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Why are American Express cards are not as popular as Visa or MasterCard? | I have a merchant account and accept Visa, Mastercard, and Discover but not AMEX. I don't take AMEX because they want me to go through another approval process (on top of what was required to get merchant status) and their fees are a percent or two higher than the other cards. This doesn't sound like a lot - but for a ... |
How does an index rearrange its major holdings | An index will drop a company for several reasons: A fund decides how close they want to mirror the index. Some do so exactly, others only approximate the index. |
How do you quantify investment risk? | The question is: how do you quantify investment risk? As Michael S says, one approach is to treat investment returns as a random variable. Bill Goetzmann (Yale finance professor) told me that if you accept that markets are efficient or that the price of an asset reflects it's underlying value, then changes in price rep... |
Is is possible to take a mortgage using Bitcoin as collateral? | This doesn't make any sense. For the people who ask you this, suggest that they borrow the money to invest with you. They can use their bitcoins as collateral for the loan. That way, they get the same benefit and your company doesn't go out of business if the price of bitcoin drops, even temporarily, because the loan b... |
Long(100%)-Short(-100%) investment explanation | When portfolio positions are reported in percentages, those percentages are relative to the portfolio's base equity. When you start out, that is equal to the cash you have in a portfolio. Later it's the net equity of the portfolio (i.e., how much money you could withdraw if you were to exit all your positions). If yo... |
In today's low interest environment, is it generally more economical to buy or lease a new car in the US? | It's my understand that leasing is never the better overall deal, with the possible exception of a person who would otherwise buy a brand new car every 2 or 3 years, and does not drive a lot of miles. Note: in the case of a company car, Canadian taxes let you deduct the entire lease payment (which clearly has some prin... |
Indicators a stock is part of a pump and dump scheme? | Pump-and-dump scams are indeed very real, but the scale of a single scam isn't anywhere near the type of heist you see in movies like Trading Places. Usually, the scammer will buy a few hundred dollars of a penny stock for some obscure small business, then they'll spam every address they have with advice that this busi... |
Bitcoin Cost Basis Purchases | As long as the IRS treats bitcoin as property, then whenever you use bitcoin to buy anything you are supposed to consider the capital gain or capital loss. There is no "until it's converted to fiat". You are paying local sales tax and capital gains, or paying local sales tax and reporting capital loss. As long as you a... |
What can I take from learning that a company's directors are buying or selling shares? | A pattern of high level people buying or selling is a sign, positive or negative. An individual, not so much. He can be selling to diversify, trying to keep his investments from being all in the company. He can be selling to pay his large bills. Same reasons any of us might be selling an investment to have cash to use. |
How do I calculate what percentage of my portfolio is large-, mid- or small- cap? | The portfolio manager at Value Research Online does this very nicely. It tracks the underlying holdings of each fund, yielding correct calculations for funds that invest across the board. Take a look at the screenshot from my account: If you have direct equity holdings (e.g., not through a mutual fund), that too gets ... |
Are you preparing for a possible dollar (USD) collapse? (How?) | Depends what kind of expenses you intend to use this money for. If you plan to buy housing in the future (eg you're saving a deposit), then you need to ensure that the value doesn't deteriorate relative to the value of the housing you are likely to buy - so you could buy a Residential REIT, or buy some investment prope... |
First job: Renting vs get my parents to buy me a house | Having recently been given basically the same question it hinges on a few major factors. What does your apartment provide (e.g. heating, internet/etc)? My (personal) example. With my numbers (which includes taxes, insurance estimates, minor repairs to home as needed), also ignoring all costs that are shared (e.g. food,... |
Error in my car loan papers, what do I do? | The absolute first thing you need to do is contact the bank. Also, do you have a copy of the loan papers you signed? You should look over those as soon as possible as well. I'm sure you want these payments going toward your FICO score and not your mothers. |
If I have some old gold jewellery, is it worth it to sell it for its melt value? | Avoid gold brokers who do business through the mail. Video Full Article |
Clarify on some Stocks Terminology | Volume is measured in the number of shares traded in a given day, week, month, etc. This means that it's not necessarily a directly-comparable measure between stocks, as there's a large difference between 1 million shares traded of a $1 stock ($1 million total) and 1 million shares traded of a $1000 stock ($1 billion t... |
