Question: Why doesn't change in accounts receivable on balance sheet match cash flow statement?

"I'm not an expert, but here is my best hypothesis. On Microsoft's (and most other company's) cash flow statements, they use the so-called ""indirect method"" of accounting for cash flow from operations. How that works, is they start with net income at the top, and then adjust it with line items for the various non-cash activities that contributed to net income. The key phrase is that these are accounting for the non-cash activities that contribute to net income. If the accounts receivable amount changes from something other than operating activity (e.g., if they have to write off some receivables because they won't be paid), the change didn't contribute to net income in the first place, so doesn't need to be reconciled on the cash flow statement."

The U.S. Minimum wage purchasing power peaked in 1968 with $8.68 (in 2016 dollars)...   Why are people advocating almost double? From what it sounds like...   Nobody has ever been able to rent a 2 bedroom apartment for minimum wage... Anywhere in the United States... EVER...

"Like all financial investments, the value of a bond is the present value of expected future cash flows.  The Yield to Maturity is the annualized return you get on your initial investment, which is equivalent to the discount rate you'd use to discount future cash flows. So if you discount all future cashflows at 6% annually*, you can calculate the price of the bond: So the price of a $1,000 bond (which is how bond prices are typically quoted) would be $1,097.12. The current yield is just the current coupon payment divided by the current price, which is 70/1,097.12 or 6.38% Question 3 makes no sense, since the yield to maturity would be the same if you bought the bond at market price Question 4 talks about a ""sale"" date which makes me think that it assumes you sold the bond on the coupon date, but you'd have to know the sale price to calculate the rate of return."

Honestly, I think you are falling for a myth. Family business can also decide to go for short term maximum profit at the expense of long term. And shareholders can decide to look long term, just go to shareholder meetings and you will see everything. Its not so black and white.  For the rest I agree, except for anti-monopolly laws. In general, anti-monopolly laws only help create olligopollies/monopollies not removing them.

The question is for your HR department, or administrator of the plan. How long must you hold the employee shares before you are permitted to sell? Loyalty to your company is one thing, but after a time, you will be too heavily invested in one company, and you need to diversify out. One can cite any number they wish, 5%, 10%. All I know is that when Enron blew up, it only added insult to injury that not only did these people lose their job, they lost a huge chunk of their savings as well.

"It's not either or.  Much of the time the value of the stock has some tangible relation to the financial prospects of the company. The value of Ford and GM stock rose when they were selling a lot of cars, and collapsed when their cars became unpopular. Other companies (Enron for example) frankly 'cook the books' to make it appear they are prospering, when they are actually drowning in debt and non-performing assets. So called ""penny stocks"" have both low prices and low volumes and are susceptible to ""pump and dump"" schemes, where a manipulator buys a bunch of the stock, touts the stock to the world, pointing to the recent increase in price. They then sell out to all the new buyers, and the price collapses.  If you are going to invest in the stock market it's up to you to figure out which companies are which."

1. Baby boomers homes ending up in the hands of the bank.   2. Millennials can't afford houses bc of school debt/cost of living increases  3. Slow move away from major cities to cheaper areas  4. Real estate boom from foreign investors developing all these luxury homes/condos  Add them all up prices crash again


Question: How to automate the tracking of ratios and other values for a set of stocks or ETFs?

Spreadsheets need not be static, they can pull data from the web.  This article describes the method you seek.

That's what I have been trying to do.  I do every practice test after each chapter and if I do great then on tot he next.  If not, back to reading it again. What I have been seeing a lot on the new CSC test's is less math and more memorization.  So IIROC mandate questions, derivatives, define a foreign bond etc.

I'm answering in a perspective of an End-User within the United Kingdom. Most stockbrokers won't provide Real-time information without 'Level 2' access, however this comes free for most who trade over a certain threshold. If you're like me, who trade within their ISA Holding each year, you need to look elsewhere.  I personally use IG.com. They've recently began a stockbroking service, whereas this comes with realtime information etc with a paid account without any 'threshold'. Additionally, you may want to look into CFDs/Spreadbets as these, won't include the heavy 'fees' and tax liabilities that trading with stocks may bring.

The NPS is launched by The Government of India with a lot of hope. But it has not been taken off as it was expected due to some reasons. Though PFRDA is working for the betterment of the product, still there are disadvantages of the product, which I feel are: 1. The liquidity is an issue for NPS. If you are 30 years age and started investing for NPS you need to wait for another 30 years for withdrawal of money. 2. Though there is option of partial withdrawal, it's not so easy during requirement. 3. You need to invest in a government approved annuity fund which is mandatory. 4. The 20% of the maturity amount is still taxable if you withdraw it lump sum. So, you should not invest in NPS only for the tax saving purpose.

"I really like the author/speaker making the ""diamond"" analogy -- that there is no shortage of diamonds, you just have to be willing to pay the asking price.  Seems like in addition that that (the desire for a ""bargain""), AND again as the author speaker highlighted, the fact that managers want everyone ""fully trained/experienced"" -- combines with the idiotic use/abuse of badly designed pseudo-expert applicant screening software (apparently implemented on the same ""idiot manager/HR"" model that I saw in practice a decade or more ago already) that makes them (stupidly) claim that there is no one to hire.  *Which really just all comes down to BAD hiring & BAD management practices.*"

Yes, automatic rate increases are typical in my experience (and I think it's very greedy, when it's based on nothing except that your lease is up for renewal, which is the situation you are describing). Yes, you should negotiate. I've had success going to the apartment manager and having this conversation:  Make these points: Conclude: I am not open to a rate increase, though I will sign a renewal at the same rate I am paying now. This conversation makes me very uncomfortable, but I try not to show it. I was able to negotiate a lease renewal at the same rate this way (in a large complex in Sacramento, CA).  If you are talking to a manager and not an owner, they will probably have to delay responding until they can check with the owner. The key really is that they want to keep units rented, especially when units are staying empty. Empty units are lost income for the owner. It is the other empty units that are staying empty that are the huge point in your favor.

>What is your prediction for the next 12 months of the stock market?  Not good. I'm not seeing any of the factors that contributed to what happened in 2008 change, which suggests, imho, that the market is still really unstable and prone to wild fluctuation and crashes. If you like risk perhaps that's okay, but for most investors it's a nightmare. Austerity seems to be winning out in government reaction to economic problems instead of stimulus, which is only going to shrink demand across the board. If you can find something for which there is a hungry consumer base willing and able to pay, maybe that's a good direction to go in, but those are more and more rare these days. I'm almost completely withdrawn from the market, save for my 'fun stocks', investments I've made not to make money but just to toy around with, and my Apple investments, which defy logic. And Netflix, which I support on principle.   Last year was a good year for investing in healthcare, but I'm not sure how that's going to pan out this year.

Yes, there's a way. I actually wrote a blog post about it. Its a new service from the IRS which allows you pulling your account online. IRS also has an instruction page just for this case here.


Question: Is a “total stock market” index fund diverse enough alone?

You're missing the concept of systemic risk, which is the risk of the entire market or an entire asset class. Diversification is about achieving a balance between risk and return that's appropriate for you. Your investment in Vanguard's fund, although diversified between many public companies, is still restricted to one asset class in one country. Yes, you lower your risk by investing in all of these companies, but you don't erase it entirely.  Clearly, there is still risk, despite your diversification. You may decide that you want other investments or a different asset allocation that reduce the overall risk of your portfolio. Over the long run, you may earn a high level of return, but never forget that there is still risk involved. bonds seem pretty worthless, at least until I retire According to your profile, you're about my age. Our cohort will probably begin retiring sometime around 2050 or later, and no one knows what the bond market will look like over the next 40 years. We may have forecasts for the next few years, but not for almost four decades. Writing off an entire asset class for almost four decades doesn't seem like a good idea. Also, bonds are like equity, and all other asset classes, in that there are different levels of risk within the asset class too. When calculating the overall risk/return profile of my portfolio, I certainly don't consider Treasuries as the same risk level as corporate bonds or high-yield (or junk) bonds from abroad.  Depending on your risk preferences, you may find that an asset allocation that includes US and/or international bonds/fixed-income, international equities, real-estate, and cash (to make rebalancing your asset allocation easier) reduces your risk to levels you're willing to tolerate, while still allowing you to achieve returns during periods where one asset class, e.g. equities, is losing value or performing below your expectations.

Don't all of the major bitcoin processors limit the risk to basically zero for the large multinationals that choose to accept bitcoin? I haven't been involved recently, but I know when bitpay and coinbase were starting, whatever bitcoin you received was automatically transferred to USD at the current rate, unless you opted out and chose to keep the bitcoin.

Keep in mind a good lawyer will have the contract cover the five D's: Its really best to lay these things out ahead of time.  I watched, first hand, two friends start a business.  When they were broke and struggling the worked very well together.  Then the money started rolling in.  Despite exceeding their dreams they were constantly at each other's throats fighting and bickering over stupid stuff.  In the end, because they had decent legal docs, they both were able to pull money out of the business.   Had that not been worked out they would have destroyed the business so that no one would have profited.

