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How does the person lending shares to the short selller protect themselves if the short sellers are correct?
It is true, as farnsy noted, that you generally do not know when stock that you're holding has been loaned by your broker to someone for a short sale, that you generally consent to that when you sign up somewhere in the small print, and that the person who borrows has to make repay and dividends. The broker is on the h...
New car price was negotiated as a “cash deal”. Will the price change if I finance instead?
as a used dealer in subprime sales, finance has to be higher than cash because every finance deal has a lender that takes a percentage "discount" on every deal financed. if you notice a dealer is hesitant to give a price before knowing if cash or finance, because every bit of a cash deal's profit will be taken by a fin...
Why is it possible to just take out a ton of credit cards, max them out and default in 7 years?
Well, primarily because that's fraud and fraud prevents a debtor from receiving a discharge in bankruptcy court. Fraud would be pretty easy to prove if you didn't have an income change and you have several lines of credit opened on and around the same day with almost no payments made toward them. Additionally, thanks...
When will the U.K. convert to the Euro as an official currency?
Not anytime soon, I suspect, but not necessarily for financial reasons. I found this interesting, including the link to the five tests, but I think that this topic is only partially judged through financial eyes, there's a lot of political issues around this with national identity/immigration issues already in the spot...
How to mitigate the risk of Euro Stoxx 50 ETF?
You could go with either of: Choosing this you'd pretty much have minimized your risk by using the whole world asa market.
Money Saved on finance charges
Avoiding a cost (interest) isn't quite the same as income. There is no entry, nothing for you to consider for this avoided interest. What you do have is an expense that's no longer there, and you can decide to use that money elsewhere each month.
Retirement Options for Income
I agree that you should CONSIDER a shares based dividend income SIPP, however unless you've done self executed trading before, enough to understand and be comfortable with it and know what you're getting into, I would strongly suggest that as you are now near retirement, you have to appreciate that as well as the usual...
Is the address on 1040 and MD resident 502 my previous address in 2013 or my current address?
No, always give the most current address information to the IRS, not least because they will use this address to send you important communications, such as refund checks or notices of deficiency. Per the 1040 Instructions, you should put in your address, with no mention of past addresses. Moreover, if you will change ...
Why do credit cards require a minimum annual household income?
While you're asking about a particular bank, I'll give my opinion of this in general. I think a $12,000 household income is pretty low to be given credit. The risk to the bank is certainly higher than if the income were at that $35,000 level. They can use this to differentiate what they offer for perks, and if they ev...
Why are interest rates on saving accounts so low in USA and Europe?
The 8% rate offered by Russian banks on US Dollar accounts reflects the financial problems they have. They would prefer to lend US Dollars on the international financial markets at the same rate as US banks, but loans to Russian banks are considered to be more risky. In fact, the estimated "default" risk is ~6%. Your ...
Buy stock in Canadian dollars or US?
From a purely financial standpoint, you should invest using whatever dollars get you the best rate. The general rule of thumb that I've come across is that if you are making another person/company change your money into another nation's currency, they will likely charge a higher exchange rate than you could get yoursel...
Is it better to buy this used car from Craigslist or from a dealership?
The 200K vehicle is likely the better deal. Get your own mechanic to check it out. If it doesn't have major issues, it will likely cost you less. Why? Because you've wisely included $6000 in expected maintenance. Yet it has the possibility of not needing more than $500 of maintenance during the 4 years you plan on ...
Should I buy or lease a car given that its not a super luxury car and I only drive 15 miles/d on avg?
Cars depreciate and lose value the second you drive off the lot. Why lose money? Foreign cars require too much maintenance. What will kill your wallet will be the maintenance on the car, not the payment. Think tires, oil changes, spark plug changes, transmission oil changes, filter changes, brake changes, cost of main...
How is Los Angeles property tax calculated if a 50% owner later buys out the other 50%?
Can't vouch for LA, but property typically is taxed at either the appraised value, the most recent purchase price ("if it wasn't worth that much, you wouldn't have paid that much"), or some combination of the two (usually highest of the two, to prevent "$1 and other goods and services" from lowering the tax to zero). Y...
