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What is a good way to save money on car expenses? | Apparently, if you keep your tires' air filled to the recommended level, your car will burn less gas. I loved this article at WikiHow, which confirmed what I had heard about air in tires, and had others to suggest, such as removing unnecessary items from inside and on your car (such as bike racks, trailer balls) as t... |
Once stock prices are down, where to look for good stock market deals? | Do your own research There are hundreds of places where people will give you all sorts of recommendations. There is as much noise in the recommendations as there is in the stock market itself. Become your own filter. You need to work on your own instinct. Pick a couple of sectors and a few stocks in each and study them... |
How does GST on PayPal payments work for Australian Taxation? | Regardless of wether or not you are registered for GST, you are legally required to include a GST total on every invoice sent to an Australian customer. This GST total must be 10% of the payment amount if you are registered for GST, or it must be $0.00 if you are not registered for GST. Since all GST transactions with ... |
What governs the shape of price history graphs? | Dividend-paying securities generally have predictable cash flows. A telecom, electric or gas utility is a great example. They collect a fairly predictable amount of money and sells goods at a fairly predictable or even regulated markup. It is easy for these companies to pay a consistent dividend since the business is "... |
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 ... |
“Business day” and “due date” for bills | It's likely that your bill always shows the 24th as the due date. Their system is programmed to maintain that consistency regardless of the day of the week that falls on. When the 24th isn't a business day it is good to error on the side of caution and use the business day prior. It would have accepted using their sys... |
Why does it look like my 401k loan default was not paid by my 401k account balance? | There are multiple reasons why this may have happened: 1.) I couldn't tell in your question whether or not you had already paid off the loan before requesting the rollover. But if the loan was defaulted - then the $9k left in your account is not distributable, but is there to pay back the remaining balance on your loan... |
Is it OK to use a credit card on zero-interest to pay some other credit cards with higher-interest? | Here's the issue as I see it. The fact that one has high interest debt says a lot about the potential borrower. Odds are very good that person will not pay the zero card off before the rate expires, and will likely charge more along the way. I'd love to be able to say "great idea, borrowing at a low rate to pay off a ... |
401k vs. real estate for someone who is great at saving? | With an appropriate selection within a 401K and if operating expenses are low, you get tax deferred savings and possibly a lower tax bracket for now. The returns vary of course with market fluctuations but for almost 3 years it has been double digit growth on average. Some health care sector funds were up over 40% la... |
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... |
Demurrage vs inflation | Yes, there's a difference. If you've borrowed $100, then under inflation your salary will (presumably) increase, and tomorrow your debt will only be worth $99. But under demurrage, you'll still owe $100. |
In the stock market, why is the “open” price value never the same as previous day's “close”? | The simple answer: The opening price is the price of the first trade of the day and the closing price is the price of the last trade of the day. And since the stock price change from trade to trade they are usually different. |
How an ETF pays dividend to shareholders if a holding company issues dividend | Join me for a look at the Quote for SPY. A yield of 1.82%. So over a year's time, your $100K investment will give you $1820 in dividends. The Top 10 holdings show that Apple is now 3% of the S&P. With a current dividend of 2.3%. Every stock in the S&P has its own different dividend. (Although the zeros are all the sa... |
Why do governments borrow money instead of printing it? | The Government doesn't borrow money. It in fact simply prints it. The bond market is used for an advanced way of controlling the demand for this printed money. Think about it logically. Take 2011 for example. The Govt spent $1.7 trillion more than it took in. This is real money that get's credited in to people's bank a... |
If throwing good money after bad is generally a bad idea, is throwing more money after good Ok? | I have heard that investing more money into an investment which has gone down is generally a bad idea*. "Throwing good money after bad" so to speak. Is investing more money into a stock, you already have a stake in, which has gone up in price; a good idea? Other things being equal, deciding whether to buy more st... |
