Report Shows US Deficit to Exceed $1 Trillion Next Year

America's debt is growing to levels not seen since World War II. 

Source CBNNews.com https://ift.tt/2TX1zjU

Credit Card Cash Advances are Expensive. Try These Alternatives

'A Blockbuster Economy': Despite 500,000 Fewer Jobs and Tariff Trouble, Here's What's Really Going On

"We have almost eight million more jobs than workers. We have the lowest unemployment rate in 50 years, the lowest inflation rate in 50 years, and the highest wage gains in 20 years. That doesn't sound like an economy that's doing poorly to me. In fact, that sounds like a blockbuster economy," economist Stephen Moore told CBN News.

Source CBNNews.com https://ift.tt/2P8Cbcl

Product Recommendations, Requested By Readers

One of the most common types of questions I get from readers for the Reader Mailbag is product recommendations. People are thinking about making a significant purchase or are rethinking an ordinary purchase they make frequently and they want to know whether I’ve done the research myself on that type of product and what I’ve concluded.

What I usually do with questions like this is limit them to one or two per mailbag and then directly answer reader questions that go beyond that (provided I’m not completely swamped, of course). This means that there are a lot of specific recommendations that readers have asked for that simply didn’t make it into the mailbag.

Today, I want to fix that. Here are a bunch of specific product types that readers have requested (or that I did a bunch of homework on myself and wanted to share) and my recommendations for a specific product to buy in that category.

Before we get started, though, let’s talk about my basis for making recommendations.

How I Choose Products

There are a few main things that I think about when deciding on any purchase.

First of all, I’m price conscious. This should be obvious, of course. I don’t assume that the more expensive item is better. Rather, I generally seek out the best “bang for the buck,” and that’s often among the lower priced options.

Second, it has to reliably and effectively do the job I want it to do. In other words, it needs to do the tasks I want it to do without lots of extra steps or extra effort, and it needs to do that job consistently every time. I want minimal maintenance and minimal steps when using the product, and I absolutely don’t want failure. This means that there are often some low-end versions of products that I skip over.

Third, if I’m unsure, I tend to rely on the store brand or on the “Best Buy” recommended in Consumer Reports. That usually provides a starting point for purchases. If I find that there’s something lacking in that purchase – which is rare – I’ll move on and try something else based on the above two principles.

Finally, if I’m buying a non-consumable item that’s new to me, I virtually always try to buy it used and as inexpensively as possible. This allows me to figure out whether it’s something I’ll use regularly and what features I personally need in such an item. This isn’t always possible, but if you’re willing to poke around secondhand stores and local buy/sell/trade groups and ask your friends, this often does the trick. It saves me from spending a lot on an item that might not do exactly what I’m hoping or might not click with me like I’m imagining.

Here are a whole bunch of different product categories, along with my recommendations for each of them. Most of these came from reader questions; a few were due to my own recent explorations.

Bath Soap

I generally buy whatever I can find on sale. For example, right now I’m using Duke Cannon soap, which are these giant bars of soap that I was able to buy for $1 each from a store that was going out of business. I bought several of them. I wouldn’t pay the normal retail price for them – they’re pretty expensive per bar – but for $1, they last for a long time.

When I use liquid bath soap, I put it in a pump bottle. This is because the lids on most liquid bath soaps seem to dispense way more soap than I need. Spending a minute or so pouring the liquid soap into a large pump bottle and then keeping the pump bottle in the shower means that I can dispense soap by the pump, getting a much smaller amount that actually does the job rather than watching a bunch of the liquid soap go down the drain. If for some reason a pump bottle isn’t an option for you, then I would lean toward bar soaps, as they seem to get a lot more uses per dollar than liquid soap that’s excessively dispensed.

I’ve only bought one kind of bath that I hated, and I don’t even have to mention it here because it’s no longer sold anywhere in the world as far as I can tell from some internet research. No need to disparage a company that discontinued a bad product and kept the ones that do the job.

Coffee

The best bang-for-the-buck coffee I’ve found is Eight O’Clock Coffee, original, whole bean. That’s what I’ll grab by default whenever I need coffee and there’s a bean grinder available to me. When I make coffee, I take about one cup of whole beans, grind them on a coarse setting, and then put them in a cold brew coffee maker with four cups of water and sit it in the fridge overnight. I can then heat up the coffee in the morning if I want (I usually prefer it cold, though).

Since the question will inevitably be asked, we use a coffee bean grinder we received as a gift years ago that doesn’t seem to be made any more. If I were to buy one, I would go with the KRUPS Pro burr grinder if I had to have an electric one, or I’d get the manual Whereamoz burr grinder that’s done by hand but quite a bit cheaper. I do not recommend a blade grinder for coffee beans as the blades cause friction that can burn the beans, as I’ve experienced in the past. Blade grinders are definitely cheaper, but it’s not worth the burnt-tasting coffee. The KRUPS model is the least expensive good quality electric burr grinder I’ve seen, and it was recommended to me by a coffee-loving friend who was suggesting a great entry-level grinder.

