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Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Why does the share price tend to fall if a company's profits decrease, yet remain positive? | Aside from the market implications Victor and JB King mention, another possible reason is the dividends they pay. Usually, the dividends a company pays are dependent on the profit the company made. if a company makes less profit, the dividends turn out smaller. This might incite unrest among the shareholders, because t... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Why does the share price tend to fall if a company's profits decrease, yet remain positive? | Let's say you see a café. You're looking to buy a café so you walk into one and ask the manager how much profit he makes in a year. He says $N and you walk out and think to yourself, "I'd be willing to pay $500,000 for this café." You arrange to meet again to discuss purchasing the business (and he's looking for someon... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Why does the share price tend to fall if a company's profits decrease, yet remain positive? | In a rational market, the market caps (total value of all shares of the company) should be determined by the expected future profits of the company, plus the book value (that is the value of all assets that the company holds). The share price is then calculated as market caps divided by number of shares - a company wor... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Why does the share price tend to fall if a company's profits decrease, yet remain positive? | Let's use an example: You buy 10 machines for 100k, and those machines produce products sold for a total of 10k/year in profit (ignoring labor/electricity/sales costs etc). If the typical investor requires a rate of return of 10% on this business, your company would be worth 100k. In investing terms, you would have a ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | When does it make financial sense to take advantage of employer's tuition reimbursement program? | If you have decided to do the degree, and are simply deciding whether to accept employer funding for it or not, take the funding. I see no difference between "my employer doesn't pay my tuition" and "my employer paid my tuition but I had to pay it back because I moved on". Therefore there is no downside to letting them... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | When does it make financial sense to take advantage of employer's tuition reimbursement program? | If you know that you want that advanced degree; And there is a way to have your employer pay for some of it or all of it; And you are reasonably certain that you will not be quitting for X years after completing the degree; Then it is financially sound to consider having the company pay for it. If you are interested in... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | How can I stop a merchant from charging a credit card processing fee? | You can report the violation to the payment network (i.e., Mastercard or Visa). For instance here is a report form for Visa and here is one for MasterCard. I just found those by googling; there are no doubt other ways of contacting the companies. Needless to say, you shouldn't expect that this will result in an immed... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | How can I stop a merchant from charging a credit card processing fee? | Mastercard rules also prohibit asking for ID along with the card. Yet, when I was at Disneyland, years ago (so I don't know if this is still a practice) they asked for my driver's license with every purchase. I can charge up to $200 at Costco with a swipe, not even a signature, but a $5 bottle of water (maybe it was $6... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | How can I stop a merchant from charging a credit card processing fee? | This might not be the answer you are looking for, but the alternative to "don't patronize these merchants" is this: DO patronize these merchants, and pay cash. Credit cards are convenient. (I use a credit card often.) However, there is no denying that they cost the merchants an incredible amount in fees, and that o... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | How can I stop a merchant from charging a credit card processing fee? | You have no recourse on the spot to do anything to the vendor other than pay the fee, pay cash, or walk away. If you're on a mission with longer-term horizon than immediate satisfaction, your options will vary by state. If you're in a state where the fees are legal and the owner is (potentially) violating an agreemen... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | How can I stop a merchant from charging a credit card processing fee? | It may seem very simple on its face but you don't know the merchant's agreement. You don't know who is providing the processing equipment. You don't know a lot of things. You know that Visa, Mastercard, Discover, Amex and others have network requirements and agreements. You know that laws have been changed to allow... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | How can I stop a merchant from charging a credit card processing fee? | I gather that, while it is not illegal for a merchant to pass their payment card processing fees on to their customers directly in the form of a surcharge, doing so is a violation of their merchant agreements with the payment card processor (at least for Visa/MC). It's not - surcharging has been permissible since 2013,... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Should I find a regular job or continue doing what am doing? | This might sound harsh, but the first thing I would suggest is to stop making excuses. I wasn't able to continue due to pressure from college and family The college I went to was horrible. Employers can very easily hire foreign work-force for very cheap; for example as a citizen if I work $10 an hour, they can get... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Can I claim the standard deduction being an Indian citizen and non-resident in USA for tax purposes? | Prachi - While most non-resident aliens are not allowed to claim the standard deduction here are some exceptions: IRS Law under Article 21: ARTICLE 21 Payments Received by Students and Apprentices This falls under the U.S.A.