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Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Can this year's free extension-to-pay be filed electronically? IRS Form 1127 | Form 1127 (updated link) should be filed in paper (with the supporting documents) to the IRS office that has jurisdiction in the area where you live. From the instructions (see the link above): File Form 1127 with the Internal Revenue Service (Attn: Advisory Group Manager), for the area where you maintain your legal... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Why credit cards are sold through banks and not from Visa or MasterCard directly | Visa and Mastercard are not consumer-oriented companies. They do not consider individual consumers as their direct clients, and do not sell directly to them. Instead, their clients are financial institutions who participate in their networks (which is what they're selling). The institutions target the individual consum... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | In a competitive market, why is movie theater popcorn expensive? | One explanation is that movie patrons are considering their total willingness to pay for the movie experience so that if the ticket price plus the market price of popcorn is less than their willingness to pay (WTP), the theater has an opportunity to extract more consumer surplus by charging higher than market prices fo... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Why isn't money spent on necessities deductible from your taxes? | "Law is a mass of special cases, informed by but not driven by some general principles. Tax law likewise. Don't try to make it make sense; you will only confuse yourself. Not all ""necessities"" are deductable, only those which someone has explicitly passed a law to make deductable." |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | My account's been labeled as “day trader” and I got a big margin call. What should I do? What trades can I place in the blocked period? | The SEC considers a day trade to be any trade that is opened and closed within the same trading day, and considers a day trader to be any trader that completes 4 or more day trades within 5 business days. If so they would label you day trader and in the US you are required to have at least $25K in your account. Maybe t... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | using credit card and paying back quickly | Yes, however you would have to wait for the $900 to actually be available in your credit card account if making the transaction from an account from another bank or provider, as it usually might take one to two business days for this to happen. If both the chequing account and credit card account are with the same ban... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Can I do periodic rollovers from my low-perfoming 401k to an IRA? | "There are certain allowable reasons to withdraw money from a 401K. The desire to free your money from a ""bad"" plan is not one of them. A rollover is a special type of withdrawal that is only available after one leaves their current employer. So as long as you stay with your current company, you cannot rollover. ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | As an American working in the UK, do I have to pay taxes on foreign income? | Short answer: it's complicated. The UK govt pages on foreign income are probably your best starting point: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/LeavingOrComingIntoTheUK/DG_10027480 As you can see, it depends on your precise residence status here. (There is a tax treaty between the UK and the US so you... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | How can I find out what category a merchant falls into for my credit card's cashback program? [duplicate] | Not clear what you're asking. Are you trying to figure out their SIC/NAISC classification? That tells you the business category they fall into, but there's no simple, instant way to find that out. Much also depends on how the credit card issuer has classified them and how they arrived at that information. They may h... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Gift card fraud: To whom to report? How to recover funds? Is the party which issued me the card liable? | Citibank just sent me a $100 check. Here's how I got it: |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | How does on-demand insurance company Trov prevent insurance fraud or high prices? | Anything can be insured for the right price... this product is offered for devices at higher risk, which would be logical purpose of owner needing coverage for a specific length of time. Typically this would be a type of adverse selection, but TROV targets customers that typically would not require insurance on their d... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Personal Tax Deduction for written work to a recognized 501c3 | "If it's work you'd be producing specifically for this organization, that would not be deductable. Per Publication 526, Charitable Deductions, ""You can't deduct the value of your time or services, including: … The value of income lost while you work as an unpaid volunteer for a qualified organization."" On the other h... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | I'm currently unemployed and have been offered a contract position. Do I need to incorporate myself? How do I do it? | In short - if you can't get the job without incorporating, then incorporate! Some clients will require you to be incorporated (which is why I did it 10 years ago). Essentially, for them, it's a way of distancing themselves from you to ensure they are not responsible for any monies if you don't pay your taxes. For you... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Working in Iran for foreign company | You should talk to a lawyer who's familiar with the matter. I'm not such a lawyer. For the best of my understanding, at least with regards to the US, the answer to all three of your questions is no. Legally, a US company cannot employ Iranian residents and transfer money to Iran. However, I know of Iranians working in ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | How can I estimate the value of private stock behind employee stock options? | "Okay, I'm going to give you my opinion based on experience; not any technical understanding. The options - by themselves - are pretty meaningless in terms of determining their value. The business plan going forward, their growth expectations, the additional options to be authorized, the additional preferred stock offe... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | understand taxes when geting money from a project built long time ago plus my full time job | You need to register as self-employed with HMRC (it is perfectly fine to be self-employed and employed by an employer at the same time, in exactly your kind of situation). Then, when the income arrives you will need to declare it on your yearly tax return. HMRC information about registering for self-employment and dec... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Filing 1040-NR when I have been outside the US the entire year? | Yes, you can still file a 1040nr. You are a nonresident alien and were: engaged in a trade or business in the United States Normally, assuming your withholding was correct, you would get a minimal amount back. Income earned in the US is definitely Effectively Connected Income and is taxed at the graduated rates that... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Is buying a lottery ticket considered an investment? | There is a clear difference between investing and gambling. When you invest, you are purchasing an asset that has value. It is purchased in the hopes that the asset will either increase in value or generate income. This definition holds true whether you are investing in shares of stock, in real estate, or in a comic b... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Is there any way to pay online in a country with no international banking system | According to Paypal, they support transactions in Ethiopia: https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/country-worldwide https://developer.paypal.com/docs/classic/api/country_codes/ However those appear to be limited to transferring money out of the country. (link) There is an article here (link) which talks about how to tra... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | How to incentivize a real-estate broker to find me a cheap house | "Here in the U.S., a realtor can act as a ""seller's agent"" or a ""buyer's agent"". I think what you are calling a ""broker"" in the U.S. we call a ""buyer's agent"", and this may just be a difference in terminology, from your post it sounds like the concept is the same. I am answering from a U.S. perspective, please ... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | How can online trading platforms be trustworthly? | In most countries trading platforms are legally required to be overseen by a regulator, in the US this is the SEC (Securities and Exchanges Commission). This regulatory oversight is required in order to operate (i.e. have clients) in that country and the company will lose the right to operate in that country if they do... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Why do banks encourage me to use online bill payment? | Another reason for banks to push this is sitckyness. Once you have all of your bills setup, its more trouble to change banks. This reduces the customer turnover rate, which lowers their costs. |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Form as LLC or S Corp to reduce tax liability | "This is actually quite a complicated issue. I suggest you talk to a properly licensed tax adviser (EA/CPA licensed in your State). Legal advice (from an attorney licensed in your State) is also highly recommended. There are many issues at hand here. Income - both types of entities are pass-through, so ""earnings"" are... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Good at investing - how to turn this into a job? | Staying in Idaho, you could pursue some additional degree and try to get a job with a bank in the area as an investment advisor of some sort. However, I have doubts as to whether or not you'd be able to employ your creativity and test your own instincts in that sort of a position. If you really want to get into the big... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Alternatives to Intuit's PayTrust service for online bill viewing and bill payment? | Ally bank has a free billpay service where you have the option of paying bills via eBills. Though I use Ally's billPay service (and I write about my experience with Ally in my blog), I haven't used eBills, but from reading your question, looks like this is what you are looking for. From Ally's site: What are eBills? An... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Is Stock Trading legal for a student on F-1 Visa in USA? [duplicate] | As an F1 student, I have been investing (and occasionally buying and selling within few weeks) for several years, and I have never had problems (of course I report to IRS gains/losses every year at tax time). On the other hand, the officer in charge of foreign students at my school advised me to not run ads on a websit... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Does a restaurant have to pay tax on a discount? | In almost any jurisdiction, the restaurant will pay tax on the amount after the discount. Discounting is just a selective way to reduce prices for particular clients and thus achieve some degree of price discrimination. It's no different in principle to cutting prices for everyone or having a sale or similar. It would ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Can my brother fix his credit? | Well, he could negotiate with the bank to pay off the loan before the foreclosure takes effect. That would obviously cost him a large pile of cash but might remove the foreclosure, and possibly the late payments, from his record. But the real answer is that, having signed the note, he should have been making sure payme... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Should I pay half a large balance this month before I get my CC statement? | Utilization is near real-time. What that means is that what is reported is what is taken in terms of debt-to-income (DTI) ratios. When a mortgage broker pulls your credit, they will pull the latest balances with the minimum payments. This is what is taken to determine DTI along with your gross monthly income. If you do... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Money put down on home | I cannot emphasize enough how important it is, when you buy a house with someone you are not married to, to make a legal agreement on how the money should be divided when you sell. I know it's too late for you, but I write this for anyone else reading this answer. From a legal point of view, if you made no agreement ot... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Saving for retirement without employer sponsored plan | I'm looking for ways to geared to save for retirement, not general investment. Many mutual fund companies offer a range of target retirement funds for different retirement dates (usually in increments of 5 years). These are funds of funds, that is, a Target 2040 Fund, say, will be invested in five or six different stoc... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Why will the bank only loan us 80% of the value of our fully paid for home? | 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 collate... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Lend money at a rate linked to the prime rate | Yes. In the US these are called certificates of deposit or savings accounts. Every run-of-the-mill bank offers them. You give the bank money and in return they pay you an interest rate that is some fraction of or (negative) offset from the returns they expect to make from your money. Since most investments that a ba... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Is Bogleheadism (index fund investing) dead? | The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated. - Twain I use index funds in my retirement planning, but don't stick to just S&P 500 index funds. Suppose I balance my money 50/50 between Small Cap and Large Cap and say I have $10,000. I'd buy $5,000 of an S&P Index fund and $5,000 of a Russell 2000 index fund. ... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Is it legal to receive/send “gifts” of Non-Trivial Amounts to a “friend”? | "Am I right to say that no tax needs to be given for the annual ~$130k USD, since they are considered as annual gift tax exclusion? Not only that you're wrong, but it also looks like a tax fraud, not just mere avoidance. You'll have hard time proving to any judge or jury that the gifts are ""in good faith"". By the w... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Why do credit cards have minimum limits? | I believe it's just to limit the less well-off from acquiring one. If your credit history and income do not support a $15,000 credit limit, then don't even think about applying for an Altitude Black card. If they do, then don't bother with a student card. It's primarily about market segmentation by wealth or income. |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | What mix of credit lines and loans is optimal for my credit score? | Over time, you'll have more loans, maybe a few store cards, mortgage, car loan, etc. I'm a fan of maximizing one's wealth, and the small rebate/reward adds up over time, so I'm not against the store cards, so long as you always pay the bill in full. As far as FICO is concerned, what they 'like' to see may not necessa... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Taxation from variations in currency | Here is the technical guidance from the accounting standard FRS 23 (IAS 21) 'The Effects of Changes in Foreign Exchange Rates' which states: Exchange differences arising on the settlement of monetary items or on translating monetary items at rates different from those at which they were translated on initial recognit... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Strategies for saving and investing in multiple foreign currencies | If you want to use that money and maybe don't have the time to wait a few years if things should go bad, than you will definitely want to hold a good bunch of your money in the currency you buy most stuff with (so in most cases the currency of the country you live in) even if it is more volatile. |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Would there be tax implications if I used AirBnB as opposed to just renting out a unit normally? | There's no tax difference between using AirBnB or Craigslist or any other method to find tenants. The rules relating to occupancy and frequency may be different for some purposes if you go from yearly or monthly tenants to daily-rate tenants. Your state and local authorities may in the future try to consider you a mot... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | What to do if a state and federal refund is denied direct deposit? | "It is not allowed to pay refunds to anyone other than the taxpayer. This is due to various tax return fraud schemes that were running around. Banks are required to enforce this. If the direct deposit is denied, a check will be issued. In her name, obviously. What she does with it when she gets it is her business - but... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Are there any e-commerce taxation rules in India? | There are no clear guidelines. If you are selling as individual, then what ever profit you make gets added to your overall income as you pay tax accordingly. This is true for sole proprietor or partnership kind of firms. If you are registered as a Company, the profits are taxed as business income. There may be VAT and ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Are reimbursements from company taxable,and do I need to deduct them? | "I'm assuming that you're in the US. In that case, the answer is that it depends on how your company set up its reimbursement plan. The IRS recognizes ""accountable"" and ""nonaccountable"" plans. Accountable plans have to meet certain requirements. Anything else is nonaccountable. If you are reimbursed according ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Rental Property - have someone look for you | Many real estate agents will assist with an apartment hunt, for a suitable fee. In a hot market that may be worth the money. Then again, my best finds were always through co-workers, after the first two. |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | How do I get a Tax Exemption Certificate for export from the US if I am in another country? | Assuming you are being charged sales tax, it all depends on where you take possession of the shipment. Are your suppliers shipping to a US address, say your freight forwarder, from where you handle the ongoing shipment, or directly to you in South America? If the latter, per Michael Pryor's answer, you should not be ch... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Free/open source Unix software that pulls info from all my banks/brokers/credit cards? | Gnucash uses aqbanking, so I'd suggest looking at aqbanking to see if it will do what you want. It seems to be actively developed (as of 26.2.2011), but the main page is in German and my German is a bit rusty... You might also try asking on the gnucash-users list. |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Creating S-Corp: Should I Name My Wife as a Director/Shareholder? | If you're creating an S-Corp for consulting services that you personally are going to provide, what would it give her to have 50% of the corporation when you're dead? Not to mention that you can just add it to your will that the corporation stock will go to her, and it will be much better (IMHO, talk to a professional)... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Why do credit cards require a minimum annual household income? | Here's one reason that's being overlooked in answers so far. (@ChrisInEdmonton, this is for your comment on @Chad's answer.) How do credit card companies make money? Sure, there's interest charges, but those are offset significantly by the cost of borrowing money, and by people defaulting on their debt / entering bankr... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Why is the total 401(k) contribution limit (employee + employer) so high? | "Because 401k's are also used by self employed. A person who has a schedule C profitable income can open a 401k and ""match"" in whatever ratio he wants, up to 25% of the net profits or the limits you stated. This allows self-employed to defer more income taxes to the future. Why only self-employed? Good question. Ask ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Should I take contributions out of my Roth IRA to live off of? | Take another job. From a personal finance perspective this is the wrong reason to dip into a retirement account. You will lose so much ground towards actually retiring. Sure you won't be taxed, but you will be missing so much opportunity where that money won't be working for your retirement. The off-topic answer to ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Withdraw USD from PayPal without conversion to my home currency of EUR? | I just tried doing that on my PP which is in the Netherlands, I have added a USD bank account (from my dutch bank) and they sent the verification amount in Euros, I called the bank and wonder why they didn't let me choose account currency they said it's not possible and if I cashout Dollars that I have in my PP (cause ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | How can I determine which stores are regarded as supermarkets for a rewards credit card? | Credit card companies organize types of businesses into different categories. (They charge different types of businesses different fees.) When a business first sets up their credit card processing merchant account, they need to specify the category. Here is a list of categories that Visa uses. Grocery stores and super... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | When should I walk away from my mortgage? | The value of debt is that it allows you to profit from the return of equity beyond the amount of actual net equity you own. Of course, this only works if the cost of borrowing is less than your return on equity. Market timing matters a great deal but isn't accounted for in this view. For my answer I would like to ha... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Multi-Account Budgeting Tools/Accounts/Services | IngDirect has this concept of sub accounts inside a main account - that might be perfect for what you are looking for. To clarify, you basically have one physical account with logical sub account groupings. |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Adding a 180 day expiration to checks | While you can print that on the check, it isn't considered legally binding. If you are concerned about a check not being deposited in a timely manner, consider purchasing a cashier's check instead. This doesn't solve the problem per se, but it transfers responsibility of tracking that check from you to the bank. |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Consumer Loans vs Mortgages | I went here: Consumer Loan Law. It seems that a consumer loan is anything other than a business loan or mortgage. However, in California it seems to include a mortgage. It's a bit weird to see that a HEL can be considered a consumer loan even if it is the primary or the only loan on a property. Getting a HEL can be a... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | One company asks for picture of my debit card | Although it is strange, there is little risk. The first four numbers are just the card type (Visa, Master, etc.), and the last four alone don't give them much - there are still 8 digits missing that they do not have. There is nothing much they can do with that info, especially without the PIN and the CCV, so as I said,... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | How can I save money on a gym / fitness membership? New Year's Resolution is to get in shape - but on the cheap! | Shop around for Gym January is a great time to look because that's when most people join and the gyms are competing for your business. Also, look beyond the monthly dues. Many gyms will give free personal training sessions when you sign up - a necessity if you are serious about getting in shape! My gym offered a one ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Emptying a Roth IRA account | If you have multiple accounts, you have to empty them all before you can deduct any losses. Your loss is not a capital loss, its a deduction. It is calculated based on the total amount you have withdrawn from all your Roth IRA's, minus the total basis. It will be subject to the 2% AGI treshhold (i.e.: if your AGI is > ... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | How does stock dilution work in relation to share volume? | Here is an example for you. We have a fictional company. It's called MoneyCorp. Its job is to own money, and that's all. Right now it owns $10,000. It doesn't do anything special with that $10,000 - it stores it in a bank account, and whenever it earns interest gives it to the shareholders as a dividend. Also, it doesn... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | US citizen sometimes residing in spain, wanting to offer consulting services in Europe, TAXES? | With something this complicated you are going to want to consult professionals. Either a professional with international experience, who will tell you the best tax arrangement overall but might come expensive, or one professional in each country who will optimize for that country. You will have to pay US taxes, and dep... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | How to evaluate stocks? e.g. Whether some stock is cheap or expensive? | "If you are looking for numerical metrics I think the following are popular: Price/Earnings (P/E) - You mentioned this very popular one in your question. There are different P/E ratios - forward (essentially an estimate of future earnings by management), trailing, etc.. I think of the P/E as a quick way to grade a co... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Which US services allow small/micro-payments using a credit card? | I don't know of any and it is unlikely that you will be able to find one. Most credit card processors charge a flat fee plus percentage. The flat fee is typically in the 35 cent range making the cost of doing business, in the manner you are suggesting, astronomical. Also what you are suggesting is contrary to best ... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Buying a home with down payment from family as a “loan” | "Say you're buying a 400K house. Your relative finances 120K (30%). Say I'm optimistic, but the real-estate market recovers, and your house is worth 600K in 5-6 years (can happen, with the inflation and all). The gain is 200K. Your relative gets 100K. You repay him 220K on 120K loan for 5 years. Roughly, 16% APR. Quite... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | How does refinancing work? | "A re-financing, or re-fi, is when a debtor takes out a new loan for the express purpose of paying off an old one. This can be done for several reasons; usually the primary reason is that the terms of the new loan will result in a lower monthly payment. Debt consolidation (taking out one big loan at a relatively low in... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Why don't some places require a credit card receipt signature, and some do? | This is basically done to reduce costs and overhead, with agreement of the credit card issuers. When the card is physically present and the charge is low, the burden of keeping the signed receipts and of additional delays at the cash register is not worth the potential risk of fraud. Depending on the location and the s... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | What ETF best tracks the price of gasoline, or else crude oil? | There is no ETF that closely tracks oil or gasoline. This is because all existing oil and gasoline ETFs hold futures contracts or other derivatives. Storing the oil and gasoline would be prohibitively costly. Futures contracts are prone to contango and backwardation, sometimes resulting in large deviations from the pri... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Any extra fees charged by passive stock and bond ETFs on top of the standard fees? | Brokers will have transaction fees in addition to the find management fees, but they should be very transparent. Brokering is a very competitive business. Any broker that added hidden fees to their transactions would lose customers very quickly to other brokers than can offer the same services. Hedge funds are a very ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Should the bank cover money lost due to an unsuccessful transfer? | Since the transaction was not your bank's mistake (but a decision by the Indian government) why should your bank bear the cost of the unsuccessful transaction? Your bank charged a fee for a service that you were willing to pay for. You might be able to negotiate a full or partial refund, and I have done the same with m... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | What's the fuss about Credit Score / History? | Simply staying out of debt is not a good way of getting a good credit score. My aged aunt has never had a credit card, loan or mortgage, has always paid cash or cheque for everything, never failed to pay her utility bills on time. Her credit score is lousy because she has never had any debts to pay off so there is no... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Can I use FOREX markets to exchange cash? | Because the standard contract is for 125,000 euros. http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/fx/g10/euro-fx_contractSpecs_futures.html You don't want to use Microsoft as an analogy. You want to use non financial commodities. Most are settled in cash, no delivery. But in the early 80's, the Hunt brothers caused a spectacular sh... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Does cash back apply to online payments with credit card | "Retail purchases are purchases made at retail, i.e.: as a consumer/individual customer. That would include any ""standard"" individual expenditure, but may exclude wholesale sales or purchases from merchants who identify themselves as service providers to businesses. Specifics of these limitations really depend on you... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Are there any banks in Europe that I can have an account without being in that country? | Opening account in foreign bank is possible, but you must have strong proofs you use it for legitimate purposes. More chances to get an account if you visit Europe and able to stay, for example, for a week, to visit bank in person and wait for all the checks and approvals. Also keep in mind that there will be deposit/w... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Is there a way to monitor when executives or leaders in a company sell off large holdings? | Exec Insiders have to file with the SEC and some sites like secform4.com track it. But many insiders have selling programs where the sell the same amount every month or quarter so you would have to do your homework to determine if there are real signals in the activity. |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Why is the breakdown of a loan repayment into principal and interest of any importance? | The breakdown between how much of your payment is going toward principal and interest is very important. The principal balance remaining on your loan is the payoff amount. Once the principal is paid off, your loan is finished. Each month, some of your payment goes to pay off the principal, and some goes to pay inte... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | What are the reasons to get more than one credit card? | |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Buy and sell stock at specific earnings | Enjoy the free trades as long as they last, and take advantage of it since this is no longer functionally a tax on your potential profits. On a side note, RobinHood and others in the past have roped customers in with low-to-zero fee trades before changing the business paradigm completely or ceasing operations. All bro... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Why must identification be provided when purchasing a money order? | The Bank Secrecy Act of 1970 requires that banks assist the U.S. Gov't in identifying and preventing money laundering. This means they're required to keep records of cash transactions of Negotiable Instruments, and report any such transactions with a daily aggregate limit of a value greater than (or equal to?) $10,000.... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | What are the financial advantages of living in Switzerland? | The cost of living is quite high in New York City. It has the highest CPI (Consumer Price Index) of any city in the U.S. Salaries also tend to be highest in NYC. Just about any bicycle lock sold in the U.S. has an exception in its warranty for NYC. It is the most populous American city. So, why do people deal with ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Best way to start investing, for a young person just starting their career? | "First off, I highly recommend the book Get a Financial Life. The basics of personal finance and money management are pretty straightforward, and this book does a great job with it. It is very light reading, and it really geared for the young person starting their career. It isn't the most current book (pre real-est... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Foreign company incorporated in US and W9 | According to the W9 instructions you are considered a U.S. person if: According to the following section, it looks like a C corporation may be easier then an LLC: All of this information can be found here: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw9.pdf Hope this helps! |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | What special considerations need to be made for a US citizen who wishes to purchase a house in Canada? | "About deducting mortgage interest: No, you can not deduct it unless it is qualified mortgage interest. ""Qualified mortgage interest is interest and points you pay on a loan secured by your main home or a second home."" (Tax Topic 505). According to the IRS, ""if you rent out the residence, you must use it for more t... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | What effect would a company delisting from the LSE to move to china have on shareholders? | Source Rule 41 of the AIM Rules sets out the procedure for delisting. In summary, a company that wishes to cancel the right of any of its trading securities must: The notification to the Exchange should be made by the company’s nominated adviser and should be given at least 20 business days prior to the intended cance... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | How long should I keep my tax documents, and why? | How long you need to keep tax records will depend on jurisdiction. In general, if you discard records in a period of time less than your tax authority recommends, it may create audit problems down the road. ie: if you make a deduction supported by business expense receipts, and you discard those receipts next year, the... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Why are typical 401(k) plan fund choices so awful? | 401k choices are awful because: The best remedy I have found is to roll over to an IRA when changing jobs. |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Making higher payments on primary residence mortgage or rental? | You're in the same situation I'm in (bought new house, didn't sell old house, now renting out old house). Assuming that everything is stable, right now I'd do something besides pay down your new mortgage. If you pay down the mortgage at your old house, that mortgage payment will go away faster than if you paid down the... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | EIN for personal LLC: Is this an S-Corp? | Having an EIN does not make the LLC a corporation -- your business can have an EIN even when treated like a sole proprietorship. An EIN is required to have a Individual 401(k), for example. But you can still be an LLC, taxed as a sole proprietor, and have a 401(k). You would need to file a Form 2553 with the IRS to ele... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | What are institutional investors? | "Professional investors managing large investment portfolios for ""institutions"" -- a college, a museum, a charitable organization, et cetera. I'm not sure whether those managing investments for a business are considered institutional investors or not. The common factor tends to be large to immense portfolios (let's c... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | What is the added advantage of a broker being a member of NFA in addition to IIROC | "This shows that in each market (US and Canada) the company is registered with the appropriate regulatory organization. OANDA is registered in the US with the National Futures Association which is a ""self-regulatory organization for the U.S. derivatives industry"". OANDA Canada is registered in Canada with IIROC which... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | tax deduction for 30k loan | The loan itself is not tax deductible; unless you took it as part of a mortgage, anyway, it's just a regular loan. Mortgage and Student Loan Interest deductions are special cases explicitly given tax-deductible status; other loans are not deductible (unless part of a business expense or other qualifying reason). If th... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | How much life insurance do I need? | "If I remember the information in ""The Wealthy Barber"" correctly, he said: And as someone once said to me, ""make sure you're worth more alive than dead!"" :-)" |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Is there a catch to offers of $100 when opening up a new checking account? | There's no catch. Banks need to acquire customers just like any other business. One common way to acquire new customers is by advertising on the radio, TV, print, etc. Another common way to acquire new customers is by offering incentives like the one you linked to. Basically, PNC is confident that they will make more t... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | What are online payment options with no chargeback protection? | Generally there's no ultimate protection against charge backs. Some methods are easier to charge back and some harder, and there's always the resort of going to courts. The hardest to contest is, of course, a cash payment or wire transfer. You need to remember that imposing unnecessary/unreasonable difficulties on your... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Shorting: What if you can't find lenders? | "If you can't find anyone to lend you the shares, then you can't short. You can attempt to raise the interest rate at which you will borrow at, in order to entice others to lend you their shares. In practice, broadcasting this information is pretty convoluted. If there aren't any stocks for you to buy back, then you ha... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Should I get an accountant for my taxes? | "A reason to get an accountant is to avoid penalties for possible mistakes. That is, if you make a mistake, the IRS can impose penalties on you for negligence. If the professional makes the SAME mistake, the burden of proof for ""negligence"" shifts to the IRS, which probably means that you'll pay more taxes and intere... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | What's the difference between TaxAct and TurboTax? | I prefer TaxAct. I find it simpler to use and more helpful in helping answer the questionnaire. I have a fairly complex tax return and it handles it just fine. |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Do I need to pay tax on the amount of savings I have in the bank? | In India, assuming that you have already paid relevant [Income/Capital gains] tax and then deposited the funds into your Bank [Savings or Current] Account; there is NO INCOME tax payable for amount. Any interest earned on this amount is taxable as per Income Tax rules and would be taxed at your income slabs. Wealth... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | When are stock trade fees deducted? | Typically the fees are charged when the order is executed. The only catch I have ever ran into is when an order is partially executed. A good-till-cancel order that gets executed in several blocks over multiple days may get charged a separate commission for each day (but typically not each block). If this is a simple... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Where to categorize crypto-currencies | "Forex. I will employ my skill for ""suspension of disbelief"" and answer with no visceral reaction to Bitcoin itself. The Euro is not an 'investment.' It's a currency. People trade currencies in order to capture relative movements between pairs of currencies. Unlike stocks, that have an underlying business and potenti... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | How smart is it really to take out a loan right now? | but I can't help but feel that these low rates are somehow a gimmick to trick people into taking out loans Let me help you: it's not a feeling. That's exactly what it is. Since the economy is down, people don't want to jeopardize what they have, and keep the cash in their wallets. But, while keeping the money safe in... |
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