FOX news can join CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ect and drop off the face of the earth. They are just as bad a mouth piece as the other major networks. The media never treated Obama even half as bad. I voted for Obama during his first run, I just think the media has been very unfair and do not deserve special privileges.


There are some who argue that you should lease an electric car. These factors are in addition to all the normal pros and cons of leasing vs. buying. The technology is still new and is advancing rapidly. In 2-3 years, the newer model may have significantly improved features, range, and efficiency, as well as lower prices. If you are the type of person to upgrade regularly to the latest and greatest, leasing can make it a smoother transition. It is hard to predict the depreciation of the vehicles. This is both because of the above factors, but also because these kinds of cars are newer and so the statistical models used to predict their future values are less refined. The models for predicting gas car prices have been honed for decades. EV Manufacturers have in the past made some mistakes in their residual value estimations. When you lease a car, you get essentially an option to buy the car at the future predicted residual value. If, at the end of the lease, the market value of the car is higher than the residual value, you can purchase the car at the predetermined price, making yourself some extra money. If the value is lower than the residual, you can return the car or renegotiate. I know a relatively large number of electric vehicle owners. Most or all of the ones who got the vehicle new leased it. The rest bought used vehicles coming off lease, which can also be a good deal.


"Currency lives no more then 50 years. US currency did not expire in last 100 years, but it was reinstated few times, last one was 2009. Note that currency is not just what you hold in your hand. Currency is system of relations of money supply (currency is not money but we forced to use standard terminology), banking rules and government policy. Currency exists as long as government wants it to. In 2009 for example, US government decided it needs new currency and just printed whole new money supply. So US dollar is now counting as ""partially fresh new currency"". It was reinstated. Not expired. But today's dollar is totally different from 90s and 00s. Will it be accepted after 200 years? Yes (probably). But most likely at that time there will be totally new US dollars. And new Euros, new Pounds and so on. Currency is method of transfer. You can have that physical coins you have, but as economic agent it will die very quickly. It is not only related to inflation, in fact, inflation is the least of your worries. If you count all currencies in the world which ever existed, most of them 99.99% are completely dead by now (with governments which supported it). Not even single one currency which lived more then 100 years. US dollar was reinstated in 1860, 1907, 1930, 1973, 1987, 2009 and  in fact it is not single currency but dozen which were allowed to be used ""for compatibility reasons""."


Certainly sounds worthwhile to get a CPA to help you with setting up the books properly and learning to maintain them, even if you do it yourself thereafter. What's your own time worth?


Honestly, this whole story seems overblown. It sounded like he didn't know her husband... Because *he didn't know her husband*. Presidential calls to families of military deceased are a formality.  i feel like I'm being manipulated by the media on this one. Where's the story?


> I said IQ has cultural bias.  [citation needed]  Yes, in direct comparisons between large average IQ scores of black and white ethnicities, the black ethnicities typically score lower. But that's a very superficial context-stripped soundbite, since there's far more genetic variation across individuals (including intelligence scores) than there is across ethnicities. Ethnicity just pertains to phenotypes, and while large-scale IQ variant tests show intelligence has a significant heritable component that is passed down through ancestry, there's still more variance between individuals of the same ethnicity than there is between averages of ethnicities.  If you wanna reduce that to saying black people are stupid so badly then knock yourself out, but that's your own ignorant oversimplification not mine.


Man who made fortune as hedge fund, active investor decries passive investment. Shocker. Even if passive investment was a bad thing, which I don't think it is, wouldn't it result in a less efficient allocation of capital, allowing for more opportunities for active investors?


"Holding pure cash is a problem for 401K companies because they would then have follow banking rules because they would be holding your cash on their balance sheets. They don't want to be in that business. Instead, they should offer at least one option as a cash equivalent - a money market fund. This way the money is held by the fund, not by 401K administrator. Money Market funds invest in ultra-short term paper, such as overnight loans between banks and other debt instruments that mature in a matter of days. So it is all extremely liquid, as close to ""Money"" as you can get without actually being money.  It is extremely rare for a money market fund to lose value, or ""break the buck."" During the crisis of 2008, only one or two funds broke the buck, and it didn't last long. They had gotten greedy and their short term investments were a little more aggressive as they were trying to get extra returns. In short, your money is safe in a money market fund, and your 401K plan should offer one as the ""cash"" option, or at least it should offer a short-term bond fund. If you feel strongly that your money should be in actual cash, you can always stop contributing to the 401K and put the money in the bank. This is not a good idea though. Unless you're close to retirement, you'll be much better off investing in a well diversified portfolio, even through the ups and downs of the market."


"I would recommend ""How to Read a Financial Report : For Managers, Entrepreneurs, Lenders, Lawyers, and Investors"" by John A. Tracy for the following reasons: I also think the book would bridge the gap nicely between a broad understanding of finance and a more serious technical know-how."


Your main concern seems to be to be accused of something called 'smurfing' or structuring. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structuring Depositing money amounts (cash or checks) under the 10k limit to circumvent the reporting requirement. People have been investigated for depositing under the limit, e.g. small business owners. If you're always above 10k you should be fine, as your deposits are reported and shouldn't raise IRS or FBI suspicions.


> It seems to me the market is responding to a belief that regulations won't be enforced or pared back and that maybe tax reform (e.g., tax cuts for the wealthy) may be enacted.  Yeah, that's kind of a big deal.  He already made an executive order requiring two regulations to be removed for every one that is created.  >  Muslim travel ban  doesn't include the most populous Muslim nation?


Credit card, without a doubt. The reason is dispute resolution. If you dispute a charge on debit card - the money has left your account already, and if the dispute was accepted - you'll get it back. If. Eventually. In the mean time your overdraft will be missing $$$. For credit cards, you can catch a fraud action before the money actually leaves your pocket and dispute it then. In this case the charge is set aside, and you will only be required to actually pay if the dispute is rejected. I.e.: The money stays in your pocket, until the business proves that the charge is legit. In both cases, if the dispute is justified (i.e.: there was indeed a fraud) neither you nor the bank will lose money at the bottom line, it's just who's got the money during the dispute resolution process (which may be lengthy) that matters.


Many reasons So in general you are paying more for peace of mind when you buy a new car. You expect everything to be working and if not you can take it back to the dealer to have them fix it for free.


This conversation started with my OP post, stating I felt paying taxes was a civic duty, and patriotic. Would you like to start there? (Also, I would be interested to hear an example of *your* Libertarian paradise, so I can better understand where you are coming from)


I believe it. We switched to CenturyLink a few years ago to save a few bucks.  I was regretting it within the first day. They guaranteed a certain speed, but I wasn't getting it.  I had to fight with them for days to prove they weren't fulfilling their guarantee. I was so happy when I finally got out of the contract and went back with my previous ISP.


"Re: A trader when buying needs to buy at the ask price and when selling needs to sell   at the bid price. So how can a trade happen 'in between' the bid and ask? Saying the trade can happen ""in between"" the bid & ask is simplistic.  There is a time dimension to the market.  It's more accurate to say that an order can be placed ""in between"" the current best bid & ask (observed at time T=0), thus establishing a new level for one or the other of those quoted prices (observed at time T>0). If you enter a market order to buy (or sell), then yes, you'll generally be accepting the current best ask (or best bid) with your order, because that's what a market order says to do: Accept the current best market price being offered for your kind of transaction.  Of course, prices may move much faster than your observation of the price and the time it takes to process your order – you're far from being the only participant. Market orders aside, you are free to name your own price above or below the current best bid & ask, respectively. ... then one could say that you are placing an order ""in between"" the bid and ask at the time your order is placed.  However – and this is key – you are also moving one or the other of those quoted prices in the process of placing your above-bid buy order or your below-ask sell order. Then, only if somebody else in the market chooses to accept your new ask (or bid) does your intended transaction take place. And that transaction takes place at the new ask (or bid) price, not the old one that was current when you entered your order. Read more about bid & ask prices at this other question: (p.s. FWIW, I don't necessarily agree with the assertion from the article you quoted, i.e.: ""By looking for trades that take place in between the bid and ask, you can tell when a strong trend is about to come to an end.""  I would say: Maybe, perhaps, but maybe not.)"


An emergency fund of $5000 seems on the low side and I would be worried about spending it down to $2000, that said you want to get out of the car loan. It sounds like you have a little extra disposible income since you think you can rebuild your emergency fund quicker than just the amount you will save from not having a car payment. One option to decrease the hit to your emergency fund is to save aggressively for a month or two to increase your emergency fund by a few hundred dollars and take on some other debt (possibly credit card). You could then pay off the new debt and replenish your emergency fund over a slightly longer period. While some financial planners dislike the idea of an emergency fund while still having high interest debt, to me I would prefer to have $1000 in credit card debt and $3000 in an emergency fund over $0 in credit card debt and $2000 in an emergency fund. Given your time course of 6 months or so to pay off the debt, you might even qualify for a 0% credit card introductory rate (or balance transfer).


All I'm saying is, if you're a person of color, if you're queer, if you're a woman, if you're not a christian, the hatred they're spouting isn't abstract or theoretical. It is directly targeting you and your loved ones, and they want people like us dead. Allowing internet companies to censor ideas they disagree with may be immoral (though perfectly legal) but so is spewing hatred and calling for the deaths of anyone who isn't a straight white man. And honestly I will take any allies in this fight I can get.


