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Can I buy a new house before selling my current house?
As the other answers suggest, there are a number of ways of going about it and the correct one will be dependent on your situation (amount of equity in your current house, cashflow primarily, amount of time between purchase and sale). If you have a fair amount of equity (for example, $50K mortgage remaining on a house ...
Can compensation income from an employee stock purchase plan be negative?
The sentence you quoted does not apply in the case where you sell the stock at a loss. In that case, you recognize zero ordinary income, and a capital loss (opposite of a gain) for the loss. Reference: http://efs.fidelity.com/support/sps/article/article2.html
Should we prepay our private student loans, given our particular profile?
You're doing great. I'd suggest trying get putting 5-10% towards your retirement and the balance to the student loans. You are a little weak in retirement savings, but you have $550k house with 20% equity that you bought at the bottom of the market. That's a smart investment IMO, and in my mind compensates somewhat fo...
Investing $50k + Real Estate
I would say that, for the most part, money should not be invested in the stock market or real estate. Mostly this money should be kept in savings: I feel like your emergency fund is light. You do not indicate what your expenses are per month, but unless you can live off of 1K/month, that is pretty low. I would bump ...
Is compounding interest on investments a myth?
So my Question is this, in reality is investment in equities like the stock market even remotely resemble the type of growth one would expect if investing the same money in an account with compounding interest? Generally no as there is a great deal of volatility when it comes to investing in stocks that isn't wel...
Are the guaranteed returns of regulated utilities really what they sound like?
No. That return on equity number is a target that the regulators consider when approving price hikes. If PG&E tried to get a 20% RoE, the regulator would deny the request. Utilities are basically compelled to accept price regulation in return for a monopoly on utility business in a geographic area. There are obviously...
How bad is it to have a lot of credit available but not used?
Ironically, the worst financial advice I read comes from "bankers." The top dozen members here can be trusted to give better advice than the average banker. Your score is not improved by maintaining a balance, only by using the card(s) regularly. No need to carry charges month to month and pay interest, rather, have t...
What is the maximum number of options I can buy if the price is $0.01?
Options trading at $.01 have the same position limits as other options. Self regulatory organizations set the position limits for options which can be 250,000 contracts on one side of the book, as an example. Weeklies that are expiring soon have lots of liquidity while trading at $0.01, you can see this in Bank of Amer...
Remit money to India from balance transfer of credit card
As Dheer has already told you in his answer, your plan is perfectly legal, and there are no US tax issues other than making sure that you report all the interest that you earn in all your NRE accounts (not just this one) as well as all your NRO accounts, stock and mutual fund dividends and capital gains, rental income,...
What is the formula for the Tesla Finance calculation?
From here The formula is M = P * ( J / (1 - (1 + J)^ -N)). M: monthly payment RESULT = 980.441... P: principal or amount of loan 63963 (71070 - 10% down * 71070) J: monthly interest; annual interest divided by 100, then divided by 12. .00275 (3.3% / 12) N: number of months of amortization, determined by length in years...
Why are credit cards preferred in the US?
Credit card fraud protection (by law), credit card cash back programs (provided by most CC issuers), and debit card fees (commonly imposed by the merchant). The crux is that with CC transactions, a small percentage is remitted to the issuing bank. Since the banks are already making money hand over fist on CC's, they i...
Non Resident Alien(Working full time on F1-OPT) new car sales tax deduction
A non-resident alien is only allowed for deductions connected to producing a US-sourced income (See IRC Sec. 873). Thus you can only deduct things that qualify as business expenses, and State taxes on your wages. In addition you can deduct a bunch of stuff explicitly allowed (like tax preparation, charitable contributi...
Deducting Hobby Expenses on my Federal Income Taxes?
I suggest to start charging slightly more than needed to cover expenses. All you need is to show profit. It doesn't have to be significant - a couple of hundred of dollars of consistent yearly profit should suffice to show a profitable business. Then you can deduct on Schedule C all the related expenses. The caveat is ...
Why might it be advisable to keep student debt vs. paying it off quickly?
