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why would someone buy or sell just a few shares in stocks
Simple, there is no magic price adjustment after sales - why do you expect the stock price to change? The listed price of a stock is what someone was willing to pay for it in the last deal that was concluded. If any amount of stock changes ownership, this might have the effect that other people are willing to buy it fo...
Why pay estimated taxes?
Same argument and answer for investing instead of paying off debt, or borrowing to invest. Risk. What happens if the stocks drop by 10%? Sure, you might come out ahead on average, but a drop in the market could be catastrophic from a cash flow point of view. In addition, federal tax debt is arguably the worst kind. Th...
Is it normal to think of money in different “contexts”?
Well, this relates to how you interpret something's value. We can use that magazine and restaurant as an example. For you the extra $10-$30 more on a decent meal or wine is worth it while $5 for a magazine entertainment on a train ride might not be. This is how all markets work, people make decisions about how they val...
Can I withdraw unsettled funds?
Yes, via a margin account, one can trade or transfer on unsettled funds. These are tight regulations that begin with the Federal Reserve, extend to FINRA, and downward. In a cash account, this is not possible. Since speed is a necessity, a margin account can actually be approved nearly instantly.
Tracking my spending, and incoming and outgoing (i.e cashflow)
Honing in on your last question: Is there a better way? I think there is, but it would require you to change the way you handle your spending, and that may not be of interest to you. Right now you have a lot of manual work, keeping track of expenditures and then entering the, every day. The great thing about switchin...
When the market crashes, should I sell bonds and buy equities for the inevitable recovery?
The problem with the proposed plan is the word "inevitable". There is no such thing as a recovery that is guaranteed (though we may wish it to be so), and even if there was there is no telling how long it will take for a recovery to occur to a sufficient degree. There are also no foolproof ways to determine when you ha...
Can two companies own stock in each other?
Yes, this happens a lot. And in many cases companies don't even know this is happening. Collateralized Debt Obligations frequently contain pieces of the same financial products, where it is not obvious what the underlying asset is. It gets complicated to explain, but I can make an analogy to a portfolio of stocks you m...
How to calculate lump sum required to generate desired monthly income?
The product you seek is called a fixed immediate annuity. You also want to be clear it's inflation adjusted. In the US, the standard fixed annuity for a 40year old male (this is the lowest age I find on the site I use) has a 4.6% return. $6000/ yr means one would pay about $130,000 for this. The cost to include the in...
Does an option trading below parity always indicate an arbitrage opportunity?
Probably but not necessarily. Your question could also be posed regarding cash & carry for commodities in contango: If I can take delivery on the gold now, short the gold next year and make delivery then, paying the storage fees, is this an arbitrage opportunity? It is in the sense that you know your delivery and the ...
Is IRS Form 8938 asking me to double-count foreign assets?
Yes, you effectively need to "double count" when shifting balances between foreign accounts.
Can saving/investing 15% of your income starting age 25, likely make you a millionaire?
It depends on how much you save, how much your savings earns each year. You can model it with a very simple spreadsheet: Formula view: You can change this simple model with any other assumptions you wish to make and model. This spreadsheet presumes that you only make $50,000/year, never get a raise, that your saving...
Scam or Real: A woman from Facebook apparently needs my bank account to send money
This is a scam, I'm adding this answer because I was scammed in this fashion. The scammer sent me a check with which I was to deposit. When the money showed up in my account, I would withdraw the scammer's share, and wire the cash to its destination. However, it takes a couple days for a check to clear. Banks, howeve...
What can I replace Microsoft Money with, now that MS has abandoned it?
Uh, Quicken is virtually identical to MS Money. If you liked money and don't want to change, use that.
Tax implications of diversification
(All for US.) Yes you (will) have a realized long-term capital gain, which is taxable. Long-term gains (including those distributed by a mutual fund or other RIC, and also 'qualified' dividends, both not relevant here) are taxed at lower rates than 'ordinary' income but are still bracketed almost (not quite) like ordin...
Shouldn't a Roth IRA accumulate more than 1 cent of interest per month?
