Friday Financial Five – July 10th, 2015
Friday, July 10, 2015
Mortgage documents to change August 1st
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will oversee replacement of the documents used to process mortgage loan applications. The difference between expenses presented at application and at closing was a huge problem. With that in mind, there will now be a “Loan Estimate” given three days after application and a “Closing Disclosure” presented three days before closing. That should give consumers plenty of time to review and compare. The format of the new documents should provide greater transparency.
CBNC ranks state business climate
The 2015 CNBC list of top states for business has Minnesota taking the top spot from last year’s winner, Georgia. Minnesota benefits from top five positions in economy, quality of life, and education. Texas, Utah, Colorado, and Georgia fill out the top five. The northeast isn’t represented until Massachusetts grabs the 20th spot, benefitting from a number 1 position in education. Rhode Island, West Virginia, and Hawaii are the bottom three states in the rankings. Rhode Island finished dead last in the country in infrastructure, while Hawaii took the overall final spot despite being number one in quality of life.
A theory on why college is so expensive
Does increasing the amount of federal aid available to students lead to higher tuition? The Federal Reserve Bank of New York examines that potential correlation in a recent paper. While not definitive on a causal relationship between the two, the paper notes a few points of particular interest. First is the assumption that for-profit institutions rely more heavily on federal student aid. As student loan originations rose from $53 billion to $120 billion from 2001 to 2012, tuition rose by almost 50 percent. In conjunction with increased federal lending, the stock of publicly traded for-profit institutions benefitted with abnormally high returns.
myRA may be struggling to find footing
Part of President Obama’s 2014 agenda involved the myRA Program which would allow those without a retirement plan option to save money for retirement. The contribution limits would be similar to the traditional IRAs but with conservative investment holdings. As of January of this year, the program was all set to go, but there isn’t much publicity about how many individuals or employers have enrolled. It may be a case where good intentions haven’t led to action by the public at large.
Trump’s actual net worth
For most people, it’s reasonably easy to figure out net worth. Add up the value of all assets, subtract everything owed and that’s the number. There are some things that aren’t easily liquidated or valued, such as real estate or the value of a business. For Donald Trump, maybe the most controversial thing to come from his campaign so far is the debate over what he’s actually worth. Trump claims net worth of almost $9 billion. Forbes has him closer to $4 billion. So for anyone having trouble calculating net worth, it may be comforting that you’re not $5 billion off.
Dan Forbes is a regular contributor on financial issues. He is a CFP Board Ambassador. He leads the firm Forbes Financial Planning, Inc in East Greenwich, RI and can be reached at [email protected].
Related Slideshow: Oregon Business Rankings in US
See how Oregon stacked up against the other states in the U.S.
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