| A mortgage is 'good' debt for those who get the right one
All debt is not created equal. While financial advisers almost reflexively urge consumers to avoid carrying credit-card balances from month to month and to go easy on boat loans, car loans and other forms of debt, they usually make an exception for a mortgage to buy your home. A home mortgage is one of the best uses of credit.
The fundamental reasoning is simple: Although you can save your money and pay for clothes, cars and maybe even a college degree with cash, few people could ever hope to save enough to buy a home for cash, especially during their child-rearing years when they have the greatest need. A mortgage allows you to buy a home after having saved a relatively small amount of its value, perhaps 5 percent or less, and to reap the financial gains as the home's value grows over the years.
Web scheme costs woman $23000
A woman who lost more than $23,000 to a website get-rich-quick scheme has warned others not to get sucked in when the American company returns to New Zealand next week. Karen Clunie said: "If I can save just one person from losing $20,000, I'll be happy." The stay-at-home mother, from Newlands, Wellington, signed up to the StoresOnline scheme with her sister in 2004, attracted by the prospect of making money from home via the Internet. But after paying $6500 for a starter pack to create six websites, $1000 for financing, $14,000 for coaching and support packs, and $1800 to register as a limited liability company in the US, she made only two $40 sales through her corporate gifts website. The United States-based StoresOnline has operated in New Zealand under various incarnations since 2001.
One boomer finds her retirement outlook isn't gloomy after all
Retirement was a scary concept for Linda Finn . Over the years, she says, news stories had made it clear that people don't save enough for retirement, that Social Security is expected to go broke, and that some baby boomers may never be able to afford to stop working. With every new headline, Finn worried that she might be one of those retirees destined to outlive their resources. Fearful that she could end up penniless and homeless, Finn, 47, applied for a Boston Globe Money Makeover, saying she needed professional help to get her retirement savings on track. "I don't even know how to approach it," she said. "I don't know what to look at." So she was both surprised and delighted when fee-only financial adviser Barbara C. Nevils of Nevils Financial LLC , Lynnfield, told her that she had not only done a good job of saving, but that she was headed toward a comfortable retirement.
Paying taxes now can offer future benefits
Q: I will be retiring within the next few months, and I am confused about how to deal with my retirement accounts. When I stop working, must I convert my existing 403(b) accounts into IRA accounts?
Can I simply stop contributing and allow them to remain dormant until I need to withdraw the money? If I have to convert, will this have an impact on my desire to convert existing IRA accounts to Roth IRAs in 2010?
A reader in Arlington Heights, Ill.
A: If you have less than $5,000 stashed in your account, your employer could force you out of the plan.
But if you have more than that tucked away, you should be able to leave the money where it is until you have to begin taking required minimum distributions at age 701/2 or until 2010. That's the first year savers can convert traditional individual retirement accounts to Roth IRAs regardless of income restrictions.
How to buy a right home
All debt is not created equal. While financial advisers almost reflexively urge consumers to avoid carrying credit card balances from month to month and to go easy on boat loans, car loans and other forms of debt, they usually make an exception for a mortgage used to buy your home. A home mortgage is one of the very best uses of credit. How to buy the right home 1. Buy what you can afford 2. Be smart with equity 3. Get a loan that fits your finances The fundamental reasoning is simple: While you could save your money and buy clothes, cars and maybe even college tuition outright with cash, very few people could ever hope to save enough to buy a home for cash, especially during their child-rearing years when they have the greatest need.
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