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[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "how do credit card banks detect fraudulent transactions without requiring a travel advisory?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "one bank is more willing to risk losses and customer hassle in exchange for lower processing costs than the other bank is. it's strictly a business decision. regarding how they detect suspicious transactions: patten detection based on your past usage history. i've gotten calls asking me to confirm that i just placed a large order with a company i'd never bought from before, or in a country that i haven't previously visited, or...", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "how does a tax exemption for an action = penalty for inaction?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "what it means is that you can always come up with alternative framings where the difference between two options is stated as a gain or a loss, but the effect is the same in either case. for instance, if i offer to sell a t-shirt for $10 and offer a cash discount of $1, you pay $10 if buying with a credit card or $9 if buying with cash. if i instead offer the shirt for $9 with a $1 surcharge for credit card use, you still pay $10 if buying with a credit card or $9 if buying with cash. the financial result is the same in either case, but psychologically people may perceive them differently and make different buying decisions. in a tax situation it may be more complicated since exemptions wouldn't directly reduce your tax, but only your taxable income. however, you can still see that, in general, having to pay $x more in tax for not doing some action (e.g., not purchasing health insurance) is the same as being able to pay $x less in tax as a reward for doing the action. either way, doing the action results in you paying $x less than you would if you didn't do it; the only difference is in which behavior (doing it or not doing it) is framed as the \"default\" option. again, these framings may differentially influence people's behavior even when the net result is the same.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "where can publicly traded profits go but to shareholders via dividends?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "apart from investing in their own infrastructure, profits can be spent purchasing other companies, (mergers and acquisitions) investing in other securities, and frankly whatever they please. the idea here is that publicly traded companies have a fiduciary duty to their shareholders to make as much money as they can with the resources (including cash, but including so much more than that) available to the company. it happens that the majority of huge companies eventually stopped growing and figured out that they weren't good at making money outside their core discipline and started giving the money back through dividends, but that norm has been eroded by tech companies that have figured out how to keep growing and driving up share prices even after they become giants. shareholders will pressure management to issue dividends if share prices don't keep going up, but until the growth slows down, most investors hang on and don't rock the boat.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "rental application fees", "role": "user" }, { "content": "slightly abbreviated version of the guidance from nolo.com california state law limits credit check or application screening fees landlords can charge prospective tenants and specifies what landlords must do when accepting these types of fees. (cal. civ. code § 1950.6.) here are key provisions: i am not a lawyer, but it would seem you have two options if you catch a landlord violating these rules. an idea to avoid the whole problem in the first place: get a copy of your credit report yourself and take a copy with you to meet the landlord. if they want an application fee, ask why they need it making it clear you know the above law. if they say for a credit report offer to give them a copy in lieu of the fee.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "did my salesman damage my credit? what can i do?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "at one point in my life i sold cars and from what i saw, three things stick out. unless the other dealership was in the same network, eg abc ford of city a, and abc ford of city b, they never had possession of that truck. so, no real application for a loan could be sent in to a bank, just a letter of intent, if one was sent at all. with a letter of intent, a soft pull is done, most likely by the dealership, where they then attached that score to the loi that the bank has an automated program send back an automatic decline, an officer review reply, or a tentative approval (eg tier 0,1,2...8). the tentative approval is just that, tentative. sometime after a lender has a loan officer look at the full application, something prompts them to change their offer. they have internal guidelines, but lets say an app is right at the line for 2-3 of the things they look at, they chose to lower the credit tier or decline the app. the dealership then goes back and looks at what other offers they had. let's say they had a chase offer at 3.25% and a capone for 5.25% they would say you're approved at 3.5%, they make their money on the .25%. but after chase looks into the app and sees that, let's say you have been on the job for actually 11 months and not 1 year, and you said you made $50,000, but your 1040 shows $48,200, and you have moved 6 times in the last 5 years. they comeback and say no he is not a tier 2 but a tier 3 @ 5.5%. they switch to capone and say your rate has in fact gone up to 5.5%. ultimately you never had a loan to start with - only a letter of intent. the other thing could be that the dealership finance manager looked at your credit score and guessed they would offer 3.5%, when they sent in the loi it came back higher than he thought. or he was bsing you, so if you price shopped while they looked for a truck you wouldn't get far. they didn't find that truck, or it was not what they thought it would be. if a dealership sees a truck in inventory at another dealer they call and ask if it's available, if they have it, and it's not being used as a demo for a sales manager, they agree to send them something else for the trade, a car, or truck or whatever. a transfer driver of some sort hops in that trade, drives the 30 minutes - 6 hours away and comes back so you can sign the real application, today! while you're excited about your new truck and willing to do whatever you need to do to get it. because they said it would take 2-5 days to \"ship\" it tells me it wasn't available. time kills deals, and dealerships know this: they want to sign you today! some dealerships want \"honest\" money or a deposit to go get the truck, but reality is that that is a trick to test you to make sure you are going to follow through after they spend the gas and add mileage to a car. but if it takes 2 days+, the truck isn't out there, or the dealer doesn't have a vehicle the other dealership wants back, or no other dealership likes dealing with them. the only way it would take that long is if you were looking for something very rare, an odd color in an unusual configuration. like a top end model in a low selling color, or configuration you had to have that wouldn't sell well - like you wanted all the options on a car except a cigarette lighter, you get the idea. 99.99% of the time a good enough truck is available. deposits are bs. they don't setup any kind of real contract, notice most of the time they want a check. because holding on to a check is about as binding as making you wear a chicken suit to get a rebate. all it is, is a test to see if you will go through with signing the deal. as an example of why you don't let time pass on a car deal is shown in this. one time we had a couple want us to find a cadillac escalade hybrid in red with every available option. total cost was about $85-90k. only two new red escalade hybrids were for sale in the country at the time, one was in new york, and the other was in san fransisco, and our dealership is in texas, and neither was wanting to trade with us, so we ended up having to buy the suv from one of the other dealerships inventory. that is a very rare thing to do by the way. we took a 25% down payment, around $20,000, in a check. we flew a driver to wherever the suv was and then drove it back to texas about 4 days later. the couple came back and hated the color, they would not take the suv. the general manager was pissed, he spent around $1000 just to bring the thing to texas, not to mention he had to buy the thing. the couple walked and there was nothing the sales manager, gm, or salesman could do. we had not been able to deliver the car, and ultimately the dealership ate the loss, but it shows that deposits are useless. you can't sell something you don't own, and dealerships know it. long story short, you can't claim a damage you never experienced. not having something happen that you wanted to have happen is not a damage because you can't show a real economic loss. one other thing, when you sign the paperwork that you thought was an application, it was an authorization for them to pull your credit and the fine print at the bottom is boiler plate defense against getting sued for everything imaginable. ours took up about half of one page and all of the back of the second page. i know dealing with car dealerships is hard, working at them is just as hard, and i'm sorry that you had to deal with it, however the simplest and smoothest car deals are the ones where you pay full price.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "stocks: do good till cancelled orders get executed during after hours?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "you typically need to specify that you want the gtc order to be working during the extended hours session. i trade on td ameritrade's thinkorswim platform, and you can select day, gtc, ext or gtc_ext. so in your case, you would select gtc_ext.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "found an old un-cashed paycheck. how long is it good for? what to do if it's expired?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "the two banks involved may have different policies about honoring the check. it might not be written on the check. your bank may decide that the stale check has to be treated differently and will withhold funds for a longer period of time before giving you access to the money. they will give time for the first bank to refuse to honor the check. they may be concerned about insufficient funds, the age of the check, and the fact that the original account could have been closed. if you are concerned about the age of the check. you could go to your bank in person, instead of using deposit by atm, scanner, or smart phone. this allows you to talk to a knowledgeable person. and if they are going to treat the check differently or reject the check, they can let you know right away. the audit may not have been concerned about the fact that the check hadn't been cashed because when they did the audit the check was still considered fresh. some companies will contact you eventually to reissue the check so you they can get the liability off their books. if the bank does refuse the check contact the company to see how you can get a replacement check issued. they may want proof the check can't be cashed so they don't have to worry about paying you twice.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "how to share income after marriage and kids?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "now i have been trying to figure out how to split the money that we both earn. from what i can see there are several concepts but none of them really seems ideal to me. there is nothing fair or unfair in such arrangements. it is what you both agree. you can try and make this as scientific as possible. but then there is no golden rule. for example, your girlfriend makes 2200 now and due to child, she is making 1100. the child is both of your responsibility; so you need to compensate half of her salary loss. 550 and she takes the other half. if you hire a nanny to look after you kinds, it would say cost you 500. but your girlfriend is doing that job, so she should get additional 500 from common pot. plus due to loss of few years in looking after the children, she has a lost opportunity in career growth. i.e. she may indefinitely make less money than she can... so one gets into all kinds of theories and analysis and any arrangements will have some or the other gaps. so my suggestion, don't get too scientific about it. just talk it out as to what you both feel how this should be and arrive it. it is something every individual has to agree. it also make sense to have the large assets [or assets that matter], like house, car etc in clear title and who gets what in case you decide to separate. other should be incidental.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "ballpark salary equivalent today of healthcare benefits in the us?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "as others have said, it depends entirely on what benefits are provided, and how much of the cost of those benefits is paid by the employer and how much is paid by the employee, and compare that to what it would cost to obtain the necessary/equivalent coverage without employer assistance. in my case, my employer pays more than $10,000 per year toward the cost of medical, dental, vision, disability, and life insurance for myself and my family. that's almost 20% of the average total household income in my state, so it is not an insignificant amount at all.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "moving coin collection to stapled coin pockets", "role": "user" }, { "content": "i would be wary of having coins in containers with cardboard. ideally you want the coins to be in an airtight envelope made of plastic to minimize any chance of oxidation or reaction with chemicals in the air. cheap, retail coins like you would find in a whitman collection are not generally going to hold value well. sometimes you can sell a collection and break even if you have a nice complete set, but in general vf coins with common dates will not appreciate at all. investment coins usually are high-priced items that sell for thousands each, not the sort thing you find in whitman folders. in general, collectibles are bad investments in the us because irs rules tax gains as ordinary income. so, unless you sell them under the table or have really low income, you lose a lot of your profit. if you enjoy collecting, focus on the fun of it, worrying about investment in coin collections is a joy killer. a parting anecdote... when i was a kid i painstakingly assembled a lot of bu rolls, because that was the hot thing back then. i wrote on them \"do not open for 10 years\". you know how much a 1980 bu roll of lincoln cents is worth now, 40 years later? $2.00 on ebay. some days i spend more on lunch than the worth of my entire lincoln cent collection.