The Best of Money

The best article of the week is Free consumer reports – Credit , Banking, Insurance, Employment & More from Suba at Wealth Informatics. Find out everything that the data collection companies know about you. The list goes beyond just the typical credit reports that we usually hear about and includes driving history, employment history, insurance claims, medical bureaus, rent history, and banking history.

The Rest of Money

Here’s the other nine articles that made the top ten this week:

1. Wealth Pilgrim presents Should You Be Selling Your Mutual Funds Now? posted at Wealth Pilgrim.
2. Praveen presents New FHA Requirements for Condo Associations posted at Talking About Real Estate.
3. MoneyNing presents How to Downsize Your Lifestyle posted at Money Ning.
4. J. Money presents Don’t Devalue Yourself posted at Budgets Are Sexy.
5. The Happy Rock presents Into Debt And Out Again – Overcoming $40,000 Of Debt posted at The Happy Rock.
6. PT presents Roth IRA CD: Tax-Advantaged Retirement Investing without the Risk posted at PT Money.
7. Tom @ Canadian Finance Blog presents Buying a Used Car – Learn From Others Mistakes posted at Canadian Finance Blog.
8. Ace of Wealth presents 5 Tips to Battle Lifestyle Inflation posted at Ace of Wealth.
9. Gal presents The Sunk Costs Idea posted at Equally Happy.

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To celebrate the Carnival of Personal Finance, we’ll take a look at some interesting pieces of the puzzle as well as some fun videos from real time on Thursday.

In case you missed the crash, here’s a glimpse into what happened on Thursday afternoon:

Editor’s Picks

As selected by my wonderful editorial assistant Kate!

FIRE Finance from FIRE Finance presents Early Retirement Case Study – Sandy Aldridge and Dale Lugenbehl, and says, “.. Sandy Aldridge and Dale Lugenbehl who retired early (at ages 48 and 47 respectively) more than a dozen years ago to their eight-acre farm in Cottage Grove, Oregon. Though they did not have high paying jobs, their conscious choice and laser focus on leading a simple life with meaningful pursuits in a harmonious relationship with nature allowed them to kick the rat race early. Their philosophy was “living more simply so that others may simply live.”"

Enough said! Who doesn’t gain inspiration from reading a story about early retirement?

Jeff Rose from Good Financial Cents presents Choosing Between 30 Year Mortgage Rate Vs. 15 Year Mortgage Rates, and says, “What is the true cost of home ownership? A closer look at which is best between a 30 year fixed mortgage rate or a 15 year fixed mortgage rate….”

Jeff does a great job of running through the numbers and showing just how much money a 15-year mortgage can save you. Numbers don’t lie!

Barb Friedberg from BarbaraFriedbergPersonalFinance presents Ten Steps you Must Take before Beginning and Investing Program, and says, “Must read for anyone considering investing. Easy to read, step by step guide!”

This is a great read for anyone looking to start investing. Don’t jump the gun – there are other things you need to get in line first.

Eric from Narrow Bridge Adventures presents What I Learned at the Berkshire Hathaway Meeting, and says, “I spent a day with Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger at the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting.” This is a recap of what he learned at the event.

This post was a cool insight into one of the premier investing gatherings.

The Financial Blogger from The Financial Blogger presents I Just Sold My Blog!, and says, “So why am I selling? I actually need money to fund other projects within my online company. I didn’t expect to sell this year, in fact it wasn’t in my plan at all. I really like my blog and I didn’t want to sell it. However, when you have a good offer on the table, you should consider every single option. Sometimes, the best time to sell is when you don’t want to.”

This post had some interesting news but TFB is right – you always have to consider all of the options.

Investing

Sun from The Sun’s Financial Diary presents Withdraw Money from Brokerage Account.

ctreit from MoneyObedience presents Save money or how Grace became a millionaire. , and says, “A small investment can make a big difference in the long run.”

