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Is there a way to claim a car purchase in the tax return? | You've got two options. Deduct the business portion of the depreciation and actual expenses for operating the car. Use the IRS standard mileage rate of $.575/mile in 2015. Multiply your business miles by the rate to calculate your deduction. Assuming you're a sole proprietor you'll include a Schedule C to your retur... |
Is Bogleheadism (index fund investing) dead? | Excellent Question! I agree with other repliers but there are some uneasy things with index funds. Since your view is death, I will take extremely pessimist view things that may cause it (very big may): I know warnings about stock-picking but, in imperfect world, the above things tend to happen. But to be honest, they... |
Is it possible for US retail forex traders to trade exotic currencies? | You are in a difficult situation because of US regulation, that is much more demanding to fulfill than in EU or rest of the world. Second, Interactive Brokers stopped serving FX for US clients. Third, EU brokers - like Saxo Bank - don't accept US clients: Almost any private client can open an account with Saxo Bank, a... |
Was this a good deal on a mortgage? | That seems a very bad offer, it borders on fraud. In the current US economy, you should be able to get between 3 and 4 % APR (and that number is what you should look at). That means that for $300,000 over 30 years, you'd pay $1,265 to $1,432 per month. If you are able to pay more than that monthly rate, you should go f... |
I'm 13. Can I buy supplies at a pet store without a parent/adult present? | I had a cat growing up--most of the time I was the one who got her supplies. It was never an issue. |
I am the sole owner of an LLC. Does it make a difference if I file as an S-Corp or a sole-member LLC? | Be careful of the other answers here. Many are wrong or partially wrong. The question implies that you knew this, but for everyone else's benefit, you can keep you LLC organization and still elect to be treated as a S-Corp by the IRS just for tax purposes. You do this by filing Form 2553 with the IRS. (You can also, b... |
For the first time in my life, I'm going to be making real money…what should I do with it? | Fund your retirement accounts first. Even as an intern, it is still worthwhile to open a Roth IRA and start contributing to it. See my answer to a similar question: Best way to start investing, for a young person just starting their career? |
What's a good personal finance management web app that I can use in Canada? | CashBase has a web app, an iPhone app and an Android app, all sync'ed up. It doesn't integrate with banks automatically, but you can import bank statements as CSV. Disclosure: Filip is CashBase's founder. |
Are junk bonds advisable to be inside a bond portfolio that has the objective of generating stable income for a retiree? | Junk Bonds (aka High Yield bonds) are typically those bonds from issues with credit ratings below BBB-. Not all such companies are big risks. They are just less financially sound than other, higher rated, companies. If you are not comfortable doing the analysis yourself, you should consider investing in a mutual fund, ... |
Owner-Financed home sale or Land Contract — how to handle the transaction and the ongoing entity? | If you do the financing, get a large down payment and make a short loan. Do not expose yourself to risk with a 30 year note, and get some major money up front so the buyer has some skin in the game and will continue to make payments. |
Is there a candlestick pattern that guarantees any kind of future profit? | Nothing is guaranteed - candlesticks are not crystal balls nor is any part of technical analysis. Candlestick patterns used correctly and in combination with other western technical indicators can increase the probability of a trade going into the derived direction, but they are not a guarantee - which is why you shoul... |
Filing taxes on stocks | Generally stock trades will require an additional Capital Gains and Losses form included with a 1040, known as Schedule D (summary) and Schedule D-1 (itemized). That year I believe the maximum declarable Capital loss was $3000--the rest could carry over to future years. The purchase date/year only matters insofar as t... |
How can I find a checking account that allows for automated transfers of dynamic amounts? | Almost any financial institution has the technical ability to do this (simply called sweeps, auto sweeps, or deposit sweeps); the issue you face is finding an institution that is willing to do it for you. I think you will have the most luck at your primary financial institution where you currently keep the majority of... |
Is there a reason to buy a 0% yield bond? | 0% bonds are desirable for some individuals. It depends on your situation. 0% bonds are usually sold well below par value (eg a 100$ face value bond for 2020 might sell for 90$ today) Hence, your gains will be CAPITAL GAINS. A similar investment paying interest would be taxed as INCOME, and smaller portion of capital g... |