What is the best way to get cash from my retirement accounts for a home down payment? | Given that utilizing all the funds available to you drains your retirement and leaves you with very little cushion for unforeseen events (as already noted), it may be best to use a smaller amount for closing and just deal with the PMI for a couple years. PMI is likely less than the taxes/penalties incurred from withdra... |
What would I miss out on by self insuring my car? | Convenience, and of course money. In case of an event, you'll have to spend the full worth of money to fix/replace, while if you're insured - you get the insurance to pay for it. It is up to you to decide, if the money saved on the lower premiums worth the risk of paying much more in case of an event. Of course, the ch... |
Should I invest or repay my debts? | Like azam pointed out, fundamentally you need to decide if the money invested elsewhere will grow faster than the Interest you are paying on the loan. In India, the safe returns from Fixed Deposits is around 8-9% currently. Factoring taxes, the real rate of return would be around 6-7%. This is less than what you are pa... |
Are warehouse clubs like Costco and Sam's Club worth it? | Also don't just assume that everything that Costco or Sams (we use Costco) sells is cheaper. Still shop around and look for the best price. For us it is definitely worth it. |
When should I walk away from my mortgage? | The value of debt is that it allows you to profit from the return of equity beyond the amount of actual net equity you own. Of course, this only works if the cost of borrowing is less than your return on equity. Market timing matters a great deal but isn't accounted for in this view. For my answer I would like to ha... |
Why are wire transfers and other financial services in Canada so much more expensive than in Europe? | because bankers are crooks is a very close answer. Just accept the truth that financial industry is the only service industry that could turn into giant parasite chopping pieces from real economy. I am not anti-financial, because greed is not banker's fault, but just one significant part of human nature. Every human be... |
How do I calculate the dwelling coverage I need from the information I have? | Never take the first quote. Consider what it would really cost to replace the house -- to rebuild and pay for living while you do so (including demolition, etc.) and/or pay off the mortgage and return your equity if it is a financed property. Most insurances will have a limit on how much coverage you can get based on ... |
How do I screen for stocks that are near to their 52 weeks low | There is a great 3rd party application out there that I use (I am a broker) along with my internal analysts and other 3rd party sources. VectorVest has a LOT of technical information, but is very easy to use. It will run any kind of screen you like, including low 52 week numbers. (No, I don't get anything for recomm... |
What is a maximum amount that I can wire transfer out of US? | I can clear the Thailand side for you. These are the sale tax in Thailand: Don't forget to ask your bank in Thailand to issue an (FTFs). This document shows the money originated from abroad (before in came to your Thai account) from outside of Thailand. The land office will ask for the (FTFs). |
Offsetting capital losses against gains for stocks | The loss for B can be used to write off the gain for A. You will fill out a schedule 3 with cost base and proceeds of disposition. This will give you a $0 capital gain for the year and an amount of $5 (50% of the $10 loss) you can carry forward to offset future capital gains. You can also file a T1-a and carry the l... |
Can an ETF, open at a price other than what the pre-market was at? | If I understand you correctly, you are noticing that a stock's price can change drastically when the time changes from pre-market trading hours to open market hours. This could occur because a much smaller pool of investors make trades during pre-market and after-market hours. When the regular market opens there is a l... |
How can I legally and efficiently help my girlfriend build equity by helping with a mortgage? | This is fine, just have a plan before you go into it. Look up a co-ownership agreement contract off LegalZoom, they are like $15, or get a lawyer if you want. Decide if you want to be "Joint tenants" or "Tenants in common". You probably want to be joint tenants so that if one of you dies the property goes to the other ... |
Is it bad etiquette to use a credit or debit card to pay for single figure amounts at the POS | Personally, I think it's a bad practice, because ultimately using cards for such minuscule transactions raises costs for everyone, especially at merchants whose average transaction is small. How does carrying cash improve your personal security? If someone is going to mug you, they do not know in advance whether you ha... |
How can I remove the movement of the stock market as a whole from the movement in price of an individual share? | The portion of a stock movement not correlated with stocks in general is called Alpha. I don't know of any online tools to graph alpha. Keep in mind that a company like Apple is so huge right now that any properly weighted index will have to correlate with it to some degree. |
