Freddie Mac will publish their Weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey later today. The survey will show mortgage rates dipped again slightly this week with an average 30 year fixed rate at 4.98%. This is only the second week this year the survey rate has been below 5.0%.
See:
http://www.moneycafe.com/library/mortgagerates.htm
Freddie Mac released their Weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey today. According to the survey, mortgage rates dipped slightly this week with an average 30 year fixed rate at 5.03%. This is down from 5.15% last week.
See:
http://www.moneycafe.com/library/mortgagerates.htm
Freddie Mac released their Weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey today. According to the survey, mortgage rates ticked up slightly this week with an average 30 year fixed rate at 5.15%.
See:
http://www.moneycafe.com/library/mortgagerates.htm
Next years federal budget (FY 2010) was proposed by the President today. Spending is budgeted at $3,552,000,000 on top of this years (FY 2009) estimated spending of $3,938,000,000. So basically, as a country we are going to spend $4 trillion this year and $3.5 trillion next year. What does that mean to you if you are a taxpayer? There are a number ways to look at this. I have just a quick take for now.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in 2008, the United States had 120 million full-time employees. With unemployment rising this number is going down. I estimate this full-time employed group accounts for more than 90% of taxes paid. (Corporate taxes are about 8% of federal receipts right now and should be 9% next year. Workers making under $20,000 (a generous proxy for part time employees) pay less than 2% of the federal budget through their payroll and income taxes.)
Using these numbers, the average full-time employee is responsible for federal taxes this year in the amount of $29,534 and next year in the amount of $26,640.
See:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/fy2010_new_era/Summary_Tables2.pdf
ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/special.requests/lf/aat12.txt
http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/indtaxstats/article/0,,id=133521,00.html
American Express came up with a unique way to get rid of certain customers they no longer want - pay them to go away. According to the company, select customers can get up to $300 to close their accounts.
We are guessing it’s for delinquent accounts. But maybe they are preemptively going after certain credit profiles that aren’t yet delinquent. If you have received the offer, let us know your situation by posting a comment. Feel free to post anonymously.
See:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/banking/2009-02-23-amex-close-accounts_N.htm
With unemployment getting higher, there are now about twice as many people looking for jobs as usual. Here are a couple of websites full of great information to help you pursue new employment and make informed decisions about current employment.
First, GlassDoor.com is a great resource for information about employers. It provides reviews of employers, company ratings and salary data. This is a very worthwhile site for anyone, whether you are looking for a job or not; whether you are happy with your employer or not. They claim to have all the information available to manage your career. The information on the site is free. They just ask that you share information first – calling it the “give to get” model.
Career Builder is another great resource with a wealth of information and new job postings all the time. Our Career Center is powered by Career Builder. Check it out. They offer job searches, a job seeker toolkit, career advice and much more.
Times are very tough for those without employment as we live through this uniquely severe economic period. But on the bright side, we live in a unique time with all the vast and growing resources of the Internet. These resources with the instant availability of useful, timely and free information will certainly make our economy much more resilient than in the past. Now, if we can only get our government out of the way, or at least paddling in the right direction…..
See:
http://www.glassdoor.com
http://www.moneycafe.com/careercenter/
