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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... |
Does an option trading below parity always indicate an arbitrage opportunity? | Defining parity as "parity is the amount by which an option is in the money", I'd say there may be an arbitrage opportunity. If there's a $50 strike on a stock valued at $60 that I can buy for less than $10, there's an opportunity. Keep in mind, options often show high spreads, my example above might show a bid/ask of... |
Buy index mutual fund or build my own? | Go with a Vanguard ETF. I had a lengthy discussion with a successful broker who runs a firm in Chicago. He boiled all of finance down to Vanguard ETF and start saving with a roth IRA. 20 years of psychology research shows that there's a .01 correlation (that's 1/100 of 1%) of stock/mutual fund performance to predictio... |
Should I be filling out form W-9 for somebody I sold used equipment to? | They are a business. You're not a corporation. They paid you more than $600 during the year, so they're supposed to send 1099 to you and the IRS about it. They need your taxpayer certification (W9) for that. They were supposed to ask for it before they paid you, but yes - they're supposed to ask for it. |
TD Webbroker.ca did not execute my limit sell order even though my stock went .02 over limit | On most exchanges, if you place a limit order to sell at 94.64, you will be executed before the market can trade at a higher price. However most stocks in the US trade across several exchanges and your broker won't place your limit order on all exchanges (otherwise you could be executed several times). The likeliest re... |
How's the graph of after/pre markets be drawn? | Graphs are nothing but a representation of data. Every time a trade is made, a point is plotted on the graph. After points are plotted, they are joined in order to represent the data in a graphical format. Think about it this way. 1.) Walmart shuts at 12 AM. 2.)Walmart is selling almonds at $10 a pound. 3.) Walmart ... |
For very high-net worth individuals, does it make sense to not have insurance? | The general answer to this is "yes". When you're dealing with single-digit millionaires, the answer is that their insurance habits and needs are basically the same as everyone else. When you get into the double digit and triple digit millionaires, or people worth billions, they have additional options, but those basi... |
Income in zero-interest environment | anything that produces steady income will produce a "real return" (return above inflation) in a zero-interest rate environment: Note, however, that all of these will decline in value if interest rates rise. |
Why is Google's current nasdaq market cap almost twice the current share price * the No. of shares outstanding? | http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/economix/2014/04/02/the-many-classes-of-google-stock/ Are you counting both class A and other share classes? |
A guy scammed me, but he gave me a bank account number & routing number. Can I use that to take out what he owes me? | OK, reading between the lines here it looks like the services offered by your company are of an "adult" (possibly illegal?) nature and that this individual has actually paid you in full for the services rendered up to this point. The wrinkle here is that you say that you've been offered large cash "gifts" in return for... |
Why does a ETN that is supposed to track Crude Oil like UWTI show constant decline every year? And am I an idiot for investing in it? | This security looks like it will require patience for it to pay off. The 200 day moving average looks as if it will soon cross over the 20 day moving average. When that happens the security can be said to be in a bull run. http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=UWTI&p=D&yr=1&mn=6&dy=0&id=p10888728027 However, this is just s... |
If I go to a seminar held overseas, may I claim my flights on my tax return? | You can deduct this if the main purpose of the trip is to attend the seminar. Travel expenses relating to the attendance at conferences, seminars and other work-related events are deductible to the extent that they relate to your income-producing activities. You will need to apportion your travel expenses where you un... |
Why are there many small banks and more banks in the U.S.? | First, is population density. You didn't say where exactly, but for example here in Tampa, Wells Fargo has 25 branches in the area (though that is a bit larger then what I would think of the Tampa area as a local) Second, we can mix in service expectation. I expect that in addition to "good" online service, "great" ph... |
Should I pay off a 0% car loan? | Between now and October, your $3,000 will earn $30 in your savings account. If you are late on a payment for your 0% loan, your interest rate will skyrocket. In my opinion, the risk is just not worth the tiny gain you are trying to achieve in the savings account. If it was me, I would pay off the loan today. A few mor... |
