Question: How do I calculate the dwelling coverage I need from the information I have?

This is where an insurance agent is very useful. They will help you choose appropriate coverage, based on local rebuilding costs, the build quality of your house (higher quality or historic/semi-historic construction requires a different type of coverage), etc. They can also help advise you on things like the need for flood insurance, etc. Local rules can vary, and the local agent will know about them. For example, we found out that my home was in a semi-historic district, which requires using higher-cost materials for reconstruction. Also, our city separately licenses tradespeople, who tend to be unionized and thus more expensive. Had I just picked default coverages, I would have been in a pickle in the event of a loss.

Between the commodity slump in 2014, emerging markets producing huge amounts of cheap products and automation bringing down margins it's not so surprising that we see inflation on the low side of predictions. On top of that, central bank inflation targeting surely has an impact as well in weakening the Phillips curve relationship.

And the vast majority of that, over 80%, is concentrated in just a small fraction of neighborhoods. Part of Baltimore's problem is precisely because it's so economically segregated, which is unfortunate. I lived in the Mount Vernon neighborhood for years, and I never once felt unsafe.  People need to grow a spine.

"TDAmeritrade, an online stock broker, provides banking services within their brokerage accounts. The service offers all of what you are looking for. HOWEVER, this service is only available for free with their ""Apex"" qualification.  Here is a tariff of their fees and services."

There is one way to make money quickly. If you are married and both are over 50 and you can put money into a deductible IRA for 2014. The $5,500 contribution  and $1,000 catch-up per person would allow the family to make a contribution of $13,000. If they are in the 25% tax bracket the $3,250 drop in their taxes would allow them to get a $325 bonus from their tax software.  Of course they would have already had to be getting a refund before the IRA contribution, or the new refund and bonus would be smaller. They would have had to meet all the program rules. And they must have a combination of 401Ks and AGI to allow deductible contributions.  This would drastically shorten the initial loan period.

Capping the upside while playing with unlimited downside is a less disciplined investment strategy vis-a-vis a stop-loss driven strategy. Whether it is less risky or high risky also depends on the fluctuations of the stock and not just long-term movements. For example, your stop losses might get triggered because of a momentary sharp decline in stock price due to a large volume transaction (esp more so in small-cap stocks). Although, the stock price might recover from the sudden price drop pretty soon causing a seemingly preventable loss. That being said, playing with stop losses is always considered a safer strategy. It may not increase your profits but can certainly cap your losses.

No, Walmart does not rely on government support of workers. That is a very child like view of the matter. Let's not make these people out to be victims. If those workers are not earning enough at Walmart, they should be searching for work elsewhere, or other jobs to supplement their incomes. Nobody is forcing them to work there. This type of job is really best suited for a student, or a retired person, who aren't trying to support a family, etc.  Also, Walmart is only one of a million businesses who operate as a low-cost leader, and I guarantee you that you enjoy the low prices that these companies charge on a regular basis. And this makes you a hypocrite, really, because your purchases are supporting their way of doing business, which in turn leads to the low wages. So if you really want to go down the blaming road, we can blame you as well.  Now, having said that, I believe a living wage is a good thing, and I support legislation in favor of this as a solution to the problem, rather than trying to stifle the natural flow of business by singling out one company and blaming them. And doing this won't harm companies like Walmart; they will still operate just as usual, only *all the prices, at every low cost store* will increase as a result of the higher wages.

> Why are you against making sure their pensions are funded?  Pension actuarial analyst here:  Pensions can give employee's benefits for time worked long before the plan came into existence.  Those 'liabilities' are paid off over 30-40 years.  It's absolutely normal.  In addition, pension plans may also pay off increases in benefits, such as an early retirement window, over that same 30-40 years.  Pension funds use assumptions on future investment earnings to 'guess' their contribution.  Sometimes, they don't earn as much as they expect the plan to earn.  Sometimes, they try to keep contributions low *as an alternative to scrapping the plan entirely*.  So putting this all together:  if pension plans are instantly and always 100% funded?  You don't get pension plans, with defined and guaranteed retirement benefits.  You get plans where the employee defers their own money into accounts, with no particular guarantees at all.  And that's why we are fine with unfunded pensions.  Oh, by the way, the PBGC charges higher fees to covered pension plans that have more unfunded liability!  So if a company doesn't want to pay contributions, they have to pay more elsewhere.  It all evens out.


Question: IRR vs. Interest Rates

Yes, if your IRR is 5% per annum after three years then the total return (I prefer total rather than your use of actual) over those three years is 15.76%. Note that if you have other cashflows in and out, it gets a bit more complicated (e.g. using the XIRR function in Excel), but the idea is to find an effective annual percentage return that you're getting for your money.

One of the guys that started Rovio got investment from his wealthy uncle's company. They surely want to sell some of their 60% ownership, but claim they will be sticking around. With Rovio's pitch to re-emerge as a film studio (or that was one idea I read and Angry Birds was a hit), I wonder if this valuation matches what other film studios would be valued or are they just riding the wave of ridiculous tech valuations.

>Consider the following scenario. After a victory by the left-wing Syriza party, Greece’s new government announces that it wants to renegotiate the terms of its agreement with the International Monetary Fund and the European Union.   The election is on June 17th, but I don't see Syriza winning.

I'm trying to get the numbers to work. I built a quick spreadsheet that allocated the lost time as stated against the overall pay increase, assuming 1.5x for more than 40 hours.   I can't find a reasonable number of hours worked where a 9% cut in hours outweighs the near 20% increase in wages.

"The simplest argument for overpayment is this: Let's suppose your fixed rate mortgage has an interest rate of 4.00%. Every £1 you can afford to overpay gives you a guaranteed effective return of 4.00% gross. Yes your monthly mortgage payment will stay the same; however, the proportion of it that's paying off interest every month will be less, and the amount that's actually going into acquiring the bricks and mortar of your home will be greater. So in a sense your returns are ""inverted"" i.e. because every £1 you overpay is £1 you don't need to keep paying 4% a year to continue borrowing. In your case this return will be locked away for a few more years, until you can remortgage the property. However, compared to some other things you could do with your excess £1s, this is a very generous and safe return that is well above the average rate of UK inflation for the past ten years. Let's compare that to some other options for your extra £1s: Cash savings: The most competitive rate I can currently find for instant access is 1.63% from ICICI. If you are prepared to lock your money away until March 2020, Melton Mowbray Building Society has a fixed rate bond that will pay you 2.60% gross. On these accounts you pay income tax at your marginal rate on any interest received. For a basic rate taxpayer that's 20%. If you're a higher rate taxpayer that means 40% of this interest is deducted as tax. In other words: assuming you pay income tax at one of these rates, to get an effective return of 4.00% on cash savings you'd have to find an account paying: Cash ISAs: these accounts are tax sheltered, so the income tax equation isn't an issue. However, the best rate I can find on a 4 year fixed rate cash ISA is 2.35% from Leeds Building Society. As you can see, it's a long way below the returns you can get from overpaying. To find returns such as that you would have to take a lot more risk with your money – for example: Stock market investments: For example, an index fund tracking the FTSE 100 (UK-listed blue chip companies) could have given you a total return of 3.62% over the last 3 years (past performance does not equal future returns). Over a longer time period this return should be better – historical performance suggests somewhere between 5 to 6% is the norm. But take a closer look and you'll see that over the last six months of 2015 this fund had a negative return of 6.11%, i.e. for a time you'd have been losing money. How would you feel about that kind of volatility? In conclusion: I understand your frustration at having locked in to a long term fixed rate (effectively insuring against rates going up), then seeing rates stay low for longer than most commentators thought. However, overpaying your mortgage is one way you can turn this situation into a pretty good deal for yourself – a 4% guaranteed return is one that most cash savers would envy. In response to comments, I've uploaded a spreadsheet that I hope will make the numbers clearer. I've used an example of owing £100k over 25 years at an unvarying 4% interest, and shown the scenarios with and without making a £100/month voluntary overpayment, assuming your lender allows this. Here's the sheet: https://www.scribd.com/doc/294640994/Mortgage-Amortization-Sheet-Mortgage-Overpayment-Comparison After one year you have made £1,200 in overpayments. You now owe £1,222.25 less than if you hadn't overpaid.  After five years you owe £6,629 less on your mortgage, having overpaid in £6,000 so far. Should you remortgage at this point that £629 is your return so far, and you also have £6k more equity in the property.  If you keep going: After 65 months you are paying more capital than interest out of your monthly payment. This takes until 93 months without overpayments. In total, if you keep up £100/month overpayment, you pay £15,533 less interest overall, and end your mortgage six years early. You can play with the spreadsheet inputs to see the effect of different overpayment amounts. Hope this helps."

> Walmart, home depot, and Costco will always have their place. I still buy a number of items in stores because Amazon can't compete with a 5 gallon bucket for 3 dollars, food prices/quality they haven't even begun to fathom how they will compete with, and general items like furniture that they can't ship for cheap.  You might be right, but Amazon's stated strategy *is* to compete with all those stores, and in all those markets. Most recently the purchase of wholefoods being part of their 'food prices/quality' strategy.

