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If you’re a recent college graduate, newly married, or just haven’t had the income to save up for a 20% down payment on your first home, you might have been told to look into an FHA loan. If you’re also new to the world of real estate and mortgages, like me, you might be wondering what an FHA loan is and what makes it such an attractive option for many first-time home buyers.
What are FHA-Insured Loans?
FHA stands for the Federal Housing Administration, a government agency that’s been around since 1934. Although the term “FHA loan” is commonly used, the FHA doesn’t lend money — it’s just the world’s largest mortgage insurer. The FHA insures high-risk home loans provided by certain lenders.
To help you determine if an FHA loan is the best option for you, let’s look at some of the basic advantages and disadvantages it comes with. [ continue reading… ]
What would you tell the future you if you had a chance to say anything financially related? Would it be about the steps you are taking now to build a better financial future for yourself? Would you be embarrassed to admit that you aren’t doing enough? I was given the chance to make “a video to my future self” as part of attending the Capital One Banking Reimagined Tour recently, and going through the experience made me excited about saving money again.
This surprised me a little. You see, adding money into savings always gave me a kick because it meant I was getting a step closer to being financially free. I never saw spending less as a sacrifice, because it was clear in my mind that saving simply meant choosing to buy more freedom in the future. I didn’t realize this, but all those financially savvy moves slowly turned into a routine. The desire to spend slowly grew, while the fire to save slowly died. Without realizing it, saving money slowly became a chore. [ continue reading… ]
Most of us fall into two camps when it comes to filing our taxes: those who are super organized and file their tax return as soon as possible, and those who barely manage to scrape their paperwork together by April 15th.
Then again, not everyone who waits for the deadline is disorganized. Some people wait until the last minute because some companies tend to make mistakes and send in corrected forms late in the tax season. Which camp do you fall into? What are the advantages of either tendency (or strategy)?
I’d like to propose that there are more advantages to filing early (yes, even if you owe the IRS money) than filing at the last minute. Here they are: [ continue reading… ]
With interest rates rising and housing supply limited for the time being, many people are rushing to buy a home early this season. If you are one of these people, and unless you have cash ready to pay in full, then know that it’s especially important this time around to get pre-approved before you begin hunting for that dream home. With a competitive seller’s market, getting that proof gives you to a leg up because the seller knows you’re “good for it,” so to speak.
Just because February is almost here doesn’t mean you should already be neglecting to improve your finances. In fact, no matter your resolutions (or if you’ve already abandoned them), it’s always a good idea to work on your finances.
If you’re looking for ways to tweak your budget to better effect this year, then here are some strategies you can follow to spend less and save more:
1. Factor in Infrequent Expenses
One of the biggest pitfalls of budgeting is forgetting about infrequent expenses. I have some expenses that are only paid quarterly, or perhaps once a year. It’s easy to forget to include them in the budget, especially if I come up with the budget during a month when I’m not making the payment. The fix is easy though.
As you tweak your budget this year, spend the extra bit of time to look ahead for infrequent expenses and include them. I like to break mine down into monthly costs so that they are accounted for. I also ensure that the money is already there when they are withdrawn from my account. [ continue reading… ]
People often reminisce about the good ol’ days but those times weren’t always that great. I don’t even remember when I walked into the local bank branch last, but here I was, waiting in line just to let the clerk process a deposit into my daughter’s savings account.
Was the place busy because it was the end of the year? Or is the branch always busy? There was a line for the tellers, every financial consultant was chatting with families, and there were even people waiting at the couches with their free coffee in hand.
Maybe they just needed a place to stay while the rain passed through? This has got to be the reason. After all, you can do pretty much everything online these days without any wait. I certainly wouldn’t have blaze the storm if I took the time to sign all those authorization forms to set up online banking for my daughter’s account.
I’m not really complaining though. I’m just grateful the virtual world allowed me to handle everything electronically and how the innovation propelled my finances higher because making the right moves is so more convenient these days. What do I mean? Let me tell you what I had to do before online banking came along. [ continue reading… ]
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