Typically your paychecks are direct deposited into your bank account and you receive a paycheck stub telling you how much of your money went where (taxes, insurance, 401k, etc.). Most people use debit or credit cards for purchases.  I personally only use checks to transfer money to another person (family, friend, etc.) than a business.  And even then, there's PayPal.


"While I personally find multi-camera comedies extremely unappealing, shows like The Big Bang Theory are one of the most popular in the country.  Netflix is probably trying to tap into that market.  At the very least, I can see those comedies being relatively cheap and drawing enough viewers to be ""profitable"" in Netflix's eyes."


A lot of people don't, but some do and some of those give back in volunteering their time, knowledge, or expertise and sometimes the only way to do that is to retire with good savings.   My granddad lived to 102 and he retired around 65, but he did nothing of any real substance for his community. He was kind and sort of funny and he loved me, but he wasted most of his life after retirement just watching tv.


"You should immediately tell your bank you've been scammed, request for the transactions' cancellation or revocation and get back most - if not all - of the money transferred. I've placed numerous orders online in the past and was always very careful about their trace-ability but I have to admit once I acted carelessly and got scammed. I didn't think of it much before placing an order for a very low priced laptop through a private seller on Amazon. I'd never purchased anything this way before but thought ""Amazon will protect me if anything goes wrong..."" so I sent an e-mail to the seller. He gave me his bank details (with Spanish IBAN) via a non-suspicious e-mail with the usual logos and e-mail address domain name, made the payment and guy came back to me saying he'll ship the laptop once he sees the funds received. Waited max. 2 days, trying to contact him but no response. Contacted Amazon giving the seller's ID and the ""transaction""'s ID I'd received from him and they told me there's nothing they can do as that transaction is not recorded on their systems. Immediately after realizing I've been scammed and done my goof, I contacted my bank via e-mail explaining the situation. I was informed that the transaction can be cancelled but they cannot guarantee the return of the entire amount. After 2-3 days, I saw my balance richer by €950 and the payment I'd made to the scum was €1,000. I'd highly recommend that you check the fraud protection policy of your bank and in case there's something that can be done, then just get in contact with them explaining the situation."


> Sigh. I knew this headline would end up being printed, which is of course wrong.  Yet at the same time... this is exactly the kind of headline that Tesla PR *wants* the papers to print.  Elon Musk is all about exaggerations (the better to boost the -- already ridiculously, inanely, overpriced -- stock).


Interesting. When you say DIY you mean pencil and paper. For most of us the choice came down to using a professional vs using the software.  Your second bullet really hits the point. The tax return is a giant spreadsheet with multiple cells depending on each other. Short of building my own spreadsheet to perform the task, I found the software, at $30-$50, to be the happy medium between the full DIY and the Pro at $400+.  With a single W2, and no other items, the form is likely just a 1040-EZ, and there shouldn't be any recalculating so long as you have the data you need. Pencil/paper is fine.  There's no exact time to say go with the software, except, perhaps, when you realize there are enough fields to fill out where the recalculating might be cumbersome, or the need to see the exact tax bracket has value for you.  You are clearly in the category that can fill out the one form. At some point, you might have investment income (Schedule D) enough mortgage interest to itemize deductions (Schedule A) etc. You'll know when it's time to go the software route.  Keep in mind, there are free online choices from each of the tax software providers. Good for simple returns up to a certain level. Thanks to Phil for noting this in comments.  I'll offer an anecdote exemplifying the distinction between using the software as a tool vs having a high knowledge of taxes. I wrote an article The Phantom Tax Zone, in which I explained how the process of taxing Social Security benefits at a certain level created what I called a Phantom Tax Rate. I knew that $1000 more in income could cause $850 of the benefit to be taxed as well, but with a number of factors to consider, I wanted to create a chart to show the tax at each incremental $1000 of income added. Using the software, I simply added $1000, noted the tax due, and repeated. Doing this by hand would have taken a day, not 30 minutes.  For you, the anecdote may have no value, Social Security is too far off. For others, who in March are doing their return, the process may hold value. Many people are deciding whether to make their IRA deposit be pre-tax or the Post tax Roth IRA. The software can help them quickly see the effect of +/- $1000 in income and choose the mix that's ideal for them.


Yes. Look at form 1040 AGI is line 37, and it comes well after you report your schedule D cap gains.  I read this question as meaning you wish to contribute to a traditional IRA pretax. There is no income limit to contribute to an IRA and not take the deduction.


Bloomberg Commodity Index is one you check out. [link](https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/BCOM:IND)      Oil does have a heavier weighting though (around 20% through Brent and WTI iirc) so while things like aluminium, gold, corn etc are up for the year BCOM is down YTD. Still a decent broad-based index for you to consider.


how can I save money for the future The fact that you are worrying is good. This is the first step. Follow this up with a plan. One way is first get hold of your income [its fixed you know the salary]. Maintain expenses, then see which costs can be cut down. Create individual goals and start investing for these. The best way for first timer is to invest into a Recurring Deposits or SIP in mutual fund, i.e. kind of forced saving so that you don't spend what is available in bank Account.


You would need to ask the College. If they accept Wire Transfer, get the Bank details and ask your bank in Ethiopia to make the international transfer. If the college asks for a Bankers check or some other form, take these details and ask you Bank in Ethiopia to arrange for same.


"> Who's behind these investments exacly?  Investors  > Could it be literally anyone and if so why do they hide behind these nominee companies?  It's not for the purposes of ""hiding,"" but more for administration purposes. For example, JP Morgan Nominees will have a direct account that does all the trading *on behalf* of clients. Clients then have a subaccount *within* the nominee account. It just makes it easier for everyone to trade on *one* account overall and then allocate it appropriately after the fact.  > Do all banks have some kind of wealth management/funds management business?  A LOT of them do."


"With regard to worries about ownership:  I'll point you towards this - The Cohabitants Rights Bill currently in First Reading at the House of Lords. Without a date for even the second reading yet. In short the Bill is attempting to redress is the lack of rights when a non-married relationship ends when compared to married relationships; that is that one of the ""cohabitants"" can end up with basically nothing that they don't have their name on. So currently you're in the clear and (Part 2) Section 6.2.a says the Bill cannot be used retroactively against you if your relationship is over before it becomes law (I expect with Brexit etc, this Bill isn't a high priority - it's been a year since the first reading). Section 6.2.a: This Part does not apply to former cohabitants        where the former cohabitants have ceased living together as a        couple before the commencement date;    However, if you're still together if/when this Bill becomes Law then basically all of (Part 1) Section 2 may be relevant as it notes the conditions you will fall into this bill: Section 2.1.a: live together as a couple and Section 2.2.d: have lived together as a couple for a continuous        period of three years or more. and the ""have lived together"" at that point counts from the start of your cohabitation, not the start of the Bill being law:  Section 2.4.a: For the purposes of subsection (2)(d), in determining        the length of the continuous period during which two people have lived       together as a couple - any period of the relationship that fell before        the commencement date (of the Bill) is to be taken into account If you have kids at some point, you'd also fall under 2.2.a through 2.2.c too. After that, the financial parity decided upon by the court depends on a whole bunch of conditions as outlined in the Bill, but Section 8.1.b is pretty clear: Section 8.1.b: (b)the court is satisfied either—       (i)that the respondent has retained a benefit; or       (ii)40that the applicant has an economic disadvantage,       as a result of qualifying contributions the applicant has made I'm not qualified to say whether your partner helping to pay off your mortgage in lieu of paying rent herself would count as just paying rent or giving you an economic benefit. Sections 12, 13, and 14 discuss opt-outs, also worth a read. The a major disclaimer here in that Bills at this early stage have the potential to be modified, scrapped and/or replaced making this info incorrect. As an additional read, here's an FT article from Feb 2016 discussing this lack of rights of a cohabitant which should alleviate any current concerns."


"Three things....  First, it sounds like you have gotten incredibly lucky.  Maybe you were born into a stable family, and to date haven't had any major medical issues.  I know you say likely retire, but what if god forbid you have something medically that comes up which wipes out your savings.  What if your investments go south?  There are many, many people who made similar choices such as you and it didn't work out for them. Why should they have to work until they are 70 when you get to retire at 40?  Second, none of the things you mentioned happened in a vacuum.  Society, and yes the government, has support systems in place that made all of this possible for you.  Why should then you get to hoard all the wealth from making this possible for others while you get to pat yourself on the back for making ""good choices"".  Third, maybe along the way your investments actually hurt society?  Maybe that growing company was able to grow because they invested in a dirty technology, or outsourced a lot of jobs, or compromised peoples privacy in the name of profits.  Why should you, just by the amount of your ""capital"" get to choose how to impact society while the workers at those companies and the people in the surrounding community don't.  We are suppose to live in a democracy....."


"This is because in the past 10 years, every fucking clothing store started putting their logo and some stupid number.  ""GAP 1969"" Because retro became cool FOR A MINUTE.  But these businesses are so reactive they were bound to take it to the fail point."


">The scales on the chart are not consistent, even in regards to stats the author purports to be comparable  Scales (and especially missing zero-points) are one of the easiest ways to manipulate the perception of viewers of charts & graphs.  Especially when we are dealing with exponential things -- even the choice of linear vs logarithmic can generate entirely different reactions to the same data.  Add in cherry-picking and ""normalization"" of data, and such things are rife with the possibility of being misleading (often in ways that the creators of the charts themselves are entirely unaware of)."


