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The Finance Forum Questions Thread, 2008 edition: flame-free zone to ask your finance questions.-Newbies too!

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The previous thread by asdf9876 was getting rather large. You can view it here.

Post all types of questions in this thread. Ask anything you were afraid to ask elsewhere.

No flaming or fighting please.

Quick Summary is created and edited by users like you... Add FAQ's, Links and other Relevant Information by clicking the edit button in the lower right hand corner of this message.


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Yay! FP of 2008!

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abbygayle65 said:1. Is GROUP term life insurance the same as normal term life insurance or is it some sort of variation?

2. Can term life can be bought through section 125 cafeteria (pre-tax) plans? American Fidelity is workplace's cafeteria provider and in their brochure they talk about a "portable term life insurance policy". I'm not sure if that means that you have to have life insurance provided by your employer in the first place.

This got lost in the shuffle. I don't have an answer but wanted to put it here for you.

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pj737 said:OK, I am getting paid a big check today (12/31/07) for a project that took several months to complete. My question is simple but I am unsure of the answer.

I am receiving the check tomorrow but I have the option to cash it on Wednesday (1/2/08).

From a tax perspective, do I have the option to take the gains in either 2007 or 2008 depending on when I actually deposit the check. Or do I have to take the gains in the year the check was written?

This got lost in the shuffle. I don't have an answer but wanted to put it here for you.

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Suggestions:

1. Edit the title on the old thread to "2007" so it's clear what the differences are.
2. Put a brief tutorial re: using the "search this topic" function in the first post of both, encouraging noobs to search the threads for their topic before posting the same question for the 20th time.
3. A note re: looking at the other stickied threads for commmon topics.

<---- way sick of the repeated new threads for the same beginner questions/"I'm a financial trainwreck"

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pj737 said:OK, I am getting paid a big check today (12/31/07) for a project that took several months to complete. My question is simple but I am unsure of the answer.

I am receiving the check tomorrow but I have the option to cash it on Wednesday (1/2/08).

From a tax perspective, do I have the option to take the gains in either 2007 or 2008 depending on when I actually deposit the check. Or do I have to take the gains in the year the check was written?
You have to claim it as of the day your receive the check. The date on the check and the day you cash it are irrelevant.

But realistically speaking, fudging the date by a day or two will never be questioned (and would be extremely difficult to prove either way).

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I posted this a couple days ago in the other thread and didn't get a response, so sorry if you've already read this:

I have a question related to my FICO score. For a couple years I have only had one credit card. Recently I used a 0% apr convenience check to put $14,500 in my checking account (which will go to a cd or mma or something). I then had to apply for a new card to use for my daily spending. So the timeline was, I applied for a new card sometime December 5-10, I activated the new card on December 15. I paid off the balance of my old card on December 20 (about $1700), deposited the convenience check on Saturday December 22, and the deposit posted to my checking account on the 24th. On December 23 I received an email from ScoreWatch which said my FICO score increased by 36 points with this explanation "Your FICOŽ score has gone up to 736 on December 23, 2007. Your FICO score may have gone up because the following factor is not hurting your FICO score as much as before:

* You have not established a long revolving credit history."

I was wondering if anyone had a guess as to what specific action caused the bump in my score. I've only been using a credit card for my daily spending for about 6 months or so, prior to that I had a low credit limit card for 4 or 5 years, but only used it once or twice. So I was thinking, based on the explanation, it was just that I have been using a credit card for a long enough time to trigger some change. However, it seems odd that this happened as I was applying for a new card and taking $14,500 out of my old card (though depositing the $14,500 probably couldn't have had anything to do with it, since the deposit didn't post until one day after I received the ScoreWatch update. Thanks for any help you can provide.

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stanleyfatmax said:I posted this a couple days ago in the other thread and didn't get a response, so sorry if you've already read this:

I have a question related to my FICO score. For a couple years I have only had one credit card. Recently I used a 0% apr convenience check to put $14,500 in my checking account (which will go to a cd or mma or something). I then had to apply for a new card to use for my daily spending. So the timeline was, I applied for a new card sometime December 5-10, I activated the new card on December 15. I paid off the balance of my old card on December 20 (about $1700), deposited the convenience check on Saturday December 22, and the deposit posted to my checking account on the 24th. On December 23 I received an email from ScoreWatch which said my FICO score increased by 36 points with this explanation "Your FICOŽ score has gone up to 736 on December 23, 2007. Your FICO score may have gone up because the following factor is not hurting your FICO score as much as before:

* You have not established a long revolving credit history."

I was wondering if anyone had a guess as to what specific action caused the bump in my score. I've only been using a credit card for my daily spending for about 6 months or so, prior to that I had a low credit limit card for 4 or 5 years, but only used it once or twice. So I was thinking, based on the explanation, it was just that I have been using a credit card for a long enough time to trigger some change. However, it seems odd that this happened as I was applying for a new card and taking $14,500 out of my old card (though depositing the $14,500 probably couldn't have had anything to do with it, since the deposit didn't post until one day after I received the ScoreWatch update. Thanks for any help you can provide.
Your old account could have aged long enough, and the timing was a coincidence. The new account could have reported, giving you a stronger 2 accounts on your history rather than just one. The reported $1700 balance could have been updated as having been paid off. There are too many variables to determine exactly why something happened, but it was most likely a combination of all of the above and then some.