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "what are the advantages of a swiss bank account?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "here are some reasons why it is advantageous to hold a portion of your savings in other countries: however, it should be noted that there are some drawbacks to holding funds in foreign banks: don't worry; i haven't forgotten about the elephant in the room. what about tax evasion and money laundering? in general, simply transferring funds to a foreign jurisdiction will do nothing to help you evade taxes or hide evidence of a crime. pretty much any method you can think of to transfer money is easily traceable, and any method that is difficult to trace is either illegal or heavily-regulated, with stiff penalties if you get caught. there are a few jurisdictions that have very strict banking privacy laws (the philippines, for example). if you can somehow get the money into a bank account in one of these countries, you might be ok... at least, until that country's government decides (or is pressured) to change its banking privacy laws. but, what would you actually do with that money? unless you want to go live in that country, you're going to have to transfer the funds out to spend them, and now you're right back on the radar — except now it's even worse, because the fact that the funds come from a suspicious jurisdiction will automatically cause your transfer to get flagged for investigation! this is where money laundering comes into play. there are lots of ways to go about this (exceptionally illegal) activity, many of which do not involve banks at all (at least, not directly). how money laundering works is outside the scope of this question, but in case you are curious, here are a couple of articles about the \"dark side\" of finance: in short, if you want to break the law, opening a foreign bank account isn't going to help much. in fact, the real crime is that offshore banking has such a criminal reputation in the first place! that said, it is possible to create legal distance between yourself and your money by using a corporate structure, and there are legitimate reasons why you might want to do this. depending on which jurisdiction(s) you are a tax resident of, you can use this method to: exactly how to do this is outside the scope of this question, but it's worth thinking about, especially if you have an interest in geopolitically diversifying your financial assets. if you're interested in learning more, i came across a pretty comprehensive article about offshore basics that covers how and why to set up offshore legal structures. (and yes, that makes now 4 links from the same site in one post! i promise it's just a coincidence; see disclaimer below) i am a us citizen with bank accounts in several countries (but not switzerland; there are far better options out there right now). i have no affiliation with the website linked in this answer; while i was doing research for this answer, i found some really good supporting content, and it all just happened to be from the same source.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "why does charles schwab have a mandatory settlement period after selling stocks?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "it's important to understand that, in general, security transactions involve you and a relatively unknown entity with your broker standing in the middle. when you sell through schwab, schwab needs to receive the funds from the other side of the transaction. if schwab gave you access to the funds immediately, it would essentially be a loan until the transaction settles after funds and securities change hands. if schwab made funds available to you as soon as they were received, it might still be two days until the money is received; because the other side also has three days. guaranteed one day settlement would have to include receipt of funds from the buyer in one day and schwab can't control that. you need to remember this transaction likely includes at least one party in addition to you and schwab. here's the sec page related to the three day settlement period, about settling trades in three days: t+3", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "bank will not accept loose change. is this legal?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "the bank certainly doesn't have to take it for a deposit; that's not a debt. there have been several cases where disgruntled debtors have attempted deliberately annoying ways to pay their debts; the apocryphal example being pennies. courts are not likely to support such efforts since it's obvious that a) the action is malicious and (relevant to you) b) it's really on you to maintain your money in a wieldy form. if you allow your money to become unwieldy, nobody owes you anything. i wonder about the meta-meaning of that. and whether, in that light it really makes sense to worry about 5% or rolling. as far as getting rid of it, when i bought out a girlfriend's piggybank at par, i just made sure to walk out of the house with $5 in change in my pocket and unload $2-3 at every retailer, none ever objected and some appreciated. quarters were traded to coin laundry users. when going on transit i brought a bunch, the machines never grumbled. i burned through the cache much faster than expected.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "advice on money transfer business", "role": "user" }, { "content": "as soon as i see the word \"friends\" along with money transfer i think scam. but ignoring that red flag.... you will have american companies reporting to the irs that you are a canadian vendor they have hired. then you are transferring money to people in bangladesh. assuming also that you fill out all the regulatory paperwork to establish this money transfer business you may still face annual reporting requirements to 3 national taxing authorities. in the united states there are situations where the us government hires a large company to complete a project. as part of that contract they require the large company to hire small businesses to complete some of the tasks. in a situation where the large company is imply serving as a conduit for the money between the government and the sub-contractor; and the large company has no other responsibilities; the usual fee for providing that function is 8% of the funds. this pays for their expenses for their accounting functions plus profit and the taxes that will trigger. yet you said \"at the end of the day, i will not earn much, but the transactions will just burden my tax returns.\" the 8 percent fee doesn't include doesn't include having to file paperwork with 3 nations. adding this to all the other risks associated with being an international bank, plus the legal costs of making sure you are following all the regulations...no thanks.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "when the market crashes, should i sell bonds and buy equities for the inevitable recovery?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "when the market moves significantly, you should rebalance your investments to maintain the diversification ratios you have selected. that means if bonds go up and stocks go down, you sell bonds and buy stocks (to some degree), and vice versa. sell high to buy low, and remember that over the long run most things regress to the mean.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "why diversify stocks/investments?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "diversifying is the first advice given to beginner in order to avoid big loss. for example in 2014 the company theranos was really appealing before it fail in 2016. so a beginner could have invest all his money and lose it. but if he has deverified he wouldn't lost everything. as an investor goes from beginner to experience some still diversify and other concentrate. mostly it depends how much confident you are about an investement. if you have 20 years of experience, now everything about the company and you are sure there will be profit you can concentrate. if you are not 100% sure there will be a profit, it is better to diversify. diversifying can also be profitating when you loose money: because you will pay tax when you earn money, if you diversify you can choose to loose money in some stock (usually in december) and in this way cut your taxes.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "how an etf pays dividend to shareholders if a holding company issues dividend", "role": "user" }, { "content": "the amount, reliability and frequency of dividends paid by an etf other than a stock, such as an index or mutual fund, is a function of the agreement under which the etf was established by the managing or issuing company (or companies), and the \"basket\" of investments that a share in the fund represents. let's say you invest in a djia-based index fund, for instance dow diamonds (dia), which is traded on several exchanges including nasdaq and amex. one share of this fund is currently worth $163.45 (jan 22 2014 14:11 cdt) while the djia itself is $16,381.38 as of the same time, so one share of the etf represents approximately 1% of the index it tracks. the etf tracks the index by buying and selling shares of the blue chips proportional to total invested value of the fund, to maintain the same weighted percentages of the same stocks that make up the index. mcdonald's, for instance, has an applied weight that makes the share price of mcd stock roughly 5% of the total djia value, and therefore roughly 5% of the price of 100 shares of dia. now, let's say mcd issued a dividend to shareholders of, say, $.20 per share. by buying 100 shares of dia, you own, through the fund, approximately five mcd shares, and would theoretically be entitled to $1 in dividends. however, keep in mind that you do not own these shares directly, as you would if you spent $16k buying the correct percentage of all the shares directly off the exchange. you instead own shares in the dia fund, basically giving you an interest in some investment bank that maintains a pool of blue-chips to back the fund shares. whether the fund pays dividends or not depends on the rules under which that fund was set up. the investment bank may keep all the dividends itself, to cover the expenses inherent in managing the fund (paying fund management personnel and floor traders, covering losses versus the listed price based on bid-ask parity, etc), or it may pay some percentage of total dividends received from stock holdings. however, it will virtually never transparently cut you a check in the amount of your proportional holding of an indexed investment as if you held those stocks directly. in the case of the dia, the fund pays dividends monthly, at a yield of 2.08%, virtually identical to the actual weighted djia yield (2.09%) but lower than the per-share mean yield of the \"dji 30\" (2.78%). differences between index yields and etf yields can be reflected in the share price of the etf versus the actual index; 100 shares of dia would cost $16,345 versus the actual index price of 16,381.38, a delta of $(36.38) or -0.2% from the actual index price. that difference can be attributed to many things, but fundamentally it's because owning the dia is not the exact same thing as owning the correct proportion of shares making up the djia. however, because of what index funds represent, this difference is very small because investors expect to get the price for the etf that is inherent in the real-time index.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "is it wise to invest small amounts of money short-term?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "this is slightly opinion based. is it appropriate to invest small amounts for short periods of time? at your age and the time period, i would say no. this is because although the index fund do return 6-7% on average, there are several times it blips and goes negative as well. stock markets in short periods like 6 months can be unpredictable. at times a downturn will remain stagnant for periods of 2-3 years before suddenly zoom ahead. if you are not to particular about the time when you need the changes done; i.e. the changes can in worst case wait for few years; then yes investing in index fund would make sense. else you are well off keeping this in savings. try cd's if they can offer better rates for such durations.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "if i donate depreciated stock to charity, can i deduct both the market value and the capital loss?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "no, it doesn't work like this. your charitable contribution is limited to the fmv. in your scenario your charitable contribution is limited by the fmv, i.e.: you can only deduct the worth of the stocks. it would be to your advantage to sell the stocks and donate cash. had your stock appreciated, you may be required to either deduct the appreciation amount from the donation deduction or pay capital gains tax (increasing your basis to the fmv), depending on the nature of your donation. in many cases - you may be able to deduct the whole value of the appreciated stock without paying capital gains. read the link below for more details and exceptions. in this scenario, it is probably more beneficial to donate the stock (even if required to pay the capital gains tax), instead of selling and donating cash (which will always trigger the capital gains tax). exceptions. however, in certain situations, you must reduce the fair market value by any amount that would have been long-term capital gain if you had sold the property for its fair market value. generally, this means reducing the fair market value to the property's cost or other basis. you must do this if: the property (other than qualified appreciated stock) is contributed to certain private nonoperating foundations, you choose the 50% limit instead of the special 30% limit for capital gain property, discussed later, the contributed property is intellectual property (as defined earlier under patents and other intellectual property ), the contributed property is certain taxidermy property as explained earlier, or the contributed property is tangible personal property (defined earlier) that: is put to an unrelated use (defined later) by the charity, or has a claimed value of more than $5,000 and is sold, traded, or otherwise disposed of by the qualified organization during the year in which you made the contribution, and the qualified organization has not made the required certification of exempt use (such as on form 8282, donee information return, part iv). see also recapture if no exempt use , later. see more here.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "why does a stock price drop as soon an i purchase several thousand shares at market price?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "any time a large order it placed for buy, the sell side starts increasing as the demand of buy has gone up. [vice versa is also true]. once this orders gets fulfilled, the demand drops and hence the sell price should also lower. depending on how much was the demand / supply without your order, the price fluctuation would vary. for examply if before your order, for this particular share the normal volume is around 100's of shares then you order would spike things up quite a bit. however if for other share the normal volume is around 100000's then your order would not have much impact.