I suggest you look at many stocks' price history, especially around earnings announcements. It's certainly a gamble. But an 8 to 10% move on a surprise earning announcement isn't unheard of. If you look at the current price, the strike price, and the return that you'd get for just exceeding the strike by one dollar, you'll find in some cases a 20 to 1 return. A real gambler would research and find companies that have had many earnings surprises in the past and isolate the options that make the most sense that are due to expire just a few days after the earnings announcement. I don't recommend that anyone actually do this, just suggesting that I understand the strategy. Edit - Apple announced earnings. And, today, in pre-market trading, over an 8% move. The $550 calls closed before the announcement, trading under $2.


Your question mixes up different things.  Your LLC business type is determined by how you organize your business at the state level.  Separately, you can also elect to be treated in one of several different status for federal taxation. (Often this automatically changes your tax status at the state level too, but you need to check that with your state tax authority.) It is true that once you have an EIN, you can apply to be taxed as a C Corp or S Corp.  Whether or not that will result in tax savings will depend on the details of your business.  We won't be able to answer that for you.  You should get a professional advisor if you need help making that determination.


Treating these things as an outlier is EXACTLY what caused the crisis in the first place. When creating these ABS/MBS securities they woefully underestimated the correlation of everyone defaulting together. Time and time again these outliers happen far more frequently than our models predict. For example the LTCM russian default was a 15 standard deviation event, i.e. impossible...


The staff of such companies should be highly experienced in their job and updated with latest developments and they should be aware of different kinds of garbage and, especially the hazardous ones.Moreover, they should be trained to deal with different kinds of hazardous substances Sydney and have the knowledge of the risks associated with them.


Lobbyists and regulations will never let shipping containers enter the housing market. These have been online for over ten years and have never came to fruition. They are in the same category as the tires that never need tread or air and last forever. They are fun to study on the internet but will never come to market due to suppression


When credit locks up, junk bond prices fall rapidly, and you see more defaults. The opportunity to make money with junk is to buy a diversified collection of them when the market declines. Look at the charts from some of the mutual funds or ETFs like PIMCO High Yield Instl (PHIYX), or Northeast Investors (NTHEX). Very volatile stuff. Keep in mind that junk bonds are not representative of the economy as a whole -- they cluster in certain industries. Retail and financials are big industry segments for junk.  Also keep in mind that the market for these things is not as liquid as the stock market. If your investment choice is really a sector investment, you might be better served by investing in sector funds with stocks that trade every day versus bonds whose market price may be difficult to determine.


I understand the frustration, American politics is pretty utterly fucked isn't it?  > Anyway, I think we should be doing our best to incentivize corporate formation by lowering corporate taxes to zero and moving the incidence of taxation directly to capital.  That's interesting, and I've heard it before. Is something [like this writer](http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/10/why-we-should-eliminate-the-corporate-income-tax/65351/) outlines what you are thinking? Essentially remove corporate taxes, and then tax dividends and capital gains as normal income?


TdAmeritrade offers this service for free using 3rd party company markit. From markit's site, below is their guarantee.  http://www.markit.com/product/markit-on-demand Markit On Demand delivers an average of two million alerts per day   through various technology platforms and via multiple channels,   including email, instant messages, wireless, RSS and Facebook.   Investors can subscribe to their alerts of choice, and Markit On   Demand guarantees that they will receive an alert within five minutes   of the event trigger for all price and volume alerts


I got so excited 'cause I knew which episode you were quoting. That podcast is the best; I'm always so excited for Thursdays.  Yeah, they are taking advantage of the situation, and acting rationally in an economic sense. Of course they're going to make money from it. The operating cost is fairly low per passenger, like $16 an hour per passenger per this site, $3,200 per hour cost average and the A320 carries 200 people (http://www.opshots.net/2015/04/aircraft-operating-series-aircraft-operating-expenses/) . There are certainly other cost associated, as well.  But, does that necessarily make it not good news? I get that it isn't 100% philanthropic, but how often is it ever? Maybe it is a good of two worlds. They get to help people get out of a dangerous area, and they make a little money too.   There was an /r/relationships post today about a girl that couldn't get out of Miami because her boyfriend had the car and was refusing to leave, so she was trapped. She couldn't afford a plane ticket and all of the buses and trains were sold out. She could be one of the people that could benefit from a lower priced ticket.  Idk. Maybe it is a money grab, or maybe they're providing a necessity like Levitt's water example. I just hope it helps some people.


What a joke. The world economy would have collapsed without Goldman Sachs and Citibank? That is blatant propaganda and you're deluded if you believe it. Government intervention caused the housing bubble, and government intervention is what those huge banks relied on when they made 30:1 securities swaps wagers. Those bankers acted like criminals and the government cheered them on and made it easier. There is absolutely zero incentive for either the bankers or the politicians to be fiscally responsible, that is the problem.  Printing money has not caused harm? Are you mental? Printing money is outright theft from every working man. It is the epitome of corruption and the hallmark of a failing government slipping into fascism and plutocracy. They won't even tell us how much money is on the books anymore. It is an arbitrary amount which changes at their discretion.  There is more debt in the system than actual value, and the debt gains interest faster than the value appreciates. The entire currency system is designed to transfer money to the wealthy and carry a debt which can never be paid off. Those dollars that you and I work for every day are just a means to control us.


Right from Home Depot's website emphasis mine.  Product Overview Every piece of 2 in. x 6 in. x 10 ft. Kiln-Dried Heat Treated Dimensional Lumber meets the highest grading standards for strength and appearance. This high quality lumber is ideal for a wide range of structural and nonstructural applications including framing of houses, barns, sheds, and commercial construction. Perfect for projects that require structural dimensional lumber that meets building codes. It can also be used for furniture and hobbies, and comes in a variety of widths and lengths. As long as lumber is properly primed and painted or sealed and stained it can be used in exterior applications. Each piece of this lumber meets the highest quality grading standards for strength and appearance Lumber can be primed and painted or sealed and stained. For interior or exterior use **Common: 2 in. x 4 in. x 10 ft.; Actual: 1.5 in. x 3.5 in. x 120 in.** Untreated Premium Grade Note: product may vary by store Click to learn how to select the right lumber for your project  This is the **DUMBEST** thing i've read all day.


"In the quoted passage, the bonds are ""risky"" because you CAN lose money. Money markets can be insured by the FDIC, and thus are without risk in many instances.  In general, there are a few categories of risks that affect bonds. These include: The most obvious general risk with long-term bonds versus short-term bonds today is that rates are historically low."


I suspect that the times you are referring to are those times when there is relatively low volumes of foreign exchange trading.  Lower volumes of trading make it possible for large orders to have a disproportionate effect on the market price.  This implies that the times to avoid will be the times with the lowest relative volumes.  This will occur on the cusp between the New York market winding down and the Asia/Tokyo market revving up. This will be in the hours preceding Tokyo's opening at 06:00 Tokyo time, so the time to avoid is about 04:00-06:00 Tokyo time, or about 20:00-22:00 GMT (if I've worked out the time difference correctly). Foreign exchange is a 24 hour, global market.  Although each of the three main trading centres - London, New York, Asia - will operate 24 hours a day, they will maintain only a skeleton staff outside of normal working hours.  The time difference between London and New York is only 5 hours, so there is no period of time when both centres are operating with a skeleton staff.  The time difference between London and Tokyo is 8 hours, so again there is no period of time when both centres are operating with a skeleton staff.  The time difference between New York and Tokyo is 13 hours.  This does include a period where both centres are operating with a skeleton staff, as well as London operating on a skeleton staff.  Thus, in the couple of hours immediately preceding Tokyo's opening for the regular trading day there is minimal coverage in each of the three main trading centres.  As mentioned above, this is the time when large orders can have a disproportionate effect on fx rates and so this is the time to avoid.


"For a fight this big it would be done via an escrow account and the terms would be set in advance. There would be no ""check"" for him to cash. He has no idea what he's saying and this is probably why he is in trouble with the IRS. He is using the same concepts for a $10 doctor's visit copay and applying it to a multimillion dollar contract with giant media conglomerates."


There is usually contact information for the owner of the machine printed somewhere on it. Call that number. If it is in a business you could always try the clerk.  Whether you get your money back is up to that person, I suppose.


For people with attempted to achieve credit rating coming from a huge rely or perhaps organized credit score card issuer then you can discover how complicated its to get authorised. They generally interest some kind of credit score, when you need a low interest rate quote and additional returns after that your credit score has to be excellent.


just had a disastrous trip a few weeks ago to Brazil with American.  First flight was delayed 1.5hrs making us miss the connection.  They put us up for the night and then flew us to another city in the morning (flight delayed again) for a different connection at 11PM that night onto Brazil.  [That 11PM flight didn't start boarding till 1:30AM.](http://i.imgur.com/VVY6z.png)  They actually had to bring in a different plane something was so wrong with the first one.  Flight from Brazil back also delayed, the connection after that to home was not.  5 flights, 4 delays, 1 missed connection.      Never again.


It is a scam, other people have given lots of details why.   But online access password Is ONLY of use to someone that wishes to steal your money.    Just including it in the requested information is enough to make it clear it is a scam. To deposit money into someone accounts only needs. And maybe (if the deposit is being pay by anyone that needs to report the payment to the government for income tax - at least in the UK) If the money is coming from a source that must report the payment for tax.


