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When I walk into my bank, whether I’m making a deposit or there to actually speak with a banker, I see several people I can talk to by name. Growing up, I thought that was the case with everyone: my parents and my grandparents know all of their bankers by name and even something as simple as filling out a deposit slip is accompanied by asking about one another’s kids and other catching up. That sort of relationship can make a difference in your personal finances in any number of ways.
I’ve seen it play out numerous ways: My grandfather is in real estate and has taken out any number of loans from his bank. He typically pays them back very quickly, to the point that he’s built a reputation for it beyond his credit score. So when he had a deal that he needed to move quickly on, his bank was willing to expedite a loan to the point that they had him sign a boiler-plate form, cut him a check and told him to come back after the deal was done to finish the rest of the paperwork. [ continue reading… ]
Not too long ago, I filled out a survey about my consumer habits. One of the questions, just before the demographic information, asked about my home. I was asked to choose between Rent and Own (and Other). As I checked the box next to Own, it occurred to me that I don’t actually own my home.
If I’m going to get really technical about it, the bank owns my home. I have a mortgage on my home, and since I bought my house with borrowed money, the bank actually has the first right to my home. If I stopped making my mortgage payments, the bank would be well within its rights to have me evicted. While it is true that I have some rights (the bank can’t just kick me out as long as I am making my mortgage payments), the reality is that I do not think that I actually “own” my home in the sense that it is truly mine. I will not truly own it, in my mind, until the mortgage is paid off and the bank no longer has the right to take it away from me. [ continue reading… ]
OptionsXpress has been around since year 2000 and the company has been steadily expanding and gathering customers. Do you have an account? What do you think of them as a stock broker? Let’s take a look today at what they have to offer. [ continue reading… ]
“There’s going to be a second recession. You have to get out of the market NOW!” Said my friend. “It’s going to be a double-dip recession, and the second dip will be REALLY bad. Even treasuries won’t hold up if there’s a triple-digit inflation. You should do what I did. I gave a big chunk of my money to an Australian guy that buys real gold for you and holds it in underground shelters.”
This was a real conversation with a real life friend, and as depressing as it was, the conversation also got me thinking about how fear can lead to irrational behavior and how I should prepare myself to not get sucked into such behavior. [ continue reading… ]
An apartment lease is a contract just like any other: there is no one set contract that you have to always adhere to if you want to rent an apartment. As long as the landlord is willing, you can negotiate the terms and make sure that you get the best deal possible.
It’s significantly easier to negotiate if you know at least a little about what is happening with local rentals: if you’re living in an area where there just aren’t a lot of apartments available right now, you can negotiate yourself right out of an apartment if you’re not careful. But if you know a landlord is having difficulty keeping all of his apartments full, you’ll be aware of opportunities to get the most out of the deal. [ continue reading… ]
One of the most difficult things to figure out in investing is when to sell something. The decision to switch things up can be a difficult one to make. What if you get rid of an investment, and it takes off? You’ve just lost out on big profits. Another concern is that you keep an investment that spirals downward, resulting in big losses when you finally decide you have to sell.
When it comes to mutual funds, though, many people don’t even think about switching things out. This is because many mutual funds are held in retirement accounts that don’t get a lot of scrutiny. However, it is a good idea to check your mutual fund holdings periodically to determine whether or not it is a good time to change things. Here are four situations that might warrant getting rid of a mutual fund: [ continue reading… ]
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