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Investment strategies for young adults with entrepreneurial leanings?
If you are an entrepreneur, and you are looking forward to strike on your own ( the very definition of entrepreneur) then I suggest that you don't invest in anything except your business and yourself. You will need all the money you have when you launch your business. There will be times when your revenue won't be able...
Comparing the present value of total payment today and partial payments over 3 months
Its kind of a dumb question because no one believes that you can earn 8% in the short term in the market, but for arguments sake the math is painfully easy. Keep in mind I am an engineer not a finance guy. So the first payment will earn you one month at 8%, the second, two. In effect three months at 8% on 997. You c...
Are PINs always needed for paying with card?
Security in the merchant services system is mainly handled in two ways: 1) Before transactions are done, the business itself must go through an application process similar (but not identical) to getting a loan. Some high risk businesses must pay higher fees due to the increased likelihood of customer complaints. 2) Wh...
Does doing your “research”/“homework” on stocks make any sense?
Doing your homework means to perform what's more accurately called "fundamental analysis". According to proponents of fundamental analysis (FA), it is possible to accurately determine how much a stock should trade for and then buy or sell the stock based on whether it trades above or below this target price. This targe...
Does dollar cost averaging really work?
If you define dollar cost cost averaging as investing a specific dollar amount over a certain fixed time frame then it does not work statistically better than any other strategy for getting that money in the market. (IE Aunt Ruth wants to invest $60,000 in the stock market and does it $5000 a month for a year.) It wil...
How much money do I need to have saved up for retirement?
I wrote a spreadsheet (<< it may not be obvious - this is a link to pull down the spreadsheet) a while back that might help you. You can start by putting your current salary next to your age, adjust the percent of income saved (14% for you) and put in the current total. The sheet basically shows that if one saves 15% ...
Is it possible to make money off of a private company?
Another way to do this is go to work for that company. Companies in this situation normally offer low pay, long hours, and stock options. Given a sufficient grant, it could be all very lucrative or worthless. Even if you have no electronics background you might be able to work in a different capacity. There were s...
How are long term capital gains taxes calculated?
You pay taxes on capital gains when you realize your gains by selling the investment property. Also, in the US, taxes on capital gains are computed at special rates depending on your current income level, and so when you realize your gains two years from now, you will pay taxes on the gains at the special rate then ap...
Job Offer - Explain Stock Options [US]
There are a few other items that you should be aware of when getting options: The strike price is usually determined by an independent valuation of the common shares (called a 409a valuation). This should give you a sense on what the options are worth. Obviously you are hoping that the value becomes many multiple of th...
What should I do with my $10K windfall, given these options?
I've been listening to Dave Ramsey a lot lately, and he encourages (encourage might be too light of a word for him) this priority list for budgeting: I would strongly advise you to tackle this list before you start to think about any sizable "fun" spending. If you don't have #1, set that aside first. The options you m...
How Warren Buffett made his money
Despite Buffett's nearly perfect consistent advice over the past few decades, they don't reflect his earliest days. His modern philosophy seemed to solidify in the 1970s. You can see that Buffett's earliest days grew faster, at 29.5 % for those partners willing to take on leverage with Buffett, than the last half cent...
Should I buy a house or am I making silly assumptions that I can afford it?
Having convinced myself that there is no point of paying someone's else mortgage Somewhat rhetorical this many years later, but I expect some other kid forcefed the obsession with propping up the housing market might be repeating the nonsense about "paying someone else's mortgage" and read this. Will you be buying yo...
Is selling only shares you bought with margin on a margin/unsettled cash purchase free ride?
There is no free ride at most brokers. You will likely be charged a margin fee for that trade even though you only held the margin shares for part of one day. The margin fee would be the annual margin interest rate calculated down to a one day holding period,so it would be smaller. Check your broker's policies but most...
Scammer wants details and credentials for my empty & unused bank account. What could go wrong?
It's a scam. Here are the many signs: The bank will never ask for your password. They can access your account without it. The bank will never use a customer's account for their own business. They have their own accounts. "Some guy" is not a bank employee. Bank employees are people that you meet at the bank. Banks d...
