This week we’re going to do something different here. I wanted to take a moment to look at some carnival roundups.
Carnivals are important to the personal finance community and other niches as well. It’s a great opportunity to build links, find new blogs, gain exposure, and to pick up some momentum as a new blogger. I also love to see bloggers coming together to help each other out.
This is why it’s important to give back and share the link love.
Carnival of Personal Finance : Arguably the most popular carnival in this niche.
Carnival of Personal Finance #361 – The Mothers Day Edition @ One Cent at a Time.
Carnival of Personal Finance: The Color Wheel Edition @ Money Talks Coach.
Carnival of Personal Finance #359 – Most Expensive Bottles of Wine – April 30th, 2012 Edition @ MPFJ.
Carnival of Financial Planning:
Carnival of Financial Planning – Money Management Edition #235 @ Cult of Money.
Carnival of Financial Planning – Money Management Edition #236 – May 11, 2012 @ Prairie Eco-Thrifter.
Best of Money Carnival:
Best of Money Carnival #155 @ Stock Market Basics. The Dividend Guy Blog was mentioned in this edition.
There are many other carnivals out there. Please feel free to mention them in the comments section.
Please continue submitting your articles to carnivals and sharing the link love!
View full post on The Financial Blogger
Can You Have 3 Full Time Jobs at the Same Time?
April 11th, 2012 | Posted by Global Investors
Can You Have 3 Full Time Jobs at the Same Time?
Can You Be 3 Awesome People and the same individual?
I think I do.
And I recently asked myself how I do it.
I’m a father of 3 (and my third one is darn young!). I’m a soccer coach, a taxi dad and understanding husband (oh well, my wife doesn’t read English so I can say pretty much what I want 
hahaha!).
I have a very demanding job in the financial industry. My job is to bring in millions for my firm. This could be very stressful and demanding but it’s also very rewarding.
I run 10+ websites by night and get 50+ emails a day for my company. The business has been growing at a double digit pace for the past 4 years and it’s getting to a very interesting point.
I’m in top shape and love my life.
The first answer to this question is definitely the level of passion I have in being a father, growing my career and running my company. But besides my passion, I have another trick: I’m obsessed by productivity. If I’m not efficient when doing something, I just stop doing it and start thinking about how I can turn this task into something that creates value.
In my quest to be productive, I’ve gathered some unique tricks to be able to work 3 full time jobs and not burn out. Here are a few of my tricks.
Even considering the commotion around RIM, I’m still a huge BlackBerry fan. Mainly because I can access all my email on one device and can actually reply using complete sentences. But even if you have access to your Blackberry 24/7, it doesn’t mean that you have to answer back all email a nano second after receiving it!
I “try” to manage my email at very specific times during the day. In the morning, I look at my mailbox and answer the most important emails. I delete the crap and leave “non-urgent” emails in my mailbox. At noon, I do the same thing and again at the end of the day. I usually pile up the “non-urgent” emails and answer all of them 2-3 times a week. I schedule 1 hour of my time to answer these email and clean out my mailbox. The key is to treat the urgent matters right away and clean the other emails within the week.
Most people do expect you to answer back within 24 hrs. But it doesn’t mean that you have to do it! Answering all your emails as they hit your mailbox is a waste of time as you are never able to fully concentrate on other tasks.
I have a very good memory. But I don’t use it for everything. I see my brain as a computer; even if I have a boosted memory, if I put everything on the computer, it will slow down. It’s the same phenomenon with your brain. This is why I set all my tasks, appointments and to do’s in outlook (work) and on Google calendar (online business / home). Both systems are linked to my blackberry so there are no excuses to forget anything.
On the other hand, I don’t have to remember, it’s planned! It takes a few minutes to enter all of my tasks and it helps me concentrate on what I am doing instead of always be thinking about what has to happen this afternoon. This seems obvious, but it makes you a lot more faster in everything else you do because you become more focused.
One of my biggest flaws is definitely procrastination. I’m very fast to do things that I like, but I’m darn slow for things I don’t like! This is something I’ve tried to improve during my paternity leave. Since then, I now take care of my tasks faster and have noticed that I can do more in a day.
Procrastinating has a similar impact of loading your brain with a huge “to do” list. You keep thinking about it but you don’t do anything. The fact that these thoughts keep coming back to mind slow you down each day.