As an independent contractor, should I always charge the client the GST/HST? | Hourly rate is not the determinant. You could be selling widgets, not hours. Rather, there's a $30,000 annual revenue threshold for GST/HST. If your business's annual revenues fall below that amount, you don't need to register for GST/HST and in such case you don't charge your clients the tax. You could still choose t... |
How to negotiate when you have something to give back? | I don't think that there is a generic answer that will apply to this question across all goods. The answer depends on how the related businesses work, how much insight you have into the true value of the goods, and probably other things. Your car example is a good one that shows multiple options - There are dealers w... |
What is a good rental yield? | I would just like to point out that the actual return should be compared to your down payment, not the property price. After all, you didn't pay $400K for that property, right? You probably paid only 20%, so you're collecting $20K/year on a $80K investment, which works out to 25%. Even if you're only breaking even, yo... |
2 UAN Numbers allotted to my PAN Number | Option 1: You can write to uanepf@epfindia.gov.in giving the details of both the UAN's. This will be able to merge both these under the current EPF. Option 2: You can request a transfer of EPF from old EPF [under different UAN] to the current EPF. This can be done by submitting the required form. Your company should b... |
When is the right time to buy a car and/or a house? | My recommendation is to pay off your student loans as quickly as possible. It sounds like you're already doing this but don't incur any other large debts until you have this taken care of. I'd also recommend not buying a car, especially an expensive one, on credit or lease either. Back during the dotcom boom I and man... |
Why did the price of ASH common stock drop when the market opened on May 15, 2017? | Ashland Global Holdings Inc. (ASH) sold off their ownership in Valvoline Inc. (VVV). Friday, May 12 was the distribution date of the sale; at the end of the day, every stockholder of ASH received 2.745338 shares of VVV stock for each share of ASH held. That is why the value of ASH has dropped significantly on open th... |
Thrift Saving Plan (TSP) Share Price Charts | If you're looking to generate your own charts, you can get up-to-date TSP fund share prices in a Google Docs spreadsheet by "scraping" the data from the HTML of certain TSP webpages. You'll need to do this because the GoogleFinance function does not recognize "private" funds or collective trusts like those of the TSP. ... |
Boyfriend is coowner of a house with his sister, he wants to sell but she doesn't | Dear "benevolent" sister, The mortgage, utilities, and taxes for this home can no longer be paid and the bank will repossess it within the coming months. Thank you for your time |
How to deal with intraday prices conflicting with EOD highs and lows | In the US, stocks are listed on one exchange but can be traded on multiple venues. You need to confirm exactly what your data is showing: a) trades on the primary-listed exchange; or b) trades made at any venue. Also, the trade condition codes are important. Only certain trade condition codes contribute towards the d... |
Do credit checks affect credit scores? | There are two types of credit checks. First is the hard pull which is typically done when you apply for a credit line. The lender will hard pull your file and make his/her decision based on that. This affects your score negatively. You might lose few points for one hard inquiry. Second type is soft pull, which is done ... |
Should I invest in the world's strongest currency instead of my home currency? | Currency speculation is a very risky investment strategy. But when you are looking for which currency to denote your savings in, looking at the unit value is quite pointless. What is important is how stable the currency is in the long term. You certainly don't want a currency which is prone to inflation, because it mea... |
Why is the fractional-reserve banking not a Ponzi scheme? | It is possible to pay down debt (including interest) without issuing new debt money to pay for it. I think this is the heart of your question. Let me present a highly contrived example in which society has four people and one bank. Here is a bank with $100 in initial deposits. Total money supply in this society is $100... |
Why would selling off some stores improve a company's value? | I'd like to modify the "loss" idea that's been mentioned in the other two answers. I don't think a retail location needs to be losing money to be a candidate for sale. Even if a retail location is not operating at a loss, there may be incentive to sell it off to free up cash for a better-performing line of business. ... |
What is the best source of funding to pay off debt? | Please take a look a Dave Ramsey's Baby Step plan. It has all the details that you need to clean up your personal finance situation. None of your options are good. As some of the other answers mentioned, behavior modification is the key. Any idea will be worthless if you just wind up in debt again. Many, many peo... |
