Tag: rent

After living as renters for the first seven years of their marriage, Geoff and Kristi decided it was time to purchase their first house.

They chose to pass on making a purchase earlier in their lives for reasons ranging from unstable job security to high mortgage rates. Whether justified or not, Geoff and Kristi kept making excuses for not pulling the trigger on a new-home purchase. They had no idea of the opportunity they were missing to start building their personal wealth through home ownership.

Quite often amongst wedding vows you hear the words "for better or for worse," and we mean it when we say it. As a couple you have already shared so many good times, and you know how to do that quite easily, that’s what brought you together. However, when it comes to a crisis, you may need a whole new set of tools that you have never used before. Believe it or not, it’s the hard times that really define you as a couple and strengthen your relationship in a measure that is invaluable, thereby making the worst of times some of your best moments. The moments that count when you need each other the most.

Nearly 8 in 10 (78%) of U.S. adults lose sleep over daily stresses like work, relationships, and more, according to a new report. More than half (56%) of Americans, ages 18 and older, toss and turn over at least one money issue. The biggest money stressor: everyday expenses, which nearly 1 in 3 (32%) say they occasionally lose sleep over.

Other than everyday expenses, the most popular financial insomnia contributors include saving enough money for retirement (24%), health care or insurance bills (22%), the ability to pay credit card debt (18%), mortgage or rent payments (18%), educational expenses (11%) and stock market volatility (5%). Those who are losing sleep over money include:

Robert Burns once wrote, "The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry." Oh, how very true that statement is. Life is unpredictable. You may try to create the blueprints and lay the groundwork to make it happen, but, at any moment, life can throw you a curveball; and when that happens, all you can do is take a swing. It happened to us in New York. One of us getting laid off would have been a fastball. But both of us getting laid off within a week of each other turned out to be a curveball—one that sent us for a loop and dropped us off in Spain.