It is a great advice.  I would suggest going to the Companies House (it's in London somewhere), picking up all of their leaflets regarding requirements for different forms of corporate entity, and deciding if you want to have that burden.  It is not a lot of work, you can essentially claim VAT on all business purchases (the way roughly it works, is that your company invoices your client, your client has to pay the fee + VAT (usually that VAT is then deducted by your client from it's VAT, so no loss there), and you pay the VAT on the difference between the service sales price, and your costs (computers etc.) ) You have to be careful to avoid excessive double taxation (paying income tax on both corporate income, and then your personal income off said company), but it usually comes off in your favor. Essentially, if you're making more than 50% of your income from services rendered, it is to your advantage to render such services as a business entity.


^This.   As we can see with the pending $125b bail-out that Europe will provide. Imagine, if India was in the place of the Spanish? Who would conjure up such a bail-out for them?  As said by 23_47 earlier, the credit rating is a measure of risk. A country backed by a 17-country alliance (Eurozone) is less risky to invest in than a country without such support.


As littleadv says, if you're a sole proprietorship, you don't need to file a 1099 for money you pay yourself. You certainly will need to file a schedule C or schedule E to report the income. And don't forget SE to pay social security taxes on the income if you made a profit. If your company is a corporation, then -- I'm not a tax lawyer here, but I think the  corporation would need to file a 1099 for the money that the corporation pays to you. Assuming that the amount is above the threshold that requires a 1099. That's normally $600, but it's only $10 for royalties.


Well, you're taking two companies who are overhauling their networks in a similar way (LTE) and combining resources... Combining Sprint's and Softbank's orders for phones and LTE equipment reduces overall cost per unit which allows both companies to offer better service and better devices for less. There is also the added advantage of capturing customers that travel between the US and Japan... Make it easier and cheaper to use one device in both countries.   That's what they're aiming for.


No idea.   I dont know what rules were put in place after 2008 in regards to rating them.  IIRC the institution doesnt have the ability to choose moodys or standard and poors. The cdos are submitted to both of them and rated anonymously. But i have no idea where im getting that from.


Money and wealth are two different things.  Money is an item that can be used as a store of wealth and as a convenient medium of exchange, but it's not the same thing as wealth.  If you have a lot of money, then you have a lot of wealth.  But you can have a lot of wealth (in the form of, for example, real estate, company ownership, financial assets and loans, and physical capital) and not have a lot of money. There is a very, very large amount of money in the world, so bitcoin would have to appreciate in an extreme way in order to replace the other forms of money.  In that case someone owning a lot of bitcoin will be pretty rich.  But having half the world's money is a much smaller thing than having half the world's wealth. Your inflation question isn't real clear to me.  Because bitcoin is not kept in banks and lent out, a bitcoin user in your proposed world creates inflation when they spend their bitcoins, increasing demand for goods and services.  This increased demand drives up the price of those goods and services.  Prices react pretty quickly, so it seems like the effect of an increase in the effective money supply (the bitcoins actually being used, rather than hoarded) would have a similar effect when spent quickly as slowly.  Think of it this way: if you are buying 1,000,000,000 toasters the first few thousand could be had cheaply at Walmart and Amazon.  Then you would have to go to more and more expensive sources to get them.  Eventually you would run out of sources and have to have them special made at yet higher expense.  It's not the time that raised the prices but the actual purchasing behavior.  Same thing is true of houses, yachts, islands, or whatever else a very rich hypothetical person might buy.


They make a killing. In Queensland, a state of Australia, they only have one Distributor, Energex, so there is no competition. All power comes from them. As such, the prices are ridiculously high since retailers can't afford to sell it any cheaper than what they bought it for. This company Energex has employees that casually take 3 hour lunch breaks and still earn over 100k a year and they are not even execs. Meanwhile the consumers in that state are going broke from the energy prices.


In today's world we spend almost as much time online as we do out in the real world. We're using the Internet to fulfill almost every need in our lives; we can now shop, socialize, and pay our monthly bills without having to leave the comfort of our computer desks.


I wouldn't put too much stock in the guidance generically... it's more a measure of confidence in the company. When you listen to the earnings calls and start following a particular analyst, you'll understand where they come from when they kick out a number.


Your first step should be meeting with a CPA or tax attorney who specializes in the taxation of dual citizens. Your local accountant can probably refer you to someone.  There are many people in that situation, and while I'm not familiar with the details, I know there are tax treaties between the U.S. and Canada designed to address your situation.


"> However, Democrats do not directly mention Trump in their strategy documents, though the campaign's title clearly references the president's signature book, ""The Art of the Deal.""   Um. No it doesn't. I guess they've never heard of The New Deal?"


Can she send money to me in India through their NRI account? She can transfer the money to her NRE account and then to your Savings Account. Alternatively she can also transfer money directly to your savings account. There is no tax for this transaction in India as it is gift and exempt under gift tax act. If the amounts are large [run in quite a few tens of lacs], have some paperwork showing this as Gift. You can transfer this to son or doing anything you like with it.


">I should never have to specify the flavor for the love of God.  I was just ranting about the same to friends last night, but the ""chocolate"" Frosty is still just as good as it was a decade ago.  As to Arbie's I don't know what horsey sauce is, and I guess... I'm afraid to ask. We don't have a lot of 'em around here & the few times I've been to one (like twice) I got food poisoning... so....  McDonald's:   * Fries go from meh to grossly over greasy. * Burgers are just not good. * Chicken strips or chicken snack wraps are eatable * Generally I avoid McDonald's * The fudge sunday's bring back happy childhood memories though."


US dollars 49.99 for Michelin Bicycle Tires is a rate which can bring can force anyone to buy the tires even if it is not required. The rate seems unreal but this is the exact price of the tire on one of the tire retailers. This sounds unreal but it is actually a reality and you can find affordable Michelin Bicycle Tires online with little research.


I went to the bank with my friends and told them that I saw the money in my account, that it's not mine, and that they should investigate and send it back to wherever it came from Right thing to do. Did you give this in writing? Do you have a stamped copy of the letter from Bank that they accepted your complaint? he has been calling with different phone number threatening me, saying that he will kill me, he will make sure I don't return to my country alive, and all. Lodge a formal police complaint. And also I have not heard from the bank at all. What should I do? Ensure that all your communication and follow-up is in writing. Even email is fine. But periodically send this via certified post with tracking number. Even when you call up the bank, keep a track of calls. After a day or two, send a email saying further to calls 1, calls 2, calls 3 etc you are still awaiting a response from Bank. Even after face to face visits, record all your follow-up and periodically send via email and after few email take a print of everything [even if its 10 pages] and send via certified mail. The reason it is very important to have a written trail is if things go wrong, Law enforcement can accuse you to be part of fraud/scam. It will be difficult to establish you were the one who complained about it. If not too difficult, change you phone numbers. Yes definitely open the new Bank Account; and don't give this to a random stranger on Internet.


Some brief research suggest that boat insurance is ~1.5% of boat cost/year. So a $10,000 boat might be about $150. Other sites say average boat insurance is $300-500/year. So a bit of a range to work with. Though the risk is relatively low, people would rather a small planned expense than risk a large unplanned expense. In addition, most policies cover liability, so if someone were to get hurt on your boat, or you caused damage with your boat, insurance adds protection.


Me too. Haven't failed because it's shit that I do/did for free. There have have instances where if I didn't have a saved up cushion to fall back on times would have been hard waiting to get paid on some municipal and corporate contracts (can take up to 90 days sometimes).


Sometimes the market has to be left alone. Too much interference of the policy makers to stabilize the falling market can actually result in a major crisis. Every change stabilises after sometime and it is also applicable in the Forex trading market. So, the eager investors should learn to have some patience and wait for the market to stabilise itself rather than make random predictions on the policies released by policy makers


I'm currently reading the book *Divine Fury: A History of Genius* by Darrin M. McMahon which ponders the relationship between madness, creativity, and genius. I think some minds are a little more flexible in the possibilities that may be contemplated and this allows the potential for more discoveries. But when your mind is a little too flexible it can be seen as eccentric.


The mushroom republic, keep the public in the dark and feed 'em shit.  Money buys choices and influence.  The richies are cowards and fear they might have to get their fingernails dirty and perform a legitimate service in society if others are allowed to compete with them.  When does the mass boycott start where everybody stops paying their mortgate/rent, insurance and taxes?  That would reboot an economy.


The trouble is not enough Americans today are willing to do hard physical work for low pay. At the same time, Americans aren't willing to pay more for things like landscaping and fruits and veggies. I would be delighted if we fixed our broken legal immigration system, but since we can't seem to do that, we get illegal immigrants, and every day both you and I use products they produced.


