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I have a record in my credit histoy that shows a delinquency from 4/2005 that was paid off but was also marked as a "charge off." As of January 2011, this record no longer shows up in my file for Equifax or Trans Union, but it is still being reported at Experian. Is there any good way to ask the creditor or Experian to... |
So, I have a Scene Visa card (Canadian) which instead of giving me money, gives me points for which I can use for a variety of things, but the most common being movies. How do I figure out what percentage I'm getting back based on the cost of the movie?
So, if I spend $1000 I get 1000 points. It takes 1000 points fo... |
How do I calculate what percentages I'm getting back on my credit card on which I get points, not dollars? |
We're looking into refinancing from a 30 year mortgage at 5.5% (currently 23 years left) to a 20 year mortgage at 4.5%. Paying points will reduce the rate somewhat, but since we don't have extra money to pay them, the price will be rolled into the mortgage. Is it better to pay the points and reduce the rate? |
Should I pay points on my mortgage? |
I have a record in my credit histoy that shows a delinquency from 4/2005 that was paid off but was also marked as a "charge off." As of January 2011, this record no longer shows up in my file for Equifax or Trans Union, but it is still being reported at Experian. Is there any good way to ask the creditor or Experian to... |
I've been interested in peer-to-peer lending for 3-4 years now since I first heard about it with Prosper.com. I've since heard about Lending Club, and [this Q/A][1] gave me a lot of insight.
In particular, once answerer says he diversified by dropping $25 in each lending account spread over 270 notes.
This sounds... |
How to diversify P2P lending accounts? |
I am developing software program (I live and work outside of US - Europe), and now have a client from US which wants to license my program (pay me money so he can use it).
He has requested me to fill an W8BEN form.
The issue is about US Tax ID number.
Currently I don't have one, and if I don't provide it, my clien... |
What's the amount of tax from selling software license to U.S. company? |
**Background**: I am married with no kids (but anticipating them at some point) and no debt at all. My spouse and I have an emergency fund, both fully fund our retirement accounts, and are also keenly interested in long-term investment. We current rent a small apartment as inexpensively as possible but are looking to... |
So, I have a Scene Visa card (Canadian) which instead of giving me money, gives me points for which I can use for a variety of things, but the most common being movies. How do I figure out what percentage I'm getting back based on the cost of the movie?
So, if I spend $1000 I get 1000 points. It takes 1000 points fo... |
You should **not** form a company in the U.S. simply to get the identification number required for a W-8BEN form.
By establishing a U.S.-based company, you'd be signing yourself up for a lot of additional hassle! You don't need that. You're a European business, not a U.S. business. Selling into the U.S. does not ... |
W-8BEN? What's the tax from selling my software to a U.S. company, from abroad? |
I am developing software program (I live and work outside of US - Europe, I don't have a company), and now have a client from US which wants to license my program (pay me money so he can use it).
He has requested me to fill an W8BEN form.
The issue is about US Tax ID number.
Currently I don't have one, and if I do... |
No accounting experience here.
The problem:
Man A invests $10 on day 1.
Man B invests $5 on day 4.
Man C invests $85 on day 5.
On day 7, the $100 returns 10%. How do you fairly distribute it? |
How does one apportion returns to multiple investors when their times and amounts of investment were different? |
It depends on the arrangements made at the time of each investment. Who set it up and what provisions did they make? In a short timeframe like your example, the arrangements may be simple, like 1 share of ownership for each $5. Then, on day 7 there are 20 shares, so that man A gets 2/20ths of the distribution, B 1/2... |
One thing that's often overlooked is that cash reserves are also a long-term investment. Anything can be a long-term investment if it's expected to appreciate or pay interest/dividends. So it's not either/or. Stocks are but one way to do long-term investments.
Having said that, taking on less debt for a consumer ... |
Does anyone know if the fund manager names are listed in any Edgar filings and if so which form type they are listed in?
