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I currently am enrolled in 3 courses. I work full time and I am a single mother. As you can imagine I am busy all day. I have been reading my books and taking down vocab words and things I think are important but how do you know you doing enough. It seems like I’m going to forget what I’ve read since there is no in class repetition. Any suggestions? What study habits did you find successful?
I am taking personal finance, construction methods, and marketing. Thank you in advance 🙂

don’t take online…yuck.

The blog provides information on a college preparation infrastructure for high school students, parents, undergraduates and post-graduates students on scholarships, internships, summer programs, fellowships, FAFSA, ACT/SAT, and much more.

Here aare 8 blogs. Choose what you like.

8 blogs about college admissions

Sam Jackson College Experience by qxcvz
2 days ago
A senior at Phillips Exeter Academy, Sam Jackson offers his personal experiences and take on the College Admissions process.

http://www.samjackson.org/college
63 blogs link here

college, review, university, advice, act, admission, college admissions, recruitment, admissions, sat, college board, senior, exeter, ivy league, samuel jackson, sam jackson, phillips exeter academy, phillips exeter, college counselling office, admissions marketing , More »
Wesleying by Wesleying
4 days ago

http://wesleying.blogspot.com
31 blogs link here
college, activism, campus life, college life, community, freshmen, college admissions, dorm life, wesleyan, middletown, dorms, liberal arts, frosh, starting college, undergrads, wesleyan university , More »
ePrep: Test Prep Ideas and Advice. Planning for College Admissions by eprep
6 hours ago
ePrep provides expert advice for SAT test prep and college planning. Step by step free videos, articles and blog posts will help you maximize your SAT score and deliver expert insights and strategies for financial aid and college admissions.

http://www.eprep.com
7 blogs link here
education, writing, college admissions, financial aid, scholarships, sat, yale, tutoring, verbal, ssat, s.a.t., test prep, sat prep, private tutoring, sat exam, sat score, sat test, standardized test prep, sat help, sat course , More »
College Admission Forum
12 days ago

http://collegeadmissionforum.blogspot.com
1 blog links here
college, university, act, admission, college admissions, financial aid, admissions, scholarships, college search, sat, ivy league, college finances, psat, college admission, apply to college, early admission, college entrance exams, extracurricular activites, admissions counselor, find a college , More »
U Sphere Blog
11 days ago

http://ublog.usphere.com
1 blog links here
universities, college admissions, finding a college, admissions, colleges, paying for college, top colleges, common application, best colleges, admissions policies, college enrollment , More »
Zen and the Art of Higher Education Marketing
23 days ago

http://www.zenwrites.com/blog
No blogs link here yet
marketing, higher education, advertising, communications, universities, copywriting, college admissions, colleges, freelance writing, enrollment, freelance copywriter, sales writing, commercial writing , More »
Testpedition News
122 days ago

http://testpedition.com/weblog
No blogs link here yet
education, school, university, act, tests, college admissions, exams, gre, sat, mcat, test prep, college exams, exam prep , More »
College Admissions Madness
101 days ago

http://collegeadmissionsmadness.blogspot.com

I have a home in MD and want to move to FL and turn the MD house into a rental and purchase a foreclosure in FL.

I have an agent in FL and an agent in MD to manage my rental. The problems I am running into are: 1. I have no savings. 2. I make less than $40K annually. 3. I need to borrow money to prepare my rental, pay downpayment/closing costs and moving expenses.

I’ve spoken to lenders but have not allowed my credit to be pulled since I am still doing research. I’ve been told that I can get a loan for the foreclosure and repairs to it once I have a job in FL and a tenant agreement in MD (not a problem).

Will I jeopardize my new home loan by applying for a $10k loan to cover the expenses? I have no equity in my house since I refinanced my car and debt last December so there is not much equity hence why I won’t sell. Unless there’s equity loans for $10k (closely maxes my equity).

Investment programs, tricks of the trade, advice and tips are all greatly appreciated.
Renting’s an option but foreclosures under $75k is cheaper monthly and I have options of equity funds of $25k+ or 80% after repair value. This money is for repairs and can be used to pay off the $10k loan and expenses on both homes like taxes and Home Owners Insurance.

Friends in FL who own pay $700 for HOI (my MD is $500). I’ve seen the taxes on FL homes and yes they’re scary. My car is paid and I have no other debt just the MD mortgage. I can break even on rent since I am paying HOA fees and Property Management fee (no profit) and it’s a small sacrifice to keep my house until I can sell for a profit or worse case scenario I need to move back.

My income is not a lot and will probably remain the same in FL but after everything is said and done, I will own two homes, one for about the cost of renting or cheaper and another that I is being paid off for me by the renter.

If I’m still in FL a year from moving and I equity in my MD home I may sell but it’s circumstantial.
I have heard horror stories about tenants and I am willing to take the risk. If it became that bad I would put the house on the market and pay the repairs from the proceeds.

I can’t buy the second house without a tenant agreement so the house wouldn’t sit vacant. I am not accepting short term leases and worse case scenario is I will have to sell the MD house.

