Is it just like my brokerage account? Does the money go where I want it to go?
121122
An IRA is like an empty folder or bag.  You need to put stuff in it like indexes, stocks, bonds ect.  If the money has already been taxes then you should open a ROTH IRA otherwise the money with be taxed on the front end when you put it in and the back end when you take it out.  ROTH IRAs don't have back end taxes (so those millions you might make are tax free).
480931
Try tradestation. They charge $7 a trade...and thats it. Firms charge you for everything from trades to withdrawals of your own money.
520990
Yes. It is income and in the US you are going to pay taxes on income. (MOST of it anyway). There is more that is needed to answer the question. If the earnings are from the sale of the account then you might have Capital Gain. As an accountant my best advice is to contact an accountant. Probably not much help for your question but there are too many variables to fully answer.
346597
This really depends on the structure of your loan. The higher the risk, the higher the cost and/or rate, regardless of whether they are a broker or a lender. Broker's are like middle-men, they work with several banks to secure your financing, which only saves you the leg work of getting quotes from 5 different banks. If you go directly to the lender, you can avoid the middle-man, along with the fees they charge to secure your loan. However, there is usually not a big difference in costs or rate between the two, since brokers get their loans from the lenders at wholesale level, and then charge whatever the going rate is. They will then get paid for whatever up front fees as well as "YSP" which is the amount that a certain interest rate pays the broker. This will all be disclosed on the final settlement statement, under "Broker YSP". This shows you how much the broker was paid to originate your loan.
636508
It's a lottery type thing. Not on the shores of the US--that should cause you some concern. Their website says you get your return on investment in two years.
550173
I'm not sure where you are, but I know that locally, in Ohio, it is illegal to put any deposits into an interest bearing account.  All earnest money, which it sounds like what this is, is required to go into a broker's non-interest bearing account.  You may want to double check about it going into an account that bears interest.
580662
I invested. I make about $5,000 a month. I used over $1 million. My percieved risk was fairly low because of the way that I invested. I do not take time to manage it. That's what I hired my financial advisor and broker for.
521827
Seriously, where to put your money depends very much first on how much money you have in the first place and then what kind of investment objective you have.\n\nIf you have a very large fund and your objective is stability and protection without regards to short term cashflow issues, you may want to keep your money in government bonds and Floating Rate Bonds. A good mix of these will allow you to hedge against interest rate risk involved in government bonds and give you the stability of bonds.\n\nIf you have a very large fund and your objective is stability and protection but you also need monthly or daily cashflow for your livelihood, then perhaps it is better to keep your money in high end real estate in mature areas, earning a relatively lower annual growth but with more stability. That being done, you should rent the place out in order to generate your monthly cashflows.\n\nIf you have a small fund and your objective is stability and protection with no monthly cashflow need, then you simply have to compare which bank gives you the best return on their fixed deposit an park it there.\n\nIf you have a small fund and your objective is stability and protection with cashflow need, then you probably might want to consider to buy a small rental unit for rental income or learn to do covered calls on the local index.\n\nInterest rates fluctuate all the time. The interest that you see displayed on the board today can change by next month. So, comparing interest rates on saving accounts is by no means certain what you will get in the long term.\n\nThere are a lot of avenues and ways to keep and grow money and if you are looking only at banks and saving accounts, then perhaps it is time you start to do more reading and research on the area of finance. It is a wild wild finance world out there and there is no end to the new products and investment avenues that are being created daily. Depending on your personal financial situation and your personal investment objective, you need to be able to figure out what works for you and if you are unable to do that, prehaps it is time to engage a personal investment or finance adviser. \n\nJust remember one thing, there is no such thing as "The One Perfect Way To Keep And Grow Money". Everything comes with a catch. Higher returns will come with a longer tie down period putting that money out of use for the short term and is frequently, but not always, more risky. Lower returns are frequently more stable and safer but does it mean your personal retirement needs by the time you need that money?\n\nMoney is a complex issue for the uninitiated but a pressing one. And that is exactly why it is so hard to make the right decision. Making the right decision takes the right knowledge and the right knowledge these days only comes with more reading and research. \n\nOne fact remains true despite all these talk, and that is, there is no safer way to grow money, keep it safe and fight inflation than taking personal charge of your own money instead of leaving it in the hands of any external agencies. Start learning today....\n\n\nHope these helps.\n\nP.S There may be people who hates paypal for some reason but that does not mean that it is a hell full of devils. I have worked with Paypal and grown my business with Paypal for the past 3 years and have found them to be extremely reliable.\n\n\n\n\nhttp://www.mastersoequity.com \n\n\n\n\n\n.
358729
Whoah!  Hold the bus!  The advice that includes gregarious reactionaries and traders like Cramer or commodities needs to be held off with the proverbial "ten-foot pole."\n\nGo to CNN Money, Motley Fool, MSN Money, Netscape Investing etc. which will give you a clear, comparatively safe starter advice.  Ask your broker (I recommend Scottrade, sharebuilder, or schwab) about some Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) like Diamonds or Spydrs or the like--these let you buy a cheap sampling of the Dow Jones Industrials or the Standard & Poors 500, comparatively safe but still very good, profitable companies.  They are about as sexy as steak and potatoes, but they are as substantial as steak and potatoes.  \n\nAs for individual companies, first--does it make a profit?  As for any other features, news, or events, first, does it make a profit?  Second, does it have a triple-digit price to earnings ratio?  Then there are too many people thinking it will be big and it won't likely be big enough to please them all.  If you divide the profit by number of shares (most stock sites will give this information for free, usually doing the arithmetic for you), and the result is higher than 30-something, stay away.  If the number is a negative number, go back to the other rule, first, does it make a profit.