Personally, I would split the difference, putting about half into each.  Simply because it balances out the problem and I don't have to fret about whether one or the other will provide a significant difference.  As bstpierre points out, the one which will make you more in the end is the one which you can grow the fastest.  The mortgage payment is locked at 5% growth, which, while modest, is also essentially guaranteed at this point.  The CD in your IRA is likely less than that amount, even after tax consideration. A couple additional points to consider:


There is no formula for calculating a stock price based on the financials of a company. A stock price is set by the market and always has a component built into it that is based on something outside of the current valuation of a company using its financials. Essentially, the stock price of a company per share is whatever the best price it can get on the open market. If you are looking at how to evaluate if a stock is a good value at the current price, then look at some of the answers, but I wanted to answer this based on the way you phrased the question.


when they make the most money off of charging interest on late payments? This is incorrect. Do you have any data to back this? In the past decade there was a tendency by financial institutions to make money from late payments and there were certain rewards / incentives for people who paid late. However the bubble cracked soon enough and there were huge losses in the card industry. Today most of the revenue for card companies is from margins on customers who pay on time and growth avenues are promoting to pay every transaction by card. why do they actively seek people who pay their bills on time (as evidence by requiring good credit scores to get approved for a card), instead of they opposite? As indicated above. Remember if one customer defaults it wipes out margins made by tons of customers. In spite of giving credit to people with good credit score, the average credit card debit an US individual holds is still quite high.


In general you will take home more in the US than in Canada. There are so many variables that is is impossible to provide a comprehensive answer that will cover all bases: so here are a few hand-waving statements. Two example calculator web sites for Canada and the US (chosen somewhat at random through Google, show that making $50,000 of either currency for the upcoming tax year in Canada you would expect to pay about $9,100 and for the US $5,900.  Missing there are the state taxes, however, which also vary wildly. The deductions, adjustment and credits in both countries can really add up, so if you have specific questions, you should consult a tax specialist. Similarly, both countries provide various tax sheltered investment structures that change the game somewhat over the long term.


"It sounds like you really want to support Trump.  I had a boss who said, ""people make decisions emotionally and justify then logically.""  I get where you're coming from.  He's on your side so you want to defend him.  It probably doesn't make sense to give you any more facts if you're just going to find the flimsiest reason to dismiss them.  I believe that the sky is blue, the grass is green, and Don Jr admitted to attempting to collude with the Russians, which is illegal.  Maybe he actually succeeded, maybe he didn't, but there's no question that he tried.  That's enough for an investigation, and based upon results could justify jail time.  So I *really* don't like Trump.  Let me take a moment to explain my emotions:  * I think he's super dishonest  * I think he's xenophobic.  Immigrants are good people and contribute positively to society.  Nearly everyone is an immigrant once you go back far enough.  * I think he's a racist.  It's ugly and good people should oppose this sort of hate.  You learn this when you're little.  * When he lies, the things he says are obviously inconsistent.  It's insulting that he thinks we'd believe his stupid statements.   * It saddens me that 38% of America still believes his stupid stuff.  I don't know whether they're too simple to see his dishonesty, don't really care that he's dishonest, or are too disengaged to have noticed.  I don't think our democracy lasts another generation in its current form.  * I think he's corrupt, and is enriching himself and his family/allies with his office.  He's the first president without a blind trust.  * I think he does real damage to worthwhile endeavors (or tries to): renewable energy, global alliances, race relations, pollution controls, social safety net, civility, and others.  * I'm disappointed that the Republicans haven't called him out.  Politics and self-interest seems to outweigh integrity. Congress is the check on his power.  * I think he's lazy and spends too much time on vacation.  He's also dishonestly inconsistent for criticizing Obama for golfing too much, and then he golfs **more** once in office.  * I'm torn about his incompetence on policy.  I should probably be happy he's flailing around, unable to pass any significant law.  I just hate to see the impotence."


Coins have the minimum value of the metal they are made from.   Bank notes (paper money) would only be valuable when it becomes rare.  And there isn't a good way to predict how quickly something like Zimbabwe dollars will become rare (that I know of at least).


They already have, just not in the sense you're thinking. It was all pumped into the financial system, both into banks and into securities markets (bonds, stocks, etc.). We're at all time highs for bond prices and stock prices. You ever hear about the 1% getting richer and the gap widening? You can thank the Fed for that.  As for CPI inflation... it may never come. There's a balancing act between inflation & deflation. Japan is a perfect example - running printing presses for the past 20+ years and they've seen modest deflation over that period.


If the checking account is in a FDIC insured bank or a NCUA insured Credit Union then you don't have to worry about what happens if the bank goes out of business. In the past the government has made sure that any disruption was minimal. The fraud issue can cause a bigger problem. If they get a hold of your debit card, they can drain your account. Yes the bank gives you fraud protection so that the most you can lose is $50 or $500; many even make your liability $0 if you report it in a timely manor. But there generally is a delay in getting the money put back in your account. One way to minimize the problem is to open a savings account,it also has the FDIC and NCUA coverage . The account may even earn a little interest. If you don't allow the bank to automatically provide an overdraft transfer from savings to checking account, then the most they can temporarily steal is your checking account balance. Getting a credit card can provide additional protection. It also limits your total losses if there is fraud. The bill is only paid once a month so if they steal the card or the number, they won't be able to drain the money in the bank account.  The credit card, if used wisely can also start to build a positive credit file so that in a few years you can get a loan for a car or a place to live. Of course if they steal your entire wallet with both the credit and the debit card...


PayPal does charge a premium, both for sending and receiving. Here's how you find their rates:


It depends on your equity(assets -  liabilities). If you have a lot of equity, banks will be happy to lend you money because they now they can always seize your assets. If you don't have a lot of equity another option is to go to hard money lenders. They charge high rates and some of them lend-to-own, but is an option. And consider what Pete said, you might be a little optimistic.


"This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](http://khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1503759946) reduced by 84%. (I'm a bot) ***** > The main Russian bank working in Russian-occupied Crimea and one other have been informed that the company providing their connection to the SWIFT network will terminate its services from 31 August.  > According to one of the sources, RNCB and Tempbank differ from most other Russian banks, in that the crucial technology required for the SWIFT connection is provided by Finastra and not by SWIFT directly.  > In its excuses for not disconnecting Russian banks, SWIFT claimed that &quot;Being EU-based, SWIFT complies fully with all applicable European law&quot;.   ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/6x7fik/russian_banks_cut_off_from_swift_for_working_in/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ ""Version 1.65, ~201908 tl;drs so far."") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr ""PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome."") | *Top* *keywords*: **SWIFT**^#1 **bank**^#2 **Russian**^#3 **Finastra**^#4 **international**^#5"


Thats true, I guess I never really dwelt too long on the positives. The earning potential within my office is quite high, and it is nice making my own hours. It's just difficult when, even at your own leisure, there is not enough hours in a day to help everyone/get everything done that you want to.


You are already doing everything you can. If your employer does not have a 401(k) you are limited to investing in a Roth or a traditional IRA (Roth is post tax money, traditional IRA gives you a deduction so it is essentially pre tax money).  The contribution limits are the same for both and contributing to either adds to the limit (so you can't duplicate). CNN wrote an article on some other ways to save: One thing you may want to bring up with your employer is that they could set up a SEP-IRA.  This allows them to set a % (up to 25%) that they contribute pre-tax to an IRA for everyone at the company that has worked there at least 3 years.  If you are at a small company, maybe everyone with that kind of seniority would take an equivalent pay cut to get the automatic retirement contribution?  (Note that a SEP-IRA has to apply to everyone equally percentage wise that has worked there for 3 years, and the employer makes the contribution, not you).


Oh my, you poor skilled worker being held down by the janitors, stock rooms workers, and retail workers of the world...  So, let me guess, you are saying we should probably pay people less than minimum wage because something something market value or something something that's all those lazy people are worth, right?  How about this, if a business can't afford to pay someone properly enough to survive, they don't deserve the labor. That may mean that the CEOs, shareholders, white collar, and skilled workers might have to take less pay so the guy at the bottom that is also needed to operate the company can afford to live without needing help from the government.


And what's the cost-of-living in Silicon Valley?  How long are the work-days, how abundant the vacation time?  Most of the publicly-held companies there apparently have solid sources of revenue, but for all too many start-up companies, where's the value proposition?  As I've learned from first-hand experience, a high salary isn't as great as it sounds in an expensive area to live, and Silicon Valley is up there with New York, Washington DC, and Boston for the *really* expensive areas of America.  >“Companies like Color are being given a second, third, or fourth shot at the game because it’s a big game,” says Bill Nguyen, Color’s chief executive officer. “The prizes are pretty darn huge. There are fundamental changes happening in information because of Facebook and mobile devices.”   HOW DOES THIS NOT SOUND LIKE A SPECULATIVE BUBBLE TO PEOPLE?


In the first case that isn't a good example, in fact its contrary. We're talking about people earning under 5 million voting against taxing the very rich. It is in their interest directly.  In the second case, civil rights aren't a zero sum game but it also isn't a case of voting against their own interests, just not necessarily directly for their own interests.  All these are at best loose correlations like identity politics and not very concrete like in the case of healthcare. People figure it out slowly but they do figure it out.


"I always have mixed feelings when I read articles like this.  On one hand I object to this idea that folks with these diagnoses are fragile and have to have ""special treatment"".  On the other hand speaking as someone with some of these disorders who has worked in professional environments for a few decades, it's absolutely clear that working environments are designed for certain kinds of people (who are loud, insistent, and in the majority) and for them there really are substantial benefits.  That being the case, I think it's important that companies make an effort to optimize the work environment for all their employees, even if that environment is radically different than what some folks (like H.R. folks) would like.  It's amazing how much the quality of my work and my life in general improved when I could work in an environment designed to suit my needs."


