Last week, I talked about refinancing your mortgage to improve cash flow, but without extending your time horizon. Today, I want to talk about something slightly different… Refinancing your mortgage to accelerate your mortgage payoff.
For now, we’ll set aside the debate over whether you should pay off your mortgage early or string it out and [...]

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If the American Dream is to own your own home, then owning a timeshare or a vacation home may not be far down the list. Many people dream of having enough money to spend a couple of weeks every summer at the beach or in the mountains.
Owning a timeshare allows you to dip your toes [...]

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In case you haven’t been paying attention, President Obama is expected to announce a bevy of proposed changes that are aimed at reducing the deficit. Perhaps the most intriguing of these is the so-called “Buffett Rule,” which will be a new minimum tax rate for individuals making over $1M/year.
Details still aren’t available, but it sounds [...]

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I’ve written in the past about our allowance system. In short, we give our kids $3/month for each year of age, and ask them to split it into three categories. 60% can be spent as they see fit, 30% goes into long-term savings (currently at ING Direct), and 10% is set aside for the charity [...]

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Have you looked at mortgage rates lately? They are (once again) crazy low, with 30 year fixed rates averaging just a shade over 4%. I feel like I’ve been saying this over and over, but rates can’t get much lower than this, so if you’re looking to refinance refinancing your mortgage, now is a great [...]

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Details are now starting to trickle in on the replacement of the Schwab Visa cash back credit card. For starters, the “2% on everything” will end on 10/31/2011.
In place of the old card, Bank of America will be issuing a new card that offers 1% cash back on retail purchases, 2% on groceries, and 3% [...]

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If you’ve been to a major professional sporting event lately, you know the accounting: tickets $50 each, parking $35, beer $8 per, hot dogs $5, ice cream $4, souvenirs $15 for the cheap ones… There’s simply no getting out of that stadium without spending several hundred dollars.
But wait! There is a solution! Read on about [...]

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Interest payments on home mortgages have long been tax deductible in the United States. In fact, prior to the Tax Reform Act of 1986, interest on all personal loans was tax deductible. The deductibility of loan interest dates back to the introduction of the income tax system in 1913 when, according to an article in [...]

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In talking about the Chase bonus categories last week, I mentioned that they were offering a $100 signup bonus, but guess what? They’re actually offering a $200 bonus!
As it turns out, they have two different offers for the same card. The one that I linked to last week includes a 12 month 0% balance [...]

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The American paradigm for decades was that you worked for an employer your entire life. Then at 65, you were feted at a retirement party, handed a gold watch by your boss, and sent off on a serene path into your Golden Years.
After 40 or 50 years savoring all the good things about work life [...]

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