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What is the best asset allocation for a retirement portfolio, and why? | Aggressiveness in a retirement portfolio is usually a function of your age and your risk tolerance. Your portfolio is usually a mix of the following asset classes: You can break down these asset classes further, but each one is a topic unto itself. If you are young, you want to invest in things that have a higher retur... |
Paid cash for a car, but dealer wants to change price | I have one additional recommendation: if the dealer continues to press the issue, tell them that they need to drop it, or you will write a Yelp review in excruciating detail about the entire experience. Used car dealers are very aware of their Yelp presence and don't like to see recent, negative reviews because it can ... |
Income tax on international income with money not deposited in India | Three points for you to keep in mind. 1. In the very first year, you should have 182 days outside India. So that in the year when you start your consultancy, you will not have any liability to pay tax on earning abroad. 2. Although you may be starting a consultancy abroad, if you do any services in India, there will be... |
Do Americans really use checks that often? | Ever since my apartment complex started accepting rent payments online, I've almost never written a check. I use my debit card for everything. And I get paid by direct deposit. |
Are BIC and SWIFT code the same things? | BIC and IBANN are used in EU (and some other OECD countries) for inter bank transfers. SWIFT is used everywhere for interbank transfers. In the US - IBAN system is not (yet, hopefully) available, so you have to use SWIFT. The codes may look the same, but these are different systems. More details here. |
Is there a standard check format in the USA? | Legally, a check just needs to have a certain list of things (be an instruction to one's bank to pay a specific amount of money to bearer or to a specific entity, have a date, have a signature, etc.) There are anecdotes around of a guy depositing a junk mail check and it accidentally qualifying as a real check (which h... |
What is an ideal number of stock positions that I should have in my portfolio? | The two biggest issues that impact your question I would say are diversification and fees. If you have $10,000 to invest and only invest it in two securities, then a 20% drop in one security can have you lose 10% of your initial investment which I would consider a very high risk scenario. If you have $10,000 to invest ... |
What accounted for DXJR's huge drop in stock price? | For all stocks, expected Dividends are a part of the price it is traded for - consider that originally, the whole idea of stocks was to participate in the earnings of the company = get dividends. The day the dividend is paid, that expectation is of course removed, and thereby the stock value reduced by just the amount ... |
Looking for good investment vehicle for seasonal work and savings | There are no risk-free high-liquidity instruments that pay a significant amount of interest. There are some money-market accounts around that pay 1%-2%, but they often have minimum balance or transaction limits. Even if you could get 3%, on a $4K balance that would be $120 per year, or $10 per month. You can do muc... |
Why should we expect stocks to go up in the long term? | I feel something needs to be addressed The last 100 years have been a period of economic prosperity for the US, so it's no surprise that stocks have done so well, but is economic prosperity required for such stock growth? Two world wars. The Great Depression. The dotcom bust. The telecom bust. The cold war. Vietnam, Ko... |
How to acquire skills required for long-term investing? | As foundational material, read "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham. It will help prepare you to digest and critically evaluate other investing advice as you form your strategy. |
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... |
Good yield vs. safer route (Checking vs. Savings) | In personal finance, most of your success is determined by personal habit rather than financial savvy. Getting in the habit of making regular deposits to your savings account will have a much larger effect on your situation than worrying about which account pays the highest interest rate (particularly as neither one o... |
Why do governments borrow money instead of printing it? | The Government doesn't borrow money. It in fact simply prints it. The bond market is used for an advanced way of controlling the demand for this printed money. Think about it logically. Take 2011 for example. The Govt spent $1.7 trillion more than it took in. This is real money that get's credited in to people's bank a... |
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... |
Is there a kind of financial advisor for stock investors? How to find a good one? | I'm a retired stockbroker/Registered Investment Advisor. My initial discussions with prospects never had a fee. Restricted stock is unsaleable without specific permission from the issuing company, and typically involves time specifc periods when stock can be sold and/or amounts of stock that can be sold. Not for DIY. ... |
