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Make punctual contributions to IRS based on earnings | I will answer this question broadly for various jurisdictions, and also specifically for the US, given the OP's tax home: Generally, for any tax jurisdiction If your tax system relies on periodic prepayments through the year, and a final top-up/refund at the end of the year (ie: basically every country), you have 3 the... |
Checking the math on a Truth-in-Lending Disclosure | As your question is written now, it looks like you have a typo. Your stated APR is 5.542% = 0.05542, not 0.005542 as you've written. I ran the numbers that you gave (accounting for the typo) through the formula at Wikipedia and got $849.2528 / month, which will round to $849.25 for most payments. That doesn't match ... |
Are there good investment options to pay off student loans? | Paying off your student loan is an investment, and a completely risk-free one. Every payment of your loan is a purchase of debt at the interest rate of the loan. It would be extremely unusual to be able to find a CD, bond or other low-risk play at a better rate. Any investment in a risky asset such as stocks is jus... |
Should I Pay Off my Student Loan Debts First or Invest in an Index Fund? | You are on the right track with your math, but be wary of your assumptions. If you can borrow money at x% (and can afford to make payments on the debt), and you can get a return of > x% from investing, then you would make more money by keeping the debt and investing your savings. Another way to think of it: by paying o... |
Why use accounting software like Quickbooks instead of Excel spreadsheets? | Why use spreadsheets rather than writing your forms and formulas directly in a programming lanuage? Because you've got better things to do than reinvent the wheel, right? Same answer. ===== clarification, since the point apparently wasn't clear: Using a spreadsheet means you're writing and organizing and maintaining th... |
Can one use dollar cost averaging to make money with something highly volatile? | Dollar cost averaging is beneficial if you don't have the money to make large investments but are able to add to your holding over time. If you can buy the same monetary amount at regular intervals over time, your average cost per share will be lower than the stock's average value over that time. This won't necessarily... |
What is the incentive for a bank to refinance a mortgage at a lower rate? | 1- Wells Fargo does not own our current mortgage. They have bundled it and sold it as an investment. 2- They make their money from 'servicing' the loan. Even if they only get $50 per month to service it (3% of our monthly payment), that adds up to $50,000,000 per month if they have a million homes under management. ... |
What part of buying a house would make my net worth go down? | Houses depreciate. Period. Things break: the hot water heater explodes, the AC cuts out in August, the roof leaks, the basement floods, toilets back up, raccoons dig up the garden. Each time something breaks, the house loses value. Every year the paint fades a little, the house loses value. Every time GE comes out with... |
Average Price of a Stock | Edit3: Regarding the usefulness of the bare number itself, it is not useful unless, for example, an employer uses that average in the computation of how many options the employer grants to the employee as part of the compensation paid. One of my employers used just such an average. What is far more common is to use two... |
May 6, 2010 stock market decline/plunge: Why did it drop 9% in a few minutes? | No one is quite sure what happened (yet). Speculation includes: The interesting thing is that Procter & Gamble stock got hammered, as did Accenture. Both of which are fairly stable companies, that didn't make any major announcements, and aren't really connected to the current financial instability in Greece. So, the... |
Why do people take out life insurance on their children? Should I take out a policy on my child? | Why do people take out life insurance on their children? They do so largely because it's being sold to them. The insurance companies generally push them on the basis that if you have to pay for a funeral and burial, the cost would devastate a family's finances. In some rare instances that might actually be true, but ... |
Reasons for a warrant's intrinsic value and price not adding up? | While on the surface it may seem that the warrant you described is trading below intrinsic value, there are many reasons why that might not be the case. It's more likely that you are lacking information, than having identified a derivative instrument that the market has failed to reasonably price. For instance, might t... |
How to report house used for 100% business? | As DJClayworth said, be very careful with this one! The property is a residence, not a business location. Given that, it is almost a certainty that the IRS is not going to let you claim 100% of the expenses for the home as a business expense, even if nobody's actually living there. You may get away with doing this... |
Trying to figure out my student loans | Is there anything here I should be deathly concerned about? I don't see anything you should be deathly concerned about unless your career outlook is very poor and you are making minimum wage. If that is the case you may struggle for the next 10 years. Are these rates considered super high or manageable? The rates for t... |
