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Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Intrinsic value of non-voting shares which don't pay dividends | Even with non-voting shares, you own a portion of the company including all of its assets and its future profits. If the company is sold, goes out of business and liquidates, etc., those with non-voting shares still stand collect their share of the funds generated. There's also the possibility, as one of the comments... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | How to shop for mortgage rates ? | I asked my realtor, but she recommends to go with just one banker (her friend), and not to do any rate shopping. You need a new realtor. Anyone who would offer such advice is explicitly stating they are not advocating on your behalf. I'd do the rate shopping first. When you make an offer, once it's accepted, time be... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Do you have to be mega-rich to invest in companies pre-IPO? | "Short answer: No. Being connected is very helpful and there is no consequence by securities regulators against the investor by figuring out how to acquire pre-IPO stock. Long answer: Yes, you generally have to be an ""Accredited Investor"" which basically means you EARN over $200,000/yr yourself (or $300,000 joint) an... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Would it ever be a bad idea to convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA with the following assumptions? | Taking all your assumptions: With Roth, you take $6112 from work, (let's call you tax rate 10%) pay $612 in taxes, and contribute $5500 (the max if you are younger than 50). This $5500 will grow to $21,283 in 20 years at 7% annual growth ($5500*(1.07^20)), and you will pay no additional taxes on it. With the tradition... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Recommended education path for a future individual investor? | "For a job doing that kind of stuff, what is PREFERRED is 4 year undergrad at ivy league school + 2 year MBA at ivy league school, and then several more years of experience, which you can sort of get by interning while in school this will of course saddle you with debt, which is counterintuitive to your plans basically... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Investing in low cost index fund — does the timing matter? | If you're worried about investing all at once, you can deploy your starting chunk of cash gradually by investing a bit of it each month, quarter, etc. (dollar-cost averaging). The financial merits and demerits of this have been debated, but it is unlikely to lose you a lot of money, and if it has the psychological ben... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Is it legal for a landlord to report a large payment to a tenant using Form 1099? | I believe it's not only legal, but correct and required. A 1099 is how a business reports payments to others, and they're required by the IRS to send them for payments of $600 or more (for miscalleneous payments like this). The payment is an expense to the landlord and income to you, and the 1099 is how that's document... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Primerica: All it claims to be? | "Primerica's primary value proposition is that switching from whole or universal life to term life, and investing the difference is a good idea for most people. However, there are a number of other important factors to consider when purchasing life insurance, and I would also be wary of anyone claiming that one product... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Do retailers ever stock goods just to make other goods sell better? | "There's a concept in retail called a ""loss leader"", and essentially it means that a store will sell an item intentionally at a loss as a way of bringing in business in the hope that while consumers are in the store taking advantage of the discounted item, they'll make other purchases to make up for the loss and gene... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Which dividend bearing stock should be chosen by price? | Don't ever quantify a stock's preference/performance just based on the dividend it is paying out Volatility defined by movements in the the stock's price, affected by factors embedded in the stock e.g. the corporation, the business it is in, the economy, the management etc etc. Apple wasn't paying dividends but people ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | What does ES1 refer to in this picture? | ES1 is the Bloomberg symbol for the CME E-mini S&P 500 front-month continuous contract. ES2, ES3, etc. will likewise yield the 2nd and 3rd months. Which exact futures contract this symbol refers to will change about once a month. |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Can a credit card company raise my rates for making a large payment? | "No. That's pretty unlikely. Card issuers typically base your rate on your credit score. Paying down debt reduces your percent of available credit used, and improves your score until you are in the 1-20% range. That's optimum. To this issuer, you are one of a million customers, there's no emotion in this, just numbers ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | What tax advantage should I keep an eye for if I am going to relocate? | "Look for states that have no income tax. A lot of these states supplement their revenue with higher property taxes, but if you rent and do not own property in the state, then you will have no state tax liability. Similarly, many states treat capital gains no differently than income tax, so if you make your earnings du... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | What determines a tax resident in Florida | Plenty of retired people do stay in the US for longer than 60 days and don't pay taxes. In this IRS document 60 days stay appears to be the test for having a 'substantial presence' in the US, which is part of the test for determining residency. However the following is also written: Even if you meet the substantial pre... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | At what point does it become worth it to file an insurance claim? | An article linked from cnn.com has some great advice, which I think are good rules of thumb. Also, at least my insurance gives a premium price for those who haven't filed a claim in 5 or more years for homeowners or rental insurance. See if you have a similar discount, will loose it, and guess how much that will cost y... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Do US banks exchange info with countries abroad? | Banks do not report transactions within accounts except as required by law, usually as part of anti-money-laundering efforts. Generally those involve tracking large cash transactions. As far as large payments go, there are two reasons they might be reported to the government: taxes, and criminal investigations. For tax... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | I want to invest in Gold. Where do I go and buy it? | Without getting into whether you should invest in Gold or Not ... 1.Where do I go and make this purchase. I would like to get the best possible price. If you are talking about Physical Gold then Banks, Leading Jewelry store in your city. Other options are buying Gold Mutual Fund or ETF from leading fund houses. 2.How d... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Why are credit cards preferred in the US? | There are several reasons why credit cards are popular in the US: On the other hand, debit cards do not have any of these going for them. A debit card doesn't make much money for the bank unless you overdraw or something, so banks don't have incentive to push you to use them as much. As a result they don't offer rewa... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Does it make sense to take out student loans to start an IRA? | Depending on the student loan, this may be improper usage of the funds. I know the federal loans I received years ago were to be used for education related expenses only. I would imagine most, if not all, student loans would have the same restrictions. Bonus Answer: You must have earned income to contribute to an IRA... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Are index trackers subject to insolvency risk? | The Financial Services Compensation Scheme says: Investments FSCS provides protection if an authorised investment firm is unable to pay claims against it. For example: for loss arising from bad investment advice, poor investment management or misrepresentation; when an authorised investment firm goes out of business ... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Confused about employee stock options: How do I afford these? | ISOs (incentive stock options) can be closed out in a cashless transaction. Say the first round vests, 25,000 shares. The stock is worth $7 but your option is to buy at $5 as you say. The broker executes and sells, you get $50,000, with no up front money. Edit based on comment below - you know they vest over 4 years, ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | When's 0% financing the least costly (best) option? | A Lease is an entirely different way of getting a car. In two situations it makes sense, in all other scenarios it generally doesn't make sense to lease. In the case of always wanting a new car every 2 or 3 years it can make sense to lease. Of course if you drive more the allowed miles you will pay extra at the end of ... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | How can I find a checking account that allows for automated transfers of dynamic amounts? | Almost any financial institution has the technical ability to do this (simply called sweeps, auto sweeps, or deposit sweeps); the issue you face is finding an institution that is willing to do it for you. I think you will have the most luck at your primary financial institution where you currently keep the majority of... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | How do third-party banks issue car loans? | I have gotten a letter of credit from my credit union stating the maximum amount I can finance. Of course I don't show the dealer the letter until after we have finalized the deal. I Then return in 3 business days with a cashiers check for the purchase price. In one case since the letter was for an amount greater the... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Ordering From UK to Base Overseas - VAT exempt? | If you are an UK citizen and resident, then no. If you are an EU resident or non-EU resident then yes, but there are conditions. Source You can sometimes get VAT refunds on goods bought in the UK if you: You can’t get a VAT refund for: As bringing a laptop PCSpecialist is an online sale(I bought my desktop from them), ... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Bait-and-switch on new car lease | Within some limitations, the dealer is allowed to approve or deny lending to anyone that it chooses. Those constraints are the basics that you'd expect for any regulation in the US: Race Religion Nationality Sex Marital Status Age Source of income You can read more about them in this leaflet from the FDIC's Fair Len... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Why do cash back credit cards give a higher rate for dining and gasoline purchases? | These two categories ensure you will carry the card in your wallet (since they only work for physical locations), but don't tend to have excessive spending (most people maxing out at $200 or so per month, so $2 for the bonus). You then use the same card for other purchases, because you have it on you, where you only g... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Does Edmunds get a kick-back from the use of Edmunds Price Promise? | Yes, Edmunds gets money from the dealerships in this program. According to this USA Today article from 2013, dealers pay Edmunds a monthly fee to participate in the program. This contrasts with TrueCar.com, a similar service, where dealers pay a fee for each sale. And yes, it is certainly possible to negotiate a lower... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Is it better to buy this used car from Craigslist or from a dealership? | "I do not think you are missing much. One thing you have right is low cost cars depreciate almost nothing. One thing you are missing is your satisfaction index. Driving a 200K car for 4 years requires a bit of motivation when your friends are driving new cars. Typically you need a larger goal to keep you focused. ... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Escrow Removal Fee? | "Assume they do not overwithhold. You pay in $500/mo, and every time it hits $3000, they pay the tax. Engineers call this a sawtooth function, it looks like this. The average balance is not $3000, but close to $1500. The very simple math is $1500 * rate * years. It looks like your equation except it's not 58, it's ju... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Why is Net Asset Value (NAV) only reported by funds, but not stocks? | The (assets - liabilities)/#shares of a company is its book value, and that number is included in their reports. It's easy for a fund to release the net asset value on a daily basis because all of its assets (stocks, bonds, and cash) are given values every day by the market. It's also necessary to have a real time va... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Are AAA private-sector corporate bonds safer than government bonds? | "If you are afraid of your government defaulting, then you also have reason to fear that your country's so-called ""AAA"" corporate bonds might not be a safe investment. When governments default, they often do things like: In these scenarios, it is not predictable whether government bonds will suffer more or less than... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Does the profit of a company directly affect its stock or indirectly by causing people to buy or sell? | The short answer to your question is yes. Company performance affects stock price only through investors' views. But note that selling for higher and lower prices when the company is doing well or poorly is not an arbitrary choice. A stock is a claim on the future cash flows of the firm, which ultimately come from it... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | How can I avoid international wire fees or currency transfer fees? | Be aware that ATM withdrawals often generate hidden fees, which are not obviously declared. Many banks operate e.g. with a currency exchange fee, giving you an exchange rate some 1-2% lower than actually applicable. If you withdraw larger amounts, such a currency exchange fee easily adds up to what you would have paid ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Do I not have a credit score? | Generally, if you have a loan, you have a credit score. But since you have never had a loan before, then it is likely that you do not have a credit score. You should not be worried if you aren't planning on applying for credit and/or loans. If you are wanting to purchase a house, car, or even just having a credit card,... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | US sanctions against foreign citizens | "Are most big US based financial institutions and banks in such a close relationship with USCIS (United States Citizenship And Immigration Services) so they can easily request the information about market traders? Yes. They must be in order to enforce the laws required by the sanctions. What online broker would you sug... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | How to refuse a Clearxchange payment? | "Your bank uses ClearXchange, not you. It is not a website where you open an account, like many others, but an inter-bank transfer system based on email addresses, kind of like free wire transfers between everyone. You don't have to set anything up, just accept the payment, and the money appears in your account (assumi... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Is it correct to call an exchange-traded note a type of ETF? | They're exchange traded debt, basically, not funds. E.g. from the NYSE: An exchange-traded note (ETN) is a senior unsecured debt obligation designed to track the total return of an underlying market index or other benchmark, minus investor fees. Whereas an ETF, in some way or another, is an equity product - which doesn... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Why are banks providing credit scores for free? | I think the biggest reason is price; it's a lot cheaper now than it was to offer these. That's because for the most part, when you get a credit score for free, you're not getting a true FICO score. You're getting instead a VantageScore. VantageScore was created by the three credit bureaus, and as such they can offer ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Should I keep most of my banking, credit, and investment accounts at the same bank? | http://www.fdic.gov/deposit/deposits/index.html FDIC currently insures up to $250,000. (I would have put that as a comment to Jeffery but it says it was locked.) You don't want to put all your eggs in one basket. If you shop around, and keep shopping all the time you can keep your accounts in a single place so long ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Insurance broker - Online vs. physical location? | "Traditional insurance agent guy here. There is no right answer in my opinion because your individual needs cannot be generalized. There are a variety of factors that influence the price charged to you including but not limited to your past claims history, geographic location, credit profile, and the carrier's boo... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Are these scenarios considered as taxable income? | For case 1, there is no tax due as you sold the book for less than your cost basis. If you had sold for more than $100, then you would have had a profit. For case 2, that depends on the value of the gift card with respect to the value of your fare. Most likely that gift card is less than the cost of the fare. And in th... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | What home improvements are tax deductible? | In general, for a home you live in, there's maintenance, which is just that, you pay to keep your house in good repair. There's also real improvements. I spend $xxx to turn my poured cement basement into living space. Here, I keep my receipts and the cost (although not my labor) is added to the basis of my home when I... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Receive money from US Client to Myself in India by selling services | You can receive funds from US Client as an individual. There is no legal requirement for you to have a company. If the transactions are large say more than 20 lacs in a year, its advisable to open a Private Ltd. Although its simple opening & Registering a company [A CA or a Laywer would get one at a nominal price of Rs... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Can a merchant charge you more in the US if you want to use a credit card? | "This isn't so much a legal issue, the prohibition on giving discounts was written into the merchant agreements that most of the major credit card companies enforced on businesses that accepted their credit cards. That is, until the recent Financial Reform Bill (2010) passed Congress. It changes everything. (The logic ... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | How do you invest in real estate without using money? | I know this is broad, but this isn't a scam -- it's a workshop/educational thing about teaching people of investing in the real estate market, and how to profit The scam is that the free or cheap class doesn't give you enough info to make money; so they sell you a more advanced and expensive class that gets you alm... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | How can I claim tax back from whilst I was working in Austria? | I don't have any specific situation on the situation in Austria, but in general there are a few things that you should keep in mind. First of all, the official website of the Austrian tax authorities appears to be this one: https://www.bmf.gv.at/steuern/startseite-steuern.html. There is an English page there, but it is... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Is a company allowed to give employees an option for a bonus to be paid out as a 401k match or cash? | "This has to do with the type of plan offered: is it a 401(k) plan or a profit-sharing plan, or both? If it's 401(k) I believe the IRS will see this distribution as elective and count towards the employee's annual elective contribution limit. If it's profit sharing the distribution would be counted toward the employer'... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | What data does a seller receive when I pay by credit card? | It depends on the seller. If the seller wants, they can collect the information from you and send it to the payment gateway. In that case, they of course have everything that you provide at some point. They are not supposed to keep the security code, and there are rules about keeping the credit card number safe. T... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Where can I find filings of HUD-1 statements? | "Three companies may have copies of it: the bank, the Title Company (aka settlement company), and perhaps the real estate agent. The bank (assuming you had a mortgage) is usually the easiest one to contact, as you're probably still making payments to them. They may have sent you the form in a large packet when you sold... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | How can you possibly lose on investments in stocks? | In your own example of VW, it dropped from its peak price of $253 to $92. If you had invested $10,000 in VW in April 2015, by September of that year it would have gone down to $3,600. If you held on to your investment, you would now be getting back to $6,700 on that original $10,000 investment. Your own example demonst... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | What is a maximum amount that I can wire transfer out of US? | Chase has a limit of $500,000 per day. A banker should be able to help you determine any immediate tax liabilities that will arise as a direct result of the transaction. You may wish to consult with a tax professional about any indirect implications the transfer may have. This transaction will be reported to the go... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | How does remittance work? How does it differ from direct money transfer? | "The Option 2 in your answer is how most of the money is moved cross border. It is called International Transfer, most of it carried out using the SWIFT network. This is expensive, at a minimum it costs in the range of USD 30 to USD 50. This becomes a expensive mechanism to transfer small sums of money that individuals... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | How do taxes work with donations made to an individual, e.g. for free software I wrote? | Do I report it as income? Is it subject to just the same amount of taxes (~30%) as regular income? Are there any restrictions on how it can be used? It is income. You can deduct the costs of maintaining the web page and producing the software from it (have an accountant do that for you, there are strict rules on ho... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Why is company provided health insurance tax free, but individual health insurance is not? | During World War II, the United States (US) instituted wage and price controls. To attract better employees, companies would offer benefits to get around salary limits. Health insurance was one of the more successful benefits. At that time, income taxes were newer and there were many ways to evade them. Companies ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Should you co-sign a personal loan for a friend/family member? Why/why not? | "My thoughts on loaning money to friends or family are outlined pretty extensively here, but cosigning on a loan is a different matter. It is almost never a good idea to do this (I say ""almost"" only because I dislike absolutes). Here are the reasons why: Now, all that said, if my sister or parents were dying of can... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | What can I replace Microsoft Money with, now that MS has abandoned it? | I've been budgeting with MS Money since 2004 and was pretty disappointed to hear it's being discontinued. Budgeting is actually a stress-relieving hobby for me, and I can be a bit of a control-freak when it comes to finances, so I decided to start early looking for a replacement rather than waiting until MS Money can n... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Idea for getting rich using computers to track stocks | The main reason I'm aware of that very few individuals do this sort of trading is that you're not taking into account the transaction costs, which can and will be considerable for a small-time investor. Say your transaction costs you $12, that means in order to come out ahead you'll have to have a fairly large position... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Why do only motor insurers employ “No Claims Discounts”? | "Some people are better drivers than others. A collision can happen to anybody, even good drivers. The collision might not be your fault at all; it might be entirely the fault of the other party. However, the best drivers do a better job of avoiding collisions in situations where the other drivers on the road are doin... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Renting from self during out of area remodel project - deductible? | There are certain situations where you could legally pay yourself rent, but it'd be in the context of multiple business entities interacting, never in the context of an individual renting their own property. Even if you could, any rent paid to yourself would count as rental income, so there'd be no benefit. Edit: I wa... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Why do governments borrow money instead of printing it? | "Governments borrowing money doesn't create new money. When banks ""borrow"" money (i.e. take deposits), it does effectively create money because the depositor expects to be able to get the money back at any time, but the bank assumes that most won't actually do this and lends out most of the money to other people. If ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Prepaying a loan: Shouldn't the interest be recalculated like a shorter loan? | When you pay off a loan early, you pay the remaining principal, and you save all of the remaining interest. So you do save on interest, but it's the interest you would have paid in the future, not the interest you have paid in the past. (Your remaining balance when you pay off the loan only includes the principal, not ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Why do card processing companies discourage “cash advance” activities | "This is most likely protecting Square's relationship with Visa/Mastercard/AMEX/etc. Credit card companies typically charge their customers a much higher interest rate with no grace period on cash advances (withdrawals made from an ATM using a credit card). If you use Square to generate something that looks like a ""me... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | What is the difference between a check and a paycheck? | "A paycheck is simply a check for your salary. It's just like a rent check, or a birthday check, or a grocery check... I've had ""paychecks"" that were personal checks from the owner of the business, I've had ones that are printed in the office I worked in and signed right there, and I've had paychecks that are print... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | What's the process to buy an old house to tear it down and create a new one? | By process, I assume you mean the financial process. Financially, this doesn't look any different to me than buying an empty lot to build a rental unit, with the added expense (potentially significant) of doing the tear-down. Given your lack of experience and capital, I would be very hesitant to jump in like this. You ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | How to take advantage of home appreciation | "Assuming ""take advantage"" means continue to build wealth, as opposed to blow it all on a fancy holiday... Downgrade As you already note, you could downgrade/downsize. This could happen via moving to a smaller house in the same area, or moving to an area where the cost of buying is less. HELOC Take out a Home Equit... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Got charged ridiculous amount for doctor's walk in visit. What are my options? | You should start by calling the clinic and asking them to tell you how the visit was coded. Some clinics have different billing codes based on the complexity of the visit. If you have one thing you are seeing the doctor about, that could be coded differently than if you have 4 things you are seeing the doctor about. In... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Are parking spaces and garage boxes a good investment? | If the company that owns the lot is selling them it is doing so because it feels it will make more money doing so. You need to read carefully what it is you are getting and what the guarantees are from the owner of the property and the parking structure. I have heard from friends in Chicago that said there are people... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Why would a public company not initiate secondary stock offerings more often? | Selling stock means selling a portion of ownership in your company. Any time you issue stock, you give up some control, unless you're issuing non-voting stock, and even non-voting stock owns a portion of the company. Thus, issuing (voting) shares means either the current shareholders reduce their proportion of owernsh... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | How To Assign Payments Received Properly In GnuCash? | "When I receive a check from a customer whom I previously sent an invoice, I go to the customer report for that customer, click on the link ""Invoice"" for that invoice, then click on the Pay Invoice button (very far right side). I then do a customer report and see that there is no balance (meaning all the invoices hav... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Will my Indian debit card work in the U.S.? | Debit cards with the Visa or Mastercard symbol on them work technically everywhere where credit cards work. There are some limitations where the respective business does not accept them, for example car rentals want a credit card for potential extra charges; but most of the time, for day-to-day shopping and dining, deb... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | How to read a balance sheet to determine if a company has enough money to keep paying their employees? | "I heard today while listening to an accounting podcast that a balance sheet... can be used to determine if a company has enough money to pay its employees. The ""money"" that you're looking at is specifically cash on the balance sheet. The cash flows document mentioned is just a more-finance-related document that exp... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | What are the advantages and disadvantages of leasing out a property or part of a property (such as a basement apartment)? | "The obvious advantage is turning your biggest liability into an income-generating asset. The downside are: (1), you have to find tenants (postings, time to show the place, credit/background check, and etc) (2), you have to deal with tenants (collection of rent, repairs of things that broke by itself, complaints from n... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | How do I enter Canadian tax info from US form 1042-S and record captial gains from cashing in stock options? | I can't give you a specific answer because I'm not a tax accountant, so you should seek advice from a tax professional with experience relevant to your situation. This could be a complicated situation. That being said, one place you could start is the Canada Revenue Agency's statement on investment income, which contai... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | What does Capital Surplus mean? | "I think it's easiest to illustrate it with an example... if you've already read any of the definitions out there, then you know what it means, but just don't understand what it means. So, we have an ice cream shop. We started it as partners, and now you and I each own 50% of the company. It's doing so well that we de... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Why would a tender offer be less than the market price? | "Rational shareholders wouldn't accept such an offer. The company making the offer is simply trying to get a deal with questionable — though not illegal — tactics. Your answer is actually in the link you provided. Quoting from the fourth paragraph [emphasis is mine]: The SEC has cautioned investors about mini-tender ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | How do you get out of a Mutual Fund in your 401(k)? | One of the strengths of 401K accounts is that you can move from investment X in the program to investment Y in the program without tax consequences. As you move through your lifetime you will tend to want to lower risk by investing in funds that are less aggressive. The only way this works is if there is an ability to ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Ask for credit decrease | "Aside from an annual fee, if any, the card issuer makes money 2 ways, the transaction fee, about 1.5%-2% charged to the merchant, and interest from you if you leave a balance month to month. Obviously, the bank has some cost in processing statements and maintaining your account. If up front you are saying you will not... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Do Fundamentals Matter Anymore in Stock Markets? | All you have to do is ask Warren Buffet that question and you'll have your answer! (grin) He is the very definition of someone who relies on the fundamentals as a major part of his investment decisions. Investors who rely on analysis of fundamentals tend to be more long-term strategic planners than most other investor... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Investing $50k + Real Estate | I would say that, for the most part, money should not be invested in the stock market or real estate. Mostly this money should be kept in savings: I feel like your emergency fund is light. You do not indicate what your expenses are per month, but unless you can live off of 1K/month, that is pretty low. I would bump ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | UK - How to receive payments in euros | "See my comment below about the official exchange rate. There is no ""official"" exchange rate to apply as far as I'm aware. However the bank is already applying the same exchange rate you can find in the forex markets. They are simply applying a spread (meaning they will add some amount to the exchange rate whic... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Online Foreign Exchange Brokerages: Which ones are good & reputable for smaller trades? | "For ""smaller trades"", I'm not sure you can beat FXCM.com, a large, dedicated FX trading shop with extremely tight spreads, and a ""Micro"" account that you can open for as little as $25(US). Their ""main"" offering has a minimum account size of $2k (US), but recommends an account size of $10k or more. But they also... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | In what category would I put a loan I took to pay an expense | A loan is most generally a liability, a part of the balance sheet. Expenses & income are part of the income statement. Income is the net of revenues after expenses. The interest is an expense on the income statement, but the loan itself does not reside there unless if it is defaulted and forgiven. Then it would beco... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | In debts now, help please | |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Real estate loans for repairs | If you intend to flip this property, you might consider either a construction loan or private money. A construction loan allows you to borrow from a bank against the value of the finished house a little at a time. As each stage of the construction/repairs are completed, the bank releases more funds to you. Interest acc... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | How do I figure out if I will owe taxes | Do I get a write off for paying student loans? Maybe. See https://www.irs.gov/publications/p970/ch04.html Generally, personal interest you pay, other than certain mortgage interest, isn't deductible on your tax return. However, if your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is less than $80,000 ($160,000 if filing a jo... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | What are some factors I should consider when choosing between a CPA and tax software | Largely it comes down to the complexity of your return (likely relatively simple if it's your first time filing) and your comfort level with using software. More complex returns would include filing business claims, handling stocks and investments, special return forms, etc. One benefit to most of the software options... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | How to process IRS check as a non-resident? | I suspect @SpehroPefhany is correct and that your bank will cash a check from the US Department of the Treasury. Especially since they're the same ones who guarantee the U.S. Dollar. They may hold the funds until the check clears, but I think you'll have good luck going through your bank. Of course, fees and exchang... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Payroll reimbursments | Not correct. First - when you say they don't tax the reimbursement, they are classifying it in a way that makes it taxable to you (just not withholding tax at that time). In effect, they are under-withholding, if these reimbursement are high enough, you'll have not just a tax bill, but penalties for not paying enough ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Are Credit Cards a service to banks? | "As i see it, with a debit card, they are taken kinda out of the game. They are not lending money, it seems really bad for them. Not exactly. It is true that they're not lending money, but they charge a hefty commission from the retailers for each swipe which is pure profit with almost no risk. One of the proposa... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | For net worth, should I value physical property at my cost to replace it, or the amount I could get for selling it? | You are not asking for insurance purposes. So I'll go with this - I have two asset numbers I track. All investments, retirement accounts, etc, the kind that are valued at day's end by the market, etc. From that number I subtract the mortgage. This produces the number that I can say is my net worth with a paid in full h... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Why are people from UAE and Dubai so rich? | They aren't all rich on average. And oil and gas is actually now only about 25% of the economy in the UAE (incredibly!). There are good reasons why it felt that way, though: The UAE and a number of other oil-rich nations all realize that they need to diversify away from oil revenues. International investment and touris... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | When should I open a “Line of credit” at my bank? | With the information you have given, I would say never. Remember the banker is a salesman, and the line of credit is the product. If you don't need to borrow the money for something specific, then you don't need the line of credit in the first place. Even if you did need something I would tell you to save up and pay ca... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Company wants to sell all of its assets, worth more than share price? | Why is the stock trading at only $5 per share? The share price is the perceived value of the company by people buying and selling the stock. Not the actual value of the company and all its assets. Generally if the company is not doing well, there is a perceived risk that it will burn out the money fast. There is a diff... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Why do I not see goods and services all change their price when inflation is high? | In most circumstances prices do not change on a daily basis on most goods and services, and just because inflation is high does not mean all prices of every good and service has to increase over the short term. Prices are determined by costs of doing business, manufacturing costs and wage growth, and by competition. ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Hiring freelancers and taxes | I am not a lawyer or a tax accountant, but from the description provided it sounds to me like you have created two partnerships: one in which you share 50% of Bob's revenue, and another in which you share 50% of the revenue from the first partnership. If this is the case, then each partnership would need to file form K... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Should the price of fuel in Australia at this point be so high? | First price isn't artificially maintained at a level. When a refining company signs a contract to buy crude from a supplier, it promises to buy at a certain price with options for increase and decrease due to the fluctuating prices in the market. And it buys crude to build up a certain buffer to supply itself for a cer... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Are my purchases of stock, mutual funds, ETF's, and commodities investing, or speculation? | This depends on what your definition of the word is is. Strictly speaking, you are only investing in a company when you buy stock from them somehow. This is usually done during an IPO or a secondary offering. Or, if you are someone like Warren Buffet or an institutional investor, you strike a deal with the company to... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Why do grocery stores in the U.S. offer cash back so eagerly? | The only card I've seen offer this on credit card purchases is Discover. I think they have a special deal with the stores so that the cash-over amount is not included in the percentage-fee the merchant pays. (The cash part shows up broken-out from the purchase amount on the statement--if this was purely something the... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Transferring money between two banks | "Why? Because they can get away with it, of course. In short - why not? You may want to read the answers to this similar question (my answer is the one accepted by the OP). Who has the money? The banks, who else. I have found that some banks are capable of sending/receiving ACH transfers faster than others. I have acco... |
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