Can you use external money to pay trading commissions in tax-free and tax-deferred accounts? | Nice idea. When I started my IRAs, I considered this as well, and the answer from the broker was that this was not permitted. And, aside from transfers from other IRAs or retirement accounts, you can't 'deposit' shares to the IRA, only cash. |
Work on the side for my wife's company | My understanding (I am not a lawyer or tax expert) is that you are not allowed to work for free, but you can pay yourself minimum wage for the hours worked. There are probably National Insurance implications as well but I don't know. The main thing is, though, that if HMRC think that you've set up this system as a tax ... |
Should I cancel an existing credit card so I can open another that has rewards? | You're right to keep the oldest one. That's an asset to your credit rating. Since you're already responsible with your credit, a dip in your credit rating doesn't really matter unless you're looking for another loan, like a mortgage. I personally like the cash-back rewards because they're the most flexible, so you hav... |
How to record “short premium” in double-entry accounting? | You don't. No one uses vanilla double entry accounting software for "Held-For-Trading Security". Your broker or trading software is responsible for providing month-end statement of changes. You use "Mark To Market" valuation at the end of each month. For example, if your cash position is -$5000 and stock position is... |
How do I screen for stocks that are near to their 52 weeks low | There is a great 3rd party application out there that I use (I am a broker) along with my internal analysts and other 3rd party sources. VectorVest has a LOT of technical information, but is very easy to use. It will run any kind of screen you like, including low 52 week numbers. (No, I don't get anything for recomm... |
Is it a bad idea to invest a student loan? | This answer is better served as a comment but I don't have enough rep. It is not guaranteed that they 'do not accrue interest while you are a full time student'. Some student loans can capitalize the interest - before pursuing leveraged investing, be sure that your student loan is not capitalizing. https://www.salliem... |
How to invest in gold at market value, i.e. without paying a markup? | if you bought gold in late '79, it would have taken 30 years to break even. Of all this time it was two brief periods the returns were great, but long term, not so much. Look at the ETF GLD if you wish to buy gold, and avoid most of the buy/sell spread issues. Edit - I suggest looking at Compound Annual Growth Rate an... |
How and where to get the time series of the values USDEUR? | The Federal Reserve Bank publishes exchange rate data in their H.10 release. It is daily, not minute by minute. The Fed says this about their data: About the Release The H.10 weekly release contains daily rates of exchange of major currencies against the U.S. dollar. The data are noon buying rates in New York for c... |
Deductible expenses paid with credit card: In which tax year would they fall? | Being a professional auditor and accountant, deduction against expenses are claimed in the year in which expenses has been incurred. It has no relationship with when it is paid. For example, we may buy on credit does not mean that they will be allowed in the period in which it is paid. This is against the fundamental a... |
Can I trust the Motley Fool? | Upselling you is how they make money. That's the price of the free content. Test their recommendations. Pretend to buy the stocks they say. How do they do? Do they ever say to sell the stocks after their buy recommendations? There are lots and lots of opinions out there. I doubt people really hear about the good o... |
Why does short selling require borrowing? | It's actually quite simple. You're actually confusing two concept. Which are taking a short position and short selling itself. Basically when taking a short position is by believing that the stock is going to drop and you sell it. You can or not buy it back later depending on the believe it grows again or not. So basic... |
What does “netting” mean in this passage? | netting means to combine cash inflows and outflows (e.g. debits/credits, payments/receipts, income/expense) by subtracting the sum of all outflows from the sum of all inflows, creating one transaction. For example, if you make two trades in one day with your broker - one to buy a security for $100 and one to sell it ... |
Why is it possible to just take out a ton of credit cards, max them out and default in 7 years? | The U.S. bankruptcy laws no longer make it simple to discharge credit card debt, so you can't simply run up a massive tab on credit cards and then just walk away from them anymore. That used to be the case, but that particular loophole no longer exists the way it once did. Further, you could face fraud charges if it c... |
