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What industries soar when oil prices go up? | Generally speaking, you want to find goods and services that are inelastic and also require oil as a cost. Oil company stocks make record profits when oil is high, because direct demand for oil is relatively inelastic. Profit margins of oil competition should also go up, as this creates inflation in general, as people ... |
Dealership made me the secondary owner to my own car | You are co-signer on his car loan. You have no ownership (unless the car is titled in both names). One option (not the best, see below) is to buy the car from him. Arrange your own financing (take over his loan or get a loan of your own to pay him for the car). The bank(s) will help you take care of getting the titl... |
Trader Fostering Program on Futures Day Trading | a) Contracts are for future delivery of said underlying. So if you are trading CL (crude oil) futures and don't sell before delivery date, you will be contacted about where you want the oil to be delivered (a warehouse presumably). 1 contract is the equivalent of 1000 barrels. b) 600 contracts depends entirely on what ... |
Does reading financial statements (quarterly or annual reports) really help investing? | I agree with @STATMATT. Financial statements are the only thing that Warren Buffett & Charlie Munger read. To answer your question though, really depends on what type of investor you are and what information are you trying to extract. It is essential for the Buffett style (buy & hold). But if you are a short term o... |
Why do most banks in Canada charge monthly fee? | You have to check your contract to be sure what is it you're paying for. Typically, you get some of the following features which can be unavailable to you in banks which don't charge a monthly fee: Arguably, these expenses could be paid by the interest rates your money earn to the bank. Notice how banks which don't cha... |
How do I know if refinance is beneficial enough to me? | When evaluating a refinance, you need to figure out the payback time. Refinancing costs money in closing costs. The payback time is the time it takes to recover the closing costs with the amount of money you are saving in interest. For example, if the closing costs are $2,000, your payback time is 2 years if it takes ... |
How to pay for Alzheimer's care? | The cost of Alzheimer's care depends on the facility that provides this care. Specialized facilities usually have higher costs than general geriatric care ones. Though there are several ways to cover the cost: I think you'd better read the article http://www.autumngrove.com/blog/how-to-pay-for-alzheimers-care/ or learn... |
Is sales tax for online purchases based on billing- or shipping address? | Apparently it's based on either the address of the seller or vendor or your shipping address; from the AccurateTax.com blog post Destination and Origin Based Sales Tax: ... a few states have laws that are origin-based, where products that are shipped to the customer are taxed based on the location of the business itsel... |
What's a normal personal debt / equity ratio for a highly educated person? | What is your biggest wealth building tool? Income. If you "nerf" your income with payments to banks, cable, credit card debt, car payments, and lattes then you are naturally handicapping your wealth building. It is sort of like trying to drive home a nail holding a hammer right underneath the head. Normal is broke... |
Bond ETFs vs actual bonds | ETFs are just like any other mutual fund; they hold a mix of assets described by their prospectus. If that mix fits your needs for diversification and the costs of buying/selling/holding are low, it's as worth considering as a traditional fund with the same mix. A bond fund will hold a mixture of bonds. Whether that mi... |
Is it legal if I'm managing my family's entire wealth? | You can perfectly well manage their wealth without transferring their money into your account first. Just make them open their own account on their name then ask them for credentials and then manage their money from within their own account. That way everyone will be taxed according to their wealth (which is probably a... |
First job: Renting vs get my parents to buy me a house | Firstly, I'm going to do what you said and analyze your question taking your entire family's finances into account. That means giving you an answer that maximizes your family's total wealth rather then just your own. If instead of that your question really was, should I let my parents buy me a house and live rent free,... |
I have savings and excess income. Is it time for me to find a financial advisor? | Is my financial status OK? If not, how can I improve it? I'm going to concentrate on this question, particularly the first half. Net income $4500 per month (I'm taking this to be after taxes; correct me if wrong). Rent is $1600 and other expenses are up to $800. So let's call that $2500. That leaves you $2000 a mo... |
I'm an American in my mid 20's. Is there something I should be doing to secure myself financially? | I may be walking on thin ice but that's never stopped me from answering before. ;) I have a PhD in physics. I knew that I wasn't a die-hard publisher so I didn't pursue academia. A postdoc will likely pay about what a person with a BS in math could make in industry, but you're now a few years past that age. You'll be... |
