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1066 | "There's nothing you can do. If he has indeed deposited the check, it would appear on your account fairly quickly - I've never seen it taking more than 2-3 business days. However, a check is a debt instrument, and you cannot close the account until it clears, or until the ""unclaimed property"" laws of your state kick in. If he claims that he deposited the check, ask it in writing and have your bank (or the bank where it was deposited) investigate why it takes so long to clear. If he's not willing to give it to you in writing - he's likely not deposited it. Whatever the reason may be, even just to cause you nuisance. Lesson learned. Next time - cashier's check with a signed receipt. Re closing the LLC: if you're the only two partners - you can just withdraw yourself from the LLC, take out your share, and drop it on him leaving him the only partner. Check with your local attorney for details." |
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1083 | There is also the problem of budgets. The budgets haven't kept pace with the growth in channels, therefore it's spread a lot more thinly. Combine that with the quality of the 'best' going up (CGI etc) and it's incredible that TV is as good as it is. |
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1089 | "> And what the hell would you use instead of ""going forward""? ""From now on?"" As in: ""Going forward, we will only touch base via email, unless we need to take it offline, in which case please reach out and we can do a coffee."" --- Versus --- ""Learn to communicate in plain English, you pathetic corporate drone""." |
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1099 | Another route if IB becomes a fleeting career for you would be to go into M&A/Advisory at an accounting shop and steer towards the PE side of the business. Then when you are sick of grinding it out or you get a sweetheart offer (plenty of friends have gotten them) from a PE shop do that. You could also stay at a B4 or national and stay on partner track. You might not become a millionaire in the first couple of years, but you'll be a multi by the time you're done. Also, as others have said, skip B-school for now. You will get nothing out of it without prior experience, and if you stay in Chicago finance you'll need to attend an M7 MBA program to go anywhere. B-school is more about the networking relationships you'll get out of it more than anything you will learn in a book. |
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1103 | Investing only in one industry may be problematic as it is highly correlated. There are factor outside your (or anyones) knowledge which may affect all the industry: If you are familiar with the industry it may happen that you work in that (ignore rest of paragraph if this is not the case). In such case you are likely to have problems at work (frozen salary, no bonus, position terminated) and you need to liquidate the investments at that point (see many advice regarding ESPP). Depending on your field you may have some inside knowledge so even if you would took a position without it you may need to somehow prove it. On the other hand diversifying the investment might reduce the volatility of investment. Rise in oil will cause problems for air industry but will be a boom for oil industry etc. In this way you smooth the grow of the investments. Investing part of portfolio into specific industry may make more sense. It still possibly worth to avoid it at the beginning investor may have trouble to beat the market (for example according to behavioural economics you are exposed to various biases, or if markets are efficient then prices most likely already take into account any information you may have). (I'm still new to all this so it's mostly based on what I read rather then any personal experience. Also a standard disclaimer that this is not an investment, or any other, advice and I'm not licensed financial advisor in any jurisdiction) |
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1134 | The HSA money is yours to keep. You can't add new money into the account and get a tax deduction for the new money, but you can spend the old money on medical expenses. First log into the website for the HSA and see if you have money left. This can be important because if there is still money left they might be charging you a monthly fee. You should have gotten a letter from the old company or the administrator when you left the High deductible insurance plan. This would have told you your options regarding the spending or transferring of old funds. HSA related numbers would have appeared on your W2, and you should have a 1099-SA from the administrator. It is likely that there is a copy of the 1099 on the administrators website. The numbers you enter on the tax forms depends on how much you contributed from your paycheck, how much your company contributed, and how much you sent (if any) from other sources besides payroll deduction. You will also have to know how much money was withdrawn from the HSA and how much was used for medical purposes. The last month rule is for those people who start in the middle of the year. If you start partway through the year you are allowed to make the maximum contribution if you still have it at the end of the year, and you expect to keep it. The Last Month Rule The Last Month Rule states that if you are covered by an HSA eligible health plan on the first day of the last month of a given year, you are considered an eligible individual for the entire year. In turn, you can then contribute to the HSA for that full year. If you are covered by an HDHP on Dec 1st of a given year, you may contribute the maximum for that year. For example, you could begin coverage and open up my HSA in November of a given year. Come December 1st, you are covered and per the Last Month Rule, considered an eligible employee for that full year. That allows you to contribute up to that year’s contribution limit, even waiting a few months to make a prior year contribution if you like. Back up the truck and load up the HSA! However, there is a catch. The Testing Period The Testing Period states if you use the Last Month Rule, you must remain an eligible individual (covered by HDHP) for the following 12 months. If you fail to remain an eligible individual (change insurance plans, lose insurance plan, receive other health coverage) any “extra” contributions you made as a result of the Last Month Rule will be taxed and penalized. If you contribute per the Last Month Rule and end your HDHP insurance within 1 year, you will have to pay tax on any excess contributions you were allowed to make and pay a 10% penalty. In this case, “excess” contributions are determined by the contribution limit / 12 months, compared to your time eligible. |
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1136 | I'm not sure what can be done about that unless you happen to be home every day? I'm gone 12 hours a day but fortunately (knock wood) we don't have a bad theft problem in my neighborhood. I think ringing the doorbell is sufficient in that you can immediately go and get it. |
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1144 | "I mean the scripture was written and incorporated long after Roman adoption by Constantine. Just because the republicans say that is their motivation doesn't mean it is objective. Policy research, the impact of Reganomics shows, and Kansas' own failed tax experiment over the last six years show that belief in ""free market"" is not a sound basis to make decisions which impact people's health and welfare. Actions have impacts and their belief and explanations do not align with reality." |
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1145 | When I was in that boat a few years ago, I went for the car first. My thoughts: If I get the car first, I'm guaranteed to have a car that runs well. That makes it more convenient to commute to any job, or for social functions. I ended up dropping about $20k into a car (paid cash, I don't like being in debt). I chose to buy a really nice car, knowing it will last for many years to come - I'm expecting to not replace it for about 10 years from the purchase. I would urge you to consider paying in full for the car; dumping $20k+ is a lot, and there are plenty of nice cars out there in the $10-20k range that will work just fine for years to come. One benefit of paying in full is that you don't have a portion of your income tied into the car loan. The main reason I chose not to go for the house first had more to do with the difference in commitment. A home mortgage is a 30-year commitment on a large chunk of your income. With the job market and housing markets both currently working against you, it's better to wait until you have a large safety net to fall into. For example, it's always recommended to have several months worth of living expenses in savings. Compared to renting, having 6 or more months of mortgage payments + utilities + insurance + property taxes + other mandatory expenses (see: food, gas) comes out to a significant amount more that you should have saved (for me, I'm looking at a minimum of about $20k in savings just to feel comfortable; YMMV). Also, owning a house always has more maintenance costs than you will predict. Even if it's just replacing a few light bulbs at first, eventually you'll need something major: an appliance will die, your roof will spring a leak, anything (I had both of those happen in the first year, though it could be bad luck). You should make sure that you can afford the increased monthly payments while still well under your income. Once you're locked in to the house, you can still set aside a smaller chunk of your income for a new car 5-10 years down the road. But if you're current car is getting down to it's last legs, you should get that fixed up before you lock yourself in to an uncomfortable situation. Don't be in too much of a hurry to buy a house. The housing market still has a ways to go before it recovers, and there's not a whole lot to help it along. Interest rates may go up, but that will only hurt the housing market, so I don't expect it to change too much for the next several months. With a little bit of sanity, we won't have another outrageous housing bubble for many years, so houses should remain somewhat affordable (interest rates may vary). Also keep in mind that if you pay less that 20% down on the house, you may end up with some form of mortgage interest, which is just extra interest you'll owe each month. |
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1158 | The Kraemer and Kraemer Panama has a wide range of sorts of immigration in panama visas and residency programs offering perpetual residency, and by and large, full citizenship with an identification. Panama is universally perceived as the Top Offshore nation. It draws in individuals from everywhere throughout the world who are intrigued immigration in panama for Permanent Residency. They come to appreciate the remarkable advantages that exclusive Panama brings to the table. Some talented experts and specialists desire a vocation while others are setting up universal new companies. |
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1164 | No such evidence exists, because many people do beat the market. And many people fail to earn market rate of return. The way you achieve the former is generally to take risks that also increase the likelihood of the latter. The amount of time and effort you invest may bias that result, but generally risk and potential reward tend to track pretty closely since everyone else is making the same evaluations. You can't prove a negative. We can't prove unicorns don't exist either. We can advise you that hunting for one is probably not productive; many others have been trying, and if there was one we'd probably have seen at least something that encourages us to continue looking. Not impossible, but the evidence is far from encouraging. Market-rate-of-return can be achieved fairy reliably with minimal risk and minimal effort, and at mostly long-term tax rates. I consider that sufficient for my needs. Others will feel otherwise. |