The optimal time period is unambiguously zero seconds.  Put it all in immediately.  Dollar cost averaging reduces the risk that you will be buying at a bad time (no one knows whether now is a bad or great time), but brings with it reduction in expected return because you will be keeping a lot of money in cash for a long time.  You are reducing your risk and your expected return by dollar cost averaging. It's not crazy to trade expected returns for lower risk.  People do it all the time.  However, if you have a pot of money you intend to invest and you do so over a period of time, then you are changing your risk profile over time in a way that doesn't correspond to changes in your risk preferences.  This is contrary to finance theory and is not optimal.  The optimal percentage of your wealth invested in risky assets is proportional to your tolerance for risk and should not change over time unless that tolerance changes. Dollar cost averaging makes sense if you are setting aside some of your income each month to invest.  In that case it is simply a way of being invested for as long as possible.  Having a pile of money sitting around while you invest it little by little over time is a misuse of dollar-cost averaging. Bottom line: forcing dollar cost averaging on a pile of money you intend to invest is not based in sound finance theory.  If you want to invest all that money, do so now.  If you are too risk averse to put it all in, then decide how much you will invest, invest that much now, and keep the rest in a savings account indefinitely.  Don't change your investment allocation proportion unless your risk aversion changes. There are many people on the internet and elsewhere who preach the gospel of dollar cost averaging, but their belief in it is not based on sound principles.  It's just a dogma. The language of your question implies that you may be interested in sound principles, so I have given you the real answer.

Rich tax evaders are entitled leeches who claim extraordinary results enabled by their community/city/state/republic as wholly their own.  They violate the social contract that asks members to pay their share of the cost, as determined by tax code, for public goods they enjoy.  They refuse to contribute toward improvement and maintenance of infrastructure that magnify fruits of labor and investment.  If they find fault with the way the military is run, they should get politically involved.  If they just don't want to pay taxes, they should move elsewhere and renounce their US citizenship.  I don't see what's heroic about tax evaders.

Little pisses me off more than knowing I worked my ass off for shitty employers for decades to enrich lazy rich fuckers who have continuously turned the screws of oppression on me.  They need to pay.  Why would additional tax breaks inspire an uber rich person to make legitimate investments in the greater economy if they already have so much cash they don't do anything but inflate the stock market?  Stupid economics.  When a person with needs has money they spend it on needs until their needs are met and bolster the economy.  The majority with constant worry about money with no hope for relief in sight while richies get preferential treatment is mean and cowardly economics.  Does anyone really wonder why there is so much hatred, violence, suicide, addiction, disenfranchisement...?

The money your tenants spent on repairs and maintenance that is otherwise your responsibility is considered rent paid to you (and deductible to the extent you can deduct maintenance expenses, provided you have documentation etc etc). The money your tenants spent on utilities, which is their responsibility anyway, is not considered rent paid to you. Since in your question you seem to be mixing both together, it is hard to accept a claim that the additional $300 spent on utilities and maintenance is enough to bring the rent to the FMV level. Especially since the transaction is between related persons, it may bring additional scrutiny of the IRS.

Ask your bank or credit union. Mine will let me issue recurring payments to anyone, electronically if they can, if not a check gets mailed and (I presume) I get billed for the postage.


Question: How do share dilution scams make money?

"For this to work, those who control the dilution must also control their salaries because the only way for them to be paid off when it's the corporation itself selling is to gain access to the proceeds. When a corporation sells newly issued equity, the corporation itself owns the money.  To at least have the appearance of propriety, the scammers must be paid those proceeds.  Both actions imply that the board is captured by the scammers. There are many corporations that seem to do this even with persistently large market capitalizations. The key difference between this and pump-and-dump is that its a fraudulent group of investors selling in this case instead of the corporation itself. A detailed simple example Corporations are mandated by law to be little oligarchies; although, ""republic"" is now becoming more appropriate with all of the new shareholder rights.  A corporation is controlled at root by the board of directors who are elected by the shareholders.  The board has no direct operational control, as that is left to the ""king"", the CEO; however, the board does control what everyone wants access to: the money. Board members have all sorts of legal qualitative mandates on how to behave, and they've functioned fairly decently efficiently over the long run, but there are definitely some bad apples. Boards are somewhat intransigent since it's difficult to hold board elections, and usually only specific board members are put up for election by a shareholder vote, so a bad one has the potential to really get stuck in there.  Once a bad one is in there, they don't care because they know it will be tough to get them out, so they run roughshod over the company's purse. Only the board can take action on major funding such as the CEO's operating budget, board compensation, financing, investment, etc, some with shareholder approval, some without.  The corporation itself owns all of those assets, but the board controls them. In this example, they scheme with most likely the top executive, but a rubber stamp top executive could allow a lower rung to scheme with the board, but the board is always constant until the law is changed. Because there's no honor amongst thieves, the board votes which can require some combination of executive and shareholder approval are taken very close together: sell shares, increase salaries to key executive schemers, increase board compensation.  The trusting shareholders believe this is in the best interests of the company at large so go along. So the money flows from existing & new shareholders to the corporation now controlled by a malicious board and then finally to the necessary malicious executive and the vital malicious board."

Also I don't need to put up as much money, and since I am a college student, that allows me to conserve capital, but still diversify into that market. I am still reading up on them before I jump in, but these securities fascinate me.

Most of the bankruptcy is due to taking [or building over a period of time] a loan that one cannot service, if the interest rates rise, then the amount of money to repay the loan increases, when one doesnt pay the revised amount and keeps paying less, the over all debt keeps shooting through the roof ... a lower interest rate means that one can continue to pay the same amount ... and few missed payments do not cause as much as damage as it does when the rates are high.

First, you can look up the property tax of the building you are in for an exact number. Go to you town's tax office or look at Zillow. You need to claim the rent as income, but will take all expenses as well as depreciation on half the building. The numbers may well work in your favor, especially as a resident landlord. I still own a rental in the next state, but it's 2 hour away, so I'm paying pros to do the simplest things. On site, you can handle all maintenance and save that way.  If the cash flow looks like it's better than what you have right now, it might be time to buy. Without seeing the numbers I can't point out what you might be missing.

Yes millennials are your problem... Do your damn job and make your business better or leave.  I am a millennial who used to go to BWW all the time when I was in college, but now I realize the wings are always dry no matter where I go... Make the food better

"Be careful here: If ACME were in California, I would pay taxes on USD 17,000 because I   had revenue of 20,000 and expenses of 3,000. To CALIFORNIA. And California taxes S-Corps. And, in addition, you'd pay $800 for the right of doing business in the State. All that in addition to the regular Federal and State taxes to the State where you're resident. Suppose that ACME is in Britain (or anywhere else for that matter). My   revenue and expenses are the same, but now my money has been earned   and my expenses incurred in a foreign country. Same thing exactly. Except that you'll have to pay taxes to the UK. There may be some provision in the tax treaty to help you though, so you may end up paying less taxes when working in the UK than in California. Check with a licensed tax adviser (EA/CPA licensed in your State) who won't run away from you after you say the words ""Tax Treaty"". Does it even make sense to use my S-Corporation to do business in a   foreign country? That should be a business decision, don't let the tax considerations drive your business."

Cash has zero value until it is transformed into something material.  Cash hoarders realize no improvement in their lifestyle by gaining more cash than they need.  If corporations are already so flush with cash they only inflate the stock market, why would further tax breaks improve anything?  An inflated stock market only improves income for very few.  People who need money will spend it and put it back into circulation.  People will not hoard cash if they know more will show up regardless of their ability to perform.  Less financial pressure and less resentment of the rich for their preferential treatment would create a more positive attitude among the population and improve productivity.  A happier work force is a more productive work force.  People should only work part time anyway so they can have a life outside of work to enjoy their lives while they have the health to do it.  Slaving your life away until you can't do the things you always wanted to do does not improve a person's outlook.  Life according to me.  Was a reduction in unemployment compensation, medicare, medicade and SNAP payments included in the study?  There may be a reduction in spending on crime and addiction as well.

"Yes and no.  Losing high-paying jobs to other countries does take money out of the economy.  I have read a few times that this is a small contribution to the hard times ""Main Street"" is currently going through.  Compared to the 2008 crisis and its effects, this is probably fairly small but is still a negative influence on the economy.  If the outsourcing continues unabated, I believe the effects on both the economies and competitiveness of the western nations will become more pronounced.  However, I do see the pendulum swinging back so we'll get back some (but not all) of the lost jobs and wages.  Where we'll land I can't dare predict.  This is just my opinion, of course.  Swing by for a beer someday and we can talk some more :)"


Question: Are there any statistics that support the need for Title Insurance?

There seems to be no such information available. What is available is that number of claims are high and the Title Insurance companies have gone bankrupt as per the wikipedia article In 2003, according to ALTA, the industry paid out about $662 million in claims, about 4.3% percent of the $15.7 billion taken in as premiums. By comparison, the boiler insurance industry, which like title insurance requires an emphasis on inspections and risk analysis, pays 25% of its premiums in claims. However, no reference to the relationship between when claims are made and when policies are issued is found. As of 2008, the top three remaining title insurers all lost money, while LandAmerica went bankrupt and sold its title business to Fidelity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_insurance#Industry_profitability The amount of premium received and claim made can be got from some of the companies balance sheet. For Fidelity its at http://www.investor.fnf.com/releasedetail.cfm?CompID=FNT&ReleaseID=363350 The article in here mentions the claims ratio as 5%. Refer http://www.federaltitle.com/blog/title-insuance-qaa

I thought about this some more. Going to a top business school can help you network with entrepreneurs who would like to join you in starting your firm.  But remember there is no single path to success in life. Moreover, life is what you make of it with your own hard work.

