instruction stringclasses 5
values | input stringlengths 14 158 | output stringlengths 0 13.1k |
|---|---|---|
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Would parking at a parking lot near or in my residence prevent me from paying for it with my transit FSA? | "No, it doesn't look like you can use the employee benefit to pay for parking near your home. The definition for ""qualified parking"" is in the Internal Revenue Code Section 132 (""Certain Fringe Benefits"") (f) (5) (c): (C) Qualified parking The term “qualified parking” means parking provided to an employee on or nea... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Do property taxes get deducted 100% from the Annual Tax Return or only a fraction of them? | If your deductions are higher than the standard deduction, you will be able to subtract property taxes from your income. In your example, that means that taxes are computed based on $95,000. In 2011, the standard deduction varies between $5,800 (single filer) and $11,600 (married filing jointly). Tax credits are subtra... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | international student tax deduction while trading | So, my question is what is the limit below which I don't have to pay taxes while trading. I just invested $10. Do I have to pay taxes for this too? what are the slabs? Any income is subject to tax. That said, investing $10 will probably not generate much of income, even at the discount brokers most of it will be wasted... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | What does a CFP do? | A Certified Financial Planner has passed a licensing exam and will advise you and help you reach your financial goals. A good CFP can help you a lot, especially if you are unsure how to set up your insurance, investment, savings, and financial plans on your own. You do not need a CFP to get a life insurance policy. If ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Is legal sending dollars to someone in Mexico, and sending them back for profit? | It is certainly legal to transfer money between people, no matter how often, as long as the money is not originally from illegal sources. If you are gaining in the process, you need to pay taxes on your (net) gain, as on any income; but as always, taxed income is still income. Consider the accumulating transaction cost... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | High credit utilization, some high interest - but credit score not overly bad. How to attack debt in this situation? | You need to pay off the entire balance of 7450 as soon as possible. This should be your primary financial goal at this point above anything else. A basic structure that you can follow is this: Is the £1500 balance with the 39.9% interest rate the obvious starting point here? Yes, that is fine. But all the cards and ove... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Meanings of “price of the derivative” | @Tim - in this case, a futures contract isn't like an options contract. It's simply a method of entering into an agreement for delivery at a future date. While the speculators appear to have taken over, there are practical examples of use of the futures market. I am a gold miner and I see that my cost is $1200/oz giv... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Super-generic mutual fund type | You can also create a CD ladder (say 1/3 in a 6 month CD, 1/3 in a 1 year CD, 1/3 in a 2 year CD) with half of your emergency fund money. You always want to leave some of it in a liquid account so you can get at it immediately without any interest penalty. CD's provide higher interest than a savings account. By stag... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Should I collect receipts after paying with a card? | Keeping a receipt does allow you to verify that the expected amount was charged/debited it also can help when you need to return an item. Regarding double charging, the credit card companies look for that. If the same card is used at the same vendor for the same exact amount in a short period of time the credit card c... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Should I exchange my Scottish pounds for English ones? | Scottish banknotes are promissary notes of the banks issuing them. Their value will be paid in UK legal tender any time as long as the issuing bank is in business. So they are not going to lose value unless the issuing bank goes bakrupt. Scottish notes may be refused, outside of Scotland, at least, by merchants at thei... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Cheapest USD to GBP transfer | Use a remitting service such as Ria Money Transfer. Almost all these services allow you to transfer upto $2999 at a time. So, you would be able to transfer the entire amount of $4500 within 2 business days(There is a monthly limit too, but it will definitely be more than $4500). There are no fees to use these services,... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Contributing factors to historical increase in trading volume | Prior to 1975, commissions for trading stock on the NYSE were fixed at 1% of the amount of the trade. In 1975, the SEC made fixed commission rates illegal, giving rise to discount brokers offering much reduced commission rates. Simultaneously, Electronic Communications Networks (ECNs) gained market share as alternati... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Do mutual fund companies deliberately “censor” their portfolios/funds? | "Do mutual funds edit/censor underperforming investments to make their returns look better, and if so, is there any way one can figure out if they are doing it? No, that's not what the quote says. What the quote says is that the funds routinely drop investments that do not bring the expected return, which is true. ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Is it accurate to say that if I was to trade something, my probability of success can't be worse than random? | "The stock market is not a zero-sum game. Some parts are (forex, some option trading), but plain old stock trading is not zero sum. That is to say, if you were to invest ""at random"", you would on average make money. That's because the market as a whole makes money - it goes up over time (6-10% annually, averaged ov... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Self assessment expenses - billing date or payment date? | Unless you're running a self-employed business with a significant turnover (more than £150k), you are entitled to use cash basis accounting for your tax return, which means you would put the date of transactions as the payment date rather than the billing date or the date a debt is incurred. For payments which have a l... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Why is a stock that pays a dividend preferrable to one that doesn't? | Check out the questions about why stock prices are what they are. In a nutshell, a stock's value is based on the future prospects of the company. Generally speaking, if a growth company is paying a dividend, that payment is going to negatively affect the growth of the business. The smart move is to re-invest that capit... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Comparing/reviewing personal health insurance plans for the self-employed | I was in your situation a few years ago and I discovered something that worked perfectly for me - a local health insurance broker. I met with her, discussed my needs, reviewed the options with her, then acted. She received a commission from the insurer, so it cost me nothing. I would certainly follow a similar approach... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | what are the benefits of setting up an education trust fund for children? | Well, first off, if your children are NZ citizens, they can borrow money at 0% interest for tertiary education and I don't see any benefit to not taking free money. A saving account is your money, and will accrue a little bit of interest and you will pay tax on that. A family trust (I hope this is what you mean by trus... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | devastated with our retirement money that we have left | "I'm going to discuss this, in general, as specific investment advice isn't allowed here. What type of account is the $60K in now? I mean - Is it in a 401(k), IRA or regular account/CD/money market? You are still working? Does your company offer any kind of matched 401(k)? If so, take advantage of that right up the le... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Can rent be added to your salary when applying for a mortgage? | "The decision as to what counts as income is up to the bank. You'll need to ask them whether or not rental income can be included in the total. I can offer some anecdotal evidence: when I applied for a mortgage to buy my home, I already had a rental property with a buy-to-let mortgage on it. Initially the bank regarded... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Effect on Bond asset allocation if Equity markets crash? | what will happen to the valuation of Tom's bond holdings after the equity crash? This is primarily opinion based. What will happen is generally hard to predict. Bond Price Bump due to Demand: Is a possible outcome; this depends on the assumption that the bonds in the said country are still deemed safe. Recent Greece e... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Estate taxes and the top 1 percent by net worth | Of course, you've already realized that some of that is that smaller estates are more common than larger estates. But it seems unlikely that there are four times as many estates between $10 and $11 million as above that range. People who expect to die with an estate subject to inheritance tax tend to prepare. I do... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Saving for a down payment on a new house, a few years out. Where do we put our money next? | If you're absolutely certain that you won't buy a house within a year or so, I'd still be tempted to put some of the money into short-term CDs (ie, a max of 12 months). I think that at the moment CDs are a bit of a mug's game though because you'd hardly find one that offers better interest rates than some of the few sa... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Does investing in a company support it? | Would you consider the owner of a company to be supporting the company? If you buy stock in the company you own a small part of that company. Your purchase also increases the share price, and thus the value of the company. Increased value allows the company to borrow more money to say expand operations. The affect that... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Why buy insurance? | "Because people are Risk Averse. Suppose that you own an asset worth $10,000 to you. Suppose that each year, the asset has 1% chance of being stolen (or completely broken). The expected value is 99% x 10,000 + 1% x $0 = $9,900. This is the average outcome if you do not buy insurance. Now consider two mutually exclus... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Deduct Health Care Premiums for Family When Employer Only Pays for Me | "You can deduct what you pay for your own and your family's health insurance regardless of whether it is subsidized by your employer or not, as well as all other medical and dental expenses for your family, as an itemized deduction on Schedule A of Form 1040, but only to the extent that the total exceeds 7.5% of your... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Live in California but work for Illinois-based company | California and New York are very aggressive when it comes to revenue and taxes. As such, mere having an employee in these States creates a nexus and tax/filing liability for the company. @Adam Wood mentioned sales tax - that is correct. Having an employee in the State of California will require collecting sales tax for... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Taxing GoFundMe Donations | "I'm going to post this as an answer because it's from the GoFundMe website, but ultimately even they say to speak with a tax professional about it. Am I responsible for taxes? (US Only) While this is by no means a guarantee, donations on GoFundMe are simply considered to be ""personal gifts"" which are not, for the... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Sleazy Bait and Switch Marketing — Is this legal? | "This is completely disgusting, utterly unethical, deeply objectionable, and yes, it is almost certainly illegal. The Federal Trade Commission has indeed filed suit, halted ads, etc in a number of cases - but these likely only represent a tiny percentage of all cases. This doesn't make what the car dealer's do ok, but ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Please explain the relationship between dividend amount, stock price, and option value? | "There are a few reason why the stock price decreases after a dividend is paid: What's the point of paying a dividend if the stock price automatically decreases? Don't the shareholders just break even? Companies have to do something with their profits. They beholden to their shareholders to make them money either by i... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Is it wise for an independent contractor to avoid corporation tax by planning to only break even each year? | IANAL (and nor am I an accountant), so I can't give a definitive answer as to legality, but AFAIK, what you propose is legal. But what's the benefit? Avoiding corporation tax? It's simplistic – and costly – to think in terms like that. You need to run the numbers for different scenarios, and make a plan. You can end... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Tax me more: Can I pay extra to the government so I don't have to deal with all this paperwork? | "In a word, no. If your income is high enough to have to file a return, you have to file a return. My accountant has a nice mindset for making it more palatable. I'll paraphrase: ""Our tax system is ludicrously complicated. As a result, it is your duty as an American to seek out and take advantage of every deduction an... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | What does “check payable to” mean? | "It is your name, or the fictitious name under which you operate. For example, if your freelance front end is called ""Zolani the 13th, LLC"", then that's the name you want to appear on the check, and not ""Mr. John Zolani Doe"" that is written in your birth certificate." |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Why small retail stores ask for ID with a credit card while big don't | Because large stores do not pay their cashiers enough that the companies can dock the employees' pay if they allow a bad credit card to go through. So most cashiers at large stores won't take the extra effort to check the card properly. As a result, large stores come up with other ways to handle potential credit card... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | What is the difference between hedging and diversification? How does each reduce risk? | Hedging - You have an investment and are worried that the price might drop in the near future. You don't want to sell as this will realise a capital gain for which you may have to pay capital gains tax. So instead you make an investment in another instrument (sometimes called insurance) to offset falls in your investme... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | How to evaluate an annuity | Guaranteed 8.2% annual return sounds too good to be true. Am I right? Are there likely high fees, etc.? You're right. Guaranteed annual return is impossible, especially when you're talking about investments for such a long period of time. Ponzi (and Madoff) schemed their investors using promises of guaranteed return ... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | How to calculate my real earnings from hourly temp-to-hire moving to salaried employee? | "Get some professional accounting help. You're going to have to pay for everything out of the fee you charge: taxes, retirement, health care, etc. You'll be required to pay quarterly. I don't think you should base your fee on what ""this"" company will pay as a full-time employee, but what you can expect in your area. ... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Is buying a home a good idea? | "IF the price of the property (1) increases A LOT, you will just break even, on the huge expenses of home owning. IF the price of the property (2) increases A HUGE AMOUNT, you will make lots of money, due to the leverage. IF the price of the property (3) stays even, you will LOSE a tremendous amount of money. It's much... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | How come the government can value a home more than was paid for the house? | "When a house is sold at a foreclosure auction, the selling bank usually does not provide the guarantees that a normal house seller provides. Furthermore, the previous owner may have neglected the property, and/or spitefully damaged the property. Bank-owned properties are often neglected and/or vandalized. Banks are... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Why would a car company lend me money at a very low interest rate? | Because the federal government won't use the money to buy a car thus generating profits for the car company. The aim of cheap loans is to drive sales of cars. The difference between the amount of interest paid on the loan, and the amount they could have got by investing it elsewhere, is simply a reduction in the profit... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | In Canada, how much money can I gift a friend or family member without them being taxed on it? | Canada doesn't seem to have a gift tax. http://www.taxtips.ca/personaltax/giftsandinheritances.htm |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Can I write off (deduct) expenses in a period where my corporation makes no money? | "Your corporation would file a corporate income tax return on an annual basis. One single month of no revenue doesn't mean much in that annual scheme of things. Total annual revenue and total annual expenses are what impact the results. In other words, yes, your corporation can book revenues in (say) 11 of 12 months of... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | When do I pay taxes if I'm self employed? | I strongly recommend that you talk to an accountant right away because you could save some money by making a tax payment by January 15, 2014. You will receive Forms 1099-MISC from the various entities with whom you are doing business as a contractor detailing how much money they paid you. A copy will go to the IRS also... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Offshore bank account with online International wire-transfer facility for Indians | Well first off, I would advice you to do this research yourself. You should not base your selection off someone's opinion such as mines. With that being said, these are some factors I suggest you consider and research before talking to an offshore bank account: Now, when opening an offshore account most offshore banks... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Preferred vs Common Shares in Private Corporation | "Preferred dividends and common dividends are completely separate transactions. There's not a single ""dividend"" payment that is split between preferred and common shares. Dividends on preferred shares are generally MUCH higher than common dividends, and are generally required by the terms of the preferred shares, ag... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Borrowing money and then investing it — smart or nart? | The biggest concern is how you get $250,000 in unsecured credit. It's unlikely that you will be loaned that amount at a percentage lower than what you expect to earn. Unsecured credit lines are rarely lower than 10% and usually approach 20%. On top of that, for a bank to approve you for that credit line, you have to ha... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Bonus issue - Increasing share capital | Fully Paid up Partly Paid up: A company may issue stock to you which is only partly paid up, for example, a company may issue a stock of face value 10 to you and ask you to pay 5 now and other 5 will be adjusted later by some other mechanism. This stock shall be partly paid up. Usually, these stocks are issued in diffe... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Proper etiquette for loans from friends | The standard approach is to reach an agreement and put it in writing. What you agree upon is up to you, but in the US if you want to avoid gift taxes larger loans need to be properly documented and must charge at least a certain minimal interest rate. (Or at least you must declare and be taxed upon that minimal income ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Merchant dispute with airline over missed flight, and which credit cards offer protection? | You have no grounds for a refund. The flight took off on time, and you chose not to be on board. The fact that the airline could not guarantee ahead of time that the flight would leave on time is not relevant. You can certainly try to dispute the charge with the airline, and it sounds like you have done so. The airline... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Why is the highest quintile the only quintile whose wealth exceeds its income? | "I think you came up with a worthy Masters/PhD research project, it is a great question. This is in Australia so it is difficult for me to have complete perspective. However, I can speak about the US of A. To your first point relatively few people inherit their wealth. According to a brief web search about 38% of bil... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Is there any advantage to owning equity in a company compared to a royalty agreement? | Each way you go is a little bit of a gamble. Owning equity in the company is best in situations where you can trade and sell that equity, or where the dilution of your royalty product would affect your returns, or if you can maintain a certain equity stake without working at the company or if you can hold out on taki... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Who can truly afford luxury cars? | "There's an aspect to this question that I really love. In general, it's a question about consumer behavior that can be expanded to inquire about the purchasing profile of any luxury good. Who buys $500 pocketbooks, $1000 wristwatches, etc? I can offer one observation regarding the car. Two close neighbors, both couple... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Paying myself a dividend from ltd company | In a simple case as the sole UK resident director/shareholder of a company, with that company as your only income, you are usually best paying yourself a salary of the maximum tax free amount allowed under your tax code (~£11k for most people at present). On this you will have to pay some employer and employee Nationa... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Optimal term/number of months for car finance or lease? | If you have the money to pay cash for the car. Then 0 months will save you the most money. There are of course several caveats. The money for the car has to be in a relatively liquid form. Selling stocks which would trigger taxes may make the pay cash option non-optimal. Paying cash for the car shouldn't leave you car ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Calculating the total capital of a company? | "I was wondering how do we calculate the total capital of a company? Which items should I look for in the financial statements? Total capital usually refers to the sum of long-term debt and total shareholder equity; both of these items can be found on the company's balance sheet. This is one of the calculations that's ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | What are the implications of a corporate stock repurchase or share buyback program? | Ignoring taxes, a share repurchase has exactly the same effect on the company and the shareholders' wealth as a cash dividend. In either case, the company is disbursing cash to its shareholders; in the former, in exchange for shares which shareholders happen to be selling on the market at the time; in the latter, equal... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | How do I determine ownership split on a franchise model? | "There is no one solution to every project finance problem. Two models might make sense in this situation, however. In this case, you would count all the money that you give to your friend as a loan which he will pay back with interest. The interest rate and loan amounts will have to be agreed on by both of you. One on... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Home owners association for houses, pro/cons | Some examples where an HOA is a positive thing: 1) Amenities: Maybe it is professionally maintained landscaping at the front of the subdivision, or a playground, or community pool. An HOA provides a convenient way to have things like that and share the costs among all the people who benefit. 2) Legal Advocacy: I live i... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | What kind of life insurance is cheaper? I'm not sure about term vs. whole vs. universal, etc | "Term is the way to go. Whole/universal are basically a combo of term and savings, so buy term life insurance and invest the difference in cost yourself. You should make a lot more that way (as far as savings go) than by buying whole life. By the time term life gets too expensive to be worth (when you're a lot older) y... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | How can I have credit cards without having a credit history or credit score? | That is an opinion. I don't think so. Here are some differences: If you use credit responsibly and take the time to make sure the reporting agencies are being accurate, a good report can benefit you. So that isn't like a criminal record. What is also important to know is that in the United States, a credit report is... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Company asking for card details to refund over email | If it is a well known company that wants to give you a refund, I would not worry about giving them your credit card number. However, I would never type my credit card number into an e-mail message. E-mail messages are very insecure, and can be read by many people along its way to the destination. They also can be arch... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | What Did Benjamin Graham Mean by Earnings Stability in The Intelligent Investor? | "Yes - this is exactly what it means. No losses (negative earnings). With today's accounting methods, you might want to determine whether you view earnings including or excluding extraordinary items. For example, a company might take a once-off charge to its earnings when revising the value of a major asset. This... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Long vs. short term capital gains on real estate | No, it's not all long-term capital gain. Depending on the facts of your situation, it will be either ordinary income or partially short-term capital gain. You should consider consulting a tax lawyer if you have this issue. This is sort of a weird little corner of the tax law. IRC §§1221-1223 don't go into it, nor do... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | What is the difference between equity and assets? | "Accounts track value: at any given time, a given account will have a given value. The type of account indicates what the value represents. Roughly: On a balance sheet (a listing of accounts and their values at a given point in time), there is typically only one equity account, representing net worth, I don't know much... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Why is the fractional-reserve banking not a Ponzi scheme? | "They're not at all the same. A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment method that pays off early investors with deposits from later ones. Fractional reserve banking is the practice of keeping only a fraction of a bank's demand deposits on reserve, while lending out the rest. The reserve requirement is how central ba... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | On paper I have 1 share in my company. How can I sell a smaller percentage of my company to another party? | Simple: Do a stock split. Each 1 Ordinary share now = 100 Ordinary shares (or 100,000 or whatever you choose). Then sell 20 (or 20,000) of them to your third party. (Stock splits are fairly routine occurrence. Apple for example has done several, most recently in 2014 when 1 share = 7 shares). Alternatively you could go... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | I received $1000 and was asked to send it back. How was this scam meant to work? | "This is a very trivial scam. Flow is like this: Send money to Mr. X (you, in this case). Call Mr. X and ask for the money back, because mistake. Usually they ask for a wire transfer/cash/gift cards/prepaid cards or something else irreversible/untraceable. Mr. X initiates transfer back to Scammer. Accept the transfer f... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | How to calculate car insurance quote | First you should understand the basics of how insurance companies make money: In a simple scenario, assume 1,000 have car insurance. Assume that on average, 100 people have accidents per year, and that each accident costs $10,000. So, we can expect total costs to be $1,000,000 per year. Some of those costs will be paid... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | What is meant by one being in a “tax bracket”? | Tax brackets refer to the range of taxable within which you fall. An income tax bracket usually refers to federal or state tax, not the combined rate. I have put here the tax brackets for 2016 for IRS and State of California. https://www.irs.com/articles/2016-federal-tax-rates-personal-exemptions-and-standard-deductio... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | What are my investment options in real estate? | Your post seems to read as if you want to invest only in real estate rental properties as a start because they will be a reliable investment guaranteed to generate profits that you will be plowing back into buying even more rental properties, but you are willing to consider (possibly in later years) other forms of inve... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | should the Market Capitalization be equal to the Equity of the firm | "Lots of questions: In general, no. Market Capitalization and Equity represent 2 different things. Equity first, the equity of a firm is the value of the assets (what it owns) less its liabilities (what it owes) and consists (broadly) of two components - share capital (what the firm gets when it sells to investors as ... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Buying a multi-family home to rent part and live in the rest | "The biggest question is do you want to be a landlord? There are a lot of ups and down to managing property from bad tenants to having to fix a water heater or replace a fridge. If you aren't interested in being a landlord, it is definitely a bad idea. If you do want to be a landlord, then the question is how close... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | What are the tax benefits of a LLC vs a sole proprietorship? | "This is going to vary tremendously from country to country (and even from state to state, in some cases). In general, though: Sole proprietorship: LLC: There are a lot of permutations depending on local law. One thing that isn't actually much of an advantage is the ""limited liability"" component of the LLC. Simply... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Can I force him to pay? | "Its best to seek a lawyer, but it is unlikely you can force him to pay. You probably know couples, that are in some part of the divorce process, that have trouble obtaining court ordered payments. In your case you have less of a legal standing (exception: if you have children together). As far as the house goes, th... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Indicators a stock is part of a pump and dump scheme? | Pump-and-dump scams are indeed very real, but the scale of a single scam isn't anywhere near the type of heist you see in movies like Trading Places. Usually, the scammer will buy a few hundred dollars of a penny stock for some obscure small business, then they'll spam every address they have with advice that this busi... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Tax Form 1099 and hourly worker do i file a W-2 if my employer filed the 1099 for me? | Forms 1099 and W2 are mutually exclusive. Employers file both, not the employees. 1099 is filed for contractors, W2 is filed for employees. These terms are defined in the tax code, and you may very well be employee, even though your employer pays you as a contractor and issues 1099. You may complain to the IRS if this ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Should I refi a rental property to reduce income tax from positive cash flow and use the equity pulled out to fund an annuity? | "You need to do a bit more research and as @littleadv often wisely advises, consult a professional, in this case a tax layer or CPA. You are not allowed to just pull money out of a property and write off the interest. From Deducting Mortgage Interest FAQs If you own rental property and borrow against it to buy a home,... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | What are FICA taxes for a sole proprietor in the United States | FICA taxes are separate from federal and state income taxes. As a sole proprietor you owe all of those. Additionally, there is a difference with FICA when you are employed vs. self employed. Typically FICA taxes are actually split between the employer and the employee, so you pay half, they pay half. But when you're ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Is technical analysis based on some underlying factors in the market or do they work simply because other people use them? | Technical analysis is based more on psychology than anything else. As an example, if an analyst estimates or believes that a stock is undervalued, or simply wants to re-balance their portfolio, then they will buy some amount, moving the price up. Others in the market see the upwards move as the start of an upwards tren... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Multiple accounts stagnant after quitting job. | Adapted from an answer to a somewhat different question. Generally, 401k plans have larger annual expenses and provide for poorer investment choices than are available to you if you roll over your 401k investments into an IRA. So, unless you have specific reasons for wanting to continue to leave your money in the 401k ... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Tax and financial implications of sharing my apartment with my partner | "I am not a lawyer nor a tax accountant, so if such chimes in here I'll gladly defer. But my understanding is: If you're romantically involved and living together you're considered a ""household"" and thus your finances are deemed shared for tax purposes. Any money your partner gives you toward paying the bills is not... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | What's a normal personal debt / equity ratio for a highly educated person? | "Average person's life I'm going to say there is no normal debt level. Here's the standard life pattern: So it really depends on your situation, it's way too spread out to quote a ""normal"" figure. Cost of debt vs Gain from assets and Risk of income You need to strike a sweet spot based on: Someone who is more educate... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | A check I received was lost. My options? | Lost checks happen occasionally, and there are procedures in place (banking & business) to handle the situation. First and foremost you need to: Note: The money is legally yours, so the company is obligated to work with you here. If they refuse to cancel or reissue the check, at a minimum you'll want to contact the s... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | How do I figure out the next step in deciding to sell my home to the market or to a uniquely interested buyer? | You decide whether the improvements will result in a net higher price. You also need to figure on how long the house will be on the market and the cost of carrying the home, unoccupied. Some people would prefer the quickest sale. Others would wait to get the highest price. If you sell to a known buyer, you avoid usin... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | When transferring money between two parties, under what circumstances is it considered taxable income? | "A loan is not a taxable income. Neither is a gift. Loans are repaid with interest. The interest is taxable income to the lender, and may or may not be deductible to the borrower, depending on how the loan proceeds were used. Gifts are taxable to the donor (the person giving the gift) under the gift tax, they're not a ... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Are stock investments less favorable for the smaller investor? | You have got it wrong. The profit or loss for smaller investor or big investor is same in percentage terms. |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Are those “auto-pilot” programs a scam or waste of time? | "Genuine (nearly) passive income can be had from some kinds of investing. Index funds are an example of a mostly self-managing investment. Of course investment involves some risk (the income is essentially paying you for taking that risk) and returns are reasonable but proportional to the risk -- IE, not spectacular un... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | What kind of company is USAA? | The United Services Automobile Association has a funny legal structure: it's not a corporation and has no shareholders. Policyholders and account holders are paid any profits. In that respect, it functions very much like a credit union; technically, it's structured as a Texas-based and Texas Department of Insurance reg... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | How do I calculate two standard deviations away from the stock price? | "The formula for standard deviation is fairly simple in both the discrete and continuous cases. It's mostly safe to use the discrete case when working with adjusted closing prices. Once you've calculated the standard deviation for a given time period, the next task (in the simplest case) is to calculate the mean of tha... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Can mutual fund prices have opening gaps? Might my order to be filled at a higher price? | Mutual funds don't work like stocks in that way. The price of a mutual fund is set at the end of each day and doesn't fluctuate during the day. So no matter when you put in your order, it will be filled at the end of the day at whatever the closing price is for that day. Here is some good information on that There is n... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Primary Residence to Investment Property - Changing PMI Terms | You could be in a bit of a bind. I wouldn't push it any more until you read your loan papers very carefully. Going back to the lender for a refinance after you converted it to a rental (presumably without their knowledge) is risky. I doubt they'd let you refinance anyway, as the house is underwater. If the loan is pe... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | When you're really young and have about 2K to start investing $ for retirement, why do some people advise you to go risky? | "Why it is good to be risky The reason why it is good to be risky is because risky investments can result in higher returns on your money. The problem with being risky, is there is a chance you can lose money. However, in the long term you can usually benefit from higher returns even if you have a few slip ups. Let me ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Mailed in One-time Payment by Check | I do know that a blank check has all the information they need for the electronic transfer. They probably add it as a customer service to streamline future payments. Though I don't think automatically adding it makes good business sense. It is possible that the form used to submit the check included a line to added the... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Using financial news releases to trade stocks? | In the U.S., publicly traded companies are under the rules of Regulation Fair Disclosure, which says that a company must release information to all investors at the same time. The company website and social media both count as fair disclosure, because every investor has access to those outlets, but a press release new... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | how late can i put money into an IRA and still have it count for 2015? | The IRA contribution for the year are allowed until the tax day of that year. I.e.: you can contribute for 2015 until April 15th, 2016 (or whatever the first business day is after that, if the 15th is a holiday). You'll have to explicitly designate your contribution for 2015, since some of the IRA providers may automat... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Multiple people interested in an Apartment | "I don't know how many people ""a ton"" is, but if you are getting more than, say, 6 people who are qualified to rent, you've priced it too low. Better to ask for $1200, and have a potential tenant haggle or ask you to reduce the price than to have 6 people want it for $900. It's worth it to run a credit report, and l... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | “Inflation actually causes people not to spend”… could it be true? | Inflation can go up for a number of reasons. Boom times can cause inflation, as everyone is making and spending a lot of money, so prices and inflation goes up. In times like these central banks usually increase interest rates to curb spending and thus bring down inflation. By raising interest rates the central bank is... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | property owned 50/50 between my brother and me | "Not sure what you are talking about. The house isn't part of a business so neither of you can deduct half of normal maintenance and repairs. It is just the cost of having a house. The only time this would be untrue is if the thing that you are buying for the house is part of a special deduction or rebate for that ... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Why does Bank of America sometimes refer to itself as Banc of America on some documents? | "From https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Banc: Banq (also Banc, banc-corp, bancorp, or bancorporation) is an intentionally erroneous spelling of the word bank, but pronounced the same way. It has been adopted by companies which are not banks but wish to appear as such, and satisfy legal restrictions on the ... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | What is the cost of “free” trades? | "In the case of Wells Fargo, I believe that free trading is linked to your overall banking relationship with the firm. So if you have a checking account with a balance of $X, or a total relationship with the bank (""relationship"" is usually defined as loan balances + deposit balances) over a certain amount, they give... |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.