In the cool mornings I use very little battery energy, but you are absolutely on to something with the AC, bc I put a pretty big dent in my battery during those hot late afternoon drives home. That adds up for sure.


"yeah. probably because the article author Brian Fung misleadingly presented it that way and conveniently failed to note in his article that the patent application was filed in 2012... so Amazon's interest in this is at least a 5 year old story.   But that doesn't really flow with the manufactured ""Amazon is planning to prevent people from comparison shopping on their phones while in stores"" vibe of the piece, you know?    Journalism, shmournalism."


I don't know.  I like his attitude.  Why not try weird stuff?  I went to a Star Trek convention just for fun to see what it was like.  Not my thing but I loved the experience.  Same with a convention for restaurant supplies.  Travel whenever I can and try to stay in the weird hotels.  I'd probably try this service too, just to say I did.


The site you link to suggests the majority save on this plan. AC is tough, but most other power hogs are in your control, washer/drier, dish washer, etc. This is part of a bigger picture of power transmission, and management. The utility cost is the highest for peak demand, i.e. they need to have capacity for the peak use, but only selling average use, on average. This billing plan matches what you pay with the true cost, and you save by avoiding the peak times.


Nah, not  true mate either - have some clients that sell in excess of AUD1M per month almost all of which done via social media ads, and they've been around years before Facebook was a thing. You're totally right though when you talk about some companies being behemoths - but social media and PPC platforms allow the playing field to be amazingly level when competing against them. AI is the next tool to be transforming sales and marketing - and again, it will be done via social media platforms - were seeing it already where Facebook and Watson can be connected within a few minutes to provide basic conversational customer service bots that can take payment for suggested products or services it gives as a result of that conversation. Now you may not like that aspect, but it's here already and only getting more advanced. Social media will morph and change - largely driven by AI and AR and better universal wireless connectivity - but the tools will be connected into 2B+ people via whatever social media channels continue tk be adopted - be it facebook or Instagram or whatever else emerges. kinda cool.


"Best way to invest around 50k Indian rupees and save Tax There is nothing ""Best"". There are multiple options that are available under 80C and you need to select one that suites you best. There are market linked options like ELSS, or assured returns like 6 years FD, or PPF or Term Insurance or other such options."


Well sure. Everyone wants free healthcare. But if it's a service that everyone gets, then everyone has to pay the government for it in taxes. One way or another we pay for it.  The issue is: Are we going to rein in Big Pharma and the insurance cartel?


"We initially attempted to do this when we bought our house and found the listing agents ""resistant"" to say the least.  For a variety of reasons (not just the commission), we ultimately decided to hire a buyer's agent, but we focused on buyer's agents that would pass some of their commission back to us.  We used Redfin, but I think there may be others now. One ""gotcha"" even on this, is that, if you're getting a mortgage, the mortgage company may also have something to say about this situation.  We had to apply the agent's rebate to our closing costs, we could not take it away in cash."


A few years ago I had been contributing with my employer to a 401(k).  When I then moved abroad, I found it difficult to stay in touch with my 401(k).  The toll-free numbers I had used inside the US, to contact the plan administrators, did not work from overseas.


The only reason this happened is that they believed they could get away with it. Take that belief away, things work out.  Bail them out and crucify the managers and make the shareholders bear as much of the loss as possible - and bankrupt the bigger ones. Really be nasty about it, make them serve as an example.  Don't mess the smaller guys. Those are small fry, they were fooled along with the others.


"My grandma left a 50K inheritance You don't make clear where in the inheritance process you are.  I actually know of one case where the executor (a family member, not a professional) distributed the inheritance before paying the estate taxes.  Long story short, the heirs had to pay back part of the inheritance.  So the first thing that I would do is verify that the estate is closed and all the taxes paid.  If the executor is a professional, just call and ask.  If a family member, you may want to approach it more obliquely.  Or not.   The important thing is not to start spending that money until you're sure that you have it.   One good thing is that my husband is in grad school and will be done in 2019 and will then make about 75K/yr with his degree profession. Be a bit careful about relying on this.  Outside the student loans, you should build other expenses around the assumption that he won't find a job immediately after grad school.  For example, we could be in a recession in 2019.  We'll be about due by then.    Paying off the $5k ""other debt"" is probably a no brainer.  Chances are that you're paying double-digit interest.  Just kill it.   Unless the car loan is zero-interest, you probably want to get rid of that loan too.  I would tend to agree that the car seems expensive for your income, but I'm not sure that the amount that you could recover by selling it justifies the loss of value.  Hopefully it's in good shape and will last for years without significant maintenance.   Consider putting $2k (your monthly income) in your checking account.  Instead of paying for things paycheck-to-paycheck, this should allow you to buy things on schedule, without having to wait for the money to appear in your account.   Put the remainder into an emergency account.  Set aside $12k (50% of your annual income/expenses) for real emergencies like a medical emergency or job loss.  The other $16k you can use the same way you use the $5k other debt borrowing now, for small emergencies.  E.g. a car repair.   Make a budget and stick to it.  The elimination of the car loan should free up enough monthly income to support a reasonable budget.  If it seems like it isn't, then you are spending too much money for your income.  Don't forget to explicitly budget for entertainment and vacations.  It's easy to overspend there.   If you don't make a budget, you'll just find yourself back to your paycheck-to-paycheck existence.  That sounds like it is frustrating for you.  Budget so that you know how much money you really need to live."


You should probably talk to a lawyer experienced in such matters, it is really hard to tell from what you described whether there is a problem or not. Are they trying to put majority of blame on me so that they can   increase my premium or are they acting the right way? Both may be true. They are acting in their own best interests, not yours. They're trying to minimize their exposure. Had the other guy had insurance they would be much more susceptible to shift the blame, but since he doesn't - it is unlikely that they'll recover their money. So it is not in their best interests to accept your claim. Whether they're right or not - you answered yourself. A person backing out is usually responsible and the burden of proof that you aren't is on you. Does the insurance have something to gain from assigning more fault on me? Of course. Less money to shell out, more premiums to get. That said, they are willing to admit that some of the blame is on the other driver, which means that they're not entirely dismissing your claims. In general, I'm just trying to make sure I'm not being cheated   monetarily by the insurance company in any way. Sue them.


"The IRA contribution limit is a limit on the total amount you can contribute to all of your Roth and traditional IRAs.  It's not a per-account limit.  (See here and here.)  Once you've hit the contribution limit on one account, you've hit it on all of them. Even so, supposing you had a reason with try to take money out of one of the accounts, the answer to your question is ""sort of"".  The limit is a limit on your gross contributions, not your net contributions.  It is possible to withdraw Roth contributions if you do so before the tax filing deadline for that year, but you must also withdraw (and pay taxes on) any earnings accured during the time the money was in the Roth (see here).  In addition, doing this may not be as simple as just taking the money out of your account; you should probably ask your bank about it and let them know you're ""undoing"" the contribution, since they may otherwise still record the amount as a real contribution and the withdrawal as unqualified early withdrawal (subject to penalties, etc.)."


And I should have known better - a GOP-man just ignoring the facts  and immediately swithching to the debaters low point - an ill-informed, ad hominem attack upon me. So I can count on you to ignore the record: 1)Unbroken private sector job growth since January 2010 - http://www.esa.doc.gov/Blog/2012/03/09/economic-indicator-nearly-4-million-jobs-created-past-24-months 2)Highest cutbacks in government jobs occurring in Republican states - http://www.thenation.com/article/167050/red-states-see-massive-public-sector-job-losses 3)GOP NO on Democrat Job bills - latest example, NO for tax credits for companies that bring back jobs to US - http://edition.cnn.com/2012/07/19/politics/senate-bring-jobs-home-bill-blocked/index.html But hey  --I can count on you either ignore this data or call it Kool Aid


I'm not sure why you're confusing the two unrelated things. 1040ES is your estimated tax payments. 941 is your corporation's payroll tax report. They have nothing to do with each other. You being the corporation's employee is accidental, and can only help you to avoid 1040ES and use the W2 withholding instead - like any other employee. From the IRS standpoint you're not running a LLC - you're running a corporation, and you're that corporation's employee. While technically you're self-employed, from tax perspective - you're not (to the extent of your corporate salary, at least).


If your gross income is only $3000, then you don't need to file: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p501.pdf That said, pay careful attention to: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/international-taxpayers/taxpayers-living-abroad You should be reporting ALL income, without regard to WHERE you earned it, on your US taxes. Not doing so could indeed get you in trouble if you are audited. Your level of worry depends on how much of the tax law you are willing to dodge, and how lucky you feel.


"It's also refreshing that they were somewhat realistic about their worst-case scenario (only affluent executives would use the service).  Also interesting that they completely glossed over the legal challenges they must have known they'd see from the regulated taxi industry.  One wonders whether they really believed they'd be exempt from medallion requirements because they were a ""members only"" service.  When you're successful, you get to construe every lucky victory as a strategic masterstroke."


