Law Office of Daniel J. Caplis Daniel J. Caplis is the founding partner of the Law Office of Daniel J. Caplis, and he has been practicing law for more than 30 years. In his first year out of law school, Daniel J. Caplis served as the lead trial attorney in a medical malpractice case that involved horrible birth injuries to a set of triplets. After the case, Daniel J. Caplis knew he wanted to spend the rest of his career defending those whose lives were changed forever because of the carelessness of others.


"I was a millennial ""stuck"" in New York. I was in law school when the crash happened. I wanted to practice in smaller cities like CLT or ATL but immediately after the crash there were very few jobs, while New York started doing deals again by about late 2009. So I had to go to NY.   You end up getting ""stuck"" because of the barriers to move. For me it was the bar. But there are others like markets that recovered more slowly, experience requirements set by employers, the fact that there are simply more jobs in large urban markets. Most of my law school class started in SF, NY, Chi, and LA. Now we're on our 2nd firm or city in CLT, ATL, HOU, MIA, etc."


Maybe the EU really ISN'T really that important, and the financial problems that have resulted from European integration are evidence that state sovereignty and self-determination are what's important... But hey, what do I know, I'm not a rich banker/bureaucrat who profited off the whole imposed mess at the expense of the ordinary working people.


I thought it was somewhat of a dick move to lmgtfy since it is like here since you can't do it for yourself, I'll show you how. I was trying to make a point though. I don't think saying that I don't get why people don't Google simple things is being a dick again.


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Aswath Damodaran's [Investment Valuation 3rd edition](http://www.amazon.com/Investment-Valuation-Techniques-Determining-University/dp/1118130731/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1339995852&sr=8-12&keywords=aswath+damodaran) (or save money and go with a used copy of the [2nd edition](http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0471414905/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used))  He's a professor at Stern School of Business. His [website](http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/) and [blog](http://aswathdamodaran.blogspot.com/) are good resources as well. [Here is his support page](http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/Inv3ed.htm) for his Investment Valuation text. It includes chapter summaries, slides, ect. If you're interested in buying the text you can get an idea of what's in it by checking that site out.


If the USPS went away, how would FedEx and UPS deliver packages to all those rural and remote customers?  Actually, I know the answer to this one.  If the USPS went away, not everybody in the USA would be able to receive packages.  Commercial delivery operations only serve areas that are profitable.


I have not looked in details but apparently the company has (at least) a dual listing in Hong Kong (its main listing, ticker 700) and in the US (ticker TCTZF). It also has an ADR (TCEHY), the underlying of which is the HK line. The two US listings essentially trade at the same price and will provide very similar returns but a major difference is that TCTZF pays dividends in HKD whereas TCEHY pays its dividends in USD. The latter may be more convenient depending on the account you use to trade the stock. The ADR line is also more liquid.


So, child, your goal is to make money? This is usually achieved by selling goods (say, lemonade) at a price that exceeds their cost (say, sugar, water and, well, lemons). Options, at first, are very much same in that you can buy the right to engage in a specific future trade. You make money in this situation if the eventual returns from the scheduled trade cover the cost of purchasing the option. Otherwise you can simply opt out of the trade -- you purchased the right to trade, after all, not any type of obligation. Makes sense? Good. Because what follows is what makes options a little different. That is, if you sell that same right to engage in a specific trade the situation is seemingly reversed: you lock in your return at the outset, but the costs aren't fully realized until the trade is either consumed or declined by the owner of the option. And keep in mind that it is always the owner of the option who is in the driver's seat; they may sell the option, hold on to it and do nothing, or use it to engage in the anticipated trade. And that's really all there's to it.


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Retail companies selling their real estate holdings isn't uncommon and is actually pushed for by shareholders sometimes (see Macy's and Starboard Value). The fact that the CEO bought them seems unique but not necessarily means there was an issue. I would think that type of transaction would get a lot of scrutiny so would be surprised if he could pull off any fuckery. The disclosure seems like it might be a pretty standard disclosure known as a related party transaction that again isn't in and of itself an issue


Its only high for some areas if you consider rural people to be sub-class citizens who don't deserve access to modern technology or the ability to escape poverty or move to an urban area. They already pay more for goods, services, transport costs, and travel time. Sure housing is cheaper but a house doesn't get any cheaper to maintain just because you didn't have to pay an enormous amount of money for the land it sits on.


> Some 13.2% of debt in the fourth quarter of 2016 was held by those with scores below 620, compared with 19% in 2008 and 16.6% in 2003.  Don't worry, we still have 5.8% buffer before it reaches 2008 level


RobertHalf is the company that got me the temp job, the lady I met with has been easy to get in contact with and has been actively searching for me it seems. I have been e-mailing and every week and calling her every other to fill her in on my progress. I also use Parker Lynch, not sure if they are out that way but they seem rather nice as well.  I have been doing about 5-7 a day with the apps as well, I am starting to run out of places to look and starting to feel a bit defeated and getting a bit stir crazy sitting in front of my computer all day hitting refresh on all the job boards every 10 minutes.  The two actual interviews for positions I have had both ended up going to someone else, I got both interviews through networking and was told by them that they found a more qualified candidate. One a Yale B School uma cum laude and one a seasoned analyst... I interview well, but my credentials are just not good enough yet. Both companies called me and let me know they really liked me but they could not turn down the other opportunities they had. At least I got feedback I guess...  As far as learning SQL, I learned VBA with VBA for dummies, my friend recommended SQL for dummies to me as well. He knows SQL forwards and backwards and tells me it is a great learning tool.


My friend there is hope. I am 36 and went back to school 3 years ago. I will graduate in December with a BBA in Finance. I have a family, (3 girls-7,4,2), I Work almost full time, have I side business, and I am heavily involved in a society on campus (the Investment Society). I crashed an Burned out of school when I was 18/19. Here in Texas your grades always follow you. We have a renew program which wipes your slate clean, but I had 16 hours I wanted to use so I took the hit. There is a difference between overall GPA and career study GPA. You can sometimes get by on the latter.  A GPA is important for getting your foot in the door and for companies who have no idea who you are. If you have an in with a company then GPA is not as important. But you have to bust it going back. Your main focus will be getting the internship with the company you know and knowing the shit out of the fields of study.  I am part of that Investment Society on campus. We grind at the subjects of time value, statistics, accounting, fundamentals, economics, technical, management, forecasting, model building, analysis, and even coding. Coding will be your biggest asset on top of knowing the fields of study.  If you can talk the shit out of the jargon, concepts, and knowledge then you will do really well. In Finance though you have to be a master of many fields to do well.  I would recommend getting your hands on some CFA study material and hit the highlights. I am nearing the end of college and realized that the CFA study material is a blueprint for a finance degree. Also get your CFA cert ASAP out of college. While everything is still fresh.  I am not going into the field directly, as I am starting a company, but others around me are landing jobs in New York and Chicago. We are a rather irrelevant school in San Antonio, but our grads are getting picked up by Goldman, Black Rock, and JP. If you know your shit and network well and are ambitious then you have a good shot.  If I can reinvent my life with all I have on my plate, then this should be cake for you. By that I mean Sweet and enjoyable. Just develop a plan, and get it done.


Ok, the point you're missing is that installed base is irrelevant.  Yes, there's much more total installed natgas than solar/wind, but that's not important for calculating the impact on coal retirements.  To displace coal, you need to install something new.  That new generation means coal needs to be less profitable or get turned off.  So the real question is how much solar/wind have been installed in the last 5 years compared to natgas.  These new installations replace coal that used to be burning.  Again, early in the thread you stated that solar/wind had very little effect.  That's not true, they have a very significant effect.  Natgas deserves significant credit, but certainly not all of it.


"Don't underestimate the impact of ""stealing from [your] retirement"".  If your retirement account growth averages 9%, you're effectively ""borrowing"" from the account at 9% interest.  Look at how long it will take you to pay back the retirement account, and calculate how much ""interest"" you're paying on that money at 9%.   If it takes you 3 years to pay yourself back, you will have lost over $3,000 in opportunity cost, compared to $1,300 in interest on a 4% loan. If you don't pay yourself back (because of extra expenses that come with home ownership), over 35 years, the opportunity cost of the 10,000 you withdrew is over $230,000."


5.3% counts as junk these days? Wow, I miss the 13 - 22% days :-). Certainly shows a lot of confidence in Teslas ability to produce Model 3's. It also is going to squeeze the short sellers a bit harder as the capital is going to push out their 'dead by' dates. I feel no pity for them.


Your bank will gladly help you convert your Indian savings accounts into NRO savings accounts. You cannot change these accounts into NRE accounts directly; NRE accounts are supposed to be funded via deposits made from foreign currency accounts. Under the liberalized schemes available now, you can transfer the money in your regular savings account into your account abroad, converting it into foreign currency, if you (and your CA) provide proof to your bank (and the Reserve Bank of India) that you have paid all applicable taxes on the money in your savings account. And then you can transfer it all back into your NRE account. Perhaps you can combine these two steps into a single one, thereby putting the money in your regular savings account into an NRE account in one step, but I am sure that there will be lots of fees involved (e.g. you might get whacked by commissions, as well as the exchange rate differential as if you converted Indian rupees to US dollars, say, and then converted the dollars back to rupees) just as if you did the two-step conversion. There are no taxes involved in moving your own money into different accounts but there can be lots of fees and service charges.


