Let's talk about money - The Finance Thread

[terracotta]

yeah.. it's a longshot but i figured why not. i'm starting a new job on Tuesday. it's sorta big for me, and i'll be making more than i did in previous jobs.

here's the problem.. after fixed expenses (rent, utilities) i'm not sure how to allocate this income. i managed to build up some savings in my previous jobs, but i'd always eat into them due to lack of discipline. i've posted the gist of my questions below. i'm a little inexperienced with finances so some of these might be pretty basic:

- i know there's a rule out there that 10% of income should go into a risk-free interest bearing investment, like a bank account. do most people put 10%? (note: the rule i know is to save 10% before any expenses, including tax)

- if you decide to save more than 10%, how do you (personally) divide your savings? for example, 10% can go into a bank account, 10% into a high risk/high interest fund, and 5% under the mattress in cash (25% savings total).

- do you try to keep your savings above a certain level? say maybe $1000 minimum in the cheque account, $5000 in savings, etc?

- for the previous question, i figured another strategy would be to build up some reserves in a bank account (a few thousand), then once i reach a certain $ value, stick everything i'd normally save into a high risk/high interest account. good idea? when should a guy feel "comfortable enough" to start thinking about riskier options than a savings account?

===

feel free to post any info or questions on organizing finances. being the internet (and SRK), you can't expect to receive (or be taken as seriously as) an unqualified opinion from a financial advisor... but maybe you'll get a little help.

i don't have a mortgage, wife and kids, or car to pay off.. obviously some of you guys will. that's a different ball game to me, but i'd be interested in hearing how you guys juggle things.

[AcEtUrNeDjOkEr]

Emigrantdirect.com is a great place to have your savings, 5% interest a year. My wife and I saved up for our house with it; getting a couple hundred a month for no reason is never bad.

My normal saving/spending is divided like this:

Pay everything off; anything I have left, but 50% in the back and 50% in your pocket. Once you put it in the bank, divided it out *house savings, car, etc*

The main thing is to live within your means, don't try to buy stuff that you can't afford and keep your credit inline and correct!

[catchafire]

I'm trying to become more disciplined with my income. I've been working for about two years now and I have absolutely nothing to show for it. It's almost as if i'm living from check to check. Last month I decided that I can't continue on this path and not have anything to show for when I decide to invest in a house or some other venture.

Right now, i'm trying to save a third of my monthly income each month. It's been very difficult because i'm naturally inclined to wanton spending. I've had to cut back on frivolous spending and eating out. It's a lifestyle change but i'm slowly getting use to it.

It's also hard for me to have a gf and be tight with money. She understands what i'm trying to do and i'm thankful for that, because I can't deal with someone who's going to eat the floor from under me.

Investment wise, i'm saving up to purchase a home. If I can save atleast 20% of the cost for the house, i'm sure that i'll be in good standing to get a loan for the bulk of the downpayment. I'd also like to start up a small business, but the risk is very high compared to real estate.

The savings/business path is a constant work in progress my friends.

[terracotta]

here's a post i found on another forum. some good basic stuff.. i didn't read everything on mutual vs indexed funds, but i think this explains the gist of it (mutual funds sound like they rely on arbitrage, while index funds sound like that "market portfolio" finance majors learn about).

Here, I'll add to this thread to head off some of the daily "what should I do with this $$?"

=========================
As the OP said, take a solid look at your financial position currently and also at your goals.

You need an EMERGENCY FUND. Start off with $1000. Put it in a money market account or a high-yield savings account. Here are a few links. I am endorsing none of them because I have USAA and therefore no experience with these:
https://www.emigrantdirect.com/EmigrantDirectWeb/index.jsp
http://www.eloan.com/savings?context=deposits
http://www.ingdirect.com/osa_work/
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/rate/mmmf_mmaratehome99.asp?params=WA,1092&sort=2&product=33 <-- Bankrate.com lets you compare

So again STEP ONE: Put $1000 in a high-yield account. This is your EMERGENCY FUND. You will not use this money for buying a stereo or for going to dinner. You WILL use this money to replace your alternator when your car takes a crap (for example.)


Step TWO is to pay off your debts. There are a lot of ways to do this and I will not get into them in this post unless I get requests to edit this. The point here is that you will nearly always PAY higher rates than you EARN, so if you have debts that takes a serious bite out of your investment income.

Step THREE is to contribute to your emergency fund until it is large enough to cover 3-6 months of your *necessary* living expenses. This still goes in that same high-yield savings-or-money-market account. You want the money there because it needs to be readily accessable if something comes up, and that rules out CDs & etc. If you are in a more volatile career, you might consider having 9-12 months in the emergency fund instead of 3-6; but I think 6 is a good number.

Those are the BASICS. It will take most people a while to get through Step Three. You should not proceed to step four until you are done with step three.









Are you done with step three yet?








Okay.

At this point you're going to begin investing. If you are reading this post then like a lot of us you are an investing n00b. This means you are not ready to pick stocks yet. Picking stocks is sexy and glamorous and requires a lot of time to do it right. (Some of you old-timers are going to say this is an over-simplification, and you're right, but this is for teh n00bs.)

Mutual funds are "where it's at." At least for most people. When you contribute to a mutual fund, a "fund manager" takes your money and buys lots of stocks and/or bonds with it. This is is full-time job and he's had a lot of training. He can do it better than you, almost certainly.

When thinking of mutual funds, there are a two basic types:
* Managed funds
* Index funds

MANAGED funds attempt to "beat the market" through active trading. THEY can be broken down into a few more types:

* Bond funds
* Blended funds
* Stock funds

Bond funds invest in bonds. Generally they will have a lower rate of return in a bull (up) market, but a better one in a bear (down) market. Many bond funds are tax-exempt because they invest in municipal bonds. USTEX and USATX are two tax-exempt bond funds I am currently looking at.

Blended funds look to take a middle ground: they will invest in stocks AND bonds.

Stock funds purchase stock in different companies and return the most in a good market. Stock and Blended funds can be further subcategorized:
* Small-cap
* Mid-cap
* Large-cap

These can also be of two types:
* Value
* Growth

The "cap" type just has to do with how big the companies the fund invests in are. A large cap fund will invest in companies like General Motors or IBM or Anheiser Busch or CitiBank. A small-cap fund will invest in startups or other smaller companies. Mid-cap funds obviously invest in medium-sized companies.

VALUE funds are those where the fund manager looks for companies where their shares are trading below what they should be. Let's say company X has a fantastic product and very little debt and few competitors, but maybe there was a little scandal in the news about one of its executives sleeping around, so the stock price is down. Well a value fund will buy that stock, expecting it to go back up to it's normal level.

A GROWTH fund will look for companies that are growing, building market share, increasing their value on the economic stage, etc etc, and invest in THOSE companies.

If you look at this example:
http://quicktake.morningstar.com/FundNet/Snapshot.aspx?Country=USA&pgid=hetopquote&Symbol=cvgrx
The Calamos Growth Fund (CVGRX) is a large-cap growth fund. (Frequently these funds will have "Growth" or "Value" in their name.) Scroll down to the bottom of that page and you can see the grid that shows the category.

There are several things to consider when picking a mutual fund:
* Historical return
* Management
* Fees

First of all, you never want to buy a mutual fund because it turned in 37% last year. That is AWESOME for the people who owned it, but the fund manager could have just gotten lucky, too. Look for a fund with a 5-10 year (or more) track record of returns you like. Sticking with the above example, CVGRX has a 10-year average of 18.75% before taxes and fees. That's pretty darn good.
(http://quicktake.morningstar.com/FundNet/TotalReturns.aspx?Country=USA&Symbol=CVGRX&fdtab=returns)

Next, look at the fund management.
http://quicktake.morningstar.com/FundNet/NutsAndBolts.aspx?Country=USA&Symbol=CVGRX&fdtab=mgt
Nick P. Calamos has been the fund manager since 1990. Clearly he knows what he is doing. But if you go to invest in this fund, and you see that last week he turned over the reins to someone else... well then it's a whole new ballgame and all of the history with Calamos is out the window.

Next, you want to look at the fees a fund charges, because the return of a fund is reduced by fees. If a fund (for example) returned 10% last year, but they charged 2% in fees, then the real return was 8%. After taxes it might only have been 5%, which is silly. Low fees are important.
(Fees, BTW, generally go to cover things like trading expenses, the salary of the manager, utilities for the fund company, rent, etc etc. The fees are teh fund corporation's income.)
http://quicktake.morningstar.com/FundNet/Fees.aspx?Country=USA&Symbol=CVGRX&fdtab=fees
In the case of CVGRX, fees are 1.19%. If we subtract that from the 18.75% 10-year average, we get 17.56%. Then take out taxes and you're still above 12%, which again, is not too shabby.

"BUT! BUT! BUT!" some people will shout. "BUT 80% OF MUTUAL FUNDS DO NOT BEAT THE MARKET!!! YOU SHOULD BUY INDEX FUNDS!!!"

Index funds? What are index funds?

Index funds are a fabulous invention. It's true that beating the market is difficult to do on a regular basis. Index funds are built on the premise of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em." They simply buy all of (or a statistically representative sample of) all the companies in a certain index. So an S&P 500 Index fund (like FSMKX: Fidelity Spartan 500) doesn't have to spend a lot of money on managment salaries because the amount of management required is very small. As such, the expenses for FSMKX are only 0.1%; subtracted from the 10-year average of 8.07%, that gives a 7.97% average return before taxes.

A final "category" of mutual funds are "international funds." These invest in companies around the world. Some are worldwide funds whereas others invest in just one area, like Asia or Western Europe, etc.

"Dang," I hear you say. "These taxes sure are getting up in my chili."

NOT TO WORRY. If you have "earned income" (a Job) then you can contribute 100% of your after-tax income (up to $4000/year) into a "Roth IRA." This Roth can be any kind of investment, but most people pick a mutual fund. The growth of the fund is then TAX FREE, although you can't take the money out (with rare exception) until you turn 60. BUT THEN your withdrawls are TAX FREE, you can pass it on to your spouse when you die TAX FREE, and on to your youngest child when your spouse dies TAX FREE. The Roth is such a wonderful product it's amazing that it came out of our government.

Some companies offer a 401(k) plan. Depending on what funds they make available for your investment purposes, this can also be excellent. 401(k) contributions are subtracted from your AGI, reducing your tax burden; but they do not grow tax free. Therefore, for retirement purposes, here is the best way to handle your accounts:

FIRST: IF (and only if) your company has MATCHING 401(k) contributions, contribute to max out the match. This is because the match is an instant 100% return on your money. Do not contribute a penny more than the maximum match, however.
SECOND: Contribute to your Roth IRA which you wisely opened in a good mutual fund.
THIRD: If you have maxed out your matching 401(k) contribution and your $4000/year Roth contribution and you still have money to save for retirement then put that into your 401(k) plan again.