End-of-season car sales? | Manufacturers sometimes give incentives to car dealers to ensure that the prior year models are sold out before the year is up. However, dealers are usually pretty smart on only ordering the cars they know they can sell before this happens. Also, manufacturers are usually pretty good about only producing enough vehic... |
Where can I buy European-style options? | On the US markets, most index options are European style. Most stock and ETF options are, as you noted, American style. |
Do you avoid tax when taking a home equity loan? | Why would someone invest in other instruments (e.g. stocks) to pay for childrens' college education when the capital gains on those are taxed, unlike a home equity loan? Many tax advantageous vehicles exist for the purpose of saving for college education such as 529 plans, Roth IRAs, Series EE and I bonds. Tax and ... |
Should you always max out contributions to your 401k? | As long as you're in a lower tax bracket - you would probably be better off paying the taxes now, and investing into the Roth IRA/401K. However, you should be investing for your retirement now, and not later, because of the compounding effect, and also you'll gain the employer matching (if available). |
What are support and resistance of a stock? | Support and resistance points indicate price levels where there have been a large amount of trading activity, usually from institutions, that tend to stabilize the price of a stock. Support is a temporary FLOOR, where people have been buying in large quantities. That means there's a good chance that the stock won't go ... |
Roth IRA all in one fund, or not? [duplicate] | First, you should diversify your portfolio. If your entire portfolio is in the Roth IRA, then you should eventually diversify that. However, if you have an IRA and a 401k, then it's perfectly fine for the IRA to be in a single fund. For example, I used my IRA to buy a riskier REIT that my 401k doesn't support. Sec... |
Are stock index fund likely to keep being a reliable long-term investment option? | Stock index funds are likely, but not certainly, to be a good long-term investment. In countries other than the USA, there have been 30+ year periods where stocks either underperformed compared to bonds, or even lost value in absolute terms. This suggests that it may be an overgeneralization to assume that they alway... |
401k Option - Lifecycle or S&P Index - what are pros and cons? | I think we resolved this via comments above. Many finance authors are not fans of target date funds, as they have higher fees than you'd pay constructing the mix yourself, and they can't take into account your own risk tolerance. Not every 24 year old should have the same mix. That said - I suggest you give thought to... |
Do options always expire on third Friday of every month | Traditionally options expired on the 3rd Wednesday of the months of Mar, Jun, Sep, Dec as this day was never a holiday. See IMM dates. However as option use exploded there were monthly and weekly options created on different schedules. The exchange will specify when its options expire in the contract. |
Is there an advantage to keeping a liquid emergency fund if one also has an untapped line of credit? | recommend keeping some amount of money in cash as an emergency fund I see two keywords, with two interpretations here. Cash: Emergency: 1 + 1 is rarely a problem. Even if it takes a couple of days to sell reliable investments. 1 + 2 is a rather large problem. You need to leave town, today, because the town won't be the... |
Bond prices: Why is a high yield sometimes too good to be true? | Those are the expected yields; they are not guaranteed. This was actually the bread and butter of Graham Newman, mispriced bonds. Graham's writings in the Buffett recommended edition of Securities Analysis are invaluable to bond valuation. The highest yielder now is a private subsidiary of Société Générale. A lack of... |
What is the cheapest way to move money from the United States to Canada? [duplicate] | No fees: Write a check. Deposit it into the other bank. |
How long should I keep an uncleared transaction in my checkbook? | With a check, there are limits on cashing the stale check, but that is set by the banks involved. With a debit card transaction, it will be up the the debit card company and your bank. Imagine a situation where a person finds an old check and tries to cash it at their bank. If the bank considers the check stale, they m... |
Will I be able to purchase land? | Here are some important things to think about. Alan and Denise Fields discuss them in more detail in Your New House. Permanent work. Where do you want to live? Are there suitable jobs nearby? How much do they pay? Emergency fund. Banks care that you have "reserves" (and/or an unsecured line of credit) in case you ... |
Tracking the Madrid Interbank Offered Rate (MIBOR) and the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (EURIBOR) | For Euribor Nothing seems to exist for MIBOR, except maybe the Spanish stock exchange. |