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1167 | When brought for your every day habitual, vitamin C offers quite a number blessings, from nighttime out your skin tone, shielding skin from the visible influences of pollutants, substantially improving hydration, and keeping your pores and skin looking younger, longer. Regurlarly use of vitamin c serum for skin enhance immune device and providing you with a brighten ahealthy pores and skin. Vitamin c serum for pores and skin is touted as an anti-getting older and anti-wrinkle cream. Many of those merchandise also fee an arm and a leg. As we know that Vitamin c offers human frame an impotant role in keeping wholesome skins. |
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1168 | All of our paper ways are safe; if they go away this society has much bigger problems than what your retirement account is worth. I more or less understand the idea of being backed by the full faith of the government to mean that the government will be around for my entire lifetime. It is my opinion that everybody who suggests we invest in gold, whiskey, nickels (or to a lesser extent real estate) because the value of money is going to go away, are interested in survival in a Mad Mad apocalyptic world. I very much doubt we get there, and if we did everybody who planned for it wasted their time. Therefore, invest in the traditional methods that are frequently discussed here. Then invest in our society, then make sure you vote from a learned position to keep our society on track with sensible leaders who are above reproach. |
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1173 | Consultant included a passing comment about whether companies were singular or plural. ... Writing about them as a Businesses plural entity seems oddly formal and doesn't look right at all. ... I had this scenario myself when referring to our own company name. |
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1181 | It does. Your kids won't care that at one point you had to wind a ring past numbers to dial someone on the phone or that the internet didn't exist or that no one had air conditioning or that food had to be run down and killed. People just see what is, what others have, and want more from there. |
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1198 | Yes, as long as you own the shares before the ex-dividend date you will get the dividends. Depending on your instructions to your broker, you can receive cash dividends or you can have the dividends reinvested in more shares of the company. There are specific Dividend ReInvestment Plans (or DRIPs) if you are after stock growth rather than income from dividend payments. |
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1203 | When you want to short a stock, you are trying to sell shares (that you are borrowing from your broker), therefore you need buyers for the shares you are selling. The ask prices represent people who are trying to sell shares, and the bid prices represent people who are trying to buy shares. Using your example, you could put in a limit order to short (sell) 1000 shares at $3.01, meaning that your order would become the ask price at $3.01. There is an ask price ahead of you for 500 shares at $3.00. So people would have to buy those 500 shares at $3.00 before anyone could buy your 1000 shares at $3.01. But it's possible that your order to sell 1000 shares at $3.01 never gets filled, if the buyers don't buy all the shares ahead of you. The price could drop to $1.00 without hitting $3.01 and you will have missed out on the trade. If you really wanted to short 1000 shares, you could use a market order. Let's say there's a bid for 750 shares at $2.50, and another bid for 250 shares at $2.49. If you entered a market order to sell 1000 shares, your order would get filled at the best bid prices, so first you would sell 750 shares at $2.50 and then you would sell 250 shares at $2.49. I was just using your example to explain things. In reality there won't be such a wide spread between the bid and ask prices. A stock might have a bid price of $10.50 and an ask price of $10.51, so there would only be a 1 cent difference between putting in a limit order to sell 1000 shares at $10.51 and just using a market order to sell 1000 shares and getting them filled at $10.50. Also, your example probably wouldn't work in real life, because brokers typically don't allow people to short stocks that are trading under $5 per share. As for your question about how often you are unable to make a short sale, it can sometimes happen with stocks that are heavily shorted and your broker may not be able to find any more shares to borrow. Also remember that you can only short stocks with a margin account, you cannot short stocks with a cash account. |
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1218 | Disputing the remark seems unlikely to move your score, since it is just that -- a remark. It's hard to say whether the scoring models can/do read the remarks and incorporate them (somehow) into the scoring metric itself. Disputing the revolving account that should be reported as closed is a different matter. The question there would be what the status of that account is/was. In other words, is it showing as an open collection or some other status which would indicate the creditor still has a pending claim? If so, disputing it might have some effect, although nobody would be able to tell you for certain or even how much your score might be affected. If, as you say, that account should have been part of the bankruptcy package then getting that corrected could be important enough to achieve what you're looking for. You can try it and see, but even if the effect is minor, you still want your credit report to be a true reflection of the facts. I hope this helps. Good luck! |
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1219 | You can contribute to a Traditional IRA instead of a Roth. The main difference is a contribution to a Roth is made with after tax money but at retirement you can withdraw the money tax free. With a Traditional IRA your contribution is tax-deductible but at retirement the withdrawal is not tax free. This is why most people prefer a Roth if they can contribute. You can also contribute to your work's 401k plan assuming they have one. And you can always save for retirement in a regular account. |
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1235 | From my blog's discussion on 2017 tax rates. This is the final set of numbers. So, if you currently have, say $120K taxable income, every dollar above that starts getting taxed at 25%, until $153K, then 28%. In other words, forecast your taxes based on the day job, but then the 1099 goes on top of that. |
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1239 | If you know the amounts that were combined ($5,000 and $7,500 in your example) -- NOT the original loan amounts necessarily -- then you can calculate a payment schedule (in Excel, Google Sheets, online, etc.) using that amount and the interest rate. You can then apply your payments ($100) to that payment schedule, making sure to either accrue interest if your $100 didn't cover the monthly payment, or pay down extra principal if your $100 more than covered the payment. The outstanding principal is the amount left or remaining balance. A program like GnuCash or Quicken makes doing the payment schedule, and applying payments relatively easy to handle. Spreadsheets will require you to have 36 lines (3 years x 12 months) of payment and recalculation detail, but that shouldn't be too much work. To be fair to your mother, make sure you include any partially accrued interest on the full balance when paying it off. Or even better, include a full month's interest in the pay-off amount. |
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1250 | "A majority of employers view the: >""there weren't any jobs"" excuse as *""you weren't good enough for a job""*. I'm not arguing that there aren't more workers than jobs, it's just that employers expect to get top talent for their dollar. Why snag someone who was/is unemployed (and hence undesirable), when you can potentially steal fresh employed talent from your competitors dealing a blow to their business and a boost to your own? That's the situation we have today in the labor market. American society and the bootstrap mentality dictate that unemployment is the fault of the unemployed. I don't see how this recession has made any significant inroads towards changing this widely held (mis)conception." |
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1252 | TK didnt lose investor tens of billions of dollars. Also, for the past several years the whole market rewards growth over earnings, so that helped guys like Musk and Kalanick quite a lot and to a lessor degree, Bezos and Reddings. For all assets, investor profits come from either earnings or valuation growth and Kalanick provided quite a bit of the latter. |
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1257 | Il y a tellement d'entreprises qui vendent des équipements de restauration en ligne et vous devez vérifier si les critiques de l'entreprise sont bonnes ou non. Vous pouvez acheter votre équipement de restauration auprès de fournisseurs et grossistes. Le fournisseur de matériel de restauration devrait éviter de facturer fortement pour les services. |
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1277 | Another option if it is available is a Roth 401k. It is similar to a Roth IRA in that you pay taxes up front, but the withdrawals are tax free. |
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1311 | You expect interest because you forgo the opportunity of using the money as well as the risk of losing the money if the borrower can not pay you back. This is true also with gold - you would expect interest if you loaned someone your gold for a time period. When you deposit your money in the bank you are loaning your money to the bank who then loans the money to others. This is how the bank is able to pay interest on your accounts. |
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1315 | Set up budget categories. Earmark your income as it is paid, for your budget categories. Pay your bills and expenses. For debts, pay the minimum on everything. There will be an amount left once everything is budgeted. That's the 'extra'. Then focus on, in order of priority, the following: So, when your emergency fund is up to an appropriate level (3-6 months of living expenses as a rule of thumb, adjusted according to your comfort level). Once you have your emergency fund started, budget at least enough toward your 401k to capture any matching offered by your employer. Then use the snowball plan to pay off your debts. (From what your post says, this does not apply to you, but you may have some small credit card debts taht were not discussed). Earmark the 'extra' for the smallest debt first. When that debt is paid, the 'extra' grows by the minimum payment of the smallest. Thus the snowball grows as you pay off debts. Once the debts are gone, reward yourself, within reason (and without going into debt). Now shift your extra into fully funding your retirement savings. Consult a financial advisor to help you plan how to distribute your retirement savings across the available retirement savings types. They can explain why it's good to have some of your retirement savings funded from after tax income. They can help you find the balance between pre- and post-tax funded accounts. Eventually, you may come to the point where you're putting the max allowed into your tax advantaged retirement accounts. At your age, this is a significant achievement. Anything left over after retirement savings is funded can be used for whatever you want. If you choose wealth building, it can lead to financial independence. The first two should be a one time thing. You can/should do more than one at a time. The fourth one is optional, and should not be considered until 1 and 2 are completed, and 3 is maxed out. What you achieve is up to you. Look up FIRE, or Financially independent, retire early. There are groups of folks striving for this. They share advice on frugal living and wealth building strategies. The goal is to save enough capital to live off the passive income of interest and dividends. Most of them seem to have pre-50 target ages. At your age and income, you could hit a pre-40 goal. But it takes commitment and a certain type of personality. Not for me but it might be for you. |