Where does the stock go in a collapse?
Just before a crash or at the start of the crash most of the smart money would have gotten out, the remaining technical traders would be out by the time the market has dropped 10 to 15%, and some of them would be shorting their positions by now. Most long-term buy and hold investors would stick to their guns and stay ...
How are they earning money in the movie “Trading Places”?
They are not selling stocks. They are selling OJ futures contracts. Selling a futures contract at 142 gives the buyer the right to buy a fixed number of pounds of orange juice concentrate ("OJ") on a future date at 142 cents per pound. The seller has an obligation to suppy that fixed number of pounds of OJ to the buyer...
Why is the price of my investment only updated once per day?
Mutual funds are a collection of other assets, such as stocks, bonds and property. Unless the fund is a type that is traded on an exchange, you will only be able to buy into the fund by applying for units with the fund manager and sell out by contacting the fund manager. These type of non-traded funds are usually updat...
How can I calculate a “running” return using XIRR in a spreadsheet?
Set your xirr formula to a very tall column, leaving lots of empty rows for future additions. In column C, instead of hardcoding the value, use a formula that tests if it's the current bottom entry, like this: =IF(ISBLANK(A7),-C6, C6) If the next row has no date entered (yet), then this is the latest value, and make it...
Is investing exlusively in a small-cap index fund a wise investment?
In a word, no. Diversification is the first rule of investing. Your plan has poor diversification because it ignores most of the economy (large cap stocks). This means for the expected return your portfolio would get, you would bear an unnecessarily large amount of risk. Large cap and small cap stocks take turns out...
Simple income and expense report in gnucash
The official guide can be found here, but that can be a little in depth as well. To make good use of you need at least a little knowledge of double-entry bookkeeping. Double-entry bookkeeping, in accounting, is a system of bookkeeping so named because every entry to an account requires a corresponding and opposite e...
Rate of change of beta
If you do not need it for a day or a week or something like that, an easy thing to do to get the beta of a security is to use wolframalpha. Here is a sample query: BETA for AAPL Calculating beta is an important metric, but it is not a be all end all, as there are ways to hedge the beta of your portfolio. So relying on...
How much more than my mortgage should I charge for rent?
As others have pointed out, you can't just pick a favorable number and rent for that amount. If you want to rent out your house, you must rent it for a value that a renter would agree to. For example there is a house on my street that has been looking for renters for 3 years. They want $2,500 a month. This covers thei...
Why doesn't Japan just divide the Yen by 100?
What benefit vs. what cost? Benefit - none that I can think of. Cost - massive. Every system that handles money would need to re-value overnight, every store would need to re-price. In many ways it would be simpler and maybe even cheaper to introduce a new currency.
At what point do index funds become unreliable?
The argument you are making here is similar to the problem I have with the stronger forms of the efficient market hypothesis. That is if the market already has incorporated all of the information about the correct prices, then there's no reason to question any prices and then the prices never change. However, the mec...
Getting started in stock with one special field of activity
You are always best off investing in things you understand. If you have a deep understanding of the aeronautical industry, say, you are a Vice President at Boeing and have been working at Boeing for 40 years, then that would be a reason for investing in that sector: because you may be able to better evaluate different ...
Dollar Cost Averaging (Or value averaging) vs Lot sizes, what am I missing?
This is more than likely a thing about your financial institution and the exchanges where they trade shares. Some exchanges cannot/will not handle odd lot transactions. Most established brokerages have software and accounting systems that will deal in round lots with the exchanges, but can track your shares individuall...
How to mitigate the risk of Euro Stoxx 50 ETF?
You could go with either of: Choosing this you'd pretty much have minimized your risk by using the whole world asa market.
UK Resident exploring freelance work for a Swiss Company
You will need to register as self-employed aka sole trader (that's the whole point: pay taxes on income that you're not getting as wages from an employer, who would arrange PAYE/NI contributions), or set up a limited company (in the last case you would have the option of either getting paid as wages or as dividends — w...
