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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 can't you just have someone invest for you and split the profits (and losses) with him?
On reflection there are financial products that do what you want, whole-life insurance policies that guarantee an annual dividend calculation on some index with a ceiling and floor. So you will have a return within a defined minimum and maximum range. There are a lot of opinions on the internet on this. This Consum...
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Why can't you just have someone invest for you and split the profits (and losses) with him?
What you are looking for is a pretty terrible deal for you, so I'd say it doesn't exist because there isn't a market for it, or nobody has noticed there is a market for it. In principle I would happily take the deal you offer from as many people as would let me, put the money into treasury bills, and take half the prof...
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open.
Why can't you just have someone invest for you and split the profits (and losses) with him?
Give me your money. I will invest it as I see fit. A year later I will return the capital to you, plus half of any profits or losses. This means that if your capital under my management ends up turning a profit, I will keep half of those profits, but if I lose you money, I will cover half those losses. Think about ince...
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Why can't you just have someone invest for you and split the profits (and losses) with him?
At this point the cost of borrowing money is very low. For the sake of argument, say it is 1% per year for a large institution. I can either go out and find a client to invest 100,000$ and split profit and loss with them. Or, I could borrow 50,000$, pay 500$/year in interest, and get the same return and loss, while mo...
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Why can't you just have someone invest for you and split the profits (and losses) with him?
because the market price for good investment advice isn't that low. investment advice is subject to market pricing just like any other good or service. if you are good enough at investing that you seek increased volatility opportunities, you will have no trouble finding investors willing to give you a share of the ups...
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited.
Why can't you just have someone invest for you and split the profits (and losses) with him?
I'm answering this from a slightly different angle, but there are people (individuals) who will do this for you. I know private Forex traders who are 'employed' to manage Forex trading accounts for wealthy individuals. The trader takes a percentage of the wins but is also responsible for a percentage of the loss (if th...
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Why can't you just have someone invest for you and split the profits (and losses) with him?
Written with some mild snark , but no insult intended, because financial stuff can be ridiculously confusing... Looked at another way, you're basically asking if the Biblical "Parable of the Talents" can be implemented as a business model. You as the investor wish to be the "master", with the entity doing the investin...
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open.
Why can't you just have someone invest for you and split the profits (and losses) with him?
A 'indexed guaranteed income certificate' (Market Growth GIC) fits the criteria defined in the OP. The "guaranteed" part of the name means that, if the market falls, your capital is guaranteed (they cover the loss and return all your capital to you); and the "index linked" or "market growth" means that instead of the R...
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Why can't you just have someone invest for you and split the profits (and losses) with him?
Such an offer has negative value, so it's hard to see how it would make sense to accept it. The offer has two components, one part that you gain and one part that you lose. The gain is that half your losses are covered. The cost is that half your profits are lost. For that to be a net benefit to you, you would have to ...
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How can I legally and efficiently help my girlfriend build equity by helping with a mortgage?
Have her chip in for the regular expenses, utilities, food, etc., and a bit for "rent." Then tell her to be sure to deposit to her retirement account, preferably a matched 401(k). It's admirable to want her to build 'equity' but it's pretty convoluted. You can't actually give her ownership, and in the event you break ...
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited.
How can I legally and efficiently help my girlfriend build equity by helping with a mortgage?
Equity means having ownership, and I think that's a REALLY bad idea in the scenario that you described. If you stay together, there's really no upside to either of you in this scheme. If you break-up then you'll have a terrible mess, especially if the break-up goes badly. If she's really building equity, you're goin...
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How can I legally and efficiently help my girlfriend build equity by helping with a mortgage?
There is no simple, legally reasonable, way for her to build equity by helping out with your mortgage, without her having a claim to your mortgage. The only 'equitable' thing she can do is rent from you. If you want her to be building equity, have her start and fund a brokerage account for herself. If you have an affi...
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 legally and efficiently help my girlfriend build equity by helping with a mortgage?
I agree with everyone who has simply told you 'Dont' and 'You can't' and add a few more considerations that you don't want to deal with: What you want to do is admirable but very complicated from a financial and legal perspective. If this is really a route that you want to go down you should give up on the 'simple' an...