There is not a permanent deficit. The budget was balanced when Reagan took office. He ran up a massive deficit. Clinton balanced the deficit he inherited. W then ran up a deficit again.  Obama inherited a trillion dollar deficit and reduced it to 400 billion. Now it is going to go up again. I am seeing a pattern here.

Sorry man, for most finance jobs you are to old for an entry level positions. Firms would much rather give it to a guy fresh out of college (and there are plenty of them) then a 27 year old with no relevant experience.  That being said, there are some areas in finance that are less strict about this, so if you are willing to start at the bottom with a bunch of 22 year olds you have a chance.


Question: How long do wire transfers take?

The experience I have with wire transfers is from Australia to the US. These transfers can take up to 5 business dates (i.e. a whole week including the non-business days of the weekend). I would have thought intra-European transfers would be quicker, given how behind most US (regional) banks are in their electronic transfers. However, I don't think you should be worried just yet.

Does your current firm have a United States office or affiliate? That's the easiest route asking for a transfer or reassignment.   Super competitive for more senior positions with a direct transfer but you can have a shot a junior positions that you can then advance since you have some experience.

You're in a good spot: making good money with prospects for that to continue for the foreseeable future. Even if/when you quit dancing nursing pays quite well. Leaving all that money in a savings account is a mistake. At a minimum: Open an IRA account at any of the discount brokers (Schwab, Fidelity, etc). Roth is fine to start, once your taxable income goes up consider switching to a traditional IRA. Max out your IRA every year. Invest in low-fee index funds. There are frankly too many options these days, but an S&P 500 Index fund is almost never a mistake. Open a regular taxable investment account where you can invest additional money. Leave some cash/savings for emergencies. But if you do #3 you can always sell some investments in a cash emergency. Yes, it may lose money in the short term, but given your steady income, not a huge concern. I think if you read all the investment advice out there, you'll see a familiar theme along these lines. Your nest egg will grow considerably when you invest.

You are very right.  I just had to get a cheap and transparent political jab in there. Thank you.  I tell my republican family members that Clinton DIDN'T SCREW THINGS UP, but he actually did by relaxing borrowing standards for home purchases, which led to something very dark in my recent past, lol....

"I have personally known a family in the hills of Southern Oregon, US who lived off the electricity grid. As far as being ""possible"" yes, but easy is a certain no.  This family was very dedicated to the point of living without grid electricity.  A special built home of native field stones, careful alignment with the sun, location within the valley.  I would assume that making a normal home be off the electric grid is much more difficult.  Not impossible, but pretty darn hard."

If you do the financing, get a large down payment and make a short loan.  Do not expose yourself to risk with a 30 year note, and get some major money up front so the buyer has some skin in the game and will continue to make payments.

There are lot of options. I personally avoid keeping money in bank accounts and invest in one of the funds. It's just my personal opinion, you can ask your Ulamas

"In general, if you can afford to replace something, you are able to ""self-insure"".  You really want to understand a little of the statistics before you can make a generic call, but my rule of thumb is that insurance via ""extended warranty"" is rarely a good deal.  Here is a simple expected value math formula you can apply (when the > is true, then you should buy it): replacement cost x likelihood of using warranty % > cost of insurance You can then back-compute, what is the likelihood that I'd need to lose this item to break even?  Given your numbers: $2000 x Y > $350 or Y > (350/2000) or Y > 17.5% So if you think there is a 17.5% or greater chance that you'll need to have you system replaced (i.e. not just a simple fix) AND (as Scott pointed out) you'll be able to actually use the replacement warranty then the applecare is a good purchase.  Note, this only applies to items you can replace out-of-pocket without significant burden, because if you didn't have the $10k to replace your car, it wouldn't matter if the insurance wasn't such a good deal (especially if you need the car to get to work, etc.) So the obvious question is: ""Why would a for-profit company ever offer insurance on something they are statistically likely to lose money on?""  The obvious answer is ""they wouldn't,"" but that doesn't mean you should never buy this type of insurance, because you may have statistically significant circumstances. For instance, I purchased a $40 remote helicopter as a gift for my children.  I also paid the $5 for a ""no questions asked"" warranty on it because, knowing my kids, I knew there was a nearly 100% chance they would break it at least once.  In this case, this warranty was well worth the $5, because they did break it!  Presumably they make money on these warranties because most of the purchasers of the plan are more attentive (or too lazy to make the claim) than in this case. Edit note: I incorporated Scott's comment about likelihood of being able to utilize the warranty into a combined ""likelihood of using warranty"" term.  This term could be broken up into likelihood of needing replacement x likelihood of actually getting company to replace it I didn't do this above because it makes it a little harder to understand, and may not be a major factor in all cases, but you can definitely add it after the fact (i.e. if there's only a 90% chance Applecare will pay out at all, then divide the 17.5% by 0.9 to get 19.4% likelihood of needing the replacement for it to be cost effective). More complete formulas can be derived also (including terms for full replacement costs vs repair costs and including terms for ""deductible"" type costs or shipping), but I'm trying to keep things relatively simple for those who aren't statistics nerds like I am."


Question: I'm an American in my mid 20's. Is there something I should be doing to secure myself financially?

First of all, make sure you have an emergency fund.  Ideally this should be at least 6 months of living expenses in an easily accessible place. Do you have any credit card debt, school debt, or other debt?  Work towards becoming debt free, especially of higher interest debt and debt on things that are only depreciating (cars, for example).  If you have extra income, consider putting it towards debt. If you currently have access to a 403b, you should begin investing immediately.  If not, look into a Roth IRA.  The community has provided suggestions for good places to get one.  With a Roth IRA you take post-tax income money and invest it into this retirement account and when you reach retirement age you get it and all the interest as tax-free income.  You can't withdraw the principal until retirement age.  You should put up to the legal limit into a retirement account - if you can't do this at first work towards this goal. After an emergency fund, becoming debt free, and fully funding your retirement, save for goals such as a house or other things you are working towards. The exact order of doing these things might vary, but in general you need the emergency fund first.

Hi, finance degree holder here.  Graduated in 2012, been working in retail ever since. Almost went homeless twice. Unless you know for sure 100% that you want to go to grad school and/or get a few (expensive) certifications, the only shot at gainful employment you have is in insurance sales. Or at major firms if you're close to a big city.  Ymmv, and a lot depends on the area, but I didn't exactly have a good time.

Mutual funds are only traded once per day, while other securities can be traded any time during the day. Mutual funds are actually a collection of other things that have value, such as stocks. The price of a mutual fund is calculated at the end of the day after the market closes by looking at how much the collection of things changed in value during the day.

Wealth Generators Reviews which are putting allegations upon this company by calling it as a scam or web of MLM concept should at first go through the company's profile and understand the true vision and the products of the companies. Wealth Generators has interesting products to help the people earn money with the help of expert trading and stock market tips and advice. Wealth Generators is not a typical MLM tonic which will make you rich overnight. It is a place for strategy seekers and the persons who are really willing to make more money through their hard earned capital. The company specializes in stock market trading and to promote the awareness of trading, it is using some MLM type concept so that the maximum people get benefited after availing the subscription program of the newsletters and financial management tools which have been designed and developed by the veterans of the financial market and the trading experts.  Wealth Generators Reviews mentioned by some trade persons who have suffered loss due to adopting the improper strategy and not following the guidelines as described in the materials of the company are deviating some people from participating in wealth generation programs being offered by this company. We would like to make you clear that Wealth Generators is not demanding your money. It is just only charging you on the behalf of the guidance services provided to you to let you have a good income while trading in the global fluctuating market scenario. We at Wealth Generators offer learning subscription packages in a reasonable charge.

"I recently moved out from my parents place, after having built up sufficient funds, and gone through these questions myself. I live near Louisville, KY which has a significant effect on my income, cost of living, and cost of housing. Factor that into your decisions. To answer your questions in order: When do I know that I'm financially stable to move out? When you have enough money set aside for all projected expenses for 3-6 months and an emergency fund of 4-10K, depending on how large a safety net you want or need. Note that part of the reason for the emergency fund is as a buffer for the things you won't realize you need until you move out, such as pots or chairs. It also covers things being more expensive than anticipated. Should I wait until both my emergency fund is at least 6 months of pay   and my loans in my parents' names is paid off (to free up money)? 6 months of pay is not a good measuring stick. Use months of expenses instead. In general, student loans are a small enough cost per month that you just need to factor them into your costs. When should I factor in the newer car investment? How much should I   have set aside for the car? Do the car while you are living at home. This allows you to put more than the minimum payment down each month, and you can get ahead. That looks good on your credit, and allows refinancing later for a lower minimum payment when you move out. Finally, it gives you a ""sense"" of the monthly cost while you still have leeway to adjust things.  Depending on new/used status of the car, set aside around 3-5K for a down payment. That gives you a decent rate, without too much haggling trouble. Should I get an apartment for a couple years before looking for my own   house? Not unless you want the flexibility of an apartment. In general, living at home is cheaper. If you intend to eventually buy property in the same area, an apartment is throwing money away. If you want to move every few years, an apartment can, depending on the lease, give you that. How much should I set aside for either investment (apartment vs   house)? 10-20K for a down payment, if you live around Louisville, KY. Be very choosy about the price of your house and this gives you the best of everything. The biggest mistake you can make is trying to get into a place too ""early"". Banks pay attention to the down payment for a good reason. It indicates commitment, care, and an ability to go the distance. In general, a mortgage is 30 years. You won't pay it off for a long time, so plan for that. Is there anything else I should be doing/taking advantage of with my   money during this ""living at home"" period before I finally leave the   nest? If there is something you want, now's the time to get it. You can make snap purchases on furniture/motorcycles/games and not hurt yourself. Take vacations, since there is room in the budget. If you've thought about moving to a different state for work, travel there for a weekend/week and see if you even like the place. Look for deals on things you'll need when you move out. Utensils, towels, brooms, furniture, and so forth can be bought cheaply, and you can get quality, but it takes time to find these deals. Pick up activities with monthly expenses. Boxing, dancing, gym memberships, hackerspaces and so forth become much more difficult to fit into the budget later. They also give you a better credit rating for a recurring expense, and allow you to get a ""feel"" for how things like a monthly utility bill will work. Finally, get involved in various investments. A 401k is only the start, so look at penny stocks, indexed funds, ETFs or other things to diversify with. Check out local businesses, or start something on the side. Experiment, and have fun."

