% over a few hours, and if the stock was this volatile the broker would be... |
Debt collector has wrong person and is contacting my employer | Did you receive a summons, or other notice of proceedings, from the court which granted the judgement? If you were not served with the proceedings, contact the court. It is unlawful to enforce a judgement against someone who was not a party to the original lawsuit. |
What happens if one brings more than 10,000 USD with them into the US? | Bad plan. This seems like a recipe for having your money taken away from you by CBP. Let me explain the biases which make it so. US banking is reliable enough for the common citizen, that everyone simply uses banks. To elaborate, Americans who are unbanked either can't produce simple identity paperwork; or they got ... |
When following a buy and hold investment strategy, on what conditions should one sell? | You talk about an individual not being advised to sell (or purchase) in response to trends in the market in such a buy and hold strategy. But think of this for a moment: You buy stock ABC for $10 when both the market as a whole and stock ABC are near the bottom of a bear market as say part of a value buying strategy. Y... |
How will going from 75% Credit Utilization to 0% Credit Utilization affect my credit score? | I wrote an article about FICO scoring which shows that 30% of your score is based on utilization or amount owed. I can't say exactly how much your score will rise, or how long it will take, but your score will improve dramatically from what you propose. This chart is from Credit Karma, and it shows how zero utilizat... |
Claiming income/deductions on an illegal apartment | A basement unit would typically rent for less than similar space on a higher floor. Taxwise, you should be claiming the income, and expenses via schedule E, as if it were legal. Keep in mind, Al Capone was convicted on tax evasion not his other illegal activities. As long as you treat it as a legitimate business, a r... |
Company requires me to use my personal cell phone to work. Writeoff? | Not authoritative, but according to TurboTax: If your new cell phone acts as both your business and personal phone, you are only allowed to deduct the portion used for business from your taxable income. It’s important for you to hang on to your itemized phone bill and receipts to ensure that you’re deducting the right ... |
Buying Fixed Deposit in India from Europe | A few weeks ago, I was thinking about this exact thing (except swap Euros for Canadian Dollars). The good news is that there are options. Option 1: yes, buy Indian fixed deposits Interest rates are high right now- you can get up to 9% p.a. It boils down to your sentiment about the Indian rupee going forward. For instan... |
Is 401k as good as it sounds given the way it is taxed? | You raise a good point about the higher marginal rates for 401K but things will be different, in retirement, than they are for you now. First off you are going to have a "boat load" of money. Like probably a multi-millionaire. Also your ability to invest will (probably) increase greater than the maximum allowable to... |
I made an investment with a company that contacted me, was it safe? | Just browsed their website. Not a single name of anybody involved. Their application process isn't safe(No https usage while transferring private information). And considering they contacted you rather than you contacting them, I will be very wary about how they got my details. And they are located in Indonesia. And a... |
How are mortgage payments decided? [duplicate] | It's so that your total mortgage payment stays the same every month. Obviously, the interest due each month decreases over time, as part of the principal is paid off each month, and so if the proportion of interest and principal repayments were to stay the same then your first payment would be very large and your last ... |
Is insurance worth it if you can afford to replace the item? If not, when is it? | The key point to answer the question is to consider risk aversion. Assume I suggest a game to you: Throw a coin and if you win, you get $5, if you lose nothing happens. Will you play the game? Of course, you will - you have nothing to lose! What if I suggest this: If you win, you get $10,000,005 and if you lose you mus... |
Tax liability in US for LLC's owned by an Indian Citzen | The LLC will not be liable for anything, it is disregarded for tax purposes. If you're doing any work while in the US, or you (or your spouse) are a green card holder or a US citizen - then you (not the LLC) may be liable, may be required to file, pay, etc. Unless you're employing someone, or have more than one member ... |
Home (re)Finance and Providing Additional Information | I have never had a lender ask my budget, only my income, savings, credit rating and value of the collateral. That's considered adequate info to estimate risk for most ordinary loans. Yes, they may want the income proven by evidence from your employer or via a copy of your tax returns. They don't care what you buy as lo... |
Stock market vs. baseball card trading analogy | The Bobs tend to show up at the top of bubbles, then disappear soon after. For example, your next door neighbor who talks about Oracle in 1999, even though he doesn't know what Oracle does for a living. I don't think the Bobs' assets represent a large chunk of the market's value. A better analogy would be a spectrum o... |
Can my employer limit my maximum 401k contribution amount (below the IRS limit)? | YMMV, but I don't accept non-answers like that from HR. Sometimes you need to escalate. Usually when I get this sort of thing, I go to my boss and he asks them the question in writing and they give him a better answer. (HR in most companies seem to be far more willing to give information to managers than employees.) O... |
Should I start investing in property with $10,000 deposit and $35,000 annual wage | I would strongly, strongly advise against it. Others here are answering the question of, having decided to invest in property, how one ought to ensure that one invests in the right property. What has not really been discussed here is the issue of diversification. There are a number of serious risks to property investme... |
