Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
This post may contain affiliate links, which helps us to continue providing relevant content and we receive a small commission at no cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Please read the full disclosure here.
Have you ever thought about life lessons about money?
Honestly, most of us haven’t because we go through our day-to-day lives without taking the time to reflect or even journal about our experiences.
This past week, I had the chance to visit my kid’s elementary school during lunchtime. It has been a LONG time since I have stuck foot in a lunchroom. Wow – that room is loud! Really quickly I realized some lunchtime lessons we tend to forget in life.
These are the best money lessons you need to know.
The teachers were present to keep the lunchroom in order. My hats are off to them! They are amazing ladies with gifted talent (and personally, I am thankful for each of them). They kept control of the chaos to make sure the students did what they needed to do – eat lunch while still enjoying their friends.
After observing the students and the teachers, I realized habits start at a young age. If those habits, don’t change. Then, the cycle repeats. As kids, we learn behaviors whether good or bad (and most of them stick with you through your adult life).
It is a matter of choosing which path we want to live.
So, you are probably wondering what does an elementary lunchroom and money have in common??? I’m going to unpack four lessons learned in grade school that people struggle with in their money life.
These are the financial lessons you must embrace to enjoy a life of financial independence.
Just like reading, writing, and arithmetic, financial literacy is important. It is a building block to becoming financially secure. More specifically, being smart with money opens up doors of opportunities.
You are in the exact place you can learn about money.
Here at Money Bliss, we believe people want to learn to alter money management, so they can enjoy life and money.
Unfortunately, financial lessons are not taught in school or at the home.
So, that means as a college student or young adult, you must become self-taught. There are lots of various opinions and advice that you can get. Some of the best money books are highly rated because they have solid money management tips that are life-changing.
Stick around our Money Bliss tribe! I guarantee you will find insightful tips as many others have that will change your personal finances.
The important lessons in life are simple.
They are basic practices in life. These are not specific tactics to help you get out of debt, budget better, or save more money.
Your mindset will determine success or failure – just by how you are thinking.
Research has proven that your mindset will determine your outcome.
These are the daily money lessons you need to remember that will help you reach financial freedom.
These life lessons about money are you already know, but you may need to practice them more often.
The first lesson is about discipline. Going back to the lunchroom, the kids know the expected behavior. It takes discipline to sit down and actually eat lunch vs. throwing food and chatting with friends then no food is eaten. As adults, we know how much income we make and how much we can spend. With money, it takes discipline to stay within a budget or as I prefer to call it – Cents Plan.
In today’s society, there are many ways to fast cash whether by using credit cards, payday loans, or even a home equity loan. It is super easy to rack up thousands and thousands of dollars in debt in a short amount of time. While it may be fun spending all of that fast cash, it comes at a steep price called interest.
Discipline is living within your means.
It takes discipline to say, “No, you can’t afford this.”
Even better is learning how to live below your means and save more money each month.
Oh, children are the best at the second lesson! How far can I push the boundary? At what point, do I actually cross the line? During my time in the lunchroom, I observed students after students trying to push the boundaries. Remember, they have wonderful teachers who have taught them the expected behavior.
However, it is natural behavior as humans to test the boundaries.
With money, pushing the boundaries typically starts out small. $20 over on groceries this month. $100 on eating out because we had to celebrate a birthday. Picking up that one item just because it is on sale even when there isn’t enough money to cover the basic expenses. Then, after time, it starts a snowball effect.
It just keeps rolling and rolling, getting bigger and bigger until overspending is out of control and the person is now smothered in debt.
With money, is pushing the boundaries truly worth it? Why should you test your own boundaries when money is at stake? The answer is no. Stop pushing the boundaries.
In the end, you are only hurting yourself financially by testing the limits and causing undue stress.
Related Money Management Posts:
Um, hello? Are you listening? Still, reading? Good! Yes, focus is the third lesson.
The lunchroom serves one primary purpose – fill up the belly with food before the next class comes in. However, my observations proved that was the last priority on any of those kids’ agendas. Thankfully, the wonderful teachers were present to provide guidance and focus them back on the task on hand. Did it take one reminder? Um, no. Many reminders to stay focused on their primary purpose.
In our society, there are MORE distractions than ever before. Plus the distractions will keep growing exponentially as technology advances and history has proven. So, what does that mean for you and your money?
Develop a plan and stay focused. Don’t stray. Don’t let others change your plan. Focus.
When we paid off our student loans, we were focused on ONE thing. Pay off our loans as soon as possible. Thus, freeing up cash flow in our Cents Plan. We didn’t stray. No changing our minds when things got tough. We stay focused on our vision – PAY OFF OUR STUDENT LOANS.
Staying focused means creating an overall money vision and making money goals.
Every single day, you are focused on making decisions that will make sure reaching your money goals is attainable.
Teachers through school help keep kids accountable. They were present in the lunchroom making sure chaos didn’t break out. These teachers provide a firm guiding hand with a huge dose of caring love.
Wouldn’t it be great to have an accountability standard for money? Unfortunately, we don’t have many great examples around us. The U.S. Government is trillions of dollars in debt. Most Americans carry debt on their shoulders while living paycheck to paycheck.
We have never been taught to be accountable with money.
The first step to being accountable with money is an accountability partner – either your spouse, friend, or coach. Someone who will keep your best interests in mind.
The second step is to have benchmarks to hold yourself accountable to. Understand how our tagline “Where Cents Parallel Vision” means to you and how to apply it to your life. Make sure to set long-term visions with attainable short-term financial goals. Also, journaling your journey is a great way to stay focused and track progress!
If you are struggling to find accountability, make sure to join the Money Bliss Tribe!
Related Money Management Posts:
Personally, for me, it is living with millionaire habits and possessing their mindset. This all happened well before becoming a millionaire and deeply in debt.
It started by believing that I could be successful with money.
These powerful money lessons helped shaped my perspective, and ultimately, the desire to change money statistics with this blog and online business.
If you are stick in the negative mindset of always being poor or broke, that is where you will stay (unless you decide to take control of your mind). Living paycheck to paycheck is an unfortunate place to be.
If you believe that you can become a millionaire, then that is the best lesson you will learn about money, too.
Every money decision is a building block towards financial freedom. There isn’t one thing that will take you from negative net worth to over $1,000,000.
It is a cumulative effort of many daily resolutions that will change your personal finances.
All of these money lessons we learned early in life, but still need reminders on a constant basis.
In all honesty, they will help every facet of your life. Build the life of your dreams and find money success.
Don’t forget these personal finance lessons:
In order to succeed with money and become financially free is to put into practice the lessons taught in school. We don’t have teachers watching over our every move to guide us.
