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Higher auto insurance costs: keep car or switch to public transit?
I'm guessing Toronto? Sell the car! Use public transit. Save a ton of money. You can always rent a car for the day or weekend (or use a service like Uber) when necessary at a fraction of the cost of car ownership, and feel good about it!
Retirement planning: Pension or personal saving/investing?
with me and my wife coming from different countries, and us both living in a non-native country, we have very little clue where we will eventually settle down. The answer depends on where you reside currently, tax rules and ability to move funds. As well as where you plan to settle down and the tax rules there. From wh...
What is today's price of 15 000 Euro given 15 years ago?
What you are positioning as a loan was not a loan at all. Your father bought something to be delivered in the future. Your aunt does not want to deliver it, so she should buy it back at whatever the current market value is. What is the price that your dad believes her share of the inheritance is currently worth? Is tha...
Can I do periodic rollovers from my low-perfoming 401k to an IRA?
If the difference in performance is worth it, consider "borrowing" from your 401k to put into the Roth. You pay it back, but you can stretch it out over time, and the interest charged is actually yours, because you borrowed from yourself. But you can only borrow half of the account and you have to pay it back before y...
What will happen when a bid price is higher than an ask price?
It depends on the sequence in which the order [bid and ask] were placed. Please read the below question to understand how the order are matched. How do exchanges match limit orders?
Is there any way to buy a new car directly from Toyota without going through a dealership?
You can buy a new Toyota from a non-dealer, but not from Toyota directly as they have no retail distribution capability. There is no need to buy directly from Toyota if you want to get a new car without going through a dealer. In many cases people buy new cars but have to sell them immediately for one reason or another...
Self assessment expenses - billing date or payment date?
Unless you're running a self-employed business with a significant turnover (more than £150k), you are entitled to use cash basis accounting for your tax return, which means you would put the date of transactions as the payment date rather than the billing date or the date a debt is incurred. For payments which have a l...
Are there any market data providers that provide a query language?
You can give YQL a try. I'm not sure it can do the query you want, but for example you can do: (try it here) And this best thing about it - it's free.
What are “equity assets”?
If I hold a bond then I have a debt asset. If I hold physical silver then I have a commodity asset. If I hold the stock of an individual company then I have an equity asset. Equities, commodities and debts are the three kinds of assets that a person can hold. Edit: I forgot one other kind of asset; monetary asset. If ...
Ray Dalio - All Weather Portfolio
Here are the specific Vanguard index funds and ETF's I use to mimic Ray Dalio's all weather portfolio for my taxable investment savings. I invest into this with Vanguard personal investor and brokerage accounts. Here's a summary of the performance results from 2007 to today: 2007 is when the DBC commodity fund was cre...
Table of how many years it takes to make a specified return on the stock market?
Well depends but "on average" the stock market has historically returned somewhere around 10% per year. Note, this can vary wildly from year to year see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%26P_500#Market_statistics So it would be roughly 2.8 years to get your 30% if you happen to get the average market return for those 3 y...
What to do if a state and federal refund is denied direct deposit?
It is not allowed to pay refunds to anyone other than the taxpayer. This is due to various tax return fraud schemes that were running around. Banks are required to enforce this. If the direct deposit is denied, a check will be issued. In her name, obviously. What she does with it when she gets it is her business - but ...
How smart is it really to take out a loan right now?
You are not "the economy". The economy is just the aggregate of what is going on with everyone else. You should make the decision based on your own situation now and projected into the future as best you can. Loan rates ARE at historical lows, so it is a great time to take a loan if you actually need one for some reaso...
What are the advantages/disadvantages of a self-directed IRA?
Our company does a lot of research on the self-directed IRA industry. We also provide financial advice in this area. In short, we have seen a lot in this industry. You mentioned custodian fees. This can be a sore spot for many investors. However, not all custodians are expensive, you should do your research before choo...
Should I change 401k investment options to prepare for rising interest rates?
As others have pointed out your bond funds should have short durations, preferably not more than about 2 years. If you are in a bond fund for the long haul meaning you do not have to draw on your bond fund a short time after interest rates have gone up, it is not a big issue. The fund's holdings will eventually turn ov...
