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Car finance, APR rates and per week in adverts; help understanding them | Easier to copy paste than type this out. Credit: www.financeformulas.net Note that the present value would be the initial loan amount, which is likely the sale price you noted minus a down payment. The loan payment formula is used to calculate the payments on a loan. The formula used to calculate loan payments is e... |
What types of receipts do I need to keep for itemized tax deductions? | Businesses are only required to keep receipts over $751. However for individuals, I would throw them all in a shoebox and not worry about organizing them. There's a small chance you'll need to go through them during an audit, and you can worry about reconciling all of them and putting them in order at that point. Jus... |
Looking for good investment vehicle for seasonal work and savings | In the short-term, a savings account with an online bank can net you ~1% interest, while many banks/credit unions with local branches are 0.05%. Most of the online savings accounts allow 6 withdrawals per month (they'll let you do more, but charge a fee), if you pair it with a checking account, you can transfer your ex... |
Is Real Estate ever a BAD investment? If so, when? | Real estate is a lousy investment because: Renting a home and buying a home, all else being equal, are pretty similar in costs in the long term (if you can force yourself to invest the would-be down payment). So, buy a home if you want to enjoy the benefits of home ownership. Buy a home if you need to hedge against ris... |
Should I sell my stocks when the stock hits a 52-week high in order to “Buy Low, Sell High”? | Here in Australia a stock price is usually highest just before a dividend and lowest just after a dividend. If you buy just after the dividend then you missed out until next time. There may be many other reasons why a stock may exhibit yearly, quarterly and monthly cycles. |
How can I invest in gold without taking physical possession? | You could buy shares of an Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) based on the price of gold, like GLD, IAU, or SGOL. You can invest in this fund through almost any brokerage firm, e.g. Fidelity, Etrade, Scotttrade, TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab, ShareBuilder, etc. Keep in mind that you'll still have to pay a commission and fees w... |
Do company-provided meals need to be claimed on my taxes? | I believe there is an overtime meal allowance. That is, if an employee works "overtime" (defined as 7:00 p.m. for a 9:00 start, or ten-plus hours after the shift starts), the company can provide a non-taxable meal free of charge, or give a "reasonable" allowance ($15-$20) that must be spent outside on a meal (no drinks... |
Does buying and selling a stock OR holding onto it make a company look better? | Share prices change (or not) when shares are bought and sold. Unless he's sitting on a large percentage of the total shares, the fact that he isn't selling or buying means he's having no effect ar all on the stock price, and unless there's a vote war going on in the annual meeting his few stockholder votes aren't likel... |
Are there any banks with a command-line style user interface? | I think I get your question, but your wording is throwing a lot of us off. If what you want is a clean, effective and efficient interface over port 80, then USAA.com has done some great usability work. Additionally, they have really done some pioneering work with web services and mobile applications. On top of that, th... |
How long should I keep my bills? | In normal cases you don't need it beyond 3-6 months. Beyond this destroy it. However in certain cases its required to be kept; For example if you need to prove that you are legally occupying a place/property and do not have relevant documents, the utility receipts can play a role in establishing that you were occupying... |
Calculate Future Value with Recurring Deposits | Using the following values: The formula for the future value of an annuity due is d*(((1 + i)^t - 1)/i)*(1 + i) See Calculating The Present And Future Value Of Annuities In an annuity due, a deposit is made at the beginning of a period and the interest is received at the end of the period. This is in contrast to an or... |
Will ADR owner enjoy same benefit as common shares holders | The essential difference b/n ADR and a common share is that ADR do not have Voting rights. Common share has. There are some ADR that would in certain conditions get converted to common stock, but by and large most ADR's would remain ADR's without any voting rights. If you are an individual investor, this difference sh... |
Can saving/investing 15% of your income starting age 25, likely make you a millionaire? | I'll offer another answer, using different figures. Let's assume 6% is the rate of return you can expect. You are age 25, and plan to retire at age 65. If you have $0 and want $1M at retirement, you will need to put away $524.20/month, or $6,290.40/year, which is 15% of $41,936. So $41,936 is what you'd need to make... |
If the put is more expensive than the call, what does it mean | What it means is that the stock has already moved down. Options and other derivatives follow the price of the underlying they are not a precursor to what the underlying is going to do. In other words, the price of a derivative is derived from the underlying. |
