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1500 questions
22
votes
5 answers

How can I tell if buying a cheaper car will end up costing me more?

Cars can be very expensive, so it seems like a good place to save money. However, I worry that getting a car that is too cheap, especially if buying used, may end up costing me more in maintenance, gas, etc. What should I be looking out for in order…
Larry Wang
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22
votes
5 answers

How does one effectively negotiate rent?

I'm going to rent an apartment in a major urban area in the next few months. When I drive around the area where I want to rent I see numerous "For Rent" signs. Also when I look online there are numerous listings. Given the abundance of properties…
MrDatabase
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22
votes
8 answers

How do I get into investing in stocks?

How do I get into investing in stocks?
Sam
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22
votes
4 answers

What headaches will I have switching from Quicken to GnuCash?

I'm interested in switching to an open source checkbook program. I currently use Quicken and I'm interested in switching to GnuCash but I have usability concerns. Does GnuCash have all the features I'm used to in Quicken? Any noticeable…
Alex B
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22
votes
1 answer

Why does Microsoft need China’s approval to buy Blizzard?

Given none are Chinese companies, why does the acquisition need China’s approval? I am looking at, e.g., Microsoft says China approves its plan to buy video game-maker Activision Blizzard
aaa acb
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22
votes
8 answers

Someone offered tax deductible donation as a payment method for something I am selling. Am I getting scammed?

Context: I am selling a camera on facebook marketplace and someone proposed the following: Person: Would you consider a fully tax deductible Donation to a San Francisco arts non-profit? Me: Wait what does that mean? I can get all of that money from…
Tinker
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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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22
votes
7 answers

Losing equity if my work is used for a new company

Say there is a small company (C1) that gives me 0.1% equity for building their website since they did not want to pay cash. Now the founders of C1 stop working on C1 , create a new company C2 and use my website for C2. They sell my website for $1…
rahs
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22
votes
3 answers

Is there any downside to paying off a mortage shortly before moving?

I recently purchased a house for $125k, currently the mortgage balance is $100k, but value increased during COVID to ~$210k. I am expecting to earn a lump sum of money, enough to pay off the mortgage in its entirety, plus car loan, which would leave…
Village
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22
votes
1 answer

Wired to the wrong account

Recently, I sold my house that I've been living in for over 20 years. It was almost all paid off, so I got a huge amount of cash in my account. (About 5x my yearly salary). I bought a new house, and intended to wire all of these proceeds over to…
Jeffer
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22
votes
7 answers

Is it true that 90% of investors lose their money?

Many investment gurus state that majority of investors fail and then offer a proven "[insert fancy name] investment strategy" that will make you successful. The number usually starts at 90% and often goes up to 99%. Intuitively, the number makes…
user6021
22
votes
11 answers

What is the purpose of budgeting if all I need to do is look at my bank/credit card statement?

I have read over Reddit's wiki on budgeting. I rarely pay with cash so I already have a record of transactions I made with payment cards. My pay stubs are e-mailed to me. So what's the point of budgeting? Is the actual benefit from grouping…
titchseason
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22
votes
6 answers

Is it legal for a minor to be hired by a college to take notes for students with accessibility difficulties?

I'm enrolled in a local community college as a dual-credit student (basically that means I can complete high school courses in college to get a college degree and high school diploma simultaneously), and, as such, I'm a minor. A few weeks ago I…
sun234
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22
votes
7 answers

How easy is it to actually track another person's credit card?

In movies and in fiction, government agents, mom's basement hackers, evil villains, etc. often are able in minutes to tell stuff like "twenty minutes ago she rented a boat in Snow Hill" or "he bought two chicken lettuce sandwiches in Subway at…
user2299523
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22
votes
4 answers

Why is the rate of return for website investments so high? Are websites a good investment?

Popular websites can make a lot of money through monetization channels such as ads, but when it comes to buying an existing site, why is the multiple on earnings so low? For example at the moment a site is being advertised for $25,000 with a net…
TheoretiCAL
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