Why do some stocks have a higher margin requirement? | It's about how volatile the instrument is. Brokers are concerned not about you but about potential lawsuits stemming from their perceived inadequate risk management - letting you trade extremely volatile stocks with high leverage. On top of that they run the risk of losing money in scenarios where a trader shorts a st... |
Getting Cash from Credit Card without Fees | You said: Use a credit card (to get my 3% Cash back) to withdraw cash ... Then you said: Is there any way to do this without paying a cash advance fee (or any fees in general)? Right there you have stated the inconsistency. Withdrawing cash using a credit card is a cash advance. You may or may not be charged a fee fo... |
Should I use a bank or a credit union for my savings account? | Your instructor's numbers do not seem to have any basis in current reality. At this page you can see a comparison of interest rates offered by banks and credit unions. In the most recent table for June 2014, banks paid an average interest rate of 0.12 percent on savings accounts, while credit unions paid an average of... |
Should I lease, buy new, or buy used? | Rule of thumb is always BUY, NEVER lease, unless you plan to use it for a business where you can expense the lease payments. Leasing is the biggest scam. Lease is just a fancy word for renting and the dealerships PRAY that people like us lease. As for new or old, new cars have better warranty but you may get a great d... |
Is it worth buying real estate just to safely invest money? | House prices do not go up. Land prices in countries with growing economies tend to go up. The price of the house on the land generally depreciates as it wears out. Houses require money; they are called money pits for a reason. You have to replace HVAC periodically, roofs, repairs, rot, foundation problems, leaks, el... |
When are equal-weighted index funds / ETFs preferable to market-cap-weighted funds? | Equal-weight ETFs remove the large cap bias found in most popular indexes. What results behaves very much like a small-cap or mid-cap index. Observe RSP vs IJR over a 5 year period: IJR (iShares S&P SmallCap 600 ETF) vs RSP (Rydex S&P Equal Weight ETF) I'm not sure if equal-weighting is worth the reduced efficiency. M... |
Is it legal for a vendor to reuse credit details from a previous transaction | It is very much legal and in fact depending on the fine print of the purchase you make, you have now established a business relationship among which gives the business the right to hold on to your information (unless privacy policy states otherwise) and reuse it under certain circumstances (such as auto shipments) and ... |
Why can't I withdraw the $57 in my account? | Given you mention a check clearing, in addition to debit card holds as JoeTaxpayer notes, you may also have funds that are on hold for that reason. While the bank may have stated it would be a one day hold, some banks may mean business days (Monday-Friday), and so it will become available on Monday. This is because ch... |
Why do stock exchanges close at night? | Most stocks are not actively trades by lots of people. When you buy or sell a stock the price is set by the “order book” – that is the other people looking to trade in the given stock at the same time. Without a large number of active traders, it is very likely the pricing system will break down and result in widely ... |
Is insurance worth it if you can afford to replace the item? If not, when is it? | As many other posters have pointed out, unless you know (and your insurer doesn't) that because of any reason you are more likely than the average to damage your computer, insuring it doesn't really make a lot of sense if you can comfortably replace it should the worst happen. In this particular case of a laptop, insur... |
Are stock index fund likely to keep being a reliable long-term investment option? | A diversified portfolio (such as a 60% stocks / 40% bonds balanced fund) is much more predictable and reliable than an all-stocks portfolio, and the returns are perfectly adequate. The extra returns on 100% stocks vs. 60% are 1.2% per year (historically) according to https://personal.vanguard.com/us/insights/saving-inv... |
Is laminate flooring an “Improvement” or “Depreciable Property”? | Aesthetics aside, laminate floor is attached to the floor and as such is a part of the building. So you depreciate it with the building itself, similarly to the roof. I believe the IRS considers these permanently attached because the foam itself is permanently attached, and is a part of the installation. To the best of... |
Why is a stock that pays a dividend preferrable to one that doesn't? | Check out the questions about why stock prices are what they are. In a nutshell, a stock's value is based on the future prospects of the company. Generally speaking, if a growth company is paying a dividend, that payment is going to negatively affect the growth of the business. The smart move is to re-invest that capit... |
Getting financial advice: Accountant vs. Investment Adviser vs. Internet/self-taught? | I think the OP is getting lost in designations. Sounds to me that what he wants is a 'financial advisor' not an 'investment advisor'. Does he even have investments? Does he want to be told which securities to buy? Or is he wanting advice on overall savings, insurance, tax-shelters, retirement planning, mortgages, ... |