How To Assign Payments Received Properly In GnuCash? | When I receive a check from a customer whom I previously sent an invoice, I go to the customer report for that customer, click on the link "Invoice" for that invoice, then click on the Pay Invoice button (very far right side). I then do a customer report and see that there is no balance (meaning all the invoices have b... |
Frustrated Landlord | You're worried about your tenant. That just means you're a nice guy, and it's ok to be nice. At the same time, you can't be expected to lose money on the property or charge well below market on the rent. My suggestions: You know what? She'll totally understand. You've been super nice in keeping the rent low for so many... |
How can people have such high credit card debts? | I'm not sure if the rules in Canada and the US are the same. I'm as amazed as you are by the amounts of debts people have, but I can see how this credit can be extended. Generally, with good credit history and above average pay - it is not unheard of to get about $100K credit limit with a bunch of credit cards. What yo... |
Superannuation: When low risk options have higher return, what to do? | The long term view you are referring to would be over 30 to 40 years (i.e. your working life). Yes in general you should be going for higher growth options when you are young. As you approach retirement you may change to a more balanced or capital guaranteed option. As the higher growth options will have a larger propo... |
Does material nonpublic information cover knowledge of unannounced products? | So is knowledge of unannounced products simply not considered material nonpublic information? Well "material" is relative but it certainly is nonpublic information. And trading based on that information would likely be considered illegal if it is actually material. Many companies require that employees with material... |
Do Americans really use checks that often? | Many small businesses are still cash and check. For example my landlord does not take credit card or online transfer. My choices are cash and check, and I prefer checks for the paper trail. |
Borrowing money to buy shares for cashflow? | Buying individual/small basket of high dividend shares is exposing you to 50%+ and very fast potential downswings in capital/margin calls. There is no free lunch in returns in this respect: nothing that pays enough to help you pay your mortgage at a high rate won’t expose you to a lot of potential volatility. Main issu... |
ADR vs Ordinary shares | There are basically two different markets for ADRs and ordinary shares. 1) The American market, 2) the "local" market. The following is not true for most stocks in "developed" markets. But it is often true that the American market (for ADRs) is far more liquid than the local market for ordinary shares of a developing c... |
In which country can I set up a small company so that I pay a lower rate of corporate tax? | There are countries out there that are known as tax havens, where they offer companies low or no taxes on earned revenue. I haven't looked into this in over a decade, but recall that countries like the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, Ireland, and Nauru, to name a few fit that tag. But like bstpierre stated, there's a reas... |
Do rental car agencies sell their cars at a time when it is risky for the purchaser? | Many Web sites and articles warn against buying former rental cars, because people renting these cars often mistreat them. Many of those are also written by unqualified individuals for publication on blog farms and encourage all sorts of odious financial practices. That's not even considering the interests of who is pa... |
What is a good rental yield? | Our two rentals have yielded 8.5% over the past two years (averaged). That is net, after taxes, maintenance, management, vacancy, insurance, interest. I am only interested in cash flow - expenses / original investment. If you aren't achieving at least 4.5-5% net on your original investment you probably could invest els... |
Should I use a credit repair agency? | Don't use a "credit repair" agency. They are scams. One of the myriad of ways in which they work is by setting you up with a bogus loan, which they will dutifully report you as paying on time. They'll pretend to be a used car dealer or some other credit-based merchant. For a time, this will actually work. This is calle... |
Who receives the money when one company buys another? | Shareholders of Monsanto will get the money from Bayer. Shareholders are independent people or entities. Think of Monsanto as a thing that shareholders had. This thing is now being purchased by Bayer |
How can a 'saver' maintain or increase wealth in low interest rate economy? | I think this is a good question with no single right answer. For a conservative investor, possible responses to low rates would be: Probably the best response is somewhere in the middle: consider riskier investments for a part of your portfolio, but still hold on to some cash, and in any case do not expect great resul... |
Dad paying for my new home in cash. How can I buy the house from him? | You are going to need a lawyer anyway so check with him. But here is a path you might be able to go down. Put the house in your name right from the get go. He gives you the money but you sign over a promissory note to him so that you net less than $14000 (gift tax annual exclusion for the calendar year). He can gi... |