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "should market based health insurance premiums be factored into 6 months emergency fund savings?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "the guideline for the size of an emergency fund is just a guideline. i've usually heard it expressed as \"3 to 6 months,\" but everyone has a different idea of exactly how big it should be. the purpose of the fund is to give you enough cash to be able to pay for unexpected expenses that have come up that you have not budgeted for without you having to borrow money to pay for them. to figure out how big this fund should be, we look at the worst case scenario. suppose that you lost your job tomorrow. what would you do? cut your expenses. you'd probably be much more careful how you spend money. secure health insurance. this would be done by either continuing your employer's policy with cobra, or by purchasing your own insurance, likely through the obamacare/aca market. keep in mind that most likely your employer is paying for a portion of your insurance now, so this expense will go up quite a bit no matter which option you choose. look for another job. you'd probably begin your search for a new job immediately. the size of your emergency fund determines how long you will be able to go without income before you need to start a new job. regarding cutting your expenses, it is up to you how much you would cut. there are things that are easy to cut temporarily (or permanently), such as restaurants, entertainment expenses, vacations, etc. you would probably stop retirement investing until you have income again. the more you cut, the longer your emergency fund would last. things you don't want to cut are necessities, like housing, groceries, utilities, transportation, etc. i would also include health insurance in this list. certainly, if you have a pre-existing condition, you do not want to let your health insurance coverage lapse. your employability is also a factor. if you believe that you would have an easy time finding similar employment to what you have now, your emergency fund might not need to be quite as big as someone who believes they would have a harder time finding another job.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "online tutorials for calculating dcf (discounted cash flow)?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "here's a link to an online calculator employing the discounted cash flow method: discounted cash flows calculator. description: this calculator finds the fair value of a stock investment the theoretically correct way, as the present value of future earnings. you can find company earnings via the box below. [...] they also provide a link to the following relevant article: investment valuation: a little theory. excerpt: a company is valuable to stockholders for the same reason that a bond is valuable to bondholders: both are expected to generate cash for years into the future. company profits are more volatile than bond coupons, but as an investor your task is the same in both cases: make a reasonable prediction about future earnings, and then \"discount\" them by calculating how much they are worth today. (and then you don't buy unless you can get a purchase price that's less than the sum of these present values, to make sure ownership will be worth the headache.) [...]", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "can't the account information on my checks be easily used for fraud?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "yes, those numbers are all that is needed to withdraw funds, or at least set online payment of bills which you don't owe. donald knuth also faced this problem, leading him to cease sending checks as payment for finding errors in his writings.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "how does a brokerage firm work?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "the brokerage executes the transactions you tell them to make on your behalf. other than acting as your agent for those, and maintaining your account, and charging a fee for the service, they have no involvement -- they do not attempt to predict optimal anything, or hold any assets themselves.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "cash out 401k for house downpayment", "role": "user" }, { "content": "absolutely never.even in a hot market, it's like picking up dimes in front of a bulldozer. it's just plain stupid. if you can't afford a 20% down payment and a 15 year mortgage, just rent.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "will i always be able to get a zero-interest credit card?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "no. there is no guarantee that credit card issuing banks will always use 0% introductory rates to entice anyone.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "using stable short-term, tax-free municipal bond funds to beat the bank?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "banks' savings interest is ridiculous, has always been, compared to other investment options. but there's a reason for that: its safe. you will get your money back, and the interest on it, as long as you're within the fdic insurance limits. if you want to get more returns - you've got to take more risks. for example, that a locality you're borrowing money to will default. has happened before, a whole county defaulted. but if you understand the risks - your calculations are correct.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "how can i find a list of self-select stocks & shares isa providers?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "try fool.co.uk for getting more information about isas: everything you need to know about isas", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "how can i find a high-risk, high-reward investment that is not strongly correlated with the u.s. economy?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "these days almost all risky assets move together, so the most difficult criterion to match from your 4 will be \"not strongly correlated to the u.s. economy.\" however, depending on how you define \"strongly,\" you may want to consider the following: be careful, you are sort of asking for the impossible here, so these will all be caveat emptor type assets. edit: a recent wsj article talks about what some professional investors are doing to find uncorrelated bets. alfredo viegas, an emerging-markets strategist for boutique brokerage knight capital group, is encouraging clients to bet against israeli bonds. his theory: investors are so focused on europe that they are misjudging risks in the middle east, such as a flare-up in relations between israel and iran, or greater conflict in egypt and syria. once they wake up to those risks, israeli bonds are likely to tumble, mr. viegas reasons. in the meantime, the investment isn't likely to be pushed one way or another by the european crisis, he says.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "if i have a home loan preapproval letter for x, can the seller know this without me explicitely telling them?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "i will preface saying that i only have personal experience to go on (purchased home in ks earlier this year, and have purchased/sold a home in ar). you do not give the seller the document stating the amount you have been approved for. your real estate agent (i recommend having one if you don't) will want to see it to make sure you will actually be able to purchase a house though. but the contract that is sent to the seller states the total purchase price you are willing to pay and how much of that will be financed. link to blank ks real estate contract shows what would be listed. looks like it is from 2012 - it is similar to the one i had back in march, but not exactly the same format.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "sales tax: rounded then totaled or totaled then rounded?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "tax is often calculated per item. especially in the days of the internet, some items are taxable and some aren't, depending on the item and your nexus. i would recommend calculating and storing tax with each item, to account for these subtle differences. edit: not sure why this was downvoted, if you don't believe me, you can always check with amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_468512_calculated?nodeid=468512#calculated i think they know what they're talking about. final update: now, if someone goes to your site, and buys something from your business (in california) and the shipping address for the product is nevada, then taxes do not have to be collected. if they have a billing address in california, and a shipping address in nevada, and the goods are shipping to nevada, you do not have to declare tax. if you have a mixture of tangible (computer, mouse, keyboard) and intangible assets (warranty) in a cart, and the shipping address is in california, you charge tax on the tangible assets, but not on the intangible assets. yes, you can charge tax on the whole order. yes for most businesses that's \"good enough\", but i'm not trying to provide the \"good enough\" solution, i'm simply telling you how very large businesses run and operate. as i've mentioned, i've done several tax integrations using software called sabrix (google if you've not heard of it), and have done those integrations for companies like the bbc and corbis (owned and operated by bill gates). take it or leave it, but the correct way to charge taxes, especially given the complex tax laws of the us and internationally, is to charge per item. if you just need the \"good enough\" approach, feel free to calculate it by total. some additional reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/taxation_of_digital_goods another possible federal limitation on internet taxation is the united states supreme court case, quill corp. v. north dakota, 504 u.s. 298 (1992),[6] which held that under the dormant commerce clause, goods purchased through mail order cannot be subject to a state’s sales tax unless the vendor has a substantial nexus with the state levying the tax. in 1997, the federal government decided to limit taxation of internet activity for a period of time. the internet tax freedom act (itfa) prohibits taxes on internet access, which is defined as a service that allows users access to content, information, email or other services offered over the internet and may include access to proprietary content, information, and other services as part of a package offered to customers. the act has exceptions for taxes levied before the statute was written and for sales taxes on online purchases of physical goods.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "why would someone want to sell call options?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "i have an example of a trade i made some time ago. by entering the position as a covered call, i was out of pocket $5.10, and if the stock traded flat, i.e. closed at the same $7.10 16 months hence, i was up 39% or nearly 30%/yr. as compared to the stock holder, if the stock fell 28%, i'd still break even, vs his loss of 28%. last, if the stock shot up, i'd get 7.50/5.10 or a 47% return, vs the shareholder who would need a price of $10.44 to reflect that return. of course, a huge jump in the shares, say to $15, would benefit the option buyer, and i would have left money on the table. but this didn't happen. the stock was at $8 at expiration, and i got my 47% return. the option buyer got 50 cents for his $2 bet. note, the $2 option price reflected a very high implied volatility.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "does it make sense to refinance a 30 year mortgage to 15 years?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "there's several different trade-offs wrapped up in your question. in general, refinancing a mortgage to a lower interest rate makes sense if you are certain you'll be living in the house for n years. n depends on your closing costs and points. basically you need to calculate the break-even point for when the savings from the reduced interest rate exceeds the cost of the re-fi. when i refinanced, the broker did the calculations for me for a range of options, maybe yours could as well. the trade off in selecting 30-year vs. 15-year is between monthly payment and total outlay. a 15-year mortgage will have a higher monthly payment, but the total money that is paid out the bank (rather than to your equity) will be less. using the heloc to do the down payment seems sketchy; plus then you have two loan payments you're making each month. why not keep it simple and look for a $250k loan with 5% down? presumably with the current mortgage you already put in a good down payment, and have built some equity up.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "could the loan officer deny me even if i have the money as a first time home buyer?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "there are loan options for those in your situation. it is very common. i am a licensed loan officer nmls 1301324 and have done many loans just like this. your schooling is counted as your work history contrary to popular belief. we want to write loans and guidelines are easing. banks are a different story and their loan officers aren't licensed. if you talk to a bank you aren't getting an educated loan officer. they also have what are called overlays that make guidelines stricter.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "taxes for citizen of eu country #1 living in eu country #2 and working from home for non-eu country #3?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "you will almost certainly be paying taxes in czech republic, short of being american of eritrean, citizenship has little to no bearing on tax. if you are working from home, you will probably be a contractor. in romania you would work through either an srl or you would set up a pfa. essentially a limited company or a sole trader. you will need to find the czech equivalents. i would advise finding a small business accountant. they will be able to advise what is the most cost effective solution, in some countries (like my one) you can save considerable amounts of tax by working through a company. there is a link with some information.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "should i exclude bonds from our retirement investment portfolio if our time horizon is still long enough?