We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we believe in. Pricing and availability are subject to change.
Kelly Suzan Waggoner
March 13, 2024 at 10:46 AM
Mortgage rates appear to be dropping on popular 30-year terms as of Wednesday, March 13, 2024. The current average rate for a 30-year mortgage is 6.90% for purchase and 6.84% for refinance, down slightly from Tuesday’s 6.95% for purchase and 6.94% for refinance. The average rate on a 30-year fixed jumbo mortgage is 7.02%.
Rates on 15-year and 20-year terms increased moderately after Consumer Price Index data released on March 12 showed a month-over-month increase in consumer prices, a widely used indicator for inflation.
Purchase rates for Wednesday, March 13, 2024
30-year fixed rate — 6.90%
20-year fixed rate — 6.70%
15-year fixed rate — 6.49%
10-year fixed rate — 6.37%
5/1 adjustable rate mortgage — 6.46%
30-year fixed FHA rate — 6.71%
30-year fixed VA rate — 7.01%
30-year fixed jumbo rate — 7.04%
Refinance rates for Wednesday, March 13, 2024
30-year fixed rate — 6.84%
20-year fixed rate — 6.71%
15-year fixed rate — 6.53%
10-year fixed rate — 6.36%
5/1 adjustable rate mortgage — 6.33%
30-year fixed FHA rate — 6.75%
30-year fixed VA rate — 7.78%
30-year fixed jumbo rate — 6.99%
Current mortgage rates for March 13, 2024
Inflation has slowed in recent months, and market conditions are favorable, with the Biden Administration announcing more student loan forgiveness on February 21. While the Fed rate does not determine mortgage rates, it sets benchmarks that indirectly affect rates on financial products like mortgages, personal loans and deposit accounts. The Fed has a firm goal of a 2% inflation rate, and with favorable economic reports on the job market, it’s unlikely the reserve will cut rates until that goal is more of a reality.
Mortgage rates in the news
After increasing the target interest rate 11 times between March 2022 and July 2023, the Federal Reserve — the U.S.’s central bank — held rates steady at 5.25% to 5.5% at its meeting in late January. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s comments on March 6, 2023, to House lawmakers signaled hesitance to cut rates, with a decision dependent on “see[ing] a little more data” that inflation will return to the Fed’s 2% target.
The Federal Reserve is scheduled to meet next week on March 19 and March 20, but economists aren’t expecting a cut to the target interest rate just yet, with market watchers telling Yahoo Finance on Tuesday that a cut is “more likely” to come this summer.
The Fed’s cut to target rates later in the year could push average mortgage rates even lower — a boon to future homebuyers.
Frequently asked questions about mortgage rates
What is a mortgage rate? The rate of interest paid by the borrower to a lender for the length of a loan term. There are two types of rates: fixed and variable. Fixed rates remain the same over the life of the loan, while variable rates fluctuate based on market conditions.
What are mortgage lenders? Lenders are financial institutions that loan money to homebuyers. A lender is different from a loan servicer, which typically handles the operational tasks of your loan, like processing payments, talking directly with borrowers and sending monthly statements.
What does it mean to refinance a mortgage? It’s a process of trading in your current mortgage to another lender for lower rates and better terms than your current loan. With a refinance, the new lender pays off your old mortgage and you then pay your monthly statements from the new lender.
What factors influence mortgage rates? Mortgage rates are determined by many factors that include inflation rates, economic conditions, housing market trends and the Federal Reserve’s target interest rate. Lenders also consider your personal credit score, the amount available for your down payment, the property you’re interested in and other terms of the loan you’re requesting, like 30-year or 15-year offers.
How do I get the best mortgage rate? Knowing your credit score can help you shop around for lenders you’re likely to get approval through, as well as understand the type of mortgage for your lifestyle and income. The best mortgage rates typically go to borrowers with good to excellent credit — typically a FICO credit score of at least 670 — though even with fair credit, you may be able to find a mortgage offering decent rates. Many lenders offer lower rates in exchange for “mortgage points” — upfront fees you pay to your lender.
Fixed rate vs. adjustable rate — what’s the difference? Fixed-rate mortgages offer a consistent interest rate over the life of your loan, whereas adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) typically start with a lower fixed rate for an agreed-on time and then adjust to a variable rate based on market conditions for the remainder of your term. With an ARM, you could end up paying more or less after your initial rate. Choosing between these two rates depends on your financial goals and tolerance for risk.
When is the best time to lock in a mortgage rate? Mortgage rates can fluctuate daily, so it’s best to lock in a rate when you’re comfortable with the offered rate and conditions of the loan.
Can I negotiate my mortgage rate? It’s not likely — lenders consider the market conditions and other financial factors when determining rates. You can, however, ask about how you can reduce costs in other ways when comparing mortgage lenders.
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and the National Mortgage Servicing Association (NMSA) are expressing their views on a recently revised Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loss mitigation proposal, stating that it needs additional adjustments to effectively address the challenges it is designed to tackle.
The proposed policy
FHA in May submitted — and in November, updated — a draft Mortgagee Letter (ML) to the Single Family Drafting Table, an online portal for stakeholders to review proposed policies. The proposed ML would establish a new loss mitigation option for mortgage borrowers called the “payment supplement.”
It would establish “a new home retention option to help struggling homeowners meet their mortgage obligations,” according to the May 2023 announcement from FHA. “The new option, called the Payment Supplement Partial Claim, would allow mortgage servicers to use the FHA Partial Claim both to bring a borrower’s mortgage current and to provide temporary reductions to their monthly mortgage payments for up to five years.”
Industry response
Members of the MBA and NMSA submitted a letter to FHA Commissioner Julia Gordon on the matter this week, largely supporting it but making a series of key recommendations designed to address industry concerns.
“The resources required to implement and maintain the Payment Supplement, including a servicer’s ongoing obligation to borrowers and [the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)] throughout the Payment Supplement Period, require additional amendments to the Draft ML,” the letter explained.
“We are very encouraged by FHA’s thoughtful process to date and request certain changes to allow for the successful implementation of Payment Supplement by reducing [its proposal’s] operational, compliance, liquidity, and reputational risks,” the letter added.
The payment supplement policy “[combines] a standalone Partial Claim to bring the mortgage current with a new monthly principal reduction (MoPR), which will temporarily provide a monthly payment towards the principal portion of a borrower’s monthly mortgage payment, without requiring the mortgage to be modified,” the letter said.
The payment supplement would also “provide a temporary payment reduction for three years, after which the Borrower will be responsible for resuming payment of the full monthly [principal and interest] amount.”
Recommendations
The MBA and NMSA letter makes four key recommendations: to increase the proposed incentive payment from $1,000 to $3,500; to provide the model note and payment supplement agreement while “remov[ing] enforceability;” to end the payment supplement if a borrower re-defaults during the supplement period; and to provide 9-12 months for successful implementation of the policy.
“Sustainable loss mitigation policy is necessary to preserve affordable homeownership,” the letter said. “FHA guidance must continue to reduce the program’s complexity as the draft ML touches on all aspects of a servicer’s operations and loan lifecycle.”