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1355 | Good god it's that expensive for CapIQ? Its pretty lame, I have to use it at work (large val shop), but its hit and miss. Have you tried Compustat or Factset? I've worked with both in the past, they seem cheaper and either may provide more reasonable pricing. |
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1366 | If you can afford to put money in your 401(k) account, I would say at least you should invest enough to get your employer's matching fund. It's free money, why not get it? |
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1374 | I wouldn't be either but here's to hoping. I think a part of me just really wants that not to be true so I don't have to uninstall all my easy/cheap ride options. But yeah if it does that shit will get uninstalled immediately too. |
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1377 | "I don't have a crystal ball but chances are your tenant is definitely lying. Rent was late and now the money intended to cover the rent; miraculously is lost in the mailbox. Anyhow, you were already nice to tolerate the late ""payment"". Keshlam's option 1.5 in the comments above is the ideal way to settle in which both parties have learned a lesson and are at a loss. Demand the rent payment but settle for half as a one time courtesy. If this continues or this tenant has shown shady predicaments such as this, you should look for legal means to evict this tenant. College students are very creative and who's to say this won't happen again? ""The neighbors dog took my wallet.""" |
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1392 | The bigger question in the US is perhaps why the cost per kWh is twice as high in New York as it is in Washington state. It may have quite a bit to do with taxes and regulation compliance and a lot less with natural factors in the market (cost of producing and transmitting power). |
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1394 | What you are looking for is travel insurance. I have never heard of this being offered as a credit card perk, but there might be something out there. You can buy this separately, but only you can decide if it is worth the costs. To me, it would seem to only be worth it for something quite expensive, like a cruise that costs thousands of dollars. The more you travel, the less likely it is to be worth it, since at some point the cost of one canceled trip is less than the insurance paid on the rest of the trips that went through fine. As a frequent traveller, I recommend that you build some flexibility into your plans, especially during the winter. It is not always possible, but try not to need to be somewhere the day of or the day after your flight. Try to book flights early in the day, as they are less likely to be delayed by problems in flights before them, and you have more options for rebooking. Flight delays due to weather and mechanical problems are not uncommon, and with generally full flights it is sometimes hard to be rebooked in a reasonable amount of time. Finally, be nice to the gate agents and other airline personel. In general, they aren't any happier about delays than you are (flight crews want to get home too) and don't have any power over weather or mechanical delays. Being rude to them will not help, and will make them less likely to go out of their way to find a solution. Be assertive in asking for what you want, but a smile and a kind word goes a long way. |
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1398 | I would be weary using Yelp. I've read several stories of people being screwed over by them. For example, a company would have 10 five star reviews and one 2 star review. Yelp would only show the 2 star review on the company's main page, and would contact the business owner saying for a fee they would make the 5 star ratings show on the main page instead of the 2. Very shady but not illegal since you are opting in to use their service. |
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1402 | After their residency, doctors aren't OVERWORKED, they just work hard, like most other professions, and don't have time to perform their own clinical studies to vet the medications that are provided for them to prescribe. No hospital/practice/doctor has time for that except maybe a very select few. The only law against nurses that I'm aware of (I'm sure there are others so feel free to fill me in) is the one that requires that there be physician oversight for certain procedures, which makes sense because if doctors weren't necessary for anything except surgery, there would be no doctors except surgeons. And the limit on medical schools is a fascinating point. I hadn't heard about that, and I think that it's quite bad for costs. The only upside is that it ensures that the quality of doctors stays as high as possible, but I can see how that comes at a serious cost. |
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1416 | I've never needed body parts in the 7 years I've owned it, so I don't know. But mechanical parts are the same as any other car; nearly all are available within a few days at most, but for the rare parts that have to be special-ordered from Germany, up to 2 weeks. |
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1452 | I don't understand your question. What the article is talking about is a bit more than circulating money indiscriminately. It is saying that by circulating more of it to rich and less to the poor will result in less growth overall, which I think we can all agree is a bad thing. |
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1462 | >[**Новый инвест проект Cpamaxpro ! Деп 25 $ ! Инвестиции в хайп проектах? Заработок с вложениями [6:17]**](http://youtu.be/wrJvG68lpjo) >>¦ Ссылка на регистрацию в проекте: > [*^Финансовый ^Вектор*](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAOABF2yT1SjVqI7RK9aIUg) ^in ^People ^& ^Blogs >*^1 ^views ^since ^Sep ^2017* [^bot ^info](/r/youtubefactsbot/wiki/index) |
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1472 | "From what I've heard in the past, debt can be differentiated between secured debt and unsecured debt. Secured debt is a debt for which something stands good such as a mortgage on your house. You have a debt, but that debt is covered by the value of an asset and if you needed to free yourself of the debt, then you could by selling that asset. This is what is known as ""good"" debt. Unsecured debt is debt that is incurred where the only thing that is available to pay it back is your income. An example of this is credit card debt where you purchase something that couldn't be sold again to pay off the debt. This is know as ""bad"" debt. You have to be careful about thinking that house debt is always ""good"" debt because the house stands good for it though. The problem with that is that the house could go down in value and then suddenly your ""good"" debt is ""bad"" debt (or no longer secured). Cars are very risky this way because they go down in value. It is really easy to get a car loan where before long you are upside down. This is the problem with the term ""good"" debt. The label makes it sound like it is a good idea to have that debt, and the risk associated with having the debt is trivialized and allows yourself to feel good about your financial plan. Perhaps this is why so many houses are in foreclosure right now, people believed the ""good"" debt myth and thought that it was ok to borrow MORE than the home was worth to get into a house. Thus they turned a secured debt into an unsecured debt and put their residence at risk by levels of debt they couldn't afford. Other advice I've heard and tend to agree with, is that you should only borrow for a house, an education and maybe a car (danger on that last one), being careful to buy a modest house, car etc that is well within your means to repay. So if you do have to borrow for a car, go for basic transportation instead of the $40,000 BMW. Keep you house payment less than 1/4th of your take home pay. Pay off the school loans as quickly as possible. Regardless of the label, ""good"" ""bad"" ""unsecured"" ""secured"", I think that less debt is better than more debt. There is definitely such a thing as too much ""good"" debt!" |
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1506 | I am not a lawyer, but the big thing to consider would be how you would split the money should either of you decide you want to close the account (or, at least her/his portion of the account). I suspect you'd also need to determine how to split the capital gains/losses for tax purposes. I can't really see any benefit to a joint account, unless you needed her money to qualify for some of the lower cost funds, and even then the difference in cost would be fairly low, much lower than the cost of having to potentially hire a lawyer to sort out all the questions. |
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1519 | "Not knowing anything about your situation or what makes it so complex, I would have to agree with the other commenters. If your accountant screws up your business goes under, but at least your personal finances are safe from that and you'll recover (unless all your wealth is tied up in your business). If your virtual assistant uses your personal information to take all your money, ruin your credit, or any number of other things, you're going to spend a loooong time trying to get things ""back to normal"". If the few hours per month spent managing your finances is starting to add up, I might suggest looking into other ways to automate and manage them. For instance, are all of your bills (or as many as you can) e-bills that can be issued electronically to your bank? Have you set up online bill pay with your bank, so that you can automatically pay all the bills when they arrive? Have you tried using any number of online services (Mint, Thrive, your bank's ""virtual wallet/portfolio"") to help with budget, expense tracking, etc.? Again, I don't know your exact situation, but hopefully some of these suggestions help. Once I started automating my savings and a lot of my bill paying, it gave me a lot of peace of mind." |
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1528 | I have loved using AirBnB. I have found it easier to hire a maid to clean and it has been extremely financially advantageous for me. Be sure to check out out regulations in your area regarding AirBnB. I spoke with a personal advisor before I used AirBnB just to be sure that it would not affect my insurance, property taxes, as well income tax. It was very helpful to take this step before becoming a host! |