"Pete and Noah addressed the math, showing how this is, in effect, converting a 30yr to a ~23yr mortgage, at a cost, plus payment about 8% higher (1 extra payment per year). No magic there. The real issue, as I see it, is whether this is the best use of the money. Keep in mind, once you pay extra principal, which in effect is exactly what this is, it's not easy to get it back. As long as you have any mortgage at all, you have the need for liquidity, enough to pay your mortgage, tax, utilities, etc, if you find yourself between jobs or to get through any short term crisis.  I've seen people choose the ""sure thing"" prepayment VS the ""risky"" 401(k) deposit. Ignoring a match is passing up a 50% or 100% return in most cases. Too good to pass up.  2 points to add - I avoided the further tangent of the tax benefit of IRA/401(k) deposits. It's too long a discussion, today's rate for the money saved, vs the rate on withdrawal. Worth considering, but not part of my answer. The other discussion I avoid is Nicholas' thoughts on the long term market return of 10% vs today's ~4% mortgage rate. This has been debated elsewhere and morphs into a ""pre-pay vs invest"" question."


A lot of these comments are right but I'll add two: buybacks and lowering costs. Too many companies have generated hordes of cash over the years; some of it is entirely their fault, cash that wasn't used for r&d (e.g. AAPL) and others simply don't have an opportunity to grow at their stage in the cooperate life cycle within their industry, so all that excess cash that has been generated for years is used for buybacks. Tech is making shit far more efficient and some companies have blotted cost structures, so introduce tech that makes the firm more efficient where applicable and cut unneeded employees.


Failing some answers to my comment, I am going to make some assumptions: Based upon a quick review of this article I'd probably be in the Russell 2000 Value Index Fund (IWN).  Quite simply it gives you broad market exposure so you can be diversified by purchasing one fund. One of the key success factors is starting, not if you pick the best fund at the onset.  I can recall, 20 years ago being amazed (and it was quite a feat) at someone who was able to invest $400 per month.  These days that won't get you to the ROTH maximum and smart 20 somethings are doing just that.


"Try the general stock exchange web page. http://www.aex.nl I did a quick trial myself and was able to download historical data for the AEX index for the last few years.  To get to the data, I went to the menu point ""Koersen"" on the main page and chose ""Indices"". I then entered into the sub page for the AEX index. There is a price chart window in which you have to choose the tab ""view data"". Now you can choose the date range you need and then download in a table format such as excel or csv. This should be easy to import into any software.  This is the direct link to the sub page: http://www.aex.nl/nl/products/indices/NL0000000107-XAMS/quotes"


You should definitively check boobank. It's not a bank !, but a framework that helps people to create quick interface modules to any bank so you don't have to use your web browser anymore with them. Actually, there is already an honest list of modules to access a few banks (I guess these banks are all french banks for now), but contributing a module seems easy and reading other contributed modules should constitute a good start. So boobank can work with any bank provided the interface with the bank is written.


You can't both enforce saving and have access to the money -- from what you say, it's clear that if you can access the money you will spend it. Can you find an account that allows one withdrawal every six months but no more, which should help to cut down on the impulse buys but still let you get at your money in an emergency?


If you pay off a debt through a collections agency, it will damage your credit.  Here's an alternative approach.  Settling a $10K loan for $2K, shows the lender is keen to settle.   Instead of paying the collections agency, negotiate with the lender and agree to pay 2K to settle provided that they agree to: This could be a win-win for both.  The lender gets to keep full 2K without having to pay the collection agency a fat commission and your credit isn't damaged. Not saying this will always work, but worth a try.   Pro tip: Get everything in writing before you pay anything.


There are two types of 529 programs.  One where you put money aside each month. The one offered by your state may give you a tax break on you deposits. You can pick the one from any state, if you like their options better. During the next 18 years the focus the investment changes from risky to less risky to no risk. This happens automatically. The money can be used for tuition, room, board, books, fees. The 2nd type of 529 is also offered by a state but it is geared for a big lump sum payment when the child is young. This will cover full tuition and fees (not room and board, or books) at a state school. The deal is not as great if they child wants to go out of state, or you move, or they want to go to a private school. You don't lose everything, but you will have to make up the shortfall at the last minute. There are provisions for scholarship money. If you kid goes to West Point you haven't wasted the money in the 529. The money in either plan is ignored while calculating financial aid. Other options such as the Coverdell Education Savings account also exist. But they don't have the options and state tax breaks. Accounts in the child's name can impact the amount of financial aid offered, plus they could decide to spend the money on a car. The automatic investment shift for most of the state 529 plans does cover your question of how much risk to take. There are also ways to transfer the money to other siblings if one decides not to go to college. Keep in mind that the funds don't have to be spent as soon as they turn 18, they can wait a few years before enrolling in college.


"I don't know what the fuck has happened to Vice, honestly.   The Vice I knew was that of Shane Smith going to Liberia and risking his life interviewing ""General Butt Naked"".  Not this click-bait generating, 5 second attention span catering shit ...  /rant."


As someone who took the reverse route that she did academically, MIT Sloan first and then Wharton, and a rather similar professional trajectory, I really did try to further develop my finance skills and learn new marketing skills but an MBA isn't really catered for that.  With all due respect to these academic institutions, most MBA programs are factories.  If you fall in the average that the program is targeted for, it works out great for you.  But if in any way your needs are a little more niche, it is much harder with the onus significantly on you to make it a more rewarding experience academically.  And I tried to that, it involved engaging professors more than in just the classroom, trying out new ideas like trying to understand product development or online marketing, but nonetheless it's much harder to make it truly rewarding from an academic point of view.


For a company the size of Amazon a 1% increase in prices is substantial.  Many of their products are in fiercely competitive price sensitive markets.  There are some products that people would notice a 1% difference from competitors.  So the actual increase would have to be concentrated on a smaller subset of products that are not as price sensitive.  However, that would still mean reduced sales.  In short, I don't think amazon is foregoing a 50% bump in profits if they could get it.  Also a 5% SGA cut is absolutely enormous for a lean organization.  In any one year that would mean an effective ~10% cut once you factor in inflation.


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The Motley Fool suggested a good rule of thumb in one of their articles that may be able to help you determine if the market is overheating. Determine the entire cost of rent for a piece of property. So if rent is $300/month, total cost over a year is $3600. Compare that to the cost of buying a similar piece of property by dividing the property price by the rent per year. So if a similar property is $90,000, the ratio would be $90,000/$3600 = 25. If the ratio is < 20, you should consider buying a place. If its > 20, there's a good chance that the market is overheated. This method is clearly not foolproof, but it helps quantify the irrationality of some individuals who think that buying a place is always better than renting.  Additionally, Alex B helped me with two additional sources of information for this: Real Estate is local, all the articles here refer to the US housing market. Bankrate says purchase price / annual rate in the US has a long term average of 16.0. Fool says Purchase Price/Monthly Rent: 150 is good buy, 200 starts to get expensive This answer is copy pasted from a similar question (not the same so I did not vote to merge) linked here..


I know quite a few mutual fund wholesalers making over a mil right here in the states.   Having said that, none of them are at Fido. Fidelity is a private firm but having started my career there, I wouldn't be surprised if they're paying a few people that much who have been there forever. They also extend extremely cheap credit to employees at the MD role and above, at least that was the case when I was there.


"There is also the very simple fact that cash is a *significantly* self-limiting thing: you are limited in amount you can spend on any give day to the cash you have on hand -- this along makes you either reticent to spend it, forces you to spread your purchases (or forgo one in order to enable another), and/or requires additional planning to spend larger amounts.  Conversely, most debit & credit cards while they also have some limits on them, enable far more free spending.  So whether the spending of cash is a negative ""painful"" reaction, or really just an awareness that their available resource is being reduced, would be a better question.  After all, similar things are seen in other things that have short-term physical limits: smokers tend to smoke cigarettes more quickly at the beginning of a new pack, and tend to space out the intervals between them as the pack empties; likewise with other resources (food, beer, soda) within a home -- if/when the supply is abundant, we tend to gorge & snack, as the available supply decreases, we cut back."


