jobyts

It's a very respectable attitude from your side.

Thanks for your input. That's the conclusion I was reaching too. I admit, it was tempting to dream about the no-tax money you make. But messing with the law is like riding a tiger. Can't get down without either SEC or me, one of us is going to be dead. Also, don't want to lead a lifestyle that doesn't make myself or my kids proud.

While going through some of the Series 65 material, my understanding is that the 15 client/25M AUM limitation was before the Dodd-Frank Act in 2010. After the Dodd-Frank Act, I do not see any number of client limitation or AUM restriction, as long as you do not get a compensation (on the books). -------------------- From https://www.sec.gov/about/offices/oia/oia_investman/rplaze-042012.pdf, Who is an Investment Adviser? A. Definition of Investment Adviser Section 202(a)(11) of the Act defines an investment adviser as any person or firm that:  for compensation;  is engaged in the business of;  providing advice to others or issuing reports or analyses regarding securities. -------------------- So it looks like, as long as we do not charge any official compensation, you are excluded from the definition of an IA, so there is no need to register with the state or SEC. Please correct me if my interpretation is incorrect.

Thanks for the feedback. What I tell people is, I track some investment gurus who align with my investment philosophy. (high quality, with existing or potential pricing power, in industries with TAM much higher 10 years after than today). Since I do not have the in depth modelling of all the possible outcomes of each of the companies in my portfolio, I will be doing an equal weighted portfolio with 25-35 stocks. So all the promise I'm making is that I will not screw up. Treat it as an index, which could beat the market in the long run." Almost certainly I will not go into a full time money management business. From couple of my friends' friends, I am fully aware of the fact that it is a very high stress job (especially if the aim is to meet the monthly/quarterly expectations of the clients). Interested in clearing the tests, just to avoid the possibility of SEC knocking at my door. Jobyts, Please don't take this the wrong way and don't take it to hear because I suspect that you are well intentioned. We have been debating here whether it is a smart thing for you or others to manage friends' money. I have previously said that I have had great result (though I've proceeded with great caution). Others have been steadfast against the idea. But if you need to ask an investment forum whether you need a series 6, 7 or 65 license to do it, I just don't think you're ready for it yet. I hope you take some time to consider that fact. P.S There's an SEC exception for friends and family (it's been mentioned on the thread). You don't need a license. If they're ok with it you can blow them up as far as the SEC's concerned.

My friends right now I talked are like, "I have more or less of a million or two in the 401K/IRA across a few different accounts. I'm really interested in you managing the accounts. Please give me a week or two, by the time I can figure out the login/password details of the accounts. I was/am too busy with the other stuff (startups), haven't logged in for a long time".

Some website (https://smartasset.com/financial-advisor/series-65) says Series 65 license helps a financial professional to give investment advice. It does not license them to sell packages investment products or to buy and sell securities. To do that, you must get your Series 6 and Series 7 licenses. So, to do the trading on behalf of them, I need to clear the Series 6 & 7? Whereas Series 65 license helps only to advice them what and when to buy/sell stocks, but they have to do the trading by themselves?

Thank you guys for all the replies. Those are helpful. Right now, the money I charge is very very minimal, it could cover some subscription costs. If things go well, I plan to do it in an elaborate way after clearing the qualification tests. In bay area, there are lots of smart (in there own fields) intelligent rich engineers, who are financially so ignorant.

A few of my friends showed interest in me managing a portion of their IRA money. I'm not someone with a financial education background. What qualifications/certifications I need to pass to legally manage other people's money? I am a US citizen, residing in California. Thanks,

Ok. In your example the optimal annual return is 20%. This is 100% divided by 5 years. No other distribution of returns will exceed what you will get with 20% per year. That answers my question. Thanks.

Using smaller numbers for illustration purpose: Say in 5 years, it is supposed to produce 100% increment in the stock price. For a starting position of 100K, the growth table is as follows: Case 1: year 0: 100K Year 1: Price change: 0%, ending balance: 100K Year 2: Price change: 0%, ending balance: 100K Year 3: Price change: 0%, ending balance: 100K Year 4: Price change: 0%, ending balance: 100K Year 5: Growth: 100%, ending balance: 200K Case 2: year 0: 100K Year 1: Price change: -50%, ending balance: 50K Year 2: Price change: -50%, ending balance: 25K Year 3: Price change: -50%, ending balance: 12.5K Year 4: Price change: -50%, ending balance: 6.25K Year 5: Price change: 300%, ending balance: 18.75K For both the cases, the 5 year cumulative % price change was 100% (case1: 0+0+0+0+100 = 100%, case2: (-50)+(-50)+(-50)+(50)+(300) = 100%). But the 5th year end balance is vastly different between both the cases. I'm trying to find the case where the %price change every year that gives the highest $ amount after the end of the period.

