**>in a survey of  1000 American Executive**s McQuaid found a “whopping” 35 percent of Americans are happy at their job. And, 65 percent say a better boss would make them happy. Only 35 percent say a pay raise will do the same thing.  Even if it wasnt tripe, asking a bunch of people probably already in the top 5% of income, if they would rather have a new boss or an unknown amount pay raise, you might get a totally different answer than asking the rank and file. Median income america.   so from what i read, the best the title could say is 65% of well off americans would rather a better boss than a raise. WHich is perfectly understandable.


As I understand it, US federal gift tax doesn't kick in at all until one person gives more than about $14,000 in a single year. (So a couple can give someone $28,000.) If you want to give more than that in a lump sum while avoiding gift tax, one workaround is to structure it as an intra-family loan. Basically, you write (and formally register) a loan for the amount, then gift them with up to the limit for them to pay off that loan. The IRS requires that you charge interest on this loan, but the rates are pretty minimal and of course you can incorporate that in the gift. The downside is that the interest income you're required to take is taxable, but that's a comparitively small sum. (On the other hand, if the loan is a mortgage against real property, and properly filed as such, the interest paid may be deductable for the person you're giving the money to.) Doing this properly requires a tax accountant or lawyer who has a clue about the right legalese to make it work. However, there are starting to be some services which specialize in this, doing it for a fixed fee. I used one of those recently, which is why I'm somewhat familiar with this process; they made it about as much of a fill-out-the-forms process as they could, but it still took a few weeks for me to figure out which options were best for my needs.


You need to have a lot of money to play with direct bond investing safely. Trading bonds is not for amateurs, and the layman-friendly publications don't provide a lot of guidance. Unless you're prepared to hold a bond to maturity, the prices of even high quality bonds swing wildly.  If you need a source of income, but not necessarily the ability to make money trading the bonds, look at Savings Bonds (specifically I-Bonds).


This depends in part on who officially owns the account. Federally, 529 plan contributions are not tax-deductible, regardless of ownership.  Anyone can contribute to a 529 plan, though; the earnings of the 529 plan are tax-deferred and are tax-free if they are used for qualified educational expenses. In the state of New York, the account owner is entitled to deduct up to 10,000 (Married filing jointly) from their state taxes; however, that's limited to the account owner only.  If they're not in the state of New York, they may be able to have similar benefits from their home state; check their rules. You may have multiple accounts for one child, though, so if you and they both want to contribute for your child, that's perfectly fine. The limits are at the taxpayer level, so you can deduct $10k for all contributions to all children's accounts in sum (5k per kid if you have 2, and want to contribute equally, for example), but they can do the same. Gift tax is the other relevant thing to consider.  You can contribute $14k per year without either paying gift tax or adding it to the lifetime maximum (which is currently $1.5MM, but could change at any time either up or down).  You can also make a one-time contribution of 70k (5 years' worth) and have that amount exempt as if it were contributed over five years. For more information on all of this, see the New York 529 Page for more details.


Its so funny to see Americans arguing about how terrible the minimum wage would be. I'm sure all those poor billionaires/millionaires cant afford to pay their workers a few euros extra per hour. Maybe it's because all their money is in safe havens?


If you read all that paperwork they made you fill out at the emergency room, there is probably something in there explicitly stating that you owe any bills you rack up regardless of what happens with the insurance company. They generally have a disclaimer that filing for you with your insurance company is a courtesy service they offer, but they are not obliged to do it.  Ultimately, you are responsible for your bills even if the provider slow-billed you.  Sorry.


The site you link to suggests the majority save on this plan. AC is tough, but most other power hogs are in your control, washer/drier, dish washer, etc. This is part of a bigger picture of power transmission, and management. The utility cost is the highest for peak demand, i.e. they need to have capacity for the peak use, but only selling average use, on average. This billing plan matches what you pay with the true cost, and you save by avoiding the peak times.


>They collected my license plate info via a reader at the stall and already tied it to my account.  That's bit unsettling.  More from a privacy standpoint.  As if someone hacks into or gets Amazon's user database (as lets face it its only a matter of time that happens), they will know what car you drive among other things.


"Wait, correct me if I'm wrong, but this is how I thought it worked:  ""say you work 40 hours a week ""during a recession, NO ONE GETS FIRED ""instead, they cut your hours ""from say 40 to 32 ""THEN unemployment benefits make up the difference in that eight hours you're not working ""then you get hired again""  This seems like the best system ever and something America should do. No one gets fired, and companies save oodles of money not training new workers."


"Let's pretend that the author of that article is not selling anything and is trying to help you succeed in life.  I have nothing against sales, but that author is throwing out a lot of nonsense to sell his stuff and is creating a state of urgency so that people adopt this mindset.  It's clever and it obviously works. From a pure time perspective, most people won't make enough money to run their own business and be as profitable as if they worked for a company.  This is a reality that few want to acknowledge.  If you invested in yourself and your career with the same discipline and urgency as an entrepreneur, most people would be better off at a company when you consider the benefits and the fact that employees have a full 7.5% of social security paid by their employer (entrepreneurs see the full 15% while employees don't).  Why do I start here, because this author isn't telling you that the more people take his advice, the more their earnings will regress to the mean or below.  In fact, most of my entrepreneur friends have to go back to work when their reality fails after they burn through their savings. 401ks are not a perfect system, but there are more 401k millionaires now than ever before this, and people who give the author's advice are always looking to avoid doing what they need to do - save for retirement.  Most people I know sadly realize this in their 50s, when it's too late, and start trying to ""catch up.""  I don't blame the author for this, as he knows his article will appeal to younger people who don't have the wisdom to see that his advice hasn't been great for most.  The reality is that for most people 401ks will provide tax advantaged savings that you can use when you're older; taxes will eat at your earnings, so these accounts really help. Finally, look at the article again especially the part you quote.  He says inflation will carve out what you save, yet inflation is less than 2%.  Where is he getting this from?  In the past decade, we've seen numerous deflationary spirals and the market overall has come back from the fall in 2009.  Again, this isn't ""good enough"" for this author, so buy his stuff to learn how to succeed!  There have been numerous decades (50s,70s) that were much worse for investors than this past one."


"The recommendations you read were, very probably, talking about US listed funds in US dollars. The mexican Bolsa de Valores says that they list over 600 mutual funds  so ""Yes"" you can invest in Mexico using Pesos if that is what you want.  You need a Corredor de Bolsa or mexico broker. Here they are.  Most international investors use exchange traded funds ETF because theirs fees are cheaper than mutual funds.  The ETF are mostly listed and traded in us stock exchange. Here they are. US mutual funds are in dollars and, because you are living in Mexico, you will have a currency risk and probably taxes.  Mexico mutual funds in Pesos do not carry any currency exposure unless the companies involved do business in the United States. You have to think about your currency exposure. B. Veo"


> hip and tech oriented. Sears is neither of those.  The best part is... they give lip service to BEING just that. Giving the .com team so much leeway, trying to get into video streaming, & SO MUCH MORE....   You probably have no idea how hilariously spot on I found that comment.


Many of us believe that brushing and flossing twice daily is enough for us to maintain proper oral health which is why we do not bother to even visit the dentist; however, it is important that we do that so that we know if we are facing any infection or cavities so that it can be cured at the initial stage.


Yeah this is what I don't understand. All these business mags are so hyped about this developing market but as it stands the only one in use is my stepdad's and all he does is use it to ask the weather and crack jokes to show it off to people.


While it is a true loss, as you've determined, is not a cash cost, per se. A cash cost would be a decrease in cash holdings.  Inflation does not take your cash balance; it devalues it, so it is an accrued loss. Central banks are extremely lazy in determining inflation, so the highest resolution available at a public level is monthly.  In the United States, there is a small project that tries to calculate daily inflation rates and seems to do a decent job, but unless if you are a customer of a particular financial institution, you will suffer a lag.  The small project refuses to make the data public in real time or even allow outside analysis. In the UK, the Office for National Statistics is responsible for consumer inflation statistics.  The methodology is not readily available, but considering the name, it is most likely an inferior Laspeyres index instead of the optimal Fisher index as it is in the US. To calculate the accrued cost due to inflation, simply multiply the amount of money held by the price index value at the beginning of the time held and divide by the price index value at the end of the time held. For example, to determine the amount of value lost since March 2014, multiply the money held by the price index value for March 2014 and divide by June 2014.


"The government thought of that a long time ago, and has any loophole there plugged. Like if you set up a company to buy a car and then allow you to use it ... You can use the car for company business, like driving to a customer's office to make a sales call or delivery, and the cost of the car is then tax deductible. But the company must either prohibit personal use of the car, or keep a log of personal versus business use and the personal use becomes taxable income to you. So at best you'd get to deduct an expense here and then you'd have to add it back there for a net change in taxable income of zero. In general the IRS is very careful about personal use of business property and makes it tough to get away with a free ride. I'm sure there are people who lie about it and get away with it because they're never audited, but even if that causes you no ethical qualms, it's very risky. I don't doubt that there are people with very smart lawyers who have found loopholes in the rules. But it's not as simple as, ""I call myself a business and now all my personal expenses become tax deductible business expenses."" If you could do that, everybody would do it and no one would pay taxes. Which might be a good thing, but the IRS doesn't see it that way."


Merchants apply in advance for the program, and the amount is limited to less than $25.