I cosigned for a friend who is not paying the payment
I would like to add one minor point for clarity: Cosigning means that you, alongside your friend, enter into a contract with the bank. It does not necessarily mean that you now have a contract with your friend, although that could implicitly be concluded. If the bank makes use of their contracted right to make you pay ...
Why do banks require small businesses to open a business bank account instead of a cheaper personal one?
You could, but the bank won't let you... If you're a sole proprietor - then you could probably open a personal account and just use it, and never tell them that is actually a business. However, depending on your volume of operations, they may switch you on their own to business account by the pattern of your transactio...
What is the theory behind Rick Van Ness's risk calculation in the video about diversification?
John Bensin's answer covers the math, but I like the plain-English examples of the theory from William Bernstein's fine book, The Intelligent Asset Allocator. At the author's web site, you can find the complete chapter 1 and chapter 2, though not chapter 3, which is the one with the "multiple coin toss" portfolio exam...
Why does it seem unnecessary to fully save for irregular periodic expenses?
It totally depends on when your expenses hit and whether you might have a larger stock than necessary. If you run your projections against the monthly save and the intervals of when you'll need the money, you might be able to extract some stock from the account. I recommend making this a bit simpler. I operate this wi...
Is it true that the price of diamonds is based on a monopoly?
Yes, the De Beers Group of Companies is a diamond cartel that had complete control of the diamond market for most of the 20th century. They still control a sizable portion of the market and their effort at marketing (particularly with the slogan "A Diamond is Forever") has done much to inflate the market for diamonds i...
Are Index Funds really as good as “experts” claim?
Two main points to answer this in my opinion. First, most people don't start with say half a million dollar to buy all the stocks they need in one shot but rather they accumulate this money gradually. So they must make many Buys in their lifetime. Similarly, most people don't need to withdraw all their investment in on...
What is the rationale behind stock markets retreating due to S&P having a negative outlook on the USA?
When people (even people in the media) say: "The stock market is up because of X" or "The stock market is down because of Y", they are often engaging in what Nicolas Taleb calls the narrative falacy. They see the market has moved in one direction or another, they open their newspaper, pick a headline that provides a pl...
What can I expect to pay when meeting my first financial planner?
My suggestion would be to ask the planner as an initial question as there could be a couple possible explanations for a free meeting: Initial consultation - Within some industries there will be that first meeting which is free to see how well do two people work together. In Canada there are some lawyers that will give...
What is the meaning of “short selling” or “going short” a stock?
Rich's answer captures the basic essence of short selling with example. I'd like to add these additional points: You typically need a specially-privileged brokerage account to perform short selling. If you didn't request short selling when you opened your account, odds are good you don't have it, and that's good becau...
Investment strategy for retired couple
The safest investment in the United States is Treasures. The Federal Reserve just increased the short term rate for the first time in about seven years. But the banks are under no obligation to increase the rate they pay. So you (or rather they) can loan money directly to the United States Government by buying Bills, N...
How to exercise options when you they're worth more money than you have? [duplicate]
The fact that the option is deep in the money will be reflected in the market price of the option so you can just sell it at a profit. If there's a (n almost) guaranteed profit to be had, however, you can always find someone who will lend you the money to cover the exercise... they'll charge you interest, however!
Paying off mortgage or invest in annuity
You can't pay your bills with equity in your house. Assuming you paid off the mortgage, where would the money come from that you plan to live off of? If that is your whole retirement savings I'd say do neither. Maybe an annuity (not variable) for SOME of the money, keep the rest invested in conservative investments som...
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...
Why index funds have different prices?
Funds which track the same index may have different nominal prices. From an investors point of view, this is not important. What is important is that when the underlying index moves by a given percentage, the price of the tracking funds also move by an equal percentage. In other words, if the S&P500 rises by 5%, the...
How should I file my taxes as a contractor?
For tax purposes you will need to file as an employee (T4 slips and tax withheld automatically), but also as an entrepreneur. I had the same situation myself last year. Employee and self-employed is a publication from Revenue Canada that will help you. You need to fill out the statement of business activity form and ke...
