USAA has a good rep so I don't think it should be a problem for you to leave it there for a while. SmartMoney's website I believe is free for access, but I could be wrong - I'm a WSJournal subscriber and the two are owned by the same company so there's a lot of cross-links on the websites. It isn't easy finding an good independent fiduciary advisor, but for people who need help developing a comprehensive financial plan (which is not the same as earning a high ROI on investments), I think it's essential. Most middle-class folks would find it helpful to talk to a neutral third party who can ask the hard questions and analyze your total financial picture. One thing for everyone to be aware of is that when I refer to financial planning, this is not only a legal term, it actually refers to creating a 'road map' that takes you from your current financial situation to achieving your short, medium, and long-term goals. It is aiming for a moving target, so any life-changing events - life, death, marriage, divorce, change of job - means some fine-tuning may be needed to your plan. To produce a good plan requires time spent in not only gathering all your financial info and analyzing it, but defining your goals. Some will be achievable and some will not be. Only you can define and prioritize them, and a good advisor will help if needed. You can get a financial plan, separate from investing advice, from any certified fiduciary advisor. Cheaper ones are computer 'plug in the numbers' produced, so always make sure you understand the base assumptions, and have multiple scenarios run to be sure you're covered for any contingencies/emergencies you haven't foreseen. Establish the total cost of meeting, gathering info, analyzing, and producing the plan(s) up front before signing anything. It takes time to do a financial plan, and anyone promising you it will be easy and fast isn't going to do a comprehensive job. It's an advantage for the fiduciary to be an insurance agent OR to be very familiar with insurance analysis, because many people could use advice on how to use different types of insurance to mitigate risk in various areas of their life. At a minimum you should contact at least three fiduciary advisors, obtain references, and investigate them thoroughly, before working with one. Even if all you need is a financial plan, do the research, but confine the requested references to clients who received a financial plan at least three years ago and are willing to discuss its usefulness. It is not uncommon for people to pay for a financial plan and then follow the suggested actions on their own; e.g., do their own investing, etc., without engaging the advisor to handle their portfolio. OTOH, a financial plan that goes unimplemented is just a useless piece of paper. We used to have to gently 'nag' our clients that they still hadn't completed certain checklist items on their plan, so it depends on how good you are at doing tasks that many people put off....until it's too late.

Hi WIgardenerwannabe, I am currently facing the need to replace roof/gutters and have a portion of my driveway and sidewalk done. "Functionally needing" to have it done, or "wanting now, but not of functional importance"? If its a responsible mandatory maintenance issue, then its gotta be done, period. If its a discretionary issue, perhaps it can wait. I have about $5,000 in an emergency fund which I can use toward this, but will fall a couple thousand short. Does this maintenence expense qualify as an "emergency" (I propose it does not.) You need to build & keep an emergency reserves fund equal to 6 months (preferably 12) of total living expenses (housing, food, travel, insurance, everything.) I am going to go out on a limb here & guess that you don't have that in place... no? I have a car loan of about $7,000 that I am also paying on. No other debt. At what interest rate? At what amortization burden (how much of each payment goes to interest, how much goes to principal?) Is this worth it? Or do I look for some other way to come up with the amount of money I'm short for these home maintenance issues? OK... critical maintenance is critical maintenance, and you *MUST* find a way to get it handled if failing to do so in a timely manner means the potential for worsening problems & expenses (leaking roof? dangerous sidewalks? etc.) NEXT... you *MUST* get a 6 months safety reserves account established. NOW... you must begin to understand; Equity is Equity is Equity is Equity. The dollar in your savings account is the same color as the dollar you've entrapped in yoru real estate, is the same color as the dollar in your 401(k), is the same color as the dollar in your stock brokerage account. UP UNTIL NOW you have been "investing" in the concept of sending extra dollars into the value of your home equity, and the elimination of your home mortgage. The benefit of this is limited to the after-tax rate of mortgage interest (it makes no additional growth if your real estate appreciates.) The downside of this strategy is 2-fold (at least); A) its costly to re-access the funds when needed, B) you have to qualify & get a bank's permission to access your own money. REMEMBER; The fastest & safest way to become debt-free is to accumulate a side CASH fund that grows to equal the entire mortgage amount BEFORE paying a single extra dollar to the mortgage... and then doing so in the stroke of a pen on a single check. With a $109,000 valued home, and a current mortgage balance of $73,000, you don't have a WHOLE lot of room to wiggle... but as you go forward, I strongly urge yu to use the safer debt elimination principles above. With a value of $109,000, you could potentially get approved to re-access as much as $103,500 of your own money... and probably in the middle-to-low 4%'s, on a 30 year term mortgage. Don't even THINK about 20 year or 15 year terms (remember above? The fastest & SAFEST ways to eliminate your debt? don't get tricked!) Plan out your cash needs; A) how much for the requisite maintenance now (vs later.) B) how much for responsible safety reserves? Add that to the payoff on your existing mortgage... MAYBE your car loan (if the amortization is faster than 15 years,) and add about $3,000 minimum for your financing closing costs as an estimate. THAT is the new balance your mortgage will be if you get yourself safely set up for stability & future debt elimination. It may *feel* like backsliding... but it is not. You are not in a safe position financially, and any non-insurance covered emergency (REAL emergency) would wipe away all the hard work you have accumulated. Hope that helps! Dave Donhoff Leverage Planner