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"Do I make money in the stock market from other people losing money? Not normally.* The stock market as a whole, on average, increases in value over time. So if we make the claim that the market is a zero-sum game, and you only make money if other people lose money, that idea is not sustainable. There aren't that many people that would keep investing in something only to continue to lose money to the ""winners."" The stock market, and the companies inside it, grow in value as the economy grows. And the economy grows as workers add value with their work.  Here's an analogy: I can buy a tree seed for very little and plant it in the ground. If I do nothing more, it probably won't grow, and it will be worth nothing. However, by taking the time to water it, fertilize it, weed it, prune it, and harvest it, I can sell the produce for much more than I purchased that seed for. No one lost money when I sell it; I increased the value by adding my effort.  If I sell that tree to a sawmill, they can cut the tree into usable lumber, and sell that lumber at a profit. They added their efforts and increased the value.  A carpenter can increase the value even further by making something useful (a door, for example). A retail store can make that door more useful by transporting it to a location with a buyer, and a builder can make it even more useful by installing it on a house.  No one lost any money in any of these transactions. They bought something valuable, and made it more valuable by adding their effort.  Companies in the stock market grow in value the same way. A company will grow in value as its employees produce things. An investor provides capital that the company uses to be able to produce things**, and as the company grows, it increases in value. As the population increases and more workers and customers are born, and as more useful things are invented, the economy will continue to grow as a whole.  * Certainly, it is possible, even common, to profit from someone else's loss.  People lose money in the stock market all the time.  But it doesn't have to be this way.  The stock market goes up, on average, over the long term, and so long term investors can continue to make money in the market even without profiting from others' failures. ** An investor that purchases a share from another investor does not directly provide capital to the company.  However, this second investor is rewarding the first investor who did provide capital to the company.  This is the reason that the first investor purchased in the first place; without the second investor, the first would have had no reason to invest and provide the capital.  Relating it to our tree analogy: Did the builder who installed the door help out the tree farmer?  After all, the tree farmer already sold the tree to the sawmill and doesn't care what happens to it after that.  However, if the builder had not needed a door, the sawmill would have had no reason to buy the tree."


I actually had to go to the bank today and so I decided to ask. The answer I was given is that a check is a legal document (a promise to pay).  In order to get your money from the bank, you need to sign the check over to them.  By endorsing the check you are attesting to the fact that you have transferred said document to them and they can draw on that account.


"I love the subtitle on this article - ""Silicon Valley deals are not based on factors that bankers can model"" and another quote ""a DCF projection would not be able to help Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook chief executive, work out whether Snapchat was worth $1bn or $10bn""  What a crock of BS.  A DCF is exactly the methodology you should be using in order to value an acquisition (along with comparable company/transaction methods).    Is it incredibly difficult to use the right variables and forecast the value of these companies?  Yes.  Is the inherent value of a company derived from the expected cash flows generated from that company once you acquire it?  Yes.  Just because it is hard doesn't mean you shouldn't do it.    ""Big tech companies have never had more cash than they have today, and they are finding it just as hard to put their money to work as everybody else is.""  Well damn then maybe you should return that money back to the shareholders **who own the company** instead of blowing it on dot-bombs at stupid valuation levels."


My initial thoughts would be an ESL teacher or a private tutor for various subjects would likely be the easiest ones to consider. Possibly there are some people that could use the help in their education that would work well.


If you want to subcontract some of your excess work to somebody else, you better be in business!  While some kinds of employees (e.g. commissioned salespeople) are permitted to deduct some expenses on their income tax, generally only a real business can deduct wages for additional employees, or the cost of services provided by subcontractors. Do you invoice your clients and charge HST (GST)?  Or do you tell your clients each pay period how many hours you worked and they compensate you through their payroll system like everybody else that walks through the door?  If you're not invoicing and charging HST (GST) (assuming you exceed the threshold, and if you have too much work, you probably do!), then perhaps your clients are treating you as an employee – by default – and withholding taxes, CPP, and EI so they don't get in trouble? After all, Canada Revenue Agency is likely to consider any person providing a service to a company to be an employee unless there is sufficient evidence to the contrary, and when there isn't enough evidence, it's the company paying for the services that would be on the hook for unpaid taxes, CPP, and EI. Carefully consider what form of business you are operating, or were intending to operate.  It's essential for your business to be structured appropriately if you want to hire or subcontract.  You ought to be either self-employed as a sole proprietor, or perhaps incorporated if it makes more sense to your situation.  Next, act accordingly. For instance, it's likely that your business should be taking care of the source deductions, CPP, and EI.  In fact, self-employed individuals shouldn't even be paying into EI – an independent contractor wouldn't qualify to make an EI claim if they lost a contract. As an independent, one doesn't have a job, one has a business, and EI doesn't cover the business itself, only the employees that the business deals with at arm's length.  As a business owner, you would be considered non-arms-length, and exempt from EI. Growing your business in the way that you are suggesting is an important enough a step that you should seek professional advice in advance.  Find a good accountant that deals with self-employed individuals & small businesses and run all this by him.  He should be able to guide you accordingly.  Find a lawyer, too.  A lawyer can guide you on how to properly subcontract others while protecting you and your business. Finally, be mindful of what it is you agreed to in your contract with your client:  Do they expect all services to be performed by you, personally?  Even if it wasn't written down who exactly would be performing the services, there may be an assumption it's you.  Some negotiation may be in order if you want to use subcontractors.


All excellent answers.  Scott W. already mentioned to look out for sales and many other answers are ways to be smart with portions:  don't overbuy, or be smart with bulk buys. But, I'm surprised nobody mentioned one of the things I'd consider obvious about saving money on groceries:  coupons! Coupons can save cash.  We'll sometimes use coupons for brands we'd be buying anyway, or other comparably-priced brands that we're willing to try.  The thing to be careful of with coupons is when the manufacturer is attempting to up-sell you to a premium brand, or trying to get you to buy a product you'd never have bought anyway. Anyway, we especially like the coupons that Costco sends in the mail once in a while, or those they hand out at the warehouse entrance.  What better way to save than to: All the better if the items aren't perishable.  When we have the space and those grocery savings stars are all in alignment, we load up on such items as paper towels, oatmeal/cereal bars, soap, etc.


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The prices reflect what the market will bear.  People have more money, things will likely cost more.  Think of it in terms of percentages and you can start to justify the higher housing costs. My father likes to tell me that his first mortgage cost him $75 a month, and he had no idea how he was going to pay it each month.  He also earned $3/hr at his job.  So his housing costs were 15% of his gross income.  My dear father almost passed out when he learned that my mortgage was $1000 a month, but since I earn $4000/month gross, I am really only paying 25% of my salary.  (Numbers made up) So if he complains I pay 10% more, so be it, but complaining I pay $925 more isn't worrying to me because of my increased salary. So if your complaint is the amounts, you must take ratios, percentages and relative comparisons.  However if you are baffled by people having money and wasting it on silly or foolish purchases, I am with you.  I still don't understand why people will use the closest ATM and just pay the $2 fee. Do right by yourself and don't mind what others are up to.


This is not the case with your brother only. There are many business which run on this premise. It goes till the time all the conditions are in control and get busted when things goes out of way.  You have mentioned the loan amount and not the monthly repayment amount. Even if you say, a new loan will not solve his problem, what are the way out ? Telling things nicely sometime does not work especially when facts are otherwise. Hence you need to make a compete case study which should also consider his capacity to pay. As of now it seems he has debts of around 20 months of his earning, which can be considered high, depending upon the terms of major loan such as car loan and personal loan. A case study is way out. You can explain him with such case study that he should not go for further loans.


"> Because: people with lots of money don’t spend it. They just sit on it, like Smaug in his cave.  Do they actually sit on cash - or are those ""money"" invested into factories and companies?  When you have more ""money"" than you can spend in a lifetime, those are not the same ""money"" you had then you were struggling day by day - they are power and control over livelihoods of others, and not your own livelihood...  People with money are like politicians that no one voted for but that were elected nonetheless."


If you're so inclined, elaborate more on the NY mess, particularly as to why distribution costs are as high as they are.  My residential bill seems to be about 50/50 for transmission and supply, and that both of those numbers are well taxed.  Also, is there a good primer somewhere on understanding energy markets for someone who just needs to deal in energy for a small-medium office?


First of all, you should absolutely put money into savings until you have at least a 6 month cushion, and preferably longer.  It doesn't matter if you get 0% interest in your savings and have a high interest rate mortgage, the cushion is still more important. Once you have a nice emergency fund, you can then consider the question of whether to pay more towards the mortgage if the numbers make sense.  However, in my opinion, it's not just a straight comparison of interest rates.  In other words, if your savings account gives you 1% and your mortgage is 5%, that's still not an automatic win for the mortgage. The reason is that by putting the money into your mortgage, you're locking it up and can't access it.  To me, money in the hand is worth a lot more than money that's yours on paper but not easily accessible. I don't know the math well enough, but you don't really need the math.  Just keep in mind that you have to weight the present value of putting that money into savings vs the future value of putting it into your mortgage and paying less interest at some point in the future.  Do the math and see how much you will save by paying the mortgage down faster, but also keep in mind that future money is worth less than present money.  A LOT less if you suddenly have an emergency or decide on a major purchase and need the money, but then have to jump through hoops to get to it.   To me, you need to save a considerable amount by paying down the mortgage, and also understand that your money is getting locked away, for it to make sense.


You should be able to take a loan out on the 401(k).  You can't do a roll-over unless you leave your job.  If your 401(k) is that bad, you should consider maxing out your IRA contributions first and putting the rest into your 401(k) - so if you're putting away about 7k a year, lower your withholding to 1500 and put 5500 into an IRA.


