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The best yields right now are in municipal auction rate securities with high "default" (auction failure) rates. I am getting 4.5-10% tax free on insured paper that has underlying ratings of BBB or higher--most are AA. And the auctions on these are not failing because of the high default rates...

BTW, if you didnt pay , make sure you file. The penalty for non filing is 5% per month up to 25%. Penalty for non- timely payment is much, much smaller.

What type of income do you have? Are you a MTM trader with a second job or or your trades put on Schedule D? Equities? Futures? What's the w-2 income from? PM with more info. What I do is use Turbo tax and have a good trader CPA check it. I lowered my bill from $1850 to $650 and I have a 50+...

Hmmm. Starting with 100k loss on CIT bonds.

Interesting to note the policy is that all traders in your sub must be licensed. Apparently, Assent has gotten religion. I'm sure you can pass on whatever costs you have. The key point is that the BD is the only one who can pay a registered person. I know it seems stupid--but that's the rule.

We probably are headed for a depression simply because I am always predicting a bad scenario that turns out better than I expect--yet everything keeps getting worse than I predicted, not better. For 20 yrs it's always been better than i predicted.

Tose are yearly figures/.

Dont think there's a market for this. wanna go at any price

I think a better poll would be "How much buying power do you have" I may keep 500k in an account or 250k or $50k. It varies based on other investments I find, but my BP doesn't change and that's what is really important.

What do you guys think of buying muni Auction rate securities with underlying A+ and resetting at 8-15% at auction. These auctions are not failing, just setting high. I got 50k of LA MTA at 10% or 12% last week. They have an underlying AAA. So wjhat if they refi?

Did IB stop sending statements daily if there is no activity? I also am showing $0 cash available for withdrawal but should have substantial amt. I sthis a weekend thing. I also tried to generate a token to change emails but I am getting a message they couldn't reach my gmail account. No...

I put 20k down to get a place # on a Virgin galactic Flight. The total fee right now is $200k. I wasn't about to tie up 200k and have the thing not go up until 2015. I think I'm like number 556

It will go down

If a buyout is in the works , are you saying the company or individual who wants to do so would buy the stock without filing a 13D?

For some strange reason I think the publicity of this to liberals is worth a lot more than it will ever cost Goldman in medical plan fees. I mean, if you are morally opposed to them doing this, you probably are still going to do business with them if they are the best place for your firm to be...

Re: Comments about "renting is money down the toilet." and the one about missing out on appreciation. In my case, owning is money down the toilet. As I mentioned: 1) I lose 80% of my itemized deductions because of my income level. Thus there is virtually no tax benefit to owning. 2) If...

I rent a home that cost $2.3 million to build--before the value of the land rose---for $4700 per month. Given my tax bracket, i have calculated the same home , with 20% down, would still cost 3 -4 times as much to own.

SIPC is not backed by the government, is not a GSE, etc. A failure of a monoline--or even a downgrade by two agebcies of ABK orMBI will result in massive writedowns at major brokerages. CNBC is quoting a figure 00I assume including banks and pension funds--of $250 billion. SIP supports...

These CU's (9000+ insured ) haven't been in the news yet but they will be soon. That's just because they are not public. Think about the major assets of CU's--they are almost like monoline insurers---mortgages, HELOC's and auto paper. I review their financials quarterly and delinquencies are...

My dad has been in commercial insurance for 55 years and says he never understood how the financial monolines were accorded the status of "impossible to fail" by the markets. Ten years ago he told me the muni ins market had never been tested. He also describes AIG as "an octopus with...