A major cause of the housing crash in 2006 and 2007 was poorly documented mortgages that should not have been approved. Many of these mortgages ended in default and contributed to the four million foreclosures that cost families their homes and lowered home values by 50 percent or more in some communities. Mortgage lenders that [...]
If you’re a small business owner, now could be the time to consider selling your product online. Online shopping is so popular that, according to the “U.S. Online Retail Forecast, 2011 to 2016 ” report by Forrester Research, Inc., e-commerce sales in the U.S. are expected to reach $327 billion by 2016. Providing a product online [...]
Many times when I’m helping new small business owners, they ask me questions about what kind of business entity they should form. Many have heard about a Limited Liability Company (LLC) and want to know more about personal asset protection and the potential to save on taxes. Here’s the real scoop: While you may certainly [...]
This post was written by guest blogger Eve Becker. While newlyweds take their first wedding dance, a delicate budgeting dance can be going on in the guests’ heads—especially if they had to pay for travel expenses along with numerous engagement, bridal shower and wedding gifts. As stressful as it can be, it’s possible to keep [...]
Thinking of buying a home this year? If so, the odds are good that you’re noticing a lot fewer homes listed for sale in your market than you may have seen in the past. Listed inventory on the massive Realtor.com site is about 16 percent lower than it was a year ago and about 38 [...]
With a proliferation of telemarketing calls and business solicitations, small businesses seem to be constantly fending off unwanted marketing offers. Sorting through solicitations can take up valuable working time for a small business, and opportunities can be lost if you cut short a customer call only to find out that on the other line is [...]
As parents, we want our children to be successful and happy in life, but teaching them financial independence often gets put on the back burner. Many parents wait until their children are graduating from high school or leaving for college to begin talking about money management. Here are three tips to help your children forge [...]
Retiring by the time you turn 40 might sound impossible, but it most definitely can be done. With some careful retirement planning and creative savings strategies, you can begin your retirement while you are still young and spunky. Getting started on your retirement savings as soon as possible is most important. The longer you have [...]
Inventories of homes for sale are so low this spring that bidding wars are breaking out in overheated real estate markets. Rising prices and shrinking supplies are hitting buyers with a double whammy as they anxiously scroll through limited choices to find a house to buy before prices and mortgage rates rise even more. In [...]
Life insurance is one of those topics about which I often hear questions. Many people don’t quite understand why they need to pay for a life insurance policy—or they are afraid that they might eventually need to use one. Most of us want to insure that our partner and/or children are taken care of financially [...]
