"You owe only $38,860 to pay off your loan now, possibly less.   From what you say about your loan, tell me if I got this right: 30 year loan $75,780 original loan amount 9% annual interest rate $609.74 monthly payment You have made 272 payments Payment number 273 is not due until late 2019, possibly early 2020 If I have correctly figured out what you have done, you have been making monthly payments early by pulling out payment coupons before they are due and sending them in with payment.  You are about 4 years ahead on your payments.   If I have this correct, if you called the bank and asked ""what is my payoff amount if I want to pay this loan off tomorrow"" they would answer something like $38,860.  When you pay a loan off early, you don't just owe the sum of the coupons still remaining.  In your case, you owe at least $16,000 less! Indeed, if there is some way to convert your 4 years of pre-payments into an early payment, you would owe even less than $38,860.  I don't know banking law well enough to know if that is possible.   You should stop pulling coupons out of your book and paying them early.  Any payments you make between now and when your next payment is actually due (late 2019 sometime?) you should tell the bank you want applied as an early payment.  This will bring your total owed amount down much faster than pulling coupons out of your book and making payments years early.   If there is someone in your family who understands banking pretty well, maybe they can help you sort this out.  I don't know who to refer you to for more personal help, but I really do think you have more than $16,000 to gain by changing how you are paying your mortgage.   Good luck!"


"You should probably bing (feck google) phrases like ""president proposes, congress disposes"" and ""President's budget rejected"" to get a handle on the process.  I sincerely wish we could have a president that would stand up to congress and exercise their veto option more often.   The only way out of this mess is to stop sending corrupt asshats to congress year after year (after year)."


A CD will give you a higher rate of return.  The tradeoff is you cannot access your money until the CD matures. If you need the ability to get your money, you should choose a savings account.  If you won't use your money for awhile, choose a CD. Right now interest rates are so abysmal, you aren't going to get much return with either (so I would recommend against locking up your money in a CD).


With Global Tiger Day coming up this 29th of July, take a look at the top 5 safaris you cannot miss out on. With over 2200 Tigers in India, there’s a safari within arm’s reach for anybody and everybody.


My least favorite thing about Wendy's hamburgers are their buns. They're so full of sugar. Not to say Burger King or McDonalds buns aren't, but Wendy's ruins a much better burger with the mediocre bun. Wendy's fries are probably the worst out of the three.  Their chicken nuggets and chili can't be beat, and neither can the frosty. Most of my trips to Wendy's involve those 3 items.  The edge McDonald's has over BK and Wendys: Many locations are either open late or open 24 hours, and they have a much larger menu.


You're torn between believing in him actually having the intellect to be a VC and the fact that he has actually funded money into a company suggesting he is a VC. I mean, technically he is one by definition standards but he just isn't a VC when there is somebody else forcing his hand.   That's my view anyway, feel free to poke at it :)


The calculation can be made on the basis that the loan is equal to the sum of the repayments discounted to present value.  (For more information see Calculating the Present Value of an Ordinary Annuity.) With Deriving the loan formula from the simple discount summation.  As you can see, this is the same as the loan formula given here. In the UK and Europe APR is usually quoted as the effective interest rate while in the US it is quoted as a nominal rate.  (Also, in the US the effective APR is usually called the annual percentage yield, APY, not APR.) Using the effective interest rate finds the expected answer. The total repayment is £30.78 * n = £1108.08 Using a nominal interest rate does not give the expected answer.


Supplier of talc powder in India http://quartzpowdermanufacturers.com/supplier-of-talc-powder-in-india.php Shri Vinayak Industries-Talc is used as an extender and filler in paints. In plastics it is mainly used as filler. Talc Powder is used in the manufacturing of ceramics products such as bathroom fixtures, ceramic tile, pottery, and dinnerware. Talc as a mineral filler can improve the opacity, brightness, and whiteness of the paper. Ground talc is used as the powder base of many cosmetic products. In pharmaceuticals, talc is used mainly as a basis for powders.


> the gov't caused that, not free markets  News flash: free markets have bubbles, liquidity crashes, structural unemployment, etc  There may certainly be ways the government made things worse, e.g. the entirely strange notion of government insured mortgages, but Wall Street is plenty capable of fucking shit up.  The whole fucking point of of the CDOs was to make money putting them together and then unload them onto some other poor schmuck (e.g. private pension fund).


SE:Personal Finance user Ray K says in a comment on this question that his or her broker said: a company cannot release any significant news in a share-holder meeting that is not publicly accessible / open, similar to how earnings releases are available to the entire public at the same time, not just to a few attending a meeting.


On Credit Cards [I am assuming you have a Visa or Master card], the RBI does not decide the rate. The rate is decided by Visa or Master. The standard Sheet rate for the day is used. Additionally SBI would mark it up by few paise [FX mark-up spread]. This is shown as mark-up fee. The rate of USD Vs INR changes frequently. On large value [say 1 million] trades even a paise off makes a huge difference and hence the rate is constantly changing [going up or down]. The rates offered to individuals are constant through out the day. They change from day to day and can go up for down. Recently in the past 6 months if you read the papers, Rupee has been going down and is at historic low. On a give day there are 2 rates; - Bank Buy Rate, ie the rate at which Bank will BUY USD from you. Say 61. So it will buy 100 USD and give you Rupees 6100. - Bank Sell rate, ie the rate at which Bank will SELL USD to you. Say 62. So if you want 100 USD, you need to give Bank 6200. The difference between this is the profit to bank.


"A dividend is one method of returning value to shareholders, some companies pay richer dividends than others; some companies don't typically pay a dividend.  Understand that shareholders are owners of a company.  When you buy a stock you now own a portion (albeit an extremely small portion) of that company. It is up to you to determine whether holding stock in a company is worth the risk inherent to equity investing over simply holding treasury notes or some other comparable no risk investment like bank savings or CDs.   Investing isn't really intended to change your current life.  A common phrase is ""investing in tomorrow.""  It's about holding on to money so you'll have it for tomorrow.  It's about putting your money to work for you today, so you'll have it tomorrow.  It's all about the future, not your current life."


But it isn't creating energy 17 times faster than conventional / reliable power sources, so these jobs are evidence of waste and inefficiency, not promise.  It's also proof that subsidies and mandates can in fact shape market results.


In the US, the bank is legally required to report any cash transactions over 10k$ to the government. This normally has no consequences, and you will never hear about it. No need to worry about it. If the amount is very high, or you do it repeatedly, or the government has other (pre-existing) reasons to look at your finances sharply, they might ask you where the money came from and what you did with it, but your explanation is perfectly fine (assuming it is true). The idea is to catch money-launderers that try to get large illegal cash incomes into the banking system. Classic example is the drug lord who makes a million a month in cash from selling drugs, and needs to get this million into the banks (as you can't buy houses or luxury cars or yachts with cash without getting FBI attention right away).


It just occured to me that the larger the debt the easier it is for the Fed to strangle the economy, concentrate wealth even more, and choke off government spending on things other than debt service.  It is a huge problem that the US government appears to be in a permanent structural deficit that gets bigger both during expansions AND contractions.


"I am no expert by any means in divorce situations, but it seems like you probably have more than enough evidence (if you can back up everything you outlined here) that the living conditions an her place are not suitable for kids.  This ought to be enough for you to gain sole custody of the kids.  Maybe you didn't want to keep their mother in the equation for their benefit, but right now it's not to their benefit for her to be in the equation. The honest truth is that you're not in a position to help her being divorced.  You can't force her to do anything as things stand now.  But if you take legal actions to gain sole custody you might be able to lay down some conditions under which she could regain partial custody of the kids.  This might be the ""scare"" approach you're looking for if she cares about her children."


I'd rent and put the $30K/ yr into savings. When the short sale comes off your credit, you'll have a substantial downpayment.  You don't mention the balance, but the current rate you're paying is 3% too high. Even if you get the rate reduced, you have a $100K issue.  I recommend reading through Will Short Sale Prevent Me From Getting VA Home Loan Later? A bit different question, but it talks more about the short sale. A comment for that question makes a key point - if you have a short sale, will the bank chase you for the balance? If not, you have a choice to make.  Adding note after user11043 commented - First, run the numbers. If you were to pay the $100K off over 7 years, it's $1534/mo extra. Nearly $130K, and even then, you might not be at 80% LTV. I don't know what rents are like in your area, but do the math. First, if the rent is less than the current mortgage+property tax and maintenance, you will immediately have better cash flow each month, and over time, save towards the newer house.  If you feel compelled to work this out and stay put, I'd go to the bank and tell them you'd like them to recast the loan to a new rate. They have more to lose than you do, and there's nothing wrong with a bit of a threat. You can walk away, or they can do what's reasonable, to just fix your rate. With a 4% rate, you'd easily attack the principal if you wish. As you commented above, if the bank offers no option, I'd seriously consider the short sale. There's nothing wrong with that option from a moral standpoint, in my opinion. This is not Bedford Falls, and you are not hurting your neighbors. The bank is amoral, if not immoral.


"Certain parts of the black-scholes model [d2 and N(d2)] are sometimes used to predict default (Merton model).   Furthermore, using options on the firms equity, one can derive the implied volatility of them firm. This can also be reflected in the above (Merton model) to calculate the ""risk"" or volatility of the firm's assets.   Honestly there are numerous ways one can use the B/S model to price a variety of things. Did they say anymore more specific?"