Overall, in your mutual fund portfolio, you're going to want to have a good mix between the fund types. You'll want small-, mid-, and large- cap funds, as well as international funds; approximately 25% in each category.

Researching funds is easy and fun for a lot of people, but if you don't want to put forth the effort, then index funds are definately the way to go.

If you have kids or are still in school yourself, you can contribute to a 529 college savings plan; I'm not super familiar with this, but my understanding is that it's kind of like an IRA but you use it for educational purposes. Significant tax advantages over just keeping it in a fully taxable account.

Also, in many cases people are eligable for a medical savings account. I am not so I don't know a lot about this either, but it seems like you would use another high-yield savings account or MMA for this, and it has tax advantages as well.

IN CONCLUSION... "I have $$$ to invest, what should I do with it?" I hope you've found the answer in the above. Start with step 1 and work your way down.

[axeman61]

The only two pieces of advice I have (I'm a novice):
1.) Seriously try to look at things in an "accumulative" sense. My mom tithes to the church, which runs 4 grand a year for her. But she also buys lottery tickets with at least 10 bucks a day, which is more than 4 grand annually when it all comes out.
Looking at things in a "whole sense" like that will make you think differently. That different road for your brain may lead to a budget, or it may not. Still, try it.

2.) When out shopping, you may venture across what looks like a cool deal. But before your brain gets wet and you run to the front counter, just think of these things:

How much space will this take up?

That's something simple, but it's something most people don't consider when hypnotized by a lower price tag. If it's not small, like a packet of kool-aid or chili mix, then an item will take up some space in your house. You must consider that space as if it were part of the price, because it will be. No use to getting even an ironing board if you have NO place to put it.

Will I take full advantage of this deal?

Getting more for your money is the whole reason a deal puts you in heat, so are you getting more? I drink soda/pop/whatever all the time. If I see a deal that says "Seven 6-packs of Pepsi for $5," the only natural reaction is to jump for joy. I will drink all of those. But what if I see 10 boxes of Hamburger Helper for 2 bucks (I know these deals don't exist; bear with me here)? I don't make HH often, but it's always good when I do. Still, its needs meat that will most likely rot/be used for hamburgers by the time I remember I can cook HH with it. The boxes also take up space. Where will they go?
I know HH wasn't the best example, but people constantly take riskier gambles with things that take up more space or take less time to depreciate in value somehow.

Do I already have this?

Sometimes, things you already have are just as good or better than what you're looking at. That's... about it.

Where are the strings?

Besides the stuff about space and frequency of usage up above, does this deal come with any other strings? Think of components that don't come with a device such as an MP3 player, or things that would make said item much easier to use. If you still have to get that other item after the deal, it's not much of a deal.

If there are no deals around, you could always apply this stuff to regular items. I can't fully express just how much money I've saved by just crossing shit off my list.

[Plutoburn]

Watch this docu:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0829429/

[Bobbypigo]

I work in Finance and so does my girlfriend but we are always looking for better ways to make our money work.
My advice is simple,
First: Set up a retirement account, I dont care how old or young you are, start it now! ( 401K, or IRA) 22 year old male with an IRA putting away 100 a month will have close to 200k when he is 47. Not too bad, especially if you have that come out automatically you wont even notice it after a while.

Second: Open several high yield online savings accounts like HSBC or Orange, they pay around 5 % and can do automatic withdrawels weekly. After your retirement contribution put in another 15% of your weekly income and scatter it into these two or three savings account.

Third: IF YOU WANT TO BE RICHER THAN MOST AMERICANS PAY DOWN YOUR DEBT.
If youve got savings use it to pay down your debt. It doesnt make sense to earn 5% on money that is sitting in a savings account when your credit cards have a balance and are charging you 9-25% interest. (Your losing money) I know it feels good to have money saved but if youve got debt, its better to use your savings to pay it down.

Fourth: The most important. Buy a HOUSE! Improve your home slightly for 3 years, wait till capital gains are no longer a problem and when the market looks like its up SELL! Dont sit around, normal people can flip houses too. Just dont get too attached and always be on the look out for a good property.

I wont get into Financial planning items like Mutual Funds, stocks, Insurances because its too risky to give advice on these topics to people without intimatley knowing your financial situation.

[daydrinker]

I dont got anythign to contribute, just wanted to say that this is a great thread!!!

[mastermind]

Co-signing on the 401(k) thing. If you're lucky enough to get a job with some awesome retirement benefits, grab as much knowledge on it as you possibly can. The sooner the start, the better. I figure -- it's money I won't see, then it will be money I won't immediately spend. I made a mistake of contributing the bare minimum when I started and my amounts weren't maturing fast enough. So the next quarter, I went ahead and maxed out how much I could contribute (15%), and my company contributes 3% of what I contribute. I picked a pretty conservative setup for my plan. I didn't pick an aggressive plan, when I know I should've. I wanted something safer, I guess.

Can someone explain the whole IRA thing? I have this giant shopping bag full of rolled coins in the corner of my room and I just want to be able to bring that to the bank and drop it into an IRA. Is that possible?

[Bobbypigo]

Sort of. . . The most you can put into an IRA any given year is 4500. So that means the most you can start an IRA with is 4500 and you wont be able to contribute any more that year. So yes, you can definatly take your coins to the bank and start one, as long as its not more than $4500.

Mastermind, I dont know how old you are but if you are younger than 35 you might want to consider putting your risk level as high as it can go. When your young is the time to do it because when you get older you wont be able to afford the risk. When your young you can still make it up. Going high risk can make your yield rise from 4-6% to 10-15%. . .Not bad.

Contribute as much as you can unless you have a lot of credit card debt. If your debt is high see my above post.

[Nagata Lock II]

I was curious to know how US residents are responding to a rapidly dropping Greenback? As of this morning, the Canadian dollar was 94.3 to the dollar and with the impending hurricane season coupled with the Canadian dollar being very commidity based, there are projections of actual parity. Any thoughts on the subject?

T8 IS COMING! (http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=128160)

[TheIlluminati]

The thing about .personal. finance, like your situation, is that what you "should" do is basically contigent on your .personal. situation. You sound like you're young. That implies that you have a higher tolerance for risk. I don't know about any liabilities you may have, how much money you're making, the stability of your job, etc. But the main concept of personal finance is weighing your own tolerance for risk versus the return you're seeking.

Any finance major will tell you that's the basic thing.

Risk, versus return.

There are millions of investors out there. The market is close to efficient, at least if we're talking something like stocks on the Dow Jones. Essentially, what that'll effectively mean for you is that all investments (well, all investments you should be making) have the same RATIO of risk to return. That's because should any investment be returning at a better ratio, other investors will jump on it. That's the essential idea, and it isn't perfectly, perfectly efficient.

I haven't progressed enough in my education, probably, so don't listen to me over say a real investment manager. But here's another principle: it isn't necessarily better to pay off your debt. If the return on your investments is higher than the interest on your debt, then you are _winning_. The thing is, most debt has very high interest, like some of the other posters have mentioned, and as such odds are your rate of return on your investment will be less, and that's when you need to pay off that debt.

An example of when paying off debt isn't necessarily a good idea-- up here in Canada at least, student loans. It isn't always a good idea to pay them off; the rate of interest on them is low. So if you can take that money you would have used to pay them off and use it to invest in something with a higher rate of return than the interest, you're making money.

Oh, here's a tip: currency arbitrage, like where you try to take advantage of short term pricing errors in foreign exchange rates, doesn't actually work. It gets a lot of hype, I think there's infomercials on it. The REASON it doesn't work is that banks, investment houses, etc. have computers that pick up on foreign exchange pricing inefficiencies right away, faster than you can, and trade all that gain away for themselves (the inefficiency corrects as a result).

You could invest in longer term foreign currency speculation. Here's another (Canadian) example. Canadian investors who invested in the American stock market in American dollars, in, say, 2002, would have theoretically realized a big gain: look at, say, this: http://finance.google.com/finance?q=ETSPX. Those annual / annualized returns are essentially what you'd get each year as rate of return; when you compound that for a couple of years... that's a big return. But the thing is, if you're investing from Canada, intend to spend your money in Canada, but your investments have all been in American dollars the last 5 or so years, your investments would've been ROCKED by the exchange rate changes in the market; the Canadian dollar has gone from about 62 cents US to about 94 cents, and it's probably going to keep going up.

Let's say it's the other way around, you're in America, using American dollars for your consumption. If you had purchased CAD at ~62 cents USD, and held it until now, at about ~94 cents USD, less the time value of money and inflation, you'd be up that percentage difference.

[mastermind]

Sort of. . . The most you can put into an IRA any given year is 4500. So that means the most you can start an IRA with is 4500 and you wont be able to contribute any more that year. So yes, you can definatly take your coins to the bank and start one, as long as its not more than $4500.

Mastermind, I dont know how old you are but if you are younger than 35 you might want to consider putting your risk level as high as it can go. When your young is the time to do it because when you get older you wont be able to afford the risk. When your young you can still make it up. Going high risk can make your yield rise from 4-6% to 10-15%. . .Not bad.

Contribute as much as you can unless you have a lot of credit card debt. If your debt is high see my above post.

I'm 25. I'll definitely look into changing my risk level because this is the turn of the quarter.

I also definitely want to look into those online savings accounts. I want to move out of the folks' house and into an apartment before the end of the year. Saving up for a house with one of those accounts seems really ideal.

[AcEtUrNeDjOkEr]

I'm 25. I'll definitely look into changing my risk level because this is the turn of the quarter.

I also definitely want to look into those online savings accounts. I want to move out of the folks' house and into an apartment before the end of the year. Saving up for a house with one of those accounts seems really ideal.

Trust me, it works, my future wife and I put 1500 a month into an ED account and it worked out nicely. Got everything we wanted towards our house minus the finished attic.

After my 3 months probation, I am going to contribute 2-4% into my 401(k). My wifey is doing it also, thats my savings towards my Ferrari when we kick the kids out the house in 25 years:rofl:

[Bobbypigo]

I was curious to know how US residents are responding to a rapidly dropping Greenback? As of this morning, the Canadian dollar was 94.3 to the dollar and with the impending hurricane season coupled with the Canadian dollar being very commidity based, there are projections of actual parity. Any thoughts on the subject?

T8 IS COMING! (http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=128160)

Nagata, I would write forever on this topic but I have got to get some work done today.

