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Return of the Daily Links Print
Monday, 17th August 2009 (by J.D.)This article is about Spare Change
It’s been a l-o-n-g time since I posted a group of daily links. I’m not sure why I got out of the habit. Maybe I thought you didn’t like them? In any event, daily links — which might be more aptly named “once or twice a week links” — are a great way for me to share sites and stories of interest from around the web. These are bits that aren’t worth a full post, or for which I don’t have time to devote a full article, but which are worth reading nonetheless.
If you have see article that you think other GRS readers would like, then drop me a line. Meanwhile, here are some stories that have caught my eye lately:
First up, Richard Barrington at Money Rates argues that because of a perfect storm of low housing prices, low interest rates, and the $8,000 tax credit, first-time homebuyers may be able to get the deal of the century. “If you have the credit history and the income to qualify for a mortgage loan,” writes Barrington, “buying now is worth serious consideration.” (I wonder: How many of you are in the market for your first home?)
Next, Studenomics has drafted the ultimate financial survival guide for new college students. This isn’t so much a “how-to” guide as it is a combination checklist/pool of ideas. In a way, it reminds me of my own 27 money tips for college students.
I don’t link to My Money Blog often enough. If you’re interested in investing and micromanaging your accounts, Jonathan’s site is a must-read. I liked his recent post on the power of passive index fund investing, in which he explains why he doesn’t hunt for the needle in the haystack — he just buys the haystack. (This is my approach, too.)
Finally, Erin at Unclutterer (one of my favorite blogs) recently made a brilliant case for why you don’t have to be the best. “Comparing yourself to another person is unnecessary,” she writes. “You only need to look at your life and your needs to decide what is best for you.” This is one of the fundamental principles we all need to grasp in order to “succeed”. There’s no such thing as perfect. You’re not competing with anybody else. What matters is making an effort, persevering, and moving consistently toward your goals. Remember: The perfect is the enemy of the good. This is a great post!
August 17th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Erin’s post over at Unclutterer brings up my reasoning for picking up bass guitar in my late 20’s. When I was a kid, I did all sorts of things just because they were fun. I played on mediocre sports teams, did all sorts of arts projects, and tried lots of stuff. Now that I’m an adult, I found that I no longer had much variety in my life. Everything had a purpose and seemed more like work than fun. I’d go to life drawing classes, but it was to get better for work. I’d work out, but it was to get healthy, not to goof around.
I started playing the guitar without any demands–I didn’t join a band, I didn’t go crazy with rehearsing, and I just played music *I* wanted to play. It was great fun. I had to stop taking lessons when my son was born, b/c I didn’t have time to dedicate to it anymore, but I still look for opportunities to do stuff “just because”, without trying to be the “best ever” at doing it.
August 17th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
@Nancy (#1)
Exactly.
This is the reason I keep plugging away at my goal to run a marathon. I have a friend who is very competitive and seems frustrated that I’m not more interested in pursuing running as a competition. If I were to do that, I’d only end up miserable. Instead, I’m running for the sake of running, and I love. (Well, except for the fact that I end up miserable anyway: I get injured!)
As I get older, I’m realizing that the only thing that matters is whether I’m enjoying myself and learning and loving. Who cares whether I’m the best runner or the best chess player or the know the most about comic books? All that matters is that I spend time doing what I love and that I’m able to share it with others.
I get such a tremendous sense of satisfaction running with the 4:30 marathon training group. (That’s four hours thirty minutes, not 4:30 miles.) We’re all old or fat or injured — or all three. We all know we’re just out there for the joy of it.
Anyhow, Erin’s point is applicable in other aspects of my life, as well, even my financial life. I used to get frustrated when I didn’t do things perfectly. That’s not true anymore. I just do the best I can, and keep moving in the general direction I know I want to go…
August 17th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
I sort of think competition drives success, but I guess it depends on how you define “success”. I think I’m right when it comes to business — if you’re not competitive in your field of employment, it’s going to cost you dearly. For instance, J.D., if no one read your blog and opted to read other PF blogs instead, you’d be back at the box factory. You have to be one of the best personal finance bloggers online to make a living at it.
