"you didn't say it was perfect. you didn't say it was imperfect. you said:  >i want america to be hong kong  surely you realize that the amount of control exerted by the chinese government over hong kong contributes to the economic rating given to it by the conservative think-tank/research group whose website you provided as a source  you can't pick and choose which parts of a country you want if you ""want america to be hong kong""  you didn't say that you just want it to be similar in some ways (but not all) to hong kong -- you're stating that you want it to be just like it"


"Bittcoin is not a currency, it's a store of value, because it is not widely accepted as tender by most people. Even as a store of value, it's not very good. It's volatile and the fact that there is a limited supply of bitcoin is not a good thing. Sure, in the short run it results in speculation that drives up the price of a coin and makes it all the rage among gamblers but I don't think anyone can explain how, if used on a larger scale, wouldn't lead to deflation in the price of goods.   Also, at the end of the day, fiat currencies are based on trust and accountability of the government. How does Bitcoin or any other online currency solve that problem? There's no accountability, and it effectively acts as as an anti-currency, fueled by mistrust in the establishment.   What do you mean, ""cryptocurrencies are growing hundreds of times faster than the market as a whole""?"


If you know with 100% certainty what the market will do, then invest it all at the best time. If not, spread it out over time to avoid investing it all at the worst possible time.


Pretty fuck up that these companies want to brag about the people who spent their whole lives making them rich dying early makes them richer. They should feel bad and want a solution not brag about money saved. How about the money should go onto the families who said person who died?


I finally got one to separate my business and personal expenses.  It will make accounting at the end of the year a lot easier.


I would deduct all the other payments out as subcontractors, but I typically have all the paperwork and entities set up to make that applicable. In Turbotax I do this with as subcontracting expense under my business entity, but for the IRS the categories of the deductions do not matter This isn't tax advice, it is what I would do, and how I would defend it under an audit. Everyone else that was paid also needs to report it. The lack of reciprocal filing (you deducted income paid to someone else, the person did not report that income, or reported it in a different way) is a number one thing to trigger IRS scrutiny. Although accurate, you need to be aware that you are shifting the tax burden away from yourself, by deducting it.


Many small businesses are still cash and check.  For example my landlord does not take credit card or online transfer.   My choices are cash and check, and I prefer checks for the paper trail.


Setting a precedence with demands at the beginning should not be undervalued. Agreed that you emphasize long term value but establishing your requests ( not in demand form) also plays into your long term value because it is retribution to what you offer.


You can engage in a pair trade that involves analyzing how closely percentage wise these stocks trade tick for tick. You can bet on the ratio expanding or contracting. only slightly more information here, but maybe explained more intuitively: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/pairstrade.asp and here is an example: http://www.investopedia.com/university/guide-pairs-trading/pairs-trade-example.asp


"Regardless of wether or not you are registered for GST, you are legally required to include a GST total on every invoice sent to an Australian customer. This GST total must be 10% of the payment amount if you are registered for GST, or it must be $0.00 if you are not registered for GST. Since all GST transactions with the government are in Australian dollars, this amount on the invoice also needs to be in AUD, or else it's impossible for you and your customer to both be working off the same GST amount. This means you need to transfer your money from USD to AUD in PayPal's ""Manage Currencies"" area before you can send a tax invoice to the customer, so that you can provide the correct amount in AUD based on the actual exchange rate for the day (and you are required to send invoices promptly). Alternatively, you can collect payments in AUD using PayPal or use a different payment service that collects payments in USD but immediately converts them to AUD for sending an invoice (australian paypal competitors often provide this service)."


any amount, any length of repay time Ask if you can have a billion dollars for a billion years. On a more serious note, that would actually be horrible advice because your monthly payment ($2.5M) would be the same at 669 years, so any term longer than that would be literally throwing money away. Though, one could argue that 669 years compared to 668 is also throwing money away, since you'd be paying an extra $30M over the course of the extra year to lower your payment by just 1 cent per month, but who are we to judge...


"As is so often the case, there is an asterisk next to that 2.5% interest offer.  It leads you to a footnote which says: Savings Interest Rate Offer of 2.5% is available between January 1, 2015 and March 31, 2015 on all net new deposits made between January 1, 2015 and March 31, 2015 to a maximum of $250,000.00 per Account registration. You only earn 2.5% interest on deposits made during those three months.  Also, on the full offer info page, it says: During the Offer Period, the Bank will calculate Additional Interest on eligible net new deposits and: All interest payments are ineligible for the purposes of calculating Additional Interest and will not be calculated for the purposes of determining eligible daily balances. In other words, any interest paid into an Applicable Account, including Additional Interest, will not be treated as a new deposit for subsequently calculating Additional Interest payments. I couldn't totally parse out all the details of the offer from their legalese, but what it sounds like is you will earn 2.5% interest on money that you deposit into the account during those three months.  Any interest you accrue during that time will not count as a deposit in this sense, and so will not earn 2.5% compounded returns.  The ""During the Offer Period"" qualification also makes it sound like this extra interest will only be paid during the three months (presumably at a 2.5% annualized rate, but I can't see where it actually says this). So essentially you are getting a one-time bonus for making deposits during a specific three-month period.  The account doesn't really earn 2.5% interest in the normal sense.  The long-term interest rate will be what it normally is for their savings accounts, which this page says is 1.05%."


Telemarketing is a method of direct marketing in which a salesperson solicits prospective customers to buy products or services, either over the phone or through a subsequent face to face or Web conferencing appointment scheduled during the call. Telemarketing can also include recorded sales pitches programmed to be played over the phone via automatic dialing.


Typically, a transfer of money isn't taxed in and of itself. If they send you $1000 and you send them goods, your profit is what would be taxed, not the full amount sent to you. You need to keep track of all money you spend to acquire the goods, and all money coming in, so you can declare the profit you've made as income. Your question appears to be less about personal finance, and more about running a small business.


The government wants money and isn't particularly interested in you getting your deductions right. Doing the worksheet on the back of the W-4 will give you a much better idea of how many deductions you can take. While many people are excited to get a tax refund, a refund means you loaned the government money all year long without getting paid interest for your generosity. The IRS will penalize you for underpaying your taxes in amounts larger than $1000 or 10% of your income, but a good ballpark estimate aiming for about ~$100 in payment at tax time is a relatively safe way to get all your money sooner than later.


December, 6, 2011 ( 03:00 pm) :- Comex Silver have strong support at $ 31.60 above this level Silver trend looking side but resistance also at $ 33.20.  Whole market investors are very much depend on the views of the European central bank which is on the 8th December 2011, European central bank President Mario will announce the financial package for the help of Italy & other European countries.  Market will be in range of $ 31.60 - $ 33.20 then short term charity after the 8th December 2011 ECB & BOE meeting.


This site lets people deposit gold into an account.  Once you have an account setup you can pay others in gold online.  I haven't used it or know of anyone who has so I cannot provide any feedback to how well it works.


"I haven't been to Buffalo Wild Wings that many times, so I apologize if I'm missing something, but what is appealing about that place.  Service was shit.  Food was shit.  Setting was shit.  I'd be better off going to the ""food court"" at my local grocery store than to a Buffalo Wild Wings.    There wasn't a single redeeming quality of the place."


why not just use a conditional order (http://www.investopedia.com/university/intro-to-order-types/conditional-orders.asp)? Like a one triggers one order? an order like this lets you place a buy order for the stock and if its executed another order is automatically placed. you could choose to let your second order be a stop order. so here's a company that offers stuff like this as an ex. (https://www.tradeking.com/education/tools/one-triggers-other-order)


Nobody can predict the affects of Brexit but it is wise to consider them. We saw the pound weaken after the vote to leave and it is possible the pound will weaken further after Brexit and this devaluation could be quite dramatic. If that happens it is likely to increase inflation, UK inflation has gone from under 1% around the time of the referendum to 3% today and it could well go higher. https://www.rateinflation.com/inflation-rate/uk-historical-inflation-rate If inflation continues to increase, the Bank of England is likely to put up interest rates, as it has historically done this to hedge against inflation.  We have been living in a world of artificially low interest rates since the global crash of 2008 as the BoE has tried to stimulate recovery with lower rates.  The rates cannot continue at this level if inflation starts to rise. http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2387744/Base-rate-vs-inflation-chart-How-tell-things-really-got-better.html That in turn will put up mortgage rates.  So for example if you have a £100k mortgage at 3.92% (currently this is a reasonable rate to have) your repayments will be £523 a month.  If your mortgage rate goes up to say 7% then your repayments are £707 a month, if it goes up to 10% then it's £909 a month and so on. There is a mortgage calculator you can use to try playing with different amounts here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/mortgage-rate-calculator My advice would therefore be try to get as small a mortgage as you can and make sure you can afford it quite comfortably, in case rates go up and you need to find a few hundred pounds a month extra. There are other risks from Brexit as well, house prices could fall as people decide not to buy properties due to excessive interest rates! Overall nobody knows what will happen but it is good to be planning ahead for all eventualities. ** I am not a financial advisor, this advice is given in good faith but with no financial qualification.


1 BHK  apartments in Apple 7 have been designed keeping in mind the tastes of urban dwellers looking for complete privacy, well planned amenities, modern architectural designs and better living facilities. Complete with 100% power backup, cross ventilation, high speed elevators, scope for natural sunlight, 24x7 security, earthquake resistant building plans and more, these studio apartments offer premium living space in varying sizes. Along with plentiful vertical space and ample storage capacity, these apartments are a natural choice for small families and working couples alike. Styled to perfection in an innovative manner, these well-serviced studio apartments serve to be your luxurious address in Ghaziabad –in more ways than one.


