The answer is actually very simple: the cost of data. Seriously. Call the CBOE tomorrow and ask yourself. They have two big programs:  1) the penny pilot program, where options trade at penny increments instead of 5 cent increments. This is only extended to a select few symbols because of the amount of data this can generate is too much for the data vendors. Data vendors store and sell historical data. The exchanges themselves often have a big data vending business too. 2) the weekly options program, where only select symbols get these chains because of the amount of data they will generate. Liquidity and demand are factors in determining if the CBOE will consider enabling those series on new issues. (although they have to give the list of which symbols are on these programs to the SEC)


J-1 students are considered to be nonresidents for taxation purposes during their first five years of presence in the US. J-1 scholars are considered to be non-residents for taxation purposes during their first two years of presence in the US.


> they have no bargaining power.  Individually, and in the long term that's true.  In the short term, most franchise businesses are running on the minimum needed labor, and even lower level management positions are still labor.  So, if several workers went on strike at once they could severely hamper operations.  If several low level managers went on strike, even more so.  There's a training period for any staff that are hired, and even a minor acclimation period for transfers.  If enough people leave all at once the store is hurt.  Corporate might keep them from going under, but they will loose money and goodwill.  All of that is before you get to picket lines and alternatives.  A smart competitor can and should milk labor disputes for all they're worth.  They should try to get as many customers as possible to go to their store instead of the one being picketed.  Collective bargaining exists because most individuals don't have much power, but as a group they do.  The idea of zero training doesn't exist.  The idea of being able to simply replace large numbers of people quickly doesn't work.  That's why places like Walmart are afraid of unions.  They are already running on the edge with their staff.  All it would take is several cashiers who were ready to leave anyways going on strike to shut the store down.  Mind you, the trick with these large companies is to do it relatively suddenly.  If they have time to prepare they can be ready to throw overtime at the people who didn't leave, or could bus in people from other stores.  Compare that to the entire kitchen crew or cashiers just not showing up one shift.


A lot of people do this. For example, in my area nice townhouses go for about $400K, so if you have $80,000 you can buy one and rent it. Here are the typical numbers: So you would make $350 per month or $4,200 per year on $80,000 in capital or about 5% profit. What can go wrong: (1) The property does not rent and sits vacant. You must come up with $2100 in mortgage payments, taxes, and insurance every month without fail or default. (2) Unexpected expenses. A new furnaces costs over $5,000. A new roof costs $7,000. A new appliance costs $600 to $2000 depending on how upscale your property is. I just had a toilet fixed for a leaky plunger. It cost me $200. As you can see maintenance expenses can quickly get a lot higher than the $50 shown above... and not only that, if you fix things as cheaply as possible (as most landlords do), not only does that decrease the rentability of the property, but it causes stuff to break sooner. (3) Deadbeats. Some people will rent your property and then not pay you. Now you have a property with no income, you are spending $2100 per month to pay for it, AND you are facing steep attorney fees to get the deadbeats evicted. They can fight you in court for months. (4) Damage, wear and tear. Whenever a tenant turns over there is always a lot of broken or worn stuff that has to be fixed. Holes in the wall need to be patched. Busted locks, broken windows, non-working toilets, stains on the carpet, stuck doors, ripped screens, leaky showers, broken tiles, painting exterior trim, painting walls, painting fences, etc. You can spend thousands every time a tenant changes. Other caveats: Banks are much more strict about loaning to non home owners. You usually have to have reserve income. So, if you have little or no income, or you are stretched already, it will be difficult to get commercial loans. For example, lets say your take-home pay is $7,000 and you have no mortgage at all (you rent), then it is fine, the bank will loan you the money. But lets say you only have $5,000 in take home pay and you have an $1,800 mortgage on your own home. In that case it is very unlikely a bank will allow you to assume a 2nd mortgage on a rental property. The more you try to borrow, the more reserve income the bank will require. This tends to set a limit on how much you can leverage.


"While I think this is generally inadvisable, there are sites and communities dedicated to ""points churning"" credit card reward programs.  In general, no there is no easy way to get cash from a credit card, and receive the spending rewards, and not pay fees well in excess of your rewards value. However, there are people who figure out ways to do this kind of thing.  Like buying prepaid Visa cards $500 at a time from drug stores on a 5% bonus rewards month.  Or buying rolls of $1 coins from the US treasury with free shipping. The issue is the source of the fees.  When you spend money on your card the merchant pays a fee.  When you get cash from an ATM not only is there no merchant remitting a fee there is an ATM operator and a network both charging fees."


I doubt it. They do not have a monopoly over anything. Their purchases of Pixar, Marvel and LucasFilms are all complementary to their core business. What they have bought is merely the rights to an assortment of properties. If they want to make back their investment they have to execute, nothing is certain and customers still have plenty of choice for their entertainment dollar. Abc is just one network, and compete with FOX, NBC, CBS and cable networks as well. ESPN is mighty, but Fox has been expanding their regional coverage tremendously in the last few years, individuals teams and college conferences have also been creating their own networks. Pixar still has dreamworks to contend with, and that does not preclude new entrants into the market. Marvel competes with DC/warner brothers and lastly LucasFilm's value is in the properties that they own, Disney must still execute to make money.


Another option is to look at the rent difference between where you need to be and where the others would rent, without considering your job. You pay the difference, which is due to your unique requirements, and split the remainder equally.


To short a stock you actually borrow shares and sell them. The shorter gets the money from selling immediately, and pays interest for the share he borrows until he covers the short. The amount of interest varies depending on the stock. It's typically under 1% a year for large cap stocks, but can be 20% or more for small, illiquid, or heavily shorted stocks. In this scam only a few people own the shares that are lent to shorters, so they essentially have a monopoly and can set really high borrow costs. The shorter probably assumes that a pump-and-dump will crash quickly, so wouldn't mind paying a high borrow cost.


**Here's a sneak peek of /r/jobs using the [top posts](https://np.reddit.com/r/jobs/top/?sort=top&t=year) of the year!**  \#1: [Who else is sick of having to create a profile online just to apply for a job you are probably never going to hear back from?](https://np.reddit.com/r/jobs/comments/55te2w/who_else_is_sick_of_having_to_create_a_profile/)   \#2: [FINALLY have a new job, and it's all because I was nice to the valet guy.](https://np.reddit.com/r/jobs/comments/5nhmp3/finally_have_a_new_job_and_its_all_because_i_was/)   \#3: [Company Loyalty is a load of crap. Always act in YOUR best interests.](https://np.reddit.com/r/jobs/comments/67qtdr/company_loyalty_is_a_load_of_crap_always_act_in/)  ---- ^^I'm ^^a ^^bot, ^^beep ^^boop ^^| ^^Downvote ^^to ^^remove ^^| [^^Contact ^^me](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=sneakpeekbot) ^^| [^^Info](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/) ^^| [^^Opt-out](https://np.reddit.com/r/sneakpeekbot/comments/5lveo6/blacklist/)


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The worst thing I've been seeing is interviewing for a position, requiring a ton of experience with specialized technologies, waiting almost a month of back and forth interviews and screenings and finding out that the position is below entry level pay. Oh, this job requires 7+ years experience and pays $50k-$55k? GTFO. That might be an OK salary in Frogballs, AR, but in my area, that's entry level helpdesk pay. So you have a foozeball table and offer free snacks, that doesn't pay the bills.


"Not true. The language used in the Navy & Army clauses are different. There is a duty to ""maintain"" the Navy and ""support"" the armies. There is no such mandate in the postal clause. Nor can the act of establishing be read as implying maintenance, because the Constitution specifically includes those things for the Army and Navy, suggesting it was not implied.   You can establish something and then privatize it. Government-chartered companies were common at the time, so it's not like the idea didn't occur to them.   Strictly speaking, I don't see any reason that Congress couldn't also privatize the army and navy, assuming that ""maintain"" and ""support"" don't imply direct congressional control. But that's a harder argument, compared to this much easier distinction in the case of the post office."


After paying off debts and the other obvious low hanging fruit, you need to start investing.  With your time frame, most advice you'll find will say go for an all equities index fund. However, the market is hot and you can do better than the S&P average of 12%. Especially considering a downturn is on coming  Take your time and find a safe investment fund to start building your portfolio. I run a PE fund buying Middle Market value add properties. I work exclusively in this market because it provides consistent income that continues through downturns, and we can safely give investors 15% tax mitigated return, every time. PM me if your are interested.


> No. But the Koran's peeps, well, they're acting out the Koran's commands to the T.  For about the millionth time, that is such an infinitesimally small percentage of Muslims. I'm really tired of correcting you for the same false assumption over and over.   So nothing to add, then?


>Humanity can't be free until we disabuse ourselves of the fallacy of the necessity of government  There are places in the wold that you can go to experience your government free utopia.  Somalia is one.  The countries with the weakest governments are some of the worst places in the world to live.


"I would be inclined to reject 100 percent of the material, refuse payment, and seek out someone else to fulfill your requirements. Just because some of the material ""looks original"" doesn't mean it is and, given the creator's propensity to plagiarize, may have simply been copied from a source you're unable to identify.  Why risk it?  Cut this person loose."