What determines price fluctuation of groceries
Yes and no. First off, commodity prices reflect the cost of a good about 3 steps back in the retail supply chain; the agreed-upon price for the raw foodstuff between farmers/ranchers and manufacturers. Your grocer may carry bags of whole grain wheat, but that's certainly not all he carries that contains it. Same for co...
Announcement of rights offering (above market price) causing stock price increase [duplicate]
This seemed very unrealistic, I mean who would do that? But to my immense surprise the market price increased to 5.50$ in the following week! Why is that? This is strange. It seems that people mistakenly [?] believe that the company should be at 5.5 and currently available cheap. This looks like irrational behaviour. M...
Correct way to amend tax return as a result of not correctly reporting gains on sale of private stock based on Installment method?
After much research, the answer is "a": recompute the tax return using the installment sales method because (1) the escrow payment was subject to "substantial restrictions" by virtue of the escrow being structured to pay buyer's indemnification claims and (2) the taxpayer did not correctly elect out of the installment ...
When will the U.K. convert to the Euro as an official currency?
In many countries in Europe the prices shot through the roof, so it is not all positive. Also the switching country gives out lot of monetary control that is not welcomed by many. I think that UK is not going to change to euro for a long long time.
Ongoing Automatic Investment Fee
Reading the plan documentation, yes, that is what it means. Each purchase by bank debit, whether one-time or automatic, costs $2 plus $0.06 per share; so if you invested $50, you would get slightly less than $48 in stock as a result (depending on the per-share price). Schedule of Fees Purchases – A one-time $15.00 enr...
CEO entitlement from share ownership?
If I own shares of a company, am I entitled to apply as position of CEO? Sure, but anybody else can apply too. Who decides? The corporate board of directors, who are nominally chosen by a vote of the stockholders. I say nominally, because in practice they are nominated by the current CEO and it's very rare for stockh...
Best way to start investing, for a young person just starting their career?
This is a tough question, because it is something very specific to your situation and finances. I personally started at a young age (17), with US$1,000 in Scottrade. I tried the "stock market games" at first, but in retrospect they did nothing for me and turned out to be a waste of time. I really started when I actuall...
What prevents investors from buying high yield stocks and selling them as soon as their dividend is paid out?
Although the market discussion by other answers is correct, the tax structure of many developed nations (I am familiar with Canada in particular) offers a preferred tax rate for dividend income compared to taxable gains. Consequently, if your portfolio is large enough to make transaction fees a very small percentage ...
Does the IRS reprieve those who have to commute for work?
When I have a question about my income taxes, the first place I look is generally the Giant Book of Income Tax Information, Publication 17 (officially called "Your Federal Income Tax"). This looks to be covered in Chapter 26 on "Car Expenses and Other Employee Business Expenses". It's possible that there's something in...
Super-generic mutual fund type
Congrats on having such a nice emergency fund. That's pretty substantial. I don't want to be the one to suggest the One Investment To Rule Them All because I might be wrong. :) I'd investigate other avenues for investment. Here are a few (in no particular order): My two cents but I think you're wise to be wary of in...
What is a good open source Windows finance software
You really shouldn't be using class tracking to keep business and personal operations separate. I'm pretty sure the IRS and courts frown upon this, and you're probably risking losing any limited liability you may have. And for keeping separate parts of the business separate, like say stores in a franchise, one approach...
If USA defaults on its debt, will the T bond holder get back his money
There is no situation one can imagine in which the US defaults (beyond a day or three) on its obligations. The treasury can print money, and while it would be disastrous, 'monetizing' the debt would simply eliminate all outstanding debt at the risk of devaluing the dollar to hyperinflation levels.
Do I need to pay taxes in the US as an Alien Resident for my Canadian stock capital gains
I will answer my own question. After calling my broker, they explained me this:
How long should I keep my tax documents, and why?
