Go to Jeff Salisbury LWGate Home Page.From: persfin-digest <owner-persfin-digest@shore.net>
Subject: persfin-digest V4 #80
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 17:19:03 -0400 (EDT)
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persfin-digest Saturday, September 6 1997 Volume 04 : Number 080
IN THIS ISSUE:
ADVERTISEMENT: MCI FAX REPLY SERVICE [Oppenheimer Software <Connect-Sale]
VITA/TCE questions, experiences? [Rich Carreiro <rlcarr@animato.pn.com>]
Re: Mom's Money ["Jim Reed" <jreed1@airmail.net>]
I Second Ira's Comments on ATM Fees ["rip west" <rip@montrose.net>]
Roth IRA Calculator Web Site [mabrams@santafe.cc.fl.us]
House "Appraisals" Are Not Worthwhile [rpalma@msai.mea.com (Peter Palma)]
paying bills online - I've Given up Quicken [Randy Barnes <rbarnes@atl.mi]
Re: Free Loan? There Is No Such Thing... [Rich Carreiro <rlcarr@animato.p]
Re: Should I roll my 401(k) into an IRA? [Rich Carreiro <rlcarr@animato.p]
re: S&P 500 index fund? [Jon King <kingjo@CS.ORST.EDU>]
Historical fund data? [Jon King <kingjo@CS.ORST.EDU>]
Re: Is the Time Saved By Online Bill Paying Significant? [David Martin <]
margin investing and short positions? [Benjamin Okun <bokun@hotmail.com>]
Warning: Providian Credit Card ["J. Pat Martinez" <martinej@ava.bcc.orst]
Roth IRA's & Gas Pump POS security [Timothy.E.Zickus/IT/VGI]
Toys R US Has A Good Affinity Credit Card Program [cwb23805@POP.UH.EDU (C]
cogeneration [feren@ctron.com (Andrew C. Feren)]
landlord responsibility for tenant behavior? [Ryo Imamura <imamura@elwha.]
Question About Professional Expenses [Ken Stone <krstone@mindspring.com>]
Re: Free Loan - there is no such thing! ["Louis J. Schwarz, CFP, RFC" <sf]
IRAs in New Tax Bill - A Piece of Good news ["Brian O'Rourke" <borourke@s]
Upgrade to Win95? [Stephen Brodeur <sbrodeur@draper.com>]
Re : Free Loan? There Is No Such Thing... [ravic@sdt.com (Ravi P Chivukul]
401k question - advice requested [Jim_Shoenfelt@USFG.COM]
Re: S & P index fund option? [jleipol <jleipol@ibm.net>]
Internet Service Providers? What To Look For? [Mandar Sathe <Mandar_Sath]
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Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 16:46:51 -0400 (EDT)
From: Oppenheimer Software <Connect-Sales@mcimail.com>
Subject: ADVERTISEMENT: MCI FAX REPLY SERVICE
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 16:47:28 -0400 (EDT)
From: Rich Carreiro <rlcarr@animato.pn.com>
Subject: VITA/TCE questions, experiences?
Having previously asked to get on the mailing list of my local IRS
Taxpayer Education Office, I have just received the Volunteer Income
Tax Assistance/Tax Counseling for the Elderly (VITA/TCE) application
for the upcoming tax season.
Before I send it fill it out and send it in, I have a few questions:
* In a learning experience sense, which of the two programs is more
interesting, i.e. which tends to have a wider range of issues to
be dealt with? (Though I would tend to assume that in either group
there is a majority of returns that are fairly similar).
* At least in my area, in-class training is only offered on weekdays.
As I have a full-time job, I would not be able to attend and would
have to fall back to the home training. How do the in-class and
home training programs compare?
* I have had no formal tax training, nor am I in the tax prep business.
My experience consists of annually sending in my 1040 with Scheds
A, B, and D and hanging out in places like here and misc.taxes.moderated :-).
How hard is the volunteer certification test?
