loans Archives - Empathic Finance | Mike Pumphrey, AFC®

5 things to ask yourself before taking out a business loan

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on September 2, 2024 | Featured

A business loan can help you grow your business, or at least that’s what the banks say. Is it right for your business? Let’s break it down. … Read More

Tags: business, business owners, loans, therapist

Would you ever want a personal loan?

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on August 26, 2024 | Featured

Banks and credit unions will often offer you “personal loans”, but is there a worthwhile use case for them? … Read More

Tags: loans

Should you borrow from your 401(k)?

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on September 4, 2023 | Featured

A 401(k) loan is an enticing prospect during financial hardship, and may seem more preferable than a withdrawal, but the risks are vast. … Read More

Tags: 401(k), Jamie Zawinsky, loans

40 year mortgages are here (maybe). Would you want one?

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on April 24, 2023 | Featured

To help more people afford homes, there is talk of a new 40 year mortgage product. This of course would not help who it is supposed to. … Read More

Tags: home ownership, home prices, loans, mortgage, mortgages

How to know if a large purchase is affordable

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on June 6, 2022 | Featured

People often think only of the per-month cost when determining what they can afford, but that can be an expensive mistake. Can you afford it? It’s a simple question on its face, but the more you dig into it, the … Read More … Read More

Tags: affordability, loans, mortgages, purchases

Don’t use payday lenders

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on July 10, 2017 | Featured

Back when I was working at Kinko’s doing layout, one of my regular customers would often ask me to create or update an application form for his company. It was for some kind of loan, and as I had to … Read More … Read More

Tags: loans, payday lenders, payday loans

Should you get a loan to pay off your debt?

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on November 17, 2016 | Featured

Paying off debt is hard. It can feel like you’re not even making progress. Sometimes this is actually true. If you make minimum payments on your credit cards, you’re basically never going to pay anything off. And if you’ve got … Read More … Read More

Tags: debt, loans, refinancing

The complicated ethics of peer-to-peer lending

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on August 21, 2014 | Featured

“If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not be like a moneylender; charge him no interest.” – Exodus 22:25 “Neither a borrower nor a lender be, For loan oft loses both … Read More … Read More

Tags: ethics, lending, Lending Club, loans, Prosper

The Debt Math Throwdown (or testing the debt snowball)

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on March 6, 2014 | Featured

In my discussion about how to pay off your debt, I mentioned how there were primarily two schools of thought: pay off the highest interest rate first, or pay off the smallest debt first (a.k.a. “the debt snowball”). The … Read More … Read More

Tags: debt, debt snowball, loans, student loans

How to figure out which debt to pay off first

Posted by Mike Pumphrey on March 3, 2014 | Featured

If you’re like most people, you have a few credit cards here and there, maybe a student loan payment, and perhaps a car payment. In addition, maybe you own a house and have a mortgage payment. That’s a lot … Read More … Read More

Tags: debt, debt snowball, interest, loans, Neal Stephenson, student loans

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