"Basically, these guys break all your eggs then try to make an omelet.  Your lender(s) must really believe that you have no ability to pay before they'll settle, which generally entails not paying them until your creditworthiness is in the tank.  Bankruptcy laws exist for a reason.  If your credit is in the tank, you can't make your payments and you're shopping to settle your debts, it's not likely a bankruptcy would worsen your situation; in fact, quite the opposite.  But, people have hugely negative feelings toward bankruptcy and don't want to be called a ""deadbeat"", these services prey on those people."

We have an interactive game & mental workout set in a real, physical location that challenges you to decode & decrypt your way out of a locked room. The West Palm Beach Escape Rooms are an adventure inside four walls an escape from the ordinary world. You should find an escape rooms WPB adventure in Florida right here. If you laugh at our jokes or appreciate the oddball clues I've left around the rooms.  Each Room available to attempt in escape room  features its own unique theme, challenges and props. The escape rooms South Florida is a fun and interactive real-life game experience, excellent for you.

As you can see by his username this guy works in IT.  I will explain for those who aren’t in the industry.  In IT demand for employees has never been higher.  It is crazy right now. This means it is hard to get talent, particularly good talent which can be many times more productive than bad ones.  Now Amazon is a tech company fundamentally.  What many may not realize is Amazon is also the world’s largest hosting platform too.  For example, Reddit and Netflix are on their systems.  So they aren’t just a store, they do a lot of everyone else's tech too.  This means they need a shit-tonne of good tech and related people.  So the location will likely hinge on where the can find good staff.  However, as OP just said Amazon has a terrible reputation in the industry.  So this makes this even more difficult as everyone hates them and no one will move for them, and they need a lot of good people which are in high demand elsewhere.  This is what their decision will rest on.  Tax breaks and all are perks, but they need to find 50,000 experienced employees to fill this thing, everything else is secondary.

No, you cannot write off your time.  Only money or goods are eligible for donation.1 and 2

1. It was the late 1960's to the 1970's. 2. It was completely media hype and mostly present in popular literature. 3. It was never a widespread conjecture among the scientific community or the scientific literature of the time. Between 1965 to 1979, [7 articles predicted cooling and 44 predicted warming.](http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/2008BAMS2370.1)  Even though most articles predicted warming, only the ones that predicted cooling got media attention.

Maryland treats income from pensions and annuities in the same manner that the federal government treats such income. Consequently, pensions and annuities can be subject to Maryland's income tax. The resident booklet for Maryland income tax filers states on page 4: Line 1d. Enter on line 1d the total amount of pension, IRA,   and annuities reported as income on lines 15b and 16b of your   federal Form 1040, or lines 11b and 12b of your federal Form   1040A. Line 1 of Maryland's tax return represents total taxable income, before deductions, exemptions, and adjustments. Line 16b of federal Form 1040 represents the taxable portion of your FERS annuity. Consequently, the federally taxable portion of your FERS annuity is also subject to Maryland's state income tax. The taxable portion of FERS annuities should be recorded on the 1099-R you receive. If it's not, IRS pub 721 records how to calculate the taxable portion of FERS annuities. Maryland does, however, allow filers to exclude up to $29,200 of the taxable portion of their pension income in 2015 from taxable income if: a. You were 65 or over or totally disabled, or your spouse was   totally disabled, on the last day of the tax year, AND b. You included on your federal return taxable income received   as a pension, annuity or endowment from an “employee   retirement system” qualified under Sections 401(a), 403 or   457(b) of the Internal Revenue Code. [A traditional IRA, a   Roth IRA, a simplified employee plan (SEP), a Keogh plan, an   ineligible deferred compensation plan or foreign retirement   income does not qualify.] You mention receiving SS disability, so you may be eligible for that exclusion. Regarding what kinds of disabilities qualifies for those exclusions, Maryland states that: To be considered totally disabled, you must have a mental or physical impairment which prevents you from engaging in substantial gainful activity. You must expect the impairment to  be of long, continued or indefinite duration or to result in your death. You must attach to your return a certification from a qualified physician stating the nature of your impairment and that you are totally disabled. If you have previously submitted a physician’s certification, attach your own statement that you are still totally disabled and that a physician’s certification was submitted before. If you feel you would qualify for that exclusion (and have the required supporting evidence), fill out the relevant table and include the result on line 10 of your Maryland tax return. In the future, to avoid a large state tax bill due to inadequate withholding on pension funds, OPM provides a web service which allows you to specify state tax withholding amounts on pension distributions.


Question: How To Assign Payments Received Properly In GnuCash?

"When I receive a check from a customer whom I previously sent an invoice, I go to the customer report for that customer, click on the link ""Invoice"" for that invoice, then click on the Pay Invoice button (very far right side). I then do a customer report and see that there is no balance (meaning all the invoices have been paid). I don't process invoices using the same method you do.  Instead I go to Business -> Customer -> Process Payment.  From there I can select the applicable customer, and a list of unpaid invoices will come up.  I've never experienced the issue you've described. On a related topic: are you posting your invoices?  From experience that has caused issues for me; when you post the invoice it should show up in your Accounts Receivable (or whichever account you've designated), and after you process the payment the A/R should go down accordingly.  When posting your invoice, you specify which account it gets posted to:  So that account should show a balance once you have posted it:  Then, when a client pays you, your cash will go up, and A/R will go down."

> The United States has more Nobel prize winners than any other country by a long shot.   We also have the third largest population in the world, and the highest GDP in the world by far. We spend more on defense then the next 7 countries together. We spend more on [health care per capita](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_total_health_expenditure_per_capita) than any other nation in the world. We also have the [highest expenditures as a percent of GDP](http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.TOTL.ZS?year_high_desc=true) than any other nation. Needless to say we spend a LOT on health care also.   The point being if we *DIDN'T* have the most nobel peace prize winners, with all the money we spend on R&D, then there would be some serious issues.   > We have arguably (in spite of the fda) the best medical services in the world.   Again, you need to travel. While, yes, we spend more on health care than any other nation, and we do have arguably the best health care services in the world... that is mostly only true if you are very wealthy.   When you break it down on results per dollar spent, the US doesn't even break the top 20. When you break it down on infant mortality, and life expectancy, we have been on a backward slide for a while now (although those rates improved for the short while that the ACA has been in effect, as have the net increase in costs). At the end of the day, the cost of health care has grown 3X faster than inflation, and 20X faster than the average income for over 30 years now. So, no, [health care in this country is not the best to the average person](http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/health-costs-how-the-us-compares-with-other-countries/).   And yes, Space X has been able to estimate a savings of $300M less... Commercial does a great job of expanding on the research and knowledge that has come from government sponsored R&D. You see that in every modern technological advancement - from the internet, cellular phones, GPS, medical procedures, etc. There are so many modern inventions that have sprung from government patents and government research programs.

"Write means sell to open.  It is called that because options writers are creating (i.e. writing) new contracts. No such thing as ""reading"" an option."

Proof of funds for funding firms are used to determine if you have any money before they lend to you. (determine risk of lending to you if you defaulted) If you came in with 10 million dollars, the firms will turn a blind eye to any money laundering regulations and just lend to you.

>In April, President Xi Jinping announced that the government would build a new city designed to siphon people and businesses from Beijing's crowded center and serve as a model for urban development for the next thousand years.   Anyone who thinks they can do urban planning that would fit for the next 50 years is border line crazy, but 1000 years is full insanity.

It's the result of many companies now outsourcing production to the same contractors.  It's easy to see in electronics (Foxconn, Blackberry Playbook/KindleFire, etc) and happens in other industries as well.  As our communication technology increased over the last century, it became easier and easier to contract out production.  Now it is easy to choose any supplier/contractor in the globe for the production of your product.  As suppliers/contractors begin to optimize and specialize, they become the dominant solution for their sector.  This then leads to that product uniformity, which is close to working very nicely as a term.

Quite a bit as in, $100K+? If you're a sole operator, not sure what constitutes a real likelihood that a risk of liability will materialize, and in need of a lot of up front financing, I am genuinely concerned that you're going to a lay a giant egg on this one. What is it your business is going to be doing? I don't really want to give a free consultation, but I'm worried you're either misunderstanding something or about to make a mistake, and I don't want to see that happen.

"If by way of thinking you mean an evidence based belief system, then I think you should be swayed to abandon ideology in favour of evidence because it will make the world a better place.   Why are you so opposed to changing your world view in light of evidence? What bad thing will happen to you if you change a position? You made the ""dogshit"" claim about quality of care and you based it on pure ideology. Reality does not agree with your claim. What bad thing will happen to you if you say ""I might need to re-evaluate my belief in what is the best system"""


Question: Why would a central bank or country not want their currency to appreciate against other currencies?