Why do stock brokers charge fees
They are providing you a service and they charge you for it. The service includes giving you a trading platform(website and the infrastructure), doing all the background work for setting up services for you, relaying your orders to the market or as a broker fulfilling your orders, doing settlement when an order is matc...
Why is retirement planning so commonly recommended?
In addition to the choice that saving for retirement affords - itself a great comfort - the miracle of compounding is so great that even if you chose to work in old age, having set aside sums of money that grow will itself help your future. The are so many versions of the "saving money in your 20s" that equals million...
1.4 million cash. What do I do?
Have you considered investing in real estate? Property is cheap now and you have enough money for several properties. The income from tenants could be very helpful. If you find it's not for you, you can also sell your property and recover your initial investment, assuming house prices go up in the next few years.
Totally new to finance, economy, where should I start?
A couple of good books I enjoyed and found very understandable (regarding the stock market): As for investment information you can get lost for days in Investopedia. Start in the stock section and click around. The tutorials here (free) give a good introduction to different financial topics. Regarding theoretical know...
Want to buy above market price?
Yes, you can do this buy placing a conditional order to buy at market if the price moves to 106 or above. Once the price hits 106 your market order will hit the market and you will purchase the stock at 106 or above. You can also place a tack profit order at 107 linked to your initial conditional buy order, so that onc...
Why don't more people run up their credit cards and skip the country?
Quality of life, success and happiness are three factors that are self define by each individual. Most of the time all three factors go hand by hand with your ability to generate wealth and save. Actually, a recent study showed that there were more happy families with savings than with expensive products (car, jewelry...
Should I Use an Investment Professional?
I am sure there would be many views on the above topic, my take is that DIY takes the following: Now, for many, one or more of the other factors are missing. In this case, it is probably best to go for a financial adviser. There are others who have some of the above in place and are interested but probably cannot spend...
Would I ever need credit card if my debit card is issued by MasterCard/Visa?
The credit card may have advantages in at least two cases: In some instances (at least in the US), a merchant will put a "hold" on a credit card without charging it. This happens a lot at hotels, for example, which use the hold as collateral against damages and incidental charges. On a credit card this temporarily re...
Are investor's preference for dividends justified?
Some investors (pension funds or insurance companies) need to pay out a certain amount of money to their clients. They need cash on a periodical basis, and thus prefer dividend paying stock more.
My investment account is increasingly and significantly underperforming vs. the S&P 500. What should I do?
You say: To clarify, my account is with BlackRock and the fund is titled "MID CAP GROWTH EQUITY-CLASS A" if that helps. Not totally sure what that means. You should understand what you're investing in. The fund you have could be a fine investment, or a lousy one. If you don't know, then I don't know. The fund h...
Is there any evidence that “growth”-style indexes and growth ETFs outperform their respective base indexes?
You are correct that over a short term there is no guarantee that one index will out perform another index. Every index goes through periods of feat and famine. That uis why the advice is to diversify your investments. Every index does have some small amount of management. For the parent index (the S&P 500 in this case...
What are the disadvantages to borrowing money for energy conservation measures / solar panels?
Depending on the details of your solar panel setup, the monthly savings may change depending on changes in the law or utility company policy. This could change how long it will take for the solar panels to "pay for themselves". So your bullet point about the "payback period"/"break even point" is not fixed at the mom...
Are there special exceptions to the rule that (US) capital gains taxes are owed only when the gain materializes?
Normally, you don't pay capital gains tax until you actually realize a capital gain. However, there are some exceptions. The exception that affected Eduardo Saverin is the expatriation tax, or exit tax. If you leave a country and are no longer a tax resident, your former country taxes you on your unrealized capital g...
What options do I have at 26 years old, with 1.2 million USD?
You need to find a fiduciary advisor pronto. Yes, you are getting a large amount of money, but you'll probably have to deal with higher than average health expenses and lower earning potential for years to come. You need to make sure the $1.2 million lasts you, and for that you need professional advice, not something y...
Is there a good rule of thumb for how much I should have set aside as emergency cash?
