Milestone

[steuard]

I've just finished my last formal class session in Claremont, ever. (Or so I assume.) I still have things to do (review sessions, writing and giving final exams, and of course grading), but I've passed a significant milestone.

Both of my "final classes" today felt very good. Despite my computer issues last week I managed to cover just about everything I'd hoped to in both of them, and I was able to finish up with "fun stuff" in each. My intro physics students got to hear about the history of the universe and about how MRIs work (which they seem to have liked a lot), and my advanced electromagnetism students got to see all of electrodynamics expressed in beautiful relativistic form.

All in all, it was a nice way to wrap up my time here. I'm happy about it. Now I just need to get through the lingering obnoxious bits.

Comments

[beth_leonard]

Congratulations! Did you guys already go house-hunting, or is that next to come? I don't know how much you typically put on credit cards, but now is a good time to pay off or pre-pay expected expenses for a month or two so you can max out your credit score to get the best possible fixed-rate loan. I had thought that debt that was paid off monthly didn't hurt at all, but when we had our credit scores done recently, paying all the bills through the card was considered "high credit card debt" and dinged us slightly. (We're still both over 800, but still...) thought I'd pass along the tip.

--Beth

And P.S. a fixed-rate loan in the next several months is the way to go. You do NOT want floating/adjustable rates. Current governmental policy is very inflationary and rates will go up in the future. (I have no idea exactly when, could be anywhere from 3 to 36 months, but they sure aren't going meaningfully lower in that time frame.)

[kirin]

My understanding is that you basically *always* want a fixed-rate mortgage. If rates actually do go down significantly it's usually not hard to re-finance (though it's a pain) and lock in a lower rate later, and if they go up adjustable would've been worse in the first place.

[beth_leonard]

Sometimes if you're planning to move again in under 3-5 years anyway (i.e. you'll be forced to refinance in the future regardless) then the teaser rates of the adjustables can be worth it. Back in the 1980's with 12% fixed vs. 10% adjustable, you could save enough money to be worth it if you were planning to move again soon anyway. (Obviously don't take a pre-payment penalty in that case.)

Right now with historically low rates that basically can't go lower, there's no reason to go with an adjustable. They can't possibly save you enough per month now to be worth future risk.

--Beth