Skip Gym, Focus On Checkbook
Forget getting in shape and losing a few pounds in 2010. Citizens Bank thinks more people should instead be focusing on getting a financial tune-up this year.
The bank is offering financial and budgeting tips to consumers to keep them financially healthy.
Citizens provides common-sense advice like save more than you spend. Of course, the advice may come a little too late for many consumers who have loaded up their credit cards with holiday gift-buying charges.
Other tips from the bank: seek lower credit card rates and consolidate high balances to a card with the best rate; set financial goals; create a budget; and save by having part of a paycheck automatically deposited into a savings account.
Slumming It In… Wellesley?
Not too long ago, homeowners in Wellesley and Lincoln could boast they were part of an elite group of communities where the median price for a home exceeded $1 million.
But the sought-after suburbs have toppled off the list.
The median price for homes sold in Wellesley during the first 11 months of 2009 dipped to $847,500, a 19 percent drop from the median price a year earlier, according to the latest data available from The Warren Group, Banker & Tradesman’s publisher.
In Lincoln, the median home price has tumbled even more. It’s down a whopping 27 percent to $825,000.
Wellesley and Lincoln home prices are still among the highest in the state and way out of reach for many working families.
But they pale in comparison to say, Weston. Weston’s median home price stands at $1.2 million. Median prices in ultra-luxe Weston have topped $1 million since 2003.
The playground for the rich and famous, Nantucket, is just ahead of Weston. The median home price on the island is $1.25 million.
Just one other area of the state is more expensive – downtown Boston. If you want a townhouse in Back Bay, Beacon Hill or one of the other upscale neighborhoods, it will cost you. The median price for a single-family home in those neighborhoods has escalated to almost $2 million.
One thing we can count on: no financial tune-up will ever help The Teller purchase a home in those towns.