First time home buyer. How to negotiate price? | Often, if your realtor and the selling realtor know each other, your realtor will "discover" what price the seller really wants. (Don't worry about how this is done. There will be no evidence it occurred!) Your realtor will then drop hints that you should aim for that price to ensure the deal goes smoothly. That sounds... |
A University student wondering if investing in stocks is a good idea? | You can start investing with any amount. You can use the ShareBuilder account to purchase "partial" stocks through their automatic investment plan. Usually brokers don't sell parts of stock, and ShareBuilder is the only one allowing it IMHO using its own tricks. What they do basically is buy a stock and then divide it ... |
I might use a credit card convenience check. What should I consider? | Well, you might take a minor hit to your credit score. This is snapshot of my credit utilization written for an article on my site. The point there was that zero card use actually dinged the score, but for you, going over the 20% level is the risk. It's not too large a hit, depending how high the utilization goes. I'd ... |
Should I stockpile nickels? | Probably a big fat NO. Update re this edit: NOTE: I'm not suggesting that I melt the coins. I'm just suggesting that I hold onto the nickels and sell them later when they are worth more than 5 cents. For example, you can sell coins with silver in them for far above their face value. This is silly as an investment. Rig... |
How smart is it really to take out a loan right now? | but I can't help but feel that these low rates are somehow a gimmick to trick people into taking out loans Let me help you: it's not a feeling. That's exactly what it is. Since the economy is down, people don't want to jeopardize what they have, and keep the cash in their wallets. But, while keeping the money safe in... |
Thrift Saving Plan (TSP) Share Price Charts | If you're looking to generate your own charts, you can get up-to-date TSP fund share prices in a Google Docs spreadsheet by "scraping" the data from the HTML of certain TSP webpages. You'll need to do this because the GoogleFinance function does not recognize "private" funds or collective trusts like those of the TSP. ... |
Should I have a higher credit limit on my credit card? | As long as you're not trying to get a higher limit in order to actually spend more money, or might be tempted to do so, it's generally advantageous to have a higher limit if available. A large part of credit score is based on utilization rate (balance due at statement closing divided by credit limit). Basically, you wa... |
Can I write off (deduct) expenses in a period where my corporation makes no money? | Your corporation would file a corporate income tax return on an annual basis. One single month of no revenue doesn't mean much in that annual scheme of things. Total annual revenue and total annual expenses are what impact the results. In other words, yes, your corporation can book revenues in (say) 11 of 12 months of ... |
Strategies for putting away money for a child's future (college, etc.)? | (Congratulations on the little one on the way.) I'd recommend saving outside of tax-advantaged accounts. Pay your taxes and be done with them. I'd recommend putting your old-age fund first before shelling out a lot of money for college. I'd recommend not shelling out a lot of money for college. Ideally, none. There ... |
Why do volatility stocks/ETFs (TVIX, VXX, UVXY) trend down in the long-term? | Since these indices only try to follow VIX and don't have the underlying constituents (as the constituents don't really exist in most meaningful senses) they will always deviate from the exact numbers but should follow the general pattern. You're right, however, in stating that the graphs that you have presented are su... |
Are there any Social Responsibility Index funds or ETFs? | At the other end of the spectrum is the VICEX fund. it invests in industries such as tobacco, gaming, defense/weapons, liquor and other companies whose products or services are widely considered not to be socially responsible |
Can I buy stocks directly from a public company? | As far as I know, the answer to this is generally "no." The closest thing would be to identify the stock transfer company representing the company that you want to hold and buy through them. (I have held this way, but I don't know if it's available on all stocks.) This eliminates the broker, but there's still a "midd... |
I'm only spending roughly half of what I earn; should I spend more? | If you are happy, really honestly happy, there is no need to change because you read it somewhere. While I believe that budgeting in some fun is smart so you don't go crazy, I am really speaking for myself. I personally have to work at not spending more than I make, so I need to blow off some steam. I also think that ... |
Have plenty of cash flow but bad credit | Sign up with credit karma. It will give you two scores for free and will show you credit cards you have a good chance in being approved for. Plus it will evaluate your score showing you the 6 items that effect your score and give you steps to improve them or tell you how long you have to wait until they roll off. Plu... |