ElizabethG (Modern Gal) from Modern Gal presents Avoiding Investment Traps.

Michael Pruser from The Dough Roller presents What is a Stock Market?, and says, “Starting from the beginning is the best way to understand the intricacies of stock trading.”

D4L from Dividends Value presents 20 Dividend Stocks With A 20% Yield In 20 Years, and says, “There are income investors and Dividend Growth investors. While the distinction is rather simple, it slips past many casual observers. Income investors are investing for maximum current income, while dividend growth investors are looking to maximize income over an extended period of time — usually sacrificing current income for potential greater future earnings.”

Tom @ Canadian Finance Blog from Canadian Finance Blog presents Tax Refund – Will You Invest It?, and says, “Invest your tax refund with six tax efficient ideas for building wealth.”

FT from Million Dollar Journey presents Owning a REIT vs Owning Rental Real Estate, a comparison of owning rental real estate to owning REIT’s.

Arjun Rudra from Investing Thesis: Credits Toward Financial Freedom presents A Primer On Investing In Mortgage Investment Corporations (MICs) In Canada, and says, “Not much is known about Mortgage Investment Corporations (MICs) owing to the fact that most of them private companies. This article will give you a primer on investing in MICs and show you how you can earn potential returns of between 7% and 12% annually.”

Mike Piper from The Oblivious Investor presents Successful Trading Techniques, and says, “Just because you need the market to earn a given return doesn’t mean it will. The market doesn’t care about you.”

Brad from Learn Save Invest presents Quotes From Warren Buffett Shareholder Letters and how they teach you to become rich.”

Clint from Accumulating Money presents Forex Trading Strategies

E from Save, Invest, Live presents “Buy and Hold” is Immortal, and says, “This post is a response to the financial pundits who have declared the investing method of ‘buy and hold’ dead.”

PT from PT Money presents Can I Have a Joint IRA Account?, and says, “It’s not called an individual retirement arrangement for nothing. You can’t have a joint IRA.” He explains why and shares some IRA basics in this post.”

Debt

Miss Bankrupt from Miss Bankrupt presents Happy Mothers Day Mom From Your Broke Daughter.

Len from Len Penzo dot Com presents 12 Good Reasons Why You Should (and Should Not) Pay Off Your Mortgage Early.

The Smarter Wallet from The Smarter Wallet presents LendingTree Review: An Online Lending & Mortgage Service

Jessica Bosari from Billeater.com presents The Dangers of Payday Loans and How to Escape the Trap, and says, “This article explains what payday loans are, why you should never use them and what to do if it’s too late and you are stuck in one.”

Jamie from Eventual Millionaire presents Become Debt Free Rule #1.

Saving

Ron from The Wisdom Journal presents Savings and Savings Accounts 101, and says, “Learning the basics of a savings account will help you reap dividends far into the future, but do you know WHY you’re saving?”

Adam from Magical Penny presents Save Early, Save Often, and says, “Google does it. IBM does it. In fact many successful businesses owe their success to it. It is the mantra: “Release Early…Release Often” Google didn’t build their vast indexes overnight. The same idea can be applied to savings. ”

Lucia @ moneyStrands from moneyStrands’ Money Matters blog presents Tips for planning your summer vacation on a budget.

Credit

David from Credit Card Offers IQ presents Debit vs. Credit–Which is Right for You?, and says, “Tips on deciding whether to use debit or credit.”

Mr. Credit Card from Ask Mr. Credit Card presents Apple MacBook Pro 15 Inch How Many Reward Points Do You Need.

Jim from Bargaineering presents Low Interest Credit Cards.

Silicon Valley Blogger from The Digerati Life presents Easy Credit Card Management Tips, and says, “Some tips on handling credit cards and credit card debt.”

Jim from Wanderlust Journey presents All About Credit Card Foreign Transaction Fees.

Cecil Dellision from Clear Choice Credit Card Carnival presents Credit Card Laws: Have You Noticed the Changes?.