Car finance, APR rates and per week in adverts; help understanding them | Taking the last case first, this works out exactly. (Note the Bank of England interest rate has nothing to do with the calculation.) The standard loan formula for an ordinary annuity can be used (as described by BobbyScon), but the periodic interest rate has to be calculated from an effective APR, not a nominal rate. ... |
In a competitive market, why is movie theater popcorn expensive? | John R. Lott, Jr. and Russell D. Roberts argue that popcorn in movie theaters has a price commensurate with its much higher cost. See also Lott's criticism of the Gil and Hartmann paper. |
Shares; are they really only for the rich/investors? | Put £50 away as often as possible, and once it's built up to £500, invest in a stockmarket ETF. Repeat until you retire. |
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? | There are two parts to the hack you describe. One is moving to a high-cost, high-pay country to work, and the other is moving to a low-cost, low-pay country to retire. As Dilip mentioned in a comment, the first part is not so easy in many cases. You can't just take a plane to the USA and start making big bucks immedi... |
Is keeping track of your money and having a budget the same thing? | The two are closely related. A budget is a detailed plan for how to spend. Expense tracking is a tool to analyze your previous spending performance. Creating a plan for how to spend your money without any record of your previous spending--is an empty promise to yourself that you will never follow up on. Did I stay with... |
What will be the long term impact of the newly defined minimum exchange rate target from francs to euro? | The Swiss franc has appreciated quite a bit recently against the Euro as the European Central Bank (ECB) continues to print money to buy government bonds issues by Greek, Portugal, Spain and now Italy. Some euro holders have flocked to the Swiss franc in an effort to preserve the savings from the massive Euro money pr... |
To pay off a student loan, should I save up a lump sum payoff payment or pay extra each month? | Just one more thing to consider: a friend of mine had some student loan debt left over from graduate school. Years later, through his employer, he was able to apply for and receive a grant that paid off the remainder of his student loan. It was literally free money, and a significant amount, too. The windfall was a lit... |
How do I report book royalties for tax purposes? | (Insert the usual disclaimer that I'm not any sort of tax professional; I'm just a random guy on the Internet who occasionally looks through IRS instructions for fun. Then again, what you're doing here is asking random people on the Internet for help, so here goes.) The gigantic book of "How to File Your Income Taxes" ... |
At what point does it become worth it to file an insurance claim? | An article linked from cnn.com has some great advice, which I think are good rules of thumb. Also, at least my insurance gives a premium price for those who haven't filed a claim in 5 or more years for homeowners or rental insurance. See if you have a similar discount, will loose it, and guess how much that will cost y... |
Can my federal adjusted gross income differ by $1 between my federal and state returns? | No, you don't. Rounding errors happen, and if there's no change in the actual tax there's no reason to amend. If all the income was properly reported and the tax was properly calculated - no-one cares if it was rounded up or down on one of the lines. Note for the next time though: Not sure about New York, but Federal t... |
Wisest option to pay for second career education | Tl;dr by anecdata I paid for my master's degree from investments/savings with a HELOC backstop It appears you don't have the 62k cash needed for tuition and living expenses so your decision is between financing a degree by selling your investments or a loan. Ultimately this comes down to the yes/no sell decision on ... |
Where can I get a list of all Stocks that were acquired or went bankrupt | Where can I download all stock symbols of all companies "currently listed" and "delisted" as of today? That's incredibly similar . You can also do it with a Bloomberg terminal but there's no need to pay to do this because he data changes so slowly. |
Name first on car loan can you also be the cosigner | I want to first state that I'm not an attorney and this is not a response that would be considered legal advice. I'm going to assume this was a loan was made in the USA. The OP didnt specify. A typical auto loan has a borrower and a co-borrower or "cosigner". The first signer on the contract is considered the "pri... |
How do I handle taxes on a very large “gift” from my employers? | You should be aware that the IRS considers all gifts of cash or cash equivalents from an employer (the partnership in this case) to an employee (your husband in this case) to be wages, regardless of what the transfer is called by either party, or how it is transferred. I'd strongly recommend that you review IRS publica... |