Yeah, hugely telling that it took 1500+ cancellations from one number before they noticed? None of their metrics or reports flagged this before? I've never used Lyft because that pink mustache is just ridiculous and looks amateur. This company seems to have a lot of gaps going on.

That's how it's always been??  Oh wow you have to actually major in something useful to make a living?   There are a ton of things you can major in and make a great living. What's dumb is kids taking on 100k+ in loans to go to a private college when they could've gone to a state school or done 2 years at a community college.

We are mostly .NET C#. I'm not trying to sound like a big shot but generally, to work in finance as a software engineer, you have to be good at what you do. More specifically, I work on developing the inside tools for our traders and mutual/hedge fund managers to manage the business. I work on benchmark, asset, and valuation analysis tools. Technologies I use on a daily basis are C#, SQL, JavaScript, JQuery, MVVM (and other design patterns), HTML5, and more specialized unit testing tools. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask or pm.


Question: What is the fair value of a stock given the bid and ask prices? Is there such a relationship?

None of the above. The fair value is a term used to describe an analytical result of projecting the company's future dividends and profits into a present value.  Such estimates are published by the likes of Morningstar, S&P and Value Line.  It is quite common for a stock to trade well above or below such estimated fair values.

"If it is planned, then one can get a Bankers Check payable overseas; if destination is known. 1.) What will happen to the money? It will eventually go to Government as escheating. Unlcaimed.org can help you trace the funds and recover it. 2.) Will the banks close the accounts?   3.) After how much time will the banks close the accounts? Eventually Yes. If there is no activity [Note the definition of activity is different, A credit interest is not considered as activity, a authentic phone call / correspondence to change the address or any servicing request is considered activity] for a period of One year, the account is classified as ""Dormant"". Depending on state, after a period of 3-5 years, it would be inactive and the funds escheated. i.e. handed over to Government. 4.) Is there anything else to do? Any ideas? Before leaving? Try keeping it active by using internet banking or credit / debit cards linked to the account. These will be valid activities.  5.) Is there any way to send a relative to the US with any kind of paper of power, to unfreeze the accounts? 6.) The banks say they would need a power of attorney, but does that person actually need to be an attorney in the US, or can it simply be   a relative WITH a paper (a paper that says power of attorney) or what   is a power of attorney exactly, is it an actual attorney person, or   just a paper? 7.) Is there any other way to unfreeze the accounts? Although I can confirm first hand; I think there would be an exception process if a person cannot travel to the Bank. It could even be that a person is in some remote state, not well etc and can't travel in person. I think if you are out of country, you could walk-in to an US embassy and provide / sign relevant documents there and get it attested. Although for different purpose, I know a Power of Attorney being created in other country and stamped / verified by US embassy and sent it over to US. This was almost a decade back. Not sure about it currently."

"My feeling is that you're basically agreeing to throw away a bucket of money for a lesson that doesn't have to cost a penny. Like another commenter said, you're putting the cart before the horse.  I once asked a similar question to a seasoned investor, though I wasn't in the position to toss my hard-earned cash into the well yet. He told me that the difference between the winners and losers is that the winners don't need the money. I'm not trying to say that there's a ""rich keep getting richer ..."" component here, while schlubs like me get nada.  The real nugget of wisdom he offered was that if anyone wants to do well as investors, we must invest in a way that we're not dependent on the money we have in the market. Instead, manage risk carefully so that you don’t get swept up in the emotional highs and lows.  For you, what I applaud is that you're willing to do your research first. And part of that should be anticipating how you will handle the anxiety when you put your money in at the wrong time or get out a little later than you should.  What I understand now is that you don’t need to be wealthy to “not need the money.” You just need to invest smartly and leave your emotions out of it."

There are different types and designs of clutch bags available on the web. Clutch Bags provide all kinds of bags online at an affordable price. Our best popular product is Clutch purse,  which is made in the USA.Purses were generally used in religious ceremonies,  then later were more commonly used for carrying money and valuables. Clutches come in a huge variety of shapes, makes, and styles, all of which can vary between brands and seasons.

"Rather than automating it, why not just create a listing that you maintain and display on your site yourself?  That way you don't have to give out credentials or anything else. It also presents a bit of a marketing opportunity.  You could group contributors by the size of their contributions and thank them publicly.  For example, maybe your top contributors could be members of the ""Heroes Club"", and you could come up with jazzy names for other groups.  It's a way of publicly acknowledging their contributions in a way that they appreciate, and perhaps it motivates others to up their own contributions to get into one of the more prominent groupings.  It becomes a competitive ""one-upsmanship"" thing, if that makes sense. I understand your desire to be transparent, and that's admirable, but see the marketing and public relations opportunity it brings to you as well. I hope this helps. Good luck!"

There are companies who sell data gleaned in aggregate from credit card providers to show how much of what category of product is sold online or offline, but that data is not cheap.  1010data is one such data aggregator we are talking to right now. Haven’t seen pricing yet but I expect 6 figures to access the data

"Hah!  In so far as the financial sector isn't making money off the government, then I would say it is truly ""financed through the financial sector"".  The financial sector doesn't operate at a loss, which is what you are suggesting here.  They aren't paying the government to have roads and power and plumbing and water, etc.    The financial sector is paying because they make more money back.  You want to admit who is paying to have roads and water and power and plumbing, etc?  Every person who gets a paycheck or owns a house is.  Not big money.  Ordinary people.  Taxes and Tariffs, and printing money pays for all of this.  We, the tax payer, aren't seeing a financial reimbursement for our expenses on these projects.  But Big Money is.  Our reimbursement is:  Roads, Power, plumbing, Police, Fire Departments.  Which means we are the consumers buying products.  Big Money is the middle man making bucks off the system.  Perhaps Big Money is necessary, but now it is out of control, and needs to be held accountable."

Unfortunately this is something that should have been determined prior to the book tour. Your tax advisor or accountant could have assisted you in making sure you collected the documentation you needed.  You are going to have to sit down with your advisor with the documentation you have and determine what you can prove.


Question: Options for the intelligent but inexperienced

"Some thoughts on your questions in order, Duration: You might want to look at the longest-dated option (often a ""LEAP""), for a couple reasons. One is that transaction costs (spread plus commission, especially spread) are killer on options, so a longer option means fewer transactions, since you don't have to keep rolling the option. Two is that any fundamentals-based views on stocks might tend to require 3-5 years to (relatively) reliably work out, so if you're a fundamental investor, a 3-6 month option isn't great. Over 3-6 months, momentum, short-term news, short squeezes, etc. can often dominate fundamentals in determining the price. One exception is if you just want to hedge a short-term event, such as a pending announcement on drug approval or something, and then you would buy the shortest option that still expires after the event; but options are usually super-expensive when they span an event like this. Strike: Strike price on a long option can be thought of as a tradeoff between the max loss and minimizing ""insurance costs."" That is, if you buy a deeply in-the-money put or call, the time value will be minimal and thus you aren't paying so much for ""insurance,"" but you may have 1/3 or 1/2 of the value of the underlying tied up in the option and subject to loss. If you buy a put or call ""at the money,"" then you might have only say 10% of the value of the underlying tied up in the option and subject to loss, but almost the whole 10% may be time value (insurance cost), so you are losing 10% if the underlying stock price stays flat. I think of the deep in-the-money options as similar to buying stocks on margin (but the ""implied"" interest costs may be less than consumer margin borrowing rates, and for long options you can't get a margin call). The at-the-money options are more like buying insurance, and it's expensive. The commissions and spreads add significant cost, on top of the natural time value cost of the option. The annual costs would generally exceed the long-run average return on a diversified stock fund, which is daunting. Undervalued/overvalued options, pt. 1: First thing is to be sure the options prices on a given underlying make sense at all; there are things that ""should"" hold, for example a synthetic long or short should match up to an actual long or short. These kinds of rules can break, for example on LinkedIn (LNKD) after its IPO, when shorting was not permitted, the synthetic long was quite a bit cheaper than a real long. Usually though this happens because the arbitrage is not practical. For example on LNKD, the shares to short weren't really available, so people doing synthetic shorts with options were driving up the price of the synthetic short and down the price of the synthetic long. If you did actually want to be long the stock, then the synthetic long was a great deal. However, a riskless arbitrage (buy synthetic long, short the stock) was not possible, and that's why the prices were messed up. Another basic relationship that should hold is put-call parity: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Put%E2%80%93call_parity Undervalued/overvalued options, pt. 2: Assuming the relationship to the underlying is sane (synthetic positions equivalent to actual positions) then the valuation of the option could focus on volatility. That is, the time value of the option implies the stock will move a certain amount. If the time value is high and you think the stock won't move much, you might short the option, while if the time value is low and you think the stock will move a lot, you might buy the option. You can get implied volatility from your broker perhaps, or Morningstar.com for example has a bunch of data on option prices and the implied components of the price model. I don't know how useful this really is though. The spreads on options are so wide that making money on predicting volatility better than the market is pretty darn hard. That is, the spread probably exceeds the amount of the mispricing. The price of the underlying is more important to the value of an option than the assumed volatility. How many contracts: Each contract is 100 shares, so you just match that up. If you want to hedge 100 shares, buy one contract. To get the notional value of the underlying multiply by 100. So say you buy a call for $30, and the stock is trading at $100, then you have a call on 100 shares which are currently priced at $10,000 and the option will cost $30*100=3,000. You are leveraged about 3 to 1. (This points to an issue with options for individual investors, which is that one contract is a pretty large notional value relative to most portfolios.)"