I went to Atlantic City in 1990 or so, and other than learning that the Monopoly game properties were named after the streets there, it was a gross, run-down town with a bunch of substandard casinos.  I've not been back, but in the mid 2000's I had a number of friends go and tell me it had really turned around.    Is this recent downturn new, or are those friends just idiots?


Does the 5 year rule apply on the After-tax 401k -> Roth 401k -> Roth   IRA conversion of the 20000 (including 10000 earnings that was   originally pre-tax)? No. The after-tax amounts are not subject to the 5 years rule. The earnings are. How does this affect Roth IRA withdrawal ordering rules with respect   to the taxable portion of a single conversion being withdrawn before   the non-taxable portion? Taxable portion first until exhausted. To better understand how it works, you need to understand the rationale behind the 5-year rule. Consider you have $100K in your IRA (traditional) and you want to take it out. Just withdrawing it would trigger a 10K statutory penalty, on top of the taxes due. But, you can use the backdoor Roth IRA, right? So convert the 100K, and then it becomes after-tax contribution to Roth IRA, and can be withdrawn with no penalty. One form filled ad 10K saved. To block this loophole, here comes the 5 years rule: you cannot withdraw after-tax amounts for at least 5 years without penalty, if the source was taxable conversion. Thus, in order to avoid the 10K penalty in the above situation, you have a 5-year cooling period, which makes the loophole useless for most cases. However amounts that are after tax can be withdrawn without penalty already, even from the traditional IRA, so there's no need in the 5 years cooling period. The withdrawal attribution is in this order: Roth IRA rollovers are sourced to the origin. E.g.: if you converted $100 to the Roth IRA at firm X and then a year later rolled it over to firm Y - it doesn't affect anything and the clock is ticking from the original date of the conversion at firm X. 5-year period applies to each conversion/rollover from a qualified retirement plan (see here). Distributions are applied to the conversions in FIFO order, so in one distribution, depending on the amounts, you may hit several different incoming conversions. The 5 years should be check on each of them, and the penalty applied on the amounts attributable to those that don't have enough time. 5-year period for contributions applies starting from the beginning of the first year of the first contribution that established your Roth IRA plan. The penalty applies to the amounts that were included in your gross income when conversion occurred, i.e.: doesn't apply on the amounts converted from after-tax sources. Note the difference from the traditional IRA - distributions from pre-tax sources are prorated between the non-deductible (basis) amounts and the deductible/earnings amounts (taxable). That is why the taxable amounts are first in the ordering of the distributions.


Got down voted for having consistent size? I know my size for each brand hasn't changed in a long time. This is great and give me the ability to preorder without having to stand  n line, don't see a major downside in this for me.


Convert operating leases into debt. Don't take MCD's word for cost of debt, calculate it on your own based on the credit rating they should have.  Check your numerator as well on your DCF, make sure you're considering reinvestment, etc.


We need HFT in todays market, since retail is out and volumes are at historically low levels..WE NEED COMPUTERS TO TAKE OUR TRADES OFF OUR HANDS SINCE MOM AND POP ARE BECOMING MORE AND MORE DESTITUTE THANKS TO WALL ST FUCKING MAIN STREET. IN THE ASS


But the theaters are also fixed-cost... hence the push for cooperation. It costs as much to project for one guy as for a packed house.   Theater subscriptions are a solid idea so long as theaters cooperate. Which probably means every chain will try doing its own balkanized horseshit and they'll all fail miserably.


>For instance in far upstate New York its probably cheaper to truck gas from a refinery outside of Montreal than from a refinery outside of New York City or Boston.   Oddly enough, there aren't any refineries outside Boston. There aren't any in Massachusetts at all. In fact, there are also none in New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Connecticut, or Rhode Island.  There are two refineries near New York City, but they're in New Jersey.


Since it's not a public company it would be difficult for anyone to value these options or predict their future value without a lot more details on the finances of the firm.  Once the firm goes public you can use the Black Shoales equation to get a present value for the options.  And once they've got several months of trading data you can get a very rough estimate the future stock price with it's beta.  But with individual stocks predicting future values can really be a crapshoot.


"An index annuity is almost the same as Indexed Universal Life, except the equity-index annuity is an investment with a guaranteed minimum return, with sometimes a higher return that is a function of the gain in the stock market, but is not associated with a life insurance policy.  After a time, you can convert the EIA to a lifetime income (the annuity part) or just cash it out.  They often are very complicated, but are constructed by combining bonds with index options (puts) just like indexed universal life. Unfortunately these tend to have high fees and/or commissions, and high (early) surrender charges, which can make them a poor investment.  Of course you could just ""roll your own"" by buying bonds and puts FINRAS bulletin on EIAs, pdf warning. Here's a description of one of these securities: pdf."


The government isn't shutting these people down, private corporations are. Also, just based on the demographics of this site, I'm assuming you're a straight white man. They're not targeting you, so you have the luxury of detaching yourself from the rhetoric they spout.


frankly, it's got very good advice.  It teaches you how to look at your purchases of assets and determine which are truly investments (2nd home rented out) vs those that are not (the ones you live in, don't count on appreciation).  Gives you a very simple but very clear method of accounting your expenses for becoming financially independent.  Things that are simple and you probably know but he puts it in a way that allows you to focus on it more clearly.  However, it is not a get rich quick scheme.  It doesn't tell you which gimmicks to become rich, just how to manage your investments clearly.  His later books are all a money grab and you can see him start to drift to the dark side of greed.


After doing some investigating, my employers contract with the credit card company has a clause that basically specifies that despite my name being on the credit card, and bills being sent to me, all liability is on the company. Additionally, the employer reserves the right to garnish wages in the event of a balance on the card. So it looks like it won't affect my credit score. I appreciate all of the advice.


I'm not a lawyer, and am certainly not familiar with your jurisdiction, but the general guidelines I've seen around this kind of situation are: If all else fails, you could just cancel the card, though I'm not sure what liability you have to honour the contract. I cancelled a card once to stop being charged by a particularly annoying company and had no problems, but I'm not sure if that is a good way to deal with it in general.


You can use www.etfdb.com and search on geography.


Historically the advice was to buy the best policy possible (not cheapest), at the lowest price, with the highest benefit.  The cost relative to the benefit is very cheap, and your much more likely to use disability than life insurance (for instance).  It is usually cheaper to pay for it with after tax dollars than to buy more insurance. In theory, you want to buy enough disability to replace 100% of your after tax income -- or more since there is no inflation protection built into most policies.  Insurance companies often will not sell this due to moral hazard -- although you may be able to combine policies to reach 80% or so.   Keep in mind that you will need to continue to save / invest if you are on long term disability, since most policies cease payment at 65 or when your eligible for Social Security.  In addition, your expenses often rise due to the increased medical expenditures, possibly needing COBRA / private health insurance, etc.


I too was a former Applebuddy (barf). Still got that gold name tag somewhere.   Some of the basic stuff was fine. Basically anything out of the frier. Boneless wings in BBQ sauce are pretty much just chicken nuggets at 95% of places anyway. Mexi-Ranch was the shit though.   The steaks were fucking horrible though. So much salt it was ridiculous. The shrimp parmasean shit you could get on top made it sort of tolerable, but even then it was just a grilled salt brick.


Are you still in high school? The job these people perform are generally menial pencil pushing garbage.  We don't need the best and brightest going there and we've never had it.   These people hate their jobs like everyone else, but the jobs they do are almost unneeded.   The reason they are supposed to get better benefits is because they are too stupid to plan for their future.  If you don't believe that, perhaps you should get one of those jobs.  It's like the better folks are looking out for the simpletons.  And that is a fact.


> The only reason they didn't go bankrupt 20 years ago is because old people shop there. No joke, 50+ year olds have a mysterious allegiance to Sears where price etc. doesn't matter to them, they shop there anyway.  For people who buy tools, the allegiance makes sense. They sell good stuff and stand by it. For clothes and stuff, meh.


Why should I give you a single minute of my time?  Until you can answer that question, it doesn't matter *how* you go about reaching them.    You have to look at it like  sales situation.  Unless you can demonstrate value to them within the first couple of sentences, you won't be given the time of day.  These guys get pitched all day long -whether it's their employees, investors, people looking for investments or people looking for a mentor.  I'd suggest looking locally first.  Go to a couple business association meetings in your area (a lot of them are free or cost under $50).  These meetings almost always have time for networking, but you'll only get out of it what you put into it.


You were the subject of a typical scam - you cashed a check that was drawn on a stolen account, and then you forwarded the money to a second account or via other means (Western Union etc).  The owner of the stolen account informed their bank and the check was reversed, returning the original money from your account, leaving you completely out of pocket. If you forwarded the money by bank transfer or check, contact your bank and report the fraud.  If you forwarded the money via another means, such as Western Union, then these methods are usually non-reversible and you will remain out of pocket. You will not be able to get the money back from the stolen account, that was their bank reversing a fraudulent check, they wont do anything to help you. Talk to your bank.  Talk to the police.


While the article correctly points out that 90% is done in store, I would be more interested to see how this breaks down by category. Things like groceries and clothing are notoriously difficult to showcase and browse online.   If I had a guess there are wild swings in % share for things like electronics.