Saving $1,000+ per month…what should I do with it? | Daniel, first of all, I'm jealous of your predicament. That said, I think you've gotten some good advice already, so I won't repeat what's been said. But I will throw out a few ideas that haven't come up. My first thought is that you may be underestimating upcoming expenses. It sounds like your current expenses are... |
Is it ever logical to not deposit to a matched 401(k) account? | One situation where it would be prudent not to contribute would be if expenses are so tight that you cannot afford to contribute because you need that cashflow for expenses. |
How long do you have to live somewhere to be a resident for tax purposes? | If you are going to be trying clever stuff with taxes in different place, you probably need a professional. Different countries definitely have different laws on the subject. For example (several years ago) the UK considered you absent from the UK for tax purposes from the day you left, provided you were gone for a ye... |
Ways to invest my saved money in Germany in a halal way? | The UK has Islamic banks. I don't know whether Germany has the same or not (with a quick search I can find articles stating intentions to establish one, but not the results). Even if there's none in Germany, I assume that with some difficulty you could use banks elsewhere in the EU and even non-Euro-denominated. I can'... |
Does “income” include capital gains? | The $100,000 is taxed separately as "ordinary income". The $350,000 is taxed at long-term capital gains of 15%. Capital gains is not taxed at 20% until $415,050. Even though $100,000 + 350,000 = $450,000, only $350,000 can be taxed at capital gains. The total ordinary income tax burden will be $31,986 if single, in Cal... |
How to systematically find sideways stocks? | You can likely use bollinger band values to programmatically recognize sideways trending stocks. Bollinger band averages expand during periods of volatility and then converge on the matched prices the longer there is little volatility in the asset prices. Also, look at the bollinger band formula to see if you can glean... |
What is the difference between a bad/bounced check and insufficient funds? | There is no difference they are both insufficient in 1 form or another.Bad slang for any check the bank won't cash, for any reason, Ie. insf. unreadable amount, acct or routing number, the acct.has been closed, or you didn't write the check(fraud). Bounced is slang for bank returned check unpaid.I wrote a bad check but... |
Do I need to prove 'Garage Sale' items incurred a loss | This is what this sounds like to me: https://www.thebalance.com/having-a-garage-sale-or-yard-sale-what-to-do-first-399030 also: http://blogs.hrblock.com/2012/07/25/garage-sale-money-does-the-irs-need-to-know/ Selling a personal item at a loss is generally not a taxable event. You cannot report it as a loss, and the IRS... |
How long can a company keep the money raised from IPO of its stocks? | Yes, that is correct. There is no limit. An initial public offering of common stock by a company means that these shares remain outstanding for as long as the company wishes. The exceptions are through corporate actions, most commonly either |
Why would a company like Apple be buying back its own shares? | A Breakdown of Stock Buy Backs has this bottom line on it: Are share buybacks good or bad? As is so often the case in finance, the question may not have a definitive answer. If a stock is undervalued and a buyback truly represents the best possible investment for a company, the buyback - and its effects - can be viewed... |
The Benefits/Disadvantages of using a credit card | Personally the main disadvantages are perpetuation of the credit referencing system, which is massively abused and woefully under regulated, and encouraging people to think that it's ok to buy things you don't have the money to buy (either save up or question price/necessity). |
Potential phishing scam? | Call your bank and inquire if they send out the kinds of notices like the one you received. Don't call the number in the message, because if it is a scam, you're calling the scammers themselves, more than likely. Be very cautious about this situation, and if your bank is local then it might not hurt to pay a visit to ... |
Why would a car company lend me money at a very low interest rate? | They aren't actually. It appears to be a low interest rate, but it doesn't cover their true cost of capital. It is a sales tactic where they are raising the sticker price/principal of the car, which is subsidizing the true cost of the loan, likely 4% or higher. It would be hard to believe that the true cost of a car lo... |
May 6, 2010 stock market decline/plunge: Why did it drop 9% in a few minutes? | I hate attributing an event like this to a single cause. That implies that the market is an orderly system where everything operates smoothly. I prefer to see it as much chaotic. When I see a drop like that happen, I'd say that there were a lot of sellers of stocks and all the buyers were bidding less and less for th... |