Unfortunately, my taxes tend to be complicated This. In and of itself, is a greater reason to keep the documents. The other answer offered a good summary, but keep in mind, if the IRS decides you fraudulently withheld claiming income, they can go back 7 years. I bought a rental property in 1987, and sold it in 2016. I...
selling apple stock limit order
Your order may or may not be executed. The price of stock can open anywhere. Often yesterday's close is a good indication of today's open, but with a big event overnight, the open may be somewhere quite different. You'll have to wait and see like the rest of us. Also, even if it doesn't execute at the open, the pri...
Mortgage sold to yet another servicer. What are my options?
Are my mortgage terms locked in? Who oversees this? Yes your terms like rate, balance, penalties, due dates, are all covered in the mortgage documents. Those will not change. If the mortgage is an adjustable or has a balloon payment those terms will be followed by the new company. That being said, mistakes can be made....
Why is being “upside down” on a mortgage so bad?
The largest problem and source of anxiety / ruin for homeowners during the housing market collapse was caused by the inability to refinance. Many people had bought homes which they were stretched to afford, by using variable-rate mortgages. These would typically offer a very attractive initial rate, with an annual cap...
devastated with our retirement money that we have left
When you say: I am 48 and my husband is 54. We have approx. 60,000.00 left in our retirement accounts. We want to move our money into something so our money will grow. We've been looking at annunities. We've talked to 4 different advisors about what is best for us. Bad mistake, I am so overwhelmed with the differ...
FHA Reduction Notices From Third-Party Companies - Scam? Or Something To Consider?
This is obviously a spam mail. Your mortgage is a public record, and mortgage brokers and insurance agents were, are and will be soliciting your business, as long as they feel they have a chance of getting it. Nothing that that particular company offers is unique to them, nothing they can offer you cannot be done by an...
Resources on Buying Rental Properties
I would also suggest finding the training resource within your state for real estate agent license exam prep... When I was getting started, I took the "101" level course and it was worth the few hundred bucks for the overview I gleaned.
Is the stock market a zero-sum game?
While this seems overall a macroeconomics question and not really personal finance, let me give it a shot: The question of why corporations form in a free or efficient market is why Ronald Coase received the 1991 Nobel Prize in Economics, for his work developing the theory of the firm Corporations organize when there a...
Under what circumstance will the IRS charge you a late-payment penalty for taxes?
I just got hit with the late payment penalty due to a bug in the H&R Block tax program. The underpayment was only $2 and the penalty was a whopping 1 cent. The letter that informed me of the error also said that they did not consider the $2.01 worth collecting, the amount owed had been zeroed.
What are my options to deal with Student Loan debt collectors?
I had about $16k in student loans. I defaulted on the loans, and they got > passed to a collection type agency (OSCEOLA). These guys are as legitimate as a collection agency can be. One thing that I feel is very sketchy is when they were verifying my identity they said "Does your Social Security Number end in ####. I...
Is it legal if I'm managing my family's entire wealth?
Aside from the fact that there are massive problems with taxes, liability, fiduciary responsibility, and (assuming you're accepting any sort of compensation at all) licensing. The mere fact that you're asking this question indicates that you're probably not suitably qualified to handle this for others. Why not have som...
I'm currently unemployed and have been offered a contract position. Do I need to incorporate myself? How do I do it?
I am co-owner of a business, and we incorporated federally. (Mostly to limit liability.) There is some excellent information above, and most of my wisdom I got from a trusted lawyer and accountant (find experts you trust in these two areas, they will prove invaluable in so many areas.) The one point I would add is ...
How to buy stuff (stocks?) in IRA account? What else?
You can buy stocks in the IRA, similarly to your regular investment account. Generally, when you open an account with a retail provider like TDAmeritrade, all the options available for you on that account are allowable. Keep in mind that you cannot just deposit money to IRA. There's a limit on how much you can deposit ...
Diagnostic Questions to Determine if Renter intends to pay
Firstly, how far behind on rent are they? Have you sent them notices in writing about late rent, and if so how many have you had to send? How often do they say they are going to do things (like pay overdue rent) and they never do? To tell you the truth IMHO, if they are starting to be regularly late in rent payments an...
Will I be turned down for a car loan?
Considering I'm putting 30% down and having my father cosign is there any chance I would be turned down for a loan on a $100k car? According to BankRate, the average credit score needed to buy a new car is 714, but they also show average interest rates at 6.39% for new-car loans to people with credit scores in the 60...