If the interest rate on the student loan is lower than inflation, then the student loan will be "cheaper" the longer you take to pay it. This is now a very rare instance, but there were programs and loan consolidation opportunities in the mid-200x's that allowed savvy student's to convert their loans to have an inter...
How to prevent myself from buying things I don't want
One of the most effective tools we have to keep ourselves from doing things is procrastination. Most of the time procrastination is a bad thing because we use it to avoid doing things we should be doing. But it's equally effective at keeping us from doing things that are not good for us, like overspending or overeati...
Buy or sell futures contracts
Futures contracts are a member of a larger class of financial assets called derivatives. Derivatives are called such because their payoffs depend on the price of other assets (financial or real). Other kinds of derivatives are call options, put options. Fixed income assets that mimic the behavior of derivatives are cal...
How are people able to spend more than what they make, without going into debt?
If you make $10 in salary, $5 in interest on savings, and $10 in dividends, your income is $25, not $10. If you have a billion dollars in well-invested assets, you can take a loan against those assets and the interest payment on the loan will be smaller than the interest you earn on the assets. That means your investme...
Is there a financial benefit for buyers from using community currencies?
Short answer: NO, there is no financial benefits for you to expect in a local currency even if some might give tiny discounts on local sales. Local currencies are attractive for small business or communities, they are perfectly legal and starting to be popular in a lot of places. Local currencies encourage individuals ...
Getting Cash from Credit Card without Fees
While I think this is generally inadvisable, there are sites and communities dedicated to "points churning" credit card reward programs. In general, no there is no easy way to get cash from a credit card, and receive the spending rewards, and not pay fees well in excess of your rewards value. However, there are people...
What should I be aware of when renting a home to a corporation instead of an individual?
This is business as usual, except that you need to keep in mind that the corporate entity is separate from the individual. As such - all the background checks and references should be with regards to the actual renter - the corporation. You should be cautious as it is not so easy to dissolve an individual (well... Not ...
Advantages of paying more of your mortgage while you know you won't continue to live there your whole life
I will add one thought on to this thread. This is a financial concept called "Net Present Value". In plain English, it means "What's the best use for your money right now?" So, let's say you have an extra €300/month which is not being spent on living expenses. If you leave that money under your pillow (or spend it on...
How can I diversify $7k across ETFs and stocks?
When you are starting out using a balanced fund can be quite advantageous. A balanced fund is represents a diversified portfolio in single fund. The primary advantage of using a balanced fund is that with it being a single fund it is easier to meet the initial investment minimum. Later once you have enough to transiti...
What would a stock be worth if dividends did not exist? [duplicate]
In the unlikely case that noone finds a way to extract resources from the company and distribute them to shareholders periodically in a way that's de facto equivalent to dividends, any company can be dissolved. The assets of the company would be sold for their market value, the liabilities would have to be settled, and...
Option trading: High dollar value stock option and equity exposure
Seems like you are concerned with something called assignment risk. It's an inherent risk of selling options: you are giving somebody the right, but not the obligation, to sell to you 100 shares of GOOGL. Option buyers pay a premium to have that right - the extrinsic value. When they exercise the option, the option imm...
Does the expense ratio of a fund-of-funds include the expense ratios of its holdings?
I just looked at a fund for my client, the fund is T Rowe Price Retirement 2015 (TRRGX). As stated in the prospectus, it has an annual expense ratio of 0.63%. In the fine print below the funds expenses, it says "While the fund itself charges no management fee, it will indirectly bear its pro-rata share of the expens...
Is engaging in stocks without researching unwise?
Stock recommendations and price history are an unwise way to invest. People that recommend stocks are usually compensation for recommending it. They are paid directly by third parties, that can be paid in shares, they can simply own the stock themselves and if the stock goes up they can sell it to new investors at a hi...
Where to start with personal finance?
I've recommended this book a few times on this site, and I'm going to do it again. Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties by Beth Kobliner Most of the personal finance advice books and blogs I have found focus too much on investing, or are more about "lifestyle" than finances, and left me...
Debit cards as bad as credit cards?
Debit cards are the dumbest development ever. I now have a piece of plastic that allows any yahoo to cause me to bounce my mortgage. Great. Throw away the debit card. Use a credit card and exercise some self control. Take out a sufficient amount of cash to cover your weekly incidental expenses under $50. If you want so...
