Instead, the homeowner should take advantage of the tax deduction and use any extra money to invest in stocks. Janice Newberry, president of the Financial Planning Association of Greater Kansas City, cautions that tying up too much equity in one's house can create problems. Even so, she said, the strong economy has often tricked conventional wisdom. Bob is a computer software systems consultant for Midwest Consulting Group. Shan is a database administrator for American Century.
Budgets are at the core of the family's anti-debt plan, which Shan polices.
Nightly dinners plotted for the month are taped to the refrigerator. To pay off their debts, the Leathermans started with their high-interest credit cards and worked their way down. The kids, accustomed to shaking down Mom and Dad for movie money, went along with the adventure, reluctantly at first. But they too became adept at using discount coupons to save. Retirement and education are cited in the Fed survey as prime reasons the stock market has become the modern savings plan for increasing numbers of two-earner families.