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

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1500 questions
45
votes
9 answers

What is the correct answer for percent change when the start amount is zero dollars $0?

Percent change is a very common calculation in finance. It helps us track growth. The formula is: [(y2 - y1)/y1] x 100 = percent change If the start period is $0 (i.e. no money was made in the first period, so y1 is 0), the formula divides by 0,…
user26460
45
votes
4 answers

Is keeping track of your money and having a budget the same thing?

I check my bank account every single day, just out of habit in case there's fraudulent activity. As a result, I always know generally how much I have in my accounts (i.e. if I have $140.25, I'll make a mental note that I have $120 just so I don't…
Michael
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7 answers

Ethics and investment

I am a young man who has recently reached a point of financial stability. I'm starting to think about long-term plans which may one day buy a home, or provide for myself in old age. This raises the question of savings and investments, which causes…
AJFaraday
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7 answers

Using Emergency Fund to Sell Upside-down Car

My husband and I have an upside-down car loan, which means that we owe more on the loan (about $10,000) than the car is worth (only about $7,000). We are paying a pretty substantial amount each month in insurance and car payments (over $300 a month)…
Amy
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45
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12 answers

Why do Americans have to file taxes, even if their only source of income is from a regular job?

I live in Europe (Czech Republic) and as long as employment is my primary source of income I don't need to file any taxes on my own, as the company's accounting department will do that for me by default. Why is the American system different?
JonathanReez
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45
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7 answers

How can one get their FICO/credit scores for free? (really free)

TV and the web are filled with ads promising to give you a free copy of your credit report. Unfortunately, instead of being wholly free, they are actually free trials, which means: You only get them for free once You have to enter a credit card…
DrFredEdison
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45
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5 answers

How does this WhatsApp scam work?

I am trying to work out how this attempted scam on me could possibly work financially for the scammers as it just seems like the time and effort involved as well as the low potential for payoff isn't there. The best way I have to describe the actual…
Arj
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11 answers

How safe it is in the long run to regularly invest in the stock market?

I keep seeing the advice of "do not time the market and invest regularly you will eventually be winning over time". This advice is often illustrated by a graph of different index funds and show that over a 10-20 year period you end up earning money…
Maxime
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45
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7 answers

Medical provider is threatening to send me to collections over a debt I do not owe

I received counseling services in May 2019 and paid the full amount owed. A few months later I received a bill for these services. I have called the billing agency and the counseling service multiple times (about once a month), and each time I am…
lizziv
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11 answers

Can I claim only part of the full amount of a check?

I received a long awaited check today (USA) written for $X. For complicated reasons (we had some dispute about how much was owed for what), I only want to accept $Y from this person for this service, where Y < X. In other words, I want less money…
Partial Fraction
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45
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10 answers

I won USD 50K! Now what should I do with it?

I won a sweepstakes and will be getting USD 50k...it is verified that it is legitimate although no taxes have been taken out so I will have to claim this income on my taxes next year, they will send a 1099. I do have a significant amount of student…
Emily
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45
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25 answers

My parents claim they cannot pay for my college education; what are my options?

I have divorced parents, one makes a lot more money than the other, but that one (who makes more money) claims due to court rulings he pays a lot of money to the other parent and that they are wasting it on unnecessary expenses. I do not know what…
Outsider
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45
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8 answers

Employer asking for online access to bank account - Is this a scam?

I just recently got a freelance job as a virtual assistant. The employer I have looks like a reputable person with his own agency and everything. I'm new to it, so he asked for my bank account number, the swift number, my name phone number and the…
RC Kelly
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44
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12 answers

Should I buy a house now before prices rise even more?

We rent an apartment in Frankfurt, Germany and we are contractually bound to it for another 1.5 years. We are 33 and 35 years old and there will be children soon. We make around 110k € annually (after taxes) and we have no debt. We are thinking…
8192K
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44
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3 answers

Why would a lien appear on a mortgage after 17 years?

I have a 30 year, fixed rate mortgage from the year 2000. I have never missed a payment and don't have any other debt. A couple of months ago, I a got a letter sent by a company I never heard of (working in conjunction with my mortgage company)…
Kathy Arbuckle
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