What type of investments should be in a TFSA, given its tax-free growth and withdrawal benefits? | A questoin that I deal with almost every day. Like most investments it comes down to.....What is the purpose for this money? If it is truly a rainy day savings account that you may need in the short term, then fixed income investments like savings accounts, GIC's, Bonds, Bond funds and Fixed Income ETF's are ideal as... |
Strategy for investing large amount of cash | Getting the right diversity of investments helps buffer you from some of the short term market swings. If you need advice it's worth spending a small part of that money on a consultation with a financial adviser, who can talk to you about your goals, your time horizon, and your risk tolerance and recommend a good start... |
Is there a good rule of thumb for how much I should have set aside as emergency cash? | If you are still paying off debt, then you should have about $1000 in savings and put all you can towards non-mortgage debt. If you don't have any debt besides your mortgage, then add up all of your monthly expenses including food, gas, utilities and keep 3-6 months in liquid savings. Whether you keep 3 or 6 months dep... |
How much can I withdraw from Betterment and be considered long-term investment? | This question and your other one indicate you're a bit unclear on how capital gains taxes work, so here's the deal: you buy an asset (like shares of stock or a mutual fund). You later sell it for more than you bought it for. You pay taxes on your profit: the difference between what you sold it for and what you bought... |
Buying insurance (extended warranty or guarantee) on everyday goods / appliances? | I decline politely. The cost of the insurance policy has two components: The actual cost of a likely repair + profit. If I set aside the cost of a likely repair myself, then I get to keep the profit. If the item doesn't break, I get to keep the "repair" money too :) |
When can we exercice an option? | If you're talking about ADBE options, that is an American style option, which can be exercised at any time before expiration. You can exercise your options by calling your broker and instructing them to exercise. Your broker will charge you a nominal fee to do so. As an aside, you probably don't want to exercise the op... |
How do I calculate what percentage of my portfolio is large-, mid- or small- cap? | All mutual funds disclose their investments, funds are large cap only or midcsp etc. So it depends on what funds you choose. |
Why is being “upside down” on a mortgage so bad? | Being underwater a little is not all that scary, but those who talk of being underwater are typically underwater by quite a lot. The amount of money they owe is large compared to their yearly income. Consider a metaphor. I put you in a hole. Its only 1 foot deep. You're not too concerned. If you want to leave, you... |
Car financed at 24.90% — what can I do? | You could look into refinancing with a bank or credit union. But to weed out options quickly, use a service like LendingTree, which can vet multiple options for you a whole lot more quickly than you could probably do yourself. (I don't work for, or get any benefit from LendingTree.) Whatever you do, try to do all th... |
Historically how do share prices perform after mass selling after an employee reward scheme? | Like others have already said, it may cause an immediate dip due to a large and sudden move in shares for that particular stock. However, if there is nothing else affecting the company's financials and investors perceive no other risks, it will probably bounce back a bit, but not back to the full value before the share... |
Should a high-school student invest their (relative meager) savings? | Nobody has mentioned your "risk tolerance" and "investment horizon" for this money. Any answer should take into account whether you can afford to lose it all, and how soon you'll need your investment to be both liquid and above water. You can't make any investment decision at all and might as well leave it in a deposi... |
How does giving to charity work? | If something is tax-deductible in the US, it means that, in the eyes of the Internal Revenue Service, you effectively didn't earn that money. Within restrictions, your adjusted gross income, which is the income that your tax is calculated on, is reduced by the amount of your tax deductions. In the case of the ASPCA, ... |
In a competitive market, why is movie theater popcorn expensive? | One explanation is that movie patrons are considering their total willingness to pay for the movie experience so that if the ticket price plus the market price of popcorn is less than their willingness to pay (WTP), the theater has an opportunity to extract more consumer surplus by charging higher than market prices fo... |
Can my U.S. company do work for a foreign company and get wire transfers to my personal account? | It seems that you're complicating things quite a bit. Why would you not create a business entity, open one or more bank accounts for it, and then have the money wired into those accounts? If you plan on being a company then set up the appropriate structure for it. In the U.S., you can form an S-corporation or an LLC ... |