We need to remember why it is so important to stay disciplined, stop pushing the boundaries, stay focused on our plan, and find accountability.
One of the benefits of the Money Bliss Steps to Financial Freedom is it provides a guide with all of these money lessons on how to succeed the fastest.
The steps are to be done in order, therefore, stay focused on the current step and not be distracted. Ten steps to walk through your life’s journey. They won’t happen overnight.
Just like in school… you took one grade at a time, learn what in needed to advance to the next grade.
Take these important lessons about money and willingly use them in every aspect of your life. You will be overcome with how much you are capable of accomplishing!
The Money Bliss Steps are developed to build upon one another and lay the foundation for financial freedom.
Learn how to manage your money, your way. Not have your money manage you.
Side note on teachers and mentors… I am thankful to all of the teachers who dedicate their lives to enriching students’ lives. Each and every one of you makes this world a better place! Thank you.
More importantly, did I answer the questions you have about this topic? Let me know in the comments if I can help in some other way!
Your comments are not just welcomed; they’re an integral part of our community. Let’s continue the conversation and explore how these ideas align with your journey towards Money Bliss.
Source: moneybliss.org
If you’re like many Americans, your home is the single most valuable asset in your portfolio. That six-figure investment doesn’t just keep a roof over your head — it can provide a source of wealth and stability for years, and potentially generations, to come.
But sometimes, you need access to that wealth now — preferably in the form of cold, hard cash. And while refinancing can be one way to access your home’s value, you may not want to change your interest rate or other mortgage terms. Fortunately, there are ways to take equity out of your house without refinancing — though many of them do come with their own costs and risks. Below, we’ll dive into all the details so you can make an informed decision.
The short answer: Yes, there are ways to get equity out of your home without refinancing (though cash-out refinancing is also a way to do so). From home equity loans to a home equity line of credit (HELOC) and reverse mortgages, there are a lot of ways to turn your home’s value into cash money — though they all come with their own pros and cons to consider. Let’s take a closer look.
Here are five ways to get equity out of your home without refinancing.
A home equity loan is, as its name suggests, a loan that draws from the value of your home equity — which is the amount of your home’s value that you actually own (i.e., what you have paid back to your mortgage lender). You can take out a home equity loan without refinancing, and if you’ve been building equity for a while, doing so can be a relatively low-cost way to access a large lump sum of money in one fell swoop.
A home equity loan is sometimes known as a “second mortgage,” since it’s secured by the same asset as your original mortgage — your home. And just like your mortgage (and many other types of loans), a home equity loan is usually repaid in regular, fixed installments over a predetermined period of time, or term. This might be 10 or 20 years long.
Of course, home equity loans do come with drawbacks to consider. For one thing, your home will be at risk of foreclosure if you fail to repay the “second” mortgage, just as it is with the first. And although interest rates may be relatively low, closing costs apply, which can amount to thousands of dollars.
A home equity line of credit, or HELOC, works in a similar way to a home equity loan — but instead of a lump sum payment, you’ll get access to a flexible line of credit based on your home equity, which you can tap into as needed. You can think of it a little bit like a credit card, except your “credit limit” will be based on the equity you’ve built in your home.
HELOCs may be offered at a fixed or variable interest rate and usually consist of a draw period followed by a repayment period — so you’ll have a certain amount of time to draw from the HELOC and then a certain amount of time to pay it back. Most HELOCs allow borrowers to take out up to 80% or even 85% of their home’s value, minus whatever they owe on their mortgage — in other words, up to 80% of their home equity. Keep in mind that HELOCs may also be subject to origination fees and other upfront costs that can increase their overall expense.
A reverse mortgage is similar to a home equity line of credit. One type, a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM), is backed by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and is specifically for homeowners age 62 and over. Rather than making regular monthly repayments on the loan, the total doesn’t come due until you no longer live in the home.
Since interest and fees are added each month, the loan total goes up over time, while your home equity in turn goes down — and if you (and any coborrowers) die, the reverse mortgage is due immediately. Thus, this option might not be the right choice for those hoping to leave their home to their surviving family members. If the idea of an HECM appeals to you, you can meet with an HECM counselor to learn more.
Otherwise known as Home Equity Agreements (HEAs), a home equity investment allows an investor to essentially buy some of your home’s future equity. This gives you access to cash up front without requiring you to pay back a loan over time — which many would call a win-win situation. Of course, in the long run, if your home appreciates substantially in value, you may end up paying a high rate of return to the investing company — and having less of your home’s value to create long-standing wealth for you and your family. Furthermore, not everyone can qualify for this relatively new financial arrangement.
You might already know about personal loans — which, yes, can be taken out even by non-homeowners. But if you do own your home, you may be able to put down the deed as collateral, which could reduce the cost of the loan (since a secured loan is less risky to lenders) while also offering you the flexibility to use the borrowed money in just about any way you want.
Of course, even with all the options described above, refinancing is still an option for those hoping to pull equity out of their homes. Here are some of the drawbacks and benefits of refinancing to pull out home equity, at a glance.
Refinancing Pros | Refinancing Cons |
---|---|
Access to a large lump sum of money | You’ll owe closing costs |
Potentially lower interest rate than credit cards or unsecured loans | If the market is less favorable than when you took out your original home loan, your overall interest rate may be higher |
Possible tax deductions if you use the money to make eligible home improvements | Your overall owed amount will be higher and unless you choose a very short loan term, you could be paying down the loan for decades to come |
If your financial situation and market conditions have changed such that you’d likely qualify for a lower overall interest rate and better loan terms, refinancing a mortgage may be worthwhile — and if you need short-term cash, a cash-out refinance might be an option worth considering. That’s especially true if you plan to use the money for home improvements, in which case you may qualify for additional tax deductions.
While cash-out refinancing offers a readily available way for many homeowners to access their home’s equity value as cash, there are plenty of other options worth considering. A home equity line of credit (HELOC), secured personal loan, and even a reverse mortgage can all help homeowners put some extra money in their pockets — so long as they know the potential drawbacks of each method.
SoFi now offers flexible HELOCs. Our HELOC options allow you to access up to 95% of your home’s value, or $500,000, at competitively low rates. And the application process is quick and convenient.
Unlock your home’s value with a home equity line of credit brokered by SoFi.
Yes! There are many ways to take equity out of your home without refinancing. Some of the most popular options include home equity loans, home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), and reverse mortgages. It’s important to understand that each of these options comes with its own costs and associated risks, however.
There’s no one easy answer to this question, because the “best” way depends on your personal financial situation and how much cash you need access to. That said, Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs) offer unparalleled flexibility when it comes to the amount you withdraw, which could save you from paying back money you didn’t need to borrow in the first place. Personal loans secured with your home’s deed may also be a relatively inexpensive and very flexible option.
