Q: My wife and I are both happily and comfortably retired. During our younger years, we were both heavily invested in stock and mutual funds. But, after accumulating a nice little nest-egg, over the past ten years we have been very conservative and have very little in stock and mutual funds. The majority of our investments are in laddered fixed-income, such as some corporate bonds, government agency bonds and most in broker CD's. At one point, some funds were transferred to my credit union in one year CD's paying 3.25%. As a result, we have maintained our principal and have not been impacted too much by the recession so far.

As stated, a large portion of our investments are in CD's that are paying 5% or better and a few government agency bonds also paying 5% or better, both maturing as far out as 15 years.

I would like to know your thoughts on purchasing new government agency bonds at this time? (Fed Hm Ln Mtg Notes, Fed Hm Ln Bk Notes, Fed Farm Cr Bk Notes, Fed Natl Mtg Notes, etc) Are they reasonably safe in light of the economy?

A: I think government bonds are safe. I don't think the US government is going out of business any time soon. You just won't get a great interest rate. So, safe, but you won't get rich off of it. Still, not losing principal - as so many of us have - feels pretty good too.

For more personal finance and real estate advice from Ilyce, visit ThinkGlink.com.

Q: I have had an account with Schwab for some time now. It is an income account and the broker keeps asking me to take less from it as he says the stocks go down. My wife and I live from the income from this account so I am wondering if the returns could be somehow manipulated, like the Madoff thing?

How can I know how much comes from the 19 closed-end fund stocks that I have in my account? Can I believe the broker who tells me that he gets his figures from Schwab and that he has no control over them? I have asked for exact figures on the percentage of dividends coming from each stock and my broker doesn't seem to want to give them to me. Am I to assume that he has something to hide?

A: You should be able to confirm the information about the companies held in your portfolio or fund elsewhere. Try Morningstar.com. You should be able to look up the firm and it's top 10 holdings. You should also be able to call the Schwab 800 number and speak to a different representative who isn't connected to your account.

To your larger question, it is possible that your broker is cheating you - but unlikely. Most probably, your broker (I assume this is someone hired by Schwab to help you?) isn't that smart and isn't that knowledgeable. Maybe it's his first year in the business. He's probably asking you to spend less since many companies have cut their dividends in order to conserve cash in this deep recession. If you're trying to live on that money, it would make things tighter.

To read the rest of this Q&A and get more personal finance advice from Ilyce, visit ThinkGlink.com.

Guess the economists are wrong again.

According to this morning’s Wall Street Journal, economists estimated that U.S. housing starts rose to an annualized pace of 600,000 units from 590,000 in September.

Wouldn’t that be nice.

Instead, housing starts collapsed according to the latest government figures. According to the Census Bureau and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. housing starts in October fell 10.6 percent from September, and were down 30.7 percent below the October 2008 level.

Building permits declined 4 percent from the revised September numbers, and more than 24 percent from a year ago.

But hey - the recession is over. Just ask Wall Street, where the stock market is up around 70 percent from the low on March 9, 2009. Is the economy 70 percent better than it was? Are you feeling 70 percent better about your own financial prospects? Hardly. And even if you argue that the stock market projects where the economy will be 9 months to a year from now, are we really going to be 70 percent better at the end of 2010?

It’s difficult to imagine that with unemployment rising higher than almost any economist predicted (let alone the Obama administration’s projections) that everything is going to be fine anytime soon.How can it be, with millions of Americans delinquent in their mortgage payments, and millions more afraid they’re going to lose their jobs?

According to the Mark Gongloff’s “Ahead of the Tape” column, within six months after hitting the last steep housing decline trough, the annualized pace of housing starts was back to one million units. If the trough of the current housing crisis was in March, when the stock market hit its lows, we should be at one million units right about now.

Only we’re at half that number

To finish reading this story and other related articles, visit my blog on CBS Moneywatch.

Yesterday, something remarkable happened. Someone on Wall Street apologized to everyone on Main Street.

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said he was sorry for the role Goldman Sachs played in the housing crisis:

“We participated in things that were clearly wrong and have reason to regret,” Blankfein reportedly said, adding “we apologize.”

Presumably, Blankfein is sorry for the role Goldman Sachs played in “cycling cheap credit.” In 2006 and 2007, Goldman Sachs sold $40 billion in securities backed by 200,000 risky, exotic, and sub-prime mortgages. The company promoted the securities as triple-A rated investments - the safest kind of investing except for government bonds and T-Bills.

So, maybe Blankfein is sorry that his company is so good at wrapping up garbage and selling it as a birthday present.

