July 2008 - Posts
The Boston Globe - July 31, 2008
The sweeping housing legislation signed yesterday by President Bush provides a tax credit for first-time home buyers, higher mortgage allowances for expensive markets such as Boston, property tax breaks, and a variety
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The Wall Street Journal - July 31, 2008
As lending standards have become tougher, a rising number of people and businesses are turning to an unlikely source for money: private lenders.
In recent years, the practice of borrowing money from private parties
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The Wall Street Journal - July 26, 2008
A divorced spouse can collect a Social Security retirement benefit based on the work record of an ex-husband (or ex-wife), and it won't affect the latter's retirement benefit -- or the benefit of that person's
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US News & World Report - June 12, 2008
Widowhood poses special challenges in retirement.
When Elaine Williams became a widow four years ago at age 47, she took on extra data-entry work to help make up for the loss of her husband's income. She also
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CBS NEWS - July 28, 2008
Our disfunctional financial system hit a new low last week when Citigroup, the hopeless wreck of Wall Street, announced it had lost $2.5 billion in the past three months -- a cheer went up, and so did the Dow. Only $2.5 billion;
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NRMLA - July 28, 2008
Washington, D.C. – Landmark housing legislation (H.R. 3221) passed by Congress this weekend will make substantial improvements to the federally-insured reverse mortgage program and greatly benefit senior homeowners
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The New York Times - July 25, 2008
If you are ignoring the housing bailout bill because you think it benefits only troubled homeowners, you may miss out on a windfall.
The bill, expected to be passed by the Senate in the next few days and then signed
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The Wall Street Journal - July 27, 2008
The complexity of preparing financially for retirement can make anyone nervous -- but a new survey finds women are more worried than men about the challenges ahead, particularly inflation, health-care costs and
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US News & World Report - July 21, 2008
It's difficult to plan for retirement when you can't predict the precise amount of your Social Security checks. A new tool is available to more accurately estimate what your Social Security benefits will be.
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Financial-Planning.com - July 23, 2008
A week after opening IndyMac Federal Bank to worried customers and a media frenzy, John Bovenzi sat in his sixth-floor chief executive's office laying out what the battered mortgage lender can still offer potential
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NewRetirement Editorial Note: NewRetirement shares some of the concerns voiced by the authors of this article. In particular, we are carefully watching the impact of a rapidly increasing number of brokers entering the reverse mortgage market.
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Seeking Alpha - July 20, 2008
I tend to be in hotel rooms when bubbles burst.
On January 6, 2000, I was on the 30th-something floor of the Marriott hotel across the street from the convention center in San Francisco. I was jet lagged and up working
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The New York Times - July 19, 2008
You have heard that Fannie and Freddie, their gentle names notwithstanding, may cripple the financial system without a large infusion of taxpayer money. You have gleaned that jobs are disappearing, housing prices
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Washington Post - July 20, 2008
Would you still put money in a tax-advantaged retirement fund if you couldn't touch it until you retired?
And when I say you couldn't touch it, I mean you couldn't take out loans or withdraw funds under any circumstances.
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US News & World Report - July 16, 2008
Almost everyone aims to attain financial security in retirement. But each succeeding generation expects to be more self-reliant than the preceding one, according to a new online survey by Charles Schwab, Age
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Washington Business Journal - July 14, 2008
Almost three out of five new middle-class retirees will outlive their financial assets if they keep up their pre-retirement ways of living, according to an Ernst & Young LLP study on behalf of Americans
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New York Times - July 13, 2008
IT’S dispiriting indeed to watch the United States financial system, supposedly the envy of the world, being taken to its knees. But that’s the show we’re watching, brought to you by somnambulant regulators, greedy bank
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USA Today - July 10, 2008
The economic downturn has thrown an extra problem at older Baby Boomers who had planned to retire over the next few years: They now have less money at their disposal than they had projected.
Retirement portfolios are
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The Wall Street Journal - July 10, 2008
When prices are rising and bills are pressing, any available cash may seem like the perfect solution to a short-term crunch. And that means people switching jobs these days may be more tempted than ever to cash
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U.S. News & World Report - July 11, 2008
Baby boomer women are more likely to have a more financially secure retirement than their predecessors. A new study found that men and women at large companies are both on track to produce the same share of
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Palm Beach Daily News - July 6, 2008
Are the rocky financial markets making you sick?
It could be time to consider the cardinal rule of investing: If you can't sleep at night, keep more money safe — in cash instruments guaranteed directly by the
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USA TODAY - July 2, 2008
Long before workers at the San Diego Food Bank began distributing cardboard food cartons from the back of a truck on a recent day, elderly men and women, many needing walkers and metal canes, formed a line in a church parking
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New York Times - July 3, 2008
RISK-AVERSE? Clueless as to what P.&.L means? You, too, can be an entrepreneur.
Not the hard-driving type who makes the business news pages. Rather, the laid-back, come-what-may variety. Many of them are part of
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Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, June 26, 2008
Rising costs of food and fuel, declines and volatility in the housing and financial markets, and an ever-tightening credit crunch have gathered to form a perfect storm that could lead some Americans
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The Providence Journal Saturday June 28, 2008
A new state law designed to protect consumers from the risks of “reverse mortgages” mandates greater disclosure of fees charged by lenders but still permits them to penalize borrowers who pay
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Newsweek. May 11, 2008 Issue
Wondering How Much You Ought To Save For The Future? Lots Of Luck Finding A Good Answer.
HOW MUCH MONEY WILL IT TAKE TO RETIRE? THE figure you hear the most often is a nice, round $1 million, and it probably depresses
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US News & World Report, July 1st, 2008Employees aren't sure how much of their salary they should replace in
retirement. As part of an online test on retirement income, MetLife
Mature Market Institute and GfK North America asked, "What percent of
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