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1531 | "In the strictest sense of the words, Freehold and leasehold mean what you think they do. Freehold is that you own it outright and leasehold is a rental situation. That being said, there are scenarios like what Peter K. mentioned in his comment, where you're purchasing the building and business outright, but the land it sits on is actually being leased from a separate land-owner. You may also be seeing the business itself being offered as freehold or leasehold. In this case, you may be purchasing the business of the pub from a pub company, but the building the pub resides in is leased from a property owner. The ""pub"" would be the business plan, decor, alcohol partnerships, etc. but not the physical structure in which it resides. You should really look into hiring an Estate Agent to help you find what you're looking for. They will be able to assist in narrowing down your list, and may know of opportunities you're not seeing in ads." |
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1532 | "You're acting like my comments are inconsistent. They're not. I think bitcoin's price is primarily due to Chinese money being moved outside of China. I don't think you can point to a price chart and say ""Look, that's the Chinese money right there, and look, that part isn't Chinese money"". That's what I said already." |
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1562 | But now you're suggesting that the losses made by Starbucks are all because of expenses made by expanding into the market. If that were the case, then, well, I doubt the management would think the UK branch is operating on a healthy basis. Also, the point the article is trying to make is the losses are *not* just from expansion into the market. No, Starbucks in the UK is healthy and profitable, and the debt costs are inflated by bringing in debt from abroad; debt that has nothing to do with the operating and expansion costs made in the UK, and yet it lowers their tax rate. This moving around of debt is a scheme only suitable for large multinationals, and I think it's very fair to ask if your tax system should allow such practices. After all, the smaller coffee guy on the corner or your local three-store branches don't have the ability to perform such write-offs, and therefore pay a significantly larger tax cut. |
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1565 | Yes, it's a risk. To put it in perspective, If we look at the data for S&P returns since 1871, we get a CAGR of 10.72%. But, that comes with a SDev (Standard deviation) of 18.67%. This results in 53 of the 146 years returning less than 4%. Now if we repeat the exercise over rolling 8 year periods, the CAGR drops to 9.22%, but the SDev drops to 5.74%. This results in just 31 of the 139 periods returning less than 4%. On the flip side, 26 periods had an 8 year return of over 15% CAGR. From the anti-DS article you linked, I see that you like a good analogy. For me, the returns of the S&P over the long term are like going to Vegas, and finding that after you run the math of their craps (dice rolling game) you find the expected return is 10%. You can still lose on a given roll. But over a series of a larger number of rolls, you're far ahead. To D Stanley - I agree that returns are not quite normal, but they are not so far off. Of the 139 rolling returns, we'd expect about 68% or 95 results to be 1 SDev away. We get 88 returns +/-1SDev. 2 SDevs? We'd expect only 5% to lie outside this range, and in fact, I only get one result on the low side and 4 on the high side, 5 results vs the 7 total we'd expect. The results are a bit better (more profitable) than the Normal Bell Curve fit would suggest. |
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1577 | If I buy VUSA from one exchange, can I sell it in a different exchange, assuming my brokerage account lets me trade in both exchanges? Or is it somehow tied to the exchange I bought it from? This doesn't happen for all securities and between all stock exchanges. So that is dependent on broker and country. I checked for VUSA with Selftrade. They categorically refused allowing me to trade in VUSA in different exchanges. I can only buy and sell in same currency only, albeit sell(buy) in the same exchange where I buy(sell) from. Should be the same behaviour for all brokers for us mere mortals, if you are a bank or a millionaire than that might be a different question. The VUSA you quote is quoted in GBP in LSE and in EUR in AEX, and the ETF has been created by an Irish entity and has an Irish ISIN. As Chris mentioned below, happens between US and Canadian exchanges, but not sure it happens across all exchanges. You cannot deal in inter-listed stocks in LSE and NYSE. Since it's the same asset, its value should not vary across exchanges once you compensate for exchange rates, right? Yes, else it opens up itself for arbitrage (profit without any risk) which everybody wants. So even if any such instance occurs, either people will exploit it to make the arbitrage profit zero (security reflects the equilibrium price) or the profit from such transaction is so less, compared with the effort involved, that people will tend to ignore it. Anyways arbitrage profit is very difficult to garner nowadays, considering the super computers at work in the market who exploit these discrepancies, the moment they see them and bring the security right to the zero arbitrage profit point. If there's no currency risk because of #2, what other factors should I consider when choosing an exchange to trade in? Liquidity? Something else? Time difference, by the time you wake up to trade in Japan, the Japanese markets would have closed. Tax implications across multiple continents. Law of the land, providing protection to investors. Finding a broker dealing in markets you want to explore or dealing with multiple brokers. Regulatory headaches. |
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1642 | "During Graham's career, gold and currency were the same thing because of the gold standard. Graham did not advise investing in currencies, only in bonds and stocks, the latter only for intelligent speculation. Graham died a couple of years after Nixon closed the gold window, ending the gold standard. Gold may be thought of as a currency even today, as endowments and other investors use it as a store of value or for diversification of risks. However, currency or commodities investing does not seem Graham-like. How could you reliably estimate intrinsic value of a currency or commodity, so that you can have a Graham-like margin of safety after subtracting the intrinsic value from the market value? Saying that gold is ""clearly underpriced in today's market"" is just hand-waving. A Graham analysis such as ""net net"" (valuing stocks by their current tangible assets net of all liabilities) is a quantitative analysis of accounting numbers audited by CPAs and offers a true margin of safety." |
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1656 | Many partnership agreements include a shotgun clause: one person sets a price, the other can either buy at that price or sell at it. It's rather brutal. You can make offers that you know are less than the company is worth if you're sure the other person will have to take that money from you, say if you know they can't run the company without you. He has asked for $X to be bought out, and failing that he would like to keep owning his half and send his wife (who may very well be competent, but who among other things has a very ill husband to deal with) to take his place. If he can occasionally contribute to the overall vision, and she can do the day to day, then keeping things as they are may be the smart move. But if that's not possible, it doesn't mean you have to buy him out for twice what you think it's worth. In the absence of a partnership agreement, it's going to be hard to know what to do. But one approach might be to pretend there is a shotgun clause. Ask him, if he thinks half the company is worth $X, if he's willing to buy you out for that price and have his wife run it without you. He is likely to blurt out that it isn't worth that and she can't do that. And at that point, you'll actually be negotiating. |
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1666 | "http://www.investopedia.com/articles/mortgages-real-estate/08/tax-deductible-mortgage-canada.asp > This strategy is not for everyone. Borrowing against your home is psychologically difficult, and if the investments don't yield expected returns, this strategy could yield negative results. By re-borrowing the equity in your home, you are also removing your ""cushion"" of safety if the real estate (or investment) markets take a turn for the worse. By creating an income-producing portfolio in an unregistered account, there can also be additional tax consequences - so always consult with a professional financial advisor to determine whether this strategy is for you, and if it is, have it tailor-made to you and your family's personal financial situation." |
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1670 | "I can't tell if you're just very stupid, young, or trolling. You insist that if we don't like taxes we can just, ""go to Somalia."" WHICH IS NOT TRUE. Even if I did simply want to stop being American and live in Somalia I still have to pay taxes. If it was totally free to leave you'd have a point - that I'm opting in to being here after the fact by not leaving. But that's just not the case. There is a real cost to leaving and renouncing citizenship and thus there is an aspect of being under duress to this ""agreement"" you claim we make. Edit: Do you seriously not understand that these are exit taxes that I am talking about and not your regular income/property/whatever taxes?" |
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1681 | If you just make a capital contribution to the company it is not a taxable event. If you're the owner, lending only makes sense if you want the company to pay you interest (if you have partners who aren't lending money, for example) and you want to be compensated for lending, a loan would allow that. But the interest is taxable as income to you (1099-int) and the company can expense it. But a capital contribution is much easier and you can take a distribution later to get paid back. Neither event is taxed, but you cannot take interest. |
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1699 | "The TWRR calculation will work even with negative values: TWRR = (1 + 0.10) x (1 + (-0.191) ) x (1 + 0.29) ^ (1/3) = 1.047 which is a 4.7% return. Your second question concerns the -19% return calculated for the second quarter. You seem to think this return is ""way-off"". Not really. The TWRR calculates a return by accounting for cash that was added or deducted to/from the account. So if I started with $100,000, added $10,000 to the account, and ended up with $110,000, what should be the return on my investment? My answer would be 0% since the only reason my account balance went up was due to me adding cash to it. Therefore, if I started with $100,000, added $10,000 in cash to the account, and ended up with $100,000 in my account, then my return would be a negative value since I lost the $10,000 that I deposited in the account. In the second quarter you started with $15,000, deposited $4,000, and ended with $15,750. You essentially lost almost all of the $4,000 you deposited. That is a significant loss." |