Darren from MORE than Finances presents Free Credit Score From Credit Karma, and says, “People who want to check their credit score usually have to pay money for this service. Credit Karma, however, lets you see your approximate score for free.”

Tim Chen from NerdWallet Credit Card Watch presents Online Credit Card Information Kinda Sucks, and says, “We look at credit card sites, and credit card advice from personal finance publications to show why you have to be careful when looking for a card online. Then we revise their suggestions with better cards, and show which tools and info will truly help find the right card for you.”

Laura Adams from Dinks Finance presents 10 Tips to Raise Your Credit Score, and says, “A question that seems to come up more often these days is how to increase your credit score. Especially how to do it fast! Here are 10 ways to get your score on track.”

Career

Craig Ford from Money Help For Christians presents How to Start A Summer Business for Teens, and says, “This step by step guide shares tips on starting a summer business.”

Daniel from Sweating The Big Stuff presents Student Loan Follow-Up: Switching Careers, and says, “Jamie from Eventual Millionnaire guest posts and asks the question: If You Switch Careers, Are Student Loans Worth It?”

Revanche from A Gai Shan Life presents Employment: The First Month.

MD from Studenomics presents Career/Personal Finance Advice For College Graduates, and says, “Some of the top pf bloggers chime in with their thoughts for life after college.”

Money Management

Craig/FFB from Free From Broke presents How Much Life Insurance Should You Buy?, and says, “Considerations to take into account when you plan how much life insurance you need.”

Panda Mike from Green Panda Treehouse presents Pay Off Your Mortgage or Invest Your Money?, and says, “I think you are better off investing your money than increasing your mortgage payments. Yup! I am not part of those anti-debt group. I think debt is really good for you. However, you better know how to manage your personal finances and get control over your debt to create wealth with your money.”

Squirrelers from Squirrelers presents A Dollar Today > A Dollar Tomorrow, and says, “Article illustrating the time value of money”

Brad Chaffee from Enemy of Debt presents Buy I’m Debt Free the Game, and Help Support Big Brothers Big Sisters, and says, “Helping people have fun while becoming debt free as well as helping the youth in need of a mentor by donating 100% of my commission to Big Brother Big Sisters organization.”

Frugal Dad from Frugal Dad presents 44 Ways to Ruin Your Financial Life By Age 30.

David from Money Under 30 presents For Grads: Four Money Facts Worth Knowing, and says, “The world is full of advice for new college grads and, as I know from experience, most of it goes in one ear and out the other. But for any new grads that are reading…consider these four tidbits. They have the potential to put you way, way ahead of the game when it comes to your money.”

Connie Prater from Taking Charge presents Managing teens’ money in modern times, and says, “This was a guest blog written for the National Foundation for Credit Counseling’s financial education blog. Worth a read for parents with teenagers.”

RJ Weiss from Gen Y Wealth presents 11 Easy Tips to Achieve Financial Independence, and says, “The ultimate goal of personal finance is to become financially independent. It takes hard work to get there, but anyone can do it with these 11 tips.”

Big Spender from Debtbeat presents White Lies Can Put You in the Black

And More

Andy from Saving to Invest presents 10 Awesome Google Search Tips and Tricks to Improve Your Finances, Investing and Productivity Knowledge, and says, “Google plays a big part in my life and my blogging business. Apart from it’s Adsense publisher program which provides the bulk of this blog’s income, Google’s search engine provides the basis and background for a number of the topics that I write about.”

Henry Stern, LUTCF, CBC from InsureBlog presents May is National Disability Income Awareness Month, and says, “If you work for a living, you should consider insuring that income. InsureBlog has details about National Disability Income Awareness Month.”

Money Beagle from Money Beagle presents How Much Did I Spend On That Again?.

Olivia from Independent Beginnings presents Ten Ways to Save Money on Gardening, and says, “Check out this ten tips for saving money on your vegetable garden!”

