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Is it safer to send credit card number via unsecured website form or by e-mail? What safer options are there?
Some (most) credit cards have a way to get a one-time use number. If that is an available option for one of your cards, that is probably the way to do the very risky transaction. These numbers can be good for only one purchase, or for multiple purchases with a single vendor. This will limit your exposure because they w...
What's the most conservative split of financial assets for my portfolio in today's market?
Before investing, absolutely follow the advice in mbhunter's answer. There is no safe investment (unless you count your mattress, and even there you could find moths, theives, or simple inflation taking a chunk out of your change). There is only maximizing your reward for a given level of risk - and there is always ri...
What should a 19 year old with a moderate inheritance look for in a financial advisor?
I think your question is pretty wise, and the comments indicate that you understand the magnitude of the situation. First off, there could be nothing that your friend could do. Step parent relationships can be strained and this could make it worse, add the age of the girl and grief and he could make this a lot worse...
What part of buying a house would make my net worth go down?
You can look at buying a house as being a long term investment in not paying rent. In the short time there are costs to buying (legal, taxes, etc). This depends on only buying house of the size/location you need e.g. no better then what you would have rented. House buying tent to work out best when there is high in...
Is there any drawback in putting all my 401K into a money market fund?
What you're describing is called timing the market. That is, if you correctly predict when the market will drop, you can sell before the drop, wait for the drop, then buy after the drop has occurred. Sell high, buy low. The fundamental problem with that, though, is: What ends up happening, on average, is you end up s...
Maxing out HSA after maxing out Roth IRA
Unless the hypothetical fellow is immune to disease, and indestructible, with no risk of injury, the HSA is an ideal place for this money. It offers a pretax deposit, and if used for medical expenses, a tax free withdrawal. This combination can't be beat for those who have the medical insurance that qualifies them for...
Advice on what to do with my equity?
How will 45K-60K "end up in your pocket"? Are you selling your home? Where are you going to live? You talk about moving to Arizona, what is so magical about that place? Congratulations on making a wise purchase. Some people with new found money use it to correct past mistakes. However, if they do not change their ...
What's my risk of buying a house for a friend and sell back to him?
Also you would need to consider any taxation issues. As he will be paying you rent you will need to include this as income, plus any capital gains tax on the re-sale of the property may need to be paid.
At what point should I begin paying off student loans?
If you have sufficient money to support yourself until you have a career, then paying off your student loan principal on unsubsidized, federal loans, is probably your best bet. This is because interest accumulates before you're actually required to pay. If they are private, make the payment on the highest interest rate...
Adding a 180 day expiration to checks
Your bank has discretion to honor checks after 6 months, so you should talk to your bank about their specific policy. In general, banks won't accept "large" stale checks. The meaning of "large" varies -- $25,000 in NYC, as little as $2k in other places. Banks that service high-volume check issuers (like rebate companie...
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,...
Are you preparing for a possible dollar (USD) collapse? (How?)
Buying gold, silver, palladium, copper and platinum. The first two I am thinking about new currencies. The last three for the perpetual need for the metals in industry. I also have invested in Numismatic coins. They are small portable and easy to hide around the house. I only collect silver coins, so even if the world ...
How do I estimate my taxes when I have only 1099 income?
So there are a lot of people that get into trouble in your type of self employment situation. This is what I do, and I use google drive so there are no cost for tools. However, having an accounting system is better. Getting in trouble with the IRS really sucks bad.
Why do VAT-registered businesses in the EU charge VAT to each other?
But why can't two companies exchange goods directly without paying VAT? This would make the famous carousel fraud scam impossible and businesses won't have to deal with complicated refunds. Sales tax in the United States works as you describe. Sales tax is charged only to end customers, not to businesses that themselv...
Bank will not accept loose change. Is this legal?
They cannot refuse to accept coins and demand some other payment after providing a good or service. Legal tender is legal tender for all debts. But until they provide the good or service, they don't have to accept it. In this case, you want the service of depositing money. But by its nature, they have to accept th...
