Question stringlengths 14 166 | Answer stringlengths 3 17k |
|---|---|
How exactly could we rank or value how “rich” a company brand is? | Those rankings in particular that you cite are compiled by Millward Brown and the methodology is explained like this: |
Are lottery tickets ever a wise investment provided the jackpot is large enough? | Here's an interesting link to a discussion about an Australian investor group back in the 1990s that bought almost every combination in the West Virginia lottery. It's pretty fascinating stuff. How An Australian Group Cornered A Lottery I don't need to add to what's already been said here, but it's a fun story! |
How to calculate the number of months until a loan is paid off (given principal, APR and payment amount)? | Here is the derivation of the formula, with The loan is equal to the sum of the repayments discounted to present value. |
Where do countries / national governments borrow money from? | Depends on the country, whether its a currency issuer with floating exchange rate, and what the debt is denominated in. For instance, the US has no real debt, b/c its all in US dollars and can be printed at any time. It has no need to borrow anything, it issues its own currency. It used to be different 4 decades ago, o... |
How can I get free or discounted checks for my bank account? | There is no reason you must buy the bank's printed check. There are many places both physical stores and on line the offer check printing. From what I've seen, the requirement is the use of a magnetic ink the bank's equipment can properly scan. I may not even be correct there if they've all gone fully optical. The che... |
How smart is it really to take out a loan right now? | Yes, it's a buyer's market. If one is looking to buy a house, comparing the cost to rent vs own is a start. Buying a property to rent to a stranger is a different issue altogether, it's a business like any other, it takes time and has risk. If today, one has a decent downpayment (20%) and plans to stay in the house fo... |
Any experience with maxing out 401(k)? | Yes, I have done this and did not feel a change in cash flow - but I didn't do it a the age of 23. I did it at a time when it was comfortable to do so. I should have done it sooner and I strongly encourage you to do so. Another consideration: Is your companies program a good one? if it is not among the best at pr... |
What is the meaning of “short selling” or “going short” a stock? | The reason for selling a stock "short", is for when you believe the stock value will decrease in the near future. Here is an example: Today Exxon-Mobile stock is selling for $100 / share. You are expecting the price to decrease, so you want to short the stock, which means your broker (i.e. eTrade, etc) allows you to bo... |
Is there any “Personal” Finance app that allows 2 administrators? | We use mint for just that. We have a "shared" account. We each have the mobile app and share the same pin for the application (not our phones -- you can set a pin in the settings on the application). Thus we each share a login to the site, where we have setup all of our accounts. In the "Your Profile" link at the top o... |
Should I finance a new home theater at 0% even though I have the cash for it? | I think so. I am doing this with our furniture. It doesn't cost me any more money to pay right now than it will to pay over the course of 3 years, and I can earn interest on the money I didn't spend. But know this: they aren't offering 0%, they are deferring interest for 3 years. If you pay it off before then great,... |
What is the difference between a bond and a debenture? | Some additional links which explain their differences. But mostly as @bstpierre says, both are very similar and in some cases the terms may be used inter changeably |
How do historically low interest rates affect real estate prices? | Interest rates do generally affect house prices but other factors do too, especially the unemployment rate. However, everything else being equal, when interest rates drop, it makes the borrowing of money cheaper so tends to stimulate the economy and the housing market, increasing the demand for houses and generally cau... |
Who can I get to help me roll my 401(k) into an IRA when I live overseas? | It is typically very easy to roll a 401(k) into an IRA. Companies that provide IRA's are very experienced with it, and I would expect that they will take your calls from overseas. You will likely be able to do it over the internet without using a phone at all. Just open an IRA with any brokerage company (Scottrade, Va... |
Car dealers offering lower prices when financing a used car | With new cars it's usually the other way around: finance at a low APR or get cash back when you buy it outright. With used cars you usually don't know how much they have invested in the car, so it's more difficult to know how low they're willing to go. Regardless, I do think it's odd that they would knock 2K off the pr... |
How to decide on split between large/mid/small cap on 401(k) and how often rebalance | There many asset allocation strategies to chose from that beat lifestyle funds. For example: Relative Strength Asset Allocation keeps your money in Stocks when stocks perform well, bonds when they outperform stocks, and cash when both bonds and stocks are under-performing. The re-allocation happens on a monthly basis... |