The U.S dollar will begin to fail more and more over the next 20-50 years unless the U.S. changes their financial policies in a major way. Like I said, I could type all day about this but to put it simply check this: Remember 2 months ago when all the major Chinese corporations sold off. Remember what happened to the Dow and the S and P and NAsdaq? They fell apart and people thought it was the end of the US economy. This can happen again and at anytime. We are dependent on foreign everything. We import many times more than we export and China just surpassed us as the Number 1 exporter in the world.
Bottom line, China will determine the world market for the next 50-100 years and Canada will overtake the US dollar.
China WILL BE the world Super power in finance, exporting, and military.


Terracaota's article is great, I love it all except for the 529 plan thing. Seriousley research these products, They can only be used for college! So if your kid doesnt go for some reason youve wasted all that time because the money is no longer tax deffered.

[Bobbypigo]

Trust me, it works, my future wife and I put 1500 a month into an ED account and it worked out nicely. Got everything we wanted towards our house minus the finished attic.

After my 3 months probation, I am going to contribute 2-4% into my 401(k). My wifey is doing it also, thats my savings towards my Ferrari when we kick the kids out the house in 25 years:rofl:

This is another important idea people forget about. You want to have money? Kick those kids out no later than age 20. Other wise have them contribute in a major way to the houshold.

[Natureboy 1]

here's a post i found on another forum. some good basic stuff.. i didn't read everything on mutual vs indexed funds, but i think this explains the gist of it (mutual funds sound like they rely on arbitrage, while index funds sound like that "market portfolio" finance majors learn about).

great post... someone with premium rep him for me :tup:

[terracotta]

lol don't rep me, i didn't write it. but i'll pass the message on.

glad the thread's being helpful to some people. :tup: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mDsCUOGCS0&mode=related&search=)

[JackTenrac!]

Repp you cuz I wanna!

...I use percentages for that.

...that went well.

[fishjie]

right now i got all my monies in savings

im thinking about buying a condo soon so thats why. if i dont, i will make my portfolio something like this:

10% CDs (ing offers 5% or so which is way better than bonds or money market or brickmortar banks)

50% vanguard s&p 500 (i forget the name)

20% REIT (vanguard has one)

20% foreign index fund (vanguard has one)

basically, i want fees as low as possible. vanguard has the lowest fees. i also want indexes, because nobody beats the market in the long run. low fees + indexes = win. high fees + mutual funds = LOSE.

[akumatrunigga]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OO
My favorite topic!!!

Anyway here is one suggestion is that whatever you make take about 1 hour worth of work for each day and add it into your savings weekly. For example, if you make about $34,000 a year that is the equivalent about $16.35/hr. So you should be saving about $81.73/wk. With interest bearing accounts such as INGDirect (i have) and others, that money will increase in a heartbeat.

right now i got all my monies in savings
im thinking about buying a condo soon so thats why. if i dont, i will make my portfolio something like this:

Im trying to do the same thing myself as fast as I could. It may come to the point of saying no in taking ladies out cuz it can hurt a brotha especially since the Real Estate money isnt coming in right away. I just started literally last month and it is going to be a while before the money come through. So, I just may wind up working for an organization that has all the great perks while doing real estate part-time. (my broker is a cool dude and understands) Im having a crap load of interviews and it just a matter of choosing.

In regards to the debt thing, I agree a whole lot. If you have credit card debt, just place an emphasis and pay them off as quickly as possible. If it comes to the point of saving everything after you take of important expenses DO IT! I would rather have all of my debt taken care of in less than a year than do that bullshit debt consoldation thing that alot of companies provide. In actuality if you settle your debts on your own your credit score will increase faster. I still remember my score was at about 550 and after taken care of my debts in less than a year that shit jump to 630. Now 630 is alright status and companies will risk you cuz they know that you are taking care of you shit.

If you are single put all that pimp money in paying off your debt. You'll thank yourself in the long run.

[Digitalbooty]

Diversify yo bonds, nigga! (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f0/Wu_tang_financial.jpg/250px-Wu_tang_financial.jpg)

[terracotta]

you know i'm not even in the US and i'm using ING Direct. i guess that's good news..

nobody beats the market in the long run.
except other markets..

[fishjie]

you know i'm not even in the US and i'm using ING Direct. i guess that's good news..


except other markets..

?

are you talking about foreign markets? if so thats why you should invest in a global index fund. because nobody beats the market in the long term. not even warren buffet. so the best strategy is to index the whole thing.

[Night]

I personally only shelf like, $1,000 in the checking account to take care of monthly bills, ATM withdrawls (rare), etc. Each pay period, I balance the checking to $1,000 and putting the excess into other accounts.

I keep about say, $10,000+ in a high-yield account at the bank, and I keep like a few hundred bucks tucked away in a cupboard somewhere just in case. That's the "emergency" stuff.

I contribute a good deal into the 401k, even more than double the company matching since I want to be at or near the $15,000 limit allowed per year, and then diversify the funds in there, a large cap, small cap, international, etc. That money won't be seen in a long time until way into retirement, but that doesn't matter since I never spend money anyway. The company matching is free money, and I'm more than happy if the returns on those investments are beating current CD and MMA rates.

I also contribute the maximum allowed to the company's ESP plan since it's guaranteed by the company that each stock purchase will be AT LEAST a 15% discount, so that's essentially a gain right there.

The rest of my money is committed to investments. Each pay period, the excess money from the checking account is put into the account where it can be accumulated as cash and used for investing, where more of the activity takes place.

Like the quoted earlier in the thread, I diversify my mutual funds, not putting everyone into just one. I'm a little heavier towards International funds (I can even give specifics if anyone is interested) these days, and I do a little research in looking at the expense ratios, their morningstar ratings, what other people say, and of course, their historical performance. As long as my funds are returning more than CD and MMA rates, I'm more than happy.

I also keep a decent amount of cash around to see if I have an opportunity to get into a stock that I feel is at a good price, get a gain I'm comfortable with and get out. Sure there's the tax, but a gain's a gain, and it at least increases my cash position to put into another investment. I did this a few times with Intel this year, where it was hovering at $19~20... got in, when it gained a point or two, get out. Stocks are a lot more riskier though, so a bit more homework is needed.

At a young age, you can afford to take risks, and if you've got money to throw around that you plan on using to get some returns, just having all the money lumped into a high interest CD, MMA or savings account isn't exactly maximzing things for you in an upward market, so it's good to do a little homework and see what you can put your money into and watch it grow.

[Dali]

I have my job allocate 20% of my gross pay to my retirement account (which is nothing but an S&P500 Index Fund). At the moment I don't have time to try to 'beat' the market so I use an index fund (which basically means if the S&P 500 goes up 12% this year so will my retirement account.

Unfortunately, though I'm always broke or well not able to buy cool things (like a XBOX 360 or HDTV).

Also if your job offers retirement matching funds GO FOR IT!!!!! Can't stress this enough, my job matches upto 5% of my gross pay so basically my savings rate is about 25%.

And if you find yourself in a tough pinch you can always borrow against it (and the interest you pay you're paying yourself).

I would recommend saving into these retirement accounts because not only do most jobs match your contributions (in some scheme) but you also reduce your taxable income by how much you contribute.

-Dali

[MrBlank]

I got 5 credit cards i want to consolidate.

What is the best possible place to make this happen? i want a low interest rates and online payments.

[defcon]

i invested all the leftover money i had from my civilian financial endeavors into an aggressive growth mutual fund just about 3 years ago. i rarely ever check it because i don't want to turn into one of those compulsive day trader types. but i checked it today and that shit has netted a 41% growth. my face is still like this :wow: right now. being that i'm invested into an aggressive growth mutual fund (this is my primary savings right now), when should i cash out? i'm tempted to right now, because i remember a few times i've checked and all the market shit was in red and negative numbers and the outstanding 40% over these 3 years is not a sustainable rate of return i can expect in the future... thoughts + advice?

[terracotta]

i heard this advice once.
collect assets. an asset is anything that generates income. a liability is anything that takes it away.

simple concept, but i think not enough people have this mindset. say i had $2000. i could use it as down payment on a new car, or do some professional course that will help me land a much better job. most people would see both as "assets" equally.

fish: i guess you're right.. but then again, isn't the market a zero sum game? one market's loss is another's gain. and it's probably easier to speculate on an economy than on a stock. (well.. maybe. if that were true everyone would be throwing money at the chinese economy)

===

any business people here?

[Night]

i invested all the leftover money i had from my civilian financial endeavors into an aggressive growth mutual fund just about 3 years ago. i rarely ever check it because i don't want to turn into one of those compulsive day trader types. but i checked it today and that shit has netted a 41% growth. my face is still like this :wow: right now. being that i'm invested into an aggressive growth mutual fund (this is my primary savings right now), when should i cash out? i'm tempted to right now, because i remember a few times i've checked and all the market shit was in red and negative numbers and the outstanding 40% over these 3 years is not a sustainable rate of return i can expect in the future... thoughts + advice?

41% in 3 years is about 13.7% return each year, so that's not too bad. Very recently if you've paid attention to last month, the market was pretty much on an upswing, so you'll probably notice that the fund has grown a lot even in the past month, so maybe the peak hasn't even been reached yet. Even today (June 5) the market is in the red, and don't let seeing the market in the red on certain days make you want to pull out. You're already beating current CD and MMA rates so that's great. Only pull out if you need the cash or if you notice that the growth is starting to flatten.

i heard this advice once.
collect assets. an asset is anything that generates income. a liability is anything that takes it away.

Basically if they tell you "collect assets" where they generate income, that pretty much means owning property where if you own property, you can rent it out or sell it, generating additional income for yourself.

[specs]

This thread is good eatin'. Kudos to all who gave the advice!

[Dasrik]

Well...

These are all great things if you seriously want to get married, have kids, and have something to leave behind.

If you're just thinking about the day-to-day, though, it's as easy as just setting some money aside in a savings account for emergency situations. Anyone living on their own should have a "Fuck-I-Can't-Believe-My-Car-Broke-Down" fund. ^_^

[Disciple of Ryu]

Okay, I have a few question. I've read all the posts in this thread but I'm pretty retarded so most of this stuff has gone over my head. I'm only making a little over 30,000 a year so I don't have tons to invest. I've gathered from reading this thread that I need to up the amount I'm paying into my 401k, that's a given. I do have some questions about that though.

1. I have a 401k from the first real job I had but I never bothered to update my address or do anything with the account when I quit my job and moved. This was about 3 years ago, so is the money still there and mine? If so, is it possible to transfer the money directly into my current 401k? How much should I expect to pay in fees?

2. I plan on opening a savings account. Currently I only plan to put about $100 a month into it and never draw from it. Yeah, it's not much but I have car payments to make and I know that's a safe guess as too how much I make myself put away. I'm 25 now and looking for a somewhat long time investment. I want to attempt to buy a house in my late 30's-early 40's. If I went to the bank this weekend, what type of account(s) would I tell the banker I wanted to have a decent amount of money to use as a down payment?

