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Apartment Security Deposit refunds in Maryland | In Maryland, a landlord must hold your security deposit in an escrow account and pay you interest when returning the deposit. The interest is simple interest; it does not compound. The interest rate that they must pay has changed over the last 43 years. Before October 1, 2004, the rate was 4%. Until January 1, 2015,... |
Are Index Funds really as good as “experts” claim? | I actually love this question, and have hashed this out with a friend of mine where my premise was that at some volume of money it must be advantageous to simply track the index yourself. There some obvious touch-points: Most people don't have anywhere near the volume of money required for even a $5 commission outweigh... |
Should I be filling out form W-9 for somebody I sold used equipment to? | They are a business. You're not a corporation. They paid you more than $600 during the year, so they're supposed to send 1099 to you and the IRS about it. They need your taxpayer certification (W9) for that. They were supposed to ask for it before they paid you, but yes - they're supposed to ask for it. |
What happens when a company stops trading? (pink sheets) | What will happen if the stock price just continues to decline? Nothing. What would happen if folks just stop trading it? Nothing. What if the company goes private? Then they will have to buy you out based on some agreed upon price, as voted by the board and (potentially) approved by the shareholders. Depending on the ... |
Dry cleaners lost $160 pants, what should I do? | Do you have the claim ticket? I'll assume yes. Do a Google search for "Dry Cleaner Regulations for [state you live in]" and see if there is a regulatory agency because some states have them, although that might just be for environmental concerns. Worth a shot to call one and ask if they handle customer complaints. Othe... |
Home Renovations are expensive.. Should I only pay cash for them? | It depends on your situation. If your floor is broken, fix it. If you don't have $1,000 on hand, spend appropriately. It seems silly to be doing ROI calculations on the potential impact on resale value. It's sillier to blow money frivolously, whether you do so with cash or credit. I'm assuming that if you have a broke... |
Need something more basic than a financial advisor or planner | If you are living near a land-grant university, you might be able to find help from the university's Extension Service. In many land-grant universities (the land grants were given to universities formed for the purpose of improving "agricultural and mechanical arts"), the Extension Services have expanded beyond farm-... |
How do you measure the value of gold? | 1) Get some gold. 2) Walk around, yelling, "Hey, I have some gold, who wants to buy it?" 3) Once you have enough interested parties, hold an auction and see who will give you the most dollars for it. 4) Trade the gold for that many dollars. 5) You have just measured the value of your gold. |
Bid price… sudden Drop | An option gives you the option rather than the obligation to buy (or sell) the underlying so you don't have to exercise you can just let the option expire (so long it doesn't have an automatic expiry). After expiration the option is worthless if it is out of the money but other than that has no hangover. Option prices ... |
Ongoing things to do and read to improve knowledge of finance? | Before you can truly learn, you must unlearn first. I recommend the book "Fooled by Randomness" by Nassim Taleb. |
Getting correlation from regression slope (Completely stumped) | I just used the formula in below link and did some math. I have that book too but haven't looked at it yet really. Lots of maths to have fun with. Let me know if this is correct or needs fixing. Source: http://wiki.fool.com/How_to_Calculate_Beta_From_Volatility_%26_Correlation |
I'm only spending roughly half of what I earn; should I spend more? | Apart from what the other posters have said, you could look at some 'good cause'. I'd keep on saving 50% as spending more won't really make you more happy. You already sound happy. What I used to do, when I could, was to donate 10% of my 'profit' per year. I'd compare year start with year end and do the math. Afterward... |
Do Banks Cause Inflation? What are other possible causes? | There are several causes of inflation. One is called cost push — that is, if the price of e.g. oil goes up sharply (as it did in the 1970s), it creates inflation by making everything cost more. Another is called demand pull: if labor unions bargain for higher wages (as they did in the 1960s), their wage costs push up p... |
If our economy crashes, and cash is worthless, should i buy gold or silver | Neither. Food, fuel, and tools. Books on how to make and use basic tools -- the books published for farmers who want to kluge their own solutions might be helpful. Heck, help defend a library; it will be beyond price as soon as things settle out a bit. Having skills like blacksmithing and knowing how to teach could go ... |
