Why the Slowest Investors Win the Race

Anyone who attended kindergarten remembers Aesop's fable about the tortoise and the hare. The story's moral has implications for investors: Slow but steady wins the race.Hare investors try to sprint to the finish line of a comfortable retirement without girding their portfolios against the perils of volatility — frequent ups and downs in asset value. So they tend to lag far behind tortoise investors,...

Read More..

Low prices boost SF home sales to 5-year Jan. high

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Home sales in the San Francisco Bay area reached a five-year high for January, as prices and mortgage rates plunged, a real estate tracking firm reported Thursday.However, many of those purchases involved properties that were subject to foreclosures or short sales, indicating the housing market is far from recovered.The survey by San Diego-based DataQuick also showed the median...

Read More..

Rate on 30-year mortgage drops to record 3.89 pct.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fixed mortgage rates  fell once again to a record low, offering a great opportunity for those who can afford to buy or refinance homes. But few are able to take advantage of the historic rates.Freddie Mac said Thursday the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 3.89 percent. That's below the previous record of 3.91 percent reached three weeks ago.Records for mortgage...

Read More..

Credit score focus of new celeb-backed debit card

NEW YORK (AP) — Personal finance media personality Suze Orman is thinking big. She's the   first out of the gate in the fast-growing prepaid debit card market with a card that aims to help its users build a credit score. It's a gamble that could pay off, if it can help create a way measure the creditworthiness of millions who function outside the traditional financial system.The latest...

Read More..

First Person: What My College Degree Means to Me

*Note: This was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Do you have a personal finance story that you'd like to share? Sign up with the Yahoo! Contributor Network to start publishing your own finance articles.My college degree helped me pursue a successful 30-year career in advertising and public relations. However, it only happened after I realized I had not made the right decision in choosing my college...

Read More..