What are some good, easy to use personal finance software? [UK] | Money Dashboard and Love Money look like two best options out there now that Kublax closed their doors. Mint were making noises last year about spreading to UK/Canada, but I've not heard anything new about that. |
How do rich people guarantee the safety of their money, when savings exceed the FDIC limit? | Rich people use "depositor" banks the same way the rest of us use banks; to keep a relatively small store of wealth for monthly expenses and a savings account for a rainy day. The bulk of a wealthy person's money is in investments. Money sitting in a bank account is not making you more money, and in fact as Kaushik cor... |
How can I generate $250/month every month from $4000 that I have? | How can I use $4000 to make $250 per month for the rest of my life? This means the investment should generate close to 6.25% return per month or around 75% per year. There is no investment that gives this kind of return. The long term return of stock market is around 15-22% depending on the year range and country. |
Unmarried couple buying home, what are the options in our case? | Personally I would advise only buying what you can afford without borrowing money, even if it means living in a tent. Financially, that is the best move. If you are determined to borrow money to buy a house, the person with income should buy it as sole owner. Split ownership will create a nightmare if any problems deve... |
Trouble sticking to a budget when using credit cards for day to day transactions? | First of all, I have to recognize up front that my "spending personality" is frugal. I don't recreational shop, and I save a lot of my total income. Building a budget and sticking to it is difficult, especially for people who are closer to living paycheck to paycheck than I. Theoretically, it should be easy to stick to... |
Negatives to increased credit card spending limit? [duplicate] | The only drawback is if you spend more than you can with the new limit and end up having to pay interest if you can't pay the balance in full. Other than that, there are no drawbacks to getting a credit increase. On the flip side, it's actually good for you. It shows that the banks trust you with more credit, and it a... |
How to avoid getting back into debt? | Depending on how marketable your degree is, in the long run you may be better aquiring some student debt rather than slowing down your studies. For example finishing finance, medicine, or engineering a year later would mean one less year of your life that you are earning substantial income. The only situation where sl... |
Should I file a change of address with the IRS? | The most important thing to do when moving is to change your address with the post office. This will forward most mail for a year, and even automatically send change of address notices to many businesses that send mail to you. If you do this, and the IRS needs to send you something over the next year, you'll get it. T... |
Withdraw funds with penalty or bear high management fees for 10 years? | Most financial "advisors" are actually financial-product salesmen. Their job is to sweet-talk you into parting with as much money as possible - either in management fees, or in commissions (kickbacks) on high-fee investment products** (which come from fees charged to you, inside the investment.) This is a scrappy, cu... |
What happens to my savings if my country defaults or restructures its debt? | In theory, anything can happen, and the world could end tomorrow. However, with a reasonably sane financial plan you should be able to ride this out. If the government cannot or won't immediately pay its debt in full, the most immediate consequence is that people are going to be unwilling to lend any more money in fut... |
GBP savings, what to do with them if leaving the U.K. in about 2 years time? | In general, to someone in a similar circumstance I might suggest that the lowest-risk option is to immediately convert your excess currency into the currency you will be spending. Note that 'risk' here refers only to the variance in possible outcomes. By converting to EUR now (assuming you are moving to an EU country u... |
What does this mean? SELL -10 VERTICAL $IYR 100 AUG 09 32/34 CALL @.80 LMT | SELL -10 VERTICAL $IYR 100 AUG 09 32/34 CALL @.80 LMT 1) we are talking about options, these are a derivative product whose price is based on 6 variables. 2) options allow you to create risk out of thin air, and those risks come with shapes, and the only limit is your imagination (and how much your margin/borrowing cos... |
In what state should I register my web-based LLC? | In GA, LLC fees are $50 a year. Incorporating is a one time $100 fee. This information is current as of September 2013. |
Why is economic growth so important? | There is an economic principle called "non-satiation," which translated into plain English means "people always want more." (This was best illustrated in the movie, Oliver Twist, "Please sir, can I have MORE?") Over time, most people won't be satisfied with "things as they are." Which is why growth is so important. Man... |