Company wants to sell all of its assets, worth more than share price?
The stock exchange here serves as a meeting place for current shareholders who want to sell their shares to someone else. This has nothing to do with liquidation, which is a transaction between the company and its shareholders. A company does not have to be listed on an exchange to make distributions to shareholders.
How to spend more? (AKA, how to avoid being a miser)
I spend hours researching two comparable products to try to save $3. Me too! I have also argued for hours with customer support to get $5/month off a bill (that's $60/year!), and I feel guilty every time I eat out or do something remotely luxurious, like getting fries with my $1 McChicken. Geez, even when I play video ...
Money market account for emergency savings
I'm not a fan of using cash for "emergency" savings. Put it in a stable investment that you can liquidate fairly quickly if you have to. I'd rather use credit cards for a while and then pay them off with investment funds if I must. Meanwhile those investments earn a lot more than the 0.1 percent savings or money market...
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.
Looking for a stock market simulation that's as close to the real thing as possible
I have a free account on http://optionshouse.com/ that allows me to invest fake money into different stocks and test their tracking software. It is free and easy to do, just create an account there and they give you $4000 (fake) to invest in the stock market. They do this so that you can test their tracking and other a...
I have more than $250,000 in a US Bank account… mistake?
First, what's the reason? Why do you have that much in cash at all - are you concerned about market volatility, are you planning to buy a house, do you have tens of millions of dollars and this is your slush fund? Are you a house flipper and this is part of business for you? If you need the money for short term use - ...
Does an index have a currency?
There's no need for an index to have a currency as its purpose is not to act as an asset but rather to signal investors about the performance of a collection of stocks. An index can be price-weighted, meaning that its value equals the (arithmetic) average of the prices of each stock in the index. With no stock splits, ...
Value investing
One aspect of this - no matter which valuation method you choose - is that there are limited shares available to buy. Other people already know those valuation methods and have decided to buy those shares, paying higher than the previous person to notice this and take a risk. So this means that even after you have calc...
What's the most conservative split of financial assets for my portfolio in today's market?
You don't say your level of consumer debt. You don't say how much of an emergency fund you have. If you have debt, pay it off before you invest. If you don't have an emergency fund (X months' expenses, pick your own X) get that before investing. If you have neither, get a small emergency fund, and then throw as much ...
Self Assessment UK - Goods and services for your own use
The problem with your profession is that it is hard to distinguish those activities as 'services rendered' or just a 'pastime hobby'. If you believe that both of those activities constitutes a 'service rendered in a professional capacity', then you should include it into the 'Goods and services for your own use' field....
Are there common stock price trends related to employee option plans?
Say I am an employee of Facebook and I will be able to sell stares at enough of a profit to pay of my mortgage and have enough money left to cover my living costs for many years. I also believe that there is a 95% chance that the stock price will go up in the next few years. Do I take a 5% risk, when I can transform my...
Are index-tracking ETF popular in Japan?
The Japanese stock market offers a wide selection of popular ETFs tracking the various indices and sub-indices of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. See this page from the Japan Exchange Group site for a detailed listing of the ETFs being offered on the Tokyo exchange. As you have suggested, one would expect that Japanese inve...
Is there any way to buy a new car directly from Toyota without going through a dealership?
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Why invest in becoming a landlord?
The value of getting into the landlord business -- or any other business -- depends on circumstances at the time. How much will it cost you to buy the property? How much can you reasonably expect to collect in rent? How easy or difficult is it to find a tenant? Etc. I owned a rental property for about ten years and I l...
How can I diversify investments across currencies in ISA?
Just buy a FTSE-100 tracker. It's cheap and easy, and will hedge you pretty well, as the FTSE-100 is dominated by big mining and oil companies who do most of their business in currencies other than sterling.
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...
What effect would sovereign default of a European country have on personal debt or a mortgage?
If the default happens through mass monetary inflation rather than openly ("We're not paying interest on our bonds") then make sure you pay off your house. There may not be a very long window to do so. If the currency becomes worthless, then it depends on what you have of value that would be accepted by the lender as ...
