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Does the IRS reprieve those who have to commute for work? | Short answer, yes. But this is not done through the deductions on Schedule A. This can happen if the employer creates a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) for its employees. This can be created for certain approved uses like medical and transportation expenses (a separate account for each category). You can contribute amo... |
How can I find a list of all North American ETF's including symbols? | You can use www.etfdb.com and search on geography. |
Can I deduct “Non-Reimbursable Expenses”? | You can only deduct (with the 2% AGI threshold) expenses that: You've actually incurred. I.e.: you actually paid for equipment or services provided and can show receipts for the payment. At the request of the employer. I.e.: you didn't just decide on your own to buy a new book or take a class, your employer told you to... |
Can a wealthy investor invest in or make a deal with a company before it goes public / IPO? | IPO is "Initial Public Offering". Just so you know. The valuations are done based on the company business model, intellectual property, products, market shares, revenues and profits, assets, and future projections. You know, the usual stuff. Yes, it is. And very frequently done. In fact, I can't think of any company th... |
Website for managing personal cash inflow and outflow, applicable to India? | http://www.mint.com attaches to all your accounts and lists all your transactions. I love it. |
How can I help others plan their finances, without being a “conventional” financial planner? | I am a Certified Financial Planner and provide tactical advice on everything from budgeting to saving for retirement. You do not have to have any series exams or a CFP to do this work, although it helps give you credibility. As long as you DO NOT provide investment advice, you likely do not need to register as an inves... |
Long(100%)-Short(-100%) investment explanation | If you mean the percentages of long/short positions within a mutual fund or ETF, then it's a percentage of the total value of the fund portfolio. In that case, positions of 50% in X, -50% in Y are not the same as 100% in X, -100% in Y. If the long and short positions are both for the same asset, then, as D Stanley ment... |
Why is auto insurance ridiculously overpriced for those who drive few miles? | Insurance rates are about assessing risk. If the insurer has no way to reliably and easily assess usage, they will not reduce the premiums. Many companies are providing tracking devices that connect to the OBD-II port. This not only tracks actual miles driven, but can typically track aggressive driving, time of day, ... |
Refinancing a vehicle, longer term with extra in the kitty, or shorter term and just make scheduled payment? | It really depends on the answers to two questions: 1) How tight is your budget going to be if you have to make that $530 payment every month? Obviously, you'd still be better off than you are now, since that's still $30 cheaper. But, if you're living essentially paycheck to paycheck, then the extra flexibility of the ... |
How does a change in market cap affect a company's operational decisions? | It basically only affects the company's dealings with its own stock, not with operational concerns. If the company were to offer more stock for sale, it would get less cash. If it had a stock buy-back program, it could buy more shares for the same money. If it was to offer to acquire another company in exchange for ... |
What makes a stock get 40 times avg daily volume without any news? | Probably the biggest driver of the increased volumes that day was a change in sentiment towards the healthcare sector as a whole that caused many healthcare companies to experience higher volumes ( https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/2017-07-11/asset-acquisitions-accelerate-in-healthcare-sector-boosting-potential-... |
Computer vendor not honoring warranty. What's the next step? | You're probably best off going to a different store to fix the computer. Right now you don't have "damages." You could sue him but, there's no thing to sue for. If you sue for your original costs, you'd have to return the computer and probably only receive a portion of your original costs, less court filing fees. If ... |
What effect does a company's earnings have on the price of its stock? | Your autograph analogy seems relevant to me. But it is not just speculation. In the long run, investing in stocks is like investing in the economy. In the long run, the economy is expected to grow , hence stock prices are expected to go up. Now in theory: the price of any financial instrument is equal to the net presen... |
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 ... |
What happens to all of the options when they expire? | Firstly "Most option traders don't want to actually buy or sell the underlying stock." THIS IS COMPLETELY UTTERLY FALSE Perhaps the problem is that you are only familiar with the BUY side of options trading. On the sell side of options trading, an options desk engages in DELTA HEDGING. When we sell an option to a clien... |