Another of my tricks to be more productive is to go to the gym. After 4 years of working out religiously 4 days a week, I decided to build my own gym at home. We recently purchased a treadmill and are now looking to buy weights in the upcoming months. Working out evacuates stress in addition to giving additional energy. Therefore, you become healthier, stronger and faster. How cool is that!
If you can do it at home, not only do you save on membership cost (I just cut $60/month out of my budget, yeah!) but also save on time. I don’t have to get into my car, go to the gym then change. I just have to run downstairs and start working out. This is awesome!
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: whatever you do must create value! If you don’t create value, don’t do it! My new boss asked me in an interview how I was able to perform like this while working less hours than everybody else. My first answer was simple and a bit stupid:
“I work hard”.
He answered back that most planners would actually say the same but not rack-up the same numbers.
This is when I gave it a second thought and answered something smarter:
“I work on the 20% that generates 80% of the results”.
In other words: I work on creating value, period. There is nothing more important than creating value. If you are doing something that is low value, you can probably outsource it to someone else. This is how you can make your time fully effective!
Most people have a hard time saying no. Unfortunately, it should be the opposite; you should have fun saying no! Most people will ask you to do things that they don’t like or that don’t create value. Why would you be the guy who does it? How does it make sense?
You want my ultimate trick to say no and not have trouble at work? BE BUSY. Not “fake” busy like you have a pile of files on your desk. That is BS. But if you are currently working on a “value added” project, nobody will tell you to stop doing what you do to do “non-value-and-boring tasks”. On the other hand, if you just say that you have tons of files on your desk to clean, this sounds like a “non-value-and-boring” task list.
I was literally blessed this year by finding a job that I love just 6 minutes away from my house. I currently have 0 minutes wasted in my day for transportation. But it wasn’t always the case. I used to take my car, the bus or the metro to go to work. This is a huge amount of time that is being wasted.
When I used to take the metro and the bus, it used to be time when I dealt with my email or I wrote articles. It is very important that you find something to do during these moments. Most people will read or simply close their eyes to relax. You just have to wait until you retire to do that! Right now is the time to be productive! Work on projects; think about what cool things you can bring to work or different ways of working. Design a sideline project; work on your own business, clean up your email! Do anything but close your eyes and relax. If you start working out in the morning, you won’t feel tired during the day anymore.
Did I miss anything?
Readers, what are your productivity tips? What makes you darn effective in life or at work?
View full post on The Financial Blogger
April 7th, 2012 | Posted by Global InvestorsWhat was the most epic piece of the week?
How To Start A Blog: My Advice To Beginning Bloggers @ KNS Financial.
Why did I choose this piece?
I always enjoy a reminder or a first time read of how to do something the right way. I wish that articles like this one were around in late-2008 when I started blogging. If you’re a new blogger, you need to open your ears and eyes to pieces like this one.
What’s the most epic part of this article?
“I wish I would have treated this as a business from the very beginning. I would have viewed spending money as making investments, and I would have saved a lot of time and energy, while making a lot more money!”
What do you think about the post and the idea of learning how to blog?
View full post on The Financial Blogger
How Can You Feel So Big and So Little at the Same Time?
March 22nd, 2012 | Posted by Global Investors
This post is about a life lesson (another!) that I recently learned.
I think that if you have been good at something in the past, if you have been identified as a performer, you will understand what I’m trying to share with you.
A week ago, it was the first day of my last day.
It wasn’t a Monday like any other Monday.
This one was very special. Not because I was coming back from a 6 week paternity leaves. Not because I was starting a new job. Not because this job was at 7 minutes from my home. Because this job was THEJOB.
Feeling so Big
When I got there, I must say that I was happily surprised. Everybody was super kind to me. They were waiting for me. I was offered help by most of my colleagues, my boss was super helpful and I’ve been given a lot of resources to start working right away.
I was introduced as “the” guy who will bring clients back and dominate the market. I was introduced as “the” guy who won best financial planner. And finally, they are very anxious to see how much money I can bring to the branch.
After talking to a few people, I realized that everybody was looking to improve their numbers (both in my new department and in the branch where my office is). They were super helpful and wanted to make sure that I felt at ease on my first day. I truly appreciated the support but I also felt some kind of pressure. I have to say that I’m starting a whole new book of clients. My book is currently showing a big fat 0 clients .