The same metrics of success don’t necessarily apply to personal enrichment, and so for running, or ballet, or guitar, she’s right — it doesn’t matter how good you are at these things unless you’re trying to make a living with them.
Not everything is a competition, but competition does play a role in how we define ourselves as successful.
August 17th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
My husband and i decided to buy our first house this weekend. We have been looking at the possibilities after we paid off all of our high interest debt (we have a student loan left).
The price of the house is in our price range and with the tax credit and incentives from the builders, the numbers looked good for us.
August 17th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
JD,
Don’t feel bad about the 4:30 group. I finished my first marathon last year in 5:41 and my hip hurt so bad I didn’t run for ten months. I did a half marathon in my but again, hip was killing me. I mentioned this book in another comment, and thought you might be interested. I have no affiliation to the author but I grabbed the Kindle version a month ago. It’s called Chi Running and as the title suggests, it uses Chi phisiology to improve your form. It honestly appears to be helping me. Thought you might be interested.
Nancy, your comment about picking up the bass guitar in your 20’s struck a chord. I decided to pick up the guitar and teach myself to write songs and sing at age 34 (that was two years ago). I get such a kick out of creating my own music and playing small coffee shops. It’s so easy to record a CD and get some printed up and I was so proud when my inventory came in the mail. Nevermind that my skill level will never be beyond intermediate. I find true happiness in just doing these things for myself.
I am hoping to now parlay my creative juices into a book, that I will self-publish. I don’t care if it ever sells a copy, but to just have my ideas in a book, sitting on my bookshelf would make me so happy, I can’t really explain it. Sounds silly, but hey, who cares?
- Charley
August 17th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
I became a first-time homebuyer in October at the age of 44.
In Northern CA, where I live, it has seemed impossible that I would ever own a home. I had arrived after the housing boom had begun, and since I brought no equity to the party, I was a perfect candidate for the interest-only types of loans then widely offered. I didn’t look into them very closely, though, because I just couldn’t figure out how I was going to deal with the inevitable huge payment five years down the road. So I kept renting.
Fifteen months ago, lured by the collapse in prices, the first tax credit of $7500,and some unusual tax advantages provided to my profession (I’m a minister), I started looking in a part of the Bay Area hardest hit by the real estate chaos. It was a town I liked and the prices had fallen fast and hard, even though other parts of the region were still doing OK.
Thanks to a smart and experienced agent, my role was educating sellers about the new world order. I ended up finally closing on the fifth house I attempted to buy, and even with a bid the sellers found insulting, the appraisal came in at exactly my first offer. The sales price was 54% of what the owners had been offered two years previously, when they decided to wait rather than sell.
Since I bought the house, prices have fallen further. I’m not underwater, thanks to putting 20% down, and even though I’ve lost value in the first few months, the rate of decrease is far less than it was before I bought. I’ve no doubt that within five years it will have climbed back up enough to allow me to break-even, and if it doesn’t, I don’t really care. I LOVE having my own home and yard — it’s a 1939 English-style cottage with roses, wisteria and fruit trees of every sort, and it’s my castle and my keep.
On the finance front, the mortgage, taxes, etc. are about $150 more a month than I was paying in rent; while I can afford the payments, I chose to invite a friend who needed housing to become my roommate. I have someone I like helping with the house and yard and paying a good chunk of the mortgage, which means I actually ended up saving money by buying a house.
One final financial note — to show the bank I had enough for the down payment, I had to sell some stock in my Roth IRA. It was stock I’d purchased during the 2001 recession at a little more than $2 a share; when I sold one chunk of shares, it was at $27. I hated having to sell it, but it proved a lucky break. By the time the closing happened at the end of October, the stock was down to $11. I just wish I’d sold more!
All in all, I feel very, very lucky to have had this opportunity, and to be in a home I love at a price I can afford.