As for brewing cold brew coffee, I highly recommend this Gourmia cold brew coffee maker, which comes in around $20 and is the one I use (I got mine on sale, but the regular price is quite good). You just put the coarse grounds in the filter insert, add water up to the 32 ounce line, and stick it in the fridge. It takes about ten seconds to clean (at most).

Condiments

This seemed to be more of a question of what condiments I keep around as staples in the fridge. So, let’s go take a look.

Ketchup, store brand (I can’t tell the difference between it and Heinz)
Mustard, yellow, store brand
Mustard, brown, French’s (we often buy store brand, not sure where we picked this up)
Mustard, brown, Pommery Meaux, which was a gift and is fantastic but I am not paying that much for mustard
Mayonnaise, Hellman’s. I don’t think my local store even has a store brand version of mayo.
Sriracha, Huy Fong (the one with the rooster on the bottle)
Ssam sauce, Momofuku, my wife is addicted to this stuff
Pickles, homemade
Sauerkraut, homemade
Preserved lemon, homemade

I’m not sure what else counts as a condiment.

I hang onto empty condiment squirt bottles. This is because I love making condiment mixes, as described here. When I buy a new bottle of ketchup, for example, I’ll probably use half of it immediately making a new condiment mix to put in the old bottle. Here’s a list of many of the mixes I like; my favorite is “fry sauce.”

Deodorant

I buy whatever’s on sale, usually whenever I notice a three-pack on sale. This is sometimes a warehouse club buy. I don’t have a particular brand preference, as they all seem to do reasonably well. The last bundle I bought was a six pack of Speed Stick Power and those seem to do a really good job (and they were quite cheap).

Dishwasher Detergent

Again, I usually buy the least expensive bulk option at the store. I find that if you take a few basic steps to keep your dishwasher clean and keep soap scum from building up inside it and on the sprayer heads, most dishwasher detergents do more or less the same job. Right now, it looks like we have a bucket of Finish pods under the sink, likely purchased at a warehouse club by my wife sometime recently.

If I have time, I’ll sometimes make an ice cube tray full of my own homemade dishwashing detergent by mixing together a cup of baking soda, a quarter cup of salt, a couple of drops of liquid dish soap, and enough lemon juice so that it turns into something I can mold when mixed thoroughly. I press this mixture into the wells of an ice cube tray, let it dry out for a couple of days, and then pop them out and keep them in a jar near the dishwasher. These are really cheap to make; the only thing keeping me from doing this all the time is that I simply forget to do it and then I need to run a load and I’m out of them.

A great trick for making any dishwashing detergent work well is to regularly clean out your dishwasher. I do this whenever I notice that there are spots on the dishes when they come out of the dishwasher. I just put a cup of vinegar in a spray bottle along with a bit of lemon juice, then I spray all of it all over the inside of the dishwasher and run an empty load. (I actually mentioned this in a frugal life skills article I posted recently.) This makes all dishwasher detergents work quite well, in my experience.

Garbage Bags

Many years ago on The Simple Dollar, I noted that I didn’t like using store brand trash bags because I had many experiences in which they ripped out on me during normal use. I found that, back then, if I filled them much more than half full, they would frequently rip out all over my kitchen or entryway floor, and if I was only filling them halfway, I might as well buy the name brand that allowed me to fill them completely, as it put less plastic in the landfill, meant I took out the trash half as often, and the cost for the name brand bags was barely twice as much per bag as the cheap brands.

Since then, I’ve switched back to store brand trash bags, specifically Target’s Up and Up kitchen and yard drawstring trash bags. I’ve tried a few different store brand bags at retailers I have easy access to and these do the best job for the buck.

I should note that, if you’re a Costco member, Kirkland Signature drawstring bags are even more highly recommended. I was able to pick up a bulk box of both kitchen sized and yard sized bags from a Costco once when shopping at one with a friend (and taking some notes for The Simple Dollar along the way) and I found that they did a great job for a very economical price per bag. Unfortunately, I don’t live close enough to a Costco to make this worthwhile.

Kitchen Knives

I generally don’t recommend that people buy a butcher block full of knives for kitchen use. Most people really only need two or three knives in the kitchen – a paring knife, a bread knife, and a chef’s knife will do the trick. Paring knives work well for small things, particularly trimming vegetables and fruit. Chef’s knives work well for cutting larger things, like heads of cabbage or meat, and for chopping. Bread knives work well for, well, cutting bread.

If you’re just buying those three singular knives, the absolute best bang for the buck for those types of knives is Victorinox, on all three counts. The Victorinox chef’s knife is probably the best one I’ve ever used, period, and it’s a fraction of the cost of expensive ones. Their paring knife is amazing and costs less than $8. Their bread knife is excellent and is around $20. You can get those three knives for about $50 and have knives that will last you for many, many years and handle virtually everything you’ll do in a home kitchen.

I would recommend getting a low cost honing steel and honing the chef’s knife and paring knife regularly. This will keep the edge on the blade for a very long time so that it cuts magnificently even many years from now. Here’s a great guide for using a honing steel.