Feeling so Small
I’m the type of person who’s over confident more often than not. In fact, I never doubt myself. My closest friends know that humility is not part of my personality traits . But surprisingly, people at work see me as humble (woah… I’m so full of it! Hahaha!). But don’t get me wrong, I’m not arrogant, I just know that I’m good at what I do and definitely over confident in these fields. The only thing is that I would rather play under the radar at work. I like to surprise people instead of flashing in front of everybody. I learned a long time ago that the less people know about your success, the better it is for your career. It’s funny enough but the only people that need to know that you are good are your manager and your manager’s boss .
So being presented as the “top notch” planner was awkward for me. I didn’t want to have this spotlight on me in my face. I would rather do my things and shine at the end of the story… like a good thriller J. But here I am, sitting at my desk, wondering how I will grow my book from nothing to an exceptional book. I did it in the past, but I also remember how small I was feeling at first.
Starting with nothing in your hands is not easy. You feel lost as you have nothing to fall back on. You feel bad as you spend a lot of time wondering how to setup your business. You spend so much time doing it that you are under the impression that you are not working and wasting your time. In my business, there is only 1 important factor when you get evaluated: how much do you bring in. The ethical aspect is super important but to me, it’s not a factor, it’s just how things should be. This is why I focus on bringing in the numbers. In order to bring in the numbers, you must win your clients’ confidence with exceptional advice, after sale service and ongoing follow-up. Then, you must work ethically and put your clients’ interests first. This is how you bring in the numbers in my industry. I could certainly play the car salesman and bring in the cash right away. But this is not sustainable and definitely not ethical. The bad side of truly working for your clients is that it takes time before you bring in any numbers.
This is why I feel so small. I know that I won’t be part of the top performers this year. It sucks. But it’s the way you build a solid book over the long term.
Dealing with expectations
I wanted to make things clear with both my boss and the branch; I’m not going to be a saviour. I sat down with them and explained the situation to make sure that our expectations are on the same page. There is nothing worse than having misleading objectives. This is why I asked them clearly what they were expecting and told them clearly what I intend to do.
After this conversation, I felt a lot better!
Did it ever happen to you? Having people that place so much confidence in your talent that it becomes a burden?
View full post on The Financial Blogger
RIP ? Rest in Poverty. The end of life time bomb
January 21st, 2012 | Posted by Global InvestorsA new report outlines how much it costs when you die in the UK
View full post on Live News from PR-USA.net
January Net Worth + 14.62% It’s Payback Time!
January 17th, 2012 | Posted by Global InvestorsWow! Last Thursday, I really felt that Christmas had come late this year as I got my bonus deposited into my account! I had to do a mental block to not see how many taxes I paid on it (51% in total…) but the “residual” was still amazing!
Thx to this bonus, I was able to achieve one of my 2011 personal goals which was to finish with a 200K + net worth. So I’m very happy to tell you that my net worth jumped by 14.62% and reached $203,500 this year!
Stay Conservative
Since my goal for 2012 is to take control of my personal finances, I’ve decided to not be aggressive on the value of my assets with this first net worth statement of the year. I usually increase the value of my house by the rate of inflation (which should have been 2.7% for 2011) but I didn’t do it. I’ve already increased it by 7K last summer which is the cost of the central AC I added.
I also depreciated the value of my cars on a monthly basis. The Tribute drops as fast as my loan payment ($434/month) so my car loan is always evened out with the value of my car. For my RX-8, I drop the value by $400/month as well. So technically, my sports car will be worth nothing in 2013 . I do that because a car is definitely not an asset and should not artificially boost your net worth. As for my company shares, I won’t reassess them until our annual meeting that happens in spring. I should be seeing a great increase in value as the company is probably worth around $300K right now (so my shares should be valued at $150K instead of $98K). But then again, my goal this year is to pay down debts, not to look at my growing assets .
Speaking of debts, it’s payback time baby!
Wow! As much as I am bored to see a huge deposit in my account and to make it disappear in 5 minutes through online payments, I am darn proud of paying down those debts! The feeling of being “liberated” from this burden is awesome! I can now start the year fresh with less expenses and a cleaner balance sheet.
With my bonus, I’ve paid off my RRSP loan in total (and my RRSPs are maxed btw ) and I paid back a huge chunk on my credit card. It sucks that I couldn’t enjoy anything out of my bonus but on the other side, I’m living an awesome life on a daily basis so I guess it’s okay.