[I appreciate the attitude that you wrote back in, seriously!]  Look I'm not against some form of help if they are working 60-85+ hours a week (we can discuss exactly what should be done).   However my whole issue is that this women has been working at a minimum wage job for a long time (I forgot the exact number). Why isn't she trying to advance away from that? (Maybe she is, but the article didn't talk about that).  Look I know it's tough, living in the Greater Seattle Area is very expensive and it's hard. But I'd not only do what I have to to support my family (which she is trying wry hard to do, props for her), but I'd also try to educate myself (not talking university) and try to develop/enhance my abilities so they are attractive to employers. She has tons of years of experience, why not try to move up in management?


"That's, in part, a business urban legend at this point.  There were lay-offs under Jack, but it wasn't the 10% least effective that they claim.  Those people might just not get a raise.  We're so far removed from that business environment that it has gone beyond obnoxious and into ""quaint"" territory.  GE suffers from a major gap in mid career experts.  They can't retain younger people, and their older people are retiring.  GE keeps operating like there's a big carrot keeping people working there, except there isn't anymore.  The health care plans have been gutted, the advancement opportunities have been gutted, the compensation is sub standard, etc.  So people leave after they get what they want out of the company.  GE doesn't even need to lay people off if reducing their work force is really their goal.  Just freeze hiring, wait a couple years, and they'll get the numbers in attrition.  This is just more ""meet the quarterly numbers"" nonsense with no long term sustainable strategy.  Rebranding existing projects as ""Digital"" isn't going to make the company more competitive or save it from falling further and further behind as their knowledge and experience walk out the door."


As others mentioned, I am not sure what you mean by stating that your 401K was rolled over to a money market account. Assuming that it was rolled over to an IRA account, you can roll it over to another IRA account with a financial institution of your choice (either a brokerage or a bank.) Alternatively, you can withdraw these funds, but since you are under 59.5 years old, you would have to cough up 10% penalty to IRS for this unqualified withdrawal. Therefore, I would strongly recommend for you to wait till you reach this eligible age. Other qualified (penalty-free) withdrawals are: purchase of the first home, college tuition, medical insurance premiums for unemployed individuals, disability, and medical expenses exceeding 7.5% of your Adjusted Gross Income. I would assume that your 401K was a Traditional 401K account (before tax contributions), and not ROTH 401K, so yo would also have to pay taxes upon withdrawing funds whether you do it now or after you are 59.5 y.o.


"Market Capitalization is the value the market attributes to the company shares calculated by multiplying the current trading price of these shares by the total amount of shares outstanding. So a company with 100 shares trading at $10 has a market cap of $1000. It is technically not the same as the value of a company (in the sense of how much someone would need to pay to acquire the company), Enterprise value is what you want to determine the net value of a company which is calculated as the market capitalization + company debt (as the acquirer has to take on this debt) - company cash (as the acquirer can pocket this for itself). The exact boundary for when a company belongs to a certain ""cap"" is up for debate. For a ""large cap""  a market capitalization of $10 billion+ is usually considered the cutoff (with $100+ billion behemoths being called ""mega caps""). Anything between $10 billion and ~$1 billion is considered ""mid cap"", from ~$1billion to ~$200 million it's called a ""small cap"" and below $200 million is ""nano cap"".  Worth noting that these boundaries change quite dramatically over time as the overall average market capitalization increases as companies grow, for example in the 80s a company with a market cap of $1 billion would be considered ""large cap"". The market ""determines"" what the market cap of company should be based (usually but certainly not always!) on the historical and expected profit a company makes, for a simple example let's say that our $1000 market cap company makes $100 a year,  this means that this company's earnings per share is $1. If the company grows to make $200 a year you can reasonably expect the share price to rise from $10 to ~$20 with the corresponding increase in market cap. (this is all extremely simplified of course)."


Can't you just organise with the dealership to pick it up a few days later? Yes you will still have to pay the interest, not a professional but going off my experience you will have a minimum $$$ to pay the loan, and often be charged a penalty for paying it off so soon.


Note too that being a contractor means that you will unavoidably have periods between contracts; you tend to be out of work more often than a salaried employee would. You need to set your rates so your average income, including those down times, adds up to a living wage including all those benefits that aren't being covered. If a company hires a contractor, they understand that this is part of the trade-off. They avoid making a long-term commitment when they don't have a long-term need, and they accept that this convenience may cost a bit more in the short term.


"Sheesh, are people kidding here? It's a gift. It's not fraud. Just keep in mind that, because it's a gift, you cannot get it ""back"" if you break up--you are giving it to her. If you happen to get married at some point in the future, you will then own part of the apartment, but that is a completely separate matter. Give her the money, don't expect it back. Ever."


The best analysis I know of Kiyosaki and his advice somes from a genuine property expert who gives plenty of good advice.  If you are really interested then check out [John T Reed on Robert T Kiyosaki](http://www.johntreed.com/Kiyosaki.html).


For maximum liquidity of an emergency fund, having demand deposits and fixed deposits would be the best, as they are the most liquid instruments around. If you invest in other higher yielding instruments they would be less liquid, so it's a tradeoff and you've got to decide for yourself what's best given your requirements.


">  fired from their jobs because of failed drug tests ""may seek a remedy through claims of handicap discrimination,""   OK, so nobody will be charged with taking MJ as the reason for firing.  do you need a reason in MASS?  if so, that's weird compared to almost all states"


Thanks! I don't even know who they are and what their roles are yet, let alone what I expect from them. Maybe this will come in time once I get to know them and the business. I have a feeling I'll be going in and my lack of knowledge will undermine any respect they would have otherwise had for me.


"If you pay 20% tax now and none later or if you pay no tax now and 20% later, it doesn't make a difference.  Mathematically, it's the same. You have to guess about which tax rate (now vs later) will be higher for you in order for you to make the best choice.  Predicting tax rates 40 years in advance is hard.  Everybody pretends like they can do this accurately. I would suggest going half and half. If you have 20k and put half in pre-tax (10k in) and half in post-tax (only 8k in) you end up with 18k total in which is right in the middle of where you would be if you went with the whole 20k in either extreme.  It would also leave you owing 2k in tax rather than the possible 4k in tax if you had gone with all pre-tax. When you split down the middle, you are guaranteed to have 50% in the ""right"" side, the side with the best outcome. Being guaranteed to be 50% on the right side is pretty good compared to maybe being 100% on the wrong side."


I don't know.  I bet Sony is betting he won't want to spend the money to defend himself.  Seems to me that this guy wouldn't be able to do much as an actor if he plays any kind of similar character since he did it first for Sony


"What you're thinking of is more market making kind of activity, HFT algo's thrive on this; having information faster than anyone else. This type of activity could also likely be lumped into what is considered top-down analysis as opposed to bottom-up (which is what most mutual fund equity research involves). Again, the more important aspect is, what does the company you are applying to use!  Top-down analysis means that you are forecasting the revenue drivers for a company using macro-economic analysis. For example, let's say I'm investing in Chinese cement manufacturer's, what implications does Chinese interest rate policy have on infra-structure expansion and how does that drive revenue for this specific company. I might then look at margins, etc. to get an EPS estimate. Part of this could fall into secular  investing, too. Let's say I like LCD panel glass because of this consortium, I might take a look at 5 companies and then find the ones I think would benefit most from this. The problem with top-down is it tends not to be as much of a deep-dive, and its hard to pick individual companies because of it. Bottom-up tends to be more analytical and is what most pitches would be based around. The most important thing I'm not saying one is right or wrong, they are just different, and every investor has their own style.  Bottom-up analysis, which would be closer to what an equity research analyst would be doing on the sell-side, is analyzing what bottom-line indicators drive revenue and how are those expanding. For example, lets say I'm looking at search providers (i.e. Baidu, Google, Yahoo, etc.) I'd be looking at Cost-Per-Thousand-Clicks (CPTC) and number of clicks on the website. Multiply the two and I get revenue (very simplified version) for clicks business. I might then also forecast other revenue driving segments and try to understand how they are growing/pricing at an individual segment level (i.e. business services or mobile advertising). I'd then break down costs/margins for each segment and forecast those out. I could then get a forward EPS, get a range of multiples I believe it could trade in (i.e. I think the multiple will trade up/down), to get a target price. Also, I would likely do a DCF analysis on forward earnings to get a ""fair market value,"" and then try to triangulate a price. I would also be looking at stuff like management teams and industry trends, too, but bottom line, I'm pitching a company because I think it is undervalued and will outperform competitors **in the long run**. This type of work tends to be more research oriented and is what most (not all) mutual funds use when analyzing companies. Since mutual funds tend to have longer holding periods (2-10 years), as opposed to short-term, it's harder to justify investing in a company only because it has a short-term catalyst. Anecdotally, it's also easier to present in a written thesis because the numbers tend to be more concrete and easier to forecast than top-down (which have wider target ranges).  Your thought process that catalyst + industry context = market beating returns isn't wrong, it's just that every company thinks about investing differently, and it's important to tailor the report to that group's style."


The drive is on to make the minimum wage $15/hr.  I am concerned that we shouldn't set our standards so low and allow company's like Walmart to normalize low wages. In 1981 when I got out of high school, my first real job before college paid me $8.00/hr which is inflation adjusted to $21.44/hr today.


.Now time is the digital time so casino is also becomes the online. On this you enjoy game online through your mobile phone, desktop and by your gadgets. But difficulty is choose the right website for the online casino because on the internet is very website .Leocity99 is the best online casino Malaysia on which you enjoy your favorites casino game.


> loses from WaPo to reduce his tax bill  That's not even how taxes work! Christ, isn't this an economics subreddit? You're really out of your element here, bud. That would be the absolute stupidest strategy of all time.


