I just put some cash in fidelity money market earning 4.25%. It is looking like the fed is going to hike another 50bps.
If only inflation was under control and erosion of cash savings was not so damn dangerous to hold. I am planning to spend some big wads of cash in near term so I don’t want to tie it up in the market.
Looks like mortgage interest rates are going north of 7%.
Several talking heads at NPR are predicting higher interest rates this year and staying high for the next few years. Glad I don’t have any debt and don’t plan on having any.
The rates need to go up to match inflation. Only when you get to this point will the rates stop stimulating the economy.
If you believe that inflation is going to run hot for a few more years, you are financially better off to borrow and repay with devalued currency in the future.
They’re baffled that the interest rate increases aren’t slowing inflation or raising the unemployment rate.
Why not Vanguard at 4.52?
Ours was 8.8 for 30yr fixed conventional in 1991.
I already had a fidelity account.
Our first house in 1990 was almost 11%,…somehow were still got a house. Of course, that house that I paid $95k for back then just got assessed at $350,000. Kinda crazy…that neighborhood was mostly “starter” homes.
Ours was around 8% in 1996, then 6%, then a little over 4% and then paid off 6 or 7 years ago. The problem today is a young couple looking at a $300,000 house just saw their potential payment go up over $500 a month over the last year, pricing some people out of buying the house they want. Plus their rent most likely went up and add in Bidenflation and it’ll be a while until they own their own home. It’s a great time for landlords.
Part of the reason the young couple has to look at a $300,000 house is due in large part to those low interest rates of the past.
Actually, the bond market is predicting 50bps now in March and 25bps in May and June. No cuts until mid 2024…
KC must be really happy that he can find high savings rates now. 
No, it’s because a lot of them expect to have what other people have earned and won’t settle on anything less. They can rent a “luxury” apartment for the rest of their life, I really don’t care. BTW $1,500 a month rent is $18,000 a year and over half a million dollars over 30 years.
it’s really funny how the lower interest rates got, the higher the home prices got. Then we kept them artificially low and we artificially priced younger people out of a house.
I know you won’t answer, but it would be interesting if you did
If I take it further - imagine yourself as that young couple today. You see your dream house (the one you are in today). Same situation as the - you want the house. At it’s price today - could you have bought it? Or did the fact that it “appreciated” at more than twice the inflation rate (the house went up faster than your income) make it unaffordable for you as a young couple today?
I hear you, my credit card rate is now 20.15%!
That is 100% exactly what happened. The Federal Reserve kept interests rates artificially low for well over a decade. This just continued to enable people to buy more & more real estate than they otherwise would have (& other assets such as stocks), which sent prices through the roof.
Now reality is crashing down, and we are having to actually pay for all those years of interest rate manipulation.
35
$325,000
Around 5% (paid off 6 or 7 years ago.)
$450,000
No, but my current house is a move up house and we had a substantial down payment from the sale of our first home. My first house I paid $180,000 and that house goes for around $280,000 today. And yes, I could afford to buy that home today if me and my wife were a young couple today. I’m in the same job and she’s in a lower paying job than when we bought our first home.
Pay that off.
35
$227,500
3.625%
$291,000
Pick me up off the floor. I bought my house in 2010 for $187,000. Today it’s assessed at $375,000. My only updates are a new roof, patio, and flooring in the den and kitchen. The reason my house went up so much is because interest rates were artificially low that whole time. And low rates drive demand, and high demand drove the prices up. If the interest rates had been allowed to find their 'right spot", my house might be worth maybe $250k today.
All true and your property taxes wouldn’t be what they are either. Assuming your assessment is based on fmv.
I do every month. 