* The application letter also gave no hint of length, other than
mentioning that volunteers should be able to work 4 hours per
week. What are the typical start and end dates of the TCE/VITA
programs?
* At least in the Boston area, only TCE volunteers are guaranteed
to be assigned to a site. VITA volunteers may be assigned to a
site or may have to nail down a site of their own to work from.
How likely is it to be able to get an established VITA site in
the west-of-Boston (Cambridge, Arlington, Medford, Waltham, etc.)
area?
* In general, what kind of experiences have you had in VITA/TCE and
would you recommend it to a (IMHO :-) fairly informed layman?
Rich Carreiro
rlcarr@animato.pn.com
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 16:50:35 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Jim Reed" <jreed1@airmail.net>
Subject: Re: Mom's Money
>From Dana:
>I would like to get my mom to see a financial planner, but in case
>I am not able to talk her into this... does anyone have any "safe"
>suggestions on how a retired person should invest their assets.
>The home and car are totally paid for and she has 0 debt.
>
>Thanks....
>
>dana - still shaking my head in disbelief
Dana....your experience certainly struck a chord with me.
My experience has been that helping elderly people (especially family) is
tough. When you combine the need to invest wisely with all the emotion,
baggage, and inheritance issues, you come up with a pretty stressful
environment.
I know the feelings well. I believe the key thing to remember is that it
is *her* money now. She and your father probably worked very hard for
what is there now.....and her rights to feel ok about what is done with
"her" money are, in my humble opinion, paramont.
Here are some words I have commonly heard from the elderly (and my own
family) about this issue:
" Why do they (i.e. a mutual fund company) send me all this paper. I
can't understand any of it. You set this up so you'll have to tell them
to stop sending it"
" I don't want *anything* and goes up and down in value"
" I don't know where I put it. It didn't look important"
" Now....look what you've done. My tax person is wanting more
information. I don't know what I'm going to do now"
" Your father always had cash available just in case things got *really*
tough"
" Why didn't you just leave it the way it was? Everything was fine until
you changed it. I miss your father...............
I'm sure some of the others on this list can add to the above..........
Dana, if you decide to change what she has now, are you mentally prepared
to address some pretty tough issues (for me anyway).
Good luck.....and kindest regards,
Jim, in Texas
jreed1@airmail.net
(Editor's Comment - I totally agree. There's always a lot of emotion tied
up in money. Mixing this with the emotional stress of family relations
creates a deadly brew. The extra few dollars (not guaranteed, by the way)
are not worth the hassle unless your parents are emotionally on the same
wavelength as you. My advice: talk about the weather instead. -IK)
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 16:52:16 -0400 (EDT)
From: "rip west" <rip@montrose.net>
Subject: I Second Ira's Comments on ATM Fees
Ira said....
> (Editor's Comment - Look at ATM fees. In the beginning ATMs were close
to
> free. Now the banks are charging whatever they can get away with. -IK)
>
Yes, and what really bugs me is that the ATM's are much cheaper for the
banks than tellers. There is really no reason for these charges except to
gouge the customers.
rip
(Editor's Comment - Some foreign banks (I remember this about 7 years
ago in Israel) charge no fee for an ATM transaction but do charge a fee
for a transaction involving a teller. That's more in line with the cost
of the service. -IK)
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 16:52:47 -0400 (EDT)
From: mabrams@santafe.cc.fl.us
Subject: Roth IRA Calculator Web Site
There is a neat Roth IRA calculator on the Strong
MM fund site. It compares Deductible, Non-Deductible
and Roth IRA's. Go to:
www.strong-funds.com/strong/Retirement/roth/rothcalc.htm
Marjorie Abrams
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 16:54:06 -0400 (EDT)
From: rpalma@msai.mea.com (Peter Palma)
Subject: House "Appraisals" Are Not Worthwhile
SNIP
>
>It has been my experience that the best way to sell a home with or without
>an agent is to get a formal appraisal. This should cost you $300 to $500
>depending on your area. An independent appraisal is a powerful sales
>tool. It shows the buyer that the price you are selling the home for is
>fair price.
