Archive for December, 2008
Mortgage Rates Seem to Have Gone Up
Wow. It’s amazing what a difference a week makes. It was only a little over a week ago that I was feeling bummed that rates had gone down since I locked in at 4.875% for a 30 year fixed. Fast forward to today and my credit union’s rate has increased to 5.45% for a 30 [...]
The Best Things in Life are Free
Today was one of those days that you remember for the rest of your life and I didn’t spend a nickel all day. Up here in the Pacific Northwest the weather has been a little abnormal. By that I mean that it snowed. It has been cold for a week and we even saw temperatures [...]
The Things We Spend Our Money on
It sure is interesting to see the kinds of things people spend their money on. Safe to say I wouldn’t be putting this kind of money in to this ride…….
The Onion’s take on the current financial crisis
Housing Crisis Vindicates Guy Who Still Lives With Parents http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/housing_crisis_vindicates $700 Billion Bailout Celebrated With Lavish $800 Billion Executive Party http://www.theonion.com/content/news/700_billion_bailout_celebrated WaMu Files For ChapLev http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/wamu_files_for_chaplev How Did The Economy Go Bad? (Infographic) http://www.theonion.com/content/infograph/how_did_the_economy_go_bad
Decent Video On Consumerism
I liked this 2 minute video talking about why you should spend less on Christmas. It seems like an appropriate video to share during these harder economic times and my overall desire to tout the benefits of jumping off the Christmas present orgy express.
Avoid Specific Wall Street Fraud – Invest in Index Funds
Okay, so that title probably sounds a little bit moronic. I don’t think anyone can avoid the fraud we’ve seen on Wallstreet over the years. Here are a few of my favorites: Enron Worldcom Madoff Mortgage Securities It seems that the only limit to the amount of fraud on Wall street is people’s ability to [...]
If I Had a Crystal Ball – The Freezing My Butt off Edition
Well, it never seems to fail. I’ve never been able to time the market and trying to time interest rates has proven to be just as difficult. I locked in our refinance rate at 4.875% for a 30 year fixed rate loan. It’s a great rate and I’m thrilled to have gotten it. Of course [...]
Quote of the Day – Inflation
“Think of inflation as your friend. Wouldn’t you like to wear $1,000 suits and smoke $100 cigars? I know I would.” Heh. Happy Friday.
American’s Debt Shrinks – First Time Ever
I think everyone should collectively pat themselves on the back. All it took to start reigning in the debt was a massive financial collapse. Hopefully this trend will continue. http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/11/news/economy/flow_of_funds/index.htm?postversion=2008121114 Anyway, check out the article. It’s interesting. I wonder if people are willfully changing their habits, or whether it’s just a lack of available credit……
We’re Going to Refinance Our Home Loan
It was finally too much for me to ignore. We have been paying 5.75% on our mortgage for the last 6 years. We’ve always felt that was a great rate, especially when you consider historical rates. Well, the appeal of a sub 5% loan was finally too much to keep me on the sidelines. We [...]