I think that Dave Ramsey has a good approach to emergency funds. Save $1,000 that is immediately accessible in an emergency, pay off your debts, then build a 3-6 month fund. Two years is great, but takes a really long time to build up.
Tax planning for Indian TDS on international payments
Tax Deducted at source is applicable to Employee / Employer [contract employee] relations ... it was also made applicable for cases where an Indian company pays for software products [like MS Word etc] as the product is not sold, but is licensed and is treated as Royalty [unlike sale of a consumer product, that you hav...
Which kind of investment seems feasible to have more cashflow every week or month?
Over the long run, you can expect to do about as well as the market itself. Depending on what time period you view, the stock market has typically provided returns of approximately 10%. Some years it is up, some years it is down. You may think you can get better returns, but you are mistaken. You may be able to do bett...
How should one structure a portfolio given the possibility that a Total Stock Market Index might decline and not recover for a long time?
Generally, you need something that goes up over time during periods of index decline, but otherwise holds some value. Historically, people tend to use gold for that purpose. But with gold also set up for possible declines, that raises questions. Silver has dropped a bit more than gold in terms of percentages. If yo...
In Canada, are options available to subsidize conversion of a house into an energy efficient house?
There may be more, but a good starting point would be the ecoENERGY Retrofit Grants and Incentives. Natural Resources Canada's ecoENERGY Retrofit program provides financial support to implement energy-saving projects. There are different application processes for homes, commercial and institutional buildings and indus...
What's the point of Ford loosening financing requirements?
Why then did Ford (and the auto industry in general) suddenly decide to court such buyers? Clearly when they felt they had a viable solution to the financing and could open up the market of buyers they were previously ignoring. If more sales are desired, surely the same can be accomplished with simply lowering prices?...
Principal 401(k) managed fund fees, wow. What can I do?
In my opinion, the fee is criminal. There are ETFs available to the public that have expenses as low as .05%. The index fund VIIIX an institution level fund available to large 401(k) plans charges .02%. I'll pay a total of under 1% over the next 50 years, Consider that at retirement, the safe withdrawal rate has been...
Is threatening to close the account a good way to negotiate with the bank?
From the bank's perspective, they are offering a service and within their rights to charge appropriately for that service. Depending on the size of their operation, they may have considerable overhead costs that they need to recoup one way or another to continue operating (profitably, they hope). Traditionally, banks w...
Why use accounting software like Quickbooks instead of Excel spreadsheets?
Here are the few points: Hope that helps,
Is there difference in risk between physical or synthetic replication of an index by an ETF?
First, make sure you understand the objective of an ETF. In some cases, they may use leverage to get a multiple of the index's return that is different than 1. Some may be ultra funds that go for double the return or double the inverse of the return and thus will try to apply the appropriate leverage to achieve that ...
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?
I second (or fifth?) the answers of the other users in that this should have been foreseen and discussed prior to entering the partnership. But to offer a potential solution: If the mortgage company allows you to assume the whole mortgage (big if) you could buy the other partner out. To determine what a fair buyout wo...
Can I invest in gold through Vanguard (Or another instrument that should perform well in financial crisis)?
In 2008, 10 year treasuries were up 20.1%, to gold's 4.96%. Respectfully, if I were certain if a market drop, I'd just short the market, easily done by shorting SPY or other index ETFs. If you wish to buy gold, the easiest and least expensive way is to buy an ETF, GLD to be specific. It trades like a stock, for what t...
Changing Bank Account Number regularly to reduce fraud
Couple of my friends went through a fraud agent who ran off with their money and the landlords were none the wiser. So it always pays to be a bit diligent. Are they a well known letting agents nationally ? Many agents do have different accounts to manage their properties. Yours seems a case as such probably i.e. they ...
Paying myself a dividend from ltd company
Adding to webdevduck's answer: Before you calculate your profits, you can pay money tax-free into a pension fund for the company director (that is you). Then if you pay yourself dividends, if you made lots of profit you don't have to pay it all as dividends. You can take some where the taxes are low, and then pay more ...
