Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with finance

Does anyone have a Toronto bank that they love?

scrute — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:15:02 -0800

My bank has quit the banking business leaving me high and dry -what is your favourite non-TD or BMO banking option in Toronto? I have been a big fan of Citizen's Bank of Canada (not the same as the US bank of the same name) for years, but they have gone out of business. While they have sold mortgages and secured credit to TD, they are leaving those of us with unsecured lines of credit on our own (TD's choice I believe).

I need to replace my unsecured line of credit ($10k) and open a new account. I don't have much in the way of assets but have a stable, reasonable salary and a good credit rating. I also have a relative who is happy to co-sign on a line of credit, but most banks now refuse this practice and I do not want a traditional loan.

I am happy to consider credit unions or similar alternatives. I have had horrible experiences with Bank of Montreal and TD in the past and have no interest in banking with either of those institutions.

So, where can I get my line of credit with a reasonable interest rate and a good chequing account? Bonus points for affordable wire transfers and programs for New Canadians (my husband lives overseas (wire transfers) but will be moving here once we manage to sort out his visa (New Canadian programs)).

Does shorting the competition count as insider trading?

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:15:31 -0800

I work for Acme Widgets, a competitor of WorldWide Doodads. I know that tomorrow we will be releasing an amazing widget that is going to completely outshine WorldWide's product lineup. Obviously, I can't do anything with Acme's stock - that would be insider trading. But what about shorting WorldWide's stock? Is that allowed?

MS in Finance Ranking List?

telsa — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:52:50 -0800

MS in Finance: Is there a list of top ranking schools for a MS in Finance? After finally deciding what I'd like to study, I need to look into schools! Google search has yielded me results that include MBAs, but I'm looking for a more in depth program with finance and investments.

How do I ace this interview?

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 12:09:14 -0800

How do I ace this finance interview? I have been lucky enough to win an interview with a Very Prestigious Bank's equity research division. I will be interviewing as an experienced hire for a junior analyst position. So far I have had two phone interviews and collectively I have spoken to the three team members with whom I would be working. I have not spoken to HR once; I have no HR contacts. I was selected by a headhunter who forwarded my resume to the team leader, who liked my background.

I now will be flying out to the bank's office to meet with more people. I would like to prepare for what questions to expect. I've done a lot of research but nearly everything I find seems directed to people looking for internships and entry-level jobs from undergrad/grad school. My intution tells me things are different for experienced hires. No more questions like "Tell me about a time where..." or "How do you react when..." Thus far I've been asked no "behavioral" questions. My questions have been more directed to assessing the strength of my modeling skills and my industry knowledge. Should I anticipate more ambiguous "HR-type" questions going forward, or should I generally expect things at this point to assess how well I will fit in with the team/company's culture? How do I best prepare to ace my interview? What is the process in general like for experienced but lower-level hires in the finance industry? Also, for anyone who is particularly famillar with research culture--does the ultimate decision reside with the head analyst or does a consensus generally need to be reached or what?

Should I quit looking in the legal field and become a stock broker?

xspot — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:41:33 -0800

Out of work law school grad thinking about looking into another career...looking for suggestions....how about a stock broker trainee...? Some background info. Living in NYC area. Recent law grad from 2nd tier school, crappy grades. Majored in finance as an undergrad. Failed the bar first time, worked for a year (non-legal field), out of work for another year before I retook and passed three state bar exams. Since then I've been out of work for another year+. I havent been completely out of work during those 'out of work' times but nothing that I'd put on a resume.
The legal job market seems esp. tough. Amazingly, I've interviewed with a couple of firms for entry level attorney jobs since passing the bar but I know for a fact that two of the firms hired people with 5-6 years experience. Ugh. Have also applied for a bunch of attorney fed/state jobs with no luck. I've known that my prospects for finding a an attorney job in this climate was slim, but I wanted to at least get licensed and was hoping for some luck but I'm now more than ready face 'reality'.... so I'm looking/thinking about a new career path.

Two main questions:
1.Suggestions on a new career path? I know this a ridiculous question to ask to strangers but I'd love to hear some new voices/opinions.
2. There've been alot of stoker broker trainee jobs listing recently...What exactly does a stock broker trainee do and is it worthwhile? Would my law degree/finance degree help at all at getting and keeping this job?

