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Bucketing investments to track individual growths
Some personal finance packages can track basis cost of individual purchase lots or fractions thereof. I believe Quicken does, for example. And the mutual funds I'm invested in tell me this when I redeem shares. I can't vouch for who/what would make this visible at times other than sale; I've never had that need. For th...
Negative properties of continuously compounded returns
You cannot use continuous compounding for returns less than or equal to 100% because a natural logarithm can only be taken for a positive amount. This answer includes the accurate way to ascertain r, for which many people use an approximation. For example, using -20% monthly return for 12 months:- -0.2 -0.223144 0.068...
Changing Bank Account Number regularly to reduce fraud
We change it every so often to reduce fraud. If you're absolutely sure you didn't just send money to a scammer impersonating a landlord, this has nothing to do with fraud-- they're playing a game with you. By changing the account number frequently, it makes it more likely you make a mistake in entering the payment acco...
Roth vs. Whole Insurance vs. Cash
Cash/CD's for a house downpayment = Good. Resist the urge to invest this money unless you're not planning on the house for at least 5 years. Roth IRA - Good. Amounts contributed are able to be withdrawn without tax penalties, though you would really need to be in a crisis for this to be a good idea. It's your long-term...
How to reconcile a credit card that has an ongoing billing dispute?
What I would prefer is top open a new category charges under dispute and park the amount there. It can be made as an account as well in place of a income or expenses category. This way your account will reconcile and also you will be able to track the disputes.
Invest in (say, index funds) vs spending all money on home?
The short answer is that it depends on the taxation laws in your country. The long answer is that there are usually tax avoidance mechanisms that you can use which may make it more economically feasible for you to go one way or the other. Consider the following: The long term average growth rate of the stock market in ...
Am I considered in debt if I pay a mortgage?
Yes, a mortgage is debt. It's unique in that you have a house which should be worth far more than the mortgage. After the mortgage crisis, many found their homes under water i.e. worth less than the mortgage. The word debt is a simple noun for money owed, it carries no judgement or negative connotation except when it...
Buy securities at another stock exchange
Yes, it does matter very much. There's a thing called fungible instruments. These are the instruments where it doesn't matter. E.g. most options I ever dealt with in the US are fungible no matter which US exchange you trade them on. A fungible instrument is an instrument where you buy 1 lot on exchange A, then sell 1 l...
How fast does the available amount of gold in the world increase due to mining?
Approximately 5.3 billion ounces have been mined. This puts the total value of all gold in the world at about $9.5 trillion, based on $1800/oz. Total world net worth was $125T in 2006. There's an odd thing that happens when one asset's value is suddenly such a large percent of all assets. (This reminds me of how and wh...
Online service that computes implied volatility
My broker (thinkorswim) offers this from the platform's trade tab. I believe this feature isn't crippled in the PaperMoney version which is effectively a "free online service."
Why is everyone saying how desperately we need to save money “in this economy”?
As you point out in your question your risk level is personal. If you really believe your job is stable there is no more risk. However the overall evidence is that most jobs are less stable, and if you do lose your job you're likely going to be out of work for a while. One thing to consider though is that if you hav...
Can dividends be exploited?
Yes, somebody could buy the shares, receive the dividend, and then sell the shares back. However, the price he would get when he sells the shares back is, ignoring other reasons for the price to change, exactly the amount he paid minus the dividend.
Is giving my girlfriend money for her mortgage closing costs and down payment considered fraud?
The issue here is that the transaction (your funds to her account) looks very similar to the rent payments which you plan to make in the future. Those rental payments (if deemed to be commercial) would normally be subject to tax. Consider the scenario where rather than an up front $5000, and $5000 over 2 years, you pai...
How to calculate cash loss over time?
While it is a true loss, as you've determined, is not a cash cost, per se. A cash cost would be a decrease in cash holdings. Inflation does not take your cash balance; it devalues it, so it is an accrued loss. Central banks are extremely lazy in determining inflation, so the highest resolution available at a public le...
Should I charge my children interest when they borrow money?
Tell them you will not loan them any more money until their existing debts are paid off. This is closer to how the real world works and it won't come across as vengeful or like your changing your initial "contract". If they protest, lovingly tell them that your money is not their money, and that an interest free loan f...