Should I sell when my stocks are growing?
In my view, it's better to sell when there's a reason to sell, rather than to cap your gains at 8%. I'm assuming you have no such criteria on the other side - i.e. hold your losses down to 8%. That's because what matters is how much you make overall in your portfolio, not how much you make per trade. Example: if you ow...
If I make over 120k a year, what are my options for retirement plans?
First off, high five on the paycheck. There are a few retirement issues to deal with. 401k issues - At that income level, you will probably fall into the "Highly Compensated Employee" category, which means things get a little more complicated, both for you and your employer. (Wikipedia link) IRA issues - As you alrea...
HELOC vs. Parental Student Loans vs. Second Mortgage?
Thank God you have your child back, it is so awesome that you finally found a medical treatment that worked. It must have been a truly trying time in your lives. That situation is an important template in personal finance. Through no fault of your own, a series of events occurred that caused you to spend far more m...
Stock Exchange in US
The easiest route for you to go down will be to consult wikipedia, which will provide a comprehensive list of all US stock exchanges (there are plenty more than the ones you list!). Then visit the websites for those that are of interest to you, where you will find a list of holiday dates along with the trading schedule...
Why are taxes on actively managed funds higher than those on index funds?
This depends on the particular index, of course. Capital gains taxes occur when stock is sold (for a profit). This occurs less frequently in an index fund: Where an active manager frequently buys and sells stocks (after all, he wants to be active :-) ), the index fund only sells stocks when the particular stock leaves ...
Is freelance income earned by a U.S. citizen while living abroad subject to state income tax?
No state taxes, but Italy also has a favorable treaty with the US Federal Government. Look into to lowering your federal taxes to 5% ;) its a thick read, http://www.irs.gov/businesses/international/article/0,,id=169601,00.html and also try to determine if the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion applies to you, reducing you...
Why do volatility stocks/ETFs (TVIX, VXX, UVXY) trend down in the long-term?
Since these indices only try to follow VIX and don't have the underlying constituents (as the constituents don't really exist in most meaningful senses) they will always deviate from the exact numbers but should follow the general pattern. You're right, however, in stating that the graphs that you have presented are su...
P/E multiples for privately held companies?
You're indeed right, this cannot be answered affirmatively. I will try, without going too deep in details, to brush a shallow portrait In its simplest form, a going concern company could be valued by the present value of a growing perpetuity (Cash Flow/(Required return - growth)), assuming compounding perpetual growth....
Can increasing my tax withholding from my full-time job cover FICA taxes for my freelance work?
Technically you owe 'self-employment' taxes not FICA taxes because they are imposed under a different law, SECA. However, since SE taxes are by design exactly the same rates as combining the two halves of FICA (employer and employee) it is quite reasonable to treat them as equivalent. SE taxes (and income tax also) are...
How to share income after marriage and kids?
I haven't seen this addressed anywhere else, so I'll make a small answer to add on to the great ones already here. Money isn't the only way a person can contribute to a relationship. Time and effort are valuable contributions. Who runs the household? Who cooks, cleans, does laundry? How will you share these duties? My ...
Is Stock Trading legal for a student on F-1 Visa in USA? [duplicate]
You can buy and sell stocks, if you like. You'll have to pay taxes on any profits. And short-term is speculating, not investing, and has high risk
What does it mean “sell on ask” , “sell on bid” in stocks?
Honestly, I wonder if the other answerers aren't overthinking it. Their answers are detailed and correct, but what your coach may be saying is this: When you have bought a stock, on cash or margin, and you are watching it rise you are evaluating when you sell on the price of the stock you are seeing. In reality, you sh...
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...
Why are auto leases stubbornly strict about visa status and how to work around that?
Uh, you want to lease a car through a dealer? That is the worst possible way to obtain a car. Dealers love leases because it allows them to sell a car for an unnegotiated price and to hide additional fees. It's the most profitable kind of sale for them. The best option would be to buy a used car off of Craigslist or eB...
