No Matter Your Level Of Education, You’re As Likely To Make Costly Mortgage Mistakes As The Next Guy

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A telling tidbit comes from today's Wall Street Journal, courtesy of Dennis K. Berman.  It turns out Harvard and Wharton MBA students do no better than "average" folks in identifying the true cost of owning mutual funds.

In other words, an elite education does not prevent a person from making costly financial planning mistakes.  This is especially true with mortgages.

High-school dropout or Kellogg graduate, you're as likely to choose the wrong mortgage product for your short- and long-term financial goals as the next guy.

It's easy to understand why. There is no classroom syllabus, father-daughter lecture, or homebuying experience that can truly teach you everything you need to know about properly sizing up home loan options and the mortgage market in general.

Heck, even guys who do it every day of their lives get it wrong sometimes. 

If a loan officer that lives, eats, sleeps and breathes mortgages isn't right 100% of the time, what chance is there a lay person with an education from any one of the following:

• 30 classroom hours over the course of a few semesters
• 30 days of reading the news and watching television
• 30 minutes of conversation over Thanksgiving dinner

The best chance that you have -- regardless of education -- to make the "right choices" when it comes to your home loan is to work with a mortgage professional that listens to your short- and long-term financial goals and helps you plan to meet your payment and equity objectives.

You're not going to get that from Ron Insana.  News is news, and it's never personal -- news is for the masses.

Socrates said: "The only true wisdom is in knowing that you know nothing."  Sometimes, we all need to make like Ted Theodore Logan and realize: "That's us, dude."