sonny-dev/inters-qdu huggingface dataset:
Query: How do auto-loan payments factor into taxes for cars that are solely used by dependent(s)?

Relevant passages:
 <=SEP=> It only matters for purposes of the dependent, so if you are clearly at 50%, then you don't need to calculate this cost.  If it is close to not being 50%, then you will have to allocate between your sister and mother.  To calculate support costs, you can of course include the costs incurred for transportation, per Pub 17 p 34.  If you and your sister have an arrangement where she uses the car and in exchange she shoulders extra costs for your mother, then that's legitimately your expense for your mother (as long as this is a true agreement, then it was money she owed you but paid directly to the vendors and creditors that you would have paid). Note that there is a simpler avenue.  If your sister agrees that you will claim your mother as dependent, and nobody else provides any substantial support (10%+ of costs), then she can just agree that it's you who will claim her.  If you like, such an agreement may be attached to your taxes, possibly using Form 2120.  As a general rule, though, you do not need to use 2120 or any other agreement, nor submit any support calculations.  If your sister verbally agrees that she hasn't and won't claim your mother, then it's unlikely to cause any problems.  Her signed agreement not to claim your mother is merely the most conservative possible documentation strategy, but isn't really necessary.  See Pub 17, p 35 on Multiple Support Agreements for more info.

 <=SEP=> I don't see how allowing usage of your vehicle is less support than giving money to buy their own vehicle. If that's the only vehicle your mother has - then you're supporting her. Quantifying that support may be difficult though, but if you are providing her all of her needs - it doesn't matter. If she does have income of her own, I do not think that you can put the actual amount you're paying as part of the calculation towards the 50% rule since she would otherwise have bought a much cheaper car. But if you pass the 50% threshold even without the car payments - then you're fine either way.
Query: Resources on Buying Rental Properties

Relevant passages:
 <=SEP=> In no particular order - to help you on deciding whether to invest or not: Building Wealth One House at a Time Buy & Rent Foreclosures: 3 Million Net Worth, 22,000 Net Per Month, In 7 Years...You can too!  Landlording on Auto-Pilot: A Simple, No-Brainer System for Higher Profits and Fewer Headaches and for when/if you actually decide to start: Investing in Real Estate I've read all the books above and they all have a little bit of information here and there to take out - although they have some redudency it is the good type you need to learn/know anyway. Hope this helps.

 <=SEP=> The book HOLD: How to Find, Buy, and Rent Houses for Wealth by Chader et al. was one of the best I've read on the subject. It has all of the basics, explanations, examples, and gives you real-life assumptions for your inputs when you do your analysis. It does contain some less-relevant information now that was more realistic before 2007, but it's a worthwhile read (or listen). They have some good starter worksheets, as well, on their website to help you do your analysis, which I found useful despite already having my own.

 <=SEP=> "I would also suggest finding the training resource within your state for real estate agent license exam prep...  When I was getting started, I took the ""101"" level course and it was worth the few hundred bucks for the overview I gleaned."
Query: Can I deduct interest and fees on a loan for qualified medical expenses?

Relevant passages:
 <=SEP=> IRS Publication 502: Medical expenses are the costs of diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, and the costs for   treatments affecting any part or function of the body. Loan interest and fees do not meet this definition.  Your loan interest and fees are a cost of the payment method you chose (a loan), not a cost of medical treatment. The IRS makes clear where loan interest is deductible.  Publication 936 discusses home mortgage interest deductions, and Publication 970 specifically discusses student loan interest deductions. Considering Publication 502's definition of a medical expense, combined with the absence of a publication discussing medical expense loan interest deductions, one must conclude that medical loan interest and fees are not deductible.
Query: How does “taking over payments” work?

Relevant passages:
 <=SEP=> The phrase doesn't mean anything specifically. Your SO could start paying the payments, but the title and lien would remain in your name.  If you wanted to change the title or lien to be in her name, you would have to sell the car to her (sales tax would be involved but the process would be relatively painless).  You could sell her the car for a pretty cheap price, but not $1. (unless the depreciated value of the car was less than the rest of the loan amount). You could draft up an agreement that if you break up or something, she agrees to buy the car from you for $x dollars minus all the payments she has made on the car.