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "this is always a judgement call based on your own tolerance for risk. yes, you have a fairly long time horizon and that does mean you can accept more risk/more volatility than someone closer to starting to draw upon those savings, but you're old enough and have enough existing savings that you want to start thinking about reducing the risk a notch. so most folks in your position would not put 100% in stocks, though exactly how much should be moved to bonds is debatable. one traditional rule of thumb for a moderately conservative position is to subtract your age from 100 and keep that percentage of your investments in stock. websearch for \"stock bond age\" will find lots of debate about whether and how to modify this rule. i have gone more aggressive myself, and haven't demonstrably hurt myself, but \"past results are no guarantee of future performance\". a paid financial planning advisor can interview you about your risk tolerance, run some computer models, and recommend a strategy, with some estimate of expected performance and volatility. if you are looking for a semi-rational approach, that may be worth considering, at least as a starting point.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "is investing in housing considered an adequate hedge against inflation?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "even if the price of your home did match inflation or better — and that's a question i'll let the other answers address — i propose that owning a home, by itself, is not a sufficient hedge against inflation. consider: inflation will inflate your living expenses. if you're lucky, they'll inflate at the average. if you're unlucky, a change in your spending patterns (perhaps age-related) could result in your expenses rising faster than inflation. (look at the sub-indexes of the cpi.) without income also rising with inflation (or better), how will you cope with rising living expenses? each passing year, advancing living expenses risk eclipsing a static income. your home is an illiquid asset. generally speaking, it neither generates income for you, nor can you sell only a portion. at best, owning your principal residence helps you avoid a rent expense and inflation in rents — but rent is only one of many living expenses. some consider a reverse-mortgage an option to tap home equity, but it has a high cost. in other words: if you don't want to be forced to liquidate [sell] your home, you'll also need to look at ways to ensure your income sources rise with inflation. i.e. look at your cash flow, not just your net worth. hence: investing in housing, as in your own principal residence, is not an adequate hedge against inflation. if you owned additional properties to generate rental income, and you retained pricing power so you could increase the rent charged at least in line with inflation, your situation would be somewhat improved — except you would, perhaps, be adopting another problem: too high a concentration in a single asset class. consequently, i would look at ways other than housing to hedge against inflation. consider other kinds of investments. \"safe as houses\" may be a cliché, but it is no guarantee.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "deposit a cheque in an alternative name into a personal bank account (australia)", "role": "user" }, { "content": "you don't have much choice other than to open an account in your business name, then do a money transfer, as @djclayworth says. you will not without providing your name and street address and possibly other information that you may consider to be of a private nature. this is due to laws about fraud, money laundering and consumer protection. i'm not saying that's what you have in mind! but without accountability of the sort provided by names and street addresses, banks would be facilitating crimes of many sorts, which is why regulatory agencies enforce disclosure requirements.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "are cashiers required to check a credit card for a signature in the u.s.?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "i'm not sure if they're required to do so, but i have been neglecting to sign my cards for some time now. if they do check, that triggers an id check, where they'll find my signature. i know of at least one person that writes \"see id\" instead of signing their cards. he began that practice over 10 years ago.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "options strategy - when stocks go opposite of your purchase?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "if you buy a call, that's because you expect that the stock will go up. if it does not go up, then forget about buying more calls as your initial idea seems to be wrong. and i don't think that buying a put to make up for the loss will work either, the only thing that is sure is that you will pay another premium (on a stock that could stay where it is). even if you are 100% sure that the stock will go up again, don't do anything, as john maynard keynes stated: \"markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent\". my idea is: wait until the expiration date. the good things about options is that you won't lose more than the premium that you paid for it and that until it reaches its maturity you can still make money if the market turns around. more generally, when you are purely speculating, adding to a position when it goes against you is called \"averaging down\". i sincerely discourage you to do that : if the stocks goes in the wrong direction, that means that your initial idea was wrong in the first place (or you were not right at the right moment). in my opinion, adding up to a wrong idea is not the right thing to do. when you are losing, just take your loss and don't add up to your position based on your emotions. on the other hand, adding to your position more when the stock goes in your direction is called \"pyramiding\" and is, in my opinion, a better way of doing things (you bought, you were right, let's buy more). but at some point you will have to take your profits. there are plenty of other stocks on which you can try to invest and the market will still be here tomorrow, there will be other opportunities to make profits. rushing things by constantly trying to have a position is not a good idea. not doing anything is also a strategy.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "how are investment funding valued when invested in a company before it goes public?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "this is a question of how does someone value a business. typically, it is some function of how much the company owns, how much the company owes, how risky is the company's business, and how much the company makes in profit. for example if a company (or investment) make $100/year, every year no matter what, how much would you pay for that? if you pay $1,000 you'll make 10% each year on your investment. is that a good enough return? if you think the risk of the company requires a 20% payoff, you shouldn't pay more than $500 for the company.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "why are prices in eur for consumer items often the same number as original usd price, but the gbp price applies the actual exchange rate?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "it's mostly vat (value added tax or sales tax). for example an us ipad is $499 without tax, and a german ipad is eur 499 including 17% vat. the base price is actually only eur 417. in addition to that, cost of business is a little higher in europe because of tax structures and because smaller countries cause higher overheads.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "why can't you just have someone invest for you and split the profits (and losses) with him?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "at this point the cost of borrowing money is very low. for the sake of argument, say it is 1% per year for a large institution. i can either go out and find a client to invest 100,000$ and split profit and loss with them. or, i could borrow 50,000$, pay 500$/year in interest, and get the same return and loss, while moving the market half as much (which would let me double my position!) in both cases the company is responsible for covering all fixed costs, like paying for traders, trades, office space, branding, management, regulatory compliance, etc. for your system to work, the cost to gather clients and interact with them has to be significantly less than 1% of the capital they provide you per year. at the 50% level, that might actually be worth it for the company in question. except at the 50% level you'd have really horrible returns even when the market went up. so suppose a more reasonable level is the client keeps 75% of the returns (which compares to existing companies which offer larger investors an 80% cut on profits, but no coverage on losses). now the cost to gather and interact with clients has to be lower than 2500$ per million dollars provided to beat out a simple loan arrangement. a single sales employee with 100% overhead (office, all marketing, support, benefits) earning 40,000$/year has to bring in 32 million dollar-years worth of investment every year to break even. cash is cheap. investment houses sell cash management, and charge for it. they don't sell shared investment risk (at least not to retail investors), because it would take a lot of cash for it to be worth their bother. more explicitly, for this to be viable, they'd basically have to constantly arrange large hedges against the market going down to cover any losses. that is the kind of thing that some margin loans may require. that would all by itself lower their profits significantly, and they would be exposed to counter-party risk on top of that. it is much harder to come up with a pile of cash when the markets go down significantly. if you are large enough to be worthwhile, finding a safe counterparty may be nearly impossible.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "tax exemption on personal loan interest component in india", "role": "user" }, { "content": "am i eligible for the tax exemption if yes then under which section. generally personal loans are not eligible for tax exemption. only housing loans from qualified institutions are eligible for tax deduction. as per the income tax act; the house should be in your name. the home loans taken from recognised institutions are fully qualified under section 24b and 80c. this means you can claim interest exemption under 24b and principal repayment under 80c. the act also specifies that loan can be taken from friends/relatives for construction of property and will be eligible for interest exemption under 24b only. the principal will not be eligible for exemption under 80c. read the faq from income tax india. there has to be certificate showing how much interest was paid on the said loan. further there should be records/receipts on how the money was spent. there is difference of opinion amongst ca. it is best you take a professional advise.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "will a credit card issuer cancel an account if it never incurs interest?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "speaking from personal experience: i have had a credit card canceled for exactly this reason. it's happened to me three times, with two different providers (natwest and nationwide). after the third instance i stopped bothering to even carry a credit card. it's worth noting that all three were \"free\" cards in the sense that i paid no flat fee or subscription to get the cards. the only way the issuer could make a profit on them was through interest. i was also not a frequent user, carrying the card for convenience more than anything else, although i did make purchases on all three. so it's certainly a possibility. but i live in the uk and i'm guessing most of your other respondents do not. it may be a practice that's more common here than in the us. that might even explain the origin of the rumour.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "static data for mutual funds/hedge funds", "role": "user" }, { "content": "it's not really my field, but i believe it's all the information that doesn't change (i.e. isn't \"real-time\") about the business of hedge funds. for example, this site quotes: the product maintains comprehensive static data records including assets, depositories, accounts, settlement instructions and a wide range of supporting data...", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "how to invest in a specific market without investing in a specific company?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "you need to hope that a fund exists targeting the particular market segment you are interested in. for example, searching for \"cloud computing etf\" throws up one result. you'd then need to read all the details of how it invests to figure out if that really matches up with what you want - there'll always be various trade-offs the fund manager has to make. for example, with this fund, one warning is that this etf makes allocations to larger firms that are involved in the cloud computing space but derive the majority of their revenues from other operations bear in mind that today's stock prices might have already priced in a lot of future growth in the sector. so you might only make money if the sector exceeds that predicted growth level (and vice versa, if it grows, but not that fast, you could lose money). if the sector grows exactly as predicted, stock prices might stay flat, though you'd still make a bit of money if they pay dividends. also, note that the expense ratios for specialist funds like this are often quite a bit higher than for \"general market\" funds. they are also likely to be traded less frequently, which will increase the \"bid-ask\" spread - i.e. the cost of buying into and getting out of these funds will be higher.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "when is an ipo considered failure?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "just skimming through the wikipedia article on airberlin, i notice there is more to the story than simply \"airberlin's ipo failed, so they postponed it and did it anyways.\" 3 points to keep in mind about ipos: 1) an ipo is the mechanism for taking a private company and setting it up for shares to be owned by \"the public\". 2) the process of selling shares to the public often allows original owners and/or early investors to \"cash out\". most countries (including member nations of the eu) limit some transactions like pre-ipo companies to \"accredited investors\". 3) selling shares to the public also can allow the company to access more funds for growth. this is particularly important in a capital-intensive business like an airline; new b737-max costs >$110m. new a320neo costs >$105m usd. ultimately, the question of a successful ipo depends on how you define success. initially, there was a lot of concern that the ipo was set up with too much focus on goal #2... allowing the management & owners to cash out. it looks like the first approach was not meeting good opinions in the market during 2006. a major concern was that the initial approach focused on management only cashing out its shares and no money actually going to the company to support its future. the investment bankers restructured the ipo, including the issuance of more new shares so that more $ could end up in the company's accounts, not just in the accounts of the management. if anything, it's still a pretty successful ipo given that the shares were successfully listed, the company collected the money it needed to invest and grow, and the management still cashed out.