How long can I convert 401(k) to Roth 401(k)?
the deadline for roth conversions is december 31st. more precisely, roth conversions are considered to have happened in the tax year the distribution was taken. this creates a kind of loop hole for people who do an ira rollover (not a trustee-to-trustee transfer). technically, you can take money out of your traditiona...
Strategic countermeasures to overcome crisis in Russia
You could of course request payment in EUR or USD, maybe keep a PayPal account and just leave the funds in PayPal unless you need to withdraw the money in local currency? Either currency would be fine because the problem you are trying to overcome is the instability in the ruble. EUR and USD both accomplish that. If yo...
Buying Fixed Deposit in India from Europe
You could go further and do a carry trade by borrowing EUR at 2% and depositing INR at 10%. All the notes above apply, and see the link there.
Periodicity in stock charts
If the period is consistent for company X, but occurs in a different month as Company Y, it might be linked to the release of their annual report, or the payment of their annual dividend. Companies don't have to end their fiscal year near the end of the Calendar year, therefore these end of year events could occur in a...
Is there a way to claim a car purchase in the tax return?
You've got two options. Deduct the business portion of the depreciation and actual expenses for operating the car. Use the IRS standard mileage rate of $.575/mile in 2015. Multiply your business miles by the rate to calculate your deduction. Assuming you're a sole proprietor you'll include a Schedule C to your retur...
How much does a landlord pay in taxes?
I'd recommend you use an online tax calculator to see the effect it will have. To your comment with @littleadv, there's FMV, agreed, but there's also a rate below that. One that's a bit lower than FMV, but it's a discount for a tenant who will handle certain things on their own. I had an arm's length tenant, who was be...
Would it make sense to take a loan from a relative to pay off student loans?
Personally, I avoid making business deals with friends and relatives. There's just too much of a possibility that things can go wrong. Let's assume that you're honest people and you have no intention of cheating your mother-in-law. Still, all sorts of things could happen that could make it difficult for you to repay t...
How to pick a state to form an LLC in?
There are very few circumstances where forming an out of state entity is beneficial, but a website is within these circumstances in certain instances. Businesses with no physical operations do not need to care what jurisdiction they are registered in: your home state, a better united state or non-united state. The "lim...
Is there a generally accepted term for fractions of Currency Units?
I recently bought a stock - which was priced exactly as your question ponders, to the 1/100 cent. I happened to buy 2000 shares, but just a round lot of 100 would be enough to create no need for rounding. It's common for industry to price this way as well, where an electronic component purchased by the thousands, is ...
Is it unreasonable to double your investment year over year?
It is not unheard of. Celebrity investors such as Warren Buffet and Carl Icahn gained notoriety by more than doubling investments some years, with a few very stellar trades and bets. Doubling, as in a 100% gain, is actually conservative if you want to play that game, as 500%, 1200% and greater gains are possible and we...
Figuring out an ideal balance to carry on credit cards [duplicate]
I think this advice to carry a balance each month is nonsense. You're just wasting money that way. Personally, I have always paid off my credit cards every month for as long as I can remember, and my credit score is only 8 points below the max. The bigger factors by far are: It might be good advice to charge a small...
Pay off credit card debt or earn employer 401(k) match?
I'd take the match, but I wouldn't contribute beyond your match, for two reasons:
Over the long term, why invest in bonds?
If I don't need this money for decades, meaning I can ride out periodical market crashes, why would I invest in bonds instead of funds that track broad stock market indexes? You wouldn't. But you can never be 100% sure that you really won't need the money for decades. Also, even if you don't need it for decades, you ...
Is real (physical) money traded during online trading?
This is somewhat of a non-answer but I'm not sure you'll ever find a satisfying answer to this question, because the premises on which the question is based on are flawed. Money itself does not "exist physically," at least not in the same sense that a product you buy does. It simply does not make sense to say that you...
Is an analyst's “price target” assumed to be for 12 months out?