Terminology aside. Your gains for this year in a mutual fund do seem low. These are things that can be quickly, and precisely answered through a conversation with your broker. You can request info on the performance of the fund you are invested in from the broker. They are required to disclose this information to yo...
What does “points” mean in such contexts (stock exchange, I believe)?
Points are the units of measurement of the index. They're calculated based on the index formula, which in turn based on the prices of the underlying stocks. Movement in points is not really interesting, the movement as a percentage of the base price (daily opening, usually) is more interesting since it gives more conte...
Can I open a bank account in the US remotely? Will I pay taxes for the money on it?
Answering for US tax only: The bank account makes absolutely zero difference. If you are not a US national and not resident in the US, but earn income from a US employer/client/customer, generally that income is not subject to US tax (no matter where it is banked). However there are (complicated) exceptions, particula...
Is investing into real estate a good move for a risk-averse person at the moment
I'll add this to what the other answers said: if you are a renter now, and the real estate you want to buy is a house to live in, then it may be worth it - in a currency devaluation, rent may increase faster than your income. If you pay cash for the home, you also have the added benefit of considerably reducing your m...
How and where can I deposit money to generate future payments / income?
If you're in the USA and looking to retire in 10 years, pay your Social Security taxes? :P Just kidding. Do a search for Fixed Rate Annuities.
Is 6% too high to trade stocks on margin?
Okay so we are assuming that you can sustain 6% or more return on your investments. Personally I would compare that rate to what lines of credit are going for and do what ever is least expensive. Either way your risk is the same. Your net worth is the same. Your assets will be the same. Your liabilities will be t...
(Almost) no credit unions in New York City, why?
There are 2 credit unions in the Metro NY area that are open to everyone: You might also want to check out aSmarterChoice.org to see if there are other credit union options based on where you live, work, worship & more.
Ongoing things to do and read to improve knowledge of finance?
I've found Pragmatic Capitalism very helpful.
Why is Google's current nasdaq market cap almost twice the current share price * the No. of shares outstanding?
http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/economix/2014/04/02/the-many-classes-of-google-stock/ Are you counting both class A and other share classes?
Can a company donate to a non-profit to pay for services arranged for before hand?
People put conditions on donations all the time. They donate to the Red Cross for a specific disaster. The donate money to a church for the building fund. They donate money to a hospital to buy a new x-ray machine. They donate money to the scouts for a new dining hall. It is possible to donate money to a non-profit fo...
Rollover into bond fund to do dollar cost averaging [duplicate]
Many would recommend lump sum investing because of the interest gains, and general upward historical trend of the market. After introducing DCA in A Random Walk Down Wall Street, Malkiel says the following: But remember, because there is a long-term uptrend in common-stock prices, this technique is not necessarily app...
How is stock price determined?
You can interpret prices in any way you wish, but the commonly quoted "price" is the last price traded. If your broker routes those orders, unlikely because they will be considered "unfair" and will probably be busted by the exchange, the only way to drive the price to the heights & lows in your example is to have an o...
How do cashier's checks work and why are they good for scams?
Ok, few things to understand first: Secondly, think about the way a scam usually flows. A person (scammer) with an actual bank account with money issues a valid cashiers check, trick someone else (victim) into receiving it (typically in exchange for a percent) and passing along a portion to another account (back to the...
Legal documents required for managing an investment portfolio among friends?
You have to register with the SEC as an Investment Company. The SEC has a "Investment Company Regulation and Registration Package", available here: http://www.sec.gov/divisions/investment/invcoreg121504.htm I found that off their overall page for funds and advisors: http://www.sec.gov/divisions/investment.shtml Final...
Probablity of touching In the money vs expiring in the money for an american option
Conceptually, yes, you need to worry about it. As a practical matter, it's less likely to be exercised until expiry or shortly prior. The way to think about paying a European option is: [Odds of paying out] = [odds that strike is in the money at expiry] Whereas the American option can be thought of as: [Odds of paying...
Long-term capital gain taxes on ETFs?