Razors

I have this wonderful safety razor that I sometimes use. It’s a Merkur double edged safety razor, for which I have a box of replacement blades. This is a very inexpensive option, as I just replace the blade itself regularly, and the blades cost a penny or two a pop. That’s cheap!

The only problem is that I’ll shave with this a dozen times or so and then I’ll be rushing and I’ll cut myself and start bleeding all over and end up making a huge mess and spending a bunch of time stopping the bleeding and cleaning myself up when I can ill afford it. At that point, I inevitably stick the safety razor back in the closet for several months.

What I typically use is Harry’s subscription razors. I use these in the shower, using my normal shower soap as a “shave cream.” I get my face nice and wet with hot water after washing my hair and using a bit of soap and/or shampoo as shave cream, dive right in with that razor. I have to rinse it a few times in the shower water to get a good shave, but it does the job. I find I need to hone the cartridge after four or five shaves, and then after five or so honings, the cartridge needs to get tossed, so a cartridge usually lasts me a couple of months.

I hone the blades by using a technique called “stropping.” Basically, I take a Harry’s razor with the cartridge in it, pull out an old pair of blue jeans, and then run the razor in the wrong direction down each pant leg ten or so times. That’s enough to get the razor honed so that it works well again. I usually do this when I get out of the shower and put on a pair of old jeans for weekend activities like hiking or working in the yard. I already have the old pair of jeans and I have the razor because I just got out of the shower, so I just do it and it’s done in thirty seconds or so.

So, in terms of “subscribing,” I actually use them at a lower rate than even the slowest rate at which they’ll send me razors. So, I subscribed for a while, then cancelled the subscription and now I have tons and tons of blades that will last me for years.

Aside from an old-fashioned safety razor, which I’m apparently incapable of using without cutting myself badly once a month or so, this is the best “bang for the buck” option I’ve found. You don’t have to “strop” the cartridges if you don’t want, but it does get many, many more uses out of a single cartridge for something that takes maybe 30 seconds every 10 days or so.

Shoes

The frequent question I’m asked is about shoes for general purpose use – walking, light hiking, occasional sports, and things like that. I’m rarely asked about hardcore athletic shoes or dress shoes.

My current recommendation for the best “bang for the buck” general purpose shoe is the Reebok Royal Astrostorm, which can be found often in the $20-25 range and do a magnificent job for the price. They’re just simple shoes that do the job, and they’re inexpensive enough that you don’t feel bad wearing them out in the mud or in the garden or anything like that. These are the best general purpose $25 shoes I’ve ever seen. I’ve obviously seen better shoes, but they were marginally better at many multiples of the price. These are great for walking on pavement, for low-intensity hiking and trail walking, and for pretty much any non-athletic use you can think of. They won’t pass for dress shoes, but they’re great for everything else, especially at the cost.

I don’t really have a recommendation for women’s shoes, unfortunately. Sarah typically buys “whatever New Balance shoes are on sale” and wears them into oblivion.

Slow Cooker

Easy. Just buy one that’s available at your local secondhand store. Most secondhand stores seem to have slow cookers, so just go in there and pick one.

What if you want to buy new, though? Maybe you can’t find a used one, or you’re buying one for a gift. My pick is the Crock Pot 6 Quart Manual, which clocks in at under $30 and has a large 6 quart crock that can make a huge amount of soup and pretty much any meal you can think of for a large family.

If you are frequently going to be out of the house and want a slow cooker that can automatically switch to a “keep warm” mode at a certain time (keeping food hot enough to keep bacteria at bay, but not so hot that it keeps cooking and burns), I’d probably suggest the Crock Pot 6 Quart with Timer. The timing mechanism adds $20 to the price, but it can make all the difference when it comes to some busy families.

Smartphones

My recommendation here is to play cellular providers off of each other to get new customer discounts as often as you can. Simply be willing to jump from provider to provider as necessary and sometimes use the threat of jumping to your benefit when talking to a cellular provider at the end of a contract.

If you do that, you can usually get a good phone very inexpensively. My strategy has been to get the previous generation iPhone when hopping around like this, because it’s almost always at a significantly lower price than the newest models, but Apple (thus far) has done a great job of supporting older iPhone models for many years. Then, use that phone until either the device isn’t being actively supported, you need a new device because of damage, or there is some change in your current cell phone agreement. At that point, go look for a new cell phone contract.

Pay-as-you-go phones are a great option if your data and voice needs are pretty low, meaning you don’t rely on having a data connection for work and you mostly only use them for emergencies or low-importance socializing. If the most urgent thing you use your phone for outside of life-or-death emergencies is arranging a meetup with some friends, I generally recommend choosing Ting as your provider and using a phone you already have (as it works with most phones). If you don’t have a phone, get one of their refurbished options.

Final Thoughts

As you probably observed, I buy a lot of store brands and bulk items, and I tend to really research what the best “bang for the buck” items are on non-consumable purchases. I actually enjoy figuring out the best option for a particular product type.