I'm halfway through a 5-year purchase financing deal on my car. It's expensive. Can I sell it and get a cheaper car? | You say "it's expensive". I'm going to interpret this as "the monthly payments are too high". Basically, you need to get your old loan paid off, presumably by selling the car you have now. This is the tough part. If you sold the car now, how much would you get for it? You can use Kelley Blue Book to figure out what... |
Do I live in a state for tax purposes if my permanent home is in another state? | You're most likely required to file in both for 2013 - since you've lived in both. From 2014 and on you're definitely a NY resident (since you're renting a place there and live there), and you may very well continue being NJ resident (since you're essentially continue being domiciled there). I suggest talking to a EA/C... |
Exercise an out of the money option | For listed options in NYSE,CBOE, is it possible for an option holder to exercise an option even if it is not in the money? Abandonment of in-the-money options or the exercise of out-of-the-money options are referred as contrarian instructions. They are sometimes forbidden, e.g. see CME - Weekly & End-of-Month (EOM) Op... |
Is real (physical) money traded during online trading? | I asked a followup question on the Islam site. The issue with Islam seems to be that exchanging money for other money is 'riba' (roughly speaking usury). There are different opinions, but it seems that in general exchanging money for 'something else' is fine, but exchanging money for other money is forbidden. The physi... |
How can I investigate historical effect of Rebalancing on Return and Standard Deviation? | From Vanguard's Best practices for portfolio rebalancing: |
Are non-residents or foreigners permitted to buy or own shares of UK companies? | Yes, However if you live in the USA a lot of companies will refuse to sent you any report and will not let you take part in “right issues” as they don’t wish to come under USA investment law. |
Where can I invest for the Short Term and protect against Inflation? | Emergency funds, car funds etc tend to have to be accessible quickly (which tends to rule out CDs unless you have the patience to work something like a monthly CD ladder, an I don't) and you'll want your principal protected. The latter pretty much rules out any proper investment (ETFs, mutual funds, stock market direct... |
How to minimise the risk of a reduction in purchase power in case of Brexit for money held in a bank account? | The mathematical answer is for you to have a diversified portfolio in your ISA. But that's easier said than done. |
How to safely earn interest on business profits (UK) | I found some UK personal accounts offer up to 3% interest (no names here, but it is well known bank with red logo). You can take out directors loan from your company, put the cash into that personal account and earn interest. Just don't forget to return this loan before end of financial year, so this interest does not ... |
Do governments support their own bonds when their value goes down? | Without getting to hung-up on terminology here, the management of a company will often attempt to keep stock prices high because of a number of reasons: Ideally companies keep prices up through performance. In some cases, you'll see companies do other things spending cash and/or issuing bonds to continue to pay divide... |
Dad paying for my new home in cash. How can I buy the house from him? | There are quite some options, but without additional information, I can only provide examples. Last year I had the option to buy a house, but I decided against it because in my area it is getting harder and harder every year to sell it at a reasonable price. But if I had bought a house, my mother would have lent me the... |
Does it make any sense to have individual stocks, bonds, preferred shares | Sure, with some general rules of thumb: what is the minimum portfolio balance to avoid paying too much for transaction fees? Well, the fee doesn't change with portfolio balance or order size, so I don't know what you're trying to do here. The way to have less transaction fees is to have less transactions. That means ... |
Do I need a business credit card? | It can certainly help build a credit score, but remember that businesses gain credit differently from individuals. Depending on the country, there isn't usually a national register of business credit ratings the way there is for individuals. The credit record you'd be gaining is with your own bank only. Banks will us... |
Should I switch to this high rate checking account for my emergency fund? | Check out the "rewards checking" accounts listed on this thread at fatwallet finance forums. You could easily get 3.5% - 4% right now if you are willing to do the rewards checking dance. If not, you should look into the 1-2% accounts at the top. I use Alliant CU and their website is nice (and they give you your credit ... |