It is a publicly traded company.  My interest is more in their motivation for  instituting the new policy.  *I* expect the stock to go up, I'm not being told that by someone else.  Thanks for looking out though :)


Time & money. People have one or the other.   Even with a Pell Grant to attend school, it can be very hard to get a job that will accommodate a class schedule and also pay enough for basic living expenses. And many people around here were not encouraged to pursue education, because of the expense. And because, until 10-15 years ago, there were always factories hired and it was expected to start at 18 and stay until retirement.  I'm in my 30s and in school now, and it's taking me forever because I've had to change jobs, shuffle classes, and take time off in order to be able to pay bills and pursue my education.   If you do too well at work, they don't want to give you the time off to move forward (problem I had at a law office where I was working way more hours than hired for, then told I couldn't cut back to our original agreement when the next semester required more seated classes). If you don't excel, it's not worth their trouble to accommodate you because there are plenty of others begging for a job that can work whenever they're told.   And, in towns like this, I suspect part of it is a crabs in the bucket mentality.    40+ year old supervisors with GEDs sometimes don't like it when workers on the bottom rung are getting bachelor's degrees. The same in nursing - some of those LPNs & ADN/RNs get a little touchy when the newer younger ones immediately go to work on their RN. (And EMTs that try to jump straight to Paramedic, or those going for 4 year Paramedicine degrees, are met with outright scorn. Although there are some reasons for that, mainly lack of real world experience).


The individual managing security matters must know the different sorts of specialized gadgets accessible in the market in type of walkie talkies. The blog gives subtle elements of the walkies talkies and how the utilization of them by security watchmen will cover all escape clauses in the security game plan.


As someone who has worked for both an insurance carrier and an insurance agent, the reason people buy insurance is two fold: to spread risk out, and to get the benefits (when applicable) of approaching risk as a group. What you are really doing when you buy insurance is you are buying in to a large group of people who are sharing risk.  You put money in that will help people when they take a loss, and in exchange get a promise of having your losses covered.  There is an administrative fee taken by the company that runs the group in order to cover their costs of doing business and their profits that they get for running the group well (or losses they take if they run it poorly.) Some insurances are for profit, some are non-profit; all work on the principle of spreading risk around though and taking risk as a larger group. So let's take a closer look at each of the advantages you get from participating in insurance.  The biggest and most obvious is the protection from catastrophic loss.  Yes, you could self-insure with a group size of one, by saving your money and having no overhead (other than your time and the time value of your money) but that has a cost in itself and also doesn't cover you against risk up front if you aren't already independently wealthy.  A run of bad luck could wipe you out entirely since you don't have a large group to spread the risk around.  The same thing can still happen to insurance companies as well when the group as a whole takes major losses, but it's less likely to occur because there are more rare things that have to go wrong.  You pay an administrative overhead for the group to be run for you, but you have less exposure to your own risks in exchange for a small premium. Another significant but less visible advantage is the benefit of being part of a large group.  Insurance companies represent a large group of people and lots of business, so they can get better rates on dealing with recovering from losses.  They can negotiate for better health care rates or better repair rates or cheaper replacement parts.  This can potentially save more than the administrative overhead and profit that they take off the top, even when compared to self-insuring. There is an element of gambling to it, but there are also very real financial benefits to having predictable costs.  The value of that predictability (and the lesser need for liquid assets) is what makes insurance worth it for many people.  The value of this group benefit does decrease a lot as the value of the insurance coverage (the amount it pays out) decreases.  Insurance for minor losses has a much smaller impact on liquidity and is much easier to self insure.  Cheaper items that have insurance also tend to be high risk items, so the costs tend to be very high relative to the amount of protection.  If you are financially able, it may make more sense to self-insure in these cases, particularly if you tend to be more cautious.  It may make sense for those who are more prone to accidents with their devices to buy insurance, but this selection bias also drives the cost up further.  Generally, the reason to buy insurance on something like a cellphone is because you expect you will break it.  You are going to end up paying for an entire additional phone over time anyway and most such policies stop paying out after the first replacement anyway. The reason why people buy the coverage anyway, even when it really isn't in their best interest is due to two factors: being risk averse, as base64 pointed out, and also being generally bad at dealing with large numbers.  On the risk averse side, they think of how much they are spending on the item (even if it is less compared to large items like cars or houses) and don't want to lose that.  On the bad at dealing with large numbers side, they don't think about the overall cost of the coverage and don't read the fine print as to what they are actually getting coverage for.  (This is the same reason that you always see prices one cent under the dollar.)   People often don't really subconsciously get that they are paying more even if they would be able to eat the loss, so they pay what feels like a small amount to offset a large risk.  The risk of loss is a higher fear than the known small, easy payment that keeps the risk away and the overall value proposition isn't even considered.


The report I linked to appears to disagree with you about the numbers. But if you said that the number of contractors exceeding the number of government employees wasn't in and of itself hugely meaningful I'd not disagree. The point is that the military do outsource their work to various degrees, which was the point I'd been making, and so we're largely agreed.  I wonder how it works out from a budgetary perspective for the professional mercenary companies, who I've read get paid massive amounts, which, I imagine, must irritate those doing similar work for government pay. People like Blackwater and their ilk.


Your order may or may not be executed.  The price of stock can open anywhere.  Often yesterday's close is a good indication of today's open, but with a big event overnight, the open may be somewhere quite different.  You'll have to wait and see like the rest of us.  Also, even if it doesn't execute at the open, the price could vary during the day and it might execute later.


"The biggest and primary question is how much money you want to live on within retirement. The lower this is, the more options you have available. You will find that while initially complex, it doesn't take much planning to take complete advantage of the tax system if you are intending to retire early. Are there any other investment accounts that are geared towards retirement or long term investing and have some perk associated with them (tax deferred, tax exempt) but do not have an age restriction when money can be withdrawn?  I'm going to answer this with some potential alternatives. The US tax system currently is great for people wanting to early retire. If you can save significant money you can optimize your taxes so much over your lifetime! If you retire early and have money invested in a Roth IRA or a traditional 401k, that money can't be touched without penalty until you're 55/59. (Let's ignore Roth contributions that can technically be withdrawn) Ok, the 401k myth. The ""I'm hosed if I put money into it since it's stuck"" perspective isn't true for a variety of reasons. If you retire early you get a long amount of time to take advantage of retirement accounts. One way is to primarily contribute to pretax 401k during working years. After retiring, begin converting this at a very low tax rate. You can convert money in a traditional IRA whenever you want to be Roth. You just pay your marginal tax rate which.... for an early retiree might be 0%. Then after 5 years - you now have a chunk of principle that has become Roth principle - and can be withdrawn whenever. Let's imagine you retire at 40 with 100k in your 401k (pretax). For 5 years, you convert $20k (assuming married). Because we get $20k between exemptions/deduction it means you pay $0 taxes every year while converting $20k of your pretax IRA to Roth. Or if you have kids, even more. After 5 years you now can withdraw that 20k/year 100% tax free since it has become principle. This is only a good idea when you are retired early because you are able to fill up all your ""free"" income for tax conversions. When you are working you would be paying your marginal rate. But your marginal rate in retirement is... 0%. Related thread on a forum you might enjoy. This is sometimes called a Roth pipeline. Basically: assuming you have no income while retired early you can fairly simply convert traditional IRA money into Roth principle. This is then accessible to you well before the 55/59 age but you get the full benefit of the pretax money. But let's pretend you don't want to do that. You need the money (and tax benefit!) now! How beneficial is it to do traditional 401ks? Imagine you live in a state/city where you are paying 25% marginal tax rate. If your expected marginal rate in your early retirement is 10-15% you are still better off putting money into your 401k and just paying the 10% penalty on an early withdrawal. In many cases, for high earners, this can actually still be a tax benefit overall. The point is this: just because you have to ""work"" to get money out of a 401k early does NOT mean you lose the tax benefits of it. In fact, current tax code really does let an early retiree have their cake and eat it too when it comes to the Roth/traditional 401k/IRA question. Are you limited to a generic taxable brokerage account? Currently, a huge perk for those with small incomes is that long term capital gains are taxed based on your current federal tax bracket. If your federal marginal rate is 15% or less you will pay nothing for long term capital gains, until this income pushes you into the 25% federal bracket.  This might change, but right now means you can capture many capital gains without paying taxes on them. This is huge for early retirees who can manipulate income. You can have significant ""income"" and not pay taxes on it. You can also stack this with before mentioned Roth conversions. Convert traditional IRA money until you would begin owing any federal taxes, then capture long term capital gains until you would pay tax on those. Combined this can represent a huge amount of money per year. So littleadv mentioned HSAs but.. for an early retiree they can be ridiculously good. What this means is you can invest the maximum into your HSA for 10 years, let it grow 100% tax free, and save all your medical receipts/etc. Then in 10 years start withdrawing that money. While it sucks healthcare costs so much in America, you might as well take advantage of the tax opportunities to make it suck slightly less. There are many online communities dedicated to learning and optimizing their lives in order to achieve early retirement. The question you are asking can be answered superficially in the above, but for a comprehensive plan you might want other resources. Some you might enjoy:"


"Massaging statistical data is an art form.  Probably the most common tactic to manipulate without manipulating is to not measure something that is not immediately connected to the stat, but is absolutely influencing it.  Then there is scope manipulation (we see this with the wage gap stats) where data will be purposely aggregated at a level outside of the scope.  My pet peeve with national stats is when people will compare data collected in the US where we regulate thoroughly to data collected in a country like China where they live by the mantra ""if you are not cheating then you are not trying"".  Education stats for instance that always make us look bad when we absolutely know the Chinese are padding like crazy."


