time for the help desk where we get answers to your financial questions. joining me this hour, gary schatsky, a financial planner and president of objecti objectiveadvice.com. gail cunningham with the national credit foundation. gary, alexandra wrote in i m trying to refinance an investment home that other members of my family live in. the property s financer tells me that my debt ratio is too high and that they have no option for me because the home is not my primary residence. how can i get that monthly payment down? she s trying to refinance work out a deal here. it is really a difficult situation. because if the banking institutions aren t going to fund you because of your credit situation, it becomes problematic across the board. an investment property is particularly problematic because standards are much higher. you can try to think about some out of the box scenarios. one might be i don t know what the family situation is.
similar bombings two weeks ago on al qaeda. the opposition accuses the government of staging the blasts to back up a claim that it s fighting terrorists. iran planning more war games. state-run media report another round of military drills are going to take place next month in the straight of hormuz. the most recent exercises ended just this week. tensions now have been rising over this strategic critical waterway. iran threatened recently to block the strait if new sanctions harm iranian oil exports. the government also threatens to take action if u.s. air craft carrier goes through the strait. italy s mount etna roaring back to life. ireporter joseph posten caught all of it on video. he said it started rumbling yesterday morning. once he saw the huge ash cloud he pulled out the camera and his eruption reportedly poses no danger to villagers. so far no flights have been canceled because of that big ash cloud. well, new orleans. city leaders there say teenagers not welc
more on the race straight ahead live. newt gingrich is starting his day in iowa meeting with moms at a coffee shop. newt gingrich has seen his support among likely caucus goers plunge. part of the reason is negative ads targeting him. analysis finds almost half of all the political ads in iowa have been attack ads against gingrich. crowds defy danger and took to the streets in syria today. opposition groups call the rallies the crawl to freedom square. they urge demonstrators to defy sniper attacks to make their way to public gathering places. the opposition says 32 people were killed by security forces today. the uprising has prompted some soldiers to defect. translator: we got the orders in the army that went against my oath as a soldier. i had sworn to protect civilians, but when i saw what the government forces were doing to the people, i defected. they say there will be no change in policy despite the death of kim jong il now replaced by his son. the state-run ne
extension that was passed by the senate. today neither side shows any signs of giving in. i told the president there s one big reason why we need to do a full year, and that s jobs. a one-year bill like the president requested and like the house produced is simply better for jobs and better for our economy. let s enact this bipartisan compromise, however, to eliminate uncertainty for american families and then get right to work on a one-year version. not wait until february. not walk away and hold off until the last minute. got more encouraging news about the job market. the number of people filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level since april of 2008. labor department says initial claims dropped to 364,000. that is down 4,000 from a week before. many economists say a level below 400,000 means enough job growth to lower the unemployment rate. a wave of explosions rocks baghdad. car bombs, six roadside bombs, and a mortar ro
the nominee? plus the documentary and the pictures britain does not want you see. should the images of a dying princess diana be kept under wraps? the controversy and conspiracy theory ahead. first, free money advice from the cnn help desk. stephanie elam. time for the help decsk. joining me this hour, the happy gary schatsky. glad you are here and happy to help us answer questions. first up, jackson in denver, colorado writize have money sitting in a money market account. most is emergency cash. but i have more than 12 months of savings. what is the best way to invest this excess cash on a rel itly short-term or rihorizon of thre five years that will earn more money? it s a beautiful place. the classic dilemma in the