How smart is it to really be 100% debt free? | No matter what, it is never a bad decision to go 100% debt free. However, you can make debt work in your favor in some cases (investments, education, etc.), but you need to approach it with a plan and long term strategy. Interest, fees, and loss of value can quickly eat up any gains. |
How does the process of “assignment” work for in-the-money Options? | First, it depends on your broker. Full service firms will tear you a new one, discount brokers may charge ~nothing. You'll have to check with your broker on assignment fees. Theoretically, this is the case of the opposite of my answer in this question: Are underlying assets supposed to be sold/bought immediately afte... |
What are the advantages of a Swiss bank account? | A lot of Americans have used Swiss bank accounts to avoid paying taxes. However recently several large Swiss banks have started disclosing the details on some of their customers to the IRS. There isn't much security in Swiss banking at this point in time. |
When a publicly traded company splits into two how are common shares fairly valued, distributed? | How are shareholders sure to receive a fair percentage of each company? At the time the split occurs, each investor owns the same proportion of each new company that they owned in the first. What the investor does with it after that (selling one, for example) is irrelevant from a fairness perspective. Suppose company... |
Comparing the present value of total payment today and partial payments over 3 months | I got $3394.83 The first problem with this is that it is backwards. The NPV (Net Present Value) of three future payments of $997 has to be less than the nominal value. The nominal value is simple: $2991. First step, convert the 8% annual return from the stock market to a monthly return. Everyone else assumed that... |
Debt collector has wrong person and is contacting my employer | Assuming you're in the US, you can file complaints against financial institutions (including debt collectors) through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The link to debt collector complaints is: http://www.consumerfinance.gov/Complaint/#debt-collection |
US ISA equivalent for tax exempt investment & savings | As far as I know, there is no direct equivalent. An IRA is subject to many rules. Not only are there early withdrawal penalties, but the ability to deduct contributions to an IRA phases out with one's income level. Qualified withdrawals from an IRA won't have penalties, but they will be taxed as income. Contribution... |
Why do some companies (like this company) have such a huge per share price? | Simple answer is because the stocks don't split. Most stocks would have a similar high price per share if they didn't split occasionally. Why don't they split? A better way to ask this is probably, why DO most stocks split? The standard answer is that it gives the appearance that stocks are "cheap" again and encourage... |
Is it possible to borrow money to invest in a foreign country? | Most likely, this will not work they way you think. First things first, to get a loan, the bank needs to accept your collateral. Note that this is not directly related to the question what you plan to do with the loan. Example: you have a portfolio of stocks and bonds worth USD 2 million. The bank decides to give you a... |
How is not paying off mortgage better in normal circumstances? | The reason is that although the American economy is functioning normally, mortgage rates are stupid-low, and are below a prudent expectation of long-term (30 year) rates of return in the market. I manage endowments, so I say "prudent" in the context of endowment investment, which is the picture of caution and subject... |
GnuCash, how do I book loan from credit card, being paid back with salary? [duplicate] | When you pay the flight, hotel, conference attendance fees of $100: When you repay the credit card debt of $100: When you receive the gross salary of $5000: Your final balance sheet will show: Your final income statement will show: Under this method, your "Salary" account will show the salary net of business expense. T... |
Are solar cell panels and wind mills worth the money? | Solar water heaters are definitely questionable in the Northeast -- the season when you most need them is also the season when they are least effective. Solar electric isn't a huge moneymaker, but with rebates on installation and carbon-reduction credits (SRECs) -- and a group purchase discount if you can get one, eith... |
How can an Indian citizen get exposure to global markets? | You can invest upto $200K per year abroad, and yes, you can buy Google as a stock. Consider opening an international account with a broker like interactive brokers (www.interactivebrokers.co.in) which allows you to fund the account from your local Indian account, and then on, buy shares of companies listed abroad. |