Generally speaking, each year, mutual funds distribute to their shareholders the dividends that are earned by the stocks that they hold and also the net capital gains that they make when they sell stocks that they hold. If they did not do so, the money would be income to the fund and the fund would have to pay taxes on...
What's the average rate of return for some of the most mainstream index funds?
This page from simplestockinvesting.com gives details of total returns for the S&P500 for each decade over the last 60 years, including total returns for the entire 60 year period. It is important to understand that, from an investors point of view, the total return includes both the change in index value (capital gain...
What is the difference between trading and non-trading stock?
A non-trading stock or non-marketable security or unlisted security is one that does not trade continually on an exchange. For tax purposes, this can mean a whole new ball of wax which I would prefer the experts address with an edit to this answer or a new answer. For financial accounting purposes, this is when, say, o...
Helping girlfriend accelerate credit score improvement
In the short term what does it matter if she has poor credit? Just let it ride and focus on the important things. In the long term the most important part is "completing the divorce". That is separating all parts of her financial life from her ex-husband. This might mean she takes possession of the house and has him...
What traditionally happens to bonds when the stock market crashes?
The short answer is if you own a representative index of global bonds (say AGG) and global stocks (say ACWI) the bonds will generally only suffer minimally in even the medium large market crashes you describe. However, there are some caveats. Not all bonds will tend to react the same way. Bonds that are considered hi...
Saving tax for long term stock investment capital gain by quiting my current job?
The capital gains is counted towards your income. If you cash out 1 Million dollars, you have a 1 Million dollar income for that year, which puts you at the 39.6% tax bracket. However, because that 1 Million dollars is all long term capital gains, you will only have to pay 20% of it in long term capital gains taxes. Th...
Are Certificates of Deposit worth it compared to investing in the stock market?
Of course CDs are worth it compared to the stock market. In fact, most institutional investors are envious of the CDs you have access to as an individual investor that are unavailable to them. You just need to be competent enough to shop around for the best rates and understand your time horizon. There are several conc...
Should I pay more than 20% down on a home?
One big factor that no one has mentioned yet is whether you believe in a deflationary or inflationary future. Right now, we are leaning towards a deflationary environment so it makes sense to pay off more of the debt. (If you make just one extra payment a year, you will have paid off your house 7 years early). However,...
Is it accurate to say that if I was to trade something, my probability of success can't be worse than random?
If i do this, I would assume I have an equal probability to make a profit or a loss. The "random walk"/EMH theory that you are assuming is debatable. Among many arguments against EMH, one of the more relevant ones is that there are actually winning trading strategies (e.g. momentum models in trending markets) which inv...
Ask for credit decrease
I agree with JoeTaxpayer that you will be better off in the end if you can just not use your card you are better off in the long run. That said if you are determined to get a card you can control go to a credit union or local bank. Most of them will give you the credit limit you want. This may provide you with a car...
Given a certain yearly savings, how much can I spend on a capital improvement? NPV of future cash flow
This investment does not have a payback period as the net present value of your investment is negative. Your investment requires an initial cash outlay of $40,000 followed by annual savings of $2060 for the next 20 years. Your discount rate is 5% at which the NPV is $-14327.85 as calculated below by using this JavaScri...
Do credit ratings (by Moody's, S&P, and Fitch) have any relevance?
They've pretty much shot any credibility they possessed. Follow the money.
Why would a tender offer be less than the market price?
As an addition to Chris Rea's excellent answer, these tender offers are sometimes made specifically to cast doubt on the current market price. For instance, a large public company that contracts with a smaller supplier or service company, also public, might make a tender offer below market price. The market will look a...
Who Bought A Large Number Of Shares?
Schedule 13D (or the abbreviated version, schedule 13G) would be the most likely place to find this info. When a person or group of persons acquires beneficial ownership of more than 5% of a voting class of a company’s equity securities registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, they are requir...
What ETF or other security tracks closest to 30 year mortgage rates?