"You do realize the financial state of most older airliners, or the top guys has dramatically decreased since 2001. In fact many are on the verge of collapsing all together, American took a 3-4% drop to their overall gains this last quarter. The security measures have in itself added another problem to the entire air industry and just created a larger stigma as to why flying in US airports is bollocks.    If you think the US state department asked the airlines anything, you must be a little off on your politics. Anything NSA has their hands on won't ever ask cooperating parties what they think. Which again has been a dramatic reason as to why so many ""security"" orientated implementations since 2001 have been nothing but an extreme drain on already wobbly financial situations.   This tax could be the straw that breaks the camels back and some airliners may fold under or just stop going to those locations and charge more for international flights."

(more like 10 years ago, but that's beside the point) Save, save, save! Both in the notion of squeezing as much value as you can out of every purchase and the notion of putting money away in a savings account.

I'd stick with 20% down. Truth is - we don't know enough about you. Are you single and staying that way? How is your retirement savings doing? As others asked, any other debt? You can put 20% down, take a breath and see how it's going. I did just that, the 20%. We then had a baby, and 5 nanny-years to pay for. When she was gone, all that money went to the mortgage, and after refinancing (with no points no closing) we have 7 years to go. Just under 20 years beginning to end. During that time we've saved for college (just about fully funded) and for retirement (both with matched 401(k) accounts).  Remember, if you lose your job, a house with a lower mortgage means nothing when there's still the next payment due. But that cushion of cash can be handy.

I can't address Indian law but US law has no problems with you having savings accounts in India.  Furthermore, there are no tax consequences from paying off the student loan. However there is big problem here--while the US has no rules against foreign bank accounts it has reporting rules that you certainly have violated (if you hadn't violated them you wouldn't be asking the question.) 1)  Those foreign bank accounts must be listed on your tax return. 2)  Those foreign bank accounts must be listed on a PDF that's filed with the (Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.  (Yes, it's very stupid they need identical information sent to two different departments.) 2)  The interest you earned on that bank account is income that should have been reported on your return. As for what to do about it--this is the realm where you get professional help.  As for the outcome--since you didn't set out to cheat they have a much less harsh system set up.  Expect to amend your 2012 and 2013 returns (and 2014 if you've already filed it), pay interest and late-payment penalties on the additional tax caused by the interest and pay a penalty of 5% of the highest total value of the accounts. Since the discovery of large amounts of money being hidden from the taxman in Swiss bank accounts Congress has gone 1000# gorilla about it and been pressuring foreign banks to cough up the details on any US-citizen or US-resident depositors.

It is more easier if you select a Broker in India that would allow you these services. The reason being the broker in India will follow the required norms by India and allow you to invest without much hassel. Further as the institution would be in India, it would be more easy for resolving any disputes. ICICI Direct an Indian online broker allows one to trade in US stocks. For more details refer to ICIC Direct. Reliance Money also offers limited trading in US stocks. Selecting a Broker in US maybe more difficult as your would have to met their KYC norm's and also operate a Bank account in US. I am not aware of the requirements. For more details visit ICICI Direct website. Refer to http://www.finance-trading-times.com/2007/10/investing-in-us-stocks-and-options.html for a news article. TDAmeritrade or Charlesschwab are good online brokers, however from what I read they are more for US nationals holding Social Security. Further with the recent events and KYC norms becoming more stringent, it would be difficult for an individual [Indian Citizen] to open an account directly with these firms.

Yeah man, was basically just screwing around.  Day-trading stocks is a bit different for me.  I usually trade options.  Taking a bit getting used to.  Not to mention, I probably lost a good bit on spreads.  I made all market orders lol.

WHAT? That is just no true. I lived in Philadelphia, London and Brussels and I can tell you, the prices were almost double in Philly for groceries store. Even at Wallmart, I wont talk about Trader Joe, Whole Foods, acme...


Question: Who owned my shares before me?

The answer in theory is yes. The answer in reality is no. Let me explain: Combine all of these lists and perhaps you could get a complete record.

I guess I didn't fill in all the holes at first, but what I'm implying with this system is that the company bonds would be the currency of the territory, as monetary policy would be decentralized and be replaced by competing money supplies that firms and individuals would be free to choose from and switch between at any time, whether they prefer an easy or tight monetary policy at any given moment.  At this point, the bonds would be the most liquid thing around, as you could repay your bonds in the bonds of another, and any one of these bonds could be used to pay taxes.  It's a scenario I've been working out because I see the drawbacks of centralized money laid out by F.A. Hayek in Denationalization of Money, but I don't think a gold standard would be sufficient in today's world.    (Most of the scenarios I've planned this out in assume the scenario of a perfect competition market, where all firms breakeven with expenses, and the role of researcher and developer is taken up by the government, so life improvements can still occur over time.)

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To supplement existing answers: the appraised value does not necessarily represent the net amount the bank could actually recover with a foreclosure. Let's look at it from the point of view of the bank.  Suppose the property appraises at $200,000 and they do what you want: loan you $200,000 with the property as collateral.  Now suppose a short time later, you quit paying the mortgage and they have to foreclose.  Can the bank get their $200,000 back? An appraisal is only an estimate; nobody can predict perfectly how much a property will sell for.  Maybe the appraiser missed something significant, and the property will only fetch $180,000. Even if the appraisal was accurate when it was made, property values may have dropped in the meantime.  Maybe a sudden economic crisis is driving real estate prices down across the board.  Maybe interest rates have spiked.  Maybe the county has changed the zoning regulations to locate a toxic waste dump next door to the property.  In any of these cases, the property may again fetch well under $200,000. Maybe the condition of the property has changed.  Perhaps you trashed the place and it will take $30,000 to clean it up.  (People have a tendency to do things like that when they get foreclosed.) If the bank wants to get full market value for the property, they will incur the usual costs of selling a property: paying a real estate agent's commission, painting, renting furniture to stage the property, and so on.  This will eat into the net amount they actually get from the sale. It may take some time (perhaps months) for a property to sell at its full market value.  During this time, the bank is out $200,000.  That's money they would rather be loaning out at interest to someone else, so this represents lost income. Foreclosing a mortgage is a fairly complicated procedure.  The bank has to pay its staff, including lawyers, for a significant number of hours to get the foreclosure done.  There will be court filing fees and so on.  If you refuse to leave, they may have to get the sheriff to evict you; that has a fee as well.  If you fight the foreclosure, that racks up even more legal fees.  This too eats into the net proceeds from the sale. So if the bank loans you the full $200,000, they stand a pretty significant risk of not getting all of it back, after expenses.  You can understand that risk may not be worth the interest they would get from you on the extra $40,000. On the other hand, if they loan you only 80% of the property's appraised value ($160,000), they effectively shift that risk onto you.  Should you default on the loan, and they foreclose, all they have to do is sell the property for $160,000 or a little bit more.   That shouldn't be too hard, even if it is not freshly painted or a bit trashed.  They probably don't need to hire a real estate agent: just hold a quick auction, maybe first calling up a few investors who might be interested in flipping it.  If it happens to sell for more than the outstanding principal of the loan, plus the bank's costs, then they will pay you the difference; but they have no incentive to make that happen, and every incentive to just get it sold quick.  So any difference between the property's true value and the actual sale price now represents a loss to you first, not to the bank. So you can see why the bank would rather not loan you the full value of the property.  80% is a somewhat arbitrary figure but it cuts their risk by a lot.

