"Here are the top hitters in my (recent) experience, in highest-first order: Child Care By far the biggest potential cost is childcare, whether this be a full-time nursery/kindergarten, child minder, live-in Nanny/Au-pair or just paying a baby sitter when parents need a night off. This needs careful thought. In London, full-time nursery school (6 months to 4 years old) varies from 500 UKP to 2000 UKP per month, and the amount you pay does not guarantee the quality of the care/education. If you have relatives nearby, these costs can likely be reduced, but you'd really need to pay the relatives somehow - meals, bling, holidays, a new bathroom, etc. Loss of Earnings Whether the mother goes on maternity leave, or the father gives up his job to be a 'house husband', the family income is going to be affected for a period of time. You can plan for this by researching what government or company benefits the mother or father will get and for how long. I suggest dividing this amount evenly across the whole period that the stay-at-home parent will be off, rather than trying to calculate ""2 months' full pay, 2 months' half pay, 2 month's no pay"", because if you get into a pattern of high spending in the first two months, what will happen for the next 4 months. You also need to consider short-notice time off work when anybody is poorly. I suggest reserving some of your vacation time for unexpectedly-have-to-look-after-the-family time. When children start daycare/nursery, the germs cross-pollinate, so you get some really nasty strains of coughs, colds, diarrhoea and 'flu in the house, which could cause the primary carer to be unable to do their caring without (your) help. Bigger Car If you can't get a baby seat into your car because it doesn't have the proper fittings or doesn't have rear seats, you'll likely need to change your car. There are plenty of cars that are bigger in terms of people space without being more expensive, but it'll cost to change. Insurances If you have health insurance (e.g. US), you're going to have a proportional increase. Call your provider for details. Bear in mind that children have more illnesses and accidents than middle-age parents, so it could be a shock. Some parents take out life insurance to provide for their childrens' financial future in case of the worst happening. This can be around 50 UKP/65 USD per month, but it all depends on the lump sum you're insuring for. Equipment As a new parent, you think you need an incredible amount of equipment such as Changing Station, Cot/Crib, 'Moses Basket', Carry-Chair, Car Seat, Travel Cot/Crib, Feeding Chair, Changing Mat, Baby Bath, etc. When you bring a new baby home, you really only need a wipe-clean changing mat and somewhere safe for baby to sleep. You can buy anything else as you need it. In fact, it gives you more perspective to go shopping once you've had the baby. Whatever you buy, keep the receipt and don't open it until you need it. Much easier to take back the, e.g. portable baby bottle warmer, if you didn't open it because baby is breast-fed. When they become bigger (2 months plus), you'll need a Cot/Crib. Invest in an adjustable cot-bed - it's a bit larger than a regular Cot/Crib and the floor lowers as they get bigger, so you only need one for the first 2.5 to 3 years. Food If baby will have formula, there are baby-milk formula calculators on the web - in summary one box of quality formula is ~9 UKP/12 USD and this lasts around 4 days if fully formula-fed. Once they're onto food, you need to factor in baby food options. You can either make your own by side-lining some of the adult meal and blending it, then putting it into individual plastic containers. This takes effort, so not everyone has the energy. Alternatively, you're going to have to buy baby food in jars, packets or boxes for 3 meals a day and there'll be little snacks in-between. Baby snacks are strangely expensive, so recommend fruit. Budget for 5 UKP/7 USD per day until they're eating a small portion of the family meal. Clothes A new baby really only needs vests, all-in-one suits, blankets for warmth. You can go mad buying cute outfits, but they get limited use as a new baby grows really quickly. If you've a lot of family/friends and you have a tradition of some kind of ""good luck"" party ('baby shower'), then you can find that you end up being given lots of things. If you don't know the sex of the baby, ask people to get you a gift receipt if possible such that you don't get blue clothes for a girl. It may not bother you, but its' a pain when people say ""Katie is a strange name for a boy?"" just because your little girl has blue booties. Child-proofing Your Home This really does not have to cost a lot. Some people go mad putting soft corners on all the hard edges, covering the electrical sockets and generally sanitizing the whole home. It's up to you, but if there's a room full of sharp/poisonous things like a kitchen or utility room, you might want to put a 15 UKP/20 USD baby gate on that room. Putting the breakable or sharp things up high, or stored away in the attic is a sensible move too."


You will most likely not be able to avoid some form of format conversion, regardless of which data you use since there is, afaik, no standard for this data and everyone exports it differently. One viable option would be, like you said yourself, using the free data provided by Dukascopy. Please take into consideration that those are spot currency rates and will most likely not represent the rate at which physical and business-related exchange would have happened at this time.


You are on the right track with your math, but be wary of your assumptions. If you can borrow money at x% (and can afford to make payments on the debt), and you can get a return of > x% from investing, then you would make more money by keeping the debt and investing your savings. Another way to think of it: by paying off the debt you are getting a guaranteed 5% return because that's the rate you'd have paid if you kept the debt. Be wary of your assumption of getting a 10% return in the S&P 500. Nothing is guaranteed, even over the long term. Actual results may well be less, and you could lose money. It doesn't have to be all-or-nothing: why not pay off the higher rate debt at 5% and keep the 3% debt? That's a guaranteed 5% return by paying off the NSLSC loan. And 3% is a pretty low interest rate. If you can afford to make the payments, I see nothing wrong with investing your savings instead of paying off the loan. Make sure you have an emergency fund, too.


I concur with the other answers about not mixing family and money: the one whose loans are paid off second will be taking the credit risk of the other not paying/being able to pay. There may also be tax implications. That said, if you do still want to do this, I think there's a fairly straightforward way to account for the payments. With your scenario, your brother should make you a personal loan at some interest rate inbetween 5% and 10%. That loan would be tracked independently of the actual student loans. Any money that your brother transfers to you to pay off your loans, add to that personal loan, and later on once your loans are paid off you start repaying the loan to him and he uses the proceeds for his own loans. The interest rate will determine how the benefit of paying off the 10% loans is shared: if the rate is set at 10% then your brother will get all the benefit, if 5% you will get all the benefit, and 7.5% would roughly share it out. This means that you can still manage your own student loans separately. Your brother can choose how little or much to commit to the snowball rather than his own loans (of course he should first make the minimum payments on his own loans). Anything he does loan you benefits you both if we ignore the credit and tax issues - he gets more than the 5% interest on his own loans, and you pay less than the 10% interest on your loans. You'll need to track the payments each way on this personal loan and apply interest to it every so often, I'd suggest monthly (beware that the monthly equivalent of 5% annual interest is not 5%/12, because of compounding).


These schools also have holiday programs in their curriculum in which students go to supper camps to spend valuable time. It increases the self-confidence among students and makes sure that kids have to go through daily physical activity. These classes prove beneficial in teaching leadership and team workforce skills. The learning is provided in an environment that is free from the pressure of high-stakes testing and helps the student get out of their comfort zones.


No, you don't. Rounding errors happen, and if there's no change in the actual tax there's no reason to amend. If all the income was properly reported and the tax was properly calculated - no-one cares if it was rounded up or down on one of the lines. Note for the next time though: Not sure about New York, but Federal taxes are generally rounded to the nearest dollar on each line of the form. So don't calculate cents, just round to the nearest dollar, and be consistent on all of your tax forms. Technically, it is perfectly legal to report cents as well (and people used to when the forms were still filled by hand with pen), but all the automatic tax filing software rounds, so just do that.


Maybe if it required immense talent or skill it would. All you really need to do is be able to handle people for several hours a day, which is a prerequisite to any job. Instead you get a bunch of salty, usually snotty individuals with zero marketable skills who couldn't get a job elsewhere or are lazy and know they can slack off like shit and not get fired working there. My best friend and roommate was one of those people and he worked there a year and barely got the minimum raises. Everyday he bitched about how dumb everyone he worked with was despite the fact he's one of the dumbest people I know. He thought the world owed him something and he didn't care how he got it. That was about 60% of the people there that I knew. On the other hand, the other 40% of people I knew working there were still young kids, but didn't think every person with a somewhat dumb question was an idiot. They showed up on time, got their work done, and were pleasant to be around despite having a shitty job. They were the same age and from the same background as my friend, but they didn't come to work with a chip on their shoulder. After several months most of them had been promoted to higher positions or even assistant managers, they were making considerably more money and had more responsibility. They could not be replaced the next day by someone with no training or experience and were worth even more to the company than their time a dozen former peers who acted like assholes.  If you let your starting salary or position dictate your attitude toward a job, you're never going to get anywhere in life. The world doesn't owe a huge salary and benefits. I'm hardly arguing for big companies that can and do treat employees badly, but having seen what that sometimes consists of, I don't tend to get my panties in a bunch over it anymore. I've worked my fair share of shit jobs in the beating sun and sweltering heat for shit money, and I didn't treat people like shit because of it. Hell I actually really enjoyed one of them. The difference is I never thought the world owed me something because two people had the idea to fuck one night.


I'm pretty sure my dog is better at catching balls than I am, also dogs don't think that the alignment of the stars during their birth had any affect on how happy they are.   I read a book called *The Drunkard's Walk* and in it they talk about a experiment where humans and rats were shown a deck of cards that was 2/3 red and 1/3 black. When humans were asked to guess the cards, they guessed black 1/3 of the time, and red 2/3 of the time, while rats picked red every time. Humans were right about 60% of the time, rats were right 2/3 (66.7%) of the time. Rat brains are more correct than human brains.