Debit card for minor (< 8 y.o.) | GreenLight offers a paid service for $5 per month that requires an adult primary account holder, and then unlimited accounts, including minors, as part of that service. I saw no minimum age requirement (see section "Minors as Sub-Account Cardholders"). https://www.greenlightcard.com/index.html Disclaimer: I haven't tri... |
Does FHA goes hand in hand with PMI ? | FHA insured loans must 'go hand in hand' with PMI, because the FHA element is the insurance itself. The FHA isn't actually giving you a loan, that's coming from a lender; instead, the FHA is insuring the loan, at some cost to you - but allowing a loan to folks who may not be able to afford it normally (lower down paym... |
Should I charge my children interest when they borrow money? | Would you expect your parents to charge you interest if you borrowed from them? Yes, if they said so when the money was borrowed. No, if there were no terms communicated when the money was borrowed. Expectations need to be clearly laid out up-front. What is your advice? I think you are asking the wrong question of whe... |
Precious metal trading a couple questions | Limited Price is probably equivalent to the current par value of a "limit order". Markets move fast, and if the commodity is seeing some volatility in the buy and sell prices, if you place an ordinary buy order you may not get the price you were quoted. A "limit order" tells your broker or whomever or whatever is makin... |
Can an unmarried couple buy a home together with only one person on the mortgage? | I did that. What is allowed changes over time, though — leading up to the crisis, lenders would approve at the flimsiest evidence. In particular, my SO had only been in the country a couple years and was at a sweet spot where lack of history was no longer counting against her. Running the numbers, the mortgage was a f... |
Why do sole proprietors in India generally use a current account? | Current account offers a lot of benefits for sole proprietors. Think of it like bank account for a company. The bank provides a host of facilities for the company. A sole proprietor does not have enough value as that of a company for a bank but needs similar services. Thus Indian banks offer a toned down version of the... |
I've tracked my spending and have created a budget, now what do I do with it? | I'm reminded of a conversation I had regarding food. I used the word 'diet' and got pushback, as I meant it in sense of 'what one eats'. That's what a diet is, what you eat in an average week, month, year. That list has no hidden agenda unless you want it to. If your finances are in good shape, debt under control, savi... |
Recommended finance & economy book/blog for a Software Engineer? | Another good economic comment blog is Naked Capitalism. |
Ask for credit decrease | $500 should not have a massive impact on your credit. Why not at the beginning of each month buy a $500 prepaid Visa instead of using your credit card? That way you set a hard limit, but you still have the option of using credit in an emergency. |
Theoretically, if I bought more than 50% of a company's stocks, will I own the company? | You guys seem to have forgotten the most important part of this equation ... i work for a bank and I can tell u this as a painful fact ... every business is governed by its paperwork ... articles bylaws operating agreements amendments and minutes .. if a companys paperwork says that the 51% owner can fire everyone and ... |
I own a mutual fund that owns voting shares, who gets the vote? | You will not get a vote on any issues of the underlying stock. The mutual fund owner/manager will do the voting. In 2004, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) required that fund companies disclose proxy votes, voting guidelines and conflicts of interest in the voting process. All funds must make these d... |
First home buyer, financing questions | When you say "apartment" I take it you mean "condo", as you're talking about buying. Right or no? A condo is generally cheaper to buy than a house of equal size and coondition, but they you have to pay condo fees forever. So you're paying less up front but you have an ongoing expense. With a condo, the condo associatio... |
If I have some old gold jewellery, is it worth it to sell it for its melt value? | Avoid gold brokers who do business through the mail. Video Full Article |
What is the cost of “free” trades? | In the case of Wells Fargo, I believe that free trading is linked to your overall banking relationship with the firm. So if you have a checking account with a balance of $X, or a total relationship with the bank ("relationship" is usually defined as loan balances + deposit balances) over a certain amount, they give yo... |