Is the contribution towards Employment Insurance (EI) wasted if I never get fired, or are my premiums refunded? | Sorry, even if you never file a claim for Employment Insurance (EI), you don't get your premiums back. So, yes, if you paid into EI and never filed a claim, your contributions are, as you put it, "wasted" – insofar that your premiums provided no direct benefit to you. However, your premiums may have provided a benefit ... |
Do I need to invest to become millionaire? | I get the sense that this is a "the world is unfair; there's no way I can succeed" question, so let's back up a few steps. Income is the starting point to all of this. That could be a job (or jobs), or running your own business. From there, you can do four things with your income: Obviously Spend and Give do not provi... |
Question about MBS and how it pays | A security is a class of financial instrument you can trade on the market. A share of stock is a kind of security, for example, as is a bond. In the case of your mortgage, what happens: You take out a loan for $180k. The loan has two components. a. The payment stream (meaning the principal and the interest) from the... |
Why does the share price tend to fall if a company's profits decrease, yet remain positive? | Let's use an example: You buy 10 machines for 100k, and those machines produce products sold for a total of 10k/year in profit (ignoring labor/electricity/sales costs etc). If the typical investor requires a rate of return of 10% on this business, your company would be worth 100k. In investing terms, you would have a ... |
How to determine how much to charge your business for rent (in your house)? | To be confident in your solution, and get the best solution for you, consult a local accountant, preferably one who is specialized in taxes for businesses. Or muddle through the code and figure it out for yourself. The primary advantage in consulting with an accountant is that you can ask them to point out ways you c... |
What forms of payment am I compelled to accept? | When you're selling something through a provider, like Craig's List or newspapers, the only thing that may limit your choices is the provider. They may refuse your post if it's against their rules or the law. But luckily they usually don't limit or enforce certain payment choices. These private business providers have... |
Guide to save money in all-time life | You will find lots of rules of thumb but there is no universal truth to how much you should save. There are factors you DO need to consider though: you should start as early as possible to set money aside for retirement. You should then use a retirement calculator to at least get an understanding of the amount you need... |
Interactive Brokers: IOPTS and list of structured products | Interactive Brokers offers global securities trading. Notice that the security types are: cash, stock (STK), futures (FUT), options (OPT), futures options (FOP), warrants (WAR), bonds, contracts for differences (CFD), or Dutch warrants (IOPT) There is a distinction between options (OPT), warrants (WAR), options on ... |
Do the tax consequences make it worth it for me to hold ESPP stock? | Your gain is $1408. The difference between 32% of your gain and 15% of your gain is $236.36 or $1.60 per share. If you sell now, you have $3957.44 after taxes. Forget about the ESPP for a moment. Are you be willing to wager $4000 on the proposition that your company's stock price won't go down more than $1.60 or so ov... |
How to pay with cash when car shopping? | Ask the dealer to drive to the bank with you, if they really want cash. |
Isn't an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) a surefire way to make tons of money? | There is no sure thing in investing. Everything has a risk component. Sure, people talk about these cryptocurrencies like they have nowhere to go but up, but there are massive risks with these. For example, they could be declared illegal, the exchanges could go bankrupt (and some have), the backing companies off the IC... |
First time home buyer. How to negotiate price? | Well it all kind of depends. The Realtor is your pro, and you should communicate further with him. Is this a neighborhood on the decline? Is there a good reason to make such a low offer? Are you totally off base when you think 85K is fair, and if so why? Is he just working his tail off for you (a great thing)? On... |
Are quarterly earnings released first via a press release on the investor website, via conference call, or does it vary by company? | Companies typically release their earnings before the market opens, and then later host an analyst/investor conference call to discuss the results. Here's a link to an interesting article abstract on the subject: Disclosure Rules For Earnings Releases And Calls | Bowne Digest. Excerpt: In the aftermath of the Sarba... |
What happens if I intentionally throw out a paycheck? | In a nutshell, throwing your taxable income in the trash does not remove it from your taxable income; you still have to report in your tax filing, and pay taxes as needed. Especially as you could at any time request your employer to write you a replacement check. I would expect them to start charging a fee for reprinti... |
$200k in an IRA, unallocated. What's the safest investment? | if you don't intent to touch the money for 10 years or longer, then dumping 100% into a low-expense-ratio index fund seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to do. it is simple, low maintenance and fairly mindless. just remember to reinvest the dividends occasionally (e.g. every 6 months). however, if you are the kind... |