I don't even think that much is true, in a downturned market we see deflation. Things go on sale, prices drop, that's deflation. But the elephant in the room is that the gov't can't let deflation happen or their debt becomes harder to pay off. So after/during a downturn the government goes into hyperinflation mode.  To me, gold/silver aren't a hedge against the dollar they are a hedge against the inevitable decline of the dollar which isn't going to stop until we change monetary policy.  Graph the dollar's value in the past 100 years, it's the biggest crash in history. Now ask yourself if the dollar was a stock, would you want to own it with that record? 100 years of declination. Sell your dollars, find a real currency.

Proportional is good, but we don't need redistribution. The market mechanism does that on its own when it's free. The bailouts of the banks and auto industry should have shown that the only thing stopping a major, but poorly run business from bankruptcy (and having its assets redistributed) is government intervention.  Maybe the change will light a fire under complacent companies and they'll start earning their profits again, or maybe they'll fail. There's no way to know ahead of time, but with no legal barriers to entry, the playing field will be fair again.

The drive is on to make the minimum wage $15/hr.  I am concerned that we shouldn't set our standards so low and allow company's like Walmart to normalize low wages. In 1981 when I got out of high school, my first real job before college paid me $8.00/hr which is inflation adjusted to $21.44/hr today.

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Question: I am trying to start a “hedge fund,” and by that, I really just mean I have a very specific and somewhat simple investment thesis that I want to

"Kudos for wanting to start your own business.  Now let's talk reality. Unless you already have some kind of substantial track record of successful investing to show potential investors, what you want to do will never happen, and that's just giving you the honest truth. There are extensive regulatory requirements for starting any kind of public investment vehicle, and meeting them costs money.  You can be your own hedge fund with your own money and avoid all of this if you like.  Keep in mind that a ""hedge fund"" is little more than someone who is contrarian to the market and puts their money where their mouth is.  (I know, some of you will argue this is simplistic, and you'd be right, but I'm deliberately avoiding complexity for the moment) The simple truth is that nobody is going to just give you their money to invest unless, for starters, you can show that you're any good at it (and for the sake of it we'll assume you've had success in the markets), and (perhaps most importantly) you have ""skin in the game"", meaning you have a substantial investment of your own in the fund too.   You might have a chance at creating something if you can show that whatever your hedge fund proposes to invest in isn't already overrun by other hedge funds.  At the moment, there are more mutual and hedge funds out there than there are securities for them to invest in, so they're basically all fighting over the same pie.  You must have some fairly unique opportunity or approach that nobody else has or has even considered in order to begin attracting money to a new fund these days.  And that's not easy, trust me. There is no short or easy path to what you want to do, and perhaps if you want to toy around with it a bit, find some friends who are willing to invest based on your advice and/or picks.  If you develop a track record of success then perhaps you could more seriously consider doing what you propose, and in the meanwhile you can look into the requirements for laying the foundations toward your goal. I hope you don't find my answer cruel, because it isn't meant to be.  I am all about encouraging people to succeed, but it has to start with a realistic expectation.  You have a great thought, but there's a wide gulf from concept to market and no quick or simple way to bridge it. Here's a link to a web video on how to start your own hedge fund, if you want to look into it more deeply: How To Legally Start A Hedge Fund (From the Investopedia website) Good luck!"

"You are a teacher with income. Presumably, between you and your spouse-to-be, more than $5500. That's all that matters. Unless, of course you make ""too much money"" (i.e. $184K or over). That's another story.  The actual deposit can be from any source. The example we often give is that a teenager with legitimate income can have a Roth, up to the income or $5500, whichever is lower, funded by gifts from a parent, or from savings. They don't need to turn over the money they made.  The money you are getting is a gift, and it's your money to do what you wish."

What's the answer for the lightbulb question?   For the short a put on IBM question, obviously you could answer that you're bullish on the stock, but couldnt you further elaborate by asking for the maturity?  I guess you could also talk about option strategies such as covered puts.  What's a good answer to that question?

> just allow injured parties to sue for damages!  The legal system isn't based on ethics or morals, it's based on who can make the best argument. Big business' have a lot more resources and lawyers than you or I could ever hope to have.

There is no accounting reason that it should be different, there are likely psychological reasons that it should be, however. Assuming that you live in a western country with good banking regulation, you likely have deposit insurance or a similar scheme.  Here in Canada we are covered up to $100,000 in a single account with various limitations.  At least my rainy-day account plus savings is nowhere near that, so I'm good to go. That said, however, having a large lump of money in an account you regularly use may tempt you more than you can stand.  That iPad, car, home improvement, etc., might be too easy to buy knowing you have relatively easy access to that money. So it really becomes a self-discipline question. Good Luck

Yea, people just don't get it. This is how much it costs to run and promote events. The reason Ticketmaster exists as a so-called monopoly is because local/regional promoters were getting killed by poor attendance on too many shows. So Ticketmaster came into existence because they were spreading the losses/profits of individual shows across the national spectrum. Additionally, bands started to ask for more and more money (in the form of upfront guarantees), and this has worsened since CD sales have collapsed and touring is their primary form of income.

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Here is my perception of the situation, obtained from reading Degiro's Client Agreement. If Degiro shuts down, it will notify you about the fact at least one month in advance, and you will have enough time to order a transfer of your positions to a different broker. If Degiro shuts down unexpectedly, your assets will remain to be held at SPV, a separate legal entity which Degiro uses to hold the financial instruments belonging to the clients. Since SPV does nothing else but holding the assets, it is very unlikely that something bad will happen with it on its own. With some help from Degiro and/or the regulator (AFM) you should be able to transfer your assets from SPV to a different custodian and broker and thus regain control over them. If you have a non-Custody account, you have slightly higher chances of losing your assets, because Degiro can borrow your securities held at SPV. If both the client for whom Degiro borrowed a security and Degiro itself go bankrupt at the same time, the lent security will not be returned to SPV, there will arise a shortage, which will be proportionally distributed among the accounts of the clients holding this particular security. However, then the investor compensation scheme should kick in and help you recover up to 20000 EUR of your losses.


Question: How to calculate cost basis for stock bought before a company spinoff? (USA)

Your brokerage account statement should report the Questar cost basis adjusted for the spinoff (and would have done so starting the day the spinoff happened), shifting the portion of it over to your shiny new QEP stock based on the opening price. At what price did you buy into Questar? The Questar IR site also has a document with more detail.

"Companies normally do not give you X% of shares, but in effect give you a fixed ""N"" number of shares. The ""N"" may translate initially to X%, but this can go down. If say we began with 100 shares, A holding 50 shares and B holding 50 shares. As the startup grows, there is need for more money. Create 50 more shares and sell it at an arranged price to investor C. Now the percentage of each investor is 33.33%. The money that comes in will go to the company and not to A & B.   From here on, A & C together can decide to slowly cut out B by, for example: After any of the above the % of shares held by B would definitely go down."

> 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!

And then there is the issue of people who actually don't intend to reduce the size of their loan. They only want to pay the interest, so their debt with the bank remains constant. If you are upside down, it means you will not have the financial means to remove the debt. If, for some reason, you are no longer able to pay the bank, you might lose the house. After that you will have no house, but you still have a debt with the bank.

I will never tip an Uber driver unless it's something seriously extraordinary. I've used it for a while and still do and the prices are the same. I've talked to many, many drivers and they all talk about the money they make and the hours they work. No thanks, there's no way I'm going to start doing that all the sudden and I'm not going to feel guilty for not either. This was a big part of why I liked Uber in the first place.

G spread - you have a 5.5 year bond, you take your yield minus the yield on the 5.5y point (interpolated) of the benchmark sovereign curve. Think of G = Government.      I Spread - same as G Spread but you use the relevant Swap Curve. E.g. USD bond, compare against the USD Swaps curve. I = interpolated.      Z Spread - stands for zero volatility curve spread. You strip the swaps curve to get zero rates (i.e. Zero coupon rates for each tenor), then find the constant spread on top of each part of the curve's zero rates to arrive at your bond's yield.      In G and I Spread, you're basically discounting the bond's cash flows using one rate (i.e. The interpolated yield on the curve). With Z Spread, you're discounting using the entire portion of the curve that's relevant to your bond's maturity.

>It's called lacking empathy and compassion.  Or people like to keep their hard earned money. Don't paint somebody as greedy for trying to keep what they have earned.   >Until you've walked a mile in another person's shoes, it's hard to know what they've gone through and what they battle.  Everybody faces their own challenges in life, successful people don't let them become excuses.

I think that Westerners often overestimate how much influence the West has over developing countries, like those in Africa, and that there are a million other factors that most of the Western public simply doesn't see.   Yes, agricultural production has increased significantly because of Western (and Eastern) demand, which calls more children into laboring in those fields, because *that's just how it's always been done* in those cotton-producing countries. Of course, more business also means more income for those farmers, who you can bet your bottom dollar would ask consumers to buy MORE of their cotton, and not less.  Higher incomes leads to many other positives for the local and national economy, families, individuals and, yes, those children. That's not to say that schooling wouldn't be preferable to child labor, but (1) that's not ultimately our decision, and (2) that makes a quite questionable assumption that decent, affordable, accessible schooling even exists there.   So my assessment is that Western demand for cotton is a positive for the kids in Burkina Faso. What's more, I will guarantee you that even with all the failings and unpleasant parts of the world cotton commodity trade, Burkinabe cotton farmers would agree.