If the portfolio itself is taxable, then yes; if you have two stocks and you're rebalancing them, without using new cash, you are forced to sell one stock to buy another. That sale is taxable, unless you're in some sort of tax deferred/deductible account, such as an IRA.   If you're talking about you being in a mutual fund and the fund itself rebalances, the same rules apply as above, though indirectly; you'll have capital gains realized and distributed to you, those gains will be taxed unless, again, your account is a retirement account.


I'm not a lawyer and someone more knowledgeable than I will probably respond to this inquiry.  I worked with nonprofits for years however.  My suggestion would be that the Board would have a resolution allowing the Director to approve any contract below a certain dollar amount.


If you guys are so convinced this is only good for banks, why don't you just invest in banks?    Same thing with net neutrality. It screws the average guy but a smart investor can recoup money lost


It sounds like you may need to look into the different types of personal loans that are available to you. Typically, they are in 2 categories: secured vs unsecured. A personal loan is usually of the unsecured variety, meaning that the bank is loaning you money with no collateral to use if you default. These loans will have much higher interest rates than a secured loan. A prime example of a secured loan would be a mortgage or an equity line of credit.  If you want an unsecured personal loan to use towards making those improvements, then whether or not you receive the loan will depend on your credit rating and income status. As Aganju stated, these loans don't really care what the money is used for. Because it's not your property that you're fixing up, you won't be able to get a secured loan against that property. If your mother took out a loan against her home (like a second mortgage), she may be able to get a significantly lower interest rate than what you'll get with an unsecured loan. She could also look into a renovation/remodeling loan, which would require information regarding the work being done such as costs and how it will improve the value of the property. If she used an equity line of credit instead, then they don't typically care what the money will be used for as it's just a credit line against the equity she's already built into her mortgage payments over the years.


Isn't it clear to everyone that something that isn't measured by economists yet is going horribly wrong in the US since they started with the debt bing? I know so many people with no savings whatsoever and just hanging on.


"Hmmm... Maybe you didn't. I'll concede that. But being a mod is irrelevant. Maybe being on mobile fucked me, or my eyes are finally going.   Now.   >how in my original comment, pointing out a difference between ""making money"" and ""turning a profit"" displays my ignorance of the distinction between revenue and profit.  First, ""making money"" means profitability. If I spent 50 grand on widgets and sold them all for a dollar, did I ""make money?"""


Global warming is not a hoax.  However this type of climate change, higher CO2, has many benefits and one is that we will have much more vegetation and higher levels of oxygen. All vegetation does better in high CO2 levels as we both know because we are scientific about things and not emotional.  Global warming is used as a tax issue. Obama just wants to tax the energy industries, but who always pays is the end user.


It aims at providing a multidisciplinary Chartered Accountancy service with complete cost-adequacy which mainly consists of the Regulatory and Compliance related services, Business Startup Services, Advisory and consultancy services, Audit, Assurance and risk assessment services, Direct, Indirect as well as the International Taxation services.


The math works out so that the 401k is still a better deal in the long term over a taxable account because of the tax-deferred growth. Let's assume you invest in an S&P 500 index fund in either a taxable investment account or a 401k and the difference in fees is .5%. I used an online calculator and a hypothetical 1k/year investment over 30 years with 4.5% tax-deferred growth vs 5% taxable and a 25% tax bracket. After 30 years the tax-deferred 401k account will have $67k and the taxable account will have $58k. The math isn't perfect -- I'm sure I'm missing some intricacies with dividends/capital gains distributions and that you'll then pay income tax on the 401k upon retirement as you drawn down, but it still seems pretty clear that the 401k will win in the long run, especially if you invest more than the 1k/year used in my example. But yeah, .84% expenses on an index fund is robbery. Can you bring that to the attention of the HR department? Maybe they'll want to look for a lower-fee provider and it's in their best interest too, if they also participate.


Are the grey ones the new ones? I like them because they actually do stay together mostly and I can reuse them. They do seem a bit smaller now that I think about it, certain things don't fit super well but it's fine with me. Way better than giant which just has the absolute worst bags. Wegmans are solid though.


Capital requirements for a de novo bank, as opposed to an established one, are a real bitch.  Basically the government wont let you loan nearly as much of your money out.  You can't skirt this by buying an existing bank.  Regulators don't want upstarts making stupid loans and thus encouraging lower credit criteria systemwide.  Also Incumbents don't want more competition and they have lobbyists so I don't see this changing soon.


Congrats! :) And yes, I have never personally seen a rich person criticize RDPD - they know the book is solid, and plus they're too busy enjoying their success. On the other hand, someone who failed now has plenty of free time and an incentive to point fingers at others. Little do they know that if they spent less time complaining and criticizing and more time trying to succeed over and over and over, eventually they too would become too successful to waste their time blaming others. :-)


"For a long time I did just as you did. I had a car, but I didn't drive it. Even if you NEVER drive a car, it still has a cost. You still have to insure it and you still have to register it.  On top of that a sitting car will have costs. Cars are not built to sit.  I found it to be much cheaper to take a ""taxi"" then to own a car. Eventually I got rid of my car, and we (my wife and I) just rented any time we needed to go somewhere long distance.  Very recently we purchased a car and kids change things, and we want kids. SO better to do this costly move now (in our minds). But still if we travel outside of town, we still rent.  A car is, usually, not good at constant ""long drives"" as the maintenance costs get high, and they are, usually, not good at ""no driving"" as they are not built to sit still. They are best used, usually, for shorter, in town, or ""next town over"" style driving.  Keep in mind I am in the USA so ""long and short"" drives have a different meaning. A 200 mile trip is about the line we draw before we just rent. But that's our preference. Some of which is because we would prefer to take the train and rent there then drive the entire trip."


If you are investing for 10 years, then you just keep buying at whatever price the fund is at. This is called dollar-cost averaging. If the fund is declining in value from when you first bought it, then when you buy more, the AVERAGE price you bought in at is now lower. So therefore your losses are lower AND when it goes back up you will make more. Even if it continues to decline in value then you keep adding more money in periodically, eventually your position will be so large that on the first uptick you will have a huge percent gain. Anyway this is only suggested because you are in it for 10 years. Other people's investment goals vary.


Lot of factors in play. We use a lot of local produce but we need the volume to support, so if all you have is a few pallets it's not worth the logistical cost to get it out to the stores. We also inspect all of our produce so it's not as simple as delivering it direct to our stores because we do not know the quality. Smaller farms will usually try to get with a packer or broker so they can sell as much as they can without having to do the business side themselves.


"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 taxable income to the recipient. Some gifts are exempt or excluded from gift tax (there's the annual exemption limit, lifetime exclusion which is correlated to the estate tax, various specific purpose gifts or transfers between spouses are exempt in general).  If you trade for something of equal value, is that considered income? Yes. Sale proceeds are taxable income, however your basis in the item sold is deductible from it. If you borrow a small amount of money for a short time, is that considered income? See above. Loan proceeds are not income. does the friend have to pay taxes when they get back their $10? No, repayment of the loan is not taxable income. Interest on it is. Do you have to pay taxes if you are paid back in a different format than originally paid? Form of payment doesn't matter. Barter trade doesn't affect the tax liability. The friend sold you lunches and you paid for them. The friend can deduct the cost of the lunches from the proceeds. What's left - is taxable income. Everything is translated to the functional currency at the fair market value at the time of the trade. you are required to pay taxes on the gross amount Very rarely taxes apply to gross income. Definitely not the US Federal Income taxes for individuals. An example of an exception would be the California LLC taxes. The State of California taxes LLCs under its jurisdiction on gross proceeds, regardless of the actual net income. This is very uncommon. However, the IRC (the US Federal Tax Code) is basically ""everything is taxable except what's not"", and the cost of generating income is one of the ""what's not"". That is why you can deduct the basis of the asset from your gross proceeds when you sell stuff and only pay taxes on the net difference."


Generally, if you have a loan, you have a credit score. But since you have never had a loan before, then it is likely that you do not have a credit score. You should not be worried if you aren't planning on applying for credit and/or loans. If you are wanting to purchase a house, car, or even just having a credit card, you should work on obtaining a secure loan so then you can establish history.  Most of the time you have to pay to view your credit score. By law, you can obtain a free copy of your credit report, which it sounds like you have at annualcreditreport.com, which only shows your payment history, but in order to view your credit score, you generally have to pay for it.


"There are gold index funds. I'm not sure what you mean by ""real gold"". If you mean you want to buy physical gold, you don't need to. The gold index funds will track the price of gold and will keep you from filling your basement up with gold bars. Gold index funds will buy gold and then issue shares for the gold they hold. You can then buy and sell these just like you would buy and sell any share. GLD and IAU are the ticker symbols of some of these funds. I think it is also worth pointing out that historically gold has a been a poor investment."


If you aren't ivy league you have no hope of getting on wall st in front office. You will not make it pass the first cut. If you have some contacts then perhaps. You will be able to get a job in back office fairly easily but I assume that is not the area you will want to be in.