Like any debt, taking equity out of your home could be a good decision or a bad one, depending on what you’re planning to use the funds for and how that action will shape your future finances. For instance, if you plan to use your home equity loan to make home improvements that might increase the property’s value substantially, doing so might be a smart investment. On the other hand, taking out a reverse mortgage — which will decrease your home’s equity over time — to go on a lavish vacation might be less advisable.
Photo credit: iStock/boggy22
SoFi Loan Products
SoFi loans are originated by SoFi Bank, N.A., NMLS #696891 (Member FDIC). For additional product-specific legal and licensing information, see SoFi.com/legal. Equal Housing Lender.
SoFi Mortgages
Terms, conditions, and state restrictions apply. Not all products are available in all states. See SoFi.com/eligibility for more information.
*SoFi requires Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) for conforming home loans with a loan-to-value (LTV) ratio greater than 80%. As little as 3% down payments are for qualifying first-time homebuyers only. 5% minimum applies to other borrowers. Other loan types may require different fees or insurance (e.g., VA funding fee, FHA Mortgage Insurance Premiums, etc.). Loan requirements may vary depending on your down payment amount, and minimum down payment varies by loan type.
Financial Tips & Strategies: The tips provided on this website are of a general nature and do not take into account your specific objectives, financial situation, and needs. You should always consider their appropriateness given your own circumstances.
Third-Party Brand Mentions: No brands, products, or companies mentioned are affiliated with SoFi, nor do they endorse or sponsor this article. Third-party trademarks referenced herein are property of their respective owners.
External Websites: The information and analysis provided through hyperlinks to third-party websites, while believed to be accurate, cannot be guaranteed by SoFi. Links are provided for informational purposes and should not be viewed as an endorsement.
Tax Information: This article provides general background information only and is not intended to serve as legal or tax advice or as a substitute for legal counsel. You should consult your own attorney and/or tax advisor if you have a question requiring legal or tax advice.
¹FHA loans are subject to unique terms and conditions established by FHA and SoFi. Ask your SoFi loan officer for details about eligibility, documentation, and other requirements. FHA loans require an Upfront Mortgage Insurance Premium (UFMIP), which may be financed or paid at closing, in addition to monthly Mortgage Insurance Premiums (MIP). Maximum loan amounts vary by county. The minimum FHA mortgage down payment is 3.5% for those who qualify financially for a primary purchase. SoFi is not affiliated with any government agency.
²To obtain a home equity loan, SoFi Bank (NMLS #696891) may assist you obtaining a loan from Spring EQ (NMLS #1464945).
All loan terms, fees, and rates may vary based upon individual financial and personal circumstances and state.
You may discuss with your loan officer whether a SoFi Mortgage or a home equity loan from Spring EQ is appropriate. Please note that the SoFi member discount does not apply to Home Equity Loans or Lines of Credit brokered through SoFi. Terms and conditions will apply. Before you apply for a SoFi Mortgage, please note that not all products are offered in all states, and all loans are subject to eligibility restrictions and limitations, including requirements related to loan applicant’s credit, income, property, and loan amount. Minimum loan amount is $75,000. Lowest rates are reserved for the most creditworthy borrowers. Products, rates, benefits, terms, and conditions are subject to change without notice. Learn more at SoFi.com/eligibility-criteria.
SoFi Mortgages originated through SoFi Bank, N.A., NMLS #696891 (Member FDIC), (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org). Equal Housing Lender. SoFi Bank, N.A. is currently NOT able to accept applications for refinance loans in NY.
In the event SoFi serves as broker to Spring EQ for your loan, SoFi will be paid a fee.
SOHL-Q224-1915450-V1
Source: sofi.com
Mortgage rates have been in a narrow range for more than a month now with the average top tier 30yr fixed rate staying within striking distance of the 7.0% mark for the entirety. The number was 7.01 yesterday and it’s down to 6.99 today. This matches the level last seen on June 14th and you’d have to go back to March to see anything much lower.
Despite the incredibly uneventful performance of the past month, rates face another opportunity for (or “threat of”) a much bigger change tomorrow. The direction of the move will depend entirely on the results of the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
CPI is the most important economic report as far as rates are concerned because it’s the first major look at inflation data on any given month and inflation is the biggest problem for rates at the moment.
Looked at another way, the Fed has repeatedly communicated that rate cuts will happen when CPI suggests inflation is decidedly heading back to 2.0% in year over year terms. The last CPI was a step in the right direction. If tomorrow’s follows suit, the conversation about rate cuts would get serious.
The Fed doesn’t directly dictate mortgage rates, but the entire rate market tends to react to the same things the Fed says it will react to.
As always, keep in mind that data can go both ways. If CPI shows higher inflation than expected, rates could move higher just as quickly as they could drop. Last but not least, there’s always a chance that the data and the market’s reaction to it can be balanced enough to “thread the needle” (i.e. another day without much change in rates).
Bottom line: in terms of POTENTIAL volatility, tomorrow is about as high stakes as it gets.
Source: mortgagenewsdaily.com
This month’s report shows the slowest month-to-month growth in rent in long time — precisely what the Fed doctor ordered.
Tomorrow, we have the PPI inflation report, which is critical because the components of the PPI inflation report filter into the PCE inflation data, which the Fed prefers as its primary inflation metric. They want the PCE inflation data to get toward 2%. We have to remember that shelter isn’t as impactful on the PCE inflation data, but the PCE inflation data has been having 2% handles on the 12-month data for some time now.
We’ll know more after we see the PPI inflation report tomorrow. However, as often noted, we have made significant progress on inflation with no Fed rate cuts and the 10-year yield is still above 4%. It’s critical to break the stubborn level of 4.20% on the 10-year yield if we want to see mortgage rates drop closer to 6.5%.
However, one silver lining this year that isn’t being discussed much is that the spread between the 30-year mortgage and the 10-year yield is improving. This is a good sign and something we discuss on our weekly tracker articles. If the spreads return to normal, mortgage rates would be near 6% or lower today with the 10-year yield. We will address this issue and others in the next HousingWire Daily podcast.
For now, let’s keep our eye on the prize, which is labor data. Jobless claims did come in better today. By now, we all know that the Fed is putting more weight on labor data over inflation. If inflation had driven their full mindset, we would have had cuts already. However, as they have stated, they have kept rates high because the labor market has allowed them to.
Today, let’s call it a victory as the 10-year yield has dropped and is testing that critical 4.20% level. We will see how the PPI inflation data looks tomorrow. However, today’s data should make the Fed feel better because the lagging shelter inflation data is becoming a reality. We have a lot to work with in the second half of 2024, but we are making progress in fighting inflation.