Analysts normally (oxymoron here) gauge their targets on where the stock is currently and more importantly where it has been. Except for in the case of say a Dryships where it was a hundred dollar stock and is now in the single digits, it is safe to assume that Apple for instance was well over $ 700 and is now at $500,...
Does a SIM only cell phone contract help credit rating?
I have never seen any of my mobile phone providers report any data to any credit agency. They tend to only do that if you don't pay on time. Maybe sometimes it helps, but from my experience over the last decade - it must be some very rare times.
Can I force him to pay?
Its best to seek a lawyer, but it is unlikely you can force him to pay. You probably know couples, that are in some part of the divorce process, that have trouble obtaining court ordered payments. In your case you have less of a legal standing (exception: if you have children together). As far as the house goes, the...
What does Dividend 165% mean in stock market?
Do not confuse the DIV (%) value and the dividend yield. As you can see from this page, the DIV (%) is, as you say, 165%. However, the dividend yield is 3.73% at the time of writing. As the Investopedia page referenced above says: The payout ratio is calculated as follows: Annual Dividends per Share / Earnings per Sh...
How does one interpret financial data for stocks listed on multiple exchanges?
First and foremost you need to be aware of what you are comparing. In this case, HSBC as traded on the NYSE exchange is not common shares, but an ADR (American Depository Receipt) with a 5:1 ratio from the actual shares. So for most intents and purposes owning one ADR is like owning five common shares. But for special ...
What should I do with my $25k to invest as a 20 years old?
I recommend a Roth IRA. At your age you could turn 25K into a million and never pay taxes on these earnings. Of course there are yearly limits (5.5k) on the amount your can contribute to a Roth IRA account. If you haven't filed your taxes this year yet ... you can contribute 5.5K for last year and 5.5K for this year. ...
What is the relationship between the earnings of a company and its stock price?
I have heard that people say the greater earning means greater intrinsic value of the company. Then, the stock price is largely based on the intrinsic value. So increasing intrinsic value due to increasing earning will lead to increasing stock price. Does this make sense ? Yes though it may be worth dissecting ...
Why are American-style options worth more than European-style options?
An option gives you an option. That is, you aren't buying any security - you are simply buying an option to buy a security. The sole value of what you buy is the option to buy something. An American option offers more flexibility - i.e. it offers you more options on buying the stock. Since you have more options, the...
Strategic countermeasures to overcome crisis in Russia
Bitcoins are very liquid. They can be sold or spent very easily. And you don't depend on the banks being solvent to keep your Bitcoin funds, since you can keep them yourself in an offline wallet. I'm not sure what's the legality of Bitcoin in Russia, though.
Legal right to ask for someone bank records UK
You might want to head on over to https://law.stackexchange.com/ and ask the same question. However from a personal finance perspective this kind of drama is somewhat common when someone is deceased and financial expectations are not met by the heirs. It sounds like the daughter was expecting a lot more in inheritan...
Commencing a Pension from an SMSF
No. Disclaimer - As a US educated fellow, I needed to search a bit. I found an article 7 Common SMSF Pension Errors. It implied that there are minimum payments required each year as with our US retirement accounts. These minimums are unrelated to the assets within the account, just based on the total value. The way I r...
In-laws moving in (financial/tax implications)?
GET A LAWYER. Doing business with relatives is business first, and some effort spent in setting things up and nailing down exactly what the financial relationships and obligations are beforehand can save a lot of agony and animosity later. Assuming it's a legal rental, you may be able to deduct business costs spent on ...
Should I invest in real estate to rent, real estate to live in, or just stocks and bonds to earn 10-15%?
You are in your mid 30's and have 250,000 to put aside for investments- that is a fantastic position to be in. First, let's evaluate all the options you listed. Option 1 I could buy two studio apartments in the center of a European capital city and rent out one apartment on short-term rental and live in the other. Occa...
How to start personal finances?
A few practical thoughts: A practical thing that helps me immensely not to loose important paperwork (such as bank statements, bills, payroll statement, all those statements you need for filing tax return, ...) is: In addition to the folder (Aktenordner) where the statements ultimately need to go I use a Hängeregistrat...