As always, if you want my input on a specific product, follow me on Facebook and send me a direct message asking about the type of product. I’ll probably share my findings in an upcoming mailbag or in a future post like this one.

The post Product Recommendations, Requested By Readers appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

Source The Simple Dollar https://ift.tt/2No56qc

5 Tax Moves to Make if You’re a Newlywed (Once the Honeymoon Is Over)

Work-at-Home Jobs: Forum and Chat Moderator

Most topics and areas of interests have at least one group, forum, or chat dedicated to them on the Internet. Left without guidance, however, they can grow into a chaotic discussion space. That is where forum and chat moderators come in – they keep them in order. Since you can find so many of these […]

The post Work-at-Home Jobs: Forum and Chat Moderator appeared first on The Work at Home Woman.

Source The Work at Home Woman https://ift.tt/2NpeWZ1

Deal of the week: Sainsbury’s 10p off per litre of fuel for bank holiday

China tariffs estimated to cost average American family $1,000 per year

Existing and proposed tariffs on goods imported from China will cost the average American family $1,000 per year, according to an analysis by JPMorgan.President Donald Trump announced the tariffs earlier this year as part of an escalating trade war.Already, HuffPost reports, tariffs that have been put in place are [...]

Source Business - poconorecord.com https://ift.tt/33SsK3N

How to Get Paid $15/Hour as a Search Engine Evaluator

Nine Frugal Tips I’ve Passed Along While Teaching My Kids Life Skills

One of the biggest subtle themes of this summer has been teaching our children a number of life skills and encouraging them to practice them. This includes ordinary household tasks like doing laundry, preparing food, doing dishes, cleaning rooms, vacuuming, and so on – things that we all have to do to keep ourselves clean, our clothes clean, and our home clean.

While my children are all several years from living on their own, Sarah and I both believe in the value of them being well-practiced at these life skills when they move out so that all of the other changes that will hit them when they live on their own aren’t nearly as overwhelming and they don’t fall into some bad habits and routines immediately.

As I’ve worked with each of them on learning these life tasks, I’ve noticed that there are a lot of really useful little frugal things we do as a matter of routine that were exposed by my kids when they were asking questions along the way. I actually started making a list of these things, and I wanted to share them with you.

Use cold water when doing most laundry. I basically don’t use hot water on laundry at all any more. Hot water means that all of that water has to be heated up first, eating up energy and dinging our energy bill, plus hot water tends to set stains in clothes. On really dirty non-stained clothes, hot water might be better at getting them clean, but unless you’re putting clothes in the washer that’s just caked with dirt and filth, it’s not necessary to get clothes clean.

Just use the “cold/cold” setting for all laundry in your washer. This means it’s using cold water for the wash and cold water for the rinse, meaning that none of that water is heated, meaning that your energy bill stays lower.

Measure the laundry soap and use the lowest amount. The measuring spoon or measuring cup is there for a reason. Don’t just dump in an amount that seems okay and call it good enough – you’re almost always using way more than is necessary. Instead, actually measure the right amount. If you’re using a plastic spoon or measuring cup and measuring liquid, you can actually just toss it into the load and let it run, retrieving it when you move clothes to the dryer, and all of the liquid detergent will be gone.

When you’re using the right amount of cleaning agent, you’re spending a lot less money on laundry soap and still getting everything nice and clean.

A further tip: just get a couple of tablespoon measuring spoons, a measuring cup, and a large resealable container that can hold several cups of powder. Mix one cup of borax, one cup of washing soda, and one cup of flakes in the container, and shake it thoroughly. Use one flat tablespoon of this mix per load and you’re good to go. This will last for about 50 loads; just add a cup of borax, a cup of washing soda, and a cup of flakes to the container whenever it’s low and shake it thoroughly again.

Use the “permanent press” setting on the dryer for anything that you don’t want wrinkled. Whenever you’re drying shirts or dress pants, the “permanent press” setting is the best setting to use on the dryer. It runs at a lower heat setting and actually stops circulating hot air near the end of the cycle. This means that the dryer is using less energy for the load, saving you money, and actually doing less damage to the shirts and pants (you’ll notice this in the lint trap, where there will be less lint).

Unless you’re drying thick items that don’t really care about wrinkles, things like blankets or jeans or sweatshirts, use the “permanent press” setting to save energy and reduce wrinkles. You’ll also save time (and a bit of energy) due to a lot less use of the ol’ iron.

Cook a bunch of meals on Sunday afternoon so you don’t have to worry about it during the week. This can be as complicated or as easy as you want to make it, but it works every time.

One thing I really like to do is to make a really big pot of soup on Sundays, have it for dinner, and then fill up a bunch of containers with that soup. Some of the containers go in the freezer, while a few go in the fridge for meals during the week. We’ll often have that soup for dinner again on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Sometimes, I’ll make a casserole or other meal in a pan that’s intended to be baked in the oven for Sunday dinner, except that I’ll make four pans of it at once and pop the other three in the freezer, using the fourth for dinner. The pans are usually much more than we’d eat at a single sitting, so I’ll take the leftovers and put them in individual meal containers in the fridge for either an evening meal on Tuesday or Wednesday or individual lunches.

