Carnival of Personal Finance
It is my pleasure to host the Carnival of Personal Finance this week. We had a very large number of submissions. Below is my best effort to do all of them justice. The Dividend Guy will be hosting the Carnival next week.
Comparing Cash Back Credit Cards - If you are trying to compare different credit card cash back offers, Financial Revolution has a calculator that may help.
Taxes - RothCPA has some useful advice (and some scary pictures) on selecting a tax advisor.
Knowing the cost of items - MightyBargainHunter has useful advice about figuring out the true cost of an item. I would add that supermarkets and Costco usually have a cost per item/ounce/etc. in small type on the price tag — which makes comparisons easier.
Car Insurance - PFAdvice has an extremely helpful article if you are shopping for car insurance or would like to try to reduce your premiums. Another blog, retireat30, found a quirk in the pricing of car insurance.
Behavioral Finance - The Other Bloke’s Blog comments on evidence that we are not rational beings but in fact are being driven by the same pleasure centers that control our sex drive. Based just on my own experience, that can’t lead to good decisions! For more on how psychological factors can hinder the investment process see FinancialReference’s blog Psychology of Investing.
Sad But True - YoungAndBroke comments on a study that concluded, even among the educated, we are financially illiterate.
Delaying Saving - MyMoneyBlog has 25 reasons why you should delay saving for retirement. With everyone telling you to save all the time, it’s nice to have articles like this and books by Ben Stein.
Roth 401(k) - Consumerism Commentary talks about the difference between a traditional 401(k) and a Roth 401(k). The article, when combined with the comments, gives a good summary of the difference between the two types of 401(k)s
Inflation - Million Dollar Goal gives us some background information on inflation and how inflation effects your investments. This topic is extremely timely since after the markets took a nose dive last week because of inflation worries.
Purchasing a Home SearchlightCrusade gives us an insiders perspective on the process of purchasing a home.
Gambling - While we all know gambling and playing the lottery are not good ways to make money, Don’tMessWithTaxes argues they are still fun and worthwhile. My wife would agree. If you haven’t convinced yourself that lotterys are a bad deal, check out Frank the Atheist’s reason why he has no faith — in the lottery.
Saving for College - Financial Baby Steps wants us to know about a little-known provision in the nearly-signed deficit reduction bill that makes prepaid college plans more attractive.
Scams - ConservativeCat comments on one of the more recent penny stock scams, even divulging the identity of the perp.
Calculating Returns - NoBSFinance argues, and I couldn’t agree more, that excel should be used more for financial modeling. However, if you are still scared of starting in excel, ParanoidBrain created a web based model for calculating returns.
Income vs. Expenses - Nina at Sitting Pretty argues that income is more important than expenses when it comes to saving. I agree that we should also look at the income side of the equation and try to get more out of our investments, but many of us still have a lot of work to do on the expense side of the equation.
Small Business Insurance - InsureBlog interviews an insider about a new self-funded ERISA designed for small businesses.
Gas - Bargaineering argues that if your car is not made for higher octane gas, buying it is a waste of money.
Student Loans - BirdsAndBills argues that - due to changes in regulations - you should consolidate your student loans now.
Microsoft Money - If you are interested in purchasing financial software, check out Beyond-Earth’s thorough review of Microsoft Money Deluxe 2006.
Opening an HSBC account - FiveCentNickel writes about opening an HSBC direct online savings account.
Eating Out - JustAnotherMoneyBlog comments about sites to use when eating out.
Valentine’s Strategy - CFOBlog gives us some ideas for saving money during a commercialized holiday
Personal Beta - YouNeedABudget argues that you have a personal beta based on how your saving changes when your life changes. The less your saving changes, the better. I’m not sure the analogy works for me, but we can all agree that reducing the variation of saving is a good thing.
Simplifying Retirement Planning - SeattleSimplicity uses low cost Vanguard target retirement funds to simplify the process.
Future Social Security Benefits - If you are an optimist and think social security will be around to provide you with benefits, Mapgirl tells you how you can find out about your future benefits.
Economic Indicators - Financial Options gives us a listing of the economic indicators due to be released next week
Blingo - FrugalUnderground wants you to use a new search engine that gives out prizes.
ETFs - KirbyOnFinance recommends using ETFs to invest in specific sectors. While I agree ETFs are a great way to get market exposure, I don’t think the average investor should be using them (or any other vehicle) to speculate on specific sectors.
An MBA is a Good Deal - FreeMoneyFinance writes that getting an MBA was the best financial move he has made — especially since it was free.
Savings Strategy - ThatEdeGuy has an article on starting your savings — whether by reducing debt or increasing your assets.
Budgets - FinanDom comments on the purpose of budgets and how they can help us be prepared for whatever may come.
International Traffic - PaceSetterMortgage has 10% of his traffic from international hits.
Short-Term Returns - FatPitchFinancials talks about how he turned an investment of $195 into $293 in 2 months. He will, of course, sell you his expertise.