Is there a limit on the dollar amount of a personal check? | Like the old American Express commercial: "no preset spending limit". It is really up to the bank(s) in question how big a cheque they are willing to honour. A larger amount would likely be held longer by a receiving institution to ensure that it cleared properly, but nothing written in law (in Canada, that I am aware ... |
Can you explain the mechanism of money inflation? | Your question asks about the mechanism of money inflation - not price inflation. Money inflation occurs when new money is introduced into an economy. The value of money is subject to supply and demand like other items in the economy. The effects of new money can be difficult to predict. One of the results of additi... |
Low risk withdrawal from market. Is there a converse to dollar-cost-averaging? | When you are a certain age you will be able to tap into your retirement accounts, or start receiving pension and social security funds. In addition you may be faced with required minimum distributions from these accounts. But even before you get to those points you will generally shift the focus of new funds into the ... |
How can I find out what category a merchant falls into for my credit card's cashback program? [duplicate] | Not clear what you're asking. Are you trying to figure out their SIC/NAISC classification? That tells you the business category they fall into, but there's no simple, instant way to find that out. Much also depends on how the credit card issuer has classified them and how they arrived at that information. They may h... |
What should I be aware of as a young investor? | Risk and return always go hand by hand.* Risk is a measure of expected return volatility. The best investment at this stage is a good, easy to understand but thorough book on finance. *Applies to efficient markets only. |
At what damage amount should I pursue a homeowner's insurance claim? | Some builders -- if given the first chance to deal with the problem, instead of being presented with a bill after the fact -- will fix the problem at no charge to the homeowner. Good faith matters. My house was built by such a builder. If I have a problem that I am competent enough to diagnose and fix, I fix it mysel... |
Why is day trading considered riskier than long-term trading? | Often times the commission fees add up a lot. Many times the mundane fluctuations in the stock market on a day to day basis are just white noise, whereas long term investing generally lets you appreciate value based on the market reactions to actual earnings of the company or basket of companies. Day trading often invo... |
Are stories of turning a few thousands into millions by trading stocks real? | I made upwards of 3M from 200K by trading stocks, which I made from a business that I invested 20K in. HOWEVER, DO NOT use trading stocks as a source of income, you're gambling with your precious cash. There are safer alternatives. |
Official site to follow Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway change in investment holdings? | Are you looking for this Warren Buffets Stock Portfolio? Or Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio WFC is near the bottom of the BH portfolio but it seems to be a rather large investment for both. |
To pay off a student loan, should I save up a lump sum payoff payment or pay extra each month? | As a new graduate, aside from the fact that you seem to have the extra $193/mo to pay more towards your loan, we don't know anything else. I wrote a lengthy article on this in response to a friend who had a loan, but was also pondering a home purchase in the future. Student Loans and Your First Mortgage discusses the ... |
Is there a rule of thumb to help “Sanity check” insurance costs? | Your best bet would be to find an independent Property and Casualty Insurance agent and buy through him/her. Insurance agents make a commission, yes - BUT - the cost to consumer is THE SAME whether you buy through an agent or through directly through the company. Any P&C agent would be happy to run your numbers for you... |
How to invest in gold at market value, i.e. without paying a markup? | if you bought gold in late '79, it would have taken 30 years to break even. Of all this time it was two brief periods the returns were great, but long term, not so much. Look at the ETF GLD if you wish to buy gold, and avoid most of the buy/sell spread issues. Edit - I suggest looking at Compound Annual Growth Rate an... |
Is there a law or regulation that governs the maximum allowable interest amount that can be charged on credit cards or in agreements where credit is extended? | In the U.S., each state has its own local usury law. This website has a separate page for each state summarizing the local usury law and provides a reference to the local statute. The rules aren't simple: some set absolute limits, some appear to be pegged to something like the Prime Rate, some states don't have a gener... |
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... |
How to motivate young people to save money | As a 20 year old who has just started earning enough to save, I suggest showing them the different types of lifestyles they could live in the future if they started saving now versus what their life would be like if they didn't save at all. Try showing them actual dollar values as well so it's not just an arbitrary ide... |
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... |
Is 401k as good as it sounds given the way it is taxed? | Don't forget inflation. With a Roth 401k (or IRA), you don't pay any taxes on inflationary or real gains. You pay taxes at the beginning and then no more taxes (unless you invest money after you distributed from it). With a regular, taxable investment account (not a 401k or IRA), you pay taxes on the initial amoun... |
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