The point is that meal prep doesn’t have to be this enormous all-day encompassing thing. I do that kind of meal prep once in a while, but most of the individual and family sized meals in our fridge and freezer are just extras from meals I’d normally make on a weekend.

During the week, it’s often just a matter of pulling a meal out of the freezer one day, letting it thaw for a day, and then finishing the cooking the next evening. For example, if I’m pulling out the lasagna I made three weeks ago on a Tuesday morning, I can let it thaw for about 36 hours and then finish baking it on Wednesday evening. That way, all that I have to do for meal prep on Wednesday evening is pop the lasagna in the oven for 75 minutes or so, make a simple salad, and have the kids set the table.

Buy store brand stuff at the store if it’s an option and only move to other brands if the store brand fails you. Whenever I go shopping with the kids, I make a point of buying the name brand stuff. Usually, three or four times during the trip, I’ll point out how the store brand is way cheaper than the name brand, and then I’ll ask them if the store brand we use at home does a good job or not.

The vast majority of the time, the store brand does a wonderful job. About the only thing I used to avoid in store brand form was trash bags and I recently switched back to store brand ones as they seem to have drastically increased in quality as of late, putting them more on par with name brand bags.

Hand soap, trash bags, dish soap, toilet paper, sugar, salt, flour – all of those kinds of things and many more are bought in store brand form around here.

If bread seems really stale, run a bit of water over the outside and pop it in the oven. This has saved countless loaves of homemade bread and whole store-bought loaves of bread, bringing them back from being turned into croutons or breadcrumbs and making them edible again. Just moisten the outside of the bread, toss it in the oven at 400 F for about seven minutes, and the bread will be like it should be.

This seems to make both baguettes and crunchy breads far crunchier and also makes softer breads less crunchy. It just rescues them from being stale. This simple tip has nudged me toward making more homemade bread simply because far less of it goes to waste.

If you notice white spots on your dishes that would make you want to run them again, first run an empty load with a cup of white vinegar and, if you have it, a few teaspoons of citric acid or lemon juice. Seriously. What I do is put the white vinegar (and mix in the citric acid or lemon juice if I have any) in a spray bottle and just spray all over the insides of the dishwasher, everywhere, until the spray bottle won’t spray any more, then I dump the last few dribbles in the place where the soap goes, and then just run an empty load without soap. This is way, way cheaper than re-running your dishes and glasses all the time.

The reason for this is that eventually soap will build up in your dishwasher and the vinegar and citric acid will get rid of that soap buildup. Doing this as soon as you see white spots on any dishes will save you a ton of money and the cost of lots of extra dishwasher loads, plus it’ll extend the life of your dishwasher.

Better yet, just make your own dishwasher “pods” in an ice cube tray. This is a good way to wash your dishes and also keep soap buildup at bay. Mix a cup of baking soda and a quarter of a cup of salt. Add two teaspoons of liquid dish soap, then a teaspoon of lemon juice. This should form a thick slush that you can easily mold – if it’s too dry, add a bit more lemon juice, but if it’s too wet, add a bit more baking soda. Push this mix into the wells of an ice cube tray, then let it dry for 48 hours. After that, just pop out a “cube” and use that to wash your dishes. These seem to do a great job, but you might decide it’s less work to just use the vinegar-citrus spray every few months instead.

Aim the dirty side of all dishes toward the center of the bottom of the dishwasher. In most dishwashers, that’s where the main source for the cleaning jets is, so you’re going to want the dirty side of your dishes facing it. This is a simple rule for remembering how to load a dishwasher well so that everything in there gets clean. Just face everything toward the middle and the bottom of the dishwasher and try to not ever have a dirty face directly and completely blocked by another item.

This simple rule makes it easy for almost anyone to figure out how to load a dishwasher, and a properly loaded dishwasher is one that will only have to run once to wash everything inside. You’ll have a lot fewer dishes that need additional runs or hand washing to be truly clean.

If you notice an air draft, you should eventually seal it up, but for now, just toss a sweatshirt in front of it. While the best solution to a draft is to either caulk the window or put a weather strip around a door or a rubber strip inside the door, that’s not always going to work as an immediate solution to the problem. Instead, just toss a sweatshirt on the problem area. Sweatshirts do a great job of temporarily blocking the flow of air until you have some free time to fix it properly.

I did this recently with a discovered air leak in our home that was causing a noticeable amount of warm air to come in on a really hot day. I just grabbed a sweatshirt and put it in front of the leak. A few days later, I fixed it properly when I had the right stuff – it only took a few minutes. However, tossing that sweatshirt in place saved us a lot of energy in the interim for very little effort.

Teaching the kids basic life skills is a rewarding adventure, but it’s also a nice way to remind myself of all of the little tweaks I’ve built up over the years to keep food, household, and energy costs low, and when I get to pass those ideas on to my own kids as a good way of doing things, that’s all the better.