-India Tax Treaty. Sources: I hope this helps. So, yes, I do believe you would be able to claim ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | How to get a credit card as a minor? | In general, minors cannot enter into legally binding contracts -- which is what credit accounts are -- so an individually held card is probably not an option for you right now. You will not be approved for a credit card because you are minor. The only option credit card wise for you is for your parents to add you o... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | How to get a credit card as a minor? | I have a job and would like to buy equipment for producing music at home and it would be easier for me to pay for the equipment monthly I just want to address your contention that it would be easier to pay monthly, with an interest calculation. Lets say you get a credit card with a very reasonable rate of 12% and you ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | What are the risks & rewards of being a self-employed independent contractor / consultant vs. being a permanent employee? | When I worked for myself it was bad because But Ultimately I gave up my business and went to work for a school teaching, and through a series of other jobs ended up in a very stable reliable trustworthy job. When I was younger the variable paycheck didn't outweigh the freedom. Now that I am a dad I only think about 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 risks & rewards of being a self-employed independent contractor / consultant vs. being a permanent employee? | In the current economy there is no upside to working for yourself. Get in a salaried position as soon as you can, and sacrifice to whatever gods you worship that you don't get made redundant. If you're already working for yourself, and wouldn't give it up for anything, hire someone, and get them off the street. |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Property Trust - who or what is the Owner? | The trust owns the property, the trustees control the property and the beneficiaries receive any income from rent or gains from sale of property. |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Property Trust - who or what is the Owner? | I am not a lawyer, and I am assuming trusts in the UK work similar to the way they work in the US... A trust is a legally recognized entity that can act in business transactions much the same way as a person would (own real property, a business, insurance, investments, etc.). The short answer is the trust is the owner ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Why are there many small banks and more banks in the U.S.? | As an addendum to PeterK's answer, once upon a time, there were many Savings and Loan Associations (S&Ls) that acted as small banks, accepting savings deposits from people and lending money for home mortgages to local residents. Some of these S&Ls were chartered Federally with deposits insured by the FSLIC (similar to ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Why are there many small banks and more banks in the U.S.? | Wikipedia has a good summary: Historically, branch banking in the United States - especially interstate branch banking - was viewed unfavorably by regulatory authorities, and this was codified with the enactment of the McFadden Act of 1927, which specifically prohibited interstate banking. Over the next few decades, so... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | 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... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Why are there many small banks and more banks in the U.S.? | Actually it seems you are not quite correct about the number of different banks in Canada. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banks_and_credit_unions_in_Canada According to this link there are 82-86 banks in Canada plus credit unions. This may still be lower than what would correspond to the number of banks in the U... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Why are there many small banks and more banks in the U.S.? | In the US, paper checks are still the rule, and there is a large amount of the population that does not care to use online banking. As a result, those people need to go to the bank once a week or more often, to deposit checks they get from anywhere, to get cash, etc.; so all those little banks have traffic. This is slo... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Why are there many small banks and more banks in the U.S.? | First, is population density. You didn't say where exactly, but for example here in Tampa, Wells Fargo has 25 branches in the area (though that is a bit larger then what I would think of the Tampa area as a local) Second, we can mix in service expectation. I expect that in addition to "good" online service, "great" ph... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Ideal investments for a recent college grad with very high risk tolerance? | You have a high risk tolerance? Then learn about exchange traded options, and futures. Or the variety of markets that governments have decided that people without high income are too stupid to invest in, not even kidding. It appears that a lot of this discussion about your risk profile and investing has centered around... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Ideal investments for a recent college grad with very high risk tolerance? | If you're sure you want to go the high risk route: You could consider hot stocks or even bonds for companies/countries with lower credit ratings and higher risk. I think an underrated cost of investing is the tax penalties that you pay when you win if you aren't using a tax advantaged account. For your speculating acco... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Ideal investments for a recent college grad with very high risk tolerance? | If you have been putting savings away for the longer term and have some extra funds which you would like to take some extra risk on - then I say work yourself out a strategy/plan, get yourself educated and go for it. If it is individual shares you are interested then work out if you prefer to use fundamental analysis, ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Ideal investments for a recent college grad with very high risk tolerance? | Congratulations on being in this position. Your problem - which I think that you identified - is that you don't know much about investing. My recommendation is that you start with three goals: The Motley Fool (www.fool.com) has a lot of good information on their site. Their approach may or may not align with what you w... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Ideal investments for a recent college grad with very high risk tolerance? | I'd suggest you start by looking at the mutual fund and/or ETF options available via your bank, and see if they have any low-cost funds that invest in high-risk sectors. You can increase your risk (and potential returns) by allocating your assets to riskier sectors rather than by picking individual stocks, and you'll ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Ideal investments for a recent college grad with very high risk tolerance? | Theoretically there is limited demand for risky investments, so higher-risk asset classes should outperform lower-risk asset classes over sufficiently long time periods. In practice, I believe this is true, but it could be several decades before a risky portfolio starts to outperform a more conservative one. Stocks are... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Ideal investments for a recent college grad with very high risk tolerance? | An ideal investment for a highly risk tolerant college grad with a background in software and programming, is a software company. That's because it's the kind of investment that you will be able to judge better than most other people, including yours truly. Hopefully, one day the software company for a highly risk tole... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Ideal investments for a recent college grad with very high risk tolerance? | I am in a very similar situation as you (software engineer, high disposable income). Maximize your contributions to all tax-advantaged accounts first. From those accounts you can choose to invest in high risk funds. At your age and date-target funds will invest in riskier investments on your behalf; and they'll do it w... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Ideal investments for a recent college grad with very high risk tolerance? | Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. Then check their prices daily. With daily price swings of over 10% (both up and down) being a common occurrence, you'll quickly learn how high your risk tolerance really is. :) A lot of IT people believe that cryptocurrencies will stay. Whether Bitcoin or Ethereum will be amon... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Ideal investments for a recent college grad with very high risk tolerance? | Sorry to be boring but you have the luxury of time and do not need high-risk investments. Just put the surplus cash into a diversified blue-chip fund, sit back, and enjoy it supporting you in 50 years time. Your post makes me think you're implicitly assuming that since you have a very high risk tolerance you ought to b... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Is it wise to invest in a stock with a large Div yield? | You should not buy soley for the dividend. The price of BHP is going down for a reason. If you hold until the full years dividend is paid you will make 11% (which is $110 if you bought $1000 worth of shares), but if the share price keeps dropping, you might lose 50% on the stock. So you make $110 on dividends but lose ... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Is it wise to invest in a stock with a large Div yield? | There have been many interesting and correct answers but to give a direct answer to your first question, dividend yield is simply dividend over current share price. So, if the share price drops, your dividend yield increases proportionately. Dividend yield is not something one should use as the only source of informati... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Is it wise to invest in a stock with a large Div yield? | IMO, what it seems like you've done is nothing more than having screened out a company worth further investigation. The next step would be a thorough analysis of the company's past financials and current statements to arrive at your own opinion / forecast of the immediate and far future of the company's prospects. Typ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Is it wise to invest in a stock with a large Div yield? | BHP Billiton has room to answer doubters as commodities rout batters debt notes in part: There has been speculation that the company could cut its shareholder dividend, while Liberum Capital analyst Richard Knights has suggested BHP might look to raise as much as $US10 billion ($14.3 billion) in new equity capita... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Is it sensible to redirect retirement contributions from 401(k) towards becoming a landlord? | Here are the issues, as I see them - It's not that I don't trust banks, but I just feel like throwing all of our money into intangible investments is unwise. Banks have virtually nothing to do with this. And intangible assets has a different meaning than you assume. You don't have to like the market, but try to under... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Is it sensible to redirect retirement contributions from 401(k) towards becoming a landlord? | As a general rule, diversification means carrying sufficient amounts in cash equivalents, stocks, bonds, and real estate. An emergency fund should have six months income (conservative) or expenses (less conservative) in some kind of cash equivalent (like a savings account). As you approach retirement, that number sh... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Is it sensible to redirect retirement contributions from 401(k) towards becoming a landlord? | With a healthy income its quite possible to contribute too much into 401Ks/IRAs. For example, if your retired today and had 3 million or so, how much more would you need? Would an extra million materially change your life? Would it make you happier if you invested that extra in some rental properties or perhaps a bu... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Is it sensible to redirect retirement contributions from 401(k) towards becoming a landlord? | This is going to seem pretty far off the beaten path, but I hope when you finish reading it you'll see the point... Suppose someone offered you a part time job: Walk their dog once per day for at least 20 minutes, and once per week pick up the dog poo from their lawn. Your compensation is $300/month. Now suppose instea... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | How to report Canadian income from a small contract job? | It's pretty easy. In the Interview Setup for Ufile, check the box for "Self-employment business income". Then during the process of filling everything out, you'll get a Self-Employment screen. It'll ask for the name of your business, but just put your own name since you don't have one. For the 6-digit classification co... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | What is value investing? What are the key principles of value investing? | Value investing is an investment approach that relies on buying securities below their intrinsic values. There are two main concepts; one is the Intrinsic Value and the other is Margin of Safety. Intrinsic value is the value of the underlying business - if we are talking about stocks - that can be calculated through c... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | What is value investing? What are the key principles of value investing? | Fama-French would be a couple of names if you want to look at this from a value/growth dichotomy. A simplified form of this was to take the stocks with a lower Price/Book Value that would be the value stocks while the others would be the growth. The principle is that some of the beaten-down stocks will appreciate mor... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | I may earn a lot of cash soon through self-employment on a lucrative project. How to handle the tax? | Seek professional advice as duffbeer703 has suggested already. Very important! Consider incorporating. If your income will fluctuate year to year, you can keep profit in the corporation, taxed in its hands at the Canadian small business rate, since such corporate income below $500,000 would likely qualify for the sma... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | I may earn a lot of cash soon through self-employment on a lucrative project. How to handle the tax? | I'm not familiar with Canadian taxes, but had your question been written about the United States, I'd advise you to at least consult for a couple of hours with an accountant. Taxes are complex, and the cost of making a mistake generally exceeds the cost of getting professional advice. |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Why would someone want to sell call options? | You appear to be thinking of option writers as if they were individuals with small, nondiversified, holdings and a particular view on what the underlying is going to do. This is not the best way to think about them. Option writers are typically large institutions with large portfolios and that provide services in all ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Why would someone want to sell call options? | Covered calls, that is where the writer owns the underlying security, aren't the only type of calls one can write. Writing "uncovered calls," wherein one does NOT own the underlying, are a way to profit from a price drop. For example, write the call for a $5 premium, then when the underlying price drops, buy it back fo... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Why would someone want to sell call options? | I do this often with shares that I own - mostly as a learning/experience-building exercise, since I don't own enough individual stocks to make me rich (and don't risk enough to make me broke). Suppose I own 1,000 shares of X. I don't expect my shares to go down, but I want to be compensated in case they do go down. S... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Why would someone want to sell call options? | I have an example of a trade I made some time ago. By entering the position as a covered call, I was out of pocket $5.10, and if the stock traded flat, i.e. closed at the same $7.10 16 months hence, I was up 39% or nearly 30%/yr. As compared to the stock holder, if the stock fell 28%, I'd still break even, vs his loss... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | What to do with a distribution as a young person? | I have money to invest. Where should I put it? Anyone who answers with "Give it to me, I'll invest it for you, don't worry." needs to be avoided. If your financial advisor gives you this line or equivalent, fire him/her and find another. Before you think about where you should put your money, learn about investing. Tak... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | What to do with a distribution as a young person? | I highly recommend passive investing through something like betterment (www.betterment.com) or vanguard's ETFs. FutureAdvisor.com can provide some good advice as to what funds to invest in. I'd recommend using that money to max out your Roth IRAs each year, too. |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | How much money do you have to make every year before you have to pay tax? | I'm not confident that the requirements for 2017 are up yet, but assuming they don't change much from those of 2016, then probably not if you have no other earnings this year. If you make $500 a month, then you will make $6,000 this year. This is below the filing requirements for most taxpayers, unless you are married... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | How much money do you have to make every year before you have to pay tax? | Since your YouTube income is considered self-employment income and because you probably already made more than $400 in net income (after deducting expenses from the $4000 you've received so far), you will have to pay self-employment tax and file a return. This is according to the IRS's Publication 17 (2016), Your Fede... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Paying taxes on income earned in the US, but from a company based in Norway | If you are paid by foreigners then it is quite possible they don't file anything with the IRS. All of this income you are required to report as business income on schedule C. There are opportunities on schedule C to deduct expenses like your health insurance, travel, telephone calls, capital expenses like a new comput... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Paying taxes on income earned in the US, but from a company based in Norway | I don't see why you would need an "international tax specialist". You need a tax specialist to give you a consultation and training on your situation, but it doesn't seem too complicated to me. You invoice your client and get paid - you're a 1099 contractor. They should issue you a 1099 at the end of the year on everyt... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Should I have a higher credit limit on my credit card? | There is no "golden rule" on how high of a credit limit an individual should have. There are 22 year olds that have $100,000 credit limits and 40 year olds that have $1000. The most important thing is to not over spend and pay your balance(s) in full every month. Seeing as you are doing that now, there is no downside t... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Should I have a higher credit limit on my credit card? | As long as you're not trying to get a higher limit in order to actually spend more money, or might be tempted to do so, it's generally advantageous to have a higher limit if available. A large part of credit score is based on utilization rate (balance due at statement closing divided by credit limit). Basically, you wa... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Should I have a higher credit limit on my credit card? | If you want to stay in the sub 30% range to avoid 'high utilization' on your card, make sure your credit is > 3.33x your usage. For your numbers, a 2500 limit would probably keep you out of 'high utilization'. The primary reason to do this is to stay off your lender's 'high risk' list. Due to the risk perceived by CC... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Should I have a higher credit limit on my credit card? | I wouldn't say you should have any particular limit, but it can't hurt to have a higher limit. I'd always accept the increase when offered, and feel free to request it sometimes, just make sure you find out if it will be a hard or soft inquiry, and pass on the hard inquires. From my own experience, there doesn't seem t... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Should I have a higher credit limit on my credit card? | I'm the contrarian on this forum. Since you asked a "should I ..." question, I'm free to answer "No, you shouldn't increase your limit. Instead, you should close it out". A credit card is a money pump - it pumps money from your account to the bank's profit margins. When I look at my furniture and the bank's furniture, ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Should I have a higher credit limit on my credit card? | I'm not sure that OP was asking if he/she personally should have more available credit, so I will answer the other interpretation: should that particular card have a higher limit? The answer is "no." The range varies vastly by issuer. Starting limits vary widely from issuer to issuer even with identical credit histor... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Why does my bank suddenly need to know where my money comes from? | Banks have a financial, and regulational duty called "Know your customer", established to avoid a number of historical problems occurring again, such as money laundering, terrorism financing, fraud, etc. Thanks to the scale, and scope of the problem (millions of customers, billions of transactions a day), the way they'... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Why does my bank suddenly need to know where my money comes from? | Most likely this is connected with new banking regulations related to the Patriot Act, which require banks to be much more inquisitive about their customers and their money. The requirements are mostly about new accounts, but there may be some provisions to backfill this information for existing accounts. |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Why does my bank suddenly need to know where my money comes from? | Banks and credit unions are constantly required to improve their detection methods for suspicious transactions. It's not just big transactions anymore, it's scattered little ones, etc. Our credit union had to buy software that runs through transactions sniffing for suspicious patterns. More regulations and more costs... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Why does my bank suddenly need to know where my money comes from? | Bank runs very complex software to detect suspicious activity - terrorism financing, money laundering, etc. How would a program know that some person's activity is suspicious? It uses a set of rules. That set might be imperfect (that likely was not intended) - there might be some rule that triggers a warning on your ac... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | How can rebuilding a city/large area be considered an economic boost? | You are not wrong. This is called the "Broken Window" fallacy in economics. Imagine if 20% of a population was employed to go around breaking windows. This would stimulate the economy as many people would have to be employed to make new windows, repair the broken windows, etc.. The problem is that everyone would have... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | How can rebuilding a city/large area be considered an economic boost? | You're entirely correct. It's one of those "broken window" fallacies. Have you ever witnessed the anger of the good shopkeeper, James B., when his careless son happened to break a square of glass? If you have been present at such a scene, you will most assuredly bear witness to the fact, that every one o... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | How can rebuilding a city/large area be considered an economic boost? | The problem here is that the metrics that are used to track the economy are looking for things like growth and change. In a perfect world, everyone would have exactly what they need and there would no need for economists because the economy would be static. |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | How can rebuilding a city/large area be considered an economic boost? | It will have some positives, and some negatives. The hardest hit will be the insurance agencies, as well as banks. Manufacturing will also take a short term hit. When insurance payments come out, then there will be a boom in construction, consumer goods, industrial goods, etc. Companies will upgrade their equipment whe... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | How can rebuilding a city/large area be considered an economic boost? | The people who benefit are large engineering and construction companies, manufacturers of construction equipment, bankers and lawyers. So in the world of realpolitik that we live in, the misery of millions of "other people" is spun as a net benefit, because "we" benefit from that misery. |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | How can rebuilding a city/large area be considered an economic boost? | It certainly creates an opportunity for the re-distribution of wealth. Money will be transferred from insurance companies to construction companies. Businesses that go under will be replaced by ones that survived. Some companies will make a profit out of this, but as you have already figured out, no new wealth is cre... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | How can rebuilding a city/large area be considered an economic boost? | Wikipedia's article on the Parable of the broken window mentions that Keynesians would argue that broken windows can be useful in depressed economies. I think Japan's economy was somewhat depressed, so if it applies anywhere, it'd apply in this scenario. |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Money transfer from Australia to India - avoid receiving ends service tax | All Bank fees were included in the service tax ambit [For example Check bounce, issue of duplicate statement, fees charged for remittance etc]. However as quite a few Banks structured the Remittance Business to show less charges and cover the difference in the Fx rate involved, the Govt has redone the service tax and o... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Possibility of donations in an educational site | You can have a way for people to pay, i.e. some kind of payment gateway. Run as Business: Best create a company and get the funds there. This would be treated as income of the website and would be taxed accordingly. One can deduct expenses for running the website, etc. Run as Charity: Register as one, however the cause... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Can two companies own stock in each other? | Yes, this can and does certainly happen. When two companies each own stock in each other, it's called a cross holding. I learned about cross holdings in reference to Japanese companies (see Wikipedia - Keiretsu) but the phenomenon is certainly not exclusive to that jurisdiction. Here are a few additional references: |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Can two companies own stock in each other? | Absolutely. In fact, all stock purchases of more than 5% of a company's stock must be reported to the SEC, so assuming A and B are publicly traded companies in the US, the purchase would likely be a matter of public record. There are probably special cases where this could cause problems, however; any case where A's p... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Can two companies own stock in each other? | I was looking at NAT and NAO, NAT owns 20% of NAO. They trade opposite each other on the price of oil, low is good for NAT, bad for NAO. In bad times the other company's stock would probably rise, so they could trim excess shares to keep a stable monetary holding. This would create cash in bad times, in good times t... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Can two companies own stock in each other? | Yes, this happens a lot. And in many cases companies don't even know this is happening. Collateralized Debt Obligations frequently contain pieces of the same financial products, where it is not obvious what the underlying asset is. It gets complicated to explain, but I can make an analogy to a portfolio of stocks you m... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | 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... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Does inflation equal more loans? | In terms of operations, banks are indifferent to inflation. Short rates except right before a recession or near-recession are always lower than long rates, regardless of inflation level, assuming no quotas or price controls. Banks produce credit by borrowing short to lend long, so as long as short rates are lower than ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | What's an economic explanation for why greeting cards are so expensive? | Competition, or actually lack of competition, mostly due to a demand curve that has minimal change due to price. You would buy the equivalent, cheaper option if it was available, but the store has little interest in offering multiple, competing options that would drive their same store revenue down. And the competing s... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | What's an economic explanation for why greeting cards are so expensive? | Why do people buy them when they would be cheap to make for themselves? Convenience. While you could easily find some pictures and lay them out with a sentiment, buy some card stock, print in colour, trim it, and perhaps glue on some glitter or whatnot, and then find an envelope that fits it, it's likely to take you an... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | What's an economic explanation for why greeting cards are so expensive? | I actually have a bit of experience with the supplier side of this. Having worked with other people attempting to get the business launched, I can shed a bit of insight. The primary reason for the pricing is that there simply isn't enough competition to warrant dropping the price any lower than it already is. Large com... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | What's an economic explanation for why greeting cards are so expensive? | We generally speak of the "elasticity of demand". Greeting cards are expensive because they can be. We buy them in a sentimentally weakened state, and we do not buy them by the tonne. There is also the concept of "Market Segmentation", but not so much. Essentially the price is determined by finding the "point of pain" ... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | What's an economic explanation for why greeting cards are so expensive? | It'll all about the marketing. If you don't get a "real" greeting card for that important birthday or anniversary or whatever, the recipient may thing you're being cheap for using a card you printed out yourself. So you pay $6 for a card because you feel like you have to. Hallmark advertises with those sappy TV commerc... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | What's an economic explanation for why greeting cards are so expensive? | (At least in the UK) a company named Card Factory has been very successful in undercutting the competition using the classic pile 'em high and sell 'em cheap strategy with less glamorous high-street locations than 'traditional' stores. Interestingly it doesn't seem to have spawned either competition at their price poin... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | What's an economic explanation for why greeting cards are so expensive? | As one answer points out, people buying greeting cards care little about whether they cost 25 cents or $5. Those are both small amounts of money and it's not something you buy often---also people feel the need to spend money because it's a gift. On the supplier side, it should be noted that the cost of cards has littl... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | What's an economic explanation for why greeting cards are so expensive? | It cost a lot of money to pay the poet to make wording, designers/photographers to make the post-cards and miscellaneous staff (Executives, HR, shareholders etc.) These cost are thrown onto the buyers. |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Tax considerations for outsourcing freelance work to foreign country | I took littleadv's advice and talked to an accountant today. Regardless of method of payment, my US LLC does not have to withhold taxes or report the payment as payments to contractors (1099/1042(S)) to the IRS; it is simply a business expense. He said this gets more complicated if the recipient is working in the US (... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Tax considerations for outsourcing freelance work to foreign country | If you're paying a foreign person directly - you submit form 1042 and you withhold the default (30%) amount unless the person gives you a W8 with a valid treaty claim and tax id. If so - you withhold based on the treaty rate. From the IRS: General Rule In general, a person that makes a payment of U.S. source income to ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Tax considerations for outsourcing freelance work to foreign country | If a person is not a U.S. citizen and they live and work outside the U.S., then any income they make from a U.S. company or person for services provided does not qualify as "U.S. Source income" according to the IRS. Therefore you wouldn't need to worry about withholding or providing tax forms for them for U.S. taxes. ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Are there brokers or companies who trade Forex and make money for us on our investment? And do you think fxtradeinvestment is legit? | So you think there is a business that can take $X and in two weeks turn it into $10X plus their profit. That means that in two weeks you can turn $1,000 into $10,000. So every two weeks you add a zero, in six weeks you add 3 zeros. In 12 weeks total your $1,000 is now $1,000,000,000; and in a few weeks after that you ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Are there brokers or companies who trade Forex and make money for us on our investment? And do you think fxtradeinvestment is legit? | There are legitimate multi currency mutual funds/efts. But I don't think their rate of return will produce the extra money you're looking for any faster than any other kind of investment with comparable risks. To make money fast, you have to accept nontrivial risk of losing money fast, which isn't what you seem to have... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | How much time would I have to spend trading to turn a profit? | Don't go for the 'fast buck'. There's no such thing. There are two types of people that make money on the stock market: Investors and Speculators. Investors are people that pick a stock that's relatively low, relatively secure, and buy the stock for the long run, 5, 10 years or more. Warren Buffet said his ideal period... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | How much time would I have to spend trading to turn a profit? | Sounds like you are a candidate for stock trading simulators. Or just pick stocks and use Yahoo! or Google finance tools to track and see how you do. I wouldn't suggest you put real money into it. You need to learn about research and timing and a bunch of other topics you can learn about here. I personally just stick... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | How much time would I have to spend trading to turn a profit? | Probably several years at least. Maybe more like ten years. You need to watch a market for a substantial period of time to make money consistently. If you hit it big before then, you beat the odds that were against you. |
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