Just checking out the great articles I’ve stumbled upon this week. Again, I always like to keep track of the real estate industry so you would always see interesting articles from those. This week also boast articles from investing and debt management. 

The Simple Dollar presents: Another Look At Renting To Get Richer: The Inflation Factor. With the huge gap in the average market rent and monthly mortgage payments in the Los Angeles area (or possibly in the US), sometimes you’ll be better off renting and investing the difference in stocks.

The Sun’s Financial Diary presents The Priority: Paying Off Credit Card Debt or Start Investing. “While it makes a lot of sense to target the debt that charges some 18% interest rate first, I feel that investing should never be delayed even when one is deep in debt. For the long term, even $50 invested today will make a big difference 30 or 40 years later. So why don’t spare $50 and invest it while battling the debt”

Dr Housing Bubble presents Second Quarter Housing Recap. Points out various flaws and myth on some of the questions and advices he heard from a radio show regarding the real estate market.  Here are some of the sample questions addressed on the blog:

  • “Right now is the perfect time to buy. Because even if real estate goes down, in 3 to 5 years you will have massive equity”- A very familiar advertising cliche for those real estate agents trying to get a SALE.
  • “If you are having a hard time making your payment and have equity, refinance your house and get some money out. This will keep you afloat for a while longer. If this doesn’t do it, go ahead and cash advance on your credit cards to keep your mortgage payments.” - Sounds like a mortgage loan officer trying to get a SALE this time. What a very lousy advice that would take you to financial armageddon in a heartbeat!
  • “Enough of the housing bubble. The correction is over. This is a perfect time to find a good deal. You will have equity in your home. Housing always goes up. We may see a small correction but once it goes up, it will go up fast like the last few years” - Sounds like another real estate agent trying to get a sale or just plain dumb on what’s going on in the market.

The Digerati Life presents 8 Ways to Invest Internationally: How much foreign exposure should your portfolio have? With the trend in Globalization finance, investing in international markets has become part of the norm nowadays more than ever. With the devaluation of the dollar and the emerging international commerce such as China, European Union, and other markets, investors should take a look at their portfolios and consider increasing their foreign exposures.

Generation X Finance presents 2nd quarter 2007 Market Review. I recently check my 401k portfolios and noticed that international, small caps, and S&P 500 index funds took a nose dive this month compared to the unit shares of last month. But for the most part, it did show a strong positive return in the second market. Well just to expand the investing topics from the Digerati Life, this article from Generation X finance reviews the capital market, bond market, and equity market. 

Virtually all major stock market indices ended the second quarter with strong positive returns. In the U.S. market the tech heavy NASDAQ had the best returns. With the continuing slide of the U.S. dollar the international equity market has outperformed the domestic counterparts for the first half of the year with a gain of more than 11%. On a more long term basis the recent trend for all asset classes has been strongly positive, although the 10-year returns are still hindered by the bear market.