I wrote about the dynamic of why either of a lower or higher exchange rate would be good for economies in Would dropping the value of its currency be good for an economy? A strong currency allows consumers to   import goods cheaply from the rest of   the world.  A weak currency allows   producers to export goods cheaply to   the rest of the world.  People are   both consumers and producers.    Clearly, there have to be trade-offs. Strong or weak mean relative to Purchasing Power Parity (i.e. you can buy more or less of an equivalent good with the same money). Governments worrying about unemployment will try and push their currencies weaker relative to others, no matter the cost.  There will be an inflationary impact (imported inputs cost more as a currency weakens) but a country running a major surplus (like China) can afford to subsidise these costs.

"It's not a touch phone - but it has the trackpad instead of the trackball and it's got the QWERTY keyboard. The phone also runs on RIM's OS7 software.   It is VERY light and sleek. The old blackberry phones look like bricks next to it. I'm pretty sure the battery makes up 3/4 of the weight in the phone.   Along with the normal BB security - you can encrypt the memory card and device memory with a 250 character key randomly generated. You need to do both ""Device Password and Device Key"" to have the strongest encryption/security. The phone also has a firewall. You can set up VPN's with the phone if necessary too.   The App world is getting better - but if you have a blackberry your probably not looking for apps.   Basically, I'm pretty impressed with it and I have always loved Blackberry. I'll take it over the iphone or android any day!   Sprint has the Blackberry Curve 9350's. The other models are 9360 and 9370. Not sure who else carries the new phones."

The biggest hedge funds seem to be copying the large mutual fund company strategy.  Launch many funds.  Take positions with high beta to the sector or asset class that is the focus of the fund.  Wait and see which asset classes outperform. (For Och-Ziff: Their massive bullish bet on credit!)  Promote the outperforming funds and their portfolio manager to gullible investors.

I probably can, but I realized I also do have a commission sheet from the month of June which shows how much I made in just commissions, and then I could tell them I also get my 300 a week salary. Do you think that would suffice?

Other than the exchange risk, one more thing to consider is interest rate risk and the returns you are generating from your money. If it is lying around in a current account with no interest then it is rational to keep it where you intend to stay(US or AUS). Now if your money is working for you, earning interest or has been invested in the market then it seems reasonable that you should put it where it earns the maximum for you. But that comes with a rider, the exchange risk you may have to bear if you are converting between the currencies. Do the returns earned by your money cancel out the FX rates moving up and down and still leave you with a positive return, compared with what you would earn if your money was where you stayed. Consider the below scenarios Do evaluate all your options before you transfer your money.

There should be no problem getting a mortgage from a bank with 3 years in business. They are going to use the average of the last 2 years of taxable profits to determine your income though. I think the key words here are taxable profits and this is where the problem typically comes in for most self employed folks. Many times self employed people will have soft losses and deductions that make their income seem lower than it really is (or unreported income).  It has nothing to do with your business plan, or your relationship with the bank unless it is a small community bank or credit union.

So you'd prefer someone else to do your work for you? Someone figure out who's the bad guy, and figure out how to punish them? You are too busy filling your Jeep and drinking your latte to actually be a responsible member of society? It is attitudes like that which lead to tyranny. How can you trust those in power, if you have no idea whats right or wrong?

If you had purchased the land directly from your NRI account in your name [with power of attorney] in your wife's name, it would have been very simple to get the funds back. Whenever you sell the land, transfer the funds into NRO account. From NRO account you can repatriate back USD 1 Million. A CA certificate is required detailing the purpose and that tax is paid on the funds, talk to your bank and it should be easy. The gains will be taxable in India as well as in the US. You can claim rebate to the extent of taxes paid in India.


Question: How can I calculate how much an option would be worth after X days if the underlying stock changed by +/- $Y?

"You'd need to know the delta and the theta of the option. You can either calculate them yourself using a model like Black-Scholes (assuming you have a market price and can imply a volatility, and know the other factors that go into the model) or, you can see if your broker quotes ""greeks"" as well (mine does). The delta is the sensitivity (rate of change in value) to the underlying stock price, and the theta is the sensitivity to time passing (usually expressed in $/day).  So if your option has a delta of .5 and a theta of -.04, when one day passes and the underlying stock goes up $3, the option will gain roughly $1.50 due to the underlying stock price and lose $0.04 due to time passing."

As long as we remember that debt is the only option when the government has to borrow their money at interest or take it from taxes. When taxes don't cut it, we borrow. Ever wondered why the government doesn't just spend money into the economy instead of borrowing at interest?

Bottom line is our system is broken.  For three years running I am 0% return with over 600k in.  Yet, the 401k admin institution charges us all enormous fees that most aren't even aware exist.  A helpful tip is to also check out your expense ratios and learn how those work as well so you know how much you are paying in hidden fees.

I worked in a lab that designed micro machines to more rapidly conduct biological tests. These sorts of devices which collect data could easily do what several lab technicians and doctors can do in a short amount of time.   People should always be on the move and willing to learn new skills.

Why does it seem so many companies lose so much money before going out of business?  If the reason for a company being there is gone, why not just wind it down?  If I were a shareholder, I'd want management to make as much money as they can out of their declining business and return that money to shareholders so they can invest in new companies that are digital-native.

Nobody outside of the credit scoring agencies know exactly what goes into the scoring formula. That said, I don't think there is any evidence that keeping a fixed loan (car or mortgage) open is necessary to keep its effect on your score. It doesn't improve your utilization ratio like an open revolving credit line would. And depending on the exact details of how your specific lender reports the loan, it might appear detrimental to your debt-to-income ratio.  I would simply pay it off.

(a) 5 funds for $15K is not too many or too few ? A bit high as I'd wonder if you've thought of how you'll rebalance the funds over time so you aren't investing too much in a particular market segment. I'd also question if you know what kinds of fees you may have with those funds as some of Vanguard's index funds had fees if the balance is under $10K that may change how much you'll be paying. From Vanguard's site: We charge a $20 annual account service fee for each Vanguard fund with   a balance of less than $10,000 in an account. This fee doesn’t apply   if you sign up for account access on Vanguard.com and choose   electronic delivery of statements, confirmations, and Vanguard fund   reports and prospectuses. This fee also doesn’t apply to members of   Flagship®, Voyager Select®, and Voyager Services®. So, if you don't do the delivery this would be an extra $100/year that I wonder if you factored that into things here. (b) Have I diversified my portfolio too much or not enough ? Perhaps I   am missing something that would be recommended for the portfolio of   this kind with this goal. Both, in my opinion. Too much in the sense that you are looking at Morningstar's style box to pick a fund for this box and that which I'd consider consolidating on one hand yet at the same time I notice that you are sticking purely to US stocks and ignoring international funds. I do think taxes may be something you haven't considered too much as stocks will outgrow most of those funds and trigger capital gains that you don't mention at all. (c) If not my choice of my portfolio, where would you invest $15K   under similar circumstances and similar goals. What is the goal here? You state that this is your first cash investment but don't state if this is for retirement, a vacation in 10 years, a house in 7 years or a bunch of other possibilities which is something to consider. If I consider this as retirement investments, I'd like pick 1 or 2 funds known for being tax-efficient that would be where I'd start. So, if a fund goes down 30%, that's OK? Do you have a rebalancing strategy of any kind? Do you realize what taxes you may have even if the fund doesn't necessarily have gains itself? In not stating a goal, I wonder how well do you have a strategy worked out for how you'll sell off these funds down the road at some point as something to ponder.

"If you sold the stock for a profit, you will owe tax on that profit. Whether it is taxed as short-term or long-term capital gains depends on how long you held the stock before selling it. Presumably you're going to invest this money into mutual funds or something of that sort. Those may pay dividends which can be reinvested, and will grow in value (you hope) just as the individual stock shares would (you hope). Assuming the advice you've been given is at all reasonable, there's no need for buyer's remorse here; you're just changing your investing style to a different point on the risk-versus-return curve. (If you have to ask this question, I tend to agree that you should do more homework before playing with shares in individual companieS ... unless you're getting thess shares at employee discount, in which case you should still seriously consider selling them fairly quickly and reinvesting the money in a more structured manner. In a very real sense your job is itself an ""investment"" in your employer; if they ever get into trouble you don't want that to hit both your income and investments.)"


Question: Is housing provided by a university as employer reported on 1040?

To answer your question directly, this is a taxable benefit that they are providing for you in lieu of higher wages. It is taxable to the employee as income and through payroll taxes. It is taxable to the employer for their half of the payroll taxes.

I agree that the cause of the crash can make a huge difference in the effect on the bond market. Here's a few other possibilities: All that to say that there's no definitive answer as to how the bond market will respond to an equity crash.  Bonds are much more highly correlated to equities lately, but that could be due to much lower interest rates pushing more of the risk of bonds to the credit worthiness of the issuer, increasing correlation.

I still Love reddit to pieces, I’ve been here for well over 11 years. I love that it’s no longer just geeks talking to geeks,.   But, even the geeky subs are filled with inane comments now. They need a filter for “Inane sub-thread.” I’m thinking about writing a Machine Learning plug-in for Chrome that removes them. I just don’t have the time right now. I would make it FOSS so someone can rewrite it for other browsers, and the reddit team could use it.