It does suck. My wife cheated on me, but I was no day at the beach either. I compartmentalized my marriage as I do with many aspects of my life. I focused on the woman I first married and minimized the mess. It's hard and took a while (6 months was about right for me). I learned to laugh about the cheating because it beats crying. I don't mean laugh to cover up sadness, but to really see how silly it all is. To compartmentalize the mess part I created one catch phase that I could tell friends if needed, but mostly to tell myself. "She's 300 lbs and living in a trailer." I don't really know what happened to my x and I have no interest because in my head she's 300 lbs and living in a trailer. Pain is the brain dwelling on an event trying to make sense out of something that makes no sense. So I gave my brain an answer...she was dumb and is now 300 lbs and living in a trailer. Visually she's sitting at a kitchen table in a moo-moo smoking and drinking disgusting coffee. Took some training but brain seems pretty happy having an answer and after a while I had no desire to stalk her to see what she was doing, no desire to connect again and try one more time. I have the memory of marrying a great woman, super hot (I even make her more hot in my head), but then she changed into a moron, 300 lbs, and living in a trailer. The appeal faded. The catch phrase also help cut short talking about the mess. The mess is the mess, nothing to be done about that. No amount of talking is going to provide any insight. Cheating is just plain dumb for all parties. Your husband is now with someone who wants to live with a cheater. So lucky her. He will again and he gets to relive this nightmare over and over, so lucky him. That's their mess. Your mess is over, no reason to dwell on that silly crap so I never really wanted to rehash it for friends and family. I'd say the catch phrase, friends did their duty to ask, and we moved on to a more interesting subject. Therapists...if you really need to. I've been to therapists with partners. Some are good, some not. They can be a crutch too. It can be just one more place to dwell and vent. Use caution. Lawyers are there to make money. Use caution trusting what they say. You are the only one responsible for your best interests. Never turn that over to anyone else because it's an illusion. Once again brain trying to trick you. Dumb old brain. Stay away from booze and other drugs. This isn't the time to get dumb. I didn't date for 6 months from the time the divorce was final, no matter who came along. Figured anyone who would date someone in that state wasn't someone I'd be interested anyways. At one point I was considering ending it all...but then I kind of reviewed things and thought "anything I should do first?" I always wanted to going fishing on Great Bear lake...so I should do that first. At that moment a switch flipped...how silly this whole drama was. Many people do go do lots of new stuff, and whatever works is great. But it may be dreaming of stuff is enough to fill your mind with new adventure. I never went to Great Bear lake. Didn't need to. I learned a lot from my failed marriage. Worked on myself (I needed it, not saying you do, but who can't stand with a little improvement) and became a much better husband. I did marry again and have had a great marriage for 15 years. I'm so thankful my x cheated on me. I'd send her a carton of cigarettes and a box of Ding Dongs if I knew what trailer park she was living in.

A few concerns and some statements... First, what kind of deed are you getting? You should avoid upgrading the deed. If you are getting a grant deed you should avoid upgrading to a warranty deed. In this case, a quitclaim deed will protect you the most, but may limit the buyer's ability to quickly refinance or get title insurance. Second, I wouldn't even get title insurance in this case. You are paying $850 to get $5,000 of protection...Title insurance covers up to the amount you paid for the house and not beyond. There are expanded title insurances that will cover more things but mostly they cover code violations and other non title related claims against use, such as a buried oil tank, but they are still limited to investment usually (although you may find one that covers improvements, but I have not done one). Finally, all real estate sales are essentially as-is. No seller in their right mind is going to warranty against an undisclosed defect. There are disclosure rules to protect the buyer, but other than that, it is up to the buyer to check for violations. P.S. What is done, is done. But for future reference this was not the best way to do this (please understand, I am being informative not critical, sometimes decisions need to be made before there is sufficient time to investigate). A conditional loan at closing would have been a lot easier, cheaper, and there would be less exposure.