Is Volkswagen Stock a Buy?

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volkswagen stock dividend

Is Volkswagen a good stock to buy right now? Some good news from Volkswagen showing rising car sales, despite a pandemic, and nice profitability. As an added bonus, electric car sales are up, and the company gets it that electric vehicles are the future, sooner rather than later. The only ding from analysts was one analyst saying he was worried that the company was spending too much on R&D. This is small minded, short-term thinking. Block that dude, and move on. The real potential problem is the chip shortage that is affecting all card manufacturers will likely hit Volkswagen too. This means that the company won’t be able to make enough vehicles to continue increasing sales. This guidance to lower sales is the reason the stock is down. As long-term investors interested in a dividend, this is a short-term problem overly focused on by a stock analysis and stock new industry obsessed with short-term stock prices. That means its time for some tire kicking from actual investors. The upside to this that no one is talking about is that the vehicles they can sell will likely sell at higher prices due to decreased supply. That means higher profitability per unit. …

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Chase Sapphire Preferred Card Benefits

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chase sapphire preferred rewards

I don’t need more credit cards. My Capital One card has something like a $35,000 credit limit. I pay it off every month. So, why am I getting a Chase Sapphire Preferred rewards credit card? However, while the easiest thing to do is to just get a good credit card that earns cash back, I like earning points that I use on travel. Up until now, I haven’t really hacked travel rewards points like this guy does, but after reading through some of his stuff, I feel like I should. Money is fungible (that means money is the same no matter how you use it), but people aren’t robots. I don’t care that the spreadsheet that is my net worth says that earning $2,000 cash back is the same as getting a $2,000 hotel stay for free. The thing is, I have money, what I want is that hotel stay, and I don’t want to feel like I’m paying for it. And, voila, travel rewards are better than cash back, for me. Credit Card Miles Hacking Why should I get a Chase Sapphire Preferred card? I’ll re-up my article about how getting cash back, or cash equivalents is often as …

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529 Contribution Limits 2021

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529-college

The 529 plan is a tax-advantaged college savings plan. Of course, like all plans that offer IRS sanctioned tax savings, there are rules and regulations regarding just how and when a 529 plan may be used. One of these limitations involves how much money you can contribute to a 529 plan in 2021. 529 contribution limits tend to be pretty stable, based mostly on the federal gift tax exclusion amount. Head over here if you are looking for how a 529 plan works. If you want to know how to open a 529 plan account then head here. 2021 529 Contribution Limits Unlike IRA plans, where there are new IRA contribution limits, or other child tax credits, there are no income limits for 529 plans. That means that you can contribute to a 529 plan regardless of whether you are a high-income taxpayer or not. There are, however, still a few kinds of contribution limitations for 529 savings accounts that you want to be aware of. The first 529 plan contribution limit comes from the 529 plan rules established by each individual plan. Since 529 plans are administered by each of the 50 states, there can be 50 different plan rules. For …

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Biden’s Capital Gains Tax Increase No Big Deal

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capital gains tax increase

President Biden proposed increasing the capital gains tax and while that makes great headlines, it probably isn’t as big of deal as it sounds like. First off, the higher tax would only apply to those with income above $1 million. That takes out most taxpayers right there. Avoiding Capital Gains Taxes Also, capital gains is one of the easiest to avoid taxes. Most people hope to never lose that much money, but there are plenty of losses to be had even by the best investors. Matching those losses up to gains is called tax-loss harvesting and is frequently used by those with large enough investment portfolios to eliminate some or all of their capital gains taxes. Imagine a scenario where a wealthy investor purchases ABC stock and XYZ stock. A clever investor would make sure that ABC stock and XYZ stock pay an acceptable dividend based on their risk and expected return. So, over a couple of years, our investor collects his dividends. Since the only way this new tax applies is if the investor has $1 million in income, they will pay the highest dividend tax bracket of 20% tax on the dividends, still far lower than the 39% …

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Dividend Stocks Dividend Yield

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dividend stocks dividends investing

If we are going to talk about dividend stocks we need a way to compare dividends. A dividend is an amount paid to shareholders of a company stock as a return of shareholder capital. Dividends are a sign of a healthy company since the only way for a company to pay out cash is to actually have cash. There is no way to hide a cash payment in a company’s account. This cash payment is part of an individual investor’s overall return. What Is Yield? The yield is simply the return provided by an investment. An investment of $1,000 that returns $100 to you provided a yield of $100. Simple right? But, there are some important variables that need to be understood in order to compare yields. Check out this Zelle review. For example, compare two $1,000 investments. One investment returns $100 in one month. The second investment returns $100 in ten years. Obviously, the first investment is far superior to the second investment. Over the same period of time, the first investment would return $12,000 versus just $100, assuming no reinvestment. Any real comparison of dividends requires that we take time into consideration. What Is Dividend Yield? The dividend …