Ways to get individual securities from ETF's
Save the effort. For personal finance purpose, just use the simple tools. For example, if you like P&G very much but you want to diversify with ETF, use: http://etfdb.com/stock/PG/ https://www.etfchannel.com/finder/?a=etfsholding&symbol=PG Pick a ETF with highest weighting. Replace "PG" in the link with other tickers...
Dollar-cost averaging: How often should one use it? What criteria to use when choosing stocks to apply it to?
How often should one use dollar-cost averaging? Trivially, a dollar cost averaging (DCA) strategy must be used at least twice! More seriously, DCA is a discipline that people (typically investors with relatively small amounts of money to invest each month or each quarter) use to avoid succumbing to the temptation to ...
Why was my Credit Limit Increase Denied?
The bottom line is that you are kind of a terrible customer for them. Granted you are far better than one that does not pay his bills, but you are (probably) in the tier right above that. Rewards cards are used to lure the unorganized into out of control interest rates and late payments. These people are Capital One...
Best way to day trade with under $25,000
One way a lot of people bypass the pattern trading equity requirement is to open multiple brokerage accounts. You have $10k, put $5k in one and $5k in another. Although I don't recommend it!
Why is it rational to pay out a dividend?
First, you need to understand that not every investor's goals are the same. Some investors are investing for income. They want to invest in a profitable company and use the profit from the company as income. If that investor invests only in stocks that do not pay a dividend, the only way he can realize income is to se...
Money market account for emergency savings
Most emergencies are less than 1,000 in nature. As such I would keep at least that amount in a checking/savings account at the bank from which you pay your bills or can get cash from. This amount may increase so you can avoid low balance fees, or because of the nature of your life style and income. Beyond that, you c...
Meaning of “credit”
You're looking at the "wrong" credit. Here's the Wikipedia article about the bookkeeping (vs the Finance, that you've quoted) term.
What could a malicious party potentially achieve by having *just* a name, account number, and sort code?
I think the answer to this must differ from country to country. I have lived in several countries where the normal everyday way of making a payment is to instruct my bank to transfer the money to the recipient's account. Of course this means I must know his name, SC and account number – but this is an accepted part o...
Would it make sense to take a loan from a relative to pay off student loans?
Would it make sense to take a loan from a relative... Other people have pointed this out, but honestly, I'd be very reluctant to answer "yes" to this no matter how you completed that sentence. There's always an intangible risk to mixing money and relationships. There's a lot that can go wrong during the duration of the...
Why is a “long put” called long if you have a higher net position if the price decreases?
Long here does not mean you wish for the underlying stock to increase in value, in fact, as the chart shows, just the opposite is true. "Long means you bought the derivative, and you own the option. The guy that sold it to you is at your mercy, he is short the put, and it's your decision to put the stock to him should...
A merchant requests that checks be made out to “Cash”. Should I be suspicious?
There are benefits associated with a cash only business (the link states a few). However checks made out to "cash" don't reap those benefits listed. For anyone on SE to say your barber hides revenue from the IRS would just be speculation. With that said there are a great number of disadvantages for a cash only busines...
Repaying Debt and Saving - Difficult Situation
Like everybody else I'm picking up on the school loans - you're mother isn't exactly earning a massive amount of money given her cost of living, why is she taking out student loans that benefit you and your sister? I'm not trying to be offensive but it's fairly obvious that she can't afford it. As a first step I think ...
Rental Application Fees
Slightly abbreviated version of the guidance from NOLO.com California state law limits credit check or application screening fees landlords can charge prospective tenants and specifies what landlords must do when accepting these types of fees. (Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.6.) Here are key provisions: I am not a lawyer, but...
Why would someone want to buy an option on the day of expiry
The short answer to your initial question is: yes. The option doesn't expire until the close of the market on the day of expiration. Because the option is expiring so soon, the time value of the option is quite small. That is why the option, once it is 'in-the-money', will track so closely to the underlying stock pric...
Credit card closed. Effect on credit score (USA)
So My question is. Is my credit score going to be hit? Yes it will affect your credit. Not as much as missing payments on the debt, which remains even if the credit line is closed, and not as much as missing payments on other bills... If so what can I do about it? Not very much. Nothing worth the time it would ta...