...I'm tired, and don't want to think. A hypothetical question. Say you have x initial amount amount to be invested, and y years to invest. Assume you have a total growth rate of, say g% (over y years, not per year). What distribution equation/curve of the per-year-growth gives the maximum output after y years? Does (g/y)% growth per year gives the best output? Or it is some bell curve? If a generic equation is hard, please use an example of some example numbers. $1 million initial amount, invested for 20 years, a total growth of 400% of the initial amount over 20 years. I'm trying make some mental models for the portfolio allocation.

That's brilliant. Thinking in that aspect, that could be the reason why in some aquariums/museums/public places where you throw coins into the water structures, they do not clear the coins immediately.

Could you add a feature to graph the user portfolio performance (whole portfolio, not individual stocks; something like, https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio). I do not prefer to pay different companies for different features; all the features under one website is more desirable).

https://www.npr.org/2018/10/09/642587456/chinese-firms-now-hold-stakes-in-over-a-dozen-european-ports https://www.freightwaves.com/news/experts-warn-of-chinas-influence-at-us-ports China owns ports in SriLanka, Pakistan, and lots of african countries. To African and other poor countries, China helps to improve their country's infrastructure, on condition that it would be the Chinese workers doing the job. These are all going to be military bases, when a conflict arises. This is a long term defense strategy of China on its way to become the super power. India does not hold a chance to fight against China, if China decides to use Pakistan and SriLanka as military bases.

Companies in California pay about 9% corporate income state tax more than companies in, say, Louisiana, regardless of who is in power. Are the companies in Louisiana doing better than Californian companies in the comparable industry?

I was reading https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-53118473 y understanding (from my 10 minute reading) is, the LAC is a line, and the patrolling happens by the countries only on their own side. So in the first clash where the 3 Indian soldiers died, some invasion happened - don't know who did it. Since you mentioned "Chinese army promptly retreated", it sounds like the first clash happened on the Indian side, so an invasion happened first by the Chinese soldiers, right? While the revenge encounter done by the Indian soldiers, as you mentioned, the Indians must have crossed the LAC to the Aksai Chin (China administrated) area. By "disputed area", are you referring to the poorly defined LAC line where there is some dispute on the exact location of the line, or the whole Aksai Chin region?

It seems like the first incident probably happened as an impulsive road rage like situation, not a pre-planned from the upper levels (from both the countries). Soldiers don't do brawl, they only shoot, if it's directed from their officers.

What is your source of information? It's hard to get the true info on these issues.

Makes sense.

How do you know the Chinese were the aggressors? It always takes two parties to get a bar fight and finding out who started it is usually an exercise in futility. I don't know for sure. Here's my educated guess. India is militarily inferior to China. There is no anti Chinese sentiments in India (other than the cheap goods impression). The ruling party will get more political mileage if they bully the weaker Pakistan, and the anti Pakistan sentiments is high in India. A war with China will also weaken India's position against Pakistan. So it does not make sense for India for initiating an aggression against China.

My hypothesis for the recent Chinese aggression is as follows. After the covid issue, many countries and corporations are thinking of moving the manufacturing outside of China. India is a potential candidate where the manufacturing could go to. China definitely sees this as a threat to their business interests, and wants the world to think India is not a stable country by creating a war like situation. As per the saying goes, "no matter what the political reasons are given for any war, the underlying reason is always economic.".

My idea is not for personal tax savings. I will have to pay the federal and California taxes for the dividends I get, or the profits I bring back, since I live in Calif. I was thinking of tax saving for the LLC, when the LLC keep buying/selling stocks. Something like a 401K tax saving.

Can I (US citizen) start an LLC registered in Puerto Rico, move my personal money to the LLC, enjoy the 4% corporate tax on all the intermediate gains I make, manage the LLC money sitting in California, and pay the rest of the US tax rate for only the dividend that the LLC pays me? Or do I need to physically move to Puerto Rico to get the 4% tax benefit?

A message I got from a friend of mine, in our local bay area whatsapp group. "Friends, looks like people are in a panic shopping. Milk, egg, bread, water etc are out of stock in several Costcos. If u r low in inventory, please restock it"

Apparently, the video is popularized by the exiled Chinese billionaire and the far right groups. The video looks genuine, unless they staged the whole thing, who knows. https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/feb/26/facebook-posts/chinese-billionaire-floats-conspiracy-about-corona/