If I want to take cash from Portugal to the USA, should I exchange my money before leaving or after arriving? | I would just rely on the salary from my job in the US. If you don't have a job in the US, you're very unlikely to get a visa to move there and look for work, and so the question of how to take money there (except for a holiday) doesn't arise. (Unless you have dual Portuguese/American citizenship.) |
Should I sell when my stocks are growing? | You should constantly look at your investment portfolio and sell based on future outlook. Don't get emotional. Selling a portfolio of stocks at once without a real reason is foolish. If you have a stock that's up, and circumstances make you think it's going to go up further, hold it. If prospects are not so good, sell... |
In what order should I save? | This is a bit of an open-ended answer as certain assumptions must be covered. Hope it helps though. My concern is that you have 1 year of university left - is there a chance that this money will be needed to fund this year of uni? And might it be needed for the period between uni and starting your first job? If the ans... |
Got a “personal” bonus from my boss. Do I have to pay taxes and if so, how do I go about that? | I actually think your boss is creating a problem for you. Of course it's taxable. The things IRS will look at (and they very well might, as it does stand out) what kind of payment is that. Why did it not go through payroll? The company may be at risk here for avoiding FICA/FUTA/workers' compensation insurance/State pay... |
Do company-provided meals need to be claimed on my taxes? | It looks like the resource to deciding these is here Concerning the meals, the law seems a bit vague to me. You can exclude the value of meals you furnish to an employee from the employee's wages if they meet the following tests. This exclusion does not apply if you allow your employee to choose to receive additio... |
Are in-kind donations from my S-Corp tax-deductible in any way? | The relevant IRS publication is 526, Charitable Contributions. The section titled "Contributions you cannot deduct" begins on page 6; item 4 reads: "The value of your time or services." I read that to mean that, if the website you built were a product, you could deduct its value. I don't understand the legal distinctio... |
Do large market players using HFT make it unsafe for individual investors to be in the stock market? | There's a lot of hype about HFT. It involves computers doing things that people don't really understand and making a bunch of rich guys a bunch of money, and there was a crisis and so we hate rich wall street guys this year, and so it's a hot-button issue. Meh. There's some reason for concern about the safety of the ma... |
How is initial stock price (IPO) of a stock determined | Who determines company value at IPO? The Owners based on the advice from Lead Bankers and other Independent auditors who would determine the value of the company at the time of listing. At times instead of determining a fixed price a range is given [lower side and higher side]. The Market participants [FI / Institution... |
Where do I invest my Roth IRA besides stock market and mutual funds? | Nowhere. To back up a bit, mutual funds are the stock market (and the bond market). That is, when you invest in a mutual fund, your money is ultimately buying stocks on the open market. Some of it might be buying bonds. The exact mix of stocks and bonds depends on the mutual fund. But a mutual fund is just a basket of ... |
Best way to buy Japanese yen for travel? | You don't. When you get to Japan, use your ATM card to withdraw local currency. My bank (ETrade) doesn't charge me int'l fees. |
Sale of house profit gifted to child | 1) You parents will have to pay tax on the gain as it wasn't their primary home. You don’t pay Capital Gains Tax when you sell (or ‘dispose of’) your home if all of the following apply: As I look at it, it is your parents are the ones who own the property and they will have to pay on £60000. But as you say you pay par... |
When (if) I should consider cashing in (selling) shares to realize capital gains? | In a perfect world of random stock returns (with a drift) there is no reason to "take profit" by exiting a position because there is no reason to think price appreciation will be followed by decline. In our imperfect world, there are many rules of thumb that occasionally work but if any one of them works consistently... |
How and why does the exchange rate of a currency change almost everyday? | Money is money because people believe it is money. By "believe it is money", I mean that they expect they will be able to turn it into useful goods or services (food, rent, houses, truckloads full of iron ore, mining equipment, massages at the spa, helicopter rides, iPads, greenhouses, income streams to support your fu... |
Is it a good idea to get an unsecured loan to pay off a credit card that won't lower a high rate? | I am answering this in light of the OP mentioning the desire to buy a house. A proper mortgage uses debt to income ratios. Typically 28/36 which means 28% of monthly gross can go toward PITI (principal, interest, tax, insurance) and the total debt can go as high as 36% including credit cards and car payment etc. So, i... |
