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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...
What is the best way to get a “rough” home appraisal prior to starting the refinance process?
I see your remarks regarding Zillow, but would add a question. Why not look only for recent sales? If you find homes similar to yours with recent sales, that's similar to how the appraisers do it. I've refinanced many times and each time, I looked at sales within three miles of my house. I hit the appraised price very ...
Virtual Terminal WITHOUT merchant account?
You would need to setup a company (even if it's just a sole proprietorship, in the US) to be able to apply for a true merchant account. And thus have a terminal; either real or virtual in your home or business. However, many services such as paypal allow you to accept credit cards (both online and with a card reader) ...
Cannot get a mortgage because I work through a recruiter
To a mortgage lender, it appears that you have a temporary contract (perhaps extending for nine more months) with a agency that supplies workers to companies that need temporary help. You have been placed currently with a company and are making good money, but that job might disappear soon and then you will have no inc...
Should I buy a house or am I making silly assumptions that I can afford it?
The rules of thumb are there for a reason. In this case, they reflect good banking and common sense by the buyer. When we bought our house 15 years ago it cost 2.5 times our salary and we put 20% down, putting the mortgage at exactly 2X our income. My wife thought we were stretching ourselves, getting too big a house c...
Why is economic growth so important?
nan
Sell your home and invest in growth stock mutual fund
The 20%+ returns you have observed in the mutual funds are not free money. They are compensation for the risk associated with owning those funds. Given the extraordinarily high returns you are seeing I would expect extremely high risk. This means there is a good possibility of extreme losses at some point. By putti...
Risks associated with investing in dividend paying stocks for short term income. Alternatives?
I wouldn't focus too much on dividends itself; at the end of the day what matters is total gain, because you can convert capital gain into income by selling your assets (they have different tax implications, but generally capital gains tend to be more tax efficient). I think the more important question is how much v...
Is it possible to borrow money to invest in a foreign country?
Most likely, this will not work they way you think. First things first, to get a loan, the bank needs to accept your collateral. Note that this is not directly related to the question what you plan to do with the loan. Example: you have a portfolio of stocks and bonds worth USD 2 million. The bank decides to give you a...
Monthly payment on a compounded daily car loan? [duplicate]
I would like to know how they calculated such monthly payment The formula is: Your values would come out to be: r = (1+3.06/(100*365))^31-1=0.002602 (converting your annual percentage to a monthly rate equivalent of daily compounded interest) PV = 12865.57 n = 48 Inserting your values into the formula: P = [r*(PV)]/[1...
How and why does the exchange rate of a currency change almost everyday?
It's simply supply and demand. First, demand: If you're an importer trying to buy from overseas, you'll need foreign currency, maybe Euros. Or if you want to make a trip to Europe you'll need to buy Euros. Or if you're a speculator and think the USD will fall in value, you'll probably buy Euros. Unless there's som...
Wardrobe: To Update or Not? How-to without breaking the bank
Sounds more of a question for the fine people at StyleForum.net but i would suggest to start looking carefully at the quality of the fabrics: once you start studying the subject you will quickly recognize a solid shirt from a cheap one. That'll help you save money in the long term. Also keeping it simple (by choosing c...
Should I buy a house with a friend?
I'd be curious to compare current rent with what your overhead would be with a house. Most single people would view your current arrangement as ideal. When those about to graduate college ask for money advice, I offer that they should start by living as though they are still in college, share a house or multibedroomed ...
Lump Sum Investing vs. Dollar Cost Averaging (as a Long Term Investor)
I think you're not applying the right time scale here. ESPP (Employee Stock Purchase Plan) is usually vesting every 6 months. So every half a year you receive a chunk of stocks based on your salary deduction, with the 15% discount. Every half a year you have a chunk of money from the sale of these stocks that you're go...
Can warrants to buy stock contain conditions or stipulations other than price?
All sorts of conditions, yes. Most commonly is a limitation on the exercise date. The two more common would be American which is exercisable any time, and European which are only exercisable on their expiry date. Sometimes they may be linked to the original asset, and might only be convertible to stock if that origina...