And set to get higher. Wait until the super rich start eating the poorer super rich.  We don't even know what the 1% really has because the sample sizes are so small. We do know there's trillions in offshore accounts but we don't know who owns it.


I am very surprised no one mentioned the Stock Repair Option Strategy which has real benefits and is one of the mainstream Option Strategies. Quote: Who Should Consider Using the Stock Repair Strategy? In a nutshell, you are buying call options with current strike price (at-the-money) and sell call options with higher strike price (out-of-the-money), all with the same expiry dates.  The only reason to also sell call options here is to recover your premium paid for the other call options. If you are comfortable paying that premium, you just buy the call options without selling the others. In case your stock will rise moderately to a price between the two strike prices, your call option will rise together with your stock, so you will be faster to recover your money. This is the main reason it is called Repair. If you have sold any call options, as the price rises, you have to be careful when it reaches the strike price of the options sold, as from there on you will begin incurring losses. It is however exactly the lucky outcome you were hoping for, your stock is higher, and you can buy back those loss making options - then or shortly before. If you didn't sell any options and payed your premium, you don't need to worry at all at this stage. WARNING It should be noted that the Stock Repair Strategy offers no protection for your stock price further falling down. In that case all those options will expire worthless or you can sell back the ones your bought but likely not for much. In order to have the downside protection for your stock, there are other strategies, the simplest one being buying a Put Option at-the-money or slightly lower. That will effectively cut your possible losses to the Option Premium (which is the main use of that option).  Again, if you hate to pay that premium, you can offset it by selling other options that you either hope won't be exercised or take steps to protect you against those.


I read somewhere that the iPod created ~14K American jobs, and that ~90% of them were retail. I am sure there are some arguable assumptions in there, but, 14K is not very many jobs for a multi-billion-dollar product. The core American engineering team was probably less than 1000 people.


"Since you already have an emergency fund in place, focus your extra funds on paying off debts like student loans. While some have advised you to play the stock market, not one person has mentioned the word ""risk"". You are gambling (""investing"") your money in the hopes your money will grow. Your student loan is real liability. The longer you keep the loan, the more interest you will pay. You can pay off your student loan in 21 months if you pay $1,100 each month. After the 21 months, you can almost fully fund a 401(k) each year. That will be amazing at your age. Our company gives us the Vanguard Retirement Fund with a low expense ratio of 0.19%. It is passive automated investing where you don't have to think about it. Just add money and just let it ride."


Varying the amount to reflect income during the quarter is entirely legitimate -- consider someone like a salesman whose income is partly driven by commissions, and who therefore can't predict the total. The payments are quarterly precisely so you can base them on actual results. Having said that,  I suspect that as long as you show Good Intent they won't quibble if your estimate is off by a few percent. And they'll never complain if you overpay. So it may not be worth the effort to change the payment amount for that last quarter unless the income is very different.


If you want a concrete investment tip, precious metals (e.g. gold, silver) are on a pretty good run these days, personally I still think they have ways to go as there are just too many problems with modern monetary policy of an almost existential nature, and gold and silver are better stores of value than fiat money. Silver is particularly hot right now, but keep in mind that the increased volatility means increased risk. If the Fed keeps its foot on the pedals of the dollar printing press and we get QE3 this summer, that will most likely mean more people piling into the PMs to hedge against inflation. If the Fed starts to tighten it's policy then that's probably bad news for both equities and bonds and so PMs could be seen as a safe haven investment. These are the main reasons why PMs take up a good portion of my portfolio and will continue to do so untill I see how the global economy plays out over the next couple of years.


> Are you worried at all about the $5 trillion in bonds held by the FED?  I'm not, no. It's just been an asset swap. In place of $5tn worth of bonds that the non-government used to hold, we're now holding $5tn worth of reserves.  Now whether you have $1mn worth of bonds, or $1mn in your bank, your net financial position is the same. You can buy a $1mn yacht just as easily either way, for bonds are one of the most liquid assets in existence. So why should swapping bonds for reserves, slightly more liquid but of the same value, be of concern to anyone? Who cares if our asset makeup has shifted from T-Bills that trade for their face value to Federal Reserve Notes that trade for their face value?  >Is there any precedent for a country canceling that amount of debt ever and kept reserve currency status?  Firstly, I don't understand this obsession with being the primary reserve currency. New Zealand/Australia/Canada/UK - these countries all manage just fine without it. Secondly, as the world's largest economy and with 200mn+ taxpayers all seeking out USD and heaps of very desirable exports and USD-denominated assets, the USD is always going to be highly sought-after and a pillar-stone of any assortment of reserves.  > I was just watching a documentary about WWI and Keynes said at the outset the war would have to stop after a few months because each side would run out of money.  Governments of the day simply [ceased convertibility to gold](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_standard#Impact_of_World_War_I), because guess what - whilst a country can run out of gold (and gold-convertible money), it can never run out of its own free floating currency. Again, just look at Japan - if it were possible, they would have eons ago.


You just need to average out the weekly hours and income over the year. So if his yearly income is $100,000 p.a. then this would average out to $2000 per week of which 15% would be $300 per week. It does not have to be exactly 15% per week as long as over the long run your saving your target 15%. If he gets a pay rise you can include this in the saving plan. Say he gets a 5% increase in pay you would increase the $300 per week by 5% to $315 per week.


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"> A good cashier is not someone who is better at sliding packages over a scanner. Good cashiers are friendly, engaging, fast, and have a sharp eye for shoplifting. They have good judgment and relate well to their colleagues. They care about the customer's experience.  Those are nice qualities, but Wal-Mart feels they are getting enough of those qualities for the price, and let's not delude ourselves into thinking that they are high skill. Anyone could be trained in the basics of watching for theft in less than 2 weeks.  > Walmart has chosen to compete solely on price, not on service; therefore, they hire the cheapest cashiers and sacrifice all of the soft skills that make a cashier a pleasurable part of someone's shopping experience.  Wal-Mart has realized that these qualities are nice, but not really worth that much extra money. Most people don't want to have a wonderful conversation with their checker, especially if this comes at a much higher cost at the counter. Most people have friends, and even the best shopping experience is taking away from their life. Few of us want to prolong the experience with artificial and feigned conversation with our checker, which feels like a social obligation on most days. We want an accurate total and a swift checkout. When people are trying to get out of the grocery store, they don't search for the line with the friendliest checker. They search for the one who is sliding packages across the scanner like lightning.  > are they missing out on an opportunity to build customer loyalty  Customer loyalty is overrated. The most loyal customer isn't going to impoverish their family for a really great checker experience, and Wal-Mart knows that. I'm reminded of people complaining that Wal-Mart has manufacturers make a cheaper version of their drills for their customers. Supposedly, this was a dastardly plan to make items disposable, so people would have to buy more. In reality, Wal-Mart just realizes the average guy who buys a drill isn't seriously going to get into woodworking, like he's always saying. He's going to pull it out 2-3 times, after the initial enthusiasm wears off. I thin Wal-Mart pisses people off, because they know what we really are, as opposed to the people we pretend to be.  > they're creating a disenchanted workforce incentivized to get back at the company whenever possible  Wal-Mart has a pretty good bead on their workforce. They're not losing money. This ""getting back"" is highly theoretical. In reality, they're going to gripe about their job and cycle through a lot of low wage jobs on their way back to Wal-Mart again.  I don't know if you've worked with low skill workers before, but there's a reason they are where they are. They're not these noble creatures from Steinbeck novels. I worked at quite a few of these low wage jobs while putting myself through college.  These are the people who show up hungover to work. These are the people who work for a few weeks and then suddenly flip out for seemingly no reason at all. These are the people who, when told to perform a task, say, ""No one tells me what to do."" That's what the check is for dummy. That's what a job is. These are the same people who sat in the back of the classroom in school and talked shit about how the teacher was stupid; school was stupid; they didn't need that shit to be successful. They are mostly ignorant and filled with overweaning pride, which they've been told they should have not for accomplishments, but for simply existing. When you've actually been around the poor masses for a while—raised around them as I was as a child—you stop idealizing and objectifying them. They're not all bad workers, but most of them are *bad* at working.  These are those soft skills that you were talking about. Wal-Mart raising wages won't make those people good workers. It'll put them out of a job. Wal-Mart only hires those people, because they're a bargain. If they're forced to raise wages tomorrow, most of those people are going to be cycled out and replaced with higher skill workers, like you would prefer. At the very least, Wal-Mart would start hiring higher skill workers to replace their lower skill workers. So what problem have you solved? Do the low skill workers now have magically more wages? No. They're low skill and wages are higher. They've been priced out of the market.  > But I must note that a good cashier enhances the shopping experience, rather than simply being a human scantron.  You obviously come from a different place. I think you'd be shocked by how many of us would like exactly that. Don't be surprised when Wal-Mart moves to rfid tags and get's rid of cashiers altogether."