How does one value Facebook stock as a potential investment? | To know if a stock is undervalued is not something that can be easily assessed (else, everybody would know which stock is undervalued and everybody will buy it until it reaches its "true" value). But there are methods to assess the value of a company, I think that the 3 most known methods are: If the assets of the comp... |
Working out of India for UK company from 1 Jan 2016 on contract | Work under UK umbrella company. By this you are thinking of creating a new legal entity in UK, then its not a very great idea. There will be lot of paperwork, additional taxes in UK and not much benefit. Ask UK company to remit money to Indian savings bank account Ask UK company to remit money to Indian business ba... |
How do you find reasonably priced, quality, long lasting clothing? | On the quality angle a big part of it is experience, but the biggest thing is careful observation. You have to take a close, critical look at any article of clothing. (This holds true for just about any purchase.) As far as finding them for reasonable prices it's the usual thing: sales and buying them second-hand. Fi... |
Buying a house, how much should my down payment be? | Mortgage qualification is typically done based on pretax income. To keep the math easy, let's assume $10K/month gross. A well written loan allows 28% or $2800 to be used for the mortgage and property tax. Property tax varies, but 1% is the average of the 2 states mentioned. This results in $7500/yr property or $625/mo... |
What securities is Return of Capital applicable to? | Off the top of my head, I don't know of any publicly-traded companies that routinely earmark distributions as return of capital, but theoretically, it's certainly applicable to any publicly-traded company. The Wikipedia article gives one situation in which a publicly-traded company may use return of capital: Public bus... |
Is a “total stock market” index fund diverse enough alone? | I don't think you are missing much, if anything, Brendan. You get massive diversification and low fees with a fund like VTI. I'm not sure if it is good to have everything with only one broker though. I would add to the conversation that the goal shouldn't be to have a giant pile of money in x years..and then spend it d... |
Calculating required rate of return for an income-generating savings account | Line one shows your 1M, a return with a given rate, and year end withdrawal starting at 25,000. So Line 2 starts with that balance, applies the rate again, and shows the higher withdrawal, by 3%/yr. In Column one, I show the cumulative effect of the 3% inflation, and the last number in this column is the final balanc... |
Put idle savings to use while keeping them liquid | I suppose it depends on how liquid you need, and if you're willing to put forth any risk whatsoever. The stock market can be dangerous, but there are strategies out there that will allow you to insure yourself against significant loss, while likely earning you a decent return. You can buy and sell options along with ... |
Shorting stocks: Indicators that a stock will drop? | First, it's much safer to be shorting stocks over $5 than stocks under $5. I use 3 indicators to show that a stock has topped out and about to drop. Key is the timing cause the initial drop is often the biggest. More close you get in at the top, the higher the risk. Using 1D Charts ONLY: - MACD Indicator: I use the... |
Should I close unused credit cards before applying for another? | You want to have 2-4 credit cards, with a credit utilization ratio below 30%. If you only have 2 cards, closing 1 would reduce your credit diversity and thus lower your credit score. You also want at least 2 years credit history, so closing an older credit card may shorten your credit history, again lowering your cre... |
At what point is the contents of a trust considered to be the property of the beneficiary? | No, you will not have to pay taxes on the corpus (principal) of the trust distribution. If the trust tax forms were filed correctly, you might have as much as a $9000 loss that will flow to you on the trust's termination. Previously, the trust was supposed to file a return each year, and either claim the dividends or... |
Why are wire transfers and other financial services in Canada so much more expensive than in Europe? | because bankers are crooks is a very close answer. Just accept the truth that financial industry is the only service industry that could turn into giant parasite chopping pieces from real economy. I am not anti-financial, because greed is not banker's fault, but just one significant part of human nature. Every human be... |
Where can I find accurate historical distribution data for mutual funds? | In the case of a specific fund, I'd be tempted to get get an annual report that would disclose distribution data going back up to 5 years. The "View prospectus and reports" would be the link on the site to note and use that to get to the PDF of the report to get the data that was filed with the SEC as that is likely w... |
Can stockholders choose NOT to elect a board of directors? | Under Sarbanes–Oxley, no. There are specific responsibilities vested in the board members. Without a CEO and a CFO, the quarterly financial reports cannot be signed off. Many countries have similar responsibilities for board members, and by the same reasoning therefore a need for board members. |