3. If I invest in an overseas company, i'll have to go through a broker (?) to find out what company is best to invest in and to get everything set up. Realisticly how much money should I have before I attempt this, and are the fees associated with this method one time, or would I have to keep paying the broker to be updated on how my investment is going?

Thanks for the time and knowledge.

[klearshadow]

Buy the book: "The millionaire next door" great read about how the "real" rich people eat,live,spend etc.

[Night]

1. I have a 401k from the first real job I had but I never bothered to update my address or do anything with the account when I quit my job and moved. This was about 3 years ago, so is the money still there and mine? If so, is it possible to transfer the money directly into my current 401k? How much should I expect to pay in fees?

Your 401k stays with you as well as all the money you contributed into the funds during your time at that company. And yes, you can transfer the money from the funds from your former job into the funds of your current job, but before you think about doing that, have a look at how well your former funds are performing. If they're already performing pretty good, no need to transfer! Depending on your 401k broker (e.g. Fidelity) there may be fees associated with it if you exceed the number of times you can do it per year, so you need to get that info from your 401k broker.


2. I plan on opening a savings account. Currently I only plan to put about $100 a month into it and never draw from it. Yeah, it's not much but I have car payments to make and I know that's a safe guess as too how much I make myself put away. I'm 25 now and looking for a somewhat long time investment. I want to attempt to buy a house in my late 30's-early 40's. If I went to the bank this weekend, what type of account(s) would I tell the banker I wanted to have a decent amount of money to use as a down payment?

The highest interest account they'll likely push on you is a high yield savings or money market account (MMA). If you have a big chunk you want to deposit and never touch it for a while (can't withdraw or deposit) they'll push a promitional CD on you probably. If you actually do plan on lots of activity, then a savings account or MMA is what they'll likely offer you. I honestly don't know what the local bank would offer when you ask, so they'll know better than me.

You can open up a Roth IRA, you can put away up to $4,000 per year (as of 2007), and withdraw $10,000 (and only $10,000) towards the purchase of your first home, but this will be tax-free and will not suffer an early withdrawl penalty (I believe if the holding period is over 5 years), so this $10,000 can really help you out. In the IRA, you can have it in a mutual fund that can grow better than current CD and MMA rates, so when you retire, the money withdrawn will also be tax-free.

The accounts at the bank aren't necessarily the greatest in terms of getting growth and stuff since CD and MMA rates, while safe, aren't ideal for maximizing your returns in an upswing market. If you open up an investment account, and do a little homework, and put your money into a decent mutual fund, that's where you money can really grow.


3. If I invest in an overseas company, i'll have to go through a broker (?) to find out what company is best to invest in and to get everything set up. Realisticly how much money should I have before I attempt this, and are the fees associated with this method one time, or would I have to keep paying the broker to be updated on how my investment is going?

It depends on what exactly we're talking about investing in an overseas company. If the company has stock in the public market, they easily be purchased via any online brokerage and the main fees are the transaction fees for the trading.

What I would personally recommend is to use the same brokerage and do research to look at international mutual funds. You probably have an international fund in your 401k plan, so if that is growing nicely, you can also invest more of your money from a brokerage account in the same way by putting it into a similar fund (or maybe even the same fund if it's available through your broker). An international mutual fund is essentially a basket of stocks that are managed by a financial expert, and he does all the research, trading and everything dealing with companies overseas, although not necessarily ALL overseas as there may be a mix of domestic companies in there too. A deeper look into researching the fund will reveal what it's invested in.

The main fees associated with mutual funds (not just international, but all) are:

- Transaction fees from the broker for the initial investment and cashing out. Some brokers have relations with certain funds and will actually not have one!
- Early termination fees where if you decide cash out too early
- Load fees, either front end or back end, where the FUND charges a certain amount for entering or exiting the fund respectively. Many funds out there are "no load" which make them more desirable over other ones with loads.

- Management fees as shown by the "Net expense ratio". Each year, the manager of the fund will charge its investors a certain fee, and the approximate estimation of that amount will be shown on the "Net expense ratio" when looking at the fund's info. If say, the fund has a 1.00% expense ratio, then each year, you'll probably see approximately a charge of 1% of your total investment. These fees are how the managers make their money for their time, research, maintanence, etc. of the fund. If the fund's returns are good enough though, then you'll easily accept that charge every time though. This is among the key things you look for when researching your mutual funds and do your comparisons.

The great thing about international funds is that in the recent market, it looks like many international funds are doing better than domestic funds. It does require a little bit of research and reviewing the market trends in the event this can change, but for the moment, international seems to be doing quite well.

[BBQ]

For me I adjust my income on my current situation. I was in the military for 4 yrs so when I wasn't in iraq, I'd make sure my bills were paid off and the rest I couldn't care less if it was saved or used for what ever. When I got deployed I tried to save as much as I could, the motivation was the pay increase and tax free so it helped me with spending on the bare minimum( maybe buying fast food every now and then or a haji dvd). I was able to buy a car in cash and still had some to spend. Mistake was with that, I should of saved the remainder.

Now that I'm out of the military, unemployed, and starting school in august, I have a new plan. I get almost the same amount from unemployment like I did when I was in service so I estimate on how much I'll be able to collect until I start school. Then I estimate on how much I have to spend for my bills. Then I guess on what I spend on gas/stuff/going out. So roughly I will know how much I have left and that's when I try to save most of that because it's all just on guessing.

When I'm in college I'm going to have to work because even though the G.I. bill pays for my school, it only gives me a certain amount. And because I'm going out of state, the first year is going to suck as for tuition and other things. But after that year I'll become a resident and it won't end up being as rough. So I'll continue to save and hopefully by the time I graduate, I'll have a good chunk of money in my account so it can help me get by on what ever I'll be doing.

Basicly I'm as of now I'm saving to where it will help me climb the ladder to success.

[fishjie]

i heard this advice once.
collect assets. an asset is anything that generates income. a liability is anything that takes it away.

simple concept, but i think not enough people have this mindset. say i had $2000. i could use it as down payment on a new car, or do some professional course that will help me land a much better job. most people would see both as "assets" equally.

fish: i guess you're right.. but then again, isn't the market a zero sum game? one market's loss is another's gain. and it's probably easier to speculate on an economy than on a stock. (well.. maybe. if that were true everyone would be throwing money at the chinese economy)

===

any business people here?

i think that quote is from rich dad poor dad. he was talking about cashflow. thats important. the guy has good ideas and got me thinking about finances, but a lot of his financial advice is not so good. he gets more hate on his yahoo finance articles than svc chaos does here.

i dunno about zero sum game. isnt the theory that the market is a random walk or efficient? if it was zero sum, an indexing strat would never work, yet the S&P and other indexes have always consistently increased in the long term, even after bubbles.

[Disciple of Ryu]

A ton of good info.

Thanks for the well thought out response.

[Omski2k4]

I was curious to know how US residents are responding to a rapidly dropping Greenback? As of this morning, the Canadian dollar was 94.3 to the dollar and with the impending hurricane season coupled with the Canadian dollar being very commidity based, there are projections of actual parity. Any thoughts on the subject?

T8 IS COMING! (http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=128160)

Well, I dunno, since the CAD is a floating point currency that compares its value against the dollar. This means that the Canada doesn't have to do anything if the USD is going down, so if this trend continues, then yeah there will be a 1:1 ratio, but that's not because the CAD is actually worth more, but because the USD is worth less. In the case of China, it does the bread basket system as well where it says, "well we're worth THIS much in comparison to the USD, CAD, GBP, etc. and the way they do this ( like any other currency that goes float point) is by taking their market capital and looking at purchasing power, and economy and trade and volume of currency out in the world. Increases or decreases in any of these is what moves currency values which is why the Tresury secretary has so much power. He can set interest rates and such and effect the way ppl use the dollar. If interest is high, who's gonna want to use the dollar ? If you do this, then this helps off set increases in dollar flow in the world which helps prevent inflation from getting too high. Of course this is sortof oversimplifying it, but I think you get the idea. With this new (relatively) era of float point currency as opposed to gold standard, countries bank their currency on tresuries, amt of dollars in circulation, economic well being of said contry, and sentiment. I hope that answers your question.

[f_man]

hey does anyone have any good financial planning lit books they can recommend?

none of this personal finance for dummies crap. looking for stuff with solid theory/investment advice for recent college grads.

hey night, mind me asking where you work? i remember on a thread long ago or maybe it was a PM you mentioned getting connected with a job through a school club. ive found a job, albeit not one i really want that pays pretty well imo for entry level (55k). but its in a crappy ass location. im trying to get a job in the bay area, and the financial district in sf would be nice. any advice on finding jobs in that respect?

[Night]

I work for Applied Materials (Santa Clara), which is where I first interned while in college, and secured a full time position upon graduating. I initially did get the internship because I got lucky and met a girl in a school club (one of those finance/accounting clubs) who was interning there and was leaving, so I could take her position. I did not go through a post-graduation job hunting phase (and seriously didn't want to) so I don't exactly know what those folks did to get their jobs.

The finance offices in SF are likely to be the kinds of consulting, investment banking, CPA firms, government related etc. There was a lot of recruiting going on for the Big 4 firms at most bay area campuses, and anyone who had decent grades usually got a job there (oh and being a hot looking girl was a lock, notice how the recruiting girl is always insanely hot for some surprising reason). What sucks is that CPA firms do their recruiting for full time positions during winter time I believe, and I really have no idea of the recruiting of the other offices.

[f_man]

yes. the recruiting girl IS always insanely hot lol. thats marketing for ya.

[Ninja Pea]

hey does anyone have any good financial planning lit books they can recommend?

none of this personal finance for dummies crap. looking for stuff with solid theory/investment advice for recent college grads.



Getting advanced finance books may not help. Depending on the book they may be glorified accounting textbooks. Going for the 'Dummies' books are a great way to start then you should move into the more advanced areas such as Investing, real-estate, Business, etc etc.

[mr. newbie]

just wanted to subscribe

gonna have to adjust it to fit my $150 a week situation.

[void216]

thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread. My economics class was not really specific on how these things work and now i understand it much better.

[forgenjuro]

I work for Applied Materials (Santa Clara), which is where I first interned while in college, and secured a full time position upon graduating. I initially did get the internship because I got lucky and met a girl in a school club (one of those finance/accounting clubs) who was interning there and was leaving, so I could take her position. I did not go through a post-graduation job hunting phase (and seriously didn't want to) so I don't exactly know what those folks did to get their jobs.