Cornerstone Strategic Value Fund, Inc. is a diversified, closed-end management investment company. It was incorporated in Maryland on May 1, 1987 and commenced investment operations on June 30, 1987. The Fund’s shares of Common Stock are traded on the NYSE MKT under the ticker symbol “CLM.”[1] That essentially means that CLM is a company all of whose assets are held as tradable financial instruments OR EQUIVALENTLY CLM is an ETF that was created as a company in its own right. That it was founded in the 80s, before the modern definition of ETFs really existed, it is probably more helpful to think of it by the first definition as the website mentions that it is traded as common stock so its stock holds more in common with stock than ETFs. [1] http://www.cornerstonestrategicvaluefund.com/


Good question! FWIW, I was given a price of about $600 for aftermarket cruise control on a Hyundai Elantra. One problem with trying to get some-but-not-all of the features is that you can't pick and choose -- you have to get the features as part of a package. Cruise was the only thing I really wanted (i.e. would have been willing to pay extra for) from the next-higher trimline, so I decided to drop it. The particular set of features you're looking for means you're going to have to buy some stuff you maybe don't want (alloy wheels or something like that).


"As someone who has a very similar debt amount and environment (new grad, nice new paying job, want a car, etc), I'd like to share something with you. Life has unexpected costs. Luckily I didn't buy that new car the first few months out of college like I had planned to; I'm glad that I didn't because, as a fledgling ""adult"", despite having lived on my own while in college while working part-to-full time there are some things you just don't realize until it either happens or it happens to someone else. Here are some of those things: I could go on but I won't. $95K is good money and I would definitely recommend spending it a bit to enjoy yourself. But I would honestly tell you that taking your monthly expenses, adding a few hundred on top of that and then multiplying  that sum by 3 would be a smart savings amount before picking up a car loan. Maybe that's an excessive savings but I've seen way too many people burn out over their cost-of-living and their failure to adjust appropriately when shit hits the fan. So instead of having to deal with the stab at your pride when having to lower the cost/quality of living that you'll probably grow accustomed to at a $95K salary, just prepare for the worst.  Oh, and did I mention... A NEW JOB IS NOT A SECURE JOB Consider yourself to likely be the first asset dropped from the company if even the tiniest thing goes wrong. I know way too many people who were fresh hires at Intel, Boeing, and a few other big tech companies that pay around what you make and, despite being bad asses in college, they were dropped like a bad habit when their employers hit rough patches. To those even more experienced than me, please feel free to add to the list. I'd personally love to know them myself."


I don't think this should be very surprising. If you make more than someone, over a long period of time the gap between your total income or wealth is going to increase. Say a person makes $100/day while another makes $50/day. Day 1: $100 v $50; Day 2: $200 v. $100; Day 3: $300 v. $50 and so on and so forth. Now, make those numbers $1500 v. $100 and you can see why the wealth difference is so wide. They may have to choose between lowering the person making more, or increase the pay of the person making less.


A professional home inspection will clue you in on any problems you might be buying, so it's important in any real estate transaction. If the seller finances the loan, you need a lawyer. It might be a nice opportunity - being in the right place at the right time.  You just have to investigate all angles.


"Agreed. One of the comments for this question Good books for learning about tax strategy/planning uses the phrase:  ""Don't let the tax tail wag the investing dog.""  It applies to charitable donations. Donate because it is expected by your church; donate because it makes you feel good; but don't donate just to save money on your taxes.  Once you have decided to donate take the steps necessary to be able to deduct your donation. Get the receipt or use a check or credit card so you can deduct the donation."


Amortization is the process by which your loan balance decreases over time. For both mortgages and credit card balances, your interest charges are based on what you owe.  The calculation of the balance is a little different, but it still is based on what you owe. You're observing correctly that most of the first payments on a mortgage are interest.  This stands to reason since an amortization schedule (for a fixed-rate mortgage) is constructed on the assumption that you're making your payments equally over the course of the mortgage.  Since you owe more at the beginning, you accrue more interest, and a larger fraction of your payment is interest.  Near the end, you owe little, and most of your payment, therefore, is principal.


Matthew -  I'll start with the premise you put enough down that you won't default on an upsidedown mortgage.  There's an order I recommend when considering prepayment: Prepaying a mortgage is a guaranteed return for a fixed investment for the life of the mortgage or ownership of the house. If you have a rate of 5%, and that rate is good for you to invest at, then prepaying is fine. The presumed long term market gain is 8% or higher (12% if you are a disciple of Dave Ramsey, but I digress) and at the 15% cap gain rate, a 6.8% post tax return. Your 5% rate after tax (if it's all taken on Sch A) is about 3.75% if you are in the 25% bracket.  This difference of 3% or so is not guaranteed year to year, not even for the long term. For some, the desire to pay off the mortgage is enough to focus on it. Others see the 3% compounding over time, and likely to occur over the coming decades.


Your problem is one that has challenged many people.  As you said there are two aspects to balancing a budget, reducing expenses or increasing income.  And you state that you have done all the cost-cutting that you can find.  Looking at ways to increase your income is a good way to balance your budget. How big is your problem?  Do you need to find another $100/month, or do you need $1000/month?  There are many part-time jobs you could obtain (fast food, retail, grocery), you could obtain a sales-job (cars, real estate, even working for a recruiting firm) where you could connect buyers and sellers.  If your need is $100/month, a part-time job on weekends would fill the gap. When I was trying to solve my budget problems a few years ago, I thought that I needed to increase my income.  And I did increase my income.  But then I realized that my expenses were too high.  And I re-evaluated my priorities.  I challenge you to revisit your expenses.  Often we assume that we need things that we really cannot afford.  Consider a few of your (possible) expenses, My problems included mortgage debt, auto loans, high utilities, high car insurance, too much spending on kids activities, and a few other problems.


Isn't it a bit more like job recruiters?  I get an offer letter that a recruiter neither I nor the seller hired steps in, negotiates a lower pay for me, a higher pay from them and scoops the money inbetween?  This isn't adding value anywhere, that value was taken from my home and the business that now have less to work with, when everyone would be better off if the business and I came to a deal in the middle.  There is no added value, nothing is produced at all. Just skimming off the top.


Where are you marketing your shirts? Are you on Instagram? If not that would be the best place to start. Then run promos. And reach out to influencers and have them give you a shoutout. If you're on a budget send a free shirt to specific influences with your targeted audience in mind & hopefully they'll give you a shoutout.


Can he use an existing credit card in his name for all his business expenses, or does that pierce the corporate veil? That would be a question to a lawyer, since there's no definitive answer but rather circumstantial. Generally it is safer to separate the finances completely than to try and guess what the court would rule if it comes to that. It is not hard to get a separate card for a LLC (especially if it is a sole proprietorship). We are going to buy a house soon, so I don't want any extra inquiries. I guess it depends on the bank and the type of card. My Citi business card doesn't show up on my personal credit report.


We provide the best business card service at an affordable price in Gainesville city. If anyone looks at your business card and he tells immediately what your business does. We give all information in your business card related your business like: your name, your company, what you do, and why you should be used - but supply all your contact details; you want to be easy to reach.Too much information printed on your Business cards Gainesville fl will make it look too busy and totally professional.


TL;DR for those who don't want to waste their time: Uber didn't do anything special. Also, you should follow unethical laws and not try to change or challenge the system.  While I was reading the piece I thought it was the work of a sophomore, but it turns out this was written by a professor.


I agree with the previous comments one thing that got brought up a while back when I was looking into purchasing a Prius was the battery replacement, someone once told me it was very expensive in the event it failed and needed to be changed, I'm not talking about the 12 volt but the big nickel metal hydride one. Another thing to factor is the gas that you will save, normally the Prius get double the gas milage of that of civic or a corolla but unless you drive a bunch of miles per day you really don't see the pay off.  Also if you can pull a CarFax on the car, the 20 dollar investment is worth it because you can find out if it was in an accident or if it's a lemon! I once bought a bmw and didn't do a CarFax and later ended up finding out that the car had more owners than a taxi had customers.  Also just like said above 200k car vs 100k doest always mean the 100k is better off, especially if the previous owner never services it well. Get the car checkout before you make the deal to buy.


To be fair I don't think it's that hard to believe that Samsung is making tons of money now - being the largest manufacturer of cell phone chips and OLED phone screens is a pretty nice place to be. Nothing to fake there.


It was literally run by college kids. It was closest to the college dorms to walk so every employee including the managers were college age kids. They didn't give a fuck. Got comped a meal and free drinks when there was a hair in our food. Thing was, it used to be good. However, incidents like the hair in the food happened all the time. Everyone in town knew to avoid it.


If the only jobs you have around you are manual labor, dead-end employment where there are no skills to be garnered, if you have other options you will take them.   Your 55 year old former mill worker that is broke isn't going to retrain himself, nor does he have the money to move to an area with higher wages. At that point, going on disability until you get SS is probably your best bet. You see this play out in tons of small towns around the country


"I'd early-exercised 75% of my grant at $5 and (later) exercised the remaining portion at $2. So did you actually pay the money and got ""X"" unvested shares? I'll be leaving the company; and they'll be unwinding half of the grant, so I'll get some money back, but now the question is: Do they pay me back from the $5 shares or the $2 shares? This would depend on what your contract says on unvested shares. There can be numerous combinations. More Often these are forfeited. i.e. you are not granted the shares. At times if you have paid then the guideline would give the details what would happen; i.e. only half vest and are priced at market and you are forced to encash them."