Let’s hope the Fed proves me wrong and does pivot before a job loss recession happens. Either way, making progress on inflation and the labor data getting softer is a more positive trend for mortgage rates in the future.
Source: housingwire.com
Buying a home in Alaska is increasingly challenging for residents, as home prices are higher than during their 2022 and 2023 peaks and mortgage rates have risen by more than 50 percent in the past six years, according to a new study by the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC).
Read more: What Is Mortgage Refinancing? How Does It Work?
Between 2018 and 2024, the average principal and interest payment for homes purchased in Alaska increased by 52 percent, the study released on June 19 found. Newsweek contacted AHFC for comment by phone on Wednesday morning.
Higher mortgage rates are likely to be another factor in making homes unaffordable for many aspiring buyers in the state, on top of relatively high home prices.
According to the latest Redfin data, the median sale price of a home in Alaska was $388,400 in May, up 2.2 percent compared to a year earlier. In May 2022, it was $363,000. Anchorage, the state’s largest city, was the number one metropolitan area in the state with the fastest-growing sale price, up 3.8 percent in May compared to a year earlier.
Read more: How to Calculate How Much House You Can Afford
Prices are still climbing despite inventory growing significantly in the past year, with 2,230 homes for sale in Alaska in May, up 19.8 percent year-over-year. Newly listed homes were up 21.3 percent compared to a year earlier. But the average month of supply is only two months—far from the six months that is considered enough for the market to turn in favor of buyers.
The situation isn’t any easier for people renting in the state. Since 2018, average rents have increased by 24 percent, reaching an average of $1,325 statewide in 2024, up from $1,250 a year earlier.
All seven communities analyzed by the AHFC experts saw rents increases, including the Municipality of Anchorage (+7.84 percent), Fairbanks North Star Borough (+4.17 percent), Juneau (+3.85 percent), Kenai Peninsula Borough (+4.71 percent), Ketchikan Gateway Borough (+8.41 percent), Kodiak (+20.83 percent), and Matanuska Susitna Borough (+6.38 percent).
Daniel Delfino, the director of planning and program development for AHFC, told Alaska News Source that the housing situation in Alaska is complicated, with “a lot of things moving at the same time.”
“We don’t have a ‘it’s this’ or ‘it’s that’ answer anymore to some of the housing challenges that people are facing,” Delfino said. “It’s an expensive place to build, Alaska. Most of our communities are expensive to build, and before the pandemic and the challenges after the pandemic, inflation and interest costs of land made those challenges harder.”
Are you an Alaska resident trying to get a mortgage, or struggling to buy a home? Have you been affected by the recent increases in mortgage rates? Tell us about your experience by contacting [email protected].
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Source: newsweek.com
In case you haven’t heard, there’s talk of a “refinance boom” as soon as 2025. Yes, you read that right.
While it seemed like high mortgage rates were going to spoil the party for a long time, things can change quickly.
Thanks to the millions who took out high-rate mortgages over the past couple years, even a slight improvement in rates could open the floodgates.
But now more than ever it’s going to be important to go with the right lender, the one who ultimately offers the lowest rate with the fewest fees.
This is especially true now that banks and lenders are working hard to improve recapture rates for past customers.
First let’s talk about that supposed refinance boom. This hopeful news comes courtesy of the latest Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey® (MLSS) from Fannie Mae.
The GSE surveyed over 200 senior mortgage executives and found that almost three in five (58%) expect a refinance boom to start in 2025.
And some even believe it could kick off later this year, though that would take a pretty big move lower for mortgage rates in a hurry.
Either way, many are now anticipating that the Fed will cut their own rate in September as inflation continues to cool.
This expectation may lend itself to lower mortgage rates as bond yields drop and take the 30-year fixed down with it.
Assuming this all plays out according to plan, we could see a nice uptick in mortgage refinance applications.
After all, some four million mortgages originated since 2022 have interest rates above 6.5%, with about half (1.9M) having rates of 7%+.
If the 30-year fixed makes its way down closer to say 6%, or even lower, many recent home buyers will be clamoring for a rate and term refinance to save some money.
Now let’s talk about something called “servicer retention.” In short, once your home loan funds, it is typically sold off to an investor on the secondary market, such as Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
Along with the sale of the loan are the servicing rights, which can either be retained or released.
If they’re retained, the originating lender collects monthly payments and keeps in touch with the customer for the life of the loan (unless servicing is transferred at a later date).
If the servicing rights are released, payment collection is handed off to a third-party loan servicer.
Lately, banks and lenders have been opting to keep servicing in house to take advantage of a possible future transaction.
It allows them to keep an open line of communication with the homeowner, pitch them new products, such as a refi or home equity loan, cross-sell, and more.
In the meantime, they also make money via servicing fee income, which can supplement earnings when new loans are hard to come by (as they have been lately).
Anyway, what many mortgage companies are realizing is that with servicing retained, they can mine their book of business for refinance opportunities.
So instead of you calling a random lender when the thought crosses your mind, they might be calling you first.
While it might sound nice to have a built-in reminder to refinance when rates drop, it might also deter shopping around.
The latest Mortgage Monitor report from ICE found that retention rates on recent loan vintages have surged, as seen in the chart above.
Loan servicers retained a staggering 41% of borrowers who refinanced out of 2022 vintage loans and 47% of those who refinanced out of 2023 loans.
In other words, they’re snagging nearly half of the refinance business on loans they funded just a year or two ago.
And the retention rate among rate and term refis on FHA loans and VA loans tripled from around 15% in the fourth quarter of 2023 to 46% in the first quarter of 2024.
This means you’re more likely than ever to hear about refinance offers from the bank that currently services your mortgage.
That’s great for the mortgage companies, since they get to earn money on loan origination fees, lender fees, and possibly selling the loan and/or servicing rights again.
But it might not be great for you if you just go with the first quote you hear. Speaking of, ICE also noted that 36% of borrowers “considered” just one lender before making a selection.
And 48% considered just two. Did they consider two or actually speak to two? Remember, shopping around has been proven to save borrowers money. Actual studies by Freddie Mac prove this.
So if you just say sure, let’s work together again, you could possibly miss out on much better offers in the process, even if it is convenient.
Personally, I’d rather get a lower mortgage rate than save a tiny amount of time.
Before creating this site, I worked as an account executive for a wholesale mortgage lender in Los Angeles. My hands-on experience in the early 2000s inspired me to begin writing about mortgages 18 years ago to help prospective (and existing) home buyers better navigate the home loan process.
Source: thetruthaboutmortgage.com
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has broad authority under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA) to prohibit discrimination against credit applicants and from discouraging prospective applicants for credit.
This reinforces the bureau’s enforcement authority as it wages a war against redlining, including in a case against Chicago-based Townstone Financial, according to court documents reviewed by HousingWire.