Yahoo provides dividend data from their Historical Prices section, and selecting Dividends Only, along with the dates you wish to return data for. Here is an example of BHP's dividends dating back to 1998. Further, you can download directly to *.csv format if you wish: http://real-chart.finance.yahoo.com/table.csv?s=BHP.AX&a=00&b=29&c=1988&d=06&e=6&f=2015&g=v&ignore=.csv


JohnFx is more experienced than I am but I have paid off friends cards before. It was as simple as asking them the routing number of the bank that gave them the card and setting up an ACH with their card number. I guess this might be against some banks T&C but the CU I used to carry out the ACH gave me the go ahead as long as I did not dispute the payment later.


">An Empire with different ethnic, linguistic, racial and national origin groups spread out over a large area can only redistribute wealth by stealing it with force  This is not strictly true.  In place of ""force"", fraud can be used.  Our current society uses a combination of both, but really the ""fraud"" of the monetary/banking system is far larger and of more importance than the ""force"" part (though the latter obviously backs up the former)."


"This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](http://www.scmp.com/tech/enterprises/article/2113581/chinas-chance-lead-global-innovation-may-lie-5g-mobile-technology) reduced by 86%. (I'm a bot) ***** > China is on the cusp of recasting itself as a leading technology innovator from a mere follower in the telecommunications industry, as efforts to develop a global 5G mobile standard near the final stage.  > &quot;While China has the world&#039;s largest mobile market by subscriber and network size, other countries have dominated mobile technology innovation,&quot; said Jefferies equity analyst Edison Lee.  > The international authorities overseeing the creation of a unified standard for 5G mobile technologies are expected to release its initial phase next year and the final phase in 2019, paving the way for a broad roll-out of 5G services by mobile network operators from 2020.   ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/73qa1f/5g_may_be_chinas_chance_to_lead_global_tech/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ ""Version 1.65, ~220391 tl;drs so far."") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr ""PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome."") | *Top* *keywords*: **China**^#1 **technology**^#2 **mobile**^#3 **standard**^#4 **network**^#5"


Diversity of risk is always a good idea.  The cheapest equity-based investment (in terms of management costs) is some form of tracker or indexed fund.  They're relatively low risk and worth putting in a fixed amount for long-term investment. I agree with Ngu Soon Hui, you're going to need a lot of cash if you decide to start your own business.  You may have to cover a significant amount of time without an income and you don't want all your cash tied up. However, putting all your money into one business is not good risk management.  Keep some savings where they can be a lifeline, should you need it.


Generally speaking, you realize options gains or losses for (US) tax purposes when you close out the option position, or when it expires so in your example, if you're discussing an equity option, you'd realize the gain or loss next year, assuming you don't close it out prior to year end. But options  tax treatment can get messy fast: Still, if you have no other stock or option positions in the underlying during or within 30 days of the establishment of the naked put, and assuming the option isn't assigned, you won't realize any gains or losses until the year in which the option is closed or expires.


"Basically, yes. Don't use your business account for personal spending because it may invalidate your limited liability protection. Transfer a chunk of money to your personal account, write it down in your books as ""distribution"" (or something similar), and use it in whatever way you want from your personal account. The IRS doesn't care per se, but mixing personal and business expenses will cause troubles if you're audited because you'll have problems distinguishing one from another. You should be using some accounting software to make sure you track your expenses and distributions correctly. It will make it easier for you to prepare reports for yourself and your tax preparer, and also track distributions and expenses. I suggest GnuCash, I find it highly effective for a small business with not so many transactions (if you have a lot of transactions, then maybe QuickBooks would be more appropriate)."


Mostly we invest in companies to make money. The money can be paid to as in the form of dividends that are a share of the profit.   Or the company can convince enough people that it will make a lot higher profit next year, so its stock prices increases. Clearly a company that reinvests its 20% profit from one shop to open an 2nd shop is doing well and is a good investment.      But, But, But... we only have the companies word for it!    A dividend paying company finds it a lot harder to hide bad news for long, as it will not have the money in the bank to pay the dividends.


"The most fundamental observation of bond pricing is this: Bond price is inversely proportional to bond yields  When bond yields rise, the price of the bond falls.  When bond yields fall, the price of the bond rises.  Higher rates are ""bad"" for bonds. If a selloff occurs in the Russian government bond space (i.e. prices are going down), the yield on that bond is going to increase as a consequence."


"Money is all relative, for sure. People will pay more if they can afford more, that I get too.   The small hiccup here is that you're talking about federal minimum wage, and the original idea was about Wal-Mart employees only. If Wal-Mart workers received 2 dollars more per hour, do you really think that would affect inflation?  Also, doesn't importing from countries that pay their workers less have an impact?  And, if the market is supposed to take care of minimum wages by itself by always offering a ""better"" choice for workers until it reaches the highest possible rate, wouldn't the same be for prices of goods, but in the opposite direction? And if these things were a functional reality instead of academic theories, wouldn't there be less of a wealth disparity in the US?"


"The best practices for this sort of thing: In terms of electronics and such, you're always at risk for some crackhead busting in your door and grabbing your iPod or whatever. Thieves don't really care about clothes... they want items quickly converted to cash: small electronics with resale value, cash, jewelry. Keeping things locked and having a dog are probably the best deterrents for that scenario. More professional/organized burglars who rob houses during the day stake out a neighborhood and look for places where their presence won't be noticed. If things are clean and consistent, your neighbors, police patrol, mailman, etc are more likely to notice something awry and call the police. That's a risk factor for the ""pro"" thief, who will more likely look for a softer target. If you live in an area where there has been a burglary spree or you are really worried about this, get a basic, centrally monitored alarm system. If you're not living a flashy lifestyle and are deliberately thinking about ways to look like you don't have anything, it is money well spent. If you are living a flashy lifestyle, unwanted attention comes with the territory. In any case, feeling safe at home is something you need to be able to do."


I'm sorry, but who pressured the appraiser to overstate the value of the house by threatening him with a loss of future business? I'm pretty sure I hired him but the lender threatened him. After I only had one house for him to do. You're missing the bigger picture


"yeah that makes sense.  I guess the essential problem somehow is that along the line we all bought into the story that profit seeking and ""creating shareholder value"" was the sole duty of a CEO.  It's like we seem to have reduced all of our interactions in life to financial transactions and somehow sucked the humanity out of things."


**Poland, Maine**  Poland is a town in Androscoggin County, Maine, United States. The population was 5,376 at the 2010 census. Home to Range Ponds State Park, Poland is a historic resort area. It is included in both the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan statistical area and the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area.  ***  ^[ [^PM](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=kittens_from_space) ^| [^Exclude ^me](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiTextBot&message=Excludeme&subject=Excludeme) ^| [^Exclude ^from ^subreddit](https://np.reddit.com/r/business/about/banned) ^| [^FAQ ^/ ^Information](https://np.reddit.com/r/WikiTextBot/wiki/index) ^| [^Source](https://github.com/kittenswolf/WikiTextBot)   ^] ^Downvote ^to ^remove ^| ^v0.26


"If we are only talking about a few extra months between jobs which is quite common now then how do you get to ""living beyond their means""?  Either they have unemployment insurance or they don't.  It sounds like you don't like unemployment insurance.  So go bring that to a vote.  So far the majority of people want unemployment insurance in place because they see greater economic benefit in providing this service."


In my graduate thesis I explored the liquidity changes in the bond markets. Part of my research led me to also identifying an opportunity for blockchain to play a role in measuring it, something mathematically impossible but increasingly necessary in fixed Income.  Definitely interested


Closing the card will be fine. The consequences are related to your available credit and actual/potential utilization. If you have less total credit, any credit you actually use will be a greater percentage of your total credit, manipulating your score downwards more greatly. The next consequence will be related to the age of your credit history, which is an average of your credit lines. This seems negligible and also beneficial for you, since your credit history is so young to begin with.


"Try to appear interesting to the guy.  Don't try and discuss finance, your views on current finance events, or anything of that nature.  Listen a lot to what s/he has to say and - when you hear something that you know a lot about - talk about that, in your most articulate and interesting tone.  The reason I say ""don't talk about finance"" is that - given your level of education and work experience - there's likely nothing you know that s/he doesn't, and it's even more likely that you're going to talk about something that you don't truly understand on a functional level.  What's likely to happen in this case is that you're probably going to be forgotten as just another person who talks about entry-level finance.  To reiterate: Just make sure you come off as interesting (""memorable""), and relaxed/easy going.  It might help if you network over a drink or two..."


My father was a career Army Officer and earned his Master's in management; one of the many things he taught me was that if you want respect, focus on how you make the employee feel about themselves rather than how they feel about you.   From my own experience, you have to have faith in people, and demonstrate that by really truly giving them the power to make meaningful decisions. Ask more questions and listen more than you direct/give instruction. Chances are your employees know the problem better than you do.


Companies, especially big ones, find in Switzerland a business-friendly environment and often benefit from a special tax regime. Don't mix the companies interests with yours.


Yes. As long as the stock is in a taxable account (i.e. not a tax deferred retirement account) you'll pay gain on the profit regardless of subsequent purchases.  If the sale is a loss, however, you'll risk delaying the claim for the loss if you repurchase identical shares within 30 days of that sale. This is called a wash sale.


Flame broiled, put in a plastic tin, and then tossed into a microwave to warm up when ready to serve.  Watch them make your burger next time if you can.  Seeing the sausage being made turned me off of BK burgers for a long while.


The simple answer is yes - put 20% (or more) down. In the past I have paid PMI and used a combination first and second mortgage to get around it. I recommend avoiding both of those situations. I am much more comfortable now with just a regular mortgage payment. The more equity you have in your home the more options you will have in the future.