>
SNIP
>
>BOB FORD
>BOB_FORD@COMPUSERVE.COM
>
I had an interesting experience 6 months ago when I bought my house.
The mortgage company required an appraisal so I paid my $300 and someone
appraised the house.
I received a copy of the report.
Amazingly enough, the house appraised, to the penny, the same as the purchase
price. Amazingly enough, the house dimensions, rooms, and facilities were exactly
the same as listed in the courthouse tax documents (not quite correct).
When I told the mortgage broker that the appraisers must be psychic, he
admitted that they new the selling price when they drove by the house in
their truck and "appraised" it.
What a way to earn $300: drive by a house in your truck, confirm there
is a house there, and say that the house is worth the purchase price.
Since you can't get inside the house anyway, you don't even need to leave your
vehicle.
I guess you can tell I think formal appraisals are less than worthwhile.
Instead, find out what other houses in your neighborhood have sold for
recently. You can go down to the courthouse and pull records or
call a real estate agent and have them do a free "market appraisal."
Real estate agents have MLS data in their computer and can quickly tell you
the price that other nearby houses have been listed at and/or what they have
sold for.
You can also check out the houses that are for sale in your neighborhood now.
See what they are selling for and how long they have been on the market.
Then, you just compare your house to those that were sold and arrive
at a sale price.
Make it clear in your add that you will pay a commission to an agent
who brings you a buyer. Plan on leaving a negotiable cushion (3% ?)
for the buyer's agent. You can reduce that amount from the sale price
for someone who buys without an agent.
I agree that you should get a lawyer ($300-$500 in my area).
Pete
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 16:55:05 -0400 (EDT)
From: Randy Barnes <rbarnes@atl.mindspring.com>
Subject: paying bills online - I've Given up Quicken
I used Quicken beginning with version 1.0 and have given it up for
good. Quicken simply has not kept up with the times and is now
obsolete. I've also sworn off bankers, as much as that is possible. I
now bank online with SFNB. They do not have banker mentality. The
president of the bank (Eric Hartz) never even wears a tie. They're open
24 hours, 7 days a week. Their software does everything Quicken did
for me and I no longer have to input anything. ( If you must use Quicken
there's an interface to import your data, I think.)
The big banks really pissed me off and I don't understand how they
manage to keep the number of customers they have. Their charges and
personal treatment are ridiculous. They have our money and we must beg
for it, and pay them to keep it. What a crock!
I moved to SFNB well over a year ago and have used their online bill
paying service many times. I've never been charged any fees
whatsoever. They even prepay the deposit envelopes. If you don't live
in Atlanta all your banking would have to be via ATM/Mail/direct
deposit/phone/web. ( They have one non-virtual branch on Earth ) Not
only will you find the very best banking interfaces and services but
they consistently offer some of the highest rate in the country, and the
lowest loan rates. Try Prime MINUS 1/2 on their best equity loans.
SFNB has developed the interface that is the total state-of-the-art in
online banking. They're actually more of a software company than a
bank. You don't need anything other than your web browser. SFNB is the
source of banking software for a rapidly growing list of the nations top
banking institutions, ( see this story -
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/97/08/12/hban_sfnb_1.html )
I recently became a stockholder and this is my number one
recommendation. This one is going places. I bought in the 9's, watched
it dip of course, and it's now 13ish. I'm looking for this company to
explode as banker's begin to realize that they don't know how to
innovate, so they'll hire SFNB on some level, as 15 of the top 100 banks
in America already have.
Keep you eyes and your money on this one.
http://www.sfnb.com - The site
http://www.sfnb.com/rds - For a demo of their software
1-800-SFNB321 - 24 hr customer service/info
- -Randy Barnes
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 16:55:55 -0400 (EDT)
From: Rich Carreiro <rlcarr@animato.pn.com>
Subject: Re: Free Loan? There Is No Such Thing...