Since my car broke down right before Xmas and the gifts I bought cost a little bit more than expected, my 2012 of going down under $300,000 in debt is now equal to paying off $17K this year. This is slightly over what I was expecting (13K) but I still think it’s feasible. I already have monthly payments towards the car loan and another personal loan that will drop my debts by 7K by the end of the year. Therefore, I just have to drop down my HELOC by 10K this year and I’m all set for my goal. I’ll definitely work it out!
So here are the details of my net worth as of January:
Assets: $521,336 (+0.01%)
.
ASSETS
PREVIOUS
MONTH ($)CURRENT
MONTH ($)CHANGE (%)
CHECKING ACCOUNT
$1,000
$1,000
0.0%
EMPLOYER STOCK
ACCOUNT $1,113
$2,381
113.9%
RRSP ACCOUNT
$29,581
$29,869
1.0%
PENSION PLAN
$20,218
$20,218
0.0%
HOME
$345,640
$345,640
0.0%
COMPANY SHARES
$98,000
$98,000
0.0%
MAZDA TRIBUTE
$18,662
$18,228
-2.3%
MAZDA RX-8
$6,400
$6,000
-6.3%
TOTAL
$520,614
$521,336
0.1%
Liabilities: $317,836 (-7%)
.
DEBTS
PREVIOUS
MONTH ($)CURRENT
MONTH ($)CHANGE (%)
CREDIT CARD
$19,597
$6,975
-64.4%
LINE OF CREDIT
$19,828
$19,804
-0.1%
HELOC
$263,734
$261,996
-0.7%
CAR LOAN
$18,662
$18,228
-2.3%
Personal Loan
$11,249
$10,833
-3.7%
RRSP loan
$10,000
$-
-100.0%
TOTAL
$343,070
$317,836
-7.4%
Total Net Worth: $203,500 +14.62%
View full post on The Financial Blogger
When is it Time to Call it Quits?
November 25th, 2011 | Posted by Global Investors
I’ve been on a roll with the reality checks. I gave you guys part 1 and part 2 of the full-time blogging reality check. Then I followed up with how you can bounce back from failure.
You don’t have to always fail or succeed with everything that you try. There’s a third option. You can quit. You don’t always have to fail at something and wait it out for a long time before you move. Sometimes you just need to quit. For some reason there’s a negative stigma surrounding quitting. I don’t get it. There are many occasions where it makes much more sense to quit, instead of holding on to a false hope. There’s absolutely no need to be ashamed of quitting.
The big question revolves around…
When do you call it quits? How do you know when the time is right to give up on something and to move on?
[For the sake of this post I'm going to discuss calling it quits with a side business or some sort of freelancing work.]
If your new business venture isn’t making you money while everyone around you makes a killing, maybe it’s a sign that chasing the dollars isn’t going to work out for you. The problem is that we are all programmed differently. No two human beings are the same. This is why some of us are strictly motivated by money, while others chase their passions. If you’re not making money in a traditionally lucrative field, you should move on, and as much as I hate the phrase, you should look into “following your passions.”
“If you enter a niche because you’re following the dollars, you wont keep it up. It’s too much work, and you will get tired and frustrated and you will eventually fold.” – Gary Vaynerchuk
If you’re going to fail, you better fail fast is what they say. There’s no point in holding on to something that’s not going to happen. It’s like those guys that wait for a year when their girlfriend tells them that it’s time for a break. Success doesn’t have to be a slow process. You don’t have to get anyone’s permission to succeed. You don’t have waiting around for your turn. You can quit and try something different.
It’s cool to have the support of your parents, family, and loved ones. The problem is when these are the only people that support you. Family support is helpful when you’re in trouble. Family support is useless when you actually need REAL feedback. Your girlfriend or parents don’t have the heart to tell you that your new business idea where you invested thousands of dollars, is completely lame.
If you notice that only your parents are supporting your business idea, maybe it’s time to move on. Someone with a valid criticism is not a “hater” (don’t you get annoyed when someone uses that word?).
Just because you think your idea is good it doesn’t mean that anyone else does. You need some sort of tangible proof. There needs to be some sort of a market or some glimpse of hope. Blindly chasing your passions can leave you broke and lonely.
If you haven’t found a paying client in a year, then you must move on because free is not a business model. Free content and free work is noble and all, but how do you plan on paying your bills? Without any tangible proof of interest for your business idea, you need to look at other options.
I know that passion is one of those buzzwords that dream sellers love to throw around. The truth is that if something feels like a chore, it’s time to find something new that interests you. Life is too short to spend it on stuff that you hate.