If Apple uses the customer's bank's prefix, then the bank gets the charge sent directly to themselves and Apple is not a payment intermediary Yes as part of adding a Card to Apple Pay, the details are sent over to issuing Bank along with device details and other info. Based on verification, the Bank sends a DAN[Device Account Number] and other codes. After you show your phone at Point of Sale, DAN gets transmitted. This is similar as Card Number getting transmitted, there is additional info encoded. Visa then sends this back to Issuing Bank and based on DAN the actual card is charged. So yes Apple doesn't know your Card Number once it gets the DAN. it's entirely possible that organized-criminals could devise even harder-to-find NFC skimmers Right now criminals have found the easy step ... as part of set-up Apple Pay sends info the Issuing Bank to Verify. If you are frequent user of iTunes and have used the same card for years, etc, its auto approved. Else they use alternative method, i.e. call the customer, etc. It is easy here to spawn. I get card details, no need to spend time in duplicating stuff [mag or chip]. Just try registering on Apply Pay, some one less experienced from Customer Service calls up and I am approved. Use this for few places and then just delete this card and add a new one. As Apply Pay doesn't store my card, they don't know new from old ...


With new credit scores tend to be very volatile. It could be something as small as carrying a higher balance or credit inquiries.  Like I mentioned, check Credit Karma to confirm nothing has changed. Also, see your inquiries. That may have impacted your score


"Gee son. That's a potential for a better than 10% gain in a short amount of time. If bought within a tax advantaged account like a IRA then you don't even pay capital gains. Does Lube know? Last I checked he was obsessing over ""bowels"" or some shit."


In this modern generation, Classifieds Australia  has become a growing industry around the world. Classifieds come into action when we need to promote our items through newspapers, online or other media solutions. Commercials in a newspapers are short, as they are charged for every line, in this case identified advertisements are useful since they are much more cost-effective than larger display advertisements, and are mostly used by individuals who have single items to provide or buy.


Short answer: it's complicated. The UK govt pages on foreign income are probably your best starting point: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/Taxes/LeavingOrComingIntoTheUK/DG_10027480 As you can see, it depends on your precise residence status here.  (There is a tax treaty between the UK and the US so you wouldn't be double taxed on the income either way. But there might still be reporting obligations).


Back in college I would go home every two weeks or so and meet up with my high school buddies for 30¢ wing night. Sure they weren't making a lot of the wings (if anything) but each of us would always drop at least $20-25 a person even if we only ate ~10 wings on average. Haven't been back since they switched to the variable wing pricing.


I am in Australia, but I think the banks in the UK would use similar wrkings. Your options 1 and 2 are basically no. Why would the bank consider your wife to be paying you rent when you live together. These are the type of practices that led to the GFC, and since then practices have been tightened. Regarding option 3, yes banks do take into consideration rent in their analysis of your loan. However, they would not include the full rent in their calculations, but about 70% to 75% of the full rent. This allows for loss of rent during vacant periods and adds a safety factor in their caluclations. But they will not include the rent itself, you would have to have other income as well to support your loan. Saying that, we do have Low Doc Loans in Australia (loans with little documentation required to get a loan). With these loans you basically have to make a declaration that you are telling the truth regarding your income sources and you can only usually borrow a lower LVR as these loans are seen as a bigger risk. These type of loans have also been tightened up since the GFC.


"You can move money from a 403b to a 401k plan, but the question you should ask yourself is whether it is a wise decision. Unless there are specific reasons for wanting to invest in your new employer's 401k (e.g. you can buy your employer's stock at discounted rates within the 401k, and this is a good investment according to your friends, neighbors, and brothers-in-law), you would be much better off moving the 403b money into an IRA, where you have many more choices for investment and usually can manage to find investments with lower investment costs (e.g. mutual fund fees) than in a typical employer's 401k plan. On the other hand, 401k assets are better protected than IRA assets in case you are sued and a court finds you to be liable for damages; the plaintiff cannot come after the 401k assets if you cannot pay.  To answer the question of ""how?"", you need to talk to the HR people at your current employer to make sure that they are willing to accept a roll-over from another tax-deferred plan (not all plans are agreeable to do this) and get any paperwork from them, especially making sure that you find out where the check is to be sent, and to whom it should be payable. Then, talk to your previous employer's HR people and tell them that you want to roll over your 403b money into the 401k plan of your new employer, fill out the paperwork, make sure they know to whom to cut the check to, and where it is to be sent etc. In my personal experience, I was sent the check payable to the custodian of my new (IRA) account, and I had to send it on to the custodian; my 403b people refused to send the check directly to the new custodian. The following January, you will receive a 1099-R form from your 403b plan showing the amount transferred to the new custodian, with hopefully the correct code letter indicating that the money was rolled over into another tax-deferred account."


Wasn't trying to be combative. Apparently I came off that way unintentionally, I think there is a distinction between a real monopoly and what amazon is/is becoming that is important to distinguish.   I can respect choosing other options because you think they are effecting the marketplace too heavily, just wanted to point out a monopoly would be a different problem.


"Honestly, I see we don't see eye to eye but I can't put my finger on it.  Take the American heart association for example - you mention people who weren't middle class might not know who they are. I didn't get to eat at a sandwich restaurant for the first time until right before I graduated high school. I was so happy when I got to eat that first sandwich someone else made, and then when I saw the american heart association logo on the menu, I just assumed it was healthy. I didn't need previous experience.  Perhaps my example seems like something a middle class person would do, because I grew up aspiring to be middle class and the things I did wrong are things I thought middle class people did. To most of my point, all that is irrelevant. When you are poor, no one wants to give you advice. When you are middle class, the advice you can afford is not good but it presents itself as good. When you are well off, everyone wants to take advantage of you and good advice is hard to discern from poor advice.  Your use of the phrase ""the system"" is interesting to me. Under no circumstances would I advocate ""the system"" be trusted. In fact, in my mind, what I've described is ""the system"" accidentally but perfectly preparing people to be unable to transcend socioeconomic status, because we were prepare people to think the haves are lucky, as opposed to teaching the have-notes how to establish a plan such that their children will have opportunities and their grand children will be well off and their great grand children will be rich."


Will the investor beat the benchmark for a given period will follow a Bernoulli distribution -- each period is a coin toss, and heads mean the investor beat the market for that period.   I can't prove the negative that there is no investor ever whose probability function p = 1, but you can statistically expect a number of individual investors with p ~ 0.5 to have a sequence of many heads in a row, as a function of the total population.   By example, my father explained investment scams and hot-hand theory to me this way when I was younger:  Imagine an investor newsletter which mails out to a mailing list of 1024 prospects (or alternately, a field of 1024 amateur investor bloggers in a challenge).  Half the letters or bloggers state AAPL will go up this week, half that AAPL will go down this week.  In the newsletter case, next week ignore the people we got wrong.  In the blogger case, they're losers, so we don't pay attention to them.  Next week, similar split: half newsletters or bloggers claim GOOG go up, half GOOG go down.  This continues for a 10 week cycle.   Now, in week 10: the newsletter has a prospect they have hit correct 10x in a row: how much will he pay for a subscription?  Or, one amateur investor blogger has been on a 10 week winning streak and wins the challenge, so of course let's give her a CNBC show after Jim Cramer.  No matter what, next week, this newsletter or investor is shooting 50-50.   How do you know this person is not the statistically expected instance backed up by a pyramid of 1023 Bernoulli distribution losers?  Alternately, if you think you're going to be the winner, you've got a 1/1024 shot.


Eh I always wonder about this so called show room effect. I mean I check amazon in stores sometimes, but I'm not looking for prices really, I'm looking for *reviews*. Now if I see that Amazon has it 50% off of the in store price I might hold off, but best buy could prevent me from even looking by honestly gathering up reviews for products.


I'll get to my answer in a moment, but first need to put focus on the two key components of bond prices: interest rates and credit risk. Suppose that the 10-year treasury has a coupon of 2% per year (it would be paid as 1% twice per year, in reality). If you own one contract of the bond which we suppose has a so-called face-value of $100, then this contract will over the ten years pay you a total of $20 in coupons, then $100 at redemption. So $120 in total. Would you therefore buy this 10-year treasury bond for $120, or more, or less? Well, if there were bank accounts around which were offering you an interest rate of 2% per year fixed for the next 10 years, then you could alternatively generate $120 from just $100 deposited now (if we assume that the interest paid is not put back in the account to earn 2% per year). Consequently, a price of $100 for the treasury would seem about right. However, suppose that you are not very confident that the banks that offer these accounts will even be around in 10 years time, maybe they will fail before that and you'll never get your money back. Then you might say to yourself that the above calculation is mathematically right, but not really a full representation of the different risks. And you conclude that maybe treasuries should be a bit more expensive, because they offer better credit risk than bank deposits.  All of this just to show that the price of bonds is a comparative valuation of rates and credit: you need to know the general level of interest rates available in other investment products (even in stocks, I'd say), you need to have a feel for how much credit risk there is in the different investment products. Most people think that 'normally' interest rates are positive, because we are so familiar with the basic principle that: if I lend you some money then you need to pay me some interest. But in a world where everyone is worried about bank failures, people might prefer to effectively 'deposit' our savings with the US treasury (by buying their bonds) than to deposit their savings in the local bank. The US treasury will see this extra demand and put up the prices of their  bonds (they are not stupid at the US treasury, you know!), so maybe the price of the 10-year treasury will go above $120. It could, right? In this scenario, the implied yield on the 10-year treasury is negative. There you go, yields have gone negative because of credit risk concerns.