“Correct” answer on Visa credit quiz doesn't make sense
I took the quiz that you linked too and answered with what I considered "ideal" answers with the exception of checking C for that particular question.... The first thing I saw was I needn't have bothered with giving the ideal answer as the result is self graded (paraphrased) as...all "A" great, mostly "A" good, mostly...
What do the points in a stock market index epresent?
The All Ords Index consists of the 500 largest companies by market capitalisation listed on the Australia Stock Exchange. Each stock in the All Ords. Index is given a weighting based on its market capitalisation. As the price of the stocks within the All Ords. Index change, so does the points on the index itself. The...
Should I use a credit repair agency?
Here's what my wife and I did. First, we stopped using credit cards and got rid of all other expenses that we absolutely didn't need. A few examples: cable TV, home phone, high end internet - all shut off. We changed our cell phone plan to a cheap one and stopped going out to restaurants or bars. We also got rid of ...
What can I replace Microsoft Money with, now that MS has abandoned it?
I use GnuCash which I really like. However, I've never used any other personal finance software so I can't really compare. Before GnuCash, I used an Excel spreadsheet which works fine for very basic finances. Pros Cons
What kind of trade is this?
A limit order is simply an order to buy at a maximum price or sell at a minimum price. For example, if the price is $100 and you want to sell if the price rises to $110, then you can simply put a limit order to sell at $110. The order will be placed in the market and when the price reaches $110 your order will be execu...
Is it ever a good idea to close credit cards?
There is also security aspect. By reducing the number of active credit/debit cards, one significantly reduces the surface of attack. There is smaller chance of getting one of your card information stolen and misused (cf Target data leaks and others).
Can I sell my ESPP in a different order than I acquired it, to avoid paying too much tax on profits?
That's up to you. If you instruct your broker to sell shares purchased in specific lots, they can do that -- but doing so requires that you and/or they track specific fractional lots forever afterwards so you know what is still there to be sold. FIFO simplifies the bookkeeping. And I am not convinced selecting specific...
Looking for a good source for Financial Statements
The best source of financial statements would be from the company in question. On corporate websites of public listed companies, you can find such financial statements uploaded in the Investor's Relations section of their website. If their company does not have an online presence, another alternative would be to go to ...
Take advantage of rock bottom oil prices
A long call options spread. In this case, a bet that the USO ETF would recover to $35. You can see, I got in when USO was $28, and it's continued to drop, but it has till Jan '17 to recover. The spread is set up to give leverage, when I entered the trade, a 50% recovery would result in a 200% gain, or 3X my bet. An opt...
Do property taxes get deducted 100% from the Annual Tax Return or only a fraction of them?
To bring more clarity to the issue, Viriato will be entitle to deduct property tax depending upon whether he is claiming standard deduction (which varies on some factors including filling as married or single) or itemized deduction. If he is claiming, itemized deduction Example 1 is correct. Example 2 suffers from anot...
Put idle savings to use while keeping them liquid
Since you're coming out of college, you're probably a new investor and don't know too much about stocks, etc. I was in the same situation as well. I wanted to keep my cash 'liquid' and wanted to make low risk investments. What I ended up doing was investing the majority of my money in higher interest GICs (Guaranteed ...
Is it common in the US not to pay medical bills?
My answer might be out of date due to the Affordable Health Care law. I will answer for the way things were prior to that law taking effect. In my experience, hospitals have a financial assistance program you can apply for. If you can show a financial need, the hospital will only charge you a certain percentage of yo...
If stock price drops by the amount of dividend paid, what is the use of a dividend
I'm fairly convinced there is no difference whatsoever between dividend payment and capital appreciation. It only makes financial sense for the stock price to be decreased by the dividend payment so over the course of any specified time interval, without the dividend the stock price would have been that much higher we...
Is it sensible to keep savings in a foreign currency?
Given that we live in a world rife with geopolitical risks such as Brexit and potential EU breakup, would you say it's advisable to keep some of cash savings in a foreign currency? Probably not. Primarily because you don't know what will happen in the fallout of these sorts of political shifts. You don't know what wi...