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How can I legally and efficiently help my girlfriend build equity by helping with a mortgage?
all the other answers are spot on, but look at it this way. really all you mean when you say "building equity" is "accumulating wealth". if that is the goal, then having her invest the money in a brokerage (e.g. ira) account makes a lot more sense. if you can't afford the apartment without her, then you can't afford ...
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How can I legally and efficiently help my girlfriend build equity by helping with a mortgage?
I'm glad that you feel like being fair and equitable to your party. Other answerers are, of course, correct that being fair and equitable to your girlfriend is not in your best interests but that's not what you're trying to do here and I commend you for it. There is nothing that stops you drawing up a simple legal cont...
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited.
How can I legally and efficiently help my girlfriend build equity by helping with a mortgage?
Have her pay something like a friendly monthly rent. This should be less than half of the monthly mortgage cost, since you are assuming the risk (and benefits) of a mortgage and closer to the rent of similar places near you. For when you get married and she is to have half the apartment, have a pre-agreed way to calcul...
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How can I legally and efficiently help my girlfriend build equity by helping with a mortgage?
There is no issue - and no question - if you get married. The question is only relevant in the event that you go separate ways. Should that happen, you imply that you would want to refund whatever amount your girlfriend has paid toward the mortgage. The solution, then, would seem to be to exempt her from any payments...
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How can I legally and efficiently help my girlfriend build equity by helping with a mortgage?
A 30-yr mortgage IS a committment. So, you are willing to commit to a place, but not your long-term girlfriend??? Either you don't do this "cheap" scheme idea, or you set up as a business arrangement, or you get married. This is quite a laissez-faire statement you make... "Maybe we will eventually get married, maybe we...
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How can I legally and efficiently help my girlfriend build equity by helping with a mortgage?
I just wanted to give you a different perspective, as I own a house (purchased with a mortgage), with my girlfriend. I think it can be done safely and fairly, but you do need to involve legal help to do it right. There really is nothing to be terrified about, the extra cost to set this up was almost irrelevant in the b...
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How can I legally and efficiently help my girlfriend build equity by helping with a mortgage?
This is fine, just have a plan before you go into it. Look up a co-ownership agreement contract off LegalZoom, they are like $15, or get a lawyer if you want. Decide if you want to be "Joint tenants" or "Tenants in common". You probably want to be joint tenants so that if one of you dies the property goes to the other ...
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited.
How can I legally and efficiently help my girlfriend build equity by helping with a mortgage?
I'm looking for something simple, legal, reasonably formal, easy to setup and tax efficient. You just described marriage. Get married.
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Money limit to pay tax for Patreon
If you are in the US, you legally must file taxes on any income whatsoever. How much you will pay in taxes, if any, will depend on your total taxable income. Now, for small transactions, the payments are often not reported to the IRS so some people do not file or pay. The threshold at which they payer is required to ...
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If I have no exemptions or deductions, just a simple paycheck, do I HAVE to file taxes?
As a Canadian resident, the simple answer to your question is "yes" Having worked as a tax auditor and as a Certified Financial Planner, you are required to file an income tax return because you have taxable employment income. All the employer is doing is deducting it at source and remitting it on your behalf. That doe...
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If I have no exemptions or deductions, just a simple paycheck, do I HAVE to file taxes?
While you are required to do so as others have said, it's actually in your interest to do so. In a recent article at GlobeInvestor, Tim Cestnick discusses the benefits of filing tax returns for teens. This situation may or may not apply to you but the message is the same. The main benefits are (1) create RRSP contribut...
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If I have no exemptions or deductions, just a simple paycheck, do I HAVE to file taxes?
Yes, you have to file a tax return in Canada. Non residents that have earned employment income in Canada are required to file a Canadian personal income tax return. Usually, your employer will have deducted sufficient taxes from your pay-cheques, resulting in a tax refund upon filing your Canadian tax return. You will...
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited.
If I have no exemptions or deductions, just a simple paycheck, do I HAVE to file taxes?
In many cases, you are required to file your taxes by law even if you won't owe. If it's anything like in the US, it's quite possible your employer is not taking the right amount and you may owe more or may even be in line for a return. http://www.usatax.ca/Pages/filing_requirement_taxes_canada.html
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If I have no exemptions or deductions, just a simple paycheck, do I HAVE to file taxes?
If you took advantage of options like a home buyers plan (HBP) you definitely need to file since you must designate how much of the plan to repay. Your employer does not know about what you do with your money so cannot take this into account for the withheld taxes. If you do not report repayment of the HBP it will be...