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Very niche question - for retail businesses, any rules of thumb on optimal starting cash drawer balance? In other words, if I average $1,200 a day in cash sales (or any other relevant metric), I should have .25x in cash or $300.

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This is going to sound so stupid...

I can't find the credit line increase page for Bank of America (re the crack thread), or really any credit-related options besides Balance Transfer. I have the rewards AMEX card. To log in I use the same login as for my checking account. Is there a separate login/site for credit cards with them?

Thanks

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Venturion said:Very niche question - for retail businesses, any rules of thumb on optimal starting cash drawer balance? In other words, if I average $1,200 a day in cash sales (or any other relevant metric), I should have .25x in cash or $300.No rule per se, but it shouldnt have anything to do with sales. Its 1) safety/security, keeping a minimal amount of money available while still being able to efficiently process any given transaction, and 2) the number of transactions and the amount of change needed to accomodate those transactions over a given period of time. The optimal size of a drawer has nothing to do with how much you bring in, but how much you hand out (and how often you want to replenish it).

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i'm new in the game.

i wonder why would one want to deal with CDs while online savings bank is offering close to 5%?

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FWC said:i'm new in the game.

i wonder why would one want to deal with CDs while online savings bank is offering close to 5%?
Savings account rates can change without notice, a CD's rate is locked for the term of the CD. Its giving up immediate access to your money for a guarantee of what rate your money will be earning over that time period.

And while the difference in rates may look minimal, when you are talking about a large amount of money a small difference can mean hundreds of dollars in additional interest each year.

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Problem
Heres a simple question about credit card consolidation/reallocation/closing....guess my problem is poor english or rather financial Lingo in understanding other threads.
Situation
I did an AOR 1yr ago...enjoyed the benefits and paid off all the cards by now.
Say i have 2 banks who issued me credit cards
Bank 1 - All cards were obtained at the same time during AOR
Bank 2 - Had at least one card before AOR
Question
Do i call Bank 1 and ask them to move all my credit lines to 1 card....should i 'ask them to close' the empty card or do they close it themselves.
Which one is better for my credit score ?
Bank 2 - From what i understand i should move all the credit from the NEW card to the OLD one...is that true and the closing question remains the same..

Thanks and a Happy New Year 08

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drpepper7 said:Do i call Bank 1 and ask them to move all my credit lines to 1 card Yes - this is called "reallocation" - you will want to leave a little bit on the old card to keep it open
....should i 'ask them to close' the empty card or do they close it themselves.
Which one is better for my credit score ?
No, you do not want to close the old card. Keep it open with a small credit line
Bank 2 - From what i understand i should move all the credit from the NEW card to the OLD one...is that true and the closing question remains the same.Just depends on which card has the better offer. Again, do not close the card once it has been opened.

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Big thanks therivler1
Just a follow up question...there have been posts about keeping the cards alive by using it once a year or so...would you do the same with 'drained out' old card as well otherwise wont it have the same risk of being inactivated by the bank ?
Thanks

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drpepper7 said:there have been posts about keeping the cards alive by using it once a year or so...would you do the same with 'drained out' old card as well otherwise wont it have the same risk of being inactivated by the bank ?
Absolutely. The older a card is, the more important it is to your credit score - even if it only has a $500 credit limit.

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naas said:This is going to sound so stupid...

I can't find the credit line increase page for Bank of America (re the crack thread), or really any credit-related options besides Balance Transfer. I have the rewards AMEX card. To log in I use the same login as for my checking account. Is there a separate login/site for credit cards with them?

Thanks

If you've on-line banking, make sure your credit card accounts are linked to it. This is the set up I have. After you've logged in to on-line banking, from Accounts Overview within the Accounts tab, you should see a list of all your accounts, including credit cards.

Click on a specific credit card account. On the left of the screen for the credit card, I see a "Balance Summary" section, with today's date. Then I see information for: Current Balance, Available credit, and Temporary Authorization. Just below Temporary Authorization is a link that says: Request a credit line increase.

Hope this helps.

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glxpass said:naas said:This is going to sound so stupid...

I can't find the credit line increase page for Bank of America (re the crack thread), or really any credit-related options besides Balance Transfer. I have the rewards AMEX card. To log in I use the same login as for my checking account. Is there a separate login/site for credit cards with them?

Thanks

If you've on-line banking, make sure your credit card accounts are linked to it. This is the set up I have. After you've logged in to on-line banking, from Accounts Overview within the Accounts tab, you should see a list of all your accounts, including credit cards.

Click on a specific credit card account. On the left of the screen for the credit card, I see a "Balance Summary" section, with today's date. Then I see information for: Current Balance, Available credit, and Temporary Authorization. Just below Temporary Authorization is a link that says: Request a credit line increase.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for helping

I didn't do anything to link my accounts, but my cc automatically was listed below my checking and savings on the same page. When I click the cc account, on the left I see these: "Balance Sheet, Transfer, Interest, Free Bill Payer, Customer Service", no Balance Summary, and "Balance Sheet" just brings me back to a list of all accounts.

This is a new account, and no purchases have posted to it yet; is that the problem? I didn't think they would change the whole layout based on activity...

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