Which credit card is friendliest to merchants? | Merchants that accept American Express should have decided that the extra costs are worth the increased business (many business travelers only have an Amex Corporate Card). To complain about people actually using it after they've explicitly decided to accept it is a sign that they made the wrong decision, or that they... |
Put idle savings to use while keeping them liquid | Provide you are willing to do a bit of work each month, you should apply for a "rewards checking" account. Basically these accounts require you to set up direct deposit (can be any amount and your employer can easily deposit $25 into one account and the rest into another if you like). They also require you to use you... |
What happens if stock purchased on margin plummets below what I have in the brokerage? | Different brokerages have different house rules for margin requirements and margin calls. You will likely get a margin call giving you a small amount of time to deposit the required funds to bring your account balance up to the required margin requirements. In reality, a stock that falls from $50 to $4 in a short per... |
Should I pay more than 20% down on a home? | Leverage increase returns, but also risks, ie, the least you can pay, the greater the opportunity to profit, but also the greater the chance you will be underwater. Leverage is given by the value of your asset (the house) over the equity you put down. So, for example, if the house is worth 100k and you put down 20k, th... |
Best Time to buy a stock in a day | You can't predict when to buy a stock during the day to guarantee not having a loss for the day. In the short run stock prices are really pretty random. There are many day traders who try to accomplish exactly this and most of them lose money. If you don't believe me, create an account on Investopedia and use their fre... |
Can I claim the standard deduction being an Indian citizen and non-resident in USA for tax purposes? | Prachi - While most non-resident aliens are not allowed to claim the standard deduction here are some exceptions: IRS Law under Article 21: ARTICLE 21 Payments Received by Students and Apprentices This falls under the U.S.A.-India Tax Treaty. Sources: I hope this helps. So, yes, I do believe you would be able to claim ... |
Should I talk about my stocks? | No, there is no significant harm to discussing this. Outside of possibly getting bad advice, excessive advice, or complaints that others just aren't interested... |
College student - I'm a 'dependent' and my parents won't apply for the Parent PLUS loan or cosign a private loan | My son is in a similar situation where he is 21 and in college. My wife and I claimed him as a dependant on our taxes last year. He had still been able to get some student loans as a dependant as well as scholarships. I have told him that we will not cosign on a loan for him. It isn't because we don't like our son, it ... |
What are the implications of a corporate stock repurchase or share buyback program? | the implications are that the company's earnings per share may seem greater, (after the company buys them there will be less shares outstanding), giving wall street the impression that there is more growth potential than there really is. its an accounting gimmick that can work for a few quarters while the company evalu... |
How can I make a profit by selling a stock short? | Being "long" - expecting the price to go up to make a profit - is a two step process: 1) buy 2) sell Being "short" - expecting the price to go down to make a profit - is a 5 step process: 1) borrow someone else's asset 2) sell their asset on the open market to somebody else a third party 3) pocket the proceeds of the... |
Switch from DINK to SIWK: How do people afford kids? | If you want to have your wife stay home with kids, you'll have to make a plan to get there. As you point out, your situation right now won't support this. Create a budget that will work for you with a single income -- a "zero based" budget, not a budget based on your current expense structure. Figure out what you can a... |
Evaluating worth of ESPP (Startup) | You have a lot of different questions in your post - I am only responding to the request for how to value the ESPP. When valuing an ESPP, don't think about what you might sell the shares for in the future, think about what the market would charge you for that option today. In general, an option is worth much less than ... |
How do I know when I am financially stable/ready to move out on my own? | I'll just say this. You are in much better shape financially than I was when I moved out on my own and started supporting myself, and I did fine. The 6 month emergency fund is nice, but I'd gamble that most people that have been out on their own for a long time can't match that. The main thing is just to keep a budget... |
Why are Rausch Coleman houses so cheap? Is it because they don't have gas? | I walked into my sister's new Rausch Coleman house this afternoon to help her move in and told her to make sure that they put on the hot water heater room door in the garage on when they come back to take care of the final touch ups. I also said and don't let them forget to paint the garage because I noticed while driv... |
