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If you look at the data, about 49 percent of homeowners have one measure of vulnerability: high debt payments, high levels of variable interest rate debt, a very high leverage, they own very little of ground homes or they own very little outside of their homes.
NPR: Is Housing Market Squeezing Out the Middle Class?
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Now that Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi has caved in on calls to raise the capital gains tax, wealth taxes and VAT taxes, the European debt variable likely holds more pain ahead as the on-going anti-growth fiscal bias on the continent will lead to slower growth and falling government tax revenues as a result.
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Another issue: more than half of Shurgard's debt is variable-rate, meaning rising interest rates could hurt its profitability, according to Litt.
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Trading Direct, for instance, lends investors who are willing to assume a heavy debt load at a variable rate of 1.25 percent.
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Today people can invest in mutual funds and ETFs that offer variable levels of exposure to equities, bonds and even sovereign debt in emerging markets.
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Not only have home prices and mortgage debt surged relative to incomes, but most mortgages are at variable interest rates.
ECONOMIST: Economics focus
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About half of mortgage borrowers have variable-rate loans and are therefore generally benefiting from the reduced cost of servicing their debt.
ECONOMIST: Britain's economy: Combating the recession | The
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Letting borrowers replace low-interest fixed mortgages or even variable-rate home equity lines of credit with higher interest, compounding credit card debt is too risky in our still-shaky economy.
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