Selling To Close
Absolutely. There is no requirement that an option be in-the-money for you to close out a position. Remember that there are alwayes two sides to a trade - a buyer and a seller. When you bought your option, it's entirely possible that someone else was closing out their long position by selling it to you.
Who are the sellers for the new public stocks?
Usually the big institution that "floats" the stock on the market is the one to offer it to you. The IPO company doesn't sell the stock itself, the big investment bank does it for them. IPO's shareholders/employees are generally not allowed to sell their shares at the IPO until some time passes. Then you usually see th...
How to acquire assets without buying them?
Your question seems to be premised on your personal understanding of economics, and asking that people present to you an explanation of business transactions that is consistent with your own personal worldview. But your premises are flawed, so an accurate answer should not accept them. The basics of trade is that somet...
moving family deposits away from Greece (possibly in UK)
I can't comment about your tax liability in Greece. You will have to pay tax on interest in the UK. If you are earning massive amounts of interest, unlikely with the current interest policies from Merv, then you might be bumped up a tier. The receiving bank may ask for proof of the source of the funds, particularly if ...
Why can it be a bad idea to buy stocks after hours?
There are several reasons it is not recommended to trade stocks pre- or post-market, meaning outside of RTH (regular trading hours). Since your question is not very detailed I have to assume you trade with a time horizon of at least more than a day, meaning you do not trade intra-day. If this is true, all of the above ...
Why does short selling require borrowing?
In order to compare the two, you need to compare your entire portfolio, which is not just how much money you have, but how much stock. In both scenarios, you start with (at least, but let's assume) £20 and 0 stock. In your scenario, you buy 10 shares, leaving you with £0 and 10 shares. You then sell it at £1.50/share t...
How can I lookup the business associated with a FEIN?
I think much of that info is hidden behind pay-walls. Here is one site I've found. http://www.feinsearch.com/ Another that is for non-profits only is guidestar. http://www.guidestar.org/rxg/products/nonprofit-data-solutions/product-information/guidestar-premium/advanced-nonprofit-search.aspx
Dad paid cash for house and we want to put it in my name
If your parents are not on the deed then I am not sure how it could be their house. It seems like the sale was done unofficially. If your parents or aunt pass away this could be a real mess. Make this official ASAP. It might be possible for your aunt to gift you the house. This may have tax implication but the article ...
Is it possible to sell a stock at a higher value than the market price?
You can ask for 305rs, but as long as shares are available at lower prices you won't sell. Only when your ask becomes the lowest available price will someone buy from you. See many past questions about how buyers and sellers are matched by the market.
What is the process of getting your first share?
I think I understand what you're trying to achieve. You just want to see how it "feels" to own a share, right? To go through the process of buying and holding, and eventually selling, be it at a loss or at a gain. Frankly, my primary advice is: Just do it on paper! Just decide, for whatever reason, which stocks to buy...
Does borrowing from my 401(k) make sense in my specific circumstance?
Since most of the answers are flawed in their logic, I decided to respond here. 1) "What if you lose your job, you can't pay back the loan" The point of the question was to reduce the amount paid per month. So obviously it would be easier to pay off the 401k loan rather than the 3 separate loans that are in place now. ...
super confused about bid and ask size. help
In the stock market many participants enter orders that are not necessarily set at the current market price of the stock (i.e. they are not market orders, they are limit orders). They can be lower than the market price (if they want to buy) or they can be higher than the market price (if they want to sell). The set of ...
Consolidate my debt? Higher APR, but what does that actually mean?
does that mean that 30% of my monthly payment goes to interest? No, it's much worse then that. The APR is the annual percentage rate. An APR of 30% on $23,000 in debt that means you'll be charged $6,900 in interest for the year. You'll actually owe slightly less since you are reducing your principal slightly over the c...
What are the common income tax deductions used by “rich” salaried households?
As was stated, households earning over $250k/yr don't all get their income one way. Below that threshold, even in the six figure range, most households are in one of two categories; salary/wage/commission workers, and those living off of nest eggs/entitlements (retired, disabled, welfare). Above $250k, though, are a lo...