If I buy a share from myself at a higher price, will that drive the price up so I can sell all my shares the higher price? | Yes it is possible but with a caveat. It is a pattern that can be observed in many lightly traded stocks that usually have a small market cap. I am talking about a stock that trades less than 2,000 shares per day on average. |
Are there disadvantages to day trading ETFs? | ETFs are well suited to day trading, but you should be mindful of the bid-ask spread. See article: Commission-free ETFs are a great way to save money, but watch the bid-ask spread too. Bid-ask spread is largely a function of liquidity, or the volume of buyers and sellers for an asset during a particular moment in tim... |
How common are stock/scrip dividends (as opposed to cash dividends) in US equity markets? | Check out the NASDAQ and NYSE websites(the exchange in which the stock is listed) for detailed information. Most of the websites which collate dividend payments generally have cash payments history only e.g. Dividata. And because a company has given stock dividends in the past doesn't guarantee such in the future, I be... |
Making $100,000 USD per month, no idea what to do with it | If you already have 500k in a Schwab brokerage account, go see your Schwab financial consultant. They will assign you one, no charge, and in my experience they're sharp people. Sure, you can get a second opinion (or even report back here, maybe in chat?), but they will get you started in the right direction. I'd expect... |
Looking to buy a property that's 12-14x my income. How can it be done? | What options do I have? Realistically? Get a regular full time job. Work at it for a year or so and then see about buying a house. That said, I recently purchased a decent home. I am self-employed and my income is highly erratic. Due to how my clients pay me, my business might go a couple months with absolutely no ... |
Can paying down a mortgage be considered an “investment”? | Let's start from the premise that the mortgage is something you will have anyway because you need it to live (as opposed to say getting a bigger mortgage initially in the expectation of paying it down faster than scheduled). In that case I think paying down a mortgage certainly is an investment; one with a well-defined... |
When an investor makes money on a short, who loses the money? | The correct answer to this question is: the person who the short sells the stock to. Here's why this is the case. Say we have A, who owns the stock and lends it to B, who then sells it short to C. After this the price drops and B buys the stock back from D and returns it to A. The outcome for A is neutral. Typically... |
Why do some people go through contortions to avoid paying taxes, yet spend money on expensive financial advice, high-interest loans, etc? | I think sometimes this is simply ignorance. If my marginal tax rate is 25%, then I can either pay tax deductible interest of $10K or pay income tax of $2.5K. I think most americans don't realize that paying $10K of tax deductible interest (think mortgage) only saves them $2.5K in taxes. In other words, I'd be $7.5K... |
Why don't market indexes use aggregate market capitalization? | They do but you're missing some calculations needed to gain an understanding. Intro To Stock Index Weighting Methods notes in part: Market cap is the most common weighting method used by an index. Market cap or market capitalization is the standard way to measure the size of the company. You might have heard of lar... |
“Inflation actually causes people not to spend”… could it be true? | Inflation can go up for a number of reasons. Boom times can cause inflation, as everyone is making and spending a lot of money, so prices and inflation goes up. In times like these central banks usually increase interest rates to curb spending and thus bring down inflation. By raising interest rates the central bank is... |
Why are there many small banks and more banks in the U.S.? | Actually it seems you are not quite correct about the number of different banks in Canada. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banks_and_credit_unions_in_Canada According to this link there are 82-86 banks in Canada plus credit unions. This may still be lower than what would correspond to the number of banks in the U... |
Estate taxes and the top 1 percent by net worth | There are two key reasons: Consider a family of four, two kids and two adults, that has a net worth of $20 million. Each of these four people live in a top 1% household. But any of those four people can die, and their estate will not pay any estate tax. Both kids and one spouse can die, and still no estate tax will be ... |
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... |
Avoiding sin stock: does it make a difference? | Yes, it does matter. You are right that lower demand for a stock will drive its price down. Lower stock prices can hurt the company. Take a look at Fixee's answer to this question: a declining share price will make it hard to secure credit, attract further investors, build partnerships, etc. Also, employees are often h... |
Are BID and ASK the minimum and maximum? | So in your screenshot, someone or some group of someones is willing to buy 3,000 shares at $3.45, and someone or some group of someones is willing to sell 2,000 shares at 3.88. Without getting in to the specific mechanics, you can place a market buy order for 10 (or whatever number) shares and it will probably transact... |
