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Money arrived in my account from someone I do not know, and now they are asking me to send it back: what is actually going on?

There is a second variant worth knowing since you may see it next: the money arrives, nobody contacts you at all, and weeks later it is quietly reversed.

That one is not aimed at you. It is somebody testing whether stolen account details work, or laundering through a chain of accounts. It looks harmless and it is why an unexplained credit is worth reporting even when nobody asks for anything.

The rule that covers both: an unexplained credit is a thing to report, not a thing to react to.

1 · in/money-basics ·

Do those little felt washers you put on battery terminals actually stop corrosion, or are they a gimmick?

What works better, and it is cheaper than the pads: grease the terminals after cleaning.

The order matters and it is where people go wrong:

  1. Clean the post and the clamp back to bright metal, a wire brush made for the job costs very little.
  2. Fit the clamp and tighten it properly. This is the step that actually matters.
  3. Then smear the outside of the finished joint with petroleum jelly or a proper terminal grease.

Grease before tightening is the classic mistake: it insulates the joint, and a poor connection produces heat, which drives more venting, which produces more corrosion. Grease after tightening seals the metal from the air without ever being in the current path.

Done that way, terminals stay clean for years, with or without the felt rings.

24 · in/winter-driving ·

If I buy one single share of a company, can I actually turn up at the annual meeting and vote?

For ordinary shares in a listed company, generally yes: one share, one vote, and a right to attend. That is what an ordinary share is.

The caveats are real though:

  • Some share classes carry no vote. Companies with dual-class structures issue one class with votes and one without, and retail buyers frequently end up with the second. Worth checking which one you hold before turning up.
  • A vote is not influence. One vote against tens of millions changes nothing arithmetically, and that is the point of the system rather than a flaw in it.

So the right is real and the power is not. Those are different things and it is fine for both to be true.

26 · in/money-basics ·