Question: In what ways can a public company ask for money?

"There are many different methods for a corporation to get money, but they mostly fall into three categories: earnings, debt and equity.  Earnings would be just the corporation's accumulation of cash due to the operation of its business. Perhaps if cash was needed for a particular reason immediately, a business may consider selling a division or group of assets to another party, and using the proceeds for a different part of the business. Debt is money that (to put it simply) the corporation legally must repay to the lender, likely with periodic interest payments. Apart from the interest payments (if any) and the principal (original amount leant), the lender has no additional rights to the value of the company. There are, basically, 2 types of corporate debt: bank debt, and bonds.  Bank debt is just the corporation taking on a loan from a bank. Bonds are offered to the public - ie: you could potentially buy a ""Tesla Bond"", where you give Tesla $1k, and they give you a stated interest rate over time, and principal repayments according to a schedule. Which type of debt a corporation uses will depend mostly on the high cost of offering a public bond, the relationships with current banks, and the interest rates the corporation thinks it can get from either method. Equity [or, shares] is money that the corporation (to put it simply) likely does not have a legal obligation to repay, until the corporation is liquidated (sold at the end of its life) and all debt has already been repaid. But when the corporation is liquidated, the shareholders have a legal right to the entire value of the company, after those debts have been paid. So equity holders have higher risk than debt holders, but they also can share in higher reward. That is why stock prices are so volatile - the value of each share fluctuates based on the perceived value of the entire company.  Some equity may be offered with specific rules about dividend payments - maybe they are required [a 'preferred' share likely has a stated dividend rate almost like a bond, but also likely has a limited value it can ever receive back from the corporation], maybe they are at the discretion of the board of directors, maybe they will never happen. There are 2 broad ways for a corporation to get money from equity: a private offering, or a public offering. A private offering could be a small mom and pop store asking their neighbors to invest 5k so they can repair their business's roof, or it could be an 'Angel Investor' [think Shark Tank] contributing significant value and maybe even taking control of the company. Perhaps shares would be offered to all current shareholders first. A public offering would be one where shares would be offered up to the public on the stock exchange, so that anyone could subscribe to them. Why a corporation would use any of these different methods depends on the price it feels it could get from them, and also perhaps whether there are benefits to having different shareholders involved in the business [ie: an Angel investor would likely be involved in the business to protect his/her investment, and that leadership may be what the corporation actually needs, as much or more than money]. Whether a corporation chooses to gain cash from earnings, debt, or equity depends on many factors, including but not limited to: (1) what assets / earnings potential it currently has; (2) the cost of acquiring the cash [ie: the high cost of undergoing a public offering vs the lower cost of increasing a bank loan]; and (3) the ongoing costs of that cash to both the corporation and ultimately the other shareholders - ie: a 3% interest rate on debt vs a 6% dividend rate on preferred shares vs a 5% dividend rate on common shares [which would also share in the net value of the company with the other current shareholders].  In summary: Earnings would be generally preferred, but if the company needs cash immediately, that may not be suitable. Debt is generally cheap to acquire and interest rates are generally lower than required dividend rates. Equity is often expensive to acquire and maintain [either through dividend payments or by reduction of net value attributable to other current shareholders], but may be required if a new venture is risky. ie: a bank/bondholder may not want to lend money for a new tech idea because it is too risky to just get interest from - they want access to the potential earnings as well, through equity."

Which begs the question how do you weed out those that are poor at handling money or would waste it versus those that know what to do with it? Just throwing it in the wind to anyone seems wasteful. Are there qualifications? I didn’t see that part.

No.  You will already have paid taxes on the gift you give to your wife, so there will be no tax savings.

Her current competence or incompetence and how she got the job is perfectly relevant. Obviously, and should be looked into in depth.  What isn't relevant is her studies 25 years ago. A 25-year-old Masters in computer security would be just as irrelevant, as the industry has changed drastically since that time.

"I think the question can be answered by realizing that whoever is buying the stock is buying it from someone who can do the same mathematics. Ask your son to imagine that everyone planned to buy the stock exactly one week before Christmas.  Would the price still be cheap?  The problem is that if everyone knows the price will go up, the people who own it already won't want to sell.  If you're buying something from someone who doesn't really want to sell it, you have to pay more to get it.  So the price goes up a week before Christmas, rather than after Christmas. But of course everyone else can figure this out too.  So they are going to buy 2 weeks before, but that means the price goes up 2 weeks before rather than 1 week.  You play this game over and over, and eventually the expected increased Christmas sales are ""priced in"".  But of course there is a chance people are setting the price based on a mistaken belief. So the winner isn't the person who buys just before the others, but rather the one who can more accurately predict what the sales will be (this is why insider trading is so tempting even if it's illegal).  The price you see right now represents what people anticipate the price will be in the future, what dividends are expected in the future, how much risk people think there is, and how that compares with other available investments."

The link provided by DumbCoder (below) is only relevant to UK resident investors and does not apply if you live in Malaysia.  I noticed that in a much older question you asked a similar question about taxes on US stocks, so I'll try and answer both situations here. The answer is almost the same for any country you decide to invest in.  As a foreign investor, the country from which you purchase stock cannot charge you tax on either income or capital gains. Taxation is based on residency, so even when you purchase foreign stock its the tax laws of Malaysia (as your country of residence) that matter. At the time of writing, Malaysia does not levy any capital gains tax and there is no income tax charged on dividends so you won't have to declare or pay any tax on your stocks regardless of where you buy them from. The only exception to this is Dividend Withholding Tax, which is a special tax taken by the government of the country you bought the stock from before it is paid to your account. You do not need to declare this tax as it his already been taken by the time you receive your dividend. The rate of DWT that will be withheld is unique to each country.  The UK does not have any withholding tax so you will always receive the full dividend on UK stocks.  The withholding tax rate for the US is 30%.  Other countries vary. For most countries that do charge a withholding tax, it is possible to have this reduced to 15% if there is a double taxation treaty in place between the two countries and all of the following are true: Note: Although the taxation rules of both countries are similar, I am a resident of Singapore not Malaysia so I can't speak from first hand experience, but current Malaysia tax rates are easy to find online. The rest of this information is common to any non-US/UK resident investor (as long as you're not a US person).

Considering I'm putting 30% down and having my father cosign is there   any chance I would be turned down for a loan on a $100k car? According to BankRate, the average credit score needed to buy a new car is 714, but they also show average interest rates at 6.39% for new-car loans to people with credit scores in the 601-660 range. High income certainly helps offset credit score to some extent.  Not every bank/dealership does things the same way. Being self-employed you'd most likely be required to show 2 years of tax returns, and they'd use those as a basis for your income rather than whatever you have made recently. If using a co-signer, their income matters. Another key factor is debt to income ratio, if too much of someone's income is already spoken for by other debts a lender will shy away. So, yes, there's a chance, given all the information we don't know and the variability with lender policies, that you could be turned down for a car loan. How should I go about this? If you're set on pursuing the car loan, just go talk to some lenders. You'll want to shop around for a good rate anyway, so no need to speculate just go find out. Include the dealership as a potential financing option, they can have great rates. Personally, I'd get a much cheaper car. Your insurance premium on a 100k car will be quite high due to your age. You might be rightly confident in your earning potential, but nothing is guaranteed, situations can change wildly in short order. A new car is not a good investment or a value-retaining asset, so why bother going into debt for one if you don't have to? If you buy something in cash now, you could upgrade in a few years without financing if your earning prediction holds and would save quite a bit in car insurance and interest over the years between.

So, *exactly* as I had posited:  The perfect medium for theft.  Somebody has to discover your address, and track it from there.  It's like saying private key encryption is easy to break; all you need is the private key and it all unfolds.


Question: Medical Bill Consolidation

There are definitely ways to retroactively consolidate medical bills -- there's an entire industry of companies offering debt consolidation (many of which are scummy/predatory, be careful! See https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0150-coping-debt and some decent articles at http://blog.readyforzero.com/are-there-legitimate-debt-consolidation-loans and http://blog.readyforzero.com/how-to-find-a-reputable-debt-consolidation-company). In general, what you are looking to do is take out a loan, possibly at a better interest rate than whatever you are being charged currently, and pay off the medical bills. If you are not paying interest on the medical bills and are just being allowed to spread out the payments, you are already golden and should just put up with the ups and downs. If you have any equity in a home, take out a home equity loan or line of credit, pay off your medical bills. Rates are still great right now. Even if you have no home equity to tap, if you have a steady job you might be able to get a nice small loan from a local bank or peer-to-peer lending site. Do your homework and only work with reputable companies, especially if doing things online.

From you question I understand that you are not an Indian citizen, are staying in India, and transferring your funds for your living / expenses in India. There is no limit on such transfers and the amount is not taxed.   The tax comes into picture if you are treated as a resident in India from a tax perspective. Even then the tax is not because you have transferred the funds into India, but the policy of taxing global income. The article at http://www.pwc.in/en_IN/in/assets/pdfs/foreign-nationals-working-in-india.pdf should give you more inputs.