The person I was responding to didn't say they aren't making a profit, and he didn't say they aren't generating any revenue. He said they don't make money, which is ambiguous.  Saying a company isn't making any profit has a clear meaning. Saying a company isn't generating revenue has a clear meaning.  Saying a company isn't making any money does not. It could imply the company is not generating any revenue at all, or that it's not realizing a profit from the revenue that it is generating.  I'm not sure how you read my original comment and come away with the idea that I don't understand the difference between profit and revenue when that was specifically the point I was making.


It's interesting that the most upvoted comments miss the point entirely.  They did not have tax/insurance escrows.  They make the point that they were not *required* by their loan docs to have escrows.  Further, they make the point that despite not being required to have escrows **AND** being current on taxes and insurance, B of A paid the taxes in duplicate and **forced** insurance.  I have several mortgages with B of A from acquired companies.  I have been current on insurance on all accounts with the same insurance provider since before the four years or so BoA has owned/serviced the accounts.  At least once a year BoA either notices me that they are going to or actually does force place insurance.  If I don't catch them in time it can be 8-10 phone calls over several months to get credited back properly.


"I don't believe it makes a difference at the federal level -- if you file taxes jointly, gains, losses, and dividends appear on the joint tax account.  If you file separately, I assume the tax implications only appear on the owner's tax return.  Then the benefits might outweigh the costs, but only if you correctly predict market behavior and the behavior of your positions. For example, lets say you lose 30k in the market in one year, and your spouse makes 30k.  If you're filing jointly, the loss washes out the gain, and you have no net taxes on the investment.  If you're filing separately, you can claim 3k in loss (the remaining 27k in loss is banked to future tax years), but your spouse pays taxes on 30k in gain. Where things get more interesting is at the state level.  I live in a ""community property state,"" where it doesn't matter whether you have separate accounts or not.  If I use ""community money"" to purchase a stock and make a million bucks, that million bucks is shared by the two of us, whether the account is in my name our in our name.  income during the marriage is considered community property.  However property you bring into the marriage is not.  And inheritances are not community property -- until co-mingled. Not sure how it works in other states.  I grew up in what's called an ""equitable property state."""


What nonsense. You're in effect saying that companies that might face negative npv project should simply 'look harder'. Hell no, as a shareholder I demand they have a fiduciary role. If buybacks are excessive due to CEO incentives to the expense of worthwhile project, that's a different problem and always leave me to vote with my departure as a shareholder.


Thanks very much.  12b1 is a form that explains how a fund uses that .25-1% fee, right? So that's part of the puzzle im getting at.  I'm not necessarily trying to understand my net fees, but more who pays who and based off of what.   For a quick example, betterment bought me a bunch of vanguard ETFs. That's cool. But vanguard underperformed vs their blackrock and ssga etfs. I get that vanguard has lower fees, but the return was less even taking those into account.  I'm wondering, first what sort of kickback betterment got for buying those funds, inclusive of wholesale deals, education fees etc.  I'm also wondering how this food chain goes up and down the sponsor, manager tree.  I'm sure it's more than just splitting up that 1%


I'm not that familiar with them, but as I understand it Eladian is mostly run by Automated Trading Desk guys. (Don't get me wrong ADT was definitely a strong firm at its prime, but I think Citi really gutted it).  I'm sure they have some ex-Citadel people there, but I'm not sure how important they were (I could be wrong, like I said I don't know who's at Eladian). Without dropping names, Headwinds snagged the researcher who pretty much wrote all of Citadel's core HFT algorithms.


As somebody that hasn't lived in areas where agriculture is present, I'm genuinely curious. Let's say I'm a recent high school graduate looking at jobs that are available to me. What room for advancement is there if I decide to start picking crops? Isn't that seasonal work? Could I count on a job that pays year round?  My impression is that lots of labor is needed for short periods of time when it comes to picking crops but that the jobs are temporary, which I can't imagine makes them particularly attractive to potential hires.


"They are basically asking for the name of the legal entity that they should write on the check. You, as a person, are a legal entity, and so you can have them pay you directly, by name. This is in effect a ""sole proprietorship"" arrangement and it is the situation of most independent contractors; you're working for yourself, and you get all the money, but you also have all the responsibility. You can also set up a legal alias, or a ""Doing Business As"" (DBA) name. The only thing that changes versus using your own name is... well... that you aren't using your own name, to be honest. You pay some trivial fee for the paperwork to the county clerk or other office of record, and you're now not only John Doe, you're ""Zolani Enterprises"", and your business checks can be written out to that name and the bank (who will want a copy of the DBA paperwork to file when you set the name up as a payable entity on the account) will cash them for you. An LLC, since it was mentioned, is a ""Limited Liability Company"". It is a legal entity, incorporeal, that is your ""avatar"" in the business world. It, not you, is the entity that primarily faces anyone else in that world. You become, for legal purposes, an agent of that company, authorized to make decisions on its behalf. You can do all the same things, make all the same money, but if things go pear-shaped, the company is the one liable, not you. Sounds great, right? Well, there's a downside, and that's taxes and the increased complexity thereof. Depending on the exact structure of the company, the IRS will treat the LLC either as a corporation, a partnership, or as a ""disregarded entity"". Most one-man LLCs are typically ""disregarded"", meaning that for tax purposes, all the money the company makes is treated as if it were made by you as a sole proprietor, as in the above cases (and with the associated increased FICA and lack of tax deductions that an ""employee"" would get). Nothing can be ""retained"" by the company, because as far as the IRS is concerned it doesn't exist, so whether the money from the profits of the company actually made it into your personal checking account or not, it has to be reported by you on the Schedule C. You can elect, if you wish, to have the LLC treated as a corporation; this allows the corporation to retain earnings (and thus to ""own"" liquid assets like cash, as opposed to only fixed assets like land, cars etc). It also allows you to be an ""employee"" of your own company, and pay yourself a true ""salary"", with all the applicable tax rules including pre-tax healthcare, employer-paid FICA, etc. However, the downside here is that some money is subject to double taxation; any monies ""retained"" by the company, or paid out to members as ""dividends"", is ""profit"" of the company for which the company is taxed at the corporate rate. Then, the money from that dividend you receive from the company is taxed again at the capital gains rate on your own 1040 return. This also means that you have to file taxes twice; once for the corporation, once for you as the individual. You can't, of course, have it both ways with an LLC; you can't pay yourself a true ""salary"" and get the associated tax breaks, then receive leftover profits as a ""distribution"" and avoid double taxation. It takes multiple ""members"" (owners) to have the LLC treated like a partnership, and there are specific types of LLCs set up to handle investments, where some of what I've said above doesn't apply. I won't get into that because the question inferred a single-owner situation, but the tax rules in these additional situations are again different."


Economically, you would say that purchased and rented real estate are not perfect substitutes--they are largely separate markets.  Only a few people are able to easily switch from one to the other and that choice is sticky--for example, once you buy a house, prices would have to rise a lot for it to be worth it to sell it and move into an apartment. In both markets there is a supply and demand curve, but the slope of the demand curve for houses to purchase is much steeper than the demand curve for rentals. The market for new housing fluctuates rapidly because it requires a large change in housing prices to change the number of people looking to buy a house.  Most decisions to buy a house are not driven by the state of the housing market.  This describes a supply/demand graph with a very steep demand curve.  Additionally, because of the leverage provided by mortgages, the demand for houses depends critically on relatively small changes in the interest rate and availability of loans.  Thus the steep demand curve shifts all over the place as borrowing conditions change. On the other hand, apartment prices are more stable because people easily move from one apartment to another and people living in their parent's basements easily move into apartments if prices change.  A small change in the price or quantity of rentals brings about reasonable response in quantity demanded.  This is the situation where the demand curve is shallow.  In addition, rentals are not tied to interest rates tightly, nor are they as strongly tied to economic conditions (in a recession, people avoid buying but renters continue to rent).


The company doesn't necessarily have to go public. They can also be worth money if the company is acquired. Also keep in mind that even if the company does eventually go public, your shares can essentially be wiped out by a round of pre-IPO funding that gives the company a low valuation. You could ask:


Fixed-rate mortgage is supposed to give you security. You are not going to get the best possible rate, but it is safe and predictable. Your argument is the same as complaining that you are paying for home insurance and your home hasn't burnt down.  Switching to a variable rate mortgage right now seems a bad idea, because there is some expectations that rates are going up. If you can overpay, that is probably what you should do unless you can invest with better return after tax than your mortgage interest. It doesn't just shorten the time of your mortgage; every time you overpay £500 your mortgage principal is down by £500, and you pay interest on £500 less.  And if the interest rate goes up over the next five years as you seem to hope, that just means you will pay higher interest when your mortgage needs renewing.  You can't hope to always make the optimal decision. You made a decision with very low risk. As with any decision, you don't know what's in the future; a decision that is low risk if the risk could lead to fatal results is not unwise. You could have picked a variable rate mortgage and could be paying twice as much interest today.


"If you read the comments from [the other posting of this article](http://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/v7y6p/not_christian_enough_job_seeker_sues_company_for/) this was brought up. *movesIikejagger* stated ""[It would actually be difficult for him not to win since...] they asked about his religion in the interview. If his religious preferences didn't affect whether or not they hired him they shouldn't have asked."""