Is the stock market a zero-sum game? | While this seems overall a macroeconomics question and not really personal finance, let me give it a shot: The question of why corporations form in a free or efficient market is why Ronald Coase received the 1991 Nobel Prize in Economics, for his work developing the theory of the firm Corporations organize when there a... |
Why invest in becoming a landlord? | Let me add a few thoughts that have not been mentioned so far in the other answers. Note that for the decision of buying vs. renting a home i.e. for personal use, not for renting out there's a rule of thumb that if the price for buying is more than 20 year's (cold) rents it is considered rather expensive. I don't know... |
Why is “cheque cashing” a legitimate business? | How does this get any business? You'd be surprised on how much profit these type of businesses can bring in and the number of people who cash their checks this way. They make profit off people who want their checks cashed ASAP. Usually cheques written to "cash" or something can just be cashed for free at the bank rig... |
What percent of a company are you buying when you purchase stock? | As you can see at https://www.google.com/finance?q=NASDAQ%3AAAPL the number of apple shares at this very moment is 5.25B, so if you have 1 share you own 1 / 5.25B of the company. |
Should I sell my stocks when the stock hits a 52-week high in order to “Buy Low, Sell High”? | You asked for advice, so I'll offer it. Trying to time the market is not a great strategy unless you're sitting in front of a Bloomberg terminal all the time. Another person answering your question suggests the use of index funds; he's likely to be right. Look up "asset allocation." What you want to do is decide that... |
In a competitive market, why is movie theater popcorn expensive? | In the theater, it's a person who can afford to buy expensive pop corn, cause he can buy the expensive movie ticket too... Also sitting at one place will make him feel hungry and buy something to eat... So maximum chances are that in the theater, that guy is your potential customer... Otherwise if the popcorn seller is... |
$200k in an IRA, unallocated. What's the safest investment? | Your funds are in a retirement account. Withdrawals from your IRA will be penalized if you withdraw before you turn 59.5 years old, and you appear to be decades away from that age. The general advice I would give you is to pick a "target year fund" that targets the year you turn 59.5. The stock market is more volatil... |
Does Joel Greenblatt's “Magic Formula Investing” really beat the market? | I read the book, and I'm willing to believe you'd have a good chance of beating the market with this strategy - it is a reasonable, rational, and mechanical investment discipline. I doubt it's overplayed and overused to the point that it won't ever work again. But only IF you stick to it, and doing so would be very har... |
Tax planning for Indian TDS on international payments | I am an Israeli based citizen who represents and Indian company who sells its products in Israel. As an agent I am entitled to commission on sales on behalf the Indian company who advised that. Any commission paid to you will be applicable to TDS at 20.9% of the commission amount, the tax will be paid and a Tax paid ce... |
I'm 23 and was given $50k. What should I do? | I'd be tempted to pay off the 35k in student loans immediately, but if you have to owe money, it's hard to beat zero percent. So I don't think I would pay it all off. Maybe cut it in half to make it a more comfortable payment. Currently, you are looking at $6K a year to pay them off, which is about 20% of your income. ... |
Trouble sticking to a budget when using credit cards for day to day transactions? | Similar to what Adam F says above, except instead of just transfering the amount you spend on the credit card into the high interest account, why not keep the majority of your funds (apart from a small amount, say a couple of hundred for emergencies) in the high interest account until the credit card needs to be paid o... |
What are the marks of poor investment advice? | Bad signs: |
Should I sell a 2nd home, or rent it out? | I don't see anything in this forum on the leverage aspect, so I'll toss that out for discussion. Using generic numbers, say you make a $10k down payment on a $100,000 house. The house appreciates 3% per year. First year, it's $103,000. Second year, $106090, third it's 109,272.70. (Assuming straight line appreciation.)... |
Taxable income on full-time job + business earnings | I'm not sure I am fully understanding the nuance of your question, but based on your answer in the comments you and your business are not separate legal entities. So your income is the full $70K, there is no distinct business to have income. If you clarify your question to include why you want to know this I might be a... |
Why use accounting software like Quickbooks instead of Excel spreadsheets? | Here are the few points: Hope that helps, |
What drives the stock of bankrupt companies? | With debts exceeding assets by a billion dollars, this activity likely comes from penny stock speculators and "pump and dump" schemers. There is no rational expectation that the stock is even worth multiple pennies when the company is that far upside-down on its debts. Even if the debts could be restructured in a chapt... |
