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1500 questions
23
votes
8 answers
Does dollar cost averaging really work?
Does dollar cost averaging really work? If I have money available now, why shouldn't I invest it all at once? If the market's going up, wouldn't that be better?
anonymous
23
votes
10 answers
How can I determine if my stock picking performance was due to luck or due to skill?
From 2000 to 2020, the S&P 500's compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) is about 6-7% (assuming dividend reinvestment). With a CAGR of 6.5%, every $1 invested in 2000 grows to about $3.50 by 2020.
Scenario A: I have outperformed the S&P 500 nearly…
Flux
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23
votes
3 answers
When filing taxes, how do I report "informal income" for which I don't have any forms?
This past summer, I worked a normal summer job and received a W2 form. However, I have also been tutoring two fellow students at the university I attend. They have been paying me "informally", eg they simply gave me dollar bills at the end of our…
MegaWidget
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23
votes
6 answers
My (buyer's) agent is the seller's agent for the house I want
My wife and I have been looking for houses for a few months through an agent who was recommended by a friend. We've mostly found houses by ourselves and Zillow and had him organize walk-throughs, although they've suggested a couple houses to us. So…
WaterMolecule
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23
votes
5 answers
Sugar daddy wants me to apply for a credit card so he can link me to his company account. Suspicious or am I being paranoid?
So basically, I was really desperate when I met this guy. I'm 18. He says he's in Canada right now, and will be back on the 23rd. When he isn't talking about money, he's been really upfront, honest, and genuine. But he offered to help me get a car,…
user92405
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23
votes
8 answers
Does paying a mortgage early mean you effectively paid a much higher interest rate?
Most mortgages use an amortization schedule that have you pay more interest than principal at the beginning and then less interest and more principal as time goes one.
You can see this using this online schedule calculator:…
qwertzguy
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23
votes
5 answers
How can a stock trade for a fraction of a cent?
I was looking at Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc OTCMKTS: HMNY (parent of MoviePass) and noticed they are trading for 0.0032 USD. I understand how this can happen as the market cap falls below 1/100th of the shares outstanding but how do you…
Nico
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23
votes
8 answers
Car as a good investment
I have been reading a lot and doing as much research as I could and need some help to decide whether I could consider the action of buying a car as an investment. This question comes after I can't come to a conclusion myself and would like some…
Celius Stingher
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23
votes
4 answers
Do businesses save their customers' credit card information until the payment is finalized?
Paying by credit card is sometimes a multi-step process. In some of those cases, only the initial authorization is made at the point of sale; the finalized transactions are usually entered as a batch at the end of each business day.
In the United…
tparker
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23
votes
3 answers
How are startup shares worth more than the total investment funding?
How does Mark Zuckerberg earn his money from Facebook? He is worth $17.5 billion now, but the total funding for Facebook is only $2.4 billion? I don't understand this. Is this the money Facebook makes through advertising revenues, or from when they…
harvardfail
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23
votes
5 answers
Do stock prices drop due to dividends?
From Personal Finance for Dummies, page 209:
Dividends
Dividends are income paid by investments. Both bond funds
and stocks can pay dividends. Bond fund dividends (the interest paid
by the individual bonds in a fund) tend to be higher (as a…
lamwaiman1988
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23
votes
11 answers
What should I do with the stock I own if I anticipate there will be a recession?
I want to preface this with saying I am not asking if there will be a recession because I recognize that this is impossible to answer. I am asking if I feel there will be a recession, what should I do with the stock I own?
I recognize this answer…
Runeaway3
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23
votes
2 answers
Do home values typically rise and fall consistently across different price ranges?
Within the same city, as the market rises and falls, do cheap, average-priced, and expensive home values typically rise and fall at a similar percentage?
For instance, all homes in the city rise about 20%, across the price range:
2010…
Village
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23
votes
3 answers
Is 95% of what you read in the financial press “either wrong or irrelevant?”
From a Cato Institute article by Steve Hanke1 (emphasis added):
Most press reports about Zimbabwe’s fantastic hyperinflation are off the mark – way off the mark. Even our most trusted news sources fail to get the facts right. This confirms the “95…
Barry Harrison
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23
votes
8 answers
Should homeowners insurance cover the cost of the home?
I'm buying my first house and getting quotes from different homeowner insurance companies. I noticed a lot of them are only quoting me for about 90% of what I'm paying for the house. When I asked one of the agents about this, they explained the…
TheStrangeQuark
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