How much do large sell orders affect stock price?
Most of the investors who have large holdings in a particular stock have pretty good exit strategies for those positions to ensure they are getting the best price they can by selling gradually into the volume over time. Putting a single large block of stock up for sale is problematic for one simple reason: Let's say yo...
Common Stock Options Value
Par value of common stock is essentially a historical artifact; it is a price at which the company will redeem shares directly. If common stock has any par value at all, it is always so low that no one would ever redeem, preferring to sell in the market at a better price. Par is obviously much more relevant to debt s...
How do you calculate the rate of return (ROR) when buying and selling put options?
What Jaydles said. I think of each strategy in terms of Capital at Risk (CaR). It's a good thing to know when considering any position. And then conveniently, the return is always profit / CaR. With covered calls it's pretty easy. Pay $1000 for stock, receive $80 in premium, net CaR is $920. If you own the stock and w...
How can I find out who the major short sellers are in a stock?
There is no way to know anything about who has shorted stuff or how concentrated the positions are in a few investors. Short positions are not even reported in 13(F) institutional filings. I'll take the bonus points, though, and point you to the US Equity Short Interest data source at quandl.
What is the best way to determine if you should refinance a mortgage?
Yes, take the new rate, but instead of using the new 30 year term, calculate the payment as though the new mortgage were at the remaining term. 3 years into a 30? You calculate the payment as if the new mortgage were 27 years. This will tell you what you are really saving. Now, take that savings and divide into your c...
Would it make sense to take a loan from a relative to pay off student loans?
My biggest concern with this plan is that there's no going back should you decide that it is not going to work, either due to the strain on the relationship or for some other reason. If you were borrowing from a relative in place of a mortgage or a car loan, you can always refinance, and might just pay a little more ...
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...
What is the correct way to report a tender offer fee on my taxes?
Using a different cost basis than your broker's reporting is NOT a problem. You need to keep your own records to account for this difference. Among the other many legitimate reasons to adjust your cost basis, the most popular is when you have two brokerage accounts and sell an asset in one then buy in another. This is ...
Do there exist any wikipedia type sites for evaluating financial service providers?
Excellent question. I'm not aware of one. I was going to say "go visit some personal finance blogs" but then I remembered that I write on one, and that I often get a commission if I talk about online accounts, so unless something is really bad I'm not going to post on it because I want to make money, not chase it away...
Losing Money with Norbert's Gambit
Can someone please clarify if Norbert's gambit is the optimal procedure to exchange CAD to USD? I'm not sure I'd call an arbitrage trade the "optimal procedure," because as you point out you're introducing yet another point of risk in to the transaction. I think buying the foreign currency for an agreed upon price is ...
Boyfriend is coowner of a house with his sister, he wants to sell but she doesn't
He doesn't have to follow through on this, but he could tell this sister that he will stop making mortgage payments, which will result in foreclosure and sale at lower price than might be realized by a voluntary sale. Translation: the house will sold, sis. Do you want to maximize your share of the proceeds? And, as I ...
Are there alternatives to double currency account to manage payments in different currencies?
You could use a Credit or Debit Card running in US $, drawing from your US$ account, and pay everything with it. If you pick a company with free foreign conversions, you would get the standard interbank exchange ratio every time you pay, with no fee. For the small payments where credit cards are not accpeted or useful ...
Buy tires and keep car for 12-36 months, or replace car now?
Would you buy this used car, in its current condition but with new tires, for the price of the tires? If so, buy the tires.
How to decide which private student loan is right for me?
I speak from a position of experience, My BS and MS are both in Comp Sci. I know very little about loans or finances. That is very unfortunate as you are obviously an intelligent human being. Perhaps this is a good time to pause your formal education and get educated in personal finance. To me, it is that important. ...
Co-signer deceased
Co-signing is not the same as owning. If your elderly lady didn't make any payments on the loan, and isn't on the ownership of the car, and there was no agreement that you would pay her anything, then you do not owe either her or her daughter any money. Also the loan is not affecting the daughter's credit, and the moth...