Who can truly afford luxury cars? | It very much depends on whether you want to drive around in an expensive car, or whether you want an expensive car parked on your driveway. And whether you want to buy a new car, or a used one. And whether you know a reliable garage that doesn't rip you off or not. For example, if my wife who drives maybe 5,000 miles ... |
Extra cash - go towards mortgage, or stock? | It's six of one a half dozen of another. Investing the cash is a little more risky. You know exactly what you'll get by paying down your mortgage. If you have a solid emergency fund it's probably most advisable to pay down your mortgage. If your mortgage is 3% and your investment makes 3.5% you're talking about a... |
How do I report this cash bonus/tip on income tax return? | Employers are not supposed to give cash gifts to their employees, even if you try to call it a "gift" for tax purposes. Presumably, the reason your wife's employer gave her cash was to be nice and save her taxes on that amount. Her employer already paid tax on that money so that your wife doesn't have to. If she plans ... |
If I believe a stock is going to fall, what options do I have to invest on this? | There are three ways to do this. So far the answers posted have only mentioned two. The three ways are: Selling short means that you borrow stock from your broker and sell it with the intent of buying it back later to repay the loan. As others have noted, this has unlimited potential losses and limited potential gain... |
What are some tips for getting the upper hand in car price negotiations? | I read a really good tract that my credit union gave me years ago written by a former car salesman about negotiation tactics with car dealers. Wish I could find it again, but I remember a few of the main points. 1) Never negotiate based on the monthly payment amount. Car salesmen love to get you into thinking about th... |
Why do people buy US dollars on the black market? | The main reason people buy dollars (or other currency) on the black market is because they are prevented from exchanging currency on the official government market. Venezuela for example restricts citizens to a maximum number of dollars the citizen can buy or sell per year, depending on various factors such as whether ... |
Refinancing a vehicle, longer term with extra in the kitty, or shorter term and just make scheduled payment? | It really depends on the answers to two questions: 1) How tight is your budget going to be if you have to make that $530 payment every month? Obviously, you'd still be better off than you are now, since that's still $30 cheaper. But, if you're living essentially paycheck to paycheck, then the extra flexibility of the ... |
Frequency of investments to maximise returns (and minimise fees) | Okay, I think I managed to find the precise answer to this problem! It involves solving a non-linear exponential equation, but I also found a good approximate solution using the truncated Taylor series. See below for a spreadsheet you can use. Let's start by defining the growth factors per period, for money in the bank... |
I'm in the U.S. What are vehicles to invest in international stocks? | Interactive Brokers offers many foreign markets (19 countries) for US based investors. You can trade all these local markets within one universal account which is very convenient in my view. IB offering |
Clarifications On PFIC Rules | Are these PFIC rules new? No, PFIC rules are not new, they've been around for a very long time. what would that mean if a person owned a non-US company stock, like a company in Europe that makes chocolate? Is that considered assets that produces passive income? No. But if a person owned a non-US company stock like ... |
How does the importance of a cash emergency fund change when you live in a country with nationalized healthcare? | The issue is how likely you will have zero income for six months, and what are your monthly expenses. If you know the maximum medical bill you face that may allow you to save a smaller amount. But you still have to protect for that loss of income. The interuption could be because of job loss, medical emergency, or othe... |
Does a stay at home mom need term life insurance? | Another source of insurance can be through the working spouses employment. Some companies do provide free or low cost coverage for spouses without a need for a physical exam. The risk is that it might not be available at the amount you want, and that if the main spouse switches companies it might not be available with ... |
What is the best asset allocation for a retirement portfolio, and why? | Take the easy approach - as suggested by John Bogle (founder of Vanguard - and a man worthy of tremendous respect). Two portfolios consisting of 1 index fund each. Invest your age% in the Fixed Income index fund. Invest (1-age)% in the stock index fund. Examples of these funds are the Total Market Index Fund (VTSMX) a... |