The primary drivers of cash flow in a software firm is the productivity and skill of your employees. How is that reflected in a balance sheet? Well, take a company like Adobe or Salesforce, or even Microsoft.  What would you be able to tell about each from their balance sheets? You can look at their cash level, and what else would matter?


You need to redomesticate it. Usually that involves filing Articles of Dissolution with your current jurisdiction of Org and Articles of Incorp or domestication with the new state. Note that there are some states that are not open to redomestication (and Cali always tends to be an oddball).  You can probably call up the Secretary of States' offices in both jurisdictions and someone will give you the heads up about what to file. Google search could help. Also a CO lawyer could probably do this for about $1k.  Another way around this might be to form a CO LLC and then merge the CA LLC into the surviving CO. In the event of both a redomestication or merger, you want to check your org docs and any and all outside contracts. Redomestication/merger can trigger change of control provisions that may open you up to penalties or termination of those contracts.   As always the best legal advice I can give on Reddit would be to find a lawyer for this.


"Wrongful termination my ass.  There are four protected categories those being Age, Sex, Color and Creed.  Anything else?  Fair game.    ""Hey, Bahhumbugger, Never say stupid when you mean you disagree. Seriously.  Here's a memo to that effect.""   Two days later, Bahhumbugger: fired for cause, for incorrectly using the word ""Stupid.""  Holds up fine in court.  I know, I've done it."


"I think that all else being equal, if more people have solar panels on our roof, we keep our military in FEWER countries, instead of planning on RAMPING up the number (see: Nigeria). Furthermore, the initial question wasn't whether installing solar panels is going to stop the action. **The conversation started by being about whether solar is actually cheaper when you factor in the amount used to subsidize both sources of energy. Not whether switching to solar would stop subsidies to oil.** What you did is called ""moving the goalposts"".  The word 2016 doesn't show up in the article or in the study it cites. That was a typo. I understand it was about 2013, I was trying to saying that it was about the same year as yours. That was my bad. I read the whole thing originally, and I even read the study. I accept responsibility for the typo though.  ANYWAYS, neither set of data is manipulated, my study just includes more things, like foreign tax credits, cleanup subsidies for both coal and oil, tar sands exemption from cleanup funds, Power Africa (a five year, 7 billion dollar program that was only ANNOUNCED in 2013). That overseas stuff that goes on is a HUGE part of the equation.   And okay, so they aren't equivalent. Then your point is moot. Yes, both sides have off the book subsidies, but one side's off the book subsidies are so unfathomably bigger that it's laughable to even put them in the same category. Not to mention the costs of war in the middle east stretch beyond money (think lives), and recycling programs actually come with benefits (think smaller landfills)."


It's because you're not important enough. Not in like a douche way, you're just not on their list of things to care about. Foreign governments would be looking for information on people with serious power. Assuming you were a more normal person, they have no reason to care about you.


These have been around for decades. In the 80's and 90's they had you setup small ads in local newspapers and you would sell a brochure tells people how to make money, or solve some other problem. The idea was that money would roll in. The more ads you placed the more money you made. In the late 90's they had you setup a small website instead of a small newspaper advertisement , but the rest was the same. They were also done with eBay as the medium. Now they are live streams.  Most of the money made is by the people selling you the course materials to show you exactly how to make money. Some of the people pitching these ideas though books, websites and infomercials were able to update their shtick to change with the medium, but the end result was always the same. Most people didn't make serious cash.  The initial description of how it works is done for free and isn't enough information to know how to do it. The real secrets are after you pay for the advanced course. Of course to really make them work you need the expensive coaching sessions.


"A tax return is a document you sign and file with the government to self-report your tax obligations. A tax refund is the payment you receive from the government if your payments into the tax system exceeded your obligations.  As others have mentioned, if an extra $2K in income generated $5K in taxes, chances are your return was prepared incorrectly. The selection of an appropriate entity type for your business depends a lot on what you expect to see over the next several years in terms of income and expenses, and the extent to which you want or need to pay for fringe benefits or make pretax retirement contributions from your business income. There are four basic flavors of entity which are available to you: Sole proprietorship. This is the simplest option in terms of tax reporting and paperwork required for ongoing operations. Your net (gross minus expenses) income is added to your wage income and you'll pay tax on the total. If your wage income is less than approximately $100K, you'll also owe self-employment tax of approximately 15% in addition to income tax on your business income. If your business runs at a loss, you can deduct the loss from your other income in calculating your taxable income, though you won't be able to run at a loss indefinitely. You are liable for all of the debts and obligations of the business to the extent of all of your personal assets. Partnership. You will need at least two participants (humans or entities) to form a partnership. Individual items of income and expense are identified on a partnership tax return, and each partner's proportionate share is then reported on the individual partners' tax returns. General partners (who actively participate in the business) also must pay self-employment tax on their earnings below approximately $100K. Each general partner is responsible for all of the debts and obligations of the business to the extent of their personal assets. A general partnership can be created informally or with an oral agreement although that's not a good idea. Corporation. Business entities can be taxed as ""S"" or ""C"" corporations. Either way, the corporation is created by filing articles of incorporation with a state government (doesn't have to be the state where you live) and corporations are typically required to file yearly entity statements with the state where they were formed as well as all states where they do business. Shareholders are only liable for the debts and obligations of the corporation to the extent of their investment in the corporation. An ""S"" corporation files an information-only return similar to a partnership which reports items of income and expense, but those items are actually taken into account on the individual tax returns of the shareholders. If an ""S"" corporation runs at a loss, the losses are deductible against the shareholders' other income.  A ""C"" corporation files a tax return more similar to an individual's. A C corporation calculates and pays its own tax at the corporate level. Payments from the C corporation to individuals are typically taxable as wages (from a tax point of view, it's the same as having a second job) or as dividends, depending on how and why the payments are made. (If they're in exchange for effort and work, they're probably wages - if they're payments of business profits to the business owners, they're probably dividends.) If a C corporation runs at a loss, the loss is not deductible against the shareholders' other income.  Fringe benefits such as health insurance for business owners are not deductible as business expenses on the business returns for S corps, partnerships, or sole proprietorships. C corporations can deduct expenses for providing fringe benefits.  LLCs don't have a predefined tax treatment - the members or managers of the LLC choose, when the LLC is formed, if they would like to be taxed as a partnership, an S corporation, or as a C corporation. If an LLC is owned by a single person, it can be considered a ""disregarded entity"" and treated for tax purposes as a sole proprietorship. This option is not available if the LLC has multiple owners.  The asset protection provided by the use of an entity depends quite a bit on the source of the claim. If a creditor/plaintiff has a claim based on a contract signed on behalf of the entity, then they likely will not be able to ""pierce the veil"" and collect the entity's debts from the individual owners. On the other hand, if a creditor/plaintiff has a claim based on negligence or another tort-like action (such as sexual harassment), then it's very likely that the individual(s) involved will also be sued as individuals, which takes away a lot of the effectiveness of the purported asset protection. The entity-based asset protection is also often unavailable even for contract claims because sophisticated creditors (like banks and landlords) will often insist the the business owners sign a personal guarantee putting their own assets at risk in the event that the business fails to honor its obligations.  There's no particular type of entity which will allow you to entirely avoid tax. Most tax planning revolves around characterizing income and expense items in the most favorable ways possible, or around controlling the timing of the appearance of those items on the tax return."


Moving Average is mere average line based on historical period; broadly use to view the trend. But it has no relation to price action in due future course. If price is going below 20 SMA then in near future even the SMA will start directing toward south. In your case if price has fallen below all the short period average lines and long period average line then it is bearish in nature. Soon in few days you may find 20 SMA leading downwards followed by closest period and then long. Also SMA and EMA can best be observed in charting software in candlestick mode. Because these moving averages can also be adjusted and viewed based on Opening price, High prices, Low Price or closing price. In you case I guess the data is of closing price data. Overlapping of averages may be sign of reversals. So if you want to buy this stock you may have to wait till all the average lines cross-over and when new trend begins with SMA of shortest avg period (20) leading above the long avg period (90 days in your case). Then you can buy and just follow the trend. I hope it answers you question.


"Sometimes 403b's contain annuities or other insurance related instruments.  I know that in many New York schools the local teacher unions administer the 403b plan, and sometimes choose proprietary investments like variable annuities or other insurance products. In New York the Attorney General sued and settled with the state teacher's union for their endorsement of a high cost ING 403b plan -- I believe the maintenance fees were in excess of 3%/year!  In a tax deferred plan like a 401k, 403b or 457 plan, the low risk ""insurance fund"" is generally a GIC ""Guaranteed Investment Contract"". A GIC (aka ""Stable Value Fund"") is sort of cross between a CD and a Money Market fund. It's used by insurance companies to raise short term capital. GICs usually yield a premium versus a money market and are a safe investment. If your wife is in a 403b with annuities or other life-insurance tie ins other than GICs, make sure that you understand the fee structure and ask lots of questions."


So a job that is year round can just just be filled by students pointedly going to leave in 2 months? What business looking to reduce turnover and have long term (3/4 time) employment would consider students a good substitute?