Is it possible for US retail forex traders to trade exotic currencies?
You are in a difficult situation because of US regulation, that is much more demanding to fulfill than in EU or rest of the world. Second, Interactive Brokers stopped serving FX for US clients. Third, EU brokers - like Saxo Bank - don't accept US clients: Almost any private client can open an account with Saxo Bank, a...
Mortgage vs. Cash for U.S. home buy now
There are a number of reasons I'm in agreement with "A house that is worth $300,000, or $50,000 of equity in a house and $225,000 in the bank." So, the update to the first comment should be "A paid off house worth $300K, or a house with $150K equity and $275K in the retirement account." Edit - On reflection, an inter...
I am moving to a new city. How do I plan and prepare - financially - for the move?
Utilities and cost of living vary from city to city but maybe not that much. For basic planning purposes you can probably figure to spend as much as you are now, maybe a little more. And adjust as needed when you get there. (And adjust if, for example, you're moving from a very low cost of living area or to a very h...
What variety of hedges are there against index funds of U.S. based stocks?
Even though "when the U.S. sneezes Canada catches a cold", I would suggest considering a look at Canadian government bonds as both a currency hedge, and for the safety of principal — of course, in terms of CAD, not USD. We like to boast that Canada fared relatively better (PDF) during the economic crisis than many othe...
How far into the future is a stock future? How do stock futures work?
Futures are an agreement to buy or sell something in the future. The futures "price" is the price at which you agree to make the trade. This price does not indicate what will happen in the future so much as it indicates the cost of buying the item today and holding it until the future date. Hence, for very liquid pr...
How can I find out what factors are making a stock's price rise?
At any moment, the price is where the supply (seller) and demand (buyer) intersect. This occurs fast enough you don't see it as anything other than bid/ask. What moves it? News of a new drug, device, sandwich, etc. Earning release, whether above or below expectations, or even dead-on, will often impact the price. Ever...
Mortgage loan implications when tearing down existing house and building new one?
You would probably be best off checking through your loan documents to see if anything is listed in it in regards to tearing down the existing house. Likely it is not allowed. Thinking about it logically, the house is collateral for the mortgage, and you are wanting to destroy the collateral. I would expect the bank wo...
Does inflation equal more loans?
What is the relationship between inflation and interest rates? notes a relationship between inflation and interest rates that would suggest high inflation would imply higher interest rates that would mean less loans as money becomes more expensive in a sense. In contrast, in times of low inflation then rates may be low...
Why do Americans have to file taxes, even if their only source of income is from a regular job?
Companies in the US will take care of paying a portion of your required income tax on your behalf based on some paperwork you fill out when starting work. However, it is up to you as an individual to submit an income tax return. This is used to ensure that you did not end up under or overpaying based on what your com...
Car Insurance - Black box has broken and insurance company wants me to pay?
First read the fine print. If you have to pay it, pay it and switch company. If you don't have to pay it and there is no proof that you abused the component beyond normal usage, you don't have to sue them, just return the invoice with legal (not so layman) text like "I hereby reject paying invoice number xxxx dated xxx...
Tax: 1099 paper form
You can print them on any IRS-approved paper, you don't have to use pre-printed forms. The IRS publishes specifications for paper that is approved for use for these kinds of forms (109*, W*, etc). Here's the reason why it is important: Even the slightest deviation can result in incorrect scanning, and may affect money...
Buying a home with down payment from family as a “loan”
I'll compare it to a situation that is different, but will involve the same cash flow. Imagine the buyer agrees that you buy only 70% of the house right now, and the remaining 30% in 7 years time. It would be obviously fair to pay 70% of today's value today, pay 30% of a reasonable rent for 7 years (because 30% of th...
Why do investors buy stock that had appreciated?
For the same reason you wanted it when you bought it. No-one guarantees that you'll be able to sell the stock you hold, and in fact many people get stuck with stocks they'd like to sell, but no-one is buying. But if investors think there's a profit potential that is not exhausted yet - they'll want to buy the stock.