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open.
If I have no exemptions or deductions, just a simple paycheck, do I HAVE to file taxes?
You are not required to file a tax return in Canada if you have no taxable income. If you do not file a return you may be requested to by Canada Revenue Agency, and then you'll need to file one. There are hundreds of thousands of Canadian residents who do not file tax returns. The Minister who overlooks the CRA may ass...
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Are there guidelines for whom you should trust for financial advice (online, peer, experts, only myself, etc)
You need to understand how various entities make their money. Once you know that, you can determine whether their interests are aligned with yours. For example, a full-service broker makes money when you buy and sell stocks. They therefore have in interest in you doing lots of buying, and selling, not in making you mon...
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Are there guidelines for whom you should trust for financial advice (online, peer, experts, only myself, etc)
Nothing beats statistics like that found on Morning Star, Yahoo or Google Finance. When you are starting out, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Pick a couple of mutual funds with good track records and start there. Keep in mind the financial press, to some degree, has a vested interest in having their readers...
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Including the region where you live in your investment portfolio?
Diversification is a risk-mitigation strategy. When you invest in equities, you generally get a higher rate of return than a fixed income investment. But you have risks... a single company's market value can decline for all sorts of reasons, including factors outside of the control of management. Diversification lets y...
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Including the region where you live in your investment portfolio?
The problem is aggregating information from so many sources, countries, and economies. You are probably more aware of local laws, local tax changes, local economic performance, etc, so it makes sense that you'd be more in tune with your own country. If your intent is to be fully diversified, then buy a total world fu...
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open.
Including the region where you live in your investment portfolio?
Diversification is just one aspect in an investment portfolio. The other aspects in Investment are Risk Taking Ability, Liquidity, Local Regulations, Tax benefits, Ease & Convenience, Cost of carrying out transactions etc. Investing in other regions is prone FX risk and other risks depending on the region of investment...
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Interest on security deposits paid to landlords, in Michigan?
NO. The legislation requires the landlord to deposit it in a bank. Check out pages 7-10 of the linked document. There is no mention of interest. The second clause, I believe, is probably for large landlords who hold hundreds of thousands of dollars of security. http://www.legislature.mi.gov/documents/publications/...
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Interest on security deposits paid to landlords, in Michigan?
No. The full text of the Landlord-Tenant Act (specifically, section 554.614 of Act 348 of the year 1972) makes no mention of this. Searching the law for "interest" doesn't yield anything of interest (pardon the pun). Specifically, section 554.604 of the same law states that: (1) The security deposit shall be deposited...
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Bank of the Sierra: Are they legit? How can the checking interest APY be so high?
The FDIC is pretty confident about them being legit. http://www2.fdic.gov/idasp/main_bankfind.asp (type in Bank Of The Sierra in the name field and search on that) You got to realize how much money they will make if you use them per the agreement. Every credit card / debit transaction gets them some cash. Businesses...
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Bank of the Sierra: Are they legit? How can the checking interest APY be so high?
I believe MrChrister's answer is correct: Since they're FDIC insured, they are "legit." Second, on the seemingly too-good-to-be-true rate: They're basically making up the difference on other fees (not necessarily paid by you) in order to offer you the higher-than-market rate. I'd like to point out two things not ment...
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How does historical data get adjusted for dividends, exactly?
Various types of corporate actions will precipitate a price adjustment. In the case of dividends, the cash that will be paid out as a dividend to share holders forms part of a company's equity. Once the company pays a dividend, that cash is no longer part of the company's equity and the share price is adjusted accord...
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How does historical data get adjusted for dividends, exactly?
If you download the historical data from Yahoo, you will see two different close prices. The one labeled 'Close' is simply the price that was quoted on that particular day. The one labeled 'Adj Close' is the close price that has been adjusted for any splits and dividends that have occurred after that date. For example...
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How does historical data get adjusted for dividends, exactly?
According to Active Equity Management by Zhou and Jain: When a stock pays dividend, the adjusted price in Yahoo makes the following adjustment: Let T be the ex-dividend date (the first date that the buyers of a stock will not receive the dividend) and T-1 be the last trading day before T. All prices before T are adjust...
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How does historical data get adjusted for dividends, exactly?