The finance offices in SF are likely to be the kinds of consulting, investment banking, CPA firms, government related etc. There was a lot of recruiting going on for the Big 4 firms at most bay area campuses, and anyone who had decent grades usually got a job there (oh and being a hot looking girl was a lock, notice how the recruiting girl is always insanely hot for some surprising reason). What sucks is that CPA firms do their recruiting for full time positions during winter time I believe, and I really have no idea of the recruiting of the other offices.

Holy shit! You work for AM! My dad used to work there.... Until he got pink slipped....

But I remember that company has very good benefits. We were living pretty well.

When i have some time ill contribute to this topic later.

[mastermind]

Trust me, it works, my future wife and I put 1500 a month into an ED account and it worked out nicely. Got everything we wanted towards our house minus the finished attic.

Anyway here is one suggestion is that whatever you make take about 1 hour worth of work for each day and add it into your savings weekly. For example, if you make about $34,000 a year that is the equivalent about $16.35/hr. So you should be saving about $81.73/wk. With interest bearing accounts such as INGDirect (i have) and others, that money will increase in a heartbeat.

So after this was posted, I went ahead and opened an Emigrant Direct account. I took akumatrunigga's advice and put the equivalent of five hours a week into the account. I make $17.90/hr, so that turned out to be $89.50/week added into the account with 4.93% interest. As of right now, my account's just under $900. Surely it's nothing to applause at, but that's money that I don't see at payday, pushed off to a rainy day/stashed away fund. And it's money that I know is going to a good place: away from being spent. =P

[duhaas21]

very good thread indeed...prolly the best I've ever seen on SRK short of the "Women" posted quite some time back.

EDIT: ^^mastermind...i would say that $900 is something to applasue at, casue you invested wisely and now have about a weeks pay for not doing any formal work in about 3 weeks.....Its a good step, and you keep it up weekly with the interest compounding, who knows how large it could acrue in a year, 5 years or 10 years +. Keep it going.

[Unreallystic]

Good reads. I'm currently trying to clean up my credit. Its phucking horrible, despite my best efforts. Frustating because I want to buy a house and can financially afford it, but my credit rating will KILL me. Back with more later.
- :bluu:

[terracotta]

there was another posted titled along the lines of "what's the quickest way to get rich" or something. that had more pages too :tup:

[BananaWeed]

Great thread.

Did any of you start investing while still in school?

I'm going into my final year of university, and only have about $5,000 saved up. I don't think I can invest that, since I'll probably be dipping into it throughout the year. My current bank (BMO) has an interest rate of 2.6% on savings accounts I think. I was just gonna let it sit in there, since I get free banking (student plan).

[mastermind]

Good reads. I'm currently trying to clean up my credit. Its phucking horrible, despite my best efforts. Frustating because I want to buy a house and can financially afford it, but my credit rating will KILL me. Back with more later.
- :bluu:

If you have credit cards, cut 'em up, son. For the ones you absolutely have to keep, ask about getting the spending limit reduced if you're on a zero balance. Pay them off, pay them off, pay them off. Try not to apply for anything else that will ding your credit report (new cellphones, credit cards for stores, etc.). Get a copy of your credit report, too. Find out what's being thrown on there.

I'm pretty cheap as it is, so my two only credit cards never see anything over 5% of their limits (one card $1000, the other is a miles card limited at some insane 5-digit number :looney: ). And with my bank accounts, $1000 is considered $0 to me. So if I ever spend and my account falls under $1000, I panic like a mofo and don't eat for a while until it gets padded back up. hahah

[VruS]

Great thread.

Did any of you start investing while still in school?

I'm going into my final year of university, and only have about $5,000 saved up. I don't think I can invest that, since I'll probably be dipping into it throughout the year. My current bank (BMO) has an interest rate of 2.6% on savings accounts I think. I was just gonna let it sit in there, since I get free banking (student plan).


I also have a bmo premium savings account but imo the interest is not that great compared to other high interest accs like pc and e*trade. I'll probably switch to one of those banks soon.

[AcEtUrNeDjOkEr]

Great thread.

Did any of you start investing while still in school?

I'm going into my final year of university, and only have about $5,000 saved up. I don't think I can invest that, since I'll probably be dipping into it throughout the year. My current bank (BMO) has an interest rate of 2.6% on savings accounts I think. I was just gonna let it sit in there, since I get free banking (student plan).

Yes, I started to invest in my freshmen year of college, worked all 5 years in school and stepped it up every year. Get rid of your savings account at a bank, its highway robbery! 2.6% with probably limitations on how much you need and a monthly/yearly fee. ED (Emigrantdirect) has no fees and no limits, AND you get 5.05% back. I don't know about you, but thats more money for your money!

Credit: Pay your bills, enough said. If you have a balance on a CC, pay the minimum at the very least! If you start skipping payments or go into collections, GGPO!

My personal debt is more than I want it to be now, I have about 10G's in debt (not including car and school debt...but does include a bomb ass honeymoon!) Getting grown and not to mention my wife is an CPA accountant, money is a issue at the household, so what I did (which she suggested) was to get another bank account *they are free at Wachovia* and basically have one account where all my bills pull from (also the account where my pay check comes in) and then other other account is "Ace's play money"

So, in a sense, I pay myself every week. $100 on friday goes from my "Bill" account to my "Ace" account. Thats the money I use to buy games, eat out, buy liqour, gas, etc. So when pay day comes, I have a spreadsheet of what comes out that account, anything left over goes to the highest APR credit card I have. Right now that is AMEX; but I also still put $50 on my other cards as well.

Another thing you can do is call the credit card company and ask for a lower APR. I think the norm right now is 12-18%; I called them and said "I want a fixed 8.99% for the life of the card"; of course it took like 3-4 people to get them to lower it, but now that is less money they are getting and more than I am putting towards paying off the debt.

If you do miss a payment, be it, forgot or you don't have the funds, call them....I repeat, CALL THEM and tell them! They will more than likely give you an extension so your credit will not be messed up. They will work with you! You just need to ask, now don't do it every other month though.

Once your out of debt, put that money that you were putting into your cards into a savings account, you will see your wealth grow QUICK! As a general rule I tell people, you want to have a nice pot to fall back on. I lost my job and was out of work for a month, I still payed my bills and had fun (most of my friends didn't know I was out of work). I had something to fall back on. Life will be easier if you take care of your mind, body and soul first, second is your money.

[BananaWeed]

Hmm, I don't know if I like the idea of using an e-bank account. Do these places have physical locations where I can withdraw money? I dunno bout the States, but in Canada, we have to pay a service fee ($1.50 from the ATM, and another $1.50 from your bank - a whopping $3.00) to use an ATM from a different bank. I don't wanna get raped by service fees if I'm gonna use an e-bank savings account.

[AcEtUrNeDjOkEr]

Hmm, I don't know if I like the idea of using an e-bank account. Do these places have physical locations where I can withdraw money? I dunno bout the States, but in Canada, we have to pay a service fee ($1.50 from the ATM, and another $1.50 from your bank - a whopping $3.00) to use an ATM from a different bank. I don't wanna get raped by service fees if I'm gonna use an e-bank savings account.

These are savings account, not debt accounts. Yes, in the states some banks will charge you a fee (more sometimes). Other banks give you a set number per month you can use. The most I paid was in vegas, 5 bucks to use the ATM, wachovia covered me though.

[VruS]

Hmm, I don't know if I like the idea of using an e-bank account. Do these places have physical locations where I can withdraw money? I dunno bout the States, but in Canada, we have to pay a service fee ($1.50 from the ATM, and another $1.50 from your bank - a whopping $3.00) to use an ATM from a different bank. I don't wanna get raped by service fees if I'm gonna use an e-bank savings account.

for PCF you can use cibc bank machines.

[Ilavos]

http://www.investopedia.com/

[Angelic Diablo]

I'm surprised no one brought up the fact the Canadian Dollar reached parity with the US Greenback today. It reached a high of 1.0004 USD before closing at 97.89. Declining US economy and soaring crude oil prices seem to be the major factors.

[Okazaki III]

I wont get into Financial planning items like Mutual Funds, stocks, Insurances because its too risky to give advice on these topics to people without intimatley knowing your financial situation.

What type of intimate details do you mean? See I want to get into funds and stocks, but whenever I try to look for info online I get snowed under with too much information that I cannot make any sense out of.

[Javid]

So suppose I invest $5000 into this account today:

http://www.banking.pcfinancial.ca/a/products/savingsPlusAccount.page?referid=P1

How much interest am I looking at 6 months down the road? I kinda suck at this kidna stuff, but this is one of the best Canadian high interest accounts.

[AcEtUrNeDjOkEr]

So suppose I invest $5000 into this account today:

http://www.banking.pcfinancial.ca/a/products/savingsPlusAccount.page?referid=P1

How much interest am I looking at 6 months down the road? I kinda suck at this kidna stuff, but this is one of the best Canadian high interest accounts.

Ummm...If I am looking at this correctly, the APR for 5000 would bring you 1%. I'm telling you guys, www.emigrantdirect.com is probably the best one out there (dont know if they are in canada or not, but its all online so I *think* it shouldn't matter) I think they are at 5.15%, which is more than 1%.

[akumatrunigga]

So suppose I invest $5000 into this account today:

http://www.banking.pcfinancial.ca/a/products/savingsPlusAccount.page?referid=P1

How much interest am I looking at 6 months down the road? I kinda suck at this kidna stuff, but this is one of the best Canadian high interest accounts.

I suggest getting a financial calculator. Besides when you keep it with you every where you go (such as buying a car through financing) many people will know you arent bullshittin.

Currently in my situation, i finally doing some serious stuff in RE no sales yet but im basically an assistant to the broker. Im salaried plus commission. Im still trying to do the suggestion that I posted in the thread. since im driving now, the first pay period of the month goes to taking care of important stuff such as car note, insurance, monthly parking pass, and health insurance (indvidual). Just about the entire check. However, I dont have to worry about if i go over since there is an overdraft credit that i can use upto $165. So it is like having an additional $165 biweekly. The second pay period goes to debts and going out to social gatherings (if they are cheap). But since i took a $9K paycut to be in RE i cant go out as much.

[mastermind]

Small update: Since opening my EmigrantDirect account in June with a shade under $90/week, I'm now at just a little over $1500 in the account! Gotta love watching money sit and grow.

I have yet to get my quarterly statement for my 401(k), but I actually aggressively increased my investment strategy at the beginning of this thread. I'm really hoping it'll pay off.

EDIT: just checked online. Wow! ...let me just say that going aggressive PAID OFF BIG TIME!

[AcEtUrNeDjOkEr]

ED *not Erectial Disfunction* is the way to go IMO. I am going to start putting money in mine as soon as I pay off my credit cards (Putting 1600 a month towards them....you dont know how much that shit HURTS); but soon I should be putting all that into an ED account.