Strategies to recover from a bad short-term call options purchase where the underlying dropped instead?
For personal investing, and speculative/ highly risky securities ("wasting assets", which is exactly what options are), it is better to think in terms of sunk costs. Don't chase this trade, trying to make your money back. You should minimize your loss. Unwind the position now, while there is still some remaining value ...
I earn $75K, have $30K in savings, no debt, rent from my parents who are losing their home. Should I buy a home now or save?
For the vast majority, "buying" a house via a mortgage is not an investment. I use quotes around buying because from a technical perspective you don't own anything until you've paid it off; this is often an important point that people forget. It's highly unlikely you'll make more on it than the amount you put into it ...
Closing a futures position
For exchange contracts, yes. A trader can close a position by taking an offsetting position. CME's introduction to Futures explains it quite well (on page 22). Exiting the Market Jack entered the market on the buy side, speculating that the S&P 500 futures price would move higher. He has three choices for exiting ...
Strategic countermeasures to overcome crisis in Russia
If you have significant assets, such as a large deposit, then diversification of risks such as currency risk is good practice - there are many good options, but keeping 100% of it in roubles is definitely not a good idea, nor is keeping 100% of it in a single foreign currency. Of course, it would be much more benefici...
Do banks give us interest even for the money that we only had briefly in our account?
Ditto @MichaelBorgwardt Just to get concrete: I just checked one bank in India and they say they are paying 4% on savings accounts. I don't know what you're getting or if 4% is typical in India, but it's at least an example. So if the bank pays interest based on average daily balance, and you left the money in the bank...
Option settlement for calendar spreads
First off, you should phone your broker and ask them just to be 100% certain. You will be exercised on the short option that was in the money. It is irrelevant that your portfolio does not contain AAPL stock. You will simply be charged the amount it costs to purchase the shares that you owe. I believe your broker would...
Possible to purchase multiple securities on 1 transaction?
No you can't, as you would have to have a different order for each security. Usually the bigger the order the more the brokerage you would also pay.
Why don't SPY, SPX, and the e-mini s&p 500 track perfectly with each other?
As Ross says, SPX is the index itself. This carries no overheads. It is defined as a capitalization-weighted mixture of the stocks of (about) 500 companies. SPY is an index fund that tries to match the performance of SPX. As an index fund it has several differences from the index:
Should I sell a 2nd home, or rent it out?
If it was me, I would sell the house and use the proceeds to work on/pay off the second. You don't speak to your income, but it must be pretty darn healthy to convince someone to lend you ~$809K on two homes. Given this situation, I am not sure what income I would have to have to feel comfortable. I am thinking aro...
As a 22-year-old, how risky should I be with my 401(k) investments?
At 22yo, unless you have a terminal illness, you have many years to earn and save a lot more that you will have in your 401k right now (unless you have already been extremely lucky in the market with your 401k investments). This means that even if you lost everything in your 401k right now, it probably wouldn't hurt yo...
Stocks and Bankruptcy
As Mhoran said, the risks of buying a bankrupt company are huge, and even successful bankruptcy turnarounds don't involve keeping the same stock. For instance, the GM bankruptcy was resolved by the company more or less selling all its valuable assets (brands, factories, inventory) to a new version of itself, using that...
how much of foreign exchange (forex/fx) “deep liquidity” is really just unbacked leverage and what is the effect?
First it is worth noting the two sided nature of the contracts (long one currency/short a second) make leverage in currencies over a diverse set of clients generally less of a problem. In equities, since most margin investors are long "equities" making it more likely that large margin calls will all be made at the sam...
How are people able to spend more than what they make, without going into debt?
Rich people use debt for various reasons. The question should not assume that billionaires don't use debt. They also pay lower interest rates on that debt because they have enough collateral that their debt is safer than a typical mortgage. Many rich people will use interest only mortgages on their primary residences s...
How do I explain why debt on debt is bad to my brother?
Two suggestions: I don't know if you have them in South Africa, but here we have some TV reality shows where a credit consultant visits a family that is deeply in debt and advises them on how to get out of it. The advice isn't very sophisticated, but it does show the personal impact on a family and what is likely to ha...