Should I buy a house because Mortgage rates are low | There is a significant tie between housing prices and mortgage rates. As such, don't assume low mortgage rates mean you will be financially better off if you buy now, since housing prices are inversely correlated with mortgage rates. This isn't a huge correlation - it's R-squared is a bit under 20%, at a 1.5-2 year l... |
Are cashiers required to check a credit card for a signature in the U.S.? | So my wife was at work today and got yelled at by both a cop and her managers for simply LOOKING at the card. I don't understand I also work in retail and of course I must see the card to ensure it is a real card, it is a very strict policy that we must have a valid physical card to run any credit/debit transactions. P... |
Is it smarter to buy a small amount of an ETF every 2 or 3 months, instead of monthly? | By not timing the market and being a passive investor, the best time to invest is the moment you have extra money (usually when wages are received). The market trends up. $10 fee on $2000 represents 0.5% transaction cost, which is borderline prohibitive. I would suggest running simulations, but I suspect that 1 month... |
What emergencies could justify a highly liquid emergency fund? | Weather events and aging infrastructure. Cash will buy gasoline, food and water when there is no power or telephone connectivity to process ATMs and credit cards. |
Should I set a stop loss for long term investments? | The emphasis of "stop loss" is "stop", not "loss". Stop and long term are contradictory. After you stop, what are you going to do with your cash? Since it's long term, you still have 5+ years to before you use the money, do you simply park everything in 0.5% savings account? On the other hand, if your investment holds ... |
Why won't my retirement account let me write a “covered put”? | I have a Roth IRA with Scottrade, and they allow me to write cash secured puts, as well as covered calls. I can also purchase calls or puts, if I choose. When I write a cash secured put, it automatically deducts the amount required to purchase the shares at the strike price from my "cash available for transactions". |
Investing Account Options | Immediately move your Roth IRA out of Edward Jones and into a discount broker like Scottrade, Ameritrade, Fidelity, Vanguard, Schwab, or E-Trade. Edward Jones will be charging you a large fraction of your money (probably at least 1% explicitly and maybe another 1% in hidden-ish fees like the 12b-1). Don't give away s... |
Could the loan officer deny me even if I have the money as a first time home buyer? | I've been a mortgage broker for almost 20 years. I get people loans all of the time thru FHA and Conventional (Fannie Mae) with just one year work history; however, as a student, you must submit your school transcripts and your major needs to be in line with your current job. I'm closing a guy next week that has only... |
What are the ins/outs of writing equipment purchases off as business expenses in a home based business? | Keep this rather corny acronym in mind. Business expenses must be CORN: As other posters have already pointed out, certain expenses that are capital items (computers, furniture, etc.) must be depreciated over several years, but you have a certain amount of capital items that you can write off in the current tax year. |
Can saving/investing 15% of your income starting age 25, likely make you a millionaire? | As others have shown, if you assume that you can get 6% and you invest 15% of a reasonable US salary then you can hit 1 million by the time you retire. If you invest in property in a market like the UK (where I come from...) then insane house price inflation will do it for you as well. In 1968 my parents bought a house... |
Is it worth investing in Index Fund, Bond Index Fund and Gold at the same time? | Taking into account that you are in Cyprus, a Euro country, you should not invest in USD as the USA and China are starting a currency war that will benefit the Euro. Meaning, if you buy USD today, they will be worth less in a couple of months. As for the way of investing your money. Look at it like a boat race, startin... |
Deriving the put-call parity | Think of it this way: C + (-P) = forward contract. Work it out from there. Anyways, this stack is meant for professionals, not students, I think. |
Do retailers ever stock goods just to make other goods sell better? | They may stock items that frame the various price points. Of course they risk having the items go stale before they are sold. You also have situations where the store will advertise an item, but end up taking a loss on that sale because it will bring people in, and they will make other purchases. Determining what to st... |
What are the risks with ETFs with relatively low market caps? | Market cap probably isn't as big of an issue as the bid/ask spread and the liquidity, although they tend to be related. The spread is likely to be wider on lesser traded ETF funds we are talking about pennies, likely not an issue unless you are trading in and out frequently. The expense ratios will also tend to be slig... |
When the Reserve Bank determines the interest rates, do they take the house prices into account? | The setting of interest rates (or "repurchase rates") varies from country to country, as well as with the independence of the central bank. There are a number of measurements and indices that central bankers can take into account: This is a limited overview but should give an indication of just how complex tracking inf... |
