Lorrie Miller's (lorrie26) Blog

5. To use in emergencies Lenders and even some financial advisers recommend taking out a home equity loan while you're employed. That way, if you lose your job, you have cash on hand.I can hear some of you saying, "Desperate times call for desperate measures." But listen to this: Using borrowed m...

4. To invest Don't even go here. Buying stocks and bonds with savings is investing. Buying them with borrowed money is called gambling, and if you ante up with home equity money, it's gambling with your house.Of course, gambling is popular. The Federal Reserve Board found that in 2001 and the fir...

3. To pay for college Americans have a weak spot when it comes to sending children to college. But by the time your kids are grown, you should be shedding debt to prepare for retirement, not piling it on. If your child is already college age-and you neglected to save in advance-there are alternat...

2. To pay off a credit card The average American household owes $9,840 in credit card debt, but I have met people who owe their entire annual income or more-often at a double-digit interest rate. To these people, a home equity loan looks downright reasonable.But if they haven't mended their spend...

1. To buy a carI cringe when homeowners say, "I paid off my car loan with a home equity loan." First, I need to point out: You have not "paid off" the car loan. You've only shifted the debt to your house, thereby increasing the liability on what may be your biggest asset.If the interest rates on ...

Not every bit of value in our homes vanished when the market collapsed. So how bad would it be to hit the house up for some cash? During the long real estate boom, homeowners were persuaded by lenders that using their homes' rising value to pay for new cars, big weddings, or college tuition was a...

A short interesting piece by CNET anticipating the next release of the iPhone and what new things it might do. Will the iPhone be able to do everything and anything by 2013? Be sure to check out the video, if nothing more, just to see something different.  WHAT WILL BE NEXT??   Follow Me on Twitt...

Just when you think the winter is about to end and it's going to get warm outside - the snow strikes again! And apparently this time it's going to be a whopper of a storm between today, tonight, and tomorrow. Luckily, I've opted to work from home tomorrow so I shouldn't have any problems. I might...

The massive snow storm that's blowing this way must be psychic. It knows how much we missed it. It knows how much we like to bundle up our little ones in five layers of sweaters covered by a winter coat that makes their car seats impossible to buckle. Best of all, this snow storm knows how badly ...

Snow, more snow in New Jersey today. I'm watching Dr. Phil, and the National Weather Service keeps interrupting to tell me there's, like, a Winter Weather Warning tonight until tomorrow.I look out my window, and it's coming down and blowing around.   Weather Stations say to brace ourselves for 8-...