Buying a New Home? Here Are 5 Things Your Builder Won’t Tell You There are plenty of new homes to buy these days. In fact, depending on the city where you live, there may be years’ worth of new homes for sale. Many developers have gone bankrupt during these last few years, and their subdivisions, [...]
Renter’s Insurance: Do You Need It, and What Does It Cover? One good thing about growing up with a dad in the insurance business and working with him as a teenager is you understand how critical insurance is when you’re an adult and have adult responsibilities. When I moved to Atlanta, Ga., in 1990 and [...]
Small-Business Owners: Here Are 9 Ways to Update Your Bookkeeping Skills Recently, a group of enrolled agents (EAs) discussed the most lucrative areas of billing in our tax practices. Do you want to know the one area guaranteed to generate a solid stream of fees for us? It’s cleaning up your bookkeeping. Yup. We can [...]
Reverse Mortgages: What’s New If you’re a senior age 62 or older, you’ve probably heard the term “reverse mortgage.” You may even have seen an ad featuring celebrated actor James Garner speaking on behalf of Financial Freedom, a reverse mortgage lender. Simply, reverse mortgages allow seniors to tap into their home equity and not pay [...]
How to Choose the Best Insurance Agent Hiring a professional to do a job for you or provide a service is serious business. Real estate agents talk about location, location, location. I think insurance is about service, service, service. You can purchase insurance policies from three main sources: Independent agents representing many insurance companies Captive [...]
Tax Filing Deadline: Last-Minute Tax Mistakes To Avoid You’re sitting there gloating, aren’t you? You filed your tax return ages ago—and already have your refund, right? Well, some people are just a bit slower, perhaps for good reason. There is one tax benefit you can get only by waiting until the last minute—a final big [...]
Zero Down Home Loan Options I recently received this question from one of our Equifax Personal Finance Blog visitors: Q: My husband and I have been having serious marital issues since 2005, and we can’t seem to repair our problems. One problem we can’t agree on is the purchase of a home. I am trying [...]
Choosing the Right High-Deductible Health Insurance Plan Whether you agree with it or not, the government has got involved with the insurance industry. If you’re wondering who will pay for your insurance, how to get coverage, or what will happen to your premium, you’re not alone. High-deductible health plans (HDHPs) are supposed to help minimize [...]
It’s Time to Review Your Payroll Withholding Recently, I visited my friends at the IRS for our Stakeholder Liaison meeting. This group of representatives from a variety of tax associations is privileged to exchange ideas with the IRS. The IRS updates us on current changes, laws, and procedures—and solicits suggestions for simplifying or improving procedures. [...]
Mortgage Interest Rate Update: Are We at the Bottom? In 2009, my 5/1 adjustable-rate mortgage went into its seventh year, and the interest rate dropped to 3.35 percent. I thought that was fairly amazing. When I bought my first home (a co-op on Lake Shore Drive), in 1989, the interest rate on our mortgage was [...]