Servicer engagement with borrowers is “heavily impacted through multiple required communication touchpoints,” and the supplement as currently proposed “remains administratively burdensome and costly to temporarily implement and maintain as a solution under the COVID-19 Recovery Loss Mitigation waterfall,” the letter explained.
Addressing the identified gaps will improve the borrower experience, the letter said, as well as “reduce the risk of inadvertent noncompliance for servicers and establish a permanent program.”
It’s that time of year again. December is the final call for (most) annual tax issues, and the topic of tax-loss harvesting rears its head. Let’s break down the basics and ask an important question: is tax-loss harvesting more than a simple fad?
Before answering the critical question (“Is tax-loss harvesting worth it?“), let’s baseline ourselves with some basics.
What is Tax-Loss Harvesting, and Why Bother?
Tax-loss harvesting is a strategic investment practice where investors sell assets at a capital loss to offset other capital gains. This minimizes taxable income. This technique is commonly employed to optimize investment portfolios and enhance after-tax returns.
Here’s a primer on capital losses, capital gains, and the entire capital gains tax structure.
Why bother tax-loss harvesting in the first place?
You might have assets in your portfolio with unrealized losses. Selling those assets turns that lame asset into a “tool” in your toolbox. That tool can neutralize taxes, lowering this year’s tax bill. Not bad, right?!
Losses can even neaturalize future year tax bills! Any unused losses this year are tracked on your tax returns and, eventually, can be used to cancel a future year’s capital gain.
But there’s more to the story. We’ll get into those details later.
The Wash Sale Rule
Tax-loss harvesting has a limitation. When you sell an asset at a loss, a 30-day look back and a 30-day look forward period bookend that sale. If, during those 61 days (30+1+30), you bought a “substantially identical” asset in any account**, then your capital loss doesn’t count.
The wash sale rule prevents manipulating a stock portfolio to accelerate the recognition of tax losses or defer the recognition of tax gains.
**This is a huge detail many people miss. The Wash Sale Rule looks at all investing accounts from which an owner controls or benefits.
If you execute tax-loss harvesting in your taxable account by selling an S&P 500 index fund at loss, then you cannot trade materially similar S&P 500 index funds in any accounts (IRA, 401(k), HSA, 529, etc) during the 61-day wash sale window. This even includes innocuous occurences, like a previously held S&P 500 fund paying out a dividend which is automatically reinvested.
If you’re going to tax-loss harvest, you need awareness of all your investing accounts.
If you plan on tax-loss harvesting, you must know the wash sale rule.
When is Tax-Loss Harvesting Worth It?
When misused, tax-loss harvesting can be a net-zero or even harmful activity. Let’s talk through some good and bad examples.
Good: Tax-Loss Harvesting to Offset a Liquidation Event
Perhaps you’re selling a business or a second home (primary homes typically don’t suffer capital gains taxes) and facing a significant capital gain from that sale. Tax-loss harvesting makes sense here.
Why?
In this scenario, you’re making the sale anyway. You might as well seek out ways of saving money. You’re fundamentally reallocating your net worth away from the real estate or business to something new (perhaps a stock/bond investment portfolio).
The gains and losses are from different pools of money, which permanently offset one another. This is good. But as we’ll see later, this isn’t always the case.
Example:
You sell a business for a $500,000 (long-term) capital gain.
As it happens, the S&P 500 index fund holdings in your taxable account are down $100,000 from where you bought them (also long-term).
You sell all of the S&P position, realizing a $100,000 loss.
That loss offsets $100,000 of the business gains.
Now you only have to pay taxes against $400,000 of gains (likely saving at a 23.8% Federal rate, or saving ~$23,800)
You re-invest the $100,000 proceeds of the S&P 500 fund in a similar but not materially identical manner. “Similar” because we want to maintain our overall portfolio allocation. But “not materially identical” because we don’t want to violate the wash sale rule. A good candidate here would be an “Total US Stock Market Index Fund” to replace our S&P fund.
You invest the business proceeds (less remaining capital gains taxes) according to your financial plan.
Good: Offsetting Income (Usually)
You can use tax losses to offset up to $3000 in annual earned income. This is an excellent use of tax-loss harvesting (usually).
The reason is tax-rate arbitrage.
Many taxpayers have a Federal tax rate of 22% or higher. Every dollar of income they can offset results in a 22% (or greater) savings. Meanwhile, harvesting tax losses usually creates a 15% capital gain in the future (we’ll discuss how and why this is below).
By saving 22 cents today and spending 15 cents in the future, taxpayers can arbitrage a net 7% on their $3000 for free. The benefit is even more stark in higher brackets (24%, 32%, 35%). Not bad!
Another common tax arbitrage occurs when an investor might owe capital gains at the 23.8% bracket. Losses can offset those gains (saving 23.8%), likely resulting in a 15% capital gains tax later on. That’s a deal we’d take every time.
Good: Diversifying from Over-Concentration
Uncle Ed bequested 10,000 shares of the ACME Corporation to you in 1990 at $1 each. Now they’re worth $20 each. You own $200,000 of ACME, representing a considerable over-concentration in your portfolio (and a huge capital gain if you try to diversify away from it).
Similar to the business example from above, diversifying away from ACME is something you should be doing anyway. You might as well reduce your capital gains tax while doing so.
Bad/Neutral: Zero’ing Out Gains in Your Portfolio
Perhaps the most common reason I see people tax-loss harvest is to zero out gains inside their portfolio. They have (unrealized) losses on their books and feel the need to use them. So, they think they might as well realize gains in the portfolio, use their losses to negate the gains (and negate this year’s taxes), and then reinvest the proceeds.
I think this is, at best, a neutral use of tax-loss harvesting, not to mention a waste of time. The math explains why.
First, by reinvesting all the proceeds of the transactions, the overall portfolio construction doesn’t change. There’s no fundamental investing benefit (unlike the earlier example of diversifying a concentrated position). And there’s no factor of “I’d be doing this anyway,” like the earlier example of selling a business.
But is there a tax benefit?
No, there’s no net tax benefit. The assets with gains get an increase in cost basis, while the assets with losses get a decrease in cost basis in equal magnitude, leading to zero change in the overall cost basis of the portfolio.
This means that any capital gains you “saved” this year will simply be paid in a future year.
Now, if you think you’ll pay at a lower tax rate in that future year, that’s worthwhile; it’s the tax arbitrage benefit we discussed before. But in most real-life examples I’ve encountered, there’s no arbitrage. It’s just a postponing of the inevitable for no net benefit.
What About the Time Value of Money?
“Postponing the inevitable” might be a good thing in some cases.
Would you rather pay $1000 in taxes today, or $1000 in 10 years? The answer is easy: in 10 years.
The benefit of tax-loss harvesting – simple tax deferral – is technically good. But, in my opinion, only becomes worthwhile at large dollar amounts for long periods of time.
If you’re able to defer $100,000 for 10 years, then go ahead and use tax-loss harvesting. But if you’re deferring $500 for a year, the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.
Other Bad Scenarios
Tax-loss harvesting has other downsides. Some scenarios include:
Losses Must Negate Gains First
When you realize a capital loss, it must be first-and-foremost used to offset capital gains – even if you don’t want it to.