Looking for nonlegal work as a JD was tough, I imagine it'll be the same with a law license. Should I mention that I'm licensed to practice law or that I even went to law school? I definitely dont mind starting from the ground up in a new field but I'm hesitant to switch fields and 'waste' my law degree/license. How hard would it be for me with become an attorney again after working in another field for 4-5 years without any legal experience? Despite how it sounds I dont feel like I HAVE to be a lawyer, I just would like to give it a shot but I'm tired of waiting and not making steady income! I'm not necessarily looking for suggestions in finding legal work, but suggestions or advice would really be welcomed. Thanks.

She works hard for the money...

firei — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 10:05:20 -0800

A friend of mine wants to open a business, and is looking for information on business loans or grants specifically for women. I've been on the SBA and SCORE websites, but haven't been able to find too much info. Everyone always says that there's a lot of financial assistance for women looking to open businesses, but I'm having trouble finding it!

If it helps: I believe she is looking to open a dog grooming/training facility.

Specifics would be awesome, but general links would be alright as well.

Campaign stiffs campaign workers, won't respond. Solutions?

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:39:54 -0800

Local political campaign reports a large surplus four days after stiffing its workers (I and dozens of other campaign workers are owed back pay, several of us in the $300+ range). Solutions? This was an unsuccessful bid for a NY City Council seat. (I'm not directly naming the candidate or any individuals in this post, just as a courtesy -- trying not to saturate people's google results with this because A) I don't know yet what happened and B) the candidate has done great things for the community and I still really believe in his achievements. But there's an article at nypost.com and several of the campaign workers are blogging about it, so it's not exactly a secret).

The campaign hired all its workers at $15/hr. On Election Day (the 15th of September), we were told to come pick up our checks on the 18th of Sep., with no indication that anything would be wrong with them (and throughout the entire campaign they were still actively asking us to bring new people, friends and relatives, to come work at $15/hr).

At 9pm on the 17th, we got a group email saying the campaign would only pay us $10/hr and we should not come in on the 18th; instead, the $10/hr checks were mailed. According to the article linked above, the campaign reported a significant surplus four days after sending out our partial-payment checks on the 18th.

The sole public statement from the campaign, given at the reporter's request for that article, was "Everyone has been paid or their check has been sent to them in the mail." That is, needless to say, an extremely disingenuous (and bad-faith) non-response.

Several campaign workers got together and wrote a formal group email to the campaign's email address asking for a resolution (there was no answer, and now that address is apparently no longer accepting emails), and started a blog with the basic facts, then filed a formal complaint with the Campaign Finance Board after it was clear that the campaign wouldn't respond (that complaint is now pending). Many workers have attempted to contact the campaign managers (using known-good phone numbers and email addresses), receiving no responses whatsoever. Only the Field Coordinator has been responsive, but she has no relation to the campaign's finances.

One thing I have not done is cash the partial-payment check they mailed me on the 18th, on the suspicion that cashing it could be seen as implicitly accepting it as correct payment. (Please share opinions re. whether that's a wrong suspicion, because I seriously need that money.) For me, and for at least a dozen other people who also started towards the beginning of the campaign, these partial checks sent on the 18th were the second or third of the weekly checks we received. Our earlier first checks were all correct, $15/hr, agreeing with our timesheets. I did cash my correct earlier check, as I think all of us did.

My own financial position means the money I'm still owed (several hundred dollars) is clearly worth time and effort in material terms, not just on principle. Are there steps to be taken while we wait for the Campaign Finance Board to review the complaint? And more importantly: would even the best-case result of that review produce money for us, or would it just produce something like censure or fees for the campaign?

Me Bad At ++

arniec — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:08:19 -0800

Not Homework Filter! Paypal Filter: Paypal charges me 2.9% plus $0.30 for every transaction. Someone needs to pay me X. What is the formula to determine how much they need to send with paypal so I get X and not X - (X * 0.029) - 0.30? This has frustrated me... I do favors for friends and they want to pay with the convenience of Paypal... but I can't figure out the formula to quickly determine how much they need to pay me. I end up spreadsheeting it and plugging in numbers until they match...

Say they owe me $100, I can't say $102.90 (which is 2.9% added to the $100) because 2.9% of $102.90 is higher than 2.9% of $100...

I guess I FAIL at Algebra today...

Bonus points if you show me HOW to calculate this so I'm learning something as well as the formula for how to do it. I mean, I have

X + (X * 0.029) + 0.3 = y

where X is what they owe me and Y is how much they have to pay Paypal so I get paid in full... But then I do all those algebra tricks, divide by X, etc. but haven't gotten it yet

How can I use a spreadsheet to track my accounts?

reenum — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:16:25 -0800

I want to start using a spreadsheet to track and reconcile my various accounts. How do I start? I've been using MS Money for years. Due to switching to the Mac, MS Money being discontinued, and generally hating the fact that my financial data is trapped in a proprietary program, I feel like I should use a spreadsheet to track my finances.