">it certainly wasn't a priority for the government to oversee account-opening operations at the branch level  >**Consumer Finance** protection bureau  What the hell are they supposed to be doing then? There are already multiple organizations for the institutional level this group was created specifically for consumer level products and they missed one of the most blatant and widespread abuses in recent history.  Dodd Frank is like if my kid crashed my car, so I broke his arm to make sure it never happened again. Making sure he can never crash cause he can't even get behind the wheel, but failing to consider the greater consequences. >particularly among those of us who chose to leave big banks for smaller banks, who now have carte blanche to gamble in order to ""compete"" with the big guys. Looks to me like a strategy to discredit smaller banks in the end.  Please explain this one to me because I don't understand what you mean at all. You know most of the bulge bracket banks are *against* this rule while many community banks have expressed support? And what are you talking about freedom to ""compete"" against the big guys? What are you even talking about and how is that freedom threatened?  Since you brought up Republicans it seems to me like you are a liberal who hears 'Republican repeals regulation' and immediately think you have to be against it. There are a number of reasons this bill should receive bipartisan support:  * The guy who sponsored this bill was staunchly against the bail outs of '08 and wanted the banks to just fail.  * The compliance costs under Dodd are massive and smaller banks can't afford to pay them, and they shouldn't have to because if they fail to meet compliance they will just go bankrupt and won't bring the economy down with them.   * More overhead for compliance = lower deposit rates for clients = can't compete with bulge brackets. On a side note this is a general rule anyways and why I think its stupid to be using a community bank. Ever.   * It removes the orderly liquidation authority and leaves big banks to die instead of getting bailed out.  Other than the stigma of voting for GOP backed repealing of regulation the only real counter argument seems to be Elizabeth Warren, trickle down, Wall Street, 1%."


What America needs is a federal union.  One that will:  - eliminate H1B visa programs  - put the wall up and hold employers of illegal immigrants accountable   - enforce patent/copyright infringement to the point that trade agreements will be disassembled if there are system, widespread, wholesale violations.   - force automation into low paying roles (low paying wages are a scourge and need to be automated as quickly as possible)  - provide training pathways and educational opportunities that don't put the trainee/student in debt for the first 10 years of their career  The list is really endless, but these are just a few starter ideas to nail to the door of the labor market.


We specialise in bike sheds, but have a bespoke service and can design and build pretty much anything.  We are sending two sheds to California next week, and already have one in Texas, as well as across Europe.  Our website is www.thebikeshedcompany.com  Being able to export without incurring huge shipping costs is our current challenge.


Don't over analyze it - check with some local landlords that are willing to share some information and resources  Then analyze the Worst Case Scenarios and the likelihood of them happening and if you could deal with it if it did happen Then Dive In - Real Estate is a long term investment so you have plenty of time to learn everything..... Most people fail.... because they fail to take the first leap of faith !!!


It's nice that she's willing and able to give free lessons. I caution that her students (or their parents) won't really value the lessons unless they are paying for them. Charge enough to make the lessons worthwhile to the student/family, even if you are giving a friendly discount to market rates. $50 per 45-minute lesson is market (at least where I live). $40 would be a good deal. $25-30 is quite a deal. Books are extra, of course. (2017 rates)


At Affordable RV storage customer get more saving then just money. They save time when they use the amenities at the vehicle storage facility. Even when using this boat storage you getting the best rates anywhere. RV parking is easy and user freindly for all customers. This RV storage is far more superior then all other competitors.


I know of no generic formula for determining if an investment property is a good investment, besides the trivial formula. Make sure your income is greater than your expenses, and hope the value of the property doesn't drop. Some people will tell you to expect the monthly rent to be a fixed percentage of the purchase price, but that is a goal not a certainty. It is also impossible to estimate the difficulty renting the property, or how long the roof will last. Taxes can't be predicted, as the value of the house increase, so do the property taxes, but you might not be able to increase the rent.  You can't even predict the quality of the tenant. Will they damage the property? Or skip out early? You will need somebody who knows the local market to estimate the local conditions, and help you determine the estimated costs and income based on the actual property involved.


"I don't know about the technicalities of retirement accounts, but I would advise you to please please please do not use retirement money to buy a home. The reason for not ever wanting to spend your retirement is.. when can you make it up?  When you retire, you are by definition no longer earning money, so all your expenses can only come from the money you have saved.  If you are willing to borrow from your retirement, it is not hard to imagine you are willing are willing to get a new car, or a new barbecue, or a new fishing boat before you repay yourself. So the question to ask yourself is, ""can I deal with renting for a few years knowing that I can retire comfortably, or am I willing to risk retirement to have a house now."" Part of the will power it takes to pay yourself first is not taking from your own savings.  You cannot count on anybody but yourself to take care of you when you are old. It is just opinion, but risking a comfortable retirement for a home now is not a risk anybody should take."


Firing at the first sign of trouble is a good way to ensure high turnover.  If you're concerned about her missing work for personal reasons, then you should discuss those concerns with her and see if corrective behavior doesn't solve the problem; it might simply be a matter of your policies not being as clear as they should be.


A lot of people on here will likely disagree with me and this opinion.   In my opinion the answer lies in your own motives and intentions.   If you'd like to be more cognizant of the market, I'd just dive in and buy a few companies you like.  Many people will say you shouldn't pick your own stocks, you should buy an index fund, or this ETF or this much bonds, etc.  You already have retirement savings, capital allocation is important there.  You're talking about an account total around 10% of your annual salary, and assuming you have sufficient liquid emergency funds; there's a lot of non-monetary benefit to being more aware of the economy and the stock market.  But if you find the house you're going to buy, you may have to liquidate this account at a time that's not ideal, possibly at a loss. If all you're after is a greater return on your savings than the paltry 0.05% (or whatever) the big deposit banks are paying, then a high yield savings account is the way I'd go, or a CD ladder. Yes, the market generally goes up but it doesn't ALWAYS go up.  Get your money somewhere that it's inured and you can be certain how much you'll have tomorrow. Assuming a gain, the gain you'll see will PALE in comparison to the deposits you'll make.  Deposits grow accounts.  Consider these scenarios if you allocate $1,000 per month to this account.   1) Assuming an investment return of 5% you're talking about $330 return in the first year (not counting commissions or possible losses). 2) Assuming a high yield savings account at 1.25% you're talking about $80 in the first year.   Also remember, both of these amounts would be taxable. I'll admit in the event of 5% return you'll have about four times the gain but you're talking about a difference of ~$250 on $12,000.  Over three to five years the most significant contributor to the account, by far, will be your deposits.   Anyway, as I'm sure you know this is not investment advice and you may lose money etc.


This is a very good question and is at the core of corporate governance.  The CEO is a very powerful figure indeed. But always remember that he heads the firm's management only. He is appointed by the board of directors and is accountable to them. The board on the other hand is accountable to the firm's shareholders and creditors. The CEO is required to disclose his ownership of the firm as well.  Ideally, you (as a shareholder) would want the board of directors to be as independent of the management as it is possible. U.S. regulations require, among other things, the board of directors to disclose any material relationship they may have with the firm's employees, ex-employees, or their families. Such disclosures can be found in annual filings of a company. If the board of directors acts independently of the management then it acts to protect the shareholder's interests over the firm management's interest and take seemingly hard decisions (like dismissing a CEO) when they become necessary to protect the franchise and shareholder wealth.


The DTAA (Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement) Article 20 will apply to the Provident Fund money received while you were a resident in the US. Yes, you will add the Interest received on PF (Interest only for the year/s when you were a resident of US, and not when you were a Resident in India) in your 1040 and claim exemption under the treaty.  Do not add all of your PF contribution for last 10 years or 10 years of interest to 1040, as this was not contributed/earned when you were a US Resident. Consider, just the Interest Earned in the year when you become a Resident of US and then claim exemption under the treaty.


Yes, you can blame the consumer, and that's fair. But the question is, are our labelling laws pretty good? And the answer is no, especially when conpared to comparably affluent countries. Not. At. All.   What I described is an intentionally created loophole used to mislead the consumer. It's ridiculous.


"The ""coin flip"" argument made in the article is absurd.  My old boss had a saying, ""the harder I work, the luckier I get.""  He came from nothing, worked maniacally to become an Olympian, and later in life became a multi-millionaire.  This is a common story among self-made people.  I DO think that the rich have significant advantages:  education, contact networks, access to startup capital, etc.  These are very helpful, but don't assure success.  Their lack is not insurmountable by the ambitious.  I also think those advantages have expanded in recent years.  Monetary policy has resulted in a large pool of investable funds being made available to to the financial sector, who earn high incomes with rent-seeking tactics."


Explain the situation to a landlord and offer to prepay a few months of rent in advance as a guarantee.  This may or may not work, but being honest and committed may just be the answer.


In this 100% free course, you will learn the INSIDER SECRETS that we and hundreds of others have successfully used to create long-term sustainable wealth that allows you to FEEL GREAT about what you are doing and who you are helping ALL while simultaneously making HUGE MONEY! This course was written by active owners, operators and investors in Group Homes,


Until we get free returns from all online retailers, I am still shopping at malls and physical stores. Some stuff just doesn't fit you and retailers don't offer enough measurements to really do you justice. The most important thing in clothes is fit, and you have to try something on to validate that.