In the summer of 2020, the CFPB filed suit against Townstone, alleging that it violated Regulation B of the ECOA by drawing “almost no applications for properties in majority-African-American neighborhoods located in the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin Metropolitan Statistical Area (Chicago MSA) and few applications from African Americans throughout the Chicago MSA.”
This amounted to discrimination, the CFPB alleged. That October, Townstone moved to have the case dismissed. A federal judge in Illinois ruled in favor of Townstone in February 2023, but the CFPB vowed to appeal. The bureau sought a review of the decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
After more than a year of briefs and oral arguments, a three-judge panel for the appeals court ruled in favor of the CFPB on Thursday.
“The district court held that the ECOA does not authorize the imposition of liability for the discouragement of prospective applicants,” the decision stated. “For the reasons set forth in the following opinion, we take a different view.”
In a statement provided to HousingWire, Steve Simpson of the Pacific Legal Foundation — who is representing Townstone in this case — expressed disappointment in the decision but said the organization will continue to find a path forward.
“We’re disappointed with the court’s decision, which didn’t grapple with our many statutory arguments,” Simpson said in an email. “And regardless of the statutory problems with regulation B, the CFPB’s suit against Townstone is a flagrant violation of the First Amendment. We are considering what steps to take next, but Townstone’s defense of CFPB’s regulatory overreach is far from over.”
The panel went on to say that the ECOA vested sufficient authority in the Federal Reserve Board — and later, after the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, in the CFPB — to enforce ECOA in this way.
“An analysis of the text of the ECOA as a whole makes clear that the text prohibits not only outright discrimination against applicants for credit, but also the discouragement of prospective applicants for credit,” the decision reads. “Congress vested the Board (and later the Bureau) with the authority to issue regulations ‘necessary or proper to effectuate the purposes of this title’ or ‘to prevent circumvention or evasion thereof.’”
The panel continued by saying that the intent of Congress upon the passage of ECOA was for the authority to be broad in its enforcement.
“Congress indicated that the ECOA must be construed broadly to effectuate its purpose of ending discrimination in credit applications. Moreover, other provisions of the ECOA strongly confirm that discouraging applications for credit constitutes a violation of the statute,” the decision said.
HousingWire reached out to representatives of the CFPB but did not immediately receive a response.
Source: housingwire.com
Welcome to NerdWallet’s Smart Money podcast, where we answer your real-world money questions. In this episode:
Discover career growth strategies to boost your income, including negotiating raises and navigating promotions and mentorship.
What are some of the best ways to increase your income?
What are strategies for negotiating a higher salary and excelling in your current role?
Hosts Sean Pyles and Alana Benson discuss career growth techniques and salary negotiation strategies to help you understand how to maximize your earnings and achieve financial stability. They begin with a discussion of the importance of increasing your income rather than solely focusing on cutting expenses, breaking down the long-term financial difference that seemingly small increases in your income can make over the course of your career.
Then, “The Job Doctor” Tessa White joins Alana to discuss how to excel in your current role and position yourself for promotions and raises within an organization. They discuss the necessity of understanding the true expectations of your role, measuring your contributions through tangible metrics and effectively communicating your value to your organization. Additionally, they explore the importance of informal mentorship and how to enhance your skills by observing and learning from those who excel in specific areas.
Check out this episode on your favorite podcast platform, including:
NerdWallet stories related to this episode:
This transcript was generated from podcast audio by an AI tool.
Sean Pyles:
You’ve heard it one million times, “Just cut out the daily Starbucks run and you’ll be rich.” But more often than not, your financial situation is going to be better aided by fixing what’s coming into your budget versus what’s going out.
Tessa White:
If you’re, say, 35 years old and you negotiate an extra $5,000 for your job, it’s not just $5,000 because in lifetime earnings, that’s several hundred thousand dollars in lifetime earnings. And if you invested that difference, it’s even more.
Sean Pyles:
Welcome to NerdWallet’s Smart Money Podcast. I’m Sean Pyles.
Alana Benson:
And I’m Alana Benson.
Sean Pyles:
This episode kicks off our Nerdy deep dive into what we are calling investing in your income. Another way to say that is investing in yourself by seeking out more ways to make more money.
Alana Benson:
Yeah, Sean, you alluded to this at the beginning, but there’s just so much advice out there giving people flack for spending on straight-up normal stuff like going to Starbucks, or getting some tacos at a food truck instead of making them in your kitchen. And yes, technically all of these things can have a negative impact on your bottom line, but like, you have to live.
Sean Pyles:
Absolutely. And I mean, we’ve had a foot in this camp on the show advising people to take a hard look at their expenses and see what they can pare back in an effort to get themselves to a better financial situation. We haven’t told people to forego a morning latte, but there certainly is a time and place for examining your spending habits. That said, there is another way to affect that bottom line.
Alana Benson:
Exactly, and that is to just make more money.
Sean Pyles:
Yes. Okay. So Alana, you pitched this series to us. What prompted you to start thinking about this?
Alana Benson:
I’ve talked about this on here before, but before I started working at NerdWallet, I worked at a small company where I was making less than $30,000 a year with no benefits. So I actually tried to negotiate to $32,500 and I was told that I was “greedy and selfish.”
Sean Pyles:
Wow. The gall you must have had-
Alana Benson:
I know. How dare I?
Sean Pyles:
… to ask for that much more money, yeah.
Alana Benson:
But it messed me up for a long time. And to any listeners who have been told something similar, I want to tell you right now that you are not any of those things. I had to check my bank account every time before I went grocery shopping at that job, and I felt stressed about money all the time. And then when I finally started working at NerdWallet, overnight I went from that stressed out lifestyle to being able to save for retirement and a down payment on a house, which was just like a fever dream before then, and then it was a reality.
Sean Pyles:
Right. Well, we wish everyone could work for NerdWallet, but for those who are looking for other ways to have that kind of income jump, let’s talk about what they need to be considering.
Alana Benson:
Yeah, Sean. And this is not to say that this is easy. These are a little more difficult, they may not happen overnight, but there are some really critical factors that make increasing your income almost imperative if you want to meet particular financial goals. If that’s buying a house, if you’re making a college fund, investing for retirement, these are all the things that you usually do after you fill out your emergency fund, or you pay down high-interest debt and cover your day-to-day expenses. And by those metrics, it just makes it really hard for a lot of people to ever get to the point where they can afford to save and invest for those long-term goals. And for a lot of folks, increasing their income is literally the only way they’re going to be able to afford to invest for retirement.
Sean Pyles:
Right. And increasing your income can also be far more effective than reducing expenses, particularly for those who don’t have many expenses left to cut.