How to maximize small business 401k contribution? | My understanding is that to make the $18,000 elective deferral in this case, you need to pay yourself at least $18,000. There will be some tax on that for social security and Medicare, so you'll actually need to pay yourself a bit more to cover that too. The employer contribution is limited to 25% of your total compen... |
How did this day trader lose so much? | The day trader in the article was engaging in short selling. Short selling is a technique used to profit when a stock goes down. The investor borrows shares of a stock from someone else and sells them. After the stock price goes down, the investor buys the shares back and returns them, pocketing the difference. As t... |
What does “no adjustments” mean? | In addition to the adjustment type in NL7's answer, there are a host of others. If there are any adjustments, form 8949 is required, if not, the gains can be separated into short and long-term and added together to be entered on Schedule D. Anything requiring an adjustment code in column F of the 8949 requires an ent... |
Is it better to miss the dividend and buy the undervalued stock? | I guess the answer lies in your tax jurisdiction (different countries tax capital gains and income differently) and your particular tax situation. If the price of the stock goes up or down between when you buy and sell then this counts for tax purposes as a capital gain or loss. If you receive a dividend then this coun... |
When does it make financial sense to take advantage of employer's tuition reimbursement program? | If you know that you want that advanced degree; And there is a way to have your employer pay for some of it or all of it; And you are reasonably certain that you will not be quitting for X years after completing the degree; Then it is financially sound to consider having the company pay for it. If you are interested in... |
Dividend Yield | The S&P 500 is an index, you can't buy shares of an index, but you can find index funds to invest in. Each company in that fund that pays dividends will do so on their own schedule, and the fund you've invested in will either distribute dividends or accumulate them (re-invest), this is pre-defined, not something they'd... |
Contract job (hourly rate) as a 1099: How much would I be making after taxes? | In addition to taking into account your deductions, as mentioned by @bstpierre, you also need to account for vacation, and other time off such as sick days. You also need to estimate what percentage of the year you expect to be working and pro-rate your salary accordingly. For example it is not uncommon to use 40 week... |
At what percentage drop should you buy to average down | TL;DR; There is no silver bullet. You have to decide how much to invest and when on your own. Averaging down definition: DEFINITION of 'Average Down' The process of buying additional shares in a company at lower prices than you originally purchased. This brings the average price you've paid for all your shares down. B... |
Buying a mortgaged house | Just as a renter doesn't care what the landlord's mortgage is, the buyer of a house shouldn't care what the seller paid, what the current mortgage is, or any other details of the seller's finances. Two identical houses may be worth $400K. One still has a $450K loan, the other is mortgage free. You would qualify for th... |
Is the writer of a call ever required to surrender dividends to the call option buyer? | The dividend goes to he who owns the stock when it goes ex-div. A buyer (the call buyer who exercises) will not exercise unless the stock plus dividend are in the money. Otherwise they'd be buying the stock at a premium. I like the scenario your friend doesn't. If I can find a high dividend stock and sell the call for... |
Shouldn't a Roth IRA accumulate more than 1 cent of interest per month? | Unfortunately for investors, returns for equity-based investments are not linear - you'll see (semi-random) rises and dips as you look at the charted per-share price. Without knowing what the investments are in the target date retirement fund that you've invested in, you could see a wide range of returns (including lo... |
Does doing your “research”/“homework” on stocks make any sense? | TL;DR: Sure, "do your own homework" is sometimes a cop out. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't do our homework. I agree that in many cases this is a cop-out by commentators. However, even if you believe in perfect market efficiency, there is benefit in "doing your homework" for many reasons. One of which you already me... |
Employer reported ESPP ordinary income on wrong year's W-2 | Based on the statement in your question you think it should have been on the 2014 W-2 but it was included on the 2015 W-2. If you are correct, then you are asking them to correct two w-2 forms: the 2014 form and the 2015 form. You will also have to file form 1040-x for 2014 to correct last years tax forms. You will hav... |
Typical return for an IRA? How can I assess if my returns were decent? | Do you want to retire? If so, when? How long do you expect to live? How much per month in today's dollars do you want to have at your disposal when you reach that age? Once you've answered those questions, then you'll be in a better position to say whether you should be disappointed or not. But the fact that you do... |
