Entries from Searchlight Crusade tagged with 'investing'

Why You Shouldn't Have All Your Money In Real Estate

Is there any problems with having all your money in only real estate? That was a question I saw. The answer is YES there are problems! 1) No diversification. The real estate market tanks and you are hosed. The...

Should I Buy A Home? Part 3: Consequences

Continued from Part 1: Preparation and Part 2: Process This is about the long term consequences of the decision to buy or not to buy a home, and economic benefits analysis into whether you should want to buy. In order...

First Time Buyer Programs and Multi-Family Housing

Can I qualify for first time home buyer financing if I buy a duplex and live in one and rent out the other? I thought if I bought a duplex, lived in one side and rented out the other would...

Mortgage Protection Insurance - The Worst Life Insurance Policy You Can Waste Your Money On

One of a long series of emails about this horrid product: (identifying details redacted) Learn How To Make More Money Per Client ($500-$1000) In This Workshop You Will Learn Why The Most Successful Mortgage & Real Estate Professionals Across The...

Why Renting Really Is For Suckers (And What To Do About It)

(This article was originally written in August 2006. The market and loan rate figures have changed, but the basic information is the same, as is the conclusion) Okay, you might expect a Real Estate Agent to have a post with...

Investment Risk and Paying off the Mortgage Early

An email: Hi Dan, I was reading your article on "should you pay off your mortgage faster?" (DM: link here DELETED It'll be a fresh 30 year loan and I'm 44 years old so this discussion has interest, I...

Confusing Past Performance and the Present Situation with Future Planning

The most common mistake in real estate (and every other aspect of financial planning, for that matter) is to assume the situation now is going to continue indefinitely. In the stock market, people chase last year's returns. They "wait for...

Investing in Second Trust Deeds

This article was originally from April 2006 - anybody want to tell me I didn't call it? Of course, by that time it was like predicting a dropped anvil would fall but that was when the question was asked From...

The Biggest Risk

If you've been around the financial planning business any length of time, you've likely run into the saying "The biggest risk is not taking one." It is endemic to all financial instruments, indeed, all investments, that return is the reward...

Confusing Past Performance and the Present Situation with Future Planning

The most common mistake in real estate (and every other aspect of financial planning, for that matter) is to assume the situation now is going to continue indefinitely. In the stock market, people chase last year's returns. They "wait for...

Killing the Goose That Lays The Golden Eggs - And All of Its Descendants

(expletive) unbelievable. Or rather, should I say, all too believable: House Democrats Contemplate Abolishing 401(k) Tax Breaks Words fail, but I'm going to try anyway: Do you have any idea how much of a difference for the worse it...

First Time Buyer Programs and Multi-Family Housing

Can I qualify for first time home buyer financing if I buy a duplex and live in one and rent out the other? I thought if I bought a duplex, lived in one side and rented out the other would...

Real Estate and Loan Agents Selling Mortgage Life Insurance

Just got another in a long series of emails about this horrid product: (identifying details redacted) Learn How To Make More Money Per Client ($500-$1000) In This Workshop You Will Learn Why The Most Successful Mortgage & Real Estate Professionals...

Investment Risk and Paying off the Mortgage Early

Hi Dan, I was reading your article on "should you pay off your mortgage faster?" (DM: link here DELETED It'll be a fresh 30 year loan and I'm 44 years old so this discussion has interest, I don't really...

There is No Such Thing as a Risk Free Investment

I got an email asking me about whether purchase money loans were risk free, as in the buyer could walk away without consequence. Well, it's not the case: There are consequences to credit, tax consequences, and consequences to future financial...

Company Stock in Qualified Retirement Accounts

Most of what you read on financial planning in the media is garbage, but here is one of those occasionally useful pieces: IRA Rollovers Could Have Tax Implications. Here's the idea: You keep company stock in your qualified plan aside...

Passive Asset Allocation

A while ago I talked about Passive Asset Allocation as a way to beat market return as a strategy. So I'm going to write a bit about what it is, why it works, and how to do it. Passive Asset...

How Do You Think About Money?

I am profoundly lucky in that I read "I Will Fear No Evil" in high school. Not an assignment, I just like to read, and Robert A. Heinlein has always been one of my favorite authors. A very few pages...

Naming Beneficiaries - Do It, and Keep Them Current

what happen when 401K leave blank on beneficiary Nothing unless you die, and it's not covered in your will or other documents. Then the state's intestate code takes effect. Each state has a law for how the estates of...

Investing Exclusively in Real Estate?

Is there any problems with having all your money in only real estate? That was a question I saw. The answer is YES there are problems! 1) No diversification. The real estate market tanks, like it has right now,...