The new breed of retiree sees low mortgage rates as an easy source of cash to boost income through rental properties and …
Home-Equity Loans
This Housing Upturn Looks Like the Real Thing
The previous upturn in housing prices faltered after a year, but all the signs suggest that the current home price recovery will be sustainable.
Why Can’t This Economy Really Get Going?
A host of factors outside of the government’s control will likely hold back the economy for at least another year.
5 Key Financial Questions for People in Their 50s
We spend most of our working years accumulating savings for retirement and after that spending them carefully so they last. We need to spend a little more time managing the transition. Here’s how.
Housing Recovery at Last? Evidence Mounts
While experts continue to warn that housing has not yet hit bottom, a slew of indicators suggest otherwise. The latest is a stellar quarterly earnings report from Home Depot, which is benefitting from hopeful owners sprucing up …
Lessons of the Crash: 4 Homeowner Trends We Hope Will Continue
While buyers take the bulk of the heat for ballooning up home prices at the peak of the market, homeowners were not entirely innocent, either. During the sub-prime era, the owner/seller-side bad behavior included fatal missteps …
When is $11.4 Trillion in Debt an Improvement?
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York released a report on Monday that shows America is chipping away at its collective debt — but slowly. According to the Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, overall consumer debt was down by $50 billion at the end of June. If that seems like a lot, it’s not; in fact, it’s a measly 0.4 percent …
The Short-Term Loans That Keep You in Debt for the Long Haul
If you’re in a jam, payday loans promise to be a quick-fix solution. In exchange for absurd interest rates equating to 450% and up, a borrower can get a short-term loan that’ll be paid back in the near future (once the borrower reaches “payday”). While the terms may seem outrageous enough for consumers to want to avoid these loans …
6 Explanations for Why Americans Can’t Save Money
What’s to blame for the falling national savings rate? Experts point to a range of reasons Americans just can’t (or won’t) save, including income inequality, the collapse of housing values, the disappearance of pensions, the rising costs of education and health care, and the iPad.
Need Cash? Wanna Pay Off Debt? Here are Three Money Moves NOT to Make
Some offers seem too good to be true. And generally speaking, they are just that. Here are three examples.
Survey: College Isn’t All That Great an Investment
Last year, 80% of Americans believed that college was a good financial investment. Now, results from the same survey show a sharp drop in confidence in the rewards of higher education, with only 64% of people saying that college is a good investment.
College Kids Are Not Loving This Summer
The summer of 2009 is proving to be a reality check for college students and recent grads. Instead of rollicking trips abroad or working at no-pay internships that their families can no longer afford to bankroll, college kids are grinding out the steamy days of summer doing manual labor—and they’re happy to have the work.