Software does not compare to books.   Free Software distributors can still make a good living supporting the software they give away.   What will an author do with a books they just gave away?  Become lecturers?  I can't think of anything a Writer could do to support themselves if they just gave everything away.


They have had a lot of fraud/unethical issues, which is why Jon Cryan was brought in to try and fix them up. He has been doing a good job and very few if any fraud issues have been perpetrated  since he stepped in (they have been fined for past abuses during his tenure, but he's definitely improving the company).


"Better financial analyst on paper or to improve your own ability?  In my opinion what makes a good analyst is a thorough understanding of macro and financial statements, intellectual curiosity and ability to think independently.  To be able to look at a dataset and come to your own conclusions without outside bias.  To not just want to learn ""how"" but also why.  You can't improve if you don't question the status quo.  Everyone lists Excel as a skill on their resume but it is amazing how few people really know it.  More employable, what I would want to see is experience in Bloomberg, Factset and Thomson Reuters.  And how you have utilized the tools.  I want to see that you can think independently.  Show me you are capable of completing a task just by being given the starting point and the ending point without needed to be told every step in between.  As I said previously, everyone claims to be Excel experts, show me that you really do have advanced knowledge."


"I though that only some hedge funds operated that way and others were specific vehicles to provide an efficient hedge? This one is described as ""betting against chipmakers"" and is blaming a substantial loss against one market, so it can't be doing a great job of hedging itself.   Though I think we're saying the same thing and just have a different view of the common meaning of ""hedge fund""."


It is typically possible to sell during a crash, because there are enough people that understand the mechanics behind a crash. Generally, you need to understand that you don't lose money from the crash, but from selling. Every single crash in history more than recovered, and by staying invested, you wouldn't have lost anything (this assumes you have enough time to sit it out; it could take several years to recover). On the other side of those deals are people that understand that, and make money by buying during a crash. They simply sit the crash out, and some time later they made a killing from what you panic-sold, when it recovers its value.


If you pay extra now you will pay less in interest over the life of the loan. Unless your savings account has a higher interest rate than the loan's rate you are not saving anything. That being said, you may have a greater need for savings due to other things (e.g. you might need a emergency fund). But if you are only saving for the loan: compare the rates to see if it is worth it.


It is definitely legal and will be accounted by the IRS as earned income.


Have you tried TransferWise.  They offer nice cross currency transfers with really low rates.


You would need to use Trading Accounts. You can enable this, File->Properties->Account settings tab, and check Use Trading Accounts. For more details see the following site: http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Trading_Accounts


Can I ask you to restate that in a less 'soundbitey' manner? What principle justifies the right of government to label a firm as 'too big to exist'? What actions should a government be able to institute in these cases and what principles justify these actions?


Well their whole business model is watch sports and eat shitty food here cuz you have money to blow and now people are like I dont like sports, prefer my food not shitty and dont have money to blow. Might as well shut it all down and make another restaurant with the space instead of trying to rebrand.


"There are ways to mitigate, but since you're not protected by a tax-deferred/advantaged account, the realized income will be taxed. But you can do any of the followings to reduce the burden: Prefer selling either short positions that are at loss or long positions that are at gain. Do not invest in stocks, but rather in index funds that do the rebalancing for you without (significant) tax impact on you. If you are rebalancing portfolio that includes assets that are not stocks (real-estate, mainly) consider performing 1031 exchanges instead of plain sale and re-purchase. Maximize your IRA contributions, even if non-deductible, and convert them to Roth IRA. Hold your more volatile investments and individual stocks there - you will not be taxed when rebalancing. Maximize your 401K, HSA, SEP-IRA and any other tax-advantaged account you may be eligible for. On some accounts you'll pay taxes when withdrawing, on others - you won't. For example - Roth IRA/401k accounts are not taxed at all when withdrawing qualified distributions, while traditional IRA/401k are taxed as ordinary income. During the ""low income"" years, consider converting portions of traditional accounts to Roth."


We are a one stop solution when you talk about Heating & Air conditioning systems and Refrigeration. Our experience in this field is more then 25 years and our customers have been loyal to us for many years. Our customers have always been our priority. Try us out we will give you the best customer service.


Yea that’s my point coal generation gets monopolies and subsidies, alternative gets subsidies. Who gets more as a weighted metric? In a per Capita and absolute sense. Also how you do you calculate out subsidies on panels sold that were subsidized? I don’t know.


"You will need to see a tax expert. Your edited question includes the line For the short term, we will be ""renting"" it to my wife's grandmother at a deep discount. According to the instructions for schedule E If you rented out a dwelling unit that you also used for personal   purposes during the year, you may not be able to deduct all the   expenses for the rental part. “Dwelling unit” (unit) means a house,   apartment, condominium, or similar property. For each property listed on line 1a, report the number of days in the   year each property was rented at fair rental value and the number of   days of personal use. A day of personal use is any day, or part of a day, that the unit was   used by: I have no idea how this will work for Schedule C."


If you are using paypal to sell items online, you need a Premier (or better) account rather than personal. Paypal states: Our fees are the same for Personal, Premier, and Business accounts.   [...] If you use your PayPal account to request money from someone,   you'll be charged a fee when you receive the payment.


If you budget for cloths and save up the money, you may be able to take advantage of sales when they are on.   However only buy what you will use! You need to ask yourself what value you put on cloths compared to other things you can spend the money on.   Also would you rather have money in the bank encase you need it rather than lots of cloths in the wardrobe?


"I was going to argue about the ""intent to execute"" but when I read Denninger's argument carefully, I was forced to agree. To the extent that the SEC rules are requiring human intention (should they?) then yes a time limit like 2 seconds (or even longer) can make sense. It's a kludgy solution though."


"this isn't false advertising. False advertising is offering something to lure you in but it turning out to be something totally different, substantially less or different terms than what you thought you were agreeing too. You're still getting 60% off. This is more like ""sleazy advertising""... but tons of companies do these 24/7 ""sales"""


"In fact, it's quite the opposite. If someone is willing to sell some stock as low as $30/share, and someone else is willing to pay $31/share, one of those individuals is going to get a good deal - unless HFT acts as the middle-man and snags the extra dollar. In which case the individuals get the worst price they would accept and someone with fast collocated computers gets to skim some profits (while adding no value, the order could have happened without the so called ""liquidity"" that HFT claims to add).  It's not exactly that simple, but that's the basic effect. It's an unnecessary middleman that skims profits away from individuals on both sides.  I would like to see a return to ""investing"" back to the meaning of the word, instead of gambling on daily or short-term fluctuations. I wouldn't mind a long-term holding requirement (3 months?) for every purchase, and a daily exchange-calculated set price (calculated by actual orders placed) that everyone who buys/sells a particular stock on a given day pays.  Yes, my ideas would destroy an entire industry. I'm ok with that because it would encourage people to *really* invest in companies."


that's just not possible. 27% of all US scientists are immigrants and so are 48% of all engineers.  America does not produce enough high educated/skilled workers.   MS build, or planned on building, a research facility around 5 years ago. They said they can't get enough professors and doctors with adequate education to fill the 9,000 positions. so they asked the INS how to proceed. the INS told them to fill H1b visa applications. that is only once a year and they might get, statistically, only 2000-3000 out of it of they're lucky because most will be rejected or just not get picked (it's a lottery).   MS asked Canada, Canada said do whatever, more taxes for us. MS built it in Ontario I think.  at the same time Google wrote that angry blog post in their corporate blog about how shitty the H1b situation is.


The process would look something like:  1. Register your investment company with the SEC 2. Get the ETF approved by the SEC  3. Get a custodian bank (likely requires min assets of a few million) 4. Get listed on an exchange like NYSEARCA by meeting requirements and have an IPO   1 and 2 probably require a lot of time and fees and would be wise to have a lawyer advising, 3 is obviously difficult due to asset requirements and 4 would probably involve an investment bank plus more fees


Large companies whose shares I was looking at had dividends of the order of ~1-2%, such as 0.65%, or 1.2% or some such. My savings account provides me with an annual return of 4% as interest. Firstly inflation, interest increases the numeric value of your bank balance but inflation reduces what that means in real terms. From a quick google it looks like inflation in india is currently arround 6% so your savings account is losing 2% in real terms. On the other hand you would expect a stable company to maintain a similar value in real terms. So the dividend can be seen as real terms income. Secondly investors generally hope that their companies will not merely be stable but grow in value over time. Whether that hope is rational is another question.  Why not just invest in options instead for higher potential profits? It's possible to make a lot of money this way. It's also possible to lose a lot of money this way. If your knowlage of money is so poor you don't even understand why people buy stocks there is no way you should be going near the more complicated financial products.


I don't see how it makes a difference?    Setup a futures contract for 33 times more than you have the capital to support and write it as confirmed income, slot it into your balance sheet and then borrow against it.  It's fundamentally no different to the example from the OP, it's just a different way of reaching it.


There isn't a single career or major that US education system is unable to churn out an abundance of graduates. There isn't a software language in the USA that a USA company needs, that India has experience with, but the USA does **not** have experience with. Immigrants come to the USA for an education, not the other way around. We don't see countless Americans going to India for their computer science degree because USA schools are just not good enough. This holds true for economics, chemistry, physics, and any other discipline. The immigrants are not more skilled, and are typically lower skilled. They are just cheaper, that is all. Undocumented immigrant labor was welcomed by Wall Street for decades because it broke the working class unions. Well paying white collar jobs are also being given to immigrant labor to drive down costs, it is that simple.


