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Archive for October, 2006

urgh

October 5th, 2006 at 09:03 pm

My contract ends in a month. I am not ready. I am to have a resume updated and prepped for circulation. I do not believe in myself. The job market is better though, and my job skills have been updated.

My husband and I have been giving our credit card a good workout -- spouse has tix for spending Thanksgiving back home. I approve only because it's been over two years since we've seen them, they are currently too physically incapacitated to fly, spouse's grandmother is frail and in her mid-eighties. I'm not looking forward to having most of my liquid refreshment in-flight choices be: caffeine, alcohol, or high fructose corn syrup carbonated beverages.

Good news: according to a "what income do you need to afford your mortgage" calculator on interest.com, we can apparently manage the mortgage on my husband's income alone.

Also: mortgage is down to $155,997.41. By this time next year, it'll be below $150,000!

My savings strategy is non-existent. Too much "live now, there's no tomorrow." I'd been hoping that interest rates will rise, as Mr. Turk and Mr. Rubino conjectured in a scenario from their book The Coming Collapse of the Dollar and How to Profit from It, as the dollar devalues, so I may yield more from taxable savings rather than directly paying off the mortgage, but the Federal Reserve has been cutting interest rates down. Who knows, if interest rates go down to 4.00% or lower for 15-year loans, we may refinance.

Text is Six Smartest Ways to Use a Line of Credit and Link is http://home-equity.interest.com/content/articles/home-equity_story.asp?story_id=1000034903&ID=interest
Six Smartest Ways to Use a Line of Credit

1. Improve value of the home.
2. Pay off high-interest credit cards.
3. Use it for a rainy-day fund.
4. Buy a second home.
5. Put kid through college.
6. Start a business.

Not liking #4 - #6: obviously these are in descending order of smartness. Sir John Templeton, looking at Boston and California's house prices, advised picking them up at a tenth of their 2004 list values. Only a volcano/earthquake combination, or a biochemical attack would bring our house values down 90%.