"Sorry as mentioned, totally new to all of this and this Subreddit's description fit my interests:   **""Topics of Interest  Market and Economy News Business Earnings and Releases Investor and Trader Tips News that Moves the Markets Long Term and Short Term Investment Ideas Economic Related Humor Most Anything Related to the Economy And, most EVERYTHING is Related to the Economy""**  However, I appreciate your info and will test out the other pages subscribers knowledge :)"


This should all be covered in your stock grant documentation, or the employee stock program of which your grant is a part.   Find those docs and it should specify how or when you can sale your shares, and how the money is paid to you.  Generally, vested shares are yours until you take action.  If instead you have options, then be aware these need to be exercised before they become shares.  There is generally a limited time period on how long you can wait to exercise.  In the US, 10 years is common. Unvested shares will almost certainly expire upon your departure of the company.  Whether your Merrill Lynch account will show this, or show them as never existing, I can't say.  But either way, there is nothing you can or should do.


Returns reported by mutual funds to shareholders, google, etc. are computed after all the funds' costs, including Therefore the returns you see on google finance are the returns you would actually have gotten.


"This question feels like an EL&U question to me, and so I will treat it as one. Investment, noun form of to invest, originally from the Latin investire, meaning to clothe, means: [T]o commit (money) in order to earn a financial return Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Invest, vb. tr., definition 1 As such, when a person commits money with the purpose of earning a financial return, they are investing.  Playing the lottery, when done so for the purpose of financial return, would fall under this definition - even if it's a poor choice.   Gambling, verb tense of to gamble, likely originally from the word gamen, meaning to play, means: a :  to play a game for money or property b :  to bet on an uncertain outcome Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Gamble, vb. itr., definition 1 Playing the lottery is clearly gambling (as a lottery is a game, by definition). The second definition could well include investing in the stock market, particularly certain kinds of investments (derivatives, currency speculation, for example). Aside from the definitions, however, normal usage clearly favors investment to be something with an expectation of positive return, while gambling is taking a risk without that expectation (rather with the hope of positive return).  Legally, as well, playing the lottery is not something that is considered investment (so it is taxed differently).  However, the question was ""Can"", and by definition, clearly it can be (assuming you are not asking legally)."


I think in such situations a good rule of thumb may be - if you are asked to pay significant sums of money upfront before anything is done, stop and ask yourself, what would you do if they don't do what they promised? They know who you are, but usually most you know is a company name and phone number. Both can disappear in a minute and what are you left with?  If they said they'd pay off the debt and issue the new loan - fine, let them do it and then you pay them. If they insist on having money upfront without delivering anything - unless it's a very big and known and established company you probably better off not doing it. Either it's a scam or in the minuscule chance they are legit you still risking too much - you're giving money and not getting anything in return.


The big box retailers weren't really a monopoly.  It was just a better business model.  There were many of them and they were very competitive with each other (we'll match our competitor's price). Many of them even went out of business because the profits were driven down to such low levels.


Audating Sites is an adult dating website that provides a substantial, sufficient membership to make a game in the action-orientated of personal dating. If you are looking Girls for sex online in the Australia, then we are the best one way for you.Our strategy is to offer simple, fundamental functionality and with actually compiled a significant following of members in the Australia. This is a free online dating website for men and women has quickly garnered the attention of the masses because of it is simple.


Many folks use bonds to diversify their portfolio since bonds rise and fall in value at different times and for different reasons than stocks. Bonds pay interest on a regular basis (usually monthly or quarterly) and so some people invest in bonds in order to match the interest payments to some regular expense they might have. The interest payment does not change (fixed income).  For individual bonds, there is a maturity date at which you can expect to receive the face value of the bond (the issuer's creditworthiness is important here). You can make a little money on a bond by buying it when its value is lower than its face value and either selling later for a higher value, or waiting for it to mature.  Often the minimum investment for a single bond is high, so if you don't have a large enough amount, you can still get the performance of bonds through a bond fund. These do not mature, so you don't have a guarantee of a return of your investment. However, they have access to more bonds than retail investors, so the funds can keep your money more fully invested. If you don't need the income, you can reinvest the dividends and have a little extra capital growth this way.


There is a big difference between taking no action and providing guidance which is ignored by elected officials. Smart economic policy is not necessarily as palatable as bad policy. The candidate who advocates getting rid of inefficient tax breaks will lose to the one who offers tax cuts. Add to that lobbying money etc. and you get persistent economic inefficiency.


Well, we just need to better to recycle these bruised merch into things like fruit tray and other prepared foods if possible.  Because A: People will choose unbruised fruit over non- and B: Bruised fruit selling at a discount would encourage people to bruise merchandise.


That makes sense doesn't it? Longer wait times? Won't that be the result of covering everyone?   So yes, wait times are a concern. Is that your number 1 concern? More than money or how effective the system is? You will pay almost double to wait a month less for treatment(life threatening cases still get treated as fast as they do in the US if not faster), or to see a doctor two hours sooner? You will pay more for a system that gives you less?  The quality of care is not dog shit. I don't know where you get this from. https://www.forbes.com/sites/danmunro/2014/06/16/u-s-healthcare-ranked-dead-last-compared-to-10-other-countries/#45cf82b6576f  You will find this pattern in all other legitimate studies you look at. Your dog shit claim applies to the US more than anyone. Its amazing how willing Americans are to swallow the lie that changing their healthcare system will make it worse. That the free market is the answer. Reality does not reflect that and seeing as this is the economics subreddit, I think it should be very easy for people to come up with reasons why healthcare does not behave like selling widgets.  Now, not all those systems are fully socialized. There are free market elements, for example, Germany and Switzerland are similar to Obamacare, however there is more robust regulations in those systems that help to keep costs down and quality up. The UK does have Universal Healthcare(all of them have a universal system actually, but the UK has single payer which is what I think you meant), and it goes pretty well. Even the Canadian system for all its flaws has better survival rates compared to American treatments, and at a much lower cost. Ask any Canadian if they would prefer the American system, or even if they would prefer to go back to pre-universal coverage days and any sane one would not....and Canada has the next worse system. Its marginally better than the American system, but at a much lower cost.   What you think is ideal isn't based on any real research I suspect. Its based on ideology. This is a real American problem(I think its safe to assume you are American by your claim that ~~universal coverage~~ single payer is dog shit)   If you decide what priorities are most important, and then look at the systems that exist in the world and see which ones best meet your criteria for success, it won't be a pure free market system. Every developed nation had a pure free market system at some point and each one had to switch to a better system. Nobody has switched back. The most free market system in the developed world is not only the worst performing, but also the most expensive.......as economic theory can predict due to the unique nature of healthcare.


The way deductions work normally does not take into account what account the transaction was made using.  I.e. you report your gross income, your deductions and they subtract the deductions from the income.  What's left is your taxable income.   The tricky part comes with pre-tax contributions to tax advantaged accounts (like 401(k)).  Those plans require the contributions to be made by your company.  Since contributions to 529 plans are not deductible on your federal income taxes, the money is not going to be directly deposited. So it does not matter how the money goes into the plan.  Just make sure you keep a record of your contributions.


"Ugh... yes, you have to tell us what information you have available. It would be a completely different answer if, for example, you had a balance sheet for a prior period and an income statement for the current period and had to estimate the working capital accounts. If you can't be bothered to ""want to give the problem"" nobody is going to be bothered to help you with it.   Inventory days = days of COGS in inventory. (15 / 360 times cogs). AR is 35 days of sales in AR. 35/360* sales. Vendor credit is accounts payable -- 40 /360 * COGS.   If your sales and COGs are given by operating cycle rather than annually, use 50 instead of 360. (for whatever reason, convention says use 360 instead of 365)."


This is fine and can definitely be done. The bank will be perfectly fine with it since you're paying interest on the money, as long as they're confident that you can repay the whole (growing) balance. Of course, there's the issue of the credit limit which you'll eventually reach and then you won't be able to pull this off any longer. Problems start when the bank either loses that confidence, or the credit line is term limited (like HELOC, for example) and comes to term. In either case, you'll be required to cover the balance, and especially in the first case - as a balloon payment. If they call on you when you do that - you will most likely go bankrupt, and the longer you keep doing it - the higher are the chances of that happening.


If your gut told you to buy during the depths of '09, your gut might be well-calibrated. The problem is stock market declines during recessions are frequently not that large relative to the average long run return of 9%:  A better strategy might be hold a percentage in equities based upon a probability distribution of historical returns.  This becomes problematic because of changes in the definition of earnings and the recent inflation stability which has encouraged high valuations:  Cash flow has not been as corrupted as earnings now, and might be a better indicator:  This obviously isn't perfect either, but returns can be improved. Since there is no formulaic way yet conventionally available, the optimal primary strategy is still buy & hold which has made the most successful investor frequently one of the richest people on the planet for decades, but this could still be used as an auxiliary for cash management reserves during recessions once retired.


It was originally sponsored on 5/11 by Marco Rubio along with 4 other Republicans and 4 Democrats. It passed through both houses with relative ease. Lets not make this out to be some tough piece of legislation Trump had to fight for. This is something he signed on his way out the door to another golf trip.   And lets not forget the president is cutting disability pay for 225,000 veterans who are retirement age. This cuts what these veterans live on to about $1100 per month and saves a mere $3.2 billion while discretionary spending in the department has increased over $4 billion.   But go on and cheer the Secretary's ability to hire and fire people easier.