"> There may not be anything shameful about doing that, but that scenario is, indeed, a business **failure**. People do not shutter a profitable (successful) business and then go to work for someone else.  Not necessarily.  It may very well be a ""planned exit"" -- not all businesses will (nor should they be expected to or *planned* to) endure into perpetuity... just because the corporate charter sets no specific limit to the duration of the corporate entity does not mean that it is (and certainly not that it needs to be) ""immortal"".  And a business that may be quite profitable to run, even if it's final pre-closing year is less so... is not necessarily a ""failure"": in fact closing an operation down *while it is (still) slightly profitable*, and BEFORE it begins losing money (and/or selling it's assets off while they still have substantial investment value), may in fact be the **wisest** move (especially financially speaking); which counts as anything BUT a ""failure"".  Plus there are several industries where a ""temporary"" existence of a firm is heartily recognized as a positive thing: take films as an example, a new ""company"" (with a pre-planned, limited lifespan) will often be formed to craft and produce the film, and cease to exist once that task has been completed.  And I think the hand-wringing about ""restaurants"" is especially gratuitous... if ever there was/is a business niche that was subject to fad & fashion, and the ephemeral even transitory nature of people's ""tastes"", it would be the ""boutique"" segment of the restaurant industry; even the ones (or chains) that do manage to survive, often do so by dramatically changing their menus, brand & character... so that a decade later they barely resemble their former selves.  Sure there are also other segments of the industry that are generally ""stable"" -- but many of them tend to be slow-or-no growth as well.  >I believe a key contributor to the confusion is talking about the self-employed and business owners in the same breath. Someone who's self-employed basically owns a job. His income will always be directly proportional to the amount of time spent working and the company does not exist apart from himself.   It covers an entire spectrum... and the lines are rather fuzzy.  Yes, a lot of self-employed people (whether configured as sole proprietorships, partnerships, LLC's or full ""corporations"") are by INTENT -- and probably always will be -- simply ""job replacement"" businesses. (And again, there is NOTHING wrong with that -- whether they endure for a year, 5 years, 10 years or an entire lifetime). How or why people have come to view this as somehow of less ""merit"" than someone being gainfully employed *for someone else* -- has always puzzled me.  But some of those -- just as some of the ""part time"" or ""on the side"" businesses -- can take on an (unexpected, unplanned) ""life of their own"" and grow into substantial enterprises that employ hundreds and even thousands of people over multiple decades. AFTER THE FACT, the owners will often (at least publicly) claim that it was ""all part of the plan"", but in several cases where I know the founder/owner personally... I know from private conversation that THAT simply wasn't the case.  >A business owner, on the other hand, has processes/equipment/staff/IP in place that generates income whether or not she gets out of bed in the morning.  You are speaking of someone who has achieved a CERTAIN level of success, and a certain SIZE of operations.  >These are different people with different goals and cannot be lumped into the same demographic block.  Any and all ""blocks"" are going to be subjective (and in a very real sense the dividing lines placed at rather arbitrary segments) -- a particular named ""block"" will be very true from ONE point of view (with lots of things that correlate and appear to be uniformly applicable)... and yet fallacious from another (where there is again a whole spectrum of distinctions)."


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You didn't give enough information.  What is your goal?  What is your financial situation?   A discount to buy company stock can seem very tempting.  I was tempted by it myself, gee, almost 20 years ago.  I still own some of the stock.  But I held mutual funds first. There are two disadvantages that have disuaded me from partaking in the ESPP of my subsequent employers (one of which was a spin-out company of the stock-issuing company, the other having bought the spin-out).  First, putting a bunch of money in a single stock is rather risky.  single stocks will drop dramatically due to market conditions.  Generally market conditions don't act so dramatically on all stock.  Second, is it wise to put not only your salary but also your saved wealth all in one basket? It worked out reasonably well for me.  The stock doubled right before my division was spun out -- I sold half of my position.    And the resulting stock has continued to provide opportunities to diversify.  However, it could have just as easily dropped in half instead of doubled. What is your timeline for holding the stock -- for realizing any gain?  Can you afford patience if the stock value should drop in half? I have co-workers who continue to invest through our new company's ESPP.  At least one co-worker has the stated goal to sell after every purchase -- he holds the stock long enough to make a long-term gain instead of short term, but he sells after every purchase.  And it seems to him that the stock always drops right when he wants to sell.


Leverage increase returns, but also risks, ie, the least you can pay, the greater the opportunity to profit, but also the greater the chance you will be underwater. Leverage is given by the value of your asset (the house) over the equity you put down. So, for example, if the house is worth 100k and you put down 20k, then the leverage is 5 (another way to look at it is to see that the leverage is the inverse of the margin - or percentage down payment - so 1/0.20 = 5). The return on your investment will be magnified by the amount of your leverage. Suppose the value of your house goes up by 10%. Had you paid your house in full, your return would be 10%, or 10k/100k. However, if you had borrowed 80 dollars and your leverage was 5, as above, a 10% increase in the value of your house means you made a profit of 10k on a 20k investment, a return of 50%, or 10k/20k*100. As I said, your return was magnified by the amount of your leverage, that is, 10% return on the asset times your leverage of 5 = 50%. This is because all the profit of the house price appreciation goes to you, as the value of your debt does not depend on the value of the house. What you borrowed from the bank remains the same, regardless of whether the price of the house changed. The problem is that the amplification mechanism also works in reverse. If the price of the house falls by 10%, it means now you only have 10k equity. If the price falls enough your equity is wiped out and you are underwater, giving you an incentive to default on your loan. In summary, borrowing tends to be a really good deal: heads you win, tails the bank loses (or as happened in the US, the taxpayer loses).


The 401(k) has the advantage that you don't pay any tax until you take it out. That lets the gains multiple. Two examples: If any of your stocks pay dividends, these are directly taxable if you don't have a 401(k). In the 401(k), the full dividends accumulate and are reinvested. If you sell any stocks and get capital gains, they are also directly taxable in a normal account. Having said that, if you don't get any match, I would consider doing a 50/50; put half of your money in the 401(k), in something simple like an index fund, and invest the rest. That's assuming you have an index fund available in your 401(k).


When you are starting out using a balanced fund can be quite advantageous. A balanced fund is represents a diversified portfolio in single fund. The primary advantage of using a balanced fund is that with it being a single fund it is easier to meet the initial investment minimum.  Later once you have enough to transition to a portfolio of diversified funds you would sell the fund and buy the portfolio. With a custom portfolio, you will be better able to target your risk level and you might also be able to use lower cost funds.  The other item to check is do any of the funds that you might be interested in for the diversified portfolio have lower initial investment option if you can commit to adding money on a specified basis (assuming that you are able to). Also there might be an ETF version of a mutual fund and for those the initial investment amount is just the share price. The one thing to be aware of is make sure that you can buy enough shares that you can rebalance (holding a single share makes it hard to sell some gain when rebalancing). I would stay away from individual stocks until you have a much larger portfolio, assuming that you want to invest with a diversified portfolio. The reason being that it takes a lot more money to create a diversified portfolio out of individual stocks since you have to buy whole shares. With a mutual fund or ETF, your underlying ownership of can be fractional with no issue as each fund share is going to map into a fraction of the various companies held and with mutual funds you can buy fractional shares of the fund itself.


"Here in the U.S., a realtor can act as a ""seller's agent"" or a ""buyer's agent"". I think what you are calling a ""broker"" in the U.S. we call a ""buyer's agent"", and this may just be a difference in terminology, from your post it sounds like the concept is the same. I am answering from a U.S. perspective, please let me know if something doesn't make sense in the Israeli context. Here, each typically gets 3% to 3.5% of the sale price (at least in my part of the country). So yes, the buyer's agent has an incentive to get a higher price, even though this is contrary to the interests of the person he is supposed to represent. On the other hand, the buyer's agent has a strong incentive to find a house at a price that you consider acceptable. If the absolute most you are willing to pay is, say, ₪1,000,000, and he keeps showing you houses that cost ₪1,500,000, he's just wasting his time. (He's wasting your time too, of course, but let's assume he doesn't care about that.) (I don't know what housing prices are in Israel today, just making up numbers.) Suppose he has two houses that he can show you, one in your price range and one not. If he shows you the first you may buy it and we will very quickly get his commission. If he shows you the second, you probably won't buy it and he'll get zero. If he keeps showing you houses above your price range, he's doing a bunch of work for which he will never be paid. The worst case from your point of view is if you're thinking that you're expecting and prepared to pay, say, ₪1,000,000 to ₪1,300,000, and you tell the broker that, his incentive is to concentrate on the upper end, maybe even push it a little. But still, if he shows a house that's well within your range so you'll quickly buy, he can get ₪30,000 today, versus trying to push you to go higher so he can maybe get ₪39,000 in a few months. Is the extra ₪9,000 worth several months of extra work? Probably not. Personally, I've never had a problem with a realtor trying to push me to buy a house more expensive than I said I was prepared to pay. At least not that I noticed. Maybe they were very skillful at it and I didn't realize they were doing it, like showing me houses that were totally run-down dumps until I decided I was willing to pay more. As to your specific suggestion: I don't know if a realtor would be willing to negotiate an alternative deal from their standard contract. I've never tried to do such a thing. Yes, this would give him an incentive to find the lowest possible price. Arguably this would create a perverse incentive to show you houses of very low quality just because they're cheap. And there would be the problem that he'd have no incentive to show you houses at or just over your stated maximum, as his commission would be zero. (Negative if it goes over slightly?) What I did on my last house was tell the realtor, I want to start by looking at houses costing under \$X. If I can't find anything I like, I'll go a little higher. By not telling the realtor my maximum, I discouraged her from immediately going for the maximum. At least that was my theory."