"Robert Kiyosaki's is basically a get-rich quick author.  But to answer your question: It is a sales pitch in disguise. See Marketplace's report on a Kiyosaki seminar, which reveals that the free work shop is a sales pitch for a 3-day work shop which costs several hundred dollars.  And the 3-day workshop is a sales pitch for ""advanced"" training which can cost as much as $45,000 (presumably in Canadian dollars, as the report was done in Canada). He does touch on some basic sound principles, but it's mixed with a lot of really bad (and in some cases illegal) advice.  You'll do much better to invest your time and money in reading materials that aren't advertised via infomercials. Kiyosaki may well be rich, but it's from selling his Rich Dad-branded material, not from investing in real estate, or any other investment portfolio See also John T. Reed's guru rating, and his review of Kiyosaki's book, Rich Dad, Poor Dad."


">dollar will continue to be the world reserve currency   There are a number of triggering events tat could change this rapidly.  One is Japan.  They desperately need money, and one day they'll *have* to dump a large share of their tbills.  Bernanke only manages the money supply looking at the US.  Meanwhile, look at what the world is saying:  Chinese students laugh at Geithner in his face, Putin calls Bernanke a hooligan, trades start to bypass the usd, and so on and so forth.  Anyone can put on a happy face that this has not happened.  But the argument boils down to ""Since that I have not died, I will never die""-form."


I assume the OP is the US and that he is, like most people, a cash-basis tax payer and not an accrual basis tax payer. Suppose the value of the rental of the unit the OP is occupying  was reported  as income on the OP's 2010 and 2011 W-2 forms but the corresponding income  tax was not withheld.  If the OP correctly transcribed these income numbers onto his tax returns, correctly computed the tax on the income reported on his 2010 and 2011 1040 forms, and paid the amount due in timely fashion,  then there is no tax or penalty due for 2010 and 2011. Nor is the company entitled to withhold tax on this income for 2010 and 2011 at this time; the tax on that income has already been paid by the OP directly to the IRS and the company has nothing to do with the matter anymore. Suppose the value of the rental of the unit the OP is occupying  was NOT reported as income on the OP's 2010 and 2011 W-2 forms.  If the OP correctly transcribed these income numbers onto his tax returns, correctly computed the tax on the income reported on his 2010 and 2011 1040 forms, and paid the amount due in timely fashion,  then there is no tax or penalty due for 2010 and 2011. Should the OP have declared the value of the rental of the unit as additional income from his employer that was not reported on the W-2 form, and paid taxes  on that money? Possibly, but it would be reasonable to argue that the OP did nothing wrong other than not checking his W-2 form carefully: he simply assumed the income numbers included the value of the rental and copied whatever the company-issued W-2 form said onto his 1040 form. At least as  of now, there is no reason for the IRS to question his 2010 and 2011 returns because the numbers reported to the IRS on Copy A of the W-2 forms match the numbers reported by the OP on his tax returns.    My guess is that the company discovered that it had not actually declared the value of the rental payments on the OP's W-2 forms for 2010 and 2011 and now wants to include this amount as income on subsequent W-2 forms. Now, reporting a lump-sum benefit of $38K (but no actual cash)  would have caused a huge amount of income tax to need to be withheld, and the OP's next couple of paychecks might well have had zero take-home pay as all the money was going towards this tax withholding. Instead, the company is saying that it will report the $38K as income in 78 equal installments (weekly paychecks over 18 months?)  and withhold $150 as the tax due on each installment. If it does not already do so, it will likely also include the value of the current rent as a benefit and withhold tax on that too. So the OP's take-home pay will reduce by $150 (at least) and maybe more if the current rental payments also start appearing on the paychecks and tax is withheld from them too. I will not express an opinion on the legality of the company withholding an additional $150 as tax from the OP's paycheck, but will suggest that the solution proposed by the company (have the money appear as taxable benefits over a 78-week period, have tax withheld, and declare the income on your  2012, 2013 and 2014 returns) is far more beneficial to the OP than the company declaring to the IRS that it made a  mistake on the 2010 and 2011 W-2's issued to the OP, and that the actual income paid was higher. Not only will the OP have to file amended returns for 2010 and 2011 but the company will need to amend its tax returns too. In summary, the OP needs to know that He will have to pay taxes on the value of the waived rental payments   for 2010 and 2011. The company's mistake in not declaring this as income to the OP   for 2010 and 2011 does not absolve him of the responsibility   for paying the taxes What the company is proposing is a very reasonable solution to the   problem of recovering from the mistake. The alternative, as @mhoran_psprep points out, is to amend   your 2010 and 2011 federal and state tax returns to declare the   value of the rental during those years as additional income,   and pay taxes (and possibly penalties) on the additional   amount due. This takes the company completely out of the picture,   but does require a lot more work and a lot more cash now rather   than in the future.


Igor Krivor Russ and Igor Krivor are brothers who started DLC Residential in 2005. As early as 2004, the Krivoruchko brothers noticed that there was a growing need for single-family homes in Miami, Florida. This knowledge quickly turned into a business as they began to help investors grow their wealth through real estate. Igor and Russ Krivor change their business model based on what is most likely to yield real returns for their investors.


Yep. The best products dont win just because they're the best.   A classic example was that of new coke. Taste tests and focus groups showed that people *preferred* new coke. Once the formula hit the shelves people rebelled and coca cola immediately brought back classic coke.


> Stock markets are supposed to be about investment and providing capital to companies for operations and research. High frequency trading is only about gaming the market and nothing else. Arguments that this provides more capital or liquidity don't make any sense because the speed of trading is such that listed companies cannot take advantage and only high frequency traders are served.  I used to feel this way about derivatives but a commentator on reddit disabused me of that notion -   http://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/11bqnk/what_you_wont_see_on_the_front_page_of_reddit_the/c6lnqow  If the only function of the stock market is investment and provide capital to companies, why have a secondary market at all?


As soccer is one of the most popular game which is played worldwide so there are many companies used to manufacture the soccer ball. But the Best cheap soccer balls manufacture are as like the Adidas they are the main sponsor for the FIFA and the other game and their ball is very much popular among all soccer lovers. Nike is also one of the big sponsors for big events and there is lots of other brand also who used to manufacture the soccer ball.


Work-life balance is kind of a bad joke if you actually are in a career with high growth potentials imo. It isn't even confined to just finance. Anyone I know with high growth potential jobs, especially during junior years at the firm, will require quite a bit of OT. I'd say most 9-5 jobs do not provide rapid growth in salary / positions.


I know this is off-topic but our most long lasting car was a Lada. Lasted 13 years (used when we bought it) and even sold for a nice sum to some enthusiastic russian. But yes it will not be pretty if Russia reverts to autarky, even from a car perspective.


"First of all, congratulations on admitting your problem and on your determination to be debt-free.  Recognizing your mistakes is a huge first step, and getting rid of your debt is a very worthwhile goal. When considering debt consolidation, there are really only two reasons to do so: Reason #1: To lower your monthly payment.  If you are having trouble coming up with enough money to meet your monthly obligations, debt consolidation can lower your monthly payment by extending the time frame of the debt.  The problem with this one is that it doesn't help you get out of debt faster.  It actually makes it longer before you are out of debt and will increase the total amount of interest that you will pay to the banks before you are done.  So I would not recommend debt consolidation for this reason unless you are truly struggling with your cashflow because your minimum monthly payments are too high.  In your situation, it does not sound like you need to consolidate for this reason. Reason #2: To lower your interest rate.  If your debt is at a very high rate, debt consolidation can lower your interest rate, which can reduce the time it will take to eliminate your debt. The consolidation loan you are considering is at a high interest rate on its own: 13.89%.  Now, it is true that some of your debt is higher than that, but it looks like the majority of your debt is less than that rate.  It doesn't sound to me that you will save a significant amount of money by consolidating in this loan.  If you can obtain a better consolidation loan in the future, it might be worth considering. From your question, it looks like your reasoning for the consolidation loan is to close the credit card accounts as quickly as possible.  I agree that you need to quit using the cards, but this can also be accomplished by destroying the cards.  The consolidation loan is not needed for this. You also mentioned that you are considering adding $3,000 to your debt.  I have to say that it doesn't make sense at all to me to add to your debt (especially at 13.89%) when your goal is to eliminate your debt.  To answer your question explicitly, yes, the ""cash buffer"" from the loan is a very bad idea. Here is what I recommend: (This is based on this answer, but customized for you.) Cut up/destroy your credit cards.  Today.  You've already recognized that they are a problem for you.  Cash, checks, and debit cards are what you need to use from now on. Start working from a monthly budget, assigning a job for every dollar that you have.  This will allow you to decide what to spend your money on, rather than arriving at the end of the month with no idea where your money was lost.  Budgeting software can make this task easier.  (See this question for more information. Your first goal should be to put a small amount of money in a savings account, perhaps $1000 - $1500 total.  This is the start of your emergency fund.  This money will ensure that if something unexpected and urgent comes up, you won't be so cash poor that you need to borrow money again.  Note: this money should only be touched in an actual emergency, and if spent, should be replenished as soon as possible.  At the rate you are talking about, it should take you less than a month to do this. After you've got your small emergency fund in place, attack the debt as quickly and aggressively as possible.  The order that you pay off your debts is not significant. (The optimal method is up for debate.)  At the rate you suggested ($2,000 - 2,500 per month), you can be completely debt free in maybe 18 months. As you pay off those credit cards, completely close the accounts.  Ignore the conventional wisdom that tells you to leave the unused credit card accounts open to try to preserve a few points on your credit score.  Just close them. After you are completely debt free, take the money that you were throwing at your debt, and use it to build up your emergency fund until it is 3-6 months' worth of your expenses.  That way, you'll be able to handle a small crisis without borrowing anything. If you need more help/motivation on becoming debt free and budgeting, I recommend the book The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey."