TBF - Proshares short 20+ Year Treasury The TBF fund is designed to track (hopefully) 100 percent of the inverse daily returns of the Barclays Capital 20+ Year U.S. Treasury Index. there's some risk of tracking error, and also a compounding effect if it's down several days in a row. (invest with care) There's also...
Does the profit of a company directly affect its stock or indirectly by causing people to buy or sell?
The short answer to your question is yes. Company performance affects stock price only through investors' views. But note that selling for higher and lower prices when the company is doing well or poorly is not an arbitrary choice. A stock is a claim on the future cash flows of the firm, which ultimately come from it...
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...
Is there ACH analogue in Asia?
ACH as offered in US is a very broad and versatile network used for a range of business case. There is no other network as versatile. In Europe UK has BACS as equivalent about 50-70% of what US-ACH offers. Most European countries also have ACH [Collectively Called ACH, have 90% of the layouts that are identical, called...
Further Understanding of Wash Sale Rules
Once you own no shares for 31 days, it's game over. Even though the accounting has wash sales to consider, in the end, gains and losses all cancel to one net position of break even, gain or loss. It's when there are shares remaining at the end of a period of time that the wash sale rules really impact the numbers.
What should I do with my paper financial documents?
Regarding your specific types: If you can't part with anything, sure, scan them. Also, there are lots of opportunities to sign up for eStatements with just about any financial provider. They want you to sign up for them, because it reduces their expenses. If you still like having paper around (I do admit that it's com...
What would I miss out on by self insuring my car?
As others have pointed out, it's all about a fixed, small cost versus the potential of a large cost. If you have insurance, you know you will pay a fixed amount per month. There is a 100% probability that you will have to pay this premium. If you don't have insurance, there is a large chance that you will have no cost ...
What should I do with the stock from my Employee Stock Purchase Plan?
Split the difference. Max it out, sell half immediately and wait a year or more for the rest. Or keep a third... whatever works for your risk tolerance. A perfectly diversified portfolio with $0 in it is still worth $0.
Micro-investing: How to effectively invest frequent small amounts of money in equities?
In terms of building the initial investment using some kind of mutual fund, I'd suggest you see my answer to this similar question https://money.stackexchange.com/questions/9943/cheapest-or-free-online-broker-for-beginner For buying individual stocks later, you could look at sharebuilder, or a low cost broker, however ...
Odds of early assignment for a short in the money call
It depends how deep in the money it is, compared to the dividend. Even an in the money call has some time premium. As the call holder, if I exercise instead of selling the call, I am trading the potential for a dividend, which I won't receive, for getting that time premium back by selling. Given the above, you'll not...
What would be the signs of a bubble in silver?
The problem with commodities is that they don't produce income. With a stock or bond, even if you never sold it to anyone or it wasn't publicly traded, you know you can collect the money the company makes or collect interest. That's a quantifiable income from the security. By computing the present value of that income ...
Possible to use balance transfers to avoid interest with major credit cards?
In theory, yes. In practice: So it can be gamed, but the odds are not on your side :)
Why buy insurance?
You don't mention what kind of insurance you're talking about, but I'll just address one angle on the question. For some kinds of insurance, such as health insurance (in the US), auto insurance, and homeowner's insurance, you may be insuring against an event that you would not be able to pay for without the insurance. ...
What kind of life insurance is cheaper? I'm not sure about term vs. whole vs. universal, etc
Term is the way to go. Whole/universal are basically a combo of term and savings, so buy term life insurance and invest the difference in cost yourself. You should make a lot more that way (as far as savings go) than by buying whole life. By the time term life gets too expensive to be worth (when you're a lot older) yo...
Should I buy or lease a car given that its not a super luxury car and I only drive 15 miles/d on avg?
I usually recommend along these lines. If you are going to drive the same car for many years, then buy. Your almost always better to buy, and then drive a car for 10 years than to lease and replace it every 2 years. If you want a new car every two years then lease. You're usually better off leasing if you're going to ...
Why do people buy new cars they can not afford?