Alternatives to Intuit's PayTrust service for online bill viewing and bill payment?
(Six years later...) I've used CheckFree for over 20 years, and my uncle started using it back in the early 1980s through a 300 baud modem. It has e-bills, EDI bills that you schedule yourself, and will also mail checks to people and small businesses. You can make your payments from an unlimited number of banks, can s...
What does it mean to be a “high fee” or “low fee” 401k?
Every 401(k) has managers to make the stock choices. They all have different rates. You want to see that fidelity or Vangard is handling your 401(k).(and I am sure others) If you have a mega bank managing your funds or an insurance company odds are you are paying way to high management fees. So find out, the manag...
What should I invest in to hedge against a serious crash or calamity?
Different risks require different hedges. You won't find a single hedge that will protect you against any risk. The best way to think about this is who would benefit if those events occurred? Those are the people you want to invest in. So if a war broke out, who would benefit? Defense contractors. Security compan...
Why are there so many stock exchanges in the world?
Stock exchanges have been undergoing a period of consolidation for the past hundred years for the exact reasons you mentioned. The existence of digital trading, harmonized laws and regulations, and fewer relevant currencies have made it more practical for mergers and acquisitions between exchanges. Stock exchanges are ...
Beginner questions about stock market
In the US, and I suspect in most of the developed world, one major point of a corporation is limited liability. The stockholders are not on the hook for liabilities beyond their investment. If the company does something terrible, or fails economically, it goes bankrupt. Usually the stockholders have their investment...
Prices go up and salary doesn't: where goes delta?
Purchasing commodities (whose prices are increasing rapidly), improving corporate profitability, buying imports (the US dollar is weaker than it was, so the price of everything imported has gone up), paying down corporate debt, etc.
If a stock doesn't pay dividends, then why is the stock worth anything?
If so, then if company A never pays dividends to its shareholders, then what is the point of owning company A's stock? The stock itself can go up in price. This is not necessarily pure speculation either, the company could just reinvest the profits and grow. Since you own part of a company, your share would also increa...
Walking away from an FHA loan
One additional penalty is you will be put on the CAIVRS ("cavers") for your default on the FHA mortgage which will preclude you from FHA financing in the future. When purchasing the multifamily unit it is an FHA requirement that you occupy one of the units. Lastly, I would advise against FHA due to elevated costs. C...
Why call option price increases with higher volatility
I agree that high volatility just means the underlying stock price fluctuates more, and it does not imply if the stock is going up or down. But a high volatility in the price of an underlying also means that there is a higher chance that the underlying price could reach extreme prices (albeit in either direction). Howe...
My bank refused to do a charge back
Call Comcast during a non-peak time (first thing in the morning?), wait on hold, and politely explain what happened and request a $50 credit. Also politely request that your premium support request be handled for free given how much hassle you've had getting disconnected. They'll be able to tell your premium request wa...
Growth rate plus dividend yieid total?
Avoiding the complexities of tax [dividends likely taxed the year they are received, barring special tax accounts which many countries implement in for example, locked-in retirement type accounts; share growth is likely only taxed when sold / on death / on expatriation / similar], and assuming you reinvest the dividend...
Prepaying a loan: Shouldn't the interest be recalculated like a shorter loan?
One way to think of the typical fixed rate mortgage, is that you can calculate the balance at the end of the month. Add a month's interest (rate times balance, then divide by 12) then subtract your payment. The principal is now a bit less, and there's a snowball effect that continues to drop the principal more each mon...
How can the ROE on a stock be more than 100%?
A company's Return on Equity (ROE) is its net income divided by its shareholder's equity. The shareholder's equity is the difference between total assets and total liabilities, and is not dependent on the stock price. What it takes to have a ROE over 100% is to have the income be greater than the equity. This might h...
What is the principle of forming an arbitrage strategy?
Well, arbitrage is a simple mean reversion strategy which states that any two similar commodity with some price difference (usually not much) will converge. So either you can bet on difference in prices in different exchanges or also you can bet on difference in futures value. For example if current price of stock is...
When following a buy and hold investment strategy, on what conditions should one sell?
