Browsing Category: "Investing"
Buying a duplex is a great investment.
Six years ago my wife and I decided to purchase a home just before our wedding day. After a few months of looking we decided to build a starter home close to my work. It seemed like the perfect decision to make at the time. Interest rates were low, around 5.5% for a 30 years fixed mortgage. After looking at multiple apartments we realized that our rent at a nice apartment would be about the same price as 1,600 square foot home.
I’m not writing this article to tell you I regret purchasing the home, I’m writing to tell you I could have made an even better financial move than purchasing the home. We lived in the home for just over 2 years and sold it for a profit of about $8,000, not great but not bad for newly weds just out of college.
If you are ready to purchase your first house or home then you are entering the market at a great time. Right now home prices are down all across the nation, bad for those of us who already own a home, but great for those just entering the market. Also interest rates are still pretty low even for a fixed rate loan. Getting a great deal on real estate is pretty easy right now and it could be one of the most important moves you can make financially.
If I could make a suggestion to those of you looking to purchase that starter home, don’t. Think about purchasing a duplex instead of the traditional home. We could have purchased a nice duplex for about $175,000 instead of our home for $112,000. It might sound like a lot more money but you live in one side fo the duplex and rent out the other side. Remember I told you our rent would be about the same for a nice apartment as a new home? Same deal here, that duplex was being rented for $1,000 per month I know because that’s where my wife was living before we got married. The payment, tax and insurance on $175,000 loan would have been about $1,200 per month, you can do the math here.
Now, of course there are many risks associated with renting especially if you depend on that income to make your payment so consider this before jumping to purchase the duplex. I’ll write another article soon about all the risks and rewards associated with renting.
Honest Financial Adviser
How to find an Honest Financial adviser
Finding an honest financial adviser is the most important part of preparing for retirement. It doesn’t matter if you make $10,000 or $1,000,000 per year you should use a financial adviser. You may think you are the best person to manage your money, but let’s face it, you are always busy, usually lazy and are the world’s worst procrastinator. Before finding a financial adviser you need to understand their function and how they are compensated for their hard earned work.
Good real estate investment ideas?
Before you take your good real estate investment ideas and spend your life savings think carefully about the consequences. Over the past several months several hundreds of thousands of families lost their homes due to rising interest rates and a gloomy economy. Millions of investors are watching their retirement savings plunge with no signs of relief.
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Prosper Lending Club
Prosper Lending Club
Ok, thought I would give it a try. Made my first $100 deposit on Friday and funds should be available this week. Prosper is basically a lending club that either gives you access to loans that are a little better rates than you could get from banks and credit card companies or gives you the opportunity to loan your money to other consumers that need the money, giving you a better return on your investment than any savings account, CD, or money market account.
How cheap can you send your kids to a four year college or university?
How cheap can you go to a four year college or university?
A four year college or university is an important step in a successful career oriented life. It’s obvious that college graduates earn higher salaries than those who only graduate high school. College also stimulates the mind and leads the brain down creative avenues. College also gives you the opportunity to meet many unique people from different cultures and provide you with the opportunity to make job connections for the future. With this said, it’s obvious there are advantages related to attending college, but can everyone afford the rising costs of a four year degree? The average cost to attend a public university might be lower than you think, about $6,000, but this is still almost $25,000 over the course of four years. So just how cheap can you send your children to a four year post secondary school?
Securing your child’s retirement
Securing your child’s retirement
It may sound like a strange idea, especially when a very small percentage of us have our own retirement secured, but just imagine how you could change your family tree forever! The only problem with the concept is that most people are too greedy or selfish to actually follow through with the plan.
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Good news, Our economy is going down?
Good news, Our economy is going down?
If you haven’t noticed, the US economy is taken a huge turn for the bad. Stocks have tumbled and the over the past three days The Dow Jones industrial average has fell nearly 515 points. It’s a little scary to think that many stocks, especially those in the financial sector may continue to fall even more over the next few months. Why is this good news?
INVEST, Now is the Time.
INVEST, Now is the Time.
When talking about investing, especially in individual stocks, you might have heard the old saying “buy low, sell high”. However, what happens many times is investors get scared when the stock price drops well below what they purchased for and they end up selling for a small loss, when they should be buying more.
Three ways to Increase 401K Contributions without hurting your budget
Three ways to Increase 401K Contributions without hurting your budget
You know you need to either start contributing to your 401k plan or increase the amount you are contributing but where do the funds come from? It can be hard to pull money out of your normal budget to invest for retirement especially if you are a little older. The more financial responsibilities you have in life the harder it is to take any money out of pocket each month or week. Here are a couple of solutions to this problem….
A Quick Lesson on Mutual Funds
A quick lesson on mutual funds
There are many ways to save money for retirement, the major problem you might discover is how to invest your hard earned money. The first step in choosing where to stash your dough is to learn everything you can about as many different options that are available. A great type of investments for retirement is a mutual fund.