(Legitimate & respectable) strategies to generate “passive income” on the Internet? | One idea that I read among some of the many, many personal finance blogs out there is to create a niche website with good content and generate some ad revenue. The example the author gave was a website he'd made with some lessons to learn basic Spanish. Something as specific as that has a reasonable chance of becoming ... |
Payroll reimbursments | Not correct. First - when you say they don't tax the reimbursement, they are classifying it in a way that makes it taxable to you (just not withholding tax at that time). In effect, they are under-withholding, if these reimbursement are high enough, you'll have not just a tax bill, but penalties for not paying enough ... |
Why do the 1 and 2 euro cent coins exist and why are they used? | While dealing with US pennies and not 1 and 2 cent euro pieces, you may find this Wikipedia article of interest and analogous: Penny debate in the United States This article briefly summarizes both the arguments for and against retaining the one cent piece. The arguments against include: Arguments for preservation inc... |
Can housing prices rise faster than incomes in the long run? | When over the long term housing costs in a area rise faster than wages rise, the demographic of who lives in the area changes. The size and income parameters change. A region that was full of young singles is now populated with couples with adult children, that means that the businesses and amenities have to change. At... |
For a major expensive home renovation (e.g. addition, finished basement, or new kitchen) should one pay cash or finance with a loan? Would such a loan be “good” debt? | The crucial question not addressed by other answers is your ability to repay the debt. Borrowing is always about leverage, and leverage is always about risk. In the home improvement loan case, default comes with dire consequences-- to extinguish the debt you might have to sell your home. With a stable job, reliable ... |
Is there a rule that a merchant must identify themself when making a charge | In some case the customer wants the name to be cryptic or misleading. They don't want to advertise the true nature of the business they visited. In other cases the transaction may be reported through another business. A few years ago the local PTA was having a silent auction as a fundraiser. A local business allowed th... |
How could the 14th amendment relate to the US gov't debt ceiling crisis? | Section Four of the amendment reads: The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payments of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. In other words, if President Obama wants to, he could unilaterally... |
For young (lower-mid class) investors what percentage should be in individual stocks? | I would not advise any stock-picking or other active management (even using mutual funds that are actively managed). There is a large body of knowledge that needs learning before you even attempt that. Stay passive with index funds (either ETFs or (even better) low-cost passive mutual funds (because these prevent you ... |
Unable to understand logic behind why there is no exit load on liquid fund | Imagine that a fund had a large exit load that declined over several years. If you wanted to sell some or all of your investment in that fund you would face a large fee, unless you held it a long time. You would be hesitant to sell because waiting longer would save you money. That is the exact opposite of a liquid inve... |
Strange values in ARM.L price data 1998-2000 from Yahoo | This is just a shot in the dark but it could be intermarket data. If the stock is interlisted and traded on another market exchange that day then the Yahoo Finance data feed might have picked up the data from another market. You'd have to ask Yahoo to explain and they'd have to check their data. |
Is there an investment account where I can owe taxes only if the net of capital gain and dividend payment is positive? | No such account exists as capital gains aren't realized until holdings are sold. For example: OR Both scenarios would result in you owing the appropriate taxes on a $40 gain from the dividends. The $100 gain or $100 loss that isn't realized (you haven't sold the stock) isn't accounted for until the year of sale. |
Stock Option Value correlated to net worth of company | There are a LOT of variables at play here, so with the info you've provided we can't give you an exact answer. Generally speaking, employee options at a startup are valued by a 409a valuation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal_Revenue_Code_section_409A) once a year or more often. But it's entirely possible that t... |
Why don't forced buy-ins of short sold stock happen much more frequently? | Nobody is going to short sell stocks through a lender that forces people to buy in as soon as it is getting good for them. |
Pros & cons of buying gold directly vs. investing in a gold ETF like GLD, IAU, SGOL? | If you want to speculate on gold price you should always buy an ETF/ETC (Exchange Traded Commodity). The reasons are simple: Easy to buy and sell (one mouse click) Cheap to buy and sell (small bank commission), compared to buy real gold (always 6 to 12% comission to the local shop when you buy and when you sell), see t... |