You talk about an individual not being advised to sell (or purchase) in response to trends in the market in such a buy and hold strategy. But think of this for a moment: You buy stock ABC for $10 when both the market as a whole and stock ABC are near the bottom of a bear market as say part of a value buying strategy. Y...
What does the term “match the market” mean?
If your returns match the market, that means their rate of return is the same as the market in question. If your returns beat the market, that means their rate of return is higher. There's no one 'market', mind you. I invest in mutual funds that track the S&P500 (which is, very roughly, the U.S. stock market), that tra...
How do you find reasonably priced, quality, long lasting clothing?
The best way to find good quality is to check the garment tag: What kind of material is it made of? Jersey 100% cotton or any 100% cotton is one of the best quality material for most casual clothing. Then, you should touch it (designer step/touching). You will get better along the way. If you think you will like it, i...
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...
Probablity of touching In the money vs expiring in the money for an american option
Conceptually, yes, you need to worry about it. As a practical matter, it's less likely to be exercised until expiry or shortly prior. The way to think about paying a European option is: [Odds of paying out] = [odds that strike is in the money at expiry] Whereas the American option can be thought of as: [Odds of paying...
Why is everyone saying how desperately we need to save money “in this economy”?
It's all about risk. In 1990, expressing the idea of the US defaulting on debt payments would result in you being labelled as a crank. Yet in 2011, the President and Speaker of the House played chicken with the credit of the United States, and have a date to do it again in December 2011.
Are Index Funds really as good as “experts” claim?
Picking yourself is just what all the fund managers are trying to do, and history shows that the majority of them fails the majority of the time to beat the index fund. That is the core reason of the current run after index funds. What that means is that although it doesn’t sound so hard, it is not easy at all to beat ...
Is it possible for credit card companies to check credit score in India?
Is it possible for the card issuing banks to check my score without my permission? As far as I understand these things, that is exactly the whole purpose of these sorts of credit-rating institutions. The banks and other financial businesses are their customers. They exist to serve those customers. Their relationship, i...
Debt collector has wrong person and is contacting my employer
Don't waste your time threatening legal action or screwing around with certified mail. If they're contacting your employer to garnish your wages they probably already have a summary judgment against you for failing to appear at a court date you didn't know about. Your employer might have had your back but these guys w...
Should I buy ~$2200 of a hot stock or invest elsewhere?
Forget investing, you need to focus on managing your debt. I would keep the 6k in a checking or savings account because you need that money in case of an emergency. If you save up more than 10k, use the excess to pay down the principal on your debt. Worry about investing when you have a positive net worth.
Can I open a bank account in the US remotely? Will I pay taxes for the money on it?
Answering for US tax only: The bank account makes absolutely zero difference. If you are not a US national and not resident in the US, but earn income from a US employer/client/customer, generally that income is not subject to US tax (no matter where it is banked). However there are (complicated) exceptions, particula...
When investing, is the risk/reward tradeoff linear?
The risk-reward relation depends on what you are changing. In the most cases people ask about, it is not linear but I will give examples of both. Nonlinear case 1: As you diversify your portfolio, the firm-specific risks of various stocks cancel each other out without necessarily affecting the expected return of the p...
Why invest for the long-term rather than buy and sell for quick, big gains?
There are many technical answers above , but the short story to me is that very few active fund managers consistently beat the market. Look at the results of actively managed funds. Depending on whose analysis you read, you will find out that somewhere between 80-90% of fund managers in a given year do not beat passive...
How to help a financially self destructive person?
You say you're not on speaking terms: so you do it via your lawyer. You're divorced: so IMO your obligations are: a) To your kids b) Purely financial spousal support (if any) If she's irresponsible financially then maybe she isn't the best able to care for your children. Your lawyer ought to be able to tell you what t...
Solo-401k interaction with employer sponsored 401k. Limits of contribution from Schedule C income
Alright, team! I found answers to part 1) and part 2) that I've quote below, but still need help with 3). The facts in the article below seem to point to the ability for the LLC to contribute profit sharing of up to 25% of the wages it paid SE tax on. What part of the SE tax is that? I assume the spirit of the law...