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I'd call it pretty worrisome.  HOOB is trading over the counter, in fact, on the pink sheets, so it has been delisted from the major exchanges.  It appears that it lacks recent financial disclosures.  You'll have to investigate to see if you think it's worth keeping, but trading is thin.


Also, depending where you buy the car in the US, you have to pay property tax every year for just having purchased the car.


"It depends on other factors like your income, ""need"" and other assets.  Parents are expected to contribute 6% of their assets, students at least 35%. 529s and ESAs (which I think may be in the process of being phased out) count as parental assets, which may or may not be a good thing. If this is a significant chunk of money, you need to talk to a professional deeply familiar with the financial aid process. Colleges are rapacious for your money, and you can easily ""overpay"" for a child's education, particularly if you send your kid to a private school."


I have a BA in Quantitative Economics. The only other two econ majors in my graduating class found GOOD work right away and 6 years later seem well onto their ways into a good careers. Same goes for one I knew the before us and one after. All but one of us had either a math or a stats minor.  I plan on returning to the industry later this year after teaching English abroad. Here is what I can tell you after reading tons of job postings and the experiences of my friends:  There is more demand now than ever, but demand is, as someone mentioned above, for a quantitative type. What I would like to say differently is that this doesn't have to be a deep mathematically based type of quantitative person like a quant. You could and should master the technology end of quantitative careers.  I strongly recommend taking a course that uses or teaches SAS for stats and/or SQL for relational database management. If you can get an internship in either of the two, especially the latter, then you should have numerous opportunities like a STEM major would. I would also reccomended learning some Python, especially for data science or management, and R, which is a programming language for data science. Anything else related to big data is good too.  The quantitative side of econ has been creeping into STEM for several years now and its respective career field should be viewed much more broadly than before.  Finally I'd like to share something I read on Gary Mankiw's blog a semester too late: test out various fields of work in econ while still in undergrad. See if you can get something quantitative like being a research assistant, something financial like investment banking, or something legal or political. Those categories might be a bit different today but I hope you got the point.


That's not really the point. I, employer, am not necessarily responsible for my employees' life conditions. Perhaps I only intend the job to be a supplement, as in for students. I don't understand why people imagine the labor market, and the effects of price controls, to be different than in any other kind of market.


"> but if a big box store were delicious and did not support people I would wager it would not survive for very long.  Good observation - not necessarily true, but it sounds good.  :)  I understand what you are saying, and generally agree with most of it.  None of it actually has to do with the intent of my comment, but does fit the situation in general.   My comment was addressing his specific statements about the fact that doing something illegal/unethical gives him pleasure, disliking society (not Target, but society in general).  But, not knowing anything specific about Target, I can't really say that they are so evil that they deserve to be targeted (sorry); I think that is usually just a rationalization for doing something that a person knows is wrong.  Same as doing harm to a person who you feel deserves it - if you look hard enough at any person, place, or thing, you can probably find some ""reason"" they/it deserves to be harmed.  But the simple fact that something needs to be rationalized makes me suspect that the rationalizer knows better - else, why rationalize in the first place?  I don't really know if big-box stores are evil or not.  I'd say there are positive and negative aspects, but I don't know about good vs evil.  I know that, for example, I don't particularly like Walmart, but I don't try to harm them, I simply avoid them.  But if they had something I wanted for a lot cheaper than anywhere else, I don't really know whether I would stand on my principles or not - how about you?  Edit:  Oh, about your first sentence, ""The justification for an act typically comes after the decision is made"".  I think that mainly applies to doing something questionable.  You don't need to justify eating your dinner, but you may need to justify eating someone else's dinner."


Is it possible to move money from NRE to NRO account Yes you can move money from NRE to NRO without any issue. You can't do the other way round. i.e. Move money from NRO to NRE. I would like to move USD earning to NRE Yes you can further move money in NRE to NRO account Yes you can I am planning to give NRO account to HDFC Home loan for EMI processing Yes you can. Depending on your long term plan it may not be a good idea.  For example if you were to sell the house you cannot move the funds into NRE and outside of India without some amount of paperwork.  However if you pay the EMI via NRE account, on the sale of house, you can transfer the funds into NRE account to the extent of the loan paid and the Original downpayment [if made from NRE account]. also I can deposit money from other savings account to NRO; As an NRI, you can't hold ordinary savings account in India. This is violation of norms. Please have any/all savings account in India converted to NRO at the earliest.


"If you earn $160 a week for 26 weeks, are unable to claim yourself, have no other income at all, you will earn $4,160, which falls under the standard deduction, in your case a bit over $4,500; per publication 17, it is $350 above your earned income, to a maximum of $6300 as of 2016.  (H/t Hart CO for the reminder.) In that case, if you paid no taxes (at all) last year (either did not file or filed and had 0 tax paid, so got a 100% refund), you could legitimately claim ""exempt"" by writing that on line 7.   However, you would be very close to owing taxes, so if you have any unearned income (interest from bank accounts, dividends from your non-sheltered college fund, etc.), you would possibly owe taxes.  You're also going to owe taxes if you have another ~$2150 of earned income from any other source (including things like mowing lawns, tutoring, etc.). Keep all of that in mind if you have any other sources of income other than the above."


I've been eagerly waiting for new global business models in the TV business. I hate it when they cancel a show due to low amount of viewers in the States, while there are a few billion people outside the States ready to pay for the show.   I'd happily pay that 1€ per episode and if even some percents of the rest of the world are willing to do the same, the creators of the series earn much more than with any ad based revenue model.


I agree with those sentiments mostly, but will add that US will still clearly lead in tech in the foreseeable future, particularly for data and computing, as well as aerospace and general research.  Another issue with China is that they are unable to globalize their businesses and tech the way US can because there is still a steep cultural barrier. The world still speaks English, not Chinese, so this will work heavily against China and their closed systems.  And until that can be supplanted, China will always be one step behind, even if they will be strong in every other aspect.  Also Trump is a temporary setback. The US may revitalize again under new leadership and galvanize themselves the way they did during and post world war. If the US wasn't so fucking lazy and irresponsible, they'd have every thing needed to be dominant the way they have been for so long, though this seems unlikely.


"not trying to be insulting, but i would contend your response should be the one dissected in econ 101.  why? because yours is the theory du jour among business interests and economic commentators in the media. the fact is that this brand of ""free market"" capitalism rests on a series of impractical assumptions.  first is that investors are perfectly rationale allocators of capital.  from this, that excess capital is invested - at all, let alone in a productive fashion.  next, that taxation (presumably what is considered ""high"") has caused unproductive investing practices, when in fact the inverse is true - decreases in effective income tax rates (personal and corporate) combined with the reduction of passive taxes (like the estate tax) have resulted in the incentive for investors to sit on their capital and do nothing to return it to the system.   finally, and perhaps most egregiously, that investing profits back into expansion and worker compensation is misallocation of resources. the entire article serves to demonstrate that this line of thinking is a self defeating concept. giving precedence to the relatively elite investor class ensures that capital is allocated according to their whims, and often times that simply means into their bank accounts. this starves the system.  so i don't expect to change your mind, but i would like others to know that what you are saying is widely debunked, chicago school nonsense that gets a lot of air time from self serving interests across popular media.  a few hours of unbiased research will make this evident. it is somewhat ironic that the theory has limited standing academically, as it works only in an academic/theoretical setting."


You deduct expenses when you incur them (when you pay the hospital, for example). Medical expenses are deducted on Schedule A, subject to 7.5% AGI threshold. Financed or not - doesn't matter. The medical expense is deductible (if it is medically necessary), the loan interest is not.


DCF only works with stable cash flows, a new tech company that does not have stable cash flows or even cash flows that are easy to ACCURATELY forecast is a poor candidate for DCF.  Comparables don't really work well in this space as the closest thing they would have is skype and other messager products.  The honest and true value of the acquisition is the value captured/saved by facebook from the decrease in competition and as facebook is in the advertising business, this gives them a way to stay in the lives of their users.  Facebook could argue, the core rationale for the acquisition was to stay current with their users keeping their core product attractive to their customers (advertisers).


These are the steps I'd follow: $200 today times (1.04)^10 = Cost in year 10.  The 6 deposits of $20 will be one time value calculation with a resulting year 7 final value. You then must apply 10% for 3 years (1.1)^3 to get the 10th year result.  You now have the shortfall. Divide that by the same (1.1)^3 to shift the present value to start of year 7. (this step might confuse you?) You are left with a problem needing 3 same deposits, a known rate, and desired FV. Solve from there.  (Also, welcome from quant.SE. This site doesn't support LATEX, so I edited the image above.)


I am a US citizen by birth only. I left the US aged 6 weeks old and have never lived there. I am also a UK citizen but TD Waterhouse have just followed their policy and asked me to close my account under FATCA. It is a complete nightmare for dual nationals who have little or no US connection. IG.com seem to allow me to transfer my holdings so long as I steer clear of US investments. Furious with the US and would love to renounce citizenship but will have to pay $2500 or thereabouts to follow the US process. So much for Land of the Free!