I had both closing price and adjusted price of Apple showing the same amount after "download data" csv file was opened in excel. https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/AAPL/history?period1=1463599361&period2=1495135361&interval=div%7Csplit&filter=split&frequency=1d Its frustrating. My last option was to get the dividends his...
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What economic, political and other factors influence mortgage rates (and how)?
If you owned a bank how would you invest the bank's money? Typically banks are involved in loaning out money to businesses, people, and government at a higher interest rate then what they are paying to depositors. This is the spread and how they make money. If the bank determines that the yields on government bonds i...
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What economic, political and other factors influence mortgage rates (and how)?
Without commenting on whether or not it's needed I don't think we are going to see a QE3 and all the political pressure is for some reason to start raising rates. Regardless of how it plays out it's safe to say that the Fed Rate isn't going any lower. You should also watch closely what happens to Fannie and Freddie....
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Why do US retirement funds typically have way more US assets than international assets?
There are a few main economic reasons given why investors show a strong home bias: Interestingly, though if you ask investors about the future of their home country compared with other countries they will generally (though not always) significantly overestimate the future of their own country. It is difficult to defin...
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Why do US retirement funds typically have way more US assets than international assets?
It's likely that the main reason is the additional currency risk for non-USD investments. A wider diversification in general lowers risk, but that has to be balanced by the risk incurred when investing abroad. This implies that the key factor isn't so much the country of residence, but the currency of the listing. Eu...
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Why do US retirement funds typically have way more US assets than international assets?
To expand a bit on @MSalters's answer ... When I read your question title I assumed that by "retirement funds" you meant target-date funds that are close to their target dates (say, the 2015 target fund). When I saw that you were referring to all target-date funds, it occurred to me that examining how such funds modif...
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Why do US retirement funds typically have way more US assets than international assets?
You need growth in your retirement fund. Sad to say but the broad U.S. marks still has better growth perspective than the emerging markets. Look at China they are only at 6.7% growth for next year the same as this year. Russia's economy is shrinking. These are the other two super powers of 2015. The USA is still the b...
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Why do US retirement funds typically have way more US assets than international assets?
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Do I need to file taxes when selling on eBay or Amazon?
In simple terms, it is a business operation when it becomes a profit-making enterprise. It is a grey area, but there is a difference between selling occasional personal items on eBay and selling for profit. I would imagine the sort of considerations HM Revenue & Customs would take into account are the size of you...
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Making your first million… is easy! (??)
It is difficult to become a millionaire in the short term (a few years) working at a 9-to-5 job, unless you get lucky (win the lottery, inheritance, gambling at a casino, etc). However, if you max out your employer's Retirement Plan (401k, 403b) for the next 30 years, and you average a 5% rate of return on your investm...
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Making your first million… is easy! (??)
I realize that "a million dollars" is a completely arbitrary figure, but it's one people fixate on. Perhaps folks just meant it's getting easier because inflation has made it a far less lofty sum than when the word "millionaire" was coined. Your point is correct - it' relatively easier as the 1 million doll...
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Making your first million… is easy! (??)
Easy. Start with 2 millions and lose only one. Jokes aside, if you want a million USD, you should be asking yourself how you can produce products or services worth $5 millions. (expect the extra to be eaten up by taxes, marketing, sales, workforce...) If by investment you mean making risky bets on the stock market, you...
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Making your first million… is easy! (??)
I think there's a measure of confirmation bias here. If you talk to somebody that started a successful business and got a million out of it, he'd say "it's easy, just do this and that, like I did". If you consider this as isolated incident, you would ignore thousands of others that did exactly the same and still strugg...
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What are the risks of Dividend-yielding stocks?
Yep, there just is no free lunch. So called high dividend stocks are usually from companies that have stable cash flows but relatively little or moderate growth potential. Utility companies come to mind, let's take telecommunications as an example. Such stocks, usually, indeed are considered more conservative. In a b...
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What are the risks of Dividend-yielding stocks?
Dividend Stocks like any stock carry risk and go both up and down. It is important to choose a stock based on the company's potential and performance. And, if they pay a dividend it does help. -RobF
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What are the risks of Dividend-yielding stocks?
The risk in a divident paying stock can come from 2 sources. The business of the company, or the valuation of the stock at the time you buy. The business of the company relates to how they are running things, the risks they are taking with the company, innovations in their pipeline, and their competitive landscape. Yo...