What is market capitalization? [duplicate] | Market Capitalization is the value the market attributes to the company shares calculated by multiplying the current trading price of these shares by the total amount of shares outstanding. So a company with 100 shares trading at $10 has a market cap of $1000. It is technically not the same as the value of a company (i... |
Want to buy above market price? | Buy and sell orders always include the price at which you buy/sell. That's how the market prices for stocks are determines. So if you want to place a buy order at 106, you can do that. When that order was fulfilled and you have the stock, you can place a sell order at 107. It will be processed as soon as someone places... |
Some stock's prices don't fluctuate widely - Is it an advantages? | What is your investment goal? Many investors buy for the long haul, not short-term gain. If you're looking for long-term gain then daily fluctuations should be of no concern to you. If you want to day-trade and time the market (buy low and sell high with a short holding period) then yes less volatile stock can be le... |
How can a U.S. citizen open a bank account in Europe? | Each country will have different rules. I can only speak about the Netherlands. There, there are two options as a resident to open an account. You needed a BSN (Dutch ID number) or a strong reference from an international company sponsoring your residence there at a bank branch that dealt frequently with foreign cust... |
Hypothetical: can taxes ever cause a net loss on otherwise-profitable stocks? | This was the day traders dilemma. You can, on paper, make money doing such trades. But because you do not hold the security for at least a year, the earnings are subject to short term capital gains tax unless these trades are done inside a sheltered account like a traditional IRA. There are other considerations as wel... |
Do options always expire on third Friday of every month | Prior to 2005, the only SPY options that existed were the monthly ones that expire on the third Friday of every month. But in 2005, the Chicago Board Options Exchange introduced SPY weekly options that expire every Friday (except that there is no weekly option that expires on the same day as a monthly option). These ... |
Why does shorting a call option have potential for unlimited loss? | You are likely making an assumption that the "Short call" part of the article you refer to isn't making: that you own the underlying stock in the first place. Rather, selling short a call has two primary cases with considerably different risk profiles. When you short-sell (or "write") a call option on a stock, your pos... |
Can I write off time I spent working on my business? | To expand a little on what littleadv said, you can only deduct what something cost you. Even if you had done volunteer work for a charity as a sole prop you could only deduct your actual costs. If you paid an employee to do charity work or to learn something related to the business that would be deductible as a normal ... |
Why can't you just have someone invest for you and split the profits (and losses) with him? | You are conflating two different types of risk here. First, you want to invest money, and presumably you're not looking at the "lowest risk, lowest returns" end of the spectrum. This is an inherently risky activity. Second, you are in a principal-agent relationship with your advisor, and are exposed to the risk of yo... |
Standard Deviation with Asset Prices? | Almost every online datasources provide historical prices on given company / index's performance; from this, you can easily calculate "standard deviation" by yourself. With that said, standard deviation presumes a fixed set of data. Most public corporations have data spanning multiple decades, during which a number of ... |
Car dealers offering lower prices when financing a used car | It is a legitimate practice. The dealers do get the loan money "up front" because they're not holding the loan themselves; they promptly sell it to someone else or (more commonly) just act as salesmen for a lending institution and take their profit as commission or origination fees. The combined deal is often not a goo... |
Can a shareholder be liable in case of bankruptcy of one of the companies he invested in? | I am a tax lawyer and ALL the RESPONSES ABOVE are 1/2 Correct but also 1/2 Wrong and in tax law this means 100% WRONG (BECAUSE ANY PART INCORRECT UNDER TAX LAW will get YOU A HUGE PENALY and/or PRISON TIME by way of the IRS! So in ESSENCE ALL the above answers are WRONG! Let me enlighten you to the correct answer in 5... |
What are the tax consequences if my S corporation earns money in a foreign country? | Be careful here: If ACME were in California, I would pay taxes on USD 17,000 because I had revenue of 20,000 and expenses of 3,000. To CALIFORNIA. And California taxes S-Corps. And, in addition, you'd pay $800 for the right of doing business in the State. All that in addition to the regular Federal and State taxes to... |
What are the marks of poor investment advice? | My "bad advice detector" gets tingled by the following: |