Yes. It's terrible with terrible advice such as insider trading. The insider trading is really the only advice that's not common knowledge such as buy assets not liabilities and pay yourself first.   There is nothing in this book that would help anyone become wealthy. In fact is stated that education and savings will not make you rich. Which may be true but those two should never be discounted!  This guy is a scam artist and made his millions from the book and nothing else.


On Black Friday, 1929,the market fell from over 350 to just above 200. If you were following your plan then you would buy in at about 200. But look what the market did for two years after Black Friday.   It went down to about 50. You would have lost around 75% of your capital.


"Credit cards have three important advantages. None of them are for day-to-day borrowing of money. Safety - Credit cards have better fraud protection than checks or cash, and better than most debit/check cards. If you buy something with a credit card, you also get the issuer's (think Visa) assurances that your will get the product you paid for, or your money back. At almost any time, if a product you buy is not what you expect, you can work with the issuer, even if the store says ""screw you"". Security - Credit cards are almost universally accepted as a ""security"" against damages to the vendor. Hotels, car rentals, boat rentals etc. will accept a credit card as a means of securing their interests. Without that, you may have to make huge deposits, or not be able to rent at all. For example, in my area (touristy) you can not rent a car on debit or cash. You must use a credit card. Around here most hotel rooms require a credit card as well. This is different from area to area, but credit cards are nearly universally accepted. Emergencies - If you're using your credit card properly, then you have some extra padding when stuff goes wrong. For example, it may be cheaper to place a bill on a credit card for a couple months while you recover from a car accident, than to deplete your bank account and have to pay fees. Bonus - Some cards have perks, like miles, points, or cash back. Some can be very beneficial. You need to be careful about the rules with these bonuses. For example, some cards only give you points if you carry a balance. Some only give miles if you shop at certain stores. But if you have a good one, these can be pretty fantastic. A 3% cash back on purchases can make a large difference over time."


"Careful with saying ""no need"".  Look careful at the cost of life insurance. That cost depends obviously on the amount, but also on the age when you start paying into the insurance. If you take out a $100,000 insurance at 20, and someone else takes it out at 30, and a third person at 50, they will pay hugely different amounts when you reach the same age. You will pay less when you are 50 then the person taking out insurance at 30 when they reach the age of 50, and less again than the person who just started with their life insurance.  And as mhoran said, once you have insurance you can keep it even if you get an illness that would make you uninsurable."


I have an iPhone and live in a 3rd world country... you know what people are doing? They're buying iPhone 1s and iPhone 3gs... so they can still have the apple experience...  I had a galaxy tab and had two android phones... I traded all of that away since android wasn't for me...  Will I go to android again at a lower price? Unlikely...


The bank doesn't have to do anything. It is your responsibility to provide the proof of insurance. It is the agent's job, which you through your HOA dues paid for, to provide that proof to you. You shouldn't be registering with icerts. They say so in the first sentence on the registration page: Unit Owners, Do Not Register Here! If you own an existing property,   and have received a letter from your lender requiring an annual   renewal/updated certificate for an association that has recently   expired, please forward that letter to info@iCerts.com to receive   instructions to place your order. If your request is a new loan of any   kind, please contact your lender and request that they either contact   us to place this order, or register below. So you can try that route (sending an email to info@icerts.com), and see if it works. It does cost money, in the range of $20-$100 (I used a different similar service at the time and they charged $75 for this). If it doesn't, you can try and work with the insurance agent. There are some ways to persuade them: California has very strong traditions of consumer protections. In this case, I suggest checking out this site. Let the insurance agent know that as the HOA member - they're working for you, and that in the next HOA meeting you will raise a request to change the insurance agency. Also, remind the agent that the CA Insurance Commission will knock on their doors to ask why they don't provide you with the proof you need. If the HOA management company doesn't help you, you can remind them that they too can be fired. This can be done, and isn't even all that hard. There's a lot of competition in the HOA management market, and it wouldn't be too hard to find a new management company. The HOA management company should have provided you the proof of coverage when they renewed the policy.


"There is no general theory to support the notion that larger companies will be more profitable than smaller companies.  Economies of scale are not always positive, one can have diseconomies of scale too.   It is more common to talk about an optimal firm size, even going back to Stigler's (1958) ""The Economies of Scale.""  Intuitively, if economies of scale extended indefinitely, then natural monopolies would dominate all industries in the long run. A profit ratio, unfortunately, wouldn't quite get at scale economies.  Consider, for example, that the denominator of your metric would be profit+cost and that you are trying to get at the cost reduction that derives from scale.  Then, you are measuring the size of a company by the exact metric that should be reduced if scale economies exist, so the calculation would be a bit confounded. It is my understanding that such assessments are usually conducted at the industry level by determining whether the industry is becoming increasingly concentrated among fewer firms over time. (Again see Stigler).   If concentration is increasing, there is an implication that, at current firm sizes, there are economies of scale in the industry."


> Did, say, running Parallels and then Excel on Windows allow for the Windows shortcuts and features?  Yes, except that you don't have certain keys on your keyboard (home, end, page up, page down) and there aren't really excess keys on the minimalist Mac keyboard to remap to those, so your stuck using an awkward combination of Fn + Ctrl + Arrow Key, which I have never found as fluid, or an external keyboard.


> This allows companies like FedEx ground to not have to show an IT cost.  1) Doesn't the cost show up for the parent company?    2) Are the increased profits mostly due to tax savings? So,    3) If say, taco bell losses a little money while kfc makes a killing, parent company yum brands still gets a tax saving on its taco bell division even though over all the parent company did quite well?   4) Thanks for explaining this stuff by the way. Very interesting.


Depending on the the requirements of the annuity you might be able to pull back to part time for  a semester, thus reducing the bill for that semester. During that semester either get a job that will allow you to save money, or get an internship related to your major. Some of these programs alternate between work semesters and schools semesters.  Many colleges have an installment plan, where the payments are due every month, they usually spread them out over a 10 month period. Most only charge a nominal fee to set up the plan. This would reduce the amount of money needed to bridge the gap to only a portion of the tuition payments for the spring semester. You could also live off campus to save money. There is no guarantee it will be cheaper, but because the costs aren't fixed and due at the start of the semester, you might be able to stretch your budget.


Bren's comment is right on the mark.  The typical solution is to divide all bills by 5, and for special items, the person buying it just marks his name that it's not community food.  Your attempt at a granularity level this detailed is admirable, but produces false results. What happens when I claim to be a zero percent milk drinker but when someone gives me cookies, I have a glass of milk?  The effort to get true accuracy will cost far more in time spent than the results are worth.


Diversification is a good method of risk management. Different types of investments do better in different situations and economic climates. Invest all your money at the wrong time in a single product and you could lose everything. You could also technically make a great deal of money, but actions such as these are the actions of speculators, not investors.  Spreading your investments appropriately lets you maximize your growth opportunities while limiting your risk.


Your experience is anecdotal (outside Australia things are different). There are many companies and real estate investment trusts (REITs) that own residential properties (as well as commercial in many cases to have a balanced portfolio). They are probably more common in higher-density housing like condos, apartment buildings, flats, or whatever you like to call them, but they are certainly part of the market for single family units in the suburbs as well. What follows is all my own opinion. I have managed and rented a couple of properties that I had lived in but wasn't ready to sell yet when I moved out. In most cases, I wish I would have sold sooner, rather than renting them out. I think that there are easier/less risky ways to get a good return on your money. Sometimes the market isn't robust enough to quickly sell when it's time to move, and some people like the flexibility of having a property that a child could occupy instead of moving back in at home. I understand those points of view even if I disagree with them.


In theory, yes. In practice: So it can be gamed, but the odds are not on your side :)


"It's a quote from the article, hence the passage being put in quotations.   It's already a ghetto, ""Today its population is closer to 10,000, about 90 percent of whom are black. The per capita income of its residents is roughly $10,000; about 60 percent of its population is on some form of public assistance. ""  That's another quote from the article.  You should really read the article, there's some real WTF stuff in there. If the exact same article had been published in the Washington Times instead of the New York Times,  Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would be leading a protest claiming it was racist."


