Where to go for Financial Advice?

[Cindyluwho]

I asked this over on the budget board but am getting no views or help??
DH and I are reconsidering selling our home and buying down. We would like to talk to someone about what is the best long term option for us. Do we talk to a banker, our AAL rep, etc? I have no idea

 

[Darcy03231]

I'd start with someone in the investment department of your bank. I know ours is free to customers.

 

[Golf4food]

A "Fee-only" Certified Financial Planner. You might have something similar at a local Credit Union if you are a member, but I certainly wouldn't only use the advice of an advisor from any of the monster mega banks. Visit 3 or 4 CFPs (Certified Financial Planner) and choose the one you work with best. They don't work on commission so they are not biased by under the table payments to get you to do something you really don't need (unlike a broker or other sales people who might be more inclined to recommend that policy that gives them an extra $1,000, etc.)

 

[The Mystery Machine]

You are a real estate agent so I am guessing you know all about the areas, taxes, banking, etc...

I am not making the connection to your house buying/selling issue with regards to financial planning. Maybe you can elaborate?

If you are just talking about getting a financial planner, I am not sure what to say there. Most planners are out to make money off you and I might be inclined to do alot of personal research first.

Suzy Orman has a new book for recession planning. Clark Howard is a smart guy with regards to money.

 

[Cindyluwho]

You are a real estate agent so I am guessing you know all about the areas, taxes, banking, etc...

I am not making the connection to your house buying/selling issue with regards to financial planning. Maybe you can elaborate?

If you are just talking about getting a financial planner, I am not sure what to say there. Most planners are out to make money off you and I might be inclined to do alot of personal research first.

Suzy Orman has a new book for recession planning. Clark Howard is a smart guy with regards to money.

What we're trying to figure out is whether it's the best idea to sell our home and buy down in price/house payment. Right now our house payment is 30% of our monthly income, basically right where it's supposed to be. But this last year was hard for us, as it was for so many other families and we ate up a lot of our savings covering our bills. The big question, does it make sense to sell our house and buy a smaller house that would cost us 30 - 40% less per month? We don't have any debt except one car and our house pmt. And we're going to have to rebuild our savings which will be hard. Darn!! If I only had a crystal ball and knew what the next 12 months would bring!!

 

[tonilea]

A "Fee-only" Certified Financial Planner. You might have something similar at a local Credit Union if you are a member, but I certainly wouldn't only use the advice of an advisor from any of the monster mega banks. Visit 3 or 4 CFPs (Certified Financial Planner) and choose the one you work with best. They don't work on commission so they are not biased by under the table payments to get you to do something you really don't need (unlike a broker or other sales people who might be more inclined to recommend that policy that gives them an extra $1,000, etc.)

I second this!

 

[The Mystery Machine]

How much longer do you have on the loan? If you have less than 15 yrs., then obviously you cannot do better, right?

You would have to seriously downsize to make a dent. Have you looked at that part of it?

I don't know. We tried to "downsize" with this last move and we did somewhat. However until the kids are out, we can't really do a real downsize. 7 more yrs. and we are planning on doing that.

Also...as you know, you could be shooting yourself in the foot if the economy picks up again or goes down. Nuts isn't it?

There is no one that can whip out a crystal ball to tell you that answer.

It is a gamble either way on your end.

 

[Darcy03231]

I think a lot depends on how much you can downsize. Dh and I talked about it. When we bought our home we had four children living at home and are now down to two still living at home. We have way too much house (5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, and over 3200 sf of living space). We have 8 years left on our mortgage. To downsize we would still need at least 3 bedrooms and 2 baths, in the neighborhood we live in now to keep them in their current school (and not much is available in our neighborhood). We decided for us it just wasn't worth it. We'll wait another 3-4 years until all the kids are pretty much gone and then we'll really be in a position to downsize.

 

[Cindyluwho]

How much longer do you have on the loan? If you have less than 15 yrs., then obviously you cannot do better, right?

You would have to seriously downsize to make a dent. Have you looked at that part of it?
.

We have 23 years left on our loan, which is at a fixed 5%. We are looking at downsizing from a 4 bedroom/4bath/$1m/waterfront home to a 3 bedroom/2+bath/$500K home. So our payment would be approx $2K less per mo.

The problem is, when we had a much less expensive house, we tended to just blow the extra $$ we had. vacations, frivolous expenses, etc. Not all of it, of course, we also invested a good amount. But right now there just isn't much, if any, left over for retirement/investment and it makes me nervous.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

We have 23 years left on our loan, which is at a fixed 5%. We are looking at downsizing from a 4 bedroom/4bath/$1m/waterfront home to a 3 bedroom/2+bath/$500K home. So our payment would be approx $2K less per mo.

The problem is, when we had a much less expensive house, we tended to just blow the extra $$ we had. vacations, frivolous expenses, etc. Not all of it, of course, we also invested a good amount. But right now there just isn't much, if any, left over for retirement/investment and it makes me nervous.

OK, I am not a financial planner however here is how we would work this situation......

Downsize and then pay off the "downsize house" in 10-15yrs. That way, you will have a house paid off and then you can really save and have fun.

You won't have the temptation to blow it because you will still be making a house payment.

I certainly understand downsizing. We are going for it in 7yrs. At least that is the plan right now.