August 17th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
I just closed on my first house a week ago Wednesday. I live in the DC suburbs, and had been house hunting since February - the market is actually very competitive here for first time home buyers. Between the competition (we had offers in for 4 different houses) and the wait for the bank (my house was a short sale - took 4 months for the bank to give us the go ahead) it took quite some time to get a house.
Not sure how it looks in other areas of the country. I still got a good deal, but its definitely heating up here. The best time to buy would have been about 6 months ago. I guess we will see what happens this winter, hopefully prices stay put when the tax credit disappears.
August 17th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
But Tyler, Erin’s point holds true for employment too. Why do you think the proverb is 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration? It’s not who has the “best” idea, it’s who puts in the work to get a relatively good idea done.
There’s always going to be someone better than you, no matter what you do. Look at Tiger Woods–a huge majority of people would say he’s the best golfer on the PGA tour right now. Yet he doesn’t win every single tournament that he enters. Sometimes other people manage to beat him, even if theoretically their skills are inferior to his. And likewise, should Phil Mickelson or Vijay Singh stop golfing, just because Tiger is considered “better” than they are?
What I took away from Erin’s article is that if you decide you’ll only do something if you’re “the best”, you’ll never achieve anything. It may be more obvious in terms of decluttering, or playing the guitar, or running a marathon, as few of us possess a world-class talent in those fields. But even in the business world, you can’t let yourself get hung up on not doing something b/c someone may be able to do it better. Because if you take enough time to look for it, you’ll always find someone who is better than you are.
August 17th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Ugh, first-time-home purchasing. I’m getting closer, but deciding on the right time, the right location, and especially the right reasons is really making my head spin. I’m eventually going to have to put down the pencil, close the spreadsheet and make a decision.
August 17th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
My husband and I closed on our first house last month. We’re working with a tax person to figure out how to re-do our 2008 taxes to get the $8,000 now. We have some plans for the house (the dishwasher is #1 on my husband’s list), furniture (our old couch wouldn’t fit down the stairs), and savings. Part of me wants to throw the money at the mortgage, but we can make more on a CD than we would be saving on the mortgage. When our mortgage broker said every extra $1,000 down would only show as $10 less on our mortgage bill, I could hardly believe it.
August 17th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Nancy, I actually agree — you don’t have to be *the best*. You do though, at least in certain fields, have to be competitive. Of course Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh should keep golfing, but neither of them is thinking “it doesn’t matter if I’m the best”, what they’re thinking is “how do I get an edge over Tiger Woods?” They’re very cognizant of what the best is, and I’m sure “second place is fine” is not the attitude that’s gotten them so close to the top of their field.
“I have to be the best” is probably the wrong attitude a lot of the time, just like Erin suggests. But “I have to be better than I was today” is a really useful attitude to have a lot of the time, and I guess that’s what I was trying to suggest with my post.
August 17th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Great stuff. Always like to see the daily links. Kind of like personal finance news in 60 seconds. Oh and I fall into the category of a first time homebuyer (but I’m still probably a year or so away from buying)
August 17th, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Why would anyone want to buy a house right now? 70% of foreclosures have not hit the market yet and Alt-A loan reset is looming. Not to mention the increasing number of prime mortgage foreclosures due to unemployment. Some housing researchers expect 48% of all mortgages to be underwater by 2011 and there is a direct relationship between people being underwater on the mortgages and their likelihood to walk away from the mortgage, which will increase the excess housing volume. The housing market has not bottemed out yet - I’m waiting until 2010 to 2011 at the earliest.
August 17th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Oh, this housing thing is making me crazy! If I move back to Ohio, I can buy a house easy. Decent homes that just need a modest amount of TLC are going for $60K. I can afford that down payment! I can do gas lines. My sister can do electrical work, and her boyfriend can fix just about anything else.
I would just have to leave California, which would suck. But here, even with housing prices down 40%, it’s still out of my price range for at least as long as it takes for the prices to start climbing again.
