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First of all I realize the answer will vary depending on numerous variables such as company fundamentals, volatility, holding period, number of shares, etc.

I am searching for recommendations on unacceptable percentage of loss for a tech stock with a planned holding period of 1 - 3 years.

For example: If I purchased tech stock WASD for $50 a share, at what share price should I cut my losses if the price goes down?

And really, if anyone has general "rules of thumb" they go by that would be helpful.

You seem to be suggesting that Twitter and Facebook cannot mutually exist as valuable social media companies?

I have been watching Twitter closely for the past 3 months and am considering buying and holding for 1 to 3 yeras. The price appears to be stabilizing around $40.

A quick summary of the facts.

1. Twitter has not made a profit since IPO, but is narrowing the gap between break even.

2. Twitter has not been growing user base as heavily as other social media such as Facebook or LinkedIn.

3. Twitter has diversified into other forms of social media that have great promise of heavy monetization through advertising and brand endorsements. For example Vine - a user generated video application for smartphones that is quickly creating numerous mega popular internet movie stars.

If you have kids in middle or high school ask them if they know who viner Nash Grier is. Most will say definitely yes! Nash's comedy is more popular with teens than Justin Bieber. There is probably a huge marketing potential here. Something like Nash does a $100k endorsement deal with Nike, and Twitter gets a percentage of the money.

If Twitter can monetize Vine and it's growing list of Vine stars, there is a huge potential to make extra cash even if their core "Tweeting" business stagnates.

4. Twitter has a lot of outreach to people without accounts - a hidden user base if you will. I don't have a Twitter account, but I can read most tweets and see all the ads. And so can you! Many of you have probably read tweets for news and sports updates. Facebook on the other hand will not display any content if one does not create an account and login. Facebook can only serve ads to its logged in user base. Twitter can serve ads to everyone.


The fundamentals are such that I would be buying the stock under speculation that

A. Investors are into social media and tech right now, and seem very willing to inflate stock prices even if the company has little or no profit. (Look at LinkedIn's ~800 P/E ratio!). They will continue to raise the price of Twitter over the next couple of years even if the company continues to post losses.

B. Twitter has potential to make bank with Vine if they execute a solid plan of collecting revenue from advertising and brand deals on the platform. If they do so they may turn a profit larger and sooner than expected. This improves the company's fundamentals and encourages more investing.


Would you buy shares for a 1 to 3 year investment window, or wait?

The other day I received a letter from AMEX indicating that they now have a high yielding savings account available to card members.

No monthly maintenance fee
FDIC Insured $250K/depositor
Fine print indicates that APY can change at anytime for any reason. Hahah they all say this, right?


The AMEX savings is currently at 0.80% APY
My credit union savings account is at 0.05% APY

As you can see, the AMEX account has a much higher rate.

I have only one savings account and I like to keep 2 to 5k in it as an emergency fund. I seldom make deposits and withdrawals from this account. I have been pretty satisfied with the features and customer service of my AMEX CC and am considering moving my savings over to them.

Does anyone have any experience with the AMEX savings account?
Is the transfer a wise move?

Does anyone have experience taking the price of a new laptop as a tax deduction? More specifically a laptop that is used 50% of the time for work and 50% of the time for personal. I will be purchasing a new one before the end of the year at around $1200.

I understand that if I was running a small business and purchased a laptop that was exclusively for work purposes then a deduction of the full purchase price would make sense. I am less sure of how the IRS views the split of use between work and personal.

P.S.
I am not a small business owner. I work for someone else, but a computer is essential to complete many of my work related responsibilities. The computer or money to buy a computer is not provided by my employer.

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WikiTiger
If $5 equals .04 bitcoins and BitPay quotes a price of .042 bitcoins, well, people aren't stupid. They will pick up on these things, especially if it's a standard practice.