Explain: “3% annual cost of renting is less than the 9% annual cost of owning” | The house that sells for $200,000 might rent for a range of monthly numbers. 3% would be $6000/yr or $500/mo. This is absurdly low, and favors renting, not buying. 9% is $1500/mo in which case buying the house to live in or rent out (as a landlord) is the better choice. At this level "paying rent" should be avoided. I... |
Why index funds have different prices? | Price, whether related to a stock or ETF, has little to do with anything. The fund or company has a total value and the value is distributed among the number of units or shares. Vanguard's S&P ETF has a unit price of $196 and Schwab's S&P mutual fund has a unit price of $35, it's essentially just a matter of the fun... |
What should a 21 year old do with £60,000 ($91,356 USD) inheritance? | It's important to consider your Investor Profile when deciding the right kind of vehicle for your finances. You are a young guy, with a considerable earned income and no dependents (sorry, this was not clear from the question.) This means that you are able to take a lot of risks that people who also have a family to th... |
Should I give to charity by check or credit card? | As someone that has run a nonprofit, my 2 cents: First: thank you for giving and for being conscientious about wanting to make things as easy as possible. The best method is the one you'll actually do. If there is a chance that you will end up not donating by check because you don't have a stamp, you forget, etc. go ah... |
I carelessly invested in a stock on a spike near the peak price. How can I salvage my investment? | Basically, your question boils down to this: Where and how do I squeeze the stock market so that within time period X, it will make me Y dollars. (Where I'm emotionally attached to the Y figure because I recently lost it, and X is "as soon as possible".) To make money on the stock market (in a quasi-guaranteed way), yo... |
Should I invest in the pre-IPO company stock offered by my employer? | Whether it's wise or not depends on what you think and what you should consider are the risks both ways. What are the risks? For Let's say that the company produces great value and its current price and initial price are well below what it's worth. By investing some of your money in the company, you can take advantage... |
Does home equity grow with the investment put into the house? | If I have a house that its market value went from $100k to $140k can I get HELOC $40K? Maybe - the amount that you can borrow depends on the market value of the house, so if you already have $100k borrowed against it, it will be tough to borrow another $40k without paying a higher interest rate, since there is a real r... |
Credit Card Points from Refund | That transaction probably cost the merchant $0.50 + 3% or close to $5. They should have refunded your credit card so they could have recouped some of the fees. (I imagine that's why big-box retailers like Home Depot always prefer to put it back on your card than give you store credit) Consider yourself lucky you made ... |
Do market shares exhaust? | Yes, all the shares of a publicly traded company can be purchased. This effectively takes the company private so that it's no longer traded on a stock market. Here are some examples: EDIT: to answer your edited question... the corporation can issue more stock. However that would dilute the value of existing shares. T... |
Will credit card payment from abroad be suspicious as taxable income? | US bank deposits over $10K only need to be reported to FinCEN (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network- a bureau of the US Department of Treasury) if the deposits are made in cash or other money instruments where the source cannot be traced (money orders, traveler checks, etc). Regular checks and wires don't need to be re... |
I have $12k in a Chase checking account, but want to start earning interest/saving/investing/etc to make more money. What should I do? | Lets make some assumptions. You are not close to retirement. You have no other debts. You have a job. You have no big need for the money. You should invest that. Do not invest with a bank, they are not as competitive on fees as a brokerage account. You can get specific answers that are different from every person... |
Who owned my shares before me? | A lot will depend on wether you have in your possession the physical share documents or just numbers in your brokerage portfolio. Electronic shares are not traceable as they do not exist as individual entities. ETrade certainly knows who bought how much, but no concept of which ones. Lets say ET buys 1000 shares of Acm... |
What is inflation? | Inflation is basically this: Over time, prices go up! I will now address the 3 points you have listed. Suppose over a period of 10 years, prices have doubled. Now suppose 10 years ago I earned $100 and bought a nice pair of shoes. Now today because prices have doubled I would have to earn $200 in order to afford the... |
How does stabilization work during an IPO? | IPO's are priced so that there's a pop" on the opening day." If I were IPOing my company and the price "popped" on the open, I would think the underwriter priced it too low. In fact if I were to IPO, I'd seek an underwriter whose offerings consistently traded on the first day pretty unchanged. That means they priced it... |
