It shouldn’t surprise anyone that there are things you should do before you make your first investment. The SEC, NASD and all of the various other financial planning organizations all explicitly list three things that should be in place in most cases prior to making your first investment in anything. The first of these is …
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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 for risk. It is axiomatic that the entity that takes risks gets the rewards. Generic …
The Consequences of Not Shopping Multiple Lenders
Minorities get higher rates. They add that the fact minorities are more likely to borrow from institutions specializing in high-priced loans could mean they are being steered to such lenders or that some lenders are unwilling or unable to serve minority neighborhoods. What they describe is called redlining. It is illegal. HUD really gets their …
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Life Insurance – Proper Prior Planning Prevents…
Life Insurance is something that nearly every adult should have, and almost every adult who buys goes about purchasing it the wrong way, at the wrong time, for the wrong reasons, and buys the wrong policy. Is that an indictment of the system or what? Let’s start with what life insurance is. Life insurance is …
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Lenders and Insurance Proceeds
The question that inspired this was can a mortgage company use the flood insurance claim money towards homeowners mortgage loans? This is equally applicable to every other form of insurance on your home – earthquake, regular homeowner’s insurance, and any others that you may have or require. The short answer is yes. The reason that …
Games Lenders Play, Part V
Hello, I’ve been reading your website for awhile now, and have found it very helpful as I’m learning to navigate this crazy loan process! I had a question I was wondering if you could write about/answer. We currently have a mortgage and a secondary line of credit on our condo (we didn’t have a down …
Bridge Loans
One of the things I’m seeing a lot of these days is blanket advice on bridge loans. A bridge loan is a loan that you take out with the explicit intention of having it be short term. The most common situation is a loan against property A, which you own but plan to sell, so …
Smoker’s Vs. Non-Smoker’s Rights
Digger’s Realm trackbacked to my article on California declaring secondhand smoke a pollutant, angry at the “violation” or “smoker’s rights” and saying “Searchlight Crusade who thinks smokers should be taken out and shot.” No Digger, I don’t want you shot, and that’s not what I said. Read the article. I want you to grow up. …
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 to answer the question of whether it’s better to buy or rent and invest the …
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Should I Buy A Home? Part 2: Process
Continued from Part 1: Preparation I am considering buying a home, although I have not made up my mind on the subject. This is not due to indecision, but rather due to a lack of necessary information. There are many factors to be considered in my case, and in order for me to make an …