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Reporting Foreign Bank Accounts You must report accounts you hold in foreign banks and other financial institutions if the total balance across all your accounts is $10,000 or more at any time during the calendar year. Reporting includes accounts of which you’re the owner, as well as accounts for which you have authority to conduct transactions on behalf of the account owner. Report each foreign financial account you own or on which you have signature authority using FinCEN Form 114....

In terms of day-to-day business, a separate entity runs separately from the owner, with a separate bank account and transactions, buying and selling products or services or both, and receiving and paying out its own money. Everything done by the business entity is separate from what is done by the individual owner(s). Why Should I Make My Business a Separate Entity? You can legally set up any type of business, but the primary reason for setting up a separate entity is to separate the liability of the business from the liability of the individual owner(s)....

Prepare Before You Begin Trading Because the Forex market is highly leveraged—as much as 50 to 1—it can have the same appeal as buying a lottery ticket: some small chance of making a killing. This, however, isn’t trading; it’s gambling, with the odds long against you. A better way of entering the Forex market is to carefully prepare. Beginning with a practice account is helpful and risk-free. While you’re trading in your practice account, read the most frequently recommended Forex trading books, among them:...

Costs of a Cash Advance Unlike purchase transactions, cash advances aren’t free. A cash advance comes with an additional cash advance fee that posts to your account the day you complete the transaction. Cash advance fees differ among credit card issuers but are typically around 5% of the advance with a minimum of $10 on cards from major credit card issuers. The fee isn’t the only cost of taking out a cash advance on your credit card....

Employers pay employees a sales commission to incentivize them to produce more sales and to reward and recognize people who perform most productively. The sales commission has proven to be an effective way to compensate salespeople and to promote more sales of the product or the service. This is why the use of a sales commission is widespread in some organizations. Learn more about structuring compensation to reward and motivate your sales team....

Keep reading to learn some tips that can help you effectively use trendlines as part of your trading strategy. When prices are rising, connecting the lows with a line results in an ascending trendline—an “uptrend.” A trendline can also be drawn along the highs of the trend. This shows the angle of ascent, the strength of the price move, and the relative strength of the trend. When the price falls, the highs fall....

Or, maybe you filed a Chapter 7 case years ago, received a discharge, but find yourself in financial difficulty again. Although you may have used a bankruptcy filing to get out of prior financial struggles, unfortunately, federal law limits how often you can file a new bankruptcy case. And even if you’re allowed to file a case, one of the benefits of that filing—the automatic stay—may be restricted or delayed....

The trust fund that helps pay for Social Security retirement benefits took a financial hit from the pandemic and is now projected to be depleted in 2033, a year earlier than previous annual estimates, according to a trustee report released Tuesday by the Social Security Administration. However, depletion by 2033 wouldn’t mean the end of Social Security payments. Yes, they would be lower, but they would continue at 76% of normal levels, data from the report shows....

mdphoto16 / Getty Images Common indices include: S&P 500: Tracks the performance of stocks of 500 of the largest companies across various industries in the U.S.Russell 2000: Tracks the performance of the 2,000 smallest publicly traded companiesMSCI EAFE (Europe, Asia, Far East): Measures the performance of stocks in developed countries outside of the U.S. and Canada.Dow Jones Industrial Average: Tracks the performance of 30 companies from different industries representing the largest and most widely held publicly traded companies in the U....

That’s according to an analysis by the Senior Citizen League, an advocacy group for seniors, which released an analysis Thursday. The analysis showed the cost of living adjustments that Social Security recipients get each year fell well short of actual changes to the cost of living increases that households saw in 2021 and 2022.The cost-of-living adjustment to Social Security benefits is intended to ensure recipients income isn’t eaten away by inflation—but because of how the adjustments are calculated, they are often a bit off the mark....

Trusts are not simply storage containers for assets. Money held in a trust doesn’t need to sit in stasis—it can be put to work unless expressly forbidden from doing so. Methods for Using a Trust There are several categories of trusts, such as inter vivos trusts (living trusts) and testamentary trust funds (established when the grantor dies). Revocable trusts are able to be altered or canceled until the time of the grantor’s death, at which time they become irrevocable (they cannot be changed or canceled)....

It makes sense that people would ask that. Advice from a financial planner often costs about 1% of your assets each year. It may not sound like much, but the fees can add up. Plus, people want to know if they are getting what they pay for. Why Hire a Pro? Vanguard, one of the world’s largest brokerage firms, has worked on this question for years. In a 2019 whitepaper, the firm says that the value of its expert advice can boost returns by 3% per year....

The number of job openings rose to 11 million in October, a pickup of 431,000, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said in a report Wednesday. Not only is the number of openings tied with the record high reached in July (after rounding), it dwarfs the 6.9 million unemployed people who are looking for work, according to separate data from the bureau. In other words, there are 1.66 job openings for every unemployed worker—also a record at least since BLS started tracking job openings in 2000....

The extraordinary number of jobs per job hunter is yet another sign that it’s workers, not employers, who have the upper hand in hiring in today’s economy. Businesses have a lot of work and are eager to hire, and are raising wages to attract and retain what workers they can find. The job market is so good, in fact, that some economists view it as a problem, with wage increases adding fuel to the inflation fire....

You have LBJ to thank for Medicare, Medicaid, and Head Start. He championed the right of minorities to vote, buy homes, and go to school. Johnson’s Great Society program created the National Endowment for the Arts, the Public Broadcasting Corporation, and drivers’ education. You also have him to thank for the scar of the Vietnam War, which he escalated but could not win. LBJ’s increased government spending added $42 billion, or 13%, to the national debt....

In forex, think of a hedge as getting insurance on your trade. Hedging is a way to reduce or cover the amount of loss you would incur if something unexpected happened. Simple Forex Hedging Some brokers allow you to place trades that are direct hedges. A direct hedge is when you are allowed to place a trade that buys one currency pair, such as USD/GBP. At the same time, you can also place a trade to sell the same pair....

Basic Bank Drafts A traditional bank draft is a useful tool when safety is paramount. Large amounts: For high-dollar transactions, the consequences of a returned or bounced check are significant. It’s risky to send expensive goods or complete a deal when you’re not certain about getting paid. A legitimate bank draft is a guaranteed form of payment that makes the payment much more likely to be successful. Available funds: Personal and business checks can take several business days to move through the banking system and appear in your account....

Here we take a closer look at a few of these roles, and what parts of the futures market they manage. Learn about the introducing broker (IB), the associated person (AP), the commodity trading advisor (CTA), and the commodity pool operator (CPO). Introducing Broker The introducing broker (IB) is a professional broker that deals in futures, forex, commodity options, and swaps. The IB often has a direct relationship with a client....

Becoming a driver for a rideshare platform like Lyft offers a flexible way to make money. According to Lyft’s 2021 Economic Impact Report, 96% of the platform’s drivers are students or have other jobs and 95% of Lyft drivers spend fewer than 20 hours driving for the platform each week. That means driving for Lyft can easily be folded into your schedule. Though Lyft driving offers flexibility, you do still need to meet the platform’s vehicle and driver requirements to take advantage of this opportunity....

While you might want to pay off your collection, your current financial standing may make it difficult. Sometimes debt balances are simply too large to pay all at once. Instead, you may be able to split up the payments and pay off your collection account in installments by making a payment arrangement with the collection agency. Setting Up Payment Arrangements with a Debt Collector Accepting a payment arrangement is at the discretion of the debt collector....