Now that we have made sure that the North Koreans are safe from any external threat and can go about their business peacefully, we don't need to waste any more energy on them.  Lets redirect all our energy toward making sure the Middle east is fully nuclear, that will be good payment for the shemeckles violating sweet white and pure Ivanka night after night while daddy lay hot in sweaty in bed, his frustration small and hard in his hand plotting his revenge.


To be absolutely sure you should call the agent and check That said I have been renting accommodation through both agencies and directly through landlords for seven years (I live in London) and this is quite a common situation. It normally means that the deposit is being securely held by a third party so that it cannot be taken or depleted without the agreement of both parties. The deposit protection scheme ( https://www.depositprotection.com/ ) is one way that deposits are securely held in this manner. As a third party they will have different account details. It may be the case that the agency is protecting the deposit and you are paying rent to the landlord directly. This means that your deposit goes to the agency's account and the rent goes to the landlord's account. Obviously your landlord and agency have different accounts. A little colour to brighten your day: I am currently paying my rent to the agency who also took the deposit but, because of the way they handle deposits versus rent, the deposit was sent to a different account held by the same agent. In my previous flat I paid the deposit to an agency and the rent directly to the landlord. This resulted in an issue one time where I got the two accounts confused and paid rent to the agency who, after giving me a small slap on the wrist, transferred it to my landlord. In the flat before that I paid rent and the deposit to my landlords' holding company. That is one of the few times that I paid rent and the deposit into the same account. Again check with the agent that one of these situations is the case but this is absolutely normal when renting through an agency.


"Of course you don't have to pay them - you just might not like the result. As a matter of law - given that I am not a lawyer - I am not aware of any requirement for a company to pay employees business-related expenses. An example might be having a cell phone, and according to this article companies aren't required to pay for you to have a cell phone even if they require you have one and use it as part of your employment. The primary areas where law does exist relates to company uniforms with a logo (in a very limited number of US states) and necessary personal safety equipment (in California and maybe only few other states). All other tool requirements for a job are not prohibited by law, so long as they are not illegally discriminatory (such as requiring people of a certain race or sex to buy something but no one else, etc). So a company can require all sorts of things, from having an internet connection to cell phone to laptop to specialty tools and equipment of all sorts, and they are even allowed to deduct the cost of some things from your pay - just so long as you still get paid minimum wage after the deductions. With all that said, the company's previous payments of fees and willingness to pay a monthly internet fee does not obligate them to pay other fees too, such as moving/installation/etc. They may even decide to no longer provide internet service at their expense and just require you to provide it as a condition of employment. You can insist on it with your employer, and if you don't have an employment contract that forbids it they can fire you or possibly even deduct it from your pay anyway (and this reason might not be one that allows you to collect unemployment insurance benefits - but you'd need to check with an expert on that). You can refuse to pay AT&T directly, and they can cancel the internet service - and your employer can then do the same as in the previous condition. Or you can choose to pay it - or ask your employer to split the cost over a few checks if it is rather high - and that's about it. Like the cost of anything else you have to pay  - from your own food to your computer, clothes, etc - it's best to just consider it your own ""cost of doing business"" and decide if it's still in your interest to keep working there, and for something to consider in future pay negotiations! You may also qualify for an itemized Employee Business Expense deduction from the IRS, but you'll need to read the requirements carefully and get/keep a receipt for such expenses."


This isn't a religious organization in that sense, so the exception is not applicable.   But he won't win. He needs to prove that the reason he wasn't hired was specifically because of his religious views, however, it would be easy for the company to say that they didn't believe he was a good match for the corporate philosophy, wouldn't fit in, etc. Various subjective things that really can't be argued. Unless he can show a clear pattern in them turning away those who aren't Christian enough, he doesn't stand a chance.


Mark Matson Complaints Since its inception, the Internet has been seen by many as both a help and a hindrance. The web has made it much easier for people to find information, for students to learn and for people to share stories with others. But, it has also created a new world of addiction. Online addiction comes in many forms, including online gambling addiction and online investment addiction. Online investment addiction is a common complaint Mark Matson addresses with advisers and/or clients.


It's just human nature. At least in cases where all options are equal people will probably choose the mine with less deaths. Also if there is some mine with 100x as many deaths as average it will raise awareness in the circles of power.


>I tell people all the time, if you're out — you're going to take a yoga class and they want to charge you $30, say: 'Look, I've got 20 [dollars].' You know what, they're going to take it.  Uh, no they won't.  Not based on my experience.


If you think you can pay off the entire amount you borrowed over the next 12 month, then you're getting an unsecured loan at around 4% APR, assuming you're borrowing for the whole year.   That's pretty good compared to what you can typically get at the credit union.  However, if you only need the money for, say, 3 months, that 4% fee effectively becomes a 16% APR! And, the real trouble comes when you don't pay it off by the end of the 12 month and the standard rate kicks in. If you do use the convenience check, be sure to put in your calendars a reminder that the balance is due -- set the reminder about a month before the last billing cycle of your 0% period. Make sure you also have sufficient cash flow and an automated payment setup to make sure you always pay at least the minimum due on time.  Depending on your banking history, you might be able to get away with one missed payment -- but more likely, you'll be penalized as soon as you miss a payment by a penny or a day -- and the 0% loan suddenly becomes very expensive. Read all the fine print, make sure you understand them, and set up a system to make sure you can play to the rules of the game.


"Paperwork prevails.  What you have is a dealer who get a kickback for sending financing to that institution. And the dealer pretty much said ""We only get paid our kickback at two levels of loan life, 6 and 12 months."" You just didn't quite read between the lines.  This is very similar to the Variable Annuity salespeople who tell their clients, ""The best feature about this product is that the huge commissions I get from the sale fund my kid's college tuition and my own retirement. You, on the other hand, don't really do so well.""  Car salesmen and VA sellers."


Depending on who you trust, the Social Security fund should still be liquid for another 40 to 70 years or so, which should cover the life expectancy of most boomers.  As for what happens after that, well there doesn't seem to be a plan for that yet. A plan would require making some unpopular choices. Politicians would be forced to do something with negative political ramifications in the short term to offset a problem that isn't going to explode until long after they have left office and shuffled off this mortal coil. For most it just isn't worth the political fallout.  What is likely to happen? The same thing that is happening now. The Government is no stranger to spending money it doesn't have, the National deficit and debt prove that convincingly. Of course we are now approaching debt levels we haven't seen since WWII from the combined efforts of two concurrent wars and bailing out every industry that can afford to hire a lobbyist, and overuse of the old politician's trick of buying votes by spending people's own money on them and pretending to be magnanimous.  Something is going to have to give. My best guess is that the following will happen in this order: 1) Increase then eliminate the caps on how much income you have to pay SS taxes on. 2) Raise the age when you can start collecting SS checks. 3) stop paying people SS checks if they exceed a certain income at retirement age. 4) stop paying people SS checks if they exceed a certain net worth. 5) Reduce the amount people get in SS checks.   Of course another baby boom or drastically increasing the amount of legal immigration would also stave off the problem for a while...


Just the amount contributed to the Roth 401k that you rolled over, not the conversions from regular 401k/traditional IRA (for those there are holding period limitation of 5 year from conversion), the earning on it or the employer's match (neither of these can be withdrawn without penalty as a non-qualified withdrawal). However, I'd suggest not to withdraw from Roth IRA unless you're sleeping on a bench in a park and beg strangers for a piece of bread. This is the best retirement investment you can make while you're in the lower tax brackets, and withdrawing it would reduce dramatically your tax-free retirement income.


> You don't need to tell me your charity plans.  you don't need to tell me i have no empathy. i'm well aware of what it's like to have no money. but using the gov't to force people to give you money doesn't help in the long run.   > menial workers are NEEDED in a society, and therefore they should be able to make enough money to survive in the society.  agreed. but the gov't's use of policies that people like you support is the problem. i realize you mean well, but why is it that in the soviet union, which redistributed wealth to an extreme had a population that was equal, but all equally poor? even the poor in the US, with a relatively tiny govt, were rich compared to them. obama and his fed are the main reason for this economic downturn. and in an economic downturn it's an employers market. that's the problem for these people. but we don't fix it by redistribution. we fix it by letting the economy get better. by stopping 0% interest rates, high taxes, and crippling regulation. the US gov't practically didnt exist before 1900. it was >10x smaller than now. how were the US poor the richest poor on the planet? how is that possible w/o the govt giving them money?


I’m not sure I want the world to become a place where poets, playwrights, social workers & gardeners are not able to have children but politicians and captains of enterprise do.  I’d rather we present competing visions of how the world should be and then try to plot a path to get there.