Look I agree with you in theory.   In practice, it is quite different.   The fact that there is way more educated people than is even remotely necessary. The extreme vast majority of jobs out there DO NOT even require actual ability to get a diploma, let alone a degree.   Think about your daily life: with whom do you actually deal with that requires much of an education? Few people are going to pay more to their barista, retail sales or car detailer because they have an advanced degree.    Everybody having a college degree drives the value down for everybody...which is exactly what is happening.    Things need to be turned on their head. I propose that Colleges need to receive their income as a percentage of the first 10-15 years of income from their students.  It will cut down on bogus baloney degrees, concentrate on valuable students (even those with questionable academics like Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison) and concentrate on degrees with high future value.   However, when you get 2500 applications for a lower-end job, I would immediately take it down to those with a degree because it's easy and nobody will second guess you.


There is no such animal. If you are looking to give up FDIC protection, investing in a short-term, high quality bond fund or a tax-free bond fund with short durations is a good way to balance safety vs. return. Make sure you buy funds -- buying individual bonds isn't appropriate for folks without a high net worth. Another option is savings bonds, but the yields on these is awful today.


World Recovery Centers operate substance abuse and addiction recovery treatment programs in the United States and all over the world. We provide the best addiction treatment recovery, who is addicted to opiates, alcohol, drugs and substance abuse. Dr. Alan Meyers is the founder of this center, which has been helping those people with substance and alcohol addictions for over 30 years.


No, don't open a credit card. Get used to paying cash for everything from the beginning. The best situation you can be in is not to have any credit. When it comes time to buy a house, put down %30 percent and your 0 credit score won't matter. This will keep you within your means, and, with governments gathering more and more data, help preserve your anonimity.


Why is it OK for companies to lose all of our personal information with absolutely no penalties?  If the government fined these companies a dollar per SS number lost you bet your ass they'd start actually paying attention to security for a change.


No. Bonds don't work like that.  When you buy a bond, you buy pieces of notional at a price. 1K denotes the amount you would get back at maturity (+ coupons), So the smallest piece size would be 1k.  I've even seen 50K plus but thats for more illiquid products....


Question: My job that I've been with for 2 1/2 yrs offers a 401k, but doesn't match. I have an account, but it's still sitting with my old employer. The fact that my new job doesn't match and how I've heard so many mixed things about 401k has lead me to not signing up. I'm 40; I need to be doing something to save for retirement. Any advice would be appreciated. Should I invest in 401 anyway or put the money I was going to put in there someplace else? If someplace else, where? Also who would I talk to about money someplace else. I, admittedly, am really bad about all of this stuff, but need to change. My wife and I make 100k combined and should be getting things more together for our future. She has a 401k going, but that's about all we have. Thanks again


"Systemic and well know patterns in sales are priced in to the security.  Typically companies with very cyclical earnings like this will issue guidance of earnings per share within a range.  These expected earnings are priced in before the earnings are actually booked.  If a company meets these expectations the stock will likely stay relatively flat.  If the company misses this expectation, the stock, generally, will get slammed.   This kind of Wall Street behavior typically mystifies media outlets when a company's stock declines after reporting a record high level of whatever metric.  The record high is irrelevant if it misses the expectation. There is no crystal ball but if something is both well known and expected it's already been ""priced in.""  If the well known expected event doesn't occur, maybe it's a new normal."


There is a strategy called merger-arbitrage where you buy the stock of the acquired company when it sells for less than the final acquisition price. Usually the price will rise to about the acquisition price fairly rapidly after the merge is announced, so you have to move fast. The danger is that the merger gets called off (regulatory reasons, the acquired company board votes no) and you get left holding shares bought at a price higher than the price after the merger collapses. This is kind of an advanced strategy and a tough one to back test since each M&A deal is unique.


I recently spoke with people working in IBD at a BB bank, and they say that it is more that certain aspects of the job are going to disappear, not the entire job itself. If automation can free up time that was usually spent on things such as data entry, that is a good thing for bankers.


This is complete bullshit.  To imply a grand conspiracy amongst the upper middle class to construct a barrier to the rest of the middle class' ability to move up is ludicrous.   Does the author think there are clandestine meetings where zoning rules and sandwich ingredients are laid out for execution by brainwashed proletariat to suppress those excluded from the agenda.  How about it is hard work and good parenting?  As someone who grew up in a small midwestern agricultural community, married to an immigrant, I worked hard to get my own education, live in an affluent community, educate my children, and be sure that they have a good start to continue our life style.  To imply that I'm repressing my fellow citizens, either consciously or unconsciously is just propaganda.


401Ks and IRAs are types of retirement accounts. They have rules regarding maximum amount of investments per year; who can invest; destructibility; and the tax treatment of the growth.  Stock, bonds, mutual funds, ETFs are all types of investments that can exist either inside or outside of the retirement account. Some 401Ks restrict the type of investments you can have, others allow you to own almost anything. Any investment is a risk, and there is no guarantee that it will grow.  Look around the site for beginning investment advice. You should start with the 401K offered by your company especially if they have matching funds. That is free money. Many suggest you invest enough to get the match, then invest with an IRA. Look into IRAs because under US tax law you can still make a 2013 investment up until tax day 2014. Take the time before tax day to decide on Roth or Regular IRA.   The more exotic investments take more time to understand and should not be a concern until you have laid out your basic retirement accounts.


Brokers usually have this kind of information, you can take a look at interactive brokers for instance: http://www.interactivebrokers.co.uk/contract_info/v3.6/index.php?action=Details&site=GEN&conid=90384435 You are interested in the initial margin which in this case is $6,075. So you need that amount to buy/sell 1 future. In the contract specification you see the contract is made for 100 ounces. At the current price ($1,800/oz), that would be a total of $180,000. It is equivalent to saying you are getting 30x leverage. If you buy 1 future and the price goes from $1,800 to $1,850, the contract would go from $180,000 to $185,000. You make $5,000 or a 82% return. I am pretty sure you can imagine what happens if the market goes against you.  Futures are great! (when your timing is perfect).


Having all your funds in an illiquid format instead of any liquid investment (shares, bonds, TD) is highly unusual as it makes these events occur.  I'm an investment banker having your investments appropriately staged to deal with liquidity events is a major aspect of this.  For someone apparently worth a billion dollars being unable to pay a $7m tax liability from 2010 is weird.  If I had a tax event equal to 0.07% of my networth I'd either have the cash or shares to sell to meet that liability.  Yet he posts pictures of uncashed cheques while the IRS hasn't been paid since 2010.  50 Cent did this...   Edit. Downvoting without even a comment is the reddit way of saying I'm right...


"The Equity balance is your Assets (stuff you own) minus your Liabilities (debts you owe to others). It represents your ""net worth"" - how much money you would have when you would pay all your debts. When you want anything to show up in Equity, you need to make use of the asset and liability sheets. As long as you only manage Income and Expenses, your equity won't change. When you want to ""save"" money so the saved up money appears as an Asset and thus affecty your Equity, book it as an expense to your Cash or Bank asset account. For more information, check Chapter 3 of the GNUCash manual."


The property buys understanding and advising the property proprietor of the date of the culmination of the development venture, flat, estate, house and office. We provide the best service of Real estate purchase and sale contracts. We typically prescribe that customers hold all property for the sake of a Panamanian partnership for resource security and pay to assess reasons. t ought to be noticed that Panamanian common law puts the weight of duty on the dealer to react to the purchaser for lawful and tranquil ownership.


"NO! They're the *victims* of that development. The music that gets sold today as ""the sound of the 60s/70s/80s"" is the lowest-common-denominator crap that was acceptable to commercial radio owners -- even the DJs hated it.   ""Boomers"" had a whole other musical experience, esp. before the record companies yanked their advertising out of the widespread and rapidly growing underground press (effectively killing it) and dropped all the controversial acts in favor of material that could also be sold to television and Muzak. When young people today cite what they think of as 80s music -- never mind 60s and 70s -- it's completely alien to many of us, even though we certainly lived through those years. I don't know anybody who listens to that ""classic rock"" crap voluntarily, or ever did.  Of course, there will always be fabricated nostalgia -- I'm sure that after a couple of decades of pervasive indoctrination, some people by now believe they always listened to ""classic rock"" and have forgotten what they actually listened to on vinyl. But don't blame everybody in an age group when it's really the same greedheads who profit by appropriating culture and fucking up everything.  I need a big dose of Patti Smith right now."


One should fund a 401(k) or matched retirement account up to the match, even if you have other debt. Long term, you will come out ahead, but you must be disciplined in making the payments. If one wants to point out the risk in a 401(k), I'd suggest the money need not be invested in stocks, there's always a short term safe option.


Genetics and the environment you were raised in are entirely determined by luck. Developed from both of these are all of your traits, preferences, psychology, and personal philosophy through nurturing acceptance, enlightened exposure or rebellion. Taking responsibility for your actions and in-actions is what you did.   You have preferences to be sociable, convincing, hard-working, and good at whatever it is you do (broker?). All of these things are marketable and in line with a good strategy for our western/nepotistic/capitalist culture and the modern state of human nature. All of these things build up your sense of self and have you feel empowered and guess what: having confidence is also a desirable trait!   So lets say we take one of these traits away. Through the result of your upbringing and your genetics you are no longer sociable. Examples: genetics, child abuse, constant verbally abusive/belittling parents, etc. Luck of the draw. I wouldn't say that is the child's fault for being in that situation would you? So, now you are not sociable and you cannot network effectively. There goes your career. How unlucky.


