Upside Down

Due to the credit crisis and recession, there are a lot of houses for sale. Homeowners who are trying to avoid foreclosure are selling many of these homes. Needless to say, it’s a buyer’s market and homeowners need to know all the tricks to help them sell their homes quickly. Fortunately, there are proven techniques [...]

Welcome to the 76th edition of Money Hacks Carnival. In this edition, I’ll be presenting some interesting and fun facts about money along with the submissions. For editor’s picks, please look for entries noted with (EP).

Money Fact #1: $1 bills wear out in about 17 months. Bills of larger denomination last longer because they are [...]

When purchasing stocks, you are essentially buying the right to receive a share of a company’s income. But the income of some companies sells in the stock market for much less than it does for others. The measure used to compare companies by how much investors must pay for each dollar of income is called [...]

Defining a good goal is hard enough in itself, but people still fail even with well thought out SMART goals. Why? The answer is simple: they fail to turn these goals into actions. Generally, a goal is broad and hard to identify practical ways to achieve it. To transform your goals into practical actions is [...]

I came across Borrowing 401k Savings to Refinance Mortgage at Trees Full of Money. The article was mathematically interesting, and it’s worth analyzing this because many Americans are in a similar predicament. Here’s the premise:
A couple wants to refinance their mortgage from a 30-year fixed at 6% APR loan to 15-year fixed at 4.5% loan, [...]

Recently, Passive Dad asked me about free creative ideas to help friends facing foreclosure.  This is a timely topic since one factor that contributes to the current economic crisis is the rise in foreclosures. Basically, the teaser rate on many adjustable rate mortgages end, and homeowners found themselves unable to afford the new higher mortgage [...]

Well, looks like we are having a rash of carnival crises here. Yesterday the host of the Festival of Frugality bailed and David at My Two Dollars bailed out the carnival with an emergency edition of the Festival of Frugality, and it’s our turn today! Here’s my quick and dirty bailout edition of the Money [...]

I was introduced to Gap Insurance when I bought my new Honda Element in December 2005. Gap Insurance is an insurance product designed specifically for buyers who purchase their new car with financing — in other words, those who will be upside down on their auto loan.

Photo by Lyle58 via Flickr
What Is An Upside Auto [...]

This article is part of the M-Network group writing project about cars and what they meant to us. This series will run from November 12th through the 16th, and we welcome you to share your stories with us.

At first, I was going to launch into this long history about how I loved the Transformers cartoon, [...]