Most people today (and maybe regardless of era) are irrational and don't properly valuate many of their purchases, nor are they emotionally equipped to do the math properly, including projection into the future and applying probabilities. This compounds. Imagine that each individual is bound to others by a rubber band...
Why do Americans have to file taxes, even if their only source of income is from a regular job?
I think the key point that's making the other commenters misunderstand each other here is the concept of "deductions". I can only speak for the UK, but that's only a concept that business owners would understand in this country. For things like child credits or low income tax credits, we don't get paid them at the end...
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,...
Is there a generally accepted term for fractions of Currency Units?
of course if you asked me to give you $24.4955 I can't. No, but if I asked you to give me $24.4955 and you gave me a piece of paper saying "I O U $24.4955", and then this happened repeatedly until I had collected 100 of these pieces of paper from you, then I could give them back to you in exchange for $2449.55 of curre...
How do I begin investment saving, rather than just saving in a bank account?
CDs may be one good option if you have a sense of when you may need the money(-ish), especially with more generous early withdrawal penalties. You can also take a look at investing in a mix of stock and bond funds, which will lower you volatility compared to stocks, but increase your returns over bonds.
I cosigned for a friend who is not paying the payment
Without all the details it's hard to tell what options you may have, but none of them are good. When you cosign you are saying that, you believe the primary signer will make good on the loan, but that if he doesn't you will. You are 100% responsible for this debt. As such, there are some actions you can take. First, r...
Meaning of “readily transferable”?
Securities or quite a few negotiable instruments can change title of ownership without any issue. Many at times the owner ship in implicit if you are holding a certain instrument. So for example in Stock its a fractional ownership in a company, this ownership transfers to the buyer from the seller without requiring any...
Why does short selling require borrowing?
This can be best explained with an example. Bob thinks the price of a stock that Alice has is going to go down by the end of the week, so he borrows a share at $25 from Alice. The current price of the shares are $25 per share. Bob immediately sells the shares to Charlie for $25, it is fair, it is the current market pri...
What does “profits to the shareholders jumped to 15 cents a share” mean?
What does it mean in terms of share price? Should the share price increase by 15 cents? No, but you're on the right track. In theory, the price of a share reflects it's "share" of time discounted future earnings. To put it concretely, imagine a company consistently earning 15 cents a share every year and paying it all...
How is my employer affected if I have expensive claims on my group health insurance?
I don't think so. There is a provision in ObamaCare called "community rating" that applies starting in 2014. Insurance companies must place individual and small group plans into a pool of people from the same geographical region. The same plan must cost the same for all small businesses from the same region. So having ...
Trading on exchanges or via brokerage companies?
Yes when I place an order with my broker they send it out to the exchange. - For individual investors, what are some cons and pros of trading on the exchanges directly versus indirectly via brokers? I may be mistaken(I highly doubt it), but from my understanding you cannot trade directly through an exchange as a ret...
Can I calculate stock value with Williams%R if I know the last set?
William %R is a momentum indicator used for measuring overbought and oversold levels, it is not used to predict the price of a stock. In fact, William %R, like all momentum indicators, is a lagging indicator - meaning the indicator level changes as the price of the stock changes. It ranges from 0 to -100. Usually when ...
Double-entry bookkeeping: When selling an asset, does the money come from, Equity or Income?
It's better to use the accounting equation concept: Asset + Expenses = Capital + Liabilities + Income If you purchase an asset: Suppose you purchased a laptop of $ 500, then its journal will be: If you sell the same Laptop for $ 500, then its entry will be:
Why is it important to research a stock before buying it?
Most markets around the world have been downtrending for the last 6 to 10 months. The definition of a downtrend is lower lows and lower highs, and until you get a higher low and confirmation with a higher high the downtrend will continue. If you look at the weekly charts of most indexes you can determine the longer ter...
If something is coming into my account will it be debit or credit in my account?
It sounds like you're mixing a simple checkbook register with double-entry bookkeeping. Do you need a double-entry level of rigor? Otherwise, why not have two columns, one for income (like a paycheck) and one for expenses (like paying a cable bill)? Then add up both columns and then take the difference of the sums to ...
