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<p>I think that most people don’t because they want the flexibility - but you can always just pay it back faster by making extra principal payments.</p>
<p>^^ what he said^^. ;)</p>
<p>Money being cheap is relative.</p>
<p>Depends on what a person can do with the money.</p>
<p>I can borrow at 1 percent, but if that money is making zero…I am a loser.</p>
<p>You pay for flexbility. It is not free. Might be worth it though.</p>
<p>If your P+I is 1/8 of your income, you are probably ok…at least once your income hits a certain level. ;)</p>
<p>BCEagle91 is so subtle. You can never tell when he is long a stock. :)</p>
<p>Yes, you pay a somewhat higher interest rate for that flexibility but it may be worth it to many. We refinanced once - we were quoted a great rate on a 15-year fixed. The afternoon before the closing, the mortgage broker called me and said that they just couldn’t do that rate and needed some more.</p>
<p>I told her that I was going to go with a 7-year fixed with my credit union instead - I found out about this really odd product that my credit union had after going through the mortgage broker to do the refi, and the rate was better than that of the mortgage broker and I would have done it if I hadn’t already started the process at the other mortgage broker.</p>
<p>The mortgage broker said that she would talk to her manager and get back to me. Later that evening she said that I was such a good customer and would be good for repeat business and referrals that she gave me my original rate.</p>
<p>We paid off the rest of the loan a year or two later. The original loan was a 30-year fixed with a great mortgage service company. They sold us several years later to a really crappy service company. Part of the reason for the refi (in addition to saving four or five percent), was so that we didn’t have to deal with the crappy servicing company. Losing your payment of not making your property tax payment on time can cause you headaches.</p>
<p>We paid the whole thing off in around ten years. You can save a ton of money or pay a lot of college bills if you don’t have housing costs. Yes, we have property taxes, heating, power and water but no rent/mortgage. I’m in maintenance/fix mode this summer because I have the time for it and no college costs for the rest of this year. I can always ask my son for a loan if I need some extra cash.</p>
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<p>Or short. Sometimes I leave things for a long time. Sometimes I trade quite a bit. My current holdings are: AAPL, EQR, EWS, GOOG, INTC, NKE, ORCL, PBA, QLD, TJX, WFM. There’s some other stuff in my wife’s account too. The large positions are AAPL, PBA, QLD. The rest are typically 1K to 4K shares except for GOOG.</p>
<p>" I can always ask my son for a loan if I need some extra cash."</p>
<p>Why would you do that?</p>
<p>Why not just cut your positions or portfolio a little? Even if your portfolio was doing well?</p>
<p>And I thought you had a sizable amount of cash around.</p>
<p>I do have a friend that has a nice net worth, but no cash. He has to sell stuff to raise cash. He is stressed because he has to sell stuff to raise cash, plus, he likes to be stressed. Some people like stress.</p>
<p>So, you sold those stocks and bought back the almost the exact same stocks.</p>
<p>I used to be a market maker in QLD.</p>
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<p>It takes a week to get move cash from my brokerage account to my checking account. My son has two accounts at the same bank so we can move money over very quickly. I like to keep a balance of at least $10K in my checking account so it was easier to just borrow some cash for a few days from him and then return it when the money from the brokerage account came through. This was to replace an HVAC during the heat wave that we had here a few weeks ago.</p>
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<p>Typically $10K to $20K in my checking account and a lot more in my brokerage account which is actually 9 different accounts. The checking account earns 0%. The brokerage account cash equivalents earn slightly more than 0%. You can obviously see why I like dividend stocks.</p>
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<p>Yup. And my returns for the year are just almost the same too at 10.99% YTD.</p>
<p>BTW, I read the Leavitt Brothers opening post this morning - there are actually five highs and four lows on the $SPX. There’s a really nice chart at <a href=“http://www.leavittbrothers.com/blog/i/spx073112.png[/url]”>http://www.leavittbrothers.com/blog/i/spx073112.png</a> that shows this. I would link to the morning post as it has commentary too but it’s a blog. This link is only to an image. The chart also shows a divergence between the $SPX, $RUT and $MID. The divergence is somewhat bearish - the $RUT and $MID should lead the $SPX in a speculative rally.</p>
![http://www.leavittbrothers.com/blog/i/spx073112.png[/url]](http://www.leavittbrothers.com/blog/i/spx073112.png%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
<p>9 accounts…wow.</p>
<p>I think you can post the link. </p>
<p>That is not a personal blog.</p>
<p>By the way, you can wire money.</p>
<p>I can see why people like div stocks.</p>
<p>I would take a 5 percent return for the year…so 10.99 so far is sweet.</p>
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<p>Well, it’s done by one person even though it’s a personal site. I like to not post links that have the word “blog” in the URL. I’m okay with images.</p>
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<p>I’m too cheap.</p>
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<p>Yes, 2% + price risk or 0.001% with no price risk.</p>
<p>The correlation between large, mid, and small caps is quite large.</p>
<p>Makes things boring. :)</p>
<p>“I’m too cheap”</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>No, i am not paying for flexibility, though i am taking on possible interest rate risk…i am in 5 yr adjustable. 2.875%… by then we will have sent the 1st two through college ,debt free, and the third will be just entering HS Senior year, hope to have 1/2 set aside by then for college…even if rates move up, we have the cash flow from not paying college bills, somall is well</p>
<p>I just downloaded an app to keep up with Asia news (EWS is a Singapore country ETF). The premier news site is The Straits Times and it’s a pay site (like the WSJ), and as you know, I’m too cheap. So I found a pretty good Asian news site App for my iPod Touch. I checked out the Singapore News and found that a survey of small and medium sized businesses there are planning on increasing headcount for Q3 and Q4. The survey shows improved profitability expectations from these businesses.</p>
<p>It isn’t gloom and doom everywhere.</p>
<p>BTW, I read this morning that Eurozone unemployment is steady at 11+%. I assume that’s their headline number like ours and that real unemployment is worse. Asia may be more fun to follow than Europe for a while.</p>
<p>I like your cheapness. </p>
<p>You are my role model.</p>
<p>Metropolitan Boston ranks fourth nationally as a desirable place to live as you age, according to a study that finds that the region has a wealth of physical therapists, nurses, orthopedic surgeons, and fitness centers, along with convenient public transportation and employment opportunities for people over age 65. </p>
<p>Medical care received extra weight for the 80-and-over category, which helps explain why the Boston area was labeled a mecca for this age group, despite its often less-than stellar weather.</p>
<p>[Boston</a> ranks 4th on list of most desirable places to live as you age - Lifestyle - Boston.com](<a href=“http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/2012/07/31/boston-ranks-list-most-desirable-places-live-you-age/DXGo2jiwZn1dHcAntpuAZO/story.html]Boston”>http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/2012/07/31/boston-ranks-list-most-desirable-places-live-you-age/DXGo2jiwZn1dHcAntpuAZO/story.html)</p>
<p>Well BCEagle91, have you given more thought to moving to Boston?</p>
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<p>Not at the moment. I’m actually enjoying things in NH this summer while doing a lot of fixing up stuff. I’m training for a race for next week too. Idad moved to Southern NH recently and has been doing some hiking up mountains the last few weeks and posting pictures. I would like to do a hike later this year when it’s a bit cooler - it supposed to be an incredible workout and there’s a ton of natural beauty up here.</p>
<p>I haven’t been down to Boston to stay with my son yet - it’s too comfortable in my office along with all of my workout facilities up here. The biggest problem with moving to Boston would be income taxes. So for now, it’s easier just to visit.</p>