If a stock doesn't pay dividends, then why is the stock worth anything? | Stock has value to the buyer even if it does not currently pay dividends, since it is part ownership of the company (and the company's assets). The owners (of which you are now a part) hire managers to make a "dividend policy decision." If the company can reinvest the profits into a project that would earn more than t... |
$10,000 to invest in the house - Pay down principal or spruce up to increase appraisal? | There is no guarantee improvements will raise the appraised value. You also don't want your property tax appraisal to go up if you can avoid it. Since you are talking on the order of $10k I'll assume you're only a few thousand dollars more from getting to 20%. That said, any schemes you might come up with like refinan... |
How many days does Bank of America need to clear a bill pay check | I cannot answer the original question, but since there is a good deal of discussion about whether it's credible at all, here's an answer that I got from Bank of America. Note the fine difference between "your account" and "our account", which does not seem to be a typo: The payment method is determined automatically by... |
F-1 Visa expired - Unable to repay private student loan. What to do? | I would contact your loan servicing company explain the situation and see if you can renegotiate terms. They may be able to drop the interest rate or lengthen the schedule to reduce the payment amount. I wouldn't default on the loan as that would likely hinder coming to/working in the US in the future. Not knowing your... |
Can I prove having savings without giving out the account number? | If you're worried about the account number just take a statement and black out the account number with a Sharpie or the like. That is if the account number even appears on it, these days it often doesn't. |
Relation between inflation rates and interest rates | Is it true that due the to the increase in interest rates that inflation is likely to increase as well? It is typically the reverse where inflation causes interest rates to rise. Interest rates fundamentally reflect the desire for people to purchase future goods over present day goods. If I loan money to someone for 5... |
What price can *I* buy IPO shares for? | If you participate in an IPO, you specify how many shares you're willing to buy and the maximum price you're willing to pay. All the investors who are actually sold the shares get them at the same price, and the entity managing the IPO will generally try to sell the shares for the highest price they can get. Whether or... |
How to fund sabbatical to prepare house for sale? | I'll write this up as a more formal answer, here. I'd suggest looking into a Home Equity Line of Credit, or HELOC. You didn't mention in your question how much equity you have in the home, but assuming at least 20%, you might be able to open a HELOC with a line of $40,000. My experience is that you can do 50% of your e... |
How much should a new graduate with new job put towards a car? | As an absolute basic in life you always need 1 month's salary free and clear sitting in the bank. You do not have this. You don't even get to count that. It's what Napoleon would refer to as an "iron reserve": you have to have this. You actually won't even have this for some two or three months. Note that you have a st... |
Finding a good small business CPA? | Look for an accountant who brings not only expertise in number crunching, but consulting and business planning - a full package. |
Opening 5 credit cards at once with no history to ruin, is it a good idea? | Yes, this is definitely possible. You can optimize your credit worthiness within 18 months, you would first start with a secured credit card just to establish a little bit of credit history and then use that as a jumping point 6 months later to do several unsecured credit card applications. As a student, your primary l... |
What's the purpose of having separate checking and savings accounts? | For some people, it's easier to stick to a budget if they have separate checking and savings accounts because they can deposit funds directly into their savings account and not have those funds accessible by debit/credit card, checks, etc. This allows people to pay themselves first and accumulate savings, while making ... |
Credit card interest calculator with grace period & different interest rate calculation methods? | If you want to ensure that you stop paying interest, the best thing to do is to not use the card for a full billing cycle. Calculating credit card interest with precision ahead of time is difficult, as how you use the card both in terms of how much and when is critical. |
Are tax deductions voluntary? | Legally: gods know. I would strongly recommend asking the Law asre of Stack Exchange to advise on that. Practically: What's the worst that happens? They audit, you say "Yeah, I could probably have claimed these deductions but I didn't want to; is that a problem?", they decide and either nothing happens or they issue yo... |