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "does this sound like a great idea regarding being a landlord and starting a real estate empire?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "i have done something similar to this myself. what you are suggesting is a sound theory and it works. the issues are (which is why it's the reason not everyone does it) : the initial cost is great, many people in their 20s or 30s cannot afford their own home, let alone buy second properties. the time to build up a portfolio is very long term and is best for a pension investment. it's often not best for diversification - you've heard not putting all your eggs in one basket? with property deposits, you need to put a lot of eggs in to make it work and this can leave you vulnerable. there can be lots of work involved. renovating is a huge pain and cost and you've already mentioned tennants not paying! unlike a bank account or bonds/shares etc. you cannot get to your savings/investments quickly if you need to (or find an opportunity) but after considering these and deciding the plunge is worth it, i would say go for it, be a good landlord, with good quality property and you'll have a great nest egg. if you try just one and see how it goes, with population increase, in a safe (respectable) location, the value of the investment should continue to rise (which it doesn't in a bank) and you can expect a 5%+ rental return (very hard to find in cash account!) hope it goes well!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "what happens if a financial services company/stockbroker goes into administration in the uk?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "although i posted this question more than a year ago, i subsequently read information which may be of use as an answer, specifically regarding pritchard stockbrokers in the uk several years ago, in which the fscs stepped in to compensate investors, as detailed in the following: http://www.fscs.org.uk/what-we-cover/questions-and-answers/qas-about-pritchard-stock-6n940n01k/ http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/89957c56-21e4-11e3-9b55-00144feab7de.html#axzz3crzybgz9 for reference, in case the links above are at some point in future taken offline, the fscs faq states:", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "i had deposited money with pritchard so can i expect 85,000 compensation from fscs?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "no. pritchard was not a deposit-taker so the money held does not qualify under regulatory rules as a deposit. the money will be treated as an investment, which carries maximum fscs compensation of £50,000 per person. fscs has no discretion to pay any more.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "what happens if my losses are over the fscs maximum of 50,000 and i accept the fscss compensation?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "if you choose to accept compensation from fscs, you will be required to assign (or legally transfer) to fscs all of your rights to claim in the administration. fscs will then claim in the administration standing “in your shoes” and will claim for the whole of your loss, even if it was over £50,000. when fscs receives the dividends in your place it will then pay to you any amounts recovered to ensure that you do not suffer a disadvantage for having accepted fscs compensation first. example 1: loss = £80,000 fscs compensation = £50,000 dividend of 50p/£ received by fscs = £40,000 fscs pays £30,000 to claimant so he is fully compensated (total £80,000), and retains £10,000 recovery for itself example 2: loss = £100,000 fscs compensation = £50,000 dividend of 50p/£ received by fscs = £50,000 fscs pays £50,000 to claimant so he is fully compensated (total £100,000), and retains nothing for itself fscs does not have to have make a full recovery of its £50,000 before it starts paying its dividend recovery on to claimants. claimants are not compelled to claim from fscs, or to accept the fscs offer of compensation. if a person does not want to transfer his legal rights to claim in the administration to fscs in return for accepting the payment of compensation, then s/he can decline our compensation and continue his claim in the administration. after s/he has received the dividend(s), s/he can then return to fscs to claim for any remaining shortfall. therefore, the answer provided by @dumbcoder was correct, but in circumstances where fraudulent activity would mean otherwise, the fscs was willing to intervene on the behalf of investors.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "are there any statistics that support the need for title insurance?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "i'm really surprised at the answers here. claims/year per region isn't a statistic that is meaningful here... you need to think about the risk factors and the purpose of the insurance. first, what does title insurance do? it protects you against defects in the deed -- defects that may crop up and mean that your mortgage is no longer valid. this is different from most forms of insurance -- the events that render your title invalid are events that may have happened years, decades or even centuries ago. a big part of the insurance policy and its cost is conducting research to assess the validity of a deed. the whole point of the insurance is to reduce claims by improving data associated with the \"chain of custody\" of the property. so how do you evaluate the risk of finding out about something that happened a long time ago, that nobody appears to know about? imo, you have to think about risk factors that increase the probability that things were screwed up in the past: you need to have an informed discussion with your attorney and figure out if it makes sense for you. don't dismiss it out of hand.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "how can i stop a merchant from charging a credit card processing fee?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "it may seem very simple on its face but you don't know the merchant's agreement. you don't know who is providing the processing equipment. you don't know a lot of things. you know that visa, mastercard, discover, amex and others have network requirements and agreements. you know that laws have been changed to allow merchant surcharges (previously it was contracts that prohibited surcharges, not laws). that gas station, or that pizza parlor, or any other merchant doesn't have a direct relationship with visa or mastercard; it has an agreement with a bank or other processing entity. the issue here, is whom do you even call? and what would you gain? find out what bank is contracted for that particular equipment and file a complaint that the merchant charged you $0.35? maybe the merchant agreement allows surcharges up to state and local maximums? you don't know the terms of their agreement. calling around to figure out what parties are involved to understand the terms of their agreement is a waste of time, like you said you can just go across the street if it's so offensive to you. or just carry a little cash. if that's not the answer you're looking for, here's one for you: there is no practical recourse.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "is paying off your mortage a #1 personal finance priority?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "math says invest in the market (but paying off your mortgage early is a valid option if you are very risk averse.) you are going to get a better return by investing in the stock market. in the us in 2015/2016, mortgages are 3%-4%, and give you a tax break. the rate of return on the stock market is ~10%, (closer to 6% after you subtract out inflation, taxes, fees, etc.) since 10 > 3, (or 6% > 4%, to use the pessimistic numbers) investing in the market is the better deal. but... the market has risk, and your mortgage does not. if you are very risk averse paying off the mortgage may make sense. as an example: family a has a single \"breadwinner\", who works a low skilled job. family b has 2 working spouses, both in high skill white collar positions. these two families are going to have wildly different risk tolerances. it may make sense for family a to \"invest\" its extra money in paying off the mortgage, after they have tackled high interest debt, built an emergency fund, maxed the 401k, etc. personally i would not: in the us you cannot recoup pre-payments if you lose your job. if i was very risk averse, i would keep my extra money as cash, so i could pay my mortgage after i lost my job. it is never going to make sense for family b to pay the mortgage early. at that point, any decision to pre-pay is going to be based on emotion and not logic.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "is unrealized gain part of asset?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "stocks, as an asset, represent the sum of the current market value of all of your holdings. if your portfolio is showing unrealized gains and losses, then that net amount is inherently reflected in the current market value of your holdings. that's not to say cost basis is not important. any closed trades, realized gains or losses, will of course have an impact on your taxable income. so, it couldn't hurt to keep track of your cost basis from a tax standpoint, but understand that the term \"asset\" refers to the current market values and does not consider base amounts. taxes do. perhaps consider making separate cells for cost basis, but also bear in mind that most if not all of the major online discount brokers will provide transferring of cost basis information electronically to the major online tax service providers.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "how good is wall street survivor for learning about investing?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "i find this site to be really poor for the virtual play portion, especially the options league. after you place a trade, you can't tell what you actually traded. the columns for exp and type are blank. i have had better luck with optionsxpress virtual trader. although they have recently changed their criteria for a non funded accounts and will only keep them active for 90 days. i know the cboe has a paper trading platform but i haven't tried it out yet.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "sell or keep rental property?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "how is the current mortgage payment broken out? i have a mortgage on a rental property with a payment of $775, but $600 is principal. if i were at breakeven on a sale or a bit underwater, i'd be better off just holding still, the tenant paying the loan down over $7000/year. you question is a good one, but a good answer would require more details. a bank may not agree to a short sale on an investment property, especially since there's a second property to go after. i'm not making a judgement, just saying, it's not a slam-dunk to just short sell it.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "deductions greater than income : traditional ira to roth conversion?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "answering for just the us part, yes, you should be able to do this and it's a good strategy. the only additional gotcha i can think of is that if you've made after-tax contributions to your traditional ira, you need to prorate the conversion, you can't just convert all the pre-tax or all the after-tax. i'm not familiar with oregon personal income tax so there may be additional gotchas there.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "is there extra risk in owning an adr vs. the underlying stock?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "yes, the adr will trade on a separate exchange from the underlying one, and can (and does) see fluctuations in price that do not match the (exchange corrected) fluctuations that occur in the original market. you are probably exposing yourself to additional risk that is related to:", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "what choices should i consider for investing money that i will need in two years?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "if you ever need the money in three years, imagine that today is 2006 and you need the money in 2009. keep it in savings accounts, money-markets, or cds maturing at the right time.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "portfolio diversity : invest $4000 into one account or $1000 into 4 accounts?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "you spread money/investment across different accounts for different reasons: all this is in addition to diversification reasons. investing all your money into one stock, bond, mutual fund, etf is risky if that one segment of the economy/market suffers. there is a drawback to diversification of accounts. some have minimum amounts and fee structures. in the original question you asked about 1,000 per account. that may mean that some accounts may be closed to you. in other cases they will charge a higher percentage for fees for small accounts. those issues would disappear long before you hit the 1,000,000 per account you mentioned in your comment. one problem can occur with having too much diversification. having dozens of funds could mean that the overlap between the funds might result in over investing in a segment because you didn't realize that one stock segment appeared in 1/3 of the funds.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "ask fbi permission to withdraw large sums from your checking or savings?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "is it true you have to file papers with the government in the us to withdraw large sums of cash at your local bank branch? it's true that a currency transaction report (ctr) gets filed with fincen (financial crimes enforcement network) when you make a cash transaction in excess of $10,000. banks have systems that do this automatically, so you don't have to really do anything other than provide some tax info if not already on file with the bank. the teller can flag your ctr if they think the transaction is suspicious, but there shouldn't be a delay on the withdrawal unless the bank has to make arrangements to have enough cash on hand. some people don't like the idea of ctr's being filed and therefore make multiple smaller withdrawals, but that can be considered illegal structuring, and can result in confiscated money.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "where can i buy preferred stocks as opposed to common stocks?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "preferred stock is traded on the market, so you can just buy it like any other. the symbol for a preferred stock is the ticker symbol followed by a dash and a letter for each class of preferred stock. examples: generally speaking, you should buy preferred stock with the intention of holding onto it for at least a couple of years. often preferred shares are lightly traded and have wide spreads that made it difficult to make money in the short term.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "can dividends be exploited?