zillow

iPhones are often criticized as expensive and ostentatious. Why buy a smart phone when you can make calls from a $10 pay as you go phone? It may seem like a waste of money, but used properly an iPhone can be a powerful tool in your personal finance arsenal. Here is just a small sampling of [...]

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 [...]

In this  Ask the M-Network article, PJ shared information about his home and his desire to buy a house that just came on the market. Should he refinance is current home, or sell it to buy the new one? Should he buy the new home and rent out the old one? Here’s the question from [...]

There are a lot of financial websites out there.  Unfortunately, there are some really good ones that you may not have heard of before.  Over the past few months, I have been trying to collect these financial sites into my Personal Finance Directory (please check it out, explore, rate, and review these sites).  But I [...]

Before I begin my net worth review, I would like to point out that Larry Swedroe recently published The Only Guide to Alternative Investments You’ll Ever Need.  The book got several great reviews on Amazon.com and my copy is on order.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to share some insight from the book with you soon. [...]

Before I begin my review, I’d like to remind you that tomorrow is Election Day — please exercise your right and VOTE!  If you receive a flyer that tries to convince you “Republicans vote on the 4th and Democrats vote on the 5th”, please DO NOT believe it.  We all vote on November 4th.  I [...]

Net Worth Review
September was a rough month! The U.S. economy suffered from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Major failures in our financial system forced the U.S. government to take over Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and AIG. On top of that we saw the end of Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, and Wachovia. All [...]

Net Worth Review
The daily fluctuations aside, August was relatively good month with the S&P500 up 1.2% from 1,267.38 to 1,282.83.  This gain covered the loss in July and then some. According to NetworthIQ, my net worth dropped another -1.43% — again due to the declining value of my house. But my net investable assets went [...]

Net Worth Review
The S&P500 basically traded sideway in July going from 1280.00 to 1267.38, or a -1% decline in value. According to NetworthIQ, my net worth dropped another -2.04% — mostly due to the value of my house. Fortunately, my net investable assets actually went up +1.61%, or from 22.59% to 22.94% of $1 million [...]

Net Worth Review
Wow, June was a terrible month for stock investors. Bad economy, Midwest flood, inflation, high oil price, among other factors added up to an -8.6% drop for the S&P500 — from 1400.38 to 1280.00! According to NetworthIQ, my net worth went down -3.04% — mostly due to my retirement and stock investments, and [...]