 <=SEP=> "I think this phrase originates from when it was common to have an assumable mortgage.  In that case, you would ""take over payments"" and the loan would become yours.   From Investopedia: Assumable Mortgage: A type of   financing arrangement in which the   outstanding mortgage and its terms can   be transferred from the current owner   to a buyer. By assuming the previous   owner's remaining debt, the buyer can   avoid having to obtain his or her own   mortgage."
Query: Pros / cons of being more involved with IRA investments [duplicate]

Relevant passages:
 <=SEP=> diversifying; but isn't that what mutual funds already do? They diversify and reduce stock-specific risk by moving from individual stocks to many stocks, but you can diversify even further by selecting different fund types (e.g. large-cal, small-cap, fixed- income (bond) funds, international, etc.).  Your target-date fund probably includes a few different types already, and will automatically reallocate to less risky investments as you get close to the target date. I would look at the fees of different types of funds, and compare them to the historical returns of those funds.  You can also use things like morningstar and other ratings as guides, but they are generally very large buckets and may not be much help distinguishing between individual funds. So to answer the question, yes you can diversify further - and probably get better returns (and lower fees) that a target-date fund.  The question is - is it worth your time and effort to do so?  You're obviously comfortable investing for the long-term, so you might get some benefit by spending a little time looking for different funds to increase your diversification. Note that ETFs don't really diversify any differently than mutual funds, they are just a different mechanism to invest in funds, and allow different trading strategies (trading during the day, derivatives, selling short, etc.).

 <=SEP=> Let’s compare your target fund, FFFFX to a well-known ETF, SPY; SPDR S&P 500 ETF. Source: Yahoo Finance The difference in performance over a longer time-frame is significant, You can and should carefully research better funds in order to improve performance. FULL DISCLOSURE: My own IRA is at Fidelity. Less than 10% of my IRA is in Fidelity mutual funds. None is in FFFFX.
Query: Is there any site you can find out about the 'bonus features' of credit cards?

Relevant passages:
 <=SEP=> Billshrink offers some pretty neat analysis tools to help you pick a credit card. They focus more on rewards than the features you mention but it might be worth a look. If you use Mint, they offer a similar service, too. If you're not already using Mint, though, I'd look at Billshrink as Mint requires some extensive setup. MOD EDIT  Looks like billshrink.com is shut down.  From their site: Dear BillShrink customer, As you may have heard, BillShrink.com was shut down on July 31, 2013.   While we’re sad to say goodbye, we hope we’ve been able to help you be   better informed and save some money along the way! The good news is   that much of the innovative award-winning BillShrink technology will   still be available via our StatementRewards platform (made available   to customers by our partnering financial institutions). Moreover, we   expect to re-launch a new money-saving service in the future. To see   more of what we’re up to, visit Truaxis.com. We have deleted your personal information as of July 31. We will   retain your email address only to announce a preview of the new tool.   If you do not want us to retain your email address, you can opt out in   the form below. This opt out feature will be available until September   31, 2013. If you have already opted out previously, you do not need to   opt out again. If you have any further questions, contact us at   info@billshrink.com. Thanks, The BillShrink/Truaxis Team
Query: Are “hard money loans” meant only for real estate?

Relevant passages:
 <=SEP=> From Wikipedia: A hard money loan is a specific type of asset-based loan financing through which a borrower receives funds secured by the value of a parcel of real estate. Hard money loans are typically issued at much higher interest rates than conventional commercial or residential property loans and are almost never issued by a commercial bank or other deposit institution. Hard money is similar to a bridge loan, which usually has similar criteria for lending as well as cost to the borrowers. The primary difference is that a bridge loan often refers to a commercial property or investment property that may be in transition and does not yet qualify for traditional financing, whereas hard money often refers to not only an asset-based loan with a high interest rate, but possibly a distressed financial situation, such as arrears on the existing mortgage, or where bankruptcy and foreclosure proceedings are occurring. This implies to me that these loans are only against real estate. Presumably, because it doesn't move and can't be simply taken away, as in the case where you have say, a high value diamond or painting.
Query: How and where do companies publish financial reports?