Does it make sense to talk about an ETF or index in terms of technical indicators? | With the disclaimer that I am not a technician, I'd answer yes, it does. SPY (for clarification, an ETF that reflects the S&P 500 index) has dividends, and earnings, therefore a P/E and dividend yield. It would follow that the tools technicians use, such as moving averages, support and resistance levels also apply. Ke... |
What assets would be valuable in a post-apocalyptic scenario? | Apocalyptic like MAD MAX, huh? Well, no one so far has mentioned Gasoline, not paper gasoline futures but the real thing in barrels or tankers. Guns, ammo, sure... but if everyone on the ground is shooting each other I'd prefer an ultralight helicopter. You all have watched MAD MAX, right? On a more serious note, ther... |
What are the usual terms of a “rent with an option to buy” situation? | While the other people have tried to answer your question as thoroughly as possible, I fear they are entirely incorrect in answering your question itself as it stands. The answer is that there are no usual terms. There are a handful of different options coming out now for this exact scheme. Examples include the UK Gove... |
Should the poor consider investing as a means to becoming rich? | Yes, you can indeed become rich by investing even small amounts over time. Let's say that you begin with nothing invested, and you start investing $100 per week. Suppose you choose to put your money in an S&P 500 index mutual fund. The CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of the S&P 500 over the last 35 years has been ab... |
Most common types of financial scams an individual investor should beware of? | Anything where the initial step of someone trying to get you into anything financial is to send you an e-mail. There are valid situations in which e-mails may be used to introduce you to a financial product or offer, such as if you have signed up for an electronic newsletter that includes such information. But in that ... |
What are my options to deal with Student Loan debt collectors? | You should hire a lawyer. The fact that they told you your personal information shows that they actually had it, and are not imposters, which is a good thing. The fact that they mislead you means that their intentions are not pure (which is not surprising coming from a collection agency of course). When dealing with co... |
What happens to bank account of non-resident alien who falls out of status? | Nothing happens. A bank is a business; your relationship with the bank doesn't change because your visa or immigration status changes. Money held in the account is still held in the account. Interest paid on the account is still taxable. And so on. If the account is inactive long enough, abandoned account rules may app... |
Confused about employee stock options: How do I afford these? | ISOs (incentive stock options) can be closed out in a cashless transaction. Say the first round vests, 25,000 shares. The stock is worth $7 but your option is to buy at $5 as you say. The broker executes and sells, you get $50,000, with no up front money. Edit based on comment below - you know they vest over 4 years, ... |
Is it ever a good idea to close credit cards? | It is an issue of both utilization and average age of accounts. If your cards with $0 balances on them are: A) newer cards than the ones you are carrying balances on and you don't want them B) much lower limit cards than the ones you are carrying balances on then you can raise your score by closing them, as the utiliza... |
Why invest in IRA while a low-cost index fund is much simpler? | Is that basically it? Trading off between withdrawing-anytime vs paying-capital-gain-tax? No. Another significant factor is dividends. In an IRA they incur no immediate tax and can be reinvested. This causes the account value to compound over the years. Historically, this compounding of dividends provides about half of... |
How to withdraw money from currency account without having to lose so much to currency conversion? | In answer to the "how I can perform withdrawal with the lower rate (having GBP)?" part of your question, as Joe stated you need to use another bank or currency exchange company to convert the GBP to PLN. Most of the UK banks charge similar amounts, and it's usually not possible to transfer the GBP to a foreign bank un... |
How would IRS treat reimbursement in a later year of moving expenses? | I believe moving reimbursement has to be counted as income no matter when you get it. I'd just put it under miscellaneous income with an explanation. |
Can the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) itself go bankrupt? | Not sure if I follow your question completely. Re: What if some fraud takes place that's too big even for it to fund? SIPC does not fund anything. What it does is takes over the troubled brokerage firm, books / assets and returns the money faster. Refer to SIPC - What SIPC Covers... What it Does Not and more specific... |
Are there any catches with interest from banks? Is this interest “too good to be true”? | The 1.09% is per year, not per month. Not too bad for a regular savings, but it's just interest rates in general that are bad right now. The inflation rate should be 3.8% currently so if you hide your money in a bank you'll end up with a loss of 2% in buying power in a year... If you open an CD (Certificate of Deposit)... |