Ideas on how to invest a relatively small amount of British pounds | First I assume you are resident for tax purposes in the UK? 1 Put 2000 in a cash ISA as an emergency fund. 2 Buy shares in 2 or 3 of the big generalist Investment trusts as they have low charges and long track records – unless your a higher rate tax payer don’t buy the shares inside the ISA its not worth it You cou... |
Layman's guide to getting started with Forex (foreign exchange trading)? | There are various indexes on the stock market that track the currencies. Though it is different than Forex (probably less leverage), you may be able to get the effects you're looking for. I don't have a lot of knowledge in this area, but looked some into FXE, to trade the Euro debt crisis. Here's an article on Forex... |
Debit card funds on preauthorization hold to paypal: can it be used for another transaction? | You said the hold would last a week. That's your answer. No you can't spend it again until the hold clears. |
How risky is it to keep my emergency fund in stocks? | I do this very thing, but with asset allocation and risk parity in mind. I disagree with the cash or bust answers above, but many of the aforementioned facts are valuable and I don't mean to undermine them in anyway. That said, let's look at two examples: Option 1: All-in For the sake of argument let's say you had $100... |
My friend wants to put my name down for a house he's buying. What risks would I be taking? | Both of you sit down with a lawyer who practices in real estate and foreclosures, and hash out every single possibility of what could conceivably go wrong, with nothing out of bounds. Come up with a reasonable and fair plan for resolving each situation, that you are willing to commit to, life and breath, for real, no ... |
What happened when the dot com bubble burst? | Two big things: In many ways, the early internet people were correct -- in 2011 we are much more productive as a society than we were in 1991. (Which comes with downsides, such as high unemployment) The bubble was a result of over-estimating those improvements and under-estimating the time required to yield those produ... |
How to calculate P/E ratio for S&P500 sectors | For the S&P and many other indices (but not the DJIA) the index "price" is just a unitless number that is the result of a complicated formula. It's not a dollar value. So when you divide said number by the earnings/share of the sector, you're again getting just a unitless number that is incomparable to standard P-E r... |
How to use proceeds of old house sale shortly after buying new house? | Really this is no different from any kind of large lump sum and having a mortgage. There are probably many questions and answers on this subject. It really doesn't matter that the proceeds were the result of a sale, an inheritance would not change the answer. I think it is important to note that the proceeds will not... |
Does the IRS give some help or leniency to first-time taxpayers? | There's no such thing as "leniency" when enforcing the law. Not knowing the law, as you have probably heard, is not a valid legal defence. Tax law is a law like any other. That said, some penalties and fines can be abated if the error was done in good faith and due to a reasonable cause. First time penalties can be aba... |
Can I pay taxes using bill pay from my on-line checking account? | And if you need to pay business taxes outside of the regular US 1040 form, you can use the IRS' Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS). Basically, you enroll your bank accounts, and you can make estimated, penalty, etc. payments. The site can be found here. |
After Market Price change, how can I get it at that price? | You can make a purchase at the after market price by sending an order that gets executed in after market. Often times these are called Extended orders, or EXT. With an EXT limit order it will place the bid on the after market hours order book. If you get filled, then you have the shares. This is the answer. |
How do I protect money above the FDIC coverage limit? | Be very careful to hold on tight to your money! I agree with paying for an investment advisor, but I would say use at least two to get different viewpoints, and get credentials and references! Don't let relatives convince you to invest in their business, or help them out, or any other such nonsense. Real estate still i... |
Currently a Microsoft Money user on PC, need a replacement suitable for Mac | I haven't found a drop-in replacement for MS Money, but I've tried a few of the Mac desktop programs. I settled on Iggsoftware's iBank, which seems to do what I need it to do. It also appears to be able to import transactions from MS Money if you export your accounts as QIF files at the MS Money end, but I never tried ... |
Why would a company care about the price of its own shares in the stock market? | Why do companies exist? Well, the corporate charter describes why the company exists. Usually the purpose is to enrich the shareholders. The owners of a company want to make money, in other words. There are a number of ways that a shareholder can make money off a stock: As such, maintaining the stock price and dividend... |