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1705 | "Yes, your tax bracket is 25%. However, that doesn't mean that your take home pay will be 75% of your salary. There is much more that goes into figuring out what your take home pay will be. First, you have payroll taxes. This is often listed on your pay stub as ""FICA."" The Social Security portion of this tax is 6.2% on the first $118,500 of your pay and the Medicare portion is another 1.45% on the first $200,000. (Your employer also has to pay additional tax that does not appear on your stub.) So 7.65% of your salary gets removed off the top. In addition to the federal income taxes that get withheld, you may also have state income taxes that get withheld. The amount varies with each state. Also, the 25% tax bracket does not mean that your tax is 25% of your entire salary. You step through the tax brackets as your income goes up. So part of your salary is taxed at 10%, part at 15%, and the remainder is at 25%. The amount of federal income tax that is withheld from your paycheck is really a rough estimate of how much tax you actually owe. There are lots of things that can reduce your tax liability (personal exemptions, deductions, credits) or increase your tax (investment income, penalties). When you do your tax return, you calculate the actual tax that you owe, and you either get a refund if too much was taken out of your check, or you need to send more money in if too little was taken out." |
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1756 | >While there is truth to this guidance, it fails to take into account that the human body continues to fight against weight loss long after dieting has stopped. But isn't that the wrong mentality? It's about altering your diet for life, not 'dieting' for a period of time. |
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1766 | Bank A only care about the credit limit at Bank B when determining the maximum amount of credit they will grant you. In theory you might be able to convince them that by cancelling the other card they should increase the limit on their card. Of course since you owe too much money to do a balance transfer before the cancelling of a card you will need them increase the limit first. They will have to decide if your income, credit usage history, credit core, and age of your account with them justifies the increase. I don't think you have a good plan for using the increased debt, it is way to risky. But if you have enough income to save 3K a month you might be a good candidate for a higher credit limit. |
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1789 | "1. So who created the income noted in the photo to give to ""you""? 2. Cut it any way you want but this is top down control that decides how much and who get goods and services. Freedom and liberty ? Meh. Would this writer even have a job commenting in a system he is proposing?" |
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1852 | "One of the very best case studies of the dangers of sacrificing product quality for profit, [Schlitz Brewing Company](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Schlitz_Brewing_Company) was [on the fortune 500 at one time](http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500_archive/snapshots/1969/3214.html). In the 70's, Schlitz management [decided to make some changes to their beer to increase profit margins.](http://www.beerconnoisseur.com/the-fall-of-schlitz) They changed the fermentation process to a faster one, started using corn syrup instead of malt, and used hop pellets instead of fresh hops. They used unusual additives to compensate, which under certain circumstances make the beer the consistency of ""snot."" Short-term profits went up, long-term customers stopped buying the beer. But if you want more modern examples, here are three from the [full list of 2012 fortune 500 companies](http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2012/full_list/): * [Morgan Stanley](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_Stanley#Controversies_and_lawsuits) - responsible for global economic crash, sold financial products to customers while quietly betting against them. * Bank of America - doubles interest rates on customers in good standing and now charges fees for everything, including talking to a teller. * General Motors - now builds cars with interiors made mostly of cheap plastic. edit: fixed link" |
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1873 | "I expect the company wanted to pay you for a product (on a purchase order) rather than as a contract laborer. Whatever. Would they be willing to re-issue the check to you as a sole proprietor of a business named ABC Consulting (or anything like that)? You can register your sole proprietor business with the state using a ""Doing Business As"" (DBA, or fictitious name), and then open the bank account for your business using the check provided by the customer as the first deposit. (There is likely a smaller registration fee for the DBA.) If they won't re-issue the check and you have to go the LLC route... Scrounge up $125 doing odd jobs or borrowing from a friend or parents. Seriously, anyone can earn that amount of money in a week or two. Besides the filing fee for the LLC, your bank may require you to provide an Operating Agreement (which is not required by the State). The Operating Agreement can be simple, or more complex if you have a partner (even if it's a spouse). If you do have a partner, it is essential to have such an agreement because it would specify the responsibilities and benefits allocated to each partner, particularly in the event of equity distributions (taking money out of the business, or liquidating and ending the LLC). There are websites that will provide you a boilerplate form for Operating Agreements. But if your business is anything more than just single member LLC, you should pay an attorney to draw one up for you so the wording is right. It's a safeguard against potential future lawsuits. And, while we're at it, don't forget to obtain a EIN (equivalent to a SSN) from the IRS for your LLC. There's no cost, but you'll have to have it to file taxes as a business for every year the LLC exists and has income. Good luck!" |
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1897 | Wire transfers normally run through either the Fedwire system or the Clearing House Interbank Payments System (CHIPS). The process generally works like this: You approach a bank or other financial institution and ask to transfer money. You give the bank a certain code, either an international bank account number or one of several other standards, which informs the bank where to send the money. The bank sends a message through a system like Fedwire to the receiving bank, along with settlement instructions. This is where the process can get a bit tricky. For the wire transfer to work, the banks must have reciprocal accounts with each other, or the sending bank must send the money to a bank that does have such an account with the receiver. If the sending bank sends the money to a third-party bank, the transaction is settled between them, and the money is then sent to the receiving bank from the third-party bank. This last transaction may be a wire transfer, ACH transfer, etc. The Federal Reserve fits into this because many banks hold accounts for this purpose with the Federal Reserve. This allows them to use the Fed as the third-party bank referred to above. Interestingly enough, this is one of the significant ways in which the Fed makes a profit, because it, along with every other bank and routing agent in the process, collects a miniscule fee on this process. You'll often find sources that state that Fedwire is only for transferring large transactions; while this is technically correct, it's important to understand that financial institutions don't settle every wire transfer or payment immediately. Although the orders are put in immediately, the financial institutions settle their transactions in bulk at the end of the business day, and even then they normally only settle the difference. So, if Chase owes Bank of America $1M, and Bank of America owes Chase $750K, they don't send these as two transactions; Chase simply credits BAC $250K. You didn't specifically ask about ACH transfers, which as littleadv pointed out, are different from wire transfers, but since ACH transfers can often form a part of the whole process, I'll explain that process too. ACH is a payment processing system that works through the Federal Reserve system, among others. The Federal Reserve (through the Fedline and FedACH systems) is by far the largest payment processor. The physical cash itself isn't transferred; in simple terms, the money is transferred through the ACH system between the accounts each bank maintains at the Federal Reserve. Here is a simple example of how the process works (I'm summarizing the example from Wikipedia). Let's say that Bob has an account with Chase and wants to get his paycheck from his employer, Stack Exchange, directly deposited into this account. Assume that Stack Exchange uses Bank of America as their bank. Bob, the receiver, fills out a direct deposit authorization form and gives it to his employer, called the originator. Once the originator has the authorization, they create an entry with an Originating Depository Financial Institution, which acts as a middleman between a payment processor (like the Federal Reserve) and the originator. The ODFI ensures that the transaction complies with the relevant regulations. In this example, Bank of America is the ODFI. Bank of America (the ODFI) converts the transaction request into an ACH entry and submits it, through an ACH operator, to the Receiving Depository Financial Institution (RDFI), which in this case is Chase bank. Chase credits (deposits) the paycheck in Bob's account. The Federal Reserve fits into all of this in several ways. Through systems like Fedline and FedACH, the Fed acts as an ACH operator, and the banks themselves also maintain accounts at the Federal Reserve, so it's the institution that actually performs the settling of accounts between banks. |
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1900 | >If nothing else, Sears is where you go for tools. No tools that are not made in the U.S., and nothing that isn't Craftsman unless absolutely necessary. Sears doesn't own Craftsman anymore. Sold it to Stanley Black & Decker in March. |
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1907 | For this scheme to work, you would require an investment with no chance of a loss. Money market accounts and short-term t-bills are about your only options. The other thing is that you will need to be very careful to never miss the payment date. One month's late charges will probably wipe out a few months' profit. The only other caveat, which I'm sure you've considered, is that having your credit maxed out will hurt your credit score. |
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1917 | Are you fucking stupid or just retarded? There isn't another country in the world remotely with the size of economy we have or that are starting wars like we are. Do you understand that wars are 10-15 year commitments with tens of trillions ~~wasted ~~ stolen ? I'm not going to argue with the flat earth society.. go troll someone else with your fantasy arguments. |
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1926 | as a past intern: * don't bring an attache * don't wear a suit, unless you're expected to, or for certain events (clients/big meetings/events/etc). * look around you. your team/floor doesn't wear ties. don't wear a tie (unless for something like #2). Same for suits, etc.. I mean you can wear anything you want, but don't over do it. this also should go with time you arrive and time you leave. try to mimic your team. obviously as an intern you don't need to stay until 8pm. typical hours are 9-6 depending on your area/team. don't be the intern leaves right when it hits 5:00pm...this ain't a shop rite shift. your hours depend on your work and how ahead/behind you are. * don't be afraid to ask questions. you *should* ask questions. just don't over do it. these people are very busy. * be respectful * go to events with your fellow interns. be social. be nice. * don't get too wasted at networking events * don't get too stressed out. its just a job, its not life and death. unless you really mess up, chances are you'll get an offer letter at the end of the summer. * *try* to stay off reddit :) * have fun. |