Assessed value of my house | It is very simple. You bought the house when prices were near their peak in 2008. Housing prices have dropped considerably since then which was the main cause of the mortgage debacle because people had houses that were worth less than their mortgages. |
Why is Insider Trading Illegal? | I'm surprised at the tone of the answers to this question! Trading with insider information is corruption and encourages fraud. As in many areas, there's an ethical line where behavior the gap between "ok" and "illegal" or unethical is thin. The classic local government insider information example is when the local cou... |
Good/Bad idea to have an ETF that encompasses another | Let's simplify things by assuming you only own 2 stocks. By owning VOO and VTI, you're overweight on large- and mid-cap stocks relative to the market composition. Likewise, by owning VTI and VT, you're overweight on U.S. stocks; conversely, by owning VXUS and VT, you're overweight on non-U.S. stocks. These are all perf... |
Should I be claiming more than 1 exemption? | J - Approaching the answer from the W4 perspective (for calculation purposes) may be more trouble that it's worth. I'd strongly suggest you use tax software, whether it's the 2016 SW or a current year one, on line, to get an estimate of your total tax bill for the year. You can then look at your current run rate of tax... |
Dry cleaners lost $160 pants, what should I do? | Read the claim ticket or receipt for when you made the initial drop-off. Every dry cleaning business that I've used in the USA has had a warning about damages or in case of loss. They always agree to reimburse up to a certain amount, usually $50 or $100 per item. This is standard in California, Arizona, New York and F... |
Should I pay off my credit card online immediately or wait for the bill? | I'm really going to go against the crowd here--paying it too fast could be a problem. The thing is you want them reporting that you paid the bill as agreed. To do that you need to pay the bills--which means you need to leave the charges there to get billed for. Paying less than the total is fine, paying as soon as th... |
Can I fully deduct capital losses against discounted capital gains? | The short answer is no - the CGT discount is only applied against your net capital gain. So your net capital gain would be: $25,000 - $5,000 = $20,000 Your CGT discount is $10,000 You will then pay CGT on $10,000 Of course you could sell ABC in this financial year and sell DEF next financial year. If you had no other ... |
Changed from job that had a 401K, and the new one doesn't. How do I answer when filing? | If you had a retirement plan at any time in 2013 you are considered covered by an plan. Are You Covered by an Employer's Retirement Plan? You’re covered by an employer retirement plan for a tax year if your employer (or your spouse’s employer) has a: Defined contribution plan (profit-sharing, 401(k), stock bonus and ... |
Where can I trade FX spot options, other than saxobank.com? | Oanda.com trades spot forex and something they call box options, it's not quite what you are looking for, but maybe worth looking up. |
Why buy stock of a company instead of the holding company who has more than 99% of the stocks | In a situation like this, I presume you'd invest in the child company if you thought that the child company would increase in value at a higher rate than the parent. You'd invest in the parent company if you thought the parent company would perform well as a whole, but you did not want to assume the risk of an individu... |
Consolidating company pensions | Have you shopped around? I would agree that the fees seem high. The first question I would ask if if the .75% management fee is per year or per month? If it is per month, you will almost certainly lose money each year. A quick search shows that Fidelity will allow one to transfer their pensions into a self direct... |
Should I Pay Off my Student Loan Debts First or Invest in an Index Fund? | You are on the right track with your math, but be wary of your assumptions. If you can borrow money at x% (and can afford to make payments on the debt), and you can get a return of > x% from investing, then you would make more money by keeping the debt and investing your savings. Another way to think of it: by paying o... |
Should I switch to this high rate checking account for my emergency fund? | If you're relatively certain that you're going to meet the requirements, it sounds like a good move for you. The #1 priority with emergency funds should be easy access to the money when you need it. Before the current economic situation, money market funds were great for this since they preserved the value of the doll... |
How can I live outside of the rat race of American life with 300k? | An endowment is a large chunk of capital (i.e. money) held by a university or other nonprofit. It is meant to hold its value forever against inflation, and invested to generate income: from interest, dividends and appreciation. They seem like a contradiction: closely scrutinized by Boards of Directors, managed to a... |
What governs the shape of price history graphs? | Dividend-paying securities generally have predictable cash flows. A telecom, electric or gas utility is a great example. They collect a fairly predictable amount of money and sells goods at a fairly predictable or even regulated markup. It is easy for these companies to pay a consistent dividend since the business is "... |
