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Weekend Reading - New Year Edition 2008

Written by FrugalTrader on Jan 4, 2008 filed under Interesting Links

I have found some great articles to kick off the new year that cover the topics of mortgages, stock trading, personal finance and oil.

Canadian Mortgage Trends writes about the Top 5 Mortgage Trends of 2007. Among them include how the down payment requirement for a conventional mortgage dropped from 25%->20% and the introduction of longer amortization periods.
For those of you who like picking your own stocks, then check out The Best of Chris Perrunna 2007. He has a summary of his best work for the year with most of the articles being a must read.
The biggest news maker of the week is $100 oil. How high it will go is anyones bet, but it's hard to imagine low oil prices in the foreseeable future. Do any of you hedge your heat bill by owning oil stocks?
The lawyer/blogger at Thicken My Wallet writes about Gym Memberships: Know your Rights. This article struck a chord with me as my gym has sneaky accelerated bi-weekly payments, and if you want to cancel, you need to pay for the remainder of the year anyways. To top it all off, if you want to put your membership on hold, you need a "doctors note". It's almost like it's a my privilege that they get to take my hard earned money. The reason I stay? It's convenient.

1. Mortgage Broker

Thanks FT,

It’s amazing how much 2007’s changes have impacted the mortgage business. The 20% insurability standard and competition among mortgage insurers, for example, are saving many people thousands in default insurance premiums.

Anyways, all the best to MDJ in 08 and have a great weekend!

Melanie

Jan 4th, 2008 @ 2:46 pm
2. just learnin'

Have you checked into rates at the YMCA? I had a free membership with them when I first got out of university. These day I tend to save money and fit things into my schedule doing a variety of excercise at home. Ordering a specialty channel for yoga works out much cheaper than local classes. I must see dozens of treadmills in the local classifieds each year. When it’s in the budget I’ll think about upgrading from the ten dollar one we found in a flea market.

Happy new year! I’m still looking forward to catching up on more of the past year of posts.

Jan 5th, 2008 @ 4:15 am
3. thickenmywallet

Thanks for the mention. I agree with just learnin’- your gym sounds so customer unfriendly. Have you thought about YMCA or, if you live or work close to one, a University gym? The University of Toronto gym has pretty affordable rates and their facilities are top notch because the students subsidize them and they need Olympic sized pools for varsity competitions.

Jan 5th, 2008 @ 2:07 pm