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1937 | When I had a high-deductible healthcare plan, I used http://www.ehealthinsurance.com/ to do comparisons among the plans. As far as comparing the costs of specific procedures across providers, I'm not aware of any good ways either. |
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1941 | "> What kind of bullshit is this? >> Between October 2008 and July 2014 the working age population grew by 13.4 million persons I'll explain about what kind it is. The working age population is defined as [The civilian noninstitutional population consists of persons 16 years of age and older residing in the 50 States and the District of Columbia who are not inmates of institutions \(for example, penal and mental facilities and homes for the aged\) and who are not on active duty in the Armed Forces.](http://www.bls.gov/lau/rdscnp16.htm#cnp) Note that there is no upper age limit on this ""working age population"". The large majority of people are retired by the time they are 65. The labor force participation rate for the 65 & up group is under 20%. So how much did the population aged 16-64 grow from Oct 2008 to July 2014? By 5.8 million." |
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1944 | NYC ban is not the same as the state wide ban. Sorry you can't comprehend the difference between a state and a city. Also, you might find this interesting as once again your completely and fucking utterly wrong : https://www.google.com/amp/reason.com/blog/2017/01/02/despite-ban-new-york-city-had-more-airbn/amp Now, let's imagine a world where you're actually right, and NYC fines and policing some how stopped people from listing their places; this is still one single city amongst tens of thousands where it's illegal, yet there are millions of listings in total in those cities. So your argument is as dumb as a flat earthier or climate denier... Your one example doesn't event back you up, and even if it did it's counters to tens of thousands of example that prove you're wrong. |
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1953 | Go google their bank accounts. What the fuck do you think 'profit' is? It's left over money after you pay out. Money NOT spent. The fuck? Money stacked quarter on quarter year on year. All of apples 300b isn't overseas and it's not spent benefiting America. |
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1962 | "You need a license/registration to be a ""conventional"" financial planner. But as long as your work is limited to budgets, and cash flow analysis, it may be more like accounting. In your shoes, I would consult the local CPA association about what you need (if anything) to do what you're doing." |
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1982 | Left out, of course, is the fact that this is Argentina's eighth default, because its policymakers are complete nincompoops, and the fact that, instead of not paying anybody by complying with the ruling, it could probably have struck a deal with NML to pay them the principal and interest (or a bit less, if they were decent negotiators) by waiting until December when a bond clause expires that states Argentina can't willingly pay less to some creditors than others. The blame isn't all Argentina's, but there's a reason why this sort of stuff doesn't happen in literally any other country in Latin America on such a regular basis. |
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1986 | "> We may have an oversupply of retail square footage True, but many will be repurposed into ""showrooms"". The future of retail still includes brick and mortar. Consumers still prefer the sensory experience- the sense of touch for many shopping sectors. So, what we may find is the customer can go to the store, see the item, but the item will be delivered same day or next day to the customer's home. This will allow the store to have smaller spaces as they dont need to carry tons of inventory as a local warehouse will have the inventory. The store exists as a showroom to showcase the product and it could also be a place for the customer to pick up or drop off some items. The buzz word right now is ""experiential"". Stores need to be able to provide experiences that digital stores cannot provide. When I first heard the word ""experiential"", I immediately thought about now closed Sports Authority. Every time I went there, the store had tons of square footage, but it was mostly filled with clothing, sport wear, sports equipment that I can find at Walmart or Target, or I could order it from Amazon. There was absolutely no differentiator. Looking back, the stores I have been to always had so much square footage that there could have been a mini rock climbing gym, simulation activities with tennis, golf, etc. Those are experiences that can just continually draw people, especially kids. If retail does not provide experiences like that, it will die." |
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2003 | "While I haven't experienced being ""grad student poor"" myself (I went to grad school at night and worked full-time), I would shoot for 10-20% per month ($150-$300). This depends of course on how much you currently have in savings. If it isn't much, you might want to attempt a higher savings percentage (30-40%). If you can move to a less-expensive place, do that as soon as you can. It's your largest expense; any place you can spend less on than $900 creates instance savings without having to sacrifice what you categorize as living expenses." |
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2018 | "As i see it, with a debit card, they are taken kinda out of the game. They are not lending money, it seems really bad for them. Not exactly. It is true that they're not lending money, but they charge a hefty commission from the retailers for each swipe which is pure profit with almost no risk. One of the proposals considered (or maybe approved already, don't know) in Congress is to cap that hefty commission, which will really make the debit cards merely a service for the checking account holder, rather than a profit maker for the bank. On the other hand, it's definitely good for individuals. I disagree with that. Debit cards are easier to use than checks, but they provide much less protection than credit cards. Here's what I had to say on this a while ago, and seems like the community agrees. But, why do we really need a credit history to buy some of the more expensive stuff Because the system is broken. It rewards people in debt by giving them more opportunities to get into even more debts, while people who owe nothing to noone cannot get a credit when they do need one. With the current system the potential creditor can only asses the risk of someone who has debt already, they have no way of assessing risks of someone with no debts. To me, all this credit card system seems like an awfully nice way to make loads of money, backed by governments as well. Well, credit cards have nothing to do with it. It's the credit scores system that is broken. If we replace the ""card"" with ""score"" in your question - then yes, you're thinking correctly. That of course is true for the US, in other countries I have no knowledge on how the creditors assess the risks." |
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2020 | "The founders almost certainly owe tax on the ""income"" represented by the rent they aren't being charged. It isn't clear whether the corporation also owes income tax on the rent it is not receiving back from them. You definitely want advice from a paid tax accountant, not least because that helps protect everyone should this arrangement be challenged." |
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2025 | "It's not usually apparent to the average consumer, but there's actually two stages to collecting a payment, and two ways to undo it. The particular combination that occurs may lead to long refund times, on top of any human delays (like Ben Miller's answer addresses). When you pay with a credit card, it is typically only authorized - the issuing bank says ""I'm setting this money aside for this transaction"", but no money actually changes hands. You'll typically see this on your statement as a ""pending"" charge. Only later, in a process called ""settlement"", does your bank actually send money to the merchant's bank. Typically, this process starts the same day that the authorization happens (at close of business), but it may take a few days to complete. In the case of an ecommerce transaction, the merchant may not be allowed to start it until they ship whatever you ordered. On the flip side, a given transaction can be voided off or money can be sent back to your card. In the first case, the transaction will just disappear altogether; in the second, it may disappear or you may see both the payment and the refund on your statement. Voids can be as fast as an authorization, but once a transaction has started settlement, it can't be voided any more. Sending money back (a ""refund"") goes through the same settlement process as above, and can take just as long. So, to specifically apply that to your question: You get the SMS when the transaction is authorized, even though no money has yet moved. The refund money won't show up until several days after someone indicates that it should happen, and there's no ""reverse authorize"" operation to let you or your bank know that it's coming." |
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2034 | Before everyone says he should just stay home, think of a one car household, much more likely in a rising market. Be trapped at home all night, or do one or two things you don't like along with that shopping that you needed to do anyway. TL;DR: You get dragged places if you have only one car. |