You want to use losses to offset regular taxable income? Only if you’ve already offset all your capital gains.
You happen to be in the 0% capital gains bracket this year, and so you want to “pay” that 0% tax? Too bad. Your losses negate those gains – a.k.a. your losses were used for zero real benefits.
Without careful tax planning, your tax losses might be wasted.
Death Ends the Conversation
If a taxpayer dies with unused tax losses, the opportunity disappears forever.
Questions of mortality should be thoughtfully considered as part of a long-term tax plan.
Tax-loss harvesting, like all tax planning tactics, should never be considered in a vacuum. There are simply too many complicating factors involved. Instead, tax-loss harvesting is a tool to be used as part of a long-term tax plan.
Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this article, join 7000+ subscribers who read my 2-minute weekly email, where I send you links to the smartest financial content I find online every week.
-Jesse
Want to learn more about The Best Interest’s back story? Read here.
Looking for a great personal finance book, podcast, or other recommendation? Check out my favorites.
Was this post worth sharing? Click the buttons below to share!
When you have a new baby on the way, you may be eager to create a nursery that’s comfortable, functional, and stylish. You can drop big bucks to turn a spare room into a dream nursery. But if you’re willing to put in some elbow grease and think outside the box, you could get the job done for much less.
Here are some creative DIY nursery ideas that won’t break the bank.
Use Paint to Make a Big Impact
If home improvement shows have taught us anything, it’s that paint can be a powerful — and cheap — way to change things up. In fact, for the cost of a few gallons of nontoxic paint, a roll of painter’s tape, and drop coverings, you can completely transform any room.
The options are limited only by your imagination. Paint all four walls the same shade to create a cohesive look, or focus the color on one wall to make a real statement. Use painter’s tape to create shapes or patterns, like stripes or chevrons, that pack the same punch as wallpaper but without the mess. If you’re artistic, paint a mural with animals or popular cartoon characters. Or considering all the time your baby will spend in their crib, you may decide to spiff up the ceiling with a pop of color.
Price tag: $125 to $250 💡 Quick Tip: Need help covering the cost of a wedding, honeymoon, or new baby? A SoFi personal loan can help you fund major life events — without the high interest rates of credit cards.
Get a Soft Rug
If you have hardwood floors, a soft rug won’t just help your feet stay warm when you come in for late-night feedings. You’ll also want a cozy surface for your baby to play, and later, learn to crawl.
You can get an area rug at a local hardware or furniture store that can bring out some of the colors in your decor and provide a soft buffer between your baby and the floor.
Price tag: $200
Make Your Own Art
Blank walls are boring, but art can be expensive to buy. So why not make your own creations?
One idea: Get jumbo letters from the local craft store that spell out your baby’s name and hang them on the wall.
Or figure out the theme of the room to help you come up with other ideas. For example, you can go to the zoo with a camera and then print out pictures of animals for an animal-themed room. Or become inspired by the night sky and put up sparkly stars and a moon on the walls. You can also find cool fabric and tack it onto a canvas for a fabric panel.
Price tag: From $25
Help Baby Sleep
Having a newborn goes hand in hand with frequent wake-up calls. But there are ways you can help baby settle down after a 3 a.m. feeding or stay asleep during a mid-afternoon nap.
Blackout curtains are a great way to prevent sunlight from seeping through window coverings — and interrupting a good nap. Making a set is doable with the help of a sewing machine and a trip to the local fabric store.
Hanging a mobile above the crib can also keep your little one entranced until their eyes start to close. You can make your own with everyday household and craft supplies, like pom poms, fabric, or paper. Simply attach the items to a string or embroidery floss, attach to a lightweight frame or embroidery hoop, and hang.
Price: From $10
Get Creative With Storage
Even if you’re a minimalist, chances are your baby will require a lot of stuff: clothes, toys, diapers, pacifiers, books…you get the idea. As you’re putting together your nursery, be sure you have ample places to store all those things. Bins, boxes, shelves, and drawers can make clean-up a breeze.
Storage systems don’t have to be expensive. You can get budget-friendly ones at local discount furniture stores. Or check online or garage sales for a used piece of furniture that you can refinish or repaint.
Just remember to fasten all the furniture to the wall so that when your baby starts pulling themselves up and walking, nothing topples over on them.
Price: From $100
Recommended: 25 Tips for Buying Furniture on a Budget
How Do You Pay for a Nursery Room Renovation
DIY-ing a nursery may save you money, but you’ll still need to make room in the budget. This can be a challenge if you’re also trying to balance the cost of hospital bills, doctor’s visits, and pricey essentials like a stroller, car seat, or crib. Here are some options you may want to consider.
Personal Savings
Tapping into your savings allows you to access the cash you need right away. However, if you’re planning to take unpaid maternity leave or are budgeting for medical expenses, you may decide it makes more sense to leave your emergency fund untouched.
Credit Card
Like personal savings, a credit card lets you pay for DIY nursery supplies now. However, at the end of the month, you’ll be billed for whatever you’ve spent. It’s important to make at least a minimum payment by the due date to avoid a late fee. But to avoid paying interest entirely, you’ll need to pay off the balance in full each month.
Recommended: Tips for Using a Credit Card Responsibly
Personal Loan
Generally speaking, a personal loan can be used for virtually anything, including decorating a nursery. Interest rates are relatively low, which means that you can likely get a loan at a low rate compared to a credit card. For that reason, it might be a much better idea than putting the expenses on a credit card, which typically have higher interest rates.
A typical term length for a personal loan is anywhere from one to 10 years. Extending your repayment over multiple years could reduce your monthly payments. But keep in mind, the longer the term length, the more you’ll pay in interest over the life of your loan.
When looking for a loan, you may want to look into securing a fixed interest rate so that you can lock in your low rate over the life of your loan. 💡 Quick Tip: Some personal loan lenders can release your funds as quickly as the same day your loan is approved.
The Takeaway
When you’re expecting a new baby, you naturally want to give them the world. This may include a room they’ll be happy to call their own. Fortunately, you can get the nursery of your dreams without having to spend a lot of money. There are creative, affordable ways to create a statement, like painting the walls or ceiling a fun shade or designing an adorable mural. Not as crafty? Explore simple, inexpensive projects, like making a mobile to hang over the crib.
If much of your budget is already earmarked for baby essentials and medical bills, you may want to explore alternate ways of paying for a nursery renovation. You could draw from your personal savings, use a credit card, or explore taking out a personal loan.
Think twice before turning to high-interest credit cards. Consider a SoFi personal loan instead. SoFi offers competitive fixed rates and same-day funding. Checking your rate takes just a minute.
SoFi’s Personal Loan was named NerdWallet’s 2023 winner for Best Online Personal Loan overall.
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.
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.
Have you ever noticed that certain people take up a new hobby, and suddenly that’s all they’ll talk about? It’s not that their personalities are actually changing, but they’re certainly adapting to the situation at hand, and maybe getting a little hyper-focused or narrow-minded about it. We’ve asked our friends on Reddit to chime in on the most common hobbies or life-changes that people adopt, and then won’t shut up about.
1. Being a Military Wife
One user shared, “Wives of military men.”
Another user added, “You know they post about how brave their ‘hubby’ is daily.”
