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The Core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Index rose by 1.8% in August versus a year ago. Core PCE measures price changes in consumer goods and services, excluding volatile food and energy components.
This is the third consecutive month that year-over-year Core PCE growth has come in under 2%, significant because the Fed considers 1-2% to be [...]

Jonathan Clements has an excellent article in the Wall Street Journal today about what to do with your personal finances if you are worried about a recession.
One of the key items is setting up a home-equity line of credit (HELOC) as an emergency source of funds, and I am reminded of an article I wrote [...]

Today, I take a break from all the talk of the Federal Reserve and give you an article I wrote in February about taxes and real estate:
April is around the corner, and we all know what that means. It’s tax season again. And that merits a discussion on income taxes and homeownership.
Most of you already [...]

Yesterday Ben Bernanke and crew lowered the target Federal Funds rate by .50%.
While this was reported as a surprise by many, futures trading prior to the cut indicated a 100% certainty of at least a .25% cut and the effective Federal Funds rate had been waffling around a .25% cut for nearly six weeks.
Neither futures [...]

Translation: It’s Talk Like a Pirate Day at the Federal Reserve.
Would you believe that today is International Talk Like A Pirate Day? You can read about it in Wikipedia and see it in action at pirate.oodle.com.
Using the trusty English-to-Pirate translator, I’ve translated yesterday’s Federal Open Market Committee statement into pirate speak.
What a waste of time…
The [...]

Sure, all the cool people are watching the Fed today, but wouldn’t you rather watch a dinosaur stomp on your favorite website?
Click here or the picture below to see!

Below, I summarize what happens to mortgage rates following the start of a Fed easing cycle. An easing cycle is when the Federal Reserve begins a pattern of lowering it’s target Federal Funds Rate.
The source for mortgage rates is Freddie Mac’s Monthly Primary Mortgage Market Survey for 30-Year Fixed-Rate Mortgages. I am ignoring mortgage points, [...]

So many people have been interested in how the target Federal Funds Rate affects mortgage rates that I decided to make a graph. The graph is easy. Interpreting it is hard.
Just so we’re on the same page, the Federal Reserve sets the target Federal Funds Rate, which is the rate banks charge each other for [...]