Are the “debt reduction” company useful? | They don't do anything you can't do yourself and they charge you money for it. And of course the only way they manage to negotiate the debt down is by not paying it for a while in the first place, have it referred to collections and then negotiating with the collectors. At that time, your credit rating (if you care abo... |
What items are exempt from the VAT? [U.K.] | Some items are VAT Exempt or Reduced, but in short you will pay it on almost any all consumer goods. Assuming you are a visitor to the UK from a non-EU nation then Her Majesty will refund you with the appropriate paperwork |
I spend too much money. How can I get on the path to a frugal lifestyle? | Gail Vaz-Oxlade from the television show Til Debt Do Us Part has a great interactive budget worksheet that helps you set up a "jar" or envelope system for each month based on your income and fixed expenses. We have used this successfully in the past. What we found most useful was, as others have said, writing everyth... |
Why do the 1 and 2 euro cent coins exist and why are they used? | I guess other than tradition and inflation, probably because the merchants want them. In the US, what currently costs $2.00 used to cost $0.10. So 75 years ago, those individual cents made a pretty bid difference. Inflation causes prices to go up, but doesn't get us to just change our currencies patterns. In your ... |
Where can I find open source portfolio management software? | Have you looked into GnuCash? It lets you track your stock purchases, and grabs price updates. It's designed for double-entry accounting, but I think it could fit your use case. |
Investing small amounts at regular intervals while minimizing fees? | I think your best bet would be commission-free ETFs, which have no minimum and many have a share price under $100. Most online brokerages have these now, e.g. Vanguard, Fidelity, etc. Just have to watch out for any non-trading fees brokerages may charge with a low balance. |
How are shares used, and what are they, physically? | Shares used to be paper documents, but these days they are more commonly held electronically instead, although this partly depends on what country you're in. But it doesn't make any significant practical difference. Regardless of their physical form, a share simply signifies that you own a certain proportion of a compa... |
If I short-sell a dividend-paying stock, do I have to pay the dividend? | The answer provide by @mbhunter is correct, however there are contexts, shorting in spot market and carrying the position over settlement usually does not entail payment of dividend to the broker, one of the reason being post ex-date the price of the share downward adjusts to the extent of the dividend, so practically ... |
Should I sell a 2nd home, or rent it out? | I don't see anything in this forum on the leverage aspect, so I'll toss that out for discussion. Using generic numbers, say you make a $10k down payment on a $100,000 house. The house appreciates 3% per year. First year, it's $103,000. Second year, $106090, third it's 109,272.70. (Assuming straight line appreciation.)... |
College student - I'm a 'dependent' and my parents won't apply for the Parent PLUS loan or cosign a private loan | I was in that same situation years ago with my parents. One way she could apply for a loan in her name without her parents is if she is not currently living with them she shouldn't need them to cosign if she doesn't have bad credit. But if she isn't living with them and they aren't financing her room and board they can... |
How to incorporate dividends while calculating annual return of a Stock | You simply add the dividend to the stock price when calculating its annual return. So for year one, instead of it would be |
I'm upside down on my car loan and need a different car, what can I do? | I am new to the site and hope I can help! We just purchased a used car a few weeks ago and used dealer's finance again so that's not the issue here. I want to focus on what you can do to resolve your issue and not focus on the mistakes that were made. 1 - DO NOT PURCHASE A NEW CAR! Toyota Camrys are great cars that wi... |
Shares in Chinese startup company | Setting up an entity that is partially foreign owned is not that difficult. It takes an additional 1-1.5 months in total, and in this particular case, you guys would be formed as a Joint Venture. It will cost a bit more (about 3-5000). If you're serious about owning a part of a business in China, you should carefully e... |
How Should I Start my Finance Life and Invest? | I'd suggest looking at something like the Dummies series of books for this. Something like: Sometimes the books are combined into one big book. This would be the best bet. It's were I started. Every time I wondered something I just looked it up and learned. They are perfectly fine for the novice. Hope this helps. |
What does it mean that stocks are “memoryless”? | @jidugger mostly got it right. It basically mean that past performance of a stock, or a basket of stocks, are not at all useful when trying to predict its future. There is no proven correlation between past and future performance. If there was such a correlation, that was "proven" or known, then investors would quickly... |