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 ... |
Can zero-coupon bonds go down in price? | Certainly, yes, a zero coupon bond can go down in price. If interest rates rise before your bond matures, the price of the bond will go down – and the longer to maturity, the more it will tend to drop. Depending on when you bought and how much interest rates rise, you can incur a capital loss. The bond is guaranteed t... |
When a stock price rises, does the company get more money? | Seems like no one in this thread has heard of "treasury stocks", which indeed allow a company to own and sell its own stock. Think about it. When there is a stock buy-back funded by excess profits, where does that stock go? |
What is meant by “priced in”? | Anyone who wants to can use any method they want. Ultimately, the price of the stock will settle on the valuation that people tend to agree on. If you think the priced in numbers are too low, buy the stock as that would mean that its price will go up as the future earnings materialize. If you think it's too high, short... |
How would IRS treat reimbursement in a later year of moving expenses? | IRS pub 521 has all the information you need. Expenses reimbursed. If you are reimbursed for your expenses and you use the cash method of accounting, you can deduct your expenses either in the year you paid them or in the year you received the reimbursement. If you use the cash method of accounting, you can cho... |
Does the profit of a company directly affect its stock or indirectly by causing people to buy or sell? | people implicity agree to sell stocks when a company does bad But, remember, when you sell the stock of a company that, in your estimation, 'did bad', someone else had to buy; otherwise, there is no sale. The someone else who bought your shares evidently disagrees with your assessment. Did you sell because the company ... |
What are the costs to establish an LLC and to maintain it? | I'll answer in general terms, since I'm not familiar with the price ranges in Florida. The LLC formation costs $125 (state fee). In addition you'll need a registered agent. Registered agent could be your CPA/EA/bookkeeper/property manager/local friend, or you can pay firms specializing in providing registration and age... |
New car price was negotiated as a “cash deal”. Will the price change if I finance instead? | Yes, he can retract the offer - it was a cash-only offer, and if you're financing, it's no longer "cash". Unless, of course, you get the financing through your local bank / credit union, and they hand you a check (like on a personal loan). Then it's still cash. However, the salesman can still retract the offer unless i... |
One of my stocks dropped 40% in 2 days, how should I mentally approach this? | Hopefully, before you invested in this stock, you evaluated the company. You looked at the financial information about the company and where the company was headed, and evaluated whether the stock was undervalued or overvalued. Hopefully, you determined that the stock was undervalued at the time you bought it. The th... |
Avoiding timing traps with long term index investing | It's amusing that despite all the evidence that "you can't time the market", everyone still wants to try. Of course I understand your fear. If you invest all your money in the stock market today and it suddenly falls tomorrow you will feel very bad. There are a few things you can do to reduce your risk with respect ... |
Stock prices using candlesticks | No it does not. Candlesticks really have nothing to do with this, a stock price can open different then the previous day's close. Examining the chart of TSLA provides an example it closed on 1/18 at 238.8 it opened on 1/19 at 243.7 In candlestick parlance is is known as a "gap up". |
How to spend more? (AKA, how to avoid being a miser) | Do you plan a monthly budget at the beginning of each month? This might seem counter-intuitive, but hear me out. Doing a budget is, of course, critically important for those who struggle with having enough money to last the month. Having this written spending plan allows people struggling with finances to control the... |
How Should I Start my Finance Life and Invest? | I'd suggest looking at something like the Dummies series of books for this. Something like: Sometimes the books are combined into one big book. This would be the best bet. It's were I started. Every time I wondered something I just looked it up and learned. They are perfectly fine for the novice. Hope this helps. |
Where can I invest for the Short Term and protect against Inflation? | Emergency funds, car funds etc tend to have to be accessible quickly (which tends to rule out CDs unless you have the patience to work something like a monthly CD ladder, an I don't) and you'll want your principal protected. The latter pretty much rules out any proper investment (ETFs, mutual funds, stock market direct... |
Is this follow-up after a car crash a potential scam? | You wouldn't pay what the quote says, you would pay what the bill says. If the car is used as a taxi then either it's done illegally and not your problem, or they have proper insurance. One reason to go through your insurance is that they know how to handle all these things for you. If you have only their phone number... |
