33 posts shown.
Ronald Moore8 said:You see Bank of America ATMs everywhere you turn in New York City or St. Louis. Honestly, I have no clue where you'd even find a JPMorgan Chase one.
Well, if you haven't needed them, you probably wouldn't notice—it’s kind of like how I never realized how many coffee shops were on my block until I actually had a caffeine craving. I can tell you for sure there are at least three Bank of America machines in NYC, and I spotted one out on Maui once. 🙂 It's likely the same deal with Royal Bank of Canada; I never really had a reason to look for them, so who knows? Anyway, if you're looking for Chase, here is their ATM locator (this includes the three they have over in Seattle too! :-))
http://www.chase.com/locate/atm
Susan Barrett3 said:haha, so when a current company decides to spin off a subsidiary, does that happen "for free," or do you still have to cough up those $6667 plus the notary fees?
Look, man, what’s the actual issue here? $6667 You’re going to need capital to get any business off the ground regardless—you always have those startup costs before you see a single dime of profit. Honestly, just have the old man give you the $8333 (say, $20,000 for the initial deposit and maybe $5,000 for the lawyer and filing fees), and then you can just go out there and run your business 🙄
driftinghawk14 said:how does one go about selling an LLC to another LLC? (do you need some kind of valuation from an independent appraiser—if so, who handles that?)
and also, what's the tax situation—does the buyer or the seller foot the bill, and what kind of percentage are we looking at here?
On the tax front—honestly, I’m not entirely sure.
As for the price, well, it’s whatever you two can actually agree on. If you can't reach an agreement, there is no sale. You can't legally force anyone to buy or sell something if the price doesn't sit right with them.😎
LOL! Look, if you're looking at a 15% interest rate, you basically take your starting amount and multiply it by 1.15 to figure out what the final total looks like. Now—and this is where people usually trip up—if you’re actually trying to figure out the rate for just six months, you can't just chop that number in half. It works more like this: you'd be multiplying that initial sum by the six-month factor twice over a full year, so...
initial * x * x = initial * 1.15
which means x^2 = 1.15, so x = 1.07238
That brings us to a rate of 7.238%, not 7.5% like most folks assume
And honestly, once you start dealing with even higher percentages, that gap between the "simple" math and the actual math gets even wider...
tincha said:Hey everyone, I’m looking for some info on importing fruit, veggies, and other food products from China—does anyone know who might be the right contact for that?
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce wasn't exactly jumping at the chance to help me out with any details... 😕
Maybe try reaching out to the Chinese embassy. They should probably be interested in helping you navigate that—I'd imagine.
frozenharbor7 said:There’s just a bunch of empty filler here so no doctor can ever get a handle on things. In your opinion, what would be a realistic percentage—maybe 6 percent? Or maybe 7... or even 12?
If you're asking me specifically...
I honestly don't know. I've never really dealt with sums of money large enough to fall under that "negotiable" category—you know, the kind where you sit down and hash out a custom deal—so I stopped messing around with CDs a long time ago and moved everything over to mutual funds.😎
frozenharbor7 said:What kind of interest rate are we looking at for a $400,000 loan over 24 months... and I am being dead serious here.
It’s funny—you almost want someone to just crawl through all the major bank websites for you and hand over a neat little summary showing where the rates are highest and exactly what they are. 😁 Master Yoda 😉 style. But honestly, if you try to navigate those banking portals yourself (check out this list of US financial institutions for reference ), you’ll probably run into that vague "subject to negotiation" fine print most of the time. Still, it's worth the click just to see which tier of rates you're dealing with compared to the last one. 😎
frozenharbor7 said:If I could just jump in here,
How much interest could I realistically pull in by putting $400,000 into a two-year CD at our local banks?
The truth is, you don't really "make money" on a CD—it’s more about preserving what you have than building wealth. 🙂
Ona007 said:Back in 2004, I put $37,500 into a property... then threw in another $10,000 for some renovations. Fast forward to now, and my little project is worth about $205,000, and it’s bringing in $15,000 in annual income.
Stocks 👎
Congrats on the smart move, really—but honestly? You could be doing even better than that:
Right now, you're looking at $15,000 a year, which works out to roughly a 31.5% annual return on your initial investment. That's actually pretty solid—I remember when I first started looking at real estate, I thought anything over 10% was a home run.