Should I pay off my mortgage, begin retirement savings, or build my emergency fund? | Welcome to Money.SE. I will say upfront, Personal Finance is just that, personal, and you are likely to get multiple, perhaps conflicting, answers. Are you sure the PMI will drop off after 2 years? The rules are specific, and for PMI, when prepayments put you at that 78/80% LTV, your bank can require an appraisal, not ... |
Can the risk of investing in an asset be different for different investors? | In a perfect market, share prices are by definition a perfect reflection of the true value of a share. Hence, you always get $10 for a share that's worth that much. In reality, the market is imperfect. Prices are somewhat of an average of all different estimates, and there's a cost-of-trading margin between sales and b... |
Does the currency exchange rate contain any additional information at all? | No. An exchange rate tells you the exchange rate, that's all. Changes in exchange rates are a little more interesting because they suggest economic changes (or anticipation of such), but since the exchange rate is the composite of many economic forces, determining what changes may be in action from an exchange rate c... |
Is selling put options an advisable strategy for a retiree to generate stable income? | There is only one way to create "stable" income using options: write COVERED calls. This means you must own some stocks which offer an active and liquid option market (FB would be good; T would be useless.) In other words, you need to own some "unstable" stocks, tickers that have sometimes scary volatility, and of co... |
Historically how do share prices perform after mass selling after an employee reward scheme? | Like others have already said, it may cause an immediate dip due to a large and sudden move in shares for that particular stock. However, if there is nothing else affecting the company's financials and investors perceive no other risks, it will probably bounce back a bit, but not back to the full value before the share... |
How do I screen for stocks that are near to their 52 weeks low | The screener at FinViz.com will let you screen for stocks at their 52-week low. |
How is it possible that a preauth sticks to a credit card for 30 days, even though the goods have already been delivered? | It is barely possible that this is Citi's fault, but it sounds more like it is on the Costco end. The way that this is supposed to work is that they preauthorize your card for the necessary amount. That reserves the payment, removing the money from your credit line. On delivery, they are supposed to capture the pre... |
What can a CPA do that an EA cannot, and vice versa? | Although they may have some similar functions, CPAs and Enrolled Agents operate in two rather different areas of the accounting "space." CPAs deal with financial statements, usually of corporations. They're the people you want to go to if you are making an investment, or if you own your own business, and need statement... |
Acquiring first office clothes | While in the interview stage you need one good outfit. Take care of them and they will see you through this stage of the process. Shoes, ties, shirt, and a suit can all be purchased on sale. The fact that you have months before graduation give you time to purchase them when there is a sale. Off-the-rack is good enough... |
What are my chances at getting a mortgage with Terrible credit but High income | First step, pull a copy of your credit report, and score. You should monitor that score and do what you can to bring it up. Your chances are far better if (a) you first save a sizable downpayment, and (b) go with a local bank that doesn't just write the mortgage and sell it. Better still, go to that local bank and inqu... |
Is there a standard check format in the USA? | No, there is no standard. I see all kinds of paper sizes, and the amount, date, etc. is all over the place. They are all rectangular, but otherwise there seems to be a lot of freedom. |
Why do bank statements end on *SUCH* wildly inconsistent days of the month? | Looking at your dates, I think I see a pattern. It appears that your statement closing date is always 17 business days before the last business day of the month. For example, if you start at May 31 and start counting backwards, skipping Saturdays, Sundays, and May 30 (Memorial Day), you'll see that May 5 is 17 busine... |
Entering the stock market in a poor economy | Wow I love some of these answers. Remember why you are investing in the first place. For me I like Dividend stocks and Dividend Capturing. Here is why. With over 3500 dividend stock companies paying out dividends this year, that means I can get a dividend check almost every day. What about if the stock goes down you a... |
What is the easiest way to back-test index funds and ETFs? | check pastsat-backtesting , backtesting tool, where one can can test on well known technical indicators without coding skills |
What things should I consider when getting a joint-mortgage? | The first and most important thing to consider is that this is a BUSINESS TRANSACTION, and needs to be treated as such. Nail down Absolutely All The Details, specifically including what happens if either of you decides it's time to move and wants to sell off your share of the property. Get at least one lawyer involved ... |
