Interest-only mortgages are risky in a rising interest rate environment
Over the past decade, as interest rates declined, some homebuyers gravitated towards interest-only loans. However, times are changing, and borrowers should be careful in considering this kind of mortgage loan. During the past two years, many financial lenders have tightened credit standards across most loan types. The combination of the Coronavirus pandemic, supply shortages, inflation…
By Bill Schmick
May 19, 2022
Make up your mind, already!
Hey, stock market. Are you going up, or are you going down? Pick one side of the 200-day moving average and stick with it, would ya? What is the 200-day moving average? The 200-day moving average (DMA) is a key indicator that investors (traders?) use to gauge whether an investment is in an uptrend or…
By Allen Harris
April 25, 2022
Can the Federal Reserve engineer a soft landing?
Can we talk about how crazy the first quarter of 2022 was? From Volodymyr Zelensky to Will Smith. The so-called “Don’t say gay” bill and the woefully mislabeled “Billionaires’ tax.” From the vetting of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Olympics (well, maybe not the Olympics), the world was buzzing about serious news and outright nutso…
By Allen Harris
April 11, 2022
Do not chase stocks
Commodities are soaring. Interest rates are falling. Stocks can’t get out of their own way. All of this is occurring while the first war in decades continues to rage in Ukraine. Seems to me that any gains in the market averages next week will remain dead cat bounces in this bear market. Yes, I hate…
By Bill Schmick
March 4, 2022
Inflation is costing you an extra $276 a month
Inflation jumped 7.5 percent from last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index. Moody’s Analytics compared that rate to inflation in 2018 and 2019, which was around 2.1 percent. They concluded that the excessive inflation costs the average U.S. household $276 per month, or $3,312 per year. And here (among other things) is…
By Allen Harris
February 22, 2022
Layoffs ahead? The Fed’s efforts to beat inflation, October 2022
For the Federal Reserve, slowing inflation may mean slashing job growth. Will we trade high inflation for high unemployment? Berkshire Money Management CEO and Founder Allen Harris explores how employment is impacted by interest rates, and why the Federal Reserve might want you to lose your job. TRANSCRIPT: The Federal Reserve is an…
By Allen Harris
October 12, 2022