Looking for an ROI formula, brain is broken today
The monthly repayments of the initial $ 300,000 loan can be calculated using this formula: source: Finance Formulas The monthly payment is It is not readily apparent how the formula works, but it is derived by induction from this summation, in which the sum of the discounted future payments are set equal to the presen...
How can my friend send $3K to me without using Paypal?
If wire transfer through your bank does not work then perhaps one of the more popular money transfer services may be what you are looking for such as MoneyGram or Western Union. Now these rely on a trusted "registered" third party to do the money transfer so you need to make sure that you are working with a legitimate ...
What does investment bank risk during IPO?
There are two kinds of engagements in an IPO. The traditional kind where the Banks assume the risks of unsold shares. Money coming out of their pockets to hold shares no one wants. That is the main risk. No one buying the stock that the bank is holding. Secondly, there is a "best efforts" engagement. This means that b...
Collecting Dividends while insulating volatility through options?
The strategy is right. As pointed out by you, will the " volatility cause the premium on the price of the options to be too high to make this worthwhile" ... this is subjective and depends on how the markets feels about the volatility and the trend ... ie if the market believes that the stock will go up, the option at ...
How a company can afford to give away so many shares as part of its ESOP
Companies theoretically have an infinite number of equity units at their disposal. Issuance must be approved according to its founding contracts. If an equity is trading on an open market then the price of each unit issued in lieu of cash compensation is known. Even if an equity doesn't trade openly, bidders can be s...
Investing in dividend-yielding stocks with money borrowed from margin account?
My gut is to say that any time there seems to be easy money to be made, the opportunity would fade as everyone jumped on it. Let me ask you - why do you think these stocks are priced to yield 7-9%? The DVY yields 3.41% as of Aug 30,'12. The high yielding stocks you discovered may very well be hidden gems. Or they may ...
Why do stocks tend to trade at high volumes at the end of (or start) the trading day?
Trading at the start of a session is by far higher than at any other time of the day. This is mostly due to markets incorporating news into the prices of stocks. In other words, there are a lot of factors that can affect a stock, 24 hours a day, but the market trades for only 6.5 hours a day. So, a lot of news accumula...
How Long Can It Take For a Check I Write to Clear on My Account?
There's nothing you can do. If he has indeed deposited the check, it would appear on your account fairly quickly - I've never seen it taking more than 2-3 business days. However, a check is a debt instrument, and you cannot close the account until it clears, or until the "unclaimed property" laws of your state kick in....
Is insurance worth it if you can afford to replace the item? If not, when is it?
In general, if you can afford to replace something, you are able to "self-insure". You really want to understand a little of the statistics before you can make a generic call, but my rule of thumb is that insurance via "extended warranty" is rarely a good deal. Here is a simple expected value math formula you can app...
Saving for a down payment on a new house, a few years out. Where do we put our money next?
Rewards cards charge the merchant more to process. So the card is making money when you use it. So if your concern is for the cards going away because they are losing money... That is not going to happen because you use it too much. If their business model has them losing money because they are giving away more rewa...
Is it possible for me to keep my credit card APR at 0% permanently?
Banks are in it to make money. But they're expected to provide a social good which powers our economy: secure money storage (bank accounts) and cashless transactions (credit/debit cards). And the government does not subsidize this. In fact, banks are being squeezed. Prudent customers dislike paying the proper cost of...
How big of a mortgage can I realistically afford?
You're biting off a lot. Let's say you can swing 5% for a down payment: $13k. A 30-year loan on $247k at the rate you quote gives you a payment of $1,270 per month. This does not include taxes, insurance, or private mortgage insurance (which you'll pay because you have a down payment less than 20%). The PMI will run ...
Most common types of financial scams an individual investor should beware of?
Pretty much any financial transaction where they start by calling you on the phone is a scam. They aren't doing it for your benefit and the caller is on commission.
Who buys variable annuities?
An annuity makes sense in a few different scenarios: In general, they are not the best deal around (and are often ripoffs), and will almost certainly be a bad deal if pitched by a tax preparer, insurance salesman, etc. Keep in mind that any "guarantees" offered are guarantees made by an insurance company. The only bac...