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2035 | A system for monitoring, processing and storing operating parameters of a boiler room. A sonar gauge for measuring the level of liquid fuel in a storage tank, thermocouples to measure temperatures at varous points in the boiler room, and means to monitor the operating status of boiler room equipment are provided. Means to convert to digital data, store and analyze the digital data, and transmit the digital data to a remote location are provided. Inventor: Jeffrey Solomon Primary Examiner: S. A. Melnick Current U.S. Classification: 702/54; 122/448.1; 237/8.00A International Classification: G06F 1574 View patent at USPTO Search USPTO Assignment Database Citations Cited Patent Filing date Issue date Original Assignee Title US3873817 May 4, 1972 Mar 2, 1975 LPT(I)SIH US4275382 Jul 18, 1979 Jun 23, 1981 Apparatus for monitoring and controlling vessels containing liquid US4373662 Oct 17, 1980 Feb 15, 1983 Honeywell Inc. Integrated control system using a microprocessor US4403296 Dec 18, 1980 Sep 6, 1983 Electromedics, Inc. Measuring and determination device for calculating an output determination based on a mathematical relationship between multiple different input responsive transducers US4433646 Sep 16, 1982 Feb 28, 1984 The Babcock & Wilcox Company Boiler water trip system US4486625 Sep 29, 1982 Dec 4, 1984 Clear Meadow Research Co. Computerized measurement response system US4487065 Mar 7, 1983 Dec 11, 1984 Cypher Systems Storage tank level monitoring apparatus and method therefor US4577270 Oct 5, 1984 Mar 18, 1986 Hitachi, Ltd. Hitachi Engineering Co., Ltd. Plant control method US4598668 Jan 9, 1985 Jul 8, 1986 Energy Systems and Service Corp. Apparatus for efficiently controlling the operation of parallel boiler units US4601201 Mar 7, 1985 Jul 22, 1986 Tokyo Tatsuno Co., Ltd. Liquid level and quantity measuring apparatus US4602344 Oct 25, 1984 Jul 22, 1986 Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. Method and system for measurement of liquid level in a tank US4700569 Nov 2, 1984 Oct 20, 1987 Endress u. Hauser GmbH u. Co. Method and arrangement for signal transmission in ultrasonic echo sounding systems US4716536 Apr 16, 1985 Dec 29, 1987 The Foxboro Company Measurement calibration US4782698 Dec 29, 1986 Nov 8, 1988 General Motors Corporation Method and apparatus for measuring oil level US4788648 May 27, 1986 Nov 29, 1988 Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. Method and system for measurement of a liquid level in a tank US4864972 Jun 8, 1987 Sep 12, 1989 Boiler optimization for multiple boiler heating plants US4922861 Jan 25, 1989 May 8, 1990 Toto Ltd. Multiple-purpose instantaneous gas water heater US4966127 Jan 19, 1988 Oct 30, 1990 Method and apparatus for saving energy in direct fired boilers Referenced by Citing Patent Filing date Issue date Original Assignee Title US5279263 Feb 5, 1993 Jan 18, 1994 Elsag International B.V. Cascaded steam temperature control applied to a universal pressure boiler US5419285 Apr 25, 1994 May 30, 1995 Henry Vogt Machine Co. Boiler economizer and control system US5793705 Sep 18, 1996 Aug 11, 1998 International Business Machines Corporation Ultrasonic liquid level gauge for tanks subject to movement and vibration US6059195 Jan 23, 1998 May 9, 2000 Tridelta Industries, Inc. Integrated appliance control system US6129284 Sep 17, 1999 Oct 10, 2000 Tridelta Industries, Inc. Integrated appliance control system US6536678 Dec 15, 2000 Mar 25, 2003 Honeywell International Inc. Boiler control system and method US6647302 Dec 15, 2000 Nov 11, 2003 Honeywell International Inc. Human interface panel for boiler control system US6745085 Dec 15, 2000 Jun 1, 2004 Honeywell International Inc. Fault-tolerant multi-node stage sequencer and method for energy systems US6813631 Dec 15, 2000 Nov 2, 2004 Honeywell International Inc. Automatic self configuration of client-supervisory nodes US7016742 Nov 27, 2002 Mar 21, 2006 BaHelle Memorial Institute Decision support for operations and maintenance (DSOM) system US7196891 Jul 27, 2004 Mar 27, 2007 Macronix International Co., Ltd. Control circuit for frequency converter US7891572 Apr 5, 2007 Feb 22, 2011 C. Cowles & Company Temperature and low water monitoring for boiler systems US8008603 Aug 31, 2007 Aug 30, 2011 Boiler protection apparatus and method US8009060 Sep 26, 2001 Aug 30, 2011 Lockheed Martin Corporation Remote monitoring of munition assets US8068727 Jan 29, 2008 Nov 29, 2011 AOS Holding Company Storage-type water heater having tank condition monitoring features US8162232 Mar 21, 2008 Apr 24, 2012 AOS Holding Company Water storage device having a powered anode Claims 1. A system for automatically monitoring, processing, and storing operating parameters of a boiler room comprising: (a) means for detecting a level of liquid fuel in a storage tank and generating a fist set of electrical signals indicating the level; (b) means for measuring temperatures at various locations in the boiler room and generating a second set of electrical signals indicative of the temperatures; (c) means for monitoring the operating status of a plurality of conventional boiler room equipment and generating a third set of electrical signals indicative of the monitored operating status; (d) computer means located in the boiler room for selecting from the first, second and third set of electrical signals generated and internally processing and storing the selected electrical signals in accordance with a set of internally programmed instructions; and (e) means for transmitting the processed signals stored in the computer means from the computer means located in the boiler room to a computer located in a remote location. 2. A system as in claim 1 wherein the means for detecting the level of liquid in the storage tank comprises a sonar device mounted in the storage tank comprising: (a) means for transmitting an ultrasonic signal in a direction generally perpendicular to the surface of the liquid fuel in the storage tank; (b) means for detecting an echo of the transmitted ultrasonic signal from the surface level of the liquid fuel in the storage tank; (c) means for electrically measuring a time differential between transmission of the ultrasonic signal and the detection of the echo of the ultrasonic signal; and (d) means for generating the first electrical signal indicative of the level of the liquid fuel in the storage tank in accordance with the measured time differential. 3. A system as in claim 2 wherein the first electrical signal consists of electrical current the value of which is indicative of the level of the liquid fuel in the storage tank. 4. A system as in claim 3 wherein the computer means comprises an interface means comprising: (a) a resistor means for converting the electrical current into an analog voltage, the value of which is indicative of the level of the liquid fuel in the storage tank; and (b) analog to digital conversion means for converting the analog voltage into a digital signal which can be processed by the computer means. 5. A system as in claim 1 wherein the means for measuring the temperatures at various locations in the boiler room comprises thermocouple devices located at the point at which the temperature is measured, which generate the second set of electrical signals indicative of the measured temperatures. 6. A system as in claim 5 wherein the thermocouple devices are comprised of: (a) a first thermocouple at the liquid fuel drawn from the storage tank; (b) a second thermocouple at the water resident in a boiler room; (c) a third thermocouple at the water drawn from the boiler for use as domestic hot water; and (d) a fourth thermocouple at the gases expelled from the boiler through a stack. 7. A system as in claim 6 wherein the second set of electrical signals is comprised of analog voltage signals. 8. A system as in claim 7 wherein the computer means comprises an interface means comprising analog to digital conversion means for converting the analog voltage signals into a set of digital signals which can be processed by the computer means. |
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2040 | I was thinking to do mix of ELSS and Tax Saving FDs. But is my choice correct? Also what other options I am left with? This depends on individual's choice and risk appetite. Generally at younger age, investment in ELSS / PPF is advisable. Other options are Life Insurance, Retirement Plans by Mutual Funds, NSC, etc |
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2064 | 8 hard inquiries spread over two years is not a negative factor, with a score of 750. Real question #1: How much of your credit limits are you currently using? Less than 30% of your credit limits is good. Less than 15% is even better, 10% is great You don't need to wait X amount of days after applying for a mortgage or a card to increase your chances of getting approved for something else. You do need to be conscious of how many hard pulls you have done in a reporting period though, but again as I said, 8 spread over two years is not a whole lot. Real question #2: What negative things do you have in your credit history? Young age, income, delinquent payments, bankruptcies, low limits? Some of these negative factors are catch-22's (low limits, young age = low limits because of age and young credit history) but these contribute to how much institutions would be willing to lend you |
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2083 | "While I agree that highly processed foods, including plant based meat substitutes, are probably not the best things we could be eating, damning them with scare words like ""chemicals"" is unhelpful and certainly doesn't account for the bigger picture. All food is made of chemicals- water is a chemical, broccoli is full of various chemicals. Looking at the specific nutritional profile of meat alternatives most of them fall somewhere between marginally better and no worse than meat based foods. Getting protein from leafy greens, whole grains, nuts, and legumes would probably be better, but meat alternatives still make it easier for people to adopt plant based diets, and see them as viable, which is likely to have a positive health impact, or again at least be no worse than an omnivorous diet. You also discount the non-health related reasons that people choose these options. Many people may be choosing meat alternatives because of concerns over animal welfare or the environment. Other people may simply like the taste- many options are different enough from meat to not be comparable from a taste standpoint, and many plant based meat alternatives are much better tasting than similar frozen convenience foods made from animals." |
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2085 | In a secular bull market, strong investor sentiment drives prices higher, as participants, over time, are net buyers. Secular markets are typically driven by large-scale national and worldwide events... demographic/ population shifts, governmental policies... bear market periods occur within the longer interval, but do not reverse the trend. There are still many reasons to buy the long bond, despite the lack of yield (nearly flat term structure of interest rates). Despite the recent credit ratings agency downgrades of U.S. sovereign risk, the T-bond offers greater relative security than many alternatives. If Germany were NOT part of the EU, its government bonds would be issued by the Bundesbank, denominated in Deutsche Marks. German government bonds would probably be a better choice than the U.S. Treasury's 30-year bond. Long-term maturity U.S. Treasuries are in demand by investment and portfolio managers because: |
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2103 | My perspective is from the US. Many employers offer 401(k)s and you can always contribute to an IRA for either tax deferred or tax free investment growth. If you're company offers a 401(k) match you should always contribute the maximum amount they max or you're leaving money on the table. Companies can't always support pensions and it isn't the best idea to rely on one entirely for retirement unless your pension is from the federal government. Even states such as Illinois are going through extreme financial difficulties due to pension funding issues. It's only going to get worse and if you think pension benefit accrual isn't going to be cut eventually you'll have another thing coming. I'd be worried if I was a state employee in the middle of my career with no retirement savings outside of my pension. Ranting: Employees pushed hard for some pretty absurd commitments and public officials let the public down by giving in. It seems a little crazy to me that someone can work for the state until they're in their 50's and then earn 70% of their 6 figure salary for the rest of their life. Something needs to be done but I'd be surprised if anyone has the political will to make tough choices now before thee options get much much worse and these states are forced to make a decision. |
