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Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | How did Bill Gates actually make his money? | Bill gates is founder of microsoft along with his friend allen.in microsoft as its vast empire increasing the wealth and enormous property of bill gates is increasing |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Selling an app, sharing income, how does it work tax-wise? | There are a few different ways to organize this, but mostly I think you need to talk to a lawyer. The 50/50 split thing should be in writing along with a bunch of other issues. You could have one of you doing a sole proprietorship where the other person is a contractor that receives half of all revenues/profits. The ... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Calculating NPV for future cash inflows | When calculating the NPV, is there anything I need to do in between the project start date outlay (Nov 2017), and the first cash inflow (July 2019). Do I need to discount the cashflow to the present, and if so, how? Yes, you need to discount every cash flow to the present time, not just the first one. When discountin... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | How do online referal systems work? | Yeah, I'll take the challenge...:) How trustworthy these are and what are their sources of income? These are in fact two separate questions, but the answers are related. How trustworthy? As trustworthy as they're clear about their own sources of income. If you cannot find any clue as to why, what for and how they're pa... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Foreign currency conversion for international visitors to ecommerce web site? | Central banks don't generally post exchange rates with other currencies, as they are not determined by central banks but by the currency markets. You need a source for live exchange rate data (for example www.xe.com), and you need to calculate the prices in other currencies dynamically as they are displayed -- they wil... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Foreign currency conversion for international visitors to ecommerce web site? | For manual conversion you can use many sites, starting from google (type 30 USD in yuan) to sites like xe.com mentioned here. For programmatic conversion, you could use Google Calculator API or many other currency exchange APIs that are available. Beware however that if you do it on the real site, the exchange rate is ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Foreign currency conversion for international visitors to ecommerce web site? | You probably can get away with only updating the exchange rates once a day and specify that any prices quoted in units other than your home currency are estimates only. If you're planning to accept more than one currency as payment, I'd (a) see about whatever regulations there are for doing so, and (b) build in a nice ... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | As a sole proprietor can I charge a fee for being paid by check or card | You can charge a fee to accept checks, although I think the better solution might be to offer a small discount for early payment of your invoices. As some people here have suggested, why not add a small bit to your fees to begin with to cover your inconvenience in the case they choose to pay by check? I often will g... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Equity or alternative compensation in an LLC? | I'm not sure 1099-MISC is what you should expect. Equity means ownership, and in LLC context it means membership. As an LLC member, you'll get distributions and should receive a K-1 form for tax treatment, not 1099 or W2. If the CEO is talking about 1099 it means he's going to hire you as a contractor which contradicts... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | How common is “pass-through” health insurance? | Even though this isn't really personal finance related I still feel like there are some misconceptions here that could be addressed. I don't know where you got the phrase "pass-through" insurance from. What you're describing is a self-funded plan. In a self-funded arrangement an employer contracts a third-party-admin... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | How do you compare the sales of a company like Coca Cola against another company like JPMorgan Chase to figure out the best investment opportunity? | The question isn't sales but profits. Banks traditionally profit by making loans. Just as with a physical product, there are costs involved, income produced, and the difference between the two is gross profit. From there you can get net profit, and from there you can look at efficiency or profit per share or whatever o... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Are there tax liabilities (in the US) for having a US bank account while I am abroad? | I don't think so in your case. Unless the account generates so much interest income that it became reportable (I don't know the exact limit, but I think it's in the hundreds if not thousands of dollars, you might get a 1099 form if it generates over $10 of interest income, but you don't have to file taxes if your overa... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Why don't banks allow more control over credit/debit card charges? | quid has expressed some of the disadvantages with this approach, but there is another. Vendors will not want to give you any goods you buy with your credit card until they are sure they will get the money. With your suggested approach buying something with a credit card now looks like: No vendor is going to stand for t... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Why don't banks allow more control over credit/debit card charges? | Credit card fraud is an extremely (to stress, EXTREMELY) small proportion of total credit card transactions. The card issuing entities all offer zero fraud liability, even on debit cards. There are millions of transactions every day and fraud loss just isn't worth developing, and supporting, an additional authenticat... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Why don't banks allow more control over credit/debit card charges? | The other answers touch on why having two-factor auth or some other additional system is not worth it compared to simple reactive systems (cancelling lost cards, reversing fraudulent charges etc), but it should also be noted that this goal can be achieved with a method similar to what you describe. My bank (TD Canada ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Why don't banks allow more control over credit/debit card charges? | Actually in Finland on some bank + debit/credit card + online retailer combinations you type in your card details as you normally do, but after clicking "Buy" you get directed to your own bank's website which asks you to authenticate yourself with online banking credentials. It also displays the amount of money and to ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Why don't banks allow more control over credit/debit card charges? | Credit cards and debit cards make up the bulk of the transactions in the US. Visa and Mastercard take a percentage of each credit card transaction. For the most part, this fee it built into the price of what you buy. That is, you don't generally pay extra at the grocery store if you use a credit card (gasoline purch... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Why don't banks allow more control over credit/debit card charges? | This is a question with a flawed premise. Credit cards do have two-factor authentication on transactions they consider more at risk to be fraudulent. I've had several times when I bought something relatively expensive and unusual for me, where the CC either initially declined and sent me a text asking to confirm imme... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Why don't banks allow more control over credit/debit card charges? | A few years ago I had a US bank credit card that was serviced (all support, website, transaction issues) handled by FIA Card Services (part of Bank of America). I could create one-use credit card numbers, or time-limited (for example, 3 months) numbers. I could also create ("permanent)) extra card numbers. All of the... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | 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.... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | How do “held” amounts appear on statements and affect balances of traditional credit cards? | The "hold" is just placeholder that prevents you from overspending until the transaction is settled. The merchant isn't "holding" your money, your bank or card provider is protecting itself from you overdrawing. In general, it takes 1-3 days for a credit transaction to settle. With a credit card, this usually isn't an ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Steps/Procedures to open an online stock trading account in the US | Since you are not starting with a lot of cash the commissions may eat into your account. So go with somebody that has no inactivity fee and low/free commission. I think there are number of sites and the ING sharebuilder.com comes to mind. Scottrade also one of the cheaper ones that i used. |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Do I need to file a 1099 form for contractors associated with hobby income? | You are expected to file 1099 for each person you pay $600 a year. I.e.: not a one time payment, but the total over the course of the year. Since we don't know how much and what else you paid - we cannot answer this question. The real question you're asking is that if you're treating the enterprise as a hobby, whether ... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | GnuCash, how do I book loan from credit card, being paid back with salary? [duplicate] | When you pay the flight, hotel, conference attendance fees of $100: When you repay the credit card debt of $100: When you receive the gross salary of $5000: Your final balance sheet will show: Your final income statement will show: Under this method, your "Salary" account will show the salary net of business expense. T... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Can a custodian refuse prior-year IRA/HSA deposit postmarked April 15? | The "must be postmarked" language might be just from the old bank itself, not from the IRS. The language I see in Publication 969 only says "You can make contributions to your HSA for 2014 until April 15, 2015." In this case, it is understandable that the credit union you have the new account with does not want to acc... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Can a custodian refuse prior-year IRA/HSA deposit postmarked April 15? | The slips from your bank for your HSA account are for an account already established and thus the bank is willing to accept your deposits even if they arrive at the bank after the April 15 deadline, as long as the postmark is April 15 or earlier. The account exists in the bank, they know who you are, and that the paym... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Can a custodian refuse prior-year IRA/HSA deposit postmarked April 15? | I had a situation like this also. A client deposited an IRA check to his local P.O. prior to collection p/up, thinking this meant it would be postmarked April 15. It may have been picked up, but wasn't postmarked until the next day, and my firm refused to consider it as timely. I do remember discussing it w/my Retireme... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Insurance for a house which is not homeowners insurance? | What you need will depend on a number of factors that aren't clear from the question. This coverage is simply called "Vacant home insurance", but not all companies are willing to offer this coverage. Unfortunately, in New York, insurers can also legally drop your standard homeowners' coverage if they become aware that ... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | How do disputed debts work on credit reports? | You're not missing anything. Consumer protection in the US is very basic and limited, if at all. So if someone claims you owe them something, it would be really hard for you to prove otherwise unless you actually drag them to court. Especially if there actually was a relationship, and there probably is some paperwork t... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | How do disputed debts work on credit reports? | If you tell the collector that the claim isn't valid, they're obliged to go back to the creditor to verify it. Sometimes that gets a real person, instead of their automatic billing system, to look at the claim, and if you're right, they'll drop it. |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Should withheld income tax be included as income? | Does it make sense to report withheld tax income as an additional income? Is it required by the IRS? Is $T deductible? This is what is called imputed income. The ticket is an income for you, but the company doesn't want you to pay tax on it. But you have to. But they want to be nice to you and give you the ticket on ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Should withheld income tax be included as income? | This very topic was the subject of a question on workplace SE https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/8996/what-can-relocation-assistance-entail TL/DR; From tax publication 521 - Moving expenses table regarding how to report IF your Form W-2 shows... your entire reimbursement reported as wages in box 1 ... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Being a 1099 for a company I part-own? | The contract he wants me to sign states I'll receive my monthly stipend (if that is the right word) as a 1099 contractor. The right word is guaranteed payment, which is what "salary" is called when a partner is working for a partnership she's a partner in. Which is exactly the case in your situation. 1099 is not the ... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Need a formula to determine monthly payments received at time t if I'm reinvesting my returns | How does compounding of annual interest work? answers this question. It's not simple compound interest. It's a time value of money calculation similar to mortgage calculations. Only the cash flow is the other way, a 'deposit' instead of 'payment'. When using a finance calculator such as the TI-BA35 (Note, it's no longe... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Need a formula to determine monthly payments received at time t if I'm reinvesting my returns | With 10% return over three years, depositing $900 each month, in three years $34,039.30. Re. downvote. I guess this is too brief and without explanation, but I was rushing. If you want further explanation of how this is calculated check the link already posted by JoeTaxpayer, and have a look at the formula for contin... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | What are the advantages of paying off a mortgage quickly? | The main reason for paying your mortgage off quickly is to reduce risk should a crisis happen. If you don't have a house payment, you have much higher cash flow every month, and your day-to-day living expenses are much lower, so if an illness or job loss happens, you'll be in a much better position to handle it. You s... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | What are the advantages of paying off a mortgage quickly? | Considering that it's common for the monthly mortgage payment to be 25% of one's income, it's an obvious advantage for that monthly burden to be eliminated. The issue, as I see it, is that this is the last thing one should do in the list of priorities: The idea of 'no mortgage' is great. But. You might pay early and h... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | What are the advantages of paying off a mortgage quickly? | I used to think that paying off ahead of time made sense, but I no longer do, at least in most cases. The upside is that you can get a return on your money equal to the mortgage interest rate (it's less than that in the US, where mortgage interest is deductible, so it's roughly the mortgage interest rate * 1 - your ma... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | What are the advantages of paying off a mortgage quickly? | It depends on where you are in life, and where you want to be at some point in the future, and the taxes, expenses and income at those points in your life. You don't get a mortgage to save on taxes, or keep a mortgage to save on taxes. But if somebody said they want to have the house paid off before they retire, that s... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | What are the advantages of paying off a mortgage quickly? | The financial reasons, beyond simply owning your home outright, are: You're no longer paying interest. Yes, the interest is tax-deductible in the U.S. (though not in Canada), but the tax savings is a percentage of a percentage; if you paid, say, $8000 in interest last year, at the 25% marginal rate you effectively save... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | What are the advantages of paying off a mortgage quickly? | From my experience and friends' experiences, I can say that there are advantages and disadvantages for paying off your mortgage quickly. Basically, it depends on these factors: the type of the mortgage, its interest rate, your financial stability, your skills in making investments and other outside factors, such as inf... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Ballpark salary equivalent today of “healthcare benefits” in the US? | As a contractor, I have done this exact calculation many times so I can compare full time employment offers when they come. The answer varies greatly depending on your situation, but here's how to calculate it: So, subtracting the two and you get I've run many different scenarios with multiple plans and employers, and ... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Ballpark salary equivalent today of “healthcare benefits” in the US? | As others have said, it depends entirely on what benefits are provided, and how much of the cost of those benefits is paid by the employer and how much is paid by the employee, and compare that to what it would cost to obtain the necessary/equivalent coverage without employer assistance. In my case, my employer pays mo... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Ballpark salary equivalent today of “healthcare benefits” in the US? | While the other answers try to quantify the value of health care the question you ask is about employee vs contractor. The delta between those regarding benefits goes way beyond health care. In fact because almost every full time employee must have health care offered by their employer the option of "you can have X wi... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Ballpark salary equivalent today of “healthcare benefits” in the US? | Equation: (M x 12) + MOOP = Worst case scenario cost Where M equals the monthly cost and MOOP is the maximum out of pocket amount. So, if a plan costs $500 a month and the maximum out of pocket amount is $12,000 - which in a worst case scenario you would pay (it's almost always over the deductible) ... ($500 x 12) + 1... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Ballpark salary equivalent today of “healthcare benefits” in the US? | For the person being hired this is a tricky situation. Specially with the new laws. There is no real magic number that can be applied as a lot will depend on what benefits you want, and what is actually available. This will really shift the spectrum quite a bit. Under the affordibal care act, everyone has to have insu... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Ballpark salary equivalent today of “healthcare benefits” in the US? | You could probably see prices at one of the Obamacare websites. I'm on Obamacare in Massachusetts, and the premiums for me ranged from about $300-600 per month. For a couple, you just multiply by two (couples don't get any discounts over single people). So for a couple, the cost is about $600-$1200 per month. I neve... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Ballpark salary equivalent today of “healthcare benefits” in the US? | Many answers here have given what look to be useful perspectives on your question. I want to point out an interesting technical issue. If an employer contracts with an insurer, it agrees to cover all employees (or all that fill some pre-specified definition and no one else), and to offer only a limited range of option... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Ballpark salary equivalent today of “healthcare benefits” in the US? | There is some magic involved in that calculation, because what health insurance is worth to you is not necessarily the same it is worth for the employer. Two examples that illustrate the extreme ends of the spectrum: let's say you or a family member have a chronic or a serious illness, especially if it is a preexisting... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Ballpark salary equivalent today of “healthcare benefits” in the US? | Healthcare for the employee is more valuable to the employer than is providing healthcare for the rest of the family members. Depending on the family situation, you're going to see significant differences in price between out of pocket costs for insurance of just the employee, vs cost for insuring the entire family. ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | How to get a grip on finance? | I think this question is perfectly on topic, and probably has been asked and answered many times. However, I cannot help myself. Here are some basics however: Personal Finance is not only about math. As a guy who "took vector calculus just for fun", I have learned that superior math skills do not translate into super... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Hired with W-9, will I owe estimated tax quarterly? | You must pay your taxes at the quarterly intervals. For most people the withholding done by their employer satisfies this requirement. However, if your income does not have any withholding (or sufficient), then you must file quarterly estimated tax payments. Note that if you have a second job that does withhold, then ... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | How should one refuse to father in law (Chinese) when he wants to borrow money? | In these situations, one solution is to use the "I was just about to ask you the same thing..." response. This is kind of a famous way to deal with people asking you for money, whether it's someone asking to borrow "$10 at lunch time" or "$3000 for a car" or the like. So: Person X asks you for money, say $2000. Your re... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Combined annual contribution limits for individuals [duplicate] | You're correct about the 401(k). Your employer's contributions don't count toward the $18k limit. You're incorrect about the IRAs though. You can contribute a maximum of $5500 total across IRA and Roth IRA, not $5500 to each. There are also limits once you reach higher levels of income. from IRS.gov: Retirement Topics ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Combined annual contribution limits for individuals [duplicate] | Your contribution limit to a 401(k) is $18,000. Your employer is allowed to contribute to your 401(k), usually a "matching contribution". That matching contribution comes from your employer, so is not subject to your personal contribution limit. A contribution to a regular 401(k) is typically made with pre-tax money ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Why are residential investment properties owned by non-professional investors and not large corporations? | Because the returns are not good. One of the big drivers in Australia is "negative gearing": if your investment loses money you can offset losses against your tax on other income. Institutional investors and corporations are in the business of making money: not losing it. Housing market investors are betting that these... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Why are residential investment properties owned by non-professional investors and not large corporations? | Your experience is anecdotal (outside Australia things are different). There are many companies and real estate investment trusts (REITs) that own residential properties (as well as commercial in many cases to have a balanced portfolio). They are probably more common in higher-density housing like condos, apartment bui... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Why are residential investment properties owned by non-professional investors and not large corporations? | Economy of scale on one side versus "person monetizing an illliquid asset" on the other. Most multifamily rental buildings are owned by professional real estate investors (as well as individuals growing an empire to become a professional real estate investor whom I will count in this group). The rental difference bet... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Why are residential investment properties owned by non-professional investors and not large corporations? | As other answers have pointed out, professional real estate investors do own residential investment properties. However, small residential units typically are not owned by professional real estate investors as your experience confirms. This has a fairly natural cause. The size of the investment opportunity is insuffici... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Why are residential investment properties owned by non-professional investors and not large corporations? | None of the previous answers calls out an important factor to residential property ownership bias towards individual investors. The amount of time spent managing (leasing, maintenance and rent collection) on single properties is much higher, per property, than larger investments. But what is mentioned in passing is the... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Offered a job: Should I go as consultant / independent contractor, or employee? | Your comment to James is telling and can help us lead you in the right direction: My work and lifestyle will be the same either way, as I said. This is all about how it goes "on the books." [emphasis mine] As an independent consultant myself, when I hear something like "the work will be the same either way", I thi... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Offered a job: Should I go as consultant / independent contractor, or employee? | To be honest I don't know how any of this work in the US so my answer will be of very limited value to yourself, I suspect, but when it comes to the UK if you're going to get the same pay gross either way than being independent makes very little sense. Running your own business is hassle, is generally more risky (alth... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Offered a job: Should I go as consultant / independent contractor, or employee? | Linkedlinked, You might want to seriously take another look at the links that Chris provided you. Specifically the ones on the IRS website: http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=99921,00.html From the IRS website: Businesses must weigh all these factors when determining whether a worker is an employee ... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Offered a job: Should I go as consultant / independent contractor, or employee? | I think it really depends on what work/lifestyle you are looking for. I'm sure your more than capable of going down either route, but you should weigh up the pros and cons of each A consultant would be great, you'd be your own boss and you have overall say on how your business/career plans out, but be prepared to put i... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | What happens when a non-U.S. citizen who's been making money from the U.S. moves to the U.S.? | Its not for US citizens - its for US residents. If the US considers you as a tax resident - you'll be treated the same as a US citizen, regardless of your immigration status. The question is very unclear, since it is not mentioned whether your US sourced income "from the Internet" is sales in the US, sales on-line, ser... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | How do you declare an interest free loan? | In principle, the US taxes both income and gifts. Simply thinking good thoughts is not necessarily sufficient to avoid filing or payment obligations. Giving somebody money with no repayment date, no interest, and no enforceable note looks an awful lot like either income or a gift. A loan normally has interest, money si... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | 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.... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | 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... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Avoiding sin stock: does it make a difference? | This question drives at what value a shareholder actually provides to a corporation, and by extent, to the economy. If you subscribe for new shares (like in an Initial Public Offering), it is very straightforward to say "I have provided capital to the corporation, which it is using to advance its business." If you buy ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Save money in company for next year | As was once famously said, Our new Constitution is now established, and has an appearance that promises permanency; but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes. — Benjamin Franklin, 1789 It's very likely that either the company or you personally is going to have to pay taxes on that mone... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | What are stock indexed funds and how do they lower taxes? | who computes the S&P 500? Standard and Poor's. Why are they sharing this information and Because that's what they do. This is a financial research company. how do they recuperate the costs inherent in computing the S&P 500? By charging clients for other information. The computing of the index itself is not all that com... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Canadian in California - filing taxes as a non-resident | What do you mean by "Canadian income"? Was it income paid to you as wages for the job you did in the US? Or rental/interest income in Canada? If the former - then it doesn't go to NEC, it goes to the main part of the return. If the latter - it doesn't appear on your NR return at all. Yes, it is to validate your residen... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Schedule C: where to deduct service fees on income? | Putting them on line 10 is best suited for your situation. According to Quickbooks: Commissions and Fees (Line 10) Commissions/fees paid to nonemployees to generate revenue (e.g. agent fees). It seems like this website you are using falls under the term "nonemployees". |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Recourse with Credit Card company after victimized by fraud? | Concealing parts of a document in order to obtain a signature is illegal. The company committed signature forgery because they effectively modified the document after you signed it (i.e. unfolded the parts that were previously folded). I suggest that you go to your local police department to file a report, citing "sign... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Recourse with Credit Card company after victimized by fraud? | If the business is being investigated by your state's Attorney General's office, then your first call should be to that office. They will be able to help you in a few ways, even if they can't explicitly resolve the situation, and they also would undoubtedly appreciate your information to add to their case as well. Fir... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Recourse with Credit Card company after victimized by fraud? | I agree that you shouldn't give up trying to get your money back, but I strongly feel that this is not sufficient. If they are trying to victimize you, they are trying to victimize others. Taking care of getting your own money back should be your top concern, but contacting any Attorneys General and District Attorneys... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Options on the E-mini S&P 500 Futures at the CME: what's the expiry date of the underlying future? | I don't see EWQ6 in any of your links, so I can't say for certain, but when you buy an option contract on a future, the option will be for a specific future (and strike). So the page you're looking at may be for options on E-mini S&P 500 futures in general, and when you actually purchase one through your broker, you p... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | When amending a tax return to include a futures loss carry back, are you not allowed to include a Schedule C? | Is it true that you cannot amend a tax return to include both a futures loss carry back and a Schedule C at the same time? No, it is not true. You can include all the changes necessary in a single amended return, attaching statement explaining each of the changes. However you're talking about two different kinds of c... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | If the former owner of my home is still using the address, can it harm me? | Give it to your mailman to return to sender. For this kind of material, return service is always requested, and it will let the bank know that they have incorrect address information. If the owner needs the cards, he'll contact the bank, or the bank will contact him to verify the address. Either way, as long as its not... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | If the former owner of my home is still using the address, can it harm me? | Don't worry about it. One of the big banks who like to whine a lot about defaulting borrowers is sending credit cards to a former resident of my home. The guy died in the late 90s. |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Primary residence converted to a rental property & tax implications | You will need to look at the 27.5 year depreciation table from the IRS. It tells you how you will be able to write off the first year. It depends on which month you had the unit ready to rent. Note that that it might be a different month from when you moved, or when the first tenant moved in. Your list is pretty good. ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Primary residence converted to a rental property & tax implications | Schedule E is the form you'll use. It lists nearly all deductions you can take for a rental. TurboTax Deluxe will handle it and it includes State Filing. |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Administrator vs Broker vs Custodian for a Solo 401(k)? | Their paperwork should help you along. Schwab is the broker and custodian, you are the administrator. There's virtually no paperwork after the account is opened, until you hit $250K in value, and then there's one extra IRS form you need to fill out each year. See One-Participant 401(k) Plans for a good IRS descripti... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Faster degree with debt or slower degree with no debt? | Basically do some math on the 2 schools. Let's say you know it will take 4 years if you go the cheaper route, at $8k/yr, plus the $300/month, total cost: $46,400. If you (for these purposes) do not have to pay back new loans until school is completed, (and depending on the rate of those loans), you would need approx $6... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | I want to invest in a U.S.-based company with unquoted stocks, but I am a foreigner. How to do this? | The recommendation is not to make the investment. In general, a company does not have to sell their shares to you or allow you to become an investor, because, as you have stated, it is a private company not quoted on the stock market. If everyone were trustworthy, you could buy the tools for $11000 -- so that you own... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | I want to invest in a U.S.-based company with unquoted stocks, but I am a foreigner. How to do this? | Life would be nicer had we not needed lawyers. But for some things - you better get a proper legal advice. This is one of these things. Generally, the United States is a union of 50 different sovereign entities, so you're asking more about Texas, less about the US. So you'd better talk to a Texas lawyer. Usually, stock... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Appropriate model for deferred costs as a line-of-credit | There's no standard formula. You can compare the going rates on the market for unsecured LOCs and take that as the starting anchor. Unsecured lines of credit run in the US at about 8-18%. Your risk should be reflected in the rate, and I see no reason why the rate would change throughout the loan. As to the amount of pr... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Can I deduct the cost of software and/or computer that I need to do my job? | Yes, this is a miscellaneous itemized deduction. https://www.irs.gov/publications/p529/ar02.html For this to impact your taxes, you have to be itemizing deductions (have total deductions greater than standard deduction), and the total of all miscellaneous deductions needs to exceed the "2% floor" described in the IRS l... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Is it normal for brokers to ask whether I am a beginner? | Brokers need to assess your level of competency to ensure that they don't allow you to "bite off more than you can chew" and find yourself in a bad situation. Some brokers ask you to rate your skills, others ask you how long you've been trading, it always varies based on broker. I use IB and they gave me a questionairr... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Is it normal for brokers to ask whether I am a beginner? | In Canada, for example, they are expected or required to find out. They call it, The “Know Your Client” rule, part of which is knowing your "Investment knowledge and experience". They say it is, "to ensure their advice is suitable for you". I have always been given that kind of form to fill in, when opening an account. |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Is it normal for brokers to ask whether I am a beginner? | Yes, this is common and in some cases may be required. They may use it for marketing at some level, but they also use it for risk management in deciding, for example, how much margin to offer and whether to approve access to "riskier" products like stock options. |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Is it normal for brokers to ask whether I am a beginner? | In many places there are legal requirements to do so, essentially made to prevent brokers from selling high-risk products as if they were deposits with guaranteed safety of your funds. There also may be prohibitions on offering high-risk/high-return products to beginner customers, e.g. requiring accredited investor sta... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | What is the correct answer for percent change when the start amount is zero dollars $0? | There is no numerical convention in finance that I have ever seen. If you look at statements or reports that measure growth when the starting value is negative or zero, you typically see "n/a" or "-" or "*" as the result. Any numerical result would be meaningless. Suppose you used 100% and another company had a legi... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | What is the correct answer for percent change when the start amount is zero dollars $0? | A value of zero or a negative value makes the percent change meaningless. Saying 100% when going from 0 to some other value is simply wrong. I have seen a similar situation several times when looking at a public company with a loss last quarter. On Google Finance or some other service, the PE ratio will be blank, N/A, ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | What is the correct answer for percent change when the start amount is zero dollars $0? | I'd personally display "n/a" The only other answer that makes sense to me other is "infinity" (phone keyboard doesn't allow me to input the symbol). This would at least allow you to show direction by using positive and negative infinity and mathematical as the the initial value approaches zero the percentage change ap... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | What is the correct answer for percent change when the start amount is zero dollars $0? | In general, when dealing with quantities like net income that are not restricted to being positive, "percentage change" is a problematic measure. Even with small positive values it can be difficult to interpret. For example, compare these two companies: Company A: Company B: At a glance, I think most people would com... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | What is the correct answer for percent change when the start amount is zero dollars $0? | As has been said before, going from nothing to something is an infinite percent increase! It is not 100%. Maybe you had a dollar and now have $101 that is a 10000% increase! Quite remarkable. I often work with symmetrized percent changes like: spc = 100 * (y2-y1)/(0.5 * (y1+y2)) Where I compute the percent with respect... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | What is the correct answer for percent change when the start amount is zero dollars $0? | Anyone who has any business looking at growth numbers will know thay are meaningless in the first year, So all they need to know is that it's the first year. It's no different than the Billboard music charts' treatment of the "last week's chart ranking" and "movement up/down" columns. It will help with visual layo... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | What is the correct answer for percent change when the start amount is zero dollars $0? | In computing, you'd generally return naa%, for 'not a number'. Could you not put '-%' to show there is no value at this point? Surely the people seeing this aren't idiots and understand the charge on 0 is 0? |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | What is the correct answer for percent change when the start amount is zero dollars $0? | What is the probability of a real occasion (meaning not just an example) being exactly zero? Even if you have 0.1 you can still do the math. Also, it is kind of depending on the occasion. For example, you want to calculate the ROI of an investment for which you had zero capital and you made that investment with leverag... |
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