ESPP (Employee Stock Purchase Plan) Funds on Mortgage Loan Application | The problem is that you don't have the money now; so they can't know with 100% certainty that you will have it on settlement day. What happens if you don't file the paperwork in time? or you change your mind because you think the company stock is going to go through the roof next quarter? They would have to pull the f... |
Should I sell my stocks when the stock hits a 52-week high in order to “Buy Low, Sell High”? | I primarily intend to add on to WBT's answer, which is good. It has been shown that "momentum" is a very real, tangible factor in stock returns. Stocks that have done well tend to keep doing well; stocks that are doing poorly tend to keep doing poorly. For a long-term value investor, of course fundamental valuation sho... |
Free/open source Unix software that pulls info from all my banks/brokers/credit cards? | Gnucash uses aqbanking, so I'd suggest looking at aqbanking to see if it will do what you want. It seems to be actively developed (as of 26.2.2011), but the main page is in German and my German is a bit rusty... You might also try asking on the gnucash-users list. |
Why use accounting software like Quickbooks instead of Excel spreadsheets? | I think your reasons are good. Fundamentally accounting software is built to ensure you record your accounting data effectively with minimal mistakes and good auditing. But you still need to use the tool properly to get the benefit. One other advantage is that many accountants are familiar with, say QuickBooks, and can... |
How much percent of my salary should I use to invest in company stock? | One such strategy I have heard for those who have this opportunity is to purchase the maximum allowed. When the window to sell opens, sell all of your shares and repurchase the most you can with the amount you gained (or keep an equivalent to avoid another transaction fee). This allows you to buy at a discount, and spr... |
Why are there so many stock exchanges in the world? | Stock exchanges have been undergoing a period of consolidation for the past hundred years for the exact reasons you mentioned. The existence of digital trading, harmonized laws and regulations, and fewer relevant currencies have made it more practical for mergers and acquisitions between exchanges. Stock exchanges are ... |
Can one get a house mortgage without buying a house? | First, many banks do not keep the loan. Even if they send you a payment notice and process the monthly payment, there's still a good chance the loan itself was packed up and sold to investors. Collateralizing mortgages, in and of itself, is not inherently dangerous. But the loan definitely needs a house behind it. If y... |
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? | Let's look at the logical extreme. Two people get a house, no money down, 10 year mortgage. One moves out the day after the closing, and the gal left pays the full mortgage. Why in the world would the one who left be entitled to a dime? You offer no information about the downpayment or amount paid during the time both... |
Does reading financial statements (quarterly or annual reports) really help investing? | Wow, I cannot believe this is a question. Of course reading the 10Ks and 10Qs from the SEC are incredibly beneficial. Especially if you are a follower of the investing gurus such as Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch, Shelby Davis. Personally I only read the 10K's I copy the pertinent numbers over to my spreadsheets so I ... |
What is a “margin-call” and how are they enforced? | If you don't have a margin account, then you will not have margin calls. You need a margin account if you wish to "buy on margin", to sell stocks "short", or to sell options, or maybe some other esoteric things I have not thought of. If you don't do those things, then you do not need a margin account and will not get ... |
For very high-net worth individuals, does it make sense to not have insurance? | While a lot of the answers focus on cost to replace and how much money you should have for tangible goods. There are a few more issues to consider. However before we get started, these issues are not related to ones net worth. They are related to other factors. Having money certainly helps, but someone worth only $10 ... |
Money market account for emergency savings | So long as you have complete, virtually instant access to funds through checks, debit card, or ATM transaction, then yes it would be a better option than a "vanilla" savings account. If it's in a brokerage account that you would need to process a transfer and potentially wait a few days for everything to settle, then... |
Why is tax loss harvesting helpful for passive investing? | I wrote a detailed article on Tax Loss Harvesting to show the impact on returns. For my example, I showed a person in the 15% bracket. In years with no loss, they trade to capture gains at 0% long term rate, thus bumping their basis up. In years with losses, they tax harvest for a 15% effective 'rebate' on that loss. ... |