How does one value Facebook stock as a potential investment? | In the long term, a P/E of 15-25 is the more 'normal' range. With a 90 P/E, Facebook has to quadruple its earnings to get to normal. It this possible? Yes. Likely? I don't know. I am not a stock analyst, but I love numbers and try to get to logical conclusions. I've seen data that worldwide advertising is about $400B,... |
Where can I find a company's earnings history for free? | Regulators? SEC, in the US. Its public records for public companies. |
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? If you want something that doesn't require any work on your end, consider having a fee-only financial planner make a plan so that your investments can be automated to generate a cash flow for you or get an annuity as the other classic choi... |
Taking out a loan to pay down a mortgage | You're not crazy, but the banks are. Here's the problem: You're taking 100% LTV on property A - you won't be able to get a second mortgage for more than 80% total (including the current mortgage) LTV. That's actually something I just recently learned from my own experience. If the market is bad, the banks might even lo... |
Understanding how this interpretation of kelly criterion helps the trader | I don't know too much about the kelly criterion, but going by the other answers it sounds like it could be quite risky depending how you use it. I have been taught the first thing you do in trading is protect your existing capital and any profits you have made, and for this reason I prefer and use Position Sizing (PS).... |
When a stock price goes down, does the money just disappears into thin air? | You buy a $100k sport car, but don't buy any insurance. You take a curve too fast and jump out just in time to see your car go off a cliff, like a chase movie. The value went from $100k to zero in seconds. Where did the $100k go? |
Why is it good to borrow money to buy a house? | First, as others have commented, the idea that getting a mortgage to buy a house is always a good idea is false. It depends on a number of factors including the current interest rate, what you think the future interest rate will do over the life of your mortgage, the relative cost of renting vs. buying, and how long y... |
I have made all the payments on a car I cosigned. Do I have to fight for possession of the vehicle? | Ordinarily a cosigner does not appear on the car's title (thus, no ownership at all in the vehicle), but they are guaranteeing payment of the loan if the primary borrower does not make the payment. You have essentially two options: Stop making payments for him. If he does not make them, the car will be repossessed and... |
How late is Roth (rather than pretax) still likely to help? | My simplest approach is to suggest that people go Roth when in the 15% bracket, and use pre-tax to avoid 25%. I outlined that strategy in my article The 15% solution. The monkey wrench that gets thrown in to this is the distortion of the other smooth marginal tax curve caused by the taxation of social security. For th... |
eBay Account and SIM cards sent to my address | In your mother's position, I would do two things: Get a copy of her credit report. Money Advice Service has a useful page on how to do this - it is cheap (£2) or free to do and will immediately tell you if someone else is using her address for anything untoward. Check with the Post Office whether anyone has set up a re... |
What does the -V indicate on MKC ticker | MKC is non-voting stock, MKC/V is voting stock. Ofter times you'll see two or more stock symbols for a company. These usually reflect different classes of stocks. For example, voting vs. non-voting (as in this case) or preferred vs non-preferred stock. |
What are the marks of poor investment advice? | Bad signs: |
Which technical indicators are suitable for medium-term strategies? | Speaking from stock market point of view, superficially, TA is similarly applicable to day trading, short term, medium term and long term. You may use different indicators in FX compared to the stock market, but I would expect they are largely the same types of things - direction indicators, momentum indicators, spread... |
Investing in stocks with gross income (not yet taxed) cash from contract work? | You need to report the income from any work as income, regardless of if you invest it, spend it, or put it in your mattress (ignoring tax advantaged accounts like 401ks). You then also need to report any realized gains or losses from non-tax advantaged accounts, as well as any dividends received. Gains and losses are... |
How do you translate a per year salary into a part-time per hour job? | It's difficult to quantify the intangible benefits, so I would recommend that you begin by quantifying the financials and then determine whether the difference between the pay of the two jobs justifies the value of the intangible benefits to you. Some Explainations You are making $55,000 per year, but your employer is ... |
Why would anyone buy a government bond? | Great question. There are several reasons; I'm going to list the few that I can think of off the top of my head right now. First, even if institutional bank holdings in such a term account are covered by deposit insurance (this, as well as the amount covered, varies geographically), the amount covered is generally triv... |