Use TWIRR (aka TWRR). Time Weighted rate of return. It's sort of the opposite of XIRR. XIRR results change dramatically depending on the timing of the cashflows. It might be useful to also model returns that are unaffected by the timing. This is how funds report returns, and this number allows you to compare to funds and indices. During periods of steady deposits, XIRR will continually understate performance. And in retirement, when you have steady withdrawals, XIRR will overstate. TWRR is talked about here: http://www.dailyvest.com/PRR/prr_calcmethods.aspx#twrr I've made a simple spreadsheet that you can use as a starting point, if you like: http://moosiefinance.com/static/models/spreadsheets.html (top entry in the list)


"There are services that deal specifically with these situations, boostcredit101.com is one I've personally had a good experience with though there are plenty out there. What they do is add you as an authorized user to a credit card with a high limit, low balance, and perfect payment history. This ""boosts"" for about 30 days while you remain listed as a user on that account, which allows you to qualify for your own card or other kind of loan in that time and helps you start rebuilding your credit. I've even heard of people doing this to qualify for a home loan, though the home loan industry is typically aware of this ""trick""."


"The people who benefit are large engineering and construction companies, manufacturers of construction equipment, bankers and lawyers.  So in the world of realpolitik that we live in, the misery of millions of ""other people"" is spun as a net benefit, because ""we"" benefit from that misery."


Oh dear, this corrupt toad and his family were most beneficial for the Indians, rumored to have sugar mills and financial interests in India.  His departure and weak leadership aimed at increasing his own personal wealth will be quite a blow to India.  Ahhhh . .Pakistan . .always in the thick of it, with nuclear weapons.  Soon, after the example of North Korea and Pakistan, which would long have gone the way of Libya, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, but for Nuclear weapons, it seems inevitable that the Middle east beginning with Iran will go nuclear, it is the only viable option vs the US Israel nexus.  Then I guess Zionism will move to California, it already has control of the white house.


Startup costs are amazingly high.  Running fiber to individual houses takes a lot of labor.  Another problem you don't hear too much about is the legal side.  I don't mean carriers fighting cities, etc.  I'm a lawyer and there's a complex legal side when it comes to easements.  An easement is a way to allow others access to your real property, or land.  This is a complex subject, so I'll skim it a little.  You can have an easement for a variety of reasons, one of them would be utilities.  The gas, water and electric companies usually have an easement to fix/repair on a property.  So if a storm knocks over a power pole, they can go onto the property to fix it without trespassing or needing special permission.  You can also have an easement if, for example, you own a piece of land that is blocked by another piece of land from access to a road.  You can have an easement granting you a driveway across the land that blocks you.  There are many more examples and lots and lots of rules for easements, but you get the picture.  When you set up a big fiber network, you are going to need easements to run it around and to be able to go onto properties to fix it.  This is complex, takes a long time, money is often exchanged for easements, and they have to be recorded with the county.  This takes a lot of time and money.  That's not all.  You usually have to go through permitting with the city and then you have to figure out where to run it.  Can you use utility poles?  Maybe the existing poles won't work and you'll have to install new ones.  If you want to underground it, you're going to have to do all the permitting and easements, then you're going to have to look into shutting down streets to work, you're going to have to find all the underground sewer, water, gas, and other utility lines so you don't accidentally cut into them, there will be environmental regulations, and you're going to have to resurface/restore where you were digging.  And I've probably left a few things out.  This stuff is complex, expensive and takes a long time.  A company like Google can afford it because they can lay out cash for a few years before it starts generating revenue.  Personally, I think the federal government needs to get involved.  The feds were involved in electrification and running telephone service.  I don't think this is any different.  It also would help the federal government, as well as state, county and city governments - they all need communication networks, too.  I would build an agency like the old WPA or CCC to deploy fiber across America.  It would take several years, but this is one of those government projects that would produce results, just like how electrification did.


"The Model S is comfortable, luxurious and it feels substantial on the road. And it is fast. Like supercar fast.  ""2013 Tesla Model S: It Sells Itself""  ""I'm going to miss our Model S. It wasn't perfect, but it was like nothing else out there. Take heart, Tesla fans: Sometime in early 2015, we will be one of the first to buy a Model X.""  ""Bear in mind that the experiences with our test cars are purely anecdotal and never factor into our reliability ratings. After all, it's a sample size of one.""  ""the Model S earned Consumer Reports’ recommendation""  ""Car nut or not, EV fan or not, everyone has raved about this car, impressed with its smoothness, effortless glide, and clever, elegant simplicity""  ""One of the cool things about this car is that when it does need to be serviced by a mechanic, a company rep comes with a trailer and picks it up, delivering it back when the work is done—all free. ""  I could go on.  Or you could just try actually reading the reviews."


The IRS' primary reference Pub 519 Tax Guide for Aliens -- current year online (current and previous years downloadable in PDF from the Forms&Pubs section of the website) says NO: Students and business apprentices from India.   A special rule applies .... You can claim the standard deduction .... Use Worksheet 5-1 to figure your standard deduction. If you are married and your spouse files a return and itemizes deductions, you cannot take the standard deduction. Note the last sentence, which is clearly an exception to the 'India rule', which is already an exception to the general rule that nonresident filers never get the standard deduction. Of course this is the IRS' interpretation of the law (which is defined to include ratified treaties); if you think they are wrong, you could claim the deduction anyway and when they assess the additional tax (and demand payment) take it to US Tax Court -- but I suspect the legal fees will cost you more than the marginal tax on $6300, even under Tax Court's simplified procedures for small cases.


"Great, that's between you and him. I'm not arguing that point.   >That being said, plenty of businesses, start-ups especially burn through more money than they make. The lack of profit doesn't necessarily make them a failure provided they are still generating revnue, which Tesla is, and a lot of it.  So Tesla, a company that has now existed for 14 years, is still considered a ""start up?""   >So, if you'd like to have a discussion about whether they're making enough revenue,  That's easy. No. Income statement shows that.   >or whether they're poorly re-investing the revenue they are making, and how those factors might determine whether or not they should be considered a failure, then I'd be happy to participate.  Any other arguments you want to pretend I personally made, or is that all of them?  >But if you're only interested in making replies that try to condecend to me because you're too quick to jump to conclusions about what I've written, then have at it I guess. Whatever floats your boat.  It is kind of fun, considering no one seems to know how to read a fucking income statement around here."


"an account balance is your total in the account.  The word balance means ""to be equal"". The use in finance stem from accounting. However you do not need to know why its called a balance to understand that a balance is equal to something. IE: your ""account balance"" is your total account weather its savings, electric bill, or investment portfolio. A position in your investment portfolio is what you are invested in. IE: If I went 100 shares long(I bought) Apple then I have a 100 share position in Apple. Your position is added to your account balance within your investment portfolio."


If you've been paying on the car for three years, it's possible that your credit is in a place where you don't need a co-signer any more. See if your bank will re-fi with you as the sole debtor.  If they won't do it, find another institution who will.  The re-fi will take your grandpa off the loan, and whichever institution that does the re-fi will still have a lien on the title until you pay it off.  Then, if you can do this soon enough, figure out if grandpa can sign you off the title.


> Just because we ASK for a 10 doesn't mean we expect to HIRE a 10  Just because you think you're going to hire me at $XX,xxx doesn't mean someone else isn't going to pay me $XXX,xxx.  >  Lesson: Just apply for that damn job.   Thanks, but I'm going to be applying where my time isn't wasted.


"> If you have five to eight dictators fighting at once   You will quickly see these 5 to 8 dictators mutually come to the conclusion that it is not in their interests to ""fight it out"", but rather, support each other and prevent new-comers. Or, you will see mergers as we saw in the accounting and banking fields. You both knock out a competitor AND increase your market share in the process.   This becomes similar to a government-sanctioned monopoly, but instead of one firm, you have 6 or 8, each recognizing that they've got a great position as gatekeepers and rent-seekers.   This is similar to how the healthcare and insurance companies really don't DO very much except extract money. They over-bill the hospitals, then over-bill the customers, and profit the huge margins.  Or how the government used to do student loans, then instead outsourced to the big banks to do it. Then recently they determined that hte big banks were taking tens of billions of dollars in profit for ""running"" the program. That's tens of billions of dollars of wealth simply extracted from our taxes.   This is why the government under Obama decided to kick out the banker middle-men and simply issue the exact same loans with the exact same rules,a ll by themselves. Why outsource to a middleman when you can run the exact same program with tons less overhead?  It's also the reason single-payer healthcare is tons more efficient over the current model, and would save our country trillions over the looong term.   Not to mention, the democratization of currency you envision is truly ephemeral, a mirage. The firms the government chooses as suited enough to pay taxes basically means the government still has the final decision on which ""currency"" (bonds) to accept. What if the government then decides only ONE corp is suited to do this job, or only two? Then it's functionally no different than teh current situation.   Right now, the world buys USD bonds at extremely low interest rates, and this helps fund our government and keeps our nations costs very low. Under your scenario, the government is saying ""We accept bonds from X, Y, or Z"", and so instead the world runs out to buy XYZ bonds at extremely low interest rates.  Instead of giving our country the funding it needs, we're actually giving XYZ corps the low interest rates.  This is basically the same downfall of letting the big banks run the student loan program:  it gives the firms more power, the government less power, costs us more tax dollars, and gives those firms an undeserved higher place on the food chain.   I quite simply disagree with it. I would rather our government print the bonds themselves and take the benefit of the low cost of borrowing, rather than giving XYZ corps more favorable funding to continue world-wide expansion and takeover.   Furthermore, if XYZ corps are approved by the government for paying tax dollars, what do we do in the case of a fiscal emergency such as 2007 when AIG basically went bankrupt in a period of only a few months? Of course this would be SURE to happen only right AFTER tax day, AFTER the entire country buys AIG bonds, pays the government in AIG bonds, and the executives of AIG pay themselves HUGE bonuses. Then they go bankrupt, and the government is left holding ALL the IOU's which are worthless.   And of course, traders, hedgers, goldman sachs, etc, would all know AIG was about to get fucked and would make trillions while the US Gov received all tax receipts in worthless paper.  The fact is, with the speed big companies can fall down under the weight of their own contradictions, the danger is all too real that a full year of tax receipts simply disappears."