As far as not being in the position, the only reason I’m not is because I don’t have my own funds to use for the transaction. The $10k loan was for 5%downpayment and also closing costs so no 100% financing. In addition, I have a job and I am not in a hole so I can afford most of my moving expenses but PODS from MD to FL are expensive which is what I will need while doing repairs in the new home.

I appreciate all of the advice, but I haven’t gotten from the lenders or agents that I’m not prepared to do this and they all know my whole situation at this point. However, the lenders don’t know about the $10k loan I need.

What I’ve heard done in situations like this is that when you purchase the foreclosure in FL, take out a larger home loan from the bank than just the cost of the house (you can usually claim things like repair costs on the house you’re purchasing, moving fees etc) and use that toward whatever finances you need to. It’s a pretty common practice and it helps out with a lot of things — some people also take out larger loans to pay off cars or other bills so that their only payments are home related.

Granted, this all depends on what kind of loan you get, which bank you go through, your credit score and etc.

If you aren’t interested in that avenue, or it simply won’t work for you, you may have to take out a personal loan but making less than $40K annually and already owning one house (which I assume you’re still paying on) and a car (also paying on?) you’ll be hard pressed to find a good loan at a decent interest rate…

Good luck, in any case!

I’ve been reading all these articles about people trying to get out of debt because they can never pay off their credit card balance, people living paycheck to paycheck, or those that doesn’t have enough savings for their retirement.

Just wondering how many of you out there are really this much in trouble? If you don’t gamble and use your money wisely, poeple should be able to save. I’m lucky to say I don’t know anyone this much in trouble yet. So, is media just exaggerating?

well i am a loan officer so i deal with the finances of many people who are in trouble and need help. And i can attest through personal experience tha it is absolutely true. 95% of the clients i deal with are in a considerable amount of debt! and they are trying to fix it by refinancing but often times cannot because of the way the market is. and just so you know everything that the media is talking about when it comes to losing homes is true as well. i sadly am not able to help and deal with way too many people who are losing there homes. the main reasons why this is happening is people are not being smart about there money. they are not spending it wisely. they either get more than they can afford not allowing themselves enough money to go beyond getting by so as soon as bad times hit they are in the whole. and some people are just irresponsible. i worked with one person who made 7 thousand a month and only had four thousand in bills but still would be missing payments. and i actually was going to be able to signigicantly decrease his debt and get him on the right track. all he had to do is send me one sheet of paper and the deal was done. yet he didnt i kept calling for two weeks and he would not answer. Three months! later he calls me and tells me hes ready to do it and he really needs the money i was going to give him because his daughter is going to school. so i said ok i was ready three months ago but no problem lets do it now. i reran his credit and it turned out that he was 3 months late on a payment and was going to lose his house! i remember the very last conversation we had before those three months i told him dont forget to make your payment otherwise this loan is dead. and his words were "c’mon man im not stupid ive learned from this mistake before i alredy made my payment". yet that was the payment that put him in foreclosure. Why simply because he procrastinated on things that should have been a priority. sadly this is only one of so many stories i have. people are just irresponsible. i mean seriously you should never take on a large debt if you cannot easily be able to properly afford it. i hate seeing people lose their homes!

With graphs, budgets, etc. As well as for small businesses unless I’m better off getting two different programs.

I would say the best program would be to use Excel. Although it’s pretty complicated at first it get easier. It’s capable of many things.
I use it for just about every class.
If you have any questions on how to use it feel free to ask me and I’ll try my best to help. I’ve used to a lot.

My job doesn’t offer a 401(k) but I would really like to start one is it possible to do it independently?

You can invest in an IRA at a mutual fund company. I like Vanguard.com, other people like Fidelity, TIAA-CREF, and DFA. Buy no-load, low-expense funds. If you are like most people you will invest part of your money aggressively in stock funds, and part conservatively in money market funds and bond funds. Vanguard has an on-line questionnaire which will give you an idea of how to do "Asset Allocation," determining how much to put in each type of fund.

I like their Target Retirement funds. However, there are many different opinions out there on what the best mutual funds are. Read the links below and form your own opinion.

If you have high-interest debt, like credit cards, it is best to pay this off first before trying most of the investment ideas above.

Believing advice you get on Yahoo answers can be risky, so read these websites for further information. If you find it too confusing, contact a professional financial advisor. They will charge you significant commissions, however.
Sources:
http://www.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planningeducation
http://www.fool.com/school.htm
http://sec.gov/investor/pubs/assetallocation.htm
http://www.diehards.org/readsites.htm
http://finance.yahoo.com/education/begin_investing
http://finance.yahoo.com/funds/basics

Asset Allocation Calculators
(Determining how much to put in stocks and how much into bonds and money markets is a personal decision depending on your financial status. These Asset Allocation questionaires give you a rough idea how to do this. I like Vanguard best, but try some of the other sites as well.)
https://personal.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/FundsInvQuestionnaire?cbdInitTransUrl=https%3A//flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planningeducation/education
https://ais2.tiaa-cref.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects.exe/DTAssetAlcEval
http://www.ifa.com/SurveyNET/index.aspx

Web forum: http://www.diehards.org/
(Many investment web forums are overrun by scam artists. This one seems the most legitimate site.)

