Historical 30 year fixed mortgage rates 1971 to 2008

The Federal Reserve has the historical monthly average paid for 30 year fixed mortgages at this page. They give the monthly % rate for 30 year fixed mortgages for 1971 to 2008.

For the 37 year period from 1971 to 2008 the average rate was 9.11% and the median was 8.58%. Mortgages ranged from a minimum 5.23% in June 2003 to a maximum 18.45% in Oct. 1981. December 2008 was at 5.33% so its very close to the minimum we hit in 2003. January 2009 should probably set a new low for rates post 1971.

Here is a graphical chart of the % rates :

Advertisement, endorsement and comission policy

I wanted to take a moment to make a quick post on my policy towards advertisements, endorsements and commissions.

I accept do paid advertisements for this blog. That much should be pretty obvious, there are banner ads and Google Adsense links on the columns. The Google Adsense links and articles are not chosen by myself and I have no direct control over their content. I do not endorse the products offered by Adsense. If you see any questionable ads from Adsense the please let me know so I can block that content. The other ads I pick are from companies I know about and I either use myself or which have a good reputation. I try and pick respectable companies that provide a good product or service. However I have no direct control over those companies either of course.

I do not accept paid posts. I will not write a post endorsing something simply because the company paid me to do so.

I do have commission program and affiliate program links to other companies. If I write about something I'll throw in a commission link if I can find a program for it and sign up easy enough. I only provide links to companies I use and like myself or at least those that have a good reputation.

Autocirc pump to save water, money and get hot water faster

The other day my wife saw something in the local paper about an Autocirc pump. The pump was mentioned as a device to save water and get hot water to your faucets faster. I hadn't heard of it before so I did a Google search.

The Autocirc1 is made by Laing. The Autocirc1 pump is designed to keep hot water in your pipes at all time. The pump has a thermostat and will kick on when the water goes below 85 C and then kick off when water hits 95 C. It is designed to install under your sink in the sink furthest from your hot water heater so that it will keep hot water in the pipes for all the sinks and showers in between.

The benefits are 3 fold: The pump will save you money on your water bill. It will save water. Plus it will get you hot water faster and you won't have to run the tap waiting for hot water.

Laing claims the savings are in the $100-300 range for a typical family of 4. I found one reference to an individual who said they were saving $100 a year on their water bill. You can buy the pump for around $250-300 at retailers like Home Depot or Amazon. Amazon has the ACT-303-BTW autocirc1 model of $259. Home Depot has an Autocirc1 for $239. So the payback period should be in the range of 1-3 years.

The pump looks fairly easy to install and should be a do it yourself project for someone somewhat competent at DYI. The Autocirc1 model pump does require an AC outlet to power itself though, so if you don't have a power outlet under your sink then this might increase installation difficulty.

Laing also made an Autocirc2 which doesn't need AC outlet at the faucet but I can not find that version for sale anywhere. I found a reference to another company named Grundfos winning a lawsuit over patent infringement on the Autocirc2 so Laing may have pulled the model due to that. That lead me to look for similar pump by Grundfos. I found the Grundfos recirculator pump for sale at $225.


Given the energy savings, water savings and extra convenience one of these devices looks like a good purchase.

What can you use a Health Savings Account for?

Our medical plan uses a Health Savings Account (HSA). With the HSA we put money pre-tax into the HSA and then we can use those funds later to pay for qualified medical expenses. So it effectively makes our medical expenses tax free. This is a great benefit if you have higher tax bracket and some medical fees. Plus you can hold onto the HSA account funds as long as you want to use for medical expenses in later years. I plan to maximize our HSA contribution for the year which will leave extra money in the account to be used for future medical expenses. In order to plan for exactly how much of a balance I want to accumulate in the HSA I'll need to know what all I can use that money for.

What can you use an HSA to pay for?

The Dept. of Treasury HSA guide says:

"You can use the money in the account to pay for any “qualified medical expense” permitted under federal tax law. This includes most medical care and services, and dental and vision care, and also includes over-the counter drugs such as aspirin. You can generally not use the money to pay for medical insurance premiums, except under specific circumstances, including:
• Any health plan coverage while receiving federal or state unemployment benefits.
• COBRA continuation coverage after leaving employment with a company that offers health insurance coverage.
• Qualified long-term care insurance.
• Medicare premiums and out-of-pocket expenses, including deductibles, co-pays, and coinsurance for:
Part A (hospital and inpatient services)
Part B (physician and outpatient services)
Part C (Medicare HMO and PPO plans)
Part D (prescription drugs)
You can use the money in the account to pay for medical expenses of yourself, your spouse, or your dependent children. You can pay for expenses of your spouse and dependent children even if they are not covered by your HDHP."

So that answer boils down to:

You can use an HSA to pay for qualified medical expenses as defined by the IRS excluding health insurance premiums except for insurance when you are unemployed or medicare related costs.

Thats your basic answer. Also note that the guide says specifically that you CAN use your HSA funds to pay for over the counter drugs such as aspirin.

What is and isn't a qualified medical expense is a document in itself. Refer to the IRS publication 502 : qualified medical expenses for the full details on what is or isn't allowed. For the most part the list of qualified medical expenses are what you'd figure are legitimate medical expenses. Things like doctor bills, hospital stays, drug prescriptions, dental visits, eyeglasses and so forth. The list of what is not covered is not too long and includes stuff like purely elective cosmetic surgery, maternity clothing, swimming lessons, vet bills and other things that are not really normal medical costs.

Here is another page that list HSA qualified expenses.

Normal expected items that HSAs CAN be used for are listed below. Some of these may need to be prescribed by a physician and there may be exclusions within each category:

Acupuncture
Ambulance
Chiropractors
Contact Lenses
Dental Fees
Dentures
Diagnostic Fees
Doctor's Fees
Drugs
Eyeglasses and Examination Fees
Hearing Aids
Hospital Care
Insulin
Laboratory Fees
Operations - legal
Optometrists
Oxygen / Oxygen Equipment
Prosthesis
Psychiatric Care
Psychologists
Psychotherapists
Surgical Fees
Therapy Treatments
Wheelchair
X-rays
Stop smoking programs


Some interesting items that HSA can be used for:

Braces / orthodontia
Laser eye surgery
Over the counter medication
COBRA
Medicare A,B,C,D

I list these out as interesting items since they are areas out of the normal medical costs that I may use the HSA funds to cover.