So ummm did you know there's a film coming out? Something about some religious cult in the future and an insurgency or something, they all fight with laser swords. I wonder how they get the news out about that?  You are getting hit by ads, you just don't think they're ads. That's cool, I do too. Everyone does.   You're on reddit as well, there's a shitload of advertising content on here.

I'd have a good look at how much anonymity an LLC offers in your state - as far as I'm aware this varies from state to state. Out here in NV an LLC owner's privacy is supposedly fairly well protected, but in other states, not quite as much. Also keep in mind that while the LLC offers some protection (and I'm a big advocate of this sort of structure if you're taking larger risks that might have a big impact on your overall personal finances), this might not apply to financing. A lot of banks tend to require an LLC's owner to guarantee loans to an LLC once they go over a certain amount or even in general. Do some research in this area because the LLC would be worth less as a protective shield to you if you're on the hook for the full amount of the loans anyway.

US government bonds and bonds issued by companies with a safe track record and consistently high ratings, for the past years, by credit agencies. But the time line of your investment, which is quite short, maybe a factor of choosing the right bonds. If you are not going to touch the money then CD maybe an option or an interest bearing savings account.

You're losing money. And a lot of it. Consider this: the inflation is 2-4% a year (officially, depending on your spending pattern your own rate might be quite higher). You earn about 1/2%. I.e.: You're losing 3% a year. Guaranteed. You can do much better without any additional risk. 0.1% on savings account? Why not 0.9%? On-line savings account (Ally, CapitalOne-360, American Express, E*Trade, etc) give much higher rates than what you have. Current Ally rates are 0.9% on a regular savings account. 9 times more than what you have, with no additional risk: its a FDIC insured deposit. You can get a slightly higher rate with CDs (0.97% at the same bank for 12 months deposit). IRA - why is it in CD's? Its the longest term investment you have, that's where you can and should take risks, to maximize your compounding returns. Not doing that is actually more risky to you because you're guaranteeing compounding loss, of the said 3% a year. On average, more volatile stock investments have shown to be not losing money over periods of decades, even if they do lose money over shorter periods. Rental - if you can buy a property that you would pay the same amount of money for as for a comparable rental - you should definitely buy. Your debt will be secured by the property, and since you're paying the same amount or less - you're earning the equity. There's no risk here, just benefits, which again you chose to forgo. In the worst case if you default and walk away from the property you lost exactly (or less) what you would have paid for a rental anyway. 14 years old car may be cheaper than 4 years old to buy, but consider the maintenance, licensing and repairs - will it not some up to more than the difference? In my experience - it is likely to. Bottom line - you think you're risk averse, but you're exactly the opposite of that.

Supply and demand for a particular bond may be such that the market price exceeds the par value for the bond at maturity. This is when you get a negative yield. Especially when volatility is high, people will actually pay money to park it in treasuries for an amount of time. But when compared to a > 25% vol in the equities market over that same period, taking a 5% or less hit doesn't sound nearly as bad!

"Does he need to file a tax return in this situation? Will the IRS be concerned that he did not file even if he received a 1099? No. However, if you don't file the IRS may come back asking why, or ""make up"" a return for you assuming that the whole amount on the 1099-MISC is your net earnings. So in the end, I suspect you'll end up filing even though you don't have to, just to prove that you don't have to. Bottom line - if you have 1099 income (or any other income reported to the IRS that brings you over the filing threshold), file a return."


Question: 401k Rollover - on my own or through my financial advisor?

Call up vanguard and tell them you want to do a rollover.  They walk you through the process.  Spend some time on reading up on asset allocation and benefits of indexing.   1.5% every year is steep and what do you have in return?  The advisor's word that he'll make it up.  How much did he manage to return during the last lost decade?   It's a lose-win situation.  He'll get his 1.5% no matter how the market does but that's not the deal you are getting. Go with Vanguard.  You are already thinking correctly - diversification, rebalancing, low cost!

The psychology around money is the subject of a lifetime of study.  Your observations are not uncommon.  The market daily fluctuation is out of our control. Hopefully, by the time the 1% volatility impacts you by say $1,000, you'll have grown accustomed to it, so when the 1% is then $10,000, you won't lose sleep. The difference between the $1000 up/down and the $3 sandwich is simple - one is in your control, the other isn't.  When you're out, you need to try to cut down on the math, it will only bring you unhappiness. You're paying for the socializing and can't let the individual items on the check bother you. I'm at the point in my life when I prefer a more expensive restaurant meal that I can't make at home to a moderate one that I'd make myself. For me, that logic works, and it's not keeping us home. Funny how my own sense of value for the dollar pushes me to a more expensive experience, but one that I'll enjoy.  By the way - eBay has done an amazing thing, it's created a market for you to sell your stuff, but it's also pulled everyone's collection of junk out for sale. Books I thought might be worth selling go for $1-$2 plus shipping. It's not worth my time or effort, and I need to just break the emotional ties to 'stuff.' I box them up and bring them to the library for their sale. If that picture frame isn't antique, throw it out or have a yard sale.  This may be right on track to your question or a complete tangent....

Did you read the second paragraph?  **The program was designed to loot the defeated Germany's intellectual assets and impede its ability to compete in the postwar political and economic spheres while giving a boost to the nations conducting it. Though unacknowledged at the time, the T-Force mission also included preventing advanced Nazi technology from falling into the hands of the Soviet Union—destroying whatever could not be seized and hauled away before Soviet troops arrived. As such, T-Force activities can be seen as the beginning of the Cold War. Operations in Germany were often heavy-handed, and sometimes amounted to kidnapping. Publicly available information on the unit's activities remains scarce.**

The growth of Panamanian economy and the fact that Panama has become an important regional investment center has required that Kraemer & Kraemer. As attorneys acquire considerable experience in multidisciplinary practices. We are the top most Law firm in Panama. You need to ensure that you pick top Panama law offices that comprehend the interchange between the laws of Panama and your nation of origin.

There may be more, but a good starting point would be the ecoENERGY Retrofit Grants and Incentives.  Natural Resources Canada's ecoENERGY Retrofit program provides financial support to implement energy-saving projects. There are different application processes for homes, commercial and institutional buildings and industrial facilities. Together we can reduce energy-related greenhouse gases and air pollution, leading to a cleaner environment for Canada. Also, there was a temporary home renovation tax credit about a year back, but that no longer exists and nothing has replaced it yet.

Many of the Bitcoin exchanges mimic stock exchanges, though they're much more rudimentary offering only simple buy/sell/cancel orders.  It's fairly normal for retail stock brokerage accounts to allow other sorts of more complex orders, where once a certain criteria is met, (the price falls below some $ threshold, or has a movement greater than some %) then your order is executed.  The space between the current buy order and the current sell order is the bid/ask spread, it's not really about timing.  Person X will buy at $100, person Y will sell at $102.  If both had a price set at $101, they would just transact.  Both parties think they can do a little bit better than the current offer.  The width of the bid/ask spread is not universal by any means.  The current highest buy order and the current lowest sell order, are both the current price.  The current quoted market price is generally the price of the last transaction, whether it's buy or sell.

"This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-30/bilnd-recruitment-trial-to-improve-gender-equality-failing-study/8664888) reduced by 79%. (I'm a bot) ***** > Blind recruitment means recruiters cannot tell the gender of candidates because those details are removed from applications.  > In a bid to eliminate sexism, thousands of public servants have been told to pick recruits who have had all mention of their gender and ethnic background stripped from their CVs. The assumption behind the trial is that management will hire more women when they can only consider the professional merits of candidates.  > Professor Hiscox said he discussed the trial with the ABS and did not consider it a rigorous or randomised control trial, warning against any &quot;Magic pill&quot; solution.   ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/6kpwlj/study_more_men_hired_in_genderblind_job/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ ""Version 1.65, ~157123 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*: **trial**^#1 **candidate**^#2 **public**^#3 **women**^#4 **more**^#5"

"Not to be a downer...but: Another thing to consider is an update to your ""accounts document"". By that I mean, your list of banks, account numbers, insurance policies, access information, etc. I'm told that keeping this information up to date and attached to your will can make a lot of things go far smoother in the event of an untimely passing. I should probably get on that myself..."


Question: What does quantitative easing 2 mean for my bank account?

QE2 will mean that there are about $500 billion dollars in existence which weren't there before. These dollars will all be competing with the existing dollars for real goods and services, so each dollar will be worth a little less, and prices will rise a little. This is inflation. You can probably expect 1.5%-2% annual inflation for the US dollar over the next several years (the market certainly does in the aggregate, anyway). This is in terms of US-based goods and services. QE2 will also reduce the amount of other currencies you can get for the same dollar amount. The extent to which this will occur is less clear, in part because other currencies are also considering quantitative easing. Your long-term savings should probably not be in cash anyway, because of the low returns; this will probably affect you far more than the impact of quantitative easing. As for your savings which do remain in cash, what you should do with them depends on how you plan to dispose of them. The value of a currency is usually pretty stable in terms of the local economy's output of goods and services - it's the value in international trade which tends to fluctuate wildly. If you keep your savings in the same currency you plan to spend them in, they should be able to maintain their value decently well in the intermediate term.