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2128 | If the IRA is costing you $100 a year, you should almost certainly transfer it to a cheaper provider, regardless of whether you're going to withdraw anything. You can transfer the IRA to another provider that doesn't charge you the fees. Or you can convert it to Roth and combine it with your existing Roth. Either way, you will keep all the money, and save $100 per year in the future. If you want to take money out of your retirement accounts, you should take it out of your Roth IRA, because you can withdraw contributions (i.e., up to the amount you contributed) from the Roth without tax or penalty. Whether you should withdraw anything from your retirement accounts is a different question. If you're already maxing out your Roth IRA, and you have sufficient retirement savings, you could just instead plow that $5500 into your student loans. (If you can afford it, of course, it'd be better to just pay the $7500 from your income and still contribute to the retirement accounts.) There's no reason to withdraw from retirement accounts to pay loans when you could just divert current income for that purpose instead. |
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2143 | Consumer Reports actually reverted their stance on the Model S and gave back their recommendation after Tesla performed an automatic update to their vehicles. I don't know any other car manufacturers that perform OTA updates like android/ios phones. |
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2152 | "He's pretty much correct now though. You either have to pick one of the few fields that will guarantee high pay in the future, or work a trade instead. Any ""lesser"" degree is literally worthless now because everyone has them." |
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2174 | I researched quite a bit around this topic, and it seems that this is indeed false. Long ter asset growth does not converge to the compound interest rate of expected return. While it is true that standard deviations of annualized return decrease over time, because the asset value itself changes over time, the standard deviations of the total return actually increases. Thus, it is wrong to say that you can take increased risk because you have a longer time horizon. Source |
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2183 | On the off chance that you have thoughts to purchase an utilized car, the initial step includes endeavoring to locate the trustable second hand car dealer that fits your funds. You can sift through the chase in light of different parameters comprising Masai second hand car seller, kms driven, gas sort, body kind and ownership which also rearranges the way to buy second hand car. The utilized vehicle stage at Masai Auto City offers probability to each individuals and venders to list their used Cars available and bear in mind it's far completely fit for you. |
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2205 | If the check is written as a check to BigCo, it is less clear how Jack can compensate himself for the equity sale. It is as if the equity was owned by the corporation, not by Jack. This is correct. If the check is written to BigCo, then it is BigCo issuing new shares. Jack doesn't compensate himself for the equity sale, as he didn't sell anything. The company traded shares for money which it uses for expansion. In the long term, the capital gain from expansion may exceed the value of a $200,000 no-interest loan to the company. If the value of the company before investing $250,000 is $1 million, then the value after investing is $1.25 million. So $250,000 is 20% of the value of the company. BigCo should not give the buyer 25% of BigCo but only 20% in that example. If it does give 25%, the buyer is getting a $312,500 stake for only $250,000. With the other example, Jack sells 25% of the company for $250,000 from his personal shares. This doesn't change the assessed value of the company, just Jack's stake. Jack then loans the company $200,000. This also doesn't change the assessed value of the company (at least in theory). It gains $200,000 but has an offsetting debt of $200,000. In net, that's no change. Assets and liabilities balance the same. So if you know that the assessed value of the company is $1 million and that the buyer is paying $250,000 for a 25% stake at that same valuation, then you know that the check is being written to Jack. If the check is written to BigCo, then one or more of those numbers is incorrect. The buyer could be getting a 20% stake. The new value of the company after the investment is $1.25 million. Or paying $333,333.33. The new value of the company after the investment is $1,333,333.33. Or BigCo could only be worth $750,000 before the investment. The new value of the company after the investment is $1 million. Or Jack is getting screwed, selling $312,500 in stock (25%) for only $250,000. Jack's shares drop from being worth $1 million to only $937,500. The value of the company is $1.25 million. Or some combination of smaller changes that balances. |
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2206 | It's not your money. What does your wife think of this? You know, the withdrawal is subject to full tax at your marginal rate as well as a 10% penalty. That's quite a price to pay, don't do it. |
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2221 | I see what you mean, we are talking about different things. You are talking about early check-in. Which you can on Airbnb sometimes, usually though it's similar to hotel times in the afternoon. I was talking about check-in at any time after you actually have booked. If I booked it I can even arrive at like 3am in the night and not worry I'm keeping someone up. But with an Airbnb host it's a lot less likely. As I said some might leave you the keys. I even had a host who made me wait an hour to let me check 10pm. Because of some security thing. Obviously renting it when they shouldn't be. That said, still use and prefer Airbnb. But was saying at a hotel you can check in any time (implication was after you booked) and an Airbnb you are at their mercy. |
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2225 | I've had luck finding old stock information in the Google scanned newspaper archives. Unfortunately there does not appear to be a way to search exactly by date, but a little browsing /experimenting should get what you want. For instance, here's a source which shows the price to be 36 3/4 (as far as I can read anyway) on that date. |
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2234 | Usually that is the case that when fixed rates are lower than the variable rates, it is an indication that the banks feel the next movement in rates could be down. You also need to look at the fixed rates for different periods, for example 1 year fixed compared to 3 year fixed and 5 year fixed rates. If you find the 3 and 5 year fixed rates are higher than the 1 year fixed rates this could be an indication that the banks feel rates will fall in the short term but the falls won't last long and will continue to rise after a year or so. If the 3 year fixed rates are also low in comparison, then the banks may feel that the economy is heading for a longer term down trend. The banks won't want to lose out, so will change their fixed rates on their perception of where they feel the economy is headed. Since your post in May 2011, the standard variable rate has since dropped twice (in November and December) to be at 7.30%. You will also find that fixed rates have also been dropped further by the banks, indicating additional future cuts in the variable rates. Regards, Victor |
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2235 | Given what you state you should shop around for an advisor. Think of the time required to pursue your strategies that you list? They already have studied much of what you seek to learn about. Any good investor should understand the basics. This is Canadian based but many of the concepts are universal. Hope you find it helpful. http://www.getsmarteraboutmoney.ca/Pages/default.aspx |
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2241 | Machine learning is definitely applied to trading, but I have not tried it myself. For now I've been focused on figuring out the platforms and how they work; I have not been trying out other strategies besides a SMAC strategy. The most machine learning-like application I've attempted was cross-validation by walk-forward analysis (I'm publishing that post on Monday). I know nothing about TensorFlow other than it's used for deep learning and that it doesn't work on Windows and thus would not work on my more powerful gaming computer, and like I said above, I have not been exploring machine learning right now. Neural networks are on my radar, on the list of things I need to read, but there was a topic on r/algotrading recently where most users said that deep learning has not demonstrated better performance than more traditional ML techniques and looks like a fad. I want to convince myself of that first, though. I'm glad you enjoyed the post and my site! Thank you! |
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2261 | "I presumed he wanted 13 years of data at market close. Of course the more frequently he wants the data and the more attributes he wants the larger the file will be. I'm all but certain he thinks he's going to be the first genius to develop a quant screen and identify ""hot stocks""." |
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2267 | The principal of the loan is the amount you borrow. The capitalized interest is added to the principal of the loan, because you are not paying this interest as it accrues. So when you begin payments, the principal of the loan is $5,500 + $436 = $5,936. Using the standard amortization formula (see this page for details), the per-month payment for a ten-year payment plan at 6.8% interest on principal of $5,936 is $68.31. One hundred twenty payments (each month for ten years) totals $8,197.40. |
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2286 | If your uncle is looking to maintain life insurance coverage for specific shorter period of time he may want to look into hybrid life insurance. If you buy a hybrid universal life policy, the premium and death benefit can be guaranteed to last until any age. Since, most permanent policies focus on cash value accumulation it is hard for most people to find cheap whole life or affordable universal life. Consumers only looking for a longer duration have a more flexible choice with a new hybrid product that combines elements of both term life coverage and universal life. Hybrid universal policies are much cheaper then other permanent coverage such as whole life coverage because they do not emphasize cash value accumulation. However, the premiums and death benefits can still be guaranteed to a specific age (i.e. 85, 90, 95, 100). So, premiums can be scaled to coordinate with your desired budget and the face amount required for your family. Typical universal life and whole life insurance contracts only allow for lifetime coverage. However, hybrid universal life offers a much smaller premium because the coverage can be dialed into a specific age. If the policyholder does live beyond the originally selected age, the death benefit will simply begin getting smaller, while the original premium will continue to remain the same. |
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2304 | 20% is almost certainly too high. I agree with 2%, as a very rough rule. It will vary significantly depending on the industry. I generally calculate an average of the previous 2-3 years working capital, and deduct that from cash. Working capital is Current Assets less Current Liabilities. Current Assets is comprised of cash, prepaid expenses, and significantly, accounts receivable. This means that CA is likely to be much higher than just cash, which leaves more excess cash after liabilities are deducted. Which reduces EV, which makes the EV/EBITDA ratio look even more pricey, as Dimitri noted. But a balance sheet is just a snapshot of the final day of the quarter. As such, and because of seasonal effects, it's critical to smooth this by averaging several periods. After calculating this for a few companies, compare to revenue. Is it close to 2%? |