This chart is full of shit. Iraq War costs barely register a blip.   [From NYT article](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/us/politics/20budget.html)  *WASHINGTON — For his first annual budget next week, President Obama has banned four accounting gimmicks that President George W. Bush used to make deficit projections look smaller. The price of more honest bookkeeping: A budget that is $2.7 trillion deeper in the red over the next decade than it would otherwise appear, according to administration officials.*


Since you work there, you may have some home bias. You should treat that as any other stock. I sell my ESPP stocks periodically to reduce the over allocation of my portfolio while I keep my ESOP for longer periods.


Can't have a mobile workforce when you're tied to your desk because of your phone. Also why have a phone meeting when you can use Skype.   The company I work for has plans to get rid of landlines as well. I still have one but the only calls I get are unsolicited sales calls.


If your payment schedule would have you pay the car off after 11 months then you might be best served by leaving a small final payment for July.  The loan will appear on your credit for 7 years but the bump to your score will be reduced more after 2 years if you pay it off in less than 12 months.   If you would have several payment left after you have the ability to pay it off then just pay it off.  The reduction is not severe or worth the price of interest unless you have <1%. Unused credit has an attrition factor.  If you continue to use your credit in a healthy way (>0 <20% balance, no late payments, long term accounts) then you should not even realize much of a negative change.


"Question 1: How do I start? or ""the broker"" problem Get an online broker.  You can do a wire transfer to fund the account from your bank. Question 2: What criticism do you have for my plan? Dividend investing is smart.  The only problem is that everyone's currently doing it.  There is an insatiable demand for yield, not just individual investors but investment firms and pension funds that need to generate income to fund retirements for their clients.  As more investors purchase the shares of dividend paying securities, the share price goes up.  As the share price goes up, the dividend yield goes down.  Same for bonds.  For example, if a stock pays $1 per year in dividends, and you purchase the shares at $20/each, then your yearly return (not including share price fluctuations) would be 1/20 = 5%.  But if you end up having to pay $30 per share, then your yearly return would be 1/30 or 3.3% yield.  The more money you invest, the bigger this difference becomes; with $100K invested you'd make about $1.6K more at 5%.  (BTW, don't put all your money in any small group of stocks, you want to diversify).  ETFs work the same way, where new investors buying the shares cause the custodian to purchase more shares of the underlying securities, thus driving up the price up and yield down.  Instead of ETFs, I'd have a look at something called closed end funds, or CEFs which also hold an underlying basket of securities but often trade at a discount to their net asset value, unlike ETFs.  CEFs usually have higher yields than their ETF counterparts.  I can't fully describe the ins and outs here in this space, but you'll definately want to do some research on them to better understand what you're buying, and HOW to successfully buy (ie make sure you're buying at a historically steep discount to NAV [https://seekingalpha.com/article/1116411-the-closed-end-fund-trifecta-how-to-analyze-a-cef] and where to screen [https://www.cefconnect.com/closed-end-funds-screener] Regardless of whether you decide to buy stocks, bonds, ETFs, CEFs, sell puts, or some mix, the best advice I can give is to a) diversify (personally, with a single RARE exception, I never let any one holding account for more than 2% of my total portfolio value), and b) space out your purchases over time.  b) is important because we've been in a low interest rate environment since about 2009, and when the risk free rate of return is very low, investors purchase stocks and bonds which results in lower yields.  As the risk free rate of return is expected to finally start slowly rising in 2017 and gradually over time, there should be gradual downward pressure (ie selling) on the prices of dividend stocks and especially bonds meaning you'll get better yields if you wait.  Then again, we could hit a recession and the central banks actually lower rates which is why I say you want to space your purchases out."


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I would agree this is probably a battery factory.   Tesla gets much of its battery components from the Congo where women and children work in mines for pennies a day. They develop iron lung because there’s no ventilation.   Then the minerals are processed in China. By doing so, Tesla is abstracted from any of the unethical practices going on in the Congo and pretends they know nothing about the hellish conditions.  https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/01/Child-labour-behind-smart-phone-and-electric-car-batteries/


Manual Antonio is a beach city situated in the Costa Rica. Here's something for everyone here - beaches, hiking, wildlife, great restaurants, yoga, surfing, and so much more. Book your Manual Antonio beach house rentals with vista Hermosa estate, so if you are planning to come to the country for adventure sports. This is very Famous all over the world for their beauty and diversity.


On your first point, banks (or any large company) is primarily concerned with maintaining profits. I'm very familiar with this dynamic in media with broadcast vs streaming. They will try hard to charge as much as possible to sustain the stock price, while competitors will be as aggressive as possible to capture market share. This always happens with every industry that gets disrupted. The new entrants will permanently eat away at bank profits, whether they adapt or not.   No comment on your second point. Possibly true, but I don't personally assume that yet.


For one coin flip, the expectation is 0.5,the standard deviation is 0.5, and the variance is 0.25.  Variance and expectation are additive, so for 100 coins the mean is 50 and the variance is 25, so the standard deviation is 5.   60 coin flips is a 2 standard deviation outlier. You get 2 standard deviation events about 4.5% of the time. Notice that this outcome is two standard deviations on only one side, so you'll see the result only about 2% of the time.   I implicitly used the facts that binomial distribution is approximately normal and that the coin flips are independent.


I wouldn't pay down your mortgage faster until you have a huge emergency fund.  Like two years' worth of expenses.  Once you put extra money toward principal you can't get it out unless you get a HELOC, which costs money.  You're in a position now to build that up in a hurry.  I suggest you do so. Your mortgage is excellent.  In the land of inflation it gets easier and easier to make that fixed-dollar payment: depreciating dollars. You seem like a go-getter.  Once you have your huge emergency fund, why not buy a few websites and monetize the heck out of them?  Or look for an investment property from someone who needs to sell desperately? Get a cushion that you can do something with.


Boston makes the most sense to me.  Lots of talent, tons of new development in the City, but a huge metropolitan area with a lot suburban land they could make into a huge campus.  Issue will be taxes though.  They could put it in New Hampshire and still be within 45 minutes of Boston.


"Hi there, I'm a Tesla owner. I think, for the Model S and X segment currently buying cars, you're right. Environmentalism isn't the first and foremost thing in their mind. However, that isn't to say being environmentally conscious isn't a credit they should receive for their purchase, because other informing factors, like charging at home instead of needing to refuel, is a perk AND it reduces oil/gas usage. I didn't buy my car to ""lower my carbon footprint"", as buying an EV doesn't necessarily do so in the big picture. I do, however, LOVE the fact I can charge my car at home and never visit a gas station. Every day, I get in my car with a ""full tank"", and I'm one less paying customer at the pump.   As far as a status symbol, for me, it's the opposite. I don't want a showy, iconic vehicle that people will gawk at me over. I'm fairly low key, I'd rather not have the attention. I just needed/wanted a car with great interior cargo space, but was an electric vehicle I could charge at home. The Chevy Bolt, VW eGolf, Fiat 500e, and other EV options didn't fit the bill for me. Also, and most importantly, I wanted a vehicle that's future proofed (at least for a few years) to offer full self driving capability the moment it was allowed. Tesla became the icon for offering attractive electric vehicles at a time when most available options looked phoned in.  Remember what you said in your first post: ""$500,000,000 loan for a car they've never seen and many won't receive for well over a year?"" A lot of people, myself included, never saw the ""official prototype"" until after we made our reservations on March 31, 2016. So the notion that it's purely an icon seems incomplete. I will say this, though: as soon as other auto makers take the EV market seriously, and design cars that actually look attractive, I think you'll see the Tesla demand drop for those who are looking for EV options pure and simple.  I think, in the next few years, as more EV makers step up, what will differentiate the vehicles is the underlying tech in the car first and foremost, closely followed by design aesthetic. Tesla will retain buyers if they beat everyone to market with an available, fully self-driving capable vehicle, but they'll see some of that market shift away if other makers break in."


Means A has a much higher level of interest payments dye to either higher debt or higher cost of debt (or combination of both). MM theory suggests higher debt in a capital structure due to the tax shield but you need to consider if A's debt level is appropriate or too high and what that says about your company.