Buying my first car: why financing is cheaper than paying cash here and now? | The advice given at this site is to get approved for a loan from your bank or credit union before visiting the dealer. That way you have one data point in hand. You know that your bank will loan w dollars at x rate for y months with a monthly payment of Z. You know what level you have to negotiate to in order to get a... |
How can I determine which stores are regarded as supermarkets for a rewards credit card? | Each company that has an account with the credit card network has to classify themselves as a particular type of business. The credit card company uses that classification to catagorize the transaction on your statement. If you buy a T-shirt at a grocery, amusement park, gas station, or resturant; the transaction will... |
Making higher payments on primary residence mortgage or rental? | A lot depends on whether your mortgage payments are interest only or 'repayment' and what the remaining term is on each of the mortgages. Either way I suspect that the best value for the money you put in will be had by making payments to the larger, newer mortgage. This is because the quicker you reduce the capital o... |
What happens to your ability to borrow money based on our joint finances? | It might be worth talking to a mortgage broker, even if you don't actually end up doing business with them. Upfront Mortgage Brokers explained Finding an upfront broker near you In a nutshell, upfront brokers disclose what they are paid for their services openly and transparently. Many brokers don't, and you can't be t... |
How do I tell the Canada Revenue Agency that they're sending someone else's documents to my address? | Maybe just put all his correspondence back in the Post Box and mark it "Wrong address"? Precisely. Without opening. Just tell the postman that that person doesn't live there and have it returned to sender. The Revenue will figure it out. Most definitely do not accept any certified or registered mail not addressed to ... |
Oversimplify it for me: the correct order of investing | Great questions -- the fact that you're thinking about it is what's most important. I think a priority should be maximizing any employer match in your 401(k) because it's free money. Second would be paying off high interest debt because it's a big expense. Everything else is a matter of setting good financial habits so... |
Evidence for timing market in the short run? | This is the S&P a bit over 20 years. If you've discovered a way to sell at 1400 in 2000, buy at 800 or so in 2003, sell again, well, you get the idea. There's strong evidence the typical investor hears the S&P is making new highs and rushes in. It's this influx that may send stocks higher from here, until the smart mo... |
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... |
The U.S. National Debt: What is it, where did it come from, and how does it work? | For political reasons, almost all governments (including the US) spend more money than they get from taxes etc. There are a number of things a government can do to cover the difference: Most governments opt for selling bonds. The "National Debt" of a country can be thought of as being the sum of all the "Bonds" that ... |
Car finance (loan) insurance requirements (store car) | Okay, definitive answer for this particular company (Toyota Finance) is (somewhat surprisingly, and glad I asked) it must be fully insured at all times, including liability, even if being stored. I asked at a dealership and they answered "just fire and theft (of course)" but I ended up calling their finance department... |
Do algorithmic trading platforms typically have live-data access to stock data? | Yes, Interactive Brokers is a good source for live data feeds and they have an API which is used to programmatically access the feeds, you will have to pay for data feeds from the individual data sources though. The stock exchanges have a very high price for their data and this has stifled innovation in the financial ... |
How do the wealthy pay for things? | I was once the personal assistant to two wealthy NYC sisters. They did not pay for anything. For example, if we were riding the subway, I would pay, and be reimbursed by the Company. They had multiple residences and investment properties. Each property was purchased through a separate Limited Liablity Corporation, and ... |
What's the folly with this stock selection strategy | You are probably going to hate my answer, but... If there was an easy way to ID stocks like FB that were going to do what FB did, then those stocks wouldn't exist and do that because they would be priced higher at the IPO. The fact is there is always some doubt, no one knows the future, and sometimes value only becomes... |
Pros and Cons of Interest Only Loans | The advantage of interest only mortgages is that they can increase your cashflow as you are only paying the interest and not any part of the principle. We have most of our investment loans on interest only for 10 years. When we got the loans about 6 to 7 years ago our LVR was only 60% and the property prices have incre... |