List - NCNBlog has a list of things to do to help get some order in your life in 30 minutes or less.
A Penny Saved… : Check out the Carnival said,
February 5, 2006 @ 10:21 pm
[…] Carnival of Personal Finance. […]
Flexo said,
February 5, 2006 @ 10:30 pm
Excellent Carnival! Thanks for hosting!
Wealth Today » Carnival Of Personal Finance 2006-02-05 said,
February 5, 2006 @ 10:30 pm
[…] This week’s Carnival of Personal Finance is available at Financial Reference. This It’s my first time to participate, so now I can say “we” have a broad range of topics covered in session of the carnival. Just like any good carnival, with so much to do and see, it’s an all day affair at a bargain rate. Check in and get your fill Filed under: Uncategorized — […]
Consumerism Commentary said,
February 5, 2006 @ 10:33 pm
Carnival #34 is Up!
The Carnival of Personal Finance #34 is up at Financial Reference. My recent post about the Roth 401(k) was included, and as the Carnival summary states, make sure you take a look at the comments….
Bill said,
February 6, 2006 @ 7:02 am
Nice job - thanks for hosting!
No BS Finance » Carnival of Personal Finance said,
February 6, 2006 @ 7:06 am
[…] Financial Reference has posted this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance. As usual there are a multitude of excellent articles to read in the carnival. Also included this week is my introductory piece on using Excel to model your finances. […]
franky said,
February 6, 2006 @ 7:06 am
Great job! I liked how you tied in my post with the other person, and in a creative way as well. Hehe, “no faith…in the lottery”. Excellent.
Journey To Financial Freedom » Updates of this week - Carnival Of week 2/6/06 - 2/12/06 said,
February 6, 2006 @ 9:05 am
[…] Financial Reference […]
YNAB in Carnival of Personal Finance Today said,
February 6, 2006 @ 10:44 am
[…] Financial Reference graciously hosted this week’s carnival of personal finance. YNAB’s article on Your Personal Beta was included. Head on over to the carnival if you need a major dose of financial commentary! […]
Loi Tran said,
February 6, 2006 @ 12:04 pm
I’d like to submit a post if it’s not too late.
Loi Tran
Investing Guide blog
Why Investors fail
http://investingguide.blogspot.com/2006/01/why-investors-fail.html
Searchlight Crusade said,
February 6, 2006 @ 7:01 pm
Links and Minifeatures 02 06 Monday
Carnivals
Carnival of Investing. Recommended:
George said,
February 6, 2006 @ 11:03 pm
Thank you for hosting the carnival of investing this week. I just wanted to clarify one thing concerning my entry above.
I do not sell my expertise on Fat Pitch Financials, since I’m not a financial expert. My experiences and opinions are shared freely on the main Fat Pitch Financials blog.
Contributors/donors to Fat Pitch Financials just gain access to a list of going private transactions that compiles important information about those transactions. It takes me a lot of effort to maintain that list, and I decided to only share it with my donors since I did not want the general public running up the price of these stocks before I could purchase them. I found it to be more ethical to provide this information in a timely manner, but to restrict its distribution to members of my site that help pay the bills. I’m sorry if my sort post made it sound otherwise.
Financial Carnivals - Fat Pitch Financials said,
February 6, 2006 @ 11:24 pm
[…] Carnival of Personal Finance hosted by Financial Reference […]
MyMoneyBlog said,
February 7, 2006 @ 2:22 am
Karnevale des Geldes
Carnival of Debt Reduction #21 - Free Money Finance Carnival of the Capitalists #122 - AnyLetter Carnival of Personal Finance #34 - Financial Reference Carnival of Investing #8 - Wealth Junkie…
InsureBlog said,
February 7, 2006 @ 11:28 am
Carnival Time!
This week’s Carnival of Personal Finance is hosted by the Financial Reference blog. Be sure to see FoIB Joe Kristan’s very timely advice about choosing a tax advisor.
hgstern said,
February 7, 2006 @ 11:31 am
Great job…Nice mix of posts, easy to follow.
Thanx for hosting this week!
Free Money Finance said,
February 8, 2006 @ 12:57 pm
Free Money Finance in Eight Carnivals This Week
Free Money Finance is part of eight carnivals this week. Here are the carnivals and my posts that were included in each: Festival of Frugality — How to Cut Down on Household Expenses I hosted the Carnival of Debt Reduction
mapgirl said,
February 8, 2006 @ 5:00 pm
Thanks for hosting!
Daniel Dee said,
February 9, 2006 @ 12:17 am
In addition to comparing CC offers, you can also join a service called Little Grad, www.littlegrad.com
to save on almost all of your online shopping.
Journey To Financial Freedom » Updates of this week - Carnival Of week 2/13/06 - 2/19/06 said,
February 13, 2006 @ 7:07 pm
[…] The Dividend Guy […]