US tax for a resident NRI | Please declare everything you earn in India as well as the total amount of assets (it's called FBAR). The penalties for not declaring is jail time no matter how small the amount (and lots of ordinary people every 2-3 years are regularly sent to jail for not declaring such income). It's taken very seriously by the IRS -... |
2 houses 450k each or one 800k? | Because it appears you have in the neighborhood of 30 years remianing on your mortgage for the first house, If you can sell it you will likely be better off in the end. While renting has the potential for greater income it is a business. And like any business there are risks, expenses, and work required to make it su... |
Investment for young expatriate professionals | That's a broad question, but I can throw some thoughts at you from personal experience. I'm actually an Australian who has worked in a couple of companies but across multiple countries and I've found out first hand that you have a wealth of opportunities that other people don't have, but you also have a lot of problem... |
Why would you sell your bonds? | Investment strategies abound. Bonds can be part of useful passive investment strategy but more active investors may develop a good number of reasons why buying and selling bonds on the short term. A few examples: Also, note that there is no guarantee in bonds as you imply by likening it to a "guaranteed stock dividend"... |
Are stock prices likely drop off a little bit on a given friday afternoon? | It is called the Monday Effect or the Weekend Effect. There are a number of similar theories including the October Effect and January Effect. It's all pretty much bunk. If there were any truth to traders would be all over it and the resulting market forces would wipe it out. Personally, I think all technical analysis h... |
Short or Long Term Capital Gains for Multiple Investments | The default is FIFO: first in - first out. Unless you specifically instruct the brokerage otherwise, they'll report that the lot you've sold is of Jan 5, 2011. Note, that before 2011, they didn't have to report the cost basis to the IRS, and it would be up to you to calculate the cost basis at tax time, but that has be... |
Why can it be a bad idea to buy stocks after hours? | Unless you want to be a short term day trader, then it is not foolish to be an end of day trader. If you are looking to be a medium to long term trader/investor then it is quite acceptable to put orders in after market close. Some would say it is even less risky, because you are not watching the price fluctuate up and ... |
Why I cannot find a “Pure Cash” option in 401k investments? | The short term bond fund, which you are pretty certain to have as an option, functions in this capacity. Its return will be low, but positive, in all but the most dramatic of rising rate scenarios. I recall a year in the 90's when rates rose enough that the bond fund return was zero or very slightly negative. It's not... |
Does borrowing from my 401(k) make sense in my specific circumstance? | The set of circumstances that 401k loans make sense, are very small. As you would expect yours is not one of them. You make 70K per year and need 6500. Interest rate is not your problem, budgeting is the problem. Pay this off in three months not the 48 you are proposing. Why is borrowing from your 401K a bad idea,... |
If stock price drops by the amount of dividend paid, what is the use of a dividend | I'm not a financial expert, but saying that paying a $1 dividend will reduce the value of the stock by $1 sounds like awfully simple-minded reasoning to me. It appears to be based on the assumption that the price of a stock is equal to the value of the assets of a company divided by the total number of shares. But that... |
If I sell a stock that I don't have, am I required to buy it before a certain amount of time? | I'm just began playing in the stock market. I assume you mean that you're not using real money, but rather you have an account with a stock simulator like the one Investopedia offers. I am hopeful that's the case due to the high level of risk involved in short selling like you're describing. Here is another post abou... |
Can a wealthy investor invest in or make a deal with a company before it goes public / IPO? | IPO is "Initial Public Offering". Just so you know. The valuations are done based on the company business model, intellectual property, products, market shares, revenues and profits, assets, and future projections. You know, the usual stuff. Yes, it is. And very frequently done. In fact, I can't think of any company th... |
Where can I find the nominal price of a stock prior a split into multiple companies? | Yahoo Finance provides the proper closing price. HP's historical data around the split date can be found here. The open, high and low of the day are wrong prior the split, but the closing price is right and for HP, it was $26.96 USD. The next day the closing price was $13.83 USD. |
How to become an investment banker? | Since you are only 16, you still have time to mature what you will do with your life, always keep your mind opend. If you are really passionated about investement : read 1 book every week about investement, read the website investopedia, financial time, know about macro economic be good a math in school, learning codin... |
