How can I judge loan availability?
It sounds like your current loan is in your name. As such, you are responsible for paying it. Not your family, you. It also sounds like the loan payments are regularly late. That'll likely drastically affect your credit rating. Given what you've said, it doesn't surprise me that you were declined for a credit card. With the information on your credit report, you are a poor risk. Assuming your family is unable to pay loan on time (and assuming you aren't willing to do so), you desperately need to get your name off the loan. This may mean selling the property and closing out the loan. This won't be enough to fix your credit, though. All that will do is stop making your credit worse. It'll take a few years (five years in Canada, not sure how many years in India) until this loan stops showing up on your credit report. That's why it is important to do this immediately. Now, can a bank give you a loan or a credit card despite bad credit? Yes, absolutely. It all depends on how bad your credit is. If the bank is willing to do so, they'll most likely charge a higher interest rate. But the bank may well decide not to give you a loan. After all, your credit report shows you don't make your loan payments on time. You may also want to request your own copy of your credit report. You may have to pay for this, especially if you want to see your score. This could be valuable information if you are looking to fix your finances, and may be worth the cost. If you are sure it's just this one loan, it may not be necessary. Good luck! Edit: In India CIBIL is the authority that maintains records. Getting to know you exact score will help. CIBIL offers it via TransUnion. The non-payment will keep appearing on your record for 3 years. As you don't have any loans, get a credit card from a Bank where you have Fixed Deposits / PPF Account as it would be easier to get one. It can then help you build the credit. Your credit rating will rise once the loan is repaid or paid regularly (in time). It will not get back to normal instantly. If the property is dead weight you may want to sell it so your credit score will increase in the medium term.
Great question and good for you for starting investments.  Are you young, like in your 20s? I would do all that you can in the ROTH.  You will not get a tax break now, but you will get one later.  Keep in mind that any company match does not go into ROTH but the IRA. I try to look at two things when judging a mutual fund:  the historic performance, and the expense fee.  When comparing two funds, if one has a 10% average return for 10 years, and a 1% fee, I feel it is better than a fund that has a 12% return for the same time period and a 3% fee.   If they are close, you can always put a little bit in each one.   An important question to ask is if you have debt.  You may want to scale back your contributions some to pay down that debt.  For me, I don't like to go below a company match to do so, but anything over and above might be better utilized to move that student, car or credit card loan to zero.  Others might disagree, so YMMV, but I have done this myself. i understand, in sample, out of sample.   1- now, in this specific example, how much should i pick for IS and for for OOS ?  2- if we few here at reddit, who are interested in coming up w/ strategies, wanted to create and criticize and construct it, how should we proceed ? this is a 2 fold question:  a - what format and what information would you want to see to judge it ?  b- do you think the criticism should come during the in sample tweaking, on the evaluation of the OOS or further down at implementation ? You don't say what the time remaining on the current mortgage is, nor the expense of the refi.  There are a number of traps when doing the math. Say you have 10 years left on a 6% mortgage, $200K balance. I offer you a 4% 30 year. No cost at all. A good-intentioned person would do some math as follows: Please look at this carefully. 6% vs 4%. But you're out of pocket far more on the 4% loan. ?? Which is better? The problem is that the comparison isn't apples to apples. What did I do? I took the remaining term and new rate. You see, so long as there are no prepayment penalties, this is the math to calculate the savings. Here, about $195/mo. That $195/mo is how you judge if the cost is worth it or the break-even time. $2000? Well, 10 months, then you are ahead.  If you disclose the time remaining, I am happy to edit the answer to reflect your numbers, I'm just sharing the correct process for analysis.  Disclosure - I recently did my last (?) refi to a 15yr fixed 3.5%. The bank let the HELOC stay. It's 2.5%, and rarely used. "That's $60k/yr in loan payments NOT counting interest.  Well over half of your take home income even at that salary level.  You'd end up with like a $50k or less net despite making $175k.  Is it possible?  Sure.  Is it *expected*?  No.  And are you the judge of what's ""Responsible""?  Fuck no." Lower risk of having to fight to get their money back, obviously. That's what credit rating is supposed to predict. Paying your bills on time, and paying off the balance in full every month, are different questions. They want to know that you will make the minimum payments at least, and that you will eventually pay back the loan. Compare that with subprime and/or loan sharks, where the assumption is that being late or defaulting is more common, and interest rates are truly obscene in order to make a profit despite that. If you can't sell it, refinance the bugger.  Even if you can knock the interest rate down to 8% and take out a 3-year loan, you'll save about $100 per month.  Or really kill the payment (but pay more interest) by taking out another 6-year.  A 6-year at 9% on $12k is only $215/month. My credit union routinely advertises specials on car loans.  It shouldn't be difficult to get out of the usurious loan you have now. As for others' advice about getting another job, having been a PhD student I hesiate to suggest that you get another one, because your job is probably your life right now.  But can your wife (or even you) start a blog on a subject that interests you?  A few posts a week add up over time, and pretty soon you have a real asset that can be another basket to put your eggs in. First of all, think of anyone you know in your circle locally who may have gotten a mortgage recently.  Ask him, her, or them for a recommendation on what brokers they found helpful and most of all priced competitively. Second of all, you may consider asking a real estate agent.  Note that this is generally discouraged because agents sometimes (and sometimes justifiably) get a bad reputation for doing anything to get themselves the highest commission possible, and so folks want to keep the lender from knowing the agent.  Yet if you have a reputable, trustworthy agent, he or she can point you to a reputable, trustworthy broker who has been quoting your agent's other clients great rates. Third of all, make sure to check out the rates at places you might not expect - for example, any credit unions you or your spouse might have access to.  Credit unions often offer very competitive rates and fees.  After you have 2-3 brokers lined up, visit them all within a short amount of time (edit courtesy of the below comments, which show that 2 weeks has been quoted but that it may be less).  The reason to visit them close together is that in the pre-approval process you will be getting your credit hard pulled, which means that your score will be dinged a bit.  Visiting them all close together tells the bureaus to count all the hits as one new potential credit line instead of a couple or several, and so your score gets dinged less. Ask about rates, fees (they are required by law to give you what is called a Good Faith Estimate of their final fees), if pre-payment of the loan is allowed (required to re-finance or for paying off early), alternative schedules (such as bi-weekly or what a 20 year mortgage rate might be), the amortization schedule for your preferred loan, and ask for references from past clients. Pick a broker not only who has the best rates but also who appears able to be responsive if you need something quickly in order to close on a great deal. You might be thinking of the Overnight market/Overnight Rate. This lending happens constantly.