Get car loan w/ part time job as student with no credit, no-cosigner but no expenses | Ben already covered most of this in his answer, but I want to emphasize the most important part of getting a loan with limited credit history. Go into a credit union or community bank and talk to the loan officer there in person. Ask for recommendations on how much they would lend based on your income to get the best i... |
Why is short-selling considered more “advanced” than a simple buy? | When you short a stock, you can lose an unlimited amount of money if the trade goes against you. If the shorted stock gaps up overnight you can lose more money than you have in your account. The best case is you make 100% if the stock goes to zero. And then you have margin fees on top of that. With long positions, it's... |
Paying off a loan with a loan to get a better interest rate | Your current loan is for a new car. Your refinanced loan would probably be for a used car. They have different underwriting standards and used car loan rates are usually higher because of the higher risks associated with the loans. (People with better credit will tend to buy new cars.) This doesn't mean that you can't ... |
Why do some online stores not ask for the 3-digit code on the back of my credit card? | @Jeremy Using CVV doesn't decrease the transaction cost. I know this because I have quotes for CC transactions and the cost/transaction doesn't depend on using CVV. That said we don't plan to use CVV because we sell insurance and the likelihood that someone who steals CC will buy insurance is very low. |
Is there any way to pay online in a country with no international banking system | According to Paypal, they support transactions in Ethiopia: https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/country-worldwide https://developer.paypal.com/docs/classic/api/country_codes/ However those appear to be limited to transferring money out of the country. (link) There is an article here (link) which talks about how to tra... |
Which Benjamin Graham book should I read first: Security Analysis or Intelligent Investor? | Having thought about it, I decided to start with another book by the same author : "The Interpretation of Financial Statements". I do not have a sufficiently strong basis to know what either "The Intelligent Investor" or "Security Analysis" are even about. Yeah, I might understand things, but I wouldn't grasp the essen... |
MasterCard won't disclose who leaked my credit card details | As indicated in comments, this is common practice in the US as well as EU. For example, in this Fox Business article, a user had basically the same experience: their card was replaced but without the specific merchant being disclosed. When the reporter contacted Visa, they were told: "We also believe that the public ... |
A little advice please…car loan related | Let's assess the situation first, then look at an option: This leaves you with about $1,017/mo in cash flow, provided you spend money on nothing else (entertainment, oil changes, general merchandise, gifts, etc.) So I'd say take $200/mo off that as "backup" money. Now we're at $817/mo. Question: What have you been doi... |
Why do some companies offer 401k retirement plans? | Stated plainly... it's a benefit. Companies are not required to offer you any compensation above paying you minimum wage. But benefits attract higher quality employees. I think a big part of it is that it is the norm. Employees want it because of the tax benefits. Employees expect it because almost all reputable compa... |
How risky are penny stocks? | Penny stocks are for the real gambler. Don't even think about holding them long. Buy a lot of shares and profit from a penny uptick. Rake a hundred dollars here and there a few times a week if you can. Don't fall in love with it. Trade for profit. Don't bet the farm. Only play what you can afford to lose at the ... |
What should I consider when selecting a broker/advisor to manage my IRA? | This is not a direct answer to your question, but you might want to consider whether you want to have a financial planner at all. Would a large mutual fund company or brokerage serve your needs better than a bank? You are still quite young and so have been contributing to IRAs for only a few years. Also, the wording in... |
Oil Price forcasting | In layman's terms, oil on the commodities market has a "spot price" and a "future price". The spot price is what the last guy paid to buy a barrel of oil right now (and thus a pretty good indicator of what you'll have to pay). The futures price is what the last guy paid for a "futures contract", where they agreed to bu... |
How do I get into investing in stocks? | That is a loaded question but I'll give it a shot. First things first you need to determine if you are ready to invest in stocks. If you have a lot of high interest debt you would be much better served paying that off before investing in stocks. Stocks return around 8%-10% in the long run, so you'd be better off pay... |
Can individuals day-trade stocks using High-Frequency Trading (HFT)? | The answer is to your question is somewhat complicated. You will be unable to compete with the firms traditionally associated with High Frequency Trading in any of their strategies. Most of these strategies which involve marketing making, latency arbitrage, and rebate collection. The amount of engineering required to b... |
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