Estimated Tax on Unplanned Capital Gains
In general, you are expected to pay all the money you owe in taxes by the end of the tax year, or you may have to pay a penalty. But you don't have to pay a penalty if: The amount you owe (i.e. total tax due minus what you paid in withholding and estimated taxes) is less than $1000. You paid at least 90% of your total ...
Can a car company refuse to give me a copy of my contract or balance details?
Phone conversations are useless if the company is uncooperative, you must take it into the written word so it can be documented. Sent them certified letters and keep copies of everything you send and any written responses from the company. This is how you will get actual action.
Why do people invest in mutual fund rather than directly buying shares?
There are several reasons. One, mutual funds provide instant diversification. To build a diverse portfolio "manually" (by buying individual shares) requires a lot of time and effort. If your portfolio is not diverse, then it is wrong to say "buying shares gives higher return"; in many cases diversification will incre...
How to calculate the price of a bond based with a yield to Maturity, term and annual interest?
Like all financial investments, the value of a bond is the present value of expected future cash flows. The Yield to Maturity is the annualized return you get on your initial investment, which is equivalent to the discount rate you'd use to discount future cash flows. So if you discount all future cashflows at 6% annu...
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.
Where to park money while saving for a car
Nothing's generating a whole lot of interest right now. But more liquid and stable is better (cash or cash-like). But a related question: Why a new car? You can knock thousands of dollars off of the price of a comparable vehicle by buying one that's one or two years old. Your new vehicle loses thousands of dollars ...
If I have some old gold jewellery, is it worth it to sell it for its melt value?
Get your jewelery appraised. (Don't let whoever does the appraisal be the same person whom you would sell it to.) Logically jewelery must be worthy more than the raw gold that makes it up because somebody took the time to design patterns and do specialty craft to the metal.
When I ask a broker to buy stock, what does the broker do?
My answer isn't a full one, but that's because I think the answer depends on, at minimum, the country your broker is in, the type of order you place (limit, market, algo, etc.,) and the size of your order. For example, I can tell from watching live rates on regular lot limit orders I place with my UK-based broker that ...
Taxes and withholding on unpaid salary
As others have said, make sure you can and do file your taxes on a cash basis (not accrual). It sounds like it's very unlikely the company is going to issue you a 1099 for invoices they never paid you. So you just file last year's taxes based on your income, which is the money you actually received. If they do pay you ...
Why would a bank need to accept deposits from private clients if it can just borrow from the Federal Reserve?
borrow money from the Central Bank Wrong premise. They cannot borrow as much as they want and they cannot borrow without collateral i.e. government debt instruments they hold or any other instrument with value. And banks don’t have unlimited collateral to borrow against. Secondly central banks aren’t in the business ...
Need help with the psychology of investing: past failures and future fears
As an investor you must remember to forgive yourself. However, you must not only forgive but make it up to yourself by putting in the hours of study necessary to ensure that what you are forgiving yourself for will not happen again. Studying (finance, fundamental analysis, statistics, etc.)will also help you to worry l...
As a 22-year-old, how risky should I be with my 401(k) investments?
+1 on all the answers above. You're in a great position and have the right attitude. A good book on the subject is A Random Walk Down Wall Street - well worth a read. Essentially, go for low tax paying in, low tax taking out approach (in the uk that's a SIPP or ISA), a low cost well diversified unit fund (like a Vangua...
Does the stock market create any sort of value?
I probably don't understand something. I think you are correct about that. :) The main way money enters the stock market is through investors investing and taking money out. Money doesn't exactly "enter" the stock market. Shares of stock are bought and sold by investors to investors. The market is just a mechanism f...
Why haven't there been personal finance apps or softwares that use regression modeling or A.I.?
How would they make money from it? They sell you the software for $100 (US example; could as easily be 100 Euros or 10,000 Japanese Yen). You use it to make recommendations on your blog. Your blog becomes rich from advertising. They sold $100 worth of software. If they spent $1 million in labor developing it, the...
How to transform dividends into capital gains?
