Financial Freedom Expert

So the inevitable happened. Mortgage rates ticked up from their record lows, and the popular 30-year fixed has now drifted above four percent. Gasp!

Does this mean we should stock up on water, dry goods and ammo, and crawl into our respective bomb shelters?

Not exactly. While mortgage rates aren’t as low as they once were, they’re still at rock-bottom levels.

This week, troubled mortgage financier Freddie Mac said the 30-year fixed averaged 4.08%, up from 3.92% a week earlier.

[See the latest mortgage rates from dozens of lenders, updated daily.]

While that may be a sizable jump, it’s only slightly higher than the all-time low, which was 3.87%, seen just about a month ago.

[Will mortgage rates drop any lower?]

However, it’s the first time mortgage rates on the popular 30-year fixed have averaged higher than 4% since October 2011.

Freddie Mac chief economist Frank Nothaft attributed it to mortgage rates “catching up with increases in U.S. Treasury

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The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported a slight dip in pending U.S. home sales in its latest Pending Home Sales Index, but NAR economists expect sales to rise as much as 10% by the close of 2012. Every region save for the West, and particularly California, is showing better performance in pending home sales than what was seen last year, although experts note these statistics reflect contracts rather than actual sales. New York, by contrast, has experienced very positive growth in sales contracts, median home prices and existing home sales. Some counties in the state saw as much as a 182% gain in the number of homes sold compared to last year. For more on this continue reading the following article from Property Wire. Read more…

Are you trying to figure out how to get the best savings rates on your existing savings? If so, there are a number of things that you can do. The first thing that you can do is take a look at the household’s spending habits and if necessary, keep a log. No matter what type of purchase it is, make sure that you keep a personal record of it.

Have a family meeting to talk about setting a realistic budget for the household. This will lead everyone to healthy outlook towards spending money. Not to mention, your children will grow up being able to manage money very well. This is an important concept for children to learn so that they know how to be responsible adults as they get older.

During this meeting, everyone can determine how some expenses can be cut back on. W Read more…

All 12 winners of the Moonjar Money Boxes have been notified, but I’ve only heard back from 8 of you. If I don’t hear back from the other four, the prizes will be awarded to other entrants. So: SUZY, JENNIFER S., EMILY B. and KATHY L., check your email (and your spam filter) and get back to me soonest!

The people in my community love their public schools. So too it is in most of the country. If only they knew the costs, and I don’t mean just the financial costs, which are two and three times those of private schools. I also mean the opportunity costs: If only people knew what they were missing!

Imagine education wholly managed by the market economy. The variety! The choice! The innovation! All the features we’ve come to expect in so many areas of life — groceries, software, clothing, music — would also pertain to education. But as it is, the market for education is hobbled, truncated, frozen and regimented, and tragically, we’ve all gotten used to it.

The longer people live with educational socialism, the more they adapt to its inefficiencies, deprivations and even indignities. So it is

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by Larry Chiang

Treasure management is something business school neglects to teach.

I am able to get results that are in the category between legendary and awesome. This is because I hacked treasure management. I read and applied, Richest Man in Babylon, Millionaire Next Door, Ultimate Credit Handbok and of course the legendary tome, What They Dont Teach You at Harvard Business School. Here is the result in four categories you may feel free to copy-paste. Yes, Copy-Paste is Chapter 3 of my NY Times best selling book, What They Dont Teach You at Harvard Business School.

Have you seen people that are forty that look fifty.

Those are people that keep their engines in the 7000 RPM (revolutions per minute).

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The first quarter of 2012 brought us ultra-low mortgage rates and strong bank profits overall.

Canada’s Big 6 earned just over $7 billion in the quarter, up roughly six per cent from a year ago.

All banks met or exceeded street expectations, despite operating in an extended low-rate environment that has seen volumes drop and margins shrink.

Heres a roundup of noteworthy mortgagemorsels from the banks’ Q1 reports. Weve highlightedsome of the more notable parts.

Royal Bank of Canada

Net income: $1.9 billion (-6% Y/Y)Earnings per share: $1.23

• Residential mortgage volume grew 7% Y/Y ()
• “Our consumers are switching from variable rate mortgages into higher margin fixed rate mortgages,” said David I. McKay

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