Twenty years ago or so (probably a bit more) at the dawn of email usage, I received a note from an old friend. He was one of my best friends in high school. We hung out often, shared a locker for three years, and even went on double dates with our girlfriends. We had lost touch through the years though. I went off to college, then graduate school, then off to the work … [Read more...]
Deciding the “Pay Down Mortgage or Invest” Debate
Today we have a guest post from Your Money Blueprint. There's been a bit of discussion recently on whether paying off your mortgage or investing was better -- both here at ESI Money (see Which is Better: Paying Off a Mortgage or Investing More?) as well as on Rockstar Finance (see Money Match-Up: Pay Off Debt Versus Invest and here Money Match-Up: Pay Off Mortgage Versus … [Read more...]
Which is Better: Paying Off a Mortgage or Investing More?
Here's a topic that's likely to cause a good bit of debate. I love these sorts of questions. :) Recently I have been receiving a lot of emails around the subject of whether it's better to pay off a mortgage or keep the mortgage and invest instead. For example, here's one I recently received from a reader: One question my husband and I always wrestle with a bit is the … [Read more...]
Wealth Building with Student Loan Debt
The following is a sponsored post from Education Loan Finance. Building wealth can be difficult for folks right out of college and even those who have a few years between them and their alma mater. The biggest factor? Student loan debt. Student loan debt just recently by-passed the $1.5 trillion dollar mark and more than 44 million Americans carry that … [Read more...]
My Response to the Equifax Breach
Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the past couple weeks you've heard that the credit reporting company Equifax was hacked. If this is new news to you, sorry to be the bearer of bad news. You can find details as well as recommended solutions from the FTC. In this post I'm going to detail what we did in response to this nightmare. Equifax Is Evil Before we get … [Read more...]
Pay Off Debt or Invest?
You probably noticed that I've only been posting twice a week since Memorial Day. I decided that I was going to take much of the summer off -- having a GREAT time BTW. I also thought you are probably doing the same and that two posts per week were more than enough for now. I'll go back to three a week after Labor Day. That said, sometimes an idea or situation pops up and … [Read more...]
How Much Should You Spend on a House?
If you look around the web there are a whole host of suggestions on what the "right" or "best" percentage of your income can be spent on a house. Today we'll look at a couple of methods that suggest what you should budget for a house. I'll also share what we've done through the years and my recommendations on what to spend when you buy. The Highest Percentage Most … [Read more...]
Debt Costs a Fortune
We've all heard the stories of people who have gotten out of debt and how wonderful it is. Dave Ramsey has made the "freeeeeedommmmmm" yell standard for his listeners who have eliminated all their debt. And yet the debate rages -- is it wise to pay off all your debt or not? There are arguments on both sides. This post is designed to address one aspect of the debt issue -- … [Read more...]
Wow, It’s Hard to Get a Mortgage These Days!
Now that everyone is up to speed on the fact that we've moved recently, let me share the saga of buying a house in the new city and selling one in the old. Before I get into the details, let me start with how naive I was about the mortgage process these days. It had been a long time since I had a mortgage (almost two decades) and there was a major real estate meltdown and … [Read more...]
How to Buy a House and Pay Off the Mortgage in Less Than 10 Years
Buying a home is the biggest purchase most Americans will ever make, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in one chunk. In addition, there are a whole host of associated costs -- insurance, maintenance, taxes, furnishings, and on and on that make this a gigantic financial issue for all but the wealthiest of us. The impact buying a home can have on a family's finances is … [Read more...]