>If I have $20K worth of stocks at my broker, and I make an order to buy
>XYZ stock for $5K with no cash in the account, I assume that they
>expect me to deliver additional funds during next 3 days. If I sell
Not only do they expect it, but they have to demand it (FRB Reg T) and
can get in trouble if they don't make you cough it up.
>XYZ the same day (or the next one) with a small profit, does it
>represent a free loan I got from my broker? (Yeah, right! :)
No. In a cash account you have to pay for all purchases within 3
business days, even if the position is liquidated within that time
(even if only seconds after the buy).
Rich Carreiro
rlcarr@animato.pn.com
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 16:56:48 -0400 (EDT)
From: Rich Carreiro <rlcarr@animato.pn.com>
Subject: Re: Should I roll my 401(k) into an IRA?
[Disclaimer: this is my opinion, not advice. I am not a professional.]
>First, can I roll over a portion of the 401(k) and continue the 401(k)? Is
No. Aside from a loan or a hardship withdrawal, there's no way to get
the money out while you are still working for that employer. Once you
are no longer working for that employer, whether you retire or are working
for someone else, *then* you can roll the 401(k) you had with your former
employer into an IRA.
>the money I roll over subject to tax? Do I lose the unvested employer
If the rollover is direct custodian-to-custodian there is no tax. If
the former plan hands you a check *made payable to the new custodian*,
there is no tax. If they actually pay the money to you they have to
withhold 20%. If you want to avoid all tax, you have to the rollover
the pre-witholding value of the 401(k) [that means making up the 20%
out of pocket]. There will then be no tax and you get back the 20%
when you file your tax return the following April (or by filing a new
W4 to reduce your witholdings). If you cannot make up the 20%, then
whatever portion you don't rollover is considered a taxable
distribution subject to income and penalty tax (if under 59.5).
>contribution if I roll over some of the fund?
Irrelevant, since you can't rollover any of the balance while
working there.
Rich Carreiro
rlcarr@animato.pn.com
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 16:57:27 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jon King <kingjo@CS.ORST.EDU>
Subject: re: S&P 500 index fund?
> From: Brian Michalak <brianm@pdt-cav.com>
>
> Does anybody know of any S&P 500 stock index mutual funds besides those
> run by Dreyfus and Vanguard? Ideally, I'd like one with a lower initial
> minimum.
Try T. Rowe Price. No minimum initial investment if you set up a monthly
investment program with them ($50/mo minimum).
Jon
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 16:57:53 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jon King <kingjo@CS.ORST.EDU>
Subject: Historical fund data?
Hello!
Does anyone know where I can download the last year+ of mutual fund data?
(for free) Used to be able to get it from the MIT server, but they've
gone commercial.
I only want about 5-6 funds.
Thanks!
Jon
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 16:59:36 -0400 (EDT)
From: David Martin <dmartin@seabreeze.hc.ti.com>
Subject: Re: Is the Time Saved By Online Bill Paying Significant?
>Thirdly, you are not considering other things besides the costs of
>stamps in your comparison, mainly TIME. I can not put a value on the
>amount of time Checkfree has saved me over the last 3.5 years.
A number of persfiners have mentioned this fact, that they can
save time by using an online bill paying system. However, I can open a
bill, write a check, balance the checkbook, and put a stamp on an
envelope in under 60 seconds. Then I just put the envelope in my
briefcase to drop in the outgoing mail at the office the next day. I
don't need to turn on a computer, start up a program, log into the
internet, or anything. I admit it can take longer than 60 seconds to
check credit card and phone bills for accuracy, but that is something
I would need to do with either method. Is there something about
on-line bill paying that I don't know about that makes it much faster?