Alana Benson:
Yeah, exactly. So here’s an example. If you’re making $50,000 a year, the money you actually get on your paycheck after taxes, and generally this is without state taxes and everyone’s tax situation is different, but that would come to about $42,000 a year or $3,495 per month. The average monthly mortgage payment in the U.S. is $1,768. Now factor in groceries, bills, car payments, and other necessities, and the truth becomes something that we already know, which is just that life is really expensive and most of us are not making enough to cut it, let alone save for the future, or just make enough to enjoy life and take a vacation every now and then.
Sean Pyles:
Yeah. And the average millennial owes about $6,500 in credit card debt and those in Gen Z owe more than $3,000. Cutting your daily coffee habit and getting rid of streaming services simply cannot make up the differences here. And these numbers aren’t new, but they’re sometimes presented with little information about what we can do about them. Increasing your income is one of the biggest ways you can make a dent in those numbers.
Alana Benson:
Exactly. So over this three-part series, we’re going to talk about how you can get started increasing your income, some concrete steps you can take regardless of whether you want to change jobs or not, and what you can start to do once your income does increase. We’ll be talking about everything from sprucing up your LinkedIn profile to working with a career coach, negotiating, and whether that’s for a raise at your current job or a salary bump at a new one.
Sean Pyles:
All right, well we want to hear what you think too, listeners. To share your thoughts around ways to boost your income, leave us a voicemail or text the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373. That’s 901-730-N-E-R-D, or email a voice memo to [email protected].
So Alana, who are we hearing from today?
Alana Benson:
We are going to the doctor for a checkup, Sean.
Sean Pyles:
Oh, no. What’s the copay going to be?
Alana Benson:
Well, hopefully nothing, because today we are talking with The Job Doctor, also known as Tessa White, who spent a good chunk of her career heading up HR departments, mostly for tech companies. She’s now founder and CEO of The Job Doctor and author of The Unspoken Truths for Career Success.
Sean Pyles:
That’s coming up in a moment. Stay with us.
Alana Benson:
Tessa White, welcome to Smart Money.
Tessa White:
Hello. Thank you for having me.
Alana Benson:
In this series, we are really focusing on ways to increase your income in kind of any form. So what would you say is the easiest way that people can increase their income?
Tessa White:
Well, I think they need to be very mindful that they are their best advocate for making money. The company’s not going to magically go in and decide that they need to pay them more money, because a company’s always going to err on the side of they’ll take as much as you’ll give. So making sure that you’re advocating for yourself is probably the greatest way that you make money.
Alana Benson:
Tessa White:
Yeah, salary negotiation, asking for money, which is uncomfortable for people to do sometimes. Understanding what the value of your role is or the position that you’re applying for versus just kind of going with the first thing that people ask. I mean a little bit of discomfort on the front end of negotiating on behalf of yourself really has a massive impact on the back end.
If you’re, say, 35 years old and you negotiate an extra $5,000 for your job, it’s not just $5,000 because in lifetime earnings, that’s several hundred thousand dollars in lifetime earnings. And if you invested that difference, it’s even more. So you need to look at it a little bit differently and say, “Every penny that I can negotiate on behalf of myself is the new basis for which other offers come in and other raises is based off of.” And it really does have a cumulative effect that’s significant.
Alana Benson:
I want to go back to something that you said about increasing the value where you’re at. Some people may have tried to negotiate or they’ve hit a financial ceiling for some ways, but how can you get extra experience at your existing job? For example, if you want a role in management in the future, maybe take on some mentoring to work towards that. For people who negotiating isn’t really on the table right now, how can people get some of that extra experience?
Tessa White:
First you have to know what to ask for. One of my recommendations is that you mimic a top-performer plan. Companies typically put people in this nine box, and they have these top performers and nobody knows who they are except the top performers. They get all these extra things. Some of those extra things are exposure to experiences which are very valuable to you. That might be sitting in on an executive meeting and just seeing how things operate.
And the thing about corporate America is your manager needs help. There’s always more to do than people to do it. And so if you ask for your own top-performer plan, you can actually ask for and be very direct with your manager to say, “Can I give part of a presentation in this executive team meeting? Can I run this little piece of a project that is holding us back that we need to get over the finish line? Can I sit in and listen to how a meeting operates? Can I help develop a dashboard for our departments so that we can show progression in some of the key objectives?”
So there’s lots of different ways you can do it, but the key is you have to ask because most managers are not really great at putting together growth plans for people. They’ve got a lot of people and it gets very murky what they need. But if you actually go to your manager, and direct it and say, “Can I do this one thing? Can you help make this one thing happen or these two things happen,” then your odds go way up and your credibility goes up in the organization, your visibility goes up. And therefore, your promotability goes up.
Alana Benson:
I love what you said about visibility because I think that is so, so important, especially a lot of people are now working in remote environments and so you don’t really get that face-to-face time. And so what are some ways that people can kind of increase their visibility? Kind of like you said, talking about a presentation, but just ways to get exposure and then how does that value come back to them?
Tessa White:
Well, let’s start with something that I think people might find interesting. I’ve sat in on hundreds of promotion meetings where they decide who gets the promotions that year. And almost without fail it’s like a broken record. The people that don’t get the promotions, people will say, “Well, they sound great, but I don’t know who they are. I haven’t worked with them.”
One of the big keys to getting the promotions is visibility across the organization and being able to collaborate well with other departments. And it’s really important that when people know you, you have a greater chance of getting the promotion, and when you intersect with them. So that’s the first thing is that having that exposure is really important.
One of the first practical things that I would do in a job is to go talk to the people that intersect with my role and say, “Tell me what do you expect out of this role? What are the problems that I am helping solve for you and where are your pain points?” And I would get very, very aligned with what those people and constituents need because the job on paper is not the real job. It never is. And this helps you determine what the real job is and how you win, more importantly, how you align yourself to win. So I would be having those conversations at least twice a year because that’s what’s going to point you towards how you actually work on the things that are going to get you promoted in a company, and how are you going to get visibility for you and what you do.
Alana Benson:
I think about that a lot where I work in terms of even just posting on Slack and making sure that I post regularly in the channels that my boss, and my boss’ boss, and even my boss’ boss’ boss are because that visibility is so important. So they say, “Oh, I know who this person is, I know what they’re working on. I know they’re doing X, Y, and Z.” So what are some other ways to make sure you’re getting that managerial attention that could potentially lead to a raise or a promotion?
Tessa White:
I’m a big believer in planting seeds in an organization with other managers and other places in the organization so that you know what’s coming. Managers are planning six months, eight months in advance, sometimes a year in advance of what they need and what’s coming. And you need to be talking with them about how are you going to be evolving, what are the big problems you’re trying to solve? What are big initiatives and things that are going to help you over the next couple of years move into the next level of efficiency? And when you understand those things, then you get a better idea of how you fit into the ecosystem and you also get a better idea of maybe where you want to go in the future. And then you can begin to craft the kind of experiences that you need so that you will be somebody that they can pay attention to.