"> No conspiracy required. All you have to agree with is that having money makes it easier to make money and society will sort itself into classes that become further apart and harder to move between.  That wasn't the point of the article.  It stated that separation of classes was being actively orchestrated.  >Those are important but exist in both rich and poor areas and it is a simple fact that you would get further with hard work and good parenting in a rich area than in a poor one.  Do you have anything to support your ""fact""?"


Why do companies exist? Well, the corporate charter describes why the company exists. Usually the purpose is to enrich the shareholders. The owners of a company want to make money, in other words. There are a number of ways that a shareholder can make money off a stock: As such, maintaining the stock price and dividend payouts are generally the number one concern for any company in the long term. Most of the company's business is going to be directed towards making the company more valuable for a future buyout, or more valuable in terms of what it can pay its shareholders directly. Note that the company doesn't always need to be worried about the specifics of the day-to-day moves of the stock. If it keeps the finances in line - solid profits, margins, earnings growth and the like - and can credibly tell people that it's generally a valuable business, it can usually shrug off any medium-term blips as market craziness. Some companies are more explicitly long-term about things than others (e.g. Berkshire Hathaway basically tells people that it doesn't care all that much about what happens in the short term).  Of course, companies are abstractions, and they're run by people. To make the people running the company worry about the stock price, you give them stock. Or stock options, or something like that. A major executive at a big company is likely to have a significant amount of stock. If the company does well, he does well; if it does poorly, he does poorly. Despite a few limitations, this is really a powerful incentive. If a company is losing a lot of money, or if its profits are falling so it's just losing a lot of its value as a business, the owners (stockholders) tend to get upset, and may vote in new management, or launch some sort of shareholder lawsuit. And, as previously noted, to raise funds, a company can also issue new shares to the market as a secondary offering as well (and they can issue fewer shares if the price is high - meaning that whatever the company is worth afterward, the existing owners own proportionally more of it).


Because salaries aren't high enough.  If the salaries were higher more people would pursue that field.  I'm not going to begrudge anyone making billions, but Microsoft is raking in cash, and it's obvious that they'd rather horde it than spend it on talent.  Well, ask a professional sports team about that equation.  Just because salaries are in the 100s of thousands doesn't mean that they're too high.  Especially when you look at these companies financial filings.


"So after you've learned about bonds, you might find yourself learning about interest rates.  You might, in fact, discover that there's no such thing as a ""correct"" interest rate, or even a true ""market"" interest rate.    PS We already had the housing bubble.  It has come, and gone.  What *new* bubble are you referring to?"


"Typical Human Advisor: Advantages: They can recommend funds and allocations that fit to your portfolio. Disadvantages: Those who are just fund salespeople in disguise will usually recommend poor-performing funds for higher commission pay. Their advice will not be much different from random person internet advice. When your portfolio drops, they still get paid, and they don't care because they are not a fiduciary. Robo-Advisor: Advantages: Rules are automated, and typically based on crunched numbers. Somebody else executes the trades, and remembers to rebalance your portfolio when you'd usually forget to. Disadvantages: Not always accurate, usually relies on momentum from popularity. No one at the helm to adjust for risk. If you follow, you'll usually just lag behind. Yet, those with simple, low-cost diversified ETF portfolios can be attractive. Market ETFs: Advantages: Low cost funds that typically match the market. High performance. Easy to sell when you need to, zero decision making required, and you will be sure to nearly match the general market. Disadvantages: Boring. You need to enter your own orders, but you won't be doing that too often. No thrill except counting all the commas in your account. No wacky stories to wow your friends and family about your gambling addiction. Seriously, some people just can't help but take the high risk route. Newsletter / Portfolio / Online ""Expert"": Advantages: They usually have some idea of what indicators to look for and can make predictions about price movements. Disadvantages: Predictions are as frequently wrong as they are right. Good ones won't have much to say, and incompetent ones will write multi-paragraph essays about Fibonacci sequences, resistance levels, trends RSI, ROIT, everything that might show an indicator in some direction maybe... and it's usually forgotten by the next newsletter."


Most of the people I know that own them are slightly older, and thus in their prime earning years, and many have paid off their homes. That can free up $1000 a month or more in monthly expenses, which would easily cover a nice luxury car payment.  If you've got it, and are into cars, why not? What's the point in having the biggest tombstone in the graveyard?


They have ETFs for most of what you listed above.  Except the deep-fried candy bars.  You know that's just a distributed candy bar that is THEN fried right?  They have a few religious ETFs as well as some socially responsible ones.   There is no reason to make one based on a single person's preference though - ETFs make their money on fees.  For that they need VOLUME.   Move Volume = More Money  Also, there are over 1,411 ETF's in the US as of 2014.  That means there are a lot of options already. You could always create your own if you are a great salesperson though. Source


Is it your assessment that Western influence is exacerbating Africa's  child labor/abuse issues or simply making them more visible?  I think the article attempts to villianize consumers/corporations but there is an argument that things would be worse for African countries if they didn't have Western support/trade partners.  I still think articles like this are important but the goal should be for Western corporations to use their huge influence to change third-world abuses.  Pulling out our money won't help but using money as an incentive is a huge motivator.  Anyway, I don't have the answers. Maybe an interesting conversation starter?


You probably cant live in Manhattan on 1800 per month with such little savings. Try for Brooklyn or Queens with several room mates. Jersey City is likely out of your price range as well.  It would be wise to leverage technology to help keep your budget and savings projections under control during this time and moving forward. Whether you use a spreadsheet or a tool like OnTrajectory.com or some other website -- you have to get everything out in front of you so you can make smarter decisions. Once you do that, then you will be able to get the most out of your savings and income. Good luck!


LOL, so you think smoking pot never affects anyone else in the country?   And you think all drugs should be legal and with zero restrictions?  At least alcohol has restrictions.   > Adults in a free country shouldn't have to have their rights constrained because some person on the Internet thinks they know things.  Unless it affects others, which it does.


"Home equity loan is a kind of a mortgage loan. So you're basically asking ""what's better: mortgage or mortgage?"". Home equity loan is usually taken as a second mortgage on the house, while you're still paying the initial one, but accumulated some equity in the property. In the scenario you're describing, there's no ""second mortgage"", there's only one mortgage. You can call it ""The wonderful glorious bestest ever mortgage"" or you can call it ""home equity mortgage"", and it would make no difference to the essence. Look at the numbers, and decide which terms are better, not which name sounds nicer to you."


"Given that a poor person probably has much less to invest, how can odds be in their favor? To add to Lan's great answer, if one is ""poor"" because they don't have enough income to build wealth (invest), then there are only two ways to change the situation - earn more or spend less.  Neither are easy but both are usually possible.  One can take on side jobs, look for a better-paying career, etc.  Cutting spending can also be hard but is generally easier than adding income. In general, wealth building is more about what you do with your income than about how much you make.  Obviously the more you make, the easier it is, but just about anyone can build wealth if they spend less than they make. Once your NET income is high enough that you have investible income, THEN you can start building wealth.  Unfortunately many people have piles of debts to clean up before they are able to get to that point. What could a small guy with $100 do to make himself not poor anymore, right? Just having $100 is not going to make you ""rich"". There is a practical limit to how much return you can make short of high-risk activities like gambling, lottery tickets, etc. (I have actually seen this as a justification for playing the lottery, which I disagree with but is an interesting point).  If you just invest $100 at 25% per year (for illustration - traditional investments typically only make 10-12% on average), in 10 years you'll have about $931. If instead you invest $100 per month at 12% annualized, in 10 years you'll have over $23,000. Not that $23,000 makes you rich - the point is that regularly saving money is much more powerful than having money to start with."


I have read numerous accounts of this, and yes, it is criminal, but no, they can't figure out who did, though presumably the people handling the accounts were guilty of this. Mutant human [Angelo Mozilo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelo_Mozilo)'s organization stands out as the worst offender in this regard with no trickery too extreme.  Ironically sourcing these particular accounts is difficult because of the sheer amount of material pertaining to subprime mortgages and fraud in general.


ok as it goes here on reddit and across the world, thanks for offering a host of reasons as to why, what worked in the past wouldnt work again. It is easy to knock what worked in past, note the victorians, the US 1930's-1970's.  So Now why dont you offer a viable alternative.  let me just say a couple of things you while your thinking about it.  Without the middle class, there is no real working class (only slaves), without disposable income in the hands of the masses there is no market, thus no production, thus no more profit for the 1%.(and only slaves, slaves have no money they cannot buy the production, a slave is a working man without disposable income)  The Rich are not producing, they are hording. The middle class are been screwed totally. Many small business'are folding due to the extreme lack of funding as ll the funds are held in speculations. this has all happened many times before in the history of man and money you should know that.  Temporary jobs lead to the creation of more jobs, which lead to the creation of more jobs, disposable income leads to more jobs.   And just in case you have not noticed, we have mass unemployment unlike ever in the history of mankind, and it is not looking to get any better.


The primary revenue streams are site management and recycling.  We've basically fallen off the face of Google with the last website redesign because the person had absolutely no clue what they were doing and used a template.  So we're getting torn to shreds by companies that have properly designed websites and a social media presence.  Because who the hell looks in a newspaper anymore for business services?