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After the Bell Thoughts 4-14

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Quick thoughts based on what pops up on my computer screen as I shut down for the day. I really don’t like this IBM split. I think we’ll get two stocks that lag the market. What I don’t know is if I will still get my dividend. Intel has a 2.17% dividend yield and trades just a bit over its Covid prices… didn’t I hear something about a chip shortage? Bank of America has a 1.81% dividend yield. That yield is insulting for a bank. It’s either overpriced or isn’t paying out a decent dividend. I don’t even know why I looked at Twitter. It doesn’t pay a dividend at all, and I know that. JP Morgan has a 2.38% dividend and is widely considered the best run of the big Wall Street banks. Might be worth a look. Is there ever not a good time to by Berkshire Hathaway? Although I still don’t know what happens when Buffet dies so… Adobe is the 90s Microsoft of its market segment. It’s a monopoly that drains its customers dry. Maybe it’s more accurate to call it the Oracle of the 90s… How long before an imaging mySQL takes down the giant? …

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IBM Stock Spinning Off Kyndryl

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ibm spin off kyndryl

I have had a love/hate relationship with IBM for a long time. On the one hand, it’s an American staple that successfully spun off its PC business back when it could get a good deal for it. On the other hand, it insists on wasting BILLIONS of dollars on share buybacks that do nothing more than help its executives meet their targets before they ship the stock back out the front door as executive stock options. But, and this is the kicker, IBM kicks out a very sweet dividend. Even when the stock trades sideways, earning 4% in a zero-interest environment with an almost zero chance of bankruptcy, it a great investment. Check out my Stash stock back review. Now, IBM is doing another thing that I don’t really like. IBM is listening to short-term investors who don’t like steady, but non-growth income. Instead, these shareholders want stock price appreciation, even at the cost of a long-term stable business. That means the board wants price appreciation. That means the CEO only earns those millions in bonuses if the stock price goes up, even if the company prints money during the day. As a result, IBM is spinning off its managed …

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Tax Deadline 2021 Moved To May

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tax deadline 2021

The IRS is moving the tax-filing deadline to May 17 from April 15. Update: Colorado tax deadline date has officially been moved to May 17. Turns out the new Biden Covid Relief package has pushed the IRS over the edge to moving the tax due date for 2021. Tax day 2021 will now be May 17. There are just enough changes to tax law in the new package that the IRS figures implementing the changes, publishing the updated tax forms and guidance, and then getting filed is going to be too tight for many taxpayers this year. The new tax deadline 2021 on May 17 is basically a one-month extension from the standard April 15th deadline, except May 15 is on a Saturday, so the new tax deadline for 2021 is Monday, May 15, 2021. Tax Deadline 2021 Of course, the IRS is spinning this as them helping taxpaying Americans. It helps the IRS too, but either way, many taxpayers will take it. The new tax deadline for 2021 is forth both filing and paying federal income taxes, unlike a typical tax extension. As always, taxpayers can get a free, no-questions asked, extension to October 15 by filing Form 4688, …

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Are No-Penalty CDs Worth It?

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no-penalty cd

Banks never stop innovating. For the most part that is good news for customers who have an ever increasing set of products and tools to use for their financial needs. The catch is that with so many permutations of money products and services out there, it can be confusing to know what is the right financial tool for you. Let’s do a no-penalty CD review to find out the pros and cons of a no-penalty CD. What Is a No Penalty CD? A no-penalty CD is like a normal CD, or Certificate of Deposit, except the bank will not charge you a penalty to withdraw your money after a certain date. It sounds like a no-brainer, but as always, the devil is in the details. What Is a CD? Let’s start with what a normal CD is. That will make it easier to understand what a no-penalty CD is. A normal CD, or Certificate of Deposit, is a savings product offered by banks, credit unions, and brokerages. Like a savings account, you deposit money with the bank, and in exchange they pay you interest on those funds. However, unlike a savings account, you cannot withdraw your money at any time. …

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What Is Your REAL Credit Score?

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real credit score money

One of the latest trends in online personal finance is the idea of getting a free credit score. This plays so well because we all know how important our credit score is, but it is still relatively difficult for the average person to get and see their credit score. (Note this is different than getting your free credit REPORT, which you are entitled to each year by law.) FICO and Real Credit Scores The big problem with the concept of a real credit score is that there are lots of available credit scores, and none of them are fake scores, per se. After all, anyone can setup some math and calculate a number they call a credit score. The credit bureaus themselves created their own credit score called the Vantage Score. It’s a real score, created by real companies, and sold as a real product. It is also the actual credit score you get from Credit Karma if you use the Credit Karma free credit score service. However, very few lenders, relatively speaking, actually use the VantageScore when making their lending decisions. That doesn’t make it a fake score. It just makes it one that probably won’t get used. When most people say, “real …

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