The Mortgage Debt Fallout

December 30th, 2011

It isn’t just the homeowners that suffer when mortgage debts become unbearable. Families are forced to move out, relocate and try to find their way back to a sense of normalcy. But the trouble doesn’t stop there. Mortgage debt problems cause a ripple effect that can negatively neighbors, communities and entire housing markets.

Dropping Home Values

Although mortgage debt troubles can affect a single home within miles, this isn’t always the case. There are plenty of homes around the country that have fallen into mortgage trouble and brought entire neighborhoods down with them. When one home defaults on a mortgage, the home value can drop and even bring down the value of homes nearby. This is becoming an epidemic at the height of the housing crisis and many homes that have managed to stay out of default are being impacted through no fault of their own. However, a recent report suggests that 2012 should see a decrease in mortgage default rates, which is hoped to stabilize the housing prices around the nation.

Foreclosure Waves

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Financial Planning for Economic Success in 2012

December 25th, 2011

Another interesting year in the stock market draws to a close. It’s been a tough year for most investors. The Dow started the year at roughly 11,700, rose through January and February, then gave up most of its gains by mid-March, only to bounce right back in the second-half of March and all of April and early May to a high of 12,800, which it then surrendered back by early August, then dipped to a low of 10,650 by early October, and then fitfully dug itself out of the hole to end the year near the 12,000 level – a year marked by sharp volatility that ended with a whimpering gain of somewhere near 3%, barely keeping up with inflation, with much of the market’s gyrations tied to the turmoil in Europe.

Yet, on an optimistic note, let me also remind you that the U.S. economy more or less held strong. Furthermore, investors worldwide flocked once again to the U.S. dollar and U.S. Treasuries as an economic safe haven in times of crisis, which led to a sharp rally of the dollar, in the second half of 2011, versus major European currencies such as the Euro and the Pound. But as I have said before, the Arab Spring and great turmoil in Europe held back U.S. economic buoyancy and caused our stock markets to suffer in an increasingly interconnected world of global trade and investment.

So, I’d like to celebrate the fact that the U.S. economy “hung in there”, and that our stock market did not crater, given everything terrible that’s happened in 2011 in economic terms. Also, comparatively speaking, other markets fared much worse. China-down 19%, Japan down 15% and on average, the rest down around 20%. So I’ll take the 3 % market gain or a 3% loss in a year like this very willingly; without complaining too much, because it underscores the U.S.’s fundamental economic resilience and gives me confidence that we will see higher returns in the years ahead as global economies work out their kinks and stabilize. And as the year closes, I’d rather focus on the positives than the negatives.

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