123
votes
Accepted
Why do real estate agents always ask me whether I am buying property to live-in or as an investment?
I like the existing answers, but I'll add another thought:
They want to know if you're looking for a house that you like or want one that is a good bargain. Investors will buy a house that they ...
- 113k
117
votes
Is this broker a scam?
They call you, instead of the other way around.
They promise more than 10% a year return*.
They ask you for rapidly increasing sums of money.
Multiple unrelated domains use their exact website.
They ...
- 2,073
99
votes
Is this broker a scam?
It is a scam. There are quite a few websites with different names but same layouts.
https://www.master4x.com/index.php.
https://www.8infx.com/index.php.
https://topicmarkets.com/index.php
...
- 56.5k
98
votes
Is this broker a scam?
This is part of highly sophisticated network of scammers. This scam is spread across hundred of websites (some list can be found here and here), most likely using "fake" or stolen details and they're ...
- 1,916
43
votes
Accepted
What does Benjamin Graham mean by "Those who speculate make money for their brokers"?
It's trying to say those who speculate are in for short term and tend to trade more often, thus paying more brokerage fees and making the broker rich.
A longer term investor on the other hand will ...
- 56.5k
39
votes
Why do real estate agents always ask me whether I am buying property to live-in or as an investment?
Depending on country, some residences are restricted from being rented out (HOA, local bylaws, zoning). Since it is the real estate agents job to match a buyer with a house, this is important ...
- 2,316
34
votes
Accepted
How does Fidelity make money off me?
The Fidelity funds have an expense ratio, and while some funds may have little to no profit, having you as a customer lets them try to sell you on their managed account/portfolio and other services.
...
- 2,949
33
votes
Accepted
Is it normal for brokers to ask whether I am a beginner?
Brokers need to assess your level of competency to ensure that they don't allow you to "bite off more than you can chew" and find yourself in a bad situation. Some brokers ask you to rate your skills, ...
- 1,866
33
votes
Accepted
Is thomastradingservices legit?
This has all the red flags of a scam.
(1) You shouldn't have to pay money to withdraw money from your account.
(2) it is extremely uncommon and suspicious to ask for fees in bitcoin, a completely ...
- 50.4k
27
votes
Is this broker a scam?
You got a call from someone, out of the blue, asking you for money. How is this not a scam? Cold calling is a good indicator of a scam. You also seem to be in denial of that fact that you’ve been ...
- 409
27
votes
Accepted
Maximize trading commission bonus
I don't think that there's a way to maximize this. Even more importantly, you shouldn't be attempting to do so. Whether you're investing or you're actively trading, you should place your trades ...
- 73.6k
22
votes
How did my 4 Tesla shares turn into 12 shares?
There is almost certainly no mistake. Tesla's stock split 5-for-1 in August 2020. I suspect that you bought 2 shares before the split (which became 10 post-split shares) and 2 shares after the split, ...
- 28k
20
votes
Why do real estate agents always ask me whether I am buying property to live-in or as an investment?
They ask if are you going to live in the place or rent the place because are trying to understand you the customer:
If you are going to rent the property you might be interested in places for sale ...
- 116k
20
votes
Is my investment safe if the broker/bank I'm using goes into insolvency?
A simple insolvency or bankruptcy of a broker shouldn't affect that status of ETFs and stocks you own, because they are not part of the assets of the broker. This is different from fractional-reserve ...
- 1,079
19
votes
Is the stereotype of a businessman shouting "SELL!" and "BUY!" into a telephone in any way attached to reality?
For about 100 years or so, stock quotes (symbol, price, volume) were transmitted by telegraph. Many traders of that era were tape readers, often sitting in the office of their broker before phones ...
- 73.6k
18
votes
Is it normal for brokers to ask whether I am a beginner?
In Canada, for example, they are expected or required to find out.
They call it, The “Know Your Client” rule, part of which is knowing your "Investment knowledge and experience". They say it is, "to ...
- 1,063
18
votes
Accepted
How can stockbrokers be so cheap in the U.S.?
Traditionally, commissions were a large part of the annual revenues for brokerage firms. As discount brokerage became more popular and as the industry evolved, brokers diversified into other areas.
...
- 73.6k
17
votes
Accepted
What is a securities license?
If you don't know what one is, you don't have any. It's the Series X (Series 6, Series 7, etc) securities licenses. These licenses are required to sell specific types of securities. They typically ...
- 48.3k
16
votes
How does Robinhood stock broker make money?
Yes, there is a lot they are leaving out, and I would be extremely skeptical of them because of the "reasons" they give for being able to charge $0 commissions.
Their reasons are that they ...
- 20.1k
16
votes
Is thomastradingservices legit?
I don’t know anything about them, but any organization which claims to require payment of funds before allowing withdraw of funds is quite obviously a scam.
Assuming that a 20% withdraw fee was ...
- 1,249
14
votes
What does Benjamin Graham mean by "Those who speculate make money for their brokers"?
Brokers make money from traders and investors, especially in the days when "The Intelligent Investor" was written (1949) when commissions were highway robbery. I don't know what they were at that ...
- 73.6k
14
votes
Accepted
Is my investment safe if the broker/bank I'm using goes into insolvency?
I'm German, but not a lawyer, so I can't really make sense of the statute of the Entschädigungseinrichtung alluded to in another answer. But the reputed German finance/consumer magazine "...
- 1,647
13
votes
Are there brokers or companies who trade Forex and make money for us on our investment? And do you think fxtradeinvestment is legit?
So you think there is a business that can take $X and in two weeks turn it into $10X plus their profit.
That means that in two weeks you can turn $1,000 into $10,000. So every two weeks you add a ...
- 116k
12
votes
Is it normal for brokers to ask whether I am a beginner?
Legal requirements
In many places there are legal requirements to do so, essentially made to prevent brokers from selling high-risk products as if they were deposits with guaranteed safety of your ...
- 3,205
12
votes
Accepted
Why companies appear in several stock exchanges?
If I buy the one from NSY, is it the "real" Sinopec?
No - you are buying an American Depository Receipt. Essentially some American bank or other entity holds a bunch of Sinopec stock and issues ...
- 113k
11
votes
How to incentivize a real-estate broker to find me a cheap house
Here in the U.S., a realtor can act as a "seller's agent" or a "buyer's agent". I think what you are calling a "broker" in the U.S. we call a "buyer's agent", and this may just be a difference in ...
- 20.8k
11
votes
Confirming that stocks are listed under my name
The answer to your question is "no".
Unless you specifically ask to receive paper share certificates, then brokers will hold your shares with a custodian company in the broker's own nominee account. ...
- 6,327
11
votes
Is this broker a scam?
Here's how the scam works.
Find a "hot trend" that people hear a lot about, but don't really know that much about. BitCoin is always in the news, and there's already a lot of spam flying around ...
11
votes
Why do real estate agents always ask me whether I am buying property to live-in or as an investment?
(EDIT: There seems to be some cause for debate in the comments as to whether I am answering the OP's question. My answer is based on the principle that, in the UK, the agent works for the seller (and ...
- 2,426
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