How can I tell what is “real” Motley Fool advice?
The Fools have a range of advice from common-sense to speculative, aimed at different audiences (one hopes). As always, don't take anyone's word for it; think it through and decide whether the risk/reward ratio is really in your favor and how much you can afford to risk. They're good on the basics, but the more advance...
In today's low interest environment, is it generally more economical to buy or lease a new car in the US?
The most economical way is to save your money, and buy a 1+ year old used car with cash.
How might trading volume affect future share price?
As said previously, most of the time volume does not affect stock prices, except with penny stocks. These stocks typically have a small volume in the 3 or 4 figure range and because of this they typically experience very sharp rises and drops in stock prices, contrasting normal stocks that go up and down constantly eve...
How to spend more? (AKA, how to avoid being a miser)
@pyb is right - you should put an hourly dollar value on your time. Calculate a realistic number and keep it in the back of your mind. Then when you're looking for a discount or a saving, estimate the maximum amount that you'd be able to save. This should be a realistic proportion of the value of the item. From thos...
Is paying off your mortage a #1 personal finance priority?
Highest priority compared to what? Obviously priorities should be repaying debt in the order of interest percentage. Which means among your debts, the mortgage likely comes last. Trying to get a better mortgage deal however has a huge priority. And if you have a choice between wasting money and paying off the mortgag...
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.
Any advantage to exercising ISO's in company that is not yet public?
Exercising an option early if you can't sell the underlying stock being purchased is generally not advisable. You're basically locking in the worst price you can possibly pay, plus you're losing the time value on your money (which is, admittedly fairly low right now, but still). Let's say you have a strike price of $50...
Consequences of buying/selling a large number of shares for a low volume stock?
If you are the only one who puts in a large market buy order, then it would definitely push the price up. How much up would depend on how many would be willing to sell at what price point. It would also be possible that your trade will not get executed as there are no sellers. The same would be true if you put in a lar...
Is it legal if I'm managing my family's entire wealth?
There are two issues. The first is that you can manage all of your family's money. The second issue arises if you now "own" all of your family's money. As far as entities go, it is best to keep money or assets in as many different hands as possible. Right now, if someone sued you and won, they could take away not only ...
How do day-traders or frequent traders handle their taxes?
You need to track every buy and sell to track your gains, or more likely, losses. Yes, you report each and every transactions. Pages of schedule D.
Why are stocks having less institutional investors a “good thing”?
It's not necessarily bad but it can cause the stock price to become a lot more volatile. Depends on which side of the bet you're on ;) Suppose a hedge fund manager thinks a company is poorly run. He may buy a ton of shares so that he can get rid of the current CEO and replace it with his/her own. For the hedge fund and...
Using multiple bank accounts
I live near historic Concord, Massachusetts, and frequently drive past Walden Pond. I'm reminded of Henry David Thoreau's words, "Simplify, simplify, simplify." In my opinion, fewer is better. 2 checkbooks? I don't see how that makes budgeting any easier. The normal set of expenses are easily kept as one bucket, one a...
United Kingdom: Where to save money for a property deposit
The chancellor announced an ISA in this week's budget intended for people saving to buy their first home. For every £200 put in the government will add £50 to the account so I would strongly encourage you to put the money into that as it is also tax free.
What are some signs that the stock market might crash?
Although it is impossible to predict the next stock market crash, what are some signs or measures that indicate the economy is unstable? These questions are really two sides of the same coin. As such, there's really no way to tell, at least not with any amount of accuracy that would allow you time the market. Instea...
What price can *I* buy IPO shares for?
It depends a large part on your broker's relationship with the issuing bank how early you can participate in the IPO round. But the nature of the stock market means the hotter the stock and the closer to the market (away from the issuing bank) you have to buy the higher the price you'll pay. The stock market is a secon...
Is the interest on money borrowed on margin in/for an RRSP considered tax deductible?
I believe your question is based on a false premise. First, no broker, that I know of, provides an RRSP account that is a margin account. RRSP accounts follow cash settlement rules. If you don't have the cash available, you can't buy a stock. You can't borrow money from your broker within your RRSP. If you want to bo...