What options do I have at 26 years old, with 1.2 million USD?
If you were the friend of my daughter or some other "trusted" relationship, I would tell you to head on over to Bogleheads.org, follow their advice and do research there. I would advise you to aim for about a 60/40 allocation. They would advise you to make a very simple, do it yourself portfolio that could last a lif...
Is inflation a good or bad thing? Why do governments want some inflation?
Inflation is a bad thing. It makes it much more difficult for people to compare prices and prosperity over a long period of time. This causes people to ignore the wisdom of their elders (who remember prices from a long time ago). Back in my day, you could get a burger and fries for 15 cents -- a dime for the burger, ...
Should I sell my stocks when the stock hits a 52-week high in order to “Buy Low, Sell High”?
Insofar as a 52 week high indicates a peak, yes. However, the truth is that "buying low and selling high" means "Act a Fool!" You see, when you buy low, you are perceived to be buying total garbage - throwing your money away and conversely when selling high you are perceived to be a total idiot - selling a winner. Th...
Discussing stock and stock index movement: clarifying percentage vs. points?
I think that the general public is conditioned to think more in terms of points rather than percentages, so that 200 points is easier to fathom than the equivalent percent. We all translate internally what this means. Of course it is less precise, but it also makes for good copy in the publishing industry ("Market Down...
Why might it be advisable to keep student debt vs. paying it off quickly?
Two different questions: Is it better to be in debt or to pay off the debt? And: Is it better to have student debt than other debt? Any debt needs to be paid off eventually, and any debt makes you less flexible. So if you have the choice between spending/wasting your money and paying off debt, I would recommend paying...
Should I set a stop loss for long term investments?
The only time I've bothered with stop orders is when I think the position is in a particularly volatile state and there is an earnings report pending. In this situation it's an easily debatable thing to do. If I'm so concerned that the earnings report will be enough to cause a wild downswing that I'd place a stop ord...
Do corporate stock splits negate share repurchase programs?
No, I think you are misunderstanding the Math. Stock splits are a way to control relatively where the price per share can be for a company as companies can split or reverse split shares which would be similar to taking dimes and giving 2 nickels for each dime, each is 10 cents but the number of coins has varied. This d...
What options do I have at 26 years old, with 1.2 million USD?
Pay off the credit cards. From now on, pay off the credit cards monthly. Under no circumstances should you borrow money. You have net worth but no external income. Borrowing is useless to you. $200,000 in two bank accounts, because if one bank collapses, you want to have a spare while you wait for the government ...
Why is a stock that pays a dividend preferrable to one that doesn't?
The ultimate reason to own stock is to receive cash or cash equivalents from the underlying security. You can argue that you make money when stock is valued higher by the market, but the valuation should (though clearly not necessarily is) be based on the expected payout of the underlying security. There are only three...
Landlord living in rental unit - tax implications?
A tenant is a tenant regardless of your relationship to them, and as long as the property is classified as an investment property, you can claim depreciation and regular business losses just as you would on any property with any tenant.
Pay off car loan entirely or leave $1 until the end of the loan period?
Not sure if it is the same in the States as it is here in the UK (or possibly even depends on the lender) but if you have any amount outstanding on the loan then you wouldn't own the vehicle, the loan company would. This often offers extra protection if something goes wrong with the vehicle - a loan company talking to ...
Can I pay taxes using bill pay from my on-line checking account?
And if you need to pay business taxes outside of the regular US 1040 form, you can use the IRS' Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS). Basically, you enroll your bank accounts, and you can make estimated, penalty, etc. payments. The site can be found here.
Do I pay a zero % loan before another to clear both loans faster?
By paying the $11,000 into the 2.54% loan you will save $23.30 in interest every month. By paying the $11,000 into the 3.625% loan you will save $33.20 in interest every month. If your objective is to get rid of one loan quicker so repayments can go to the other loan to pay off sooner, I would put the $11,000 into the ...
United States Treasury Not Endorsing Checks
Welcome to the 21st century, the New Order. Forget all that legal mumbo jumbo you may have read back in law school in the 1960s about commercial code. Its all gone now. Now we have Check 21 and the Patriot Act !!! Basically what this means is that because some Arab fanatics burned down the World Trade Center, the US go...