Decisions, decisions. Buy a house and deal with snow, or rent forever in the sunshine.
August 17th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Erin’s point is something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently. I used to dabble in a lot of hobbies when I was young(er), and I definitely wasn’t the best at that time, but I’m really happy I did it. It’s funny, but all of my hobbies have saved me money in some way. Some examples:
Cross-stitching - My tiny hands were awkward and weak back then, but I have more control over my hands and more strength now. It has taught me how to knot thread and handle needles when sewing up holes in my clothes.
Piano - although I hated practicing and taking lessons, I have a better ear for tunes and can program cellphone tunes if I had a phone that allowed this. I can also make my own music for this video game app I’m working on with my friend. It also helps my singing in karaoke. =D
Drawing - it was equivalent to copying back then, but now I can draw basic stuff for my web sites, logos, icons, etc.
Painting - I took art class for one quarter in high school. Recently, I looked at my room and thought it’s boring, so I bought some canvases, painted and hung up my art. Friends paid me compliments because of it. But I am no Picasso. =)
Web designer - Career-wise, I used to be more artsy so I wanted to design websites, so I learned Photoshop, HTML, CSS, and the like. Afterwards, I found out I’m more left-brained than right, so I’m currently a Java developer. But if I need a web site created, I don’t need to hire anyone else. =D (And I’m artistic enough too)
There was a point in time when I’d regarded these skills as “useless” and a waste of time. The thing is, you don’t know when you’ll use your skills (even if it’s for enjoyment), so it’s a good idea to explore around and keep an open mind.
Try to apply your skills wherever you can, then it doesn’t matter if you’re the “best” or not.
August 18th, 2009 at 4:07 am
I’m in the ranks of those to whom the first time homebuyer credit is targeted: 23, single, employed, and renting a 2 bedroom apartment. I’m not, however, in a situation where I feel like buying a house is intelligent. I like the flexibility that renting gives me (being able to pick up and move if I feel like it) and I like the complex and neighborhood I’m in now. I’d like my own house and large garage/yard someday, but I don’t want to get tied down to a “stepping stone” house in the meantime. Yes, I can find a house I could buy that after taxes, etc would match my current rent payment - especially if I pick up a roomate - but I’m just not interested.
August 18th, 2009 at 5:24 am
On the running, I have to second Charley’s advice to check out chi running. I’ve been practicing it and it has definitely help me run more comfortably. I used to get knee pain and shin splints even on short runs, but last Saturday I ran 14 miles and yesterday I went for a 4 mile run (and I’m also older and not thin) and my knees feel fine today. And I’ve only been running since May! Chi running takes a lot of practice, but incorporating even a few of the principles will make a noticeable difference and help you avoid pain and injuries caused by poor running form.
August 18th, 2009 at 6:06 am
I bought a condo in May and just finished have an accountant help me with the 1040X so I can get the $8,000. Once I have the money in hand I’m using it to pay off the balance on my student loan, which is the last debt I have other than the mortgage.
I’ll be taking the money I was paying on the student loan and adding it to my monthly mortgage payment. It’s amazing how much difference a few hundred dollars extra will make on a mortgage, and I’m already used to not having the money on hand, so it won’t change a thing for my day to day life, but my time to pay off the mortgage will be cut in half.
I was torn on purchasing vs. continuing to rent, but I found a condo that was nicer than my last apartment, and a bit bigger, for pretty much the same as I was paying in rent.
August 18th, 2009 at 6:35 am
My fiancé and I are currently house hunting in Connecticut, to take advantage of the $8000 credit. I’d much rather put my savings into a house than into a wedding, so personal and global economic factors are all in alignment for us.
August 18th, 2009 at 6:45 am
I wonder if we’d qualify for the tax credit if we’re building a house. Our construction loan will roll into a conventional loan, and we are first-time owners. I need to look into that!
I like the link posts, especially liked the Unclutterer article. I feel like I’m just starting to learn how to reject the idea that I have to be the best at everything.