But if we look at the current value, since the place is worth $205k, that $15k income is only about a 7% yield (and that's before you factor in things like maintenance or property taxes, right?). Personally, I might consider selling. If the asset is truly worth $205k, tying it all up in one spot for a 7% return feels a bit inefficient—especially when you can find much better ways to grow that money through the market without all the headaches and risks of managing property.
Quick follow-up:
If you’re looking at an American Express card, just keep an eye out for those specific keywords—either "charge" or "debit." If you already have a checking account over at JP Morgan Chase, the debit option is usually much easier on the wallet. Otherwise, you'll be looking at a $42 setup fee plus a $83 monthly membership fee.
Personally, if you've got a standard checking account at a big bank like Chase (or even somewhere like Bank of America) and you’re already paying for one of those bundled account packages, grabbing a Mastercard or a Visa isn't actually that pricey. It basically gives you total peace of mind since you'll be covered for transactions anywhere in the world without any hiccups.
refugee said:So, looking at things from your perspective regarding American Express.
But from what I can gather, it seems like they’re the priciest option—at least when you factor in the annual fees and those initial sign-up costs.
If I go with them, what actually makes more sense... just paying off the bills as they come, or setting up an automatic payment plan?
Generally speaking, you're better off going with autopay. If an automatic transfer pushes you slightly into an overdraft, the interest you'll pay on that is usually way lower than the late fees they'll hit you with if you miss a bill—and honestly, if you end up using a revolving credit line, those late charges become incredibly expensive. My advice? Just grab a standard green card (the non-revolving kind) from American Express. It isn't nearly as pricey.
Mastercard and Visa are definitely the big players—if a local shop isn't taking everything, you’re much more likely to run into trouble with American Express or Diners than with Mastercard or Visa, though honestly, those hiccups aren't really common in modern society. For instance, in some Middle Eastern countries, Amex just isn't that popular outside of high-end hotels, but is that really the deciding factor? ... Smaller online retailers usually stick to MC and Visa. In the States, American Express is actually quite widespread, even if the others are right up there with them.
Hard Rock Cafe and Viacom treat Amex almost like cash. Then you have places like Best Buy offering interest-free payments over six months on Amex... or Mercury used to offer twelve installments right before the holidays on Amex...
[If you're currently deciding which card to pick up, I wouldn't recommend a revolving credit line—regardless of the brand—but that's a whole other conversation...]
On the flip side, back in July last year, I had to report my Maestro, Mastercard, and American Express cards lost at around 8:30 PM. The very next morning, I was catching a 9:00 AM flight to Bangalore, with layovers in New York City and Mumbai. The guy from American Express was incredibly helpful—he actually called around to figure out who could issue me a replacement card, since my 9:00 AM flight meant it was way too early to get anything sorted in Los Angeles. The solution ended up being: once you land in New York City, grab a taxi and head to Kaiser Street 10, and you'll have your card. And it actually worked! By the way, taxis in New York City are actually cheaper than in LA. :-)
By 11:15 AM on August 2nd, I had both of my American Express cards back in my pocket and felt totally secure again. I reported the Mastercard the same day, and after waiting for the mail to arrive (about ten days), I went down to the branch and picked up a new one. There was absolutely no talk of getting a card in New York City, Mumbai, or Bangalore—that wasn't an option and was flatly rejected without any debate.
So, there you go. I'm willing to admit that other banks might handle Mastercard better than JPMorgan Chase, but that’s just how it went for me.
Amazon has some of the most intense authorization checks out there—seriously, they’re strict. I actually had a purchase declined just because I messed up my zip code, which caught me totally off guard... It's also kind of a bummer that a lot of smaller online shops won't even touch an American Express card, sticking strictly to Mastercard.
Anyway, when it comes to how widely used they are here in the States, they're all pretty much on the same level. Visa lags behind just a tiny bit. But honestly? The real differentiator is their policy regarding lost cards. That's what actually matters.
With Amex—from the second you claim you last used it until the moment you report it missing, you're on the hook for up to $100, but then they get you a new one within 24 hours. I've actually tested this; they'll even get it to you at an office halfway across the world if you need it.
Diners Club—you're liable for every single cent spent until you report it.
Mastercard (Goldman Sachs)—you're responsible for everything up until midnight on the day you report the loss, and as for getting a replacement, you'll get it whenever they feel like being nice enough to send you a notice telling you to show up at a local branch.
So, once you look at it that way, the choice seems pretty obvious to me...