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Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | I received $1000 and was asked to send it back. How was this scam meant to work? | I would have asked for the intended recipient's account number and pursue sending the money there. If it's the same as yours (except for one digit) that would be a good sign. But even here, the crook could send money to dozens of different accounts, all off by one digit, just to make it look authentic. I'm going with s... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | I received $1000 and was asked to send it back. How was this scam meant to work? | Answers to your questions: (1) Do bank account numbers have a checksum. NO. (2) Is it plausible that they found out your number after sending you the money by "accident". NO. There is no way to find out who possesses a particular bank account just by the number. Also, how they even know they made a mistake? They target... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | I received $1000 and was asked to send it back. How was this scam meant to work? | The initial story sounds normal. Happens every day. Checksums cannot prevent this, since it is a typo by the sender. The sender typed in a wrong account number. That account number happened to exist (so the sender wouldn't get any immediate error message), your account. But, that innocent story can also be used as part... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | I received $1000 and was asked to send it back. How was this scam meant to work? | Most answers have concentrated on this being a scam, however, it is possible this is an innocent mistake. Australian bank account numbers do not have redundant digits to be used to validate an account number; all of the numbers are data and uniquely identify a bank and branch (the BSB number) and an account (the Accoun... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | I received $1000 and was asked to send it back. How was this scam meant to work? | I've skimmed through the answers given and I'd like do add another possible scenario. I've recently heard about this exact thing happening to someone only the money originally was a loan taken in the receivers name. 1) Scumbag finds out personal data – including social number, bank account and phone – of Innocent Vict... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | How to calculate car insurance quote | First you should understand the basics of how insurance companies make money: In a simple scenario, assume 1,000 have car insurance. Assume that on average, 100 people have accidents per year, and that each accident costs $10,000. So, we can expect total costs to be $1,000,000 per year. Some of those costs will be paid... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | How to calculate car insurance quote | Does the Insurance value differ from state to state (for example I've a car in Hawaii and there is another car in Illinois with same model, make and same features), does the Insurance vary for both? Yes, quotes will vary based on where you live for various reasons, (propensity for accidents, value of cars, etc.), and s... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | How to calculate car insurance quote | Former software developer at an insurance company here (not State Farm though). All of the above answers are accurate and address how the business analysts come up with factors on which to rate your quote. I wanted to chime in on the software side here; specifically, what goes into actually crunching those numbers to p... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | How to calculate car insurance quote | Question 1: Yes Question 2: There is no simple formula. Car insurance is mostly Statistics, because you have so many millions of cases that the variance is really low. This also means that, because the cost can be estimated so precisely, it is difficult to make an offer better than the competitors. For that reason ever... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | How to calculate car insurance quote | On top of the given answers, the type of referral will also factor in. When you're up for renewal and go to a comparison site (in the UK: CompareTheMarket, MoneySupermarket, Confused, GoCompare, ... ) and struggle accurately through all their lists of questions, you see that some of the data differs (e.g., not all the ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | What is meant by one being in a “tax bracket”? | Tax brackets refer to the range of taxable within which you fall. An income tax bracket usually refers to federal or state tax, not the combined rate. I have put here the tax brackets for 2016 for IRS and State of California. https://www.irs.com/articles/2016-federal-tax-rates-personal-exemptions-and-standard-deductio... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | What is meant by one being in a “tax bracket”? | As ApplePie discusses, "tax bracket" without any modifiers refers to a single jurisdiction's marginal tax rate. In your case, this is either your California's "tax bracket" or your Federal "tax bracket" (not including marginal Social Security and Medicare taxes). But if someone says "combined state and federal tax br... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | What are my investment options in real estate? | Your post seems to read as if you want to invest only in real estate rental properties as a start because they will be a reliable investment guaranteed to generate profits that you will be plowing back into buying even more rental properties, but you are willing to consider (possibly in later years) other forms of inve... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | What are my investment options in real estate? | I compared investing in real estate a few years ago to investing in stocks that paid double digit dividends (hard to find, however, managing and maintaining real estate is just as hard). After discussing with many in the real estate world, I counted the average and learned that most averaged about 6 - 8% on real estat... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | What are my investment options in real estate? | Real estate investment is a proven creator of wealth. Check into the history of the rich and you will find real estate investment. Starting your investment in multi-family is a great idea. It is a good way to gain experience in real estate while exponentially increasing cash flow. If you turn the properties over to a... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | What are my investment options in real estate? | If you're looking for a well-rounded view into what it's like to actually own/manage real-estate investments, plus how you can scale things up & keep the management workload relatively low, have a look at the Bigger Pockets community. There are blogs, podcasts, & interviews there from both full-time & part-time real e... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | should the Market Capitalization be equal to the Equity of the firm | Lots of questions: In general, no. Market Capitalization and Equity represent 2 different things. Equity first, the equity of a firm is the value of the assets (what it owns) less its liabilities (what it owes) and consists (broadly) of two components - share capital (what the firm gets when it sells to investors as p... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Buying a multi-family home to rent part and live in the rest | The biggest question is do you want to be a landlord? There are a lot of ups and down to managing property from bad tenants to having to fix a water heater or replace a fridge. If you aren't interested in being a landlord, it is definitely a bad idea. If you do want to be a landlord, then the question is how close ... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Buying a multi-family home to rent part and live in the rest | You are a "strategic" investor, which is to say that you are in the best position to evaluate the deal because you already live there. Others don't have this advantage going in, which is why they might not be inclined to do what you're doing. Your biggest advantage is that you know at least one tenant. In essence, you ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Buying a multi-family home to rent part and live in the rest | First, you can look up the property tax of the building you are in for an exact number. Go to you town's tax office or look at Zillow. You need to claim the rent as income, but will take all expenses as well as depreciation on half the building. The numbers may well work in your favor, especially as a resident landlord... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Buying a multi-family home to rent part and live in the rest | There's nothing wrong with it. Living in a two-family house and renting the downstairs was a fairly standard path to the middle class and home ownership in the 20th century. Basically, if market conditions are good, you'll have someone else paying your mortgage. The disadvantage of the situation is that you're a landlo... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Buying a multi-family home to rent part and live in the rest | Others have already made good points, so I'll just add a few more: You say that if you bought it, your mortgage, insurance, and taxes minus the rental income from the bottom floor would leave you with costs of 1/4 of your current rent. That means you're getting a fantastic deal on the purchase price. I suspect you may ... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Buying a multi-family home to rent part and live in the rest | Think carefully about the added expenses. It may still make sense, but it probably won't be as cheap as you are thinking. In addition to the mortgage and property taxes, there is also insurance and building maintenance and repairs. Appliances, carpets, and roofs need to be replaced periodically. Depending on the are... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Buying a multi-family home to rent part and live in the rest | Also, does anyone know of any books on doing this sort of thing, i.e. renting out half of your home to a tenant and living in the ret? Head down to your local library. Mine has a state guide for renters and another one for landlords. There will likely be a lot of Nolo Press books around there too. You can also researc... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Buying a multi-family home to rent part and live in the rest | A professional home inspection will clue you in on any problems you might be buying, so it's important in any real estate transaction. If the seller finances the loan, you need a lawyer. It might be a nice opportunity - being in the right place at the right time. You just have to investigate all angles. |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Buying a multi-family home to rent part and live in the rest | Disadvantage is that tenant could sue you for something, and in an unfavorable judgement they would have access to your house as property to possess. You could lose the house. Even if you make an LLC to hold the house, they'll either sue you or the LLC and either way you could lose the house. This might be why the land... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Buying a multi-family home to rent part and live in the rest | This is one of those too good to be true things that is actually true. Why? Because only you can do this. Only you can deduct for primary home mortgage interest, only you can get a low cost mortgage (others would have to get investor mortgages at a higher interest rate). So its only a great deal for you. More people wo... |