When an in-the-money stock option expires does the broker always execute it or does its value become worthless if the owner doesn't execute it? | It depends on the broker, each one's rules may vary. Your broker should be able to answer this question for how they handle such a situation. The broker I used would execute and immediately sell the stock if the option was 25 cents in the money at expiration. If they simply executed and news broke over the weekend (opt... |
How does the value of an asset (valued in two different currencies) change when the exchange rate changes? | If there is a very sudden and large collapse in the exchange rate then because algorithmic trades will operate very fast it is possible to determine “x” immediately after the change in exchange rate. All you need to know is the order book. You also need to assume that the algorithmic bot operates faster than all other ... |
How to receive packages pseudonymously? | I've done this before for startup companies where I didn't want the mailing address to really obviously be my apartment or home address. Just for appearances. What you should be Googling are terms like "private mailbox center." If I recall correctly, I used to do this with Mail Boxes Etc before they were bought by UPS.... |
Can Per Diem deductions include family travel, meals and housing? | You cannot deduct anything. Since you're actually moving, your tax home will move with you. You can only deduct the moving expenses (actual moving - packing, shipping, and hotels while you drive yourself there). |
I have about 20 000 usd. How can invest them to do good in the world? | Vanguard has a Vanguard FTSE Social Index Fund. Their web page says "Some individuals choose investments based on social and personal beliefs. For this type of investor, we have offered Vanguard FTSE Social Index Fund since 2000. This low-cost fund seeks to track a benchmark of large- and mid-capitalization stocks tha... |
Taxes: Sold House this Year, Buying Next Year | To your first question: YES. Capital gains and losses on real-estate are treated differently than income. Note here for exact IRS standards. The IRS will not care about percentage change but historical (recorded) amounts. To your second question: NO Are you taxed when buying a new stock? No. But be sure to record t... |
Choose online stock trading companies | That all depends on you. The cheaper places are certainly going to cost less, but when it comes to comparing value that is a subjective decision that only you can make. Maybe the more expensive one has an easier to user website, friendlier customer service, or something else you value enough to pay more for trades. |
What is the best way to invest in gold as a hedge against inflation without having to hold physical gold? | Definitely look at CEF. They have tax advantages over GLD and SLV, and have been around for 50 years, and are a Canadian company. They hold their gold in 5 distributed vaults. Apparently tax advantage comes because with GLD, if you supposedly approach them with enough money, you can take out a "bar of gold". Just o... |
Buying real estate with cash | If they really want cash, you notify your bank in advance of the amount and have it put in your account, then you both sign the paperwork at the bank and after everything is signed you have the bank hand them the money. Guarding it after that is entirely their problem. Personally, I would consider this a stupid request... |
What options do I have at 26 years old, with 1.2 million USD? | Firstly, sorry about the accident. I am afraid you will need to do your own legwork, because you cannot trust other people with your money. It's a good thing you do not need to rush. Take your time to learn things. One thing is certain, you cannot let your money sit in a bank - inflation will digest them. You need to... |
I have savings and excess income. Is it time for me to find a financial advisor? | Whether your financial status is considered "OK" depends on your aspirations. You aren't spending more than you earn and have no debt. That puts you in the category of OK in my book, but the information in your post indicates that you would benefit from some financial advice--100 grand sounds like a lot of money to h... |
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... |
What is a good price to “Roll” a Covered Call? | If the call is in the money and you believe the reason for the price jump was an overreaction with a pullback on the horizon or you anticipate downward movement for other reasons, I will roll (sometimes for a strike closer to at the money) as long as the trade results in a net credit! You already have the statistical... |
How to invest in gold at market value, i.e. without paying a markup? | And you have hit the nail on the head of holding gold as an alternative to liquid currency. There is simply no way to reliably buy and sell physical gold at the spot price unless you have millions of dollars. Exhibit A) The stock symbol GLD is an ETF backed by gold. Its shares are redeemable for gold if you have more t... |
Good book-keeping software? | You should consider Turbocash. It's a mature open-source project, installed locally (thick client). |