"I'd ask what your goal is.  I was definitely on the path, and for one reason: to make piles of money.  After some years in I decided to jump shit and get an MBA. Then the market went into freefall. Guys who paid their dues got fucked huge.  Finance isn't the only way to get rich. It's one way, and it seems like the ""easy"" way. Do x-y-z and jump through the hoops and you are on the path.  I'd suggest that if the money is really your true motivation, then there are other ways."


Banks in general will keep saving rates as low as possible especially if there is a surplus of funds or alternative access for funding as in the case of the Fed in the USA. Generally speaking, why would bank pay you a high interest rate when they cannot generate any income from your money? Usually we will expect to see a drop in the loan interest rate when their is a surplus of funds so as to encourage investment. But if the market is volatile then no banks will allow easy access to money through loans. The old traditional policy of lending money without proper security and no control from the central bank has created serious problems for savings account holders when some of these banks went into bankruptcy. It is for this reason most countries has modified their Financial Act to offer more protection to account holders. At the moment banks must follow rigid guidelines before a loan can be approved to a customer. In my country (Guyana) we have seen the collapse of a few banks which sent a shock wave across the county for those that have savings held at those bank. We have also seen unsecured loans having to be written off thus putting serious pressure of those banks. So government stepped in a few years ago and amended the act to make it mandatory to have commercial banks follow certain strict guidelines before approving a loan.


I'm thinking of going with Python. Do you think other languages like HTML or Java will be of any help? and you're right. They are not taught in undergrad. So, where should I learn them from? I always feel like you don't learn the best online. But is there any site that's really good and that you'd recommend?


"This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-06-08/no-one-has-ever-made-a-corruption-machine-like-this-one) reduced by 96%. (I'm a bot) ***** > Structured Operations, perhaps the farthest-reaching, most efficient corruption machine in modern business, was about to run out of road. By Odebrecht&#039;s admission in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn last December, Structured Operations doled out some $788 million in bribes in Brazil and 11 other countries, securing more than 100 contracts that generated $3.3 billion of profit for the company.  > It&#039;s the biggest corruption-related fine ever levied on a company, eclipsing a $3.16 billion fine in Brazil tied to corruption allegations against another target of the Car Wash probe, Brazilian beef giant JBS SA. For decades, Odebrecht has cultivated a certain corporate lore.  > In exchange, the company admitted in its settlement of corruption charges in U.S. federal court, the governments of those countries granted Odebrecht contracts that generated $1.4 billion in profit.   ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/6gbhxq/no_one_has_ever_made_a_corruption_machine_like/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ ""Version 1.65, ~140495 tl;drs so far."") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr ""PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome."") | *Top* *keywords*: **Odebrecht**^#1 **bank**^#2 **company**^#3 **Antigua**^#4 **Brazil**^#5"


consultant here. i've worked at some of the companies you've listed. what about finance and consulting are you interested in? unless you're in a fairly specialized group, your first 2 year will have very little to do with anything finance. you sorta just get tossed round where people need you until you find a network and find your own niche.  anyways, if you want finance . . . don't do consulting. go do equity research or banking or asset management.


They didn't steal money true but they did take homes and lives away from people. Granted those people signed the terms of the loans on their own but the sale tactics they used were ruthless. My beef is why does the us govt settle take it all the way fight for the people. They don't because the finance industry are the largest backers of our govt


How do I calculate the adjusted real rate of return of an investment (such as mutual fund) after inflation and fees? I have always thought that you do this: (1 + nominal return - fees)/(1 + inflation) - 1, but I have been told that this is the wrong way to do it.   Additionally, what is the difference between real interest rate and inflation-adjusted return?


"You are not ""the economy"". The economy is just the aggregate of what is going on with everyone else. You should make the decision based on your own situation now and projected into the future as best you can. Loan rates ARE at historical lows, so it is a great time to take a loan if you actually need one for some reason. However, I wouldn't go looking for a loan just because the rates are low for the same reason it doesn't make sense to buy maternity clothes if you are a single guy just because they are on sale."


The solution is spending restraint during the growth periods and prudent application of counter-cyclical fiscal policy, especially during the slow periods. The USA embarked on a strange experiment lead be Greenspan of excessively low interest rates for a prolonged period of time. Periods of strong economic growth should feature high interest rates, periods of reduced economic growth can then be countered somewhat through monetary policy. The government should also endeavour to run surplus budgets during the good times and not be afraid of turning those into deficit budgets in the downturns. If you run a deficit budget during a period of strong economic growth, together with low cash rates you have nowhere to move when the cycle reverses.  The solution now? That is difficult. I would say that the solution now would be to raise revenues through corporate taxes and similarly increase government spending on investments aimed at stimulating the economy. Use this time to invest in the much needed infrastructure maintenance and upgrades that the USA needs. These need to be fast-tracked into action and I would therefore consider fixing infrastructure as more important than installing new infrastructure.   There are probably long-term structural adjustments that need to be looked at too, but I am not intimately familiar with the USA as I am Australian. It is clear however that Austerity during economic downturns does not help end the recession (or benign growth). It is clear to me as an observer however that employment appears to be the big issue in the USA right now, so cutting jobs is not a smart move.  Edit: I'll point out that my opinion comes from the Australian experience, our government ran surplus budgets during our period of recent growth and our reserve bank kept interest rates high. When the GFC hit us in 2008 the government almost instantly reversed its fiscal policy, going so far as mailing $900 cheques to every Australian just to get cash flowing in the economy, they then embarked upon infrastructure spending programs. Similarly the reserve bank were able to quickly and dramatically reduce interest rates. The result was that we saw 1 quarter of mildly negative growth, and positive growth ever since (hence no recession). We ran a textbook example of counter-cyclical fiscal and monetary policy which is today lauded by economists over. We now have 5% unemployment, low government debt (relative to the OECD) and high economic growth (relative to the OECD).


https://www.kaplanfinancial.com/securities/series-6-63/  www.prelicence.com   there are a lot of websites that offer pre licensing/study material. your best bet probably won’t be free. (but i think investopedia might have some helpful information)  good luck! i hope two weeks is enough time


If the call is in the money and you believe the reason for the price jump was an overreaction with a pullback on the horizon or you anticipate downward movement for other reasons, I will roll (sometimes for a strike closer to at the money) as long as the trade results in a net credit!   You already have the statistical edge trading covered calls over everyone who purchased stock at the same point in time.  This is because covered calls reduce your cost basis and increase your probability of profit. For people reading this who are not interested in the math behind probability of profit(POP) for covered calls, you should be aware of why POP is higher for covered calls (CC).  With CCs you win when the stock price stays the same, you win when it goes down slightly, you win when the stock goes up.  You have two more ways to win than someone who just buys stock, therefore a higher probability of making a buck! Another option: If your stock is going to be called at a loss, or the strike you want to roll to results in a net debit, or  your cash funds are short of owning 100x shares and you are familiar with the stock, try writing a naked put for the price you want to buy at.  At experation, if the naked put is exercised, your basis is reduced by the premium of the put you sold, and you can write a covered call against the stock you now own.  If it expires worthless you keep the premium.  This is also another way to increase your POP.


Many Tesla owners have had QC issues with their Teslas. Tesla does an extraordinary job of placating them by replacing the vehicle outright if something is awry. This practice is not widely reported in the news and quietly swept under the rug. Talk to a group of Tesla owners and you'll quickly find out the truth.


Determining the value of a service is an art, not a science. It depends on what others are charging, the quality and complexity and annoyance factor of the work, availability of people with the skill to do the work, etc. This topic can and does fill books, plural, and can't be answered fully here. As a customer, the answer is to get multiple quotes, understand how they differ, and pick the one you are most comfortable with. Last job I priced, I got three quotes, discarded the lowball who didn't know PT from cedar, discarded the one with the luxury price, and went with the guy in the middle who did adequate (not great) work for a tolerable fee. For a different kind of job I might have decided otherwise, or chucked all three and looked for more quotes from respected firms.


There is no tax code I know that would grant you such a privilege. And it just isn't practicable. In your examples, you always sold your product and were thus able, in retrospect, to give a value to your work. What if you don't sell your product? What if in one case your worked hour is reimbursed with one price, with the next product at another (i.e. difference in margin)? No, it won't work like that.  And by the way, I think you might have got some definitions upside down. What you want is a salary that your own company pays out to yourself and you can deduct from other profits. But as long as you can't afford to pay yourself a salary, and you don't have access to investors who are willing to front you the money, the time invested is your personal investment and cannot be deducted anywhere - though it might pay off nicely in the long run. That's the risk entrepreneurs take.


