Last year, interest rates were on the rise. I expected them to continue rising, so I refinanced the adjustable rate mortgage I had on a rental property. Apparently, I did not time that too well because rates have been falling ever since. I can’t believe that 10-year government bonds are back to 1.7% and the …View Article
Category: Mortgages & Debt
Mortgages & Debt
Should Retirees Pay Off Their Mortgage?
Most young folks envision purchasing a home in their thirties with a 30-year mortgage that would be paid off prior to retirement. Unfortunately, it does not always work out that way. The average worker today will change careers seven times in his or her life and buy or rent a few different homes along the …View Article
Household Debt – How Much Is Too Much?
One of the big personal finance stories of the past week is that American households once again have approximately as much household debt as they did before the financial crisis. However, when you read past the headlines, you can see that personal balance sheets are much stronger than they were (on average) in 2008. Here’s …View Article
Reverse Mortgages – The Latest Research
It has been over 2½ years since I wrote this article called “Reverse Mortgage – An Underutilized Tool“. Recently, I am getting lots of questions about reverse mortgages, even from clients with significant investment portfolios. In other words, reverse mortgages are not necessarily a tool of last resort. The first thing to understand about reverse …View Article
Interest Rate: Buying Down Your Mortgage Rate
You can get a lower interest rate for a price when obtaining a new home loan or refinancing an existing mortgage. The industry has a clever name for this…“buying down the rate.” Here’s what it means …
Refinance Your Mortgage – Typical Monthly Savings
Have you been wondering how you could save $160 a month? That is the average savings homeowners realize when they refinance their mortgages. About 20 percent of households that could benefit from refinancing are not doing it—according to a report from the National Bureau of Economic Research. Why homeowners don’t refinance when they should: The …View Article
Reverse Mortgage – An Underutilized Tool?
Lately, reverse mortgages have been getting more respect from academic researchers and financial planning journals. Many people think a reverse mortgage is to be used as a tool of last resort. However, recent research has shown that they can be more valuable if taken earlier in retirement to decrease the amount of withdrawals needed from …View Article