"In my experience, there is one aspect of HSA's that people often overlook.  In an HSA you will not have ""nice"" copays nor will co-insurance kick in until you have met the deductible (always double-check the summary of benefits, but this is a defining characteristic of HSA plans).   This first-dollar responsibility is something shared by all HSAs (US gov't calls them Qualified High-deductible Health Plans).  In exchange for the nice tax-benefits, the government wants HSA subscribers to pay the full amount for provided services until they meet their deductible (theory being that this will reduce the demand for unnecessary medical services).     Check the summary of benefits for more specifics, but you should not be surprised to learn that this applies to Prescription Drugs as well as any doctor or hospital services (i.e. you would pay the insurer's negotiated price for prescriptions until you've paid $1500 out of pocket).  And that is one area that surprises many first-time HSA subscribers."


Suppose everybody stopped all economic activity right now. No more work for others, no payments, no trade in kind or otherwise. Would average wealth stay the same? Of course not. Economic activity is not a zero sum game. Most of our economic activity is organized in the form of companies. If the companies manage to make more profits by doing useful things more efficiently, or when they find new useful things to do for profit, then not only the company's value grows but also the sum total of all useful things produced in the economy. That means it's not zero sum. When stock prices go up, that is often because the companies really have become more valueable.


If you are in the money at expiration you are going to get assigned to the person on the other side of the contract. This is an extremely high probability. The only randomness comes from before expiration. Where you may be assigned because a holder exercised the option before expiration, this can unbalance some of your strategies. But in exchange, you get all the premium that was still left on the option when they exercised. An in the money option, at expiration, has no premium. The value of your in the money option is Current Stock price - Strike Price, for a call. And Strike price - Current Stock price, for a put. Thats why there is no free lunch in this scenario.


So, what's the point of a charge-back, if they simply take the word of the merchant? tl;dr: They don't. As both a merchant and a consumer I have been on both ends of credit card chargebacks, and have received what I consider to be mostly fair outcomes in all cases. Here are some examples: Takeaways from this: I strongly urge all consumers who are considering doing a chargeback to try to work with the merchant first, and use the CC dispute as a last resort. In general, you can think of the credit card dispute department like a judge. They hear the arguments presented by both sides, and consider them to the best of their ability. They don't always get it right, but they make their best attempt given the limited information they are provided.


It's a great business. However, you should be aware that running your own business is a lot more work than it sounds like. Not only do you have to handle things like finances and taxes, but worse, you have to do all the marketing and sales, make deals, calm down difficult customers and suppliers, buying equipment & materials, supervising helpers & subcontractors, and more. If you're up for all that extra hard work, you can make great money building top-quality cabinetry.


Đối với khách hàng thân thiết, jimmy cung cấp thêm chiến lược VIP với biên độ chốt lời > 10 usd/ounce, cắt lỗ < 5 usd/ounce với mức phí: 100 usd/chiến lược và miễn phí 100% khi chiến lược không đạt được mức chốt lời 10 usd/ounce.


> They have created a system with healthcare where we pay up to three times more per capita than any other western country.   Yes, and it really sucks, but you kinda have to buy health care ... you can skip it and hope to not get sick, but sooner or later you will.   You don't need to buy entertainment though. And if you do buy it, you can always vote with your money. Stop going to movie theaters, stop buying or even renting DVDs ... stick to one cable provider or Netflix on demand or something and it will hurt them.  > an additional tax refund   A tax refund is just a tax refund, if you don't give them your money there will be nothing to tax anyway.  > taxes to storage media.  Yes, some countries do that, and I think it's OK in principle ... the problem is that I doubt that we can find a fair way to distribute that revenue. It's still peanuts though, especially today when we don't really buy that much media anymore. When is the last time you bought a blank optical disc? It's been years for me!   But anyway I doubt that such a measure would stand a chance of passing in the US. It would be quite absurd to fund the MAFIAA with tax money while you don't even fund public healthcare.  I'm not sure what you mean in the edit, it doesn't make much sense.


"Honestly, I think the best thing the government could do at this point is to stop with stimulus spending and let the market pick the winners and losers. The government is horrible at this because it just throws money where it makes sense politically, not economically (which is what got us into this mess in the first place).  Obama is repeating all of the same mistakes made by Bush, but to a larger degree. When the dot-com bubble burst, Bush & Greenspan artificially lowered interest rates to 1% and printed money to ""stimulate"" the economy. The goal was not to create a housing bubble like what happened, but rather to get people to invest in stocks again. Instead, the people who had been bitten by stocks looked around and saw that housing had a history of increasing in value w/o nearly as much risk of loss, so they invested in housing instead. Clinton's and Bush's policies of guaranteeing loans to lower-income families for the purpose of buying homes also contributed to this, and the next thing you know - housing prices boomed because there was a massive demand... thus leading to the housing market crash of 2007/8.  But that's not all, you see, because as people started to believe that their homes would increase in value by huge amounts, they started spending more, risking more on the stock market, and generally going into massive debt because they felt wealthy.  So in 2008, when the housing bubble crashed, so did the stock bubble and the personal debt bubble, leaving many home owners broke, their retirement funds (401k's and IRA's) destroyed, and without any means of paying their mortgages, thus the rise in people losing their homes.  What has Obama's policy been? The same as Bush's policy, but he printed MORE (tripled our money supply in 3 years) and lowered interest rates even MORE (effectively to 0%).  What so many people don't seem to understand is that printing money effectively steals money from the middle class. It's a hidden tax on our savings accounts. If more people realized this, they'd be outraged. Luckily for the government, most people are mindless sheep willing to buy into the political propaganda being pushed by the media."


Perhaps, however, I'd have liked to have had more time to hear the guest with the yellow bowtie speak more than he was allotted. His final comment, that present low interest rates are going to cause as much mischief now as they have provided stimulus since their implementation was interesting and it would have been interesting to hear his reasoning around that.


"If the wording is ""within 10 days"" then its 10 days. Calendar days. Otherwise they would put ""10 business days"", for example. Usually, if you need to do something within 10 days from today, the first day to count is today. I would expect ""within"" to mean that you can fund in any of the days up to the 10th. But that's me, trying to read English as English. Why don't you call the bank and ask them?"


What will this mean for of Boost Mobile or Virgin Mobile USA which are prepaid MVOs that Sprint now owns?  I love my current setup and would hate to have to leave if prices keep going up or (cellular\data) service keeps going down.


"In practical terms, these days, a credit union IS a small ""savings and loan"" bank -- the kind of bank that used to exist before bankers started making money on everything but writing loans. They aren't always going to offer higher interest and/or cheaper loans than the bank-banks, but they're almost always going to be more pleasant to deal with since they consider the depositors and borrowers their stockholders, not just customers. There are minor legal differences (different insurance fund, for example), and you aren't necessarily eligible to open an account at a randomly-chosen credit union (depending on how they've defined the community they're serving), but they will rarely affect you as an account holder. The main downside of credit unions is that, like other small local banks, they will only have a few branches, usually within a limited geographic area. However, I've been using a credit union 200 miles away (and across two state lines on that route, one if I take a large detour) for decades now, and I've found that between bank-by-mail, bank-by-internet, ATM machines, and the ""branch exchange"" program (which lets you use branches of participating credit unions as if they were branches of your own) I really haven't felt a need to get to the branch.  I did find that, due to network limitations of $50K/CU/day, drawing $200,000 worth of bank checks on a single day (when I purchased the house) required running around to four separate branch-exchange credit unions. But that's a weird situation where I was having trouble beating the actual numbers out of the real estate agents until a few days before the sale. And they may have relaxed those limitations since... though if I had to do it again, I'd consider taking a scenic drive to hit an actual branch of my own credit union. If you have the opportunity to join a credit union, I recommend doing so. Even if you don't wind up using it for your ""main"" accounts, they're likely to be people you want to talk to when you're shopping for a loan."


Consistently beating the market by picking stocks is hard. Professional fund managers can't really do it -- and they get paid big bucks to try! You can spend a lot of time researching and picking stocks, and you may find that you do a decent job. I found that, given the amount of money I had invested, even if I beat the market by a couple of points, I could earn more money by picking up some moonlighting gigs instead of spending all that time researching stocks. And I knew the odds were against me beating the market very often. Different people will tell you that they have a sure-fire strategy that gets returns. The thing I wonder is: why are you selling the information to me rather than simply making money by executing on your strategy? If they're promising to beat the market by selling you their strategy, they've probably figured out that they're better off selling subscriptions than putting their own capital on the line. I've found that it is easier to follow an asset allocation strategy. I have a target allocation that gives me fairly broad diversification. Nearly all of it is in ETFs. I rebalance a couple times a year if something is too far off the target. I check my portfolio when I get my quarterly statements. Lastly, I have to echo JohnFx's statement about keeping some of your portfolio in cash. I was almost fully invested going into early 2001 and wished I had more cash to invest when everything tanked -- lesson learned. In early 2003 when the DJIA dropped to around 8000 and everybody I talked to was saying how they had sold off chunks of their 401k in a panic and were staying out of stocks, I was able to push some of my uninvested cash into the market and gained ~25% in about a year. I try to avoid market timing, but when there's obvious panic or euphoria I might under- or over-allocate my cash position, respectively.