Thank you |
Are fund manager names listed in Edgar filings? |
Last year we bought another house (and moved into it as our primary residence). Rather than sell our previous house, we opted to keep it and rent it out.
Since the tax treatment for rentals is different than for primary residences (namely, a whole lot more can be deducted if it's a rental) I need to know what the c... |
At what point did my former primary residence become an income property? |
I've been helping a friend put together her taxes. Going through her W-2, she noticed that at a restaurant she worked at, the employer has vastly underreported her wages and tips, apparently including in the amount only her base pay and her tips from credit cards.
By the time she left the restaurant, she was getting... |
What do you do if an employer underreported tips? |
It depends on the arrangements made at the time of each investment. Who set it up and what provisions did they make? In a short timeframe like your example, the arrangements may be simple, like 1 share of ownership for each $5. Then, on day 7 there are 20 shares, so that man A gets 2/20ths of the distribution, B 1/2... |
I just noticed TD Ameritrade has program where you can trade from a list of ETFs with zero fees.
Sounds like it could save me a bit of money, but my cynical side wonders how they make money off such a program...
Is it a loss leader? (They entice me to have an account there, and then make money off the other trade... |
No transaction fee ETF trades? |
1) You are your own worst enemy when it comes to investing.
You might think that you can handle a lot of risk but when the market plummets you don't know exactly how you'll react.
Many people panic and sell at the worst possible time, and that kills their returns. Will that be you? It's impossible to tell until i... |
Consistently **beating the market by picking stocks is hard**. Professional fund managers can't really do it -- and they get paid big bucks to try!
You can spend a lot of time researching and picking stocks, and you may find that you do a decent job. I found that, given the amount of money I had invested, even if I ... |
Banks often offer cash to people who open savings accounts in order to drive new business. Their gain is pretty much as you think, to grow their asset base.
A survey released in 2008 by UK-based Age Concern declared that only 16% of the British population have ever switched their banks‚ while 45% of marriages now en... |
@bstpierre gave you an example of a portfolio similar to [IFA's 70 portfolio][1]. Please, look other variants of example portfolios there and investigate which would suit to you. Important factors such as risk tolerance and age are covered on the site. Although the example portfolios are not ETF-based, required by the ... |
@bstpierre gave you an example of a portfolio similar to [IFA's 70 portfolio][1]. Please, look other variants of example portfolios there and investigate which would suit to you. Although the example portfolios are not ETF-based, required by the op, you can rather easily check corresponding components with this tool [... |
What is the most profitable 25-day investment I can make that
guarentees that I at least get the principle back? Notes:
- Many brokers accept credit card deposits w/ no fees, and the
credit card company counts it as a purchase, so I have a 25-day
grace period with no interest.
- So, I can invest... |
25-day investment, principle guarenteed, for credit card arbitrage? |
Is there any way to combine FOREX instruments to receive interest on
$100K while spending only $2K?
If I buy 100K USDCAD (for example), I only need $2K margin. Every
night, I'm charged the difference in interest rates on the entire
$100K. This is called the "rollover rate" or "swap rate". It also
explains ... |
Get interest on $100K by spending only $2K using FOREX rollovers? |
I just noticed TD Ameritrade has program where you can trade from a list of ETFs with zero fees.
Sounds like it could save me a bit of money, but my cynical side wonders how they make money off such a program...
Is it a loss leader? (They entice me to have an account there, and then make money off the other trade... |
Banks often offer cash to people who open savings accounts in order to drive new business. Their gain is pretty much as you think, to grow their asset base.
A survey released in 2008 by UK-based Age Concern declared that only 16% of the British population have ever switched their banks‚ while 45% of marriages now en... |
Banks often offer cash to people who open savings accounts in order to drive new business. Their gain is pretty much as you think, to grow their asset base.
A survey released in 2008 by UK-based Age Concern declared that only 16% of the British population have ever switched their banks‚ while 45% of marriages now en... |
What is the most profitable 25-day investment I can make that
guarantees that I at least get the principal back? Notes:
- Many brokers accept credit card deposits w/ no fees, and the
credit card company counts it as a purchase, so I have a 25-day
grace period with no interest.