[MrBlank]

dude what was your strat mastermind.

im thinking about doing an emigrant acc too now.

[akumatrunigga]

So after this was posted, I went ahead and opened an Emigrant Direct account. I took akumatrunigga's advice and put the equivalent of five hours a week into the account. I make $17.90/hr, so that turned out to be $89.50/week added into the account with 4.93% interest. As of right now, my account's just under $900. Surely it's nothing to applause at, but that's money that I don't see at payday, pushed off to a rainy day/stashed away fund. And it's money that I know is going to a good place: away from being spent. =P
this is what he did
dude what was your strat mastermind.

im thinking about doing an emigrant acc too now.

[mastermind]

dude what was your strat mastermind.

im thinking about doing an emigrant acc too now.

For my 401(k)? I haven't read much into it, but all I remember is that before I first posted in the first page of this thread, my portfolio was on a moderate risk. I had a little guide from MassMutual that work gave me on my first day of the job; it defined what was conservative and what was aggressive, ultra aggressive, etc. I was Conservative for the first quarter of my job because I wasn't sure if I was gonna stay (get fired, find another job, etc.), then I read this thread and actually switched up my investments, and the investments are paying off.

Unless you're talking about my EmigrantDirect account, then I followed akumatrunigga's advice on the first page (http://forums.shoryuken.com/showpost.php?p=3974253):

Anyway here is one suggestion is that whatever you make take about 1 hour worth of work for each day and add it into your savings weekly. For example, if you make about $34,000 a year that is the equivalent about $16.35/hr. So you should be saving about $81.73/wk. With interest bearing accounts such as INGDirect (i have) and others, that money will increase in a heartbeat.

I put in about $89.50 a week because my salary, when broken down, is equivalent to about $17.90/hr.

EDIT: I took too long to post. hahah

[Night]

So suppose I invest $5000 into this account today:

http://www.banking.pcfinancial.ca/a/products/savingsPlusAccount.page?referid=P1

How much interest am I looking at 6 months down the road? I kinda suck at this kidna stuff, but this is one of the best Canadian high interest accounts.

I took a quick look at the chart, and above $1k is 4.25%.

5k for one year at 4.25%.

Using a financial calculator (look for "Future Value" calculations), $5,000 present value at 4.25% for 6 months (half a year) is about $105.14 in interest.



When the Feds cut interest rates a few weeks ago, don't get hopes up of seeing higher interest rates at banks anytime soon.


I'm constantly monitoring stocks and their earnings these days. I sold my Apple stock last week at $157, having bought it at an average of $137 back in July, so that's about I think around 14% gain in 3 months. Not too bad. The market was definitely up a bit over the past couple weeks, the Dow being over 14,000 for a little while, but it can't seem to stay above that for very long. I'm expecting somewhat of a pullback as people are cashing in their profits, so now might be a good time to monitor what you're interested in and find a good price to get in during a possible pullback.

[Okazaki III]

^Who is your broker? Do you use your local bank or do you have an online broker?

[AcEtUrNeDjOkEr]

Wife and I are getting into stocks as well, we have some shares in VMWare, needless to say its doing well, but really don't know what we are going to do with it (probably hold on and forget about it)

[akumatrunigga]

I took a quick look at the chart, and above $1k is 4.25%.

5k for one year at 4.25%.

Using a financial calculator (look for "Future Value" calculations), $5,000 present value at 4.25% for 6 months (half a year) is about $105.14 in interest.



When the Feds cut interest rates a few weeks ago, don't get hopes up of seeing higher interest rates at banks anytime soon.


I'm constantly monitoring stocks and their earnings these days. I sold my Apple stock last week at $157, having bought it at an average of $137 back in July, so that's about I think around 14% gain in 3 months. Not too bad. The market was definitely up a bit over the past couple weeks, the Dow being over 14,000 for a little while, but it can't seem to stay above that for very long. I'm expecting somewhat of a pullback as people are cashing in their profits, so now might be a good time to monitor what you're interested in and find a good price to get in during a possible pullback.man i envy you right now. Im in the process of getting mutual funds, and an IRA together soon . It is just that paying all of these fees to get my feet off the ground in the RE game is killing me. :lol: If I dont get a sale soon I'll go mad! Geez im tired of running into people with shitty credit and work history trying to force the issue in getting a home. These clowns dont even qualify for FHA loans

[Night]

^Who is your broker? Do you use your local bank or do you have an online broker?

I just use E*Trade.

Wow, RIMM certainly did well in response to yesterday's earnings. I'm continuing to watch it, not yet going to buy into it based on hype... but keeping a close watch today and next week...

VMWare I've been watching too... floating around at the low 90s for now, and if it dips, I might consider getting into that.

[jkoch]

I took a quick look at the chart, and above $1k is 4.25%.

5k for one year at 4.25%.

Using a financial calculator (look for "Future Value" calculations), $5,000 present value at 4.25% for 6 months (half a year) is about $105.14 in interest.


Not that it will make a huge difference, but you're making the assumption that the 4.25% annual rate is compounded biannually.

If you don't have a financial calculator, the formula is FV = PV(1+i)^t
where FV = Future Value
PV = Present Value
i = interest rate
t = time

So for this example, with a 5000 present value and 4.25% interest rate:

FV = 5000*(1.0425)^(.5) = 5105.14

[Chozen1]

stocks = meh rather than wasting your time on nonsense you should be investing in your health and retirement at an early age. why deal with shit that fluctuates & run the risk of losing it when you could take time to invest as little as $70 a month into an insurance policy that will help you out in the future rather. Learn to balance what you can afford & shop smart, treat your expenses as bills in general. Be prompt and on time with your payments don't make minimum payments, always surpass them. I can go on & on but the end result is you decide the determining factor of your economic reasoning.

[jkoch]

stocks = meh rather than wasting your time on nonsense you should be investing in your health and retirement at an early age. why deal with shit that fluctuates & run the risk of losing it when you could take time to invest as little as $70 a month into an insurance policy that will help you out in the future rather.

Well, if you invest in financial instruments (stocks, bonds, etc.) your expected outcome is profitable. If you buy an insurance policy, your expected outcome is a loss.

I'm not sure why you think the two are mutually exclusive though. I think it's wise to have insurance policies (life, health, auto, property, personal liability,) to cover potential catastrophic losses, and invest in financial instruments for retirement. I do not agree with buying life insurance as an "investment for the future." Commissions are higher than brokerage accounts, and you expected to lose money (how else would the insurance company make money?).

I take it you are extremely risk averse?

[f_man]

Using a financial calculator (look for "Future Value" calculations), $5,000 present value at 4.25% for 6 months (half a year) is about $105.14 in interest.



Not that it will make a huge difference, but you're making the assumption that the 4.25% annual rate is compounded biannually.

If you don't have a financial calculator, the formula is FV = PV(1+i)^t
where FV = Future Value
PV = Present Value
i = interest rate
t = time

So for this example, with a 5000 present value and 4.25% interest rate:

FV = 5000*(1.0425)^(.5) = 5105.14

i dont get what you're trying to correct in his statement?

5105.14 - 5000 = 105.14

it sounds like he just said "twice of 1 is 2." and you're saying

"yes but the formula goes 1 + 1 = 2."

[jkoch]

i dont get what you're trying to correct in his statement?

5105.14 - 5000 = 105.14

it sounds like he just said "twice of 1 is 2." and you're saying

"yes but the formula goes 1 + 1 = 2."

I wasn't trying to correct anything. First I pointed out that he was making an assumption that isn't entirely accurate, (but the difference is immaterial unless you're talking about a whole lot of money or a really long time). Then I showed how to do the calculation (using this assumption) if you don't have a financial calculator.

[Night]

Not that it will make a huge difference, but you're making the assumption that the 4.25% annual rate is compounded biannually.

If you don't have a financial calculator, the formula is FV = PV(1+i)^t
where FV = Future Value
PV = Present Value
i = interest rate
t = time

So for this example, with a 5000 present value and 4.25% interest rate:

FV = 5000*(1.0425)^(.5) = 5105.14

The formula I used was exactly that.

I don't know where I implied anything about anything compounded biannually or wrote out the formula I used, but to get 105.14 in interest, I used that exact calculation.

[jkoch]

The formula I used was exactly that.

I don't know where I implied anything about anything compounded biannually or wrote out the formula I used, but to get 105.14 in interest, I used that exact calculation.

It's implied in the calculation. Due to the way rates are quoted, 4.25% compounded bianually would not yield the same interest as 4.25% compounded daily. It's a minor theoretical point, and I probably shouldn't have brought it up.

[CD_Vision]

Wow, I can't believe I missed this thread. Hey, someone asked about financial books to read earlier. There is one I can definitely recommend, Benjamin Graham's "The Intelligent Investor". It shows you how to look for stocks that are undervalued, lowering your risk and at the same time increasing your overall returns. Warren Buffett was one of his students. I've read the book and it is the truth. If you purchase individual stocks you should read it.

This month the new edition of John Slatter's "The 100 best stocks you can buy" also comes out. A really useful guide to finding value stocks, I always keep my copy nearby.

[NeREMIXED]

don't know if this is the right thread to ask this. but my mechanic's financial adviser said that in 2 months the value of the dollar is going to drop dramatically because of the election, and that he should convert a good portion of his money to euro.

any truth?

[DJ Ether]

This thread is VERY informative and I'm taking notes. I got two questions I hope someone has the answer to.....

1. Lets say I got a little over ten thousand. I didnt earn this money, meaning I didnt get taxed. It came out of the sky lets say. I want to put this in a bank account for safe keeping. But at the moment im trying to get welfare(food stamps) and possibly go into disability. If I put the money in an account in my name will uncle sam find out and deny me welfare and or disability? (this question is strictly hypothetical)

2. Whats the best place to do your taxes at?

Thanks in advance......

[rcaido]

Great thread!

I'm curious about my current situation.

I'm 29 years old, married w/child, 2 cars paid off, house paid off, & currently no debt. We are only making about $4000-4500 a month. I want to know how much money should i have already saved. As of right now we have no retirement plan.

Also how safe is www.emigrantdirect.com What are the risk?

[jkoch]

Great thread!

I'm curious about my current situation.

I'm 29 years old, married w/child, 2 cars paid off, house paid off, & currently no debt. We are only making about $4000-4500 a month. I want to know how much money should i have already saved. As of right now we have no retirement plan.

Also how safe is www.emigrantdirect.com What are the risk?

I'd say someone who is 29 and making about 50k a year should have about 30k saved for retirement, and six months worth of expenses in a savings account. But with no mortgage and no other debt, you're pretty far ahead of most people your age. If I were you, I'd start putting money into some kind of retirement account. Do you have a 401k plan at work?

EmigrantDirect is 100% safe, since it is FDIC insured for up to $100,000 on an individual account and $200,000 for a joint account.