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "yes, somebody could buy the shares, receive the dividend, and then sell the shares back. however, the price he would get when he sells the shares back is, ignoring other reasons for the price to change, exactly the amount he paid minus the dividend.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "what is a negotiable security and how are they related to derivatives?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "the price for securities is negotiable. you totally have a right to make a lower offer when buying or ask for a higher price when selling. securities don't trade at a fixed price, the price goes up and down throughout the day based on the price offers made by buyers and sellers and where they find agreement. if a stock last traded for $10, someone can put out an offer to buy the stock at $9.50, if they find someone who wants to sell and will accept that price, then a deal is made. unless something is falling rapidly in price however, an offer that far below the last price is not terribly likely to be accepted. now if you want to be assured of making a sale or purchase, you generally trade 'at the market' and for small time players that is very much encouraged as it makes it easier for everyone.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "will prices really be different for cash and cards?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "i think the question relates to the discussion here: http://clarkhoward.com/liveweb/shownotes/2010/10/05/19449/ it was always the case that merchants could discount purchases made with cash. what wasn't allowed is allowing the merchant to charge extra for credit card transactions (presumably to cover the fees the merchants pay). these fees usually carry a flat fee per transaction, plus around 2% of the purchase price. what also wasn't allowed was them to refuse any credit transactions. people could charge a pack of gum, even if the fees put that transaction in the red. what's allowed according to this new development is different levels of discounting for different credit cards. somewhat related to this discussion is another development that happened this summer: merchants now have the ability to refuse credit card transactions of less than $10. here's my feeling on all of this. i think we'll see merchants imposing minimum credit transaction amounts before we see them monkeying at the 1-2% level on pricing for different types of credit cards. my feeling is that they'd be wise not to change anything, even though they can. refusing transactions (or charging more for others) is going to come as a unpleasant shock to enough people that they may take their business elsewhere.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "multiple hard inquiry for a single loan from car dealer?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "(i'm a bit surprised that nobody talked about the impact of multiple inquiries on a loan, since op is concerned with credit building. probably an answer as opposed to a comment is justified.) yes. in fact when you shop for auto loan you are expected to have your credit score/report be pulled by different banks, credit unions, and/or the financing arm of the car manufacturer or the dealership, so that you can hopefully get the best rate possible. this is especially true if the dealer is requesting quotes on rates on your behalf, as they would probably use a batch process to send out applications to multiple financial institutions all at once. yes, and a bit unusual - calvert toyo (your dealer) pulled your report twice on the same day. presumably they are not getting any new information on the second pull. maybe a fat finger? regardless, you should not worry about this too much (to be explained below). i would say \"don't bother\". the idea behind hard inquiries lowering credit score is that lenders see the number of hard inquiries as your desire for credit. too high a number is often viewed as either \"desperate for credit\" or \"unable to qualify for credit\". but as explained above, it is very common for a person to request quotes for multiple financial institutions and thus to have multiple hard inquiries in a short period of time when shopping for loans. to account for that, the credit bureau's model would usually combine hard inquiries for a same type of loan (auto, mortgage, etc.) within 30 days. hence a person sending quote request to 3 banks won't be rated higher for credit than if he were to request quotes from 5 banks. therefore in your case your credit profile is not going to be different if you had been pulled just once. my credit score goes down for 15 points i'm assuming you are talking about the credit score provided by credit karma. the score ck provided is fako. the score lenders care about is fico. they are well correlated but still different. google these two terms and you should be able to figure out the difference quickly. you can also refer to my answer to a different question here: equifax credit score discrepancy in 1 month, why?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "will progressively investing with moderate-to-high risk help secure a future?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "there are a few flaws in your reasoning: i know my portfolio will always keep going up, no, it won't. you'll have periods of losses. you are starting your investing in a bull market. do not be fooled into believing that your successes now will continue indefinitely. the more risky your portfolio, the bigger the losses. the upside of a risky portfolio is that the gains generally outweigh the losses, but there will be periods of losses. i honestly don't believe that it's possible for me to end up losing in the long term, regardless of risk. i think you vastly underestimate the risk of your strategy and/or the consequences of that risk. there's nothing wrong with investing in risky assets, since over time you'll get higher-than-average returns, but unless you diversify you are exposing yourself to catastrophic losses as well.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "how are startup shares worth more than the total investment funding?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "he is worth $17.5 billion today note that he is worth that dollar figure, but he doesn't have that many dollars. that's the worth of his stake in the company (number of shares he owns times the assumed value per share), i.e. assuming its total value being several hundreds of billions, as pundits assume. however, it is not a publicly traded company, so we don't really know much about its financials.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "will my wife's business losses offset my income on a joint tax return?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "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 wife is not, then likely you will file a joint return, including all your income and all the expenses for your wife's business. so yes, the losses in her business will offset your income. depending on how complex things are, you may want to hire a professional to help with your taxes. the rules for what can and cannot be deducted as a business expense can be opaque.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "is it better to buy a computer on my credit card, or on credit from the computer store?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "since you have a credit card, i recommend you use it for the purchase. it gets you two things at the very least: gets the purchases reported as credit utilization. if you handle that correctly, you can improve your score most card vendors give free extended warranty and return policies that a retailer or manufacturer does not without extra fees. i buy all my electronics using my cards and not only does that optimize my scores but i have been able to enjoy painless/better rmas for defective products just because my amex card would have refunded me the money anyways and the retailers knew it (amex would have recovered it from them in the end so it was in their interest to resolve the matter within 30 days)", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "what is today's price of 15 000 euro given 15 years ago?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "there's often a legal basis to answer this question. for instance, austria (guessing from your profile) currently uses a 4% statutory interest rate. you'll need to dig up not just the actual but also the historical rates. note that you'll want the non-commercial interest rate - some countries differentiate between loans to businesses and loans to individuals.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "how does shorting etfs work? what are the costs and tax implications?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "no, the expense ratio would be something you wouldn't be charged. if you bought shares of the etf long, then the dividends are usually reduced by the expense ratio if you wanted to know where to find that charge in general. you would have to make up for any dividends the underlying stocks as part of general shorting since the idea is that once you buy to put back the shares, it has to appear as if they weren't missing in the first place. no, the authorized participant would handle changes to the underlying structure if needed.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "adr listed in pink", "role": "user" }, { "content": "pink sheets is not a stock exchange per se, and securities traded through it are not as \"safe\" as the ones on a stock exchange regulated by sec. many companies are traded there because they failed to comply with the sec regulations, or are bankrupt or don't want the level of reporting to the public that the sec regulations require. since you're talking about an adr of a company traded on lse, it might be much safer that other, \"regular\", securities, but still it means that you're buying an unregulated security (even if it is of a company regulated elsewhere). notice the volume of trades: mere thousands of dollars per day (in a good day, in some days there are no trades at all). it makes it harder to sell the security when needed. why not buying at lse?", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "can a single-member llc have a fiscal year not as the calendar year?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "i'm no tax expert by any means. i do know that a disreagarded entity is considered a sole proprietor for federal tax purposes. my understanding is that this means your personal tax year and your business tax year must be one and the same. nevertheless, it is technically possible to have a non-calendar fiscal year as an individual. this is so rare that i'm unable to find a an irs reference to this. the best reference i could find was this article written by two cpas. if you really want to persue this, you basically need to talk with an accountant, since this is complicated, and required keeping propper accounting records for your personal life, in addition to your business. a ledger creqated after-the-fact by an accountant has been ruled insufficent. you really need to live by the fiscal year you choose.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "what is the peg ratio? how is the peg ratio calculated? how is the peg ratio useful for stock investing?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "peg is price to earnings growth. i've forgotten how it's calculated, i just remember that a peg ratio of 1-2 is attractive by graham & dodd standards.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "the best credit card for people who pay their balance off every month", "role": "user" }, { "content": "i'm not going to recommend a specific card. new card offers pop up all the time. my answer would be out of date in a month! as a general rule, if you pay off your balance every month, you should be looking at a cash-back or a rewards card. cash-back cards will give you some money (say 1%) of every dollar you spend. some will give you larger amounts of cash-back for certain types of spending (e.g. groceries). with a rewards card, you usually get \"points\" or \"airline miles\", which can be redeemed for merchandise, flights around the wold, concert tickets, etc. with these types of cards, it makes sense to do as much of your spending as possible with the cards, so you can maximize the benefits. which specific card is best will depend on your shopping habits, and which bank is offering the best deal that week. i recommend you start at http://www.creditcards.com to compare card offerings. for cash-back cards, you can also go to http://www.creditcardtuneup.com, enter some details of your spending, and see which one will give you the most cash back.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "do i need to pay income tax if i am running a escrow service in india", "role": "user" }, { "content": "this may be closed as not quite pf, but really \"startup\" as it's a business question. in general, you should talk to a professional if you have this type of question, specifics like this regarding your tax code. i would expect that as a business, you will use a proper paper trail to show that money, say 1000 units of currency, came in and 900 went out. this is a service, no goods involved. the transaction nets you 100, and you track all of this. in the end you have the gross profit, and then business expenses. the gross amount, 1000, should not be the amount taxed, only the final profit.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "are bond etf capital gains taxed similar to stock or stock funds if held for more than 1 year?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "appreciation of a capital asset is a capital gain. in the united states, capital gains get favorable tax treatment after being held for 12 months. from the irs newsroom: capital gains and losses are classified as long-term or short-term, depending on how long you hold the property before you sell it. if you hold it more than one year, your capital gain or loss is long-term. if you hold it one year or less, your capital gain or loss is short-term. the tax rates that apply to net capital gain are generally lower than the tax rates that apply to other income. for 2009, the maximum capital gains rate for most people is15%. for lower-income individuals, the rate may be 0% on some or all of the net capital gain. special types of net capital gain can be taxed at 25% or 28%. the irs defines a capital asset as \"most property you own\" with a list of exclusions found in schedule d instructions. none of the exclusions listed relate to bond etfs.