One commenter replied, “I hate the word ‘hubby’.”
Another Redditor commented, “Can confirm. Have a cousin like this. The husband is nowhere near seeing any kind of combat. She was stationed overseas in Germany for a couple of years, and she would never leave base to do anything but loved to complain about how bored she was. [She] had zero interest in taking in anything related to German culture, food, sightseeing, etc. She was also pregnant at one point. They were stationed there and insisted US hospitals were superior to German ones. She Said she was scared to have the baby in a German hospital because the US ones were better. You would’ve thought she was in a third-world country the way she went on about Germany and how scared she was to be there. Apparently, her friends on base were also all just like this.”
2. Obsessing Over Great Britain
“My Texas high school had a British club. I’m actually a British citizen, so I tried to join. Those people were nuts. They made Doctor Who and Sherlock their whole personalities,” one user posted.
Another user commented, “This is just the BBC version of the anime club.”
One commenter replied, “On Tumblr, they were called Teaboos sometimes.”
Another Redditor posted, “When I watched the BBC version of Sherlock for the first time as a teenager, I realized with horror that my brother had based his entire personality on it. He had the same coat, the same condescending and sardonic manner, everything. The only thing he couldn’t get right was the actual genius part, so he’d mutter very intensely about subjects not deserving of that intensity and confuse everyone. He’s actually still quite difficult to have a conversation with because he has no idea how to learn things from other people—it always has to be him explaining things to you and not the other way around. Otherwise, he’ll just walk away.”
3. Being in a Relationship
One Redditor shared, “Relationships. I have friends who legit have no clue who they are without a man by their side. Their self-worth is measured strictly by the ‘quality’ of the guy willing to stand beside them.”
One user replied, “This is painfully accurate. My sister graduated med school, but my mom didn’t tell her she was proud until she brought home a bf.”
One added, “My mom was the same. It didn’t matter what I did. She only ‘stopped worrying’ when I got engaged (to a complete bad person who I would never have looked twice at if he hadn’t swooped in during a very low point, including my mother’s terminal illness). God, I’d love to go back in time for a do-over on all of that.”
4. Refusing to Change
“Being a bad person. You meet a lot of people who are like, ‘Sorry, I’m an a-. It’s just who I am’,” one user posted.
Another added, “‘I tell it like it is.’ No, you’re just tactless and have no awareness.”
However, one user replied, “As someone who was like this who did a lot of self-reflection about why I was popular and when you’re popular, people laugh at you for being a bad person sometimes, and it feels good, if enough people validate it growing up without any social consequences, you learn to think it’s fine. At most, someone will go, ‘Haha, omg, you’re such an a-‘ and roll their eyes. Eventually, you get away from the group of people who accepted your a–h-lery and made you believe it was funny and go out in the world. Being a grown a- isn’t cute, so you either lean in and think everyone is just getting too sensitive, or you realize that you have to do more than just be a bad person to get people to laugh and like you.”
5. Watching Anime
One online user shared, “Anime. I like it, but many people take it to a new level.”
Another user commented, “I knew a woman like that. She lives in cosplay, and her kids are named after anime characters. Edit: Forgot to add that she says ‘Hello, minna-san!’ all the time.”
One Redditor added, “Yeah, tbh. I’m a mega-fan, but there’s a fine line where sharing what you love drifts into projecting it everywhere. The opposite is true where your passion is censored because it’s not ‘in vogue’ or breaks normalcy, so it’s a very fine line. Don’t name your kids ‘Gendo Ikari’.”
6. Smoking
“Smoking weed,” one user shared.
Another confirmed, “Hear hear. I smoke quite a lot myself, but I absolutely can’t stand stereotypical potheads.”
One commenter added, “Same. I’m the biggest stoner I know and people are always shocked to find out even after knowing me for months.”
Another user replied, “Most of my friends smoke. I’m down to one oddball that still wants to talk about terpenes, and how well this batch was cured or not, and the subtle hints of flavor that always make him assume the strain is something different than advertised. At least that only lasts 20 mins, and then we can talk about all the movies/music/shows that were so much better in our day (we’re 40).”
7. Loving Astrology
One user posted, “Zodiac signs.”
Another replied, “‘I’m a Virgo.’ ‘No, Kelly, you are just a [terrible person]’.”
8. Acting
“Theater,” one user posted.
Another user replied, “As somebody who does his theatre, I can confirm it’s frustrating and annoying.”
9. Being a Writer
One user shared, “Being a writer—even if they barely ever write.”
Another user replied, “‘I’m working on some plot holes, okay? So what if I haven’t touched my book in, like, three weeks?’… shut up…”
“I mean, three weeks can just be a healthy break from an activity!” one Redditor added.
One commenter added, “‘Oh, I know it hurts now, but look at the bright side: You have some new material for that novel you’ve been writing. You know…the novel you’ve been workin’ on? You know the one, uh, you’ve been workin’ on for three years? You know, the novel. You got somethin’ new to write about now. You know? Maybe a main character gets into a relationship and suffers a little heartbreak? Somethin’ like what… what you’ve just been through? Draw from the real-life experience? Little, little heartbreak? You know? Work it into the story? Make the characters a little more three-dimensional. Little, uh, richer experience for the reader? Do those two hundred pages really keep the reader guessing what will happen? Some twists and turns? A little epilogue? Everybody learns that the hero’s journey isn’t always a happy one. Oh, I look forward to reading it.’—Stewie Griffin.”
10. Using Propane
One user commented, “Propane and propane accessories.”
A user added, “I tell you what.”
11. Doing Crossfit
“CrossFit,” one user shared.
Another added, “The first rule of CrossFit is, you must always talk about CrossFit…”
One commenter replied, “I know a couple that loves CrossFit. They’ve never done it personally, but they are physical therapists, and the injuries from people emphasizing rep numbers over form has been great for their bottom line.”
12. Being a Hipster
“You’ll never meet a group of more infuriating w-nkers than when you meet the people who are really into the local indie music scene…” one user posted.
Another user replied, “Amen. However, as a reformed local indie rocker, I can confidently say that the worst offenders in this category were rarely the musicians themselves. I, for one, always forgot everyone’s names and proudly told them it was because I was just terrible at being a hipster…….. OH S- F-. IM RELAPSING. HELP!”
13. Loving the Office
One user commented, “The Office!”
Another Redditor added, “Also friends.”
One commenter replied, “Which friend character are you? Which friend’s character are you? Which friend’s character are you?”
14. Owning a Tesla
“Owning a Tesla,” one user shared.
Another added, “The only thing worse than a Tesla owner is a Jeep owner.”
One Redditor said, “Some Jeep owners, yeah. I’m on my fourth one. And I have loved them all. They’ve all been stock Cherokees except my current one. An 06 GRAND Cherokee. Oh yeah, baby. It’s got a headphone jack in the dash so I can plug my phone in, f—ing plush up in that b–ch. Got four cup holders, too. And keep your underwear on. It’s got a coolant leak as well.”
15. Declaring Your Sexuality
One user commented, “I’m sure I’m gonna get a lot of hate but sexuality. Being straight or being gay is not a personality trait. It’s just one aspect of who you are.”