That’s all I have to say about quitting. It’s tough to let go. The good news is that when one door closes, another opens (yes it’s cliche, but it’s true).
Have you had to quit something recently? How did you know it was time to call it quits?
(photo credit: fuzzcat)
View full post on The Financial Blogger
When is it Time to Call it Quits?
November 25th, 2011 | Posted by Global Investors
I’ve been on a roll with the reality checks. I gave you guys part 1 and part 2 of the full-time blogging reality check. Then I followed up with how you can bounce back from failure.
You don’t have to always fail or succeed with everything that you try. There’s a third option. You can quit. You don’t always have to fail at something and wait it out for a long time before you move. Sometimes you just need to quit. For some reason there’s a negative stigma surrounding quitting. I don’t get it. There are many occasions where it makes much more sense to quit, instead of holding on to a false hope. There’s absolutely no need to be ashamed of quitting.
The big question revolves around…
When do you call it quits? How do you know when the time is right to give up on something and to move on?
[For the sake of this post I'm going to discuss calling it quits with a side business or some sort of freelancing work.]
If your new business venture isn’t making you money while everyone around you makes a killing, maybe it’s a sign that chasing the dollars isn’t going to work out for you. The problem is that we are all programmed differently. No two human beings are the same. This is why some of us are strictly motivated by money, while others chase their passions. If you’re not making money in a traditionally lucrative field, you should move on, and as much as I hate the phrase, you should look into “following your passions.”
“If you enter a niche because you’re following the dollars, you wont keep it up. It’s too much work, and you will get tired and frustrated and you will eventually fold.” – Gary Vaynerchuk
If you’re going to fail, you better fail fast is what they say. There’s no point in holding on to something that’s not going to happen. It’s like those guys that wait for a year when their girlfriend tells them that it’s time for a break. Success doesn’t have to be a slow process. You don’t have to get anyone’s permission to succeed. You don’t have waiting around for your turn. You can quit and try something different.
It’s cool to have the support of your parents, family, and loved ones. The problem is when these are the only people that support you. Family support is helpful when you’re in trouble. Family support is useless when you actually need REAL feedback. Your girlfriend or parents don’t have the heart to tell you that your new business idea where you invested thousands of dollars, is completely lame.
If you notice that only your parents are supporting your business idea, maybe it’s time to move on. Someone with a valid criticism is not a “hater” (don’t you get annoyed when someone uses that word?).
Just because you think your idea is good it doesn’t mean that anyone else does. You need some sort of tangible proof. There needs to be some sort of a market or some glimpse of hope. Blindly chasing your passions can leave you broke and lonely.
If you haven’t found a paying client in a year, then you must move on because free is not a business model. Free content and free work is noble and all, but how do you plan on paying your bills? Without any tangible proof of interest for your business idea, you need to look at other options.
I know that passion is one of those buzzwords that dream sellers love to throw around. The truth is that if something feels like a chore, it’s time to find something new that interests you. Life is too short to spend it on stuff that you hate.
That’s all I have to say about quitting. It’s tough to let go. The good news is that when one door closes, another opens (yes it’s cliche, but it’s true).
Have you had to quit something recently? How did you know it was time to call it quits?
(photo credit: fuzzcat)
View full post on The Financial Blogger
What If Time Was Currency? Don’t Waste Your Time
October 8th, 2011 | Posted by Global InvestorsIn Time is a new sci-fi movie about a future where science has figured out how to stop the aging process. To prevent overpopulation, the solution was to allow everyone to live to age 25, and then give them one year to live. Time has replaced money as currency. If you don’t earn more time, then you die. The rich effectively live forever. A cup of coffee costs 4 minutes. The trailer is below:
This storyline made me think of the almost frugal-cult-classic book Your Money or Your Life (get it used for $3 shipped). One of the concepts inside is that working is the same as exchanging your life energy for money. Let’s say you earn a solid living, $25 an hour after taxes. But then there is all the stuff attached – the commute, the clothes, the lunches, the stress (need for vacations and drinks after work). You might really be earning $20 a hour.
If your rent is $1,000, you’re spend 50 hours each month just to pay for that. An iPad costs $500, 25 hours of work. If you spend $100 a month on wasteful things that you really don’t enjoy, that’s another 5 hours of your life every month. In a way, we are sacrificing our lives for money. Sure, you may not die any sooner, but you’ll be spending that much less time on what you really want to do. It just happens so gradually and indirectly, we don’t notice. Try pricing everything out in terms of your real hourly wage. (A cup of coffee might actually cost more than 4 minutes.) Try adding up all the money you’ve ever made, and calculate your net worth to see how much you actually kept.