how does one start an investing club (as a company)? | +1 for noting that you are in it for the long haul. I also think this is a great project and activity to do with friends. Setting up and start-up investment company could be done as a simple LLC. The decision making process can be decided among the members -- if you want to defer to the others then so be it. Make it ... |
How is someone tax exempt at Walmart in Canada? | The short answer is you're tax exempt if the tax laws say you are. There are a bunch of specific exemptions based on who you are, what you're buying and why. Taking British Columbia as an example. One exemption is supplies for business use: Some exemptions are only available to certain purchasers in certain circumstan... |
First time investor wanting to invest in index funds especially Vanguard | Congratulations on deciding to save money and choosing to invest it. One thing to know about mutual funds including index funds is that they typically require a minimum investment of a few thousand dollars, $3000 being a typical amount, unless the investment is in an IRA in which case $1000 might be a minimum. In some ... |
Why does it seem unnecessary to fully save for irregular periodic expenses? | If you just had one expense once a year of $1200, you would put in $100 a month. The average balance is going to be $600 in that case - the 0 and $1200 months average to $600, as do the $100 and $1100, the $200 and $1000, and so on. If you had one expense twice a year of $600 and put in $100 per month it will average t... |
Pros & cons in Hungary of investing retirement savings exclusively in silver? What better alternatives, given my concerns? | The points given by DumbCoder are very valid. Diversifying portfolio is always a good idea. Including Metals is also a good idea. Investing in single metal though may not be a good idea. •Silver is pretty cheap now, hopefully it will be for a while. •Silver is undervalued compared to gold. World reserve ratio is arou... |
What is the difference between a stop order and a stop limit order? | Stop order is shorter term for stop-loss order. The point being that is intended as a protective measure. A buy stop order would be used to limit losses when an investor has sold a stock short. (Meaning that they have borrowed stock and sold it, in hopes that they can take advantage of a decline in the stock's price... |
Definitions of leverage and of leverage factor | Levarge in simple terms is how of your own money to how much of borrowed money. So in 2008 Typical leverage ratios were Investment Banks 30:1 means that for every 1 Unit of Banks money [shareholders capital/ long term debts] there was 30 Units of borrowed money [from deposits/for other institutions/etc]. This is a ve... |
Understanding the synthetic long put option | A long put - you have a small initial cost (the option premium) but profit as the stock goes down. You have no additional risk if the shock rises, even a lot. Short a stock - you gain if the stock drops, but have unlimited risk if it rises, the call mitigates this, by capping that rising stock risk. The profit/loss gra... |
Should I get cash from credit card at 0% for 8 months and put it on loans? | On the face, this appears a sound method to manage long run cumulative interest, but there are some caveats. Maxing out credit cards will destroy your credit rating. You will receive no more reasonable offers for credit, only shady ones. Though your credit rating will rise the moment you bring the balance back down t... |
Why call option price increases with higher volatility | The entire premise of purchasing a call option is your expectation that the prices will rise. So even though there is a possibility of prices falling, you wouldn't mind paying higher premiums in a volatile market for a call option because you're bullish and are expecting the volatility to eventually turn out in your f... |
Why would you ever turn down a raise in salary? | My answer has nothing to do with tax brackets or mathematics (I'm taking advantage of the leeway your question allowed), but rather it has to do with career goals and promotion. Large companies often have large "Policies & Procedures" booklets to go with them. One policy that sometimes exists which would make it a ba... |
Frustrated Landlord | Renting your property out at less than market rates is a form of charity. Your heart says that this is the right thing to do, your bank account says no. And so does your wife. This isn't a question for the Money stack exchange, I think ... But since you are asking here: |
Looking for a stock market simulation that's as close to the real thing as possible | Thinkorswim's ThinkDesktop platform allows you to replay a previous market day if you wish. You can also use paper money in stocks, options, futures, futures options, forex, etc there. I really can't think of any other platform that allows you to dabble around in so many products fictionally. And honestly, if all that ... |
What happens to my savings if my country defaults or restructures its debt? | My 0,02€ - I probably live in the same country as you. Stop worrying. The Euro zone has a 100.000€ guaranty deposit. So if any bank should fail, that's the amount you'll receive back. This applies to all bank accounts and deposits. Not to any investments. You should not have more than 100.000€ in any bank. So, lucky yo... |