Basic arbitrage is the (near-)simultaneous purchasing and selling of things that are convertible.   The classic example is the international trading of equities. If someone in London wants to purchase a hundred shares of Shell for 40 GBP ea. and someone in New York wants to sell you a hundred shares of Shell for 61 USD ea., you can buy the shares from the guy in New York, sell them to the guy in London and convert your GBP back in to USD for a profit of $41.60 minus fees.  Now, if after you buy the shares in New York, the price in London goes down, you'll be left holding 100 shares of Shell that you don't want. So instead you should borrow 100 shares in London and sell them at the exact same time that you buy the shares in New York, thus keeping your net position at 0. In fact, you should also borrow 4000GBP and convert them to USD at the same time, so that exchange rate changes don't get you.


So we stop developing new technologies? Stop learning things? Stop figuring out ways to do more with less?   The article provides no explanation for why growth is bad, and all indications of when growth has stopped it has been tremendously hard on the lower class.


A company typically goes public in order to bring in additional capital. In an IPO, the company (through its officials) will typically do so by issuing additional shares, and offering to sell those to investors. If they did not do that, then there would be no net capital gain for the company; if person A sells share in company C to person B, then company C does not benefit directly from the exchange. By issuing and selling additional shares, the total value of all stock in the company can increase. Being publicly traded also greatly increases the confidence in the valuation of the company, as a consequence of the perfect market theory. There is nothing in this that says that initial investors (cofounders, employees, etc.) need to sell their shares in the process. They might choose to do so, or they might not; or they might be prevented from doing so by terms of any agreements that they have signed or by insider trading laws. Compare What happens to internal stock when a company goes public? Depending on specifics, it might be reasonable for the company to perform a share split prior to the initial public offering. That, however, doesn't affect the total value of the shares, only the price per share.


"Very interesting. I'm actually glad you mentioned term structure models, because that's something I'm interested in. But I don't think the distinction you draw between ""equilibrium"" and ""arbitrage free"" models makes sense with Black-Scholes.  My understanding was that the discrepancy between equilibrium and arbitrage-free term structure models arises because term structure models lack market completeness. In other words, when the market is incomplete (as it is with interest rates), you'll have a continuum of bond prices that are compatible with no arbitrage, and the exact price will depend on the market price for risk.   However, in Black-Scholes, the market price for risk term basically falls out of the equation because of market completeness. Or in other words, since we have market completeness, there's a *unique* martingale measure that gives the price for the option. So when you have market completeness, there should be no difference between an equilibrium and a no-arbitrage model - they're one and the same."


If you give me $216k to trash my credit report, I'll take it every time. People place too much value on the ability to borrow rather than having cash up front. I never pay interest (I do use a credit card and pay it off every month).  Why would you need to borrow money if you effectively got handed $200k? Of course, if your networth went from -$200k to 0, you are still broke. But considering that you were in that situation in the first place, the inability to borrow money may be a good thing.


Ok so Arbitrage?  I was looking specifically at the people who took this deal to the extreme taking the $5k and using the $10 giftcards to buy prepaid credit cards.  Would the better term would be positive-feedback loop, since the only constraint would be time and energy to the people exploit this deal.  Is there a financial term that fits this better?


Jennings Smith is an experienced team of professionally licensed and credentialed Connecticut, New York &amp; New Jersey Private Investigators &amp; Security Consultants who have provided a wide range of private investigator, security and forensic services to clients nationally and internationally for the past 25 years


"Whoops, responded to the wrong person. Reposting for you in case you didn't see it.       Here's a source for the $3.7 trillion number.      http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-08/u-s-municipal-bond-market-28-larger-than-estimated-federal-reserve-says.html    It's not 'incorrect data'.        EDIT:  Furthermore, in order to know the ""extent"" of the crime (your own admission) we NEED to know the size of the entire market otherwise you can't have any perspective or determine extent.  So there's no reason it shouldn't be mentioned in the article."


The President of the Biggest Economy in the world, who is making a new Tax plan, replacing the Head of the Fed and over seeing a loosening of financial regulation, is in all intents and purposes a Fucking Moron, how do you think this relates to the economy?


"Their banking systems basically avoid usury, which is essentially interest, because it is immoral.  So how the lenders make money is by being a ""partner"" and getting a pre-agreed to amount of profit. However, risk of failure is still on the borrower. In the end the numbers come out the same, they just call it something different.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usury#Islamic_banking"


> Only a Sith Deals in Absolutes  I feel that it's a huge problem wherever you go. Nobody wants to take the middle road. I feel that the reduction in fertilizer and pesticides must also might be good for the pocketbook as well.   I'm one of those that took chemistry, and know that chemicals are chemicals, natural or factory-made.


Ofc it's for cost. Either better cost but lower talent or better cost and same talent.  That's my point for Ricardian theory.  At 4 percent, its hard to say many are out of jobs. Perhaps they are holding out for higher salary than what market thinks they deserve.  Regardless, there is nothing wrong with companies looking for lower cost. That's capitalism and that's what allows you to have better breakfast than kings did pre industrial.


"Day trading is an attempt to profit on high frequency signal changes. Long term investing profits on low frequency changes. What is the difference? High Frequency Signal = the news of the day. This includes things like an earnings report coming out, panic selling, Jim Cramer pushing his ""buy buy buy"" button, an oil rig blowing up in the ocean, a terrorist attack in some remote region of the globe, a government mandated recall, the fed announcing an interest rate hike, a competitor announcing a new product, hurricanes, cold winters, a new health study on child obesity, some other company in the same sector missing their earnings, etc. Think daily red and green triangles on CNBC: up a buck, down a buck. Low Frequency Signal = The long term effectiveness of a company to produce and sell a product efficiently plus the sum of the high frequency signal over a long period of time. Think 200 day moving average chart of a stock. No fast changes, just, long term trends. Over time, the high frequency changes tend to negate each other. To me, long term investing is wiser because the low frequency signal is dominated by a companies ability to function well over time. That in turn is driven by the effectiveness of its leadership coupled with the skill and motivation of its employees. You are betting on the company and its people. Pseudo-random shorterm forces, which you can't control, play less of a role.  The high frequency signal, on the other hand, is dominated by sporadic and unpredictable forces that typically can't be controlled by the company. It has some tinge of randomness about it. Trying to invest on that random component is not investing at all, it is gambling (akin to ""investing"" in that next coin flip coming up heads) I understand the allure of high frequency trading. Look at the daily chart of a popular stock and focus on the up and down ticks. Mathematically, you could make a killing if you could just stack all those upticks on top of each other. If only it was that easy."


You might consider a Green Dot card. You can personalize the name on the card. There is no risk of over-drafting. There are some fees when you fill the card in stores, but it is free to open and manage online. Check out their site and see if it will work for you. It could be a great pair with a joint bank account for you and your kids. https://www.greendot.com/greendot/ Rock on for teaching personal finance and responsibility to your kids!


"As a Venezuelan who used to buy USD, I believe there is not better explanation than the one given to someone who actually lives and works here in Venezuela. Back in 1998 when Hugo Chavez took the presidency, we had a good economy. Fast forward 10 years laters and you could see how poor management, corruption and  communist measurements had wreaked havoc in our Economy. It was because most of the money (USD) coming in Venezuela were not invested here but instead, given away to ""pimp countries"" like Cuba. Remember, communism lasts while you have money. Back then we had an Oil Barrel going over 100$ and crazy amounts of money were coming in the country. However, little to no money was invested in the country itself. That is why some of the richest people with bank account in Swiss are Venezuelans who stole huge amounts of Oil Money.  I know this is a lot to take in, but all of this led to Venezuelan economy being the worst in The American Continent and because there is not enough money inside the country to satisfy the inner market, people would pay overprice to have anything that is bought abroad. You have to consider that only a very small amount of people can actually buy USD here in Venezuela. Back in 2013 I was doing it, I could buy about 80 usd/month with my monthly income. However, nowdays that's nearly impossible for about 99% of Venezuelans.  To Illustrate. Minimum wage = 10.000 bolivares / month Black market exchange rate (As of January 2016) = 900bs per 1usd 10.000/900 = 11,11 usd.   <<< that is what about 50% of Venezuelans earn every month. That's why this happens:  http://i.imgur.com/dPOC2e3.jpg The guy is holding a huge stack of money of the highest Venezuelan note, which he got from exchanging only 100 usd. I am a computer science engineer, the monthly income for someone like me is about 30.000 bolivares --- so that is about 34$ a month. oh dear! So finally, answering your question Q: Why do people buy USD even at this unfavorable rate? A: There are many reasons but being the main 2 the following 1.- Inflation in Venezuela is crazy high. The inflation from 2014-2015 was 241%. Which means that having The Venezuelan currency (Bolivares) in your bank account makes no sense... in two weeks you won't be able to buy half of the things you used to with the same amount of money. 2.- A huge amount of Venezuelans dream with living abroad (me included) why, you ask? well sir, it is certain that life in this country is not the best: I hope you can understand better why people in 3rd world countries and crappy economies buy USD even at an unfavorable rate. The last question was: Q: Why would Venezuela want to block the sale of dollars? A: Centralized currency management is an Economic Measure that should last 6 months tops. (This was Argentina's case in 2013) but at this point, reverting that would take quite a few years.  However, Turukawa's wikipedia link explains that very well. Regards."