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 ...
Do I even need credit cards?
There are numerous reasons that go beyond the immediate requirement for access to credit. Many people just plain don't like carrying cash. Before electronic debit cards became mainstream about the only way to pay for online services was with a credit card. This has now changed just about everywhere except a large num...
Do Square credit card readers allow for personal use?
I used square in the past for personal yard sale and they did not transfer balance to my bank acct because they told me it was against their policy and I had to have a business license that they could either refund the credit cards i process or keep the money. So they kept it I never got it back. I don't recommend anyb...
Do financial advisers in Canada who work at the bank, make investing decisions not in your best interest?
The way this works, as I understand it, is that financial advisers come in two kinds. Some are free to recommend you any financial products they think fit, but many are restricted in what they can recommend. Most advisers who work for finance companies are the second kind, and will only offer you products that their co...
Why might it be advisable to keep student debt vs. paying it off quickly?
I see two advantages to not paying student loan debt off more quickly: For #1, however, there are plenty of other ways to build credit and I don't see this as being worth the downsides of not paying off the debt more quickly. In fact, in the United States student loan debt cannot be written off if you go bankrupt. This...
Dealing with event driven market volatility
If you are worried about elections think about writing some calls against your long positions to help hedge. If you have MSFT (@ $51.38 right now) you could write a MSFT Call for lets say $55. You can bank $170 per 100 shares (let's say you write it at 1.70) (MSFT 01/20/2017 55.00 C 1.73 +0.01 Bid: 1.69 Ask: 1.77) If...
In a competitive market, why is movie theater popcorn expensive?
A multiplex is a concession stand which happens to show movies in order to lure you into range of the smell of their popcorn. It has nothing to do with movie theater monopolies. As it was explained to me by my manager, back when I worked in a movie theater in a small Midwestern chain, for every movie, the studios take...
Trouble sticking to a budget when using credit cards for day to day transactions?
Do yourself a favor: calculate the price of airfare, calculate how many points it takes to get a good flight, and calculate how many points you get per dollar spent. What you will find is that it is a ripoff. Leave the card at home and unlink it from your online purchasing accounts. You're welcome. If you really want t...
Why does the biotechnology industry have such a high PE ratio?
I want to elaborate on some of the general points made in the other answers, since there is a lot that is special or unique to the biotech industry. By definition, a high P/E ratio for an industry can stem from 1) high prices/demand for companies in the industry, and/or 2) low earnings in the industry. On average, the ...
Making higher payments on primary residence mortgage or rental?
Pay down the lower balance on the rental property. Generally speaking, you are more likely to need/want to sell the rental house as business conditions change or if you need the money for some other purpose. If you pay down your primary residence first, you are building equity, but that equity isn't as liquid as equity...
Ways to establish credit history for international student
I came to US as an international student several years ago, and I have also experienced the same situation like most of the international students in finding ways to build credit history. Below I list out some possible approaches you may want to consider: I. Get a student job at campus (recommended) I think the best wa...
What is a trust? What are the different types of trusts?
From a more technical point of view, a trust is a legal relationship between 3 parties: Trusts can take many forms. People setup trusts to ensure that property is used in a specific way. Owning a home with a spouse is a form of a trust. A pension plan is a trust. Protecting land from development often involves placing ...
Will a stop order get triggered if the floor is hit and trading is halted?
During a circuit breaker, no trading occurs. These policies have been implemented to maintain exchange liquidity since the NYSE nearly went bankrupt during the 1987 crash because many members had become insolvent. If an order is filled before the halt, it will stand unless busted. During the Flash Crash, many orders w...
What is the different between 2 :1 split and 1:1 split
There is no such thing as a "one for one" split. It's either N for 1, or 1 for N in a reverse split. And for either, N can't be 1. Yes a 3:2 can happen, but I still read it as 1.5 for 1.
Figuring flood insurance into financing cost
We recently had a sump pump fail during a rainy weekend. Never had more than an inch or so of water on the floor. Total cost to remove the water, dry out the basement, and repair the damage to the paneling and wallboard: more than $7,000 plus the new sump pump. We are not in a flood zone. In a flood zone the cost of ...