- So, I can invest... |
What 25-day investment, principal guaranteed, can be used for credit card arbitrage? |
As the stock market keeps increasing, I'm more and more interested in short selling as a strategy to hedge risk and make some money.
The historical mean of the S&P is 16, and we're at 24 now (http://www.multpl.com/). In addition we have tech stocks like OPEN that are pushing crazy valuations, it feels like Wall Str... |
Is short selling a good hedging strategy in 2011? |
My wife collects some income in the form of royalties on a book. What I've read seems to indicate that we should try to estimate quarterly income and pay quarter-to-quarter. However, because her royalties can vary unpredictably as much as several orders of magnitude year to year, it would seem to be an onerous burden t... |
Best way to pay US Federal taxes on unpredictable royalty income on time throughout the year? |
@bstpierre gave you an example of a portfolio similar to [IFA's 70 portfolio][1]. Please, look other variants of example portfolios there and investigate which would suit to you. Although the example portfolios are not ETF-based, required by the op, you can rather easily check corresponding components with this tool [... |
Is short selling a good hedging strategy during overzealous market conditions? |
As the stock market keeps increasing, I'm more and more interested in short selling as a strategy to hedge risk and make some money.
History has shown that anything that goes up, must come down. The historical mean P/E ratio of the S&P is 16, and we're at 24 now (http://www.multpl.com/). A high P/E is justified whe... |
I have been living abroad for several years now, but while I was in the States, I started a Roth IRA. I would like to start contributing again, but I'm not sure how exactly to go about it. My salary is paid by a non-U.S. company, and is deductable via the 2555-EZ form, so I'm assuming it doesn't fall under the category... |
My wife collects some income in the form of royalties on a book. What I've read seems to indicate that we should try to estimate quarterly income and pay quarter-to-quarter. However, because her royalties can vary unpredictably as much as two orders of magnitude year to year, it would seem to be an onerous burden to tr... |
Could you please explain me what does it mean when banks refer to "Sales Frontend"? |
I've long wondered about the philosophy behind the selection of stocks in the S&P 500.
I've assumed that it was intended as a market indicator, with the selection being those that best paralleled the market as a whole, but many mutual funds are based on it, and many others are compared to it. This would indicate t... |
What is the "point" (purpose) of the S&P 500 ? |
Banking: What does the term "Sales Frontend" mean? |
I have a record in my credit history that shows a delinquency from 4/2005 that was paid off but was also marked as a "charge off." As of January 2011, this record no longer shows up in my file for Equifax or Trans Union, but it is still being reported at Experian. Is there any good way to ask the creditor or Experian t... |
A comment [on my recent ETF-related question](http://money.stackexchange.com/questions/6270/no-transaction-fee-etf-trades) mentioned swap/synthetic ETFs.
Most of what I can find on the web glosses over the mechanics. Can someone walk through what is happening behind the scenes?
* How does a synthetic ETF work?
*... |
How does a synthetic ETF work? |
A Canadian friend recently got a job in the US and started working 3 months ago. He went through some trouble to obtain his first credit card in mid-December. The problem is that any credit issuer when they query his credit history, they couldn't find anything. He started using his credit card since mid-December and ha... |
How long does it take for a person's credit profile be established? |
I've long wondered about the philosophy behind the selection of stocks in the S&P 500.
I've assumed that it was intended as a market indicator, with the selection being those that best paralleled the market as a whole, but many mutual funds are based on it, and many others are compared to it. This would indicate tha... |
What is the "point" (purpose) of the S&P 500? |
I have been living abroad for several years now, but while I was in the States, I started a Roth IRA. I would like to start contributing again, but I'm not sure how exactly to go about it. My salary is paid by a non-U.S. company, and is deductable via the 2555-EZ form, so I'm assuming it doesn't fall under the category... |
Could you please explain me what does it mean when banks refer to "Sales Frontend"?