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What are the risks of Dividend-yielding stocks?
Having a good dividend yield doesn't guarantee that a stock is safe. In the future, the company may run into financial trouble, stop paying dividends, or even go bankrupt. For this reason, you should never buy a stock just because it has a high dividend yield. You also need some criteria to determine whether that stock...
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What are the risks of Dividend-yielding stocks?
No stock is risk-free. Some of the biggest companies in the country, that seemed incredibly stable and secure, have suffered severe downturns or gone out of business. Twenty or thirty years ago Kodak ruled the camera film market. But they didn't react quickly enough when digital cameras came along and today they're a s...
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What are the risks of Dividend-yielding stocks?
One strategy to consider is a well-diversified index fund of equities. These have historically averaged 7-8% real growth. So withdrawing 3% or 4% yearly under that growth should allow you to withdraw 30+ years with little risk of drawing down all your capital. As a bonus you're savings target would come down from $10 m...
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Where to deduct gambling losses?
1: Gambling losses not in excess of gambling winnings can be deducted on Schedule A, line 28. See Pub 17 (p 201). Line 28 catches lots of deductions, and gambling losses are one of them. See Schedule A instructions. 2: If the Mississippi state tax withheld was an income tax (which I assume it was), then it goes on S...
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are there any special procedures for managing non-petty cash?
You manage this account just as any other account. "Petty cash" refers to accounts where the cash money is intended for ad-hoc purchases, where you store an amount of cash in your drawer and take it out as needed. However, other than naming it "petty cash", there's nothing petty about it - it's an account just as any o...
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are there any special procedures for managing non-petty cash?
After talking to two CPAs it seems like managing it using an imprest system is the best idea. The base characteristic of an imprest system is that a fixed amount is reserved and later replenished as it runs low. This replenishment will come from another account source, e.g., petty cash will be replenished by cashing a...
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Is sales tax for online purchases based on billing- or shipping address?
From Amazon's Site: "If an item is subject to sales tax in the state to which the order is shipped, tax is generally calculated on the total selling price of each individual item." I'm going to trust a company of this size has this correct. Shipping address.
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Is sales tax for online purchases based on billing- or shipping address?
Apparently it's based on either the address of the seller or vendor or your shipping address; from the AccurateTax.com blog post Destination and Origin Based Sales Tax: ... a few states have laws that are origin-based, where products that are shipped to the customer are taxed based on the location of the business itsel...
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Is sales tax for online purchases based on billing- or shipping address?
The technical answer is defined by the laws of state you live in but most (all?) states with a sales tax have some form of use tax. Where if you buy something in another state for use in your home state you are technically liable for sales tax on it regardless of whether the merchant charged you tax on it or not. I don...
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Is sales tax for online purchases based on billing- or shipping address?
From my understanding as a seller, and having read through Amazon's 8 page calculation methodology document, the default is the ship to address, however the seller still has the option to charge the tax or not, only charge the state rate and local (city, county, district, etc.) rate(s), or even set their own self-deter...
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Single employee - paying for health insurance premiums with pre-tax money
The answer likely depends a bit on which state you are in, but this should be true for most states. I don't know anything about Pennsylvania specifically unfortunately. The Affordable Care Act created the SHOP marketplace, which allows small businesses to effectively form larger groups for group coverage purposes. SH...
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Single employee - paying for health insurance premiums with pre-tax money
Pre tax insurance is not possible unless the emplyer provides hsa and do a payroll deduction. Obamacare is all post tax and you can do deduction if your expenses exceeds 10%of your income
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Everyone got a raise to them same amount, lost my higher pay than the newer employees
Why do you think you are entitled to "fairness"? In this world you get what you get. I am pretty sure your employer is not paying you for how you "feel" either. And by-the-way turning up on time and not leaving early is not exceptional behaviour; it is expected behaviour. Bottom line: do you add more value to your empl...
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Everyone got a raise to them same amount, lost my higher pay than the newer employees
This is one effect of rising minimum wages: compression of lower pay tiers. The new employees might have been offered a lower starting rate than the result of your raise, but your employer did not have that option as a matter of law.
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Everyone got a raise to them same amount, lost my higher pay than the newer employees
The same thing happened to me when I worked retail during my college years. I agree that it is unfair however, it is what it is. With that being said, there may be several factors that you should consider: the new employees might have more experience or qualifications then you, your work performance based on your manag...