Why can't house prices be out of tune with salaries | Here's another way to think about. Let's assume it is 2011 and we have a married couple who are 25 and make a combined salary of $50,000/yr net. A suitable first house in their area is $300,000, six times their annual net salary. Assuming they could scrimp so that 1/2 of take-home went toward saving for their home, ... |
Can someone help me understand my student loans? | Paying the minimum balance on a loan can be DEVASTATING and is highly UN-RECOMMENDED. It is important you understand your loan and the terms associated with it. Loans are given for a period of time but if you pay the minimum it does NOT mean you will pay it all off by the end. When paying a loan money is applied to the... |
What prevents investors from buying high yield stocks and selling them as soon as their dividend is paid out? | This investment strategy may have tax advantages. In some countries, income received from dividends is taxed as income, whereas profits on share trades are capital gains. If you have already exceeded your tax-free income limit for the year, but not your capital gains tax allowance, it may be preferable to make a dealin... |
How can I find a lost 401K from a past employer? | The Employee Benefits Security Administration within the US Department of Labor is tasked with keeping track of pension and 401K programs. The even have a website to search for abandoned plans: it helps participants and others find out whether a particular plan is in the process of being, or has been, terminated and th... |
How does a defined contribution plan work | It is comparing apples to oranges. From govt or institution point of view defined contribution is better than defined benefits as they don't have to carry obligations. Although defined benefit sounds good, one can't guarantee it will be enough when you retire compared to inflation. It often becomes political issue. Def... |
How do index funds actually work? | Now company A has been doing ok for couple of weeks, but then due to some factors in that company its stock has been tanking heavily and doesn't appear to have a chance to recover. In this kind of scenario, what does happen? In this scenario, if that company is included in the index being tracked, you will continue ho... |
Investing in income stocks for dividends - worth it? | To answer your question: yes, it's often "worth it" to have investments that produce income. Do a Google search for "income vs growth investing" and you'll get a sense for two different approaches to investing in equities. In a nutshell: "growth" stocks (think Netflix, etc) don't pay dividends but are poised to appreci... |
If a company has already IPO'ed and sold its shares, what is the incentive to keep making money? | A company doesn't offer up 100% of its shares to the market. There's a float amount of varying significance, maybe 30% of the shares are put up for public offer. Generally some amount of current shareholders will pledge some or all of their shares for offer to the public. This may be how the venture capital, private... |
What does quantitative easing 2 mean for my bank account? | QE2 will mean that there are about $500 billion dollars in existence which weren't there before. These dollars will all be competing with the existing dollars for real goods and services, so each dollar will be worth a little less, and prices will rise a little. This is inflation. You can probably expect 1.5%-2% annual... |
Borrowing money for a semi-urgent medical expense | I am a bit confused here as to how a 4K loan will negatively effect your credit score if payments are made on time. FICO scores are based upon how well you borrow. If you borrow, pay back on time, your score will not go down. Perhaps a bit in the short run when you first secure the loan, but that should come back qu... |
How can a credit card company make any money off me? I have a no-fee card and pay my balance on time | Ever wonder why certain businesses won't accept certain credit cards? (The sign above the register saying "Sorry, we don't accept AmericanExpress"). It's because they don't want to pay that credit card company's transaction fees. One of the roles of the credit card company is to facilitate the transaction process betwe... |
what is shareholders' Equity in balance sheets? | Shareholder's Equity consists of two main things: The initial capitalization of the company (when the shares were first sold, plus extra share issues) and retained earnings, which is the amount of money the company has made over and above capitalization, which has not been re-distributed back to shareholders. So yes, i... |
Do bond interest rate risk premiums only compensate for the amount investors might lose? | In answer to your last formulation, no. In a perfectly efficient market, different investors still have different risk tolerances (or utility functions). They're maximizing expected utility, not expected value. The portfolios that maximize expected utility for different risk preferences are different, and thus general... |
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