Moore Mortgage Solutions

    These past couple of months have been very interesting in the marketplace overall. The bond and stock market have been up and down, causing the interest rates to do a lot of bouncing up and only a little bit on the downside.

    The growing cost of gas and the increases that have been past off in our food prices has caused all of us to re-think what and how we do plan our daily lives.

    I wish I could say this is only a blimp overall but I have a feeling high gas prices are here to stay for awhile and will probably never go down to the levels of a couple of years ago.

    To combat this, I have started to change my habits around how much I drive. And believe me, I’m a big fan of the car and enjoying driving by myself.

Here are some suggestions:

• Carpool as much as you can. For me, several of us attend the same events so we try to carpool as much as possible.
• Take public transportation. This isn’t my most favorite mode of transportation but my office is close to a bus stop and when my  appointments take me downtown, I do try to take the bus. I’ve even purchased a book of bus tickets for $35.00 (http://buypass.metrokc.gov/ so I don’t have to carry all that change with me. Also I’m able to get some extra exercise in and save on parking downtown.
• Try to do all of your errands and chores in one day. When I drive my car, I try now to get a route going of all my appointments and errands.
• And last but not least, I have found that Costco’s gas is lower than other gas stations. When I am near Costco, even if it is a mile or two out of my way, I detour to fill my gas tank there.

    On the financial front, as I said the market has been very bumpy as interest rates had been trending up over the last month. The good news is that that trend seems to be reversing itself as stocks are selling off on the lower than expected FedEx Corp and Morgan Stanley quarterly earnings reported this morning.

    The Federal Reserve Board will be meeting next Wednesday but the economic pundits don’t expect them to lower or increase the Fed Fund Rate.

    In the meantime, I am available to help you decipher the market conditions and help you make informed decisions.

    Until next time, make everyday an inspire one!

Betsy Moore

206-331-2749

betsy@mooremortgagesolutions.com