American Express has a feature which allows you to call a
special 800 number and have the money to pay your bill transferred
directly out of a bank account to them. I use it because it is more
reliable than the USMail, but it actually takes longer to call and
punch in the various numbers than to write out a check and put in an
envelope.
-David Martin
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 17:01:47 -0400 (EDT)
From: Benjamin Okun <bokun@hotmail.com>
Subject: margin investing and short positions?
Hi!
I have two questions.
1) I want to own a stock without any price exposure (both upside and
downside). What is the cheapest way to do this? It seems to me that
using options is no good because of the spreads. How about a
long/short position? My time frame would be less than a month, so the
interest would appear to be nominal, and the spreads less than on
options. Any ideas?
2) I'm looking for books or academic articles/texts on the subject of
leveraged (margin) investing. I'm interested in the strategic, long
term perspective, rather than the speculative use of margin. I'm
looking for both theoretical analyses, and suggested techniques for
implementing such a long-term strategy for increasing market risk. Is
there anybody who has held such a portfolio over the long term, and
written about it? Any of you doing this sort of thing? Any help would
be appreciated.
Thanks so much,
Ben
(please reply to okun@unforgettable.com, as well as to the mailing list)
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 17:03:09 -0400 (EDT)
From: "J. Pat Martinez" <martinej@ava.bcc.orst.edu>
Subject: Warning: Providian Credit Card
Wow, talk about an interest rate hike. Providian (aka First Deposit
National Bank in NH) tried to increase my credit card interest rate from
11.45% to 19.8%.
I didn't learn about this in advance from an addenum, but instead by
looking closely at my recent bill. When I complained and threatened to
close my account, they tried to justify the rate increase but eventually
gave in and returned my rate to 11.45%. Granted I'm not 100% sure that I
may have overlooked an addenum explaining the rate hike in last months
bill, but it seems unlikely that I would have overlooked this. Have any
other Providian credit card users noticed an increase in their interest
rate?
If so, did you receive an addenum explaining the increase 30 days in
advance? Again it may have been my oversight, but I'm curious if others
mysteriously don't remember receiving a notice of an increase.
Pat M.
~ J. Pat Martinez ~ ph:541-737-3557
~ Oregon St. Univ. ~ E-mail:martinej@bcc.orst.edu
~ Dept. of Botany and Plant Path ~
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 17:05:11 -0400 (EDT)
From: Timothy.E.Zickus/IT/VGI
Subject: Roth IRA's & Gas Pump POS security
Two things...
First:
I've seen a lot of questions on the new IRA's...my employer has what I
think is a very good comparison of the two IRA types on their web site
at:
http://www.vanguard.com/cgi-bin/NewsPrint?II/vgcontent/VG19970811AB.txt
Second:
I'm a little concerned about the security of using credit/debit cards at these
pay-at-the-pump POS terminals that are showing up at most gas stations
these days.
I've seen a lot of variety in what gets printed on the reciepts, sometimes it
contains the entire credit card number *and* expiration date. Is it really
necessary to print this on the reciept? I've seen some terminals that
"X" out the last four digits of the card number, which seems prudent.
Some people casually discard these reciepts, or leave them in the pump
terminal.
On a related note, I heard an electronic commerce consultant claim that
these transactions cost the gas station about $1...pretty hefty if someone
just buys $10 worth of gas!
- - Tim
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 17:06:51 -0400 (EDT)
From: cwb23805@POP.UH.EDU (Craig W. Baker)
Subject: Toys R US Has A Good Affinity Credit Card Program
John
Toys R Us has a good affinity program. It gives you 2% toward purchases at
Toys R Us, Babies R Us, & Kids R Us for all purchases and 3% back for
purchases made at any of the Toys R Us stores. But, to utilize these
rebates you need to make purchases at these stores. The only other affinity
programs I know of are frequent flyer programs, and I cannot think of the
issuers names off hand.
Good Luck
Craig
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 17:09:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: feren@ctron.com (Andrew C. Feren)
Subject: cogeneration
Sometime ago someone posted some information to this list
about cogeneration of heat and electricity. At the time I
thought I saved the information, but I can no longer find it.
