Getting Rid of Debt before Buying a Home Got debt? It’s going to be tougher to get a mortgage. The reality of the new world of mortgage finance is that lenders don’t really want to lend money unless it’s a sure thing. What it boils down to is this: If you can afford to pay [...]
Laddering Insurance Policies Buying life insurance can be intimidating, because it forces you to face some tough realities when you would rather be thinking, “It won’t happen to me.” Unfortunately, death and injury happen, and when they do, it’s a tragedy. When a family has to deal with an emotional trauma like the death of [...]
How to Think about Debt When Buying a Home Michelle sent me the following question: I am currently reading your book 100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask because my husband and I are hopefully buying a home within the next year. It is a very helpful book! There is something I never understand, [...]
Emergency Essentials: Preparing Your Paperwork and Personal Information for an Emergency We want to focus on family, festivities, and fun during the holidays, but, unfortunately, accidents don’t always take a holiday. You’ve probably already done the hard part. You’ve set up retirement accounts and various insurance policies to protect your home, your business, your life, [...]
New Tax Laws for 2011 Over the last decade, dozens of tax acts have been passed, filled with hundreds of changes to the tax law. But this year alone, there have been nearly a dozen new tax acts. Ironically, nearly all of the new laws that affect individuals like you and me expire at the [...]
Strategic Default: The Consequences of Not Paying Your Mortgage When companies take on more debt than they can afford, they typically walk away from some of it to better balance income and expenses. Walking away from certain debts in order to shore up your balance sheet is called “strategic default.” The word “strategic” is used [...]
Open-Enrollment and FSAs: A Bonanza of Tax Advantages November is here, that magical time when my husband’s employer has open enrollment, when employees can register for or make changes to their benefits. Working for one of the biggest school districts in the country affords him lots of options for benefits (although they’re getting reduced these [...]
A HUD home is nothing more than a house that was purchased with an FHA loan that has since fallen into foreclosure. (I’m not sure why these homes aren’t called “FHA foreclosures,” which would be more intuitive for home buyers and investors, but the Department of Housing and Urban Development [HUD] is the federal office [...]
Is Pet Insurance Right for You and Your Pet? Have you received a vet bill lately? Ouch! Pet insurance provides reimbursement for treatment in the event of an accident or illness. And with increasing costs for advanced treatment and care, vet bills will only get higher. Pet insurance could be the difference between having many [...]
Are You Optimizing Your Retirement Contributions? We all know two facts of old age: Social Security won’t be able to support us when we retire. We will be living longer. What will you do to ensure your retirement is financially secure? Let’s start with a few definitions. Definitions: Deferred-Tax and After-Tax Contributions Deferred-tax contributions reduce [...]