Should I open a credit card when I turn 18 just to start a credit score?
I will disagree with the other answers. The idea that there is some to establish a "credit history" is largely a myth propagated by loaners who see it as positive propaganda to increase the numbers of their prospective customers. You will find some people who claim they were rejected for a card because they had no "cre...
Should I scale down my 401k?
Because stock markets don't always go up, sometimes they go down. Sometimes they go way down. Between 2007 and 2009 the S&P 500 lost over half its value. So if in 2007 you thought you had just enough to retire on, in 2009 you'd suddenly find you had only half of what you needed! Of course over the next few years, many ...
In the UK what are citizens legally obliged to do (in order to not be fined)
Edited to add an important one that I forgot, because I don't have a TV myself. You need to: That's really about it, unless you're employing people or running a business turning over more than £81,000 per year (or doing one of a number of relatively unlikely things that require specific paperwork, such as owning a hors...
Is is possible to dispute IRS underpayment penalties?
The underpayment "penalty" is just interest on the late payments--willful or not has nothing to do with it. When they feel it's willful there will be additional penalties.
Large BUY LIMIT orders' effect on a stock's price
Traders sometimes look at the depth of the book (number of outstanding limit orders) to try and gauge the sentiment of the market or otherwise use this information to formulate their strategy. If there was a large outstanding buy order at $49.50, there's a decent chance this could increase the price by influencing oth...
Sanity check on choosing the term for a mortgage refinance
So I will attempt to answer the other half of the question since people have given good feedback on the mortgage costs of your various options. Assumptions: It is certain that I am off on some (or all) of these assumptions, but they are still useful for drawing a comparison. If you were to make your mortgage paymen...
Free service for automatic email stock alert when target price is met?
You can do it graphically at zignals.com and freestockcharts.com.
How to improve credit score and borrow money
I had to apply for an American Express card, which was also rejected. Then I had searched for a Marbles Credit Card Stop applying for credit cards/loans. Doing so is just making your credit rating worse. Credit agencies will downgrade your credit rating if they see lots of signs of credit checking. It's a sign you're...
How to save money for future expenses
First, talk to your husband about this. You really need to persuade him that you need to be saving, and get him to agree on how and how much. Second, if you husband is not good at saving, work on getting something set aside automatically - ideally deducted from a paycheck or transferred to a savings account automatical...
Is my stock gone forever from a reverse split / bought by another company?
GT BIOPHARMA, INC. ANNOUNCES REVERSE STOCK SPILT AS PART OF OXIS-GEORGETOWN PLANNED MERGER LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 21, 2017 / GT Biopharma Inc. (formerly known as Oxis International, Inc.) announced today a 1-for-300 reverse stock split. Shareholders of GT Biopharma Inc. (OTCQB: OXIS and Euronext Pa...
Why does gold have value?
Why does the value of gold go up when gold itself doesn't produce anything? Why do people invest in gold? Your perception, that the value of gold goes up in the long run, is based on the price of gold measured in your favorite paper currency, for example the US Dollar. An increasing price of gold means that in the visi...
How do I make a small investment in the stock market? What is the minimum investment required?
A rough estimate of the money you'd need to take a position in a single stock would be: In the case of your Walmart example, the current share price is 76.39, so assuming your commission is $7, and you'd like to buy, say, 3 shares, then it would cost approximately (76.39 * 3) + 7 = $236.17. Remember that the quoted pri...
Are Index Funds really as good as “experts” claim?
Comparing index funds to long-term investments in individual companies? A counterintuitive study by Jeremy Siegel addressed a similar question: Would you be better off sticking with the original 500 stocks in the S&P 500, or like an index fund, changing your investments as the index is changed? The study: "Long-Term Re...
What is the US Fair Tax?
In a nutshell - Value Added Tax. America, as usual, discovers what others have known and used for years. The idea of not taxing income that's tied to it is ridiculous. If you're only taxing spending but not income, people will just take spending elsewhere (Canada, Mexico, further away), and the economy will go down the...
Can a company stop paying dividends?