Lease vs buy car with cash? | A lease is a rental plain and simple. You borrow money to finance the expected depreciation over the course of the lease term. This arrangement will almost always cost more over time of your "ownership." That does not mean that a lease is always a worse "deal." Cars are almost always a losing proposition; save for... |
Is there any instance where less leverage will get you a better return on a rental property? | If you are calculating simple ROI, the answer is straightforward math. See This Answer for some examples, but yes, with more leverage you will always see better ROI on a property IF you can maintain a positive cash flow. The most complete answer is to factor in your total risk. That high ROI of a leveraged property i... |
Investing for Dummys | Books are a great place to start, Jason Kelly's The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing will give you a broad foundation of the stock & bond market. |
IRR vs. Interest Rates | Yes, assuming that your cash flow is constantly of size 5 and initial investment is 100, the following applies: IRR of 5% over 3 years: Value of CashFlows: 4.7619 + 4.5351 + 4.3192 = 13.6162 NPV: 100 - 13.6162 = 86.3838 Continuous compounding: 86.3838 * (1.05^3) = 100 |
How can I avoid international wire fees or currency transfer fees? | Be aware that ATM withdrawals often generate hidden fees, which are not obviously declared. Many banks operate e.g. with a currency exchange fee, giving you an exchange rate some 1-2% lower than actually applicable. If you withdraw larger amounts, such a currency exchange fee easily adds up to what you would have paid ... |
Does VSMAX invest in smaller companies than FSEVX? | You are comparing apples and oranges: the charts show the capital appreciation excluding dividends. If you include dividends and calculate a total return over that period you see VSMAX up 132% vs. FSEVX up 129%, i.e. quite close. That residual difference is possibly due to a performance difference between the two bench... |
Deductions greater than Income : Traditional IRA to Roth Conversion? | Yes. A most emphatic yes. I suggest you look at your 2014 return and project what 2015 will look like. I'd convert enough to "top off" the 15% bracket. Note, if you overshoot it, and in April 2016, see that you are say $5K into the 25% rate, you can just recharacterize the amount you went over and nail the bracket to ... |
If I put a large down payment (over 50%) towards a car loan, can I reduce my interest rate and is it smart to even put that much down? | Can you reduce your interest rate? Talk to the lender. Maybe. Probably not. The rate reflects their perception of how much of a risk they're taking with the loan. But if all you're borrowing is $2000, the savings that you might get out of any adjustment to the rate is not going to be all that significant. Sure, it woul... |
How much money should I lock up in my savings account? | Lets imagine two scenarios: 1) You make 10.4k (40% of total income) yearly contributions to a savings account that earns 1% interest for 10 years. In this scenario, you put in 104k and earned 5.89k in interest, for a total of 109.9k. 2) You make the same 10.4k yearly contribution to an index fund that earns 7% on avera... |
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 Fibonacci values? | Usually when a stock is up-trending or down-trending the price does not go up or down in a straight line. In an uptrend the price may go up over a couple of days then it could go down the next day or two, but the general direction would be up over the medium term. The opposite for a downtrend. So if the stock has been ... |
Stock sale cost basis calculations for 2013, now that rules changed, is FIFO or another method the smartest financially? | Once again I offer some sage advice - "Don't let the tax tail wag the investing dog." Michael offers an excellent method to decide what to do. Note, he doesn't base the decision on the tax implication. If you are truly indifferent to holding the stock, taxwise, you might consider selling just the profitable shares if ... |
Mortgage or not? | Better in terms of what? less taxes paid? or more money to save for retirement? In terms of retirement, it would be better for you to keep the condo you currently have for at least two reasons: You wouldn't incur the penalties and fees from buying and selling a home. Selling and buying a home comes with a multitude of ... |
I spend too much money. How can I get on the path to a frugal lifestyle? | Since you ask.... How do I do it? My frugality doesn't come from budgeting or even half so much from keeping money away from myself (though mostly-one-way retirement accounts help). It's a matter of world-view. Spending and shopping for things you don't need is a vice. Limit your indulgence in it. I've also made wastef... |