"Crowdfunding can be a legitimate means of funding very small startups. It is an innovative, but obviously risky, method of raising small amounts of money. As such it is now regulated by the SEC under ""Regulation Crowdfunding"" They have published guides for these types of business startups to help them with required disclosures and reporting requirements: https://www.sec.gov/info/smallbus/secg/rccomplianceguide-051316.htm Here's the introduction to the relevant regulatory authority of the SEC: Under the Securities Act of 1933, the offer and sale of securities must be registered unless an exemption from registration is available.  Title III of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act of 2012 added Securities Act Section 4(a)(6) that provides an exemption from registration for certain crowdfunding transactions.[2]  In 2015, the Commission adopted Regulation Crowdfunding to implement the requirements of Title III.[3]  Under the rules, eligible companies will be allowed to raise capital using Regulation Crowdfunding starting May 16, 2016. It is obviously a new form of investment but you should be able to get historical data on the SEC's real time Edgar reporting system once there is some history. This is a search for all Form C's filed as of 12/2/16"


Unfortunately it is not possible for an ordinary person to become an accredited investor without a career change. Gaining any legal certification in investments typically require sponsorship from an investment company (which you would be working for). There are reasons why these kinds of investments are not available to ordinary people directly, and you should definitely consult an RIA (registered investment adviser) before investing in something that isn't extremely standardized (traded on an major exchange). The issue with these kinds of investments is that they are not particularly standardized (in terms of legal structure/settlement terms). Registered investment advisers and other people who manage investments professionally are (theoretically) given specific training to understand these kinds of non-standard investments and are (theoretically) qualified to analyze the legal documentation of these, make well informed investment decisions, and make sure that their investors are not falling into any kind of pyramid scheme.  There are many many kinds of issues that can arise when investing in startups. What % of the company/ the company's profits are you entitled to? How long can the company go without paying you a dividend? Do they have to pay you a dividend at all? How liquid will your investment in the company be? Unfortunately it is common for startups to accept investment but have legal restrictions on their investors ability to sell their stake in the business, and other non-standard contract clauses. For example, some investment agreements have a clause which states that you can only sell your stake in the business to a person who already owns a stake in the business. This makes your investment essentially worthless - the company could run for an exponential amount of time without paying you a dividend. If you are not able to sell your stake in the company you will not be able to earn any capital gains either. The probability of a startup eventually going public is extremely small.. so in this scenario it is likely you will end up gaining no return investment (though you can be happy to know you helped a company grow!)  Overall, the restrictions for these kinds of investments exist to protect ordinary folks from making investing their savings into things that could get them burned. If you want to invest in companies on FundersClub build a relationship with an RIA and work with that person to invest your money. It is easier, less risky, and not all that more expensive :)


One extremely important aspect that must be taken into consideration is the state of the housing market. If prices are rising it will probably be a false economy to delay your house purchase. Say you pay off a £5,000 student loan, thus delaying your house purchase another year you could well end up forking out an extra £10,000 on the mortgage due to the rise in house prices. Of course, if the housing market is falling then, without a doubt, pay off the student debt.


No, Mark is right, if you place a market order there will always be someone to buy or sell at the market price.  Only if you place a limit order on the price can it not sell or be bought.  Just research on your computer and you will find your answer.  You must be specify about open order or limit order when asking.


As a follow-up, I ended up buying:    * Financial Modeling and Valuation: A Practical Guide to Investment Banking and Private Equity (Pignataro, Paul; Hardcover)     * Mergers, Acquisitions, Divestitures, and Other Restructurings, + Website (Pignataro, Paul; Hardcover)     * The Essential CFO: A Corporate Finance Playbook (Nolop, Bruce P.; Paperback)


"Since you seem to be the expert.... riddle me this:  What is the breakdown of entrepreneurs and how they operate by: LLCs, C-Corp, S-Corp, Sole-proprietor?  Is it: 15/35/20/30?  You basically need to know what this breakdown is in order to claim that ""most entrepreneurs pay hardly any income tax at all.""    So... what is it, and please cite your source."


An auto title loans are typically utilized by those that wish to obtain a funding with bad credit rating or no credit in any way. An auto-mobile title lending frequently called a vehicle title lending or merely title funding as well as pink slip funding’s. You merely should have a vehicle that is paid off or nearly paid off and also you could make use of the auto title as security to obtain the cash money you require, enabling you to continue driving your vehicle while paying your loan.   Get Auto Car Title Loans West Covina CA and nearby cities Provide Car Title Loans, Auto Title Loans, Mobile Home Title Loans, RV/Motor Home Title Loans, Big Rigs Truck Title Loans, Motor Cycle Title Loans, Online Title Loans Near me, Bad Credit Loans, Personal Loans, Quick cash Loans  Contact Us: Get Auto Car Title Loans West Covina CA 1203 W Francisquito Ave # 1207, West Covina, CA 91790 626-653-4292 atlwestcovina@gmail.com http://getautotitleloans.com/car-and-auto-title-loans-covina-ca/


"Buying gold, silver, palladium, copper and platinum. The first two I am thinking about new currencies. The last three for the perpetual need for the metals in industry. I also have invested in Numismatic coins. They are small portable and easy to hide around the house. I only collect silver coins, so even if the world really blows up and numismatics goes out the window, I can depend on them forming a barter system through the content value of the silver. The problem with collectable items is that they are easy to see. For example, a nice painting just shouts out ""steal me!"". I don't buy large gold coins. As long as the coin is below 1/4 Oz gold I collect it. If the dollar does finaly collapse, to be honest it will be so bad that I think weapons will be order of the day. Do I think it will collapse...nah never."


"Wait a minute.   16 years later, and we still have to remove shoes and laptops, but the one good thing that came out of post-9/11 security is the first to go away?   ""Yeah honey just drop me at the curb, you can't get through security anyway.""  ""Oh you sure? k, safe travels BYE""  I'm seriously convinced this is to boost parking revenue."


I would advise against this, answering only the first part of question #1. Borrowing and lending money among friends and family members can often ruin relationships.  While it can sometimes be done successfully, this is most likely not the case.  All parties involved have to approach this uniquely in order for it to work.  This would include your son's future significant other.  Obviously you have done very well financially, congratulations.  Your view for your son might be for him to pay you off ASAP:   Even after becoming a doctor, continue to live like a student until the loan is paid off.   His view might be more conventional; get the car and house and pay off my loans before I am 50.  He may start with your view, but two years in he marries a woman that pressures him to be more conventional.   My advice would be to give if you can afford to, but if not, do not lend.  If you decide to lend then come up with a very clear agreement on the repayment schedule and consequences of non-payment.  You may want to see a lawyer. For the rest of it, interest payments received are taxable.


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"Thanks for your question. Definitely pay the car down as soon as possible (reasoning to follow). In fact, I would go even further and recommend the following: Why? 1) Make money risk free - the key here is RISK FREE. By paying down the loan now, you can avoid paying interest on the additional amount paid toward principal risk free. Imagine this scenario: if you walked into a bank and they said, ""If you give us $100, we'll give you $103 back today"", would you do it? That is exactly what you get to do by not paying interest on the remaining loan principal. 2) The spread you might make by investing is not as large as you may think. Let's assume that by investing, you can make a market return of 10%. However, these are future cash flows, so let's discount this for inflation to a ""real"" 8% return. Then let's assume that after fees and taxes this would be a 7% real after-tax return. You also have to remember that this money is at risk in the market and may not get this return in some years. Assuming that your friend's average tax rate on earned income is 25%, this means that he'd need to earn $400 pre-tax to pay the after-tax payment of $300. So this is a 4% risk-free return after tax compared to a 7% average after tax return from the market, but one where the return is at risk. The equivalent after-tax risk-free return from the market (think T-Bills) is much lower than 7%. You are also reducing risk by paying the car loan off first in a few other ways, which is a great way to increase peace of mind. First, since cars decline in value over time, you are minimizing the possibility that you will eventually end up ""under water"" on the loan, where the loan balance is greater than the value of the car. This also gives you more flexibility in terms of being able to sell the car at any point if desired. Additionally, if the car breaks down and must be replaced, you would not need to continue making payments on the old loan, of if your friend loses his job, he would own the car outright and would not need to make payments. Finally, ideally you would only be investing in the market when you intend to leave the money there for 5+ years. Otherwise, you might need to pull money out of the market at a bad time. Remember, annual market returns vary quite a bit, but over 5-10 year periods, they are much more stable. Unfortunately, most people don't keep cars 5-10+ years, so you are likely to need the money back for another car more frequently than this. If you are pulling money out of the market every 5-10 years, you are more likely to need to pull money out at a bad time. 3) Killing off the ""buy now, pay later"" mindset will result in long-term financial benefits. Stop paying interest on things that go down in value. Save up and buy them outright, and invest the extra money into things that generate income/dividends. This is a good long-term habit to have. People also tend to be more prudent when considering the total cost of a purchase rather than just the monthly payment because it ""feels"" like more money when you buy outright. As a gut check for whether this is a good idea, here is an example that Dave Ramsey likes to use: Suppose that your friend did not have the emergency fund, and also did not have the car loan and owned the car outright. In that case, would your friend take out a title  loan on the car in order to have an emergency fund? I think that a lot of people would say no, which may be a good indicator that it is wise to reduce the emergency fund in order to wipe out the debt, rather than maintaining both."


The goal of a good IPO underwriter is to set the price such that it brings as much money as possible to the company.   * Too low: Early stock flippers get the money that should be going to the company.  * Too high: Not all the stock gets sold.  By that definition, **Facebook should be recorded as the most successful IPO of all time**.   The problem is investors have gotten used to incompetent and/or corrupt underwriters that set the price too low. The company gets screwed, but the underwriter’s buddies make some quick cash on the flip.