Another replied, “Imma upvote you now before the haters show up.”
One user added, “I hard agree, but I also try to understand that some people have been denied what they are for so long that when given the chance, they’ll go all out. Like, I’m gay and dating a trans dude. But I’ve never felt persecuted for my sexuality. He has. I’d never tell him to stop waving his flags because I know he’s been in a place where he wasn’t allowed to. *Oh. They got gold for this take. Well, that’s… Worrying”
16. Being Sarcastic
One Redditor posted, “Sarcasm.”
Another added, “I hate this. People think ‘sarcasm’ makes them come off as interesting and intelligent, but a lot of it is just low-hanging fruit jabs or just being d–chy.”
17. Loving Disney
One user commented, “Disney.”
Another added, “I’m a physician. I had a senior while doing a year of general surgery training. My senior wanted to do trauma surgery. He was petty, mean, brilliantly smart, and a complete a-h- to anybody as or less intelligent:
“The precise moment that he would show a half second of relaxation: DISNEY TO THE TENTH EXPONENT. Writing notes: Disney theme park background music. Packed Lunch: Disney-themed pasta/sandwich combos. Going out for social hour: Disney watch/scarf.
“I always wondered how this dude could look at me so vehemently and still have such a cotton Candy, whimsical core. Great doctor and surgeon, though.”
One commenter replied, “Disney adults are strange people, man. My wife is a physician, and her other physician friend is getting married this spring. She’s a bit younger than us (4-5 years) and has had the luxury of making a physician’s salary while having very little in the way of actual life expenses due to having parents who continue to pay her bills for her.
“Anyway, she tells my wife and their friend group that she’s engaged and the wedding will be in Iceland. We’re pumped because we’ve always wanted to go to Iceland, and we’re fortunate enough to be able to afford to go to the wedding if we save up. It’s a year from now, so we have time to save up and also make it like a mini vacation. So a few weeks later, she texts her friend group that Iceland is off, and they’re getting married at Disney World.
“I’ll be honest: that was a head-scratcher for my wife because none of her friends knew she was that into Disney. We think it will be at one of the resort hotels around Disney World, with some pretty cool/nice hotels. Oh no, no, no. They are getting married in front of the castle in Magic Kingdom—and here’s the best part—it can’t be during park hours, so they were given the option of it happening at 8 am or 10 pm. They chose 8 am. Might I mention they are also paying $60,000 just for the ceremony?
“I get that having a destination wedding in another country is cost-prohibitive if you want a lot of friends and family there. Iceland would have been very cool, and, for admittedly selfish reasons, we were a little bummed about it not being there. But it’s understandable.
“However, with every new detail my wife gets from the bride-to-be, it seems like it will be a pretty terrible experience. Having to pay for an overpriced hotel and getting up at the crack of dawn to get dressed up and stand in the swampy humidity of Florida so two grown adults can be married by Mickey Mouse sounds like it’s going to be a total bad show. So yeah, Disney adults are strange.”
18. Breaking Up
One user posted, “One bad breakup…”
Another user replied, “This is true. I had a friend who would not care about a girl she dated back before COVID (f—ing 2020) who did some a- [things] to her up until a few months ago. At least now she’s dating again, so we constantly hear about her new partner most of the time…”
19. Working
“Their occupation,” one user shared.
Another user replied, “‘I’m a nurse. What’s your superpower…’ merch. yuck. Sincerely, a nurse.”
One Redditor said, “This was my first thought. I hate those ridiculous things! I work with a nurse with multiple nursing-related tattoos, coffee cups, handbags, and a license plate frame. So cringe.”
20. Owning Guns
One Redditor shared, “Guns.”
Another user replied, “As a gun owner, I can’t tell you how cringeworthy this is. I own firearms myself, but it is just a hobby, and that’s it. Most of the other time, I read books, work, be a dad, or play Diablo 4. I barely bring it up unless I am around others who happen to bring it up or discuss their experiences shooting firearms or what firearms they’re going to purchase. The minute I see gun owners rocking punisher skull s- or other tacticool stuff, I play dumb and just act as if I’ve never held a gun. Those people are annoying.”
Do you agree with the things listed above? Share your thoughts below.
Source: Reddit.
10 Crazy Good Movies Where Women Are the Bad Guys
Are you looking for a movie night with a twist? Look no further than these Reddit-voted top ten films where women take on the destructive bad guy role.
10 Crazy Good Movies Where Women Are the Bad Guys
10 of the Worst TV Series Ever According to the Internet
There’s Seinfeld, The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, The Office, and other legendary shows. But have you considered that for each show that garners universal critical acclaim, there is an inverse show lurking on the other end of the IMDb rating scale?
10 of the Worst TV Series Ever According to the Internet
15 Cover Songs that are Better than the Original
Sometimes, a cover of a song ends up doing far better than the original. Some covers are so good that we didn’t even realize the cover version wasn’t actually the original.
15 Cover Songs that are Better than the Original
These 11 Movies Are So Bad You’ll Wish You Could Unsee Them
The movies we love best are a combination of excellent characters, plots, stories and cinematography. But if these factors can make great movies, they can also make terrible movies—the ones that make people cringe, the ones we swear they’ll never watch again.
These 11 Movies Are So Bad You’ll Wish You Could Unsee Them
10 Celebrities Who Are Universally Disliked
People will always have preferences and something to say about celebrities. What you might love may not be the same for others. Whether it’s about their past behaviors, legal issues, or feuds with other celebrities, here is a list of celebrities people just cannot stand.
Let’s chat about the stock market. Specifically, let’s think about average investors like me and you. And let’s ask: how much money do we need to invest to become a millionaire?
First, we need to set some ground rules. It’d be easy to say, “If you invested in Apple stock in 2002, you could have 1000x‘d your money…boom, you’re a millionaire.”
But that’s not how reality pans out. In fact, we need to apply logical rules to our investing framework. The rules that I espouse on The Best Interest (and that matter for today’s article) include…
Dollar-cost averaging. It’s too hard to determine when the market is overvalued or undervalued. Instead, the long-term investor should commit to a consistent investing schedule (e.g. $300 every month, or 10% of every paycheck, or $10,000 yearly). In fact, waiting to “buy the dip” is demonstrably dumb.
Investing (in stocks) for decades. Simply put, stocks are not a short-term investment. They’re decades-plus. The data shows why.
Diversifying, a.k.a. buying the whole market. History proves how challenging it is to find the “needle in the haystack” in the stock market. This article dives into further detail.
Buy-and-Hold’ing. We don’t sell our investments when the headlines get scary. We hold. The past month has provided a terrific real-life example of why that is, as did the transition from 2022 to 2023.
We reinvest our dividends. This rule is a bit in the weeds but a complete no-brainer.
Make sense? Let’s now put these rules to work. I went back to 1950 and grabbed all the S&P 500 data (which will act as our proxy for “the stock market”) through today.
Then I asked, “If an investor followed our rules, how much would they have needed to save and invest to become a millionaire?”
***Important note: I’m also inflation-adjusting all this data to 2023 values. Being a millionaire in 1950 was drastically different than being a millionaire today. Hence, everything you see below is adjusted to modern terms to make our understanding easier.