A company as large as Home Depot will have a fairly robust Human Resources department and would probably be able to steer you in the right direction: odds are they know the name of the brokerage and other particulars. I did some googling around, their # is  (1-866-698-4347). Different states have different rules about how long an institution can have assets abandoned before turning them over to the state. California, as an example, has an abandoned property search site that you can use.  That being said, I had some penny stocks sitting in a brokerage account I never touched for about 20 years and when I finally logged back in there they were, still sitting there.


"There is no reason to believe that we won't reach a point where machines can do literally every task currently performed by humans.  What then? Will the machines fulfill our every whim and pamper us throughout or lives?  Or will they say ""the hell with this"" and throw us off the planet?"


I'm not an expert on reverse mortgages but from my understanding the closing costs are much higher than traditional mortgages and the LTV is generally pretty low. So the bank makes money by not loaning out all that much compared to the value of the property and by charging high fees on the front end.


The purpose of a hedge fund is not to hedge.  People do not put their money in a hedge fund because they want to protect against downside.  They put their money in a hedge fund to make money.  Of course any fund is going to have risk controls, whatever form they take.  And the S&P 500 goes belly up way less often than the average hedge fund.  Want to protect against the downside?  Just don't pull out.  All I'm saying is OP's comment is really fucking stupid.  It'd be like saying Greenlight Capital can't make leet gains because it shorted Allied Capital while longing the overall stock market.


Less so today, but there was a time that women played a smaller role in the household finances, letting the husband manage the family money. Women often found themselves in a frightening situation when the husband died.  Still, despite those who protest to the contrary, men and women tend to think differently, how they problem solve, how they view risk. An advisor who understands these differences and listens to the client of either sex, will better serve them.


"Whole Foods quality standards will always make them the best option for strictly healthy food. Whole Foods biggest flaw is not advertising why they are healthier so many people believe that Trader Joe's and the ""healthy"" selections at other grocery stores are just the same at a lower price. In a few cases this may be true but most products at these stores are no different than the name brand products, they just have a ""healthy"" looking label. Whole Foods just got the ""whole paycheck"" stigma early on and rather than explain why their prices are higher, they just let it be.   Ultimately I think Whole Foods hit a wall with their customer base and since they continue to open stores faster than they can get new customers, the same store sales have been steadily declining. Introduce competition with lower prices as well and Whole Foods was sent reeling.   Also the stock has been consistently trading over the buyout price per share since the announcement meaning the market is even saying that the price was too low and that Amazon got a great deal. I'm interested to see if the speculation of a bidding war will actually commence."


"This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/es_20170626_whengrowthisnotenough.pdf) reduced by 97%. (I'm a bot) ***** > The Reagan revolution heralded a more constrained approach to economic policy, aimed primarily at fostering aggregate economic growth by empowering the private sector.  > The distinction between the two types of policies should be in front of mind, including the recognition that a reduction in rules that protect incumbent workers, for example, may need to be balanced with an increase, not a decrease, in active policies to support necessary adjustments in the labor market.  > If the resources released by economic change are to be effectively redeployed; if the benefits of growth are to be widely shared; and if economic policy is to be widely perceived as both successful in its own terms and politically legitimate, then making those interventions effective should be a top priority for policymakers.   ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/6jyepz/fantastic_ben_bernanke_speech_on_the_populist/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ ""Version 1.65, ~154447 tl;drs so far."") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr ""PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome."") | *Top* *keywords*: **policy**^#1 **economic**^#2 **American**^#3 **more**^#4 **United**^#5"


Since I got downvoted for poking fun at   > I've come to realize I don't really enjoy the engineering aspects of my job nor the industry, but I enjoy corporate culture.  Here's some info for those actually interested:   https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/corporate-strategy-vs-corporate-development https://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/corporate-finance-jobs/ https://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/day-in-life-corporate-finance-analyst/ https://www.quora.com/Strategic-Management-What-is-the-typical-day-in-the-life-of-a-corporate-strategy-consultant https://www.mergersandinquisitions.com/corporate-development-on-the-job/      Corporate finance (Controllers, FP&A, Treasury) is a catch-all for jobs that quantify and manage a company's money. This includes figuring out how much money the business is making, budgeting, and gaining access to money for future plans. They spend most of their day on excel, browsing reddit, and complaining that other departments don't take them seriously. There is work-life balance, unless your company is at risk of bankruptcy, but pay will likely be the least of this group.   Corporate strategy/development is about finding ways to achieve the vision/goals of the C-suite. Corporate development usually are ex-IB people and focused on finding companies to acquire, integrate, and achieve the goals of the acquisition (synergies, returns on investment, technology/product acquisition). Corporate strategy is usually broader and could be focused on improving the brand, figuring out new uses for a product, finding new partners, or generally looking for good ideas to improve the company.  Business development usually is about growing the company through finding new customers, markets, or partnerships. Instead of selling specific products or services, you're selling your company's abilities and brand.   I'd say, with your engineering background, if you can swing a corporate strategy gig, you'd have the greatest opps for any VP you decide. I'd say if you want to sell or are good at selling, then business development may be compelling. If I were you, corporate finance would be the least appealing unless you are truly interested in finance.


To sum up: My question came from misunderstanding what cost basis applies to. Now I get it that it applies to stocks as physical entities. Consider a chain of buys of 40 stock A with prices $1-$4-$10-$15 (qty 10 each time) then IRS wants to know exactly which stock I am selling. And when I transfer stocks to different account, that cost basis transfers with them. Cost basis is included in transfers, so that removes ambiguity which stock is being sold on the original account. In the example above, cost basis of 20 stocks moved to a new account would probably be $1 x 10 and $4 x 10, i.e. FIFO also applies to transfers.


I would say start now, its never too early! It does add up over time and even if it is just a tiny amount, just getting in the habit of setting aside money is great. Looking back i wish i had started earlier instead of pushing it back. There will always be something to spend it on  pushing it back whether its college or a car ect.  Start now and thank yourself later.


You gun!!! That is awesome to hear I'm hoping to have everyone up and running by the start of 2019 I have a lot to learn before I put money into everything but hearing that it works helps with this whole thing.


"Disclaimer: My answer is based on US tax law, but I assume Australian situation would be similar. The IRS would not be likely to believe your statement that ""I wouldn't have gone to the country if it wasn't for the conference.""  A two-week vacation, with a two-day conference in there, certainly looks like you threw in the conference in order to deduct vacation expenses.  At the very least, you would need a good reason why this conference is necessary to your business. If you can give that reason, it would then depend on the specifics of Australian law.  The vacation is clearly not just incidental to the trip. The registration for the conference is always claimable as a business expense."


The exchange rate between two currencies is simply the price that the most recent market participants were able to agree on, when trading. ie: if the USDCAD is 1.36, it's because the last trade that happened where someone bought 1 USD cost 1.36 CAD. There is no one person/organization which 'decides' the rate between two currencies. The rate moves you see is just the reality of money changing hands as people in various situations trade currencies for various reasons. Just like with stocks or any other market product, foreign exchange rates can fluctuate wildly based on many things. It is very difficult to forecast where rates will go, because the biggest changes in rates can often be unpredictable news events. For example, when Brexit happened, the value of the GBP plummeted relative to other currencies, because the market traders had less faith in the UK economy, and therefore weren't willing to pay as much to buy GBP. See more here: https://money.stackexchange.com/a/76482/44232. There is a very high level of risk in the foreign exchange market; for your sake, don't get involved in any trading that you do not well understand, first.


Do you own your own home, or some land? Buy materials and/or completed outbuildings (sheds, etc) Do a small renovation on your house Do some landscaping, gardening, etc


If you have a new company and you want to attract investors, such as venture capitalists and private equity, incorporating in Delaware LLC probably makes sense. There are actually many investors who will only invest in a Delaware Online incorporation, so starting off by creating a Delaware corporation from the beginning may save a lot of money and stress down the road. You can also choose to form an LLC in Delaware, to begin with, then convert it to a C corporation later.


"First thing is that your English is pretty damn good.  You should be proud.  There are certainly adult native speakers, here in the US, that cannot write as well. I like your ambition, that you are looking to save money and improve yourself.   I like that you want to move your funds into a more stable currency. What is really tough with your plan and situation is your salary.  Here in the US banks will typically have minimum deposits that are high for you.  I imagine the same is true in the EU.  You may have to save up before you can deposit into an EU bank. To answer your question:  Yes it is very wise to save money in different containers.  My wife and I have one household savings account.  Yet that is broken down by different categories (using a spreadsheet).  A certain amount might be dedicated to vacation, emergency fund, or the purchase of a luxury item.  We also have business and accounts and personal accounts.   It goes even further.  For spending we use the ""envelope system"".  After our pay check is deposited, one of us goes to the bank and withdraws cash.  Some goes into the grocery envelope, some in the entertainment envelope, and so on.   So yes I think you have a good plan and I would really like to see a plan on how you can increase your income."


Yes but unfortunately not only are Sears and K-Mart big employers, but they are often anchor stores in malls, meaning that if they close, pretty much every store in the mall is going to take a hit, and then the mall itself could collapse.  I suppose this drives gas prices up, as people now have to drive more to get their shit.  So buy Shell, is I guess what I'm getting at.


"So, I am one of these ""job creators"" right now.  I am doing software development and have hired 1 person from the U.S. and a team from Germany. So I will leave it to someone else to determine how changing my tax structure impacts job creation."