Consumers who have been forced into Obamacare are still clearly being asked in some cases to pay virtually unlimited out of pocket costs for drugs.  This was an example from the past which is still allowed, some people can be asked to pay an extra $24k a year (for the rest of 2014) or perhaps even more. This system is broken and there is no desire to fix it, just cover it up with astroturfers who shout down anybody who points out the madness of this race to the bottom.  http://www.nationalhealthcouncil.org/NHC_Files/Pdf_Files/NHC_MOOP_letter.pdf


"Using your example link, I found the corresponding chart for a stock that trades on London Stock Exchange: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=RIO.L#symbol=RIO.L;range=1d As you can see there, the chart runs from ~8:00am to ~4:30pm, and as I write this post it is only 2:14pm Eastern Time.  So clearly this foreign chart is using a foreign time zone.  And as you can see from this Wikipedia page, those hours are exactly the London Stock Exchange's hours. Additionally, the closing price listed above the graph has a timestamp of ""11:35AM EST"", meaning that the rightmost timestamp in the graph (~4:30pm) is equal to 11:35AM EST.  16:30 - 11:30 = 5 hours = difference between London and New York at this time of year. So those are two data points showing that Yahoo uses the exchange's native time zone when displaying these charts."


"Not sure what you mean by ""missing"". Credit card debt can be paid back in full when you get the bill, or you can ""take a loan"" and ""pay in installments"". If you do the latter, and pay back at least the minimum required amount on time, you are not ""missing"" your payment. Technically, you are taking a small, but expensive loan, and if you pay that loan back according to the terms and conditions that apply to your credit card, this is reported to the credit bureau and improves your credit. If you are really ""missing your payment"", paying late (more than a few days), less than minimum or nothing at all, this won't help to improve your credit. A ""first-time offender"" won't always be reported to the credit bureau, but if he is, it won't be a positive report."


"I am currently running 12%. This is including IRA, 401k, HSA, and tax accounts. My LC is not a tax sheltered.The share used to be around 25% but i have been very aggressively putting away alot more into 401k/HSA. My current NAT returns on LC are 14.3%, but not a single loan has seasoned, i am nearing my first full year, and i have had 3 defaults in 150~ loans. My % across grades: A-0  B-6  C-30  D-31  E-20  F-12  G-1 Also to note, i use a very filter and only pick the ""best"" notes based on my own personally back testing. My 5 year average for stocks and such is around 11%, and YTD is 14%. Which is matching my LC rate. I am not sure which one will hurt more during the next bear markets, LC, or long term investments. Only time will tell. I suppose I plan on keeping my LC between 10-15% of my total investments. I will see how it goes as time goes on and my account gets more seasoned."


No.  In a marginal tax system, only additional dollars that push you into a higher bracket are taxed at that higher rate.  If you would pay 15% on $73800, then when you earn over $73800, you will still only pay 15% of the $73800, plus 25% of the extra amount over $73800.  As far as a marginal income tax affects things, you cannot decrease your net income by increasing your salary.  (There can be other potential reasons to keep your income down besides income taxes, as asked in this question, but as the answer there suggests, these often aren't great reasons either.) As far as I know, every income tax system that has differing tax rates works this way.  That is, I'm not aware of any country with an income tax system where you can decrease your net earnings by moving into a higher bracket.


Both Credit Card and Mortgage work on same principle. The interest is calculated on the remaining balance.  As the balance reduces the interest reduces. The Mortgage schedule is calculated with the assumption that you would be paying a certain amount over a period of years. However if you pay more, then the balance becomes less, and hence the subsequent interest also reduces. This means you would pay the loan faster and also pay less then originaly forecasted. The other type of loan, typically personal loans / auto loans in older days worked on fixed schedule. This means that you need to pay principal + Pre Determined interest. This is then broken into equal monthly installment. However in such a schedule, even if you pay a lumpsum amount in between, the total amount you need to pay remains same. Only the tenor reduces.


If you look at academia as a business where you are the customer it makes sense that universities want to enroll as many people as possible. They know they'll get paid regardless since debts are guaranteed.  From the students perspective, buyer beware would certainly seem to apply. A Ferrari worth of student loans for a degree that doesn't have a high probability of profitability leads to poor economic outcomes.  This is true for all students. Debt will continue to climb until an equilibrium is met. The rules guaranteeing loans may have to change as well. There seem to be many perverse incentives to the current structure with anomalies such as having significantly more administrators than professors and a rapidly climbing total cost of degree.


when weed is no longer a crime to grow, nobody will pay for it, but instead they will have a couple of plants growing in the kitchen window..  tobacco is a hideous drain upon the economy, not the other way around.


My reason for not using direct debit is #4 on Dheer's list. I just don't know where exactly I'm going to have what balance on what day, because I usually don't leave more than $100-$200 on my checking, all my cash is in Savings. I also don't want to direct debit from Savings in order to not break the 6-withdrawals limit accidentally. I use direct debit to my credit card where its available, but most places charge for that and I don't want to pay the extra fee. So, I prefer to pay my bills manually. What I don't understand is the people who pay the credit card bills when the statement arrives. I haven't received a credit card statement in years. Don't they have on-line access? Can't they set reminders there? If so - throw the card away, and get a normal one. Same with mailing checks, by the way. I'm still not even half done with the free checks I got from Washington Mutual 5 years ago. I almost never write checks. All the bills are paid online, whether through bill-pay service or an ACH transfer.


No one is arguing communism.  No one wants that.  I find it curious that that is the go-to accusation to anyone who wishes to put an end to the favor-the-wealthy economic policies that we've embraced since the 1980s (trickle-down theory, supply-side theory, Reaganomics).  We need a favor-the-middle class economic policy.  Your taxes and mine will not be affected, only the wealthiest among us will be, the billionaires and multi-millionaires.  What I'm saying is we need a return to the tax rates on the top tax bracket that we had during the 1950s and 1960s, a period shortly after World War II that was America's heyday.  I would hardly call that period in time communist, with McCarthyism and all the anti-communist fervor going around.  It's time to undo Reaganomics and go back to what has worked for our country before.


Yes . .unfortunately this is related to our economy.  You see, Israel is basically a Jewish state and has spent the last 50 years, killing unarmed women and children in Palestine and building illegal settlements. They as a part of government policy deny their own Arab citizens rights, and as such are not a democracy, they are an Apartheid state.  Now Jews, are Jews first and then any thing else, like for instance American citizens, they are Jews first and will always put Jewry first.  Well thats all fine but, Jews also control the US economy and exert a great deal of control on the US politics via their control of the purse strings.  But America is supposed to be the defender of Democracy and Human Rights and is forced to publicly  support Israel which is now known to the world as an Apartheid State and a sower of discord and strife and the root cause of terrorism, and therefor by aligning with the Israeli's and giving them weapons and military aid, America shows it self as a hypocritical liar and a shallow state and grow in its isolation.  All the while Israel keeps harping about war and Iran and Syria and now Russia and forcing America to its own destruction while siphoning off all the fat from the US economy into Jewish pockets.  That Bedouin village is the Death of the US economy


">There is no obvious reason why, even in a perfect world, we would go looking for a malleable, highly-conductive, corrosion-resistant metal as something to peg the value of our banknotes to.   If this were true, why force citizens to use a specific central bank's paper money via ""legal tender laws""?  ;)  >I will leave it to others to argue over whether a return to the gold standard would be a good idea, but the argument has nothing to with the intrinsic utility of gold. I'm sure we can all agree that gold is a fine metal with many good qualities.   Then what was the point of your post?  If you don't want to use gold as money, I would never force you to use gold.  It is the contention of the Austrian economists that there should be free and open competition in the money industry.  Allow people to choose their money.  Allow entrepreneurs to create systems to simplify the communication of prices across various monies.  The root of the problem is force and monopoly."


Mostly because 3D printers is the way kids design, build and make things and **not limited on design shape and forms** (I means it literary.)  Some 3D printers cost less than a big Lego set (you can get a 3D printer for less than $300)


I think you've confused what I am saying here, as are others. I'm not making an argument where I say either private insurance vs. government management vs. single payer is best, because to me you are just arguing whether its more effective to shovel coal, wood or crumpled up paper into the fires of cost inflation.   The systems in the US, and all other OECD nations are actual quite similar, despite the semantic hair splitting of partisans (With ACA our system is quite indistinguishable from that of the netherlands). My point is that none of these systems contian costs, therefor none of them solve the core problem.  To put my point another way, As long as you fund health care through a financial product like insurance, whether it be public of private, you are going to see this level of inflation, just like we saw in housing prior to the sub-prime bubble, and just like we are seeing now with college tuition.


The contradiction is not that executives who take strategic decisions are responsible for the decisions of a business and thus its profits or losses, because that's the result of the strategic planning they perform. The contradiction is that you deem yourself capitals of adding to this conversation without the slightest grasp of what you're saying.


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Trump equals institutional volatility, which equals market crashes. The longer he is around, the harder the crash will be, but don't worry, it will be blamed on the incoming administration anyway, like the 2007 crash was pinned to Obama. Reason and logic are required for healthy, stable markets, not so much for bull markets that grow based on twitter one liner news.


"> The problem isnt sensing items going on/off shelf, but consumer behavior.  What do you mean by ""consumer behavior""? Consumer behavior is heavily shaped by the environment; obviously people are going to behave differently in the proposed boxed-produced environment than in your conventional everything-in-the-open produce section.  > Ever visited a farmers market/local grocer where produces are boxed in a orderly fashion?  Ever visited a farmer's market that's run by Amazon?  I sure haven't."