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I can envision a possible scenario where BitPay is the only payment link between the merchant's products and the consumer. In this situation the merchant could potentially lose sales if a consumer realizes that they will always be overcharged when making a purchase with BitPay. In order to recover sales the merchant would have to reduce their prices enough to bring the $0.042 BitPay price back down to $0.040.

Cross multiply and we see.
[x USD/0.04 BTC]=[5 USD/0.042]
x = 4.76 USD!

So if BitPay increases their spread from 0.04 to 0.042, then a merchant would have to reduce their $5 item to a $4.76 item to bring the bitcoin price back down to the real exchange rate of 5USD/0.04BTC!

That isn't necessarily a lot of money in this example, but now we are moving closer to a "fee" that rivals the 3% per transaction of traditional credit cards. 3% of $5 is $0.15. So it would actually be less expensive for the merchant to use a credit card with those example number you posted.

Assuming there are not many competitors offering the same service as BitPay they would be free to jack up their spread more and this would diminish the savings that the merchant would realize. If the spread increased enough then the overall loss in revenue to the merchant from having to set prices lower would equal what they would lose with higher prices on the same item and eating a transaction fee.

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40Rouge
Since you don't use a credit card too much, it's not going to matter if you get an airline specific card or just an overall rewards points card. You're not going to realize any perks any time soon.

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That was basically the same conclusion I came too after a quick calculation of my 'rewards' after 3 years of spending at my estimated rate. Although in all honesty I'm single, detached, and pounding the career front pretty hard. I'm optimistic that I will be making more money in the next couple of years and presumably spending a little more too.

I think what I liked more about the Delta Gold AMEX was that it included a few passive rewards like the free checked bag and priority boarding. I usually get forced to check my carry on at the gate because I board last and the overhead bins fill up. I also tend to underpack for most trips because I'm too cheap/poor to pay $50 for a checked bag.

The Capitol One Venture card does look nice.
I'm still leaning towards the Delta Gold AMEX. I am going to plug both of them into a spreadsheet and attempt to estimate my real world rewards earnings minus annual fees over a period of 5 years.

I've heard that there is a way to get a targeted offer emailed to you from AMEX that will solicit a better bonus for opening the Delta gold card than the publicly listed offer. IE: Get 50,000 miles when you open the credit card instead of 30,0000. Does anyone know how to get an offer like this without selling your email soul the spam devil?

Angry Beavers,
Have you simply tried asking your warehouse workers in person? Probably way more effective then us speculating.

What up money talk, I may have an issue with an Ebay buyer playing games with sending me a full payment and need some advice.

I sold a 1968 Oldsmobile Cutlass (project car for a rebuild) for $2825 on 9/23/11. The rules of my auction stated that I required a $1000 deposit within 48 hours and full payment within 7 days.

The buyer paid the deposit. Check.
However, the remaining balance of $1825, as per my rules, is due tonight at 11:59 pm. I reminded the buyer of this today via email
I have already arranged to meet with the buyer on Monday (10.3.11), so that he can pick up the vehicle at my house.
He responded that he was not going to pay me the remaining balance tonight, but would instead bring it in cash when he came to pick up the vehicle on Monday.

Here was his email response.
I was planning on bringing cash for the balance, coincidental to production of the vehicle and title, I dont feel comfortable otherwise. I would have been there, picked up the car, and paid, but your scedule did not allow for this. Nothing personal, I have been burned before and I think the fact that I paid the balance timely, commuincated openly and Im trying to work with your schedule. I trust this shold provide comfort in knowing Im not going to stiff you or play any games.

Pete

I am not okay with this because the buyer has decided to ignore my payment rules. I would expect a responsible and professional adult to follow through with payment regardless of "nothing personal" or "I've been burned before". It is also my understanding, that by bidding on and winning my auction, he has legally bound himself to pay on time.

Should I let it slide and wait for him to show up with cash?

Can I report him to ebay as a delinquent payer and keep his deposit?

Need advice! I don't want to get burned by this guy.