Online transaction - Money taken out late
Debit Cards have a certain processing delay, "lag time", before the transaction from the vendor completes with your bank. In the US it's typically 3 business days but I have seen even a 15 day lag from Panera Bread. I guess in the UK, payment processors have similar processing delays. A business is not obliged to run i...
Covered call when stock position is at a loss
It's unclear what you're asking. When I originally read your question, it seemed that you had closed out one options position and opened another. When I read your question the second time, it seemed that you were writing a second option while the first was still open. In the second case, you have one covered and one na...
Brent crude vs. USD market value
I don't think the two are particularly linked. While Brick is right in that the price of oil is denominated in dollars, I don't think that's responsible for most of the movement here. Oil has been weak for intrinsic reasons related to oil: supply/demand imbalance, largely. (Oil also was way over-priced back when it w...
Getting financial advice: Accountant vs. Investment Adviser vs. Internet/self-taught?
I think the OP is getting lost in designations. Sounds to me that what he wants is a 'financial advisor' not an 'investment advisor'. Does he even have investments? Does he want to be told which securities to buy? Or is he wanting advice on overall savings, insurance, tax-shelters, retirement planning, mortgages, ...
Who owns NASDAQ? Does it collect fees from stock transactions?
NASDAQ OMX Group owns NASDAQ, a stock exchange. It is a corporation, and is listed on the NASDAQ as NDAQ. It makes money by: source NASDAQ also charges for market data services, found in the NASDAQ "Datastore". Other information about the fees charged by NYSE and NASDAQ may be found in the Investopedia article The NYSE...
401(k) lump sum distribution limited because of highly compensated employees?
It's legal. In fact, they are required to do this, assuming you are in fact a HCE (highly compensated employee) to avoid getting in trouble with the IRS. I'm guessing they don't provide documentation for the same reason they don't explain to you explicitly what the income thresholds are for social security taxes, etc -...
Where to start with personal finance?
I've recommended this book a few times on this site, and I'm going to do it again. Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties by Beth Kobliner Most of the personal finance advice books and blogs I have found focus too much on investing, or are more about "lifestyle" than finances, and left me...
Negatives to increased credit card spending limit? [duplicate]
There is another drawback, and this is why I keep a low-limit card for online purchases and another for carrying in risky/unfamiliar situations (e.g. travelling) a small limit acts as as damage limitation in the event of theft. In theory you may not be liable if your card is stolen and used. In practice you may be out...
How to transfer money to yourself internationally?
Hmmm... As far as I know wire transfers are still the best option. If you make sure your US account accepts international wires for free (like TD Bank does) you'll have eliminated most of the costs (assuming your foreign bank doesn't charge too much for wiring the funds in the first place). Also, if your able to, you c...
why do I need an emergency fund if I already have investments?
Given that the 6 answers all advocate similar information, let me offer you the alternate scenario - You earn $60K and have an employer offering a 50% match on all deposits. All deposits. (Note, I recently read a Q&A here describing such an offer. If I see it again, I'll link). Let the thought of the above settle in. ...
Understanding the phrase “afford to lose” better
It's a phrase that has no meaning out of context. When I go to Las Vegas (I don't go, but if I did) I would treat what I took as money I plan to lose. When I trade stock options and buy puts or calls, I view it as a calculated risk, with a far greater than zero chance of having the trade show zero in time. A single ...
Covered Call Writing - What affects the price of the options?
There are some excellent responses to this question at the time of this post. I have had the greatest success writing 1-month options. The 2 main reasons are as follows: With little time to expiration as stated in the question the implied volatility of the option is dictating the premium. Looking for the highest premiu...
Lifetime ISA: What are the chances of a reputable Bank offering it?
The Skipton Building Society has recently announced that it is offering a cash LISA. According to the papers it is the first to offer a cash LISA. Skipton is the UK's 4th largest UK Building Society and has been in existence since 1853. There are other providers of LISAs such as Hargreaves Landsdown. Hargreaves Lansdow...