If anyone has the original post(s) or any other information
about cogeneration I would love to get a copy.
Also, Ira, a while back there was a post about a site that
provided a search engine for persfin-digest. I can no longer
find this post and found no mention of the site in the
Hyper-FAQ. Has this site gone away or is this an over site in
the Hyper-FAQ?
Thanks.
- --
- -Andrew Feren (feren@ctron.com)
Cabletron Systems Inc.
Durham, NH
(Editor's Comment - Check out:
http://www.ameristock.com
They have back issues of the Digest on their Web site. -IK)
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 17:09:53 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ryo Imamura <imamura@elwha.evergreen.edu>
Subject: landlord responsibility for tenant behavior?
I am renting out our other house to 4 college students. The other day
two neighbors complained to me about my tenants' dog and noisy car. I
talked to my tenants about the problem, and they promised to try to
control the sources of the noise. The central problem seems to be that
the students keep late hours whereas the neighbors, who are families or
retired folk, have very regular hours. Anyway the neighbors are not
satisfied with the students agreement to curtail their evening
activities. Instead they want me to evict the students. What should I
do? The students are nice kids who keep the house up and pay the rent on
time. To me, they are just being college students. I have two active
children, one of which is in college. At the same time, I can understand
the position of the neighbors who want peace and quiet all the time.
What is my responsibility as the owner of the rental house? Thanks for
your advice.
Ryo Imamura
imamura@elwha.evergreen.edu
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 17:10:31 -0400 (EDT)
From: Ken Stone <krstone@mindspring.com>
Subject: Question About Professional Expenses
I am a professional paid by salary. My employer allows me to use a part my
salary for professional expenses (eg. journals, society dues, continuing
education, etc.) I can spend as much or as little as I want and the amount
is deducted pre-tax, so my gross income is reduced by the amount of my
professional expenses.
1) Is this 'kosher'?
2) Must I justify these expenses as I would if they were miscellaneous
deductions? In other words, suppose I used this mechanism to pay for my
costs of running my automobile (fuel, repairs, etc.). I could not claim
this entire amount if it were a deduction of business expenses on Schedule
B. Can I do it in this circumstance?
thanks,
Ken
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 17:11:32 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Louis J. Schwarz, CFP, RFC" <sfc@clark.net>
Subject: Re: Free Loan - there is no such thing!
(QUESTION:
If I have $20K worth of stocks at my broker, and I make an order to buy
XYZ stock for $5K with no cash in the account, I assume that they
expect me to deliver additional funds during next 3 days. If I sell
XYZ the same day (or the next one) with a small profit, does it
represent a free loan I got from my broker? (Yeah, right! :)
As I said, I have enough other equity to cover my order, but account
isn't marginable (at least for now).
- --
That is correct - if any stock is not sold on the settlement date of
purchased stock, the client must either use margin or deposit the amount
on same settlement date. Otherwise, the same stock may be forced to be
liquidated - perhaps at loss! If so, and no margin, the client will be
responsible for the difference.
$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
Louis J. Schwarz, CFP, RFC TTY 301-587-5996
Schwarz Financial Concepts FAX 301-587-5997
814 Thayer Avenue, Suite 301 Voice Relay 800-735-2258
Silver Spring, Maryland 20910-4500 Mailto:sfc@deafcfp.com
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 17:12:07 -0400 (EDT)
From: "Brian O'Rourke" <borourke@strategies-u.com>
Subject: IRAs in New Tax Bill - A Piece of Good news
There is some good news in the recent tax bill for those not covered by
pensions or 401(k)s, but whose spouses are. In the past those individuals
have been considered covered by their spouse's plan and thus unable to make
tax-deductible IRA contributions. According to the most recent issue of
Money magazine (September 1997), those individuals will be able to make
fully tax-deductible IRA contributions beginning in 1998.