What is the incentive for a bank to refinance a mortgage at a lower rate? | It also reduces risk from the bank's eyes. Believe it or not, they do lose out when people don't pay on their mortgages. Take the big 3 (Wells, Chase and BoA). If they have 50 million mortgages between the 3 of them and 20% of people at one point won't be able to pay their mortgage due to loss of income or other factor... |
Ongoing things to do and read to improve knowledge of finance? | Good luck! |
Self-employment alongside full-time job | What you need to do is register as a sole trader. This will automatically register you for self assessment so you don't have to do that separately. For a simple business like you describe that's it. Completing your self assessment will take care of all your income tax and national insurance obligations (although as me... |
Price graphs: why not percent change? | I am in complete agreement with you. The place i have found with the sort of charts you are looking for is stockcharts.com. To compare the percentage increase of several stocks over a period of 2 market-open days or more, which is quite useful to follow the changes in various stocks… etc., an example: Here the tick... |
What does pink-sheet mean related to stocks? | It's an over-the-counter stock quote system. Read all about it. Or visit it. |
Loan to S-Corp cannot be paid back, how to deduct from personal taxes? | Once the business is shut down, you'll need to show that the corporation is in bankruptcy and the amounts are unrecoverable. You can then report it as investment loss. I suggest talking to a tax adviser (EA/CPA licensed in your State), and maybe an attorney, on what the specific technical details are. |
File bankruptcy, consolidate, or other options? | I think you're asking yourself the wrong question. The real question you should be asking yourself is this: "Do I want to a) give my parents a $45,000 gift, b) make them $45,000 loan, or c) neither?" The way you are talking in your question is as if you have the responsibility and authority to manage their lives. Wh... |
How to spend more? (AKA, how to avoid being a miser) | here is what I have learned with multiple close encounters with bankruptcies: ask yourself.. what if I save vs what if I spend? say you like a new shirt.. ask yourself what can you do saving $40 vs rewarding yourself/your well wishers right away? you will end up spending. just like you the other person needs money. he/... |
What is 'consolidating' debt and why do people do it? | With the scenario that you laid out (ie. 5% and 10% loans), it makes no sense at all. The problem is, when you're in trouble the rates are never 5% or 10%. Getting behind on credit cards sucks and is really hard to recover from. The problem with multiple accounts is that as the banks tack on fees and raise your interes... |
Cashing a cheque on behalf of someone else | If the cheque is not crossed, then your friend can write "payable to [your name]" above his signature when he endorses it. If it is crossed, you'll have to deposit it into his account. Given that one can deposit cheques at ATMs, this shouldn't require his presence. Just make sure he endorses it before you leave! It als... |
One Share Stock Reverse Split | Any time there is a share adjustment from spin-off, merger, stock split, or reverse slit; there is zero chance for the stockholders to hang on to fractional shares. They are turned into cash. For the employees in the 401K program or investors via a mutual fund or ETF this isn't a problem. Because the fraction of a sh... |
What does it mean for a company to have its market cap larger than the market size? | You are comparing two things that are not comparable. The "market size" would be the total annual revenue in one market, in this year. The "market caps" of a company is the number of shares multiplied by the share price. This should be equal to the total profit that the company is going to make through its life time,... |
How to chose index funds, mutual funds from a plethora of options (TD Ameritrade) | I agree with others here that suggest that you should be taking higher risk since it is repaid with higher returns. You have 40 years or so to go before you might switch to safer but lower return funds. I suggest that you look at the Morningstar rating for the funds you are considering: http://www.morningstar.com/ A fu... |
Why are interest rates on saving accounts so low in USA and Europe? | Banks in general will keep saving rates as low as possible especially if there is a surplus of funds or alternative access for funding as in the case of the Fed in the USA. Generally speaking, why would bank pay you a high interest rate when they cannot generate any income from your money? Usually we will expect to see... |
Paying estimated taxes in a quarter with losses | Yes, if you're caught up you can skip the quarter. |
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... |
Boyfriend is coowner of a house with his sister, he wants to sell but she doesn't | Dear "benevolent" sister, The mortgage, utilities, and taxes for this home can no longer be paid and the bank will repossess it within the coming months. Thank you for your time |