I don't think that you totally get it.  From the article: >What if you created a website that printed out emails, texts or photos from your computer, Facebook or Instagram and mailed them for you in the plain white envelopes these institutions favored?

In practice the IRS seems to apply the late payment penalty when they issue a written paper notice.  Those notices typically have a pay-by date where no additional penalty applies.  The IRS will often waive penalties, but not interest or tax due, if the taxpayer presses the issue.

Let's say they paid you: $300K a year or $3M...would that change your tune?   I've seen the upper end of Hollywood types be absolutely horrid to great people and they will gladly suck it up.  Reason: 1) there is little choice--low percentage of success, 2) All or nothing environment and 3) there is a huge line of people who would kill to have this abusive job.

Laser hair removal isn't permanent, you have to have several sessions to get all of the hair, each session costing hundreds. And then it may only last a few years before you have hair growing back again. It's not worth the money unless you have such a large amount that you can throw away several thousand. As others have said, either buy blades in bulk or get a straight razor. They will be much more economical in both the short term and long term.

You shouldn't technically be able to over pay. I have some share dividends set to pay into my account but one of them took me over the limit so the payment was diverted to another account and they sent me a letter. Pretty sure they would do this with any payment.

Mervis Diamonds specializes in diamond engagement rings and wedding bands, diamond studs, and much more. With their roots at diamond mines in South Africa, they maintain strong relationships and import all their own diamonds. Every stone they have has been hand selected by Zed Mervis for superior Cut and brilliance.

yeah, I was going to say that if your internship ends and you have no other option, you might as well take it for the experience and the chance to stay in the company until something more suited to your educational background comes along. Or you may actually like sales...


Question: Tax exemptions for US stocks held in a Candian account

The dividend tax credit is not applicable to foreign dividend income, so you would be taxed fully on every dollar of that income. When you sell a stock, there will be a capital gain or capital loss depending on if it gained or lost value, after accounting for the Adjusted Cost Base. You only pay income tax on half of the amount earned through capital gains, and if you have losses, you can use them to offset other investments that had capital gains (or carry forward to offset gains in the future).  The dividends from US stocks are subject to a 15% withholding tax that gets paid to the IRS automatically when the dividends are issued. If the stocks are held in an RRSP, they are exempt from the withholding tax. If held in a non-registered account, you can be reimbursed for the tax by claiming the foreign tax credit that you linked to. If held in a TFSA or RESP, the withholding tax cannot be recovered. Also, if you are not directly holding the stocks, and instead buy a mutual fund or ETF that directly holds the stocks, then the RRSP exemption no longer applies, but the foreign tax credit is still claimable for a non-registered account. If the mutual fund or ETF does not directly hold stocks, and instead holds one or more ETFs, there is no way to recover the withholding tax in any type of account.

"While JoeTaxpayer gave a very insightful answer, and clearly the best answer, let me break it down really simple for you. Talk with a good to great property management company. Given that you will be out of state, you will need one anyway.  A good one is worth their cost, a great one even better.   They will tell you what the ""market will bear"" on renting your place and the expected costs.  From there you can make an intelligent decision.   Have you had any experience in running rental properties?  I am going to assume not, and as such you should have professionals as part of your team.   More than likely you will have to put money in to sustain this property as a rental.  It is just how the numbers tend to work out."

"Before we all argue about his pricing, blah blah - let me explain to you how he absolutely fleeced consumers under the guise of helping them.  JCPenney had a handful of sales strategies:  * 40% off  * 50% off  * Buy one, get one for $0.01  * Buy one, get one for $0.99  * 60% off  * Green tag clearance (where things were up to 90% off discounted prices; items as low as $0.97)  What he did was basically eliminate all of the different kind of sales and just discount a straight 40%.  Meaning that before, when you were ""screwed"", the worst you would do is their ""everyday low pricing"" today. If you went in and bought at their worst 40% sale, you got exactly what he offers you right now. If you were lucky and went in at a better time, you actually saved more, generally around 50% with BOGO-type of stuff.  Not only that, he killed coupons. This is where you could really rake. You would:  * Save money with your JCP card  * $10 off orders of $25  * $10 off orders of $30  * $10 off orders of $50 / $15 off $75 / $25 off $100  Again, these all varied, but you could stack coupons on top of savings.  Shoppers (like me) stopped going there because the savings ceased to exist. We're not stupid, but he played us like we were and he counted on people's outrage of sales to dupe them. As you can see by the scheme I've shown, you not only saved more before, but way more. And the argument that it's better now is patently false because their prices are identical to their worst sale without any coupons.  Why do you think the red stickers go over the price? Because they want to hide it. The same items at Kohls have the sticker from Union Bay or whoever on it. It's all the same MSRP. It's just that he tried to fool the shoppers he didn't have with false outrage, but alienated the rest of the shoppers who look at their receipt."

I guess I should put it this way.   I'm ok with a minimum wage . . . and I'm ok with raising it over time and gradually but people who try to argue that it should be a living wage are insane and don't truly understand the full ramifications that that entails.

If you hold a future plus enough cash collateral it is economically equivalent to owning the underlying asset or shorting the underlying asset. In general financial assets such as stock indices have a positive expected return - that's the main difference between investing and gambling. There's nothing that special about futures, they are just another contractual form of asset ownership.  Well, one difference is that regulations or brokerages allow individual investors more leverage with options and futures than with straight borrowing. But this is more a regulatory issue than a conceptual issue with the securities themselves. In theory regulators or brokers could require you to hold enough collateral to make a future equivalent to buying the underlying.

OP, I'd wait until you see the itemized list. And then go from there.   From the sound of it, it seems that the repairs is pretty major. I'd double check the lease contract to see if there were any clauses/term that made the tenant responsible. This could be from appliances to repairs.

"The simplest argument for overpayment is this: Let's suppose your fixed rate mortgage has an interest rate of 4.00%. Every £1 you can afford to overpay gives you a guaranteed effective return of 4.00% gross. Yes your monthly mortgage payment will stay the same; however, the proportion of it that's paying off interest every month will be less, and the amount that's actually going into acquiring the bricks and mortar of your home will be greater. So in a sense your returns are ""inverted"" i.e. because every £1 you overpay is £1 you don't need to keep paying 4% a year to continue borrowing. In your case this return will be locked away for a few more years, until you can remortgage the property. However, compared to some other things you could do with your excess £1s, this is a very generous and safe return that is well above the average rate of UK inflation for the past ten years. Let's compare that to some other options for your extra £1s: Cash savings: The most competitive rate I can currently find for instant access is 1.63% from ICICI. If you are prepared to lock your money away until March 2020, Melton Mowbray Building Society has a fixed rate bond that will pay you 2.60% gross. On these accounts you pay income tax at your marginal rate on any interest received. For a basic rate taxpayer that's 20%. If you're a higher rate taxpayer that means 40% of this interest is deducted as tax. In other words: assuming you pay income tax at one of these rates, to get an effective return of 4.00% on cash savings you'd have to find an account paying: Cash ISAs: these accounts are tax sheltered, so the income tax equation isn't an issue. However, the best rate I can find on a 4 year fixed rate cash ISA is 2.35% from Leeds Building Society. As you can see, it's a long way below the returns you can get from overpaying. To find returns such as that you would have to take a lot more risk with your money – for example: Stock market investments: For example, an index fund tracking the FTSE 100 (UK-listed blue chip companies) could have given you a total return of 3.62% over the last 3 years (past performance does not equal future returns). Over a longer time period this return should be better – historical performance suggests somewhere between 5 to 6% is the norm. But take a closer look and you'll see that over the last six months of 2015 this fund had a negative return of 6.11%, i.e. for a time you'd have been losing money. How would you feel about that kind of volatility? In conclusion: I understand your frustration at having locked in to a long term fixed rate (effectively insuring against rates going up), then seeing rates stay low for longer than most commentators thought. However, overpaying your mortgage is one way you can turn this situation into a pretty good deal for yourself – a 4% guaranteed return is one that most cash savers would envy. In response to comments, I've uploaded a spreadsheet that I hope will make the numbers clearer. I've used an example of owing £100k over 25 years at an unvarying 4% interest, and shown the scenarios with and without making a £100/month voluntary overpayment, assuming your lender allows this. Here's the sheet: https://www.scribd.com/doc/294640994/Mortgage-Amortization-Sheet-Mortgage-Overpayment-Comparison After one year you have made £1,200 in overpayments. You now owe £1,222.25 less than if you hadn't overpaid.  After five years you owe £6,629 less on your mortgage, having overpaid in £6,000 so far. Should you remortgage at this point that £629 is your return so far, and you also have £6k more equity in the property.  If you keep going: After 65 months you are paying more capital than interest out of your monthly payment. This takes until 93 months without overpayments. In total, if you keep up £100/month overpayment, you pay £15,533 less interest overall, and end your mortgage six years early. You can play with the spreadsheet inputs to see the effect of different overpayment amounts. Hope this helps."

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.