What is a typical investment portfolio made up of? | Paying off the high-interest debt is a good first start. Paying interest, or compound interest on debt is like paying somebody to make you poor. As for your 401k, you want to contribute enough to get the full match from your employer. You might also consider checking out the fees associated with your 401k with an onlin... |
Legal restrictions for EU-foreigners to setup bank account in Czech republic | It depends on what exactly do you mean by "seat of residence". That term has different meanings (legally) in different countries and different contexts. If you're foreigner (even from within the EU), any czech bank will most likely ask you to provide a residence permit. Here are some details: http://www.mvcr.cz/mvcren/... |
Does a market maker sell (buy) at a bid or ask price? | The everyday investor buys at the ask and sells at the bid but the market maker does the opposite This is misleading; it has nothing to do with being either an investor or a market maker. It is dependent on the type of order that is submitted. When a market trades at the ask, this means that a buy market order has inte... |
How can I get a home loan within 2 years of bankruptcy? | There are a few loan programs that grant exceptions to bankruptcy requirements in the event of extenuating circumstances that can be proven to be outside of your control (i.e. massive medical bills that you used bankruptcy to settle, etc.) however, in order to make the case for this exemption, you would need to make a ... |
F-1 Visa expired - Unable to repay private student loan. What to do? | As an international student, the tuition is sky high. Typically, most students take loans for Education and start paying it back once they get a job. If you have exhausted your OPT period and have not got H1B, your options are either to go for further education(Hint: Phd), you can hope to cover living expense by part-t... |
What are the alternatives to compound interest for a Muslim? | It depends whether you want to be technically compliant with the letter of the law or compliant with the underlying meaning. For instance, in some countries you can find shell companies that do nothing but deal in fixed income instruments (those that you want to avoid) and dividend stocks (those that you might or might... |
Is it true that 90% of investors lose their money? | The game is not zero sum. When a friend and I chop down a tree, and build a house from it, the house has value, far greater than the value of a standing tree. Our labor has turned into something of value. In theory, a company starts from an idea, and offers either a good or service to create value. There are scams tha... |
What are the pros and cons of buying a house just to rent it out? | There are actually a few questions you are asking here. I will try and address each individually. Down Payment What you put down can't really be quantified in a dollar amount here. $5k-$10k means nothing. If the house costs $20k then you're putting 50% down. What is relevant is the percent of the purchase price you're ... |
Can banks deny that you've paid your loan? | Maybe there's more to this story, because as written, your sister seems, well, a little irrational. Is it possible that the bank will try to cheat you and demand that you pay a loan again that you've already paid off? Or maybe not deliberately cheat you, but make a mistake and lose track of the fact that you paid? Sure... |
Is it common in the US not to pay medical bills? | Is it common in the US not to pay medical bills? Or do I misunderstood what had been said? I would feel comfortable saying that most people who face medical bills don't pay them. They are unable. If they were able, they would have gotten medical insurance. In America, something like 55% of individuals do not have ev... |
Is an analyst's “price target” assumed to be for 12 months out? | I wouldn't put too much stock in the guidance generically... it's more a measure of confidence in the company. When you listen to the earnings calls and start following a particular analyst, you'll understand where they come from when they kick out a number. |
Indie Software Developers - How do I handle taxes? | The "hire a pro" is quite correct, if you are truly making this kind of money. That said, I believe in a certain amount of self-education so you don't follow a pro's advice blindly. First, I wrote an article that discussed Marginal Tax Rates, and it's worth understanding. It simply means that as your income rises past ... |
When Employees are “Granted” Stock Options, is the Company encouraging Long-Term investments from them? | There are two things to consider: taxes - beneficial treatment for long-term holding, and for ESPP's you can get lower taxes on higher earnings. Also, depending on local laws, some share schemes allow one to avoid some or all on the income tax. For example, in the UK £2000 in shares is treated differently to 2000 in ca... |
How did my number of shares get reduced? | How can they reduce the number of shares I hold? They may have purchased them. You don't say what stock it is, so we can only speculate. Let's say that the stock is called PENNY. So they may have taken your 1600 PENNY shares and renamed them to 1600 PENNYOLD shares. Then they created a new $5 PENNY share and gave y... |