"Sorry in advance, but this will be long.  Also, it sounds like your friend is a tool. I hope this ""friend"" is not also your financial advisor... they would be encouraging you to make a very poor investment decision. They also don't know how to do financial math.  For what it's worth, I am not wrong. I have correctly answered a set of changing questions as you have asked them... Your friend is answering based on a third, completely different investment model, which you proposed in the edit to your last post. If that's what you meant all along, then you should have been more clear in the questions you were asking.  Please let me layout the following: How the previous questions//investment proposals were built How to analyze this current proposal What your other option is Why the other option is best in a 'real world' market The First Question My understanding of the initial proposal was to take out a $10,000 loan, invest the proceeds, and expect to not have any money of your own tied up in this. Because that OP did not specify that this is an interest-only loan (you still haven't in any of your questions), the bank will require you to make payments back to them each month that include principal and interest.  Your ""friend"" is talking about the total interest paid being the only cost of a loan. While that is (almost) true, regardless of what your friend says, significantly more cash is involved in making sure that all the payments are made on time---unless you set up an interest-only loan. But with the set up laid out in this post, and with the assumptions I specified there, the principal payments must be included because the borrower has to pay back the bank and isn't not tying up any of their own money.  In that case, my initial analysis is correct--your breakeven is in the low teens for an annual required return.  The Second Proposal Your second proposal... before any edits... refined things a little bit, to try to capture the any possible returns by not selling something. As I indicated there, (with what was an exaggerating assumption), the lack of clarity makes for an outlandish required return.  The Second Proposal...with edits, or the one proposed above I will get to the one proposed above in a second, but first let me highlight a few problems with your friend's analysis.  Simple interest: the only place (in the US at least) that will lend with simple interest is student loans. Any loan that you actually take out will be compound interest.  Not an interest only loan: your ""friend"" is not calculating interest correctly. Since this isn't an interest-only loan, the principal balance will reduce every time you make a payment, by ~$320-$340 each month. This substantially reduces the total interest paid, to $272.79 over the total 24 months.  ""Returns"": I don't know what country, or what business your friend works in, but ""returns"" are a very ambiguous concept. Investopedia defines returns as gains or losses. (I wish I could inhabit the lala land that your friend lives in when returns are always positive). TheFreeDictionary.com defines a return for finance as ""The change in the value of a portfolio over an evaluation period, including any distributions made from the portfolio during that period.""  When you have not made it clear that any other money is being used in this investment plan (as was the case in scheme #1 and scheme #2a,) the loan still has to be paid. So, clearly the principal must be included in the return calculations.  How to evaluate this proposed investment scheme Key dimensions: Loan ($8,000 ... 24 months ... 0.27% monthly rate... monthly compounding... no loan origination fees) Monthly payment (PMT in Excel yields $344.70). Investment capital (starting = $8,000) Monthly Return (Investment yields... we hope it's positive!)  Your monthly contribution from your salary Taxes = 10%. Transaction Fees = $20  Go and lookup how to build an amortization table for a loan in Excel. Your life will be infinitely better for it.  Now, you get this loan set up and invested into something... (it costs $20 to buy the assets).  So you've got $7980 chugging away earning interest. I calculate that your break even, with you paying in $344.70 of your own money each month is 1.81% annually, or 3.42% over the 24 month life of this scheme. That is using monthly compound interest for the payments, because that's what the real world would use, and using monthly compounding of the investments' returns.  Your total interest expense would be $272.79.  This seems feasible. But let's talk about what your other option is, given that you're ready to spend $344.70 each month on an investment.  Your other option  I understand the appeal of getting $8,000... right away... to invest in something. But the risk behind this is that if the market goes down (and markets do) you're stuck paying a fixed amount for your loan that is now worth less money.  Your other option is to take your $344.70, and invest it step-by-step. (You would want to skip a month or two buying assets in the market, so that you can lessen transaction costs). This has two advantages: (1) you save yourself $272 in interest. (2) When the market goes down, you still win.  With this strategy, you still win when the market goes down because of what is commonly called ""dollar cost averaging"". When the market is up, your investments are also up. When the market goes down, your previous investments decrease in value but you can invest new money at the lower rates.  Why the step-by-step, invest your own money strategy is better At low rates (when you're looking for your break-even), the step-by-step model outperforms the loan. At higher rates of return (~4% + per year), you get the benefit of having the borrowed money earning more gains.  In fact, for every continuous (meaning set... not changing month-to-month) interest rate that you can dream up that is greater than about 4% per year, the borrowed money earns more.  At 10% per year, the borrowed money will earn about $500 more over the 2 years than your step by step investment would.  BUT I recognize that you might feel like the market will always go up. That's what everyone thinks. And that's alright.  But have one really bad month, or a couple of just-not-great-months, and your fixed 'loan' portfolio will underperform. Have a few really bad months, and your portfolio could be substantially reduced in value... but you would still be paying the same amount for it each month.  And if that happened (say your assets declined -3% in 3 of the 24 months...) You'd be losing money relative to the step-by-step portfolio."


"Thanks, but I'm concerned I don't have enough math/programming to do serious quant work. I could learn it for sure, but it'd take some time. So wherever I'd work for would have to be patient with me as I learn. Edit: by ""consulting firms"", are you talking about, e.g., McKinsey and BCG? I think I must be mistaken - could you offer 1 or 2 examples of such firms?"


"Speaking as a returned Peace Corps volunteer from another major cotton-producing African country, I'd like to add that what is shunned as ""child labor"" in Western countries is totally acceptable, indeed the norm, in most African societies. You would be hard-pressed to find a clothing producer whose cotton supplies completely sidestep this phenomenon, mostly because doing so would increase costs to a totally unsustainable level, and no one in America or Europe is going to pay $100 for the lowest-end jeans or sweatshirt you find in Walmart."


"This might not be the answer you are looking for, but the alternative to ""don't patronize these merchants"" is this: DO patronize these merchants, and pay cash.   Credit cards are convenient.  (I use a credit card often.)  However, there is no denying that they cost the merchants an incredible amount in fees, and that our entire economy is paying for these fees.  The price of everything is more than it needs to be because of these fees.  Yes, you get some money back with your rewards card, but the money you get back comes directly from the store you made the purchase with, and the reward is paid for by increasing the price of everything you buy.  In addition, those among us that do not have the credit score necessary to obtain a rewards card are paying the same higher price for goods as the rest of us, but don't get the cash back reward. Honestly, it seems quite fair to me that only the people charging purchases to a credit card should have to pay the extra fee that goes along with that payment processing.  If a store chooses to do that, I pay cash instead, and I am grateful for the discount."


I am sorry for your loss, this person blessed you greatly.   For now I would put it in a savings account.  I'd use a high yield account like EverBank or Personal Savings from Amex.  There are others it is pretty easy to do your own research.  Expect to earn around 2200 if you keep it there a year.   As you grieve, I'd ask myself what this person would want me to do with the money.  I'd arrive at a plan that involved me investing some, giving some, and spending some.  I have a feeling, knowing that you have done pretty well for yourself financially, that this person would want you to spend some money on yourself.  It is important to honor their memory. Giving is an important part of building wealth, and so is investing.  Perhaps you can give/purchase a bench or part of a walkway at one of your favorite locations like a zoo.  This will help you remember this person fondly.  For the investing part, I would recommend contacting a company like Fidelity or Vanguard.  The can guide you into mutual funds that suit your needs and will help you understand the workings of them.  As far as Fidelity, they will tend to guide you toward their company funds, but they are no load.  Once you learn how to use the website, it is pretty easy to pick your own funds.   And always, you can come back here with more questions.


I have a visa with Scotiabank and I purposefully keep a negative balance at times. The guy at the bank said it was a great idea. I have never received a cheque, nor do I want one. The reason is that it allows me to make quick purchases without having to worry about paying back and due dates. Only with large purchases do I allow myself to do that. I still check in with my account every once in a while just to make sure everything is all right. It allows for good money management and piece of mind. I have been doing it for a couple of years and have not been penalized at all. (Wouldn't really make sense to do so though.)


Q Coast Homes is a family owned and operated business on the Gold Coast with over 35 years comprehensive experience and knowledge within the building industry nationally. We sell House and Land Packages in South East QLD. Deal direct with the owner/builder of the company. We are flexible with our designs and also do custom builds. We build quality homes for sale in South East Queensland to the residential and investment markets and pride ourselves on our attention to detail together with the ability to provide individual personalised service to our clients.


No, they certainly are not compensated the same way.  Some are paid by commission that they earn from the products they sell (ie, certain mutual funds, insurance, etc.)  Others are paid for their advice based on an hourly fee, or a percentage of the portfolio you have to invest. This is a great question, because too many of us just assume that if someone is in the business, they will give trustworthy advice.  This may certainly be the case, but think about it, the financial planner at your bank (who also is a mutual fund specialist - just flip that handy business card over) is employed by Bank X.  Bank X sells mutual funds, GIC's, insurance, all kinds of great products.  That Bank X employee is not likely to tell you about products from Bank Z down the street that might be a better fit for you. Find a fee based planner, someone you can pay by the hour for advice, and let them help you review products across the industry.  It's like asking your bank for mortgage advice...they will discuss the options THEY offer, but may not tell you about a deal down the street.  Using a mortgage broker helps you find the best deal across the board. I believe the current issue of Moneysense magazine has an insert discussing planners.  Their magazine and website (www.moneysense.ca) are good sources of reliable, Canadian financial advice.


"what the hell is ""fair inequality""?     In order for inequality to be justified, there needs to be constant growth in the economy such that the ones pulling away and getting rich are producing better products, services, or inventing more efficient ways to bring products to market.   Unfortunately, more of the rich are turning to rent-seeking methods to increase their wealth, thus it becomes zero sum at that point because they are taking more wealth for themselves without actually adding any value, economically, to society.     Currently our growth is anemic yet the very wealthy keeps pulling farther and farther away from the pack as far as total wealth.  This is why as they get richer, the rest of us are getting poorer."


Well first of all which Asian currency are you talking about,why i ask is because some Asian currencies are not fully convertible.So a bank may not accept them. So first you need to find out if they are fully convertible or not,if not then the best thing you can do is find a travel agent who have tourist packages to that country and they will buy,as they can later sell it to people going to that country.