Previous owner of my home wants to buy it back but the property's value is less than my loan… what to do? | How about doing a Lease Option with a very long term and a very early "option" for the guy buying. Essentially he will be making your mortgage payments for the next couple few years. Much less paperwork for the both of you that way. See a lawyer for the paperwork, from my limited experience with a real estate lawyer ... |
Who can truly afford luxury cars? | How can people afford luxury cars? The same way they can afford anything: by finding it cheaply, saving for it, or adjusting their priorities. Company cars - either paid for by the company, or as part of a bonus/compensation/salary sacrifice scheme. I have friends who drive luxury cars, but they pay £200/month - not mu... |
UK student loans, early repayment/avoiding further debt | I think you're right that from a pure "expected future value" perspective, it makes sense to pay this loan off as quickly as possible (including not taking the next year's loan). The new student loans with the higher interest rates have changed the balance enough that it's no longer automatically better to keep it goin... |
Can paying down a mortgage be considered an “investment”? | If your mortgage interest is tax-deductible, it's generally a bad idea to pay down the principal on the mortgage because you'd be losing the tax deduction. You could instead invest it in a tax-free municipal bond fund, especially if you're in a high tax bracket (including state and local marginal tax rates). For exampl... |
Can a put option and call option be exercised for the same stock with different strike prices? | You could have both options exercised (and assigned to you) on the same day, but I don't think you could lose money on both on the same day. The reason is that while exercises are immediate, assignments are processed after the markets close at the end of each day. See http://www.888options.com/help/faq/assignment.jsp f... |
What are the pros and cons of investing in a closed-end fund? | The pros and cons of investing in a closed end fund both stem from the fact that the price per share is likely to differ from the net asset value (NAV) of the underlying assets. That could work to your advantage if the fund is selling for LESS than NAV, or at a discount. Then you get the "benefit of the bargain" and ho... |
Why are options created? | At my soon to be legendary Stock Options Cafe, I recently wrote an article "Betting On Apple at 9 to 2." It described a trade in which a 35% move in a stock over a fixed time (2 years) would result in a 354% gain in one's bet. In this case, the options serve to create remarkable leverage for speculators. In general, o... |
Where do online stock brokers get their real-time data from? | Generally Google gets their data, directly from the exchanges (Nasdaq, NYSE). This is really expensive -- tens of thousands of dollars a month just for the license from the exchange, and lots of telecom costs on top of that. |
I spend too much money. How can I get on the path to a frugal lifestyle? | For the most part, saving money usually depends upon having a budget and being able to stick to it. The toughest part of budgeting is usually setting it up (how much do I need for X) and sticking to it each month. In regards to sticking to it, there is software that you can use that helps figure out how much you are sp... |
Can I prove having savings without giving out the account number? | Ask your bank to write a letter asserting that you have $xxxxx on deposit with them, on their letterhead? Though realistically, the chance of your getting hit with identity theft In this situation, when you presumably know exactly who you're dealing with, are vanishingly small. |
Why does quantitative easing negatively affect stocks? | The stock market in general likes monetary easing. With lower interest rates and easy cheap money freely available, companies can borrow at reduced cost thus improving profits. As profits increase share prices generally follow. So as John Benson said Quantitative Easing usually has a positive effect on stocks. The rece... |
Working out if I should be registered as self-employed in the UK | As 'anonymous' already mentioned, I think the correct answer is to go see an accountant. That said, if you are already have to fill in a tax return anyway (ie, you're already a high rate taxpayer) then I don't see why it should be an issue if you just told HMRC of your additional profit via your tax return. I never was... |
What happened when the dot com bubble burst? | Two big things: In many ways, the early internet people were correct -- in 2011 we are much more productive as a society than we were in 1991. (Which comes with downsides, such as high unemployment) The bubble was a result of over-estimating those improvements and under-estimating the time required to yield those produ... |
Conservative ways to save for retirement? | I didn't even have access to a 401(k) at age 24. You're starting early and that's good. You're frugal and that's good too. Retirement savings is really intended to be a set it and forget it kind of arrangement. You check in on it once a year, maybe adjust your contributions. While I applaud your financial conserv... |