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Everyone got a raise to them same amount, lost my higher pay than the newer employees
This question is largely opinion based but I wanted to balance out the people jumping on you. There are lots of factors that go into salary/pay, such as what you contribute to the company and whather you go above or beyond whats expected of you. I would say seniority is one factor, or at least there is a case to be mad...
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Everyone got a raise to them same amount, lost my higher pay than the newer employees
You didn't get laid off or have your hours cut back when the minimum wage was raised? I guess you have much to be grateful for, including a higher hourly rate. An excellent record is its own reward. When you finish your degree you will be grateful for the good habits you have established. You won't ever lose a nights s...
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FHA Reduction Notices From Third-Party Companies - Scam? Or Something To Consider?
This is obviously a spam mail. Your mortgage is a public record, and mortgage brokers and insurance agents were, are and will be soliciting your business, as long as they feel they have a chance of getting it. Nothing that that particular company offers is unique to them, nothing they can offer you cannot be done by an...
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Why do gas stations charge different amounts in the same local area?
This is known as "Zone Pricing" or "Geographical Pricing". http://articles.latimes.com/2005/jun/19/business/fi-calprice19 Such price variations may seem odd, but they are not unique to Anaheim. On any given day, in any major U.S. city, a single brand of gasoline will sell for a wide range of prices even when the cost t...
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Why do gas stations charge different amounts in the same local area?
Location, Location, Location. The closer to the highway, the more they can charge. People want to go less than a mile from the exit to get gas. Therefore they save time, but spend more money. That is understandable, so the gas station takes advantage of the situation.
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Why do gas stations charge different amounts in the same local area?
There are many factors. Most gas stations price their gas based on what it will cost them to replace it. So when their supplier raises the price that it charges the station the station typically raises its prices proportionality. The suppliers tend to have their own rates. The business needs to make a profit so th...
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Why do gas stations charge different amounts in the same local area?
I only have anecdotal evidence here as members of my family used to own a grocery store / gas station, but they were often time charged much more to have the gasoline delivered to than many gas stations which were just a mile or two away (up to 15% more). Also depending upon the branding of the gas station, they are r...
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Why do gas stations charge different amounts in the same local area?
When I ran a gas station, our price was largely set by our neighbors-- the other gas stations in the area. We couldn't go below the current cost of replacement gas, but other than that we wanted to be at .05 over the average. (We got away with charging more because we were the last station on a major road.) Everybody e...
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Why do gas stations charge different amounts in the same local area?
One factor I haven't seen mentioned is volume. Suppliers will charge a slightly lower price to the station if they buy in full tanker truck loads instead of smaller quantities. Where I am this is probably still the largest factor in price spread with all newer bigger stations being 20-30 cents cheaper than the old sm...
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Why do gas stations charge different amounts in the same local area?
Some of this is demand management. The local BJ's wholesale club sells gas $0.10-0.15/gallon less than the prevailing rate. Typically there are lines of 3-5 cars waiting for a pump during busy periods. People are price-conscious when buying gas, which draws crowds and the retailer actually wants a line -- the whole po...
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Why do gas stations charge different amounts in the same local area?
I'll echo: many factors. Brand: There are generally two levels of pricing: "major brand" and "discount brand". You can generally expect the "discount brand" to cost about 5-10 cents less per gallon in the same neighborhood as "major brand" gas. This is for a number of sub-factors; chief among them is that not all gasol...
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Is there any way to buy a new car directly from Toyota without going through a dealership?
No you can't buy direct from Toyota. Largely because of many states' laws (assuming you're in the US) requiring a dealer relationship for car purchasing, read about Tesla's struggles with direct to customer sales. Secondly because Toyota corporate simply isn't set up to sell a car directly to a customer. I know there...
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Is there any way to buy a new car directly from Toyota without going through a dealership?
I feel your pain. It probably depends on your state, but two things we've tried with some benefit:
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Is there any way to buy a new car directly from Toyota without going through a dealership?
You could consider buying a fairly recent used car from CarMax. They have fixed pricing, and you'd save a good amount of money on the car (since cars lose tons of value in their first year or so).
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Is there any way to buy a new car directly from Toyota without going through a dealership?