Why is the volume highest at the beginning and end of a trading day? | While volume per trade is higher at the open and to a lesser extent at the close, the overall volume is actually lower, on average. Bid ask spreads are widest at the open and to a lesser extent at the close. Generally, bid ask spreads are inversely proportional to overall volumes. Why this is the case hasn't been suffi... |
Must ETF companies match an investor's amount invested in an ETF? | First, it's an exaggeration to say "every" dollar. Traditional mutual funds, including money-market funds, keep a small fraction of their assets in cash for day-to-day transactions, maybe 1%. If you invest $1, they put that in the cash bucket and issue you a share. If you and 999 other people invest $100 each, not off... |
Is there a dollar amount that, when adding Massachusetts Sales Tax, precisely equals $200? | Yes, it's a simple calculation. (x+0.0625x)=200 or x=200/1.0625 = $188.24 Technically $188.24 plus tax comes to $200.01. I would just eat the extra $0.01. |
Will there always be somebody selling/buying in every stock? | Will there be a scenario in which I want to sell, but nobody wants to buy from me and I'm stuck at the brokerage website? Similarly, if nobody wants to sell their stocks, I will not be able to buy at all? You're thinking of this as a normal purchase, but that's not really how US stock markets operate. First, just becau... |
I am looking for software to scan and read receipts | Scanning receipts is easy and any decent scanner will do a good job for you. The difficult part is the software that 'extracts' the data. Today there is no software that can do this really well because there is just too great a range of receipts (e.g. handwritten receipts, receipts in foreign languages, etc.). For this... |
Is it wise to have plenty of current accounts in different banks? | The original poster indicates that he lives in the UK, but there are likely strong similarities with the US banking system that I am more familiar with: The result is that you are likely going to be unable to be approved for 10 checking accounts opened in rapid succession, at least in the US. Finally, in the US, there ... |
Is there an academic framework for deciding when to sell in-the-money call options? | based on my understanding of your query...well you need to understand ATM and ITM options. The delta and gamma factor specifically. Usually delta of ATM is around 0.5 while ITM option is above than that say 0.6 or 0.8 or 0.9 and deep ITM is very close to 1. for every movement of 1 buck the ITM will move say 1.6, ATM 0... |
Why can't the government simply payoff everyone's mortgage to resolve the housing crisis? | Could it be done? Yes, it could, subject to local law. A variant of such an approach has been suggested for those countries experiencing collapse of demand. One might consider whether whether it applied to secured loans (such as mortgages), unsecured loans, or both; whether it would be capped at a certain absolute (say... |
How do you declare an interest free loan? | I am neither a lawyer nor a tax accountant, and if you're dealing with serious money I suggest you consult a professional. But my understanding is: If you make a loan at zero interest or at below-market rates, the IRS will consider the difference between the interest that you do charge and the market rate to be a gift.... |
Pensions, why bother? | James, money saved over the long term will typically beat inflation. There are many articles that discuss the advantage of starting young, and offer: A 21 year old who puts away $1000/yr for 10 years and stops depositing will be ahead of the 31 yr old who starts the $1000/yr deposit and continues through retirement. I... |
How can I invest in gold without taking physical possession? | You could buy shares of an Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) based on the price of gold, like GLD, IAU, or SGOL. You can invest in this fund through almost any brokerage firm, e.g. Fidelity, Etrade, Scotttrade, TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab, ShareBuilder, etc. Keep in mind that you'll still have to pay a commission and fees w... |
Is the need to issue bonds a telltale sign that the company would have a hard time paying coupons? | It (usually) is better to use Other Peoples Money (OPM) than your own. This is something that Donald Trump has mastered. If you use OPM and something goes wrong you can declare bankruptcy and wipe out that debt. The Donald has done this more than once. At the fantastic low Intrest rates a company would be wasting reso... |
Options for dummies. Can you explain how puts & calls work, simply? | (buy these when you expect the price to go down) You 'lock in' the price you can sell at. If the price goes down below the 'locked-in' price, you buy at the new low price and sell at the higher 'locked-in' price; make money. (buy these when you expect the price to go up) You 'lock in' the price you can buy at. If the... |
Understanding highly compensated employees within 401ks | There are some nuances with HCE definition. To answer your questions. It's compensation as defined by the plan. Usually it's gross comp, but it can exclude things like fringe benefits, overtime pay, commissions, bonuses, etc. The compensation test is also a look-back test, meaning that an EE is determined to be an HCE ... |
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