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In January 2009 I wrote one of my most popular posts to-date entitled Paying Off Your Mortgage Early Is A No-Brainer. In that post I did a detailed analysis that justified why paying down my mortgage was the right thing to do. That Was Then, This Is Now Of course, that was before all of the corporate and homeowner bailouts approved by Congress. That was also before President Obama decided to go Continue reading Paying Off the Mortgage Early? Not So Fast… It’s Inflation Week at Len Penzo dot Com. Follow me over the next several days as I explore the multiple facets and facts about this insidious scourge, the probability of its resurgence, its potential impacts on us, and strategies for protecting yourself and your personal finances. Hey, it’s not as fun as Shark Week at the Discovery Channel, but it’s almost as scary! I kicked off this series on Continue reading Inflation: Your Four Best Defenses For Preserving Your Wealth Ronald Reagan accurately warned us in 1984 to be vigilant against inflation because it can come, “like a thief in the night to rob our savings, rob our earnings, and take the bread off our tables.” For this reason, the government is usually on guard against the threat of inflation. In the simplest terms, this is normally done by controlling the amount of money in circulation. It’s really a matter Continue reading Inflation: Why You Should Fear It, And Why The US Wants It The National Debt recently surpassed the $16 trillion mark. What can we expect if the world loses faith in the US dollar and hyperinflation were to take hold? To help you make sense of it all, here is a primer: 1. Inflation occurs when the supply of money exceeds the rate of economic growth. To put it another way: Inflation results when too much money chases too few goods. 2. Inflation weakens the Continue reading 18 Crazy Facts You Didn’t Know About Inflation and Hyperinflation A while back I moved into a new office at work. When I looked in the desk, I found 162 pennies in one of the drawers. I can only assume that the previous owner used the desk as his chosen repository for all the pennies he received in change whenever he went out for lunch. I can’t really blame the guy who did that. In fact, I think pennies are an Continue reading Is It Finally Time to Get Rid of the Penny? As many of you know, I recently refinanced my mortgage for the fourth time in ten years. Since then I have become familiar with that eternal mortgage loan enigma better known as the junk fee. I always challenge the more questionable junk fees and never take them for granted. You should too. Junk fees refer to lender or loan broker fees charged to cover company overhead. Lenders use a variety Continue reading A Layman’s Guide to Mortgage Application Junk Fees I love this time of year. The Girl Scouts are out there selling their cookies, and every year I spend at least 15 minutes agonizing between Thin Mints, Lemon Cremes, Do-Si-Dos and Samoas before usually deciding to get ‘em all. With mortgage rates so low, it’s also refinance time. So why is it that many of you will spend less time reading and signing your loan Continue reading What Girl Scout Cookies Can Teach Us About Mortgages Recently I was talking with a buddy of mine, who happens to be a higher-echelon employee for a major bank, about my desire to refinance into a longer-term home loan in order to provide me with additional financial flexibility in the event I ever lost my job. Eventually, our conversation migrated over to when people want to remortgage with bad credit and then on to the case of my mother-in-law. I wanted Continue reading Using a HELOC as an Alternative to Refinancing As promised, with our home currently in the process of being refinanced for the fourth time since 1997, I have finished doing an analysis on whether or not to continue prepaying the mortgage early. After running the numbers, I have come to the conclusion that I should continue to prepay my mortgage, as I have been doing faithfully ever since buying the house. In fact the more I looked at Continue reading Paying Off Your Mortgage Is a No-Brainer |
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Inflation: How China May Be Forced To Use The Nuclear Option
It’s Inflation Week at Len Penzo dot Com. Follow me over the next several days as I explore the multiple facets and facts about this insidious scourge, the probability of its resurgence, its potential impacts on us, and strategies for protecting yourself and your personal finances. Hey, it’s not as fun as Shark Week at the Discovery Channel, but it’s almost as scary!
Raising taxes to pay for
Continue reading Inflation: How China May Be Forced To Use The Nuclear Option