"There is actually a restriction on how high a wage they can pay you. There didn't use to be, but now it has to be reasonable for the work you are doing, so they can't pay you $100/hr while other people doing the same work get minimum wage. You might ask why on earth a parent would want to pay a child way more than they're worth? The salary is tax deductible to the company. Then the child pays their ""expenses"" - hockey fees and equipment, field trips, birthday presents for their friends and so on - out of the money the company paid them.  They also save for their post-secondary education. The rest of the family budget now has a little more room, and the parents can lower their own salaries if they have expensive children. This means more net money in the company and less total income tax paid by the family for the same total income. My concern is that if your parents don't know whether or not you must be paid minimum wage (you must, there's no family exemption) then they also don't know whether you should have EI deducted (probably not) and various other special cases like eligibility for summer student subsidies. The firm's accountant should be able to help with these things and the company should know all this. It's not the role of a 14 year old to ask the Internet how to run a business, the business owners should know it."


> If a corporation pays poverty wages that I am then required to subsidise through my taxes,   be mad at the gov't then. the public is not supposed to have control over private businesses, they're supposed to have control over their gov't.


I'm not sure about the laws in specific states. However it's part of their merchant agreement that they can not charge a fee for a customer paying with credit card. It's also against merchant agreements to require a minimum purchase to use a credit card, although this is less commonly enforced. Apparently (http://fso.cpasitesolutions.com/premium/le/06_le_ic/fg/fg-merchants.html) merchants can offer a cash discount. Offering payment by credit card, though practically a requirement in todays retail environment, is a privilege for the merchant. It's a way of making buying convenient for the customer. As a result, penalizing the customer in any way is not just against their agreement, but rather disingenuous as well. edit: here's a bit more information about what they can and can't do. Amex prohibits discrimination, so if a merchant can't do something to a Visa/MC customer they can't do it to an Amex customer either. http://fso.cpasitesolutions.com/premium/le/06_le_ic/fg/fg-merchants.html


Awesome to hear. Glad to help. You seriously have nothing to worry about. It's **SO** early. Study up. Know your shit. And be proactive.   That is one of the most badass pics I've ever seen. I love it. Good luck buddy.


I have odd feet in that 80% of the shoes that are my size, don't fit unless I try them on. I can't and won't buy shoes online. Some things just do not work online. Clothing is also one of those things.


A private company say has 100 shares with single owner Mr X, now it needs say 10,000/- to run the company, if they can get a price of say 1000 per share, then they just need to issue 10 additional shares, so now the total shares is 110 [100 older plus 10]. So now the owner's share in the company is around 91%. However if they can get a price of only Rs 200 per share, they need to create 50 more shares. So now the total shares is 150 [100 older plus 50]. So now Mr X's equity in his own company is down to 66%.  While this may still be OK, if it continues and goes below 50%, there is chances that he [Original owner] will be thrown out


Really simple quick fix.  Change the minimum wage from $60,000 to $200,000.  If you cannot find any workers in our entire country to take the job and need to literally import workers from across the globe surely the incredibly rare skill set you require is worth that much.


I literally never opened the official books a single time for any of the three levels.  Schweser Notes and QBank for level 1, wiley for level 2, and Schweser Notes for level 3 (don't waste money on QBank for 2 or 3). Do those readings and as many practice exams as you can find, mixing and matching from different providers.


I don't - there's bound to be a lag. That's a natural part of the business cycle. And even in instances where one industry is losing jobs but another industry is growing, workers still have to re-skill and this takes time.  I don't have a problem with menial jobs going away. However this puts a burden on the worker and on society to have an ever more-educated workforce. Which is not a bad thing.


Let’s turn this round. Now what if the only people willing to own part of company are doing it due to the expectation that they will make money in the short term form the company….


There's another dimension here as currency conversion isn't necessarily the final answer.  As stated by others, converting money between the three should theoretically end up with the exact same value, less transactional costs.   However the kink is that the price of most products are not updated as the currencies change.  In many cases the price difference is such that even accounting for shipping and exchange fees, purchasing a product from a distributor in a foreign country can be cheaper than just picking it up at the local store.   You might even be able to take advantage of this when purchasing at a single store.  If that store is set up to accept multiple currencies then it's a matter of looking at the conversion rates the moment you are buying and deciding which one is the cheapest route for you.  Of course, this generally will not work for smaller purchases like a cup of coffee or a meal.  Primarily because the fee for the exchange might eclipse any savings.


> If you have a different currency from the U.S. Dollar, and it increases in value greatly, do you have to pay tax on that increased value relative to the U.S. dollar?  Technically, all profit you make as a US citizen or resident is subject to tax. It doesn't matter in what currency the profit takes place, and it doesn't matter if the profit never hits US dollars at all. You made profit, you owe tax.  Obviously the IRS is not going to bother with enforcing taxation on that Canadian twenty-dollar bill in your wallet from your last trip to Vancouver. But if you're sitting on a million dollars in Bitcoin profit, and the IRS finds out about it, expect them to start caring quite a bit.  > There isn't much of a transaction record, is there?  There is in fact a detailed and public transaction record. What there isn't is an easy way to match wallets to people; however, all similar machine learning projects seem to indicate that it wouldn't be hard at all to make these matchups.


Schwab Bank High Yield Investor Checking Account does not charge for incoming wires (both domestic and international), and has $0 monthly fee and minimum balance (plus they offer ATM fee rebates and no international surcharge). Schwab bank does not allow International wire transfers.  Accepts domestic only.


It all stems from the Olympics trying to clean up its sports, so they required all of the governing bodies for the sports under their umbrella to begone signatories to the WADA code which, in an effort to harmonize and strengthen enforcement put a mutual recognition clause in their Code.  This way, say a French athlete is found to have doped at a US event, he wouldn't still be allowed to compete in France or in some other sport.  But the Pro Bowler's Association is not a WADA signatory, so you can dope and still bowl there.  Just don't be a member of the Fédération internationale des quilleurs.


Can I sell section 54EC infra bonds before maturity? That would depend on the specific bond, some can be sold before maturity but after the specified lock-in period. Some are non-negotiable / non-transferable and cannot be sold before maturity The prospectus mentions that bonds in physical form can be transferred to another person or entity. Are there financial institutions that offer to buy these bonds? How do I find them? Banks will not do this. Any leading broker can help assist you in finding a buyer. Generally you may not find a good deal and the buyer doesn't get any tax benefit and would buy this only for returns and hence may want to buy this cheaper. The broker can assist you with the process, it involves sending of the physical certificate along with a letter and ownership details of new buyer to the registrar of the respective entity. A new certificate will be issued to the new owner.


eBay is the worst of the worst.  I used it way back when it was fair to buyers and sellers.  These days, scammers can can get free stuff at your expense and then eBay will punish you on top of getting scammed.


"Did I do anything wrong by cashing a check made out to ""trustee of   <401k plan> FBO "", and if so how can I fix it? I thought I was just   getting a termination payout of the balance. Yes, you did. It was not made to you, and you were not supposed to even be able to cash it. Both you and your bank made a mistake - you made a mistake by depositing a check that doesn't belong to you, and the bank made a mistake by allowing you to deposit a check that is not made out to you to your personal account. How do I handle the taxes I owe on the payout, given that I had a   tax-free 1099 two years ago and no 1099 now? It was not tax free two years ago. It would have been tax free if you would forward it to the entity to which the check was intended - since that would not be you. But you didn't do that. As such, there was no withdrawal two years ago, and I believe the 401k plan is wrong to claim otherwise. You did however take the money out in 2014, and it is fully taxable to you, including penalties. You should probably talk to a licensed tax adviser (EA/CPA licensed in your State). My personal (and unprofessional) opinion is that you didn't withdraw the money in 2012 since the check was not made out to you and the recipient never got it. You did withdraw money in 2014 since that's when you actually got the money (even if by mistake). As such, I'd report this withdrawal on the 2014 tax return. However, as I said, I'm not a professional and not licensed to provide tax advice, so this is my opinion only. I strongly suggest you talk to a licensed tax adviser to get a proper opinion and guidance on the matter. If it is determined that the withdrawal was indeed in 2012, then you'll have to amend the 2012 tax return, report the additional income and pay the additional tax (+interest and probably underpayment penalty)."


> Why is it not considered to be misleading business practices?  because the details (of below) were either included or available online  > some sort of advance loan program  ...some sort of contractual agreement  it's legit but high interest


"Any advertisement for a ""business opportunity"" is nearly always a scam of some kind. In such deals, the seller is the one making the money. They rely on the fantasy of the average person who imagines themself with a profitable business. Real businessmen do not get their businesses from flyers on the sides of telephone poles. Real businessmen already know every aspect and detail of their business already. They do not need to pay some clown $10,000 to ""get them started"". If you are reading such advertisements, it means you have money, but do not know what to do with it. Although I cannot tell you what to do with your money. I can tell you this: giving it to somebody who advertises a ""great business opportunity"" would be a mistake."


On the contrary, you have no evidence that these kids are bitter and grumbling.  I'm not saying they have a good job/life, also change is not a privilege.  You and anyone can do it, first you have to know you can (sadly the kids in Indonesia probably don't know this), second you have to do it.  Yes it takes will and determination, but luck is only a small part of it (of course it helps).  Skill is only involved in what it might be trying to accomplish.  If you don't have the will and determination to change your situation, having the skill wont help and you don't have any business being bitter or grumbling.  Pack up the family, move across the country, try a different place.  Move to a different country.  Yes it takes effort, it can be hard if you don't have funds.  I know of many cases of people doing this, it only fails if you let it.  Stop blaming others, take some responsibility and do what needs doing.  If you work in something that's so specialized you can't do anything else, then you need to learn some new things.  I have employees that are this way.  Talk about wanting to go to collage, but can't afford it.  Its frustrating talking to them.  I know how much you earned over 4 months of summer work.  Your now going to live off that earnings for the next 8 months and come back in the spring and do it again.  (my employees are seasonal and we can't work in winter)  Instead of buying that new 4wheeler, go to fucking collage, you keep talking about how much you want to, don't brag about the $5k fish house you bought and the $7K snowmobile to go with it then bitch about being unable to go to collage and being trapped at work.  Go do what needs to be done.  The people that I see bitching the most, are the ones least likely to do anything about it.  Of course I don't interact with children in Indonesia or people who are slaves.  If you enter into the agreement to work, you are agreeing to is, be ok with the agreement or don't do it.  Saying no is a skill many people are not good at.


