Personal Finance & Money Stack Exchange
Personal Finance & Money Stack Exchange

Most Popular

more tags
1500 questions
66
votes
14 answers

Do Americans really use checks that often?

That might sound a bit silly to people from USA but is it really that common to use checks in America? I am from Austria and here (Austria, Germany, Switzerland) checks play practically no role in daily life. I haven't actually held a single check…
Plankalkül
  • 871
  • 1
  • 6
  • 9
66
votes
2 answers

I won a car in a poker game. How is that taxed in Canada?

For the sake of title transfer and taxes, is this a gift or a sale? This was a private game. We both tossed our keys into the pot. I won and the vehicle is now sitting on my driveway. I live in British Columbia, Canada. I don't know if this is…
user47387
66
votes
8 answers

A newer friend of my brother's gave him a load of baseball cards that are supposedly extremely valuable. Is this a scam?

My brother is working in a union and has met a bunch of people and started making good money lately. Yesterday, a colleague of his needed a favor because his car broke down, so my brother spent the night driving him home and dealing with a few other…
el toro
  • 1,030
  • 1
  • 9
  • 12
66
votes
8 answers

A man wants to send me money

I’m from Spain. Through Instagram, I have just met a man from Dubai who wants to send me money and even offered to pay my rent in the future. He says he does it because he has too much money and wants to spend it on someone good. We have talked only…
sophia
  • 575
  • 1
  • 4
  • 5
65
votes
10 answers

Are Index Funds really as good as "experts" claim?

I use the quotations because generally the people touting these the most (John Bogle) are also ones selling the index funds. Being biased doesn't mean they're wrong, but it does mean they may not be telling the whole truth. I understand the idea…
dcg1000
  • 661
  • 1
  • 6
  • 10
65
votes
4 answers

Is this person wanting to pay my credit card trying to defraud me?

A friend of mine is in another state wanting to pay my credit card. He says he needs my credit card number, name on card, username, password, and card limit. Is he trying to defraud me? Or does he really need all of this info to pay off my card?
Rene
  • 673
  • 1
  • 5
  • 4
65
votes
5 answers

Can a company block a specific person from buying its stock?

Say there is a very rich, very unpopular individual. This individual wishes to buy millions of dollars in stock in a company he or she thinks will be successful. The company, however, realizes that by being associated with this person they will…
WannabeCoder
  • 2,074
  • 2
  • 15
  • 20
65
votes
10 answers

Apartment I never lived in is collecting against me. Recourse?

I was looking at apartments a year ago, and found the "perfect" apartment online. However, I couldn't go look at it until the following weekend. Unfortunately, the apartment had already been listed for a while, and I was worried that someone would…
Soviero
  • 1,362
  • 1
  • 12
  • 17
65
votes
9 answers

What happens if a company buys back all of its shares?

As far as I know, it shouldn't happen, a company shouldn't have that much cash to be able buy all of its shares, because the share price should indicate that the company has that much cash in the first place - but let's suppose it happens (e.g. the…
user2414208
  • 783
  • 1
  • 5
  • 9
64
votes
10 answers

Why don't bond makers just get loans?

I was just looking at investment opportunities, and I found a number of places offering bonds paying up to 12% interest over two years. My first thought was, I can get a loan from my bank for 5% interest - so if I get a loan to use to buy the bond,…
Benubird
  • 817
  • 1
  • 6
  • 8
64
votes
9 answers

Is it true that, "just ten trading days represent 63 per cent of the returns of the past 50 years"?

I have fallen down a Wikipedia rabbit hole and landed on the page titled Seven States of Randomness. I can't explain in a single sentence what it is talking about, but my question is about an odd quote at the end of the History section (with my…
KDecker
  • 1,128
  • 1
  • 9
  • 13
64
votes
8 answers

Should I deplete my saving and buy a house with cash, or should I rent?

My wife and I are very frugal. We've been living abroad for several years and saved a decent amount of our salaries. We've decided to move back to the US this year. We've found a modest home that needs some work, but has good bones and is livable.…
krayziesensei
  • 759
  • 1
  • 5
  • 6
63
votes
11 answers

I'm 18 and have 6 grand. What should I do with it?

I'm 18 and about to go to college. Luckily, I don't have to worry about student loans or most other living expenses. I've been working and have over $6,000 (will probably be about $7,000 by the end of summer) in my bank account. I don't want to…
Emily Harms
  • 541
  • 1
  • 4
  • 4
63
votes
5 answers

What should I do if I lost money in a scam?

I live in New Jersey and my son wanted to order some toys from this guy who said he makes them in his house and he could give him the best deal, but before he could send these toys he needed my 16 year old son to put $200 into his bank account. The…
KIM STEINHEIMER
  • 639
  • 1
  • 5
  • 4
63
votes
10 answers

Pay off car loan entirely or leave $1 until the end of the loan period?

Background information: I have a car loan that doesn't require payments if I'm ahead on the loan (but accrues the interest, of course, on the balance remaining). I still have a year and a half on my loan, and all my credit score reports show my…
user0721090601
  • 902
  • 1
  • 6
  • 12
1 2 3
…
99 100