If you have as many things to do today as I do, you’ll understand and appreciate this brief multi-topic post.

On 30 big stocks: The Dow is within reach of 14,000 points. A story in today’s Wall Street Journal used a phrase that caught my eye to describe the market’s recent highs: climbing on a “wall of worry.” Do you think the market is poised for a correction? If so, doing anything about it or staying the course?

On banking: The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency now has a consumer banking advice portal: www.helpwithmybank.gov, which addresses everything from how to fix errors on credit reports to banking fees and interest rates.

On mortgages: A Harris Interactive poll found two-thirds of Americans surveyed find mortgage advertising and marketing non-credible. You mean, if it sounds too good to be true it usually is?
Of the 2,383 adults surveyed, here’s what type of mortgage they owned:

No mortgage: 54%

Fixed rate: 33%

Home equity loan: 16%

ARM: 7%

interest only: 5%

No $ down: 4%

Balloon 2%

Reverse 2%

On bonds: I wrote last week’s column on the role bonds should play in a young person’s portfolio. A reader named David emailed me these interesting thoughts:

I consider my home equity to be a bond - with the dividend being what [Wall Street Journal columnist] Jonathan Clements describes as the tax-free enjoyment of living in my home. Similar to a bond, there is a downside and the upside is limited to 3-5% per year appreciation.

In addition, I would also consider Pensions to be similar to a bond as well. In particular, defined-contribution pensions (I get 5% of my gross dumped into a bond fund that pays 3-5%) are almost always invested in bond funds.

Do you own any “bonds” not bonds?

We have a 30-year fixed rate mortgage for two reasons.

First, we weren’t sure whether we would be ready to move in 5 to 7 years and didn’t want to deal with refinancing. We’ve now been at our place for a bit more than five years and I’m glad we didn’t need to enter the mortgage market recently. My housinglust is pretty strong right now, but I think we’ll stay put, not only because to move we’d have to paint multiple rooms (I hate painting), but also because current mortgage rates have priced us out of the kind of house we’d move to next.

Secondly, the 30 year rate was so darned low! We have a 5.79 percent rate and would have maybe found a conservative adjustable rate for a few basis points below that, but nothing worth the risk of needing to deal with an adjustable rate.
I know that adjustable rate mortgages have worked well for many, freeing up cash or allowing them to get into a home in a pricey market, for example.

New data from the Mortgage Bankers Association released today shows that more and more people are taking out or refinancing to fixed rate mortgages and I expect that trend to continue as rates rise and more ARMs adjust.

Do you have an adjustable rate mortgage? If so, how did you pick it?

Are you one of the people worried about refinancing the loans within the next 18 months as the rate adjusts? If so, what’s your game plan?

Any mortgage regrets?