"I actually love this question, and have hashed this out with a friend of mine where my premise was that at some volume of money it must be advantageous to simply track the index yourself. There some obvious touch-points: Most people don't have anywhere near the volume of money required for even a $5 commission outweigh the large index fund expense ratios. There are logistical issues that are massively reduced by holding a fund when it comes to winding down your investment(s) as you get near retirement age. Index funds are not touted as categorically ""the best"" investment, they are being touted as the best place for the average person to invest. There is still a management component to an index like the S&P500.  The index doesn't simply buy a share of Apple and watch it over time.  The S&P 500 isn't simply a single share of each of the 500 larges US companies it's market cap weighted with frequent rebalancing and constituent changes.  VOO makes a lot of trades every day to track the S&P index, ""passive index investing"" is almost an oxymoron. The most obvious part of this is that if index funds were ""the best"" way to invest money Berkshire Hathaway would be 100% invested in VOO.  The argument for ""passive index investing"" is simplified for public consumption.  The reality is that over time large actively managed funds have under-performed the large index funds net of fees.  In part, the thrust of the advice is that the average person is, or should be, more concerned with their own endeavors than they are managing their savings.  Investment professionals generally want to avoid ""How come I my money only returned 4% when the market index returned 7%?  If you track the index, you won't do worse than the index; this helps people sleep better at night. In my opinion the dirty little secret of index funds is that they are able to charge so much less because they spend $0 making investment decisions and $0 on researching the quality of the securities they hold.  They simply track an index; XYZ company is 0.07% of the index, then the fund carries 0.07% of XYZ even if the manager thinks something shady is going on there. The argument for a majority of your funds residing in Mutual Funds/ETFs is simple, When you're of retirement age do you really want to make decisions like should I sell a share of Amazon or a share of Exxon?  Wouldn't you rather just sell 2 units of SRQ Index fund and completely maintain your investment diversification and not pay commission?  For this simplicity you give up three basis points?  It seems pretty reasonable to me."


Welfare dollars stimulate the economy at a greater rate than tax breaks because welfare recipients have no choice but to spend the money.  Thus welfare dollars tend to directly stimulate communities, by allowing people to buy food, and rent homes.  This is a position that is accepted by pretty much every economist.


yeah, that's what they were probably making, but when I complained to Ticketmaster I was saying that unless they needed to make that much money, there was absolutely no reason for the processing fee to be nearly 50% of what the ticket price was.


With overdraft fees, I feel it is no different than a loan shark.  They charge 35$ fee no matter if you buy a 25 cent pack of gum or something much more expensive.  Every time you over drafted you payed 35$.  My wife has seen some people with 500 or more in fees because they spent 100 bucks or so over several transactions.


Do you know why it's so popular? I thought other trucks are pretty good too. Top selling sedans don't have that large of a margin. You're right that they get burned out quickly, although I'd think there'd be a longevity version of trucks by now. aren't toyota trucks very long living?


When I read this website I feel like he is spinning the story the wrong way.  He has a lot of stories about how the internet has allowed quick organization of a large amount of people out to a specific goal.  You can tell the author has a lot of disdain for consumers the way he always talks negative about people using their brains to get a better deal and how these poor multibillion dollar companies are going to suffer minor loses.


No, the credit company will not remove the $20. Your merchant (the airline) charged in their local currency, the equivalent of $1000. That is also what they refunded. The $20 are yours to keep.


With the recent drive in AML [Anti Money Laundering], quite a few countries being signatories; the central banks in almost all countries[that matter] have put in stronger KYC guidelines. This means you will not be able to remotely open a Bank Account in Thailand. More info at below links http://www.bangkokbank.com/BANGKOKBANK/PERSONALBANKING/SPECIALSERVICES/FOREIGNCUSTOMERS/Pages/Openinganaccountnew.aspx http://www.samuifinder.com/en/koh-samui-info/money-in-thailand/bank-account-thailand/


>Sounds like he should sell or close the company.  You bring up a very good point. If he cares so much about his employees, but it's just too inconvenient for him to run the company if his taxes go up 5%, why not sell it instead of putting 7000 people out of a job? Why threaten people when there's an obvious alternative? Hell, if he just wants to close it anyways, he could just give the company away.  >See I can already shoot down your explanation, because it's not just higher taxes, its increased business tax liability, increased business insurance liability.  Nope. He explicitly states that he will downsize or close the company if there are *any new taxes* whatsoever on either him *or* the business. It's also worth noting that his company is currently more profitable than its ever been.  >Obama said he didnt build it  What?  >Rhetoric is cute until thousands of employees are out of jobs because the owner didn't feel it was worth it to continue the business.  Yeah so maybe he should cut his bullshit rhetoric when those jobs are on the line and the only one responsible for their fates is him. And if it's really too much of a bother for him to run the company if he's making slightly less money when he's already said he has more money than he'll ever need, he can promote someone else to run the company or just sell it. Saying he cares about his employees makes him a liar, criticizing people who spent beyond their means makes him a hypocrite, and his empty threats and brow beating make him a bully.


I had two last year but i got laid off from one because they told me they didnt want to workwith the others schedule anymore. I asked if id get a raise for staying with then and they said no so i left


Where do you get them?  We have a ton we're clearing out to move from my grandpa.  Some Beatles and earlier from my mom and lots of heavy old foxtrot and similar records from grandpa (victor, Decca records, nice heavy weight, in their original papers).  Trying to see if there is a market for these old ones before I just garage sale them.


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If it's just an ordinary credit card I'd think he could merely dispute the charges, since he's saying they 'created' (which I presume means applied for and received) a card, it should not affect his accounts directly.  And especially since application details may be bogus, he should be able to prove it was not him. Even if they got HIS credit card number, he should be able to dispute those charges that are not his, especially if they went to a different address, or were charged someplace (like another city) where he was not present at that time. OTOH, if they created a DEBIT card that was linked to his bank account somehow, well then, that could be a lot more difficult to recover from, but even then, if it's not his signature that was used to apply for the card, or on any charges that had to be signed for etc, he should be able to dispute it and get the bank to put the money back in his account since it will be a case of forgery etc. The big problem with ID theft is people tend to ruin your credit rating, and you end up having to fend off bill collectors etc. The primary thing it costs you (speaking from experience of having checks stolen and forged using a fake drivers license) is the TIME and hassle of getting everything straightened out and put right.  In my case it took a few hours at the credit union, and all the money was back, in a new account (the old one having been closed) when I left.  Dealing with all the poor merchants that were taken, and with bill collectors on the other hand took months.  but I never once in the process needed 'quick money' from anyone. So the need for 'quick money' seems a bit doubtful.  I'd want a lot more details of exactly why he needs money from you. Refer your friend to this Federal Trade Commission site and make sure he takes the steps listed, and especially pays attention to the parts about keeping notes of every single person he talks with, including name, date, time, and pertinent details of the conversation.  If he has some idea HOW this happened (as in a robbery) then report it to the proper authorities, and insist on getting a case number. talking with bill collectors is the worst, just trying to get ahold of them when they send you letters (and talk to a person, not a recorded number with instructions on how to pay them) is sometimes nearly impossible (google was my friend)  and a lot of times they didn't want to back off till I gave them the case number with the police, that somehow magically made it 'real' to them and not just my telling them a story.


>Here's the real scoop - I would hire more people and buy more inventory and put more into capital investment if I paid less taxes,  You would do so if there was money to be made doing so.   It's as simple as that.   Corporate Taxes are on net income.    If hiring one more person contributed further to your bottom line you'd do so.    That is the only thing that drives you.   If the incremental cost of the hire is lower than the increased revenue.   Period.  Corporate taxes are on net income.   Meaning you're still going to get more money, you're just going to get a little less of that incremental income growth than you thought.    You'll still hire.


"Gnucash is first and foremost just a general ledger system. It tracks money in accounts, and lets you make transactions to transfer money between the accounts, but it has no inherent concept of things like taxes. This gives you a large amount of flexibility to organize your account hierarchy the way you want, but also means that it sometimes can take a while to figure out what account hierarchy you want. The idea is that you keep track of where you get money from (the Income accounts), what you have as a result (the Asset accounts), and then track what you spent the money on (the Expense accounts). It sounds like you primarily think of expenses as each being for a particular property, so I think you want to use that as the basis of your hierarchy. You probably want something like this (obviously I'm making up the specifics): Now, when running transaction reports or income/expense reports, you can filter to the accounts (and subaccounts) of each property to get a report specific to that property. You mention that you also sometimes want to run a report on ""all gas expenses, regardless of property"", and that's a bit more annoying to do. You can run the report, and when selecting accounts you have to select all the Gas accounts individually. It sounds like you're really looking for a way to have each transaction classified in some kind of two-axis system, but the way a general ledger works is that it's just a tree, so you need to pick just one ""primary"" axis to organize your accounts by."


How much should my down payment be? Ideally 20% of the purchase price because with 20% of the purchase price, you don't have to pay a costly private mortgage insurance (PMI).  If you don't have 20% down and come across a good property to purchase, it is still a good idea to go forward with purchasing with what you are comfortable with, because renting long term is generally never a good idea if you want to build wealth and become financially independent. How much should I keep in my emergency fund? People say 3-12 months of living expenses.  Keep in mind though, in most cases, if you lose your job, you are entitled to unemployment benefits from the government. How long should my mortgage be? 30 year amortization is the best. You can always opt to pay more each month.  But having that leverage with a 30 year loan can allow you to invest your savings in other opportunities, which can yield more than mortgage interest. Best of luck!