Why do stock brokers charge fees | Retail brokers and are generally not members of exchanges and would generally not be members of exchanges unless they are directly routing orders to those exchanges. Most retail brokers charging $7 are considered discount brokers and such brokers route order to Market Makers (who are members of the exchanges). All brok... |
What is the difference between equity and assets? | Equity does not represent production divisions in a company (i.e. chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla does not make sense). In Sole proprietorship, equity represents 1 owner. In Partnership, equity has at least two sub-accounts, namely Partner 1 and Partner 2. In Corporations, equity may have Common Stockholders and ... |
Formula for recalculation of a bad loan, i.e. where payments were missed? | There's not quite enough to answer the question in full. For the two years of non-payment, were there any penalties, or just accrued interest? If no penalties, this is a 3 step time-value-of-money calculation. First, take the terms of the loan and figure out the balance after 5 years. Second, for two years, increase t... |
Are Certificates of Deposit worth it compared to investing in the stock market? | If you want to spend all of your money in the next few years, then a CD protects you from the risk of a bear market. however, if your time horizon is longer than 10 years, then the stock market is a better bet, since it is less effected by inflation risk. also, as you point out average stock returns are much higher, ig... |
Stock market transaction cost calculation | An order is your command to the broker to, say, "sell 100 shares of AAPL". An executed order (or partially executed order) is when all (or some) of that command is successfully completed. A transaction is an actual exchange of shares for money, and there may be one or more transactions per executed order. For example,... |
interest rate on online banks | There are no "on-line" banks in Israel. There were various attempts to create something that would look like an online bank (HaYashir HaRishon comes to mind, Mizrahi did something similar recently), but that essentially is a branch of a brick and mortar bank (Leumi and Mizrahi, respectively) that allows you online mana... |
Is there a government-mandated resource that lists the shareholders of a public company? | There are several problems with trying to get this data: |
What happens if a company you hold short merges with another company? | I don't have anything definitive, but in general positions in a company are not affected materially by what is called a corporate action. "Corp Actions" can really be anything that affects the details of a stock. Common examples are a ticker change, or exchange change, IPO (ie a new ticker), doing a split, or merging w... |
What is the contribution limit for a SEP-IRA? | Both are saying essentially the same thing. The Forbes articles says "as much as 20% [...] up to a maximum of $50,000". This means the same as what the IRS page when it says the lesser of a percentage of your income or a total of $53,000. In other words, the $53k is a cap: you can contribute a percentage of your ear... |
What laws/regulations are there regardings gifts in the form of large sums of money? | This depends on the country(ies) involved. US citizen/resident giving gifts is required to pay a gift tax. The recipient of the gift, however, pays nothing. The value of the gift at the time of the gift-giving is used to determine the tax, and an exclusion of $14000 per person per year (as of 2013) is available to allo... |
Is it adventageous to expedite my wedding before the new year for tax savings? | You are correct. If you get married by December 31, you will file as married for this year (Married Filing Jointly or Married Filing Separately) instead of Single. That could indeed save you some amount of taxes, if your situation is as you described. Some people do plan their date of marriage in such a way to optimize... |
What options do I have at 26 years old, with 1.2 million USD? | The amount of money you have should be enough for you to live a safe but somewhat restricted life if you never worked again - but it could set you up for just about any sort of financial goal (short of island buying) if you do just about any amount of work. The basic math for some financial rules of thumb to keep in mi... |
What can my relatives do to minimize their out of pocket expenses on their fathers estate | Sure, it's irresponsible for an executor to take actions which endanger the estate. But what about passivity or inaction? Put it another way. Is it the obligation of the executor to avoid making revenue for the estate? Think about it - what a silly idea! Consider a 12-unit apartment building full of rent paying t... |
Loan to son - how to get it back | Seems fair. I think this is a real subjective thing. Financially lets get rid of that line before interest rates get too high. Maybe have him pay you the $200 he is paying towards the interest each month. |
What intrinsic, non-monetary value does gold have as a commodity? | This site shows a list of (mostly) industrial uses of gold: http://geology.com/minerals/gold/uses-of-gold.shtml If you ignore the first two uses, jewelry and coinage, there remains aerospace, computers, electronics, dentistry and medicine. It's worth noting that gold comes in the same chemical family as both copper an... |
