This is why baby boomers are divorcing at a stunning rate – Statistically speaking we’re healthier and probably going to be living a lot longer — possibly 30 years longer — than average retirees once did. The surge in late-in-life — or “gray” — divorce is one possibly unintended consequence of this so-called longevity bonus.

$20 Trillion In Debt – And Why We Need Even More Of It – Markets naturally trade on future expectations. Currently, US stock valuations rely on a necessary degree of public debt expansion. On its own, the federal budget is currently infeasible to balance due to ongoing trends in federal expenditures. The debt expansion most relevant to the US stock market includes the Trump administration’s initiatives to lower corporate tax rates and increase infrastructure spending.

Beware of mind games when shopping mortgage rates – Sometimes our brain gets in the way of a good decision. It’s called “cognitive bias,” and it happens when our mind tricks us into making irrational choices. We think something is true — and we just go with it.

Surviving divorce after 50 – If you’re going through a divorce later in life you’re not alone — it’s actually a growing trend, leading researchers to coin the phase “Gray Divorce.”

2017 Started With Fewer Homes in Foreclosure – The share of U.S. homes in foreclosure fell slightly in January, down 3.55% from December and down 12.94% from January 2016. The figures come from real estate data company ATTOM Data Solutions, which bases foreclosure rates on the portion of residential properties in any of the three stages of foreclosure: default, auction and repossession.

Black Knight’s Mortgage Monitor: Strong Q4 Pushes 2016 Originations to Highest Level in Nine Years; Reperforming Loan Population Sits at Nearly Two Million – $2.1 trillion in first lien mortgages originated in 2016 represented a 17 percent increase over 2015; refinance lending was up 22 percent, while purchase originations rose 13 percent

The importance of opening presentations in mediation – Some clients and their lawyers question the need or use of an opening presentation in mediation. Mediators, however, often advocate for them. It provides them with a foundation on which to build upon when discussing the issues with the parties. While some may challenge this approach, we consider that there are clear advantages in opening presentations and the opportunity to make a good one should be taken. Recently, we witnessed this in two mediations in which we were involved in as described below.

Who gets the dog in the divorce? – It’s clear the relationship isn’t worth salvaging. A breakup is imminent, and it’s time to divvy up assets. But a question lingers: Who gets the pets?

Mountain of mortgage paperwork wears down borrowers – Could getting a home mortgage under today’s post-housing bust regulations and procedures be even remotely comparable to going to the dentist to get drilled? Or anything like having your annual physical, where every body part potentially is subject to inspection and prodding?

Mediation: The High Art of Conflict Resolution – Some conflicts are painfully obvious to everyone in the company, others are hidden and have to be identified as such. In some cases, it may even be hard to identify all the parties involved.

Hiding Assets with Bitcoin in Divorce – As the world of money changes, so do the ways that people try to hide assets in their divorces. For those of you who don’t know what Bitcoin is, in short, it is a technology that is changing the way people transact just like the internet and email changed the way that people communicate. As a New York divorce lawyer, in contested divorces we now go through emails and hard drives more than we examine actual hard copies of the mail. To learn more about Bitcoin basics, visit bitcoin.com.

Credit Coach: Filing a personal assignment in bankruptcy – A filing of a personal bankruptcy, is a statutory or legislative option for people facing a debt issue that is unsolvable using any of the options mentioned in my earlier blogs. It is the last-resort solution after you have explored all other debt solutions. The bankruptcy option can only be accessed through a Licensed Insolvency Trustee (LIT) and each individual looking at this option will go through the assessment process with an LIT.

American Debt Set to Pass Financial Crisis High. 3 Reasons Not to Panic, Yet – Americans are nearly as much in debt as they were at the peak of the trouble back in 2008. At face value, that fact sounds pretty alarming. Dangerous, even.

Are You A First Time Home Buyer? Be Aware Of These Mortgage Programs – If you are shopping for a mortgage, you have probably seen all sorts of offers and advertisements aimed at first-time home buyers and wondered if these are really as good as they sound. In some cases, “first-time” programs are little more than attention getting marketing messages from lenders, while in others they are actual assistance programs for people who may otherwise face challenges with qualifying for a home mortgage or finding a home loan at an affordable interest rate. With this in mind, it is important to understand the difference between mortgage lender marketing programs, actual loan programs, and financial assistance programs.

Bitcoin Hash Functions Explained – Anyone with an interest in bitcoin will have heard the phrase ‘cryptographic hash function’ at some time or other. But what exactly does it mean, and how is it connected to cryptocurrency?

How Studying Data Helped Me Get Over My Divorce – When your marriage breaks apart, a long train of loved ones assure you that time will heal your grief. They are not wrong. But as a data journalist, I misunderstood them to mean the arc of that recovery would be linear.

Steep Decline: 21,000 Completed U.S. Home Foreclosures in December – According to CoreLogic’s December 2016 National Foreclosure Report, U.S. foreclosure inventory declined by 30 percent and completed foreclosures declined by 40 percent compared with December 2015. The number of completed foreclosures nationwide decreased year over year from 36,000 in December 2015 to 21,000 in December 2016, representing a decrease of 82 percent from the peak of 118,336 in September 2010.

6 ways to pay off your mortgage faster – Stop focusing on the rate and pay attention to prepayment options

How Studying Data Helped Me Get Over My Divorce – When your marriage breaks apart, a long train of loved ones assure you that time will heal your grief. They are not wrong. But as a data journalist, I misunderstood them to mean the arc of that recovery would be linear.

3 No-Brainer Reasons to Get a 15-Year Mortgage – Most people who get a mortgage sign up for a 30-year loan. But if you’re able to swing a 15-year mortgage, you stand to reap a number of benefits. Because you’ll be borrowing money for less time, you’ll also be paying less interest. In fact, your total interest charges will probably equal less than half of what they’d be under a 30-year borrowing scenario, partly because of your accelerated repayment schedule, and partly because you’ll likely snag a lower interest rate to begin with.

More Than $1 Trillion Worth of Junk Debt Risk Faces Investors – More than $1 trillion worth of junk debt is scheduled to mature over the next five years, a development that could provide heavily indebted businesses with serious challenges, according to a Moody’s Investors Service report that was cited by The Wall Street Journal. While companies with low credit ratings can currently obtain funding at favorable rates, this situation could change if yields on junk debt surge. (For more, see also: Junk Bonds: Everything You Need to Know.)