Your Money

By Daniel Eisenberg

HOW LOW CAN RATES GO?

Mortgage rates recently hit 30-year lows, and the Fed's interest-rate cut last week helped push the average 30-year fixed rate down to 6.6%. Loans may get cheaper still, but don't wait before refinancing: many lenders now charge no points or fees. If you're likely to move (as the average American does every 12 years), you can save with a hybrid loan that's fixed for three to 10 years, and then adjusts.

SCHOOL PAYS FOR ITSELF

Students looking for help paying off federal loans after graduation may want to head back to school--to teach. Under the education bill passed by Congress last week, graduates who teach five years in a poor district can have $5,000 in debt forgiven. The private sector is also encouraging community service: Andersen Consulting has a new program to hire graduates from schools like the University of Michigan, but lets them first work for two years at Teach for America.

INDEX FUNDS: SIZE MATTERS

To invest in large companies, buy a low-fee index fund. But to invest in smaller stocks, it's worth paying more for an active fund manager. That's the upshot of a new study by Morningstar, which shows that for the five years ending Aug. 31, the S&P 500 index outperformed actively managed large-cap funds. Managed small-cap funds, however, almost always bested the Russell 2000 index.

--By Daniel Eisenberg