How do you invest in real estate without using money? | There is (almost) always money involved somewhere, but it doesn't have to come from you. It can be investors, credit cards, or even seller-financing (I've done all 3). Examples: If you can find partners with the money to make the deals happen, then your job is to put the deal together. Find the properties, negotiate ... |
I'm only spending roughly half of what I earn; should I spend more? | I have an idea. Keep saving what you are and think "Early Retirement". Work for 20 years, then do whatever you want 40 hours a week. If your satisfied with your current lifestyle, start thinking of your bigger long term financial goals and when you want to accomplish them by. Maybe you can accomplish these sooner t... |
Ghana scam and direct deposit scam? | The reason this sort of question gets asked over and over again is because it's initially difficult to comprehend how you can possibly be scammed if you have no money in your bank account. Perhaps this would make it easier to understand: Someone approaches you in the parking lot of a mall and says, Excuse me, complete ... |
Does anyone offer no interest loans? | Such loans are of course possible. They exist because the lender gains something other than interest from them: What would happen to the economy if these were common? These are common, common as anything. In fact where it's not banks lending the money, these are the default. So, nothing would happen to the economy, thi... |
Where are the non floated Groupon shares | Many people have criticized the Groupon IPO model because it doesn't make sense as an investment, unless you are an insider with cheap shares. Basically, you have: |
Which practice to keep finances after getting married: joint, or separate? | My wife and I have a different arrangement. I like to track everything down to the transaction level. She doesn't want everything tracked. We have everything joint and I track everything except she has one credit card where I do not see the statements only the total. She is more comfortable, because she can buy thi... |
Which U.S. online discount broker is the best value for money? | I agree, Schwab representatives are easy to reach and very helpful. I also like Vanguard for their low mutual fund fees, so I do my retirement stuff with them, but it took forever to get in touch with a representative just to ask a simple question. Now that they are lowering their rates to 8.95 per trade (effective Jan... |
Why do mutual fund trading limitations exist? e.g. 90 day transfer limits? | Mutual funds (that are not exchange-traded funds) often need to sell some of their securities to get cash when a shareholder redeems some shares. Such transactions incur costs that are paid (proportionally) by all the shareholders in the fund, not just the person requesting redemption, and thus the remaining sharehold... |
Why does Warren Buffett say his fund performance, relatively, is likely to be better in a bear market than in a bull market? | Warren Buffet and Berkshire Hathaway took a 50% loss in each of the last two bear markets. His stock even lost 10% in 2015 when the S&P lost 8%. He doesn't have a track record to support the claim that his stock performs relatively better in a bear market, so perhaps it's best to take his letter with a grain of salt. E... |
What are some good, easy to use personal finance software? [UK] | CashBase has a web app, an iPhone app and an Android app, all sync'ed up. It doesn't integrate with banks automatically, but you can import bank statements as CSV. Disclaimer: I'm CashBase's founder. |
What to do with a distribution as a young person? | I have money to invest. Where should I put it? Anyone who answers with "Give it to me, I'll invest it for you, don't worry." needs to be avoided. If your financial advisor gives you this line or equivalent, fire him/her and find another. Before you think about where you should put your money, learn about investing. Tak... |
How long does it take for a Tangerine no-fee money-transfer email to be delivered? | I phoned Tangerine; they enlightened me. It generally takes 2 hours for the email to arrive. Next, the recipient must open the email, click the link, and enter their bank account number. They'll generally receive the money 2-3 business days after that. This forum post suggests that the delays are due to systemic risk m... |
Take advantage of rock bottom oil prices | I would suggest that oil stocks are going down due to reduced earnings predictions. The market may go too far in selling off oil and oil-related stocks. You may be able to pick up a bargain, but beware that prices may continue to fall in the short to medium term. |
Should I sell my stocks when the stock hits a 52-week high in order to “Buy Low, Sell High”? | You asked for advice, so I'll offer it. Trying to time the market is not a great strategy unless you're sitting in front of a Bloomberg terminal all the time. Another person answering your question suggests the use of index funds; he's likely to be right. Look up "asset allocation." What you want to do is decide that... |
