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Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | GnuCash: expense tracking/amounts left under limits | "Yes. The simplest option to track your spending over time is to familiarize yourself with the ""Reports"" menu on the toolbar. Take a look specifically at the ""Reports > Income/Expense > Income Statement"" report, which will sum up your income and spending over a time frame (defaults to the current year). In each r... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Why can't the government simply payoff everyone's mortgage to resolve the housing crisis? | Could it be done? Yes, it could, subject to local law. A variant of such an approach has been suggested for those countries experiencing collapse of demand. One might consider whether whether it applied to secured loans (such as mortgages), unsecured loans, or both; whether it would be capped at a certain absolute (say... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | What are my options for this high interest student loan? | "There is no magic formula to this, quite simply: earn, cut expenses, and pay. It sounds like you can use a little bit of help in the earning area. While it sounds like you are career focused (which is great) what else can you do to earn? Can you start a low cost of entry side business? Examples would include tuto... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Why does the Fed use PCE over CPI? | Consumers aren't the only economic participants impacted by a change in the Fed rate.... Inflation has WIDE ranging implications from the future liabilities of pension funds to the ongoing cost of our national debt. It doesn't make sense to consider only consumer inflationary experience. PCE is considered because it ... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | How to find out if a company is legit? | It depends greatly from place to place, but nothing beats the Internet reviews' research. If you can't find anything digging slightly deeper than the impressive home page, then you probably should be worried. As it seems that you are. Specifically, I do these: @JohnFX mentions a valid point: check for physical presence... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | For the first time in my life, I'm going to be making real money…what should I do with it? | "Fool's 13 steps to invest is a good starting point. Specifically, IFF all your credit cards are paid, and you made sure you've got no outstanding liabilities (that also accrues interest), stock indexes might be a good place for 5-10 years timeframes. For grad school, I'd probably look into cash ISA (or local equivalen... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | What is a “Junk Bond”? | "A junk bond is, broadly, a bond with a non-negligible risk of default. (""Bond"" ought to be defined elsewhere, but broadly it's a financial instrument you buy from a company or government, where they promise to pay you back the principal and some interest over time, on a particular schedule.) The name ""junk"" is a ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | When do companies typically announce stock splits? | "In 2005, Apple announced a split on Feb 11... CUPERTINO, California — February 11, 2005 — Apple® announced today that its Board of Directors has approved a two-for-one split of the Company’s common stock and a proportional increase in the number of Apple common shares authorized from 900 million to 1.8 billion. Each s... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Precious metal trading a couple questions | "Limited Price is probably equivalent to the current par value of a ""limit order"". Markets move fast, and if the commodity is seeing some volatility in the buy and sell prices, if you place an ordinary buy order you may not get the price you were quoted. A ""limit order"" tells your broker or whomever or whatever is ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | How does a high share price benefit a company when it is raising funds? | "In an IPO (initial public offering) or APO (additional public offering) situation, a small group of stakeholders (as few as one) basically decide to offer an additional number of ""shares"" of equity in the company. Usually, these ""shares"" are all equal; if you own one share you own a percentage of the company equal... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Why could rental costs for apartments/houses rise while buying prices can go up and down? | I am from Australia, so my answer is based on my experience over here, however it should be similar for the USA. Generally, what determines both the price of houses/apartments and the rents for them is supply and demand. When there is high demand and low supply prices (or rents) generally go up. When there is low deman... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Do bond interest rate risk premiums only compensate for the amount investors might lose? | In answer to your last formulation, no. In a perfectly efficient market, different investors still have different risk tolerances (or utility functions). They're maximizing expected utility, not expected value. The portfolios that maximize expected utility for different risk preferences are different, and thus general... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Making an offer on a property - go in at market price? | "Firstly, the agent doesn't work for you. He works for himself. It's in his interest not to get you a house at the lowest cost but to sell you a house. The higher the price the higher his commission is, or the higher the probability that the seller will sell it meaning less work for him. It depends on the market what ... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Is it possible to split taxation of funds earned from a crowdfunding campaign over multiple years? | "I think you should really start a limited company for this. It'll be a lot simpler to spread the income over multiple years if your business and you have completely separate identities. You should also consult an accountant, if only once to understand the basics of how to approach this. Having a limited company would ... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Higher auto insurance costs: keep car or switch to public transit? | "Looking at your numbers, I would definitively consider selling the car, and use the public transportation instead. You could easily save $450 month, plus gas and maintenance. As you mentioned, public transportation will be only a fraction of this amount, so you might end up saving around $400 monthly. If you decide to... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Smartest Place to Put Tax Refund | "Congratulations on your graduation and salary. You are in a great career field (I know from experience.) As a background, I would feel pretty confident in your salary as demand for SE is pretty high right now. During my career there were times that demand was pretty to very low. Somehow I survived 2001 & 2002, but... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Should I sell a 2nd home, or rent it out? | "So here are some of the risks of renting a property: Plus the ""normal"" risk of losing your job, health, etc., but those are going to be bad whether you had the rental or not, so those aren't really a factor. Can you beat the average gain of the S&P 500 over 10 years? Probably, but there's significant risk that some... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | How companies choose earnings release dates, & effect on Implied Volatility | "I can't speak authoritatively to your broader question about stocks in general, but in several years tracking AAPL closely, I can tell you that there's little apparent pattern to when their earnings call will be, or when it will be announced. What little I do know: - AAPL's calls tend to occur on a Tuesday more than ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | How can I increase my hourly pay as a software developer? | Short term: ask for a raise or look for a new job that pays more. Longer term: |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | How to negotiate when you have something to give back? | NEVER combine the negotiations for trade-in of an old car and purchase of a new one (and/or financing), if you can avoid doing so. Dealers are very good at trading off one against the other to increase their total profit, and it's harder for you to walk away when you have to discard the whole thing. These are separate ... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Slow destruction on co-signed property | "First off learn from this: Never cosign again. There are plenty of other ""tales of woe"" outlined on this site that started and ended similarly. Secondly do what you can to get off of the loan. First I'd go back to her dad and offer him $1000 to take you off the loan and sign over the car. Maybe go up to $3000 if... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Should I scale down my 401k? | Because stock markets don't always go up, sometimes they go down. Sometimes they go way down. Between 2007 and 2009 the S&P 500 lost over half its value. So if in 2007 you thought you had just enough to retire on, in 2009 you'd suddenly find you had only half of what you needed! Of course over the next few years, many ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Exotic Car Flipping as a Strategic Investment? (US-CAN) | "You can greatly reduce the risk if you can line up a buyer prior to purchasing the car. That kind of thing is common in business, one example is drop shipping. Also there are sales companies that specialize in these kinds of things bringing manufacturers of goods together with customers. The sales companies never t... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | How to protect your parents if they never paid Social Security? | Wow. She really is in a pickle. Even though I can intellectualize that she ought have paid more attention to her family's finances, and assuming she wasn't complicit in her husband's obvious tax evasion, I can sympathize to some extent. This is a great demonstration of how dangerous it is to just let your spouse handl... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Should I buy a home or rent in my situation? | "If I were you, I would rent. Wait to buy a home. Here is why: When you say that renting is equal in cost to a 30-year mortgage, you are failing to consider several aspects. See this recent answer for a list of things that need to be considered when comparing buying and renting. You have no down payment. Between th... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Cheapest way to wire or withdraw money from US account while living in Europe | I prefer to use a Foreign Exchange transfer service. You will get a good exchange rate (better than from Paypal or from your bank) and it is possible to set it up with no transfer fees on both ends. You can use an ACH transfer from your US bank account to the FX's bank account and then a SEPA transfer in Europe to ge... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Is the amount taxable if my grandfather sells agricultural land | As your is a very specific case, please get an advice of CA. It should not cost you much and make it easier. The sale of agriculture land is taxable in certain conditions and exempt from tax in other cases. Sale of agricultural land is subject to capital gains tax. But there are certain exemptions under Section 54B, su... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Apartment Security Deposit refunds in Maryland | In Maryland, a landlord must hold your security deposit in an escrow account and pay you interest when returning the deposit. The interest is simple interest; it does not compound. The interest rate that they must pay has changed over the last 43 years. Before October 1, 2004, the rate was 4%. Until January 1, 2015,... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Are the guaranteed returns of regulated utilities really what they sound like? | Typically a private company is hit by demand supply issues and cost of inputs. In effect at times the cost of input may go up, it cannot raise the prices, because this will reduce demand. However certain public sectors companies, typically in Oil & Engery segements the services are offered by Public sector companies, a... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | College student - I'm a 'dependent' and my parents won't apply for the Parent PLUS loan or cosign a private loan | Smart parents not wanting to get stuck with a student loan or co-signing on a loan. because rent is so high Are you able to live with your parents? Is there anyway to reduce the cost of rent like renting a room? Can you move somewhere where the rent is cheaper? working 25 hours per week Working 25 hours per week an... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Should I pay off my car loan within the year? | Personally, I don't think that the interest from the car loan is worth the credit history you're building through it. There are other ways to build credit that don't require you to pay interest, like the credit card you mentioned (so long as you keep paying off the balance). So I'd go that route: ditch the auto loan an... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Which practice to keep finances after getting married: joint, or separate? | "If you ask ten different couples what they do, depending on a variety of factors, you'll get anywhere between two and ten different answers. One personal finance blogger that I read swears by the fact that he and his wife keep their finances totally separate. His wife has her own retirement account, he has his. His ... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Avoiding Capital Gains Long Term | Yes, you could avoid capital gains tax altogether, however, capital gains are used in determining your tax bracket even though they are not taxed at that rate. This would only work in situations where your total capital gains and ordinary income kept you in the 0% longterm capital gains bracket. You can't realize a mi... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Should I pay cash or prefer a 0% interest loan for home furnishings? | There are several issues with paying for furniture and appliances with 0% credit instead of paying with cash. When you pay with 0% credit, you might be tempted to spend more on something than you would have if you paid with cash, because it feels like free money, and you've justified in your mind that the extra you ear... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | What is the best asset allocation for a retirement portfolio, and why? | "You're right, the asset allocation is one fundamental thing you want to get right in your portfolio. I agree 110%. If you really want to understand asset allocation, I suggest any and all of the following three books, all by the same author, William J. Bernstein. They are excellent – and yes I've read each. From a ... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Gigantic point amount on rewards card - what are potential consequences? | "I can't give you proper legal advice, but if I called their customer service and used half an hour of my time to wait and explain the situation in detail, and their official response was ""just use the points,"" I would do just that. Of course you would have stronger legal standing if you had recorded their answer, or... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Why does an option lose time value faster as it approaches expiry | If you think about it, the value of an option comes from the chance that the price at the expiration date can exceed the strike price. As it gets closer to the expiration date, the chance is getting smaller, because there is simply not enough time for an out-of-money option to hit that strike. Therefore, the value of a... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | What would I miss out on by self insuring my car? | "Convenience, and of course money. In case of an event, you'll have to spend the full worth of money to fix/replace, while if you're insured - you get the insurance to pay for it. It is up to you to decide, if the money saved on the lower premiums worth the risk of paying much more in case of an event. Of course, the c... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Can Mutual Funds Invest In the Start Up Market? | "Bloomberg suggests that two Fidelity funds hold preferred shares of Snapchat Inc.. Preferred shares hold more in common with bonds than with ordinary stock as they pay a fixed dividend, have lower liquidity, and don't have voting rights. Because of this lower liquidity they are not usually offered for sale on the mark... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | US tax for a resident NRI | If you are tax-resident in the US, then you must report income from sources within and without the United States. Your foreign income generally must be reported to the IRS. You will generally be eligible for a credit for foreign income taxes paid, via Form 1116. The question of the stock transfer is more complicated,... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | How to withdraw money from currency account without having to lose so much to currency conversion? | If I understand your question, you're misunderstanding the buy/sell spread, and at least in this instance seem to be in an unfortunate situation where the spread is quite large. The Polish Zloty - GBP ideal exchange rate is around 5.612:1. Thus, when actually exchanging currency, you should expect to pay a bit more th... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | How do I get into investing? | "Don't do it until you have educated yourself enough to know what you are doing. I hope you won't take this personally, but given that you are wandering around asking random strangers on the Internet how to ""get into investing,"" I feel safe in concluding that you are by no means a sophisticated enough investor to be ... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | How are stock buybacks not considered insider trading? | In fact, buybacks WERE often considered a vehicle for insider trading, especially prior to 1982. For instance, Prior to the Reagan era, executives avoided buybacks due to fears that they would be prosecuted for market manipulation. But under SEC Rule 10b-18, adopted in 1982, companies receive a “safe harbor” from ... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Co- Signed car loan and need to have the other signer relinquish claim to ownership | The key here is the bank, they hold the title to the car and as such have the final say in things. The best thing you can do is to pay off the loan. Could you work like crazy and pay off the car in 6 months to a year? The next best thing would be to sell the car. You will probably have to cover the depreciation out o... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Cash flow implications of converting primary mortgaged residence to rental | The rental income is indeed taxable income, but you reduce the taxable portion of it by deducting expenses (including mortgage interest, maintenance, insurance, HOA, real estate tax, and of course depreciation). Due to the depreciation, you may end up breaking even, or having very little taxable income. Note that when ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Does the IRS give some help or leniency to first-time taxpayers? | "There's no such thing as ""leniency"" when enforcing the law. Not knowing the law, as you have probably heard, is not a valid legal defence. Tax law is a law like any other. That said, some penalties and fines can be abated if the error was done in good faith and due to a reasonable cause. First time penalties can be ... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Can a CEO short his own company? | That would be the ultimate in insider trading. They made a stock transaction knowing in advance what was going to happen to the share price. They could easily expect to face jail time, plus the CEO would still face lawsuits from the board of directors, the stockholders and the employees. |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | What are the differences between gold/siver “coin” vs. “round”? | "Coins are legal tender. They're authorized by governments and have a face value. Rounds are simply coined pieces of metal minted by private manufacturers. They do not have any face value and are not legal tender. Rounds are used to own metal, they have no value other than the value of the metal in them. Any premium yo... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | What happens if I just don't pay my student loans? | Same thing as for any debt: bank sues you, you lose, you are in an even deeper hole because you now owe them for the cost of the court case, your credit rating goes into the toilet, you may even have trouble retaining/finding a job. Being stupid is always more expensive. |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Treatment of web domain ownership & reselling for tax purposes: Capital asset, or not? | I must say that this is a question that you should hire a professional tax adviser (EA/CPA licensed in your State) to answer. It is way above our amateurs' pay-grade. That said, I'll tell you what I personally think on the issue. I'm not a licensed tax adviser, and nothing that I write here can be used in any way as a ... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Why does it take so long to refund to credit card? | "It's not usually apparent to the average consumer, but there's actually two stages to collecting a payment, and two ways to undo it. The particular combination that occurs may lead to long refund times, on top of any human delays (like Ben Miller's answer addresses). When you pay with a credit card, it is typically o... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Am I still building a credit score if I use my credit card like a debit card? | "I strongly suggest you look at CreditKarma and see how each aspect of what you are doing impacts your score. Here's my take - There's an anti-credit approach that many have which, to me, is over the top. ""Zero cards, zero credit"" feels to me like one step shy of ""off the grid."" It's so far to the right that it act... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Implications of receiving small amounts of money on the side | HMRC may or may not find out about it; the risks and penalties involved if they do find out make it unwise not to just declare it and pay the tax on it. Based on the fact you asked the question, I am assuming that you currently pay all your tax through PAYE and don't do a tax return. You would need to register for Self... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Personal loan to a friend procedure | If this isn't a case where you would be willing to forgive the debt if they can't pay, it's a business transaction, not a friend transaction. Establish exactly what the interest rate will be, what the term of the loan is, whether periodic payments are required, how much is covered by those payments vs. being due at the... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | Under what circumstance will the IRS charge you a late-payment penalty for taxes? | "The IRS provides a little more information on the subject on this FAQ: Will I be charged interest and penalties for filing and paying my taxes late?: If you did not pay your tax on time, you will generally have to pay a late-payment penalty, which is also called a failure to pay penalty. Some guidance on what constitu... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Is VAT applied when a tradesman charges for materials? | The plumber will apply for and receive a refund of the amount of VAT he paid on the purchase amount. That's the cornerstone of how VAT works, as opposed to a sales tax. So for example: (Rounded approximate amounts for simplicity) Now, at each point, the amount between (original cost VAT) and (new VAT) is refunded. S... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Do I need to write the date on the back of a received check when depositing it? | "You do not need to write anything on the second line. There are a variety of helpful things that you can add, e.g.: For Deposit Only. This tells the bank to deposit the check into your account and ignore other signatures. Your account number. Especially useful when added to ""For Deposit Only"". A countersignat... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | What are the pitfalls of loaning money to friends or family? Is there a right way to do it? | There are two levels to consider here: That said, before loaning/giving anyone money ask yourself if it is good for them. If they have problems managing their money, or holding down a job, and you give them money, they are just going to come back for more later. In this type of situation, you shouldn't give/loan them... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | gift is taxable but is “loan” or “debt” taxable? | (a) you give away your money - gift tax The person who receives the gift doesn't owe any tax. If you give it out in small amounts, there will be no gift tax. It could have tax and Estate issues for you depending on the size of the gift, the timing, and how much you give away in total. Of course if you give it away to... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | I got my bank account closed abruptly how do I get money out? | This is very possibly a scam. The way the scam works is that the scammers send you a letter and demand you call the telephone number. But the telephone number belongs to the scammers, not the bank. When you call the number, they will 'authenticate' you by asking you a bunch of questions. They will then have enough info... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Double-entry bookkeeping: When selling an asset, does the money come from, Equity or Income? | "There are basically two approaches, based on how detailed you want to be in your own personal accounting: Obviously the more like a business or like ""real"" accounting you want to be, the more complex you can make it, but in general I find that the purpose of personal accounting is (1) to track what I own, and (2) to... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | What foreign exchange rate is used for foreign credit card and bank transactions? | A lot of questions, but all it boils down to is: . Banks usually perform T+1 net settlements, also called Global Netting, as opposed to real-time gross settlements. That means they promise the counterparty the money at some point in the future (within the next few business days, see delivery versus payment) and collec... |
Share your insights or perspective on the financial matter presented in the input. | What do I do with a P11D Expenses & Benefits form? | "The P11D is a record of the total benefits you've received in a tax year that haven't been taxed in another way, a bit like the P60 is a record of the total pay and tax you've paid in a tax year. Note that travel for business purposes shouldn't be taxable, and if that's what's being reported on the P11D you may need t... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Do market shares exhaust? | "As @ApplePie pointed out in their answer, at any given time there is a finite amount of stock available in a company. One subtlety you may be missing is that there is always a price associated with an offer to buy shares. That is, you don't put in an order simply to buy 1 share of ABC, you put in an order to buy 1 sha... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | How do 'payday money' stores fund their 'buy now, pay later' loans? | Payday loan companies basically are banks (although they are incredibly terrible ones). Banks make money in two ways: (1) They charge fees for services they provide (bank account fees, etc.); and (2) The interest rate differential: They borrow money from individuals and corporations (your savings account is essentiall... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Can an unmarried couple buy a home together with only one person on the mortgage? | It is highly unlikely that this would be approved by a mortgage underwriter. When the bank gives a loan with a security interest in a property (a lien), they are protected - if the borrower does not repay the loan, the property can be foreclosed on and sold, and the lender is made whole for the amount of the loan tha... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Why would a person not want to purchase a Personal Liability (Umbrella) insurance policy? | "This article has a section titled ""Do you need an umbrella policy to cover your personal liability risks?"" that says: If you have young children, for example, you might need a policy because they have lots of friends. These little tikes might get into some mischief and hurt themselves at your home. If so, you’re... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | How do I calculate ownership percentage for shared home ownership? | "Sister is putting down nothing, and paying sub-market rent. It looks to me like if she is assigned anything, it's a gift. You on the other hand, have put down the full downpayment, and instead of breaking even via fair rent, are feeding the property to the tune of $645/mo. In the old days, the days of Robert Allen's... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | I earn $75K, have $30K in savings, no debt, rent from my parents who are losing their home. Should I buy a home now or save? | The biggest red flag is the fact that your parents may lose their house. There are multiple parts of the decision. The red flag comes in because you are stretching your finances to the max to afford the house you are interested in. Buying down the interest rate makes some sense depending on how long you plan on stayin... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | What happens if I intentionally throw out a paycheck? | "How/when does my employer find out? Do they get a report from their bank stating that ""check 1234 for $1212.12 paid to John Doe was never deposited"" or does it manifest itself as an eventual accounting discrepancy that somebody has to work to hunt down? The accounting department or the payroll company they use... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | The Purpose of Change Machines | "I think you're talking about two types of machines, at least in the United States. The term change machine usually refers to a machine that accepts large denominations of currency and returns an equal amount of currency in smaller bills or coins. Typically these machines are used to provide coins in exchange for pape... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Do I even need credit cards? | Credit cards are great. You get free money for 30+ days and a bunch of additional benefits like insurance, extended warranties and reward programs. When vendors don't behave, you dispute the charge with the credit card and they deal with it on your behalf. Just get a fee-free American Express card and pay the balance o... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Should I accept shares as payment? | For one, the startup doesn't exist yet, so until March I will get nothing on hand, though I have enough reserves to bridge that time. I would not take this deal unless the start-up exists in some form. If it's just not yet profitable, then there's a risk/reward to consider. If it doesn't exist at all, then it cannot ... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Where can I find the current price to rent ratio of the locality of my interest? | "Chris, this is an arbitrage question with a twist: you cannot treat the location you want to live objectively. For example, why not SoCal instead of Texas? Yes, SoCal's expensive but what if you account for the weather? This question is very interesting for me personally: something I am going to focus on myself, soon,... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Is it a gift or not? | There are a few things that this question prompts - |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Wife sent to collections for ticket she paid ten years ago | "The first thing you should do is write a letter to the collection company telling them that you dispute all charges and demand, per section 809 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, that they immediately validate and confirm any and all debts they allege you owe. You should further request that that they only com... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Any reason to be cautious of giving personal info to corporate fraud departments? | I can't address the psychology of trust involved in your question, but here are some common sense guidelines for dealing with your issue. Make sure you know who you are talking to. Call the company you need to speak to via a publicly available phone number. An email or something you got in a letter might be from a dif... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | How Do I Fix Excess Contribution Withdrawl | "You didn't have a situation of ""excess contribution"". If you have proof that someone in Fidelity actually told you what you said, you might try to recover some of your losses through a lawsuit. However, their first (and main) defense would be that they're not in the business of providing tax advice, and it is your p... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | How can I build up my credit history when I have nearly none | You're going to have a huge problem getting approved for anything as long as you have an unpaid bill on your report. Pay it and make sure its reported as paid in full - ASAP. Once that settled, your credit will start to improve slowly. Can't do anything about that, it will take time. You can make the situation improve ... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Rental Application Fees | Slightly abbreviated version of the guidance from NOLO.com California state law limits credit check or application screening fees landlords can charge prospective tenants and specifies what landlords must do when accepting these types of fees. (Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.6.) Here are key provisions: I am not a lawyer, but... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | My bank often blocks my card during purchases - what is the most reliable bank card? (UK) | "This question is likely to be closed as a product recommendation request. But if you are willing to change the question a bit, perhaps to ""How do I avoid having my debit card declined when I know I have good funds"" it becomes a reasonable general question. And my answer follows. I can tell you the same thing happen... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | What does “balance sheet banks” mean in this context? | "The balance sheet for a bank is the list of assets and liabilities that the bank directly is responsible for. This would be things like loans the bank issues and accounts with the bank. Banks can make both ""balance sheet"" loans, meaning a loan that says on the balance sheet - one the bank gains the profits from but... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | ~$75k in savings - Pay off house before new home? | Congratulations on saving up $75,000. That requires discipline and tenacity. There are a lot of factors that would go into making your decision. First and foremost is the security of the income stream you have now. Being leveraged during times of hardship is not a pleasant experience. Unexpected job losses can an... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | For a car, what scams can be plotted with 0% financing vs rebate? | The car deal makes money 3 ways. If you pay in one lump payment. If the payment is greater than what they paid for the car, plus their expenses, they make a profit. They loan you the money. You make payments over months or years, if the total amount you pay is greater than what they paid for the car, plus their expense... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Dividend vs Growth Stocks for young investors | "The key is to look at total return, that is dividend yields plus capital growth. Some stocks have yields of 5%-7%, and no growth. In that case, you get the dividends, and not a whole lot more. These are called dividend stocks. Other stocks pay no dividends. But if they can grow at 15%-20% a year or more, you're fine.T... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | What is a Discount Called in the Context of a Negative Interest Rate? | "Even though the article doesn't actually use the word ""discount"", I think the corresponding word you are looking for is ""premium"". The words are used quite frequently even outside of the context of negative rates. In general, bonds are issued with coupons close to the prevailing level of interest rates, i.e. their... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Buy car vs lease vs long term rent for 10 years period | If you plan to keep this asset for ten years then you can take the deprecation of its cost over that time period. For simplicity lets treat that as 120 monthly payments. So at a purchase price of $60,000 you are committing around $500 per month not including vehicle maintenance. I typically allocate around 20 percent o... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | How do I protect myself from a scam if I want to help a relative? | "For some reason can't transfer it directly to his account overseas (something to do with security codes, authorized payees and expired cards). Don't become someone's financial intermediary. Find out exactly why he can't transfer the money himself, and then if you want to help him, solve that problem for him. Helping h... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | What should I do with $4,000 cash and High Interest Debt? | Every $1,000 you use to pay off a 26% interest rate card saves you $260 / year. Every $1,000 you use to pay off a 23% interest rate card saves you $230 / year. Every $1,000 you put in a savings account earning ~0.5% interest earns you $5 / year. Having cash on hand is good in case of emergencies, but typically if your... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | How to check the paypal's current exchange rate? | PayPal does charge a premium, both for sending and receiving. Here's how you find their rates: |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | Want to buy a car but have not enough money | "When your dream car is not just 200 times your disposable income but in fact 200 times your whole monthly salary, then there is no way for you to afford it right now. Any attempt to finance through a loan would put you into a debt trap you won't ever dig yourself out. And if there are any car dealerships in your coun... |
Offer your insights or judgment on the input financial query or topic using your financial expertise. | What percent of my salary should I save? | "I am pretty sure you could find a number of financial planners whom you could pay to give you a very accurate number, but the rule of thumb I like best is Save a dime of every dollar. 10% (Savings means save for retirement, not vacations.) Here is a nice article from radio personality Clark Howard with some adjustmen... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | What happens to my savings if my country defaults or restructures its debt? | In theory, anything can happen, and the world could end tomorrow. However, with a reasonably sane financial plan you should be able to ride this out. If the government cannot or won't immediately pay its debt in full, the most immediate consequence is that people are going to be unwilling to lend any more money in fut... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Ensuring payment from client | Use some form of escrow agent: Some freelancer sites provide payment escrow services (e.g. E-Lance). In this system the client puts money in escrow for the project in advance and then when they accept the project it forwards the payment to the provider. Progress Payments Arrange a progress payment approach with the cli... |
Based on your financial expertise, provide your response or viewpoint on the given financial question or topic. | Explanations on credit cards in Canada | "A credit card is a way to borrow money. That's all. Sometimes the loans are very small - $5 - and sometimes they are larger. You can have a credit card with a company (bank or whatever) that you have no other relationship with. They're not a property of a bank account, they are their own thing. The card you describe s... |
Offer your thoughts or opinion on the input financial query or topic using your financial background. | Yahoo Finance not showing detailed information for foreign stocks | The cause of incomplete/inaccurate financial data's appearing on free sites is that it is both complicated and expensive to obtain and parse these data. Even within a single country, different pieces of financial data are handled by different authorities. In the US, for example, there is one generally recognized autho... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | How to respond to a customer's demand for payment extension? | In the event that payment is not made by the due date on the invoice then the transaction is essentially null and void and you can sell the work to another client. For your particular situation I would strongly suggest that you implement a sales contract and agreement of original transfer of work of art for any and all... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Retirement formula for annual compound interest with changing principal | The equation is the same one used for mortgage amortization. You first want to calculate the PV (present value) for a stream of $50K payments over 20 years at a10% rate. Then that value is the FV (future value) that you want to save for, and you are looking to solve the payment stream needed to create that future val... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | What is a typical investment portfolio made up of? | Most people carry a diversity of stock, bond, and commodities in their portfolio. The ratio and types of these investments should be based on your goals and risk tolerance. I personally choose to manage mine through mutual funds which combine the three, but ETFs are also becoming popular. As for where you keep your p... |
Utilize your financial knowledge, give your answer or opinion to the input question or subject. | Should I Use an Investment Professional? | People ... are nearly twice as likely to ... feel confident Great, confidence is amazing. That and $5 will buy you a cup of coffee. 44% [who hired a pro] have $100K or more [vs.] 9% of DIYers There's no way to examine these numbers without a link to the source, but it stands to reason that if you have a plan that you'r... |
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