Yes. Companies increase, decrease, start paying and stop paying dividends when they think it appropriate. If a company has been going through some problems and makes a loss, or even a large decrease in profits, they can choose to stop paying dividends until things improve. Many companies did this during the Global Fin...
I'm thinking of getting a new car … why shouldn't I LEASE one?
Also consider how cars fare under your ownership: Does your current car... If any of the answers to these questions are "Yes", you're probably going to get hosed with fees when you return the car.
How to handle capital gains on a Virginia Individual Income Tax Return
In Virginia the maximum tax rate on income is 5.75% which is the same as the capital gains rate. http://www.tax.virginia.gov/income-tax-calculator
Account that is debited and account that is credited
I'm not sure if this is your point of confusion, but when an account is said to be debited (or credited), the words "debited" or "credited" are not referring to a type of account (such as "checking"). They are referring to an operation that is performed on an account. The same account can be credited at one time and ...
How does a “minimum number of items to be bought” factor into break even analysis?
A minimum purchase quantity just means that you need to round your result up to the nearest 100. In your example it comes out evenly. If we look at an example where it doesn't come out even, you'd round up: And round that up to 700 due to purchase quantities. For a slightly more complex and accurate approach, you'd the...
(Theoretical) Paying credit cards with other credit cards
Three things prevent you from doing this: Credit cards generally don't accept other credit cards as payment. You could do this with a cash advance or balance transfer, but Cash advances and balance transfers usually have fees associated with them, negating any reward you might earn. Your card might have a no-fee balan...
Buying a home without a Real Estate Agent - Who should I get to do the paperwork?
For a real estate transaction there are multiple stages: From the sellers viewpoint: From the buyers viewpoint: If both parties are comfortable skipping some of the steps the role of the agent can be minimized. How will a fair price be determined? Some realism might be needed, to make sure that the loan appraisal will ...
What's the general principle behind choosing saving vs. paying off debt?
Debt creates risk. Plain and simple. Comparing interest rates of debt vs. possible investing. To me, it is all meaningless. When you are in debt, you options are limited. If you are not in debt, you have more freedom. To me, it is a no brainer. Become debt free ASAP.
Can I do periodic rollovers from my low-perfoming 401k to an IRA?
You need to check with your employer. It is called an in-service rollover and it is up to your employer on whether or not it is allowed. There are a lot of articles on it but I would still talk to a professional before making the decision. And there are some new laws in place that put at least some responsibility on yo...
Why would you elect to apply a refund to next year's tax bill?
The refund may offset your liability for the next year, especially if you are a Schedule "C" filer. By having your refund applied to the coming year's taxes you are building a 'protection' against a potentially high liability if you were planning to sell a building that was a commercial building and would have Capital...
Tax deductions on car and/or home?
If you itemize your deductions then the interest that you pay on your primary residence is tax deductible. Also realestate tax is also deductible. Both go on Schedule A. The car payment is not tax deductible. You will want to be careful about claiming business deduction for home or car. The IRS has very strict rules ...
Should I buy a house because Mortgage rates are low
The simple answer is that you are correct. You should not purchase a house until you are financially stable enough to do so. A house is an asset that you must maintain, and it can be expensive to do so. Over the long term, you will generally save money by purchasing. However, in any given year you may spend much more ...
High-risk investing is better for the young? Why?
If you spent your whole life earning the same portfolio that amounts $20,000, the variance and volatility of watching your life savings drop to $10,000 overnight has a greater consequence than for someone who is young. This is why riskier portfolios aren't advised for older people closer to or within retirement age, th...
Optimal way for withdrawing vested company match from my 401k?
Why would you want to withdraw only the company match, and presumably leave your personal contributions sitting in your ex-company's 401k plan? Generally, 401k plans have larger annual expenses and provide for poorer investment choices than are available to you if you roll over your 401k investments into an IRA. So, un...
Calculate a weekly payment on a loan when payment is a month away
Using the standard loan formula with 21% APR nominal, compounded weekly. Calculate an adjusted loan start value by adding 31 - 7 = 24 extra days of daily interest (by converting the nominal compounded weekly rate to a daily rate). For details see Converting between compounding frequencies Applying the standard formula ...
