I was wondering about how to best position yourself for getting a mortgage. I am 20 and have only had one credit card and no debt. should i get a CC and make some smart moves to build credit so I can get the full amount on a mortgage (with a proper down payment also)? and what are smart credit moves?

Thanks for all you do!

While there’s probably plenty on your list for New Orleans, try to fit in a visit to the D-Day Museum! Your parents would love it and I’m betting your little boy would be enthralled with all the planes and vehicles and stuff that are there. It is really a cool place. I’ve not seen the Pacific theatre part of it, only the European theatre.

If you make it, be sure and notice the commission pennant from the U.S.S. Augusta (flagship of the invasion)..it is on a little wall all by itself sort of near some stairs..ok, totally random…
but my dad rescued that pennant after it was shot down by the Germans firing out to sea.

I am on the market for a new computer. Needs to be a good one, technologically speaking, because I need to use it for my Distance Education Masters program (but I liked your post about the $100 computer for just mail and word or something). I am willing to spend a bit extra to get something that will be more reliable and longer lasting (like perhaps a Mac)…. but I dont know what would be best.

And, as to time to change oil, the book that came with my 91 Lumina said to change oil every 3k if you drove around town or short distances. If you drove mostly highway miles, change it every 7500 miles (and that was not with synthetic oil). As I was doing 7-800 miles a week of highway driving, I only changed oil every 7500 miles and tha usually happened about every 3 months.

Don’t get me wrong — I love Honda, and barring some compelling unforeseen circumstance, I’ll own one for the rest of my life. But…they’re not always built in the USA.

As social welfare in the USA gets bigger and bigger there will be more and more government control upon those resources.

Argentina and Slovakia recently nationalized they retirement programs similar to 401(k) and Roth IRA at a tremendous loss to the citizens.

Are you willing to bet all your retirement funds on the bet that there will be no crooks in Washington DC in the next 30 years?

In my opinion it’s time to diversify political risks in your portfolio. What do you think?

Qustion: What will your family do to keep costs down on the road?

I’d love to see some tips!

Check out their security. if you can hack into and know several ethical hackers

Keep up the great work Trent. You truly are an inspiration.

If it matters, I have enough saved to cover six months of basic living expenses, I’m expecting to get weekly unemployment checks that cover all of my living expenses for the time I’m receiving them, and I have a little bit of severance that I also plan to put aside. Thanks, Trent.

I have done much camping north of Duluth; being Minnesota born and raised. I currently have a one year old and a two and a half year old. When my youngest was only a month my husband and I took a vacation up into the Gunflint Trail (essentially the boundary waters). If you want any info regarding good spots to go or good places to stop with the kids along the way send me an email and I would be happy to share what I know with you.

But I see no reason to hand out my data on a silver platter to be grabbed by the first hacker past the post! A treasure trove of information like Mint is a hacker’s dream come true. It’s much more work to crack people’s data one household at a time. (In similar fashion, mailbox thieves prefer apartment buildings to going house to house. One stop “shopping”.)

Use passwords which are hard to guess – no personal information, include both numbers and letters, change your password every 3-6 months. If you need to write it down, store it in a safe location.

Don’t use public computers to access your online bank.

If you have broadband (cable or DSL) get a router with a firewall.

Never ever click on a link in an email that looks like it’s from your bank. 99% of those are phishing emails, designed to trick people into entering their user names and passwords. Then these sites use that information to hack into people’s accounts. I don’t have the link handy, but about a year ago there was an article at one of the big tech websites showing many of these phishing emails and the sites they went to. The sites looked almost identical to the bank’s real sites.

Finally, do not give out your password over email or over the phone. If the bank calls and insists they need your password, call them back (using the customer service number on your statement or the back of your credit/debit card) first. That way you know you are actually taking to the bank, and not someone just claiming to be the bank.

My point is the security is a multi-faceted issue. I hope that my bank (or the money management site I’m using, Rudder.com) never get hacked. That’s out of my control though. What I can do is these things listed to help keep my account safe.