Back of Check Images are Blank and not Endorsed | In general, a lack of endorsement (meaning nothing written by the receiver on the back of the check) is equivalent to it being endorsed "as deposit only" to a bank that the depositor has an account with. (See Uniform Commercial Code §4-205.) That is, the bank that receives a deposit without any endorsement promises to ... |
Why adjust for inflation annually, as opposed to realising it after the holding period? | I would use neither method. Taking a short example first, with just three compounding periods, with interest rate 10%. The start value y0 is 1. So after three years the value is 1.331, the same as y0 (1 + 0.1)^3. Depreciating (like inflation) by 10% (to demonstrate) gets us back to y0 = 1 Appreciating and depreciatin... |
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: |
What is the cause of sudden price spikes in the FOREX market? | Forex is really not that volatile compared to other major asset classes like stocks and commodities. But still markets are generally unencumbered in the major pairs and therefore spikes in volatility can happen. Take what happened with the Swiss Franc a few years ago for example, or GBPUSD recently with news of Brexit.... |
Is there a general guideline for what percentage of a portfolio should be in gold? | The "conventional wisdom" is that you should have about 5% of your portfolio in gold. But that's an AVERAGE. Meaning that you might want to have 10% at some times (like now) and 0% in the 1980s. Right now, the price of gold has been rising, because of fears of "easing" Fed monetary policy (for the past decade), culmina... |
Buy index mutual fund or build my own? | If you are a "small" investor (namely, not an accredited investor), then the transaction costs (commissions) for purchasing the stocks while attempting to duplicate DJIA will defeat any benefit. My personal preference is to purchase mutual funds rather than ETFs. |
Where can I borrow money for investing? | Borrowing to invest is almost always a bad idea. You'd have to take out an unsecured loan, which has a higher interest rate, or a secured loan and put at risk whatever you are securing the loan with. You need some means to make payments on the loan, or if interest is being added to the balance then take the compoundin... |
Dividends and tax withholding for ETF vs Mutual Fund for U.S. Non-Resident Alien? | Does my prior answer here to a slightly different question help at all? Are there capital gains taxes or dividend taxes if I invest in the U.S. stock market from outside of the country? |
Is a “total stock market” index fund diverse enough alone? | Good idea to stay only with VTI if you are 30. For 50, I recommend: 65% VTI 15% VOO 10% VXUS 10% BND |
Interest on Amount Exceeding CC Balance? | In the US, if your monthly statement was issued by the credit card company on January 1 and it showed a balance of $1000, then a payment must be made towards that balance by January 25 or so, not February 1 as you say, to keep the card in good standing. The minimum payment required to keep the card in good standing is ... |
Do Americans really use checks that often? | People who rent an apartment will typically pay by check. Probably 90% of the checks I have written are for rent. To some extent this falls under the previously mentioned "payments to another person" rule. |
Are there any rules against penalizing consumers for requesting accurate credit reporting? | To answer the heart of your question, it would be illegal for any credit bureau or creditor to somehow "penalize" you just for trying to make sure that what's being reported about you is accurate. That's why the Fair Credit Reporting Act exists -- that's where the rights (and mechanisms) come from for letting you lear... |
Gift card fraud: To whom to report? How to recover funds? Is the party which issued me the card liable? | Citibank just sent me a $100 check. Here's how I got it: |
My university has tranfered me money by mistake, and wants me to transfer it back | You have received some good answers, but since your concern is proper protocol, keep everything in writing (emails, not phone calls). Also, you'll get a quick response by contacting the University "Accounts Payable" department, confirm the situation with a summary as you posted here and ask for the ABA routing number ... |
Income in zero-interest environment | anything that produces steady income will produce a "real return" (return above inflation) in a zero-interest rate environment: Note, however, that all of these will decline in value if interest rates rise. |
Why charge gross receipts taxes to the customer? | I'll address one part of your question: There are other taxes that companies pay as well, such as income tax, but don't charge to the customer as a fee. So, why are gross receipts taxes charged to the customer? Things like income tax can't be passed on to the consumer in a direct way, because there's no fixed relations... |
First time home buyer. How to negotiate price? | Often, if your realtor and the selling realtor know each other, your realtor will "discover" what price the seller really wants. (Don't worry about how this is done. There will be no evidence it occurred!) Your realtor will then drop hints that you should aim for that price to ensure the deal goes smoothly. That sounds... |