What are the most efficient ways to bet on an individual stock beating the market?
You could buy options. I do not know what your time horizon is but it makes all the difference due to theta burn. There are weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly and even longer duration options called leaps. You have decided how long of a time frame. You also have to see what the implied volatility is for the underlying ...
When does it make sense for the money paid for equity to go to the corporation?
If the check is written as a check to BigCo, it is less clear how Jack can compensate himself for the equity sale. It is as if the equity was owned by the corporation, not by Jack. This is correct. If the check is written to BigCo, then it is BigCo issuing new shares. Jack doesn't compensate himself for the equity sa...
Calculating Future and Present value into mortgage comparisons
You mentioned 15-20 years in your comment on mhoran_psprep's response. This is the most important factor to consider in the points vs. rate question. With a horizon that long it sounds like the points are probably a better option for you. There is a neat comparison tool at The Mortgage Professor's website that may help...
Will a credit card issuer cancel an account if it never incurs interest?
I would think it extremely unlikely that an issuer would cancel your card for having an ADB of approximately zero. The issuer charges the vendor that accepts a card a percentage of the transaction (usually up to ~3%, AMEX is generally higher) - so they are making money even if you carry no balance on your card (the spe...
How many stocks will I own in n years if I reinvest my dividends?
Your example shows a 4% dividend. If we assume the stock continues to yield 4%, the math drops to something simple. Rule of 72 says your shares will double in 18 years. So in 18 years, 1000 shares will be 2000, at whatever price it's trading. Shares X (1.04)^N years = shares after N years. This is as good an oversimp...
Why do people use mortgages, when they could just pay for the house in full?
Condensed to the essence: if you can reliably get more income from investing the cost of the house than the mortgage is costing you, this is the safest leveraged investment you'll ever make. There's some risk, of course, but there is risk in any financial decision. Taking the mortgage also leaves you with far greater f...
How should I calculate the opportunity cost of using a 401(k) loan?
One way to analyze the opportunity cost of using a 401K loan would be to calculate your net worth after using a 401K loan. If your net worth increases then the 401K loan would be advisable. Note that the calculations provided below do not take into account tax considerations. A net worth calculation is where you add ...
Buying a home with down payment from family as a “loan”
I'll compare it to a situation that is different, but will involve the same cash flow. Imagine the buyer agrees that you buy only 70% of the house right now, and the remaining 30% in 7 years time. It would be obviously fair to pay 70% of today's value today, pay 30% of a reasonable rent for 7 years (because 30% of th...
Options revisited: Gold fever
gold is incredibly volatile, I tried spreadbetting on it. During the month of its highest gain, month beginning to month end, I was betting it would go up - and I still managed to lose money. It went down so much, that my stop loss margin would kick in. Don't do things with gold in the short term its a very small an...
Intro to Investment options for a Canadian
I got started by reading the following two books: You could probably get by with just the first of those two. I haven't been a big fan of the "for dummies" series in the past, but I found both of these were quite good, particularly for people who have little understanding of investing. I also rather like the site, Cana...
My university has tranfered me money by mistake, and wants me to transfer it back
If you are convinced/sure its legit. Is doing a bank transfer to correct their mistake, actually the right way to do it in the first place? Best is to write to University and ask if this extra can be adjusted towards future payments. Not sure how much that is and would one or two future payments cover it off. The sec...
Is it a good practice to keep salary account and savings account separate?
I pretty much only use my checking. What's the downside? Checking accounts don't pay as much interest as savings account. Oh, but wait, interest rates have been zero for nearly 10 years. So there is very little benefit to keeping money in my savings account. In fact, I had two savings accounts, and Well Fargo closed on...
How to compute for losses in an upside down trade-in of a financed car?
I think you are making this more complicated that it has to be. In the end you will end up with a car that you paid X, and is worth Y. Your numbers are a bit hard to follow. Hopefully I got this right. I am no accountant, this is how I would figure the deal: The payments made are irrelevant. The downpayment is irrel...
Got a large cash sum, wanna buy stocks. Should I buy all at once, or spread it over time?