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "medical bill consolidation", "role": "user" }, { "content": "there are definitely ways to retroactively consolidate medical bills -- there's an entire industry of companies offering debt consolidation (many of which are scummy/predatory, be careful! see https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0150-coping-debt and some decent articles at http://blog.readyforzero.com/are-there-legitimate-debt-consolidation-loans and http://blog.readyforzero.com/how-to-find-a-reputable-debt-consolidation-company). in general, what you are looking to do is take out a loan, possibly at a better interest rate than whatever you are being charged currently, and pay off the medical bills. if you are not paying interest on the medical bills and are just being allowed to spread out the payments, you are already golden and should just put up with the ups and downs. if you have any equity in a home, take out a home equity loan or line of credit, pay off your medical bills. rates are still great right now. even if you have no home equity to tap, if you have a steady job you might be able to get a nice small loan from a local bank or peer-to-peer lending site. do your homework and only work with reputable companies, especially if doing things online.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "algorithmic trading in linux using python", "role": "user" }, { "content": "you can have a look at betabrokers. it's an simulated stock trading platform which is entirely email-based. you start with 10 000$ and you make transactions with commands in the subject line of the email (e.g. \"buy 250$ aapl\" or \"cover 20 shares of aapl\"). it should be straightforward to add an email interface to your python script.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "primerica: all it claims to be?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "i was a primerica representative, left to be on my own, and then returned. insurance is one matter that depends on the individual. some do not need it. for example, when i was an independent agent with an independent marketing organization (imo) (oh yes! multi-level is everywhere, dont kid yourself) i had an upline as well. we were pushed to sell final expense [burial insurance]. as an ethical agent, i believe this is a bad business practice. primerica does not sell unneeded insurance to old people. how can you justify selling the elderly, insurance to cover them for $10,000, at almost 100 to 150 a month? i told my elderly potential clients, after seeing they live on a tight budget, that they were better off purchasing a cremation policy or funeral package than burial insurances as it would save them money in the long run. primerica is right in saying they are the only ones out there catering to the working class and middle-america. where else can you start an individual retirement account (ira) with $25 a month? nowhere! all the other insurance producers want more money. they don't want to spend their time with what they call \"losers\". i love showing poor people how the rich get richer. poor people should know the truth.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "are cobra premiums deductible when self-employed?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "i am very late to this forum and post - but will just respond that i am a sole proprietor, who was just audited by the irs for 2009, and this is one of the items that they disallowed. my husband lost his job in 2008, i was unable to get health insurance on my own due to pre-existing ( not) conditions and so we had to stay on the cobra system. none of the cost was funded by the employer and so i took it as a se hi deduction on line 29. it was disallowed and unfortunately, due to agi limits, i get nothing by taking it on sch. a. the auditor made it very clear that if the plan was not in my name, or the company's name, i could not take the deduction above the line. in his words, \"it's not fair, but it is the law!\"", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "what is the correct way to report a tender offer fee on my taxes?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "using a different cost basis than your broker's reporting is not a problem. you need to keep your own records to account for this difference. among the other many legitimate reasons to adjust your cost basis, the most popular is when you have two brokerage accounts and sell an asset in one then buy in another. this is called a wash sale and is not a taxable event for you. however from the perspective of each broker with their limited information you are making a transaction with tax implications and their reported 1099 will show as such. links: https://www.firstinvestors.com/docs/pdf/news/tax-qa-2012.pdf", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "when is cash value life insurance a good or bad idea?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "buy term and invest the difference is certainly the standard recommendation, and for good reason. when you start looking at some sample numbers the \"buy term and invest the difference\" strategy starts to look very good. here are the rates i found (27 yr old in texas with good health, non-smoker, etc): $200k term life: $21/month $200k whole life: $177/month if you were to invest the difference in a retirement account for 40 years, assuming a 7% rate of return (many retirement planning estimates use 10%) you would have $411,859 at the end of that period. (if you use 10% that figure jumps to over $994k.) needless to say, $400k in a retirement account is better than a $200k death benefit. especially since you can't get the death benefit and the cash value. certainly one big difficulty is making sure you invest that difference. the best way to handle that is to set up a direct deposit that goes straight from your paycheck to the retirement account before it even touches your bank account. the next best thing would be an automatic transfer from your bank account. you may wonder 'what if i can no longer afford to invest that money?' first off, take a second and third look at your finances before you start eating into that. but if financial crisis comes and you truly can't afford to fund your own life insurance / retirement account then perhaps it will be a good thing you're not locked into a life insurance policy that forces you to pay those premiums. that extra freedom is another benefit of the \"buy term and invest the difference\" strategy. it is great that you are asking this question now while you are young. because it is much easier to put this strategy into play now while you are young. as far as using a cash value policy to help diversify your portfolio: i am no expert in how to allocate long term investments after maxing out my ira and 401k. (my ira maxes out at $5k/year, another $5k for my wife's, another $16.5k for my 401k.) before i maxed that out i would have my house paid for and kid's education saved for. and by then it would make sense to pay a financial adviser to help you manage all those investments. they would be the one to ask about using a cash value policy similar to @lux lux's description. i believe you should never put your money into something you don't understand. cash value policies are complex and i don't fully understand them. i should add that of course my calculations are subject to the standard disclaimer that those investment returns aren't guaranteed. as with any financial decision you must be willing to accept some level of risk and the question is not whether to accept risk, but how much is acceptable. that's why i used 7% in my calculation instead of just 10%. i wanted to demonstrate that you could still beat out whole life if you wanted to reduce your risk and/or if the stock market performs poorly.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "what's the point of ford loosening financing requirements?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "the article states their reasons pretty clearly, and indicates that some people won't qualify under the new requirements that would have previously, they're not courting people with bad credit, they're just looking beyond credit score at other factors. they aren't opening floodgates for anyone with a pulse to get a car loan, just shifting things a bit to cast a slightly wider net. this is not new in the world of secured debt, the fha has methodology for establishing a non-traditional credit report based on things like rental history, utility payments, auto-insurance payments, a person can't be declined an fha loan for lack for lack of traditional credit history. i look beyond credit score as a landlord, a tenant with poor credit but a stellar rental history is more appealing than someone with great credit but a bad rental history. vehicles and housing are very important to people, so they are likely to prioritize them above credit card payments or hospital bills. time will tell, but it seems like a solid move in my view, they can refine their model over time and likely find a solid customer base among those who wouldn't qualify on credit score alone.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "returning to the uk after working in switzerland, what to do with my swiss francs?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "a general principle in finance is that you shouldn't stick with an investment or situation just because it's how you're currently invested. you can ask yourself the following question to help you think it through: if, instead, i had enough gbp to buy 20000 chf, would i think it was a good idea to do so? (i'm guessing the answer is probably \"no.\") this way of thinking assumes you can actually make the exchange without giving someone too big of a cut. with that much money on the line, be sure to shop around for a good exchange rate.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "gap in domestic health insurance coverage, expect higher premiums?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "i bought health insurance for myself after a period without it, and my premiums were not terrible. i was a 27 year old man, living in california, no preexisting conditions, and i paid approximately 90$ a month. this was for a standard health insurance plan. however, when i moved back to ny a little while later, insurance companies wanted almost $500/month for catastrophic coverage. so, from personal experience, my answer is that price varies widely by state. different states have different regulations as to what health insurance companies need to cover and at what price. in ny, health insurance companies can't charge different rates according to age. also, in ny, there is a price spiral, where the price is so high, few people buy it, so they have to raise the price because not enough well people are in the pool, so fewer people buy it.... to test it out, go to an online insurance broker, like ehealthinsurace, and put in your proposed information, including that you haven't been covered for a period. this way you will know.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "debt collector has wrong person and is contacting my employer", "role": "user" }, { "content": "i can only wish this would happen to me. get every scrap of information that you can. document document document..and then get a nice sleazy lawyer to sue the collector and your employer if they leaked anything... plain and simple, it's illegal and there are very nice protections in place for such.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "what happens to an etf if one of the companies in the etf gets aquired?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "there are a number of ways this can result. in a broad etf, such as spy, the s&p 500 spider, the s&p index will have 500 stocks no matter what, so a buyout would simply result in a re-shuffling of the index makeup. no buyout will happen so quickly that there's no time to choose the next stock to join the index. in your case, if the fund manager (per the terms of the prospectus) wishes to simply reallocate the index to remove the taken-over stock that's probably how he handle it. unless of course, the prospectus dictates otherwise. in which case, a cash dividend is a possible alternative.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "how to find a good third-party, 401k management/advice service?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "the vanilla advice is investing your age in bonds and the rest in stocks (index funds, of course). so if you're 25, have 75% in stock index fund and 25% in bond index. of course, your 401k is tax sheltered, so you want keep bonds there, assuming you have taxable investments. when comparing specific funds, you need to pay attention to expense ratios. for example, vanguard's sp 500 index has an expense ratio of .17%. many mutual funds charge around 1.5%. that means every year, 1.5% of the fund total goes to the fund manager(s). and that is regardless of up or down market. since you're young, i would start studying up on personal finance as much as possible. everyone has their favorite books and websites. for sane, no-nonsense investment advise i would start at bogleheads.org. i also recommend two books - this is assuming you want to set up a strategy and not fuss with it daily/weekly/monthly. the problem with so many financial strategies is they 1) don't work, i.e. try to time the market or 2) are so overly complex the gains are not worth the effort. i've gotten a lot of help at the boglehead forums in terms of asset allocation and investment strategy. good luck!", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "does dollar cost averaging really work?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "if you define dollar cost cost averaging as investing a specific dollar amount over a certain fixed time frame then it does not work statistically better than any other strategy for getting that money in the market. (ie aunt ruth wants to invest $60,000 in the stock market and does it $5000 a month for a year.) it will work better on some markets and worse on others, but on average it won't be any better. dollar cost averaging of this form is effectively a bet that gains will occur at the end of the time period rather than the beginning, sometimes this bet will pay off, other times it won't. a regular investment contribution of what you can afford over an indefinite time period (ie 401k contribution) is not dollar cost averaging but it is an effective investment strategy.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "how to check the paypal's current exchange rate?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "the paypal 'classic' site option has now been removed and you will not know what you will be charged until you commit to buy. paypal told me today ( brexit day 24th ) that their site is not connected to the ebay site so when ebay tells me '$77.00 approximately £52.43' for an item i would in fact pay £59.62. you will not be aware of this until you commit to by. paypal informs me there are no plans to restore the 'classic' option paypal site.