Is it safer to send credit card number via unsecured website form or by e-mail? What safer options are there? | Most people cannot use pgp/gpg and setting it up would, in order to do that correctly, require voice fingerprint verification. Don't. Just write a word doc and either encrypt it when saving using the "save as" function or encrypt it using zip and email that to them. Then call them and tell them the password. Done. |
Who is the issuer in a derivative contract? | While the issuer of the security such as a stock or bond not the short is responsible for the credit risk, the issuer and the short of a derivative is one. In all cases, it is more than likely that a trader is owed securities by an agent such as a broker or exchange or clearinghouse. Legally, only the Options Clearing ... |
Does girlfriend have too much savings, time to invest? | Congrats to your GF! "How much" depends a lot on how stable her income tends to be. If she has stable salary @ $20K plus $5K-$15K in contract work, then having a larger EF is important. If she has a consistent track record of pulling in $35K each year with contract work, then she may still need a somewhat higher emerg... |
Covered Call Writing - What affects the price of the options? | All else being equal, you should look for more volatile (riskier) stocks. Technically, it was all time value - the entire value of an "out of the money" option is time value. What's confusing is that time value is affected by numerous variables, only one of which is time. The reason volatility is the one to look at i... |
Dalbar: How can the average investor lose money? | How is it possible for the average investor to underperform the market? The "average" investor probably makes some bad decisions. You also might need to take transaction costs into play (including borrowing on margin), so that there's a natural "erosion" of returns across the market. Meaning if transaction/borrowing c... |
Income tax on my online drop-shipping business (India) | I find that there are two violation of law , prima facie , if someone earns money by depositing in the online account and then not reporting it ( including in his total income for the year ) and not bringing in India. Income Tax Act violation 1. It is simply comcealment liable for penalty & prosecution under I.T.Act. 2... |
Are Index Funds really as good as “experts” claim? | Here is my simplified take: In any given market portfolio the market index will return the average return on investment for the given market. An actively managed product may outperform the market (great!), achieve average market performance (ok - but then it is more expensive than the index product) or be worse than th... |
Minor stakes bought at a premium & valuation for target company | Imagine that I own 10% of a company, and yesterday my portion was valued at $1 Million, therefore the company is valued at $10 Million. Today the company accepts an offer to sell 1% of the company for $500 Thousand: now my portion is worth $5 Million, and company is worth $50 Million. The latest stock price sets the v... |
Do dividend quotes for U.S. stocks include witheld taxes? | No. As a rule, the dividends you see in the distribution table are what you'll receive before paying any taxes. Tax rates differ between qualified and unqualified/ordinary dividends, so the distribution can't include taxes because tax rates may differ between investors. In my case I hold it in an Israeli account but th... |
Where Can The Fully Diluted Outstanding Shares Of A Company Be Found? | You can calculate the fully diluted shares by comparing EPS vs diluted (adjusted) EPS as reported in 10K. I don't believe they report the number directly, but it is a trivial math exercise to reach it. The do report outstanding common stock (basis for EPS). |
How much can I withdraw from Betterment and be considered long-term investment? | This question and your other one indicate you're a bit unclear on how capital gains taxes work, so here's the deal: you buy an asset (like shares of stock or a mutual fund). You later sell it for more than you bought it for. You pay taxes on your profit: the difference between what you sold it for and what you bought... |
How much money do I need to have saved up for retirement? | Invest in kids, not pension - they never inflate. Without kids your retirement will be miserable anyway. And with them you'll be good. Personally, I do not believe that that our current savings will be worth it in 30 years in these times. |
Company stock listed in multiple exchanges? | listed simultaneously in New York, London, and maybe even some Asian markets - is this correct? If the exchanges are not connected, then in primary market the shares are listed. On other exchanges, the "Depository Receipts" are listed. i.e. the Company will keep say 100,000 shares with the primary stock exchange / depo... |