Depends on what you are, an investor or a speculator. An investor will look at an 'indefinite' investment period. A speculator will be after a fast buck. If you are an investor, buy your stock once as that will cost less commissions. After all, you'll sell your stock in 10, 15, 20 years.
Are large companies more profitable than small ones?
This isn't as rigorous as it should be, but may offer some useful insight into how big and small companies differ operationally. Putting Apple aside, larger companies tend to sell larger volumes of products (even if they're MRI devices, or turbines) relative to what smaller companies can sell (obviously, in absolute te...
Difference between GOOGL and GOOG
Note that these used to be a single "common" share that has "split" (actually a "special dividend" but effectively a split). If you owned one share of Google before the split, you had one share giving you X worth of equity in the company and 1 vote. After the split you have two shares giving you the same X worth of equ...
Can you buy gift cards at grocery store to receive a higher reward rate?
Understand that buying a Starbucks gift card at the grocery store to receive 6% back on your coffee rather than 6% back on your groceries is an exploit of a flaw in the benefits program, not a feature. It's definitely not a blanket yes or no answer, the only way to find out is to try. Separately, I don't know why you ...
Can one be non-resident alien in the US without being a resident anywhere else?
You'll need to read carefully the German laws on tax residency, in many European (and other) tax laws the loss of residency due to absence is conditioned on acquiring residency elsewhere. But in general, it is possible to use treaties and statuses so that you end up not being resident anywhere, but it doesn't mean that...
What can make a stock price rise without good news or results?
As a general principle the stock price on the stock market is controlled by an agreement between buyers and sellers. Some initial observations on this stock So, my take on this is one/more of the following My suspicion is the latter.
Why does money value normally decrease?
You get paid interest on deposits because banks only keep a fraction of the deposits on-hand. The rest is put to other uses, such as loaning money to others. If you deposit money and yield 1% interest, the bank is able to fund an auto loan, at 5%. By saving, you are actually making more capital available in the marketp...
How much time would I have to spend trading to turn a profit?
Probably several years at least. Maybe more like ten years. You need to watch a market for a substantial period of time to make money consistently. If you hit it big before then, you beat the odds that were against you.
United Kingdom: Where to save money for a property deposit
Another option is the new 'innovative finance isa' that allow you to put a wrapper round peer to peer lending platform investments. See Zopa, although I don't think they have come out with an ISA yet.
Complete Opposite Calculations and Opinions - Using Loan to Invest - Paying Monthly Installments with Monthly Income
The advice you were given in the other question was don't do it. The math is not the issue. The interest structure is not the issue. But there is a significant chance that you could lose money on the deal. If you invested your money in a NASDAQ heavy position in January 2000, you are still waiting to break even in Nove...
Investing money 101
The way to invest money in a company is to buy its shares, or derivatives of its shares. However, it seems you're way in over your head. Don't buy what you don't understand. There is plenty of material to teach you about stock investing on the internet. However, a book may be the fastest way to learn what you need to ...
What would I miss out on by self insuring my car?
If you can afford to replace your car, it is more cost effective, on average and over time, not to carry comprehensive and collision insurance. The insurance companies do make a profit, after all. However, you may be able to worry less ("What if someone steals my car if I park here?") with the insurance, and you have t...
Is technical analysis based on some underlying factors in the market or do they work simply because other people use them?
Technical analysis is based more on psychology than anything else. As an example, if an analyst estimates or believes that a stock is undervalued, or simply wants to re-balance their portfolio, then they will buy some amount, moving the price up. Others in the market see the upwards move as the start of an upwards tren...
To pay off a student loan, should I save up a lump sum payoff payment or pay extra each month?
Simply, you should put your money into whatever has the higher interest rate, savings or repayment of debt. Let's say at the beginning of month A you put $1000 into each account. In the case of the savings, at the end of month A you will have $1001.6 ($1000 + 1000 x 2% annual interest / 12) In the case of a loan, at th...
Are warehouse clubs like Costco and Sam's Club worth it?
I'm guessing it depends on how much you'd be paying for membership. If you save more than the membership costs you and you actually use the products you buy and they don't get thrown away, then it's worth it. I'm not a member of a warehouse club but I do have a membership for another wholesale outlet, so I know a littl...