Why I can't view my debit card pre-authorized amounts?
No money is stolen. They don't show you the hold for whatever reason (not so good a bank?), but the money is still yours. You just cannot use it, but it is still on your account. These holds usually go away after a week. In certain cases (like a security deposit) it may take up to 30 days. You can request from the merc...
New 1099 employee with Cobra insurance
While COBRA premiums are not eligible to be a "business" expense they can be a medical expense for personal deduction purposes. If you're itemizing your deductions you may be able to deduct that way. However, you will only be able to deduct the portion of the premium that exceeds 10% of your AGI. Are you a full time ...
Are these really bond yields?
Yes those are really yields. A large portion of the world has negative yielding bonds in fact. This process has been in motion for the past 10 years for very specific reasons. So congratulations on discovering the bond market.
Is it wise to have plenty of current accounts in different banks?
Its actually a good thing. The #1 factor to your credit score is your credit utilization. So if you don't spend money unwisely and they don't have any annual fee I would keep them and use them each twice a year to keep them in your credit mix.
Is it possible to physically own a share certificate in a company?
There is a company that will sell you single paper shares of stock for many companies and handle framing. But you pay a large premium over the stock price. Disney stopped doing paper share certificates a while ago, but you should be able to buy some of the old ones on eBay if you want.
Do personal checks expire? [US]
It depends on the bank. According to the Uniform Commercial Code, a bank is not obliged to pay a cheque after six months, but may do so if it wants to. § 4-404. BANK NOT OBLIGED TO PAY CHECK MORE THAN SIX MONTHS OLD. A bank is under no obligation to a customer having a checking account to pay a check, other than a cer...
What is the best way to determine if you should refinance a mortgage?
Our mortgage provider actually took the initiative to send us a refinance package with no closing costs to us and nothing added to the note; took us from a 30-year-fixed ~6.5% note to a 15-year-fixed ~5% note, and dropped the monthly payment in the process. You might talk to your existing lender to see if they would d...
Are stocks only listed with one exchange in one place?
Depends. The short answer is yes; HSBC, for instance, based in New York, is listed on both the LSE and NYSE. Toyota's listed on the TSE and NYSE. There are many ways to do this; both of the above examples are the result of a corporation owning a subsidiary in a foreign country by the same name (a holding company), whic...
Personal finance management: precise or approximately?
If you are off by coins, how can you be sure that you only made a typo and didn't miss a transaction? To start off, I would strongly you find a way to be precise. It doesn't matter so much in the accounting, but the habit of doing a thorough job will pay off in other dividends down the line. Basically, do the pennies...
If a stock doesn't pay dividends, then why is the stock worth anything?
You are missing the fact that the company can buy back its own shares. For simplicity, imagine the case that you own ALL of the shares of XYZ corporation. XYZ is very profitable, and it makes $1M per year. There are two ways to return $1M to you, the shareholder: 1) The company could buy back some fraction of your s...
Filing taxes on stocks
You need to submit an updated return. The problem is that once three years have passed you can't update the return to get any kind of refund, but if they are going after you for the sale price of the stocks, not knowing the cost, your goal is to show them there was no gain, and in fact you'd have had the loss if you we...
Is ScholarShare a legitimate entity for a 529 plan in California?
For a parent deciding on contributing to a 529 plan the first consideration is the plan run by the state government that will trigger a state income tax deduction. You do have to at least look at the annual fees for the program before jumping into the state program, but for many people the state program offers the best...
Does “income” include capital gains?
The $100,000 is taxed separately as "ordinary income". The $350,000 is taxed at long-term capital gains of 15%. Capital gains is not taxed at 20% until $415,050. Even though $100,000 + 350,000 = $450,000, only $350,000 can be taxed at capital gains. The total ordinary income tax burden will be $31,986 if single, in Cal...
