From the category archives:

Interest

Searching For Yield

February 1, 2008

Unless you reside under a rock, you have heard that the Federal Reserve cut the Fed Funds target rate from 4.25% to 3.00% in the last two weeks of January.  From the economic numbers that I have seen recently, it appears that the cuts were necessary in order to stimulate a rapidly flagging US economy.
But, [...]

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Falling Mortgage Rates Creating Refinancing Boom

January 24, 2008

The Mortgage Bankers Association released their Weekly Application Survey yesterday, and it yielded some interesting statistics. 

Applications to refinance are up 92% since the beginning of November, while purchase applications are up 7%.
Refinancing applications represented 66% of the total last week.
The average rate for a 30 year fixed mortgage was 5.49% last week. [...]

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Mortgage Rates Lowest In Over Two Years

January 21, 2008

Unless you have been following the mortgage markets closely, you may have missed the dramatic fall in rates over the last few months.
According to Bankrate.com, the National Average rate for a 15 year fixed mortgage was 4.93% over night, and 5.42% for a 30 year fixed mortgage.
As illustrated by these charts, these rates are [...]

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The Rule of 72 and Compound Interest

December 20, 2007

“The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest”. Albert Einstein
The rule of 72 allows one to quickly determine how long it will take, at a given interest rate, to double your money on and investment.
For instance, if you have $1000 that is earning interest at the rate of 10% per year, [...]

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