Would you withdraw your money from your bank if you thought it was going under? | There's obviously a lot of discussion surrounding your question, but if I thought a bank was going under, then yes, absolutely I would withdraw my money. Now, we can debate whether me thinking the bank was going under was foolish or not, but if I truly believed it, I can't see why I would sit around and do nothing. |
Got charged ridiculous amount for doctor's walk in visit. What are my options? | Some doctors will give folks who are not covered by insurance a price break. If that describes you, you could ask. But if you didn't discuss the price in advance, that isn't the doctor's fault, any more than it would be the mechanic's fault if you asked for auto service without getting an estimate first. Consider it a ... |
Is being a landlord a good idea? Is there a lot of risk? | Risk is the capital you have staked in pursuit of profit. The danger is that you lose what you have risked. For some bets (risks), you can get insurance to cover for losses. Now the "game" of Landlord and Tenant requires you to play fully by the rules set forth by your legislators. In your case, that is the legislato... |
How risky is it to keep my emergency fund in stocks? | A major danger of keeping "emergency" funds in the form of stocks is that many of the scenarios where one would need quick access to the money will also momentarily depress the stock market. Someone whose emergency funds were in some other form could avoid selling stocks during a momentary downturn, but someone who ha... |
What one bit of financial advice do you wish you could've given yourself five years ago? | I was offered a student credit card and refused it. If I'd taken it and used it sparingly, paying off the balance on time in full every month, I'd have built up a better credit rating in the time period. |
Can you beat the market by investing in double long ETFs? [duplicate] | See http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2011/04/30/why-the-sec-should-look-at-levered-etfs/?dlvrit=60132, http://symmetricinfo.org/2011/04/are-investors-in-levered-short-treasury-etfs-a-disaster-waiting-to-happen-pt1/, and the articles linked from it: The issue with holding a levered ETF past 1 day is that investors ... |
Can I resubmit W8-BEN with W9 form? | Since you're a US citizen, submitting W8-BEN was wrong. If you read the form carefully, when you signed it you certified that you are not a US citizen, which is a lie and you knew it. W9 and W8 are mutually exclusive. You're either a US person for tax purposes or you're not, you cannot be both. As a US citizen - you ar... |
What do brokerage firms do? | You can get direct market access (DMA) but you have to pay for data, as this is part of the exchanges data plan, and there are plenty of other fees that are passed straight down to you. Your clearing firm also has fees that are passed on to you. In general you are looking at $150 a month on the low side, in data and so... |
Can't the account information on my checks be easily used for fraud? | Yes, those numbers are all that is needed to withdraw funds, or at least set online payment of bills which you don't owe. Donald Knuth also faced this problem, leading him to cease sending checks as payment for finding errors in his writings. |
How do I determine if sale proceeds from an asset are taxable? | Profit = Sale price - Basis Basis = Purchase price - any depreciation taken, including expensing it. |
No transaction fee ETF trades - what's the catch? | what is the mechanism by which they make money on the funds that I have in my account? Risk drives TD Ameritrade to look for profits, Turukawa's storytelling about 100,000$ and 500$ is trivial. The risk consists of credit risk, asset-liability risk and profit risk. The third, based on Pareto Principle, explains the... |
Why do people buy stocks at higher price in merger? | Microsoft wants to buy a majority in the stock. To accomplish that, they have to offer a good price, so the current share owners are willing to sell. Just because the CEO of LinkedIN agreed to the deal doesn't really mean much, only that he is willing to sell his shares at that price. If he does not own 50%, he basical... |
When should I open a “Line of credit” at my bank? | I have a line of credit that I have attached to my checking account in case of an overdraft. Since I haven't over drafted my checking account in 4 years, I typically borrow the minimum $5 from the line of credit and then pay it back the next day. This usually costs me a couple of cents and I have to do it twice a y... |
What emergencies could justify a highly liquid emergency fund? | First of all, a person that relies on their ability to tap a line of credit to cover an emergency isn't generally the kind of person that has investments they can cash out to cover the debt. That being said, my personal reasons for having a liquid emergency fund revolve around bank errors and identify theft. I used to ... |
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