We know compound interest is a powerful tool, so we expect millionaire status to get progressively easier over longer investing periods. But we also know the market can be volatile. Two 20-year periods can provide drastically different investment returns.
So let’s compare 10-year periods against 20-, 30-, and 40-year periods. And we’ll look at all 10-year periods from 1950 to today (same for 20-, 30-, and 40-year periods) to show how much variability/volatility exists.
The Data: Becoming a Millionaire in the Stock Market
This chart shows every 10-year period from 1950 to today.
We label each period by its first year; the X-axis shows that.
We then look at the stock market returns for each period to ask, “What annual investment would have gotten us to $1 million over this period?” The Y-axis shows that dollar amount.
e.g. the left-most bar represents the period from 1950 to 1959. Over that period, a $42,463 annual investment would have grown to a $1M portfolio.
For these 10-year periods, the average investor (the dotted red line) needed to invest $71,595 yearly to reach $1 million.
But the data that sticks out to me is the number of periods with a required investment above $100,000 annually. The 1965 and 1999 starting years are prime examples.
This is a glaring problem! If you’re investing ~$150,000 for 10 years (for a $1.5M total investment) and only end up with $1 million, you lost significant capital. Not good.
My takeaway: even over 10 years, the stock market can be volatile. We need to zoom out further. Let’s look at the 20-year data.
The average investor (in red) must commit $27,203 annually to become a millionaire. For those keeping track, that’s a $544,069 outlay over 20 years that grows into $1,000,000.
This data shows a few periods at or above the $50,000-per-year mark ($50K times 20 years = $1M). In other words, these periods showed near-zero, outright zero, or negative returns over 20 years. Examples include the period starting 1955, ’58-’60, ’62
But most periods provided legitimate, absolute returns. That’s great.
But can the average person save $27,203 per year? Then repeat that for 20 years? And this begs a bigger question that we won’t chase down today: is $1M the right goal in the first place. This is good food for thought.
Let’s move on to the 30-year chart.
The average investor (in red) must commit $11,347 annually to become a millionaire. That’s a $340,432 outlay over 30 years that grows into $1,000,000.
None of these periods flirt with zero or negative returns. The “worst” period was 1952 – 1981, which required a ~$23K annual investment (or ~$695K total) to grow into $1M.
And finally, the 40-year data…
The average investor (in red) must commit $4725 annually to become a millionaire. That’s a $189K outlay over 40 years that grows into $1,000,000.
Again, none of these periods flirt with zero or negative returns. The “worst” period was 1969 – 2008, which required a $7500 annual investment (or $299K total) to grow into $1M.
The Power of Long-Term Investing
The 30-year and 40-year charts are particularly encouraging if you break them down into monthly terms.
$1000 per month is powerful.
For most 30-year periods, $1000-per-month made you a millionaire.
For all but three 40-year periods, $1000-per-month made you a multi-millionaire.
“But $1000 per month is a lot!”
I hear you. But between 401(k) contributions, employer matching, IRA contributions, after-tax investing, etc…$1000 per month is a reasonable goal.
If you’re in your 20s or 30s, set your baseline investing goal at $1000 per month. You’ll be setting yourself up for terrific long-term success.
What If You Don’t Have 3+ Decades?
If you’re reading this at age 50, you might not have 3 or 4 decades to wait for the stock market’s compound magic. What to do?
Let’s consult our trusty bucket method. Think about your current assets and savings based on when you’ll need them in the future…
The money you need in your 50s –> Avoid the stock market. Too risky.
The money you’ll need from age 60-65 –> you can introduce some stocks, but as we’ve seen today, positive returns aren’t guaranteed.
The money you’ll need from age 66-70 –> stocks arebecoming increasingly enticing…
The money you’ll need from age 70+ –> 100% stocks is reasonable.
In summary, a fair portion of this 50-year-old’s assets should not be exposed to the stock market. Bonds, for example, are more appropriate.
Despite that, some of their money still has a 20-30+ year timeline. That money should be exposed to a risk asset like stocks.
Financial planning provides the backbone for these types of allocation decisions.
Just Start…
My investing journey started at age 22 with my first employer’s 401(k). Unsure what I was doing, I decided to learn.
11 years later, here I am.
There’s no guarantee the stock market will make me a millionaire. But history is on my side, and I’m controlling what I can (e.g. my monthly savings rate) to make it happen.
I encourage you to do the same.
Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this article, join 7000+ subscribers who read my 2-minute weekly email, where I send you links to the smartest financial content I find online every week.
-Jesse
Want to learn more about The Best Interest’s back story? Read here.
Looking for a great personal finance book, podcast, or other recommendation? Check out my favorites.
Was this post worth sharing? Click the buttons below to share!
HousingWire Editor in Chief Sarah Wheeler sat down with Rick Arvielo, co-founder and CEO of New American Funding (NAF), to talk about AI, why he chose to start NAF Technology India and how to keep NAF innovative. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Sarah Wheeler: New American Funding is known for building rather than buying technology. Are you still in that mode?
Rick Arvielo: Yes, and as a matter of fact, we’ve really doubled down on the effort. I’ve always kind of led the charge in our tech build, and as we’ve gotten bigger, it’s just harder for me to devote the time to immerse myself in that. So within that last couple of years, we brought in some great leaders — we’ve been lucky to attract some top talent to New American Funding,
Another fairly material decision we made was about a year and a half ago, we made the decision to rely on some offshore assistance. But having some experience with that, I didn’t really want to find contract offshore providers. So we decided to open our own company in India: NAF Tech India. We have about 150 New American Funding employees over there now to help supplement our somewhat lofty tech build goal.
SW: What has that experience been like?
RA: It’s great! We’ve been using contractors here and there for some time just because it’s often a lower cost, but what we find is with contractors, oftentimes, they’ll give you their “A” players to get you into contract and then they move those people on to their next target. Then you’re left with people that don’t measure up to the initial bar. So, we just realized that the only way that we were going to control that world is to own it ourselves — and it’s quite an undertaking.
You’ve got to incorporate over there, you’ve got to get space and build it out, you’ve got to find the leadership and then start hiring staff. That took about a year, but we’ve been full force now for about a year.
The challenge with the U.S. really has a lot to do with the escalating pay scales [for tech workers] which is very hard to digest in a market like we’re in right now. It will have you second guessing your decision to build versus buy! But also, when you bring people in, it takes some time just to get them familiar with your tech stack. And if they then get attracted away by somebody wanting to pay them a little bit more, it’s just a big expense to digest.
So having that foothold in India, where they have vast expertise, and really have them part of New American Funding so we can indoctrinate them into our culture — something they care about as much as Americans — it’s been a fun exercise.
SW: Is it similar to just having another location?
I would say the only thing that’s a little different is the time zones. But we live in a virtual world anyway right now — most of our tech people don’t work in our corporate office, they’re working from wherever they are.
I think that the quality of engineer over there is really good. We’re now finding that we need to invest in bringing more product people into India so they’re intimately familiar with what we’re doing. So when they’re busy during our nighttime and they get stuck or need help, there’s somebody there that can answer those questions. We’re starting to build out that infrastructure now as well.
SW: What advantages does building this way gives you in this particular market?