Put idle savings to use while keeping them liquid
This may sound a little crazy but I would take $5K of that money and buy whiskey with it (Jack Daniel's would be my preference). My guess is that in 5 years that whiskey will be worth more than the $10K you put in the bank. I just can't see how the dollar survives the next 5 years without a major downward adjustment. ...
How can I avoid international wire fees or currency transfer fees?
One way is to wire transfer large amounts. If you transfer $5,000 at one go, that $50 fee works out to 1%, same as the $5 on a $500 ATM withdrawal (and ATM fees, hidden and explicit, tend to be higher than $5). The downside is exchange rate risk (taking more money at one go exposes you to that day's rate, good or bad,...
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...
Does the uptick rule apply to all stocks/ETFs and other securities, or only specific ones?
The uptick rule is gone, but it was weakly reintroduced in 2010, applied to all publicly traded equities: Under the terms of the rule, a circuit breaker would be triggered if a stock falls by 10% or more in a single day. At that point, short selling would only be allowed if the price is above the current national best ...
Why do stock prices of retailers not surge during the holidays?
Excellent question for a six year old! Actually, a good question for a 20 year old! One explanation is a bit more complicated. Your son thinks that after the Christmas season the company is worth more. For example, they might have turned $10 million of goods into $20 million of cash, which increases their assets by $1...
How do I deal with a mistaken attempt to collect a debt from me that is owed by someone else?
It may be a scam. But it also may be a company trying to find a person with the same or similar name. They may have followed a trail to her old address, and still not have the correct person. They bought number of old debts at a large discount, and are trying to track down any money they can find. It is best to ignore ...
How do I track investment performance in Quicken across rollovers?
Hmm, this site says If you use Quicken, you enter a new transaction of type "Corporate Acquisition (stock for stock)." You put investor shares as the "Company acquired", Admiral shares as the "Acquiring company", and the conversion ratio 0.7997754 as the "New shares issued per held share" number. Seems crazy, but maybe...
Looking into investment bonds for the first time- what do I need to be aware of?
First off, I do not recommend buying individual bonds yourself. Instead buy a bond fund (ETF or mutual fund). That way you get some diversification. The risk-reward ratio will be evident in what you find to invest in. Junk bond funds pay the highest rates. Treasury bond funds pay the lowest. So you have to ask yoursel...
Why do banks insist on allowing transactions without sufficient funds?
The laws about this changed in 2010 with the new Overdraft Protection Law HR 1261. § 140B. (c) Consumer consent opt-In.—A depository institution may charge overdraft coverage fees with respect to the use of an automatic teller machine or point of sale transaction only if the consumer has consented in writing, in...
Market Hours and Valuations
Company values (and thus stock prices) rely on a much larger time frame than "a weekend". First, markets are not efficient enough to know what a companies sales were over the past 2-3 days (many companies do not even know that for several weeks). They look at performance over quarters and years to determine the "valu...
Consolidating company pensions
I've been down the consolidation route too (of a handful of DC pensions; the DB ones I've not touched, and you would indeed need advice to move those around). What you should be comparing against is: what's the cheapest possible thing you could be doing? Monevators' online platform list will give you an idea of SIPP c...
Do I need to file a tax return as a student?
Should I go see a CPA? Not unless you are filing paperwork for a corporation. A CPA (Certified Public Accountant) is a certification required to file certain paperwork for a corporation. In any other situation, you don't need a CPA and can just use a regular accountant. You could conceivably go to a tax accountant,...
Why would a company care about the price of its own shares in the stock market?
Overpriced shares: Cheaper to raise new capital through secondary share offerings or debt using shares as a security. Fends off hostile take overs, since the company is too dear. When a company is taken over it needs only one set of management. Top management of the company that is taken over loses their jobs - no one ...
What is the pitfall of using the Smith maneuver
The catch is that you're doing a form of leveraged investing. In other words, you're gambling on the stock market using money that you've borrowed. While it's not as dangerous as say, getting money from a loan shark to play blackjack in Vegas, there is always the chance that markets can collapse and your investment's v...