"This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](http://www.housingfinance.com/news/us-losing-low-rent-units_o) reduced by 88%. (I'm a bot) ***** > The lower end of the rental housing market continues to lose ground, according to the new The State of the Nation&#039;s Housing report by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.  > In examining the threats to the affordable housing supply, the report finds that housing created under the low-income housing tax credit is a concern.  > Looking ahead, being intentional and being committed about developing affordable housing will be critical to addressing the rental housing crisis, said Terri Ludwig, president and CEO of Enterprise Community Partners, during a webcast held to discuss the report&#039;s findings.   ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/6hw6os/us_losing_lowrent_units_despite_a_slight/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ ""Version 1.65, ~146856 tl;drs so far."") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr ""PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome."") | *Top* *keywords*: **housing**^#1 **rent**^#2 **units**^#3 **more**^#4 **households**^#5"


"Time to learn how accounting works!  When a company loses money, it does not pay taxes. Just throwing numbers out, but suppose GE earned - $10 billion (that's a negative) in 2009. If in 2010 it earned $5 billion, it would not pay any taxes. It wouldn't pay taxes until it got back to even.   Tax refund is nonsense. It is a tax asset, which is reported as ""income"" when it is recognized on the books. So when GE recognized its ""$3.4 billion tax refund,"" it was actually noting that it would not have to pay cash taxes until it made enough to generate a tax burden over and beyond $3.4 billion."


"This does not directly address the question, but how the Bank views your behaviour is not the same as a credit reporting bureau.  If you do not ""go deep"" on your card at all, you may be deemed not to be exercising the facility, indeed they may ask you to reduce your credit limit. This is not the same as ""missing a payment"". At the same time, do not just make the minimum payment. Ideally you should clear it within 3 months. Think of it as a very short term line of credit. Not clearing the balance within three months (or turning it over) demonstrates a cash flow problem, as does clearing it from another card. Some banks call this ""kite flying"" after similar behaviour in older days with cheque accounts. If you use the credit and show you can pay it off, you should never need to ask for a credit increase, it will be offered. The Bureau will be informed of these offers. Also, depending upon how much the bank trusts you, the Bureau may see a ""monthly"" periodic credit review, which is good if you have no delinquencies. Amex does this as a rule."


"They didn't have to call it ""pink slime"" to turn my stomach. ""Waste trimmings"" and ""ammonia wash"" are all that's needed...which are both factual descriptions.   BPI took such a hard hit because they showed the world that they're the type of company willing to sell people really nasty shit just to make a buck (in my opinion)."


"Seattle is one of the fastest growing city in the USA http://www.king5.com/news/local/seattle/seattles-population-growth-leads-nation-report/442879395, and increases than 1,000 people per week on average in 2017. Hardly ""everyone is escaping""...  And it's way more than Amazon: the tech sector in Seattle has added more than 100 companies in a few years, some very big, and has created a real alternative to Silicon Valley for a lot of engineers (as in: once you are in Seattle, you have a lot of choices now. In the past it was either Microsoft or Amazon, now it's at least 5-10 big companies like Facebook and Google, plus a lot of mid-size ones and a variety of startups)  It's true that most of that growth is in the high end and that causes real problems everywhere, forcing some people to live"


"Some generalizations with a bit of truth:  - The parents of the Greatest Generation used consumer products when they had to. - The Greatest Generation used consumer products to feel as good as (or better than) everyone else.  - The Baby Boomers used consumer products to ""be"" themselves.  - Generation X used alternative consumer products to feel different from (or better than) everyone else.  - Millennials use consumer products when they have to."


IIRC correctly there was a report posted to reddit recently that Teslas are  the most popular seller in Norway, which has incentives for the first 50,000 buyers of EVs. They sold 1,493 in one month, which equates to almost 18,000 in the next 12 months in Norway alone.


If you consider what happened to iraq and libya, they are correct.  Lose nuclear weapons is an invitation to be bombed by the US, UK and so on. The Ukranians decided to get rid of theirs, do you think they're happy with that decision?


No credit card company would ever give a card with either no credit limit or that was not in credit (for prepaid cards) because they would earn no money from it. The company's income is entirely derived from fees that they charge you for balances and interest on those balances so a 0 limit card would be worthless to them. Getting a prepaid card and letting the balance hit 0 might be a way around this but the fees that you will be charged , and will become a debt in your name, when the billing system tries to take the first paid month's cost from the card and fails will be exorbitant. They may go so far as dwarfing the actual cost but the one thing that they will certainly do is lower your credit rating so this is not a good idea.


So, you bought a brand new Netgear router and don’t know how to configure it?  Well, in that case, you can contact our team for Netgear router login. We have dedicated team waiting for all routers related queries. Contact them on toll-free number 24/7.


Enron did a wide range of dodgy financial accounting, using tricks to severely mis-represent their financial situation. They then used these doctored accounts to fool lenders and stock-buyers that the company had more money, and fewer debts or problems, than it really had. Eventually they ran out of money and went bankrupt, leaving the lenders and stock-buyers with nothing.


I was too. My fiance is an international student and for a while we were really concerned about the implications of a Trump presidency on her getting a visa. I aired my grievances on T_D and was banned.  What I've come to understand is that citizenship is a privilege, not a right. As part of the research I took part in while getting my Economics degree, we established mass immigration as a large, significant causal factor in the immergence of the income stagnation and the resulting rise of consumer debt levels and financial innovation that lead the the '09 crisis.  The issue with T_D is the massive brigading and threats users and mods get. T_D would be a non-stop dumping ground of concern trolling and leftist hatred if the policies they have in place now were not in effect. That being said, I myself am proof that the policies and the mods that enforce them are much more forgiving than most subs on on this site.  Try /r/askthe_donald


In my experience, Millennial's fundamentally distrust the the efficiency and efficacy of most of what is marketed in the modern economy.  By the time you take the investors, marketers, and executive cut out of a modern product sale, there is simply nothing left to actually deliver a quality product, thus cheap, intentionally faulty shit is sold instead as a planned obsolescent solution.  The generations raised under television as the pinnacle of marketing are _utterly oblivious_ to this form of silent inflation around them, but their kids notice how futile and wasteful their 'constantly repurchase the same substandard shit' consumer culture has become.  And they're doing everything they can not to participate, because being manipulated to buy bullshit resembling historic products that were actually functional sucks.


I use xoom.com to transfer money to India. I've been using them for over 2 years now, they are the fastest and the cheapest for me (the funds are usually available the same day). They seem to have added a lot of European countries to their list. Definitely worth a shot.


I bought 1000 shares of a $10 stock. When it doubled, I sold half, no need to be greedy. I watched the shares split 2 for one, and sold as it doubled and doubled again. In the end, I had $50,000 in cash pulled out and still had 100 shares. The shares are now worth $84K since they split 7 for one and trade near $120.  Had I just kept the shares till now, no sales, I'd have 14,000 shares of Apple worth $1.68M dollars.  $130K for an initial $10,000 investment is nothing to complain about, but yes, taking a profit can be the wrong thing. 25%? Was that all the potential the company had?  There's one question to ask, not where is the price today compared to last year or two years ago, but what are the company's prospects. Is the reason I bought them still valid? Look at your investment each quarter as if you were making the decision that day. I agree, diversification is important, so the choice is only hold or sell, not to buy more of a good company, because there are others out there, and the one sane thing Cramer says that everyone should adhere to is to not put your eggs in one basket.


No, there is no special leniency given to first time tax payers. In general, this shouldn't be an issue. The IRS collects your taxes out of every one of your paychecks throughout the entire year in what is called a Withholding Tax. The amount that the IRS withholds is calculated on your W-4 Form that you file with your employer whenever you take a new job. The form helps you calculate the right number of allowances to claim (usually this is the number of personal exemptions, but depending upon if you work a second job, are married and your spouse works, or if you itemize, the number of allowances can be increased. WITHHOLDING TAX Withholding tax (also known as “payroll withholding”) is essentially income tax that is withheld from your wages and sent directly to the IRS by your employer. In other words, it’s like a credit against the income taxes that you must pay for the year. By subtracting this money from each paycheck that you receive, the IRS is basically withholding your anticipated tax payment as you earn it. In general, most people overestimate their tax liability. This is bad for them, because they have essentially given the IRS an interest free loan (and weren't able to use the money to earn interest themselves.) I haven't heard of any program targeted at first time tax payers to tell them to file a return, but considering that most tax payers overpay they should or they are giving the government a free grant.