Construction loan for new house replacing existing mortgaged house? | Presumably the existing house has some value. If you demolish the existing house, you are destroying that value. If the value of the new house is significantly more than the value of the old house, like if you're talking about replacing a small, run-down old house worth $50,000 with a big new mansion worth $10,000,000,... |
how does one see the CBOE VIX index on Google Finance? | You can pull up the VIX index on Google Finance by entering INDEXCBOE:VIX |
When an investor makes money on a short, who loses the money? | Michael gave a good answer describing the transaction but I wanted to follow up on your questions about the lender. First, the lender does charge interest on the borrowed securities. The amount of interest can vary based on a number of factors, such as who is borrowing, how much are they borrowing, and what stock are t... |
Does this plan make any sense for early 20s investments? | I'm not following what's the meaning of "open a mutual fund". You don't open a mutual fund, you invest in it. There's a minimum required investment ($2000? Could be, some funds have lower limits, you don't have to go with the Fidelity one necessarily), but in general it has nothing to do with your Roth IRA account. You... |
What is the opposite of a hedge? | There is no opposite of a hedge, except not having a hedge at all. A "hedge" isn't directional. If you are short, you hedge by having something that minimizes your losses if you are wrong. If you are long, you hedge by having something that minimizes your losses if it decreases in value. If you own a house, you hedge b... |
Should I sell when my stocks are growing? | It depends on what your investment goals are. Are you investing for the short-term or the long-term? What was your reason for investing in these stocks in the first place? Timing short-term fluctuations in the market is very difficult, so if that's your goal, I wouldn't count on being able to sell and buy back in at... |
Is it possible to buy stock as a gift for a minor without involving the guardians? | You should talk to a lawyer. One solution I can think of is using a trust. Keep in mind that that may complicate things (non-revocable trusts are taxed on income not distributed, and revocable trust means you effectively keep the owenership of the stock). If you don't mind paying taxes on the dividends and keep the sto... |
Does an index have a currency? | From Wikipedia - To calculate the value of the S&P 500 Index, the sum of the adjusted market capitalization of all 500 stocks is divided by a factor, usually referred to as the Divisor. For example, if the total adjusted market cap of the 500 component stocks is US$13 trillion and the Divisor is set at 8.933 b... |
I have about 20 000 usd. How can invest them to do good in the world? | There isn't going to be one right answer, but LessWrong has some posts on effective altruism you might find helpful. They also link to a TED talk |
Dispute credit card transaction with merchant or credit card company? | It's very straightforward for an honest vendor to refund the charge, and the transaction only costs him a few pennies at most. If you initiate a chargeback, the merchant is immediately charged an irreversible fee of about $20 simply as an administrative fee. He'll also have to refund the charge if it's reversed. To ... |
Bond ETFs vs actual bonds | ETFs are just like any other mutual fund; they hold a mix of assets described by their prospectus. If that mix fits your needs for diversification and the costs of buying/selling/holding are low, it's as worth considering as a traditional fund with the same mix. A bond fund will hold a mixture of bonds. Whether that mi... |
what is the best way of investment which gives returns forever? | What is the best way that I can invest money so that I can always get returns? Would it be to set up an FD in a bank, to buy land, to buy a rental house, to buy a field, or maybe to purchase gold? Forever is a long time. Of the options you listed, the only one guaranteed to generate returns is a bank account. The r... |
Does this sound like a great idea regarding being a landlord and starting a real estate empire? | This can be done, and there have been many good suggestions on things to do and watch out for. But to my shock I don't see anyone offering any words of caution about property managers! Whatever you do, don't assume they have your best interests at heart. Do not assume that "no news is good news" and that if you aren'... |
Why does a stock's price fluctuate so often, even when fresh news isn't available? | It's the buying and selling of the stock that causes the fluctuation in prices, not the news. People buy and sell all the time, and not just for newsworthy reasons. They may have to send a child to college, or fix a roof, etc. Or they may be technical traders looking for signals. All kinds of reasons. |
Finding stocks following performance of certain investor, like BRK.B for Warren Buffet | Remember that unless you participate in the actual fund that these individuals offer to the public, you will not get the same returns they will. If you instead do something like, look at what Warren Buffet's fund bought/sold yesterday (or even 60 minutes ago), and buy/sell it yourself, you will face 2 obstacles to achi... |
