Confidence Quote of the Day: “All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.” – Mark Twain (*my high school ACT scores proved I nailed the ignorance part.)
Today in Economic History: It was on this day in 1862 that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing was formed. The BEP has the task of designing and printing the United States currency. Some interesting facts about the BEP – it produces more than twenty-six million bills a day (valuing up to $907,000,000), at one time they created a $100,000-dollar bill, and there is a ‘mattress room’ where workers can take pictures of themselves laying on a bed covered in money! Okay… I made that last part up (and actually don’t know why movies glamorize this, as a germ freak I can’t imagine laying on money) but here is an interesting fact – when I Google ‘has the BEP ever been robbed’ a bunch of articles come up. This one from 1994 appears to have been the biggest robbery – $1.7 million by an employee of BEP. In addition to prison time, the worker was also fined $250,000 which he most likely paid in crisp $100 bills.
This just in from my pants: Put the Cheetos bag down and back away slowly from the table.
Wuss’up This Week: Every day reports about our economy are released into the wild, and it’s these reports that can sway interest rates in either direction. Today we’ve got Durable Goods Orders (expected: 4.5%), tomorrow Jobless Claims, and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will speak, and then on Friday the Consumer Spending Report. If these reports come in good for the economy you can expect rates to tick up and vice versa if the reports come in worse than expected. Also, those who read this blog know my love for anagrams – and one for Fed Chief Jerome Powell would be: “Empower Jello!” With that said, here are some interesting Jell-O facts you may not have known.
Interest rates bumped up after the Fannie/Freddie announcement a couple of weeks ago and they haven’t come down Mortgage Fans. But don’t be discouraged because what goes up must surely come down, right? Time will tell… In the meantime, we have conforming 30yr fixed loans (*any loan at $510k or less) at anywhere from 2.625% to 2.99%, 15yr fixed hanging out maybe a quarter less. Jumbo 30yr fixed (*over $510k) seems to be around the low-3s. As usual, rates will vary based on purchase or refinance, type of home, equity in the home, your credit score, and if you liked movies that Roger Ebert hated.
Don’t Forget to Remember: Any purchase or refinance that closes with me I will wave $575 of closing costs (*and more for essential workers). Grab yourself a cup of instant karma and pass my info along to any friends, family, coworkers, or co-slackers that can use this gift!
Confidence Quote of the Day 2: “Just once I’d like to have the confidence to order something off of a menu without having to look at the menu while I’m ordering it.” – @yoyoha
Timeout for Trivia: Congrats to those who guessed Amy Adams last week. Want to be entered into a drawing to win a Die Hard Coloring & Activity Book? Simply email me the answer to this week’s Who Am I? question. Good luck: “It’s my birthday today and I’ve come a long way. I used to be known as the person who has a cousin you might’ve seen naked. And maybe you didn’t even know my name until my breakout role in a 2011 comedy that starred several SNL players. People say I was the funniest part of that movie but I feel one of my scenes would sink any chance of it appearing on network TV. Speaking of network television you might’ve seen my CBS comedy that ran for six years. My husband in that comedy – if it were real-life – probably wouldn’t be having that much fun at his job in Chicago.”