How is it possible that a preauth sticks to a credit card for 30 days, even though the goods have already been delivered? | This is not a normal occurrence, and you have every right to be annoyed, but the technical way it usually happens goes like this: What can happen is when the merchant incorrectly completes the transaction without referencing the pre-authorization transaction. The bank effectively doesn't "know" this is the same transac... |
Why is it that stock prices for a company seem to go up after a layoff? | As others have pointed out, there are often many factors that are contributing to a stock's movement other than the latest news. In particular, the overall market sentiment and price movement very often is the primary driver in any stock's change on a given day. But in this case, I'd say your anecdotal observation i... |
Why is property investment good if properties de-valuate over time? | There are many different reasons to buy property and it's important to make a distinction between commercial and residential property. Historically owning property has been part of the American dream, for multiple reasons. But to answer your questions, value is not based on the age of the building (however it can be i... |
How is your credit score related to credit utilization? | 1 - yes, it's fine to pay in full and it helps your score. 2 - see chart above, it's calculated based on what the bill shows each month. 3 - answered by chart. 1-19% utilization is ideal. 0% is actually worse than 41-60% Note: The above image was from Credit Karma. A slightly different image appears at the article The... |
Why would analysts recommend buying companies with negative net income? | Companies in their earliest stages will likely not have profits but do have the potential for profits. Thus, there can be those that choose to invest in companies that require capital to stay in business that have the potential to make money. Venture Capital would be the concept here that goes along with John Bensin's... |
Why does a ETN that is supposed to track Crude Oil like UWTI show constant decline every year? And am I an idiot for investing in it? | This security looks like it will require patience for it to pay off. The 200 day moving average looks as if it will soon cross over the 20 day moving average. When that happens the security can be said to be in a bull run. http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=UWTI&p=D&yr=1&mn=6&dy=0&id=p10888728027 However, this is just s... |
How do I account for 100 percent vendor discounts in GnuCash 2.6.5 | The answer was provided to me at the Gnucash chat by "warlord". The procedure is as follows: After doing this you will have: |
Why do some people say a house “not an investment”? | You're hearing alot of talk about housing (and by implication property) not being an investment today because on the downside of a market, the conventional wisdom is to be negative about buying things that have lost value. Just as it was dumb to listen to your coworker about hot .Com IPOs in 1999, it's dumb to listen t... |
Is refinancing my auto loan just to avoid dealing with the lender that issued it a crazy idea? | they apply it to my next payment That's what my bank did with my auto loan. I got so far ahead that once I was able to skip a payment and use the money I would have sent the bank that month for something else. Still, though, I kept on paying extra, and eventually it was paid off faster than "normal". EDIT: what does... |
Would the effects of an anticipated default by a nation be mostly symbolic? | It's only symbolic if things continue as if nothing had happened. Once large segments of people start becoming poor, it ceases to be symbolic and starts becoming real. Will a Greek default be felt in the US? Hard to say, but probably not. Will it be felt in Greece? You bet it will. |
To whom should I report fraud on both of my credit cards? | You need to run a virus scan on your computers to make sure you do not have a key-logger program running on either. I would also think about designating one old computer to only access your bank accounts and not do anything but that. If your computer is infected then every time you login your credit cards can be com... |
Economics Books | I followed Economics by Michael Parkin for my college level course. It does not involve very complicated mathematics (beyond simple arithmetic and interpreting plots/charts). I found it very enjoyable. Stocks, bonds, and other money market instruments are not covered under this subject usually. They are covered under ... |
Google Finance gain value incorrect because of currency fluctuation | You can easily build a Google Sheet spreadsheet to track what you want as Sheet has a 'googlefinance()' function to look-up the same prices and data you can enter and track in a Google Finance portfolio, except you can use it in ways you want. For example, you can track your purchase price at a fixed exchange rate, tra... |
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