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "using pivot points to trade in the short term", "role": "user" }, { "content": "pivots points are significant levels technical analysts can use to determine directional movement, support and resistance. pivot points use the prior period's high, low and close to formulate future support and resistance. in this regard, pivot points are predictive or leading indicators. there are at least five different versions of pivot points. i will focus on standard pivot points here as they are the simplest. if you are looking to trade off daily charts you would work out your pivot points from the prior month's data. for example, pivot points for first trading day of february would be based on the high, low and close for january. they remain the same for the entire month of february. new pivot points would then be calculated on the first trading day of march using the high, low and close for february. to work out the standard pivot points you use the high, low and close from the previous period (i.e. for daily charts it would be from the previous month) in the following formulas: you will now have 5 horizontal lines: p, r1, r2, s1 and s2 which will set the general tone for price action over the next month. a move above the pivot point p suggests strength with a target to the first resistance r1. a break above first resistance shows even more strength with a target to the second resistance level r2. the converse is true on the downside. a move below the pivot point p suggests weakness with a target to the first support level s1. a break below the first support level shows even more weakness with a target to the second support level s2. the second resistance and support levels (r2 & s2) can also be used to identify potentially overbought and oversold situations. a move above the second resistance level r2 would show strength, but it would also indicate an overbought situation that could give way to a pullback. similarly, a move below the second support level s2 would show weakness, but would also suggest a short-term oversold condition that could give way to a bounce. this could be used together with a momentum indicator such as rsi or stochastic to confirm overbought or oversold conditions. pivot points offer a methodology to determine price direction and then set support and resistance levels, however, it is important to confirm pivot point signals with other technical analysis indicators, such as candle stick reversal patterns, stochastic and general support and resistance levels in the price action. these pivot points can be handy but i actually haven’t used them for trade setups and entries myself. i prefer to use candle sticks together with stochastic to determine potential turning points and then take out trades based on these. you can then use the pivot points resistance and support levels to help you estimate profit targets or areas to start becoming cautious and start tightening your stops. say, for example, you have gone long from a signal you got a few days ago, you are now in profit and the price is now approaching r2 whilst the stochastic is approaching overbought, you might want to start tightening your stop loss as you might expect some weakness in the price in the near future. if prices continue up you keep increasing your profits, if prices do reverse then you keep the majority of your existing profits. this would become part of your trade management. if you are after finding potential market turning points and take out trades based on these, then i would suggest using candlestick charting reversal patterns for your trade setups. the patterns i like to use most in my trading can be described as either the hammer or one white soldier for bullish reversals and shooting star or one black crow for bearish reversals. below are diagrams of where to place your entries and exits on both bullish and bearish reversal patterns. bullish reversal pattern so after some period of weakness in the price you would look for a bullish day where the price closes above the previous day’s high, you place your buy order here just before market close and place your initial stop just below the low of the day. you would apply this either for an uptrending stock where the price has retracted from or near the trendline or moving average, or a ranging stock where price is bouncing off the support line. the trade is reinforced if the stochastic is in or near the oversold and crossing back upwards, volume on the up day is higher than volume on the down days, and the market as a whole is moving up as well. the benefit with this entry is that you are in early so you capture any bullish move up at the open of the next day, such as gaps. the drawbacks are that you need to be in front of your screen before market close to get your price close to the market close and you may get whipsawed if prices reverse at the open of the next day, thus being stopped out with a small loss. as the price moves up you would move your stop loss to just below the low of each day. alternative bullish reversal entry an alternative, entry would be to wait for after market close and then start your analysis (easier to do after market close than whilst the market is open and less emotions involved). place a stop buy order to buy at the open of next trading day just above the high of the bullish green candle. your stop is placed exactly the same, just below the low of the green bullish candle. the benefits of this alternative entry include you avoid the trade if the price reverses at the open of next day, thus avoiding a potential small loss (in other words you wait for further confirmation on the next trading day), and you avoid trading during market open hours where your emotions can get the better of you. i prefer to do my trading after market close so prefer this alternative. the drawback with this alternative is that you may miss out on bullish news prior to and at the next open, so miss out on some potential profits if prices do gap up at the open. this may also increase your loss on the trade if the prices gaps up then reverses and hits your stop on the same day. however, if you choose this method, then you will just need to incorporate this into your trading plan as potential slippage. bearish reversal pattern so after some short period of strength in the price you would look for a bearish day where the price closes below the previous day’s low, you place your sell short order here just before market close and place your initial stop just above the high of the day. you would apply this either for an downtrending stock where the price has retracted from or near the trendline or moving average, or a ranging stock where price is bouncing off the resistance line. the trade is reinforced if the stochastic is in or near the overbought and crossing back downwards, volume on the up day is higher than volume on the up days, and the market as a whole is moving down as well. the benefit with this entry is that you are in early so you capture any bearish move down at the open of the next day, such as gaps. the drawbacks are that you need to be in front of your screen before market close to get your price close to the market close and you may get whipsawed if prices reverse at the open of the next day, thus being stopped out with a small loss. as the price moves down you would move your stop loss to just above the high of each day. alternative bearish reversal entry an alternative, entry would be to wait for after market close and then start your analysis (easier to do after market close than whilst the market is open and less emotions involved). place a stop sell short order to sell at the open of next trading day just below the low of the bearish red candle. your stop is placed exactly the same, just above the high of the red bearish candle. the benefits of this alternative entry include you avoid the trade if the price reverses at the open of next day, thus avoiding a potential small loss (in other words you wait for further confirmation on the next trading day), and you avoid trading during market open hours where your emotions can get the better of you. i prefer to do my trading after market close so prefer this alternative. the drawback with this alternative is that you may miss out on bearish news prior to and at the next open, so miss out on some potential profits if prices do gap down at the open. this may also increase your loss on the trade if the prices gaps down then reverses and hits your stop on the same day. however, if you choose this method, then you will just need to incorporate this into your trading plan as potential slippage. you could also trade other candle stick patterns is similar ways. and with the long entries you can also use them to get into the market with longer term trend following strategies, you would usually just use a larger stop for longer term trading. to determine the size of your order you would use the price difference between your entry and your stop. you should not be risking more than 1% of your trading capital on any one trade. so if your trading capital is $20,000 your risk per trade should be $200. if you were looking to place your buy at 5.00 and had your initial stop at $4.60, you would divide $200 by $0.40 to get 500 stocks to buy. using this form of money management you keep your losses down to a maximum of $200 (some trades may be a bit higher due to some slippage which you should allow for in your trading plan), which becomes your r-multiple. your aim is to have your average win at 3r or higher (3 x your average loss), which will give you a positive expectancy even with a win ratio under 50%. once you have written down your trading rules you can search stock charts for potential setups. when you find one you can backtest the chart for similar setup over the past few years. for each setup in the past jot down the prices you would have entered at, where you would have set your stop, work out your r, and go day by day, moving your stop as you go, and see where you would have been stopped out. work out your profit or loss in terms of r for each setup and then add them up. if you get a positive r multiple, then this may be a good stock to trade on this setup. if you get a negative r multiple, then maybe give this stock a miss and look for the next setup. you can setup watch-lists of stocks that perform well for both long setups and short setups, and then trade these stocks when you get a new signal. it can take some time starting off, but once you have got your watch-lists for a particular setup, you just need to keep monitoring those stocks. you can create other watch-lists for other type of setups you have backtested as well.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "are there any credit cards with a statement period longer than 1 month?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "most credit cards will allow you to pick the closing date. in fact almost every bill with the exception of utilities that collected usage by reading a meter at the house will either let you pick the closing date each month, or at least have several to pick from. they won't let you pick the length, but they will let you pick the day of the month. when i worked a job that paid once a month. i wanted all my bills due early in the month: get paid, pay bill, know how much i have left. when i went back to every other week spreading them out made more sense. no credit card had a problem with this. the transitional cycle was not the correct length, but after that it was fine. as dheer pointed out extending the cycle to 90 days would involve them extending credit for much longer than they would be comfortable. also the goal of keeping utilization under 30% would be very difficult, you would have to keep your spending per month to less than 10% of your credit limit. some people have trouble not falling behind on credit card bills, having to set aside the money to pay the bill every 90 day may be way to tough for many people.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "putting borrowed money into an sipp", "role": "user" }, { "content": "you're creating more liabilities for yourself in the future, although yes this could definitely be a profitable move for you. however, some small mistakes you made, from what i can see using the tools at hargreaves lansdown. the first, is that the government relief would only be 20%, not 60%. the second is that the tax relief goes directly into the sipp, it's not something you get given back to you in cash. in order for this to be worthwhile, you need to be sure that you can make a post-tax gain of more than 3.4% on this money per year - which should be very feasible. it sounds like you have enough security that you could afford to take this risk.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "double-entry bookkeeping: how to account for non-monetary taxable benefits received from employer?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "i can say that i got x dollars from an account like \"income:benefits\"... but where do i credit that money to? \"expenses:groceries\" yes doesn't feel right, since i never actually spent that money on food, you did, didn't you? you got food. i'm guessing there's an established convention for this already? doubt it. established conventions in accounting are for businesses, and more specifically - public companies. so you can find a gaap, or ifrs guidelines on how to book benefits (hint: salary expense), but it is not something you may find useful in your own household accounting. do what is most convenient for you. since it is a double-booking system - you need to have an account on the other side. expenses:groceries doesn't feel right? add expenses:groceries:benefits or expenses:benefits or whatever. when you do your expense and cash-flow reports - you can exclude both the income and the expense benefits accounts if you track them separately, so that they don't affect your tracking of the \"real\" expenses.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "how to account for startup costs for an llc from personal money?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "you don't even need to formally loan the llc any money. you pay for the setup costs out of pocket, and then once the llc is formed, you reimburse yourself (just like with an expense report). essentially you submit an expense report to the llc for the startup costs, and the llc pays out a check to you, categorized for the startup expenses.", "role": "assistant" } ]

[ { "content": "as a finance expert, your role is to provide clear, concise, and informative responses to finance-related questions. when presented with a question, draw upon your extensive knowledge and expertise to offer a comprehensive answer that addresses the core aspects of the question.", "role": "system" }, { "content": "what is the difference between good debt vs. bad debt?", "role": "user" }, { "content": "here's what suze orman has to say about it: good debt is money you borrow to purchase an asset, such as a home you can afford. history shows that home values generally rise in step with the inflation rate, so a mortgage is good debt. student loans are, too, because they're an investment in the future. census data pegs the average lifetime earnings of a high school graduate at a million dollars below that of someone with a bachelor's degree. bad debt is money you borrow to buy a depreciating asset or to finance a \"want\" rather than a \"need.\" a car is a depreciating asset; from the day you drive it off the lot, it starts losing value. credit card balances or a home equity line of credit that's used to pay for indulgences—vacations, shopping, spa days—is bad debt.", "role": "assistant" } ]