Is your name on the title at all? You may have (slightly) more leverage in that case, but co-signing any loans is not a good idea, even for a friend or relative. As this article notes: Generally, co-signing refers to financing, not ownership. If the   primary accountholder fails to make payments on the loan or the retail   installment sales contract (a type of auto financing dealers sell),   the co-signer is responsible for those payments, or their credit will   suffer. Even if the co-signer makes the payments, they’re still not   the owner if their name isn’t on the title. The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) notes: If you co-sign a loan, you are legally obligated to repay the loan in   full. Co-signing a loan does not mean serving as a character reference   for someone else.  When you co-sign, you promise to pay the loan yourself. It means that   you risk having to repay any missed payments immediately. If the   borrower defaults on the loan, the creditor can use the same   collection methods against you that can be used against the borrower   such as demanding that you repay the entire loan yourself, suing you,   and garnishing your wages or bank accounts after a judgment. Your   credit score(s) may be impacted by any late payments or defaults. Co-signing an auto loan does not mean you have any right to the   vehicle, it just means that you have agreed to become obligated to   repay the amount of the loan. So make sure you can afford to pay this   debt if the borrower cannot. Per this article and this loan.com article, options to remove your name from co-signing include: If you're name isn't on the title, you'll have to convince your ex-boyfriend and the bank to have you removed as the co-signer, but from your brief description above, it doesn't seem that your ex is going to be cooperative. Unfortunately, as the co-signer and guarantor of the loan, you're legally responsible for making the payments if he doesn't. Not making the payments could ruin your credit as well. One final option to consider is bankruptcy. Bankruptcy is a drastic option, and you'll have to weigh whether the disruption to your credit and financial life will be worth it versus repaying the balance of that auto loan. Per this post: Another not so pretty option is bankruptcy. This is an extreme route,   and in some instances may not even guarantee a name-removal from the   loan. Your best bet is to contact a lawyer or other source of legal help to review your options on how to proceed with this issue.


There is no collective hive mind on reddit. There's just occasional mobs, and semi-anonymised individuals. This very thread disproves that, since the redditors here are complaining about the actions of others. The whole metaphor is crap anyway.  Unless it's a very schizophrenic hivemind, with multiple personalities and capable of expressing them simultaneously.  You know it's just because you have unpopular opinions, or say a lot of stupid stuff like above, that gets you down-voted (btw it's generally the latter, but being a bit of an arse like I am can also get some down votes as well). Get over it and join a different sub-reddit where you can find some like -minded people with whom you can form your own hive mind.


"Yeah, it can suck some times when my friends want to go out, but for the most part it isn't that bad.  When economists talk about consumers cutting back on spending, though, I just think ""Of course they are, what other choice is there?""  Cutting back we're doing okay but if we started blowing money by going out a lot or buying the latest gadgets or whatever, we'd be in trouble."


"For the first part of your question; Refer to related question  Why do some online stores not ask for the 3-digit code on the back of my credit card? The other case of Airport ticket machines, requires the physical presence of card. The assumption is that if you had the card before and after the transaction, it was you who used it for transaction. As the amounts are small its really easy by anyone [merchant, Banks] to write this off. The only way to misuse would be if you lost the card and someone used it. Also these ticket machines would have built in feature where by you cannot buy more than ""X"" tickets for the day. Ensuring max loss on a stolen card is limited to a small amount."


In general I'd say, yeah, if you can pay cash, pay cash. If you pay cash, then by definition you pay zero interest. If you get a loan, you'll pay interest. Most people get a loan to buy a car because they don't have the cash. Possible reasons not to pay cash when you could: One: Technically you can pay cash, but if you did, you would have little or no reserve for emergencies. Like if the car costs, say, $20,000.00, and you have $20,010.00 in your bank account, then technically you could afford to pay cash, but you probably shouldn't, because you don't want to have just $10 left. What if tomorrow something comes up? Two: Arguably, you have a place to invest money that pays more than the interest on the loan. Like say you can get a car loan for, whatever the going rate is today, say 6%. And you know a place to invest your money that is very safe and almost guaranteed to pay 10%. It would make sense to borrow to buy the car, invest the cash, and then withdraw money from the investment to make the payments on the car. You'd end up 4% ahead. There are a lot of catches to that strategy, though. The biggest is that the more the investment pays, the more likely that it is risky. If you thought the investment would pay 10% but it ends up paying only 4%, then you will lose money by this strategy. Also, there's the psychological element: Many people SAY and fully INTEND to invest their money, but then find other things they want to buy and so spend it instead. If you pay cash, you're committed.


"No magic answers here. Housing is a market, and the conditions in each local market vary. I think impact on cash flow is the best way to evaluate housing prices. In general, I consider a ""cheap"" home to cost 20% or less of your income, ""affordable"" between 20-30% and ""not affordable"" over 30%. When you start comparing rent vs. buy, there are other factors that you need to think about: Renting is an easy transaction. You're comparing prices in  a market that is usually pretty stable, and your risk and liability is low. The ""cost"" of the low risk is that you have virtually no prospects of recouping any value out of the cash that you are laying out for your home. Buying is more complex. You're buying a house, building equity and probably making money due to appreciation. You need to be vigilant about expenses and circumstances that affect the value of your home as an investment. If you live in a high-tax state like New York, an extra $1,200 in property taxes saps over $16,000 of buying (borrowing) power from a future purchaser of your home. If your HOA or condo association is run by a pack of idiots, you're going to end up paying through the nose for their mistakes. Another consideration is your tastes. If you tend to live above your means, you're not going to be able to afford necessary maintenance on the house that you paid too much for."


>For any dynamic enterprise, there's the innovator, and the investor who's money makes it real.  I think Stewart had 2 points here, though.  The first being that innovators innovate for the sake of innovating, the second being that a 2% increase in the capital gains tax is not going to force investors to look at Somalia for better investment opportunities.


they can't keep putting out sustaining innovations. they need to tweak their business models to produce innovations that shake-up the market; disruptive innovations. they need to make sure their value propositions focus on the job consumers perform, and find ways to make those jobs simpler and more affordable.


"**Cycle of poverty**  In economics, the cycle of poverty is the ""set of factors or events by which poverty, once started, is likely to continue unless there is outside intervention"".  The cycle of poverty has been defined as a phenomenon where poor families become impoverished for at least three generations, i.e. for enough time that the family includes no surviving ancestors who possess and can transmit the intellectual, social, and cultural capital necessary to stay out of or change their impoverished condition. In calculations of expected generation length and ancestor lifespan, the lower median age of parents in these families is offset by the shorter lifespans in many of these groups.  ***  ^[ [^PM](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=kittens_from_space) ^| [^Exclude ^me](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiTextBot&message=Excludeme&subject=Excludeme) ^| [^Exclude ^from ^subreddit](https://np.reddit.com/r/economy/about/banned) ^| [^FAQ ^/ ^Information](https://np.reddit.com/r/WikiTextBot/wiki/index) ^| [^Source](https://github.com/kittenswolf/WikiTextBot)   ^] ^Downvote ^to ^remove ^| ^v0.27"


This is a pretty good list, but there are several adjustments I'd make for investment banking specifically. The picture is slightly different for trading, consulting, and other business careers.  edit: I know for a fact that all bulge bracket investment banks recruit at Berkeley, UCLA, and CMU for IBD. I would say the big difference between target and semi-target is that, expending minimal effort, you can get into IBD from a target with a 3.5 GPA.  edit2: Liberal arts colleges are spread between the three categories. It really depends on the alumni network.  **Targets**: Harvard, *Penn*/Wharton, Princeton, MIT, Duke, NYU, Stanford, Columbia, Yale, Brown, Dartmouth, *Georgetown*, Cornell, *Northwestern*, Chicago, *Caltech*, and other top schools I might've left out (Amherst or other good liberal arts schools, I'm less familiar here)  **Semi-Targets**: *Berkeley*, *UCLA*, *CMU*, *USC*, Vanderbilt, *Georgia Tech*, UVA, UNC Chapel Hill, Notre Dame, Emory, Michigan, Indiana, Texas, etc. (think great state schools)  **Non-Targets**: You get the picture. Less recruiting here, but some might still get recruited at.


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This is not allowed, and there is a name for it: IBAN discrimination. Searching for that term will give you some pointers what to do about it. The EU regulation that prohibits this is 260/2012, article 9, paragraph 2: A payee accepting a credit transfer or using a direct debit to collect funds from a payer holding a payment account located within the Union shall not specify the Member State in which that payment account is to be located, provided that the payment account is reachable in accordance with Article 3. You can report this at the relevant national authorities. In the Netherlands, this is De Nederlandsche Bank, which has a special e-mail address for this: meldpuntIBANdiscriminatie@dnb.nl


They're digitized now too on what's called an ECDIS (electronic chart display information system) that automatically updates but an actual ECDIS is expensive. There are plenty of other plotters and iPad programs and stuff that are available that can be updated as well but they're not approved for commercial navigation. A lot of professionals still use them though because they're handy and more intuitive.


When you buy your list from eSalesData, we go the whole nine yards in ensuring that your data is a hundred percent fresh and accurate. Each list is run through 6 stages of verification and cross referencing against a master database prior to delivery. And that means you get only the cleanest, most recent list that guarantee you a bounce-free campaign.


PKO Bank polski has  a feature of free incoming,outgoing transfer.