Search index futures in Yahoo Finance or Google Finance
Options - yes we can :) Options tickers on Yahoo! Finance will be displayed as per new options symbology announced by OCC. The basic parts of new option symbol are: Root symbol + Expiration Year(yy)+ Expiration Month(mm)+ Expiration Day(dd) + Call/Put Indicator (C or P) + Strike price Ex.: AAPL January 19 2013, P...
Do credit ratings (by Moody's, S&P, and Fitch) have any relevance?
They've pretty much shot any credibility they possessed. Follow the money.
Will my wife's business losses offset my income on a joint tax return?
First, filing status. If you and your wife are legally married, you should be filing your tax returns as married, either jointly or separately. In the US, "head of household" has a specific meaning and is for unmarried people who are supporting one or more relatives, per the IRS. If you are working full-time and your w...
HELOC vs. Parental Student Loans vs. Second Mortgage?
Thank God you have your child back, it is so awesome that you finally found a medical treatment that worked. It must have been a truly trying time in your lives. That situation is an important template in personal finance. Through no fault of your own, a series of events occurred that caused you to spend far more m...
Why is gold not a good investment?
I think what the person meant to say is that Gold is not a one stop solution. There's nothing wrong with having Gold in an otherwise diversified portfolio but you need to be aware about the potential downsides: The problem with gold is that its value nowadays depends mainly on investor confidence, or the lack of it (ac...
Borrowing money to buy shares for cashflow?
Don't do it. I would sell one of my investment houses and use the equity to pay down your primary mortgage. Then I would refinance my primary mortgage in order to lower the payments.
Why do some online stores not ask for the 3-digit code on the back of my credit card?
nan
Why are American-style options worth more than European-style options?
If you're into math, do this thought experiment: Consider the outcome X of a random walk process (a stock doesn't behave this way, but for understanding the question you asked, this is useful): On the first day, X=some integer X1. On each subsequent day, X goes up or down by 1 with probability 1/2. Let's think of buyin...
Is interest on a personal loan tax deductible?
When you pay interest on a loan used to fund a legitimate investment or business activity, that interest becomes an expense that you can deduct against related income. For example, if you borrowed $10k to buy stocks, you could deduct the interest on that $10k loan from investment gains. In your case, you are borrowing...
How to make a decision for used vs new car if I want to keep the car long term?
In a perfect world scenario you would get a car 2-5 years old that has very little mileage. One of the long standing archaic rules of the car world is that age trumps mileage. This was a good rule when any idiot could roll back an odometer. Chances are now that if you rolled your odometer back the car was serviced so...
Hourly rate negotiation tips for paid internship
I am not sure if I would get any benefit besides the hourly payment as an intern. What are the benefits I can expect while working for this company (or any other software company) Probably none. Changes from company to company but usually only full-time employees are entitled for benefits. For example, could I ask ...
Can my U.S. company do work for a foreign company and get wire transfers to my personal account?
It seems that you're complicating things quite a bit. Why would you not create a business entity, open one or more bank accounts for it, and then have the money wired into those accounts? If you plan on being a company then set up the appropriate structure for it. In the U.S., you can form an S-corporation or an LLC ...
What price can *I* buy IPO shares for?
Some brokers have a number of shares they can offer their customers, but the small guy will get 100, not as many as they'd like. In the Tech bubble of the late 90's I was able to buy in to many IPOs, but the written deal from the broker is that you could not sell for 30 days or you'd be restricted from IPO purchases fo...
Is it wise to invest small amounts of money short-term?
Even straight index funds grow at about 6-7%. on average, or over long periods of time. In short time periods (quarters, years), they can fluctuate anywhere from -10% to +20%. Would you be happy if your bank account lost 10% of its value the week before you had to pay the bill for the repairs? Is it appropriate to ...
Why don't banks print their own paper money / bank notes?
Who says they don't? In the United Kingdom the Bank of England and the Bank of Scotland print the money. In some other countries (like Hong Kong, Israel, and the US) commercial banks were issuing the currency at some point of time, but now the governments do that. The problem with commercial banks issuing currency is t...
