14 June 2009

Is the Mortgage Crisis Over?

Many people’s lives have already been dramatically affected by the mortgage crisis. Much of our chances of economic recovery rest on if and when the mortgage crisis will end.

Unfortunately many people may be defining this crisis too narrowly. To figure out if the mortgage crisis is over, we first have to define what mortgage crisis we’re talking about.

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16 February 2009

Investing Step #7: Home Ownership

While there are not explicitly tax-deferred savings plans for housing, the Roth IRA can work very much like one. If you are looking to buy your first home in the future, more than 5 years from now, or if you have a Roth IRA opened already, such an account may be a very reasonable option for your investing dollar. While you cannot take your contribution out pre-tax, any income you make over those 5 years can be used tax-free to buy a house, up to $10,000 per person. This can be a considerable savings.

While retirement and college may seem like distant issues, buying a home is much closer on our investment timeline for most of us. If you already own a home, or have in the past, you can pretty much skip this section as a Roth IRA will not do you much good. Its exemption for buying a home only applies to first time buyers, but it can be very powerful for those looking to maximize their earnings.

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10 February 2009

Investing Step #4: Tax-Advantaged Accounts

Why pay taxes? A lot of people claim they wouldn’t if they didn’t have to, however many of us are voluntarily paying taxes on money would could be earning tax free. You probably know already what I’m talking about, tax-deferred accounts. These are investment accounts where your taxes are either paid when you take the money out, or sometimes not at all. Many people are familiar with retirement accounts like 401(k)s or IRAs, but there are other options that are often overlooked entirely. Many times if you know you’re going to have an expense in the near future you can pay for that expense tax-free. This many not seem like a big deal to you but let’s do some simple math.

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