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What’s the Difference Between Futures and Options? Futures vs. Options Explained Futures contracts are derivatives of commodities. This means that traders and speculators do not need to take possession of the physical goods when they complete their transactions. When you buy or sell a future, you take on the obligation to conduct the transaction when the expiration date is reached. Futures options are another type of derivative. Options are also known as “futures contract options,” which might better describe the derivative....

Can You Get a HELOC on an Investment Property? There are two ways you can tap into your home’s equity (the amount of your property that you own outright): a home equity loan and a HELOC. With a home equity loan, you get a lump sum of cash upfront and pay it back within a specific period. A HELOC, meanwhile, is like a credit card. It’s a revolving line of credit, which means you can tap into or “draw” on the equity whenever you need to....

Fortunately, some student loans give you a breather from your loan when things are tight through unemployment deferment, which allows you to temporarily postpone making payments on your student loans while you are unemployed. It’s important to evaluate the impacts and process of an unemployment deferment to get the financial reprieve you need while avoiding a default on the loan. Financial Impacts of Unemployment Deferment It may seem like you can do no wrong by pausing payments on a student loan....

Alexander Spatari / Getty Images Bankruptcy in the United States has had a long and varied history. Initially, the framers of the Constitution sought to model bankruptcy laws after English common law on the subject. However, since the founding of the U.S., the law has taken many twists and turns. The Framers actually provided for bankruptcy laws in the U.S. Constitution itself. This provision can be found in Article I, section 8, which gives Congress the power to “establish…uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States....

Here’s a quick look at the most significant economic indicators of the day and what they tell us. S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index The widely used index showed home prices rose a seasonally adjusted 1.3% in December, bringing them to 18.8% higher than a year earlier. With the year now in the books, 2021 officially saw the fastest home price growth since at least 1988 when the index began collecting data, and it’s not even close—the previous record, set in 2004, was only 13....

Existing homes sold in September at their slowest seasonally-adjusted annual rate since May 2020, the National Association of Realtors said in a report Thursday. That marked the eighth straight month of sales declines. And with the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage continuing to rise—hitting a two-decade high of 6.94% this week according to the Mortgage Bankers Association and Freddie Mac—there was no end in sight for the residential real estate slump, economists said....

If you have a federally held student loan, $10,000 of it will be forgiven as long as you make less than $125,000. If you received a Pell grant for students from lower income families, you’ll be eligible for $20,000 instead. On top of that, the student loan pause that’s halted interest and required payments since the pandemic hit has been extended from its Aug. 31 expiration date to Dec. 31....

Moving Funds Between Banks In most cases, the recipient (or payee) submits the check to their bank, and the bank collects funds from the check writer’s bank. Internal Payments and Check Cashing Funds sometimes move swiftly. For example, if the check writer and the payee both use the same bank, internal transfers are faster (moving within one business day, for example). Likewise, if you cash a check at the check writer’s bank, the funds come out of that account immediately....

Your credit score affects many of your financial decisions. It impacts your ability to get a credit card, rent an apartment, buy a house or car, have utilities turned on in your name, and more. Of course, you want to avoid doing anything that would negatively affect your credit score, even if it means sticking out a bad relationship with a bank. How Closing a Bank Account Affects Your Credit Score The good news is that closing a bank account doesn’t affect your credit score....

The Original Creditor When your original credit card issuer, lender, or service provider assigns or sells the account to a debt collector, they also give the account information, including your contact information. Whatever phone number(s) you gave your creditor, the debt collector will also have. Your Credit Report Your credit report contains your latest contact information, including your address and phone number. Your current creditors report your information to the credit bureaus, who then include it on your credit report....

During the dental plan waiting period, the dental insurance company will not pay for certain procedures. A dental benefits waiting period may last anywhere from a few months to a full year, depending on the type of plan you have purchased and the insurance benefits wording. The details of what is covered in the plan immediately versus what coverages are subject to a waiting period will be clearly outlined in your plan contract....

Automated billing systems are software packages or apps that manage billing for you so that you can focus on building and managing your business. With these systems, you and your customers can set up automatic payments from their account to yours, which can be a great convenience for both parties. If automated billing is new to you, keep reading. Learn more about what automated billing is, how it works, and the benefits and disadvantages that it can bring....

A company’s profitability will start to suffer if it has too much or too little inventory on hand. If the business has too much inventory, it could be slow-moving or obsolete inventory which keeps cash flow hostage and drags down the company’s inventory turnover ratio. If the company has too little inventory, then it is subject to stockouts, lost sales, and declining customer goodwill. Inputs for the EOQ Formula The EOQ formula has three inputs: carrying costs, ordering costs, and inventory usage or demand....

While some cryptocurrency exchanges host trading platforms that have slight variations in prices, the overall market price of bitcoin is the latest price at which a transaction occurred. However, bitcoin value is much different and depends on the investor—some say that the intrinsic value of bitcoin is much higher than market value; others claim bitcoin might not be worthless. Learn more about how bitcoin’s price is set, how to interpret its value, and how you can get in on the latest bitcoin action....

Your contribution to the LLC as a member is called your capital contribution, your contribution to the ownership. This capital contribution gives you a share in the LLC, and the right to a percentage of the profits (and losses). If you are the only member, you have 100% of the ownership. If the LLC has several owners, each owner’s share is determined by agreement, usually a formal operating agreement. Member contributions may be made in cash or non-cash (property, for example)....

How much they receive and when they’ll be paid can depend on several factors. Still others might leave their personal representative a specific bequest instead of authorizing them to collect a fee. This actually provides an income tax benefit for the personal representative, because a bequest is nontaxable while fees are taxed as ordinary income. Some states provide specific rules for fees. They’re typically calculated by multiplying the gross value of the probate estate by a specific percent....

The Definition of Rich “Rich” is a relative term. It’s subjective and might change in relation to your current net worth. If you make $30,000, someone who makes three times that might seem rich to you; after all, they can probably afford so much more. There’s no hard-and-fast line that separates “rich” from “poor,” but there are a few indicators. Measuring by Income You can measure wealth in terms of income....

There are many reasons to keep some of your money in safe investments, and many ways to do so. Learn the factors at work, and how you can invest without giving up the financial security you need. Why Invest for Safety? If you invest at all, the risk of losing money will always exist. Some amount of risk (and loss) is a fair trade-off for the chance at greater returns, but it’s wise to balance out this risk with safer investments....

How REO Agents Work To understand why agents don’t respond, let’s look at how many REO agents operate. While the following is not true for every REO agent, many of them adopt similar procedures. REO agents are often simply too busy to handle the volume of phone calls and emails. Here are a few of the reasons why. REO agents take many bank-owned listings: The top-producing REO agents list anywhere from 50 to 300 or more foreclosures a year....

Still, U.S. citizens might benefit from using Swiss bank accounts. Switzerland is a global powerhouse in wealth management. The nation offers economic and political stability that doesn’t depend on the ability to serve as a tax haven, and it’s possible to structure accounts in a way that discourages others from going after your assets. Swiss Bank Account Privacy Swiss banks have a long history of keeping account information private. After the arrest of two employees of a leading Swiss bank in 1932, Switzerland passed the Swiss Federal Banking Act of 1934....