Your calculations look correct in that they will be withholding taxes at the full year income rate even though you will only have 1/3 of that income which will put you in a lower tax bracket. There are online sites where you can fill out a return for free.  You can estimate your return by filling out a return using the numbers on your paystub (you will have to add in your last paystub manually). In regards to when you will get your refund check?  I believe it comes within a month or so of filing.


"No, because:  (a) People shift industries as wages adjust  (b) people increase their standard of living  Let's take (a).  As stockbreaker points out, most people in the United States were involved with agriculture at, say, 1800 (I dunno about 1900, but that's possible).  Yes, as we mechanized agriculture, we eliminated need for farm workers.  Simultaneously, as a factory worker could produce more *stuff*, the wage ratio became more-and-more favorable to move into factories.  As a result, we saw massive urbanization; instead of people living in the country, they moved to the city and worked in other types of jobs.  In 1700, in, say, England, less than half of the *men* were even literate.  Today, we spend over a decade simply educating people.  Then let's look at (b).  Let's say that you have some company with a couple of software engineers and a couple of business guys that makes huge amounts of money.  Google or something.  What are they going to *do* with that money?  Okay, maybe they don't pull a Bill Gates and just give it away, but seriously, what do they do?  Well, one thing they could do is to just live the life they would have anyway and refuse to spend any more money.  That's possible, but unlikely; people usually want to work for the things that money can buy, not just money.  So they go out and get a Rolex watch (which sends wealth to watch manufacture and marketing people) or a yacht (which sends wealth to boat builders).  Both are very pricey items relative to the benefit someone gets, but there's a degree of diminishing returns.  The money flows on back.  People have been concerned that we'd ""run out of work"" for a long time, as technology improves productivity.  They've proposed that we'd have to have an eight hour work week because there simply wouldn't be demand for the extra labor.  And if we maintained the kind of standard-of-living that people had a few centuries back, then maybe we would have that eight hour work week.  But historically, we've always simply found new things that cost more that soak up more money."


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This is why you don't get to excited and accept the first offer.   Did they tell you that it was just sales and your main job would be cold calling people? If they lied to you, chances are she is lying to you about helping you to land a real job. Honestly, unpaid internships sounds like a scam. Maybe its the trend now, with the shitty economy, but I never did any kind of internship that was unpaid, and the only ones who offered unpaid were some shady places.


Python or C are the most useful if you're on the quantitative side of things, that space can be a bit difficult to break in to without a quantitative degree, though.  Outside of that, excel, SQL, VBA etc. are useful tools if you're in a more spreadsheet-y role.  Your question has been asked more than a few times, so a subreddit search will probably turn up more detailed answers.


"**Tulip mania**  Tulip mania, tulipmania, or tulipomania (Dutch names include: tulpenmanie, tulpomanie, tulpenwoede, tulpengekte and bollengekte) was a period in the Dutch Golden Age during which contract prices for bulbs of the recently introduced tulip reached extraordinarily high levels and then dramatically collapsed in February 1637. It is generally considered the first recorded speculative bubble (or economic bubble), although some researchers have noted that the Kipper-und Wipperzeit (literally Tipper and See-saw) episode in 1619–22, a Europe-wide chain of debasement of the metal content of coins to fund warfare, featured mania-like similarities to a bubble. In many ways, the tulip mania was more of a hitherto unknown socio-economic phenomenon than a significant economic crisis (or financial crisis). And historically, it had no critical influence on the prosperity of the Dutch Republic, the world's leading economic and financial power in the 17th century.  ***  **Greater fool theory**  The greater fool theory states that the price of an object is determined not by its intrinsic value, but rather by irrational beliefs and expectations of market participants. A price can be justified by a rational buyer under the belief that another party is willing to pay an even higher price. In other words, one may pay a price that seems ""foolishly"" high because one may rationally have the expectation that the item can be resold to a ""greater fool"" later.  ***  ^[ [^PM](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=kittens_from_space) ^| [^Exclude ^me](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiTextBot&message=Excludeme&subject=Excludeme) ^| [^Exclude ^from ^subreddit](https://np.reddit.com/r/business/about/banned) ^| [^FAQ ^/ ^Information](https://np.reddit.com/r/WikiTextBot/wiki/index) ^| [^Source](https://github.com/kittenswolf/WikiTextBot)   ^] ^Downvote ^to ^remove ^| ^v0.24"


"A simple response is that it's a good political/strategic move. Ford have effectively said, ""We know we still have debt, but we think the long term future is so good we can go back to paying dividends."" It builds investor confidence and attracts new money. It can also be seen as a way of Ford indicating that they believe the type of debt (regardless of the amount) is okay for them to carry."


It was actually a reverse split meaning that every 10 shares you had became 1 share and the price should be 10x higher. - Citigroup in reverse split The chart just accounts for the split. The big dip is Googles way of showing from what price it split from. If you remember before the split the stock was trading around $4-$5 after the reverse split the stock became 10x higher. Just to clear it up a 1:2(1 for 2) split would mean you get 1 share for every 2 shares you have. This is known as a reverse split.  A 2:1(2 for 1) split means you get 2 shares for every 1 share you have. The first number represents the amount of shares you will receive and the second number represents how many shares you will be giving up.


I was joking, like you were working in the New Jersey branch of משרד הפנים or something -- where everything you do needs approval from 120 different people, who rubber stamp it, after you fill out 120 forms...and wait in line, all day, of course...just to renew your .תעודת זהות  Anyway, the eclipse already passed over me and it was !מדהים


You can't tell for sure.  If there was such a technique then everyone would use it and the price would instantly change to reflect the future price value. However, trade volume does say something.  If you have a lemonade stand and offer a large glass of ice cold lemonade for 1c on a hot summer day I'm pretty sure you'll have high trading volume.  If you offer it for $5000 the trading volume is going to be around zero. Since the supply of lemonade is presumably limited at some point dropping the price further isn't going to increase the number of transactions.   Trade volumes reflect to some degree the difference of valuations between buyers and sellers and the supply and demand.  It's another piece of information that you can try looking at and interpreting.  If you can be more successful at this than the majority of others on the market (not very likely) you may get a small edge.  I'm willing to bet that high frequency trading algorithms factor volume into their trading decisions among multiple other factors.


"What it means is that you can always come up with alternative framings where the difference between two options is stated as a gain or a loss, but the effect is the same in either case.  For instance, if I offer to sell a T-shirt for $10 and offer a cash discount of $1, you pay $10 if buying with a credit card or $9 if buying with cash.  If I instead offer the shirt for $9 with a $1 surcharge for credit card use, you still pay $10 if buying with a credit card or $9 if buying with cash.  The financial result is the same in either case, but psychologically people may perceive them differently and make different buying decisions. In a tax situation it may be more complicated since exemptions wouldn't directly reduce your tax, but only your taxable income.  However, you can still see that, in general, having to pay $X more in tax for not doing some action (e.g., not purchasing health insurance) is the same as being able to pay $X less in tax as a reward for doing the action.  Either way, doing the action results in you paying $X less than you would if you didn't do it; the only difference is in which behavior (doing it or not doing it) is framed as the ""default"" option.  Again, these framings may differentially influence people's behavior even when the net result is the same."


"Whether or not the specific card in question is truly 0% interest rate for the first 12 months, such cards do exist. However, the bank does make money out of it on the average: Still, 12 months of not having to think about paying the bill. Nice. This is exactly what they want you to do. Then in 12 months, when you start thinking about it, you may find out that you don't have the cash immediately available and end up paying the (usually very large) interest. It is possible to game this system to keep the ""free"" money in investments for the 12 months, as long as you are very careful to always follow the terms and dates. Because even one mishap can take away the small profits you could get for a 12 month investment of a few thousand dollars, it is rarely worth the effort."


"Company values (and thus stock prices) rely on a much larger time frame than ""a weekend"".  First, markets are not efficient enough to know what a companies sales were over the past 2-3 days (many companies do not even know that for several weeks).  They look at performance over quarters and years to determine the ""value"" of a company.  They also look forward, not backwards to determine value.  Prior performance only gives a hint of what future performance may be.  If a company shut its doors over a weekend and did no sales, it still would have value based on its future ability to earn profits."


yeah - the point is why should any foreign investor trust you with their money?  just because Bangladesh might have a hot housing market, doesn't make you a reliable or trustworthy partner.  Maybe if you were an established and reputable real estate investor this post might get traction.


It's a short sale. See these for good overviews: http://www.realtor.org/library/library/fg335 http://homebuying.about.com/od/4closureshortsales/a/shortsalebasics.htm  You'll want input from your lawyer and accountant (assuming the lender says they would accept such a sale). Best of luck - sounds like this could be a great opportunity for you if it all comes together. DO NOT talk to a realtor.


The main reason I'm aware of that very few individuals do this sort of trading is that you're not taking into account the transaction costs, which can and will be considerable for a small-time investor. Say your transaction costs you $12, that means in order to come out ahead you'll have to have a fairly large position in a given instrument to make that fee back and some money. Most smaller investors wouldn't really want to tie up 5-6 figures for a day on the chance that you'll get $100 back. The economics change for investment firms, especially market makers that get special low fees for being a market maker (ie, offering liquidity by quoting all the time).