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1500 questions
32
votes
8 answers
Paying Off Principal of Home vs. Investing In Mutual Fund
I close on my first home October 21. I've locked in a 4.330% APR on a 30-year fixed conventional mortgage and my payment will be ~$800/month. I've put the required 20% down to avoid paying PMI.
However, the $800/m isn't even 25% of my take-home…
Chuck Callebs
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32
votes
4 answers
How does the math work when buying airline miles?
Signing up for credit cards to get airline bonuses and flying more are good options to earn miles. With an average redemption/valuation of 1 cent/mile or maybe 1.2 cents/mile why would it make sense to buy airline miles at 1.7 or 2 cents/mile?
perennial_noob
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32
votes
6 answers
How to show a landlord what we have in savings?
My wife and I will be moving to a new, major US city soon, and will be renting an apartment. For the first 18 months, we will both be in graduate programs and our income will be rather low, about 2-2.5x rent.
However, after she finds a job after she…
Æzor Æhai -him-
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31
votes
7 answers
Funds deposited in my bank account. Account closed for suspicious activity. Is this a scam?
Here's an interesting story. I lost my job and I needed extra income so when I was looking for a sugar daddy on Instagram, I met a guy. He claims that he is a Business Contractor and is working for UNICEF, currently building in Lagos,…
Marissa
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31
votes
7 answers
Shares: are they really only for the rich/investors?
I've always been under the impression that if you want to be a player in the "shares game" you either have to be an full time investor, or someone who has a lot of money to play with.
Is this true? Can the average Joe become involved?
Is it worth…
James
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31
votes
6 answers
Why cannot LLCs be used to negate increased risks when doing leveraged investments?
Let's say that I am confident that some investment will grow by 15% per year, and that I have 10K to invest, and I'd like to use leverage to invest 100K.
What stops me from creating an LLC with 10K in equity, have that LLC then borrow money (let's…
Zubo
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31
votes
2 answers
Why would a lender care who paid off a debt during a refinance evaluation?
We have a family member who had their father cosign a student loan for them that was recently paid off post their credit check on the father who is attempting to refinance their mortgage.
The lender is asking for verification of who actually paid…
jxramos
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31
votes
5 answers
Preapproved for mortgage loan but won't tell me interest rates
First Time Home Buyer/Shopper
Spent about 30 minutes on the phone with Quicken Loans (Rocket Mortgage). I provided all of the expected information when running a credit check and painting a financial picture.
After the person over the phone let me…
8protons
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31
votes
4 answers
What are the benefits and disadvantages of investing $60-70K in the following methods?
I have $60-70K that I'm planning on investing in stocks/ETFs/funds. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of investing this amount of money with a human financial advisor vs an automated "robo" advisor vs broad market ETFs vs…
Ren
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31
votes
2 answers
Is my stock gone forever from a reverse split / bought by another company?
I'm a complete novice in regards to investing and had purchased some shares of OXIS from TD Ameritrade back in March of 2015 (NASDAQ). The company (OXIS International) became very devalued and did a "mandatory reverse split" and changed symbol to…
Joe
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31
votes
4 answers
'Gifting' a house in the UK
In UK news recently, there has been much talk about so called 'dementia tax', that is, the government using assets (such as property) to pay for social care in old age.
Whether or not people should have to pay for this care (given that they've…
Andy
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31
votes
4 answers
Does a larger down payment make an offer stronger?
I'm a first time home buyer, buying in the Jersey City area. My realtor insists that, given two similar offers, the one with a higher down payment is viewed as a stronger offer. My realtor even said that some buyers would accept a lower offer if…
bcf
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31
votes
6 answers
Auto premium increasing with aging vehicle and no new tickets
I have just received a new auto insurance bill for the next six months for my comprehensive insurance. It is about 8% higher than the previous six months whereas I have had no new moving infractions and the vehicle is the same as before, meaning…
amphibient
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31
votes
3 answers
What are the advantages of doing accounting on your personal finances?
What are the advantages of keeping track of your personal finances? Is it only worthwhile if I earn "enough"? Why should I bother?
Psirus
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31
votes
6 answers
Is it ever logical to not deposit to a matched 401(k) account?
In a recent question Should I dump my savings into my student debt?, there was push back from a member regarding the strong advice to save to the match.
Is there ever a time to not deposit to the match, and pay other debt off faster?
(To those not…
JoeTaxpayer
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