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ResourceShark™ Blog houses our network of website's blog postings. Here you will find a variety of topics ranging from international law to travel destinations and everything in between! If after reading our blogs you find yourself needing help from a professional in that field, please navigate to our home page and use our business directory to find a professional in your area!

What Will Mend the Education Rift?

By Jo Gardner | Mar 21, 2019 | Comments Off on What Will Mend the Education Rift?

In the wake of privileged education scandal, student loan defaults and struggling public schools, U.S. students continue to lag behind other rich nations.  Why? NYTimes said: “The perennial debate about the state of public education starts with a single, seemingly unassailable fact. American students sorely lag their peers in other rich nations and even measure…

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It is NOT too Late to Make 2018 Contributions to your Retirement Account!

By Jo Gardner | Mar 21, 2019 | Comments Off on It is NOT too Late to Make 2018 Contributions to your Retirement Account!

If you are seeing that you should have contributed more to your 401(k) for the tax year 2018, the good news is that it is not too late.  The bad news is that most employers do not allow you to specify which year you want to add to, so ask.  Your HR team should be…

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How Americans are Cheating Themselves out of Retirement Savings!

By Jo Gardner | Mar 20, 2019 | Comments Off on How Americans are Cheating Themselves out of Retirement Savings!

Americans are not doing a good job of saving for retirement.  If you are eating out several times a week, subscribe to delivered meals, buy your coffee out and keep giving in to retail therapy, you may be losing from $100k to $500k in retirement savings!  A recent GOBankingrates.com found that Forty Two percent of…

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What are the Five C’s of Credit?

By Jo Gardner | Feb 28, 2019 | Comments Off on What are the Five C’s of Credit?

Frequent references to the five C’s of lending are all over the internet, and it seems so mysterious.  But there is no need to go all Sherlock Holmes on the topic.  The five C’s of Mortgage loan lending are derived from pure common sense and are how the mortgage loan underwriters calculate the inherent risk…

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New Mortgage Loan Application Form by 2022

By Jo Gardner | Feb 28, 2019 | Comments Off on New Mortgage Loan Application Form by 2022

Rates are down and a new real estate selling season is approaching.  Here’s what you should know about the change in the mortgage loan application form.  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will require lenders and banks to convert and integrate the new mortgage loan application form fully by the year 2022.  The new Uniform Residential…

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Home Sales are Sliding, Inventory Rising

By Jo Gardner | Feb 25, 2019 | Comments Off on Home Sales are Sliding, Inventory Rising

In the end of 2018, average home sales slowed in the United States.  In 2019, home sales reports are showing a drop in home sales year-over-year for the same month.  Meanwhile, real estate inventory has begun to increase and is expected to continue to increase throughout 2019.  That would seem to be good news for…

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Federal Reserves Dropped to One Interest Rate Hike in 2019

By Jo Gardner | Feb 21, 2019 | Comments Off on Federal Reserves Dropped to One Interest Rate Hike in 2019

In the December 2018 meeting, the federal reserve had indicated the likelihood of raising interest rates at least twice in 2019.  Wednesday, February 20, the minutes of the January 29-30th Federal Open Market Committee came out.  The Reserve is now indicating only one interest rate hike in 2019, noting they wish to avoid “the possibilities…

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Spring Home Buying Season Trend

By Jo Gardner | Feb 19, 2019 | Comments Off on Spring Home Buying Season Trend

At a point where US home sales have started to slow, our economy has come to depend on the continued growth in home sales, and today’s top increase in home sales is led by millennials, females and Hispanic sectors of the population.

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Cat bond market’s merit underscored. Rate hardening expected: Swiss Re

By Angelica | Feb 19, 2019 | Comments Off on Cat bond market’s merit underscored. Rate hardening expected: Swiss Re

The catastrophe bond market’s merit was underscored by the way it continued to operate effectively despite recent volatility stimulated by catastrophe losses, but after the losses it is expected that investors will want to see cat bond rates harden, according to Swiss Re.The global reinsurance firm has published its latest review of the catastrophe bond…

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Student Loan Debt: The Next Crisis in America?

By Jo Gardner | Feb 7, 2019 | Comments Off on Student Loan Debt: The Next Crisis in America?

An estimated two-thirds of United States’ college loan debt is held by women.  Some of this debt was generated by women taking out student loans for their own education which they were unable to repay later and others when one or more parents co-signed for their children or grandchildren’s student loans.  According to CNBC, 56…

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