Relevant passages:
 <=SEP=> Yes it is true. The US based companies have to meet the requirements placed on them by the US government. The agency with all these reports is the Security and Exchange Commission. They run the EDGAR system to hold all those required reports The SEC’s EDGAR database provides free public access to corporate   information, allowing you to quickly research a company’s financial   information and operations by reviewing registration statements,   prospectuses and periodic reports filed on Forms 10-K and 10-Q. You   also can find information about recent corporate events reported on   Form 8-K but that a company does not have to disclose to investors. EDGAR also provides access to comment and response letters relating to   disclosure filings made after August 1, 2004, and reviewed by either   the Division of Corporation Finance or the Division of Investment   Management. On May 22, 2006, the staffs of the Divisions of   Corporation Finance and Investment Management began to use the EDGAR   system to issue notifications of effectiveness for Securities Act   registration statements and post-effective amendments, other than   those that become effective automatically by law. These notifications   will be posted to the EDGAR system the morning after a filing is   determined to be effective. As pointed out by Grade 'Eh' Bacon: Other countries may require different types of information to be reported to the public, in particular, financial statements. To find the financial statements released for a particular company, you can go to the appropriate stock exchange, or often simply the company's corporate website.
Query: What's the fuss about identity theft?

Relevant passages:
 <=SEP=> The problem is that the reason you find out may be that you are at the car dealer, picked out a car, and getting ready to sign the loan papers with your supposedly good credit, and you are denied for late payment on loans you didn't know you have.  Or debt collectors  start hounding you.  Or you credit card interest rates go up.  Or you are charged more for your insurance because you are seen as a bad credit risk.  Or you can't rent an apartment.  The list is almost endless. It can takes many months and hours spent on the phone to fix these things.

 <=SEP=> While everything can be fixed in the end, and you can usually get all your money back, recovering from identity theft can take months or years. In the meantime, these are some of the things which you might not be able to do: In addition, you could face the following events: For all that, checking your credit report / score once or twice a year is probably enough.  If you're planning on a major purchase, though, you should get a copy of your full credit report from all three major bureaus (Equifax, Transunion and Experian) a few months ahead of time.  Even if everything on them is kosher, having that information on hand will give you a leg up when you go for financing.

 <=SEP=> Everything lies in In the end. How many days/weeks/months/years can you wait for your money back?

 <=SEP=> Real world case: IRS:  You owe us $x.  You didn't report your income from job y. My mother:  I didn't work for y.  I don't even know who y is. IRS:  If the W-2 is wrong, talk to them to get it fixed. My mother:  I can't find y.  Please give me an address or phone. IRS:  We can't.  You talk to them and get it fixed. I know this dragged on for more than a year, they never mentioned the final outcome and they're gone now so I can't ask.
Query: Do I need multiple credit monitoring services?

Relevant passages:
 <=SEP=> Monitoring your credit doesn't do much. There are some vendors that actually have staff to repair your credit/identity. Substantially all of the credit monitoring services do what they say and monitor.  If you have a problem they notify you then point you to the place(s) that you can work with to repair the issue.  This is not terribly valuable, definitely not worth having multiples, but the repair aspect of some IS very valuable.   You sign a limited power of attorney and set loose someone else to fix the problem.

 <=SEP=> Good question given what happened with Equifax You could avoid paying extra to Experian  for monitoring all three, if you are getting free monitoring from Equifax(Only if Experian charges less for monitoring their own vs monitoring all three). If you do cancel monitor all three then the only one you would not be monitoring is Trans Union, but you should be fine as most finance companies report to at least two credit unions. But if you want to be 100% sure then monitor all three. But I would regard that as an overkill(personal opinion)

 <=SEP=> "Monitoring all three is good practice. That way, you will be notified as soon as there is a hard pull on any of your reports. Most financial institutions only pull one of your three reports to open new credit. If you're only monitoring one, you won't be alerted to new accounts until about a month passes and they are reported to all three. By this time, restoration will be much, much more difficult than if you called the financial institution immediately to say ""that's not me!"""
Query: Steps and timing of the SEIS investment (in the UK)

Relevant passages:
 <=SEP=> You make the investment in Jan 2016. Assuming the SEIS certificate is issued before 5th April 2016, then you will enter the SEIS investment on your 2015-2016 tax return and claim the relief in that year. If the certificate is not issued in time then you will enter it in the 2016-2017 tax return and get the relief then. Note: I am assuming that the startup is already registered with the SEIS scheme by someone else - because if you are asking about how to go about that, I don't think that is an issue of personal finance.
Query: What is the PEG ratio? How is the PEG ratio calculated? How is the PEG ratio useful for stock investing?