"One might hope for slightly more rationality in the platinum market. Rarely does one hear talk of ""platinum bugs"", rants about how every society on Earth has valued platinum as the One True Valuable Thing (tm), or seen presidential candidates call for the return to the platinum standard."


"LOL!!!! A BBC report about ""hate crime"" only listing attacks on migrants, but does not list attacks on Germans.  **Bottom line: Germany needed those migrants like it needed a bullet in its head. Meanwhile, Japan, Poland, Hungary, Norway, etc have not issue to deal with and they are doing just fine.**"


"This is regular income to you (unless you meet some very narrow health-related field exceptions.) There's no ""claiming of income"" by you, it should be included on your W-2 as regular income where it will be subject to employment and income tax. Think of it like a bonus. It will bump up your income and make it look like you earn more money (because you did). There's no special tax break for you or your employer for paying off your pre-existing student loans. Talk to your student loan servicer to find out how the extra money will affect your income-based repayment plan next year. They should be able to tell you, or at least estimate for you, how it will change your future payments. Armed with that knowledge you can then decide whether or not to take the money from your employer. Naively, it would seem dumb to turn down free money, but there are some weird incentives out there."


While I don't disagree that Wells is trash, it may not be intentional reordering on their part. Some merchants don't settle their machines in a timely manner which can delay an item from posting. So while they were run first, and the funds were probably held in the correct order awaiting posting, the last item CAN clear first due to this. I would reach out to the bank for fee reversals, using the receipts as proof of transaction order.


I could definitely see a future where Amazon runs home automation. Especially when you consider 24/7 access to their store and streaming platforms.  That said, I imagine Google will probably repeat history and pivot to business applications. Google Assistant, partnered with Google Maps, could do very well with the autonomous car market. A distributor could handle entire fleets from his phone.


Well, not having heard of this guy before, I have to be careful taking what he says at face value. I agree with him to some degree, but I suppose I'm not as confident in my assessment. The list of his credentials seems relevent to me, but it would be informative to have more insight into his motives for his opinions.


The 5% to 6.5% loan rates are a bit high. You'll probably want to pay those off first, and make it one of your priorities as soon as you have a 6-month savings fund. This should probably take precedence over savings for retirement, unless you're giving up a 401(k) match. Pay extra on the highest-interest loan until it's all paid off, then switch to the next one down, and accelerate the payoff as much as you can. If you're looking at a loan at 6% and a payoff date in 8 years or so (2020), am extra dollar paid now will save you ~$0.60. Not a bad return in general, and an excellent return for something that's zero-risk. The other loans, at 2-3%, are different. An extra dollar paid now on a 2% loan will save you $0.17 over 8 years. That's a pretty mediocre return. If you have a good, stable job and good job prospects, and a decent family support network, and few commitments like children and mortgages, and a low cost of living... generally, the things that help you have a high tolerance for risk... then you should consider investing your money in the stock market instead of paying off these loans any earlier than you need to. (Broad index funds and the like, not individual stocks).


Usually points have different value depending on what you use it for and how much of them you convert. For many providers, if you have enough (10000+ usually) points, it is possible to convert them 1:1 (which means 1 point converted to 1 cent) to either cash or something that is almost as good as cash ($100 gift card for some popular store or $100 Amazon.com certificate, etc.). Some cards have more exotic ways of getting best value - such as transferring money to pay student loans, retirement accounts, etc. So to get the best value, I'd recommend to make a list of what you can get from your program (most types of reward are uniform - i.e., many gift cards with the same price, so the work may be less than it seems) and calculate point values of each of those. If you want to be really precise take into account that if you buy something with points, you do not earn points on that, which reduces the value a little. In general, these days it is very rare to get a card that produces more than 1% back, though some have up to 5% for certain categories of purchases.


Purchasing a universal AC adapter is a right decision as it fits in a wide range of laptops that require a different connector. This kind of adapter has a range of output which voltage settings suit to different kind of laptops. And always kept in mind while purchasing it, pick a company who provides good quality of product and genuine guaranty.


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.  SHOP stands for Small Business Health Options Program, and requires only one common-law employee on payroll. This would effectively allow you to offer group coverage without having a group.  Talk to your tax accountant for more details, as this is still very new and not necessarily well understood. There are some other options, all of which I would highly suggest talking to a tax accountant about as well.  HRAs (health reimbursement accounts) allow the employer to set aside pre-tax funds for the employee to use for approved medical expenses; they're often managed by a benefits company (say, Wageworks, Conexis, etc.).  That would allow your employee to potentially pick a higher deductible health plan which offers poorer coverage on the individual marketplace (with after-tax dollars) and then supplement with your HRA. There are also the concept of Employer Payment Plans, where the employer reimburses the employee for their insurance premiums, but those are not compatible with the ACA for the most part - although there seems to be a lot of disagreement as to whether it's possible to have something effectively the same work, see for example this page versus this for example.


I don't know what you mean by 'major'. Do you mean the fund company is a Fidelity or Vanguard, or that the fund is broad, as in an s&P fund?  The problem starts with a question of what your goals are. If you already know the recommended mix for your age/risk, as you stated, you should consider minimizing the expenses, and staying DIY. I am further along, and with 12 year's income saved, a 1% hit would be 12% of a year's pay, I'd be working 1-1/2 months to pay the planner?  In effect, you are betting that a planner will beat whatever metric you consider valid by at least that 1% fee, else you can just do it yourself and be that far ahead of the game.  I've accepted the fact that I won't beat the average (as measured by the S&P) over time, but I'll beat the average investor. By staying in low cost funds (my 401(k) S&P fund charges .05% annual expense) I'll be ahead of the investors paying planner fees, and mutual fund fees on top of that. You don't need to be a CFP to manage your money, but it would help you understand the absurdity of the system.


I didn't take too many finance or economics courses so i can't comment.   In my post I recommended the YouTube video or audiobook 'why an economy grows and why it doesn't'  I guess it's more economy related than finance related, but is still relevant as it touches on loans and net worth and stuff.


So, in general, pay to the higher interest rate.  Some contrived reasons you would want to pay your auto  loan more could be:


">Good, that gives their competition time to take market share.  Except TAM (total actual market) is decreasing, the pool of ""market share"" is going down. So what's happening is companies are slashing margins to even maintain market share, much less increase it. Look at what's happening in computers, DELL, HP, Acer, Asus, Lenovo. Apple's sales numbers dropped for notebooks as well, but because they didnt drop as much as HP or Lenovo their market share went up. This is the new normal. Less than stellar sales.  >As long as there is money on the table, someone is going to reach for it. Markets aren't known for their patience.  Problem is there is less and less money on the table. Big companies are squeezing little companies. Know what you just described? Wal-mart puts the little guy out of business--- they're efficent!   >Bullshit, tax burdens cause tax avoidance, they don't touch production as long as profits are still available.  Yes, some, but you can only avoid it if you are multi-national. Businesses with completely domestic operations cannot avoid liabilities in the same way. But as I said above the markets are shrinking, there is less money on the table and the players that are left are fighting over the last scraps. That is obviously a bit extreme, but I personally deal with a lot of retailers and OEMs and there is NOT the wiggle room you describe. I get beat up for a few dollars.   I am not talking about banks, or energy companies, or healthcare companies. I am talking about the thousands of small and medium businesses that are already squeezed. These entities are the lifeblood of the larger economy. One or two go out of business and nobody notices, but hundreds and thousands of these companies have closed now. A healthy company is not made up of only Wal-mart, Exxon and Apple."


In the UK we give small businesses the option not to charge sales tax and as a business owner I can see a parallel.  Then I think about it from the perspective of a black, career-focused woman who happens to be put in front of a racist HR manager who thinks all women are baby factories and I realise it's not the right solution at all.


But the source is important when you consider that it's strategic. As in, Amazon has profitted from the patent wars up until now, but now that they are planning to make a move into smart phones where they don't have as much ammunition, they want everyone to play nice.


> Russia seems doomed to remain a ‘Third World country with a First World military’   Considering how the Supreme Court has been stacked (not to mention the other two branches of the government), seems this is where America is headed as well.


Until you find a job, I would recommend doing nothing more than a bank checking account or a checking and savings account.  Some alternatives, such as savings bonds, would be okay if you were perfectly sure you did not need the money in the next six months.  Consider working for a place such as McDonald's in the meantime. Once you have stable employment, there are two paths you could take.  The first is a bond fund.  It would provide fair market returns for the time between now and the collection of social security.  The second would be a traditional annuity.  You have to be careful with them.  If it sounds much better than what others are offering, it is probably a scam.  Your interest in an annuity is that it will pay you money for as long as you live.  If you live to be 105 you will still be getting payments.  A bond fund would have run out of money long ago by that time. The biggest thing for you right now is getting to when Medicare takes over from private health.  Looking for any job is important right now to preserve cash. Although I do not normally recommend annuities, I do with smaller amounts of cash.  It is unlikely you will ever recover this sum again and the time remaining to save is very short.  The greatest challenge with an annuity is regret.  You can't get the money back once you have turned it into an income stream.  On the other hand, it will last as long as you live. The only important caveat is that if you are in poor health, then the bond fund would be better for you because you may not live to be very old.