Or, maybe he’s sorry he didn’t tell everyone (or even the company’s clients) that while Goldman Sachs was selling $40 billion in securities backed by housing junk, the company secretly made a bet against the housing market. When the housing market started to collapse, Goldman Sachs’ profits soared. The company managed to avoid a total meltdown with good timing and excellent salesmanship.

There are those who believe that if you’re peddling junk you should buy some yourself. Of course, that isn’t the way Wall Street thinks.

But I can tell you that on Main Street, the most successful small business owners would be dead in the water if they sold their customers burgers, but bought lunch for themselves at Chipotle down the street.

In other words, if you sell access to the trough for $40 billion, but don’t drink from it because you think it’s poison, some folks might call that fraud.

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs is ready to kiss and make up. It’s offered to put up a total $100 million per year over five years to help give small business owners better access to capital and business education. The company will contribute $200 million (over five years) for business and management education and $300 million (again, over five years) to provide loans and philanthropic support to increase access to capital for small business owners. Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffet will sit on the committee overseeing the disbursement of the cash.

To read the rest of this story and other related articles, visit my blog on CBS Moneywatch.

Q: My neighbors do not want to give me access to their fenced in yard to perform maintenance on my house, gutters etc. They also have a dog house against my house and have attached a fence against it to make a "pen" to house their pit bulls. Is there a city ordinance against all of this? What city bureau would I contact?

A: Many cities have ordinances that regulate the ability of homeowners to use adjacent lands to maintain their homes. In your case, it’s in the neighborhood’s best interest that you should be able to maintain your home. If you can only do that by obtaining access through your neighbor’s yard, you may have a right under your city ordinances to have limited access for that purpose.

You should call the city and find out what agency you can talk to determine whether you have that right or not. You might find that your local alderman’s office or other local municipal governmental office may have information available for you.

In some towns and cities, you can now go to that town or city’s website and research your question.

After you have done some of this research, if you still have not found your answer, you might have to ask a good contractor in your area the question or ask a real estate attorney. The contractor might have experience with this issue, having fixed buildings and homes in your area. That contractor might even be able to quote you the law that allows neighbors to have limited access on other people’s property to make repairs to their own properties.

The attorney might have that information as well for you.

Read more questions and answers with Ilyce at ThinkGlink.com.

Q: I have heard about the new tax credit for first-time buyers and was wondering if I would be eligible under the new law that was just passed.

I purchased my home on March 17, 2008. That was about 20 days before the tax credit was announced.

This was my first house that I purchased and with the new law passed I’m curious to know if I now qualify for some sort of tax credit. Thanks.

A: The federal government offered a $7,500 tax credit for first-time buyers who purchased a home after April 8, 2008 through December 31, 2008. This tax credit functioned more like a zero interest loan, since you have to pay the tax credit back at a rate of $500 per year for 15 years.

If you move out of the home before the tax credit was fully repaid (also known as “recapture”), you would have to repay whatever portion of the tax credit remained with your taxes the following April 15th.

This tax credit could have been claimed by filling an amended 2008 return or when you file your 2009 tax return.

First-time home buyer who purchased a home at any time in 2009 will qualify for a tax credit of up to $8,000 that does not have to be repaid. Trade-up buyers, who lived in their home for 5 consecutive years over the past 8 years, who earn less than $125,000 as individuals (or up to $225,000 as couples), who buy a home that costs less than $800,000 and close between November 6, 2009 and June 30, 2010, will qualify for a tax credit of up to $6,500.

To read the rest of Ilyce's answer to this question and more, visit ThinkGlink.com.

Mortgage interest rates fell below 5 percent again last week, and this week dropped further, according to Freddie Mac’s Primary Mortgage Market Survey.

“Mortgage rates eased further over the week, helping to promote an affordable home-purchase market and stimulate refinance,” said Frank Nothaft, Freddie Mac vice president and chief economist. “This comes at a time when house price declines are moderating and consumer demand for prime mortgages at commercial banks has picked up.”

Having mortgage interest rates drop below 5 percent combined with the recent extension and expansion of the home buyer tax credits gives buyers a unique opportunity to purchase a home with interest rates at nearly 50-year lows.

But if you have enough equity in your property, it may also be a great time to lock in a lower interest rate and refinance your loan’s existing balance.

Here’s how to think through a refinance:

1. Will you qualify for a refinance? Before you put in any time and energy into working out the details of your refinance, try to assess your property’s current value. Contact a local real estate agent to discuss what homes in your neighborhood are selling for – not what they’re listed for. Try to figure out whether there are a lot of foreclosures in your neighborhood, or just a few. Neighborhoods that are awash with foreclosures tend to have steeper price drops than those that have fewer homes for sale.

