Let’s start this week’s roundup with Refinance and Overpay to Pay Off Your Mortgage Faster at Five Cent Nickel. The thought on this is that if you refinance, you should continue to make the same payment as before, applying the extra funds to principal and knocking off that mortgage faster. A nice approach so long as you have other liquid funds and a small emergency wont send you to your credit cards.
Still on the topic of mortgages, Neal Frankle talked about Balloon payment mortgage – Good or Bad Idea? As with most questions of this type, the answer is “it depends and Neal walks you through the how, what, and why of how to decide if such a mortgage is right for you.
Congratulations to Doughroller who Just Locked In a 3.75% Fixed Rate 30-Year Mortgage. The rates are just amazing. If Doughroller itemizes and can take all the interest as a deduction, this will cost him 2.8% if he is in the 25% bracket. Inflation has historically run above this, so, in effect, he is borrowing money at no cost.
A while back, I commented on Netflix’ price increase. This week Lazy Man and Money offers his Thoughts on Netflix and Qwikster. In case you missed it, Netflix is splitting into two businesses, one for streaming, the other, for DVDs. It looks like a good company making some bad mistakes and imploding. Reminds me of “New Coke.”
Kevin at No Debt Plan wrote The Difference Between Being Poor and Being Bad with Money. An interesting take on this topic, and a great read.