I have a savings account, two checking accounts, two credit card accounts, and a Roth IRA.

There are a couple of things I'm curious about: How does one reconcile accounts in a spreadsheet and are there any templates that have that checkbook entry system that MS Money has?

I've looked at some of the older posts on this topic and none seemed to answer my questions satisfactorily.

Links to templates, blog posts, howtos, general anecdotes, and anything else relating to this question are requested and appreciated. Thanks!

Car Conundrum

ecorrocio — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:32:42 -0800

TO CAR OR NOT TO CAR (buy that is). Help me figure out when to replace our paid-for-but-aging-vehicles. What's the best way to time this unwanted expense over 5 years, especially with a young driver in the wings. Here's the puzzle:

A. We have two paid-for vehicles - a Ford truck with 90K miles, a Soobie with 130K miles. They're getting old. The truck is probably not as safe as I'd like. But... I really like not having a car payment.

B. Our daughter will be 16 in 5 years. I want her to have a (safe) car.

C. I'd like to figure out how to best spread the expense of buying cars vs. the life of cars, keeping the impact on our somewhat tight budget as small as possible.

D. I'd like to get cars of reasonable quality and safety, but would not buy a new car. My wife and I both need a car.

~ Do I get one now to spread the expense (even though both cars are workin' fine)?
~ Do I drive 'em til they drop, and then face buying 1... 2 or 3(!) cars.
~ Do I work out some sort of rotation?

Companies that bargain down your medical bills for you?

El Curioso — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:09:20 -0800

Have you ever used one of those companies that bargain down your medical bills, then take part of what they saved you as payment? I'm wondering if it's a legit service, and if so what kind of results you can expect.

Best strategy for paying student loans?

yeoja — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:37:41 -0800

I’m in grad school and work full time. I have several Federal student loans in deferment, all of which are subsidized or unsubsidized with different interest rates. I have an extra $500 each month that I'd like to use towards my loans. If I want to have lower monthly payments when my loans go into repayment, should I make extra payments now towards the interest from unsubsidized loans with a lower interest rate or the principal of subsidized loans with a higher interest rate? Or is there a better approach? Background info: I have 1.5yrs left for school, and I’m 90% sure I’ll continue to work full-time until I graduate. Other than my mortgage and these loans, I have no other debt (car and credit cards paid off). I have ~6 months of savings in a high (well, 1.4%) yield savings account.

My loans are distributed something like this:

Loan A: Unsubsidized, 1.8% interest rate, $5,000 balance

Loan B: Unsubsidized, 6.8%, $12,000

Loan C: Subsidized, 2.8%, $6,000

Loan D: Subsidized, 6.8%, $3,000

Right now, I make $150 monthly payments on the unsubsidized interest on Loans A & B. My lender will let me specify how I want to apply the $500 each month (Loan A/B/C/D, interest or principal). I know the usual advice is to target the higher interest rates first (as discussed here), but I’m unsure how this applies with subsidized vs unsubsidized loans. For example, Loan A has a lower interest rate than Loan D, but Loan A has a higher principal balance and is unsubsidized.

I want to make the smartest decision with these payments. My goal is to get rid of my loan fast, but I also want to minimize my monthly payment amount when my loans go into repayment. Should I focus on the principal of Loan B since it’s so high? Or should I spread out the money across the loans? If I have the money to pay off Loan D, should I go ahead and do that?

Savings for convenience?

Raze2k — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:55:09 -0800

Should I bother with a savings account? I recently dug myself out of credit card debt and for the first time in years, I'm finding myself no longer living check to check. I've continued to use one of my cards for most of my expenses, partially for convenience, but mostly for the cash back rewards now in tandem with Chase Blueprint (specifically 0% APR on all purchases, as long as I completely pay my bill each month with extra points for having a Chase checking account).

Having said that, I now find the balance of my checking account growing and I feel as though I ought to be earning interest. The sticking point here is that I need the money to be very liquid and easily accessible. Most of my accounts are with Chase and I'd like to keep it that way. Unfortunately I don't have a high enough balance to qualify for their interest-bearing checking accounts and the interest on their savings accounts is currently a pathetic 0.01%.