I have heard the term in sentences like "We need to improve our sales frontend in order to stay ahead in competition." Do they mean customer services provided by the bank from front office?
|
If 2 people decide to invest in a house, but only 1 of them wants to live in the house, should the interest only monthly mortgage payments be:
1. split 50/50,
2. the person living their pays 100%
3. the person living their pays 100% plus rent to the other owner
4. the person living their pays 50% plus rent to the... |
Joint property ownership: 2 homeowners, but only 1 lives in the home. How to fairly split mortgage payments? |
My bank, ING Direct, has setup an OFX server. Details (public):
http://www.ofxhome.com/index.php/institution/view/658
I also obtained a "Personal Finance Access Code" from ING Direct, so I
have everything I need to access the server... except any idea
whatsoever how to use it.
What is the OFX protoco... |
How to access OFX server? |
I live in Ohio, and Lending Club and Prosper are unavailable for me to utilise as a lender. Are other P2P services available for Ohio residents? Are there alternative but similar lending strategies that someone in Ohio could use? |
If 2 people decide to invest in a house, but only 1 of them wants to live in the house, should the interest only monthly mortgage payments be:
1. split 50/50,
2. the person living there pays 100%
3. the person living there pays 100% plus rent to the other owner
4. the person living there pays 50% plus rent to the... |
What P2P lending services are available to Ohio residents to use, as a lender? |
Some background:
* have no plans to leave current company anytime soon, so (short of borrowing against my 401k balance to invest outside the 401k) I can't get the funds out
* want to max out my 401k contributions as my company very generously doesn't cap the match, so not looking for solutions of the form "make y... |
Some background:
* have no plans to leave current company anytime soon, so (short of borrowing against my 401k balance to invest outside the 401k) I can't get the funds out
* want to max out my 401k contributions as my company very generously doesn't cap the match, so not looking for solutions of the form "make y... |
This can be as complicated as you'd like to make it.
First, what was the downpayment? That has to come into play, right? The interest may be far more than the going rent or far less.
I'd think without any other detail, it's 50/50, and the owner who is out can sublet a roommate.
To better show this, what if the hou... |
Given a 5/1 ARM for a $350,000 loan at a rate of 2.875%:
After 5 years of paying at 2.875%, let's say the balance is $310,000.
On the 6th year, the first adjustment kicks in an kicks the rate up 1% to 3.875%.
How is the new payment calculated? 3.875% on the $310,000 balance for 25 years? 3.875% on the $350,0... |
How is the 6th year on a 5/1 ARM calculated? |
Some background:
* have no plans to leave current company anytime soon, so (short of borrowing against my 401k balance to invest outside the 401k) I can't get the funds out
* want to max out my 401k contributions as my company very generously doesn't cap the match, so not looking for solutions of the form "make y... |
What are your experiences with 'self directed' 401ks? |
How do you access an OFX server? |
So here's the situation I'm facing. I've recently graduated college but have been working for a while now. I've managed to save up around $10,000 aside for my "money to live" stash. And like most college grads, my current car barely runs and I'm going to need to get a new one here very soon.
We currently are rente... |
Recent college grad. Down payment on a house or car? |
$27,000 for a car?! Please, don't do that to yourself!
That sounds like a new-car price. If it is, you can kiss $4k-$5k of that price goodbye the moment you drive it off the lot. You'll pay the worst part of the depreciation on that vehicle.
You can get a 4-5 year old Corolla (or similar import) for less than ... |
$27,000 for a car?! Please, don't do that to yourself!
That sounds like a new-car price. If it is, you can kiss $4k-$5k of that price goodbye the moment you drive it off the lot. You'll pay the worst part of the depreciation on that vehicle.
You can get a 4-5 year old Corolla (or similar import) for less than ... |
> what is the mechanism by which they
> make money on the funds that I have in
> my account?