What are the consequences of not respecting a notice period when leaving a job? | It depends on your employer. They may not care to pursue matters if you don't give enough notice. They might be happy to see you go. Or they might be really sad to see you go, but not feel like they need to punish you. Or they might be really angry to see you go, and decide that they want to punish you to the full exte... |
I don't live in America. How can I buy IPO stock of newly listed companies in the United States? | First thing to consider is that getting your hands on an IPO is very difficult unless you have some serious clout. This might help a bit in that department (http://www.sec.gov/answers/ipoelig.htm) However, assuming you accept all that risk and requirements, YES - you can buy stocks of any kind in the US even if you are... |
What does it mean to long convexity of options? | First lets understand what convexity means: Convexity - convexity refers to non-linearities in a financial model. In other words, if the price of an underlying variable changes, the price of an output does not change linearly, but depends on the second derivative (or, loosely speaking, higher-order terms) of the... |
Is 0% credit card utilization worse than 1-20% credit card utilization for any reason other than pure statistics? | Credit Scores / Rates are based on sometimes simple and sometimes quite complex Statistical Models (Generalised Linear Models, Neural Networks, Regression and Classification Trees, Mixture Models, etc).This depends on whether it is something more general like FICO or what large banks develop in-house. In any case, ther... |
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, ... |
Looking to buy a property that's 12-14x my income. How can it be done? | You need a cosigner. Someone prepared to repay the mortgager if you should fail to. Needless to say this is going to have to be someone who knows you and trusts you very much. One way is to find someone prepared to share a house with you. Buy a bigger house than you would otherwise need. You would own half each, and th... |
Canadian personal finance software with ability to export historical credit card transactions? | If you're willing to use OFX or QIF files, most Canadian banks can spit output more data than 90 days. The files are typically used to import into Quicken-like local programs, but can be easily parsed for your webapp, I imagine. |
Can you explain the mechanism of money inflation? | The mechanism of supply and demand is imperfect. Producers don't know exactly how many purchasers/consumers for a good there are. Some goods, by their nature, are in short supply, and some are plentiful. The process of price discovery is one where (in a nominally free market) producers and purchasers make offers and ... |
Why buy a vertical spread if I could instead buy a naked call? | Figured it out. Vertical spreads significantly reduce the amount of "buying power" on the account needed vs. buying / selling pure calls / puts. So even though the transaction fees may more double in some instances, it may be worth it in order to operate with pricier underlying instruments. Spreads are also considere... |
What is the purpose of endorsing a check? | I actually had to go to the bank today and so I decided to ask. The answer I was given is that a check is a legal document (a promise to pay). In order to get your money from the bank, you need to sign the check over to them. By endorsing the check you are attesting to the fact that you have transferred said document... |
Stock sale cost basis calculations for 2013, now that rules changed, is FIFO or another method the smartest financially? | You have to calculate the total value of all shares and then ask yourself "Would I invest that amount of money in this stock?" If the answer is yes, then only sell what you need to sell. Take the $3k loss against your income, if you have no other gains. If you would not invest that amount of cash in that stock, then... |
How does one value Facebook stock as a potential investment? | The amount of hype and uneducated investors/speculators driving its prices up. Just by that I would say its prices are inflated. Bear in mind that Facebook don't sell anything tangible. They can go down as fast as they went up. Most of their income is ad based and single-product oriented, and as such highly dependent o... |
Is it really possible to get rich in only a few years by investing? | To get rich in a short time, it's more likely what you want to do is go into business. You could go into a non-investment business such as opening a restaurant or starting a tech company, of course. Warren Buffett was working in investing, which is quite a bit different than just buying stocks: The three ways to get ri... |
How can I raise finance to build a home for my family | Wanting save enough money to purchase a home is an issue that a lot of people face, regardless of where they live. The most simple answer is to save, save, save. Create a budget so that you are able to track every dollar. After you do so for a few weeks, then you will be able to see exactly how your money is being spen... |
Is there a term for the risk of investing in an asset with a positive but inferior return? | I'd question whether a guaranteed savings instrument underperforming the stock market really is a risk, or not? Rather, you reap what you sow. There's a trade-off, and one makes a choice. If one chooses to invest in a highly conservative, low-risk asset class, then one should expect lower returns from it. That doesn... |
