Ruth Hale
Personal Finance Columnist
Ruth Hale covers personal finance for Yield Update. She writes about savings, borrowing and household budgets, and about how shifts in interest rates reach the rates that banks and lenders offer consumers.
Stories
- Personal FinanceExplainer
15-Year vs. 30-Year Mortgage: What a 6.45 Percent and a 7.11 Percent Rate Cost on $300,000
Freddie Mac's latest survey puts the 15-year average 0.66 percentage point below the 30-year. On a $300,000 loan, the shorter term means a higher monthly payment and far less interest.
- Personal FinanceExplainer
What a Strong Dollar Means for Travel and Online Orders
The dollar ended the week near a 19-month high, with the euro at $1.103 and the yen at 159.70 per dollar. Here is how those rates turn into a hotel bill or a checkout total.
Existing-Home Sales Fall to Lowest Since 2010 as Freddie Mac Rate Eases to 7.11 Percent
Sales of previously owned homes fell 5.5 percent in October to a 3.75 million annual rate, the National Association of Realtors said. Freddie Mac's 30-year average dropped for a fourth straight week, to 7.11 percent.
- Personal FinanceExplainer
Why Your Mortgage Quote Differs From the Freddie Mac Rate
Freddie Mac's 30-year average was 7.11 percent on Nov. 12, while Mortgage News Daily put the same day's rate at 7.42 percent. Neither number is a quote, and a lender's offer can differ from both.
- Personal FinanceExplainer
How a Fed Rate Increase Reaches Your Credit Card, and Why a Fixed-Rate Loan Stays Put
Most credit cards carry variable rates that follow the prime rate, so a quarter-point Fed increase usually lifts a card's APR by about a quarter point within a statement cycle or two. A fixed-rate loan keeps the rate it started with.
- Personal FinanceExplainer
Freddie Mac's 7.18 Percent Is an Average, Not Your Mortgage Offer
The 30-year fixed rate averaged 7.18 percent last week, Freddie Mac said, down for a third straight week. That figure describes a specific borrower, and many buyers will be quoted something else.
- Personal FinanceExplainer
How the Consumer Price Index Is Built, and Why Your Own Inflation Rate Can Differ
The CPI tracks the prices of a basket of goods and services bought by urban households. It is a national average, and the government says plainly that it may not match any one family's experience.
- Personal FinanceExplainer
A Bitcoin Fund Is Not a Wallet, and It Is Not a Savings Account
Spot bitcoin exchange-traded products hold the coin for you and charge a fee to do it. Here is what that structure spares you, what it does not, and what it costs over time.
- Personal FinanceAnalysis
What a Democratic Congress Can, and Cannot, Change About Your Money
The new majorities take their seats January 3, and the president still holds the veto. Health premiums, student loans, mortgages, taxes and crypto rules, one at a time.
- Personal FinanceAnalysis
A 4.94% Ten-Year Does Not Set Your Savings Rate
Friday's long yield is a government borrowing cost. A bank deposit, a mortgage, and a Treasury bill are three other contracts.
- Personal FinanceExplainer
Averaging Purchases Is Not Magic
Spreading buys over time reduces the chance you bought only on the worst morning. It does not repeal a bad decade.
- Personal FinanceExplainer
Use a Curve Without Placing a Trade
The par yield curve is a public description of Treasury prices. You can read it without becoming a speculator.
- Personal FinanceExplainer
The Funds Rate Is Not Your Mortgage
One is an overnight target for banks. The other is a loan a household may or may not be offered.
- Personal FinanceExplainer
A Treasury Bill Is Not a Saving Habit
One is a security with a maturity. The other is a behavior. They get confused when yields are high.
- Personal FinanceExplainer
What an Emergency Fund Is For
It is cash for a bill that arrives before the next paycheck. It is not a performance contest.
- Personal FinanceExplainer
When Yields Rise, Bond Prices Fall
The relationship is arithmetic. A fixed coupon is worth less when new bonds pay more.