Brian O'Rourke
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 17:13:54 -0400 (EDT)
From: Stephen Brodeur <sbrodeur@draper.com>
Subject: Upgrade to Win95?
Please forgive this divergence to computer advice topic....
I can upgrade my wife's home PC from Windows 3.11 to Windows'95 for about
$30. Should I?
We have a 486-66 (Compaq) w/20M RAM, 1G HD, 33.6 modem.
I'd like to get the Windows'95 built-in network features to connect to work
(although, that means I'll work even more from home...). We'll be buying a
new box in the next 3-12 months, and it will be a Windows '95 platform. I
think I'd like to keep them compatible. We buy tax software every year, and
I'd like to transition to Windows'95 with the upcoming release.
Mostly, I'd like to know how much trouble it will be to upgrade, and how
much of my current software is likely to still run after upgrading. In
particular, above all, we need access to previous year's tax programs and
files for this year's work. [Yes, I *do* backup periodically. Yes, I *will*
do a full backup before this adventure.]
Please respond privately if you don't want to use persfin space. Thanks in
advance.
- -Steve Brodeur
sbrodeur@draper.com
(Editor's Comment - Do it! The upgrade is easy and you should get better
performance from the 486. Any program that works in 3.11 should work in
Windows 95. -IK)
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 17:15:10 -0400 (EDT)
From: ravic@sdt.com (Ravi P Chivukula)
Subject: Re : Free Loan? There Is No Such Thing...
You are not getting a 'Free' loan. The XYZ shares that you sell on the
same day ( for a profit) are not yours ( even though you bought them) till
you pay for them or there is enough cash balance in your account at the
time of the purchase of XYZ.
Moreover, if you do not pay within 3 days ( or create a cash balance by
selling equity) your account may ( depending on your broker) go into
restriction.
Once an account goes into restriction, you cannot use your account to
perform any kind of transaction, including disposing existing equity to
create cash balance. Therefore you will be FORCED to pay for the XYZ
shares even though you have already sold them.
You are best-off paying-up or creating a cash balance within 3 days for
any stock purchase if the purchase has not already been paid for.
Let me know if you have any further questions.
Ravi Chivukula
ravic@sdt.com
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 17:15:44 -0400 (EDT)
From: Jim_Shoenfelt@USFG.COM
Subject: 401k question - advice requested
I understand that I may make a non-hardship withdrawal of, say, $15,000
from my 401k. According to my employer's benefit consultant, "this 15,000
is subject to a 10% penalty tax.". Does this mean that if my salary income
for the year is say, $50,000, and my tax rate is 28%, I expect my tax bill
to be ($50,000 x 28%) + ($15,000 x 38%) = $19,700?
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 17:16:18 -0400 (EDT)
From: jleipol <jleipol@ibm.net>
Subject: Re: S & P index fund option?
>
> Does anybody know of any S&P 500 stock index mutual funds besides those
> run by Dreyfus and Vanguard? Ideally, I'd like one with a lower initial
> minimum.
If you have access to a deep-discount broker, you can buy shares of
"SPY" (traded on the American Stock Exchange), the S & P Depository
Receipts company. You can buy one share (currently $93 13/32 per share)
or as many as you can stand; the % commission you pay depends on the
broker (E-Trade is $14.95 per trade, regardless of how many shares) and
the number of shares purchased.
Good luck!
John Leipold
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 6 Sep 1997 17:17:21 -0400 (EDT)
From: Mandar Sathe <Mandar_Sathe@sabre.com>
Subject: Internet Service Providers? What To Look For?
Hello Persfiners,
I just got a new computer and wanted to subscribe to an ISP. I wanted to know
from the experts out there about the best deals. The cheapest one I found was
FlashNet which gives unlimited access for $100/year (?). I live in the
Dallas-Fort. Worth area.
Thanks,
Mandar
------------------------------
End of persfin-digest V4 #80
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