The post Nine Frugal Tips I’ve Passed Along While Teaching My Kids Life Skills appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

Source The Simple Dollar https://ift.tt/31QQVOm

Nine million middle-aged workers are “sleepwalking” into retirement

The 2019 Roth IRA Limits Every Retirement Saver Needs to Know About

More than half of parents are bribing their children to pass exams - but does it work?

Do long-term global health trends make healthcare investing a good idea?

Do long-term global health trends make healthcare investing a good idea? Rob Griffin Mon, 08/19/2019 - 17:05

Share

Source Moneywise - 29 years of helping you with your finances https://ift.tt/2MukMZw

The Stella & Dot Career Opportunity and Lady Boss Bag Giveaway

Sponsored by Stella & Dot I've been a fan of Stella & Dot for A LONG time. I've attended Stella & Dot home shopping parties, I've hosted a party, and purchased numerous items from them. So this month when they asked me to host a giveaway for their Lady Boss Bag it was a no-brainer. […]

The post The Stella & Dot Career Opportunity and Lady Boss Bag Giveaway appeared first on The Work at Home Woman.

Source The Work at Home Woman https://ift.tt/2TOqFRU

Get the Best Current Mortgage Rates in New Hampshire: Compare & Save Today!

As 2019 gets underway, the Granite State is in the midst of a white-hot seller’s market. Single-family home prices in New Hampshire increased 7 percent last year, with the current median price sitting at $287,000, according to the New Hampshire Association of Realtors. Despite that steady increase, New Hampshire home prices still sit well below the national median price of $302,400, as of November 2018.

These rising prices are, to some degree, the result of a decreasing housing supply, with 700 fewer homes available on the market compared with last year and representing an 18 percent decrease year over year. Moreover, houses currently stay on the market for an average of 61 days, reflecting the high demand and competitive home buying landscape.

However, the New Hampshire market could reverse course and become more buyer-friendly over the next two or three years, as home prices fall back in line with the Rate of average wage increases in the state.

While national and state-level factors impact mortgage rates in N.H., they are not the only determinants that inform the interest rates borrowers receive on their home loans. Prospective home buyers need to educate themselves on the various elements that impact mortgage and refinancing rates to save the most amount of money possible over the lifetime of their loan.

Current Mortgage & Refinancing Rates in New Hampshire

4 Critical Elements That Affect Mortgage Rate & Refinance Rates in New Hampshire

To guarantee the best mortgage rate possible, borrowers need to be aware of the various factors that determine what lending terms banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions are willing to offer. These four, in particular, can have a profound impact on your mortgage rates and how expensive a loan is over the entirety of its life.

1. Credit Score: It should come as no surprise that a borrower’s credit score is one of the most critical factors that dictate how favorable or unfavorable an individual’s mortgage rate offers are. Home buyers with higher credit scores (740 or higher) are more likely to receive lower interest rates attached to their loans than those with poor (below 580) or average (580-670) ratings.

There are a few criteria, each weighted differently, that play into a borrower’s score. FICO scores, for instance, roughly break down like this:

• 35 percent: payment history (in particular, making payments on time)
• 30 percent: amount owed on current accounts (in terms of the percentage of the total credit that is used across all credit cards, loans, and accounts)
• 15 percent: length of credit history
• 10 percent: loan types (borrowers with a greater mix of loans, such as auto and home, are likely to receive more favorable credit scores than those with credit card balances alone)
• 10 percent: new account openings (it’s generally advisable to space out credit and loan applications by at least six months to avoid hurting your credit score)

Lenders will use credit scores as a gauge to identify the level of potential risk in extending a loan to any particular borrower. A record of missed payments, for instance, would immediately raise a red flag with any mortgage lender. Borrowers whose credit scores fall well beyond the “good” to “exceptional” range may be better served working on improving those figures before applying for a mortgage.

• Down payment: The more money a borrower is willing to put forward upfront toward their new home, the lower their interest will likely be. Individuals who can make a significant payment from the outset show lenders that they have the capital to eventually pay off the entirety of their loan while also demonstrating a long-term commitment to the property in question by making a significant initial investment.

Most financial experts agree that home buyers should be willing to make a down payment worth at least 20 percent of the house’s total price to net the best loan terms. In some instances, borrowers may receive lower interest rates paying an amount slightly below that 20 percent threshold because financial institutions will tack on mortgage insurance. The addition of monthly insurance payments may cost home buyers more money over the life of their loan, so they should always compare the total price of any mortgage offer to get the best deal.

• Loan length: There is always a trade-off when choosing between mortgages with shorter or longer payment agreements. Generally speaking, the shorter the loan, the lower the interest rate but, the higher the monthly payment. Conversely, longer durations will have higher interest rates with lower payments.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is relatively standard for home loans, but lenders may also offer loans with 10, 15, 25, 40 or even 50-year lengths. Finding the loan length that’s right for you comes down to how quickly you want to pay off your mortgage and how much money you can realistically dedicate toward your mortgage payments each month.

