Let’s start this week with Nicole at Rainy Day Saver wrote Paying Down the Mortgage: Another View and shared her view which is that she’s prefer to take the fixed 5% return offered by paying the mortgage off more quickly than taking the risk of investing it in the stock market. It’s a rational choice, to be sure. I’d first verify there’s no credit card debt to be paid (she’s CC debt free) and that there’s no 401(k) matching funds to be had that she’s missing. I need to post more on this, 401(k) is just an account, it can be invested in many things, stocks, bonds, money market funds. Silly to pay off a 5% mortgage but miss a dollar for dollar match in the 401(k) account. She didn’t mention the 401(k) in that regard.
Financial Samurai shatters our dreams with Your Net Worth Is An Illusion, Sorry To Spoil Your Delusion! Sam goes on to tell us why we should not tally up our worth the way we might be inclined, using present market value. After all, we saw that the stock side of our portfolios can drop. Like a rock. 55% from the last top to the recent bottom. So maybe we should value at a discount, perhaps 1/2 of the current value. An interesting view, not sure what I’ll do with it.
Adam Baker is now in Thailand, which gives him an interesting perspective on the coins and paper money back in the states. This week, he asked Are Americans Ready to Ditch the Dollar Bill? Considering the relative life of a dollar coin and dollar bill, it really does make sense to quite printing the paper ones.
Clare at Money Energy asks Will We Still Be Investing in 2110, and What Will Markets Look Like in 100 yrs? This post is a beautiful combination of her own views and input from a number of fellow bloggers. Spoiler – No one predicts the end of the world as we know it.
Finance Your Life struggled between Saving vs Paying Down Debt. In the end, he chose to take the $5000 he had sitting earning virtually no interest and throw it at the credit cards. So long as he doesn’t charge up those cards again, I’m liking this decision.
Eric Tyson, author of Personal Finance for Dummies among other books brought to light that Dave Ramsey [is] Getting Kickbacks From Investment Brokers. Not so much that it shocked me, but I think his followers expected better from their finance guru who comes across more like a preacher than a financial expert. Eric does a great job pointing out the flaws in many of Ramsey’s teachings.
Last this week, I’ll offer The Kay Way’s Equality – Does Not Mean The Same. As the Dad of an 11 yr old daughter I am very aware of how she views the differences between men and women. My job is to teach her that she should live up to her own potential, that the current mix of the sexes in a given job was based on choices people made then, 10, 15 years ago, but that she can be or do whatever she puts her mind to. I commented on Kay’s post, sharing with her that my wife and I happen to split the chores, I shop and cook, she cleans. We do what we do well and like to do. Not a financial blog, but a great read none the less.
Next week – a Roth Roundup, because the Mania continues.
Joe
Just noticed now that you’ve mentioned one of my posts (and thanks)!
To clarify a bit more — we’re *almost* CC debt free (will be in April, still have one card to go). Both my husband and I contribute to our employers’ 401(k)s and receive the full match (not much, but ‘free money’). We’re still relatively young (both 31) and have our 401(k)s as our “stock market” money — our portfolios are invested pretty aggressively, with less than 10% in “safe” investments like bonds.
For us, we’re looking at the long-term in regard to the mortgage. Don’t particularly want that hanging over our heads if and when we have children who will be going to college in 20 years.