"You should read ""Financial Analysis for Management"" (Robert Higgins). It is short and explains things very simply from a high level perspective. This is especially valuable when you are explaining things to non-finance people.   Also, an analyst will want to develop quick ways for making estimations. Don't get too caught up in the tiny details, although they are enticing for problem solvers (I've made some over-complicated models myself). In the process, know which direction your short cut is biased, check other people's short cuts, where's the bias? Understand it. Understand how it may affect the outcome. Is it material? This will develop your ability to understand models.  BUILD MODELS. Pick up a 10-K. Build a simple model. Connect an Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Cash Flows. Update it, break it, fix it. Rinse & repeat."


Perhaps to mitigate against information risk, in the sense that information may come up that changes your outlook on the market and also the value of your investments, so DCAing stops you from going all in now and having your entire amount decrease in value due to something you can't reasonably predict.


"Again, the quote by Politifact:  ""*The numbers check out. And in fact, the total public debt has dropped another $22 billion since the Gateway Pundit article published, according to data from the U.S. Department of Treasury.*""  Anything not clear here?  What's not clear is how ""mostly False"" is true."


It's always been kind of a niche. Twitter usage is higher in the US but by no means universally popular. They are having financial problems and have not yet turned a profit since they opened. They had to close vine last fall after they were unable to find a buyer. Their sale of fabric Danny that successful either.


The Investopedia article you linked to is a good start. Its key takeaway is that you should always consider risk-adjusted return when evaluating your portfolio. In general, investors seeking a higher level of return must face a higher likelihood of taking a loss (risk). Different types of stocks (large vs small; international vs US; different industry sectors) have different levels of historical risk and return. Not to mention stocks vs bonds or other financial instruments... So, it's key to make an apples-to-apples comparison against an appropriate benchmark. A benchmark will tell you how your portfolio is doing versus a comparable portfolio. An index, such as the S&P 500, is often used, because it tells you how your portfolio is doing compared against simply passively investing in a diversified basket of securities. First, I would start with analyzing your portfolio to understand its asset allocation. You can use a tool like the Morningstar X-Ray to do this. You may be happy with the asset allocation, or this tool may inform you to adjust your portfolio to meet your long-term goals. The next step will be to choose a benchmark. Given that you are investing primarily in non-US securities, you may want to pick a globally diversified index such as the Dow Jones Global Index. Depending on the region and stock characteristics you are investing in, you may want to pick a more specialized index, such as the ones listed here in this WSJ list. With your benchmark set, you can then see how your portfolio's returns compare to the index over time. IRR and ROI are helpful metrics in general, especially for corporate finance, but the comparison-based approach gives you a better picture of your portfolio's performance. You can still calculate your personal IRR, and make sure to include factors such as tax treatment and investment expenses that may not be fully reflected by just looking at benchmarks. Also, you can calculate the metrics listed in the Investopedia article, such as the Sharpe ratio, to give you another view on the risk-adjusted return.


Here's an answer received elsewhere. Yes, it looks like you have a pretty good understanding the concept   and the process. Your wife's income will be so low - why? If she is a full-time student in any of those months, you may   attribute $250 x 2 children worth of income for each of those months. Incidentally, even if you do end up paying taxes on the extra $3000,   you won't be paying the employee's share of Social Security and   Medicare (7.65%) or state disability on those funds. So you still end   up saving some tax money. No doubt, there's no need to remind you to be sure that you submit all   the valid receipts to the administrator in time to get reimbursed.  And a must-have disclaimer:   Please be advised that, based on current IRS rules and standards, any advice contained herein is not intended to be used, nor can it be used, for the avoidance of any tax penalty that the IRS may assess related to this matter. Any information contained in this email, whether viewed or subsequently printed, cannot be relied upon as qualified tax and accounting advice. ... Any information contained in this email does not fall under the guidelines of IRS Circular 230.


NUGT and DUST both track GDX with triple leverage, but in opposite directions. GDX has been rising steadily throughout 2016, and certainly since over the last month. DUST experiences much higher volume when GDX is in a downward trend, as it was from 2013-2016. I think you'll see the same thing with DRIP and GUSH when oil has been moving steadily in one direction or the other. This is really a reflection of the herd mentality to jump in when things look like they're going a particular direction.


HSBC exchange spread between HKD and USD was 483 bps (1 bps is 0.0001) on their 24 hours exchange network a few weeks ago when I checked. It is very high for a pair of linked currencies which has very little fluctuation. One should expect less than 5 bps or even 1 bps. I did my currency conversion at a US brokerage which can take HKD currency and then I was able to pick the time/rate and amount I like to make the conversion. Basically, the currency pair runs within a tight band and you just need to buy USD with HKD at the time when it is near the edge of the band to your advantage. There is usually no fee on currency conversion. They make money through the spread. HSBC premier allows you to wire free among countries. I forget whether they offer tighter spread or not.  Rob was right on about the cost of transferring money overseas. The majority of the cost is in the conversion, not the wiring.


"This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](http://www.epi.org/publication/the-high-road-seattle-labor-market-and-the-effects-of-the-minimum-wage-increase-data-limitations-and-methodological-problems-bias-new-analysis-of-seattles-minimum-wage-incr/) reduced by 97%. (I'm a bot) ***** > Rather than a smooth distribution of workers at and above any statutory minimum wage, a regular feature of local, state, and federal minimum wages is that there are noticeably more workers who earn exactly any new minimum wage than there are just above the new minimum.  > The fact that, in their Figure 1, the authors fail to detect any new spike due to the minimum wage increase to $13.00, again suggests that the study is not estimating the true effects of the minimum wage and instead merely reflecting wage growth in Seattle that is occurring regardless of the the minimum wage increase.  > One reason the study may be finding strong employment gains well above any plausible range where the minimum wage could be having an effect on employment is that Seattle was experiencing a labor market boom at the same time the city was implementing the minimum wage increase.   ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/6jrcx7/the_high_road_seattle_labor_market_and_the/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ ""Version 1.65, ~153606 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*: **wage**^#1 **minimum**^#2 **employment**^#3 **Seattle**^#4 **increase**^#5"


>> Are you serious? Illegal immigration from Mexico? It's Trump fault? Is Trump against the wall and limiting immigration?  > I think you are now so desperate that you are getting REALLY weird with your responses.  Thank you for confirming for me that [your own arguments](https://www.reddit.com/r/economy/comments/6sb4qh/for_the_last_time_trump_hasnt_made_the_economy/dlhwtun/) are weird.  Thanks for the discussion /u/raananh.  Hope you get a good view of the eclipse out there in New Jersey.


I'll give you my quick and dirty way to value a company: A quick and dirty valuation could be: equity + 10 times profit. This quick way protects you from investing in companies in debt, or losing money. To go more in-depth you need to assess future profit, etc. I recommend the book from Mary Buffett about Warren Buffett's investing style.


Yes. Here is the chart:  This will tell you if the IRA is deductible. Above these numbers, and you might be able to deposit to Roth, or to an IRA but not take a deduction.


"How on Earth could there *not* be racial inequality in a nation that was 99% ethnically homogenous for a couple thousand years, during its greatest imperial (wealth building) stretch. And only in the post-war era of e 20th century did it begin to have very significant ethnic minority groups. And those minorities were mostly poor and uneducated on arrival.  By what magic would that wealth be equally distributed now, just a few decades later? And in what universe is wealth equality by race now to be expected?   Doors were opened to other cultures. This is a good thing. But.. Was the plan to re divide the wealth of individuals upon doing so? Where was that written?  The immigrant groups in the UK are largely Pakistani and Indian... And in more recent years, Middle Eastern. They came with vast cultural and educational differences. Not to mention challenges like higher rates of birth defects and genetic abnormalities, crime rates and massive cultural impediments to female career success. Why would wealth equality have happened, and how?  It would be more ""shocking"" if there actually was racial wealth equality now."


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"This is unfortunately the truth, and I spend a lot of time with my clients trying to help them through this process.  One of the key metrics that banks judge themselves on is ""products per household.""  The more things you have attached to them, the less likely you are to leave, and they deliberately tie you in with more and more services, e.g. direct deposit, billpay, debit cards, credit cards, etc.  If you want to switch but are held back by the daunting task of all the stuff you need to do, it's easier than most people think, and bankers at those smaller banks who are getting your accounts should be more than happy to do about 80% of the work for you.  *The other 20% can only be done by you personally due to privacy laws, but your banker can guide you through that too.  A prime example:  A customer of mine wanted to switch, but he didn't want to go to the old bank to actually wait in line and go through with the nonsense of actually closing the account. I see that anxiety over confrontation a lot, by the way.  So I have saved on my desktop a form letter is a simple request by the customer to close their account at 2B2F bank.  They sign it, I notarize it, and send it off to the branch.  The branch of receipt has to close the account per the request.  Before we send that letter, we get everything set up with the new bank, draw the old one down to $10 or so, and give instructions to the old bank to remit a check payable to the customer and mail it to me.  Then the old account is closed, and I just deposit that nominal amount into the customer's account.  The customer literally never has to set foot in the old bank again.   The unfortunate thing is that not everyone knows that these kinds of things are even possible: that your banker should help you with this stuff, or that you can do pretty much everything remotely.  Plus, if you look at the smaller banks and CUs these days, they have eliminated the need or ubiquity (i.e. ""but their ATMs are everywhere!"") because a good bank or CU will never allow you to get charged to get your money, they will give you the direct line and email address of your branch manager, and a lot of places have mobile apps that allow you to deposit checks remotely."