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Mortgages, Imputed Rent, and Early Retirement

In a Quora question What do economists think about buying vs renting a house?, in addition to the previously-mentioned answer by Alex Tabarrok of Marginal Revolution, there was another well-ranked answer by Erik Brynjolfsson, professor at MIT Sloan. … [Read the rest]

Mortgage Rates at 3-Year Lows: Refinance Check Time Again?

Mortgage rates for 30-year fixed loans are at the lowest level in three years, according to this Bloomberg article: The average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 3.58 percent, down from from 3.59 percent last week and the lowest since May … [Read the rest]

Berkshire Hathaway 2015 Annual Letter by Warren Buffett (Live Webcast Reminder)

Reminder: BRK Annual Meeting Live Webcast starts Saturday, April 30th at 10am Eastern. Always wanted to attend the Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Meeting? This year, anyone can watch the Buffett and Munger Q&A session live without flying to Omaha, … [Read the rest]

Santander Bank extra20 Checking: Ending July 1st for Existing Customers

Update April 2016. I originally wrote about this promotion in October 2013, and many readers have been getting $20 of interest every month on a relatively low balance (worked out to 16% APY on $1,500 average balance). With a 1% APY savings … [Read the rest]

Real Estate Crowdfunding Experiment #1: Patch of Land Final Update

My first investment into real estate crowdfunding has completed. In April 2015, I invested $5,000 into a fix-and-flip loan at the site Patch of Land. There are more details in my initial update, but here's a quick recap of the loan … [Read the rest]

Reminder: Check your IRA Beneficiary Designations

According to the stats, you probably funded your Individual Retirement Account (IRA) at the last moment this month (assuming you fund them at all). If we tend to procrastinate about saving, then we also probably put off estate planning. One of the … [Read the rest]

Secret Shame: Will We Ever Talk Openly About Money?

We may not like to talk about our own money, but we sure like to read about other people's money. The May 2016 cover story for The Atlantic magazine is The Secret Shame of Middle-Class Americans by Neal Gabler: The Fed asked respondents how they … [Read the rest]

Higher Savings Rate vs. Higher Risk Portfolio

An article on the Vanguard Advisors Blog discussed the trade-offs involved in adjusting an investor's savings rate and the risk level of their portfolio - Investor success: Measured in dollars, not (per)cents. A portfolio’s value can grow … [Read the rest]

Early Retirement Portfolio Income Update, April 2016

I like the idea of living off dividend and interest income. Who doesn't? The problem is that you can't just buy stocks with the absolute highest dividend yields and junk bonds with the highest interest rates without giving up something in return. … [Read the rest]

Early Retirement Portfolio Asset Allocation Update, April 2016

It has been a while, so here is a 2016 First Quarter update on my investment portfolio holdings. This includes tax-deferred accounts like 401ks, IRAs, and taxable brokerage holdings, but excludes things like our primary home and cash reserves … [Read the rest]

RealtyShares Sign-Up Bonus Promo Code

Update. RealtyShares has a referral program that offers a new customer who is referred by an existing client a $100 gift card after linking a bank account. I am no longer available to provide referrals as I have maxed out the limit, but you may be … [Read the rest]

John Oliver on Why The Credit Report Industry is Awful

John Oliver of HBO's Last Week Tonight did a humorous monologue on why credit reporting bureaus are awful. Appropriately, it was last week and I finally got around to watching the 18-minute video tonight. Here is the full video link, embedded … [Read the rest]