I would absolutely treat your company like a big homework assignment. And I would be trying to listen to the quarterly reports, listen to the CEO. What are the big objectives that we’re trying to accomplish? And it helps you establish that narrative. Because I get mad when people come and say, “I interviewed but it didn’t work very good,” or, “I don’t think they understood my value.” And I say, “If you don’t understand your value proposition, I promise you the company won’t.” It really is your job to figure out what your value proposition is, and in order to do that you have to have information.
Alana Benson:
So when you go into those meetings, it’s so hard to kind of know what your value is or what people call your market value. So how do we figure that out? How do you essentially see if there’s space to grow in terms of pay in your existing role? How do you figure out what you should be getting paid?
Tessa White:
Well, that’s a lot of different questions. Let me start with value proposition, first of all. It’s kind of a big word, but how do you know what value you bring to an organization? This is a really hard thing for people. But if you think about leverage, that’s what you want to have as leverage to get what you want. Leverage at its core is “I have what you need.” And so if you can define what is it that I see the company needs, where are they going and what have I done so far that shows I have that skill, and you can then turn it into numbers.
“I was able to come into my department and move the needle on these particular criteria,” then you have more leverage. But what most people do is they say, “I’m really good at working with customers.” Well, that’s, in and of itself, doesn’t mean anything. But if you say, “My customer service scores are 20% higher than most of the other people in the department,” or, “I was able to decrease call time by X and increase customer satisfaction by X,” then you actually have something that the company understands and you’re speaking their language.
So part of your job in determining your value proposition is saying, “How am I solving problems for the company? And then how do I turn what I’ve done into metrics or numbers?” That’s why I tell people, “You should go to work every day and be measuring. If you don’t have a department metric that tells you am I doing good or am I not doing good, figure out what it is and start measuring things. Because those numbers become so critical to how you position yourself for a company.”
Alana Benson:
There’s two things, figuring out what the company kind of needs from you and what you can bring to it, and then obviously what can the company do for you?
Tessa White:
Well, your market value, it’s like a house. When we put a house up for sale, we don’t have some neat, perfect numbers to what its value is. What we know is that other houses sold at this amount that were similar, and the same is true with compensation. What other companies are willing to hire this role at is a pretty good indicator that you can bring that helps determine the value of a role.
But the other thing that you have quite a bit of control over is being able to tell the company, “Here’s how I solved the problems in my last company and here’s how I’ll solve them for you.” So for recruiting, for example, let’s just take a general example. If I said, “I’m a really good recruiter, and I was able to manage a recruiting team and fill 200 positions in a year,” that doesn’t, in and of itself, mean anything. But if I understand that a company has low resources and they don’t have a lot of money to put towards recruiters, I could say, “In the last company, I turned every employee into a recruiter in our company because we didn’t have a lot of funds. And we rolled out this employee referral program that made every employee a recruiter and it increased the number of applicants that we were bringing into the company month over month by 60%.”
Then all of a sudden the company goes, “Scrappy. I need scrappy. I’m a company that doesn’t have a lot of money. I need creativity. Look what that person was able to do.” And all of a sudden your leverage went up, which means your compensation probably goes up because you have what the company needs.
Alana Benson:
Yeah, I think it’s so important to think about what are the problems that need to get solved here? And sort of apply yourself to those, and be moldable, and be able to say, “Yeah, I can help you with that.” I feel like that goes so far and feeds into the visibility thing that we were talking about earlier because then you become known as someone who can fix problems.
Tessa White:
It’s everything because on resumes, again, one of my pet peeves is a resume will say, say you take an HR person and they say, “I’m a 25-year professional who has been able to manage talent management, training and employee relations.” Well, every single resume says that, but the minute that I can tap into how do I solve the problems and I say, “I’m the person that you’d hire if you need to go fast and put in place infrastructure so that you can go public or so that you can have a high merger acquisition strategy,” for example. If I say that, then I’ve just tapped into how to solve a problem that that particular small company needs.
Alana Benson:
So much of this is difficult to do and every company is different. And I think it’s so important to get help and support along the way as you’re trying to not only be better in your role but be making more money. So what can you tell me about how you can use mentorship to further your career and help you increase your income? What can mentorship look like and how do you find a mentor?
Tessa White:
I think every single person needs to have not just a mentor, they need to have a handful of mentors, and it’s available to everybody. What most people, the mistake they make is they think they need to go up to somebody and say, “Will you be my mentor?” When in fact, the best mentorships that I know of are where you identify people who have really good skill sets in an area.
For example, everybody should have a mentor that they can look to for how do you manage people, how do you get conflict over the finish line, and how do you do it in a way that’s productive rather than destructive? Everybody should have a mentor around data and data analytics or presentations and how to give a good presentation or run a meeting. You should identify people who do that well, watch them. You don’t even need to ask, “Will you be my mentor?” Watch them. Watch what they do in that area.
And then for example, before you go give a meeting, say, “I’ve been watching you. You give really good presentations and I’ve tried to use some of the principles I see that you utilize. Will you take a look at this presentation and tell me what you’d change? Can I just give it to you? Spend 10, 15 minutes to run over the high level?” That’s how you have mentors that make a difference for you is you find people that do good things, you watch them very closely, and then you ask them when the time is right to help you make sure you’ve done that thing right. And I think that’s available to everybody. You don’t have to have a company program to do it. You don’t have to have somebody necessarily saying they’ll be your mentor. Just pick people, watch them.
Alana Benson:
So it doesn’t need to be nearly as formal as what a lot of people think of when they think of entering a mentorship relationship? It can be as simple as, “I saw you do this. You’re great at it. Can you help me with this one presentation?”
Tessa White:
Exactly, or this one conflict. “I have a high conflict situation and this is how I was thinking of handling it. How would you do it?” Exactly. I think that’s far more productive.
Alana Benson:
To that point, obviously a mentorship and mentoring relationship is different than working with a career coach, but how can you find a career coach who can maybe help you and how do you navigate that search? There’s obviously a wide spread of what people charge for career coaching services. Are there any certifications that people should look for when it comes to working with a career coach to make sure they’re working with someone who knows their stuff?
Tessa White:
There are plenty of different certifications, but I don’t think that one is necessarily better than another. I think it’s a lot like finding a regular therapist. You need to find somebody that you vibe with. You need to find somebody who’s been around the block and has some experience.