Some investment trusts have "zero dividend preference shares" which deliver all their gains as capital gains rather than income, even if the trust was investing in income yielding stocks. They've rather gone out of fashion after a scandal some years ago (~2000). Good 2014 article on them here includes the quote "Beca...
Options on the E-mini S&P 500 Futures at the CME: when were EW3, the weekly Monday options and the weekly Wednesday options introduced?
Why do you care? In any case, you can easily Google the answer... Effective Sunday, April 2, 2017 for trade date Monday, April 3, 2017, and pending all relevant CFTC regulatory review periods, Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. (“CME” or “Exchange”) will list Monday Weekly Options on the E-mini Standard and Poor’s St...
With respect to insider trading, what is considered “material information”?
Material Information means that any information that can reasonable affect the share price of the company [upward or downward] as looked by the investors. The idea is to provide a level playing field to all investors. Hence it forces people having material information not to trade when they have this information that i...
Company A is buying company B, what happens to the stock?
It depends on the timing of the events. Sometimes the buying company announces their intention but the other company doesn't like the deal. It can go back and forth several times, before the deal is finalized. The specifics of the deal determine what happens to the stock: The deal will specify when the cutoff is. Some ...
Is Volvo a public company?
There are two different companies named "Volvo." The publicly-traded company with ticker symbol VOLV-B is called Volvo Group, or AB Volvo. They primarily build trucks, buses, and construction equipment. The company that makes the Volvo branded cars is called Volvo Cars. It is a privately-held company currently owned ...
If the co-signer on my car loan dies, can the family take the car from me like they're threatening to?
The lead story here is you owe $12,000 on a car worth $6000!! That is an appalling situation and worth a lot to get out of it. ($6000, or a great deal more if the car is out of warranty and you are at risk of a major repair too.) I'm sorry if it feels like the payments you've made so far are wasted; often the number...
Is the return on investment better with high or low dividends?
Let's say two companies make 5% profit every year. Company A pays 5% dividend every year, but company B pays no dividend but grows its business by 5%. (And both spend the money needed to keep the business up-to-date, that's before profits are calculated). You are right that with company B, the company will grow. So if...
Is there any way to buy a new car directly from Toyota without going through a dealership?
sadly, it is illegal in most states to buy a car directly from the manufacturer. as such, most manufacturers do not offer the option even where it is legal. if you really do know exactly what you want (model, color, options, etc.) i recommend you write down your requirements and send it to every dealer in town (via ema...
Why does money value normally decrease?
Your house doesn't need to multiply in order to earn a return. Your house can provide shelter. That is not money, but is an economic good and can also save you money (if you would otherwise pay rent). This is the primary form of return on the investment for many houses. It is similar for other large capital investments...
Are lottery tickets ever a wise investment provided the jackpot is large enough?
Question: Does a billion dollars make you 1,000 times more happy than a million dollars? Answer: It doesn't. What counts is not the amount of money, but the subjective improvement that it makes to your life. And that improvement isn't linear, which is way the expected value of the inrease in your happiness / welfare /...
Buying my first car out of college
You have a job "lined up". What if it falls through? Then you have to sell your fancy car, and you are back to scare, apart from the dough you owe your dad. For consumption items, live within your means. A cheap first car is just fine. Spend cash where it brings you more cash.
Should I accept shares as payment?
I like the answer given by mikeazo. If paid in cash would you immediately buy the stock of the company? We all want to be the next Steve Jobs (or Woz), but the truth is that a Jobs comes along only once in a lifetime and chances are that you are not him. We have seen this kind of question here before. Search the site ...
What tax can I expect on US stocks in a UK ISA?
non-resident aliens to the US do not pay capital gains on US products. You pay tax in your home country if you have done a taxable event in your country. http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/06/nonusresidenttax.asp#axzz1mQDut9Ru but if you hold dividends, you are subject to US dividend tax. The UK-US treaty should t...
Salary equivalency: London vs Berlin
Coming to London at this point of time is not a wise decision, not that I mean to discourage you. The job market is quite competitive because loads of developers are in the markets, because of the layoffs. So be ready to wait for some time to land a role. Banks aren't recruiting that heavily, but that might change if t...
