Backward Tax question

sba55 said:
Return on investment. Call it whatever you want.

-Felix
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I will call it what it actually is. That same money in 2007-2008 took a nose dive. Again, where can I get 12% INTEREST?
 
EdFred said:
I will call it what it actually is. That same money in 2007-2008 took a nose dive. Again, where can I get 12% INTEREST?
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Like I said, you're free to call it interest, return on investment, profit/loss, or whatever other equivalent term you like. Or you can insist that the term interest only applies to guaranteed return (it doesn't). That wasn't the point of my original post.

if you'd like to earn 12% ROI/interest/whatever, there's lots of ways to do that. It's probably safe to say that almost none of those will feature a guaranteed return, but I can't say so categorically either. A friend of mine has a hedge fund that buys up life insurance policies and then collects the payouts. That seems fairly "guaranteed". But, again, we're talking about taxes here, and why it's unwise to over withhold.
 
sba55 said:
Like I said, you're free to call it interest, return on investment, profit/loss, or whatever other equivalent term you like. Or you can insist that the term interest only applies to guaranteed return (it doesn't). That wasn't the point of my original post.

if you'd like to earn 12% ROI/interest/whatever, there's lots of ways to do that. It's probably safe to say that almost none of those will feature a guaranteed return, but I can't say so categorically either. A friend of mine has a hedge fund that buys up life insurance policies and then collects the payouts. That seems fairly "guaranteed". But, again, we're talking about taxes here, and why it's unwise to over withhold.
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Nobody asks what interest my stocks paid out. They ask what percentage I made. They do ask what the interest is on T-Bills, CDs, and savings accounts.
 
And then they factor in inflation and you made nothing. The profits went to the execs in the form of bonuses and stock price pump-and-dump at exactly the right time so they had *just* vested their options. ;)

It's an impressive ponzi scheme that one must participate in to stave off inflation.
 
SkyHog said:
Lets put it this way:

In my younger, more broke days (where, for some reason, I actually had more disposable income than I do now), I would routinely get tax refunds of approximately $4,000 because of credits and whatnot.

I made around $25,000 a year AGI. Being a full-time student rocks sometimes.
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I had been out of college working for a number of years before I saw that kind of annual income. As an engineer. Starting salary in 1975 was around $12,000 a year. And that was good money back then. Different times...
 
EdFred said:
Because one year I had to pay out an additional 4 grand. I'd much rather get 2000 back than pay out another 4. Right now it's not a big deal to have the gov't hold on to the money because that 0.05% interest the banks are paying out doesn't really get you much.
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Banks aren't the only option for investment. My goal each year is to pay in just enough to avoid a late payment penalty.
 
gismo said:
Banks aren't the only option for investment. My goal each year is to pay in just enough to avoid a late payment penalty.
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Perhaps, but I'm looking for more guaranteed returns. I can always go to Vegas and bet on black.
 
EdFred said:
Perhaps, but I'm looking for more guaranteed returns. I can always go to Vegas and bet on black.
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Even a so called 0% return is not guaranteed. Wait, maybe it can be. Say, put all your cash into a safe location where it is 100% secure from theft, fire, etc, and you are still almost GUARANTEED to lose Value over time.

Just like flying, it is a matter of risk management. Know all the risk factors and you will be better able to manage it.
 
EdFred said:
Nobody asks what interest my stocks paid out. They ask what percentage I made. They do ask what the interest is on T-Bills, CDs, and savings accounts.
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And so what? I still don't get how a difference in semantics has anything to do with this argument?

And like I said, "interest" is a perfectly valid term to use with investments as well. Maybe it's not as common, but it's perfectly valid.
 
sba55 said:
And so what? I still don't get how a difference in semantics has anything to do with this argument?

And like I said, "interest" is a perfectly valid term to use with investments as well. Maybe it's not as common, but it's perfectly valid.
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I think a percentage made on stock is usually worth more than a percentage made in interest. They are taxed differently.
 
No it's not. Interest is the amount made from lending money to another party. In our country, it's usually to a bank, a company or the government.

When equities are involved, interest is not a correct definition.
sba55 said:
And like I said, "interest" is a perfectly valid term to use with investments as well. Maybe it's not as common, but it's perfectly valid.
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By strict definition of the word, I think Felix may be right. But since no one uses the word in that way in the United States, he is wrong.

In Germany, he may be right and we are wrong. But this thread is about American taxes...
 
SCCutler said:
That's us. :wink2:
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:cornut:

I just started on this board and already witnessed this thread about the definition of interest and another thread about the proper way to correct a log book entry.

Never seen a group split hairs like that in probably 500,000 interwebz threads. :D
 
ebacon said:
:cornut:

I just started on this board and already witnessed this thread about the definition of interest and another thread about the proper way to correct a log book entry.

Never seen a group split hairs like that in probably 500,000 interwebz threads. :D
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Yea, some of us can split them so fine, there is risk of nucular (I mean, nuclear) meltdown...
icon12.gif
 
Well, if they're so damn ignorant about something as simple as interest, they need to be corrected. Fortunately, they have come to the right place. :tongue:
ebacon said:
:cornut:

I just started on this board and already witnessed this thread about the definition of interest and another thread about the proper way to correct a log book entry.

Never seen a group split hairs like that in probably 500,000 interwebz threads. :D
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