> The essential reason for this is that rising premiums in silver plans would trigger an increase in tax credits for low-income individuals whose premium-paying responsibilities are limited by the ACA.  So if I'm understanding this correctly, a reduction in subsidies for silver plan recipients would result in higher premiums overall, which would result in low-income individuals losing enough income to qualify for other tax benefit programs that would cancel out these higher premiums.   If that is the case, what an odd take on that scenario. It's finding the one silver lining in a very, very bad situation. The case described would push a lot of people off the cliff of self-sufficiency, and the headline makes that sound like a good thing?


"Eh. A FICO change is more important than you think.  Underwriting waterfalls almost always include **minimum** FICO scores. This only really becomes important when you get into securitization and the standards (both GSE and Private-Label) required for MBS issuance. Because -- of course -- an underwriter can originate a loan and then hold it it on the books (this is very prevalent in non-conforming Jumbo loans).  That said, if you want to sell the whole loans to a GSE or private label, they have to meet underwriting requirements (Reps & Warranties).   To your original answer: you're right that it probably won't make a difference but not because FICO doesn't matter. Moreso because there are only 9 million potential ""borrowers"" affected and that 9 million most likely doesn't constitute any real demand for mortgages.  This also ignores the possibility that FICO requirements in underwriting standards adjust to FICO 9; but I really doubt that they will."


I work in logistics and in tandem with Amazon. Automated trucks is a LONG way down the pipe. They are not going to be able to implement that on a large scale for what I would imagine is at least 5-10 years. That's not to say it can't happen sooner, but with where we are at with the technology, that seems to be realistic.


"Its very much is a ""Amazon is taking over the world"" type article when that is far from the case.  More so it claims Amazon is taking over the infrastructure but supports the claim with nothing to support that actual claim. What they try to use is nothing more than points to a company growing and expanding.  A lot of the infrastructure Amazon is ""taking over"" is owned and operated by them."


In the US the best way to solve the problem, IMHO, would be via a trust. Talk to a properly licensed trust/estate attorney and a tax adviser (EA/CPA licensed in your State). Using intermediary who's not a 501(c) organization may pose income tax issues to that intermediary as providing support to the needy is not a valid business expense. It may also pose gift tax issues, since the aggregate amounts may exceed the statutory exemption limits. Using a (non-revokable) trust you can avoid these issues, but others may come up (such as what to do with the trust income or undistributed moneys). Talk to the advisers about how to avoid them.


Interesting. I've actually experimented with my Uber rating from time to time by tipping (in cash, obviously) every time for a week and then never tipping for a week. Tipping definitely does impact the rating (even though I can't imagine why I'd ever have deserved less than 5 stars every time, tip or otherwise).  I travel a lot, so I've also noticed that it depends on where you are - in certain areas tipping is expected, even if that's technically against the rules. I'm not sure how that expectation would change if the driver knew that he *may* have gotten a tip, but it would be an interesting experiment.


ESPN get over $8 per subscriber per month. The next best channel is TNT with something like a $1.27. 45+% of Dis revenues comes from Cable operations, of which, I believe ESPN makes up half of that figure. Their streaming service might augment the declining revenue from Cable, but like I said, it's plugging a hole, but the boats still sinking.


"When we calculate the realized yield of a bond, we assume the coupons are invested at an interest rate. I assume it is some kind of vehicle that guarantees a return, thinking it is government bond, savings account or something. Investing in a benchmark bond index might be risky though for this ""interest rate""."


For those who say that we should spend more in stimulus, I'd be interested to see your ballpark amount that would be ideal to spend and what the expected result would be.  I'm genuinely interested to see if there is a consensus range of spending/expectation out there.


GMA would call back the notes provided they are able to find alternative funds at cheaper rates. Yes you are right the interest rates are at all time low ... however not one would lend me a Billion dollars, people have to trust me that I would be able to return the funds ... even if I am willing to pay 50% interest per annum, I would not get the funds ... Similarly GMA notes are unsecured notes, not backed by any assets. Further there is history to it ... in short today GMA is not in a position to get a cheaper funds available to them ... the day they get it, they will call in the older notes and maybe issues new notes or get some other form of funding


"This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-23/brady-signals-retirement-changes-are-still-on-tax-writers-table) reduced by 60%. (I'm a bot) ***** > Almost 12 hours after President Donald Trump ruled out changes to 401(k) retirement-savings plans, a top congressional tax writer indicated that retirement savings remains under review.  > One alternative plan would call for people to fund their retirement with after-tax earnings, but allow them to withdraw the money tax-free later on, according to Senator Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican - essentially moving toward the model for &quot;Roth&quot; individual retirement accounts.  > Giant asset managers such as Vanguard Group and Fidelity Investments have said they fear that cutting 401(k) tax deferrals to just $2,400 a year would reduce the American public&#039;s notoriously low savings rate even more, jeopardizing their retirement income.   ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/78ovy5/brady_signals_retirement_changes_are_still_on/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ ""Version 1.65, ~234978 tl;drs so far."") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr ""PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome."") | *Top* *keywords*: **save**^#1 **retirement**^#2 **tax**^#3 **accounts**^#4 **income**^#5"


Care to support that. I first came to know Buffet in about 1996. No one in history had done what he did for that length of time. He has basically the same track record today, except it's longer.   He may have benefitted from some luck. But I think it's equally likely he did what he did in spite of bad luck. The only thing I'm certain he's been lucky at is being born with a unique memory and brain power.


A stock dividend converts some of the reserves and surplus on the company's balance sheet into paid-up capital and securities premium account without involving any actual cash outflow to the shareholders. While cash dividends are eyed by the investors due to their cash yield, issuance of stock dividends are indicators of growing confidence of the management and the shareholders in the company.  The fact that shareholders want to convert free cash sitting on the balance sheet (which can ideally be taken out as dividends) into blocked money in exchange for shares is symbolic to their confidence in the company. This in turn is expected to lead to an increase in market price of the stock.


This is what is called a Structured Product.  The linked page gives an overview of the relative pros and cons.  They tend to hold the bulk of funds in bonds and then used equity index futures and other derivatives to match returns on the S&P, or other indices tracked.  All combine to provide the downside protection. Note that your mother did not receive the dividends paid by the constituent companies.  She only received the capital return. Here is a link to Citigroup (Europe) current structured product offerings. Here is a link to Fidelity's current offerings of structured products. Here is Investopedia's article detailing the pitfalls. The popularity of these products appears to be on the wane, having been heavily promoted and sold by the providers at the time your mother invested.  Most of these products only provide 100% protection of capital if the market does not fall by a specified amount, either in successive reporting periods or over the life of the product.  There are almost as many terms and conditions imposed on the protection as there are structured products available.  I have no personal experience buying this type of product, preferring to have the option to trade and receive dividend income.


are you being serious right now? anyone who lets their 4 year old have heroin is a terrible parent. in fact, i'm going out on a limb and saying anyone who lets their children have heroin before the age of 8 is just completely unfit.


No, what they say is irrelevant.   This is something that can easily be analyzed by external parties. There are specific methods of doing business that are inherently political, such as working with local governments to seize property via eminent domain.   The how is a big topic, too big for this thread, but it's not required that we blindly trust business or government.


Extortionate expense ratio aside, comparing the fund to the vanguard balanced fund (with an expense ratio of 0.19%) shows that your bank's fund has underperformed in literally every shown time period. Mind you, the vanguard fund is all US stocks and bonds which have done very well whereas the CIBC fund is mostly Canadian. Looking at the CIBC top 10 holdings does seem to suggest that it's (poorly) actively managed instead of being an index tracker for what that's worth. Maybe your bank offers cheaper transaction costs when buying their own funds but even then the discount would have to be pretty big to make up for the underperformance. Basically, go Vanguard here.


Not sure about the US but in Canada, Costco website is useless. There is no link at all from the warehouses to the online presence. There is no way of checking whats in the warehouse, whats in stock or anything. Usually, what you see online isnt even available in the store.


Dunn & Bradstreet offers detailed credit reports on businesses.  They are not cheap, but they appear to have information on RIOCAN.


Fun Fact Followup: The war on terrorism is directly correlated to increases in measures to follow money that isn't being claimed as income (aka laundered). The acts being instituted to prevent the funding of terrorism have made cash increasingly difficult to spend and made the tracking of earnings more of a priority.