Utah Assisted Living (Summerfield Retirement) has worked hard to create a warm, inviting and comfortable environment for every senior resident. It is ideally located close to shopping area and Timpanogos hospital. Schedule a tour or just walk in, we will be happy to serve you. Get more information here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV529rodPZM&feature=youtu.be


I would add him to Google Places, Yelp and AngiesList. Not 100% if you can add yourself to AngiesList but once you start getting referrals from there, it can be a nice flow of users if you can get them to leave good reviews.   I hired a plumber off AngiesList and liked him a lot. I referred him to my in laws and they liked him too. He had about 70 positive reviews on there. It's all about reputation online and off.   Might even want to get in with realtors to give your cards to people that need the work for referral commissions.


">in contradiction to all the climate models.  Please, explain to me how and why climate models (remember, climate is at LEAST 30 years) are supposed to capture short term weather trends?   Do you use a calendar to tell time?   (Oh, and by the way, [the models that capture ocean trends best also captured the ""pause.""](http://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2014/jul/21/realistic-climate-models-accurately-predicted-global-warming) So you're wrong on pretty much every level.)"


It may clarify your thinking if you look at this as two transactions: I am an Australian so I cannot comment on US tax laws but this is how the Australian Tax Office would view the transaction. By thinking this way you can allocate the risks correctly, Partnership Tenancy Two things should be clear - you will need a good accountant and a good lawyer. I do not agree that there is a conflict of interest in the lawyer acting for both parties - his role should only be for advice and to document what the two of you agree to. If you end up in dispute, then you need two lawyers.


Foodex Trade Ltd is the United Kingdom based Exporter and importer provider. We are connected to a portion of the conspicuous providers and merchants in the food and drink industry. Our principle item is sunflower oil, which used to make the many sorts of sustenance. Which gives a wide assortment of items according to our client's demand. We give, the more kind of sustenance item and refreshment item our client's demand.


Finding a way to make business development work became a crusade. I got very lucky. My fourth company showed me the way. Within six months I had the beginnings of a solution. Those first insights formed the core of an innovative, potent and cost-effective approach to business development.


It's funny that you are being downvoted because it's a great question. If someone other than Mayer had been running Yahoo for the last 5 years under the exact same circumstances, would they have made the same decisions? Obviously no one can ever know but it makes you think.


I think if you fought the charges, you would lose in court. The contact apparently clearly states the charges. The guess the only option is to make an announcement at your wedding. Sadly positions the bride/groom between the hotel and the guests. Maybe it's just me, but I don't pay much attention to Yelp anymore.


Depending on your bank you may receive an ACH discount for doing automatic withdrawals from a deposit account at that bank. Now, this depends on your bank and you need to do independent research on that topic. As far as dictating what your extra money goes towards each month (early payments, principal payments, interest payments) you need to discuss that with your bank. I'm sure it's not too difficult to find. In my experience most banks, so long as you didn't sign a contract on your mortgage where you're penalized for sending additional money, will apply extra money toward early payments, and not principal. I would suggest calling them. I know for my student loans I have to send a detailed list of my loans and in what order I want my extra payments toward each, otherwise it will be considered an early payment, or it will be spread evenly among them all.


Can they reject a hundred dollar bill as a payment of debt?! No. A creditor cannot refuse payment in cash, whatever denomination you use. HOWEVER, when you're buying stuff - you don't owe anything to the business owner. There's no debt, so the above rule doesn't apply. As long as there's no debt in existence, the matter of payment is decided between two parties based on the mutual agreement. The demand not to use large bills is reasonable in places like 7/11 or taxi-cab that are frequently robbed, or at a small retailer that doesn't want to invest into forgery detection and fraud prevention. So the answer to this question: Is it the case where this practice of accepting small bills and   rejecting large bills is perfectly legal? Is yes. You can find the full explanation on Treasury.gov, including code references.


"The question for each business will have to be ""does automation make sense""? There is a cost associated with switching, but is that greater for the business than keeping employees at a higher wage?  Also, we've seen little enough of automation at the customer service level, that we don't know if the customer base will respond well to it... Is this going to be another lesson learned like offshoring?  This is still just a shock. I have a gut feeling that outside of limited applications in the fast food industry, automation of service jobs will be more similar to grocery store implementations of self service registers than anything else."


Does it cost money to refi? I know there are quite a few deals out there, I refi'd in June for $500, not bad. But sometimes can cost couple grand. If so, you have up front costs, plus the cost of the personal loan, that probably would break even at some point after your refi, but at what point? Will you sell before then, or even think about it? Or would you break even next year, then its a no brainer. As mentioned by others, do the numbers.


"So, the soviet union purchases its own debt, and this is a shining example of a historical empire that worked in your mind? Come on man, you aren't that fucking stupid are you? You don't need me to explain why that is a very, very incorrect choice do you?  I asked you to name an empire, historically, that purchased its own debt and was successful in doing so. You have still yet to do that.  And btw, there are many, many different forms of ""fallacies"", don't be a redditor and only learn one. Ad hominem is the same thing as saying personal attacks, and its pretty overused on this site."


So, I'm in IT Operations and my work life balance is also shit. 50hr weeks are my good weeks. I'm always on call. Always. At any moment I could be on a 24hr conference call.  I make less than 2% of my CEO's pay and I'm by no means on the lower end of our company's pay scale. CEOs are making more now than in the past, including when compared to the average working salary [source](http://web.mit.edu/frydman/www/trends_frydmansaks_0808.pdf) and [source](http://www.epi.org/publication/ib331-ceo-pay-top-1-percent/). That's just to give you perspective.   Honestly this guy's email is manipulative and should be taken with a grain of salt. His argument for pain is that he's worked hard, didn't have any fun, and had to restructure his debt on his ginormous house? What about the folks that work two and three jobs to keep their shitty apartment in the inner city of Chicago? How about the pain of not knowing of you can feed your children this week or the next despite working those three jobs? Those folks just spend all their money on liquor and fancy meals. That's why they're poor.   I've heard this argument before from the mining heiress in Australia. Poor people are poor because they are lazy and drink too much. That's a convenient narrative for rationalizing his greed and opulence no doubt originating from the deep analysis he's done on the socioeconomic causes of poverty. I'll buy that for a dollar.


"Don't know why you're being down voted here. If any one still thinks Trump was ever fit for office I'd personally be shocked. He's done so much more harm to America than good by being our president. Other countries laugh at us. America is a circus act and will remain so while he's in ""power"". I won't even say president because that just not the right term anymore imo."


"I suppose it is on the surface, when you look at the cost of that indivdual item to your individual doorstep.  But one most consider the efficiency of the entire *system*.  While one item may be a chore, the UPS driver is really an online shopping delivery man.  Courier companies have developed very efficient networks of delivery.  Vastly more efficient than the net sum of the chaotic weekend chore runs that we all do, heading from store to store accross the city.  I know i've switched over to online shopping almost exclusively to avoid that. I'd rather wait a few days and have whatever i need delivered to home or work than waste one of my week days ""running around"".  I know that doesn't sound like much of a point, but consider the effect if a significant percentage of the population began to utilize online shopping.  Replacing the chaotic hordes of individuals running around all week, with an efficient delivery system.  The infrastructure savings would be likely be significant, and quality of life would be improved for most with less errands to be running.  It would be interesting if that could be quantified and compared to what the income from a state sales tax would bring."


Sounds feasible.  I make $45000 a year, with two car payments, credit card and student loan debt.  Also, my wife doesn't work.  I was approved for a $116000 house with a USDA loan.  There are limits or how much debt you can have when applying for a USDA (sorry, I can't remember off the top of my head) and you'll also be getting the house inspected under different regulations.   For instance, we couldn't get approved until the seller put a handrail on a set of exterior stairs.  That regulation is specific to USDA along with a few others. I'm living in southern Indiana and this just happened a couple months ago for us. Make sure you have some money set aside for various things like a lawn mower and if the siding blows off the night after you move in (yup, that happened).  Also, shop around for homeowner's insurance.  We did some hunting, and we found a provider who was willing to price match and ended up saving some money on our car insurance as well.


This is called the Ask-Bid Spread. The difference varies based on the liquidly of the asset. The more liquid or the higher the volume of trades for the asset then the smaller the spread is. The spread goes to the broker to pay for some of the cost of the trade. My guess is that when there is a higher volume of shares being traded, brokers need to take less of a fee per share out of the transaction to cover their costs. This makes the spread is smaller.  This is essentially the difference in   price between the highest price that a   buyer is willing to pay for an asset   and the lowest price for which a   seller is willing to sell it. The seller will get the bid price and the buyer will pay the ask and the broker keeps the spread. From http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bid-askspread.asp


The lot size is 100 troy ounce. See the contract specification at the same site; http://www.cmegroup.com/trading/metals/precious/gold_contract_specifications.html So with the current price of around $1785, one lot would cost you around 178,500. There may be other sites that offer smaller lots you would need to check with your broker. if the price moves up by $500, you gain $50,000 for a lot. The margin required changes from time to time:  Currently it's $3666, with a maintenance of $3332, so a drop of $3.34 per oz of gold will cause a margin call. You make or lose 100 times the per oz movement as there are 100oz in the contract you cited. There's also a broker fee analogous to the commission on a stock trade.  The other option would be to buy a fund that invests in Gold, this will be more easier to buy and the lot sizes will be much less. I hope you jumped into this great opportunity. At the time, experts said gold would have a straight run to $5000.