What are the common moving averages used in a “Golden Cross” stock evaluation?
Different moving averages work and not work for different indexes. I have seen simulations where during bull or bear markets the moving averages work differently. Here is an example: http://www.indexresult.com/MovingAverage/Exponential/200/SP500
Credit History and Outstanding Debts in Hungary
It appears all you have to do is submit a form. It might be better if she submitted it herself instead of you doing it on her behalf. All natural persons (individuals) and non-natural persons (businesses) are entitled to access and inspect the data held on record about them in the Central Credit Information System...
Do property taxes get deducted 100% from the Annual Tax Return or only a fraction of them?
To bring more clarity to the issue, Viriato will be entitle to deduct property tax depending upon whether he is claiming standard deduction (which varies on some factors including filling as married or single) or itemized deduction. If he is claiming, itemized deduction Example 1 is correct. Example 2 suffers from anot...
Buy on dip when earnings fail?
What is cheap? A stock may fall from $20 per share to $10 per share, but it may have gone from making a $100M profit last year to a $100M loss this year. So now at $10 per share it may still be considered expensive. You need to be very careful when to consider that a stock is cheap or not, you'll have to look at more t...
Cashing in stocks for house downpayment
Assuming that you have capital gains, you can expect to have to pay taxes on them. It might be short term, or long term capital gains. If you specify exactly which shares to sell, it is possible to sell mostly losers, thus reducing or eliminating capital gains. There are separate rules for 401K and other retirement pr...
How much should a new graduate with new job put towards a car?
Money is a token that you can trade to other people for favors. Debt is a tool that allows you to ask for favors earlier than you might otherwise. What you have currently is: If the very worst were to happen, such as: You would owe $23,000 favors, and your "salary" wouldn't make a difference. What is a responsible amou...
ADR vs Ordinary shares
There are basically two different markets for ADRs and ordinary shares. 1) The American market, 2) the "local" market. The following is not true for most stocks in "developed" markets. But it is often true that the American market (for ADRs) is far more liquid than the local market for ordinary shares of a developing c...
I got my bank account closed abruptly how do I get money out?
If you can get to a physical branch, get a cashier's check (or call them and have them send you one by mail). When they draft the cashier's check they remove the money from your account immediately and the check is drawn against the bank itself. You could hold onto that check for a little while even after your accoun...
As an investing novice, what to do with my money?
I'm normally not a fan of partitioning investment money into buckets but your case may be the clearest case for it I've seen in awhile. Your income and saving is good and you have two clearly defined goals of retirement saving and saving for a house each with very different time frames ~30 years and 3-5 years respecti...
How to invest in stocks without using an intermediary like a broker? Can shares be bought direct?
In theory you can buy shares directly from someone else who owns them. In practise, if the stock is listed on an exchange, they are unlikely to own them directly, they are likely to own them through an intermediary. You will have to pay fees to that intermediary to transfer the shares to your name. There are thousands ...
Why do some people say a house “not an investment”?
With an investment, you tend to buy it for a very specific purpose, namely to make you some money. Either via appreciation (ie, it hopefully increases value after you take all the fees and associated costs into account, you sell the investment, realise the gains) or via a steady cashflow that, after you subtracted your...
Can a car company refuse to give me a copy of my contract or balance details?
The advice above is generally good, but the one catch I haven't seen addressed is which specific laws apply. You said that you are in Arkansas, but the dealer is in Texas. This means that the laws of at least two different states are in play, possibly three if the contract contains a clause stating that disputes will...
A friend wants to use my account for a wire transfer. Is this a scam or is it legitimate?
A friend since July online and big business talks and trust/money forwards. Usually a question "is this a scam or legitimate?" is hard to answer since obviously scams are modelled after legitimate stories (or they'd easily fail). If there were bookmakers for "scam or legitimate", this one would easily gather odds of 1...
Non Qualifying Stock Option offered by employer
Let's work from the inside out. Options are not stock. Options are a contract that give you the right to own the stock. For options to have value they have to be exercised. Straight line means that each quarter 1/16th of the option grant becomes yours and the company cannot take it away. Four quarters in a year times f...