What types of careers consistently make the most money entering with no background or social skills? | It sounds like you're massively under-selling yourself. You presumably have a degree to get into the PhD program, and you now have work experience as well. But you're applying for jobs in fast food restaurants. You may struggle to get a job because they will expect you to only be there a few weeks until you find a "p... |
What are the differences between an investment mortgage and a personal mortgage? | I used to own a few investment properties, so I'm pretty familiar with this. As MrChrister mentions, lenders see investment mortgages as higher risk. People who fall into financial trouble are much more likely to let their investment properties go than their personal residence. Consequently, the interest rates and do... |
Why is a stock dividend considered a dividend? What makes it different from a stock split? | The key difference I've found between a stock split and a stock dividend – of the exact same stock and class, as opposed to a spin-off – seems to be from the company's own accounting perspective. There doesn't appear to be any actual transfer of value to the shareholder with either kind of transaction; i.e. in theory,... |
Dividend vs Growth Stocks for young investors | In financial theory, there is no reason for a difference in investor return to exist between dividend paying and non-dividend paying stocks, except for tax consequences. This is because in theory, a company can either pay dividends to investors [who can reinvest the funds themselves], or reinvest its capital and earn ... |
I'm an American in my mid 20's. Is there something I should be doing to secure myself financially? | Buy this book. It is a short, simple crash course on personal finance, geared at someone in their 20s just starting out their career. You can easily finish it in a weekend. The book is a little dated at this point (pre housing bubble), but it is still valid. I personally feel it is the best intro to personal financ... |
I carelessly invested in a stock on a spike near the peak price. How can I salvage my investment? | The worth of a share of stocks may be defined as the present cash value of all future dividends and liquidations associated therewith. Without a crystal ball, such worth may generally only be determined retrospectively, but even though it's generally not possible to know the precise worth of a stock in time for such i... |
Can the risk of investing in an asset be different for different investors? | The other example I'd offer is the case for diversification. If one buys 10 well chosen stocks, i.e. stocks spread across different industries so their correlation to one another is low, they will have lower risk than each of the 10 folk who own one of those stocks per person. Same stocks, but lower risk when combined. |
Applying for and receiving business credit | I'm afraid the great myth of limited liability companies is that all such vehicles have instant access to credit. Limited liability on a company with few physical assets to underwrite the loan, or with insufficient revenue, will usually mean that the owners (or others) will be asked to stand surety on any credit. Howe... |
Multiple SEO companies claiming I have a past-due invoice | Reading stuff like this makes me want to go into the debt collection business. Just send letters to random people demanding money. Sounds like an easy way to make a living. What's your name and address? Just kidding. If they are sending stuff to a Virginia PO Box, close the box with no forwarding address and consider i... |
Are PINs always needed for paying with card? | Chip and Pin cards are popular in Europe, however in the US we don't have them. Visa/MC and Amex can issue chip and pin cards but no merchants or machines are set up here to take them. Only certain countries in Europe use them and since you could possibly have a US visitor or a non-chip and pin person using your mach... |
Does this sound like a great idea regarding being a landlord and starting a real estate empire? | This is a well worn path and not a bad idea. There are quite a few pitfalls but there are a lot of resources to learn for other people's mistakes. Having a plan and doing your research should help you avoid most of them. Here is some general advice to help get you started on the right foot. Know the market you are i... |
Why are stocks having less institutional investors a “good thing”? | Institutional investors are the "elephant" in the room. When they "sneeze," everyone else "catches cold." They're fine, if they're buying after YOU do. They're not bad, if you want to buy after they sell en masse. But when you read about moves of 10 percent, 15 percent or more in a single day, it's because a bunch of i... |
Why is the stock market closed on the weekend? | The answer is 7-fold: BOTTOM LINES: Bubble; bursting bubble; Great Depression; Victory in WWII; All work and no play makes Jack (& Jill) very dull persons. |
Downside to temporarily lowering interest rates? | This is brilliant for AmEx; they make a cut off of every transaction you do, so even if you pay it off before you ever pay interest, they still may take some. Balance transfers, on the other hand, generally have a transfer fee that locks in a percent, depending on the offer. For your own sake, it can be a good deal if... |