• Interest rate type: By and large, mortgages come attached with one of two types of interest rates: fixed or adjustable. Fixed rates stay the same throughout the entire duration of the loan, while adjustable rates fluctuate based on market performance. Adjustable-rate loans may offer lower interest rates off the bat when compared with fixed-rate mortgages, but prospective home buyers should be aware that their interest rates may increase significantly after the introductory period has ended. Of course, there is also the chance that their rates will go down, depending on how the market trends.

How to Get the Best Mortgage & Refinancing Rates in New Hampshire

The home buying process is long and often complicated, involving numerous parties, financial institutions, and contractual terms. Shoppers need to resist the urge to try and oversimplify any step along the way, especially when it comes to finding a mortgage. Seemingly minuscule differences in mortgage financing, duration, and other associated fees can add up over the lifetime of a loan.

A mere 0.5 percent reduction in your loan’s interest rate could save borrowers $3,500 during the first five years of their mortgage alone.

Comparative shopping is essential to guaranteeing that borrowers get the best mortgage rates and terms that fit their current financial situation, as well as long-term housing plans. Despite the significant impact that mortgage rates have on the overall cost of a new house, 77 percent of borrowers only apply for a mortgage with one financial institution and approximately half of all home buyers don’t even consider looking beyond a single lender.

Borrowers should also explore all of their loan options. While a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is the status quo, other loan types may be more attractive depending on an individual’s financial circumstances, long-term housing plans, and other variables. For instance, someone planning to relocate or move into a bigger home may be better off getting an adjustable-rate loan with lower up-front interest rates than a longer, fixed-rate mortgage.

Finally, don’t be afraid to negotiate the terms of your mortgage with your lender. Several fees are typically attached to the home buying process, including appraisal report, application, document preparation, and title search fees. Many of those can be negotiated, especially if the stated cost is higher than the market standard. Check around what other home buyers in New Hampshire have recently paid for these fees and request that yours be reduced to match them.

Recommended Companies in New Hampshire

• Citizens Bank: As the lender with the largest branch network in New Hampshire (69 locations in total), Citizens Bank may be an ideal choice for first-time home buyers who are interested in receiving hands-on guidance from a local institution. The lender offers competitive rates on standard loans like 30-year fixed-rate mortgages but lacks options for United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) or Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans.
• Guaranteed Rate: While this lender only has a few physical branch locations in N.H., its online services cover the entire gamut of the mortgage application process. Guaranteed Rate also boasts one of the best customer satisfaction ratings among other lenders operating in the state.
• Quicken Loans: Home buyers interested in taking advantage of an FHA loan will be interested to know that Quicken Loans is the largest FHA lender in the country. Its vast lending marketplace allows borrowers to compare numerous quotes and find the right mortgage rate.
• Regency Mortgage: With its wealth of special financing programs, including FHA, USDA, and V.A. loans and mortgage offerings crafted around low down payments, Regency Mortgage is a viable lending option for home buyers with poor credit scores or little on-hand capital.

The post Get the Best Current Mortgage Rates in New Hampshire: Compare & Save Today! appeared first on Good Financial Cents®.

Source Good Financial Cents® https://ift.tt/2KV2sVV

ESL Teachers: Here’s What You Need to Know About TEFL Certifications

Academy Mortgage Rates Review

Rockland Trust Mortgage

Flagstar Mortgage Rates Review

• Fifth largest mortgage originator in the United States
• Recently obtained branches from Wells Fargo and also owns eight Desert Community Bank branches in southern California
• Custom, personalized banking services are a primary focus for the institution
• Has built a variety of financial calculators into its website
• The Official Banking and Mortgage Sponsor of the Detroit Pistons
• The online mortgage application process is built around a short, quick application that lets users get information about the loan early and get quickly in touch with a loan officer

Flagstar Mortgage Overview

In the time since its charter in 1987, Flagstar has grown into the fifth-largest bank mortgage originator in the U.S. Its branches are centralized in Michigan and California, but it also offers online borrowing tools, so you can explore Flagstar mortgage rates and submit a loan application.

Flagstar Overall

Flagstar is among the nation’s largest mortgage originators. The bank opened in 1987 and offers a blend of fixed-rate, adjustable-rate, VA, FHA, and jumbo loans.

Their branches are located in California and Michigan, but they also provide an online application process that makes their services accessible from anywhere.

The bank’s resource center and a blend of loan options make it a natural fit for first-time homebuyers, but it offers plenty of options for those in other stages of their home-purchasing journey, as well.

Flagstar Loan Specifics

As a large, far-reaching lender, Flagstar provides a wide range of products aimed at a diverse array of customer types.

With government loans aimed at veterans and first-time home buyers, and jumbo loans available for those in a strong financial position, the blend of mortgages available from Flagstar run the full gamut of options.

Flagstar blends fairly conventional fixed and adjustable-rate loans with specialty mortgage options designed for those seeking a creative lending solution. Here’s a look at a few of the bank’s standout products (all rates and APRs are figured as of December 18, 2018):

Fixed-rate Loans

Flagstar offers fixed-rate loans for both 30-year and 15-year terms. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage currently comes with a starting rate of 4.6 percent with a 4.734 APR. Those figures drop to 3.907 with a 4.136 APR.