I am planning on going to a school in Oregon. If I am able to get the resident’s tuition, I already have enough saved to pay for that. My boyfriend is a firefighter so he will help, too.

I have always been excellent with money management and I am doing a lot to live as green as I can and don’t buy disposable products so that helps. However, I do eat organic which can be pricey but I’m not willing to give that up.

What are little things you can do to save money?

I don’t understand what living "green" has to do with saving money or being on a tight budget. As a matter of fact, in many ways living "green" is more expensive than living otherwise as you point out when buying organic food. Alternative "green" sources of energy are typically twice as expensive as traditional sources.

As far as having a tight budget, I have always lived under a tight one whether I needed to or not. During "good" times I would save more and during tough times save less. But I always tried to save. The key is not to buy things you really don’t need and not to live extravagantly unless you deserve it and can afford it. Buy things you only truly need and buy them on sale.

As far as living "green" it’s OK to conserve and use less energy. Turn the thermostat back, drive less and more efficiently carefully planning your trips, use only fuel efficient cars. But solar power, wind power, ethanol, organic foods, etc. will all cost you more than traditional products.

I currently am enrolled in 3 courses. I work full time and I am a single mother. As you can imagine I am busy all day. I have been reading my books and taking down vocab words and things I think are important but how do you know you doing enough. It seems like I’m going to forget what I’ve read since there is no in class repetition. Any suggestions? What study habits did you find successful?
I am taking personal finance, construction methods, and marketing. Thank you in advance 🙂

Do you listen to lectures? If so, take down notes and then read them 10 minutes after you’ve taken them. Then read them again each day until the test. You can skim if you need to, just spend a min. of 15 minutes reading what you’ve written.

Take notes in your books by reading the intro to each chapter, then making a simple outline of what the chapter is about. Follow the read/write/remember/repeat process of note-taking I mentioned earlier.

There has been a strong correlation between good study skills and writing–not typing–your notes. So as much as you can, write it down.
Good job going back to school as a single mom! Blessings.

The title pretty much says it all. It seems like the news networks get strategists and authors and columnists to come on and do interviews that agree with the political leanings of the station (ie republican for foxnews, democratic for most others), but I’ve yet to see people interviewing some actual economists on the measures to counter the recession (for example, the stimulus bill). Is anyone an economists who can give an opinion or has anyone seen an interview that can enlighten me on the economists’ views?

It appears that the dominant view among economists can be summarized as follows:

The U.S. went into the current recession as a consumer-driven economy: consumption in the US accounted for approximately 70% of GDP. But now consumers are deep in debt. Household debt went up to 140 percent of personal income, up from less than 80 percent in 1990. Households are struggling to pay it down, and this process could take years. Meanwhile, frightened consumers will be saving more: In the current recession, for example, the net financial balance of the private households has risen from -3.6% of GDP in 2006 to +5.6% in the first quarter of 2009. Such large increase in savings translates in a decline in consumption and means falling sales, production and further declines in GDP. This trend will put the US finances in better shape and reduce its dependence on foreign investment, but it will also restrict economic growth in 2010 and beyond. The bottom line: Consumer spending may pick up a bit as the recession fades, but it will not lead the way out of the recession.

Possible policy measures: (1) tax cuts, (2) monetary expansion, (3) government spending.

(1) With the increased savings rates, tax cuts are not an effective policy because a large portion of the additional disposable income generated by the tax cuts will be saved and not spent.

(2) With interest rates roughly zero and a recession that is the fruit of past irrational exuberance, conventional monetary policy has run out of room. The economy is likely in or close to a liquidity trap where monetary policy is ineffective since the interest rates cannot fall any further.

(3) Bottom line, this means that there is not much alternative than old fashioned fiscal policy in form of huge stimulus package(s) which will pull the economy out of the recession.

Proponents of this line are well known economists like
Romer: http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/economicsfocus/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13856176#
Krugman: http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/the-true-fiscal-cost-of-stimulus/
Roubini: http://www.rgemonitor.com/
Stiglitz: http://www2.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jstiglitz/

Opponents argue that the so called ‘multiplier’ that translates the higher government spending into higher economic growth rates are overestimated and therefore the fiscal policies are not effective.

Economists supporting this view are the ‘fresh water economists’ among the most prominent is Robert Lucas: http://home.uchicago.edu/~sogrodow/
http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/economicsfocus/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14165405

An excellent article which covers the current debate among the different economic schools can be found in the Economist: http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14030288

I am currently a full time student. I already have a loan out to help cover Tuition costs, but I would like to take one out to get a new computer.

I’ve had steady employment for 2 years and I have a credit history of about 7 months, all of it positive.

Any suggestions/hints & tips will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
I have a Chemical Bank account.

When I was in college I had this similar situation arise. You will not be able to get a federal loan for this computer, but you should be able to get financed through a computer company to get the loan. Do you have an account with a bank? If that is the case you may be able to get a personal loan through a bank as well. Dell does a great job getting you financed even if you have bad or little credit history.