> Why are you bringing in Hillary or Obama?   Because if you are against Trump, you must(!) be for Hillary or the DNC or both.  > My argument was that Mitch McConnell and congress killed it.  Even if it's true, it's what Trump wanted, what he would have done, what he has done, and the GOP did it, for him.   All this, despite the wishes of the DNC, Obama and Hillary. Am I right? yes or no?   > How can I ... take President Trump seriously  Because it seems that you are not opposed to anything that Trump does.  Ok!!!!! Tell me of something that Trump did that you do agree to or do not like. Let's go this route!

"I second what ""powercow"" and ""Osetic"" said.  I switched away from Wells Fargo to Patelco (Pacific Telephone Company, i'm in the bay area).  They are world's better.  My biggest issue with WF was the overdrafts, how much they charged, and the way in which they processed incoming transactions (which they are being sued in a class action for, btw).  I had my new account setup so it could never overdraft, it would just decline.  In my first month with Patelco, I ordered checks.  When that charge processed, it dipped my account into the negative due to it being an internal CU charge and their system not performing all the checks/balances first.  They called me about 24hrs after it happened to let me know:  * How sorry they were * That they would refund me the amount of the checks * That they added $10 on top of the refund to ensure I understood it was a mistake * If there was anything else they could do to make the situation right  And like others here, I have shorter lines, more helpful tellers, a more inviting atmosphere, oh and free coffee.  You gotta find a better CU, yo"

Put yourself in this position - if you had no debts and no investments, would you borrow money at those rates to invest in the stock market?  If no, then pay off the debts.  If yes, then keep them.

"It's easy to sell things when you have a panicking misinformed and ignorant viewer base. The sky is falling because obama is a socialist muslim fascist commie, the dollar is going to collapse!!! Now a word from our sponsors cash for gold and investment companies.  Ads really do work though  http://news.illinois.edu/news/12/0119junkfoodbans_KathyBaylis.html  They don't make the sale, but they plant the idea. The next time you need, the first thing that comes to your mind will be what you've been given more exposure to and sounds familiar. The brain is not great at remembering ""source"" information for things that are not of interest but it still remembers. When you have a choice between product A or product B, you will choose the one that sounds more familiar. You will not remember if you think it sounds more familiar because of a friend recommendation or because of an Ad you heard passively 3 weeks ago. Incidentally, this is how politics work as a whole. The most familiar candidates almost always end up being the last to battle it out. People don't even consider or research the ones they hadn't heard of."

wait..what? Big pharma and the insurance industry basically wrote huge portions of the ACA and the democrats pushed it through.  Stop being so partisan. Americans are getting f***ed by these two industries, and if you think EITHER party is unaffected by their bribe money, you are sorely mistaken.


Question: What is today's price of 15 000 Euro given 15 years ago?

"With no written agreement in place, the ""right"" rate is whatever both parties can agree to. I could argue that I could have invested the money in S&P 500 index funds and made about 9% annually over the last 15 years and the 15,000 would have been over 40,000.  The ""fair"" rate would be whatever rate of return could have been expected from whatever your father would have done with the money otherwise - keep it in a bank account, pay off debt, invest in the market, start a business, whatever.  Your father has the benefit of hindsight to know what would have been a good use of the funds over 15 years. Using the rate of inflation results in effectively a zero-percent loan in real interest terms (meaning no profit was made, just accounting for the time value of money). Both parties need to either decide on an amount or equivalent rate, or decide if squeezing the other for a few thousand Euros is worth the strife."

NeoSize XL is one such regular penis extension item that contains intense natural fixings whose adequacy and viability in the zone of penis developments are uncommon. Before taking the this product you should take the medical consult neosize xl how to use. Buy You can buy a NeoSize XL supplement,  easy and fast from our online store. Through this product, you can achieve the better result and more money you can save.

If you are looking e-mail marketing services in USA, Saleglue provides e-mail marketing services in USA . E-mail marketing is perform of seanding business massgae classically to a group of people, using email. Every email send to a possible or present customer could be considered email marketing. http://www.saleglue.com/

You're still confused. The first guy in the thread said  > All sounds nice for consumers, but you're not mentioning the biggest drawback- the tight stranglehold on supply the taxi industry keeps.  You then said  > That stranglehold is because of the small margins in the business.  Then I said  > So medallions are limited (in some cities) because margins are small? That doesn't make much sense.  Then you said  > Other way around.  So, your claim is that the taxi industry keeps a tight strangehold on supply because there are small margins in the business. Then, you say that margins are small because medallions are limited. That is a circular argument.

An investment trust is quoted just like a share. You just compare what you paid (your book cost) with its current share price, not the NAV, as a trust's price can be at a premium greater than the actual share price or a discount.

Network.  Network.  Network.  I got a job out of college on the buy side from being an intern. An Alum I found through networking said they had an extra desk on the floor and told me to come spin my wheels until I found a job. Three months later, that job was on their fixed income desk.   It's rare, but it can absolutely happen

"I had experience working for a company that manufactures stuff and giving products to the employees. The condition was to stay employed for a year after the gift for the company to cover its cost (I think they imputed the tax), otherwise they'd add the cost to the last paycheck (which they did when I left). But they were straight-forward about it and I signed a paper acknowledging it. However, in your case you didn't get a product (that you could return when leaving if you didn't want to pay), but rather a service. The ""winning"" trip was definitely supposed to be reported as income to you last year. Is it okay for them to treat me differently than the others for tax purposes? Of course not. But it may be that some strings were attached to the winning of the incentive trip (for example, you're required to stay employed for X time for the company to cover the expense). See my example above. Maybe it was buried somewhere in small letters. Can they do this a year after the trip was won and redeemed? As I said - in this case this sounds shady. Since it is a service which you cannot return - you should have been taxed on it when receiving it. Would the IRS want to know about this fuzzy business trip practice? How would I report it?  Here's how you can let them know. Besides now understanding the new level of slime from my former   employer is there anything else I should be worried about? Could they   do something like this every year just to be annoying? No, once they issued the last paycheck - you're done with them. They cannot issue you more paychecks after you're no longer an employee. In most US States, you are supposed to receive the last paycheck on your last day of work, or in very close proximity (matter of weeks at most)."

Makes sense so long as you can afford it while still maintaining at least six months living reserves. The sooner you own outright a decreasing asset the better which should be considered when selecting your loan term. However, with today's low rates and high performing stock market you may want to consider allowing that money to be put to better use. It all depends how risk adverse you are. That emotional aide of this decision and emotions have value, but only you can determine what that value is. So - generally speaking, the sooner you own an asset of decreasing value the better off you are, but in exceptionally low interest rate environments such as today there are, as mentioned, other things you may want to consider. Good luck and enjoy your new ride. Nothing better then some brand new wheels aye.


Question: Lease vs buy car with cash?

If you are talking straight dollars then leasing is always a losing proposition when compared with purchasing. The financial workings of leasing are so confusing that people don’t realize that leasing invariably costs more than an equivalent   loan. And even if they did, the extra cost is difficult to calculate.   Still, many people can’t afford the higher payments of a typical loan,   at least not without putting a substantial amount down. If payments   are an issue, consider buying a lower-cost vehicle or a reliable used   car. http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2012/12/buying-vs-leasing-basics/index.htm If you are talking about convenience, lifestyle, ability to purchase a car you could not pay for outright, then you will have to evaluate that.

"Well if they offer free shipping that would be one thing and regardless if they raise the total cost that will likely result in fewer sales.  Of course, I'm not sure what the alternatives are for ""elderly people who live hundreds of miles from a pharmacy."""

"You can hire a good CPA for a really low price.  They can advise you on how to do exactly what you said and many other aspects of your business.  Mine does this as a courtesy with the filing of my taxes.  And the filing of my taxes is not all that much.  It is great value for the money. Recently I had to make a decision that is a potential audit situation and can go badly if not properly documented.  It was not hard to document (with the CPA's help), but now that it is so I don't lose mental energy on if I am going to get ""caught"" by the IRS.  Let them come, I have the necessary documentation. Beyond the IRS, I really like the documentation that you are trying to put behind this loan.  Having this in writing helps smooth this potentially bad situation between you and the BIL.  I would go above and beyond writing conditions and contingencies down in order to keep this relationship happy.  With these kinds of things, cover the applicable 5 ""Ds"" of partnership agreements: However, I would add another:  Boom.  What happens if your business takes off?  Perhaps there should be a clause to retire the loan prior to you expanding beyond a certain level. Please understand I am not suggesting that any of these bad things are going to happen to you (except the Boom, I really hope that happens to you), but it is a way to communicate contingent actions if one of the risks of small business materializes.  Having agreements ahead of time helps avoid crisis."

It really is important to consider the safety of the audience and performers in any event. There should be a team of medics who are on standby to give first aid when needed. It is good that there are companies who offer the services of first aid professionals these days.