I always enjoy reading analyses like that, but something I've always wondered is whether they look at anything besides specifically the minimum wage.  Having worked a warehouse job, I was paid 50 cents above minimum wage. Now, that amount isn't arbitrary. It is 50 cents above minimum wage, and if minimum wage went up, so would that wage. I reckon there's a whole lot of people making _near_ minimum wage, and it seems rather incomplete to talk about only 1.8 million americans when that number could balloon just by including wages within a dollar of the minimum.  I'm not saying that is fact, I just wish the analysis wasn't so matter of fact, when it appears to me they've somehow overlooked a pretty import subset of people affected by the minimum wage.


"This question and your other one indicate you're a bit unclear on how capital gains taxes work, so here's the deal: you buy an asset (like shares of stock or a mutual fund).  You later sell it for more than you bought it for.  You pay taxes on your profit: the difference between what you sold it for and what you bought it for.  What matters is not the amount of money you ""withdraw"", but the prices at which assets are bought and sold. In fact, often you will be able to choose which individual shares you sell, which means you have some control over the tax you pay.  For a simple example, suppose you buy 10 shares of stock for $100 each in January (an investment of $1000); we'll call these the ""early"" shares.  The stock goes up to $200 in July, and you buy 10 more shares (investing an additional $2000); we'll call these the ""late"" shares.  Then the stock drops to $150.  Suppose you want $1500 in cash, so you are going to sell 10 shares. The 10 early shares you bought have increased in value, because you bought then for $100 but can now sell them for $150.  The 10 late shares have decreased in value, because you bought them for $200 but can now only sell them for $150.  If you choose to sell the early shares, you will have a capital gain of $500 ($1500 sale price minus $1000 purchase price), on which you may owe taxes.  If you sell the late shares, you will have a capital loss of $500 ($1500 sale price minus $2000 purchase price is -$500), which you can potentially use to reduce your taxes.  Or you could sell 5 of each and have no gain or loss (selling five early shares for $150 gives you a gain of $250, but selling five late shares for $150 gives you a loss of $250, and they cancel out). The point of all this is to say that the tax is not determined by the amount of cash you get, but by the difference between the sale price and the price you purchased for (known as the ""cost basis""), and this in turn depends on which specific assets you sell.  It is not enough to know the total amount you invested and the total gain.  You need to know the specific cost basis (i.e., original purchase price) of the specific shares you're selling.  (This is also the answer to your question about long-term versus short-term gains.  It doesn't matter how much money you make on the sale.  What matters is how long you hold the asset before selling it.) That said, many brokers will automatically sell your shares in a certain order unless you tell them otherwise (and some won't let you tell them otherwise).  Often they will use the ""first in, first out"" rule, which means they will always sell the earliest-purchased shares first. To finally get to your specific question about Betterment, they have a page here that says they use a different method.  Essentially, they try to sell your shares in a way that minimizes taxes.  They do this by first selling shares that have a loss, and only then selling shares that have a gain.  This basically means that if you want to cash out $X, and it is possible to do it in a way that incurs no tax liability, they will do that. What gets me very confused is if I continue to invest random amounts of money each month using Betterment, then I need to withdraw some cash, what are the tax implications.  As my long answer above should indicate, there is no simple answer to this.  The answer is ""it depends"".  It depends on exactly when you bought the shares, exactly how much you paid for them, exactly when and how much the price rose or fell, and exactly how much you sell them for.  Betterment is more or less saying ""Don't worry about any of this, trust us, we will handle everything so that your tax is minimized."" A final note: if you really do want to track the details of your cost basis, Betterment may not be for you, because it is an automated platform that may do a lot of individual trades that a human wouldn't do, and that can make tracking the cost basis yourself very difficult.  Almost the whole point of something like Betterment is that you are supposed to give them your money and forget about these details."


This is just a guess but I would imagine that it has to do with risk. The deposits in Banks are usually as safe as government bonds (broad oversimplification) as: The US government is considered the most trustworthy - even in unlikely event of being close to default it would be rescued by FED (so it can just print the money). So the banks at the same time have very low competition regarding government bonds and the investments they can do have relatively low ROI so they cannot offer much more competitive rates. On the other hand Ukrainian bonds have current rating Caa3/CCC-/CCC - i.e. the Goverment is judged to be likely to default (as you pointed out there is war going on) and in result the government bonds are considered highly speculative. Therefore to attract foreign investors they need to have high interest rating. Similarly the CDs at the banks can be considered at the risk of being lost so to prevent flight of capital overseas (or people keeping USD in cash form at home) they need to offer rates that reflect the risk.


I notice that a lot happened four months ago. You were denied credit twice. Your income went up from $20k to $60k. I'm wondering if you were denied credit based on your $20k income. Since you couldn't provide proof of your income I wonder if they used $0 for your income.  Debt to income ratio is one significant factor included in the credit score calculation. You may not have a lot of debt, but if you don't have any income even a few hundred dollars on a credit card would throw your debt to income ratio into a panic. I'm assuming that your change from $20k to $60k income involved a change of jobs. Perhaps now you can provide proof of income. You would certainly need to do that before being approved for a mortgage.  Well that's my two cents about what may (or may not) have gone wrong last time. As for what to do next I would agree that the most helpful thing you could do is check your credit score and fix any errors that might negatively impact your credit score. (There might also be non-errors that need addressed such as open credit accounts that you thought you had closed.) When building credit history, time is on your side. If you just go on living your life and paying your bills promptly, your credit will slowly climb to an acceptable level. Unfortunately in the time frame you mentioned (~1 year) there isn't really enough time to build it significantly.  You bring up a valid point about credit applications reducing your credit score. Of course, that effect is somewhat minimal and temporary (2 yrs according to the thread linked to above). But again 1 year is not enough to recover. If you're considering applying for additional credit as a means to improve your credit score it may be too late to reap the benefits before your mortgage application. Of course if you could pay off any debts, that would help your debt to income ratio. But it would also reduce any house down payment you could save up and thereby increase the amount of your mortgage.  Better just save those pennies (or preferably Washingtons and Benjamins) to put toward a down payment.


"The best practices for this sort of thing: In terms of electronics and such, you're always at risk for some crackhead busting in your door and grabbing your iPod or whatever. Thieves don't really care about clothes... they want items quickly converted to cash: small electronics with resale value, cash, jewelry. Keeping things locked and having a dog are probably the best deterrents for that scenario. More professional/organized burglars who rob houses during the day stake out a neighborhood and look for places where their presence won't be noticed. If things are clean and consistent, your neighbors, police patrol, mailman, etc are more likely to notice something awry and call the police. That's a risk factor for the ""pro"" thief, who will more likely look for a softer target. If you live in an area where there has been a burglary spree or you are really worried about this, get a basic, centrally monitored alarm system. If you're not living a flashy lifestyle and are deliberately thinking about ways to look like you don't have anything, it is money well spent. If you are living a flashy lifestyle, unwanted attention comes with the territory. In any case, feeling safe at home is something you need to be able to do."


There are still human brokers on the floor primarily due to tradition. Their numbers have certainly dwindled, however, and it's reasonable to expect the number of floor traders to decrease even more as electronic trading continues to grow. A key reason for human brokers, however, is due to privacy. Certain private exchanges such as dark pools maintain privacy for high profile clients and institutional investors, and human brokers are needed to execute anonymous deals in these venues. Even in this region, however, technology is supplanting the need for brokers. I don't believe there is any human-broker-free stock exchange, but Nasdaq and other traditionally OTC (over the counter) exchanges are as close as it gets since they never even had trading floors.


"Pretty simple actually. This is a state-run defined benefit plan, where the benefit is calculated based on the length of the employment and the contributed amounts. This is what in the US is known as the Social Security.  This is a defined contribution plan, where the employee can chose the level of risk based on certain pre-defined investment guidelines (more conservative or more aggressive). In Poland, it appears that there's a certain amount of the state-mandated SS tax is transferred to these plans. Nothing in the US is like that, but you can see it as a mandatory IRA with a preset limited choice of mutual funds to invest into, as an analogy. The recent change was to reduce the portion of the madatory contribution that is diverted to this plan from 7+% to 2.3% (on account of expanding the contribution to (1)). Probably the recent crashes of the stock markets that affected these accounts lead to this decision. This is voluntary defined contribution plan, similar to the US 401Ks. This division is actually pretty common, not unique to Poland. I'd say its the ""standard"" pension scheme, as opposed to what we're used to in the US."


Clearly it's not. Nazis clearly were socialist. Their intention was for people to defer their personal interests to the common good. That's socialism.  Unless you're gonna say that the socialism we want is democratic socialism, in which case, I'll refer you to your own comment.


"You know what this remind me of? When Madoff got caught by the investigators and just said ""the money's all gone, it was a fraud"".  The guy was chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs. He's not a naive young upstart who doesn't know how big money moves."


"Thanks!  Do you know how to calculate the coefficients from this part?:  ""The difference between the one-year rate and the spread coefficients represents the response to a change in the one-year rate. As a result, the coefficient on the one-year rate and the difference in the coefficients on the one-year rate and spread should be positive if community banks, on average, are asset sensitive and negative if they are liability sensitive. The coefficient on the spread should be positive because an increase in long-term rates should increase net interest income for both asset-sensitive and liability-sensitive banks.""  The one-year treasury yield is 1.38% and the ten-year rate is 2.30%.  I would greatly appreciate it if you have the time!"


