JoeTaxpayer

I am pleased to make available a Money Merge Analysis Compilation, a PDF containing all of my MMA posts, so you can view them easily. Please advise if you find any typos or errors. The current revision shows R11 indicating it includes up to my Part 11 posting.

The Simple Dollar’s blog post on MMA, which generated more comments than I’ve ever seen on one posting. (Careful, this can take some time to load)

Get Rich Slowly also had a discussion that generated much interest.

WiseBread also gave a review of MMA with a similar conclusion to the one I reached.

United First Financial, who created the MMA concept, offers 3 videos to explain the approach.

For some interesting hyperbole Vision Force 21 is an agent selling MMA.

Mortgage Acceleration LLC also an agent for MMA.

Integra Mortgage and Investment has another series of links with MMA comments and observations.

BankRate.com’s article on MMA

iStockAnalyst’s article titled “Is The Ufirst Money Merge Account (MMA) a Scam?”

MSNBC’s “What’s a ‘mortgage accelerator’?”

CNBC’s interview with author Rick Edelman

Clark Howard fields a question on MMA

Dave Ramsey’s reaction to MMA

Another Dave Ramsey conversation (transcript)

An article by ActiveRain

Travis Mitchell kindly offers a years’ example of MMA in action, and in response I offer my own money merge account spreadsheet. I would be happy to entertain any intelligent dialog on the numbers presented by the two of us.

A page containing a summary MMA example which many agents link to. (note, the example here has been updated recently. It now assumes you have $1300/mo to send as an extra principal payment. Fortunately I have a copy of The Classic Example for you to view as well.)

The web site Money Merge Advantage (this blog has been suspended due to TOS violations, the agent now posts at UfirstRetirement), which inspired my post Money Merge Innumeracy.

The Age (an Australian site) has a great article, “Smoke and Mirrors“.

Kiplinger’s “Don’t Fall for This Mortgage Pitch”

A kind agent sent me a link to a video, Money Merge Account Version 4. I find little there of value, judge for yourself.

The Fraud Files Blog by Tracy Coenen, a forensic accountant and fraud examiner who investigates white collar crimes, including cases of financial statement fraud, embezzlement, tax fraud, and insurance fraud. She is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud and more than 100 articles on fraud featured in industry publications. She also kindly summarizes and links to my ongoing series Money Merge Analysis.

A great general summary from Searchlight Crusade.

A series of posts on Scam.com’s website.

If a spreadsheet isn’t enough for you My Debt Elimination Calculator offers an interactive program for $30. (Yes, less than 1% the cost of MMA, and from what I’ve seen “only” about 99.99% of the functionality. You decide.

(Please send a comment if you have more links to suggest or if you’d like a copy of my MMA spreadsheet. The sheet will let you see your own numbers, and will help you decide for yourself.)

JOE

written by JOE \\ tags: Finance, interest, Investing, investment, jubilee project, mma, money, money merge account, money merge account evolution, money merge math formula, Mortgage, mortgage acceleration, mortgage accelerator, Retirement, spreadsheet, UFF MMA scam, wealth

In the March issue of Smart Money, there was an article “10 Things Your Tax Preparer Won’t Tell You,” which, like many articles in this series takes a shot at the least reputable people in a given profession. What caught my eye reading this story was this one sentence “On average tax preparers make more mistakes, and costlier ones, than Josie Taxpayer does.” I quickly Googled “Josie Taxpayer” and found two results, both referencing Joe and Josie Taxpayer, as the Smart Money story had not hit the web yet. I found the avoidance of the phrase Joe Taxpayer interesting, as I’m sure it was intentional. Just my random observation today.

JOE

written by JOE \\ tags: Finance, foreclosure, mma, Mortgage, mortgage acceleration, pre-pay, Real Estate, sub-prime loans

This month’s Consumer Reports has an article “Your mortgage, It rarely pays to prepay“. They think it doesn’t, suggesting that since the stock market (measured by the S&P) has averaged 10% per year over the last 20 years, that it would make financial sense to choose investing in the stock market over pre-paying your mortgage. On one hand, there’s a neat logic to this. But, as I posted in my blog article Disappointing Results, we see that despite the 11.8% return of the S&P cited by the study, the average equity fund investor only saw a return of 4.3%. In that case, CR might rethink their numbers and their blanket statements offering what may be unsound financial advice.

Whatever you decide, the decision has to be based on your individual situation, your risk tolerance, and investing style.

JOE

written by JOE \\ tags: Finance, foreclosure, mma, Mortgage, mortgage acceleration, pre-pay, Real Estate, sub-prime loans

I’ve finished up another article for my main site, this month titled BiWeekly Mortgages. I’ll give you the punchline here. I have no objection to paying one’s mortgage down faster if the rest of their investments and debts are in order. Why pay down a 6% or 7% mortgage faster when you owe money on a 15% credit card?
What I do object to is paying a third party or your bank an extra fee plus monthly service charges when you can do this your self. I mention other mortgage acceleration programs such as Money Merge Accounts, which I’m still researching and will discuss here or on the main site in the near future.
JOE

written by JOE \\ tags: Finance, foreclosure, mma, Mortgage, mortgage acceleration, pre-pay, Real Estate, sub-prime loans