Do I pay a zero % loan before another to clear both loans faster?
At the moment, you are paying about $1,300 interest each month (£431k @ 3.625% / 12) on your mortgage and repaying capital at about $1,500 per month. Paying $11,000 off your mortgage would save you about $9,000 as it is reduces your balance by about seven monthly capital repayments: but you will only see this benefit a...
Why do banks finance shared construction as mortgages instead of financing it directly and selling the apartments in a building?
The core competency of banks is to lend money from depositors and re-lend that money to borrowers. They do not have the expertise to develop real estate. They have trouble evening managing foreclosed real estate, such that they have to sell them at a discount.
Search index futures in Yahoo Finance or Google Finance
Options - yes we can :) Options tickers on Yahoo! Finance will be displayed as per new options symbology announced by OCC. The basic parts of new option symbol are: Root symbol + Expiration Year(yy)+ Expiration Month(mm)+ Expiration Day(dd) + Call/Put Indicator (C or P) + Strike price Ex.: AAPL January 19 2013, P...
How to have a small capital investment in US if I am out of the country?
For $100 you better just hold it in Mexico. The cost of opening an account could eat 10% or more of your capital easily, and that won't be able to buy enough shares of an ETF or similar investment to make it worthwhile.
What considerations are there for making investments on behalf of a friend?
If you want to do #1, then you should form an "investment club." This is an entity that is recognized by the SEC and the IRS. From the SEC: An investment club is a group of people who pool their money to make investments. Usually, investment clubs are organized as partnerships and, after the members study different in...
How do I get into investing?
Don't do it until you have educated yourself enough to know what you are doing. I hope you won't take this personally, but given that you are wandering around asking random strangers on the Internet how to "get into investing," I feel safe in concluding that you are by no means a sophisticated enough investor to be cho...
What part of buying a house would make my net worth go down?
You can look at buying a house as being a long term investment in not paying rent. In the short time there are costs to buying (legal, taxes, etc). This depends on only buying house of the size/location you need e.g. no better then what you would have rented. House buying tent to work out best when there is high in...
I'm 23 and was given $50k. What should I do?
I would be realistic and recognize that however you invest this money, it is unlikely to be a life-changing sum. It is not going to provide an income which significantly affects your monthly budget, nor is it going to grow to some large amount which will allow you to live rent-free or similar. Therefore my advice is qu...
Is it possible for me to keep my credit card APR at 0% permanently?
Banks don't care that you are responsible cardholder. They care to make money. Interest rates are basically 0% by government policy and the banks charge their responsible cardholders 20% interest rates. Think about that for one second, and realize they really do not care about your ability to avoid paying interest, the...
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
Does the rise in ACA premiums affect employer-provided health insurance premiums?
It's likely impossible to determine why premiums are increasing in a meaningful way; not only is the interrelationship between the various data points very complex, but some of the increases are likely due to decisions by people who do not and will not publicly post what they decided and why. However, it is possible to...
Taxing GoFundMe Donations
The $20k limit seems to be (from another answer) the threshold for GoFundMe to report the campaign. However, such a report does not change the taxability of the income. The income is either taxable or non-taxable regardless of whether the amount is $19,999 or $20,001. This is a common misconception, commonly seen when ...
How smart is it to really be 100% debt free?
You might miss an opportunity or three by strictly avoiding debt, but I can't think of a problem you will create by being debt free. So maybe it isn't the absolutely smartest thing to avoid debt on principle*, but it certainly is pretty smart at the very least.
How do I figure out if I will owe taxes
If you want to predict the, the easiest solution is to get hold of a copy of last year's tax forms and fill them in with estimated numbers. Odds are that none of the more complicated deductions will apply to you this first time around, so I'd suggest just using the federal 1040EZ, and your state's equivalent, for this...
Debit cards as bad as credit cards?
Debit cards are the dumbest development ever. I now have a piece of plastic that allows any yahoo to cause me to bounce my mortgage. Great. Throw away the debit card. Use a credit card and exercise some self control. Take out a sufficient amount of cash to cover your weekly incidental expenses under $50. If you want so...