When will the U.K. convert to the Euro as an official currency? | In many countries in Europe the prices shot through the roof, so it is not all positive. Also the switching country gives out lot of monetary control that is not welcomed by many. I think that UK is not going to change to euro for a long long time. |
Moving savings to Canada? | Yes, you can put assets in Canadian banks. Will it protect your wealth to a greater extent than the FDIC protection provided by the US Government? Probably not. If you do business or spend significant time in Canada, then having at least some money in Canada makes sense. Otherwise, you're trying to protect yourself ag... |
Advantage of Financial Times vs. free news sources for improving own knowledge of finance? | I recommend using Morning Brew. They email you a free daily newsletter with the top financial news stories and earnings events. I have subscribed to the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times before. Morning Brew basically covers all of the headlines you would see on those sites. |
Saving up for an expensive car | I've read online that 20% is a reasonable amount to pay for a car each month - Don't believe everything you read on the internet. But, let me ask, does your current car have zero expense? No fuel, no oil change, no repairs, no insurance? If the 20% is true, you are already spending a good chunk of it each month. My ca... |
ETF's for early retirement strategy | If your intention is to purchase ETFs on a regular basis (like $x per month), then ETFs may not make sense. You may have to pay a fixed transaction cost like you were buying a stock for each purchase. In a similar no load mutual fund, there are more likely to be no transaction costs (depending on how it is bought). ... |
How can I legally and efficiently help my girlfriend build equity by helping with a mortgage? | I'm looking for something simple, legal, reasonably formal, easy to setup and tax efficient. You just described marriage. Get married. |
Is there a Canadian credit card which shows holds? | PC MasterCard recently added this as a new feature to their online system. It lets you see "Pending Authorizations" for your card when you log in. Their email said: Along with your purchases, you'll see a list of every transaction that's been approved, but not yet applied to your balance. You'll be able to identify the... |
What is the meaning of “writing put options”? | Writing options means "selling" options and "put" options are contracts to sell a defined security (the underlying), at a specific date (expiration date) and at a specific price (strike price). So, writing put options simply mean selling to others contracts to sell. Your profit is limited to the premium but your loss m... |
Value of credit score if you never plan to borrow again? | There's many concrete answers, but there's something circular about your question. The only thing I can think of is that phone service providers ask for credit report when you want to start a new account but I am sure that could be worked around if you just put down a cash deposit in some cases. So now the situation is... |
How do dividend reinvestment purchases work? | In order: A seller of the stock (duh!). You don't know who or why this stock was sold. It could be any reason, and is of no concern of yours. It doesn't matter. Investors (pension funds, hedge funds, individual investors, employees, management) sell stock for many reasons: need cash, litigation, differing objectives, s... |
What does an x% inflation rate actually mean? | Let's say there's a product worth $10 in July and the inflation rate in August is 10%. Will it then cost $11 in August? Yes. That's basically what inflation means. However. The "monthly" inflation numbers you typically see are generally a year over year inflation rate on that month. Meaning August 2017 inflation is ... |
Do you know of any online monetary systems? | I'm the equivalent of the FED at ROBLOX. I run a virtual economy there worth millions of dollars. Even though we are in the business of printing our own money, we've seen much more stability in our currency than in the USD. It actually appreciates over time. I don't think it would make a good investment though, nor wou... |
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 pric... |
When can you adjust for (and re-allow) a disallowed year-end (December) wash-sale loss? | Disallowed losses are created when you buy a stock */- 30 days of a sale at a loss. When you sell and have no shares left, the loss is taken. You can't have no shares and leftover disallowed loss. |
How to get 0% financing for a car, with no credit score? | Yes, of course it is. Car dealers are motivated to write loans even more than selling cars at times. When I bought a new car for the first time in my life, in my 40's, it took longer to get the finance guy out of my face than to negotiate and buy the car. The car dealer selling you the used car would be happy to packa... |
