Personal Finance and Money Stack Exchange
Personal Finance and Money Stack Exchange

Most Popular

more tags
1500 questions
27
votes
7 answers

Importance of liquidity in emergency fund?

I know standard rules of thumb are that it is a good idea to have a liquid emergency fund of between of anywhere from 3-8 months of expenses (depending upon the source). How important is liquidity for such a fund? I recognize it makes sense to…
Michael McGowan
  • 1,096
  • 7
  • 15
27
votes
11 answers

Is there any financial benefit to being paid bi-weekly over monthly?

I have read in many sources that it's generally better for an employee to be paid bi-weekly than monthly. I have been performing some calculations and can't see the benefit to this. Say I was on a $100,000 salary. Let's assume a tax rate of 0% for…
LeopardSkinPillBoxHat
  • 443
  • 1
  • 4
  • 8
27
votes
10 answers

Is the stock market a zero-sum game?

In the stock market, over both the short and long-term, does someone necessary need to lose in order for someone else to make a profit? If not, then more fundamentally does something — in the most abstract sense — need to lose value in order for…
TheEnvironmentalist
  • 1,373
  • 3
  • 14
  • 17
27
votes
4 answers

What is the meaning of "short selling" or "going short" a stock?

Can someone please explain the meaning of 'shorting' a stock with an example?
Amir
  • 2,205
  • 3
  • 17
  • 9
27
votes
4 answers

Is it normal for brokers to ask whether I am a beginner?

I know that a broker would try to do their best to help a customer learn if they are beginners so that they stick with them. Apart from that, do you think there might be other reasons behind doing it? I have noticed how many beginners are attracted…
ZenVentzi
  • 381
  • 3
  • 8
27
votes
5 answers

My father has passed away and I want to buy his home

My father has passed away and I want to buy his home. There is no mortgage left and I will be paying off my sister half of the house value. Do I need to get a new mortgage?
paula
  • 281
  • 3
  • 4
27
votes
13 answers

Should I sell my stocks when the stock hits a 52-week high in order to "Buy Low, Sell High"?

I have a 10 stock portfolio and considering market conditions that are on the rise when this question in being asked, a few of them did hit their 52-week high price. I would like to call myself a long term investor and I do not like to trade so…
Lost
  • 1,601
  • 2
  • 16
  • 17
27
votes
5 answers

Credit Card Newbie - If I pay off my balance every month, what am I actually paying?

So I have never owned a credit card in my life, and am trying to get ideas as to how they work. Sorry if this is too simple a question... Lets say I have a credit card, and in one month I charge $1000 to it. At the end of the month, if I want to…
Matthew Jones
  • 1,054
  • 2
  • 10
  • 17
27
votes
4 answers

Why are estimated taxes due "one month early" for the 2nd and 3rd quarters only?

According to the United States internal revenue service, federal estimated tax payments are due on this schedule: April 15 June 15 September 15 January 15 (of the next year) June is only two months after April. I would expect estimated tax…
Stephen Ostermiller
  • 423
  • 1
  • 4
  • 11
27
votes
7 answers

Why is the dominant investing advice for individuals to use mutual funds, exchanged traded funds (ETFs), etc

The dominant advice on this site (including that which I give to novices) regarding investing is to only invest in fund vehicles (mutual funds, ETFs, etc), rather than in individual stocks. Why is that? With all the successful investors (including…
warren
  • 3,229
  • 24
  • 41
27
votes
1 answer

Will the popularity of index funds cause a pricing bubble in the stocks that make up an index?

I can't help but notice the popularity of index mutual funds over actively managed funds. I think all the arguments are sound, but I have one worry: Index funds are run by buying the stocks listed in a particular index, with the goal being to get…
Scott Whitlock
  • 3,768
  • 1
  • 20
  • 25
27
votes
2 answers

How does a scammer know the first 4 digits of my card number?

I had a series of attempted fraudulent payments on my debit card, my bank was very proactive and alerted me, and I have received a new card. However I had a call on the same day my new card arrived from "Anthony Brown", who had a very strong Indian…
Gazlad
  • 371
  • 2
  • 4
27
votes
6 answers

Why would I buy a Bond at a Negative Interest rate?

I read that France is selling bonds at Negative Interest Rates, and more recently Germany Started in 2016. I understand why this is beneficial for France, but why in the world would I pay money to let someone hold my money? Thanks for the update…
C. Ross
  • 7,856
  • 8
  • 45
  • 78
27
votes
5 answers

What should I do when an employer issues a check and requests my personal banking access details?

If an employer provides a check to be mobile deposited and subsequently the check is insufficiently funded, and creating an overdraft of my account. The employer "claims" in order to resolve the overdraft, I need to provide my personal account…
user122592
  • 287
  • 2
  • 3
27
votes
5 answers

Charity say that donation is matched: how does this work?

I regularly give money to a few charities. Naturally these charities ask me to give again from time to time. In the past few years I noticed more and more often that some charities encourage me to donate with a message such as: And because of the…
Erwan
  • 418
  • 4
  • 9
1 2 3
…
99 100