[quote user="latenightleader"]reg, do you know anything about a better financial history "snapshot" that was being considered as a lending tool?  [/quote] No. Sure don't. But I'm curious... Why would a retired grandma with significant assets go anywhere near a debt card, SEARS or other? And, why would she feel ...

I think part of the problem is the use of the undefined term, "Emergency Fund." From the discussion, these funds can be used for just about about anything. All you have to do is declare an "emergency" and there goes your fund. This is further confused by the way most people determine how much money to put into an ...

[quote user="karenteacher"]I have to ask this question:  if one has a mortgage, does that mean that one should not put money in savings while one pays off the mortgage?  This seems, Mr. Moore, to be what you are saying - pay down the mortgage first, at the expense of all else - and I have a problem with ...

[quote user="haverwench"] I didn't say unwilling, I said unable. I guess I'm not sure what you consider "doing what's required to buy your first house for cash." You could save 50 percent of what you make every year, but if the price of a starter home keeps going up by more than that amount each year, you will never ...

[quote user="haverwench"] OK, but how are people ever supposed to save enough to buy a house for cash when home prices in their area keep rising twice or three times as fast as incomes? [/quote] Ok. If you're unwilling to do what's required to buy your first house for cash, then use debt for your first house. It's one ...

Not having a mortgage at all, or paying the one you do have off in 5 or 6 years, not decades.

If ReservePlus realizes it’s dream, http://www.reserveplus.com/ soon everyone with a 401K retirement account can use a plastic card to access a credit line backed by their 401K retirement account assets. Employees of companies adopting Reserve's service can transfer a portion of their retirement assets to a ReservePlus interest bearing ...

[quote user="wvtrailseeker"]Just wondering if you would take the money, pay off those bills and be broke or save it?[/quote] Are you kidding? Write the check. Write it today. Pay off your debts and don't look back. Here's my thinking: 1. If you managed to accumulate enough cash to pay off all of your debts while you were ...

Tax season is the perfect time to personally discover the deception of a still too frequent claim that the mortgage interest tax deduction is a good reason to enter into or keep a mortgage. If you haven't heard, the sales pitch goes something like this... "The interest on your mortgage is tax deductible, and therefore the goverment is ...

Dear Long, I can't say if any specific MMA is a scam or not. I can say there are less expensive and more goal oriented ways to achieve even better than the 15/20 years mortgage payoff claimed by MMAs. Since you have no other debts and your spending is under control, achieving your desired debt-freedom goals should be a cinch. Use my ...