If you will leave the money invested for a good long while (years) then dividend paying stocks would be appropriate. There are many that pay yields of 3 to 4 percent, which you can take as income or reinvest to compound the growth. There is a lot of good analysis of stocks (and mutual funds that specialize in dividend paying stocks) at Morningstar.com

Is legacy software pretty standard across the board for trading firms and bulge bracket banks?   I was surprised to learn how old the internal software the place I'm interning at is. Chalk it up to me being young.  Thanks!

The answer for this question varies from person to person. However most cards give lousy rewards percentage-wise. Take a look at where your money is being spent each month (say with a tool like mint.com), and seek out a card that rewards you in categories where you already spend a lot of money.  Many people here have suggested cards with high gas rebates, and that's great if you drive more than anything else. However, the important thing is to pick what benefits you most.

> A real choice to opt out would not require you to move.  Okay, let's imagine a system that gives you this freedom. Let's say people in the US can chose one of five governments to represent them.  How do you see the military being funded in this scenario?


Question: What happens when the bid and ask are the same?

This question is impossible answer for all markets but there are 2 more possibilities in my experience:

"No. Fake news are lies and baseless claims where simple verifiable facts and logic can show them as such.  For example: ""Russians colluded with Trump to win the elections"".  Let's see: in July 2016 Trump won the GOP debate and was nominated by the GOP against 13 other career GOP politicians. And then he won the elections in November 2016.  Facts? Yes or no?  Are you saying that since July, the Russian managed to rig and twist the elections result for the choice, Trump, in November?  Or is it, for example, Hillary cheating on debate questions given to her by fake-news CNN, questions that Trump handled easily? If my son did such a thing on a test in 1st grade, he will be expelled from school.  [Here's you weekly doze of fake news and why they are fake news](https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/6tjcin/your_weekly_dose_of_fake_news/)"

"To answer your first two questions: according to IRS pub 696 ""Contributions to an HSA"" section: Rollovers A rollover contribution is not included in your income, is not   deductible, and does not reduce your contribution limit. Archer MSAs and other HSAs.   You can roll over amounts from Archer   MSAs and other HSAs into an HSA. You do not have to be an eligible   individual to make a rollover contribution from your existing HSA to a   new HSA. Rollover contributions do not need to be in cash. Rollovers   are not subject to the annual contribution limits.   You must roll   over the amount within 60 days after the date of receipt. You can make   only one rollover contribution to an HSA during a 1-year period. Note. If you instruct the trustee of your HSA to transfer funds directly to   the trustee of another HSA, the transfer is not considered a rollover.   There is no limit on the number of these transfers. Do not include the   amount transferred in income, deduct it as a contribution, or include   it as a distribution on Form 8889, line 14a. (italics mine) So if you transfer the money yourself, you can only do it once per year, but there are no limits to when or how many times you can instruct the old HSA trustee to transfer funds directly to the new trustee."

"And now it is at about $3. Many times ""skeletons"" are bought and inflated for various reasons. Some are legitimate (for example a private business merging into a defunct but public corporation to avoid wasting resources on going public), some are not (mainly pump-and-dump scams that are using ""skeletons""). I don't know what was the case here (probably speculation based on the new marijuana laws in the US), but clearly the inflated price was completely unjustified since it went crashing down."

Replace your own brake pads Disc brake pads are usually snap-in replacement parts. YouTube has tons of videos showing how to do it. Find one with a car similar to your own. And it cannot be over-emphasized... Keep up on the routine maintenance. You can look up the schedule on your car manufacturer's website.

"This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-06/-voluntary-tax-plan-as-expected-fails-miserably-in-norway) reduced by 75%. (I'm a bot) ***** > &quot;The tax scheme was set up to allow those who want to pay more taxes to do so in a simple and straightforward way,&quot; Finance Minister Siv Jensen said in an emailed comment.  > The government responded by aggressively cutting taxes and tapping into the country&#039;s massive wealth fund for the first time.  > Ironically, it was Store, whose net worth is $8 million, who prodded the government into action by complaining earlier this year that he had ended up paying less taxes under the current administration.   ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/6m0s27/liberals_dont_want_to_pay_for_their_hobbies_they/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ ""Version 1.65, ~162232 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*: **government**^#1 **taxes**^#2 **pay**^#3 **tax**^#4 **more**^#5"

Apple's specialty is UX.  It's an incredibly talented UX company, both software and hardware wise.  It's also talented at convincing it's fanbase that anything they release is required to live.  Apple fanboys would buy a car just to get the Apple logo somewhere on it.

NUGT and DUST are opposites - DUST is a 'bear' (tracks 3x the inverse) and NUGT is a 'bull' (tracks 3x the actual).  So if NUGT is much higher, sounds like people are betting on Gold (or specifically, on the NYSEARCA Gold Miners Index).   When this Investopedia article was written in July 2016, the volumes were reversed: DUST traded ~18m and NUGT traded ~7m.  Just differences in stock market activity.


Question: Who should pay taxes in my typical case?

Once you turn 18 you should open an account in your own name and transfer the assets there. Currently your mom is the one responsible as far as the IRS cares with respect to taxes as it is her name on the account. The taxes due will be based on your mom's tax rate. As a good child you can reimburse your mom for the taxes that she has to on your behalf. Also legally that money currently belongs to her. Any legal judgement against your mom can claim that money and it is not available for using as an asset by you on credit applications and such. A better solution would have been for your mom to open a custodial account in your name. This way the money is still yours (you just don't have control of it until you turn 18). While probably not an issue here, the transferring of money between you and your mom (and then back) is considered a gift by the IRS. If the account was very well funded then you could run into having to deal with the annual gift limit and lifetime gift exclusion. Based on the clarification that the question is in reference to India: while I don't know the particulars of the law in India my advice of transferring the assets when you turn 18 still remains. The main difference that I would see been India and the US would be the gift tax / exclusions. Unless someone else knows otherwise I would still expect the law in India to see the current account as being the property of the mother.

Can I wire transfer money from the my NRO account in India to my checking account in the USA?  Yes you can. However there is some paperwork you need to follow. As per FEMA [Foreign Exchange Management Act], any transfer by individuals outside of India need the 15CA & 15CB form. The 15CB is from a CA to state that taxes have been paid on the funds being transferred. The limit is 1 million USD per year. Read more at Liberalized Remittance Scheme and here. Any limit on the amount and do I have to report this to IRS or any other legal formality? Assuming you were already declaring the funds held in Banks outside of US in your regular IRS filings, there is no other formality.

They don't do anything you can't do yourself and they charge you money for it. And of course the only way they manage to negotiate the debt down is by not paying it for a while in the first place, have it referred to collections and then negotiating with the collectors. At that time, your credit rating (if you care about that at all) will have suffered a lot more damaged than it is from a few late payments. I would address the issue as to why you end up paying late first - it sounds to me like you're cutting the time left to pay to the bone and this turned around and bit you in the you-know-where. In case you are able to pay but not organised enough to do it on time, find a way to remind yourself to pay the bill a few days early for peace of mind. That won't do anything about the 28% interest but those might serve as an additional motivation to pay the debt off faster. Once you're back to showing regular on-time payments on your credit record, you might want to investigate transferring the balance to a cheaper card or negotiate the interest down (or both). If you genuinely can't pay after you've taken care of the essentials (food, shelter, transportation) then you don't need a third party to stop paying the credit card bill, you can do that yourself.

I know this is beside the point, but part of the reason Europe can afford such a strong social safety net is because the USA provides substantial military support.  If the EU nations had to pay the full bill for their own defense, I wonder how that would effect those safety nets?

You only pay VAT if you buy from a VAT-registered company; if they are not registered, you don't pay. So, thinking about your supplier, if they are VAT-registered they will charge you VAT, if they are not they won't. The buyer's status makes no difference, the seller doesn't get involved in whether the buyer is able to reclaim or not (based on their VAT-registered status).

It wasn't that long ago that Tim Horton's was owned by Wendy's, another American fast food chain. The only reason Investment Canada would have to block a foreign takeover would be if it would risk Canadian jobs (which this one wouldn't) or risks putting an important Canadian resource in foreign hands (which this takeover also wouldn't).  Investment Canada has only blocked two foreign acquisitions of Canadian companies in the past 25 years.

Hmm...  Oh.  I had to get the Amazon Underground (Android) app.  Now it looks like I can watch on my phone.  That's weird.  After reading more, this is the old Amazon app store, which I never reinstalled when I got my current phone.  People also manage to stream by casting their phone's screen.  Still not an elegant solution, but better than nothing.  I wonder why you need their app store to watch their video content.  I already have Amazon Music and Amazon Prime apps, seems silly to need the app store to watch video 0.o.