How smart is it to really be 100% debt free? | Having no debt should be the ultimate goal for every household, IMHO, but at what cost? As an example, I had some clients (before they started working with me) that had outstanding debt when they retired and were gung-ho to pay it off. They opted to take it out of their retirement accounts. They didn't set aside enou... |
Can I open a bank account in the US remotely? Will I pay taxes for the money on it? | Answering for US tax only: The bank account makes absolutely zero difference. If you are not a US national and not resident in the US, but earn income from a US employer/client/customer, generally that income is not subject to US tax (no matter where it is banked). However there are (complicated) exceptions, particula... |
Over the long term, why invest in bonds? | I can think of a few reasons for this. First, bonds are not as correlated with the stock market so having some in your portfolio will reduce volatility by a bit. This is nice because it makes you panic less about the value changes in your portfolio when the stock market is acting up, and I'm sure that fund managers wou... |
Is per diem taxable? | Per-diem is not taxable, if all the conditions are met. Conditions include: You can find this and more in this IRS FAQ document re the per-diem. |
Is it sensible to keep savings in a foreign currency? | Is it sensible to keep savings in a foreign currency? The answer varies from one country to the next, but in the UK (or any other mature economy), I would advise against it. There are better ways to hedge against currency risks with the funds readily available to you through your ISA. You can keep your money relatively... |
How do I export or sync data from TD Ameritrade into Google Finance or another online Finance site? | Mint is one alternative. If you want the raw data in CSV format, you can use "Export" feature under |
How can I diversify investments across currencies in ISA? | Just buy a FTSE-100 tracker. It's cheap and easy, and will hedge you pretty well, as the FTSE-100 is dominated by big mining and oil companies who do most of their business in currencies other than sterling. |
What are some good ways to control costs for groceries? | Set aside the amount of grocery money you want to spend in a week in cash. Then buy groceries only from this money. The first week make it a generous amount so you don't get rediculous and give up. And stick to it when you are out of money (make sure you have some canned goods or something around if you run out of mone... |
Issuing bonds at discount - computing effective interest rate | If the market rate and coupon were equal, the bond would be valued at face value, by definition. (Not 100% true, but this is an exercise, and that would be tangent to this discussion). Since the market rate is higher than the coupon rate, the value I am willing to pay drops a bit, so my return is the same as the marke... |
In a house with shared ownership, if one person moves out and the other assumes mortgage, how do we determine who owns what share in the end? | Both names are on the deed, so the property is jointly owned. You're going to need the second person's signature to be able to sell the property. Ideally the way to know "what happens now" is to consult the written agreement you made before you purchased the house together. The formula for dividing up assets when disso... |
Business Investment Loss from prior year | You need to give specific dates! In the United States, you have three years to file an amended tax return. https://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/Ten-Facts-about-Amended-Tax-Returns Did the restaurant fail in 2012? If so, that's probably the year to take the loss. If you need to amend your 2012 return, which you filed in 201... |
Why would a stock opening price differ from the offering price? | The offering price is the price at which that IPO is, well, offered. Think of it as a suggested retail price. The opening price is the actual price at which trading begins, on a particular day, for a stock. That price depends on demand/overnight-orders/what-have-you. Think of this as the actual price in the store. |
What is the meaning of “short selling” or “going short” a stock? | Rich's answer captures the basic essence of short selling with example. I'd like to add these additional points: You typically need a specially-privileged brokerage account to perform short selling. If you didn't request short selling when you opened your account, odds are good you don't have it, and that's good becau... |
Why are some funds only recommended for investors starting out? | I am a firm believer in TD's e-series funds. No other bank in Canada has index funds with such low management fees. Index funds offer the flexibility to re-balance your portfolio every month without the need to pay commission fees. Currently I allocate 10% of my paycheck to be diversified between Canadian, US, and I... |
