Personal Finance Advice and Commentary

After rising for 11 months, homebuilder confidence slipped.

Home builders are feeling optimistic about the housing market in December.

The upward trend in home prices continues, providing some hope for a recovery.

There’s a great piece on the New York Times’ website, NYtimes.com, if you’re from under a rock, titled “Why do we still care about the Dow?” by Adam Davidson of Planet Money fame. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a closely watched index but is comprised of only 30 giant companies. Here’s how the index

You probably don’t need an official confirmation to know there’s a lot of anxiety in the stock market right now. But here’s one anyway: It’s called the volatility index, (VIX) and it indicates the price investors will pay to insure themselves against big market moves. It’s traded on the Chicago Board Options Exchange, and reached