"For person A to be protected (meaning able to recover some or all of the money should the other party try to welsh on the deal), the two of them must have entered into a valid, binding contract where both parties acknowledge and agree to the debt and the terms. Such a contract is subject to the Statute of Frauds, a collection of laws governing contracts which is mostly borrowed from English common law. The basics are that in all cases, a ""contract"" is only formed when both parties agree, technically when one party accepts an offer made by the other party. Both the offer and acceptance must be made sincerely. For a contract, once entered, to be enforceable, proof of the contract's existence and terms must itself exist. Certain types of transactions (real estate, large amounts of money) require contracts to be in written form, and witnessed by a trusted third party (in most cases this party is required to be a notary public). And contracts must have a certain amount of quid-pro-quo; contracts that provide a unilateral benefit can be thrown out on a case-by-case basis. A contract that simply states that Person B owes Person A money, without stating what benefit Person A had provided Person B in return for the money (in this case A gives B the money to begin with), is unenforceable. The benefits must of course be legal on both sides; a contract to deliver 5 tons of cocaine will not be upheld by any court in any free country, and neither will any contract attempting to enforce hush money, kickbacks, bribery etc (though some toe the line; one could argue that a signing bonus is tantamount to bribery). In some cases even seemingly benign clauses, like ""escape clauses"" allowing one party a ""free out"", can make the contract unenforceable as they could be abused to the severe detriment of one party. There are also jurisdiction-specific rules, such as limits on ""finance charges"" for debts not owed to a ""bank"" (a bar, for instance, cannot charge 10% on an outstanding tab in the United States). This is HUGE for your example, because if Person A had specified an interest rate in excess of the allowed rate for non-bank lenders, not only will the contract get thrown out even though Person B agreed to the terms, but Person A could find themselves on the hook for punitive damages payable to Person B, FAR in excess of the contracted amount. Given that the agreement meets all tests of validity for a contract, if either party fails to perform in accordance with the contract, causing a loss or ""tort"" for the other party, the injured party can sue. Generally the two options are ""strict performance"" (the injuring party is ordered by the court to comply exactly with the terms of the contract), or payment of net actual damages and dissolution of the contract. In your example, if Person A had lent Person B money, strict performance would mean payment of the debt in the installments agreed, at the rate agreed; actual damages would be payment of the outstanding balance plus current interest charges (without any further penalty). Notice that it's ""net"" damages; if Person A was to issue the loan in installments, and missed one, causing Person B to suffer damages from the loss of expected cash flow directly resulting in their failure to pay according to the terms, then Person B's proven damages are subtracted from A's; very often, the plaintiff in a suit to recover money can end up owing the defendant for a prior failure to perform. There are further laws governing bankruptcy; basically, if the other person cannot satisfy the contract and cannot pay damages, they will pay what they can, and the contract is terminated with prejudice (""no blood from a turnip"")."


Question: Is socialtrend.com or/and feelthetrend.com legitimate?

"It's called a ""Pyramid scheme"". Its illegal in almost every country of the Western world. You're not going to earn lifetime income, of course, and these things collapse pretty quickly. Most of the ""common folks"" don't return the investment, its the organizers who take the money. Sometimes they run, most times they end up in jail. The way these schemes work is that they pay the early ""investors"" from the fees paid by new ""investors"". As long as a steady stream of new people keep signing up and paying into it those who got in very early make money. The idea is based on the geometric procession of each new person signing up two or more people, and those people doing the same. Pretty quickly at that rate you need to sign up every human being on the planet to keep the new money flowing in to make it work, which obviously is not realistic. Ultimately a small % of the people (if they can stay out of jail) will make a big amount of money the vast majority of ""investors"" get stiffed."

Totally agree.   Autonomous cars can **increase margins** in the insurance industry since there will be fewer claims.   **for Geico - less administration and higher margins.  Buffet is probably ecstatic.**  Edit:  Not saying that this is in the best interests of the public, but if insurers can get away with it I'm sure they'll try.

For gaining a better understanding of the Aluminum Oxide Import Data, the websites help you find out what is the assessed value of your product even before you place an order. Seair Exim Solution provides comprises HS code, Product Description, Bill of Loading Quantity, Country Name, and Port Name etc.

Pick one stock (probably within Utilities) and know it well. Understand what it trades on (EV / EBITDA, P / E, P / Rev) and why. What are the typical margins for the industry? What are rev growth trends? What isn't priced in? I think studying one company deeply would be helpful  Other things to look at would be how your fund is structured, what it's benchmark is, voting structure, and how ideas are sourced  Good luck!

This is the chart going back to the first full year of this fund.  To answer your question - yes, a low cost ETF or Mutual fund is fine. Why not go right to an S&P index? VOO has a .05% expense. Why attracted you to a choice that lagged the S&P by $18,000 over this 21 year period?  (And yes, past performance, yada, yada, but that warning is appropriate for the opposite example. When you show a fund that beat the S&P short term, say 5 years, its run may be over. But this fund lagged the S&P by a significant margin over 2 decades, what makes you think this will change?

"I'm a 35 year old man with an MSc Eng, I'd wager I've taken more statistics classes than you.  >Ah, yet another true believer in the modern medicine religion, who says ""how dare your question one of the priests"".  Do you even realize how much of an extremist, stupid thing this is to say, you straw-man bearing retard?"

Anyone here who is upset by this or disagrees with Marc's comments please name a country that's majority black and half as prosperous. A country that doesn't have extreme poverty or violence. It's rude to say these things out loud, I know, but it's stupid and hypocritical to not at least accept facts in your mind. ps - I'm not white.    here is the father of genetics. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/fury-at-dna-pioneers-theory-africans-are-less-intelligent-than-westerners-394898.html

I am also confused by what he says. The DJIA has not been at 900 for decades. However a $36 dividend is 4% per unit if you get $9 per unit per quarter. 2/3 of 4% is 6%,so that is inside his 7.5% to 5.5%. How much you have in dividend paying stocks vs. Bonds most often is a function of your age. For example, I have heard the advice of subtracting your age in years from 110 and that would be the percent you hold in dividend paying stocks. At age 30 you would have 80% in stocks. At age 60 you would be 50% in stocks. There are retirement funds that do this for you.  But the 'bottom line' all depends on your risk tolerance. I have a large tolerance for risk. So even though I am currently retired I only have 10% of my money in a 'safe' investment (ticker=PGF). It pays 5.5% per year.  The rest is in a leveraged junk bond fund (PHK) that pays 15.5% per year.


Question: What are some factors I should consider when choosing between a CPA and tax software

Largely it comes down to the complexity of your return (likely relatively simple if it's your first time filing) and your comfort level with using software. More complex returns would include filing business claims, handling stocks and investments, special return forms, etc.  One benefit to most of the software options out there such as TurboTax, HR Block, and Tax Slayer, are that they are free to use and you only pay when you're ready to file. You could give them a shot to see how easy/difficult they are and if you feel overwhelmed, then contact a CPA (whose time won't be free). Also remember that those HR Block seasonal places that open up are not CPA's, but are temps hired and trained to use the software that you would find online. You didn't indicate they were an option, but I like to point that out to those who might not know otherwise.  My opinion would be to use one of the online options because of cost and their ease of use. They also allow you to take your time and save your progress, so you can start using it and go ask questions/do research on your own time.

> What IS criminal, is faking the loan paperwork and KNOWINGLY passing along fraudulently obtained loans.  Its pretty obvious that they would need to deceive the MBS buyers about the creditworthiness of the loans in order to sell them.  By knowingly targeting unsophisticated poor people to take large expensive loans, they were knowingly engaging in activity that is necessarily fraudulent from the top down.

"Also make sure you're listed on TripAdvisor, include good photos, and get your customers to leave positive reviews.  If you have more business than you can handle yourself, start hiring other drivers under the ""TrustyTukTuk"" brand.   As an aside, I've been to Siem Reap and seen Angkor Wat- highly recommended!"

When buying textbooks, make sure to compare the local bookstore to online prices. Also check out places to sell textbooks online, like Amazon.

you *can* get the guys in india for pennies on the dollar, but then you get what you pay for. I was told on upwork that I didn't get picked because I was too expensive, but then he went on to say that their proposals are usually garbage and wanted to pay me a little to look them over and make sure they weren't full of shit.  Upwork should be called UpOffShoring.  wtf?

The roofing situation is clear.  H2B visas distort the roofing labor market by reducing prevailing wages with lower-paid immigrant labor.  This allows companies to offer products at unnaturally reduced prices.  It would be unrealistic to try and run a business with local US-born labor, that's higher priced.  If your competitors can hire low-priced foreigners, you need to do it too (unless you can somehow find locals at the same price/quality/productivity).  If the H2B labor supply was cut off, then it's likely that no roofing companies could find labor for $17/hr.  They'd have to raise wages, take fewer jobs, or go out of business.  This would raise prices.    Customers wouldn't be happy, but they'd pay the price because they need roof work done.  All vendors prices would go up equally.  This process may take time.  There's a shortage.  Prices go up.  Wages go up.  Jobs become more desirable.  More workers get trained in the field, increasing the supply of labor.  This occurs until the labor supply is back in balance.  On a side note, this particular business owner sounds like they need better marketing.  If prospects want low priced work, they're going to get low-quality results.  If she wants to sell a premium roofing product, she needs to differentiate it from everyone else.  No customer spends more money just to support someone else's employees.  If she can only get penny-pinching customers, she needs to do penny-pinching work.

Why Stocks go up and Down by William H Pike is a great source if you are looking to interpret statements for stock analysis. This book really starts from the beginning and clearly explains with a running example of a fake company.