This is a good problem to have. Having an over supply of labor is much worse. People can be hired and trained, starting them out at lower costs until they can fend on their own. At which point, they can leave to get paid more else where or get a raise. If there is demand, there would be no problem.


Simply put, expansionary capex is seen as an investment and maintenance capex is seen as a cost.  In terms of valuation, free cash flow will not include expansionary capex because you are valuing the company as its current business. It's important to note that this approach will usually undervalue companies with strong investment opportunities.  Also, like /u/scarletham said, please edit out the identifying information to avoid any disclosure problems.


Personal needs? No bank is going to give you that kind of cash without a real reason, usually with some equity backing it. From your post you say you are a student, so I doubt you even have the income to pay it back.  If banks just gave out cash like that people would disappear with it all the time.


"It's your business to pay what you owe but it's not your business to determine what you owe.  The ""Fair Debt Collections Practices act"" FDCPA proscribes certain steps creditors must go through to contact you.  You appear to not have received any active contact or demand, but you can still cite the FDCPA to make it their problem. Write to the creditor's address (I assume its the hospital, the OP isn't clear), use USPS Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested, asking them to validate that you owe this debt by mail in 5 days, as is your right under the FDCPA.   If they get back to you and you agree (or its reasonably plausible) you do owe it, pay it especially if it's on the order of $100.  At least you will know it is settled at the source.  Cross reference to your insurance claims to be sure its not double billed or a miscredited copay, but you may see many legit separate charges from one ER visit (hospital,  doctor, anesthesiologist,  etc) and it would not be the first time a medical billing system crapped the bed. If you don't hear anything after a few weeks, use the credit report protest process (or write to them, cc: the Federal Trade Commission) contesting the validity of this report.  The creditor did not respond to your FDCPA request for validation (copy of the Return Receipt); and you otherwise believe you are current with the hospital.  Per the Fair Credit Reporting act,  they must investigate.  Fight bureaucratic fire with fire: conduct all business by mail, and make liberal use of certified mail return receipts.  Its a $6 way to telegraph you know that they have specific federal law timeliness requirements; and you have a federal timestamp signed by someone in their organization."


I think you're looking at the picture in an odd way. When each of you made your initial investments and determined what portions you owned, that gave the company capital that they could use to finance its operations. In return, you are entitled to the future profits of the company (in proportion to your ownership). Any future investment by either of you is at your own discretion. Your company now faces a situation where it would like to pursue a potentially lucrative opportunity, but needs more capital than it has to do so. So, you need to raise more capital. That capital can come from one or both of you (or from an outsider). Since that investment would be discretionary, what the investor gets is a negotiation: the company negotiates with the investor how much equity (in the form of new shares) to award in exchange for the new investment (or whatever other compensation you decide on, if not equity).


I am very happy with Charles Schwab.  I use both their investing tools and banking tool, but I don't do much investing besides buy more shares a random mutual fund I purchase 4 years ago I did once need to call in about an IRA rollover and I got a person on the phone immediately who answered my questions and followed up as he said he would. It is anecdotal, but I am happy with them.


"No idea what you are trying to say here.   You default on a loan, student or otherwise, by not paying.  That is what creates the default, but you still owe it.   Student loans actually can be discharged, but it is very uncommon and an uphill battle.  You have to prove ""undue hardship"" which has a rather high standard.  The last firm I worked at did manage to get a large amount of student loans discharged for someone who was in a car wreck and became a quadriplegic after incurring the student loan.  And even that was not an easy case,  my old firm was actually rather pleased at their success."


"As user quid states in his answer, all you need to do is open an account with a stock broker in order to gain access to the world's stock markets.  If you are currently banking with one of the six big bank, then they will offer stockbroking services.  You can shop around for the best commission rates.  If you wish to manage your own investments, then you will open a ""self-directed"" account.  You can shelter your investments from all taxation by opening a TFSA account with your stock broker.  Currently, you can add $5,500 per year to your TFSA.  Unused allowances from previous years can still be used.  Thus, if you have not yet made any TFSA contributions, you can add upto $46,500 to your TFSA and enjoy the benefits of tax free investing. Investing in what you are calling ""unmanaged index funds"" means investing in ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds). Once you have opened your account you can invest in any ETFs traded on the stock markets accessible through your stock broker. Buying shares on foreign markets may carry higher commission rates, but for the US markets commissions are generally the same as they are for Canadian markets.  However, in the case of buying foreign shares you will carry the extra cost and risk of selling Canadian dollars and buying foreign currency.  There are also issues to do with foreign withholding taxes when you trade foreign shares directly.   In the case of the US, you will also need to register with the US tax authorities.  Foreign withholding taxes payable are generally treated as a tax credit with respect to Canadian taxation, so you will not be double taxed. In today's market, for most investors there is generally no need to invest directly in foreign market indices since you can do so indirectly on the Toronto stock market.  The large Canadian ETF providers offer a wide range of US, European, Asian, and Global ETFs as well as Canadian ETFs.  For example, you can track all of the major US indices by trading in Toronto in Canadian dollars.  The S&P500, the Dow Jones, and the NASDAQ100 are offered in both ""currency hedged"" and ""unhedged"" forms.  In addition, there are ETFs on the total US Market, US Small Caps, US sectors such as banks, and more exotic ETFs such as those offering ""covered call"" strategies and ""put write"" strategies. Here is a link to the BMO ETF website. Here is a link to the iShares (Canada) ETF website."


Yahoo Finance's Historical Prices section allows you to look up  daily historical quotes for any given stock symbol, you don't have to hit a library for this information. Your can choose a desired time frame for your query, and the dataset will include High/Low/Close/Volume numbers. You can then download a CSV version of this report and perform additional analysis in a spreadsheet of your choice. Below is Twitter report from IPO through yesterday: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=TWTR&a=10&b=7&c=2013&d=08&e=23&f=2014&g=d


I looked for the source, so I went straight to the bottom of the article, where I expected to find a source. Instead I found something that made me chuckle, click my back button, and hop on Comments to warn not to  their time on something that shouldn't have been linked to in the first place, because it was written by a crackpot.


A 529 plan is set up in a specific beneficiary's name but the money can be rolled over or transferred into another 529 plan in the same beneficiary's name, or the beneficiary can be changed by the owner of the account.  I mistakenly believed that the new beneficiary could be anyone else, but as mhoran_psprep has  pointed out in the comment below, the new beneficiary must be related to  the previous one in specific ways as detailed in Publication 970 2011, Tax Benefits for Education in order for the change to occur without any tax consequences.  So my original statement that distributions can be used for anyone's educational expense without tax consequences was incorrect; if the new beneficiary is not related to the original beneficiary, tax consequences will indeed occur.  Note also that unlike IRAs where the entire amount can be withdrawn by the owner without incurring a 10% penalty after a certain period or after reaching a certain age, distributions from a 529 plan for nonqualified expenses (including as a special case a withdrawal of funds by the owner) will incur the 10% penalty tax regardless of when this occurs. The problem with UGMA accounts is that you have to turn the money over to the beneficiary when that beneficiary becomes an adult (18 years old in most cases) regardless of your current opinion of that beneficiary, and the beneficiary is free to use the money to buy a motorcycle with it if she chooses instead of using it for her education.  In this sense, I agree with mhoran_psprep's answer that it is best to put away the money in an ordinary account without seeking tax benefits, and deal with the matter as you see fit when the niece is filling out her college paperwork.


Yeah its just scary. I'm glad you said no. I'm not saying it couldn't work. But I legit don't know anyone who has done it and been successful. My mentor in the business quit a year or so after I did and he had been hitting it hard for 4-5 years. He made a little money off of it but nothing compared to what he was putting in. I can honestly say I learned some great things from the materials they promoted but I can't honestly give them credit for referring me to others work. They had their own books the founders had written which were good and all, but they mostly were a regurgitation of all the other successful leadership books they promoted. Good for you though. If you know anybody getting involved in this make sure you tell them to stay away. It's so scary how these companies are allowed to do business with the failure rate they have for people who sign up.


No. Read the link. 70 million out of Musks's own pocket. 117 million from various investors (and with this money they made 147 cars.) Then nearly a half billion from the gubment to get the Model S production line up and running. Without welfare to keep it alive Tesla would've gone under, they had a few near death experiences.  On top of that, if you're wealthy enough to buy a model S in California, you qualify for nearly $10,000 in state and federal subsidies. The government is all up in there making it happen.


It's just cute when somebody has no skin the game makes such generalized and cavilier assumptions and assertions without knowing the details. Bravo for you, youve got an opinion based on a headline-esque understanding without knowing the facts--- that's what'll make this country great again!