Boyfriend is coowner of a house with his sister, he wants to sell but she doesn't
Time for a lawyer. Essentially, regardless of the situation "it's not right" for him to be paying the mortgage and only get half the value out of the equity in the house. All other things aside, no court I can think of would allow that. The "could happens" are many, but the most common include; Keep in mind that if he ...
Does home equity grow with the investment put into the house?
If I have a house that its market value went from $100k to $140k can I get HELOC $40K? Maybe - the amount that you can borrow depends on the market value of the house, so if you already have $100k borrowed against it, it will be tough to borrow another $40k without paying a higher interest rate, since there is a real r...
How can I pay for school to finish my degree when I can't get a student loan and have bad credit?
Here's what you can do: roll up your sleeves and get to work. Work 2 or 3 jobs while you take 12 credit hours. Live in the cheapest available housing (that is reasonably safe). Have no social life. Wake up, work, class, eat, work, study, sleep. Every day. Don't eat at restaurants. Eat only simple meals at home. ...
Should I always pay my credit at the last day possible to maximize my savings interest?
Mostly ditto to Dillip Sarwate. Let me just add: I don't know how you're making your payments, whether through the biller's web site, your bank's web site, by mail, in person, etc. But whatever the mechanism, if there is a chance that waiting until the due date to pay may mean that you will miss the due date: don't. Th...
Is it ok to use a check without a pre-printed check number?
They are valid checks, but you're going to get hassled when you try to use them. There's a perception that people using starter checks are more likely to bounce or otherwise be troublesome. When more payments were made with checks, some vendors would not accept checks with low numbers either! Checks are very cheap to g...
Would there be tax implications if I used AirBnB as opposed to just renting out a unit normally?
It actually depends on the services provided. If you're renting through AirBnB, you're likely to provide much more services to the tenants than a traditional rental. It may raise it to a level when it is no longer a passive activity. See here, for starters: Providing substantial services. If you provide substantial s...
Creating a Limited company while still fully employed
I was just thinking ahead, can I apply for Limited company now, while fully time employed, and not take any business until I get a contract. Yes. You can open as many companies you want(assuming you are sane). There is no legal provisions regarding who can open a company. What happens if I create a company and it has...
How smart is it really to take out a loan right now?
The logic "the interest rate on the mortgage was so low it didn't make sense not to buy" is one reason the housing bubble happened. The logic was that it made the house affordable even at high prices. Once the prices collapsed people still had affordable payments, but were unable to sell because they were upside down o...
Do you have to be mega-rich to invest in companies pre-IPO?
There are a couple of ways to buy into a private company. First, the company can use equity crowd funding (approved under the JOBS act, you don't need to be an accredited investor for this). The offering can be within one state (i.e. Intrastate offerings) which don't have the same SEC regulations but will be governe...
For a car, would you pay cash, finance for 0.9% or lease for 0.9%?
One part of the equation that I don't think you are considering is the loss in value of the car. What will this 30K car be worth in 84 months or even 60 months? This is dependent upon condition, but probably in the neighborhood of $8 to $10K. If one is comfortable with that level of financial loss, I doubt they are...
In a competitive market, why is movie theater popcorn expensive?
You're looking at this too rationally. People can not resist eating junk food, especially when they have to sit for 2-3 hours to watch a movie. It's pure biology, not economics. People don't always act according to economic logic.
Starting with Stocks or Forex?
Stick with stocks, if you are not well versed in forex you will get fleeced or in over your head quickly. The leverage can be too much for the uninitiated. That said, do what you want, you can make money in forex, it's just more common for people to not do so well. In a related story, My friend (let's call him Mike ...
Why are there many small banks and more banks in the U.S.?
I can't find a citation, but from memory (EDIT: and reading the newspapers at the time it happened): up until around 1980, banks couldn't cross state borders. In my state, at least, they were also very local, only staying within one county. This was to enforce "localness", the thought being that local bankers would kn...