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The first, as I discussed above, is because they get more interest on an option ARM. Look at the couple from Wisconsin. They ended up with a higher mortgage balance at a higher rate. Both of those items mean more money for the bank in interest. Take that and multiply by the millions of option [...]

That was the question on the cover of the September 11th edition of BusinessWeek (no link). Some of the stories of the people and how they were duped by banks and mortgage brokers astounds me. We always assume that most of the people that buy bizarre (the industry prefers “exotic”) mortgage products are people that [...]

Last week, I highlighted an article on some of the home remodeling products that may not be the best idea. To accompany that article, here is a table on the estimated paybacks of home improvements.
The best payback ratios are on siding and bathroom remodeling. Home office remodeling and a sunroom are the worst paybacks for major [...]

If you were pondering a purchase of a Toyota or Lexus hybrid, do it before October 1st. The IRS has released Notice 2006-78 (warning: PDF link) that verified what I had kinda figured: Toyota went over the 60,000 mark in the second quarter and the credit will begin to phase out on October 1st.
As a reminder: here [...]

Sometimes the arguments people give in front of the Tax Court are so ridiculous that you just have to point and laugh. So, let’s say you are a lawyer. Let’s say you have your own firm. Let’s further suppose you are the only person that does work on behalf of the firm. What does that make you?
Well, Regina Felton [...]

In a pretty high profile case that’s received scant media attention the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) was stripped of its tax-exempt status by the IRS. The organization was founded by a group calling themselves the “New Democrats” that didn’t like the liberal bent of the national Democratic Party. One of the founders was a Governor [...]

Back in April, I highlighted a service that provided a ton of free Excel templates for personal finance related items. It turns out that all of the links on that site point back to Microsoft. The direct link for the free templates is here.
Whether you are looking at buying vs leasing a car, or trying [...]

I’m up to my eyeballs in work, so we’re going classic today. This originally ran March 3rd.
The WaPo has an article on the future of retirement benefits and the discussions now taking place.
One of the ideas floated includes an automatic IRA for employees that don’t have pension benefits through their employers, either in the form of [...]

Ahh, cable tv. Every idea you have is a good one. And there are 5,673,212,807 (approx.) cable shows (and 2.5 channels) devoted solely to messing with your home, so it must be a really good idea.
Well, maybe not. CNNMoney has four grrreat ideas that can actually hurt your homes value.
Swimming Pool
A coworker of mine just [...]