"This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-07-12/rooftop-solar-is-no-match-for-crony-capitalism) reduced by 93%. (I'm a bot) ***** > It therefore makes economic sense to charge rooftop solar owners extra to maintain the electrical grid - without the grid, after all, a person using only rooftop solar wouldn&#039;t have any electricity at night.  > Measures to ban third-party ownership of rooftop solar are crony capitalism, plain and simple.  > Eventually, solar power will be so cheap that it makes sense to install rooftop panels even without net metering, and utilities will start switching from power plants to solar farms.   ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/6n512e/rooftop_solar_is_no_match_for_crony_capitalism/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ ""Version 1.65, ~166235 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*: **solar**^#1 **utility**^#2 **power**^#3 **company**^#4 **rooftop**^#5"


The answers you've received already are very good. I truly sympathize with your situation. In general, it makes sense to try to build off of existing relationships. Here are a few ideas: I don't know if you work for a small or large company, or local/state government. But if there is any kind of retirement planning through your workplace, make sure to investigate that. Those people are usually already paid something for their services by your employer, so they should have less of an interest in making money off you directly. One more thought: A no-fee brokerage company e.g. Charles Schwab. They offer a free one hour phone call with an investment adviser if you invest at least $25K. I personally had very good experiences with them. This answer may be too anecdotal and not specifically address the annuity dilemma you mentioned. That annunity dilemma is why you need to find someone you can trust, who is competent (see the credentials for financial advisers mentioned in the other answers), and will work the numbers out with you.


"I recommend you ask her if her sponsor/leadership has said something like ""if your friends don't agree with you (or say no) then they're not your friends and you should move on"". If so, it's not much of a stretch to apply the above to all her relationships (including you).  Many years ago when I was deep down the MLM rabbit-hole I had 'leadership' say the above line many times. They're leaches, preying on the vulnerable. Teaching the teachers to teach? Nope, teaching the leachers to leach."


#####&#009;  ######&#009;  ####&#009;  [**Misuse of statistics**](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misuse%20of%20statistics): [](#sfw)   ---  >  >A __misuse of statistics__ occurs when a statistical argument asserts a falsehood. In some cases, the misuse may be accidental. In others, it is purposeful and for the gain of the perpetrator. When the statistical reason involved is false or misapplied, this constitutes a __statistical [fallacy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy)__.  >The false statistics trap can be quite damaging to the quest for knowledge. For example, in medical science, correcting a falsehood may take decades and cost lives.  >Misuses can be easy to fall into. Professional scientists, even mathematicians and professional statisticians, can be fooled by even some simple methods, even if they are careful to check everything. Scientists have been known to fool themselves with statistics due to lack of knowledge of [probability theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probability_theory) and lack of [standardization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standardization) of their [tests](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistical_test).  >  ---  ^Interesting: [^How ^to ^Lie ^with ^Statistics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Lie_with_Statistics) ^| [^Misleading ^graph](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misleading_graph) ^| [^Statistics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistics) ^| [^Data ^dredging](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_dredging)   ^Parent ^commenter ^can [^toggle ^NSFW](http://www.np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=autowikibot&subject=AutoWikibot NSFW toggle&message=%2Btoggle-nsfw+cjiek7a) ^or[](#or) [^delete](http://www.np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=autowikibot&subject=AutoWikibot Deletion&message=%2Bdelete+cjiek7a)^. ^Will ^also ^delete ^on ^comment ^score ^of ^-1 ^or ^less. ^| [^(FAQs)](http://www.np.reddit.com/r/autowikibot/wiki/index) ^| [^Mods](http://www.np.reddit.com/r/autowikibot/comments/1x013o/for_moderators_switches_commands_and_css/) ^| [^Magic ^Words](http://www.np.reddit.com/r/autowikibot/comments/1ux484/ask_wikibot/)


No chance. First off, unless the company provides audited financials (and they don't from what I can tell), there is no way I'm tinkering with a bunch of small business owners. Transparency is a substantial part of investing and this actually exempts or excludes these companies, from what I can tell.


"With my current, limited knowledge (see end), I understand it the following way: Are share prices really described as ""memoryless""?  Yes.  Is there a   technical meaning of the term? What does it really mean? The meaning comes from Markov Models: Think of the behavior of the stock market over time as a Markov Chain, i.e. a probabilistic model with states and probabilistic transitions. A state is the current price of all stocks of the market, a transition is a step in time. Memoryless means that transitions that the stock market might make can be modelled by a relation from one state to another, i.e. it only depends on the current state. The model is a Markov Chain, as opposed to a more general Stochastic Process where the next state depends on more than the current state. So in a Markov Chain, all the history of one stock is ""encoded"" already in its current price (more precisely in all stock's prices).  The memorylessness of stocks is the main statement of the Efficient Market Theory (EMT). If a company's circumstances don't change, then a drop in its share price is going to be followed by a rise later.  So if the EMT holds, your statement above is not necessarily true. I personally belief the EMT is a good approximation - only large corporations (e.g. Renaissance Technologies) have enough ressources (hundreds of mathematicians, billions of $) to be able to leverage tiny non-random movements that stem from a not completely random, mostly chaotic market.  The prices can of course change when the company's circumstances change, but they aren't ""memoryless"" either. A company's future state is influenced by its past. In the EMT, a stock's future state is only influenced by its past as much as is encoded in its current price (more precisely, the complete market's current state). Whether that price was reached by a drop or a rise makes no difference.  The above is my believe, but I'm by far no finance expert. I am working professionally with probabilistic models, but have only read one book on finance: Kommer's ""Souverän investieren mit Indexfonds und ETFs"". It's supposed to contain many statements of Malkiel's ""A Random Walk Down Wall Street""."


It is a best way to buy necklace online, we are one of the most wholesale jewelry in USA. There is no other place here from where you can purchase so cheapest Aromatherapy Necklace. The Aromatherapy diffuser necklace made by Izzy Bell Boutique is unlike others you will find anywhere else. That's made of high quality stainless steel, aromatherapy necklace jewelry openwork locket pendants. The necklace is so solid and the front consists of the unique laser cut design to allow the oils necklace. We give you superb look to everyone women.


This sounds like a TV ad. Many, many people were not as lucky as you. Do you think the millions of Americans who want to see Ocare trashed are morons and making it up because of muh politics?? Honestly, answer me that


What I do is that I set a small transaction to automatically go on the card and then set an autopayment.  Example for one card is a monthly $8 donation to the local animal humane society.  The autopay is set to pay in full.  *Solved - card stays active.  Some payers will cancel your credit card if they don't show activity.


"Investment strategies abound. Bonds can be part of useful passive investment strategy but more active investors may develop a good number of reasons why buying and selling bonds on the short term. A few examples: Also, note that there is no guarantee in bonds as you imply by likening it to a ""guaranteed stock dividend"". Bond issuers can default, causing bond investors to lose part of all of their original investment. As such, if one believes the bond issuer may suffer financial distress, it would be ideal to sell-off the investment."


No, it's not even remotely accurate in the current sense. Both markets have counterparties directly executing against one another, and both have auctions. The auction mechanics are different (with NYSE's Specialist/DMM model) but during normal market hours there isn't much difference.


If you earn Rupees, keep your money as Rupees, and spend the money on items denominated in Rupees, the dollar doesn't mean much to you any more than the Italian Lira means to me.... Do you mean to track as though they were dollars or actually convert as you earn the money?  From X-rates, I looked at this chart. There's been a 10% swing in the exchange rate very recently. But going back, the years are not so volatile. Year 2000 ranged 43-46, so the volatility and drop in the rupee to over 50 is only recent. Has India experience inflation that concerns you?  (disclaimer - I am slightly aware of the Euro in terms of dollar value, but not followed currencies for some time now)


DirecTV... Time Warner.... Netflix... 2 iPhones (= 2*Data plan).... $280 a month on pure luxuries. >10% of your net income. Of course, you may be needing at least some of this, no-one wants to come home and stare at bare walls. But if you have Netflix - maybe you don't need DirecTV? Or the other way around? And maybe DSL internet will be cheaper than cable? Maybe prepaid $1/day AT&T GoPhone or similar plan would be better than paying $151 for two iPhones?


"What you're saying here sounds awfully close to ""I believe in free speech, but only for things I agree with"", which means literally the exact opposite of free speech.  To go this ""ends justify the means"" is making a mockery of the [rule of law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_law), even if it's not a legal matter.  To take it to the extreme:  If rape were legal it would still not be moral just because the only people who are raped are done so as punishment for things you think are horrible."


"I'm *really* surprised to see Schwab as ""only"" #5.. They don't specialize in ""niche"" ETFs, but for the core ""lazy portfolio"" style ETFs, I've always considered them neck-and-neck with Vanguard.  That said - There's nothing wrong with obscure players in the market!  I'd rather they had more exposure and therefore lower ERs, but the fact that something like $BBC *can* exist makes me sooo happy!  That's pretty much my personal ""ultra high risk"" basket in one convenient form!"


I'm not OP, but I think a very basic example would be brand choice. Every day people choose to buy cheaper products over greener products. Styrofoam cups still exist because people buy them. Companies get as big as Walmart because people shop there.  If people really have a shit, they could simply make different choices in a capitalistic system that would then promote small local business and sustainable practices. But people choose lower prices every single time, without regard to the inequalities or environmental destruction their choices promote.