Thanks for your feedback! I do see the 2 million cell limit being issues with big datasets sometimes. I think it just reassures me that if other companies have made the transition and are running well after, then we can get through this transition as well lol


Then the energy companies will probably just lobby the government to pass a law banning people from going off-grid and requiring them to pay high fees to hook up solar systems to the grid (to make sure they're never economical) like they did in Spain.


Um ... are you asking how much of a wage increase for the people who are employed will make up for the loss in income to the people who become unemployed?   If so, I don't think increasing Joe's wages by any amount will counteract Bob's loss of his job.


> they will just leave instead of paying.   Great.   The rich are rich because they own things that leech money from our economies.  We can tax them wherever they are by taxing the mechanisms by which they earn money from us.  Having them all leave would be the best thing, because it would dispel the illusion that helping the rich helps America.   > The rich already pay the vast majority of taxes.  Only if you ignore most of the taxes the rest of us pay.


So these two guys endangered or killed people and received shorter prison sentences than many MJ users used to receive in the US? Amazing. China may be corrupt, but at least they'd execute these bastards in short order.


"Books such as ""The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Investing in Mutual Funds"" claim that money market funds and CDs are the most prudent things to invest in if you need the money within 5 years. More specifically:"


Think of your mortgage this way - you have a $130K 16 year mortgage, at 6.75%.  At 4%, the same payment ($1109 or so) will pay off the loan in 12.4 years. So, I agree with littleadv, go for a 15yr fixed (but still make the higher payment) or 10 yr if you don't mind the required higher payment. Either way, a refinance is the way to go.  Edit - My local bank is offering me a 3.5% 15 yr loan with fees totaling $2500. For the OP here, a savings of 3.25% or first year interest savings of $4225. 7 months to breakeven.  It's important not to get caught up in trying to calculate savings 15-20 years out. What counts today is the rate difference and looking at it over the next 12 months is a start. If you break even to closing costs so soon, that's enough to make the decision.


Maybe but would it be ruined if that 10% was merely moved from DoD money to funding local businesses or something?  The downside of defense funding is that even if it provides jobs, it's not self sustainable, whereas if you used that money to fund startups/local businesses, those things could potentially eventually grow or at least not require additional funding.  Then your city would not require outside funding to survive which is even better no?


yeah, I like that, sp. as I'm as computer scientist working in engineering software and love optimization.  guess you just can't push a rope, but maybe we can put in place rules which create the incentives that guide the machine.   Often think about the incentives which guide bank lending decisions, how the commissions for issuing debt became somehow much more important to people than the idea of repayment.  Debt, created from nothing, only has value insofar as it is going to be repaid.  Maybe the knowledge they would not have to cover their own losses was enough to imbalance the equation.. lack of diligence became very common.. but why?  I remember doing business courses in the 80s where repayment was the first thing we were thinking about, all through the course of evaluating lending decisions..


"I'm told that the analysis and arriving at an answer with a good attitude is the correct response and not the precise answer.  Bad answer : What? That's impossible, go fuck yourself, asshole. Better: Well, I have a Expedition and its cabin is about six feet across, ten feet deep and four feet high, so lets say 400,000 sq inches (rounding means your cool, right). About a third of the space is taken up by seats and what not, so 275,000 sq inches free. Lets assuming we pack the balls in there tight from the sun roof. I figure a tennis ball takes up 4/3(3.1416)2.5"" each, so lets say 10. So 27,500. I'd order 30,000  to be safe and have a well stuffed SUV. Do you want the engine compartment full too? Too much: Same as above but ""so to test this I was able to cram 27895 without damaging any of the plastic SUV parts, and allowing for the sun roof to close."


Yes, what they said. You don't mention where you are on the totem pole. Are you reporting to the top dog, or are you 3 levels down? Not to be a downer, but until you know your cut, I'd not get too excited either way. 1000 shares/options of a LinkedIn turned to nearly $100K. Nothing to sneeze at, to be sure, but not enough to retire, nor bother contacting a lawyer.  The details of the equity should be spelled out clearly, nothing against Lawyers, but it's likely to be wasted money.


"Like Jeremy T said above, silver is a value store and is to be used as a hedge against sovereign currency revaluations.  Since every single currency in the world right now is a free-floating fiat currency, you need silver (or some other firm, easily store-able, protect-able, transportable asset class; e.g. gold, platinum, ... whatever...) in order to protect yourself against government currency devaluations, since the metal will hold its value regardless of the valuation of the currency which you are denominating it in (Euro, in your case).  Since the ECB has been hesitant to ""print"" large amounts of currency (which causes other problems unrelated to precious metals), the necessity of hedging against a plummeting currency exchange rate is less important and should accordingly take a lower percentage in your diversification strategy.  However, if you were in.. say... Argentina, for example, you would want to have a much larger percentage of your assets in precious metals. The EU has a lot of issues, and depreciation of hard assets courtesy of a lack of fluid currency/capital (and overspending on a lot of EU governments' parts in the past), in my opinion, lessens the preservative value of holding precious metals.  You want to diversify more heavily into precious metals just prior to government sovereign currency devaluations, whether by ""printing"" (by the ECB in your case) or by hot capital flows into/out of your country.  Since Eurozone is not an emerging market, and the current trend seems to be capital flowing back into the developed economies, I think that diversifying away from silver (at least in overall % of your portfolio) is the order of the day. That said, do I have silver/gold in my retirement portfolio?  Absolutely.  Is it a huge percentage of my portfolio?  Not right now.  However, if the U.S. government fails to resolve the next budget crisis and forces the Federal Reserve to ""print"" money to creatively fund their expenses, then I will be trading out of soft assets classes and into precious metals in order to preserve the ""real value"" of my portfolio in the face of a depreciating USD. As for what to diversify into?  Like the folks above say: ETFs(NOT precious metal ETFs and read all of the fine print, since a number of ETFs cheat), Indexes, Dividend-paying stocks (a favorite of mine, assuming they maintain the dividend), or bonds (after they raise the interest rates).  Once you have your diversification percentages decided, then you just adjust that based on macro-economic trends, in order to avoid pitfalls. If you want to know more, look through: http://www.mauldineconomics.com/ < Austrian-type economist/investor http://pragcap.com/ < Neo-Keynsian economist/investor with huge focus on fiat currency effects"


"$1500 per 90 minute session is $1000 an hour unless there is another price quote I overlooked.  The question the author answers shows just how much standardized tests can be gamed.  She simply used the ""plug and chug"" method which requires very little understanding of the concept the questions was supposed to test."


Restricted Stock Units are different from stock options because instead of buying them at a particular strike price, you receive the actual shares of stock. They are taxed as ordinary income at the time that the restriction is lifted (you don't have to sell them to be taxed). Usually, you can choose to have a percentage of the stock withheld to cover tax withholding or pay for the withholding out of pocket (so you can retain all of your shares).


I think  the cleanest way to do this is to rent the house from your father for 2 years, possibly adding an option to buy at a set price to the lease agreement.  That takes care of any gift issues, and avoids complications like you living in a house that you couldn't afford to own otherwise.  If/when you are able to afford a mortgage, get a mortgage on the house and buy it from your father.   Will a bank be willing to take out a mortgage on a house that I technically own for the full amount? I would not take out a mortgage for anything more than 80% of the house's market value.  Anything more than that, and you need to pay mortgage insurance, which will increase your monthly payment for no benefit to you.   My biggest concern is that you won't be able to afford an 80% mortgage after 2 years.  If your father really wants to keep the house in the family then he should either keep the house and rent it to you, or give you the down payment as a gift (keeping under the maximum gift to avoid taxes). If neither you or your father cannot afford the house you may have no choice but to sell it.  I would not advise you make a bad financial decision purely for sentimental reasons.


"So, the term ""ready market"" simply means that a market exists in which there are legitimate buy/sell offers, meaning there are investors willing to own or trade in the security. A ""spot market"" means that the security/commodity is being delivered immediately, rather at some predetermined date in the future (hence the term ""futures market"").  So if you buy oil on the spot market, you'd better be prepared to take immediate delivery, where as when you buy a futures contract, the transaction doesn't happen until some later date.  The advantage for futures contract sellers is the ability to lock in the price of what they're selling as a hedge against the possibility of a price drop between now and when they can/will deliver the commodity.  In other words, a farmer can pre-sell his grain at a set price for some future delivery date so he can know what he's going to get regardless of the price of grain at the time he delivers it.  The downside to the farmer is that if grain prices rise higher than what he sold them for as futures contracts then he loses that additional money.  That's the advantage to the buyer, who expects the price to rise so he can resell what he bought from the farmer at a profit. When you trade on margin, you're basically borrowing the money to make a trade, whether you're trading long (buying) or short (selling) on a security.  It isn't uncommon for traders to pledge securities they already own as collateral for a margin account, and if they are unable to cover a margin call then those securities can be liquidated or confiscated to satisfy the debt.  There still may even be a balance due after such a liquidation if the pledged securities don't cover the margin call. Most of the time you pay a fee (or interest rate) on whatever you borrow on margin, just like taking out a bank loan, so if you're going to trade on margin, you have to include those costs in your calculations as to what you need to earn from your investment to make a profit. When I short trade, I'm selling something I don't own in the expectation I can buy it back later at a lower price and keep the difference.  For instance, if I think Apple shares are going to take a steep drop at some point soon, I can short them.  So imagine I short-sell 1000 shares of AAPL at the current price of $112.  That means my brokerage account is credited with the proceeds of the sale ($112,000), and I now owe my broker 1000 shares of AAPL stock.  If the stock drops to $100 and I ""cover my short"" (buy the shares back to repay the 1000 I borrowed) then I pay $100,000 for them and give them to my broker.  I keep the difference ($12,000) between what I sold them for and what I paid to buy them back, minus any brokerage fees and fees the broker may charge me for short-selling. In conclusion, a margin trade is using someone else's money to make a trade, whether it's to buy more or to sell short.  A short trade is selling shares I don't even own because I think I can make money in the process. I hope this helps."