RA: Cost efficiencies are probably the biggest advantage. There is a stark difference between what you have to pay a technician here in the United States and what you have to pay a technician in India. Not to take advantage of anyone. But, we’re privately funded — we’re not public, it’s just Patty and me — so we have to be very careful about the dollars we spend, especially in a real estate market that’s under pressure like ours is. So to go as hard and as fast as we want to go with our tech initiatives, we needed to bring on a lower cost resource to supplement and help us stay within our budget.
SW:Are you guys rolling out a lot of different products for them?
RA: Our goal is always to improve the experience for our loan originators and our consumers. Millennials are digital natives and Gen Z doesn’t know anything but a digital lifestyle experience. Our goal is to take that seriously and try to develop technologies for both our loan officers and our consumers, to give them a real-time experiences.
When I looked at the vendors that are out there that have done a lot of this — that comes with as many challenges as benefits, because technologies are changing quickly. And when you’re a vendor and you’ve invested over years to develop techn, and then this technology morphs and changes, a lot of times they find themselves painted into a corner because they have to support people that are already using their stuff. So our goal is to develop the foundation, and have the technical prowess to be able to pivot for our needs, and not the need of some vendors’ 100 customers.
SW: How is New American Funding leveraging AI?
RA: I think artificial intelligence can bring a lot to the table, to the extent it can be taught. That’s the beauty of AI — it’s a large language model and neural networks are so far beyond human beings, they can arrive at answers much more quickly and accurately. We do a lot of transactions, so we can take those transactions and teach a large language model more quickly than maybe a smaller competitor.
AI is so new, but we’re focused on getting the right people on the boat, to have the subject matter expertise so that they can bring these types of solutions and allow people time to become comfortable with the transition. It’s not that we want to replace their job — it has nothing to do with that, it has to do with making them more efficient. But creating this new ecosysem is a bigger effort than you would think. And it’s not just operations or marketing — it’s just about every part of the business where AI can make a difference. And you still need to be very careful massaging it into the organization so people aren’t defensive and they don’t feel threatened by it.
SW: How do you keep making sure you’re on the edge of innovation where it matters?
RA: For me, personally, I just find people better than me. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I have a lot of confidence, but I’m also 61 years old so I’m not the guy anymore to direct tech. I used to be, but today, it’s very important that I find people much better than I am: much more immersed, much more contemporary in the way they think, and bring them in to help make those decisions. And we’ve probably worked harder on that than just about anything else over the last few years.
New American Funding has always been what I call skinny at the top — it’s been me, Patty, Christy Bunce our president, and a handful of other people that we really rely on. And I needed to fill in puzzle pieces with people who really had that level of expertise and just a new perspective that was better, more relevant and younger than mine, to be honest with you.
And we’re blessed that we’ve been able to find those people and attract them to New American Funding, and they’re really making their mark. And we’re such a better business today than we were even a handful years ago, when I was in charge, because I just don’t know what they know. And I think that it was important for me to recognize that myself, and to be able to figure out a way to attract that top talent to New American Funding.
SW: What keeps you up at night?
RA: I think, to be blunt, not f*ing up. We’re 3,800 employees at New American Funding and those people rely on me to not screw it up and to make sure that I make the right fiscal decisions for our company, that we have the right vision, we invest the right money and execute in the right way, so that everyone can continue to do their work and earn their living and take care of their lives. So when I feel pressure, it really has more to do with that than anything else.
We don’t swing for the fences at New American Funding. We think things out. We’re very deliberate in our growth, because I don’t want to do something that jeopardizes the wherewithal in the business and put 3,800 souls at risk, especially in a market like this. We had an unprecedented run through the COVID years, obviously, but now is the time to really make wise decisions so you don’t have an undue impact on the organization.
In late August, when mortgage rates were well over 7% and beginning their climb toward 8%, Jeff Anderson had a client do what few other homeowners are willing to do: She gave up her 4% mortgage rate.
You’re probably thinking, “Uh, why on earth would she do that?”
The client wanted to pay off $30,000 in consumer debt, handle home improvement projects and help her daughter start college, said Anderson, a longtime mortgage advisor in Southern California. By doing a cash-out refi, she landed a $340,000 FHA loan and locked in a 6.9% mortgage rate.
“At closing, my client will get $10,000 of cash up-front. We are paying off her current mortgage balance of $280,000 while maintaining more than $200,000 in home equity,” said Anderson, who runs the mortgage broker shop Rancho Capital Home Loans. “She would be saving $550 a month and lower[ing] her debt ratio to slightly below 50% from the current 57%. There is no shortage of cash for her right now.”
A cash-out refi replaces the homeowner’s current mortgage with a new, larger loan under different terms from the original loan. In return, a borrower receives the cash difference between the new amount borrowed and the old mortgage balance.
When mortgage rates were at historical lows during 2020 and 2021, a record number of homeowners tapped their equity through cash-out refis and still managed to secure low rates on the new mortgage. In 2021, more than $1.2 trillion in cash-out refis were executed.
But since the cost of borrowing has skyrocketed due to the Fed rate hikes, there are far few homeowners willing to give up their sub 4% mortgage and refinance into a mortgage that’s at least 300 basis points higher.
Even though about 30% of mortgage applications are for refinancings, nearly 90% of current mortgage originations today are purchase loans.
But for some low FICO borrowers who need a lump sum of cash, a cash-out refinance can be a sensible option, thanks to their accrued home equity. (The average tappable home equity for homeowners was slightly over $200,000 in August 2023, up from $126,606 in August 2020, according to data from Intercontinental Exchange.)
Of the overall equity withdrawals, home equity line of credit (HELOC) took up more than half (52%) of the share in Q2, with cash-out refis accounting for the rest. But, the profile of cash-out borrowers made up roughly 90% of all refis during that period, ICE noted.
The average cash-out borrower looking to refinance had a balance of about $165,000 in August, well down from where it’s been over the past couple of years, Andy Walden, ICE’s vice president of enterprise research, said in an interview.
“They (cash-out refi borrowers) are not not giving up a record low interest rate on a significantly large balance, so they’re okay and are willing to give up that low rate that they have right now. About $100,000 on average is what they’ve been borrowing in recent months. They can get that equity withdrawal at a slightly better interest rate than what you could withdraw equity on a HELOC,” said Walden.
Cash-out refis are not a fit for every borrower.
There are alternative ways to tap into home equity without doing a cash-out refi. Home equity loans and HELOCs allow the borrower to borrow against the home equity without having to give up its existing mortgage. They are second mortgages, which means borrowers take them out in addition to their current mortgage.
The cash-out refi option works best for low credit score borrowers with at least 20% equity in the home to qualify, said John Ortega, a loan originator at Mutual of Omaha Mortgage.
Generally, borrowers usually need a debt-to-income (DTI) ratio of 40% to 50% or less and could qualify for a cash-out refi with a credit score of 620. Credit scores for FHA loan borrowers could go down even lower.
Some borrowers are handcuffed from negotiating a HELOC – the product typically requires a higher credit score – or other type of secondary lending, and are often left with no other option but to refinance.