And rich person is more likely not to choose subpar government services when they can choose something else. Meaning if the were allowed to opt out of this monopoly service provider they would. Meaning the only ones who want government services is those who want someone else to pay for it for them.


all other things being equal if you have two stocks, both with a P/E   of 2, and one has an EPS of 5 whereas the other has an EPS of 10 is   the latter a better purchase? What this really boils down to is the number of shares a company has outstanding.  Given the same earnings & P/E, a company with fewer shares will have a higher EPS than a company with more shares.  Knowing that, I don't think the number of shares has much if anything to do with the quality of a company.   It's similar to the arguments I hear often from people new to investing where they think that a company with a share price of $100/share must be better than a company with a share price of $30/share simply because the share price is higher.


"When Laurence Olivier took the role of Douglas Macarthur in the Unification Church's filming of Inchon, he told the press, ""People ask me why I'm playing in this picture. The answer is simple: Money, dear boy."" Banking systems are typically decades old and subject to innumerable legal and technical restrictions. Moving money more quickly from one client's account to another would definitely be in the clients' interest, but"


An auto title loans are typically utilized by those that wish to obtain a funding with bad credit rating or no credit in any way. An auto-mobile title lending frequently called a vehicle title lending or merely title funding as well as pink slip funding’s. You merely should have a vehicle that is paid off or nearly paid off and also you could make use of the auto title as security to obtain the cash money you require, enabling you to continue driving your vehicle while paying your loan.   Get Auto Car Title Loans Apple Valley CA and nearby cities Provide Car Title Loans, Auto Title Loans, Mobile Home Title Loans, RV/Motor Home Title Loans, Big Rigs Truck Title Loans, Motor Cycle Title Loans, Online Title Loans Near me, Bad Credit Loans, Personal Loans, Quick cash Loans  Contact Us: Get Auto Car Title Loans Apple Valley CA 17868 US Highway 18 # 409, Apple Valley, CA 92307 760-493-2444 autoloans781@gmail.com http://getautotitleloans.com/car-and-auto-title-loans-apple-valley-ca/


That's not how the world works. That's not how any of this works. They knew he didn't have a degree. You don't get recruited before you graduate because you're a useless expendable. He's going places. And they'll probably pay for him to finish his degree at some point. Either way, he's gonna be rich.


"There are only two ways to increase your savings: You are young, and both of these are likely to spontaneously happen - you will be promoted and get raises, and your loans will be paid off, removing the loan payment. It would seem that you need only to wait a year or so, and there will a lot more than $87 left over each month, and your savings will grow almost without any action from you. But somehow, that is not what happens in real life. As people get older they ""need"" more than they did before (larger home, more expensive ""things"", etc) and they never manage to get around to saving. So it's great that you are wondering how to do it. But you are not truly making it a priority. You mention that you also pay/spend for friends, the internet, play & joy, cloth, gifts, book, etc. And this armwavy entirely optional spending is the difference between 72.85 (such precision!) and 90% of your salary. In other words it is 17-18% or more than your rent. Think about that for a moment. Every month you spend more than your rent on friends, play, joy, books and good old etc. If you were to cut that in half, you could save 8 or 9% of your salary. Maybe after your next raise you can get that up to 10%. How can you cut that optional ""fun"" stuff in half? Well, I don't know, because I don't know what it is, and I suspect you don't either. So track it, for a month or two. Are you getting takeout food or coffee every day? Are you always the one who pays when you go out with friends? Do you eat in restaurants a lot? Do you always wear the latest fashions, buy $500 shoes, pay people to do your nails or dye your hair, buy a new phone every year, have the top end phone plan, top end cable plan, ... You have to know where that rent's-worth of money goes every month. Then you can figure out how to send some of it to savings instead.  In some ways you are in a hard generation. Your parents didn't need to save for their retirement because they had you, and they know you will send money home for them. But you probably don't expect the same from the children you don't have yet, so you have to save for yourself. This is a challenge. If you were saving the money you send your parents, you'd be fine. Yet you don't want to reduce what you send, they need it. Still, people have faced bigger challenges and overcome them. Start by understanding where your fun money is going, then look at how to send some (aim for half) of that to savings instead. You won't regret it."


"No, it's not a closed loop. Most currency in circulation is bank credit, meaning money that originates from loans that originated from a bank. Once the loans are repaid, the ""money"" that was created by the loan disappears - freeing up the bank to make more loans. This is how fractional reserve banking works. [Check this out](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3hLKpKv3ME) for more info (it's really interesting actually).  Not to say that the rich aren't ""sopping up"" too much cash. It definitely is a problem..."


property rights...N. America was the only region without a large population relative to it's size because it's cold. To encourage ppl to move their the King of England had to give ppl property rights, which he did not in other southern colonies where their main plan was resource extraction (not sure if this is the case in NZ or Australia, but I wouldn't be surprised).


As has already been mentioned, measure, change, measure.  Stopping vampiric power drain in the items you mentioned is going to save you very little electricity or money. There are much larger power users in your home that can be tackled first. If you have a fridge, freezer, and electric water heater on Time-Of-Use billing, shifting their energy usage to off-peak hours can yield significant monetary savings. I have put my water heater on a timer that turns the thing on 3 hours before I get up and shower, and turns off just before shower time. I get more than enough hot water for showers, and the heater isn't maintaining a tank of hot water during the day or night when I don't need it. Same can be done with your fridge and freezer. Set the fridge a little colder and run it off-peak and your food will stay cold/frozen during the day.  Note that while putting the water heater on a timer may get you both money and electricity, doing the same for the fridge and freezer will only get you financial savings as you time-shift your electric usage. I was able to get a 20% saving on my electric bill by time-shifting my water heater and fridge. Your mileage may vary.


Maybe that's just the company I work for, but I've been in this position for a little more than a year and it's been like that the whole time. Even before this position, there were a lot of 10 hour work days for me.   That's corporate America for you.


Of course, there is no way for us to know whether or not the clerk is trying to rip you off $1.29 at a time, but I can't understand the possible motivation for doing so.  I would imagine that most people would catch this at some point, so for a store to consistently overcharge for something like this is really bad for business. They would be risking upsetting a customer all for the potential gain of $1.29. I have to assume that it is not malice, but incompetence.  We don't know what caused the clerk to be confused, but it is not really our concern. From what I can tell, you've gotten the right price in the end.  You were ultimately charged for two drinks, and the extra $1.29 that you were charged was refunded. Since it happened three times, you have to decide how badly you want these drinks in the future.  If you choose to return, you'll just have to expect the possibility that it will ring up incorrectly, and you'll have to get it fixed.  If that seems like too much hassle, then don't return to this store.


I have only been comfortable using my credit unions online bill payment system where the service they use already has the target in the database. When I enter the name of the company and the zip code from the bill, the system responds with the address that matches what is on the bill. In most cases the money is not sent via mail, but it is sent electronically. This eliminates the case of somebody finding the check. Though electronic delivery doesn't guarantee that I didn't type the wrong account number. When adding a new target, I like to pick those that also have an online system that I can check in a few days to make sure the money was received and properly credited. Recently a company failed to credit my account in a timely manner, my credit union actually noticed that the payment hadn't been cashed, and alerted me. I asked the credit union about mistakes, either by me or by them. They claimed that the payment is treated like any other check, and that if there was a problem the money could be pulled back, and my account credited with the funds. Your bank should have a disclosure document stating the risks and protections with the service.


You can find the NYSE holiday dates listed on the exchange's own site (already linked in answer above), which should obviously be consulted as the most reliable source; they are also published in an article that I have written here: NYSE Holidays 2016, which provides additional information about traditions and events that can be expected to lead to unscheduled closures, and closed dates for holidays that are day-of-month rather than date specific (e.g. President's Day and Memorial Day). NYSE Holidays are not quite identical to those for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, though most US stock exchange dates are the same. Also, note that both the Merc (via the Globex platform) and NYSE Arca have different normal cash sessions and trading hours to the New York Stock Exchange.


Checks are awesome things in that, even if it gets lost the money doesn't change hands until the check is cashed. I would highly recommend NOT signing a check over and putting it in the mail though. Essentially putting your signature on it is saying yes, pay to whomever. Theoretically acceptable, rarely a good idea. Call the insurance company and have them cancel current check to reissue to the correct people. Don't forget to write VOID (in huge letters) on the check before throwing away and/or tearing it up.


Healthy workplaces are on everyone’s mind, especially for those of us who work there! If you are spending a lot of time at a desk or in front of your computer, it is vital to maintaining your health. A poorly designed work environment puts a strain on your neck, back, legs, and wrists, and contributes to fatigue, stress, and injury. You spend a lot of time in your office chair, so you should have one that is ergonomically designed and comfortable enough for extended use. A few tips about ergonomics and buying the right chair can be found at the end of this article. Here, sorted by price from lowest to highest, are the 10 best ergonomic chairs that we have identified for you. http://www.the10thcircle.com/best-ergonomic-office-chair


hey look I can spout random countries too. Spain!  Back it up, or shut up. The UK did NOT sell debt and simultaneously purchase its own debt in the past (until modern times).   And who said the reason soviet union collapsed was because of its banking policies? Putting words in peoples mouths aren't we.  I think you should move along before you get hurt. This is a grown up conversation little one.