[Rhio2k]

I want to get into canadian stocks. How would I go about this and what things should I look out for (tax implications, etc)?

[Rooks4]

I want to get into canadian stocks. How would I go about this and what things should I look out for (tax implications, etc)?

Your location says Tampa Florida, so the tax implications aren't anything different than if you invest in companies in the US. You'll have to claim your gains/losses at the end of the year and it'll be worked just like any other stock (I think.)

How do you want to go about it? If you know enough about how to invest, what type of company you are looking for, and are confident in your ability to valuate the stock, then all you need is an e-trade (or other online investing account) and can buy up your stocks that way. Otherwise, you could always pay a broker to 'do the legwork' for you and pick a stock, but he'll charge you for it.

------

On another note, I opened an e-trade account recently ... My wife and I both have good jobs and are pulling quite a bit of money annually, so im willing to take probably a little bit more risk than the average person. We are already putting away 12% into our 401Ks, so i think if we continue as-is, our retirement isn't really an issue. So what I really want is some stocks that I can play around with.

What are some stocks out there that any of you are bullish on? I personally like APKT and CHK... APKT is cheap and is ripe for buyout by an IBM or Cisco.. CHK is a national oil company and has been giving me some decent returns since I picked it up. Anyone have others to offer up that might be a worthy investment?

[akumatrunigga]

This thread is VERY informative and I'm taking notes. I got two questions I hope someone has the answer to.....

1. Lets say I got a little over ten thousand. I didnt earn this money, meaning I didnt get taxed. It came out of the sky lets say. I want to put this in a bank account for safe keeping. But at the moment im trying to get welfare(food stamps) and possibly go into disability. If I put the money in an account in my name will uncle sam find out and deny me welfare and or disability? (this question is strictly hypothetical)

2. Whats the best place to do your taxes at?

Thanks in advance......
hmmm... I wonder where did you get your money from :lol: Anyway, if the money was gift then there well be no taxes. If the money was through some lotto or contest yes taxes. If the money was through a settlement dispute, the taxes should have been taken out already but im unsure in that one.

When it comes to taxes it is better that you do it yourself. Yes it'll take time but as you thorughly read the book you'll get an understanding for the next year. Or if you want a quick lesson just join one of the free schools provided by H & R Block
Great thread!

I'm curious about my current situation.

I'm 29 years old, married w/child, 2 cars paid off, house paid off, & currently no debt. We are only making about $4000-4500 a month. I want to know how much money should i have already saved. As of right now we have no retirement plan.

Also how safe is www.emigrantdirect.com What are the risk?

http://forums.shoryuken.com/showpost.php?p=3974253&postcount=21
read the link. Now is that combined income or is that just you? I cantbet that dayum near every credit card company is chasing you like there is no tommorrow. What I suggest as well is post your strategy of how you placed yourself in the good situation you are in to motivate some of the guys here. Shit making dough is my favorite topic of discussion.

There are no risk to them. The only catch is that when you make the transfer from your linked checking it'll take 2-3 business day before you can use it. The point is though that you are not supposed to use it.

[Hobbes]

Some opinions for discussion

- I've never tried Emigrant Direct, but with a savings account I kind of want it with a bank I still a lot with. I had a small sum in a Capital One savings and it was mildly difficult to access it or move it around. I have an Etrade account now as a brokerage and savings account and they offer the same ~5% rate in savings. I check my stocks every now and then and its cool to see my savings at the same time. I feel like its a lot easier getting money in/out and when you want to buy a stock, a transfer from your in house savings acct to brokerage occurs instantly.

- Someone earlier mentioned about withdrawing money from an online bank. You can just have a checkings with a bank you see everywhere. I use Chase and they have branches pretty much everywhere. Its also nice cause they offer a pretty good credit card called Chase freedom which is like 3% gas, groceries and a few others (maybe fastfood too?) and it you have $200 cashback they send you a check for $250. I think it's kinda nice to have your credit card and checking in the same if possible, since payment posts instantly and they have no real excuse to ask why your other bank is taking so long.

Pay your credit card on time consistently. I try and pay everything the first of the month when its usually due 12-19th ish. Getting a good job and showing up late everyday and not holding your end of the bargain up is gonna hurt you more than help you. Same goes for credit cards.

I don't spend enough to warrant an air miles card, but my first credit card I had was a Barnes and Noble, which treated me real good. It was low limit of $500 so nothing got out of hand and the rewards were meh. The good side was I thought doing its cashback and discounts would actually get me to go buy/read books and it really did. When I signed up too they sent me 4 $10 gift certificates only to have the card become discontinued about a year later.

- I'd recommend starting a retirement account like an IRA or Roth IRA asap. I think Roth IRA's are more beneficial for younger people, so read up on it. But yeah, it helps you out taxwise now and later and its a place to put your deposit and forget about for a long time money to grow even better. I believe money you put in reduces your taxable income. Put your money here in a index fund or something.

- I'm not really savvy in economics or currency, but from I understand and please correct me if I'm wrong with a source a weak dollar works to boost the stock market by making stocks go up and actually making stocks cheaper. I'd really love to hear though an explanation of what The Fed does with dollar worth being weaker or stronger and why they allow it to go someway. We also complain about weak dollar, weak dollar, but really I could see Canada complaining why everything is so damn expensive now if not soon and the same goes to Euro countries that aren't France/Germany. I hear Greece really hates it.

- Investing in stocks is fascinating. I'd encourage people to at least buy something you like and understand (not some hot tip. Its my opinion that VMware is wayyyy out of control pricewise) with a small amount to get your foot in the pool and get yourself in gradually before jumping in. If your young its one huge thing you probably have over most people your age. I read some books, but my favorite read is http://www.morningstar.com/Cover/Classroom.html (http://www.morningstar.com/Cover/Classroom.html) it has a lot of nice short chapters with only a few Morningstar plugs. Very good content though. Really you could use it as a checklist.
Whatever you try and do, just don't try beating Wall Street at its own game, which is trying to make money between today and next monday your pretty likely to get burned. They seriously have hordes of people who do 100 hour weeks working at that. Go long term and patience is what wins this and fighting games.

[white ninja]

I'd really love to hear though an explanation of what The Fed does with dollar worth being weaker or stronger and why they allow it to go someway.

I thought I'd give some info here that maybe could answer this. The value of the dollar has many effects. I've answered this mostly dealing with the financial areas, but obviously it affects other areas such as consumer spending.

So the discount rate is the rate at which bank's can borrow directly from the federal reserve. They borrow at the discount window of the Fed and these are usually short term borrowings (sometimes overnight). It used to be that the Fed was the lender of last resort and it was looked down upon for financial institutions to borrow from the Fed. However, this has recently changed and the Fed now has several programs that financial institutions can use to get this extra liquidity. There are seasonality programs for those institutions that experience extreme seasonality in deposit liquidity (think a tourist area located bank).

The fed funds rate is the rate is the rate you hear about all the time in the news. This is the nominal rate that the Fed controls through open market operations or the buying and selling of bonds on the market.

This rate is used by financial institutions to lend money to each other. They do this through their regional Fed banks. The bank can either SELL fed funds or PURCHASE fed funds. When they sell fed funds they are giving money to the Fed to lend to another institution and receive an interest rate on these funds. Banks generally sell fed funds if they have extra money they don't know what to do with. Another bank with purchase these fed funds from the Fed because they need money and they will pay the fed funds rate for them or sometimes get a discount off the rate if they are a "good" borrower with the Fed.

The rate that most affects the normal person is the fed funds rate. Prime rate (on residential mortgage loans), in the recent past has been 300 basis points or 3% higher than the fed funds rate. In general, you want to think of prime as being a separate entity. Really Prime rate or Wall Street Journal Prime is the rate at which 75% of the nation's 30 largest banks lend at. A mortgage loan is not necessarily priced off of prime and can be priced off a number of other rates, such as LIBOR (London InterBank Overnight Rate), which is similar (I believe) to the fed funds rate here in the U.S..

Rate change example for Fed Funds: Say they set a rate at 5.00 when it was 5.25 previously. In order to move this rate down to 5.00, the Federal Open Market Committee(FOMC) must increase the amount of money in the system to decrease the rate at which banks in general are willing to lend out money. The Fed must then buy back Treasury securities to allow cash back into the banks.

In the opposite, if they were to raise rates they would issue a ton of Treasury securities and therefore effectively destroy the amount of U.S. dollars that exists in the system.

The idea here is that if bank's can get money for less they will be able to lend for less and vice versa. Also, you have to be weary when people talk about the fed funds rate, afterall, this rate is a NOMINAL rate that is set by the Fed or a target rate they'd like to hit. It is extremely difficult to get an exact rate by using the buying and selling of bonds/securities through the Treasury. The action of buying and selling securities by the Fed is called, "open market operations." Hence the name Federal Open Market Committee.

Hope this helps. I'll subscribe to this thread and see if I can try and help with any other questions.

p.s. I'm an economics major turned bank analyst so my knowledge mainly comes from banking.

[koopatroopa]

This thread is VERY informative and I'm taking notes. I got two questions I hope someone has the answer to.....

1. Lets say I got a little over ten thousand. I didnt earn this money, meaning I didnt get taxed. It came out of the sky lets say. I want to put this in a bank account for safe keeping. But at the moment im trying to get welfare(food stamps) and possibly go into disability. If I put the money in an account in my name will uncle sam find out and deny me welfare and or disability? (this question is strictly hypothetical)

2. Whats the best place to do your taxes at?

Thanks in advance......

If you open an account with that money you better believe that teller is telling uncle sam.

And the post above me is on point. More money less interest, less money more interest.

[Unreallystic]

Heh short story...
Because I'm still shuffling my cash around trying to kill things, I've wanted my money 'accessable' - including my savings - so I haven't put it anywhere but a normal savings account at BoA. anyone who knows me knows I hate BoA with a passion. Last night was the final straw.

I made...two cents for the month. Yeah real good :rolleyes:.

But thats not the problem.

I got taxed 3 bux for monthly maintenance...

so my savings account actually currently COST me money. If I leave the money there it will disappear. And thats with me dumping 150 bux in it this month. I'm not concered about the intrest truth be told, but the fact that I got taxed for having a saving account was too much. No money comes out, only goes in. So I'm closing all but my main BoA account and transferring banks, cause this is ridiculous.