What is bespoke insurance?
The word bespoke means made to order. Bespoke insurance means non-cookie cutter. That mean the thing your are trying to protect, or the risk to that item is not normally covered; so you need a non-standard type of policy. Your neighborhood insurance company doesn't handle a bespoke policy. There are companies that do. ...
What exactly can a financial advisor do for me, and is it worth the money?
A financial planner can help with investments, insurance, estate planning, budgeting, retirement planning, saving for college, tax planning/prep, and other money topics. One way to get a sense is to look at this Certified Financial Planner topic list. Another idea is to look at this book (my favorite I've read) which c...
Question about stock taxes buy/sell short term
As Victor says, you pay tax on net profit. If this is a significant source of income for you, you should file quarterly estimated tax payments or you're going to get hit with a penalty at the end of the year.
Bonds vs equities: crash theory
Cash would be the better alternative assuming both stocks take a major hit in ALL categories AND the Fed raise rates at the same time for some reason. Money market funds that may have relatively low yields at the moment would likely be one of the few securities not to be repriced downward as interest rates rising would...
What is the proper way to report additional income for taxes (specifically, Android development)?
You would report it as business income on Schedule C. You may be able to take deductions against that income as well (home office, your computer, an android device, any advertising or promotional expenses, etc.) but you'll want to consult an accountant about that. Generally you can only take those kinds of deductions ...
Are there capital gains taxes or dividend taxes if I invest in the U.S. stock market from outside of the country?
The country from which you purchase stock cannot charge you tax on either income or capital gains. Taxation is based on residency, so even when you purchase foreign stock its the tax laws of Malaysia (as your country of residence) that matter. At the time of writing, Malaysia does not levy any capital gains tax and the...
Are cashiers required to check a credit card for a signature in the U.S.?
I'm not sure if they're required to do so, but I have been neglecting to sign my cards for some time now. If they do check, that triggers an ID check, where they'll find my signature. I know of at least one person that writes "see ID" instead of signing their cards. He began that practice over 10 years ago.
What does “/” and “^” mean in ticker symbols? How to translate these symbols into yahoo?
There isn't a single universal way to reference a stock, there are 4 major identifiers with many different flavours of exchange ticker (see xkcd:Standards) I believe CUSIPs and ISINs represent a specific security rather than a specific listed instrument. This means you can have two listed instruments with one ISIN but ...
Should I trade in a car I own to lower my payments on a new lease?
You need to look at the numbers when you're ready to transact. What your crossover is worth now, what the truck will lease for then, what financing deals may or may not be available will all change. I'm not sure why you've already decided you will lease the truck, perhaps you're planning to take advantage of some kind...
Is there a good rule of thumb for how much I should have set aside as emergency cash?
How to start is pretty simple. With your next pay check set aside an amount and open a separate savings account. Since this is an emergency fund - you want it someplace where you can get to the money quickly (so a CD or mutual fund is not good), but you want it in a separate account so that you don't accidentally us...
What are the important differences between mutual funds and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)?
Behind the scenes, mutual funds and ETFs are very similar. Both can vary widely in purpose and policies, which is why understanding the prospectus before investing is so important. Since both mutual funds and ETFs cover a wide range of choices, any discussion of management, assets, or expenses when discussing the diff...
Should Emergency Funds be Used for Infrequent, but Likely, Expenses?
Which of these categories are emergency funds meant to cover? Emergency funds are for emergencies, which to me means expenses that are unanticipated and can't be covered out of "normal" cash-flow. Oil changes are not an "emergency" and should be part of your normal budget. Car/house repairs and doctor visits might be...
Everyone got a raise to them same amount, lost my higher pay than the newer employees
Why do you think you are entitled to "fairness"? In this world you get what you get. I am pretty sure your employer is not paying you for how you "feel" either. And by-the-way turning up on time and not leaving early is not exceptional behaviour; it is expected behaviour. Bottom line: do you add more value to your empl...