I know in the UK at least, 99% of the time even legitimate collectors don't work directly for the charity.  They work for independent for-profit companies.  The companies collect a large comission (around £50-£70) for every direct debit signup. The guy that knocks on your door will see very little of it.  Have a look at this: http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2005/08/just-6-for-eight-days-work-for.html The bags you get through your door for clothing donations are run on a similar basis - the clothes and profit go to a private company, which makes a donation to the charity out of their profits.  Sometimes as little as 0.1% of your donation will go the charity. Always go direct to your chosen charity.


"You're missing the point here. The goal of ratings firms is **not** to accurately price debt. That's the market's job. The goal of ratings companies is to evaluate the ability of the company to service their debt instrument, much like how the goal of a public accounting firm is to assure that a company's financial statements follow GAAP.  The article implicitly makes the assertion that Aaa rated securities have pretty low default rates; it's mainly only the area of CDO backed securities that there's a large disconnect between the rating and default risk. While this does raise questions about the worthiness of these ratings and the way they went about modeling and rationalizing them, it hardly suggests that they are ""wrong over 50% of the time.""  As a side note, why not make it against the law for mutual funds to have rules that allow them to only hold Aaa rated securities? These funds that demand high credit ratings are only contributing to the conflict of interest by essentially ""asking for it."""


"Stay away from leveraged or synthetic ETFs. This answer talks about why leveraged ETFs are dangerous. There are numerous articles to be found by searching for ""leveraged etf"". My answer to this question links to one of the more accessible explanations I've read."


Here is a list of threads in other subreddits about the same content:   * [United Nations of Debt: Visualizing $63 Trillion in Global Debt by Country](https://www.reddit.com/r/Economics/comments/79o6jh/united_nations_of_debt_visualizing_63_trillion_in/) on /r/Economics with 1 karma (created at 2017-10-30 22:48:32 by /u/InvisibleTextArea)  ----   ^^I ^^am ^^a ^^bot  ^^[FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/DuplicatesBot/wiki/index)-[Code](https://github.com/PokestarFan/DuplicateBot)-[Bugs](https://www.reddit.com/r/DuplicatesBot/comments/6ypgmx/bugs_and_problems/)-[Suggestions](https://www.reddit.com/r/DuplicatesBot/comments/6ypg85/suggestion_for_duplicatesbot/)-[Block](https://www.reddit.com/r/DuplicatesBot/wiki/index#wiki_block_bot_from_tagging_on_your_posts)  ^^Now ^^you ^^can ^^remove ^^the ^^comment ^^by ^^replying ^^delete!


"Q: How do currency markets work? A: The FX (foreign exchange) market works very much like the stock market where potential buying parties bid $Y of country 1's currency to buy $1 in country 2's currency.  Potential selling parties sell (ask) $1 of country 2's currency for $Y of country 1's currency.  Like the stock market, there are also a swaps, futures and options in this market. Q: What factors are behind why currencies go up or down? A: Just like any open market, currencies go up and down based on supply and demand.  Many factors affect the supply and demand of a particular currency.  Some were listed well by the other posts. Q: What roles do governments, central banks, institutions, and traders have in the process? A: It's common practice that gov'ts intervene to ""control"" the value of currencies.  For example, although it's not general public knowledge, the Canadian gov't is actively purchasing up US dollars in the FX market in an effort to stop the US/Canadian exchange rate from dropping further.  This has dramatic economic consequences for the Canadian ecomony if the Canadian dollar were to strengthen too far and too quickly."


The maximum you can contribute to both the 403(b) and 401(k) is $18,000. Take the amount you already contributed and subtract it from $18,000. That's how much you have left to contribute before maxing out.


Have you tried calling a Forex broker and asking them if you can take  delivery on currency? Their spreads are likely to be much lower than  banks/ATMs.


"Wow.  Just ... wow. We all must start where we are, I guess.  The past is the past. There almost certainly isn't a cheap way to fix this.  You're already on the hook for $4k per month.  Your money is enabling her behavior.  You'd rather not enable her behavior, but the money is part of the consequences of your divorce, so into her bank account it goes. Those who control how much alimony your ex-wife receives might reach the conclusion she needs more.  That's not a hard conclusion for them to make.  It's not their money. The living conditions are hurting your kids, and that's unfortunate, but that's also part of the consequences of your divorce. If it's deemed that your kids are better off not visiting her, then you might be relieved of paying child support (since you're supporting them at that point) but you might still be supporting her until some trigger is met, which might be never.  (You know those details better than I do, of course.) If she's already lost her house, filed for bankruptcy, borrowed money from people that she hasn't paid back, and gets a check from you each month and still has utilities shut off, she'll continue to deteriorate financially until she hits rock bottom.  Then, and only then, will she see the need to fix her behavior. Now, the (possibly) million dollar question for you is, ""Where is rock bottom?"" Do what you can to make that happen sooner rather than later, because you'll likely be subsidizing her all the way down, and part of the way back up.  You've lost most of the leverage you once had to change her behavior, but try every way you can.  You might hit the jackpot."


If employees are more productive, then you need less of them to produce the same amount as they did before. Companies want constantly increasing demand for their products so that their value does not decline as their growth and output increases. If companies do not increase pay with productivity, then no one can afford to buy up the increase in products and they become worthless.


"In most parts of the US, even the more expensive parts, a $100k income can afford the rent or mortgage on a reasonably safe* 2-3 bedroom home within an hour commute of your work, plus the means to commute, plus health insurance, plus retirement savings, plus at least some discretionary income (i.e., choice between living in a nicer neighborhood, eating out more often, buying brand-name apparel, etc). In some places, $100k affords a very comfortable lifestyle, with plenty of savings.   A lot of people who live in or around big, expensive cities think it is outrageous that their $100k income doesn't get them a designer apartment, a wardrobe full of fitted suits, eating out twice a week, two overseas vacations per year, etc. They confuse not having a Hollywood lifestyle, with being poor. Those are some of the most obnoxious people in the world.   *because this post is sure to draw the ire of some privileged people who think that ""reasonably safe"" means top 5%, I will offer the definition of ""reasonably safe"" as one of the top three quintiles of US zip codes with lowest violent crime rates per capita."


"This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2017/06/30/new-jersey-budget/) reduced by 91%. (I'm a bot) ***** > UPDATED 07/01/17 12:10 a.m. TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey state government shut down at midnight Friday night, after lawmakers failed to pass a nearly $35 billion budget and avert a state government shutdown.  > Gov. Chris Christie called for a special session of the New Jersey State Legislature on Saturday at 11 a.m., and blamed Democratic State Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto for failing to reach a deal.  > Island Beach State Park announced late Friday night that it would be closed Saturday due to the New Jersey government shutting down.   ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/6kl7zd/new_jersey_government_shuts_down_after_failure_to/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ ""Version 1.65, ~156665 tl;drs so far."") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr ""PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome."") | *Top* *keywords*: **state**^#1 **budget**^#2 **Prieto**^#3 **Christie**^#4 **New**^#5"


For the requirement for risk free and hassle free account a CD or money market account through your local bank, credit union, or even large online bank will be fine. These funds won't grow very fast over time but they are safe and insured. These types of accounts are perfect for all the miscellaneous birthday, Holiday and religious event checks. There is not a requirement that the money be in a UGMA (Uniform Gifts to Minors Act) account. Putting it in a UGMA account does make it hard for the parents to spend. The IRS does allow the child to have earnings from banks without the formality of a UGMA. The money shouldn't be moved between the parent's and child's account but it is possible for the parents to spend the child's money if times are tight and the money is used for items that benefit the child. If there is a reasonable assumption of college then the 529 plan makes a lot of sense. The prepaid tuition options would be risky because they tend to be tied to a single state, and who knows where they will be living in 10 to 15 years. The 529 does focus the money to be used for educational expenses, but it can be used for non-educational expenses if you are willing to pay the taxes and penalties. It can also be transferred to another child later, or even other family members. In my state the 529 plan doesn't have to be used right after high school graduation. It can be used up to 30 years after graduation. So they can decide a few years later that they want to go back to school.


Get a checking account with Ally Bank. They refund all ATM fees from within the US, so effectively, every ATM transaction will have no surcharge.


I'm the contrarian in the crowd. I think credit scores and debt are the closest thing to evil incarnate. You're in good company. The absence of a credit score simply means the agencies have insufficient data in their behavioral model to determine how profitable your business would be to the bank. The higher your score, the more likely the bank is to make a profit from your loan.  IMHO, you're better off building up cash and investment reserves than a credit history. With sufficient reserves,  you will be able to shop around for a bank that will give you a good rate, if you ever do need a loan.  You'll be surprised at how quickly you get in a position where you don't need a loan if you save and invest wisely. I used to have a (high) credit score,  and I was miserable about it because there were always bills due. I gave up debt 14 years ago, paid the last debt 7 years ago, and have never. been happier. Raising kids without debt (or credit score) is much more fun than with debt.


Interesting, that makes some sense.  With Planet Fitness, my understanding is that their cost structure is slanted towards fixed costs. Whether their members come to the gym or not doesn't matter; they still have to pay rent, labor, utilities, buy equipment, etc. Those costs don't change much if people subscribe and don't show up vs. subscribe and do show up.  Moviepass seems to be almost entirely variable; their costs are buying movie tickets when people order. They would love it if people signed up and never used it, but unlike PF if people DID use it they'd be completely screwed.  It's a risky plan, but it just might work as long as people don't figure out a way to game the system (or, you know, turn out to be movie buffs).