Well here is a financial question, has anyone here opened up their own 'physical' business? Not internet stuff where you can just store stuff in a warehouse, but like a restaurant or store. I've got a REAL ambitious project that I'm interested in undertaking *hence the txt to Ace and ATN is getting a txt after I do a bit more research*, but I'm currnetly at the "I got the idea" phase, I'm starting to enter the "can I do this" phase and "the real research" phase. Looking for advice. Of note I will not be living near said location.
- :bluu:

[akumatrunigga]

Heh short story...
Well here is a financial question, has anyone here opened up their own 'physical' business? Not internet stuff where you can just store stuff in a warehouse, but like a restaurant or store. I've got a REAL ambitious project that I'm interested in undertaking *hence the txt to Ace and ATN is getting a txt after I do a bit more research*, but I'm currnetly at the "I got the idea" phase, I'm starting to enter the "can I do this" phase and "the real research" phase. Looking for advice. Of note I will not be living near said location.
- :bluu:

Then you and i need to talk because im in that "hustle" phase as well trying to get a dry cleaners company within the next 2 years or so. As of friday my focus is that and getting a house within that timeframe.

white ninja that was an awesome post right there.

[Shadow Ace 50]

nevermind...I found it

[AcEtUrNeDjOkEr]

Unreal: there are plenty of banks that don't cost a thing to use, in fact, my ED account made 1.94 cents and there is NOTHING in there....weird....

As for the business side, I will listen and research, but will not get anything popping til 12 months from now. Been doing my own research on things, but I need/will be completely out of CC debt before I put anything down.

Wife Edit: Unreal, you know Lauren had her own company, right? She started it in college.

[Unreallystic]

I remember something, but I'm talking a physcial store you sell shit at. There was na idea I had about a year ago, and this weekend 'it started materializing in front of my face'. Well the possibilities.

I'd love to wait until my CC is completly clear, but things just got potentially shaky *I'm moving out by the 15 to sum it up* so I dunno how strong my ability to keep killing it will be...too many 'factors' to say for sure when its finally gone. I'm not on a timeframe with this though either, if no one else has done it, no one else WILL :rofl:, so if it takes me five years to get off the ground, it takes me five years to get off the ground. But its out of my current abilities, so I'm trying to do some reality checks on whats possible with pulling it off. Location for instance, its in a REAL expensive area, but on arguably a real cheap piece of land. Structure already exist that I can use after renovation...at least for phase 1. There's licensing, real estate, staffing, procurement of equipment/materials etc, and what I actually want folks help with is pheasability. My GF is sold and thinks its a great idea, but I want to do more research on it and get more opinions from others who aren't 'accustom' to the idea. This would require a road trip with said individuals, but don't know when the folks I want to see wil lbe available or even interested in the drive *a few hours from DC*.

As for the bank thing, I've known for a long time that there are other banks that don't cost anything. I chose BoA when I did basedo n convienance, and IMO they are still unbeatable in that reguard, but I'm just sick of this, from them jacking up my intrest for no cot damn reason *no missed payments or anything* to them taking more money out my savings account than what they are putting into it. I'm just sick of them, the ONLY reason I've given them a bi for so long is how they handled the situation when my roommate stole my shit - I was extremely impressed.

"Mr. Neal doesn't write checks, something is up".
But its just not worth it anymore. I'm tryign to clean up my finances the last thing I need is them leeching even more money off me. In my mind they are stil la large reason as to why I'm in the hole I'm in now. Asking for a double payment 'just because they werne't sure I coudl keep payments up" - Yeah, I had quit one job and just started working my new one...I had the money set aside for that payment, not a double. So I am technically 'late'...so my APR goes from 6.99% to 21.99% I think it was. Minimum payments fly up cause of this and I'm dead in the water when I have issues at my job. So phuck'em.
- :bluu:

[white ninja]

Originally posted by DJ Ether (yeah I screwed up pasting it I suck)

1. Lets say I got a little over ten thousand. I didnt earn this money, meaning I didnt get taxed. It came out of the sky lets say. I want to put this in a bank account for safe keeping. But at the moment im trying to get welfare(food stamps) and possibly go into disability. If I put the money in an account in my name will uncle sam find out and deny me welfare and or disability? (this question is strictly hypothetical)

Yes, Uncle Sam will know about a deposit of that size especially since it would not fall into your regular pattern of deposits. However, I do not know if that would affect your listed financial status with the government.

2. Q: Where to do taxes?
Peronsally, I would recommend doing them yourself especially if they are not too complex i.e. one income, maybe rent, little-to-no dividends/interest income etc... Otherwise you could always take a tax class offered by H&R block. They offer free courses and you have plenty of time to file if you try to sign up for a class in the near future. INVEST IN YOURSELF!

cheers

[white ninja]

Heh short story...
Because I'm still shuffling my cash around trying to kill things, I've wanted my money 'accessable' - including my savings - so I haven't put it anywhere but a normal savings account at BoA. anyone who knows me knows I hate BoA with a passion. Last night was the final straw.

I made...two cents for the month. Yeah real good :rolleyes:.

But thats not the problem.

I got taxed 3 bux for monthly maintenance...


You need to read the disclosures with your account or call up one of their customer assistants. I also have a BoA accounts(checking and savings). The savings account requires an average daily balance of $300. You must maintain $300 in this account in order to not be charged a fee for holding your account. Also, generally if you drop below the $300 you will not be paid interest on your account as it does not meet the required minimum. So if at any time your average daily balance drops below $300 you will not receive interest for that day.

Also, as it is a savings account you are not allowed to transfer money out of the account more than 6 times during a statement period. This has to do with restrictions on paying interest on checking accounts. If you are transferring money in and out of your savings account then you are treating it like a checking account and will therefore be charged for using it like a checking account.

BoA pays 0.20% on their savings account. You should put $300 in it and leave it alone and enjoy your free checking you have with them. Any other money you want to save should go into CDs/online savings etc.. as they will earn you more interest on your money. Your money should work just as hard as you do.

In conclusion, it's your own damn fault for all the charges you incurred.

[Rooks4]

Just FYI - a stock for yall to take a look at:

JYHW

It's an energy stock and it's cheap as fuck (~2.5$ a share).. I picked up a bit today - I figure at this point in the world an energy company really can't "do wrong." Considering their market cap, it might be worth picking up just to speculate a potential buyout.

If you have a few hundred lying around you can pick up a bundle of stock and ride it for a bit - its risky but has potential.

[white ninja]

Just FYI - a stock for yall to take a look at:

JYHW

It's an energy stock and it's cheap as fuck (~2.5$ a share).. I picked up a bit today - I figure at this point in the world an energy company really can't "do wrong." Considering their market cap, it might be worth picking up just to speculate a potential buyout.

If you have a few hundred lying around you can pick up a bundle of stock and ride it for a bit - its risky but has potential.


This is from Jayhawk Energy Inc's 6/30/07 SEC filing...


For the three months ended June 30, 2007 and June 30, 2006. The numbers in the following paragraphs are in thousands.


Revenues. We had no sales for the three months ended June 30, 2007, as compared sales of $432 for the three months ended June 30, 2006. For the three months ended June 30, 2006, we had $297 in cost of goods sold, resulting in gross profit of $135 for the period. Since we had no sales during the most recent period, we had no gross profit. We do not expect that we will generate any revenues from our jewelry business as we are discontinuing the operations related to our jewelry business. Going forward, we hope to generate larger revenues as we implement our new business plan, which we adopted in April 2007.

Operating Expenses. For the three months ended June 30, 2007, our total operating expenses were $21,815, as compared to $3,738 total operating expenses for the three months ended June 30, 2006. The increase in total operating expenses is primarily due to the increase in legal and professional fees, attributable to the costs associated with our name change and change of focus. We expect that we will continue to incur significant professional fees related to being a public company. For the three months ended June 30, 2007, our operating expenses consisted of Interest expense of $3,667 related to our promissory note, professional fees of $17,675, other general and administrative expenses of $173, and contributed rent of $300. In comparison, for the three months ended June 30, 2006, we had professional fees of $2,235, other general and administrative expenses of $1,203 and contributed rent of $300.


Net Income or Loss. For the three months ended June 30, 2007, our net loss from operations was $21,815, as was our net loss. This is in comparison to the three months ended June 30, 2006, where our net loss from operations and net loss was $3,034. The increase in our net loss for the three months ended June 30, 2007, was due an increase in operating expenses between the two periods, which was primarily represented by interest and professional services expenses.

This company is garbage. I would suggest not looking for stock picks on shoryuken.com. Thanks.

[f_man]

im gonna take neg rep for this but itll be worth the point ill be making.

THATS WHY YOU DONT TAKE STOCK ADVICE FROM SOMEONE WHO HAS A DRAGONBALL Z SHIRT IN THEIR AVATAR.

[Night]

Microsoft had a VERY good earnings report today, and is up 10% in after hours trading, wow. Probably gonna open really huge tomorrow.

And man oh man... VMware ftw. VMware also had a very good earnings report yesterday too, although no guidance which makes it a little more shaky, but today it held up extremely good despite the overall down market. I bought that sucker a couple days ago to load up on before earnings expecting a very good earnings report so it'll fly the day after... risky to do that, but so far at least, it paid off! Scary stuff, kinda fun when you see that you currently made the right call, but it can ruin your day if you were off like Amazon which got killed after its earnings report.

VMW ftw!!! I know there's another guy in that stock here too, so I bet he's happy today!

[f_man]

i thought this happened because they bought 1% of facebook.

1 share of microsoft or....200 shares of JYHW.

night, is yours or anyones portfolios here consistently beating the market index? im thinking of running a paper portfolio (i just started working) and am torn between gamblorzing and playing it safe with index funds when i start a real portfolio.

[Night]

My total portfolio is outforming the S&P Index (6.88% YTD) and the Dow (9.72% YTD). This year, tech stocks have taken their surge once again, so the Nasdaq is doing really well at 14+%, which I'm a little bit behind in, having not expected the tech sector to burst like this, so I was on the sidelines for a while. I missed some chances here and there, made a couple mistakes here and there, but I'm happy with my current return so far. Just trying to make it higher! I admit I sold Apple too early, so I had to get back in, and made another few bucks and sold again, reinvesting the profits into VMware, although had I totally stayed in Apple that whole time, I'd be even better... oh well that's the market, but the VMware move is one I'm happy about and I have my fingers crossed that it'll continue to do good...

I diversify my portfolio to both stocks and international mutual funds (e.g. VTRIX, the Vanguard International Fund), and currently they're beating the indexs which makes me happy at least. There's nothing wrong with playing it safe in index funds, although to maximize returns, just have to do a little more homework, take a few more risks. They do say that I dunno, 80 something percent of funds don't do better than index funds considering fees and stuff like that... so just means you have to find that 20% that do and it's not TOO hard to find out with a little bit of research.

My 401k that I don't even maintain that much is actually doing better than my brokerage account where it's returning about 14% YTD heh.

[akumatrunigga]

This company is garbage. I would suggest not looking for stock picks on shoryuken.com. Thanks.
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pure complete