Must a company have a specific number of employees to do an IPO?
No, there is no minimum employee limit in order for a company to initiate an initial public offering.
Is Volvo a public company?
There are two different companies named "Volvo." The publicly-traded company with ticker symbol VOLV-B is called Volvo Group, or AB Volvo. They primarily build trucks, buses, and construction equipment. The company that makes the Volvo branded cars is called Volvo Cars. It is a privately-held company currently owned ...
Got a large cash sum, wanna buy stocks. Should I buy all at once, or spread it over time?
When you hear advice to buy index funds, that usually comes with two additional pieces of investment discipline advice that are important: These two elements are important to give you relative predictability in your outcome 20 years from now. In this old blog post of mine I linked to Warren Buffett talking about this,...
Why doesn’t every company and individual use tax-havens to pay less taxes?
And yet, the same law that these individuals and companies use to lower their taxes applies for every citizen and company of the country. Thus, in principle, every individual and company could make use of these methods. Clearly, they do not. Why? Misconception number 1. How did you conclude they do not? Because N...
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...
Google Finance: Input Parameters For Simple Moving Averages
The difference is that for the one year time frame the data is represented based on daily data and the SMA is 20 days, whilst for the 5 year timeframe the data is automatically represented as weekly data with the SMA represented by 20 weeks not 20 days anymore. This happens due to daily data on this chart being too muc...
Advantages of paying more of your mortgage while you know you won't continue to live there your whole life
The main factors you have to consider are: Could you get a better return on that money by investing it somewhere? The investment rate should basically be more than the mortgage rate. If you find yourself suddenly in need of money (eg, loss of job) do you have enough savings to ride that out? If not, investing the ext...
Is investing in an ETF generally your best option after establishing a Roth IRA?
ETFs are a type of investment, not a specific choice. In other words, there are good ETFs and bad. What you see is the general statement that ETFs are preferable to most mutual funds, if only for the fact that they are low cost. An index ETF such as SPY (which reflects the S&P 500 index) has a .09% annual expense, vs a...
Student loan payments and opportunity costs
As Mr. Money Money Mustache once said: IF YOU HAVE CREDIT CARD DEBT, YOU SHOULD FEEL LIKE YOUR HAIR IS ON FIRE Student loan debt is different than credit card debt. Rather than having spent the money on just about anything, it was invested in improving yourself and probably your financial future. This was probably ...
Prepaying a loan: Shouldn't the interest be recalculated like a shorter loan?
Loans do not carry an "interest balance". You can not pay off "all the interest". The only way to reduce the interest to zero is to pay off the loan. Otherwise, the interest due each month is some percentage of the outstanding principal. Think of it from the bank's perspective: they've invested some amount of money in ...
Be a partner, CTO or just a freelancer?
I write software myself and was involved in a couple of start ups. One failed, another was wildly successful, but I did not receive much in compensation. The former I received stock, but since it failed, it was worthless anyway. There should be compensation for your time in addition to equity in a company. Any agre...
How do credit card payments work? What ensures the retailer charges the right amount?
When you give your credit card number and authorize a merchant to charge your credit card, the merchant then gives the information to their merchant processor which in turns bills the bank that issued the card (it's a little more complex and it all happens instantly unless the merchant is using the very old fasion impr...
Compute average price even if I do not have the prices before
What I do have is this (sample only): Stock X: Average Price of all I purchased before = 80 Total Shares = 200 So if Stock X's price today is 100 how do I know how much my average price will be? Using your sample if you buy 100 new shares and the price is 85 for the purpose of this example your previous total cost is $...
What is the future of 401(k) in terms of stability and reliability?
Let's pretend that the author of that article is not selling anything and is trying to help you succeed in life. I have nothing against sales, but that author is throwing out a lot of nonsense to sell his stuff and is creating a state of urgency so that people adopt this mindset. It's clever and it obviously works. F...
Why is the stock market closed on the weekend?
There are a number of factors here. 1) It's important that there is human oversight on the system. At one level someone needs to be monitoring the computers that manage the trading to be sure they are functioning. At another level someone needs to be making judgement calls on important but rare events: when you you sus...
