Personal Finance and Money Stack Exchange
Personal Finance and Money Stack Exchange

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1500 questions
25
votes
7 answers

Is a check without cents in the spelling line valid?

I wrote a check for $450.00. In the number box I put the amount $450.00 exactly. In the spelled number line I put Four Hundred and Fifty. I did not include the cents fraction in the spelling. Is the check valid?
rigs
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12 answers

Why would you elect to apply a refund to next year's tax bill?

Every year I get a refund and the tax software asks me if I'd like to apply some of my refund to next year's taxes. Is there some benefit I'm not seeing to this? Because it looks like a bad deal to me.
jldugger
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25
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9 answers

Why is income tax generally not in a continuous "spectrum"?

With respect to the countries about which I am familiar, income tax is partitioned into tax "brackets", meaning that the rate of taxation varies discretely. Different tax rates are therefore applied to different "blocks" of an individual's annual…
Benjamin Crawford Ctrl-Alt-Tut
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25
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8 answers

Selling a House Upfront Or Collecting An Income Over Time?

Suppose that you have a house worth $500,000.00 that is gifted to you and this house is completely paid off. The people who want to purchase this house will need to go to the bank to get a loan so that they can pay me to sell them the house. Over…
GrayLiterature
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7 answers

How can a person with really bad credit history rent decent housing?

My ex got evicted out of her apartment for non-payment of rent. This didn't entirely take me by surprise, as she is financially pretty clueless. She attempted to rent another place but given her history (credit and otherwise), which includes a…
NeedAdvice
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5 answers

Whose responsibility is it to handle an over-tendered tip?

Suppose I go out to eat and I pay for my meal with a credit card. I sign the receipt and when the server goes back to finalize the transaction, they put way more money for the tip than I did. At this point, is it on me to look at the bank account…
leeand00
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11 answers

Should I invest ~18k being 19 years old?

I am currently thinking about investing my money in various things. I have a monthly income of 900€ and only 40€ regular expenses including food, spotify premium and a web domain. From what I can observe I have quiete a lot of money for a person of…
randombutnotsorandum
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25
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5 answers

Sold item on eBay, buyer wants it to be delivered to another country, and pay by bank transfer

I recently offered an item on eBay, offering it for sale in Switzerland only (no international shipping offered). However, now someone bought it and messaged that they want it shipped to Italy, and that they need my name, IBAN, and emailaddress to…
user91928
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25
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8 answers

What's a good strategy for offering low on a house?

We are in the UK and interested in purchasing a house, but the highest offer we could make is substantially below the asking price by around 5%. However, we have some advantages over other prospective buyers. Sales in our local area are slow and…
Bob Tway
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25
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6 answers

Scam? Phone call from "Department of Social Security" asking me to call back

I have gotten two phone calls this week from a 210 area code. A clearly automated voice claimed to be an officer with the Department for Social Security. I was informed there are legal proceedings being filed involving my social security number, and…
Hardison
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5 answers

kids pooling money for Lego League and taxes

Based on Will I be taxed for accepting money to help needy?, I am wondering how the law goes. Suppose a kid is taking part in a school activity (e.g. http://www.firstlegoleague.org) along with a team of 5-6 other kids and then there are expenses…
Raj
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25
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2 answers

How do credit card companies know what type of business I'm paying for?

Credits cards have many different ways of offering you points on types of goods or services you pay for. How do they know if I'm buying, say, food or gas? There are so many different different businesses around; how would a credit card company…
Conor Patrick
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25
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5 answers

Using credit/debit card details vs swiping a card in a payment (credit card) terminal

I was given by a seller an option to come to their office and swipe my credit/debit card there in their payment terminal. Because it's a long way to get to their office, I asked the seller if he could just take my credit card details (number,…
rapt
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25
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3 answers

What information do scammers need to withdraw money from an account?

There is a story currently on the BBC news website. The relevant points are: Scammers called Alex pretending to be BT (telecommunications provider). Alex provided scammers with information / help Scammers made payments that emptied account of…
Dave
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4 answers

Have I saved too much for retirement so far?

I currently have a roth ira as well as a 401k from fidelity. I have around 350k in my 401k and another 10k in my Roth IRA. I just turned 40 recently. Am I saving too much for retirement and should I focus more on saving in say a regular savings…
JonH
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