Any car manufacturer that undercuts their own dealer network would have that network fall apart quickly. Tesla is using a dealer-free distribution model from the start, so they don't have that problem. Toyota doesn't work that way, though. GM imposed a uniform no-haggling policy with their Saturn brand, but that poli...
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Is there any way to buy a new car directly from Toyota without going through a dealership?
If there's one reasonably close to you, you could go to a no-haggle dealership. Instead of making you haggle the price downward, they just give a theoretically fixed price that's roughly what the average customer could negotiate down to at a conventional dealer. Then just do your best broken record impression if they...
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Is there any way to buy a new car directly from Toyota without going through a dealership?
sadly, it is illegal in most states to buy a car directly from the manufacturer. as such, most manufacturers do not offer the option even where it is legal. if you really do know exactly what you want (model, color, options, etc.) i recommend you write down your requirements and send it to every dealer in town (via ema...
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Is there any way to buy a new car directly from Toyota without going through a dealership?
You can buy a new Toyota from a non-dealer, but not from Toyota directly as they have no retail distribution capability. There is no need to buy directly from Toyota if you want to get a new car without going through a dealer. In many cases people buy new cars but have to sell them immediately for one reason or another...
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Is there any way to buy a new car directly from Toyota without going through a dealership?
As someone who was just recently a salesman at Honda, I'd recommend buying a Honda instead :). If you really prefer your Toyota, I always found quote-aggregation services (Truecar, I'm blanking on others) very competitive in their pricing. Alternatively, you could email several dealerships requesting a final sale price...
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Is there any way to buy a new car directly from Toyota without going through a dealership?
As others have addressed the legality in their answers, I want to address the idea of the dealership being 'a middleman'. A dealership serves more of a purpose than just 'middlemanning' a car to a consumer. Actually, they consume a great deal of risk. Let's remember that a dealership is really an extension of the OEM, ...
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Is there any way to buy a new car directly from Toyota without going through a dealership?
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Is there any way to buy a new car directly from Toyota without going through a dealership?
You already got good answers on why you can't buy a Toyota from the factory, but my answer is regarding to the implied second part of your question: how to avoid haggling. I found a good way to avoid the haggling at a car dealership can be simply to not haggle. Go in with a different attitude. The main reason car deale...
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Is there any way to buy a new car directly from Toyota without going through a dealership?
Yes, nothing is impossible! :) You can buy it directly from the factory of manufacturer, but then you will have to pay for sea shipping of this car. E.g. you can buy it directly from Japanese Toyota but then you will have to pay to sea cargo ship to deliver your car in container from Japan. Since this car is already yo...
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Should a high-school student invest their (relative meager) savings?
You should invest in that with the best possible outcome. Right now that is in yourself. Your greatest wealth building tool, at this point, is your future income. As such anything you can do to increase your earnings potential. For some that might mean getting an engineering degree, for others it might mean startin...
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Should a high-school student invest their (relative meager) savings?
You have a few correlated questions here: Yes you can. There are only a few investment strategies that require a minimum contribution and those aren't ones that would get a blanket recommendation anyway. Investing in bonds or stocks is perfectly possible with limited funds. You're never too young to start. The power o...
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Should a high-school student invest their (relative meager) savings?
At your age (heck, at MY age :-)) I would not think about doing any of those types of investments (not savings) on your own, unless you are really interested in the investment process for its own sake, and are willing to devote a lot of time to investigating companies in order to try to pick good investments. Instead, ...
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Should a high-school student invest their (relative meager) savings?
IMHO It is definitively not too early to start learning and thinking about personal finances and also about investing. If you like to try stock market games, make sure to use one that includes a realistic fee structure simulation as well - otherwise there'll be a very unpleasant awakening when switching to reality... ...
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Should a high-school student invest their (relative meager) savings?
The advice to invest in yourself is good advice. But the stock market can be very rewarding over the long pull. You have about 45 years to retirement now and that is plenty long enough that each dollar put into the market now will be many dollars then. A simple way to do this might be to open a brokerage account at a r...
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Should a high-school student invest their (relative meager) savings?
Is investing a good idea with a low amount of money? Yes. I'll take the angle that you CAN invest in penny stocks. There's nothing wrong with that. The (oversimplified) suggestion I would make is to answer the question about your risk aversion. This is the four quadrant (e.g., http://njaes.rutgers.edu:8080/money/riskq...