In a nutshell, not really.  That's the risk you take when you co-sign for someone.  The lender only made the loan because of the strength of your brother's credit, not your mother's, so his reputation (in the form of his credit rating) is going to take the hit because of his mother's behaviors. The one thing he can do is this:  The credit bureaus allow you to add a comment or explanation to your credit file which may be helpful, provided potential creditors read it, which is never a guarantee.  It's worth trying though, so suggest to him to look into it. Here's a link for him/you/anyone to look at that can help explain how this works and what effects it can have: Adding a comment to your credit file for negative items I hope this helps. Good luck!


Question: Getting over that financial unease? Budgeting advice

"Budgeting is a tool for planning, not for execution. It sounds like you don't have a problem BUDGETING (planning what to spend on what things) but rather with the execution of your plan. That is - living frugally. This is primarily an issue of self control and personal psychology - not an issue with the mechanics of budgeting and finance, which explains why the most popular personal finance ""gurus"" (Dave Ramsey, Suze Ormond) deal as much with your relationship to money and spending as they do with financial knowledge. There is no easy answer here, but you can learn to spend less. One helpful thought is to realize that whatever your current income is, someone in your community is currently making less than that and surviving. What would you do differently if your real, actual income was $100 or $200 less than it is currently. If your food budget is a concern, learn to cook cheaply. (Often, this is more healthy.) You mentioned schooling, so I assume you are on or near a college campus. Many colleges have all sorts of free-food opportunities. (I used to eat free vegetarian meals weekly at a Hare Krsna temple. Price of admission: listening to the monk read from the Bhagavad Gita.) Fast food is, of course, a complete no-no on low-budget living. It probably goes without saying, but just in case you haven't: cancel cable, get a cheap phone plan (Ting is excellent if available in your area), and otherwise see how you can squeeze a few dollars out of your bills. On the subject of frugality, I have found no book more enlightening than: Money Secrets of the Amish: Finding True Abundance in Simplicity, Sharing, and Saving"

If you're in the 25% tax bracket, then you probably shouldn't be doing a Roth conversion right now.  You'd prefer to do Roth conversions when you can do so at a 15% rate.  You could contribute some of your current annual contributions to Roth directly, but even that isn't a great idea except to diversify your holdings. Odds are you won't be paying 25% average tax rate on your retirement, unless you're doing very well in your retirement account.  Odds are you'll be somewhere around 15%.  Converting at a 15% rate therefore is fine; basically, you'll have something like this, based on some assumptions (I'm making up dollars, brackets, etc.; obviously these will change): Doing this, you pay 0-15% tax on up to 75k, then pay 0 tax after that on the Roth (which you paid 15% tax on already).  Therefore, you don't end up paying more than 15% on any single dollar, and you pay less on the total sum.  But you also don't really want to be paying 25% on any of it, since that won't really help you out any and could hurt you (will hurt you, if you end up getting some of that 15% bracket income from the Roth). If you're in the 25% bracket now, then you probably are better off just keeping everything in regular IRA (unless you're expecting to be in the 28% bracket after retirement?).  Putting some in Roth isn't a terrible idea, just for diversification's sake, but it's probably going to cost you money unless tax rates rise dramatically (which they certainly could, though not as likely to rise on the 'middle class' 0-100k range).  They'd have to double for you to be worse off this way. And finally: do not ever withdraw from the 401k to pay taxes on a conversion. You're subject to a 10% penalty for doing that (as it's an early withdrawal) and also have to pay taxes on that withdrawal.  Ick.   For more information about when Roth makes sense, read site moderator JoeTaxpayer's Blog article on the subject, which explains this in great detail.

"Disney - Verb, the act of buying a large market share or company with the intent of mass producing its goods and services for maximum profit.  ""Thank goodness EA disneyed DraftKings. Now I can place bets on my Madden teams!"" ^/s, ^please ^don't ^sue ^me ^Disney."

I appreciate your answering my questions instead of just downvoting.  I'm kinda losing respect for this sub by the minute.  I didn't imagine the government commandeering private fleets, rather there being rules in place for those corporations to handle evacuation situations.  I do see the potential complexity inherent in that endeavor, but it's by no means too complicated to carry out.

"You could end up with nothing, yes.  I imagine those that worked at Enron years ago if their 401(k) was all in company stock would have ended up with nothing to give an example here.  However, more likely is for you to end up with less than you thought as you see other choices as being better that with the benefit of hindsight you wish you had made different choices. The strategies will vary as some people will want something similar to a ""set it and forget it"" kind of investment and there may be fund choices where a fund has a targeted retirement date some years out into the future.  These can be useful for people that don't want to do a lot of research and spend time deciding amongst various choices.  Other people may prefer something a bit more active.  In this case, you have to determine how much work do you want to do, do you want to review fund reviews on places like Morningstar, and do periodic reviews of your investments, etc.  What works best for you is for you to resolve for yourself. As for risks, here are a few possible categories: Time - How many hours a week do you want to spend on this?  How much time learning this do you want to do in the beginning?  While this does apply to everyone, you have to figure out for yourself how much of a cost do you want to take here. Volatility - Some investments may fluctuate in value and this can cause issues for some people as it may change more than they would like.  For example, if you invest rather aggressively, there may be times where you could have a -50% return in a year and that isn't really acceptable to some people. Inflation - Similarly to those investments that vary wildly there is also the risk that with time, prices generally rise and thus there is something to be said for the purchasing power of your investment.  If you want to consider this in more detail consider what $1,000,000 would have bought 30 years ago compared to now. Currency risk - Some investments may be in other currencies and thus there is a risk of how different denominations may impact a return. Fees - How much do your fund's charge in the form of annual expense ratio?  Are you aware of the charges being taken to manage your money here?"

"Their goals are not to maximize profits of the grocery store - but to maximize the profits of the grocery store *owners*.   If they were to show a substantial profit from the store, there would be many wanting to take their share - be it government tax-men or worker unions.    It is thus much better to operate stores that are ""barely breaking even"" and ""can't afford to pay increased wages"" while paying many times more for the goods from an overseas intermediate company that is willing to provide kickbacks to the right people in the tax heavens."

Canadian food exports to Russia last year, mostly pork, amounted to only $260 million. So I think Canadian farmers will be able to find alternate markets without too much difficulty.considering total pork exports last years were over $3.2 billion  http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/russia-sanctions-show-putin-s-short-sighted-desperation-canada-says-1.2729821

My guess is that it probably has more to do with the Husi food scandal in China. McDonald's restaurants in Beijing had so little inventory after removing their meat supply from Husi that they were only serving soda and french fries for about a week.


Question: Ways to trade the Euro debt crisis

Short the Pound and other English financial items.  Because the English economy is tied to the EU, it will be hit as well.  You might prefer this over Euro denominated investments, since it's not exactly clear who your counterpart is if the Euro really crashes hard.  Meaning suppose you have a short position Euro's versus dollars, but the clearing house is taken down by the crash.

"That's right. It is the far right that have fought Medicare and single payer health insurance from the 70s.   Ronald Reagan famously recorded a LP deriding Medicare as the slippery slope to socialism.  Health insurance is a tool large corporations use to #1 keep employees frightened of losing their job and #2 discouraging employees from leaving their ""organization"" and starting a small business that will compete with them.  It is anything but a ""poorly"" thought out policy. If large corporations felt it was bad for business they would join the fight for single payer which would relieve them of one hell of an expense.  They could save Billions! but they don't because they want it this way. It must be worth a lot of money to them."

Yes, you need to include income from your freelance work on your tax return.  In the eyes of the IRS, this is self-employment income from your sole-proprietorship business. The reason you don't see it mentioned in the 1040EZ instructions is that you can't use the 1040EZ form if you have self-employment income.  You'll need to use the full 1040 form.  Your business income and expenses will be reported on a Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ, and the result will end up on Line 12 of the 1040.  Take a look at the requirements at the top of the C-EZ form; you probably meet them and can use it instead of the more complicated C form. If you have any deductible business expenses related to your freelance business, this would be done on Schedule C or C-EZ. If your freelance income was more than $400, you'll also need to pay self-employment tax.  To do this, you file Schedule SE, and the tax from that schedule lands on form 1040 Line 57.

I was looking for ideas on what the usual figures are in such positions. Something like market value, or other terms such as changing slab percentages in compensation. Not sure what the best practices are in this situation.  Not sure what you are referring to.

Fidelity Investments offers Solo 401(k) plans without any management fees. The plan administrator is typically the employer itself (so, your business, or you as the principal manager). You (as the individual employee) are the participant.

In day trading, you're trying to predict the immediate fluctuations of an essentially random system.  In long-term investing, you're trying to assess the strength of a company over a period of time. You also have frequent opportunities to assess your position and either add to it or get out.

Bank and most Credit Union deposit accounts (including CDs) are guaranteed by the Federal government by the FDIC and NCUA, respectively.  Some state-chartered credit unions use private insurance, you'll want to be careful about storing lots of money in those institutions.

Yes, it's possible and even common but it depends on your bank or broker. One of the main differences is that you might assume FX risk if your account is in EUR and you trade stock denominated in USD. You might also encounter lower liquidity or price differences if you don't trade on the primary exchange where stocks are listed, i.e. NYSE, Nasdaq...