Pros/cons of borrowing money using a mortgage loan and investing it in a low-fee index fund? | Something very similar to this was extremely popular in the UK in the late 1980s. The practice has completely vanished since the early 2000s. Reading up on the UK endowment mortgage scandals will probably give you an excellent insight into whether you should attempt your plan. Endowment mortgages were provided by ban... |
What's the point of a chargeback when they just ask the merchant whether they owe money to the buyer? | You may be using the wrong method to get your money back. As others have said, this is not a valid use for chargeback; that is when a fraudulent charge occurred, or when a merchant charges you incorrectly. However, many cards have various kinds of guarantees, one of which might cover this situation. Particularly in so... |
What are some time tested passive income streams? | Renting a house out using a management company is mostly passive income. Earning affiliate income from companies that pay on a recurring basis is closer to passive income. |
What scrutiny to expect if making large purchase with physical cash? [duplicate] | http://www.consumerismcommentary.com/buying-house-with-cash/ It looks like you can, but it's a bad idea because you lack protection of a receipt, there's no record of you actually giving the money over, and the money would need to be counted - bill by bill - which increases time and likelihood of error. In general, p... |
What is an “Options Account”? | Options are a derivative product, and in this case, derive their value from an underlying security, a traded stock. An option gives you the right, but not the obligation, to buy a stock at a given price (the strike price) by a given time (the expiration date.) What I just described is a call option. The opposite instru... |
Historical Stock Prices of delisted company [duplicate] | For those on a budget, check if your local library has access to / or a copy of the "Standard & Poor's Daily Stock Price Record". Access to that or a similar service may be available as part of your library patronage. If not available it may be available at your metropolitan central library. Comprehensive stock pricin... |
How does a preferred share “Annual Concurrent Retraction Privilege” work? | A retraction privilege is a right extended to the shareholder that allows such shareholder to demand repayment of the principal. If one exercises the right to retract, the shares are exchanged for principal plus a sweetener and/or less a penalty. The requirement to provided matched shares means that the shares purchase... |
Should I wait to save up 20% downpayment on a 500k condo? | I'm of the belief that you should always put 20% down. The lower interest rate will save you thousands over the life of the loan. Also PMI is no different then burning that much cash in the fireplace every month. From Wikipedia Lenders Mortgage Insurance (LMI), also known as Private mortgage insurance (PMI) in the US... |
What is the farthest someone would likely be stopped out from their stop loss without setting a stop limit? | It depends on how you place your stop order and the type of stop orders available from your broker. If you place a stop market order and the following day the stock opens below your stop your stock will be stopped out at or around the opening price, meaning you can potentially end up with quite a large gap. If you plac... |
Can I profit from selling a PUT on BBY? | The time when you might want to do this is if you think BBY is undervalued already. If you'd be happy buying the stock now, you'd be happy buying it lower (at the strike price of the put option you sold). If the stock doesn't go down, you win. If it does, you still win, because you get the stock at the strike price.... |
How to rebalance a passive portfolio if I speculate a war is coming? | Normally, in a war everybody suffers and the entire economy goes down. Military contractors do better than average, but the average sucks. The way to take advantage of knowing a war is coming is to leave as soon as possible. There are strategic materials that can become valuable in a war, but such investments are gener... |
Paying over the minimum mortgage payment | Let's look at some of your options: In a savings account, your $40,000 might be earning maybe 0.5%, if you are lucky. In a year, you'll have earned $200. On the plus side, you'll have your $40,000 easily accessible to you to pay for moving, closing costs on your new house, etc. If you apply it to your mortgage, you a... |
Making a big purchase over $2500. I have the money to cover it. Should I get a loan or just place it on credit? | It is going to save you more money in the long run to pay at once with cash. If you take out a loan, you will pay interest on the balance, costing you money. If you pay off the balance immediately, there is no difference between the options and your question becomes irrelevant. There is no credit rating benefit to pla... |
What are non-qualified stock options? | Non-qualified stock options are like regular incentive stock options but without the preferential treatments that ISOs get: Companies like to give NQSOs because they can claim a tax deduction (i.e. a loss) for that difference between exercise price and market price (that you have to report as income). |