High expense ratio funds - are they worth it? | In almost every circumstance high expense ratios are a bad idea. I would say every circumstance, but I don't want backlash from anyone. There are many other investment companies out there that offer mutual funds for FAR less than 1.5% ratio. I couldn't even imagine paying a 1% expense ratio for a mutual fund. Vanguard... |
hardship withdrawal | Gaining traction is your first priority. WARNING: as @JosephZambrano explains in his answer the tax penalty for withdrawing from a 401(k) can easily exceed the APR of the credit card making it a very bad strategy. Consult in-depth with a financial advisor to see before taking that path. As @JoeTaxpayer has noted a loa... |
What is an effective way to convert large sums of US based investments to foreign currencies? | A stock, bond or ETF is basically a commodity. Where you bought it does not really matter, and it has a value in USD only inasmuch as there is a current market price quoted at an American exchange. But nothing prevents you from turning around and selling it on a European exchange where it is also listed for an equivale... |
401k vs. real estate for someone who is great at saving? | Apples and oranges. The stock market requires a tiny bit of your time. Perhaps a lot if you are interested in individual stocks, and pouring through company annual reports, but close to none if you have a mix of super low cost ETFs or index fund. The real estate investing you propose is, at some point, a serious time ... |
How to read options prices | This is exactly how I started, starting a simulation account on the CBOE website just to see what situation was profitable because it was all greek to me. Actually after learning the greeks, I realize that site was worse and eventually read some books and got better tools. The screenshot you have is telling you the str... |
How's the graph of after/pre markets be drawn? | Graphs are nothing but a representation of data. Every time a trade is made, a point is plotted on the graph. After points are plotted, they are joined in order to represent the data in a graphical format. Think about it this way. 1.) Walmart shuts at 12 AM. 2.)Walmart is selling almonds at $10 a pound. 3.) Walmart ... |
Can I use a different HSA than PayFlex that came with aetna? | Much of this is incorrect. Aetna owns Payflex for starters, and it's your EMPLOYER who decides which banks and brokers to offer, not Payflex. An HSA is a checking account with an investment account option after a minimum balance is met. A majority of U.S. employers only OFFER an HSA option but don't contribute a penny,... |
What are the gains from more liquidity in ETF for small investors? | One of the often cited advantages of ETFs is that they have a higher liquidity and that they can be traded at any time during the trading hours. On the other hand they are often proposed as a simple way to invest private funds for people that do not want to always keep an eye on the market, hence the intraday t... |
How do cashier's checks work and why are they good for scams? | There are two different issues at play here, and they are completely separate from each other: A bank or cashier's check is "safer" than a regular personal or business check because it avoids problem #1. Problem #2 exists with all kinds of paper checks. I assume the reason the warnings are about cashier's check moreso ... |
Is it bad etiquette to use a credit or debit card to pay for single figure amounts at the POS | I don't carry cash at all unless I know I'm going somewhere which requires it - this includes going to the corner shop for some milk or going to other countries for a week. Cards are easier for me - if a merchant wants my business they will take my money through whatever means they can. I don't think etiquette comes in... |
Did basically all mutual funds have a significant crash in 2008? | I will solely address your fear because from what I read you fear investing in something that could possibly go down in the future. This is almost identical to market timing, so let's use the SPY as an example. Look at the SPY on Yahoo Finance, specifically in 2011. The market experienced a little bit of a pull back... |
Buying back a covered Call | Your three options are: Options 2 and 3 are obviously identical (other than transaction costs), so if you want to keep the stock, go for option 1, otherwise, go for option 3 since you have the same effect as option 2 with no transaction costs. The loss will likely also offset some of the other short term gains you men... |
Should I keep most of my banking, credit, and investment accounts at the same bank? | For personal accounts, I can't imagine that this is too much of a problem. The only concern that I can think of (for American banks) is that FDIC only insures you up to $100,000 if the bank were to go belly-up. If you're getting over that amount of money, you may want to "diversify" a little more. |
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