Relevant passages:
 <=SEP=> PEG is Price/Earnings to Growth.  It is calculated as Price/Earnings/Annual EPS Growth.  It represents how good a stock is to buy, factoring in growth of earnings, which P/E does not.  Obviously when PEG is lower, a stock is more undervalued, which means that it is a better buy, and more likely to go up. Additional References:

 <=SEP=> PEG is Price to Earnings Growth.  I've forgotten how it's calculated, I just remember that a PEG ratio of 1-2 is attractive by Graham & Dodd standards.
Query: Bucketing investments to track individual growths

Relevant passages:
 <=SEP=> Some personal finance packages can track basis cost of individual purchase lots or fractions thereof. I believe Quicken does, for example. And the mutual funds I'm invested in tell me this when I redeem shares. I can't vouch for who/what would make this visible at times other than sale; I've never had that need. For that matter I'm not sure what value the info would have unless you're going to try to explicitly sell specific lots rather than doing FIFO or Average accounting.
Query: Learning investing and the stock market

Relevant passages:
 <=SEP=> "It is great that you want to learn more about the Stock Market. I'm curious about the quantitative side of analyzing stocks and other financial instruments. Does anyone have a recommendation where should I start? Which books should I read, or which courses or videos should I watch? Do I need some basic prerequisites such as statistics or macro and microeconomics? Or should I be advanced in those areas? Although I do not have any books or videos to suggest to you at the moment, I will do some more research and edit this answer. In order to understand the quantitative side of analyzing the stock market to have people take you serious enough and trust you with their money for investments, you need to have strong math and analytical skills. You should consider getting a higher level of education in several of the following: Mathematics, Economics, Finance, Statistics, and Computer Science.  In mathematics, you should at least understand the following concepts: In finance, you should at least understand the following concepts: In Computer Science, you should probably know the following: So to answer your question, about ""do you need to be advanced in those areas"", I strongly suggest you do. I've read that books on that topics are such as The Intelligent Investor and Reminiscences of A Stock Operator. Are these books really about the analytics of investing, or are they only about the philosophy of investing? I haven't read the Reminiscences of A Stock Operator, but the Intelligent Investor is based on a philosophy of investing that you should only consider but not depend on when you make investments."

 <=SEP=> I would recommend getting a used set of Chartered Financial Analyst books.  The series is a great broad introduction to the most important aspects of investing and the markets.  Combining both day-to-day knowledge and fundamental theory. CFA materials include in depth discussions of: After you have a strong base then stop by quant.stackexchange and ask about more specialized books or anything else that interests you.  Have fun with your journey.
Query: What is the best way to get a “rough” home appraisal prior to starting the refinance process?

Relevant passages:
 <=SEP=> "It's extremely easy to get a rough valuation of your home. Just phone a real estate agent. Virtually any real estate agent will come and value your home free. Even if you say outright ""I'm not considering selling, I just want a valuation"" they will probably do it, because for them getting contacts of people who might one day want to sell their home is all-important. Even if a few turn you down, some will do it. You might say that an agent isn't going to be as accurate as an appraiser, and you are right. There is also an expectation that they will evaluate higher than the real value, to persuaade you to sell. That probably isn't a big issue, and it's something you can compensate for. And even an appraiser is going to be based somewhat on speculation.  You might try to do this calculation yourself, but an agent has access to the actual sale prices of nearby houses - you can't get that information. You only have access to the asking prices. And did I mention they will do it for free?"

 <=SEP=> I see your remarks regarding Zillow, but would add a question. Why not look only for recent sales? If you find homes similar to yours with recent sales, that's similar to how the appraisers do it. I've refinanced many times and each time, I looked at sales within three miles of my house. I hit the appraised price very close in my estimate, high or low compared to Zillow, but used transaction data from there.just my thought.  I chose a random neighborhood, and this was the first house I clicked. The main view shows last sale date, so I'd obviously suggest the OP look for more recent ones. If turnover is that low in his neighborhood, I understand, but the comment that transactions aren't listed is factually incorrect. I'd like my 2pts back. :)

 <=SEP=> If you're willing to pay a fee, you can probably just get a commercial appraiser to give you a valuation.  In Australia I think it's around $100-200.
Query: How do you calculate return on investment for a share of stock?

Relevant passages:
 <=SEP=> To figure this out, you need to know the price per share then vs the price per share now.  Google Finance will show you historical prices.  For GOOG, the closing price on January 5, 2015 was $513.87.  The price on December 31, 2015 was $758.88.  Return on Investment (ROI) is calculated with this formula: ROI = (Proceeds from Investment - Cost of Investment) / Cost of Investment Using this formula, your return on investment would be 47.7%.  Since the time period was one year, this number is already an annualized return.  If the time period was different than one year, you would normally convert it to an annualized rate of return in order to compare it to other investments.