question regarding W4 | Yes. W4 determines how much your employer will withhold from your wages. Leaving everything at default would mean that your salary is your only taxable income, and you only take default deductions. Your employee will calculate your tax withholding based on that. But, if your salary is >200k, I assume that you have othe... |
What is an “International Equity”? | International equity are considered shares of companies, which are headquartered outside the United States, for instance Research in Motion (Canada), BMW (Germany), UBS (Switzerland). Some investors argue that adding international equities to a portfolio can reduce its risk due to regional diversification. |
What could be the harm in sharing my American Express statements online? | Call me overly paranoid, but letting unknown people know your charges and your personal information is asking for trouble. They know who you are and how to find you and how much money you typically make. If they are decent people - okay, but otherwise they have good ground for comitting a crime against you - blackmail ... |
Buying my first car out of college | I know I came a little late to this discussion but let me give you my opinion. I think that purchasing the BMW is a terrible investment for obvious reasons. Once you drive the car off the dealer's lot the car loses anywhere from 5-10k in value immediately. Its a terrible investment and something that you will regret in... |
Stability of a Broker: What if your broker goes bankrupt? Could you lose equity in your account? | The Securities Investor Protection Corporation is roughly analogous to the FDIC for investments. There are some important differences like a lack of 100% guarantee you get all of your funds back. The SIPC understands you invested knowing there was some risk, and therefore you take that same risk in getting your money ... |
Can after-hours trading affect options pricing? | There is a white paper on "The weekend effect of equity options" it is a good paper and shows that (for the most part) option values do lose money from Friday to Monday. Which makes sense because it is getting closer to expiration. Of course this not something that can be counted on 100%. If there is some bad news and... |
Free “Rich Dad” education, with “free gift”: Is it legitimate, or is it a sales ploy? | I have taken the free Kiyosaki evening course, and it does give some good information. It is an upsell to the $500 weekend course, which I also took. That course taught me enough about real-estate investing to get started. I have not yet had the need to pursue his other, more expensive courses. Read his books, take the... |
Dividend vs Growth Stocks for young investors | A lot of people use dividend stocks as a regular income, which is why dividend stocks are often associated with retirement. If your goal is growth and you're reinvesting capital gains and dividends then investing growth stocks or dividend stocks should have the same effect. The only difference would be if you are manua... |
Portfolio Diversity : invest $4000 into one account or $1000 into 4 accounts? | You spread money/investment across different accounts for different reasons: All this is in addition to diversification reasons. Investing all your money into one stock, bond, Mutual fund, ETF is risky if that one segment of the economy/market suffers. There is a drawback to diversification of accounts. Some have mini... |
W-8BEN? What's the tax from selling my software to a U.S. company, from abroad? | You should not form a company in the U.S. simply to get the identification number required for a W-8BEN form. By establishing a U.S.-based company, you'd be signing yourself up for a lot of additional hassle! You don't need that. You're a European business, not a U.S. business. Selling into the U.S. does not require... |
Consolidate my debt? Higher APR, but what does that actually mean? | does that mean that 30% of my monthly payment goes to interest? No, it's much worse then that. The APR is the annual percentage rate. An APR of 30% on $23,000 in debt that means you'll be charged $6,900 in interest for the year. You'll actually owe slightly less since you are reducing your principal slightly over the c... |
Should I pay off my student loan before buying a house? | There may be specific answers that can be determined based on the interest rates, amounts, tax provisions, etc. But I'm here to tell you... It is much easier (i.e., less stressful) to own a home when you have less debt. Pay off any and every debt you can before purchasing a home because there will always be something r... |
What increases your chance of being audited? | Here is an article that claims to know something about it. Here are a selection of quotes: The IRS says there are several ways a return can be selected for audit and the first is via the agency's computer-scoring system known as Discriminant Information Function, or DIF. The IRS evaluates tax returns based on IRS formu... |
How can I diversify $7k across ETFs and stocks? | An index fund is inherently diversified across its index -- no one stock will either make or break the results. In that case it's a matter of picking the index(es) you want to put the money into. ETFs do permit smaller initial purchases, which would let you do a reasonable mix of sectors. (That seems to be the one adva... |
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