Online resource to get expense ratios for mutual funds, index funds & ETFs? | If you want the answer from the horse's mouth, go to the website of the ETF or mutual find, and the expense ratio will be listed there, both on the "Important Information" part of the front page, as well as in the .pdf file that you click on to download the Prospectus. Oh wait, you don't want to go the fund's website ... |
How does a 2 year treasury note work? | There is a large market where notes/bills/bonds are traded, so yes you can sell them later. However, if interest rates go up, the value of any bond that you want to sell goes down, because you now have to compete with what someone can get on a new issue, so you need to 'discount' the principal value of your bond in or... |
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... |
What are some well known or well regarded arguments against investing? | I think you're confusing risk analysis (that is what you quoted as "Taleb Distribution") with arguments against taking risks altogether. You need to understand that not taking a risk - is by itself a risk. You can lose money by not investing it, because of the very same Taleb Distribution: an unpredictable catastrophic... |
Would I qualify for a USDA loan? | Sounds feasible. I make $45000 a year, with two car payments, credit card and student loan debt. Also, my wife doesn't work. I was approved for a $116000 house with a USDA loan. There are limits or how much debt you can have when applying for a USDA (sorry, I can't remember off the top of my head) and you'll also b... |
mortgage vs car loan vs invest extra cash? | First off, the "mortgage interest is tax deductible" argument is a red herring. What "tax deductible" sounds like it means is "if I pay $100 on X, I can pay $100 less on my taxes". If that were true, you're still not saving any money overall, so it doesn't help you any in the immediate term, and it's actually a bad i... |
How does anyone make significant money on very low volume stocks? | First, I want to point out that your question contains an assumption. Does anyone make significant money trading low volume stocks? I'm not sure this is the case - I've never heard of a hedge fund trading in the pink sheets, for example. Second, if your assumption is valid, here are a few ideas how it might work: Accu... |
Forex vs day trading for beginner investor | This image is an advertisement from this week's Barron's. The broker would want to put himself in the best light, correct? This shows you that of their current accounts, 53.5% are not profitable. And these guys have the best track record of the list. Also keep in mind that their client base isn't random. The winners t... |
Company revenue increased however stock price did not | It's great that you have gotten the itch to learn about the stock market. There are a couple of fundamentals to understand first though. Company A has strong, growing, net earnings and minimal debt, it's trading for $100 per share. Company B has good revenue but high costs of goods and total liabilities well in exces... |
Is this investment opportunity problematic? | Every time I have loaned money to family members I have never gotten the money back. If they can't make the down payment, they should not be taking out the loan. It's a bad idea to loan money to friends, because when they can't pay you back (which might be forever) they avoid you. So, you lose both your money and your ... |
First time consultant, doubts on Taxation | I would look into the possibility that the promise "that no taxes will be withheld" is all about your status as a 'consultant'. They may be meaning you to be treated like a business they buy services from. In Canada the distinction is very watery and I presume the same in India. If you agree to become a business, the... |
Acquiring first office clothes | Sounds like you're a man, so you're in luck. Our formalwear all looks similar enough that you can get by on a very short rotation. You can buy 1 pair of decent slacks in a versatile color like navy or grey with a pair of brown shoes with matching belt then have as little as 2 button down shirts (white and light blue). ... |
Why can't you just have someone invest for you and split the profits (and losses) with him? | This means that if your capital under my management ends up turning a profit, I will keep half of those profits, but if I lose you money, I will cover half those losses. The bold part is where you lose me. This absolutely exists with the exception of the loss insurance. It just requires a lot more than the general ret... |
US citizen married to non-resident alien; how do I file taxes? | From what you've described, your spouse is a non-resident alien for US tax purposes. You have two choices: Use the Nonresident Spouse Treated As Resident election and file as Married Filing Jointly. Since your spouse doesn't have, and doesn't currently qualify for, an SSN, he/she will need to apply for an ITIN together... |
want to refinance FHA loan, may move out unexpectedly and would like to keep as investment property, what are my options? | Streamline refinance is the way to go. You don't have to stay with the same bank to do so either. The big advantage of the streamline is the original appraisal is used for the refinance, so as long as you didn't have negative amortization(impossible in FHA anyways), you're good to go. It will be much less paperwork ... |