How did this day trader lose so much?
The day trader in the article was engaging in short selling. Short selling is a technique used to profit when a stock goes down. The investor borrows shares of a stock from someone else and sells them. After the stock price goes down, the investor buys the shares back and returns them, pocketing the difference. As t...
How can I avoid international wire fees or currency transfer fees?
Be aware that ATM withdrawals often generate hidden fees, which are not obviously declared. Many banks operate e.g. with a currency exchange fee, giving you an exchange rate some 1-2% lower than actually applicable. If you withdraw larger amounts, such a currency exchange fee easily adds up to what you would have paid ...
Where can I find a company's earnings history for free?
www.earnings.com is helpful thinkorswim's thinkDesktop platform has a lot of earnings information tied with flags on their charts they are free.
Why don't more people run up their credit cards and skip the country?
It's harder than you think. Once card companies start seeing your debt to credit line ratios climb, they will slash your credit lines quickly. Also, cash credit lines are always much smaller, so in reality, such a scheme would require you to buy goods that can be converted to cash, which dilutes your gains and makes i...
How do rich people guarantee the safety of their money, when savings exceed the FDIC limit?
Even assuming hypothetically that you are able to split money in different bank accounts to get full coverage and all your accounts are in top ranking financial institutions in USA, you can not rely on FDIC if all or most of those banks go broke. Because FDIC just has a meagre 25 billion dollars to cover all bank accou...
Why are some long term investors so concerned about their entry price?
I'm not sure who specifically you are talking about. Those are some pretty broad generalizations. Where do you draw the line about what is too much concern about entry price? On what basis do you make the assertion that they are overly concerned with it? For those that do: Probably because when you are buying anything,...
How do I find a legitimate, premium credit repair service?
Just a word of warning: Most of the companies that promise to repair your credit are scams or close to them. You could just as easily do yourself what they are going to charge you for. Essentially they write a letter to the credit agencies disputing most or all of the bad stuff on your credit report. When you do that,...
Pay index fund expense ratios with cash instead of fund balance
In many cases the expenses are not pulled out on a specific day, so this wouldn't work. On the other hand some funds do charge an annual or quarterly fee if your investment in the fund is larger than the minimum but lower than a "small balance" value. Many funds will reduce or eliminate this fee if you signup for elect...
At what point do index funds become unreliable?
private investors that don't have the time or expertise for active investment. This may be known as every private investor. An index fund ensures average returns. The bulk of active trading is done by private institutions with bucketloads of experts studying the markets and AI scraping every bit of data it can get (fr...
How to acquire skills required for long-term investing?
As foundational material, read "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham. It will help prepare you to digest and critically evaluate other investing advice as you form your strategy.
T-mobile stock: difference between TMUSP vs TMUS
The difference between TMUSP and TMUS is that the "with P" ticker is for a TMobile Preferred Stock offering. The "without P" ticker is for TMobile common stock. The difference between the apparent percentage yields is due to Yahoo! Stock misreporting the dividend on the preferred stock for the common stock, which has...
Is it a bad idea to invest a student loan?
Are there any laws against doing this? so long as you are truthful in your application for the loan, none that I know of - technically you could use the loan to pay for school and the cash that you would have used instead to invest. Are there other reasons why this is a very bad idea? I think you've already identifi...
What ways are there for us to earn a little extra side money?
There are a number of ways and it all depends on your concentration and range of skills (or skills you're willing to develop). As for involving your wife ... things that can be done locally for neighbours is always a good idea. The most important thing is not to spend too much time or cash on anything that will take a ...
Why do some online stores not ask for the 3-digit code on the back of my credit card?
There are different ways of credit card purchase authorizations. if some choose less secure method it's their problem. Merchants are charged back if a stolen card is used.
Is this Employee Stock Purchase Plan worth it when adding my student loan into the equation?