Using 2 different social security numbers | Social security number should only be needed for things that involve tax withholding or tax payment. Your bank or investment broker, and your employer, need it so they can report your earnings. You need it when filing tax forms. Other than those, nobody should really be asking you for it. The gym had absolutely no goo... |
US citizen sometimes residing in spain, wanting to offer consulting services in Europe, TAXES? | With something this complicated you are going to want to consult professionals. Either a professional with international experience, who will tell you the best tax arrangement overall but might come expensive, or one professional in each country who will optimize for that country. You will have to pay US taxes, and dep... |
Can signing up at optoutprescreen.com improve my credit score? | Sounds like a case of false causality. If somebody is taking the time to sign up at opt out sites, then that same person is probably making other smart decisions with their credit, causing scores to rise. Optoutprescreen.com does not help your score, the other actions taken might. People seeing different results can ... |
Freehold and Leasehold for Pub/Bar? | You should be aware that many pubs in the London (indeed, the UK as a whole) are sold as a leasehold with a beer tie. This typically means you pay less rent for the building and premises, but must enter a contract with the Pub Company to buy their beer and day-to-day supplies. You have the legal option to instead pay m... |
What to know before purchasing Individual Bonds? | A few points that I would note: Call options - Could the bond be called away by the issuer? This is something to note as some bonds may end up not being as good as one thought because of this option that gets used. Tax considerations - Are you going for corporate, Treasury, or municipals? Different ones may have differ... |
Might I need a credit score to rent, or for any other non-borrowing finances? | Typically one wants to see a credit score, just because you may have money in the bank and decent income does not mean your going to pay, there are plenty of people who have the money but simply refuse to cough it up. Credit is simply a relative way of seeing where one fits against another in a larger group, it shows t... |
Where should I park my rainy-day / emergency fund? | Something with an FDIC guarentee, so a bank. With an emergency fund, I think the 'return of capital' is more important than the 'return on the capital', so I'm fine with putting it in a standard savings account in a local bank(not an internet account) even if it pays next to nothing. The beauty is that since the bank i... |
FICA was not withheld from my paycheck | According to this section in Publication 15: Collecting underwithheld taxes from employees. If you withheld no income, social security, or Medicare taxes or less than the correct amount from an employee's wages, you can make it up from later pay to that employee. But you’re the one who owes the underpayment. ... |
For very high-net worth individuals, does it make sense to not have insurance? | Yes, and the math that tells you when is called the Kelly Criterion. The Kelly Criterion is on its face about how much you should bet on a positive-sum game. Imagine you have a game where you flip a coin, and if heads you are given 3 times your bet, and if tails you lose your bet. Naively you'd think "great, I should ... |
stock for a particular brand | If you want to invest in the Windows Phone, then you go and find out who makes the Windows Phone i.e. Microsoft. Then you go and decide if Windows Phone is successful will the share price of Microsoft go up (own research/deduction) and if you think that the price of Microsoft has a positive correlation with the Windows... |
How to have a small capital investment in US if I am out of the country? | For $100 you better just hold it in Mexico. The cost of opening an account could eat 10% or more of your capital easily, and that won't be able to buy enough shares of an ETF or similar investment to make it worthwhile. |
Is stock trading based more on luck than poker playing? | This depends strongly on what you mean by "stock trading". It isn't a single game, but a huge number of games grouped under a single name. You can invest in individual stocks. If you're willing to make the (large) effort needed to research the companies and their current position and potentialities, this can yield lar... |
What is a W-8 form, and how should I fill it in? | The IRS W-8BEN form (PDF link), titled "Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding", certifies that you are not an American for tax purposes, so they won't withhold tax on your U.S. income. You're also to use W-8BEN to identify your country of residence and corresponding tax ide... |
What should I look at before investing in a start-up? | Turukawa's answer is quite good, and for your own specific situation, you might begin by being sceptical about what you are getting for investing a few thousand dollars. With the exception of Paul Graham's Y-Combinator, there are very few opportunities to invest at that type of level, and Y-Combinator provides a lot o... |
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