Getting a reverse mortgage is no simple task. There are things you need to know that could possibly affect your financial future. See why counseling is an important first step. The retirement years can often be a time of high … Read More

The costs related to reverse mortgages are no more expensive than traditional mortgage loans. Borrowers should expect the fees to be in the customary range. Reverse Mortgage Expenses Closing costs on a reverse mortgage are comparable with the expenses of … Read More

Leslie Berkman at the Press Enterprise writes about how the housing bubble and bust impacted a small city in Socal: Turnkey Tales: Moreno Valley is prime example of housing boon and a bust . An excerpt: Last year the inventory … Read More

Every Sunday, The Simple Dollar reviews a personal finance book or other book of interest to Simple Dollar readers. The entire argument of Seth Godin’s book Linchpin is that there are no longer any great jobs where someone tells you … Read More

Jennifer writes in: Yesterday, I received a notice from [my credit card company] that my credit limit had been lowered from $10,000 to $4,000 on my primary credit card. I was immediately worried that my credit had been damaged by … Read More

Here are two graphs that show the weeks unemployed over the last 40 years. Click on graph for larger image in new window. The first graph shows the number of unemployed in four categories as provided by the BLS: less … Read More

There is a long tradition on this blog of ” picking on poor Gretchen ” - mostly from Tanta, but I’ve added a little. Anyone who follows the above link, please scroll down for Tanta’s pieces. Gretchen’s column today is … Read More

From Robert Shiller in the NY Times: Mom, Apple Pie and Mortgages . Shiller asks: [W]hat is the long-term justification for putting taxpayers on the line to subsidize homeownership? Is this nothing more than a sacred cow in American society … Read More

From Bloomberg: Volcker Criticizes Greek Budget Derivatives ‘Abuse’ (ht jb) “Surely the recent revelations about the use (and abuse) of complex derivatives in obscuring the extent of Greek financial obligations reinforces the need for greater transparency and less complexity,” Volcker … Read More

One of the economists who correctly forecast the housing bust was Christopher Thornberg while at The Anderson School at UCLA. He is now at Beacon Economics. Here are a few comments from Thronberg yesterday … From the Contra Costa Times: … Read More