In many ESPP programs (i.e. every one I've had the opportunity to be a part of in my career), your purchase is at a discount from the lower of the stock prices at the start and end of the period. So a before-tax 5% return is the minimum you should expect; if the price of the stock appreciates between July 1 and Decembe...
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...
Why do people always talk about stocks that pay high dividends?
Dividends are one way to discriminate between companies to invest in. In the best of all worlds, your investment criteria is simple: "invest in whatever makes me the most money on the timeline I want to have it." If you just follow that one golden rule, your future financial needs will be taken care of! Oh... you're n...
Further Understanding of Wash Sale Rules
Once you own no shares for 31 days, it's game over. Even though the accounting has wash sales to consider, in the end, gains and losses all cancel to one net position of break even, gain or loss. It's when there are shares remaining at the end of a period of time that the wash sale rules really impact the numbers.
How are shares used, and what are they, physically?
If you are particularly interested in the share certificate artifacts themselves, there is a collection hobby in paper share certificates and bonds, called scripophily. This can include both active share certificates (for instance, think about giving your kid or grandkid a frameable paper share of Hasbro, Disney or Mc...
Good Percentage Return on Equity?
Yes definitely Warren Buffet averaged returns of only around 21% throughout his 40 years in business. ROE of 23% is probably more than double the ROE of most companies , whats more as the saying goes its easier to grow sales from 1 million to 100 million than to grow sales from 100 million to 10 billion
If accepting more than $10K in cash for a used boat, should I worry about counterfeiting?
When you operate outside of the law, you bear the risks of that decision. When you operate within the law, you have a number of avenues, such as the courts and police to mediate disputes or other problems.
Will my Indian debit card work in the U.S.?
I recommend that you first try to use your card at a store in your home country, just to make sure that the point-of-sale features are enabled. After you've verified that, you need to contact your bank and ask them if the card will work in both ATMs and in stores in the U.S. They may need to enable it to work in anot...
Reason for “qualified” buyer requirements to exercise stock options/rights spun off from parent company?
An option gives you the legal right to buy stock. However, you cannot exercise a stock option unless you have the ability to buy the stock. In the United States, securities not fully registered with the SEC for public sale cannot be purchased except by qualified investors.
Official site to follow Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway change in investment holdings?
Are you looking for this Warren Buffets Stock Portfolio? Or Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio WFC is near the bottom of the BH portfolio but it seems to be a rather large investment for both.
When does Ontario's HST come into effect?
(community wiki) Ontario special HST sales tax transition rebate cheques: When and how much? What will happen to quarterly GST cheques when HST starts in Ontario? Ontario HST rebate: When would I qualify? Ontario gas prices & HST: What will happen to prices at the pump on July 1, 2010? How will Ontario’s HST apply to b...
Are wash sale rules different for stocks and ETFs / Mutual Funds?
The IRS rules are actually the same. 26 U.S. Code § 1091 - Loss from wash sales of stock or securities In the case of any loss claimed to have been sustained from any sale or other disposition of shares of stock or securities where it appears that, within a period beginning 30 days before the date of such sale ...
Good at investing - how to turn this into a job?
You need to do a few things to analyze your results. First, look at the timing of the deposits, and try to confirm the return you state. If it's still as high as you think, can you attribute it to one lucky stock purchase? I have an account that's up 863% from 1998 till 2013. Am I a genius? Hardly. That account, one o...
When should I start an LLC for my side work?
Not all of the reason to start an LLC is liability (although that is implicit). There are two main reasons as far as I have experienced it: I always recommend that people set things up properly from the beginning. If you do start to grow, or if you need to cut your losses, it can be very difficult to separate yourself...
Smart to buy a house in college?
NORMALLY, you don't want to buy in a bad neighborhood. The one exception is "gentrification," that is middle class people are moving in because of a good location (which you seem to have). The other important thing to do is to cover your mortgage. Four "guys" at $500 a month will do for an $1800 mortgage. The nice thin...
Should I be more aggressive in a Roth IRA, 401k, or taxable account?