"How can I avoid this, so we are taxed as if we are making the $60k/yr that we want to receive?  You can't. In the US the income is taxed when received, not when used. If you receive 1M this year, taking out 60K doesn't mean the other 940K ""weren't received"". They were, and are taxable. Create a pension fund in the corporation, feed it all profits, and pay   out $60k/yr of ""pension"". I doubt that the corporation could deduct a   million a year in pension funding. You cannot do that. You can only deposit to a pension plan up to 100% of your salary, and no more than $50K total (maybe a little more this year, its adjusted to inflation). Buy a million dollars in ""business equipment"" of some sort each year   to get a deduction, then sell it over time to fund a $60k/yr salary. I   doubt such a vehicle exists. If there's no real business purpose, it will be disallowed and you'll be penalized. Your only purpose is tax avoidance, meaning you're trying to shift income using your business to avoid paying taxes - that's illegal. Do crazy Section 79 life insurance schemes to tax-defer the income.   The law caps this so I can only deduct < $100k of the $1 million   annually, and there are other problems with this approach.\ Yes. Wouldn't go there.  Added: From what I understand, this is a term life insurance plan sponsored by the employer for the employee. This is not a deferral of income, but rather a deduction: instead of paying your term life insurance with your own after tax money, your employer pays with their pre-tax. It has a limit of $50K per employee, and is only available for employees. There are non-discrimination limitations that may affect your ability to use it, but I don't see how it is at all helpful for you. It gives you a deduction, but its money spent, not money in your pocket. End added. Do some tax avoidance like Facebook does with its Double Irish trick,   storing the income in some foreign subsidiary and drawing $60k/yr in   salary to be taxed at $60k/yr rates. This is probably cost-prohibitive   for a $1MM/yr company. You're not Facebook. What works with a billion, will not work with a million. Keep in mind that you're a one-man business, things that huge corporations like Google or Facebook can get away with are a no-no for a sole-proprietor (even if incorporated). Bottom line you'll probably have to pay the taxes. Get a good tax professional to help you identify as much deductions as possible, and if you can plan income ahead - plan it better."


This thread has been linked to from elsewhere on reddit.    - [/r/bestof] [/u/Beebles1 explains how to break into the finance sector](http://np.reddit.com/r/bestof/comments/2dl483/ubeebles1_explains_how_to_break_into_the_finance/)   *^If ^you ^follow ^any ^of ^the ^above ^links, ^respect ^the ^rules ^of ^reddit ^and ^don't ^vote ^or ^comment. ^Questions? ^Abuse? [^Message ^me ^here.](http://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fmeta_bot_mailbag)*


"Because people are Risk Averse. Suppose that you own an asset worth $10,000 to you.  Suppose that each year, the asset has 1% chance of being stolen (or completely broken).  The expected value is 99% x 10,000 + 1% x $0 = $9,900. This is the average outcome if you do not buy insurance.  Now consider two mutually exclusive outcomes: 99% chance of keeping $10,000 and 1% chance of losing everything (expected value: $9,900)  100% chance of keeping $9,900 (expected value: $9,900)  Everyone would choose option 2, even though the expected values are the same.  Option 2 is an insurance that cost $100 (Actuarially fair, aka the odds are fair).  Now suppose the insurance costs $150 instead of $100 (despite that the bad probability is still 1%). You are faced with  99% chance of keeping $10,000 and 1% chance of losing everything (expected value: $9,900)  100% chance of keeping $9,850 (expected value: $9,850)  Some people would still choose option 2, even though the expected value is actually lower.  The $50 is called Risk Premium, which people are willing to pay in order to avoid uncertainty. The odds are unfair, but the Risk Premium has its value.  That being said, competition between insurance companies would drive down the premium until the insurance is close to actuarially fair, but they have cost to cover (sales, administration, etc), making the odds ""unfair""."


Basically, they all do. The relationship is much more dynamic with stocks but corporate financing costs increase, return requirements increase (risk free rate goes up). Same with real estate. Commodity demand is correlated with economic activity, which is correlated with interest rates, although not perfectly. The most important factor is, a higher risk free rate increases the discount rate, which reduces asset values


"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.)   [...]"


"> Will the Trump base embrace and support this?    ... Yes.   I mean, is that really in question beyond just hoping?     > who would have thought this would be possible in a country like the USA.   It really highlights how much of it all is ""honor system"", with assumptions that the people involved actually give a damn about the country they're representing.  Without that check in place, there's a lot of wiggle room.  Wiggle room that is a good thing in sane times with logical people involved who can use their best judgement."


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#####&#009;  ######&#009;  ####&#009;  [**A Modest Proposal**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A%20Modest%20Proposal): [](#sfw)   ---  >___A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People From Being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick___,  commonly referred to as ___A Modest Proposal___, is a [Juvenalian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juvenalian_satire) [satirical essay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satire) written and published anonymously by [Jonathan Swift](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Swift) in 1729. Swift suggests that the impoverished Irish might ease their economic troubles by selling their children as food for rich gentlemen and ladies.  This satirical [hyperbole](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperbole) mocks heartless attitudes towards the poor, as well as Irish policy in general.  >====  >[**Image**](https://i.imgur.com/cFeI68V.jpg) [^(i)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jonathan_Swift_by_Charles_Jervas_detail.jpg)  ---  ^Interesting: [^A ^Modest ^Video ^Game ^Proposal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Video_Game_Proposal) ^| [^List ^of ^18 ^to ^Life ^episodes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_18_to_Life_episodes) ^| [^Jonathan ^Swift](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Swift) ^| [^On ^the ^Poverty ^of ^Student ^Life](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Poverty_of_Student_Life)   ^Parent ^commenter ^can [^toggle ^NSFW](http://www.np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=autowikibot&subject=AutoWikibot NSFW toggle&message=%2Btoggle-nsfw+ck2p9al) ^or[](#or) [^delete](http://www.np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=autowikibot&subject=AutoWikibot Deletion&message=%2Bdelete+ck2p9al)^. ^Will ^also ^delete ^on ^comment ^score ^of ^-1 ^or ^less. ^| [^(FAQs)](http://www.np.reddit.com/r/autowikibot/wiki/index) ^| [^Mods](http://www.np.reddit.com/r/autowikibot/comments/1x013o/for_moderators_switches_commands_and_css/) ^| [^Magic ^Words](http://www.np.reddit.com/r/autowikibot/comments/1ux484/ask_wikibot/)


"That's not very correct math. It should be "" +household savings -spending + business savings -spending + imports -exports + government surplus -deficit = 0"" And then it seems like comparing oranges with apples?  How can you compare savings, spending and surplus of various instances?  If it would be + income - expense it would be more understandable. Then it's just about money, not about value.  It's possible to circulate a fixed amount of money around to various instances. If those instances are doing valuable favors to each other while circulating money, they generate wealth. However it's better to assign more money into the system to represent added value in the system. Price of money usually is something like ""total value in the system/amount of money in the system"". If you just add money, you can't add value."


Most emergencies are less than 1,000 in nature.  As such I would keep at least that amount in a checking/savings account at the bank from which you pay your bills or can get cash from.  This amount may increase so you can avoid low balance fees, or because of the nature of your life style and income. Beyond that, you can search for yield.  I personally like online savings accounts like Amex Personal Savings, Ally or others.   Money market accounts will work equally well.  There you can keep the bulk of your emergency savings and large purchase savings.  Keep in mind you still won't earn much.  A 40K emergency fund will only earn you $38/month at Ally.


You can get an investment manager through firms like Fidelity or E*Trade to manage your account. It won't be someone dedicated exclusively to you, but you're in the range where they'd take you as a managed account customer. Another option would be to get a financial planner (CFP or something) help you to identify your needs and figure out what your investments portfolio should look like. This is not a whole lot of money, but is definitely enough to have an early retirement if managed and invested properly.


There are some points not covered in the other answers that I feel are important to address: In order to be eligible to contribute to an HSA, you must be enrolled in a High Deductible Health insurance Plan (HDHP).  In general, I think this is a great idea for most people (who are responsible enough to save up for medical expenses), but for a small portion it may cost more money to enroll in this type of plan, due to high recurring medical costs.  You should always weigh the costs of the related insurance plans against the benefit of an HSA. Note that once you open an account and contribute, you can use the funds at any point after that.  The eligibility described here is only regarding making new contributions to the account. This may no longer be true, but when I first started using an HSA several years back, I noticed that the fees and costs administered by the providers  were higher than I’d come to expect from, say, my IRA administrator.  At least, this was true for the accounts I found – perhaps I missed a better option. Furthermore, there was a much smaller selection of investment options available in those HSAs than in other brokerage accounts.  If you are not maxing out retirement already, it’s worth comparing fees and historical returns versus those accounts rather than assuming that the tax benefits will make the HSA a better deal. In my book, if it passes these two checks, then the HSA is a tremendous deal that is highly under-utilized.


"Yes, the penalty is the tax you pay on it again when you withdraw the money. The withdrawal of the excess contribution is taxed as your wages (but no penalty). Excess contribution cannot be added to the basis or considered ""after-tax"" (hence the double taxation). Note that allowing you to keep the excess contribution in the plan may lead to disqualifying the plan, so it is likely that the plan administrator will force you to remove the excess contribution if they become aware of it. Otherwise you may end up forcing early 401(k) withdrawal on all of your co-workers. More on this IRS web page. And this one."