Since I'm not sure of my financial needs over the next year and I want to keep my funds readily available at a moment's notice, is it worth bothering with a Chase Savings account -- if only to provide the convenience of separating theoretical savings from day-to-day funds?

I'm not at a point where I feel comfortable transferring funds to an online-only bank and, admittedly, convenience is huge to me. Are there any down sides to opening a new savings account (other than the obviously terrible interest rate)?

Note: Chase Savings accounts are free as long as you have a minimum balance of $300.

Help me identify potential grant sources for rebuilding an elementary school's IT network

Imhotep is Invisible — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 09:42:58 -0800

I have been tasked with rebuilding the computer lab and administrative systems for an elementary school. One of my tasks will be to seek out and apply for grants of funds or equipment for an upgrade. What organizations should I approach? The primarily African-American Christian school located on the south side of Chicago has approximately 20 lab machines and 8 administrative machines, though the majority of the machines are out-of-date. I would be looking to obtain network hardware (firewall, switches), complete desktop systems, printers, 2 small servers, client licenses for Office and Windows, antivirus and content-filtering solutions, and (potentially off-site) backup.

I've found this ask question about how to approach a foundation and there's plenty of information about how to write a grant request but there seems to be vast volumes of potential sources and I'm not sure how to identify who would be an ideal partner.

Is this report worth the money? Who else would you recommend I/we approach?

Much obliged!

Where to hide the money?

odi.et.amo — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 07:15:22 -0800

How can I figure out the minimum amount to keep in my checking account? Basic financial stats: I pay for everything I can (including bills) with my American Express for the cash back bonus. A few utility bills are withdrawn from my checking account, as well as rent. I pay my CC bill from checking, and my paycheck is deposited there. Income > Expenses.

My only debts are student loans (at such a low rate that I have no intentions of paying it off early), and about 4k left on a car loan that I could probably pay off now if I wanted to.

I'd like to make the most out of my savings account, though, and even though I feel like this should be easy, I can't figure out how little I need to keep in checking. Is there an easy way to figure this out? I know I can move some money to savings now, but I'd love a formula to figure out how much that should be (in addition to the money that I have automagically transferred every month).

Side question - should I put this extra money towards my car loan instead so that I can start saving even more each month? The interest rate on the car loan is between 5-6% if I recall. Online savings is with INGDirect which is somewhere around 1.4%.

Give me a better rate and lower my principal NOW

digividal — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 11:26:40 -0800

How to negotiate with a credit card company? Hi, I had some excellent response to a previous question and this is a follow up from that.

I got the recommend book in that thread from Nolo, and I have read most parts of it by now: Solve Your Money Troubles: Debt, Credit & Bankruptcy

Short recap, I recently divorced, ended up with a lot of the credit card dept. I am making minimum payments (barely) and I am not behind, but I am not making any progress on the actual money owed
.
I cannot get equity out of the mortgage I am upside down in.

Now the book, talks about (briefly) negotiating a lower interest rate, lower the principal and such with your credit card companies.

The problem is I am not very good at negotiations, and I have never attempted it before. How does the conversation go?
What are some of the points to hammer on while talking to the credit card company? What is the credit card companies benefit from making concessions to me? Is there a specific department to ask for?

Has anyone in the hive mind done this procedure successfully?

Any advice, would be great.

Me, a Company in QuickBooks?

gum — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:13:45 -0800

Does anyone have resources to share for using QuickBooks, rather than a dedicated personal finance application like Quicken, to manage personsal finances? I own a copy of QuickBooks 2009 Professional Edition and use it to manage, competently but not expertly, the books of a small nonprofit. I'd like to get better at QuickBooks, both to learn more about bookkeeping and to learn more about the application itself -- in order, perhaps, to offer financial services to other clients.

I manage my own not very complicated personal finances in Excel and on paper. I'd like to improve on this by setting up my personal finances as a new "company" in QuickBooks, the better to manage them and the better to learn more about QuickBooks instead of some other personal finance application like Quicken.

Are there great resources to share (print, online) that deal with using QuickBooks as a personal finances manager?

What to do with $1000USD

~Sushma~ — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 08:43:23 -0800

A charity gave me $1,000 USD they raised for me after a drunk driver wiped me and my motorcycle out. I am 56 yrs. old, sick from cancer and will be losing my job in December. I have little savings and will have to work at whatever my body lets me do, and probably lose my health insurance. I plan on selling my home and its contents and downsizing to a studio apartment. I have no credit card debt but hold two mortgages, both will be a wash at the sale. What is the best bang for my buck for this $1000 in this economy? A CD? Online savings account? Any suggestions?

