Weekly Summary - Personal Finance (A to Z), Bankruptcy expenses and a look at Reverse Mortgages

Here's some highlights of posts this week:

The A to Z of good personal finance (Part 2: L to Z) - Here now is the rest of my personal finance saving and investing philosophy "letters". Read more...

Too expensive to file for bankruptcy - "It's very possible to be too poor to be in bankruptcy because you can't afford the filing." This is the line that stuck out the most to me. On one hand, the bankruptcy laws give people a chance to restart their financial lives by allowing then to clear their debts. On the other hand, it has also been abused as a "legal" loophole to get out debt obligations entered into. Personally, I think making this process harder more expensive is a good thing as it will make it a less desirable option for most, except those who really need it. The only drawback from all this is that it makes lawyers richer. Read more...

Here we go again - Financial Crisis, chapter 13 - All I can say for now is, put on your seat belts again and enjoy the roller coaster ride in the next chapter of the thriller/horror story that is the Financial Crisis. For your safety another government bailout maybe on the way, thanks once again to the ever suffering American tax payer. Of course the investment banks and wall street vultures (i.e. hedge funds) will continue to make money shorting the shares of these financial companies as they go down, and also when they have their obligatory spike in a couple of days. Read more...

A look at the Pros and Cons of Reverse Mortgages - Reverse mortgages are becoming an increasingly popular financing offering with our aging baby boomer population, looking for ways to unlock the value from their homes. Simply defined, reverse mortgages are a special type of home loan that lets a homeowner convert a portion of the equity in his or her home into cash. The equity built up over years..Read more