2. How much equity do you have in your home? If you have at least 20 percent equity based on the current market value, then you should be able to do a conventional refinance. Today, conventional lenders won’t do a refinance unless you have at least 20 percent equity in your property and have verifiable income. FHA loans are available for less than 20 percent down loans and their guidelines differ somewhat from most Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lenders, but these FHA loans are generally available for new purchases of homes and not for homeowners who want to refinance.

3. Can you qualify for “underwater” mortgage programs? If the value of your house is less than what you owe on the mortgage, then you are considered to be “underwater.” If your loan is owned or securitized by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, you might still be able to refinance your mortgage even if you are underwater. Under some federal programs, you may be able to refinance even if the loan balance is 125 percent of what the house is worth.

To read the rest of this article, visit ThinkGlink.com.

Q: I am really angry about what’s going on with my loan modification – or I should say, my non-loan modification. I have been going back and forth with my big box lender and first they say I can get a loan modification and then I can’t.

I know you’ve been encouraging people to tell their loan modification hell stories. Mine is too long to go into in an email. But I want to do something to get my lender to pay attention to me. What do you recommend?

A: I’m sorry to hear that you’ve had so much trouble getting a loan modification from your lender. Perhaps it will help to know that there are literally hundreds of thousands of folks having the same confusing and frustrating experience you are.

After consulting with some sources at the Treasury Dept., someone suggested that if you’re in loan modification hell, you should write a concise letter that clearly details what has happened to you. Organize your thoughts into a timeline of events. And, be sure to include any information you have that identifies which employee you spoke with (the employee’s identification number, office or location would be helpful), the date of the contact and even the time of the call. If you’ve received a letter or emails, include a copy of them with your letter.

You’ll want to address your letter to the president or chief executive officer of the bank. If you don’t know who that is, go to Yahoo.com finance page. Under the “investing” tag, use the search box to type in the name of your lender. A bunch of company names will pop up. Choose the company you’re interested it. On the company page, choose the “profile” tab on the left navigation bar. That will take you to a page with the company headquarters and the names (and salaries) of key employees, including the CEO.

Once you have the CEOs name and address, you’ll want to write a letter that roughly follows this format:

To continue reading this story, and for more questions and answers with Ilyce Glink, visit ThinkGlink.com.

Q: I have lived in my home more than 32 years. I signed a contract to build a new home on my lot for $400,000. It will be ready next September. I’ll move out into a rental during construction. Do I qualify for the new $6,500 home buyer tax credit? Please let me know. I expect to close on the construction loan by December 5, 2009.

A: If you’re tearing down your existing home and building a new home on your own lot, you will not qualify for the first-time home buyer tax credit.

If you’ve purchased a lot and are building a home on that lot that won’t be completed until September, 2010, you are still out of luck. You must close and move into your newly-constructed home by June 30, 2010 to qualify for the trade-up tax credit.

Purchasing a lot and closing on a construction loan aren’t enough to qualify you for the tax credit. Your home won’t be habitable until after the tax credit has expired. You'd not only have to move into the home by that time but you might also have to have an occupancy permit issued by the appropriate local authorities as evidence that the home was complete on a certain date.

Ilyce Glink answers more of your questions at ThinkGlink.com.

Q: I went under contract to buy a house on six months ago. This is a short sale, and I understand that multiple lenders are involved. But I have been more than patient. What can I do? I can’t seem to get anyone to listen to me. Don’t the banks want this to work out?

A: I’m sure that someone besides you wants this sale to work out – the seller! The problem is that each lender has to agree to the short sale and lenders are drowning with the numbers of short sales, foreclosures, and loan modifications that are stacked up.

For a short sale, the lender will require quite a bit of documentation from the seller to determine whether the short sale is legitimate and whether the seller has the ability to make up any deficiency. The lender also would want to determine if it would get more money if the seller simply defaulted on the purchase and the lender foreclosed on the property and sold it off.

While these are some of the considerations a bank may have, the underlying problem with lenders and short sales is time.

Banks have too few people on staff to handle the load of short sales and other requests being made since the start of the housing and credit crisis. The bank takes in the requests and then must evaluate each request to figure out how much of a hit the investors will take on the loan in a short sale. The lender also tries to figure out who else is losing money on the deal, like other lenders.

To read the rest of this story, and others, visit ThinkGlink.com.