I think you may be drawing the wrong conclusion about why you put what type of investment in a taxable vs. tax-advantaged account. It is not so much about risk, but type of return. If you're investing both tax-advantaged and taxable accounts, you can benefit by putting more tax-inefficient investments inside your tax-a...
Why do people take out life insurance on their children? Should I take out a policy on my child?
A $10,000 life insurance policy on a child only makes sense for a family that: Thus, it could make sense: Many families are in this financial situation. A family in the combination of this financial situation and this emotional situation might be well served to seek religious counsel. If they find ways to remember lo...
Loan math problem
Lachlan has $600 cash and a car worth $500. That's $1,100. The new car is priced at $21,800. Lachlan needs a loan for $20,700. However, the finance company insists that the buyer must pay a 10% deposit, which is $2,180. Lachlan only has $1,100, so no loan. The car dealer wants to make a sale, so suggests some tricks. ...
Can this check still be honored? [duplicate]
You could talk to them, but (assuming you're in the U.S.), it's highly doubtful any bank would honor a check from 26 years ago. Most checks in the U.S. are only valid for 180 days, mainly to help companies and banks keep accounting simple. I would suggest talking to your late husband's former employer. Explain the si...
Received an unexpected cashiers check for over $2K from another state - is this some scam?
It is likely a scam. In fact the whole mystery shopping "job" may be a scam. There is a Snopes page about cashier's check scams, as well as a US government page which specifically mentions mystery shopping as a scam angle. As for how the scam works, from the occ.gov site I just linked: However, cashier’s checks latel...
Is candlestick charting an effective trading tool in timing the markets?
I interned for about six months at a firm that employed a few technical analysts, so I'll try to provide what little information I can. Since the bulk of the intra-day trading was decided algorithmically, technical analysts had two main functions: This basically boils down to my answer to your question. There are still...
How to maximise savings?
First: it sounds like you are already making wise choices with your cash surplus. You've looked for ways to keep that growing ahead of inflation and you have made use of tax shelters. So for the rest of this answer I am going to assume you have between 3-6 months expenses already saved up as a “rainy day fund” and you'...
My employer is switching 401k plan providers. How might this work in practice?
Having gone though this type of event a few times it won't be a problem. On a specific date they will freeze your accounts. Then they will transfer the funds from custodian X to custodian Y. It should only take a day or two, and they will work it around the paydays so that by the time the next paycheck is released ever...
How and Should I Invest (As a college 18 year old with minimal living expenses)?
The $1K in funds are by default your emergency fund. If absolutely necessary, emergency funds may need to come from debt, a credit capacity, focus on building credit to leverage lower rates for living expenses eventually needed. Profitable organizations & proprietors, borrow at a lower cost of capital than their return...
Buying my first car out of college
DO NOT buy this car. First, I want to say I love BMW's. There's a reason why they call them "ultimate driving machine" and why other car manufacturers compare their new models to BMWs. I own 330i and I absolutely love it. Every time you get into the car, it just begs you to push and abuse it. Everything from steeri...
How should I pay off my private student loans that have a lot of restrictions?
Not that I doubted everyone's assumption but I wanted to see the math so I did some spreadsheet hacking. I assumed a monthly payments for 30 years which left us with total payments of 483.89. I then assumed we'd pay an extra $200/month in one of two scenarios. Scenario 1 we just paid that $200 directly to the lender....
How to take advantage of home appreciation
There might just not be anything useful for you to do with that 'value'. As others mentioned, HELOCs have their risks and issues too. There is no risk-less way to take advantage of the value (outside of selling) It is similar to owning a rare stamp that is 'worth a million' - what good does it do you if you don't sell ...
Personal credit card for business expenses
Do you have a separate bank account for your business? That is generally highly recommended. I have a credit card for my single-member LLC. I prefer it this way because it makes the separation of personal and business expenses very clear. Using a personal credit card, but using it for only business expenses seems to ...
Is this understanding of S-corp taxes correct?
