Questions tagged [assets]
100 questions
39
votes
7 answers
Why does Warren Buffett consider real estate as productive asset?
In the Berkshire Hathaway 2011 letter, Buffett said:
My own preference – and you knew this was coming – is our third category: investment in productive
assets, whether businesses, farms, or real estate.
I fail to see how real estate produce…
PatrixCR
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35
votes
13 answers
Is a house an asset?
Intro: I'm 21 and I do not know anything about personal finance. I want to start learning because I strongly believe that this is a very important and necessary attribute to learn.
I have read Robert Kiyosaki's book Rich Dad Poor Dad which I think…
Raül
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29
votes
3 answers
What can my relatives do to minimize their out of pocket expenses on their fathers estate
I live in Florida with my wife; she has a brother and sister who both live in Georgia. We have some questions about the estate of their father who used to live in Pennsylvania but passed away just before Christmas.
Their father had a will in which…
user24155
22
votes
7 answers
"Buy assets, not liabilities": How is it possible to buy a liability?
Some personal finance gurus such as Robert Kiyosaki claim that people should "buy assets, not liabilities". This made me wonder: is it even possible to buy a liability? From what I have observed, everything I have spent my money on is either an…
Flux
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17
votes
6 answers
Legitimate unclaimed property that doesn't appear in any state directory?
I received a letter from 'Legal Claimant Services', a division of Keane claiming that my recently-deceased father has some assets in a Georgia bank. Of course, for a fee, they would help me recover the assets. Immediately, I performed an unclaimed…
Neil Kodner
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14
votes
10 answers
What assets would be valuable in a post-apocalyptic scenario?
In spite of the tendency for people to think of gold and diamonds as an emergency store of value for a shit-hits-the-fan scenario, I have a hard time understanding how owning physical gold would actually be of great practical use to me in such a…
Zippy
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13
votes
7 answers
What's a normal personal debt / equity ratio for a highly educated person?
I'm trying to figure out what a bad / normal / good personal debt / equity ratio is. Most sites deal with debt / income ratio, which is a cashflow metric, and I want to focus on assets / obligations. The closest I've come is understanding that 0.8…
Walrus the Cat
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12
votes
2 answers
Treatment of web domain ownership & reselling for tax purposes: Capital asset, or not?
I run a web publishing business. I buy a large number of domains — and occasionally sell one, although not frequently. Some domains are developed into websites, which bring in advertising revenue, while others are "parked," and yet others are on…
Dave
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12
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1 answer
Can a gift be re-gifted before a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy?
About a month or so ago, I gave a family member $10k to purchase a car, because he needed a reliable car for his two hour commute. He's going through some financial trouble, and is now looking to possibly file Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.
After reading…
Bob Loblaw
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11
votes
2 answers
Transfer value of a mortgaged house
My mother and I co-own a house (50/50) that is currently mortgaged. It's an investment property, so we collect rent income on it.
We're looking at transferring her interest in the property to me, for the purpose of cleaning up her assets so she can…
G Tony Jacobs
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11
votes
3 answers
What is the difference between equity and assets?
I am (going to be) using GNU Cash, which uses the double-entry method; I use it for personal finance.
Reading various tutorials for GNU cash, it lists 5 types of accounts: income, expense, assets, liabilities, and equity, followed by various…
Christopher King
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11
votes
1 answer
Taxes on selling a classic automobile received as a gift
When I was in high school, my father-having just had a heart attack-gifted me a classic automobile. This year, he passed away and I ended up selling the car. (The car has been in my name now for roughly ten years.) It sold for $22,000. My question…
36olds
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10
votes
5 answers
For net worth, should I value physical property at my cost to replace it, or the amount I could get for selling it?
I recently was a good little consumer and picked up a relatively expensive set of new home furnishings, some furniture, a TV, some other electronics ... items of that nature (don't worry, been budgeting for many years).
My question is: I keep a…
Glorified Plumber
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9
votes
3 answers
If a company's assets are worth more than its market cap, can one say the shares must be undervalued?
Imagine a company sold a 10% stake in one of its assets to a 3rd party for $100 million. It would be fair to assume that the asset is worth $1 billion.
If that company had 200 million shares issued, and were trading at a price of $4/share, then its…
Nathan
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9
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2 answers
How to fill the IRS Offer In Compromise with an underwater asset?
I owe about $6k in back taxes, and simply don't have the money--it's hard for me to find even minimum wage jobs in the current economy, and I am burdened with consumer debt. After speaking with the IRS in person, it was suggested that I submit an…
matx
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