Flagstar offers a degree of flexibility concerning down payments, but will typically require private mortgage insurance if your down payment is less than 20 percent of the total value of the loan.

The lender recommends its fixed loans for those who are mainly focused on having a predictable budget where they can more easily anticipate home costs on a month-to-month basis.

Adjustable-rate Loans

The lender offers a 7/1 adjustable-rate mortgage. This means the rate will be set for the first seven years of the loan and then be reset based on market conditions. Current rates stand at 4.309 percent with a 4.978 APR.

Flagstar’s adjustable-rate mortgage is designed to offer flexibility and provide borrowers with a lower initial monthly payment than is typical for a fixed-rate mortgage. While there is some uncertainty after the initial seven-year period, it may also be possible to refinance the loan if the new rate doesn’t fit your needs.

FHA 30-year Fixed Loan

The Federal Housing Administration offers specialty solutions designed to help first-time homebuyers get a loan even if they only have a small down payment. These loans are insured by the FHA and Flagstaff offers them in a 30-year fixed format with a 4.297 percent rate and 5.464 percent APR.

VA 30-year Fixed Loan

The U.S. Veteran Department of Veterans Affairs designed an exclusive mortgage product capable of covering 100 percent of the home price. The financing opportunity is only available to active-duty service members, veterans and, in some cases, eligible surviving spouses. 

Flagstar offers this loan for both home purchases or for refinancing, with current rates at 4.287 percent and a 4.649 percent APR.

Jumbo 30-year Fixed Loan 

Jumbo mortgages are meant for those seeking a substantial quantity of funds. They can extend to more significant amounts of money than a conventional home loan, with Flagstar loan amounts ranging between $453,101 and $3 million.

umbo loans require borrowers to blend some combination of having a high credit score, making a large down payment or having a particularly low debt-to-income ratio.

Flagstar Mortgage Customer Experience

Flagstar has built its identity around a highly relationship-driven banking model. This has extended into its mortgage processes in the form of online tools that provide convenience and ease of use to those seeking to purchase a home.

The website features a portal for an online application, letting you provide vital information for the loan, but not asking for particularly sensitive details, such as your Social Security Number.

You can also apply for a mortgage via phone or use the website to set up an in-person meeting at one of the lender’s branch locations.

When applying online with Flagstar, you aren’t giving up on the potential of a more personal, relational experience. Instead, a Flagstar representative specializing in mortgages will follow up with you about your application to guide you through the process.

The bank also boasts a resource center, FAQ page and similar details aimed at helping you obtain critical information on the mortgage market and how different types of loans work.

This content comes in a variety of forms, including advice articles in the resource center and small descriptions of each loan type on the landing page. 

In the same way, Flagstar also builds calculators into a variety of its pages, creating an intuitive path to estimating your costs and covering issues such as:

• Monthly payments
• Cost differences between fixed or adjustable loans
• Estimates of the cost of a 30-year term vs. a 15-year term
• The financial implications of making extra payments over the course of the loan
• How much home you can afford

While Flagstar Bank emphasizes customer relationships in its lending ideals, a J.D. Power survey found that it rates “about average” when compared with other primary mortgage originators.

Flagstar Lender Reputation

Flagstar boasts a reasonably strong reputation in the market despite its relative youth. The bank launched in 1987, and in that time has grown quickly while acquiring branches from a variety of other financial services providers, including some Wells Fargo and Desert Community Bank offices.

The Better Business Bureau gives Flagstar’s National Corporate Headquarters in Troy, Michigan, an A+ rating, with 101 complaints closed in the past three years.

Flagstar is a member of the FDIC, an Equal Housing Lender and ranked among the ten best banks in Michigan by GoBankingRates.

Flagstar Mortgage Qualifications

Because Flagstar’s website is designed heavily around an online application process, some details about qualifications for mortgages are difficult to pin down. The lender prioritizes the personal, relational touch of having an officer look at your initial application before delving deeply into qualifications.

However, a few general guidelines do apply:

	Down Payment Required	Private Mortgage Insurance Required w/ <20% Down Payment	Special Qualification Requirements
Fixed-Rate Mortgage	Yes	Yes	No
Adjustable Mortgage	Yes	Yes	No
VA Mortgage	No	No	Yes
FHA Mortgage	No	No	Yes
Jumbo Mortgage	Yes	Yes	Yes

For the most part, Flagstar’s requirements are relatively standard for the industry, with its non-specialized loans typically needing some form of down payment and personal mortgage insurance being a fairly common requirement with a down payment below 20 percent.

Flagstar Phone Number & Additional Details

• Homepage URL: https://ift.tt/WzyI36
  • Company Phone: (888) 248-6423
  • Headquarters Address: 5151 Corporate Drive, National Corporate Headquarters, Troy, MI 48098-2639
• States Serviced:  Nationwide, with branches in Michigan and California.

The post Flagstar Mortgage Rates Review appeared first on Good Financial Cents®.

Source Good Financial Cents® https://ift.tt/2KUzzcw