I think you're misunderstanding how S-Corp works. Here are some pointers: I suggest you talk with a EA/CPA licensed in your state and get yourself educated on what you're getting yourself into.
Should I Use an Investment Professional?
I am sure there would be many views on the above topic, my take is that DIY takes the following: Now, for many, one or more of the other factors are missing. In this case, it is probably best to go for a financial adviser. There are others who have some of the above in place and are interested but probably cannot spend...
What to do with a 50K inheritance [duplicate]
**I would encourage you to clear all your debts and remain debt free, then you can consult a financial manager-for investing purposes that fits your needs and goals. There are so many investment vehicles out, but the best of all is in real estate which requires lots of money. For your case I would prefer money marke...
Why don't share prices of a company rise every other Friday when the company buys shares for its own employees?
Many companies actually just issue new shares for employee compensation instead of buying back existing ones. So actually, the share price should go down because the same value is now diluted over more shares. In addition, this would not necessarily affect companies with many employees than those with fewer employees b...
It is worth using a discount stock broker? I heard they might not get the best price on a trade?
Always use limit orders never market orders. Period. Do that and you will always pay what you said you would when the transaction goes through. Whichever broker you use is not going to "negotiate" for the best price on your trade if you choose a market order. Their job is to fill that order so they will always buy it ...
I'm currently unemployed and have been offered a contract position. Do I need to incorporate myself? How do I do it?
Do you need to incorporate? This depends on whether the company prefers you to be incorporated. If you are going through a recruiting company, some of them are willing to deal with non-incorporated people (Sole Proprietor) and withhold taxes from your cheques for you. If you do want to incorporate, you can do it yours...
Exercise a put option when shorting is not possible
You are the one lending yourself the shares to sell;you purchase the stock at market price and sell at the strike price of the option to the put seller when you exercise the option.
How is a long call and short stock portfolio equivalent to lending money
hmmm. I think it's because in both cases, you must pay for it up front, before the positions are closed out. You own nothing except the right to buy the stock re: the call, and the obligation to buy the stock re: the short. You buy a call, but must borrow the stock, for which you must put some margin collateral and th...
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.
Should I pay off a 0% car loan?
Pay it off. If you do so, you have the liberty to drop or reduce a portion of your collision auto insurance coverage (keeping uninsured motorist). This could potentially save you a lot more than 20 bucks over the next six months.
Debit cards as bad as credit cards?
If it is one of those debit cards you use just like a credit card without a PIN, I'd cancel it regardless of whatever you are trying to do with your finances. They just seem too dangerous to me. Unlike a credit card, if someone makes fraudulent purchases on a debit card the money is gone from your bank account until y...
Will Indian young ones lose 18% of their EPF with new tax as per Budget 2016?
Are these calculations correct? These are approximate calculations and are with the assumption that entire corpus will be taxed. The assumption was valid as the wording in the budget speech was not very clear. Subsequently the finance ministry has clarified that only interest generated will be taxed and not the contrib...
Sale of jointly owned stock
It depends on when, where and how the account was setup. If the state has an UGMA (Uniform Gift to Minors) law, the account was probably opened under that -- in which case, your wife became the custodian by statute at age 18 or 21. She has always been the account owner. The "catch" is that if your wife's father died b...
Higher returns from international markets?
I went to Morningstar's "Performance" page for FUSEX (Fideltiy's S&P 500 index fund) and used the "compare" tool to compare it with FOSFX and FWWFX, as well as FEMKX (Fidelity Emerging Markets fund). According to the data there, FOSFX outperformed FUSEX in 2012, FEMKX outperformed FUSED in 2010, and FWWFX outperformed...
I'm about to be offered equity by my employer. What should I expect?
In my experience, any kind of equity you may be offered by the company is just a carrot. Your offer may be written in such a way that your potential ownership represents, say, 1% of the company today. But if the company goes for a round of financing your ownership percentage can get diluted. If this happens a couple of...