Why do people build a stock portfolio if one could get a higher return from bank interest than dividend per annum? | Large companies whose shares I was looking at had dividends of the order of ~1-2%, such as 0.65%, or 1.2% or some such. My savings account provides me with an annual return of 4% as interest. Firstly inflation, interest increases the numeric value of your bank balance but inflation reduces what that means in real terms... |
Efficient markets hypothesis and performance of IPO shares after lock-up period | There are rules that prevent two of the reactive measures you suggest from occurring. First, on the date of and shortly following an IPO, there is no stock available to borrow for shorting. Second, there are no put options available for purchase. At least, none that are listed, of the sort you probably have in mind. In... |
Why is short-selling considered more “advanced” than a simple buy? | When you short a stock, you can lose an unlimited amount of money if the trade goes against you. If the shorted stock gaps up overnight you can lose more money than you have in your account. The best case is you make 100% if the stock goes to zero. And then you have margin fees on top of that. With long positions, it's... |
Auto balancing portfolio through new purchases | Finding the "optimal" solution (and even defining what optimal is) would probably take a lot of searching of all the possible combinations of stocks you could buy, given that you can't buy fractional shares. But I'd guess that a simple "greedy" algorithm should get you close enough. For any given portfolio state, look ... |
How does Portfolio Turnover affect my investment? | As Kurt Vonnegut said, the way to make money is to be there when large amounts of money are changing hands and take a little for yourself; they'll never notice. That's what transaction costs are: when a fund buys or sells stocks a bit of the money goes to the folks who handle the transaction. When you personally buy or... |
No trading data other than close for a stock on a given date | There are several reasons why this may happen and I will update as I get more information from you. Volumes on that stock look low (supposing that they are either in a factor between 1s and 1000s) so it could well be that there was no volume on that day. If no trades occur then open, high and low are meaningless as the... |
How do I screen for stocks that are near to their 52 weeks low | You can use Google Finance Stock Screener for screening US stocks. Apparently it doesn't have the specific criterion (Last Price % diff from 52 week low) you are (were!) looking for. I believe using its api you can get it, although it won't exactly be a very direct solution. |
At what point is the contents of a trust considered to be the property of the beneficiary? | Both a trust and an estate are separate, legal, taxpaying entities, just like any individual. Income earned by the trust or estate property (e.g., rents collected from real estate) is income earned by the trust or the estate. Who is liable for taxes on income earned by a trust depends on who receives or retains benefit... |
Are mutual funds safe from defaults? | The only way for a mutual fund to default is if it inflated the NAV. I.e.: it reports that its investments worth more than they really are. Then, in case of a run on the fund, it may end up defaulting since it won't have the money to redeem shares at the NAV it published. When does it happen? When the fund is mismanage... |
Debit card funds on preauthorization hold to paypal: can it be used for another transaction? | Imagine the following scenario: You have a credit limit of $1000 and you want to by a tablet from a store. It costs $600. You then walk next door and buy a TV for $600. You would expect that you would go over your limit and the second transaction will be rejected. As long as that hold is in place, you don't have access... |
What is a good way to save money on car expenses? | The obvious answer for savings costs with a car is not to have a car. Of course that must be balanced against other expenses (bicycle, taxi, public transport) to do things. Generally speaking, if you need a car, ways to contain expense are to buy the least expensive vehicle with the most economical engine that meets ... |
Get car loan w/ part time job as student with no credit, no-cosigner but no expenses | Instead of going to the dealership and not knowing if you will be able to get a loan or what the interest rate might be, go to a local credit union or bank first, before you go car shopping, and talk to them about what you would need for your loan. If you can get approval for a loan first, then you will know how much ... |
Opening a bank account with cash: How should bills be presented? | In the US, banks, businesses and the government stack cash. That's how you should present it to them. |
Why do only motor insurers employ “No Claims Discounts”? | Discounting premiums based on some past history is not unique to auto policies. Other insurers will discount premiums based on past claims history they just don't shout about it as a marketing means to attract customers. Life insurance is underwritten based on your health history; if you want to consider your "prefer... |
