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1500 questions
35
votes
4 answers
Opportunity to buy Illinois bonds that can never default?
Today Illinois bonds were downgraded to 1 above junk. The article.
Citation from article:
Despite the lack of a budget, Illinois has continued to cover payments
due on its bonds, and, like other states, has no ability to resort to
bankruptcy to…
Tony
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35
votes
8 answers
What are the differences between capital gains and other forms of income?
It appears that capital gains are treated differently than other forms of income. What are the differences in how capital gains are earned compared to other forms of income? How does the tax code treat capital gains? What can I do to take advantage…
JonathanReez
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35
votes
2 answers
What are the important differences between mutual funds and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)?
I've been considering, but haven't committed myself yet to investing in Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), but have to admit that I don't yet fully understand the use-case for them.
What factors are relevant in making the decision between investing in…
JohnFx
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35
votes
15 answers
Why can't you just have someone invest for you and split the profits (and losses) with him?
There is a large sector of professionals providing the basic service of "take your money and invest it for you". However, it appears that none of these people want to share the profit nor the risk, but instead aim to derive money from the investor's…
Superbest
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35
votes
4 answers
Should I invest when in debt?
I have just consolidated my debt and am thinking where I want to be in the future. My payment plan is to be debt-free in three years. It is not an extremely aggressive plan; I still want to have a life, maybe travel once in those three years and…
TheRealTy
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35
votes
8 answers
What's the catch in investing in real estate for rent?
I can see a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom $100k property on Zillow (est. mortgage $375/mo) next to a university so rent prospects are good. Rent estimate by Zillow, confirmed roughly by Craigslist: $972/mo. That's just crazy.
What's the catch in…
chx
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35
votes
13 answers
Why might it be advisable to keep student debt vs. paying it off quickly?
As of a couple weeks ago, I paid off all of my student debt. Hooray...
But I have a friend named A who has a friend named B who is a financial advisor (a young so therefore perhaps ignorantly malicious one). B has convinced A that he should take a…
Millie Smith
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35
votes
5 answers
The security team has noticed suspicious trading activity. Insurance fee is 25%
On my trading platform(TCI-Investment), I've received a message from security, that I must pay an insurance fee of 25% cause they thinking I'm trading with insider information.
"Starting from the October 30 of the current financial year,…
Liver Makentoshe
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35
votes
3 answers
How can I stop fraudulent recurring credit card transactions being forwarded to a new card?
I have a Mastercard credit card issued by a U.S.-based financial institution. Several billing cycles ago the card information was compromised and several hundred transactions were initiated. The card issuer's fraud detection was able to flag all…
cms
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35
votes
6 answers
"One should save about 15% of their income for retirement." What assumptions are implicit in that statement?
I read a lot of websites that say, "I've run the numbers, and you should be saving around X% of your income for retirement in order to be safe, and have fruitful golden years." With X% being a number at or around 15%.
Getting to their assumptions…
Glorified Plumber
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35
votes
5 answers
Why don't you need to pay taxes on cash back bonuses?
I have a Discover credit card that pays 1% cash back on and 5% on select categories. My question is: why isn't that cash back "bonus" taxed when stuff like canceled debt (1099-C), interest (1099-INT), etc, is?
I mean, I'm glad that it isn't taxed…
neubert
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35
votes
7 answers
Sent money, bought and mailed phones. Am I getting scammed?
I follow big give aways on Twitter because I am currently in college debt and need money.
This guy direct messaged me asking me a few questions. One thing led to another and next thing you know he tells me that he wants to send me money
to help me…
Jacob Biel
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35
votes
7 answers
How scammy are cashback sites?
These days cashback sites (e.g. iGraal) are getting promoted pretty heavily, at least in France (many advertisements, YouTube sponsoring, etc...). The concept is that you buy stuff online and they give you money back on that purchase, which you can…
Pierre Cathé
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35
votes
12 answers
"Don't invest now because the market is high"
I have heard many people in my life say things like
The market is low so it's a good time to invest
or
The market is high so don't invest
It makes me wonder if mean-reversion is actually a thing for long-term passive investing. This…
Oliver Angelil
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35
votes
5 answers
What are the advantages of a Swiss bank account?
I've heard about bank accounts in Zurich / Switzerland, but I don't fully understand the unique advantages of swiss bank accounts. What I do believe about these (but don't know for sure):
They accept money from anywhere without questions, including…
user145
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