"The Wells Fargo scandal was and still is a big deal because Wells Fargo opened over 1.5 million unauthorized bank and credit card accounts. The credit card accounts were opened without authorization, which means people's credit scores and reports were pulled without permission. That is considered fraud and identity theft. Other than the legal side of it, by opening more bank accounts without authorization, it was showing ""synthetic growth"", which resulted in an inflated number when quarterly and annual performance numbers were reported. This caused people to invest more in Wells Fargo stock, not knowing that the growth in stock was not organic. After the scandal was uncovered, stocks decreased. However, the root cause of this can be traced to the culture at Wells Fargo, where customer service reps (i.e. bank tellers, and store operations employees) were faced with the challenges of meeting quotas that could be considered a stretch. As a result, faced with pressure from upper management, they opened unauthorized accounts.  In addition, these unauthorized accounts cost consumers money either because credit cards had balances, or bank accounts did not meet a minimum balance. It is not about ending ""up with 8 rows in their database instead of just 1 row"" as OP wrote. It is about stealing consumer money and committing fraud and stealing the consumer's identity.  *Suggestions and constructive criticism are welcomed in improving my answer."


For small amounts I wouldn't be too concerned.   There are two factors I can think of: For relatively small amounts and when dealing with reputable banking institutions there should be little concern of banking with a single bank.  It's what most people do.


When you invest in an ETF or mutual fund, you're not investing in stocks or bonds. You're buying shares of a company that invests in stocks or bonds. This level of indirection is what makes it so bond funds do not 'mature.' Bonds inside of ETFs or mutual funds do have a maturity date. When they mature, the fund manager uses the principal value that is returned to purchase another bond that meets the investment objectives of the fund. So the fund never matures, since it is always investing in more bonds when the old ones mature. Unit investment trusts made of bonds do have a maturity date as well, since the portfolio does not change once the UIT is issued. As the individual bonds in the portfolio mature, the principle value is returned to investors. So the overall maturity date is effectively the maturity date of the last bond in the trust. All of the statements quoted above are accurate in explaining why there is no guarantee of a return of principle when investing in bond funds (ETF or open-ended mutual fund). The bonds they hold do mature, but are replaced within the fund as needed. The investor will never see it happen unless they watch the holdings reports filed by the funds.  The only way to have an assurance of the return of principle is to invest in individual bonds, or in unit trusts made up of bonds.


yeah, its actually pretty stupid to brag about this sort of thing. it is my understanding that inflation averages about 2% a year so your numbers are off. my guess is that he is just bullshitting and has no idea what his financial people have done with the money.


"The first thing to realize is that the type of chart you saw is not appropriate for long-term comparisons.  The vertical axis uses a linear scale, where each unit occupies the same amount of space.  This is visually misleading because the relevant information at any point in the chart is ""how much is the value going up or down?"" and ""how much"" change depends on how much the value of the investment is at that moment.  For example, if you buy something at $10 and the price changes $1, that is significant, 10%.  If you buy something at $1000 and the price changes $1, that is not so significant, only 0.1%.  The problem in that chart is that 100 Dow points occupy the same space whether the Dow is at 870 or 10800. To get a better feel for the volatility, you should use a log (logarithmic) scale.  Google has an option for this.  Using it shows:   In this chart you can see that the volatility appears much less extreme in recent years.  True, the 2006-2009 change is the largest drop, and there might be slightly higher volatility generally, but it is not nearly as extreme-looking.  The drops in 1974 and 1987 can be seen to be significant."


You have a lot of different questions in your post - I am only responding to the request for how to value the ESPP. When valuing an ESPP, don't think about what you might sell the shares for in the future, think about what the market would charge you for that option today. In general, an option is worth much less than the underlying share itself. For the simplest example, assume you work at a public company, and your exercise price for your options is $.30, and you can only exercise those options until the end of today, and the cost of the shares on the public stock exchange is also $.30. You have the same 'strike price' as everyone else in the market, making your option worth nothing. In truth, holding that right to a specific strike price into the future does give you value, because it means you can realize the upside in share price gains, without risking any money on share losses. So, how do you value the options? If it's a public company with an active options market, you can easily compare your $.30 strike price with the value of call options in the market that have a $.30 strike price. That becomes the value to you of the option (caveat: it is unlikely you can find an exact match for the terms of your vesting period, but you should be able to find a good starting point). If it's a public company without an active options market, you will have to do a bit of estimation. If a current share is worth $.25 (so, close to your strike price), then your option is worth a little bit, but not much. Compare other shares in your industry / company size to get examples of the relative value between an option and a share. If the current share price is worth $.35, then your option is worth about $.05 [the $.05 profit you could get by immediately exercising and selling, plus a bit more for an option on a share that you can't buy in the open market]. If it's a private company, then you need to be very clear on how shares are to be valued, and what methods you have available to sell back to the company / other individuals. You can then consider as per above, how to value the option for a share, vs the share itself. Without a clear way to sell your shares of a private company [ideally through a sale directly back to the company that you are able to force them to agree on; ie: the company will buyback shares at 5x Net income for the previous year, or something like that], then the value of a small number of shares is very nebulous. There is an extremely limited market for shares of private companies, if you don't own enough to exert control. In your case, because the valuation appears to be $2/share [be sure that these are the same share classes you have the option to buy], your option would be worth a little more than $1.70, if you didn't have to wait 4 years to exercise it. This would be total compensation of about $10k, if you were able to exercise today. Many people don't end up working for an early job in their career for 4 years, so you need to consider whether how much that will reduce the value of the ESPP for you personally. Compared with salary of 90k, 10k worth of stock in 4 years may not be a heavy motivating compensation consideration. Note also that because the company is not public, the valuation of $2/share should be taken with a grain of salt.


Besides overnight news events and auction mechanisms there is a more fundamental reason the price of a stock is always moving.  Theoretically the stock price will move slightly even in the unlikely scenario that absolutely nothing of interest happens during the entire night.  Let me go into that in some more detail: Stock valuation using Discounted Cash FLow One of the fundamental reasons that stock value is constantly changing is because underneath every stock there is a company that expects to make some kind of profit or loss in the future. We have to go into the fundamentals of stock value to understand why this is important: One popular way to determine the value of a stock is by looking into the future and summing up all the earnings (or cashflows) it has yet to produce. You have to reduce each amount by a certain factor that gets larger for payments that are farther into the future. Think of it this way: a dollar in hand now is better than a dollar that you get tomorrow. This method of valuation is called Discounted Cash Flow (abbr. DCF; see the wikipedia article on DCF) Time's effect on stock value Now take the Close price C, and the open price O. Let's assume that since there has been no news, the expectations for future earnings are the same for C and O. Remember that the discounting factor for these earnings is dependent on the time until the cashflow occurs? For O, this time is slightly shorter than for C, and therefore the value will be slightly higher (or lower, when the company is expected to incur losses). So now you can see that even without all the external forces that continuously push and pull on the stock price, a stock still changes in value over time. Hope this helps.


I'm not aware of explicit fees for sending to someone in a different country, however I do believe there are fees for sending from one currency to another. The best option here would be to contact the provider you're interested in using, directly, to request this information from them.


"I do know people who follow the islam terrorist manifesto. One is a great guy, and one is a fucking closet jihadist nutbag who I am 100% certain will go jihadi on someone one day.   But that's besides the point. If bugs are infesting your house, you lob the bug bomb in there. You're going to kill some ""good"" bugs, but if you don't, the bugs are going to take the whole house.   It's ignorance like yours that is getting people killed left and right in Europe."


This doesn't make any sense. For the people who ask you this, suggest that they borrow the money to invest with you. They can use their bitcoins as collateral for the loan. That way, they get the same benefit and your company doesn't go out of business if the price of bitcoin drops, even temporarily, because the loan becomes unsecured. If they want to try to use a volatile asset as collateral and have to figure out how to cover when the price drops temporarily, great. But why should they put that risk on your other investors who may not be so crazy? Also, this obviously won't meet the investor's concerns anyway. Say the price of bitcoin goes up but you lose 10% of the money you borrowed. Clearly, your investors can't have an interest that worth as much as they would have if they held bitcoin since you lost 10%.


Is my math correct? The Math is correct, however Dividends don't work this way. The Yield is Post Facto. i.e. Given the dividend that is declared every quarter, once calculates the yield. The dividends are not fixed or guaranteed. These change from Quarter to Quarter or at times they are not given at all. The yield is 3.29% and the value is $114 per share. Assuming that the price remains exactly the same for an entire year, and that I purchase only one share, then this should be the math for calculating the yield: 114 x 0.0329 = 3.7506 What the Link is showing is that last dividend of MCD was 0.94 for Q3; that means total for a year will be 0.94*4 [3.76], this means yield will be 3.29%. Note this year there were only 3 Dividend was 0.89 on 26-Feb, 0.89 on 2-Jun and 0.94 on 29-Nov. It is unlikely that there will be one more dividend this year. So for this year the correct post facto calculation would be 0.89+0.89+.94 = 2.72 and hence an yield of 2.38%  Also, are there any fees/deductions, or would I receive the amount in full, which should be $3.75? There are no fee deducted. Not sure about US tax treatment on Dividends.


"You are a public employee. You have no right to hold taxpayers hostage.  See the quote from FDR that is just about everywhere these days.  If you have a MAJOR problem with the ""safety/risk"" inherent in your job and you don't want to be subject to them... then quit and get into a different profession."


All due respect to the economic professionals, but where are they when it comes to actually leading our country.  If they have all the right knowledge then why do they let the country go down the roads that it does.  I actually don't have any respect for their lack of action.