Paying restaurants in cash instead of credit card - how signficant is this? | The biggest advantage to small business owners paid in cash is not that it might save the 2 or 3 percent that would go to the credit card company. The biggest advantage is that they have the opportunity to keep the transaction entirely off the books and pocket the cash without paying income tax or sales tax, especiall... |
What does APR mean I'm paying? | Credit Cards typically charge interest on money you borrow from them. They work in one of two ways. Most cards will not charge you any interest if you pay the balance in full each month. You typically have around 25 days (the "grace period") to pay that off. If that's the case, then you will use your credit card wit... |
Frequency of investments to maximise returns (and minimise fees) | Okay, I think I managed to find the precise answer to this problem! It involves solving a non-linear exponential equation, but I also found a good approximate solution using the truncated Taylor series. See below for a spreadsheet you can use. Let's start by defining the growth factors per period, for money in the bank... |
Am I “cheating the system” by opening up a tiny account with a credit union and then immediately applying for a huge loan? | Nope. Credit Unions are for the customers. Since the customers own them, the credit union does what is best for the members. They aren't giving you money, they are loaning it to you for for interest. Furthermore then judged you like any other bank would. High horse moment: I believe the only reason you have to open... |
How to fix Finance::Quote to pull quotes in GnuCash | The Yahoo Finance API is no longer available, so Finance::Quote needs to point at something else. Recent versions of Finance::Quote can use AlphaVantage as a replacement for the Yahoo Finance API, but individual users need to acquire and input an AlphaVantage API key. Pretty decent documentation for how to this is ava... |
Moving Coin Collection to Stapled Coin Pockets | I would be wary of having coins in containers with cardboard. Ideally you want the coins to be in an airtight envelope made of plastic to minimize any chance of oxidation or reaction with chemicals in the air. Cheap, retail coins like you would find in a Whitman collection are not generally going to hold value well. So... |
How do I calculate the actual dividend amount for a monthly dividend payout mutual fund? | So if someone would invest 14000 credits on 1st April 2016, he'd get monthly dividend = ((14000 ÷ 14) × 0.0451) × (1 - 1.42 ÷ 100) = 44.459 credits, right? One would get ((14000 ÷ 14) × 0.0451) = 45.1 is what you would get. The expenses are not to be factored. Generally if a scheme has less expense ratio, the yield is ... |
First time homeowner and getting a mortgage? | Check with you local bank where you have an account. Sometimes they can offer a discount that results in a good rate. I just refinanced a month ago with Bank Of America and their rates were very competitive. What set them aside from the rest was their low closing fees. Otherwise I would shop around on bankrate.com an... |
Advice for a college student interested in investment opportunities. | 2.5 years is a short period in the stock market. That means there is a significant chance it will be lower in 2.5 years, whereas it is very likely to be higher over a longer time period like 5-10 years. So if you want the funds to grow for sure then consider an online savings account, where you might earn 1-2%. If you... |
Find out the difference between two stocks of the same company (how to identify ADRs, etc) | Generally, when I run across this kind of situation, I look for the Investor Relations section of the corporate website for a 'Stock Information' (or similar) tab or link. This usually contains information explaining the different shares classes, how they relate (if at all), voting and/or dividend rights, and taxatio... |
Is 6% too high to trade stocks on margin? | Okay so we are assuming that you can sustain 6% or more return on your investments. Personally I would compare that rate to what lines of credit are going for and do what ever is least expensive. Either way your risk is the same. Your net worth is the same. Your assets will be the same. Your liabilities will be t... |
Should I buy or lease a car given that its not a super luxury car and I only drive 15 miles/d on avg? | If you lease a car, you are paying for the depreciation of a certain number of miles, even if you don't actually use those miles. Since you know you will be well under the standard number of miles when your lease is up, and you already know that you want to keep the car, buying is better than leasing. |
Best way to start investing, for a young person just starting their career? | I started my career over 10 years ago and I work in the financial sector. As a young person from a working class family with no rich uncles, I would prioritize my investments like this: It seems to be pretty popular on here to recommend trading individual stocks, granted you've read a book on it. I would thoroughly rec... |
Buy index mutual fund or build my own? | You better buy an ETF that does the same, because it would be much cheaper than mutual fund (and probably much cheaper than doing it yourself and rebalancing to keep up with the index). Look at DIA for example. Neither buying the same amount of stocks nor buying for the same amount of money would be tracking the DJIE.... |
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