Probably my biggest beef with career coaching as an industry is that a lot of people with five years of career experience are calling themselves a career coach. You need somebody who has seen lots of situations in lots of different circumstances and watched how those situations play out. And I think when you have somebody that has either been in your industry or has been around the block for a while, they’re going to be able to give you a much better idea of the different choices that you have, and more importantly, the likely different outcomes of those scenarios if you handle it different ways. But somebody with five years of experience simply doesn’t have enough experience or enough behind the scenes in really high-stakes situations to be able to give, I think, information that is really, really helpful or useful.
Alana Benson:
And so aside from a lack of experience, is there anything else to kind of look out for in this industry?
Tessa White:
I would find people that know my industry. For instance, tech is a different flavor than blue collar. If I took advice from a career coach that’s a high-tech career coach and I’m in a blue collar environment, that advice is not going to play as well because there’s just different flavors to different industries. So you try and find somebody that’s the best match to the environment that you are working in, I think, and then you make sure that that person has a lot of experience as well.
Alana Benson:
Is there anything that I didn’t ask you about that seems particularly important for people to think about if they’re trying to increase their income in a role that they’re already in?
Tessa White:
I will tell you that there is a trend that I’m seeing that I think is really valuable to understand. There’s a lot of change happening right now, a lot of layoffs and a lot of people leaving companies. But those people who stay through, I call it a red zone of a company, usually have tremendous opportunities that come their way because of the people that leave and the gaps that that creates. And even though it may be an uncomfortable period of time to try and do more with less, learning how to work through red zones of companies is really teaching you to innovate and is teaching resilience. And that skill set is extraordinarily valuable.
People who stay in companies often end up with the increases and the promotions that they want because of the vacancies that are left. And so I would tell people don’t think that the grass is greener just by leaving a company through a red zone. A red zone can be a tremendous gift to you, and particularly people who are okay with taking promotions that are lateral and they learn the ecosystem of a company, that has delayed value. While it may seem like you’re going backwards or standing still if you’re not getting big raises, if you understand the ecosystem of a company by working in different departments, over time that makes you incredibly valuable to a company. And I’m seeing people use that as a career strategy that ends up paying dividends. If you look at it in a long-term, like a four-year horizon, is huge. Even when they leave that company, the ability to understand the different departments and how they work together is something that’s very, very valuable.
So don’t discount the red zone of a company and think, your brain’s going to tell you this is the wrong company, the wrong time, it’s terrible, it feels uncomfortable. But discomfort doesn’t mean you’re in the wrong company, it simply means you have to learn to do things differently. And it really is the trigger for innovation. And if you can stay through that red zone, it can be incredibly valuable to you.
Alana Benson:
Well, Tessa White, aka The Job Doctor, thank you so much for talking with us today and we really appreciate your time.
Tessa White:
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
Sean Pyles:
Alana, I so love how you and Tessa talked about what I sometimes think of as the theater of the workplace or narrative building around your job. And I don’t mean to be flip or diminish the real work that goes into building any career, but if you aren’t good at presenting the story of your work, building a compelling cast of characters through your colleagues and advocates who support your work, and getting people excited about what you are doing, it’s going to be a lot harder to get those big opportunities in your career. Tessa described it as “planting seeds,” and I kind of think about it as foreshadowing, set building, and fleshing out your narrative arc.
Alana Benson:
Totally. And there’s so much that goes into what we do at work, and how we can grow and eventually make more money. And if you’re looking for inspiration on where exactly to figure out what type of experience you should be getting, try looking at job listings for jobs you’ll eventually want but maybe aren’t qualified for now. That will clue you into where you should start looking. For example, if you’re in a job that doesn’t currently give you management experience but you’re looking to work as a manager in the future, you could give informal mentoring a try.
Sean Pyles:
So try thinking from your future resume’s perspective. Try to think from your future resume’s perspective. What experience do you need to have to check a box on a job openings list and how can you get it now?
Alana Benson:
Yeah. And once you identify what areas you want to get more experience in, there are thousands of online courses you can take for free or for just a small amount of money to exercise those skills. You can learn how to code, you can learn about AI, how to use spreadsheets, and pretty much anything else you can think of. So think about what courses could help you out in your current role or help make the case to give you a promotion.
Sean Pyles:
And this is a great time to look at other roles again and see what particular skills they’re looking for. If you’re looking for jobs in IT support, for example, you can take a Google certification course for that. Some companies even offer financial compensation for furthering your education. So be sure to ask your manager if there are any funds available to help you pay for the education costs.
Alana Benson:
That’s a great call.
Sean Pyles:
So Alana, tell us what’s coming up in episode two of the series.
Alana Benson:
Next up, we are going to hear from an expert from LinkedIn about how to best optimize your profile so you can make the most out of a job search.
Andrew McCaskill:
I think that the number one thing that I would say to folks if you’re trying to make your profile more visible and more searchable is over 40% of recruiters say that they are searching for talent based on skills. And so you really have to put your skills in your summary, and use skills and skills language.
Sean Pyles:
For now, that’s all we have for this episode. Do you have a money question of your own? Turn to the Nerds and call or text us your questions at 901-730-6373. That’s 901-730-N-E-R-D. You can also email us at [email protected]. And remember, you can follow the show on your favorite podcast app, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and iHeartRadio to automatically download new episodes.
Alana Benson:
This episode was produced by Tess Vigeland. Sean helped with editing. Kevin Berry helped with fact checking. Sara Brink mixed our audio. And a big thank you to NerdWallet’s editors for all their help.
Sean Pyles:
Here’s our brief disclaimer. We are not financial or investment advisors. This nerdy info is provided for general educational and entertainment purposes and may not apply to your specific circumstances.
Alana Benson:
And with that said, until next time, turn to the Nerd
Source: nerdwallet.com
Some things to look for are what are known as “horizontals”. These are structural amenities local to the site of the planned build such as paved roads, power lines, and water lines. These prospects can look like an undeveloped lot in an existing suburban neighborhood, or what is known as an “In-fill” in more Urban … [Read more…]
In a media release, the lender said that Zender, along with Todd Miles, Joe Moley, and Lipston, led the production team through challenging market conditions. According to Evergreen, they “have thrived and succeeded in a market where others have faltered.”
Starting in 2025, Zender will remain on the executive leadership team and manage the Bellevue, Washington region while also overseeing growth initiatives across the company.
Evergreen Home Loans operates in seven states: Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. The company is also licensed to originate loans in Colorado, Texas, and Wyoming. It offers a range of loan products, including FHA, VA, Conventional, Jumbo, USDA loans, refinancing, and construction financing programs.
Stay updated with the freshest mortgage news. Get exclusive interviews, breaking news, and industry events in your inbox, and always be the first to know by subscribing to our FREE daily newsletter.
Source: mpamag.com