How to understand a volatility based ETF like VXX
The VIX is a mathematical aggregate of the implied volatilities of the S&P 500 Index components. It itself cannot be traded as there currently is no way to only hold a position on an implied volatility alone. Implied volatility can only currently be derived from an option relative to its underlying. Further, the S&P ...
Bait-and-switch on new car lease
I strongly discourage leasing (or loans, but at least you own the car at the end of it) in any situation. it's just a bad deal, but that doesn't answer your question. Most new cars are "loss leaders" for dealerships. It's too easy to know what their costs are these days, so they make most of their money though financ...
What factors would affect the stock price of a sports team?
Costs are almost entirely salaries Apart from all the usual costs incurred by running a large, complex, business, ManU are servicing debt that is getting up around the GBP500M mark. This is debt racked up by the Glazer family since purchasing the team, as well as debt they took with them to the team. What sort of fac...
Are stories of turning a few thousands into millions by trading stocks real?
If they could really do this, do you really think they would be wasting their time offering this course? You are being lied to. (Or more accurately: It's certainly possible to gamble and get lucky, but those gambles are more likely to result in your rapidly losing your money than in your rapidly gaining value.) It is...
Buying a home - brokerage fee
Every situation is possible, it depends on what the contract states. According to Nolo: Your ability to withdraw from a home purchase depends on two things: 1) the exact point at which you are "in contract" to buy the house, and 2) after you're in contract, what the contract says about terminating the transaction...
Including the region where you live in your investment portfolio?
Diversification is a risk-mitigation strategy. When you invest in equities, you generally get a higher rate of return than a fixed income investment. But you have risks... a single company's market value can decline for all sorts of reasons, including factors outside of the control of management. Diversification lets y...
What's the best way to make money from a market correction?
If you are sure you are right, you should sell stock short. Then, after the market drop occurs, close out your position and buy stock, selling it once the stock has risen to the level you expect. Be warned, though. Short selling has a lot of risk. If you are wrong, you could quite easily lose all $80,000 or even substa...
What happens when PayPal overdrafts a checking account (with an ample backup funding source available)?
PayPal will be contacting you shortly, I'm sure. You'll see the reversal on their site in a few days as well as a fee from their end I bet.
What is the fair value of a stock given the bid and ask prices? Is there such a relationship?
If you need to show that the sale/purchase was at FMV, then showing that you made a trade on a public exchange with an unrelated counterpart is enough to establish FMV. However, this is only one of the possible "fair market value" definitions. This is usually used to determine basis or value for tax purposes. For valua...
Can I be building a house with the bank forever?
Another problem with this plan (assuming you get past Rocky's answer somehow) is that you assume that $50K in construction costs will translate to $50K in increased value. That's not always true; the ROI on home improvements is usually a lot less than 100%. You'd also owe more property taxes on your improvements, which...
How do I establish the cost basis of shares bought in an employee stock purchase program?
A public company should have a link for investor relations, which should help provide a trail of basis if this is a matter of company buyout, takeover, etc. This gets you close, but if you don't have an exact date, it will just be close, not exact. One clean way out of this, assuming the goal is to get rid of the sto...
Are car buying services worth it?
I have used car buying services through Costco and USAA. Twice with a Ford, and once with a Honda. In all instances I was directed to sales people that were uncommonly friendly and pleasant to work with. I was given a deep discount without any negotiation. In two of the three cases I did not have a trade. In one c...
Exercising an option without paying for the underlying
It would be nice if the broker could be instructed to clear out the position for you, but in my experience the broker will simply give you the shares that you can't afford, then freeze your account because you are over your margin limit, and issue a margin call. This happened to me recently because of a dumb mistake: o...
United Kingdom: Where to save money for a property deposit
From April 2017 the plan is that there is now also going to be a "Lifetime ISA" (in addition to the Help to Buy ISA). Assuming those plans do not change, they government will give 25% after each year until you are 50, and the maximum you can put in per year will be £4000. Catches: You can only take the money out for c...