Each Monday, The Simple Dollar opens up the reader mailbags and answers ten to twenty simple questions offered up by the readers on personal finance topics and many other things. Got a question? Ask it in the comments. You might … Read More

Every other Sunday, The Simple Dollar reviews a personal finance book. A couple years ago, I reviewed Stephen Pollan and Mark Levine’s earlier book Die Broke . I found it really interesting for the first half – which focuses on … Read More

One of the biggest things I encourage people to look for when they open a bank account is that the bank is FDIC insured. Most banks operating in the United States offer this insurance. In an era where people are … Read More

From The Times: Banks face fresh Dubai debt fears FEARS are growing among western banks that Dubai Holding, the personal investment vehicle of the emirate’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, will be the next state-owned Dubai company to default. … Read More

From the WSJ: Soured Loans Put Lenders on the Hook As home loans sour at a rapid clip, mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are aggressively bouncing back defectively underwritten loans to lenders. The result: higher loan-loss reserves … Read More

Note: Employment Posts yesterday: Employment Report: 11K Jobs Lost, 10% Unemployment Rate for graphs of unemployment rate and a comparison to previous recessions. Seasonal Retail Hiring, Employment-Population Ratio, Part Time Workers Unemployment: Record number Unemployed over 26 Weeks, Diffusion Index … Read More

Jim asks: “Wouldn’t it be something if the builders end up beating the banks to the buyers? The banks are satisfied to drip them out - so the builders end up flooding the market and soak up all the buyers.” … Read More

Many newer readers of The Simple Dollar haven’t been exposed to the hundreds of great articles in the archives of the site, so this is a weekly series that highlights the five best posts from one year ago this week, … Read More

A while back (has it been almost eighteen months already?), I wrote a very detailed article about coming up with a debt repayment plan . This plan works – it’s what I did when I realized that I was in … Read More

I didn’t hear any buzz this week as mortgage rates dipped as low as 4.5% with a one-point fee. Maybe its the holidays, or maybe there aren’t many people left who could benefit from a refinance unless rates fall even … Read More