August 18th, 2009 at 7:25 am
April - you’ll qualify as long as you move in before December 1. See this link: http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=206291,00.html
August 18th, 2009 at 7:26 am
If daily links were all you posted on a given day, I’d feel cheated. Not that you owe me a thing, but I come here for substance! If your other readers like links, and you accompany them with a “real” post, then hey, I can deal with it.
August 18th, 2009 at 7:26 am
We’re first-timers, bought into the DC suburbs in April. @Daniel 13 - it was a great time to buy, with low prices and great interest rates; our monthly total housing bill fell significantly from our old apartment in the city. Sure, there might be ‘better’ deals in a couple of years, but we found a nice place that we could afford and that met our value-cost desires. And we get to enjoy it today!
The $8000 credit came after our purchase, but we’ll take it all the way to the bank. (For a while, then it will go toward a new deck, student loans, etc.)
August 18th, 2009 at 7:29 am
This may be a stupid question, but I haven’t been able to find a solid answer to my question:
My husband bought his first home in 2004 (before we started dating); I have never bought a home and my name is not currently on the deed or the mortgage (though I know that by law it belongs to me, too). If we were to move and purchase a new home (selling the current home, hopefully!), would we qualify for the credit because I am a first-time homebuyer? Or does the fact that he’s purchased previously preclude us?
Thanks!
August 18th, 2009 at 8:46 am
a political blogger I read had a post recently where he talked about how he used to link to all sorts of other blogs, and then gradually stopped and now mostly just blogs his own thoughts, with maybe links to the “source” material.
I think that there may be an evolution of blogging, from link-heavy to link-light. Whether this is a positive direction, I’m not so sure — the web keeps getting bigger, you’d think there would be more, not less linking, but also, individual bloggers have less time to look for links…
August 18th, 2009 at 9:32 am
We’d closed on our second house last month. In DC suburb (MD-DC-VA), housing market is definitely not going down despite many foreclosure and short-sale houses.
We started shopping in February. Everyone said the market gonna go down more and we should wait, however good houses (i.e. deals) have always gone fast in DC-MD-VA. I remembered that we once asked our realtor for more info on a list of about 5 houses on Tuesday - to show us on Saturday, and by Friday we had only 1 house left available, the rest had already been gone.
We realized one thing: when the market goes up i.e more buyers, the interest also goes up. There will be no such thing calls “going to hit the bottom of the real estate market” because the bottom only shows when we have already passed it.
By the way, if you are resident of /work at the Montgomery county, please check with the Mid-Atlantic Federal Credit Union for the mortgage loan. We had 5% with 1.5 point, just last month.
Good luck with you all still looking for houses.
PS: we learnt that by buying the first house two years ago, we actually had been saving more because of the tax saving what we couldn’t have when we had rented somewhere. By have the first house, we had saved enough to buy the second house for retirement saving. Now, two houses are enough because according to IRS, we can only have tax deduction from mortgage interest on maximum 2 houses.
August 18th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Love the daily links. As a blogger, I can see how you could easily get out of the habit of doing these, but when you do have time, they’re great!
-DC
August 18th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
I like daily links but I think weekly is plenty.
My sister, three of her friends, and two of my co-workers have taken advantage of low interest rates and the first-time homebuyer tax credit. Prices have dipped slightly here but do not qualify as “low”. However everyone seems happy with the deal they got - all were planning to buy in the next year or so anyway so the rebate and low interest were really bonus.
August 20th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
I am surprised that Unclutter is one of your favorite blogs, I used to subscribe but a while back after a few weeks of posts that felt like product placements, I unsubscribed…maybe I should try again?
August 21st, 2009 at 2:46 am
Opps, where is the topic “Can tithing can cause you to lose your home topic?” I was going to say that is foolishness we are not under the Mosaic laws of tithing or stoning people to death for adultery any longer and thank God or my ex-husband would have been dead by now and my alimony gone.
Where did that topic go?