Finance Questions

Archive for January, 2007

Question: Which online trading/brokerage company is the best?

SogoTrade, Scottrade, E-Trade, Rogers Yahoo Finance, etc… Sogo and Scottrade do a comparison but their charts appear to be out of date. In particular, I’m interested in getting stocks in :

- Magna International Inc. MG.A
- Zenn Motor Company Inc. ZNN
- Dorel Industries, Inc.
- Google Inc.
- American Superconductor. AMSC
- ESSILOR INTL SA UNSP/ADR ESLOY
- Vale (ADR) RIO
- Metro, Inc. MRU.A
- Corel Corporation CRE

Can anyone with experience describe or explain how they would invest in these companies for a long term investesment. Anyways, most importantly which online trading service is the best for the value, the most affordable or the best in your opinion.

Answer: Barron’s and Smart Money both do periodic reviews of all the brokerages:

http://online.barrons.com/public/article/SB117288684364425609-_TkK_XmuteKNFWPDdkZQepxN5y8_20070404.html?mod=9_0002_b_free_features

http://www.smartmoney.com/investing/economy/online-stock-investing-manage-and-trade-stocks-21519/

Which one is the best depends on what kind of investor you are (long-term, daytrader, etc.) and whether you intend on dealing with options, and what kinds of stock tools (charting, reports, etc.) you might want, and other characteristics like that.

As for your stock selection, some look like good deals to me and some don’t. Without knowing your criteria — how you picked them and why — it’s hard to be more explicit.

International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation-ITFC

Question: Dinner with MIL…would rather pluck out my eyelashes one by one?

A couple of months ago, my fiance’s mom helped him to get a car on the road, after he screwed up his credit years ago. She was angry with me because I refused to cosign a loan for him ( I am putting myself through school and I have financed everything else we needed in my name…I wasn’t about to take out a second auto loan) She made some comments about how I am “profiting” from him, and basically made me out to be a golddigger, even though I pay 50% of our household bills, as well as my own car payment and insurance, cell bill, and credit cards without his help. She even demanded to see our budget. I was furious and haven’t seen or spoken to her since.

Now, his grandparents are here from Canada and are staying with his mother. He wants to go over for dinner and a visit tonight, but I am really not ready to see his mom. I know that if she brings money up I WILL explode.

Should I try to weasel out of dinner?

Answer: No, I think you should swallow your pride and go to dinner. If the devil’s spawn should try to make another issue, you should calmly explain that you are not profiting from anyone because you pay your share of the bills and are putting yourself through school. If your fiance didn’t have a problem with you not co-signing a loan for him, she should just shut her pie hole and mind her own business.

Money Management : About Different Types of Loans

Question: I want to be better at managing my personal finances and investments – is there a course for this?

I have seen courses for business accounting but does anyone know of a course for Personal Finance? I am in London, UK.

Answer: You can try searching up more on the course Certified Financial Planner (CFP). There are UK providers and exam centers for this course.

The course topics are:
- Risk Management
- Insurance Planning
- Tax Planning
- Estate Planning
- Investment Planning
- Retirement Planning

Just search “CFP UK” and I am sure you can find a local provider.

FLORIN: Personal Finance Tracker Demo

Question: why commercial bank and Finance Company need to combine?

give cause and reason…

Answer: there is no reason why a commercial bank and Finance Company combine for the following reasons;
a commercial bank works under the overall supervision of an organ of the goverment like reserve bank of india.the common goal of all commercial banks is to provide banking services to the enterprise in the country so that economy remains vibrant.
the working norms,credit aspects and lending rates are closely supervised by a central govt owned agency like reserve bank of india.
on the other hand a Finance Company has a limited role and generally confines its activities by serving a few.they work under the supervision of their owners like partners or board as the case may be.
the only common feature in both is that providing finance!
except this they are poles apart!

Leslie Johnson of Marquette Commercial Finance speaks at TechAmerica Financial Executives Roundtable

The history of the FDIC started in 1933. In 1933, the banking crisis and the Great Depression were still eating up the US economy and confidence. You can read about the FDIC History here. In 1933, the FDIC was officiated created by the Banking Act of 1933. 

Before we discuss the Banking Act which created the FDIC in 1933, let’s recap what happened in 1933 prior to the creation of the FDIC. 

Emergency Banking Act of 1933

After the Great Depression in 1929, the banking system deteriorated in the Winter of 1932-1933. At the time, Franklin D. Roosevelt was just elected as the President in November 1932. Speculations of currency devaluation hurt the economy even more. More banks failed. The US financial system was near total collapse.

On March 9, 1933, the House of Representative passed a bill which the Senate quickly approved and Congress then enacted the Emergency Banking Act of 1933. 

Banking Act of 1933

After the Emergency Banking Act of 1933 came the real Banking Act of 1933 which established the FDIC as a temporary agency to restore public confidence in the banking system as well as stabilize the financial system. A key element of the Banking Act of 1933 was the Glass-Steagal Act. 

What or Who created the FDIC?

Section 8 of the Glass-Steagal Act created the FDIC. 

The Banking Act of 1933 provided many jobs for the newly created entity, the FDIC of 1933. The Banking Act of 1933 required the FDIC to be appointed as the receiver for all national banks and as the receiver for insured state chartered banks as given by state laws. 

In addition to creating the FDIC in 1933, the Banking Act of 1933 also required the FDIC to organize a Deposit Insurance National Bank or DINB for paying off the insured deposits of each closed and failed bank. the DINB is a chartered national bank. The law concerning the DINB was later amended by the Banking Act of 1935. The FDIC was later allowed to pay depositors directly or through an existing bank.