This situation, wanting desperately to have access to an investment vehicle in a 401K, but it not being available reminds me of two suggestions some make regarding retirement investing: This allows you the maximum flexibility in your retirement investing.  I have never, in almost 30 years of 401K investing, seen a pure cash investment, is was always something that was at its core very short term bonds. The exception is one company that once you had a few thousand in the 401K, you could transfer it to a brokerage account. I have no idea if there was a way to invest in a money market fund via the brokerage, but I guess it was possible. You may have to look and see if the company running the 401K has other investment options that your employer didn't select. Or you will have to see if other 401K custodians have these types of investments. Then push for changes next year. Regarding external IRA/Roth IRA: You can buy a CD with FDIC protection from funds in an IRA/Roth IRA. My credit union with NCUA protection currently has CDs and even bump up CDs, minimum balance is $500, and the periods are from 6 months to 3 years.


I just switched CPA's and I am glad I did. My new CPA has made my life A LOT easier. If you're up for it, I can have my CPA call you. He's from California but works with many businesses in different states.


> Once it is triggered, the system triggers an event to the bank’s alarm system, flags video surveillance of an event, and starts up a device designed to “jam” skimmers by disrupting their reading of card data.  If this works as well as the article claims, why not simply have the magnetic jammers running constantly?


I have more book recco's that would be useful than you could consume in a year. The goal is to find books written by practitioners who actually did what you're after.  My favorites are Made in America by Sam Walton and Pour Your Heart Into It by Howard Schultz.  Happy to recommend more but don't want to dilute these two.


What the fuck are you talking about you stupid uneducated fuckin retard.  If apple buys 10 billion dollars worth of treasuries the government takes 10 billion dollars out of apples bank of america account and deposits it in theirs. What the fuck is so hard to comprehend about that you fuckin moron? They don't 'make' money you fucking retard.


"To the topic, and answering some of the questions below...  People ""drop out"" of the workforce in a number of different ways:  - Ideally, and most constructively, people go back to school. This might be line-cooks or fast-food workers pursuing a culinary or hospitality degree, or liberal-arts majors whose publishing job has evaporated going for a Law or MBA. If you have a desire to go back to school, a job-recession is a good time to do it.   - Often, it is something where one parent in a two-parent household decides to stay home with the kids, when they can no longer earn more than day-care or pre-school costs. If Mom's job prospects are paying $12/hour, minus taxes, and child-care costs $10/hour, it often makes sense for her to stay home, at least until the kids are in public school.   - Sometimes it's just genuine early-retirement. Some real-estate salesman in his 60s who was hoping to earn for a few more years sees the current glut of short-sales and foreclosures, and how hard he's going to have to work for every dollar, and decides he can live with Buick instead of Cadillac in his golden years.   - Some of it is ""semi-forced"" early-retirement, where bagging groceries doesn't pay any better than social security, so an older worker decides to make ends meet.  - The worst and ugliest component, and sadly a common one, is premature/unnecessary disability claims. Down job markets produce a spike in claims of permanent disability. They are not all entirely fraudulent, but inability to work due to vague-ish chronic pain, psychiatric problems, back/neck injuries from fender-benders, slip-and-falls, etc go up in recessions. There is a certain ""watching daytime TV with lots of lawyer commercials"" effect among the unemployed, and one way or another, people are vastly more likely to end up on government or insurance-based long-term disability during a bad economy."


Aah, I understand.   Personally I feel that policy gridlock and bureaucratic vestiges of the 90s at the administrative level of banks is what's encumbering their systems from fully adopting new technologies.   Your job sounds like it could make for a Guy Ritchie movie plot one day :)


"A re-financing, or re-fi, is when a debtor takes out a new loan for the express purpose of paying off an old one. This can be done for several reasons; usually the primary reason is that the terms of the new loan will result in a lower monthly payment. Debt consolidation (taking out one big loan at a relatively low interest rate to pay off the smaller, higher-interest loans that rack up, like credit card debt, medical bills, etc) is a form of refinancing, but you most commonly hear the term when referring to refinancing a home mortgage, as in your example. To answer your questions, most of the money comes from a new bank. That bank understands up front that this is a re-fi and not ""new debt""; the homeowner isn't asking for any additional money, but instead the money they get will pay off outstanding debt. Therefore, the net amount of outstanding debt remains roughly equal. Even then, a re-fi can be difficult for a homeowner to get (at least on terms he'd be willing to take). First off, if the homeowner owes more than the home's worth, a re-fi may not cover the full principal of the existing loan. The bank may reject the homeowner outright as not creditworthy (a new house is a HUGE ding on your credit score, trust me), or the market and the homeowner's credit may prevent the bank offering loan terms that are worth it to the homeowner. The homeowner must often pony up cash up front for the closing costs of this new mortgage, which is money the homeowner hopes to recoup in reduced interest; however, the homeowner may not recover all the closing costs for many years, or ever. To answer the question of why a bank would do this, there are several reasons: The bank offering the re-fi is usually not the bank getting payments for the current mortgage. This new bank wants to take your business away from your current bank, and receive the substantial amount of interest involved over the remaining life of the loan. If you've ever seen a mortgage summary statement, the interest paid over the life of a 30-year loan can easily equal the principal, and often it's more like twice or three times the original amount borrowed. That's attractive to rival banks.  It's in your current bank's best interest to try to keep your business if they know you are shopping for a re-fi, even if that means offering you better terms on your existing loan. Often, the bank is itself ""on the hook"" to its own investors for the money they lent you, and if you pay off early without any penalty, they no longer have your interest payments to cover their own, and they usually can't pay off early (bonds, which are shares of corporate debt, don't really work that way). The better option is to keep those scheduled payments coming to them, even if they lose a little off the top. Often if a homeowner is working with their current bank for a lower payment, no new loan is created, but the terms of the current loan are renegotiated; this is called a ""loan modification"" (especially when the Government is requiring the bank to sit down at the bargaining table), or in some cases a ""streamlining"" (if the bank and borrower are meeting in more amicable circumstances without the Government forcing either one to be there). Historically, the idea of giving a homeowner a break on their contractual obligations would be comical to the bank. In recent times, though, the threat of foreclosure (the bank's primary weapon) doesn't have the same teeth it used to; someone facing 30 years of budget-busting payments, on a house that will never again be worth what he paid for it, would look at foreclosure and even bankruptcy as the better option, as it's theoretically all over and done with in only 7-10 years. With the Government having a vested interest in keeping people in their homes, making whatever payments they can, to keep some measure of confidence in the entire financial system, loan modifications have become much more common, and the banks are usually amicable as they've found very quickly that they're not getting anywhere near the purchase price for these ""toxic assets"". Sometimes, a re-fi actually results in a higher APR, but it's still a better deal for the homeowner because the loan doesn't have other associated costs lumped in, such as mortgage insurance (money the guarantor wants in return for underwriting the loan, which is in turn required by the FDIC to protect the bank in case you default). The homeowner pays less, the bank gets more, everyone's happy (including the guarantor; they don't really want to be underwriting a loan that requires PMI in the first place as it's a significant risk). The U.S. Government is spending a lot of money and putting a lot of pressure on FDIC-insured institutions (including virtually all mortgage lenders) to cut the average Joe a break. Banks get tax breaks when they do loan modifications. The Fed's buying at-risk bond packages backed by distressed mortgages, and where the homeowner hasn't walked away completely they're negotiating mortgage mods directly. All of this can result in the homeowner facing a lienholder that is willing to work with them, if they've held up their end of the contract to date."


"> its a more efficient way to use the whole cow  And if they add more stuff, then you can even use 150% of the cow! Love those unlabeled additives!  P.S. Ever heard of prions? CJD? Mad Cow Disease? ""Using the whole cow"" isn't always a good thing."


"We change it every so often to reduce fraud. This is idiocy. They receive regular payments. They are asking the people who pay them to regularly change where their money is being sent. This increases their exposure to fraud dramatically as each time the account is changed, there is a risk it will be changed to an account they do not control. This is a huge red flag. Confirm that this is authentic and, if so, insist that they sign an agreement accepting all liability for the risks this crazy policy causes, otherwise, you should refuse to go through the effort of confirming new accounts and risking typing or communication errors on a regular basis. This is definitely a ""what were they thinking?!"" kind of thing. If it's not fake entirely. (This answer assumes that you were given a correct explanation, that they change it regularly believing that will reduce fraud.)"


I want to understand the specific mechnisms, the chemicals and processes involved, I want to see peer review. I want more than a vacous, misleading comment that stands on shaky footing.  You don't seem to have a very firm grasp on the subject considering your comment. Do you really think it's a stretch to doubt the safety of spraying comestibles with carcinogens?


In the UK Ticketmaster own a site for fans who bought tickets but can no longer attend a gig to resell tickets.  Sounds fair enough, but thousands of tickets appear on it the day tickets go on sale for a gig at massively marked up prices.  Undercover documentaries have shown these tickets were never available to the general public at face value.  End that practice & I'll be happy. Fees are a minor irritant in comparison