When people say 'Interest rates are at all time low!" … Which interest rate are they actually referring to? | As Sean pointed out they usually mean LIBOR or the FFR (or for other countries the equivalent risk free rate of interest). I will just like to add on to what everyone has said here and will like to explain how various interest rates you mentioned work out when the risk free rate moves: For brevity, let's denote the ris... |
Trouble sticking to a budget when using credit cards for day to day transactions? | As long as you can be trusted with a Credit Card i find that if you have a setup that uses three accounts: 1. your Credit Card, 2. 2. a high interest internet account (most of these accounts don’t have fees), 3. a savings account. The Method that works for me is: 1st i calculate my fixed monthly bills i.e Rent and uti... |
What's the catch with biweekly mortgage payments? | I'll preface this with saying that I'm not a finance or real estate professional, this is just how I understand the situation and what I'm doing: We just got a 30year/FHA mortgage, there's no prepayment penalty, and no fees associated with paying it biweekly. In fact (Wells Fargo), while the payments get withdrawn biw... |
Why don't institutions share stock recommendations like Wall Street analysts? | Institutions may be buying large quantities of the stock and would want the price to go up after they are done buying all that they have to buy. If the price jumps before they finish buying then they may not make as great a deal as they would otherwise. Consider buying tens of thousands of shares of a company and the... |
Are bonds really a recession proof investment? | Without providing direct investment advice, I can tell you that bond most assuredly are not recession-proof. All investments have risk, and each recession will impact asset-classes slightly differently. Before getting started, BONDS are LOANS. You are loaning money. Don't ever think of them as anything but that. Bon... |
Why is day trading considered riskier than long-term trading? | I think, the top three answers by Joe, Anthony and Bigh are giving you all the detail that you need on a technical sense. Although I would like to add a simple picture that underlines, that you can not really compare day trading to long-term trading and that the addictive and psychologic aspect that you mentioned can n... |
Why don't banks give access to all your transaction activity? | Although if you count only your data, it would be quite less 10 MB, multiply this by 1 million customers and you can see how quickly the data grows. Banks do retain data for longer period, as governed by country laws, typically in the range of 7 to 10 years. The online data storage cost is quite high 5 to 10 times mor... |
Should I pay my Education Loan or Put it in the Stock Market? | 2.47% is a really, really good rate, doubly so if it's a fixed rate, and quadruply so if the interest is tax-deductible. That's about as close to "free money" as you're ever going to get. Heck, depending on what inflation does over the next few years, it might even be cheaper than free. So if you have the risk toleranc... |
Debt collector has wrong person and is contacting my employer | Use with moderation. Powerful stuff. Your caller could be an offshore scammer too. Summarizing from http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/debt-validation.shtml: You can dispute the debt, and demand that the collector give you the name and address of the original creditor and show that it isn't past the statute of lim... |
Is it a bad idea to buy a motorcycle with a lien on it? | A lien is a mechanism to impede legal title transfer of a vehicle, real property, or sometimes, expensive business equipment. That's why title companies exist - to make sure there are no liens against something before a buyer hands money to a seller. The lien can be attached to a loan, unpaid labor related to the item... |
What funds were closed during or after the recent recessions? | Yes, many hedge funds (for example) did not survive 2008-2009. But hedge funds were failing both before and after that period, and other hedge funds thrived. Those types of funds are particularly risky because they depend so much on leverage (i.e. on money that isn't actually theirs). More publically-visible funds (l... |
Advice for college student: Should I hire a financial adviser or just invest in index funds? | If you use a financial planner not only should they be a fiduciary but you should just pay them an hourly rate once a year instead of a percentage unless the percentage is cheaper at this time. To find a good one, go to the National Association of Personal Financial Advisers website, NAPFA.org. Another good resource is... |
Previous owner of my home wants to buy it back but the property's value is less than my loan… what to do? | I would not trust Zillow for an appraisal. The numbers I see on there vary a lot from real prices. I'm not sure I'd get a full appraisal either, as that means you "know" the value of the house and may be obliged to reveal it. I'd ask for the loan amount and see what the previous owner says. |
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