If you concentrate on maximizing the gap between expenses and income, one day your income from your investments will match your expenses. That’s financial independence.
Steve Jobs said in a great commencement speech that we should find work that we love. Most of us don’t love our work in the way that if we didn’t get paid, we would still go out and do it. Amazingly, he did. If you’re like me and are still having trouble with that, then at least we can reach for the day when we can simply do what we love because we don’t need more money.
Either way, don’t waste your time.
Related posts:
What If Time Was Currency? Don’t Waste Your Time from My Money Blog.
© MyMoneyBlog.com, 2011.
View full post on My Money Blog
The Best Time to Refinance Your Mortgage
October 8th, 2011 | Posted by Global Investors
There are many factors to consider when refinancing a home mortgage. What you have to keep in mind is that mortgage refinancing does not alleviate your obligation to pay off a debt, but a tool to restructure your existing debt obligation(s) to better your total financial picture. The first thing that you will want to do is determine what your objectives are to see if refinancing is the right thing to do.
The most common reason many people refinance their mortgage loan is to save money when market interest rates are lower. Closely related to this reason include those who have a variable interest rate mortgage and their low introductory interest rate is about to increase to a rate that is higher than what the individual may qualify for with a current fixed rate.
Financial institutions charge money for a variety of reasons when offering any mortgage to people, whether an original contract or a loan refinance. Homeowners need to consider how long they intend to stay in their current home along with how much they will save in interest. Unless you plan to remain in your home for more than three years, there is a chance you may lose money by refinancing.
Some people refinance their home mortgage in order to make their mortgage easier to pay due to decrease in income. This should be done if there is a decent amount of equity in the home, and/or the interests rates are around a percentage point or more lower than what your current rate is at. If a homeowner in this situation is experiencing difficulty with making the mortgage payments, obviously timing may be very critical in order to prevent foreclosure. You would want to refinance the mortgage loan well before becoming delinquent with your existing mortgage payment and/or other bills, such as credit cards. The reason for this is that once an individual starts making payments late or even missing payments, the consumer’s credit rating begins to lessen, making the best mortgage terms, and in effect interest rates, more difficult to obtain. By refinancing your mortgage loan and obtaining a lower mortgage payment, you may be able to prevent making late payments or missing them.
Homeowners often refinance their home mortgage loans in order to obtain money that they have in the way of equity in their home. You may need the money for a variety of reasons, medical expenses, education, major home renovations that add value to the home or consolidation of credit cards that charge a higher interest rate than current market mortgage interest rates. Home interest rates are almost always going to beat any other kind of interest rate in terms of percentage, so if there becomes a substantial amount of money owed through another avenue at a high interest rate, it very well may be worth trying to consolidate.
One should use caution when contemplating refinancing a home mortgage loan for spending money on luxury items and items that depreciate over time. Such items include automobiles – unless for business purposes, vacations, etc. In addition, if the purpose of refinancing a home mortgage is to eliminate credit card debt, the homeowner should make sure that they do not continue to use their credit card(s) to create additional debt.
Some homeowners refinance their home mortgage loan in order to restructure the loan so that they can pay it off sooner. Getting a raise at your job could easily result in a desire to pay off a home loan early. Perhaps they would like to pay down a portion of their mortgage so that they can enjoy lower payments while still paying off the loan faster. People in this situation have the luxury of being able to wait for favorable market interest rates.
Whatever a homeowner’s needs are for refinancing their mortgage loan; they may wish to obtain the services of a mortgage broker. A mortgage broker is a professional who works with many lenders locally, regionally and nationally. Many financial institutions will offer better mortgage terms through a mortgage broker than they would for a homeowner who attempts to obtain a mortgage on their own. A mortgage broker also knows which lender is the best fit for a homeowner based upon the homeowner’s unique financial circumstances. Mortgage brokers charge a commission but in many instances, the financial institution offering the mortgage pays that commission, which is part of the financial package that the broker presents to the homeowner.
As you can tell, there are a lot of different things to take into consideration. It’s a big financial decision, but run the numbers, and see if it could benefit you based on your current goals.
View full post on Money Blog
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