>  and investors would have stopped wanting to buy them, which would cause interest rates on homes to go up  Unless you're lumping the MIP into the interest rate (which I assume you're not, given you mentioned it in the first sentence), the logic here doesn't follow.


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"I'd advise you to use a broker. Even a discount broker like Charles Schwab would do. First, they would do the ""trades"" purchase/sale, on your behalf, using parameters you specify (and also tell you where the ""market"" is at any given time). Second, they may sell you bills of a desirable term (e.g. six weeks) of out their own inventory. Third, they will lend you money (50% or more) against your holdings, so you'll have some money when you need it, and the balance when the bills mature."


For XOM if you were lucky enough to purchase on 20 Jan 16, at 73.18/share and sold on 15 July at 94.95 you would achieve a 29% return in six months.  Awesome.  You'd also get a dividend payment or two adding another percentage point per to your returns.   The one year chart for FB shows it increasing from ~95/share to ~129.  Yet no dividend was paid.  However, the 35.7% YTD for 2016 should make anyone happy. Both of these require excellent timing, and those kind of returns are unsustainable over the long haul.  Many people simply hold stocks.  Having the dividend is a nice bonus to some growth.   Why to people buy stocks?  For profit.  Sometimes dividend payers offer the best option, sometimes not.


The easiest way to deal with risks for individual stocks is to diversify. I do most of my investing in broad market index funds, particularly the S&P 500.  I don't generally hold individual stocks long, but I do buy options when I think there are price moves that aren't supported by the fundamentals of a stock. All of this riskier short-term investing is done in my Roth IRA, because I want to maximize the profits in the account that won't ever be taxed. I wouldn't want a particularly fruitful investing year to bite me with short term capital gains on my income tax. I usually beat the market in that account, but not by much. It would be pretty easy to wipe out those gains on a particularly bad year if I was investing in the actual stocks and not just using options. Many people who deal in individual stocks hedge with put options, but this is only cost effective at strike prices that represent losses of 20% or more and it eats away the gains. Other people or try to add to their gains by selling covered call options figuring that they're happy to sell with a large upward move, but if that upward move doesn't happen you still get the gains from the options you've sold.


Portlander here too! Have you made sure to consider the tax burden you will have from the inheritance? Investing in extra property is something that you should do when you are all paid up.  You don't want a job loss or other emergency make it impossible to keep the house you live in.  What happens if you buy a house and then lose both your jobs?  Do you let the bank foreclose on both homes? I think you would be in a much more stable position owning fully all your property.  Once your first house is paid off, you can rent that or consider buying another. The key advice here is to stabilize and remove all your debts now.  It is less exciting but safer.  But if you don't owe any money.  Go for it.


Using the bank's bill pay always seemed like a hassle to me. There are lots of mistakes to be made by me that can result in late payments and not too many benefits other than some convenience, and being able to pay bills online for accounts that require paper payment. (Although the banking systems often screw up those payments) Plus, there is usually a fee associated with bill pay, at least to some extent. I generally use the websites of my credit cards or other entities to pay bills.  Then again, maybe I'm a bit of a weirdo here... I don't see mailing a check 3 days ahead of the due date as a particular hassle.


While this is absolutely true, the wealthy amongst us should do well to remember that you have to throw a healthy pile of scraps to the dogs or they may get hungry and bite the hand that used to feed them.  /I'm very interested in what may happen with tax reform, first time in my life I may actually benefit from something the govt does.


"This is a great question.  I've participated in a deal like that as an employee, and I also know of friends and family who have been involved during a buyout.  In short:  The updated part of your question is correct: There is no single typical treatment.  What happens to unvested restricted stock units (RSUs), unvested employee stock options, etc. varies from case to case. Furthermore, what exactly will happen in your case ought to have been described in the grant documentation which you (hopefully) received when you were issued restricted stock in the first place. Anyway, here are the two cases I've seen happen before: Immediate vesting of all units.  Immediate vesting is often the case with RSUs or options that are granted to executives or key employees.  The grant documentation usually details the cases that will have immediate vesting.  One of the cases is usually a Change in/of Control (CIC or COC) provision, triggered in a buyout.  Other immediate vesting cases may be when the key employee is terminated without cause, or dies.  The terms vary, and are often negotiated by shrewd key employees. Conversion of the units to a new schedule.  If anything is more ""typical"" of regular employee-level grants, I think this one would be.  Generally, such RSU or option grants will be converted, at the deal price, to a new schedule with identical dates and vesting percentages, but a new number of units and dollar amount or strike price, usually so the end result would have been the same as before the deal. I'm also curious if anybody else has been through a buyout, or knows anybody who has been through a buyout, and how they were treated."


Don't ever believe you're not good at something in college. Trust me, do not decide to not take a certain class just because you weren't good at it in HS. Now why are they making you choose your major right off the bat as a freshman? A lot of people only got accepted into the business school sophomore/junior year. Who cares if you get to take intro to marketing earlier than everyone else. Most of the classes in your freshman year should be some gen eds and a whole lot of electives to help you choose your major may it be freakin philosophy or intro to computer analysis. I'm not gonna tell you to go do finance or CS because really, this is freakin AMERICA. You work hard, you'll get rewarded. Do what you love, I have too many friends who's doing what they don't love, just for the sake of makin some extra cash right after graduation. Just get that 4.0, be well presented, get drunk every other weekend and have fun in college. Since you're already thinking about all this, you're way ahead of your class, you'll do well bro.


"The general argument put forward by gold lovers isn't that you get the same gold per dollar (or dollars per ounce of gold), but that you get the same consumable product per ounce of gold. In other words the claim is that the inflation-adjusted price of gold is more-or-less constant. See zerohedge.com link for a chart of gold in 2010 GBP all the way from 1265. (""In 2010 GBP"" means its an inflation adjusted chart.) As you can see there is plenty of fluctuation in there, but it just so happens that gold is worth about the same now as it was in 1265. See caseyresearch.com link for a series of anecdotes of the buying power of gold and silver going back some 3000 years. What this means to you: If you think the stock market is volatile and want to de-risk your holdings for the next 2 years, gold is just as risky If you want to invest some wealth such that it will be worth more (in real terms) when you take it out in 40 years time than today, the stock market has historically given better returns than gold If you want to put money aside, and it to not lose value, for a few hundred years, then gold might be a sensible place to store your wealth (as per comment from @Michael Kjörling) It might be possible to use gold as a partial hedge against the stock market, as the two supposedly have very low correlation"


"In general taking money out of a 401k to repay a loan is a bad idea for a number of reasons.  Taxes and penalties if you are under 59 and 1/2 you will pay a 10% penalty on withdrawals from a traditional 401k plan. Then you are going add the amount you withdraw to your income in determining your current tax bill. If you make a large withdrawal you will likely push yourself into a higher tax bracket and will end up paying additional taxes than if you made several smaller withdrawals or waited until retirement when your income would presumably be lower. Taxes and penalties will mean you will need to withdraw ~225k in order to pay taxes and penalties while still having 150k to pay toward the mortgage (this assumes you are single and have no other income). You miss out on the growth your 401k could have had.  Lack of diversification the average person has the majority of their net worth tied up in their home and by paying off your mortgage you are putting even more of your money into residential real estate. By moving money from a 401k to your personal residence you could also lose some protection from creditors and lawsuits. Retirement accounts are generally off limits to creditors where as your house is limited by the homestead exemption (varies greatly from state to state). There are a few times when it might makes sense to use 401k money to pay off a mortgage. If you are older than 59.5 and have little tolerance for risk it might make sense to take the amount of money between your current income and the next higher tax bracket and ""invest"" the money in your mortgage each year. You would still want to avoid taking out a large chunk at one time though to avoid pushing yourself into a much higher tax bracket."


I was looking into Walmart's acquisition of Jet. That link came up. It had a good video about that and Walmart's position vs Amazon is all.  No real 'point' specifically to say other than Wal-mart isn't likely to roll over and die simply because Amazon's increasing competition on Walmart's turf.    ..and, well, back to the original point, two isn't one and, thus, not a monopoly.. ..esp with walmart being so much larger


"It's OK... you can just admit you don't fully understand what happened...  Here's a quick run down:  1) Private banks (like Chase, Wells Fargo, etc.) start making bad loans. They do this intentionally because...  2) The bad loans are then bundled into what are called ""Mortgage Backed Securities"".  3) Ratings agencies like Standard and Poors rate these mortgage backed securities as AAA safe investments. Even though they know, and the banks know, they're junk.  4) Companies who don't (AIG) or can't (Fannie/Freddie) write sub prime mortgages are then sold bad mortgages as AAA rated investments.  5) The sales of investments are so popular and so profitable that the banks continue making more bad loans SOLELY so they can re-sell them as investments.  6) The laws preventing Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae from making sub prime loans are lifted and they start doing the same thing as everyone else, just before the collapse begins.  For most of the time these hijinks were going on, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were actually prevented from taking part."


Your question is based on a false premise. Debit cards are more popular in the US than credit cards are. Indeed it seems to be the non-US part of the world that is big in credit cards. See here for example