What are some tips for getting the upper hand in car price negotiations?
JohnFX and TTT provide excellent answers. Researching prices others have paid, being up front that you'll go buy a junker car to hold you over if they won't meet your price, and playing a few dealerships off of each other are all great tactics. In addition, I've got a few points about timing your purchase. If you're no...
Getting over that financial unease? Budgeting advice
Budgeting is a tool for planning, not for execution. It sounds like you don't have a problem BUDGETING (planning what to spend on what things) but rather with the execution of your plan. That is - living frugally. This is primarily an issue of self control and personal psychology - not an issue with the mechanics of bu...
Can individuals day-trade stocks using High-Frequency Trading (HFT)?
Yes you can, but to do so successfully, you need lots of money. You also need to be able to meet the criteria for being classified as a "professional trader" by the IRS. (If not, you'll be buried in paperwork.) The fact that you're asking about it here probably means that you do not have enough money to succeed at HFT.
Currently sole owner of a property. My girlfriend is looking to move in with me and is offering to pay 'rent'. Am I at risk here?
Disclaimer: I am a law student, not a lawyer, and don't claim to have a legal opinion one way or another. My answer is intended to provide a few potentially relevant examples from case law in order to make the point that you should be cautious (and seek proper advice if you think that caution is warranted). Nor am I cl...
How feasible would it be to retire just maxing out a Roth IRA?
Interesting. The answer can be as convoluted/complex as one wishes to make it, or back-of-envelope. My claim is that if one starts at 21, and deposits 10% of their income each year, they will likely hit a good retirement nest egg. At an 8% return each year (Keep in mind, the last 40 years produced 10%, even with the l...
How does spot-futures arbitrage work in the gold market?
As proposed: Buy 100 oz of gold at $1240 spot = -$124,000 Sell 1 Aug 2014 Future for $1256 = $125,600 Profit $1,600 Alternative Risk-Free Investment: 1 year CD @ 1% would earn $1240 on $124,000 investment. Rate from ads on www.bankrate.com "Real" Profit All you are really being paid for this trade is the difference bet...
Personal Loan: How to define loan purpose
Does that justify the purpose? That is for individual Banks to decide. No bank would pay for daily expenditure if you are saying primary salary you are spending on eduction. So your declaration is right. You are looking at funding your eduction via loan and you are earning enough for living and paying of the loan. I no...
Live in Florida & work remote for a New York company. Do I owe NY state income tax?
New York State is one of a few states that will go after telecommuter taxes (such that some people may end up paying double tax even if they don't live in NY). There are a few ways that you can avoid this. If you NEVER come to NY for work, and your employer can stipulate that your position is only available to be fill...
Should I sell my stocks to reduce my debt?
Obviously, you should not buy stock when the option is to pay down your debt. However, your question is different. Should you sell to reduce debt. That really depends on your personal situation. If you were planning to sell the stock anyway, go ahead and reduce your loans. Check out how the stock is doing and what the ...
New York State - NY Tax on Foreign Sourced Income for NY Non-Resident
For Non-Resident filers, New York taxes New York-sourced income. That includes: real or tangible personal property located in New York State (including certain gains or losses from the sale or exchange of an interest in an entity that owns real property in New York State); services performed in New York State; a bu...
If I exercise underwater ISOs, can I claim a loss?
If you do this, you own a stock worth $1, with a basis of $2. The loss doesn't get realized until the shares are sold. Of course, we hope you see the stock increase above that price, else, why do this?
Should I use regular or adjusted close for backtesting?
A one year period of study - Stock A trades at $100, and doesn't increase in value, but has $10 in dividends over the period. Stock B starts at $100, no dividend, and ends at $105. However you account for this, it would be incorrect to ignore stock A's 10% return over the period. To flip to a real example, MoneyChimp...
Different ways of looking at P/E Ratio vs EPS
Check your math... "two stocks, both with a P/E of 2 trading at $40 per share lets say, and one has an EPS of 5 whereas the other has an EPS of 10 is the latter a better purchase?" If a stock has P/E of 2 and price of $40 it has an EPS of $20. Not $10. Not $5.