The simple answer: Because you believe every other option can yield greater losses... So the thinking is; Lend it to France you'll get your money back. Put your money in a bank and there's a chance you won't get it back if the bank goes bust. Investors also believe that rates will continue to go more negative, in which case they will actually MAKE money.  It's a momentum play which will eventually reverse but since the Bond market is extremely liquid, it's a bet that can quickly be unwound. Another theory floating around is that if the weaker countries of the euro leave (e.g. Greece, etc) and the core keep the euro, then the value of the euro will actually rise. So by putting your money in French or German bonds you would also be securing cash in French or German euro's. - Thinking the unthinkable on a euro break-up - Gavyn Davies


"Looks like the retard in chief is cracking, its amazing how he has taken every wrong turn at every possibility as it presented itself. I think he is reaching the threshold of the realization that he is actually incompetent and way out of his depth.   We are going to have to rewrite the definition of ""Stoopud"""


From the Massachusetts Department of Revenue:   1st - Massachusetts Source Income That is Excluded   Massachusetts gross income excludes certain items of income derived from sources within Massachusetts: non-business related interest, dividends and gains from the sale or exchange of intangibles, and qualified pension income. 2nd - Massachusetts Source Income That is Included:   Massachusetts gross income includes items of income derived from sources within Massachusetts. This includes income: 3rd - Trade or business, Including Employment Carried on in Massachusetts:   A nonresident has a trade or business, including any employment carried on in Massachusetts if: A nonresident generally is not engaged in a trade or business, including any employment carried on in Massachusetts if the nonresident's presence for business in Massachusetts is casual, isolated and inconsequential. A nonresident's presence for business in Massachusetts will ordinarily be considered casual, isolated and inconsequential if it meets the requirements of the Ancillary Activity Test (AAT) and Examples. When nonresidents earn or derive income from sources both within Massachusetts and elsewhere, and no exact determination can be made of the amount of Massachusetts source income, an apportionment of income must be made to determine that amount considered Massachusetts gross income. 4th - Apportionment of Income:   Apportionment Methods:   The three most common apportionment methods used to determine Massachusetts source income are as follows:   Gross income is multiplied by a:   So if you go to Massachusetts to work, you have to pay the tax.  If you collect a share of the profit or revenue from Massachusetts, you have to pay tax on that.  If you work from Oregon and are paid for that work, then you don't pay Massachusetts tax on that.  If anything, your company might have to pay Oregon taxes on revenue you generate (you are their agent or employee in Oregon).   Does the answer change depending on whether the income is reported at 1099 or W-2? This shouldn't matter legally.  It's possible that it would be easier to see that the work was done in Oregon in one or the other.  I.e. it doesn't make any legal difference but may make a practical difference.   All this assumes that you are purely an employee or contractor and not an owner.  If you are an owner, you have to pay taxes on any income from your Massachusetts business.  Note that this applies to things like copyrights and real estate as well as the business.   This also assumes that you are doing your work in Oregon.  If you live in Oregon and travel to Massachusetts to work, you pay taxes on your Massachusetts income in Massachusetts.


"One of the best answers to this question that I've ever read is in a paper published by Robert Lucas in the Journal of Economic Perspectives. That journal is meant to a be a place for experts to write about their area of expertise (in economics) for a general but still technically-minded audience. They recently opened up the journal as free to the public, which is a fantastic resource -- you no longer need a subscription to JSTOR (or whatever) to read it.  You can read the abstract to the paper, and find a link to it, here. One of the things that I like a lot about this paper is that it strips out absolutely everything even slightly unnecessary to thinking about a macroeconomy, and just discusses what one can arrive at with a very very simple model. Of course, with great simplicity come sacrifice about details. However, it does a great job of answering your question, ""why do people care about growth?"" A quick note: the key to understanding the answer to your question is to think about things in terms of ""the long term""  -- not even looking forward to the future, because we'll be dead by then, but looking back to the past. The key to the importance of growth is that, for the last ~200 years, the US has, on average, had maybe 2-3% ""real growth"" per year (I'm pulling these numbers out of my head; I think much better numbers are in that paper somewhere). On average, over that period of time, this growth has meant that the quality of life that one has, if one lives in a country experiencing this growth, is enormous compared to countries that do not experience this average growth over that period.  Statistically speaking, growth is also somewhat auto-correlated. Roughly speaking, if it was low the last few periods, you can expect it to be low the next period. Same thing if it's high.   Then, the reason we care about growth right now: if you have too many periods of low growth, pretty soon the average ""over the long term"" growth will be pulled down -- and then quality of life can't be higher in the future (which quickly becomes someone's ""present""). The paper above makes this point with a very simple model. Of course, none of this touches on distributional issues, which are another issue entirely. With respect to, ""The economy needs to grow to just keep up with its debt repayments,"" I think the answer is along the lines of, ""sometimes countries get into debt expecting that growth will increase their resources in the future, and thus they can pay back their debt."" That strategy is, of course, the strategy that anyone borrowing (""taking out a loan"") should be employing -- you should expect that your future income will be enough to pay back your interest+principle on a loan you took. Otherwise you're irresponsible. At the aggregate level, production is the nation's ""income"" -- it is what you have, all that you have (as a nation) to pay back any debt you've incurred at the national level."


It means a 3% return on the value of the stock. If a stock has a $10 share price, the dividend would be $0.30. Normally though, the dividends are announced as a fixed amount per share, because the share price fluctuates. If a percentage were announced, then the final cost would not be known as the share priced could change radically before the dividend date.


Ok, let's start your company and call it Parkoor. We hire drivers rejected by Uber because they will work for cheap.  We skip background and drug checks to save money and because it's best to not ask questions you don't want answers to.  A passenger hires our driver via the app, opts to pay by cash, and then tells the driver they're paying by credit, stiffing them. Who pays?  Reverse situation, passenger pays by credit in the app, driver demands cash and threatens violence if they get stiffed again. Who pays?  Passenger is killed because the driver was drunk. A background check would have revealed 6 DWI charges. Passengers family now wants to sue. Was Parkoor responsible?  Passenger was killed because the brakes failed on our drivers 1985 Camry that hadn't been properly inspected in decades due to a loophole in state law. Is Parkoor responsible?


The money in the checking account was already taxed. It was income this year or last, or a gift from somebody, or earned interest that will be taxed. If it was a deductible IRA you would declare it next April and get a refund from the government.


Si vous souhaitez faire de votre restaurant un hôtel réputé, vous devez avoir le meilleur équipement de restauration. Il existe de nombreux équipements de restauration conçus pour le bon travail et le style. Les ustensiles de cuisine et les serveurs d'argent étonnants qui sont en acier inoxydable avec une finition miroir brillant haut et moderne. Il est certainement approprié pour un hôtel.


"Split your contributions evenly across the funds on that list with the word ""core"" or ""S&P"" in the name.  Maybe add ""International Large Cap Index"".  Leave it & rebalance occasionally.  Read a book on Modern Portfolio Theory sometime in the next 5 years."


There have been studies which show that Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA) underperforms Lump Sum Investing (LSI). Vanguard, in particular, has published one such study. Of course, reading about advice in a study is one thing; acting on that advice can be something else entirely. We rolled over my wife's 401(k) to an IRA back in early 2007 and just did it as a lump sum. You know what happened after that. But our horizon was 25+ years at that time, so we didn't lose too much sleep over it (we haven't sold or gone to cash, either).


If your investment returns are the main variable you use to determine if your advisor is doing a good job you are using his or her services incorrectly  Also, if you are using a good advisor, he or she needs to know how your investments are doing, not you.  However, my thoughts are based on the idea that you can't go it alone.  If you are not among the people concerned about the market, waiting for the market to go down 'so you can find a better buying opportunity', or making one of many other novice mistakes, I'm not speaking directly to you with my comments.


Excellent question and it is a debate that is often raised.  Mathematically you are probably best off using option #1.  Any money that is above and beyond minimum payments earns a pretty high interest rate, about 6.82% in the form of saved interest payments. The problem is you are likely to get discouraged.  Personal finance is a lot about behavior, and after working at this for a year, and still having 5 loans, albeit a lower balance, might take a bit of fight out of you. Paying off such a large balance, in a reasonable time, will take a lot of fight. With the debt snowball, you pay the minimum to the student loan, save in an outside account, and when it is large enough, you execute option #2.  So a year from now you might only have three loans instead of five.  If you behaved exactly the same your balance would be higher after that year then using the previous method. However often one does not behave the same.  Because the goals are shorter and more attainable it is easier to delay some gratification.  The 8 dollars you are saving in your weekly gas budget, because of low prices, is meaningful when saving for a 4K goal, where it is meaningless when looking at it as a 74K goal.  With the 4K goal you are more apt to put that money in your savings, where the 74K goal you might spend it on a latte. For me, the debt snowball worked really well. With either option make sure that excess payments actually go to a reduction in principle not a prepayment of interest.  Given this you may be left with no option.  For example if method #1 you only prepay interest, you are forced to use option #2.


One can expatriate and (depending on where you go) get some protections from the debt following you. Some DACA dreamers are finding this option a best choice given the current political environment. But, this is obviously an extreme measure :(


"That actually sounds somewhat familiar. I looked them up and the first job on their site that looked like Amazon not only was, but was listed as ""Direct Hire"", and linked directly to what's probably an Amazon-operated site, so I don't know what's going on there. Presumably they just happen to have links for both kinds of hiring.  I'd be curious to know what circumstances you've seen contractors at Amazon warehouses. I know there are a couple of situations where we lean heavily on part-time and temporary employees, and I'm far from familiar with the details, but I'm of the understanding that the core workforce at FC's like this one are generally proper employees like I said."