Second to a credit rating, the Total Debt Service Ratio (TDSR) is an important metric that lenders use to evaluate a borrower’s ability to take on additional debt. While a credit score itself will provide a picture of a borrower’s tendency to pay off loans based on past history, the … [Read more...]
Credit Score Factors: Access to Credit
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One of the most significant aspects of a credit application comes down to a question of whether or not the applicant already has access to the funds necessary to pay off the loan itself. A borrower that already has $100,000 available in their accounts is much better able to pay off a … [Read more...]
Understanding Credit Card Rate Structures
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I had lunch with my company’s manager of credit card sales today. He knows his products inside-out, and is always full of amazing tips for customers on how to take advantage of their credit-card features to get the most out of them. Needless to say, buying this man lunch always … [Read more...]
How is a Mortgage Rate Determined
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Committing to a fixed mortgage rate is a stressful process, mainly because of the way in which we can never really be sure that we are securing the best rate moving forward. Nobody wants to take on a fixed interest rate, only to see rates plummet the next day. In order for us to be … [Read more...]
Housing Market Heading Up but Who is Buying?
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OK maybe the title is a little misleading in the sense that the housing market has seem to steady out more than head up. The title should read "Foreign Investors Jumping in the US Housing Market". The National Association of Realtors reports that non U.S investors have purchased … [Read more...]
Excessive Profit and The Moral Responsibility of Structured Settlement Companies
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Working with structured settlement companies spanning three decades, I have witnessed a lot over the years both good and bad. One of the questions I often struggle with is how to define an excessive profit in a structured settlement transaction. I often reflect on the role … [Read more...]
Protect Your Financial Documents In Case of a Disaster
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Many people many think they keep their financial records safe but how safe are they really? What would happen to your documents if a tornado hit, flooding or a fire? Keeping your important documents locked up in a desk is a good idea but not nearly safe enough. Below are four tips to … [Read more...]
The Relationship Between ETFs and Their Assets
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One of the more exciting innovations in the financial markets has been the Exchange Traded Fund. By acting as a publically traded fund without redemption, ETFs have given investors access to extremely cost effective diversification, indexing, and even analytical expertise. This allows … [Read more...]
Why the Decline of the Euro Currency is Worse Than You Think
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Over the last few months we’ve seen a significant decline in the decline of the Euro against other global currencies. Even compared to some of the more volatile currencies, the Euro is considered to have underperformed on all fronts. However, as 2012 begins to shows indications that a … [Read more...]
American Investment Licenses: Series 3, Series 55, and Series 86/87
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Upon having completed the licensing process to become a financial advisor, professionals will often feel the need to continue their education so as to climb the corporate ladder. While many individuals are comfortable remaining in advisory positions, the pursuit of additional … [Read more...]
Keeping Track of Selling Structured Settlement Payments
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"I have no idea what structured settlement payments I have left." "There’s no way I have already sold those payments." Those of us that have been in the cash flow business for any length of time have heard these comments all too many times. A potential client will call … [Read more...]
Investment Risk and Understanding When to Sell or Hold
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When we sell a security, we are doing so with the understanding that we can re-invest the proceeds in a way that will maintain our nominal returns. The logic behind this is fairly simple, in that we wouldn’t sell the security if we didn’t feel as though there was a long-term benefit … [Read more...]
Factors that Could Make the Euro Crash an Aberration in 2012
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In the last article I discussed how it is that relativity comes into place when looking at a currency decline. In the case of the Euro, an investor needs to understand that both the USD and the Euro were decreasing in that time period, meaning that the decline in the value of the Euro … [Read more...]
Building Good Credit History
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While building up credit lines to demonstrate an ability to access credit for additional loans acts as a fantastic strategy for building up long-term credit from a respectable starting point, it can sometimes seem particularly difficult to build up credit from a negative position. If … [Read more...]
David Harvey Gives His Marxist View on the Financial Crisis
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This is something I went back and forth on posting for a while now. A video by David Harvey who is a self proclaimed Marxist. While many of you may not agree with his point of view it is a and interesting video. So the video was created by the Royal Society which is a British … [Read more...]
Credit Score Factors: Account Diversity
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Upon having established a firm payment history, a borrower is able to begin making strategic choices about how it is that they’re going to pursue bringing their rating up from a mediocre grade to a good one. Because of the way in which the incremental savings that a 1% decrease in a … [Read more...]
Stabilizing ETF Yields
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As discussed in the last article, ETFs inherit many of the pricing attributes of a derivative, on top of their value as mutual funds. This means that the value of these assets comes indirectly from the underlying assets of the security itself, as well as the market’s perception of how … [Read more...]