633746
Easily, you can move your account to either a brokerage firm or mutual fund company.  The bank can do that too (most have their own brokerage firm) but a bank broker is going to have fewer investment options.\n\nBut before you do that, do some homework.  Go buy "Investing for Dummies" and learn how to choose your investments.  You can't trust your friends (and not these boards for sure) to pick your investments.  You can hire a pro, and it is worth it if you have a large account, but for little investors, the cost of that help gives you noticably less to invest (advice isn't fee), so it is good to start out on your own.\n\nAs to stocks and bonds vs funds, stick to funds until you have at least $50-100K.  It is almost impossible to build a good portfolio with individual securities with less than that.\n\nand to your last question, \n\na mutual fund is a professionally managed portfolio of different securities.  They can hold stocks only, bonds only, a mixture of both and other types of securities.\n\nInstead of you trying to buy all those different securities you need to design a good portfolio, the fund has done it for you with your money and the money of other investors.  You buy shares in the fund instead.\n\nThis gives you the same risk/reward potential as a bigger investor.
227690
I had and IRA with them for the last 6 years.  I have since move it to Fidelity because it didn't do well, and my adviser wasn't keen on keeping me up to date.  On finsishrich.com, the site of David Bach, he has resources you can use to find a good adviser.
348304
They have a readymade format, wherein you just need to check your address and amount, if its correct.. thats all\n\n\nMake Money While have fun\nhttp://tinyurl.com/yhzzph\nMaking your spare time Valuable
27935
This can be really complicated to answer.  Basically, you need to go where the money is.  Certainly you've made your requests clear to your current investors?  Where are their friends?  Amazing how secretive/greedy people can be when it comes to sharing (good) investment advice.  Call every bank, real estate company, mortgage company, investment group, investment company and talk to the right people.  If the returns are as good as you say, you should be able to drum up enough investors.  On the flip side, maybe the people with "money" are concerned about the housing situation; is your area getting overbuilt?  Amazing too how many contractors get myopic.  Part of succeding in business is being able to "see" changing economies and adjusting as required.  This IS a cyclic business.  If the rates don't stabalize here, people will tend to stay put.  Don't get caught with unsold spec's that you're forced to start "discounting"  I don't know where you are, but in our hot, hot market, the wise old builders are being very careful and building mostly pre sold customs.
676586
First of all, you're obviously no dummy if you already own 3 properties.  You've got some good equity and you're selling at the top of the market.\n\nWhat you need to figure out is how much money you're really going to have after you sell the properties.  If you'be been a landlord, I assume that you've been depreciating the properties while you've been renting them.  Well, now you're going to have to pay that all back to the government.  Also, you're going to have to pay capital gains tax on your properties (unless you've lived in one of them for at least 2 of the past 5 years), so there goes more of your equity.  All that affects how much money you'll have to invest, so figure that out.  It's important.\n\nNext, you'll have to figure out what your goals are.  If intend to buy another home to live in when you get to Florida, you're going to have to put some of your money into something fairly liquid for your down payment, like a  money market fund.\n\nI see you're participating in your employer's 401(k) fund.  That's good.  I hope you're contributing up to the maximum match.  Free money is good.\n\nNext, if you're not doing the IRA thing yet, do it.  Whether you choose the traditional or Roth IRA depends on whether you think you'll be in a higher or lower tax bracket when you retire.  Personally, with taxes at a very low point in history and a ballooning federal deficit, I'd bet on tax rates being higher when you retire so if I were you, I'd choose a Roth IRA.  Tax-free growth and withdrawal are good.\n\nIf you've maxed the IRA contribution out, go back to the 401(k).  Tax deductable contributions are good.\n\nFinally, if you still have money left over,  I'd put half into an index fund covering the total US stock market and half in an index fund covering the international market.  Go for no-load funds with low expenses.  I'd recommend looking at Vanguard, T Rowe Price and Fidelity fund families.\n\nIf you really want a good investment, go buy a book on investing so you can decide what makes sense for you. Sure, you could give your money to a financial advisor but how do you know he's not just in it for the fees and commissions he charges you? How do you know his advice is right for you? You need at least a foundation so you can make an informed decision. Frankly, nobody's ever going to care as much about your money as you are, so learn at least enough to know if any advice you're given is any good.  Personally, I like "The Only Investing Guide You'll Ever Need" by Andrew Tobias. It'll give you the basics. Good luck.
571600
Uhhh- yes, you can.  I personally like and use Ameritrade, as it has a pretty good commission structure, and I have been happy with them thus far.
589536
All the brokerages you listed are expensive ( relatively ) in their commissions, especially if you're going to be trading stocks, often, instead of just buying funds and leave them for a while.\n\nIf this be the case, you will be better off, exploring other deep-discount brokerages...such as E*Trade, TD Ameritrade etc.\n\nIf you have sufficiant funds in your Rollover IRA ( > $50K for E*Trade ) the commission per trade is lot less than what you will pay in your list of brokerages.  I think it's $9.99 or something along that line, with almost all brokerages, per trade.\n\nThe commission is something that you should consider. Also, some of these companies charges few cents per share. Only the first 1000 shares are covered by their flat fee. Anything above that limit, you pay additional CENTS per share.\n\nAll the tools - charts, portfolio manager, research tools etc...are all kinda standard all over the place.\n\np.s.\nSince you're rolling over and NOT THRU' YOUR COMPANY 401(k) anymore...There is no more free lunch. You will pay $$$ per trade..So, give it some thought
81917
Open accounts through the various funds you want to purchase. You often avoid higher minimum purchase amounts and purchase/sales fees, as well as overall account fees.\n\nI own funds directly through Dodge & Cox, Oakmark, Ariel, Buffalo, Robeco (Boston Partners), and Meridian. My experiences with those companies has been far superior to my experiences with Scott Trade and Schwab (although Robeco is getting on my nerves).