European on a "grand tour": how did they store their money?

mstillwell — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 05:51:47 -0800

How did rich European gentlemen on a "grand tour" of Europe in the 18th Century manage their finances? I can't imagine they carried enough money (or gold) to support months or years of travel--was there a system of banks they could use? Or credit notes? Also, how did they arrange to get their packages shipped home?

Is this offer to good to be true.

digividal — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:13:25 -0800

Financial filter: I recently received a very fancy mailing from a company in Florida (Trascendental Lending), offering me (due to new government regulations) to consolidate my credit card dept (35K) to a new 5% loan, with much lower payments. This sounds too good to be true so I presume it is? I am recently divorced, and I am having trouble getting the financial ends to meet. I got most of the credit card dept after the divorce.
I am barely able to make minimum payments as it is. All accounts are current though, and I have no late payments.

So one day I got fancy letter from some company in Florida called Trascendental Lending or something close to it, offering to consolidate my credit card dept, allegedly based on some new government program, into a single loan with 5% interest. Which would lower my payments substantially.

Now this offer seems to good to be true, but I really want it to be true. I do not understand why this company would offer 5%-6% loan of 35K which is basically unsecured and without collateral. Unless there is indeed some new government program which makes this feasible.

Can anyone offer advice as to how I might go about consolidating my credit card depth in a reliable way, or other practices that might help me be able to dig myself out of the hole I am in now.

If anyone knows if this offer is legit, or if there are other vendors out there who could make a legit offer.

Does anyone know about new government programs?

Keywords for the Finance industry?

ckohrman — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:29:41 -0800

Please help me gather Keywords for the "Accounting/Finance/Insurance" industry. I'd like to create keyword lists for the "Accounting/Finance/Insurance" industry. These keywords will be used to help tag resumes on a job board.

Possible examples might be: actuary, Quickbooks, Excel, etc. Thanks for your help!

Where to get the best exchange rate to buy a big USD bank draft in Toronto?

winston — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 21:05:47 -0800

How do I get the best exchange rate when I have Canadian dollars in hand and want to make a large payment in US dollars? I'm in Toronto and the recipient is not flexible with regards to payment methods so I need to end up with a certified cheque or bank draft to send. The money is currently in a President's Choice account and they can get me a USD draft but their premium on the exchange rate seems to be 2.5%. Currency exchange businesses usually advertise better rates than that but is there someplace I can walk into with a draft in CAD and walk out of with a draft in USD? Or is there some other option? I'll only need to do this once.

Use cash to start a business or for a down payment on a home.

mintchip — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:40:50 -0800

Use cash to start a business or for a down payment on a home. I have been interested in having my own business. I have read business magazines for years and have even had a couple of small service-based businesses that I ran part time. No big bucks there but a rewarding experience.

Recently I've been considering trying to start a business for real. I have a small sum of cash (between 10-20k) I've been slowly saving for a home down payment.

It's a tough choice. Since I need a home to live in, buying one would mean an investment in my future and security. However, chances are that I won't get rich working for a private company. In fact, it's quite hard to get ahead nowadays with most of the good middle management positions gone. Meanwhile, most of the people I've known who did quite well for themselves did it by owning their own business.

I'm not saying it's easy. I'm just thinking that owning a business seems like my best shot at getting ahead, and it also happens to be a genuine interest of mine. At the same time, starting a business is a huge risk (I think it's something like 4 out of 5 fail within 5 years) and I could lose the money as well as a lot of time and energy.

I believe I have many of the qualities that would contribute to success in business. But it's hard for me to know if I have all of them.

What's your take? How have those of you who have been in a similar position weighed the pros and cons of such a decision.

The Ron Popeil School of Microlending?

soy_renfield — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 07:42:01 -0800

Are there any mutual funds / stocks that invest in Microlending organizations? I am interested in investing in microlending because of all the good it can do. As an alternative to laying out money from my cash reserves for a long-term payoff, are there any stocks or mutual funds that I can put my 401k/IRA money into that will invest it in businesses that microlend?

How to learn more about finance.

theholotrope — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 09:25:47 -0800

Where/How do you get your best stock tips? What is your routine when studying a market trade? What are some good websites to learn about finance? I'm barely getting into the market game and I have a lot to learn. Please share any websites for learning finance for free and/or websites that have helped you gain some knowledge on good stocks to invest in. Thanks.