OUCH! My ARM hurts!

So you're getting ready to tee up on hole ten after a frustrating front nine.  You've been slicing the ball pretty consistently, and if not for a friendly tree on hole 7, you'd have lost a ball and two more strokes to the OB marker.  You're doing a little stretching while waiting for the party in front of you putt out, when the tightness you've been feeling in your right bicep starts throbbing sharply.  You realize that is why your swing has been off.  You convince your foursome to let the next group jump in front of you while you take a quick break, run into the pro-shop to grab some ibuprofen.  You realize that carrying your bag has tweaked a nerve in your shoulder and you may have to sit out the final nine holes.

Many times, we're moving through our financial "front nine" when we begin to feel some pain.  The short term, low rate, adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) we used when we bought our house - in order to save a few dollars while we finish the basement - has adjusted upwards, increasing your monthly payment, with no end in sight to potential rate increases. 

You ask yourself, "what do I need to do to alleviate this discomfort?  How did I get into this predicament in the first place?"  Chances are, you were advised by someone (or not) to take the ARM's lower payment up front, in order to save a few dollars to repay the contractor and Home Depot bill while you finished your basement (increasing your equity position), then refinance into the longer term, higher rate of a 30 year fixed mortgage.  Not the worst advice in the world.  However, as life goes, this was before your wife was "re-organized" out of a job, before kid number two came along and before you had your mid-life crisis BMW purchase (in response to the mini-van your wife had to have).  This short term thinking isn't bad thinking, but because life happened, you now are in a predicament that may have longer term ramifications for your financial future.

Your mortgage caddy may not have advised you any differently.  However, he would have been there six - twelve - eighteen months later, discussing your options and educating you on the club you had chosen.  He might have offered some good counsel in regards to timing your BMW purchase.  He might have been ready with some options when your spouse's job went away - we don't know exactly what he would have said for sure, but at least you would have had a proactive advocate, working with you to make sure you could avoid the pain, or keep it managable while you worked through some tough points in the course.

Keep on swinging!

What is a Mortgage Caddy?

Someone to "carry your clubs," who helps you pick the right "club," determines the distance to the hole and ensures that you play your best game each time you're on the course. Do you have a Mortgage Caddy? Do you need a Mortgage Caddy?

When was the last time you played a golf course that offered caddy service? Did you choose to use one? If you're on a tight budget and don't golf much, you probably thought, "I don't need someone to carry my clubs - heck, I can use the workout!" For those golfers who play more competitively, given the choice of walking 4-5 miles with 40+ pounds of weight on their shoulders while swinging their clubs for 90 plus strokes (not to mention practice swings and the bucket of balls they hit at the range prior to playing) or using a caddy - they'll choose the caddy every time.

When we see the pros - Tiger, Phil Mickelson, Tom Watson - they all use caddies. Why? Because they know it will make a difference in their game. Some would say that if you're not a pro and you use a caddy that you must be a "fat cat." But the extra energy you conserve having someone else tote your bag will give you more mojo for your swing come holes 16 - 18. Having someone explain the lay of the fairway and the slope of the green while handing you the club they deem appropriate for the hole can be the difference between par and double bogey.

So, if like the pros, you would like to lower your score while increasing your net worth, find a Mortgage Caddy whom you trust and begin your next 18 holes with the right focus and advice!