How to evaluate an annuity | Annuities are usually not good deals. Commissions to the salesman can be as high as 9% of the initial premium. They're not scams, just not the best deals for most circumstances. Basically, these things are a combination of an investment vehicle and multiple insurance policies, including permanent insurance. The 8.2% "r... |
What is a bull put spread? | Bull means the investor is betting on a rising market. Puts are a type of stock option where the seller of a put option promises to buy 100 shares of stock from the buyer of the put option at a pre-agreed price called the strike price on any day before expiration day. The buyer of the put option does not have to sell ... |
I'm thinking of getting a new car … why shouldn't I LEASE one? | Here are the reasons I did not lease my current car. When you lease, you're tied in at a monthly payment for 48 months or more. The only way to get out of that payment is to transfer the lease or buy out the lease. If you buy/finance, you can always sell the car or trade it in to get out of the payments. Or you can pay... |
Solid reading/literature for investment/retirement/income taxes? | For the mechanices/terms of stock investing, I recommend Learn to Earn by Peter Lynch. I also like The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by John Bogle. It explains why indexing is the best choice for most people. For stock picking, a good intro is The Little Book of Value Investing by Chris Brown. And then there is... |
What are the differences between gold/siver “coin” vs. “round”? | littleadv gave a great answer, but neglected to mention one thing. Modern minted coins usually only contain a (high) percentage of a precious metal. For example pre-1965 quarters are 90% silver and 10% other, to maintain strength and durability. Rounds of silver bullion are usually .9999%, or fine, silver, which is c... |
How could a company survive just on operations cash flow, i.e. no earnings? | It depends on the definition of earnings. A company could have revenue that nets in excess of expenses, so from that perspective a good cash flow or EBITDA, but have debt servicing costs, taxes, depreciation, amortization, that alters that perspective. So if a company is carrying a large debt load, then the bondholder... |
HSBC Hong Kong's “Deposit Plus” Product: What is it, and what strategies to employ? | HSBC Hong Kong's “Deposit Plus” Product" the same as "Dual Currency Product" . it's Currency link Sell base Currency Call / Alternative Currency Put FX Option It's not protected by the Deposit Insurance System in HK You can search Key Word "Dual Currency Product" & "Dual Currency Investment" & "Dual Currency Deposit" ... |
Is there a legal deadline for when your bank/brokerage has to send your tax forms to you? | Many of the custodians (ie. Schwab) file for an extension on 1099s. They file for an extension as many of their accounts have positions with foreign income which creates tax reporting issues. If they did not file for extension they would have to send out 1099s at the end of January and then send out corrected forms. ... |
Why could rental costs for apartments/houses rise while buying prices can go up and down? | At 5%, this means you expect rents to double every 14 years. I bought a condo style apartment 28 years ago, (sold a while back, by the way) and recently saw the going rate for rents has moved up from $525 to $750, after all this time. The rent hasn't increased four fold. If rents appear to be too low compared to the c... |
How to send money across borders physically and inexpensively, but not via cash? | Traveller's cheques. That's exactly what they were intended for. Their usage has dropped a lot since everyone can use ATMs in foreign countries, but they still exist. |
Why don't brokerages charge commissions on forex trades? | Investopedia has a section in their article about currency trading that states: The FX market does not have commissions. Unlike exchange-based markets, FX is a principals-only market. FX firms are dealers, not brokers. This is a critical distinction that all investors must understand. Unlike brokers, dealers assume mar... |
Buy securities at another stock exchange | Also important to keep in mind is the difference in liquidity. The stock could be very liquid in 1 exchange but not in another. When times get bad, liquidity could dry up 1 one exchange, which results in a trading discount. |
Do high interest rates lead to higher bond yields or lower? | Imagine that the existing interest rate is 5%. So on a bond with face value of 100, you would be getting a $5 coupon implying a 5% yield. Now, if let's say the interest rates go up to 10%, then a new bond issued with a face value of 100 will give you a coupon of $10 implying a 10% yield. If someone in the bond market b... |
If a stock doesn't pay dividends, then why is the stock worth anything? | If so, then if company A never pays dividends to its shareholders, then what is the point of owning company A's stock? The stock itself can go up in price. This is not necessarily pure speculation either, the company could just reinvest the profits and grow. Since you own part of a company, your share would also increa... |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.