"Investopedia explains how a stock split impacts the stock's options: Each option contract is typically in control of 100 shares of an underlying security at a predetermined strike price. To find the new coverage of the option, take the split ratio and multiply by the old coverage (normally 100 shares). To find the new strike price, take the old strike price and divide by the split ratio. Say, for example, you own a call for 100 shares of XYZ with a strike price of $75. Now, if XYZ had a stock split of 2 for 1, then the option would now be for 200 shares with a strike price of $37.50. If, on the other hand, the stock split was 3 for 2, then the option would be for 150 shares with a strike price of $50. So, yes, a 2 for 1 stock split would halve the option strike prices.  Also, in case the Investopedia article isn't clear, after a split the options still control 100 shares per contract. Regarding how a dividend affects option prices, I found an article with a good explanation: As mentioned above, dividends payment could reduce the price of a stock due to reduction of the company's assets. It becomes intuitive to know that if a stock is expected to go down, its call options will drop in extrinsic value while its put options will gain in extrinsic value before it happens. Indeed, dividends deflate the extrinsic value of call options and inflate the extrinsic value of put options weeks or even months before an expected dividend payment.  Extrinsic value of Call Options are deflated due to dividends not only because of an expected reduction in the price of the stock but also due to the fact that call options buyers do not get paid the dividends that the stock buyers do. This makes call options of dividend paying stocks less attractive to own than the stocks itself, thereby depressing its extrinsic value. How much the value of call options drop due to dividends is really a function of its moneyness. In the money call options with high delta would be expected to drop the most on ex-date while out of the money call options with lower delta would be least affected. If a stock is expected to drop by a certain amount, that drop would already have been priced into the extrinsic value of its put options way beforehand. This is what happens to put options of dividend paying stocks. This effect is again a function of options moneyness but this time, in the money put options raise in extrinsic value more than out of the money put options. This is because in the money put options with delta of close to -1 would gain almost dollar or dollar on the drop of a stock. As such, in the money put options would rise in extrinsic value almost as much as the dividend rate itself while out of the money put options may not experience any changes since the dividend effect may not be strong enough to bring the stock down to take those out of the money put options in the money. So, no, a dividend of $1 will not necessarily decrease an option's price by $1 on the ex-dividend date.  It depends on whether it's a call or put option, and whether the option is ""in the money"" or ""out of the money"" and by how much."


"tl;dr: I agree with Pete B.'s assertion that you should continue shopping. That's not the whole story though; there are other factors that can raise your rate, and affect your closing costs. The published rate is typically the best rate you can get. Here are some other factors that can raise your rate: You should have received a loan estimate which will itemize the fees you will pay. On that document you will see if you are paying a price to ""buy down"" the rate, and all the other fees. How are you calculating the 2.5%? Note that some fees are fixed. An appraisal on a $40K home may cost the same as an appraisal for a $400K home. If you add up the total closing costs and view it as a percentage of the loan, the smaller loan may have a higher percentage than the larger loan, even though the total cost of the smaller loan is less."


This is a retarded statement.  Excel was never meant to be used for gigantic complex models based on large data sets but it's still incredibly valuable.  I've been using it for 20 years in my career and when it comes to building quick and dirty analyses and forecasting models I will run circles around anybody trying to use R or Python.


"I think your logic is flawed when you say CD's are ""better than records"" I hope you are not talking about sound quality...Unless you are working with Blu-ray quality audio files on those CD's (which I can assure you are not going for 25 cents to $1). Again assuming we are not talking about Blu-ray quality CD's compress the audio file down thus sacrificing the quality of the sound.   your cited source even says "" are many examples where a vinyl record may sound better than its equivalent CD for extremely specific reasons. Conversely, there are many CD's that may sound better than a vinyl record for specific reasons."""


"I think anyone who is seriously contemplating a real estate purchase needs to sit down and read some history -- in particular the accounts of the 1930's and what happened to people who jumped into real estate in the midst of the depression.    If you're not aware: by and large, what happened is they lost their asses: the property continues to fall in value, and then they're on the hooked for increasing taxes as local and state governments raise taxes in a desperate attempt to plug budget holes.  And, of course, interest rates are headed nowhere but up.  That will inversely impact your home's value, given that most people buy homes exactly like you're thinking about them: not how much the home is worth, but rather how much payment can you afford (as rates go up, you can afford less).  A contemporary piece which has lots of accounts of this over multiple years is [The Great Depression - A Diary](http://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Depression-A-Diary/dp/1586489011).  IMHO real estate is to be avoided until well after a bottom has been reached, and that's IMHO still some years away.  Someone coming out of college now should ferret away as much money as possible, live as cheaply as possible, and stay far, far away from thoughts of ""gee, it sure would be a good idea to go drop half a million dollars on a house when I'm making $70K.""  While you're predicting raises and employment, neither is safe to take for granted.  Indeed, many folks thought that in the late 00's and got absolutely destroyed financially as a result."


"That's because the one guy in Portland who knows Thai food has gone down the rabbit hole and knows what Thai food is on a very deep level. He's friends with biggest Thai foodies on the planet. He knows far more about Thai fold than the average Thai person in Thailand.  I haven't eaten at his restaurants, but I assume they're good...I also assume he has problems still due to ingredients and the palate of his customers.   Everywhere else in America, including the rest of Portland, the people have trouble securing good ingredients or have forgotten what Thai food even tastes like (Thai Town). I took Thai friends to multiple places in Thai town--all the best reviewed ones...by Americans--and they were basically disgusted.   Thai food is one of those types of food that can taste pretty good even when it's the lowest quality, most haphazardly formed dish on the market. In America, families tend to form restaurants where they serve a million different types of dishes, which becomes a logistical nightmare when there aren't good markets that have what you need.   In Thailand, many of the best places specialize in very few dishes on an expert level. In Thailand, for every one place that specializes in something like beef noodles that is utterly amazing, there are ten beef noodles places that taste okay and a tourist is likely to assume whatever beef noodles they have is as good as it gets....unless they're lucky enough to stumble upon the mind blowing beef noodles.   In America, most of the Thai restaurants serve a million different types of dishes. They all remind me of the restaurants you see in the more tourist heavy parts of Bangkok where there are a million pictures on the wall with the advertised prices and a ton of different dishes, none of which are exceptional.  In Thailand, if a place is serving a lot of different dishes, most of those restaurants will be marginal. Or! they'll have a lot of different dishes from a specific region (E-San, for example) or serving a particular style of food which they are experts in (duck restaurants in Thailand often have a lot of other Chinese dishes that accompany the duck). That's hard to do. For every one of those in Thailand, all will taste decent, 1/10 will be mind blowing.   In the US, you don't even have beef noodle places or duck rice places...you have ""Thai restaurants"" made by people who left Thailand long ago, only to return to eat at the same restaurants tourists walk into."


"Historically, Banks are mandated to take relatively safe risks with their money.  In exchange, they gain a de-facto permission to invent new money.  They have regulations about what mix of assets they are permitted to own.  Real estate speculation will be in a different category than a mortgage to someone with good credit. Second, mortgages with a secured asset are pretty safe almost all of the time.  That person might stop paying their mortgage, but it is secured; when that happens, the bank gets the secured asset (the right-to-apartment or house or what have you). In a sense, the bank loses only if both the person paying the mortgage is less creditworthy than they look, and the secured asset cannot recoup their losses. In comparison, the person paying the mortgage loses if the secured asset cannot recoup their losses. The bank is buffered from risk two fold.  What more, the bank uses the customer to determine what to invest in. Deciding what to do with money is expensive and hard.  By both having a customer willing to put their good credit on the line and doing due diligence on the apartment, the Bank in effect uses you as a consultant who decides this may be a solid investment.  Much of the risk of failure is on you, so you have lots of incentive to make a good choice. If the Bank was instead deciding which apartment where worth buying, who would decide?  A bank employee, whose bonus this year depends on finding a ""great apartment to invest in?"", but the consequence of a bad choice doesn't show up for many years?  The people selling the bank the apartments? Such a business can exist.  There are real estate companies that take money, and invest it in real estate.  Often the borrow money from Banks secured against their existing real estate and use it to build more real estate.  (Notice the bit about it being secured against existing real estate; things go south, Bank gets stuff). The Bank's indirect investment in that apartment in the current system is covered by appraisals, the seller, the mortgage holder, and the system deciding that the mortgage holder is creditworthy. Banks sell risk.  They lend you money, you go off and do something risky with it, and they get a the low-risk return on investment of your loan.  Multiple such low-risk investments provides them with a relatively dependable stream of money, which they give out to their bondholders, deposit account customers, shareholders or what have you. When you take a mortgage out for that, you are buying risk from the bank.  You are more exposed to the failure of the investment than they are.  They get less return if things go really well."


Are you going to South Africa or from?  (Looking on your profile for this info.) If you're going to South Africa, you could do worse than to buy five or six one-ounce krugerrands.  Maybe wait until next year to buy a few; you may get a slightly better deal. Not only is it gold, it's minted by that country, so it's easier to liquidate should you need to.  Plus, they go for a smaller premium in the US than some other forms of gold. As for the rest of the $100k, I don't know ... either park it in CD ladders or put it in something that benefits if the economy gets worse. (Cheery, ain't I? ;) )


If you want to pay them off as quickly as possible, pay the minimum payment on the larger two and dump as much as you can into the one with the 8.75% interest.  Then, even though it has a slightly lower interest rate, I would attack the one with the next smallest balance after that, while continuing to make the minimum payment on the one with the largest balance.


"Eh - no problem at all. Wait a decade or two and they'll train up the best engineers in the world.    Remember that Germany began its process of industrialization by making cheap knock-offs of British goods, and that Japanese products were considered sub-par crap as recently as the 1960's (integral to one of the most memorable jokes in the first ""Back to the Future"" movies.)"


> You need to look at where the profits are coming from.  Sure.  If profits are coming from non-recurring revenue sources, then it isn't a great indication of ongoing profitability.  If, on the other hand, profits are coming from lean staffing, low costs and a focus on the bottom line...then you're talking about how a well-run business is operated.  It has been a long time since I worked on the floor of an IB so I can't speak to work happiness these days, but I do know that much of the exodus is in the form of people leaving for the buyside (as always), or for greener pastures working on FinTech out in SF.