It is the **risk** that drives TD Ameritrade to look for profits, Turukawa's storytelling about 100,000$ and 500$ is trivial. Where did he get even the numbers? The risk consists of *credit risk, asset-liability risk and p... |
Some background:
* have no plans to leave current company anytime soon, so (short of borrowing against my 401k balance to invest outside the 401k) I can't get the funds out
* want to max out my 401k contributions as my company very generously matches 25% of my contributions w/ no limit, so not looking for solutio... |
If 2 people decide to invest in a house, but only 1 of them wants to live in the house, should the interest only monthly mortgage payments be:
1. split 50/50,
2. the person living there pays 100%
3. the person living there pays 100% plus rent to the other owner
4. the person living there pays 50% plus rent to the... |
My brother has about 5 loans that he paying back and he thinks that another 5000 loan will "solve his problem".
He has been this way since he was young, he's now in his 30's.
I'm trying to find a way to explain to him that debt upon debt isn't the solution and he is going to have to spend 5-10 years paying back a... |
How do I explain why debt on debt is bad to my brother? |
> what is the mechanism by which they
> make money on the funds that I have in
> my account?
It is the **risk** that drives TD Ameritrade to look for profits, Turukawa's storytelling about 100,000$ and 500$ is trivial. Where did he get even the numbers? The risk consists of *credit risk, asset-liability risk and p... |
> what is the mechanism by which they
> make money on the funds that I have in
> my account?
**Risk** drives TD Ameritrade to look for profits, Turukawa's storytelling about 100,000$ and 500$ is trivial. The risk consists of *credit risk, asset-liability risk and profit risk*. The third, based on [Pareto Principle... |
No transaction fee ETF trades - what's the catch? |
AFAIK, It's also possible that the ETF company is **paying** Ameritrade for every trade you make.
Even if your brokerage doesn't make you pay a fee to trade ETFs, the company that created and runs the ETF is still making money when you purchase and use their ETFs.
See "[What motivates each player?][1]" at Yahoo F... |
> World?
**Does it mean marketing Spam?**
- iShares World is not world per se, it is large-cap biased developed bloat fund with relative high cost ~0.5% (check prospectus)
- Comstage World ... same problem
- my local comps charge even `1.5%-2%` man.fee for `world` funds, not covering inner-funds' costs!
- ... |
*I live in EU, using Lynxbroker.de and ETFs available to me [here][1] under ETFs' links. My portfolio needs to be become more bogleheadian: better diversification, low-cost and passive. So my plan is to buy World Stock Market ETFs to achieve better `risk/return ratio`. I am looking for low-cost dividend-accumulating ET... |
William Bernstein wrote in some of his articles that during the past century the *world stock* market returned 4% return p.a., only US returned awesome 4.7% in real terms. So I am becoming lazy and I want to get a *world portfolio*.
I want to bogleheadilize my portfolio to become *better diversified, low-cost and pa... |
*The term bogleheadian is a bit ambiguous term but its simplification means low-cost, diversified, tax-efficient -- solutions. The slant is ETFs or index funds.*
William Bernstein wrote in some of his articles that during the past century the *world stock* market returned 4% return p.a., only US returned awesome 4.7... |
Where are Bogleheadian World ETFs or Index funds? |
I have an offer from my employer to move to New York. The move is "permanent" and as such I will become a resident alien within the US. I do not wish to transfer my entire savings over to the US as I intend to return to the UK in about 2 years depending on how things go.
I am wondering how will I be taxed on interes... |
I have an offer from my employer to move to New York, but I am concerned about what happens when I choose to return home to the UK. I understand that there is a double taxation treaty between the UK and the USA, but what's not clear is what happens I return home.
It seems I will have to continue filing US Tax retur... |
For a number of reasons, I recently asked my credit card company for a credit limit increase. I was hoping they'd propose a new limit to me, but they instead the reverse happened: they asked how much I wanted. I decided to play it conservative; the new limit puts me at under 50 percent peak utilization, but I suspect I... |
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