For the clients that choose to get a cash-out refinance mortgage, Ortega shows how much they could save per month and potentially put the extra cash into paying off the mortgage sooner.
“When you start to do the consolidation of all this debt, their credit scores will improve rather quickly and put them in a much better position for the future. That’s what it’s really about, it’s not living in the right now. It’s living in what’s going to happen down the road,” Ortega said.
The cash-out refi market is still tiny relative to purchase lending, but every opportunity to help a client is precious.
“It’s a tough gig. A lot of borrowers are reluctant to give up their low mortgage rates,” Ortega said. “But if I can free up their cash flow, the mortgage rate is higher but they have extra money to work with, put it back to the mortgage and get out of debt sooner.”
What is life without a social life? If you’re wondering whether you have enough of a social life, here are some top signs that you need to get out more!
1. A Night in With Your Cat
One person commented, “Me. Every Saturday night. Alone in my apartment with the cat.”
Another person replied, “Hey! That’s me, minus the cats.”
A third Redditor added, “I consider time spent with my cat as socialising.”
2. Your “Normal Life” Looks Like “Lockdown”
“Not noticing the difference between ‘normal life’ and lockdown,” somebody commented.
“What about enjoying the lockdown? Would that count,” replied another.
“I realized right before covid that my life was completely boring and consisted of pretty much just video games and TV, made a promise to change that. It was delayed because of the pandemic but I’ve made such an intense turn-around since,” somebody added.
3. No One Calls
One user shared, “No one phone calls me (at least most of the times).”
Another person replied, “Hey, it’s me! I’ve bought a brand new iPhone 14 in November. Got 0 phone call/0 texts. Still paying 45 a month for the carrier. Yes, I’m a f—ing clown.”
4. Figuring It All Out Alone
Somebody commented, “When everything I want to do, be it travel, sports or trying new restaurants, I have to figure out how to do it alone.”
Then somebody replied, “I do so many things alone, but I never feel alone. Setting your own schedule and pace can be a blessing. I’m just now wrapping up a 3 destination, 10 day road trip mega solo vacation. It’s been challenging but worth it.”
Then the third added, “I keep going back and forth on feeling alone. Somedays I am able to conquer it all on my own, but there are days when I long for meaningful company.”
5. Reddit Moderator
“Reddit mods are power hungry nerds,” said one.
“When people say they don’t think I’m that introverted I always remind them I spend my free time on Reddit,” somebody added.
6. Lots of Book Stacks
One Reddit user stated, “Currently looking at my ever growing bookshelves.”
Another person replied, “Tbh, I’d pick my books over a social life any day of the week (and twice on Sunday).”
7. Sharing Facebook Posts
“Sharing quotes multiple times a day on things like Facebook,” said one.
“Oh my god! One of my friends on IG does this and it’s all like, single people affirmations about holding out for someone who deserves you and stuff, and talking about ‘what god has in store for you’ type sh–. It’s seriously 20-50 story posts A DAY. I’ve only been following her for a few weeks and I just had to mute her because I couldn’t take it anymore,” somebody replied.
8. Not Traveling for Holidays
One person shared, “5 days of long holiday and not going anywhere.”
A second person replied, “I feel this. I take PTO just to sit at home and not do anything for a day.”
Another commenter added, “F— that, I just came home for summer [break] (uni), and I literally don’t have any plans, for the whole summer. Not a single person I can go out with, not even for a single night, let alone to any vacations or to a beach. I honestly don’t know what to do with myself, and how not to die of boredom (I have already watched 10 movies in this week).”
9. You Share Everything You Do Online
“You post normal stuff everyone does because you are excited. You are in the Cinema? You post. You are in the gym…you post. You are drinking Beer….you post,” somebody stated.
“It’s nice to see the joy in the simple things,” the second person replied.
“Oh, so this is considered normal? Well f— me, I have no social life then,” the third added.
10. Constantly on Social Media
Somebody shared, “Constantly being on social medias.”
Another person replied, “Responding to your own threads haha.”
Then a third added, “Liking your own FB-posts.”
12. Having Few Stories About Friends
“Not having many funny stories involving other people,” commented one.
“I got those too I’m just so funny I get good stories when I’m not limited by the morals of friends,” another one replied.
“Well there was the time when I walked past that one guy in the street, good times,” the third added.
Did you agree with the things listed here? Let us know in the comments.
Source: Reddit.
10 Actors Perfectly Cast for Their Character Roles
Have you ever watched a movie or show and been completely lost in it because of how well an actor or actress became their character? Check out this article for a whole list of actors who were perfectly cast!
11 Vampire Movies That Will Make You Thirst for More
You know that feeling where you’re on a movie kick in a certain genre, but you seem to run out of good movies to watch? Well, if you’re down for a vampire movie or three, check out this article for the best ones out there!
10 Incredible Movies That People Rated 10 Out of 10
It’s pretty hard to replicate the experience of watching your favorite movie for the first time, but we’ve put together a list of movies that people have rated at a perfect 10/10. Next time you need a good movie to watch, check this out!
10 Famous People Who Canceled Themselves With Their Own Stupidity
We’ve all been there: you make a comment you haven’t thought through at all, and the whole room goes silent at what you’ve just said. But can you imagine doing that as a famous person—and getting canceled? Check out this list of celebrities who did just that!
13 Things You Shouldn’t Do when You’re in the US
Are you planning a trip to the US? Culture varies a lot between countries, even countries that share borders. So if you’re headed to the good old U. S. of A, here are a few pointers to make your travels go more smoothly!
We have a job opportunity to share from a member of the GEM, Unwritten Capital, an investment firm that plays at the intersection of real estate and technology
Real Estate Partner (job description):
About the firm
Unwritten Capital is an investment firm that plays at the intersection of real estate and technology.
Their team has decades of experience investing in and operating real estate, tech companies, and investment firms.
On the venture side, their portfolio includes 300+ real estate technology companies across geographies and property types. They’ve invested alongside the best in the business including Sequoia, Union Square Ventures, Accel, etc.
They are now investing capital into real estate investments supported by technology.
They are frequently the first institutional real estate capital into a business and invest across the capital stack.
Unwritten Capital has a purpose built team with unparalleled access to an underserved capital market
About the role
Unwritten Capital is looking for a partner to lead their real estate activities. You will have a seat at the table as we build our firm from the ground up. Their offices are in NYC and we spend several days a week there.
About you
10-15+ years of real estate asset level investing experience.
Led deals from cradle to grave and have invested across property types and geographies. Ideally you will have experience in niche strategies.
Expertise with complex joint-venture, co-GP and other nuanced investment structures.
Have the entrepreneurial “bug.” Our firm is a startup–same goes for the companies we partner with.
Play well with others. We are collaborative internally and externally.
Want to have fun. Yes, we want to make money and build a generational firm. We are going to have fun doing it.
About the opportunity
The largest asset class in the world is still horse-and-buggy-ing around operating the same as it has for the past 50 years.
The real estate industry is in the earliest stages of digital adoption.
Technological innovation initially came from startups that sell products and services to existing real estate companies.
It is now time to build new kinds of real estate companies with tech in their DNA.
In the process, these companies unlock new and novel real estate investment opportunities for everything from vacation rentals to construction financing.