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 tax benefits of a LLC vs a sole proprietorship? | This is going to vary tremendously from country to country (and even from state to state, in some cases). In general, though: Sole proprietorship: LLC: There are a lot of permutations depending on local law. One thing that isn't actually much of an advantage is the "limited liability" component of the LLC. Simply pu... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | AVS Address Verification System of BOTH Credit and Debit Cards - WHERE, HOW? | Parts of what you want are possible, but taken as a whole, you're out of luck. First of all, there is no master database of every cardholder in the country. The only way to check if information is correct is to ask the issuing bank. The AVS system is a way to automate doing so, but it's possible to call the bank dire... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Can I force him to pay? | Its best to seek a lawyer, but it is unlikely you can force him to pay. You probably know couples, that are in some part of the divorce process, that have trouble obtaining court ordered payments. In your case you have less of a legal standing (exception: if you have children together). As far as the house goes, the... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Indicators a stock is part of a pump and dump scheme? | Pump-and-dump scams are indeed very real, but the scale of a single scam isn't anywhere near the type of heist you see in movies like Trading Places. Usually, the scammer will buy a few hundred dollars of a penny stock for some obscure small business, then they'll spam every address they have with advice that this busi... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Indicators a stock is part of a pump and dump scheme? | Pump-and-Dump strategy is happening everywhere. Less so in developed market. I can tell an experience from Emerging Market perspective. Usually several securities brokers work together to pump several "penny" stocks (5 - 7 stocks). They conspire together and searching for several investors, who have money and willing t... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Indicators a stock is part of a pump and dump scheme? | Note: the answer below is speculative and not based on any first-hand knowledge of pump-and-dump schemes. The explanation with spamming doesn't really makes sense for me. Often you see a stock jump 30% or more in a single day at a particular moment in time. Unlikely that random people read their emails at that time and... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Tax Form 1099 and hourly worker do i file a W-2 if my employer filed the 1099 for me? | Forms 1099 and W2 are mutually exclusive. Employers file both, not the employees. 1099 is filed for contractors, W2 is filed for employees. These terms are defined in the tax code, and you may very well be employee, even though your employer pays you as a contractor and issues 1099. You may complain to the IRS if this ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Should I refi a rental property to reduce income tax from positive cash flow and use the equity pulled out to fund an annuity? | You need to do a bit more research and as @littleadv often wisely advises, consult a professional, in this case a tax layer or CPA. You are not allowed to just pull money out of a property and write off the interest. From Deducting Mortgage Interest FAQs If you own rental property and borrow against it to buy a home, ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | What are FICA taxes for a sole proprietor in the United States | FICA taxes are separate from federal and state income taxes. As a sole proprietor you owe all of those. Additionally, there is a difference with FICA when you are employed vs. self employed. Typically FICA taxes are actually split between the employer and the employee, so you pay half, they pay half. But when you're ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Is technical analysis based on some underlying factors in the market or do they work simply because other people use them? | Technical analysis is based more on psychology than anything else. As an example, if an analyst estimates or believes that a stock is undervalued, or simply wants to re-balance their portfolio, then they will buy some amount, moving the price up. Others in the market see the upwards move as the start of an upwards tren... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Is technical analysis based on some underlying factors in the market or do they work simply because other people use them? | Technical Analysis assumes that the only relevant number(s) regarding a security is (are) price (and price momentum, price patterns, price harmonics, price trends, price aberrations, etc.). Technical is all based on price. Technical is not based on any of the fundamentals. Technical Analysis is for traders (speculator... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Is technical analysis based on some underlying factors in the market or do they work simply because other people use them? | Both explanations are partly true. There are many investors who do not want to sell an asset at a loss. This causes "resistance" at prices where large amounts of the asset were previously traded by such investors. It also explains why a "break-through" of such a "resistance" is often associated with a substantial "mo... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Multiple accounts stagnant after quitting job. | Adapted from an answer to a somewhat different question. Generally, 401k plans have larger annual expenses and provide for poorer investment choices than are available to you if you roll over your 401k investments into an IRA. So, unless you have specific reasons for wanting to continue to leave your money in the 401k ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Multiple accounts stagnant after quitting job. | What is my best bet with the 401K? I know very little about retirement plans and don't plan to ever touch this money until I retire but could this money be of better use somewhere else? You can roll over a 401k into an IRA. This lets you invest in other funds and stocks that were not available with your 401k plan. Fid... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Multiple accounts stagnant after quitting job. | What is my best bet with the 401K? I know very little about retirement plans and don't plan to ever touch this money until I retire but could this money be of better use somewhere else? If you don't know your options, I would suggest reading some material on it that might be a little more extensive than an answer h... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Multiple accounts stagnant after quitting job. | You ask multiple question here. The 401(k) - move it to an IRA. As others stated,this will lower your costs, and open up a potential I didn't see mentioned, the conversion to a Roth IRA. A year in which your income is lower than average is a great opportunity to convert a bit of the IRA enough to "top off" the lower b... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Tax and financial implications of sharing my apartment with my partner | I am not a lawyer nor a tax accountant, so if such chimes in here I'll gladly defer. But my understanding is: If you're romantically involved and living together you're considered a "household" and thus your finances are deemed shared for tax purposes. Any money your partner gives you toward paying the bills is not co... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | What's a normal personal debt / equity ratio for a highly educated person? | Average person's life I'm going to say there is no normal debt level. Here's the standard life pattern: So it really depends on your situation, it's way too spread out to quote a "normal" figure. Cost of debt vs Gain from assets and Risk of income You need to strike a sweet spot based on: Someone who is more educated i... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | What's a normal personal debt / equity ratio for a highly educated person? | Curious, are you asking about average, or the good numbers? The median family doesn't have $2500 to address an emergency. We are a nation of debtors, and spenders. A young couple at .8 is doing well. It means they saved 20% for a down payment, and just bought a house. Not too tough to buy with 5% down, have no other sa... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | What's a normal personal debt / equity ratio for a highly educated person? | What is your biggest wealth building tool? Income. If you "nerf" your income with payments to banks, cable, credit card debt, car payments, and lattes then you are naturally handicapping your wealth building. It is sort of like trying to drive home a nail holding a hammer right underneath the head. Normal is broke... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | What's a normal personal debt / equity ratio for a highly educated person? | The problem with having no debt at all and relying totally on your income from working is that if you lose your job you'll have no income. Now there are 2 types of debt: good debt and bad debt. You should stay away from bad debt. But good debt is good — it should produce an income higher than the interest payments on t... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | How can I live outside of the rat race of American life with 300k? | So my read on the question is "How do I invest 300k such that it earns me a 'living wage' without the ongoing grind inherent in most formal employment?" Reading the other answers to date it looks like most of them are thinking in terms of investment accounts and trying to live off of the earnings from such. I wanted ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | How can I live outside of the rat race of American life with 300k? | The title of your question is quite different then the content. The term "Rat Race" was coined in the 70's and refers to the endless cycle of working hard to consume more. Fortunately it is very easy not to participate in the cycle and probably will lead to more happiness. Just because one "works" does not mean they... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | How can I live outside of the rat race of American life with 300k? | An endowment is a large chunk of capital (i.e. money) held by a university or other nonprofit. It is meant to hold its value forever against inflation, and invested to generate income: from interest, dividends and appreciation. They seem like a contradiction: closely scrutinized by Boards of Directors, managed to a... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | How can I live outside of the rat race of American life with 300k? | Even with a good investment strategy, you cannot expect more than 8-10% per year in average. Reducing this by a 3% inflation ratio leaves you with 5 - 7%, which means 15k$ - 21k$. Consider seriously if you could live from that amount as annual income, longterm. If you think so, there is a second hurdle - the words in a... |
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 live outside of the rat race of American life with 300k? | the short answer: yes. The long answer depends on what you mean by modest living. As others have noted, living off a $300k principle involves risks, but the entire future has risk. By "getting out of the rat race" I hope you don't mean become a slug on the couch. Peruse mr. Money Mustache at https://www.mrmoneymustache... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | How can I live outside of the rat race of American life with 300k? | Consider buying a legal "mother daughter" property, rent out the top part, and live in the "mother" component. |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | A check I received was lost. My options? | Lost checks happen occasionally, and there are procedures in place (banking & business) to handle the situation. First and foremost you need to: Note: The money is legally yours, so the company is obligated to work with you here. If they refuse to cancel or reissue the check, at a minimum you'll want to contact the s... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | How do I figure out the next step in deciding to sell my home to the market or to a uniquely interested buyer? | You decide whether the improvements will result in a net higher price. You also need to figure on how long the house will be on the market and the cost of carrying the home, unoccupied. Some people would prefer the quickest sale. Others would wait to get the highest price. If you sell to a known buyer, you avoid usin... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | How do I figure out the next step in deciding to sell my home to the market or to a uniquely interested buyer? | We considered similar big renovations when putting our house on the market. The answer turns out to be pretty simple; unless you do renovation-type work as your day job, or have really good friends in the residential contracting business, sell as-is. You will virtually never get back the full price of bringing in a gen... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | When transferring money between two parties, under what circumstances is it considered taxable income? | A loan is not a taxable income. Neither is a gift. Loans are repaid with interest. The interest is taxable income to the lender, and may or may not be deductible to the borrower, depending on how the loan proceeds were used. Gifts are taxable to the donor (the person giving the gift) under the gift tax, they're not a t... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Are stock investments less favorable for the smaller investor? | You have got it wrong. The profit or loss for smaller investor or big investor is same in percentage terms. |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Are stock investments less favorable for the smaller investor? | If you are looking at long-term investments then you can look to Dheer's answer and see that it doesn't matter whether the money is large or small, the return will be the same. When it comes to shorter-term investments, it can actually pay to be a smaller investor. Consider a stock that may not be trading in high volu... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Are those “auto-pilot” programs a scam or waste of time? | Genuine (nearly) passive income can be had from some kinds of investing. Index funds are an example of a mostly self-managing investment. Of course investment involves some risk (the income is essentially paying you for taking that risk) and returns are reasonable but proportional to the risk -- IE, not spectacular unl... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Are those “auto-pilot” programs a scam or waste of time? | These have been around for decades. In the 80's and 90's they had you setup small ads in local newspapers and you would sell a brochure tells people how to make money, or solve some other problem. The idea was that money would roll in. The more ads you placed the more money you made. In the late 90's they had you setup... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Claiming mileage allowances, what are the rules/guidelines? | I believe so (that you can, not that you are greedy) I run my own business and, generally speaking, am 'charging' my company 40p per mile as per the quote above. I did not know about the ability to claim the shortfall, as it is not relevant to me, but it makes perfect sense and I'm sure that a phone call to HMRC will h... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | What kind of company is USAA? | The United Services Automobile Association has a funny legal structure: it's not a corporation and has no shareholders. Policyholders and account holders are paid any profits. In that respect, it functions very much like a credit union; technically, it's structured as a Texas-based and Texas Department of Insurance reg... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | How do I calculate two standard deviations away from the stock price? | The formula for standard deviation is fairly simple in both the discrete and continuous cases. It's mostly safe to use the discrete case when working with adjusted closing prices. Once you've calculated the standard deviation for a given time period, the next task (in the simplest case) is to calculate the mean of that... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | How do I calculate two standard deviations away from the stock price? | Standard Deviation is a mathematical term that is useful in many areas. It can be considered a measure of how tight the data points are to the average. If there is consistency in the measurement system, then a point that is two standard from the average can be considered an outlier. It doesn't even need to be time base... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Can mutual fund prices have opening gaps? Might my order to be filled at a higher price? | Mutual funds don't work like stocks in that way. The price of a mutual fund is set at the end of each day and doesn't fluctuate during the day. So no matter when you put in your order, it will be filled at the end of the day at whatever the closing price is for that day. Here is some good information on that There is n... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Primary Residence to Investment Property - Changing PMI Terms | You could be in a bit of a bind. I wouldn't push it any more until you read your loan papers very carefully. Going back to the lender for a refinance after you converted it to a rental (presumably without their knowledge) is risky. I doubt they'd let you refinance anyway, as the house is underwater. If the loan is pe... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Primary Residence to Investment Property - Changing PMI Terms | Do you now own your new home, or are you renting? This is a classic case of a mortgage ready to blow up. These 7/1 interest only would have a low rate, say 3%. So on $200K, the payment is $500/mo, but no principal paydown. Even if the rate were still 3% (it won't be) the 23 yr amortization means a payment of $1004 aft... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | When you're really young and have about 2K to start investing $ for retirement, why do some people advise you to go risky? | Why it is good to be risky The reason why it is good to be risky is because risky investments can result in higher returns on your money. The problem with being risky, is there is a chance you can lose money. However, in the long term you can usually benefit from higher returns even if you have a few slip ups. Let me s... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | When you're really young and have about 2K to start investing $ for retirement, why do some people advise you to go risky? | First of all, "going risky" doesn't mean driving to Las Vegas and playing roulette. The real meaning is that you can afford higher risk/return ratio compared to a person who will retire in the following ten years. Higher return is very important since time works for you and even several extra percent annually will make... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | When you're really young and have about 2K to start investing $ for retirement, why do some people advise you to go risky? | Those who say a person should invest in riskier assets when young are those who equate higher returns with higher risk. I would argue that any investment you do not understand is risky and allows you to lose money at a more rapid rate than someone who understands the investment. The way to reduce risk is to learn about... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Mailed in One-time Payment by Check | I do know that a blank check has all the information they need for the electronic transfer. They probably add it as a customer service to streamline future payments. Though I don't think automatically adding it makes good business sense. It is possible that the form used to submit the check included a line to added the... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | VAT & Tax implications of selling software | Not sure where the confusion is coming from - software/digital/intangible goods are just like any other product, with regard to VAT. Turns out it's being made complicated by HMRC... Anyone would think they enjoy making everyone who collects tax for free on their behalf a crook! You charge customers everywhere in the EU... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Using financial news releases to trade stocks? | In the U.S., publicly traded companies are under the rules of Regulation Fair Disclosure, which says that a company must release information to all investors at the same time. The company website and social media both count as fair disclosure, because every investor has access to those outlets, but a press release new... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Using financial news releases to trade stocks? | Yes, there are very lucrative opportunities available by using financial news releases. A lot of times other people just aren't looking in less popular markets, or you may observe the news source before other people realize it, or may interpret the news differently than the other market participants. There is also the ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Using financial news releases to trade stocks? | No matter how a company releases relevant information about their business, SOMEBODY will be the first to see it. I mean, of all the people looking, someone has to be the first. I presume that professional stock brokers have their eyes on these things closely and know exactly who publishes where and when to expect new ... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | how late can i put money into an IRA and still have it count for 2015? | The IRA contribution for the year are allowed until the tax day of that year. I.e.: you can contribute for 2015 until April 15th, 2016 (or whatever the first business day is after that, if the 15th is a holiday). You'll have to explicitly designate your contribution for 2015, since some of the IRA providers may automat... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Multiple people interested in an Apartment | I don't know how many people "a ton" is, but if you are getting more than, say, 6 people who are qualified to rent, you've priced it too low. Better to ask for $1200, and have a potential tenant haggle or ask you to reduce the price than to have 6 people want it for $900. It's worth it to run a credit report, and let ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Multiple people interested in an Apartment | I wouldn't start a bidding war if I were you. Sometimes you may get potentially bad tenants who cannot find a property anywhere else offering more money just to get in a place. If you know nothing else about these people how can you guarantee they will keep paying the rent once they get in. The things you should be doi... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Multiple people interested in an Apartment | I'm surprised by all these complicated answers. Yes @Victor, you can create a form that asks people to put down their financial information but you want to be careful and not put off potential tenants by asking for too many details. Depending on the OP's typical tenants, an extensive background and credit check may not... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | “Inflation actually causes people not to spend”… could it be true? | Inflation can go up for a number of reasons. Boom times can cause inflation, as everyone is making and spending a lot of money, so prices and inflation goes up. In times like these central banks usually increase interest rates to curb spending and thus bring down inflation. By raising interest rates the central bank is... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | “Inflation actually causes people not to spend”… could it be true? | Not always. You always consider economic factors in conjunction with each other rather than in isolation, which leads to weird assumptions. People spending isn't what you should look at always. When inflation is high, means government is spending. Government is spending on public projects, creating employment, increasi... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | “Inflation actually causes people not to spend”… could it be true? | We need to be careful what we are talking about here. Inflation on a economy-level scale at an expected rate will not change consumer habits because the price increase is manageable. You have to realize that prices are not increasing in isolation: wages will have to rise along too. High inflation that is expected will... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | property owned 50/50 between my brother and me | Not sure what you are talking about. The house isn't part of a business so neither of you can deduct half of normal maintenance and repairs. It is just the cost of having a house. The only time this would be untrue is if the thing that you are buying for the house is part of a special deduction or rebate for that t... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | property owned 50/50 between my brother and me | ASSUMING you're talking about a property in the United States, the answer generally would be "no". You aren't actually paying any of the expenses for the property and yet you want to take the deductions for doing so? That's a rather cheeky move, I'd say! (grin) It probably would lead to some real strife with your b... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Why does Bank of America sometimes refer to itself as Banc of America on some documents? | From https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Banc: Banq (also Banc, banc-corp, bancorp, or bancorporation) is an intentionally erroneous spelling of the word bank, but pronounced the same way. It has been adopted by companies which are not banks but wish to appear as such, and satisfy legal restrictions on the u... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | What is the cost of “free” trades? | In the case of Wells Fargo, I believe that free trading is linked to your overall banking relationship with the firm. So if you have a checking account with a balance of $X, or a total relationship with the bank ("relationship" is usually defined as loan balances + deposit balances) over a certain amount, they give yo... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Intrinsic value of non-voting shares which don't pay dividends | Even with non-voting shares, you own a portion of the company including all of its assets and its future profits. If the company is sold, goes out of business and liquidates, etc., those with non-voting shares still stand collect their share of the funds generated. There's also the possibility, as one of the comments... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Intrinsic value of non-voting shares which don't pay dividends | Some companies offer discounts for shareholders. I believe Disney used to do so, for example; if your family was doing the Disneyland-every-year routine that could be a significant benefit. |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | How to shop for mortgage rates ? | I asked my realtor, but she recommends to go with just one banker (her friend), and not to do any rate shopping. You need a new realtor. Anyone who would offer such advice is explicitly stating they are not advocating on your behalf. I'd do the rate shopping first. When you make an offer, once it's accepted, time be... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | How to shop for mortgage rates ? | You can shop for a mortgage rate without actually submitting a mortgage application. Unfortunately, the U.S. Government has made it illegal for the banks to give you a "good faith estimate" of the mortgage cost and terms without submitting a mortgage application. On the other hand, government regulations make the "go... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | How to shop for mortgage rates ? | Pre-qualification is only a step above what you can do with a rate/payment calculator. They don't check your credit history and credit score; they don't ask for verification of your income; or verify that you have reported your debts correctly. They also don't guarantee the interest rate. But if you answer truthfully,... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Do you have to be mega-rich to invest in companies pre-IPO? | Short answer: No. Being connected is very helpful and there is no consequence by securities regulators against the investor by figuring out how to acquire pre-IPO stock. Long answer: Yes, you generally have to be an "Accredited Investor" which basically means you EARN over $200,000/yr yourself (or $300,000 joint) and h... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Do you have to be mega-rich to invest in companies pre-IPO? | No you don't have to be super-rich. But... the companies do not have to sell you shares, and as others mention the government actively restricts and regulates the advertising and sales of shares, so how do you invest? The easiest way to obtain a stake is to work at a pre-IPO company, preferably at a high level (e.g. ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject . Answer format is not limited. | Do you have to be mega-rich to invest in companies pre-IPO? | There are a couple of ways to buy into a private company. First, the company can use equity crowd funding (approved under the JOBS act, you don't need to be an accredited investor for this). The offering can be within one state (i.e. Intrastate offerings) which don't have the same SEC regulations but will be governe... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. Reply as normal question answering | Would it ever be a bad idea to convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA with the following assumptions? | Taking all your assumptions: With Roth, you take $6112 from work, (let's call you tax rate 10%) pay $612 in taxes, and contribute $5500 (the max if you are younger than 50). This $5500 will grow to $21,283 in 20 years at 7% annual growth ($5500*(1.07^20)), and you will pay no additional taxes on it. With the tradition... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. The response format is open. | Would it ever be a bad idea to convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA with the following assumptions? | Even if you're paying a lot of taxes now, you're talking marginal dollars when you look at current contribution, and average tax rate when making withdrawals. IE, if you currently pay 28% on your last dollar (and assuming your contribution is entirely in your marginal rate), then you're paying 28% on all of the Roth c... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Would it ever be a bad idea to convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA with the following assumptions? | To answer your question point by point - I'd focus on the last point. The back of my business card - Let's focus on Single. The standard deduction and exemption add to over $10K. I look at this as "I can have $250K in my IRA, and my $10K (4%) annual withdrawal will be tax free. It takes another $36,900 to fill the 10 ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Recommended education path for a future individual investor? | For a job doing that kind of stuff, what is PREFERRED is 4 year undergrad at ivy league school + 2 year MBA at ivy league school, and then several more years of experience, which you can sort of get by interning while in school this will of course saddle you with debt, which is counterintuitive to your plans basically,... |
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