Finance

• A New Air Conditioner?

  For many in the U.S. this has been a scorching summer. Fortunately, about half of all homes have central air conditioning. The bad news is that it does cost money to run them. Central air conditioning and heat pumps rank third in total residential energy usage. Only heat and water heating consume more.

• Addicted To Spending

  Consumer debt in the U.S. reached a total of over $1 trillion in 1999. Credit card debt was over $500 billion. Over 1.2 million Americans filed for bankruptcy in 2000 according to the American Bankruptcy Institute. That’s up from 330,000 in 1980.

• When Should I Refinance?

  You should think twice before you refinance for a mortgage that has a lot of closing costs associated with it. And don’t let the lenders fool you. When you hear “You can roll it all into the loan” amount, that may very well be true. What you don’t hear is the rest of what isn’t said….”and watch all the equity you’ve built up in the past few years go away in the blink of an eye.”

• No Money Down

  I see a guy on TV all the time. He says that you can buy a home with no money down and then come from closing with money in your pocket. Supposedly people buy homes and make millions a year. Do you know about this? How this could be done? Is it worth the 3 payments of $59.99? Or is it a scam?

• Reduce Daycare & Medical Bills

  Why do people advocate Flexible Spending Accounts? Unless you are sure you will use the total amount in one year it is not a good idea. With flexible spending accounts you lose the money you don’t use at the end of the year. I have never understood this since it is the employee’s money.

• Home Repair Costs

  Part of the difficulty of estimating prices is that each home and job is different. Building codes and practices vary from place to place. And that will affect the way a job must be done and it’s cost.

• College Savings Confusion

  College has never been more important, but paying for it gets harder every day. In fact, tuition costs have grown at twice the rate of inflation over the past 15 years, and the average student graduates with twice the debt he or she did just 10 years ago.

• Deciding To Keep A Budget

  If you can stick to this plan and follow your budget you will have a better grasp on your finances and feel better about where all your money is going!