Austin Morgan from Foreigner’s Finances presents What’s a Routing Number?, and says, “We hear this word thrown around a lot, but what really is the purpose and history of that 9 digit number on your checks?”

Paul Williams from Provident Planning presents Should I Give to Everyone Who Asks?, and says, “Jesus said we should give to everyone who asks of us. Does that mean we must give to every charity that calls us? Or that we should give money to people who want to fuel an addiction?”

Carmen from GoBankingRates presents The Freedom of a Budget, and says, “Budget. The very word puts dread into the hearts of some individuals. A budget is so restricting. I dont want to be that tight with my money. Theres no freedom in budgeting. Those are all reasons people dont want to budget.

2 Cents from Balance Junkie presents How to Budget Irregular Income, and says, “If you are self-employed or your income is commission-based, you need to budget differently. Here are some strategies to help you plan better.”

J. Money from Budgets Are Sexy presents How Rich ARE You?, and says, “60% of the world makes less than $1,000 a year – we are very blessed to be living in the U.S.! (or Canada. Or Europe, etc)”

Bret from Hope to Prosper presents Day of Reckoning is at Hand, and says, “Governments around the world are finally starting to realize what American consumers discovered a couple of years ago; there is no long-term solution for spending more than your income.”

vh from Funny about Money presents A Degree from a Proprietary School? Is it worth the cost?.

Consumer Boomer from Consumer Boomer presents What Happens If You Have to Delay Your Retirement?, and says, “What happens if 70 becomes the new 65? How does it affect you, the workplace, and your plans for retirement? Are Boomers re-shaping the economy, or is the economy re-shaping them?”

Steve from brip blap presents How to Find Disability Insurance, and says, “Disability insurance is oftern overlooked, but may actually be one of the most important forms of insurances you can buy.”

Helen from Science and Money presents “Piggybanking” — Raising Financially Savvy Kids, and says, “Jeff Opdyke, personal finance writer for the Wall Street Journal, advises us how to raise financially savvy kids. A guidebook full of practical advice written by a caring Dad.”

Sean from Grow Money presents Make Money Ideas and Links #1

Suba from Wealth Informatics – Financial freedom through information! presents Expiry dates for financial documents – How long should I keep my financial documents?, and says, “This article is useful in tidying up your financial house. It addresses the question of how long to keep various financial documents before they can be thrown out to reduce clutter.”

mbhunter from Mighty Bargain Hunter presents A six-pack of reasons not to buy in bulk, and says, “Buying in bulk isn’t always the way to go. Here’s why.”

Ben from Money Smart Life presents How to Prepare Your House to Sell for More.

Jeremy from Generation X Finance presents How to Find the Best Car Insurance Policy.

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Downsizing

I took interest in the CNN story about a couple selling their home to keep their small businesses alive. Essentially, the family is selling their lakefront home and buying a smaller one which will cut their mortgage in half.

We wouldn’t be downsizing to make ends meet, but we would be doing it to save money, just like all my other money saving tactics. Although, this would save a whole lot more than switching to Vonage or playing the Grocery Game!

Our House

We live in a house that we custom built 3 years ago, complete with unnecessary amenities, like our beloved sauna, imported granite, and more square feet than we know what to do with.

We love our house, but I try to remind myself that a house doesn’t make the home, the family does. Since we built our house, I probably feel some additional emotional attachment that doesn’t really factor in financially.

We also live in a premier neighborhood and pay a premium for that. After discussions with a friend, we found that a similar size house in the next town over goes for about $250,000 less. We probably wouldn’t be willing to move to the next town, but we would consider the next neighborhood, where similar sized houses run about $100,000 less.

Downsizing Feels Good

I made a similar downgrade last year when I sold my Mercedes for a Mazda minivan. And to be perfectly honest, I haven’t even missed it. The car was half the price, but does the same task. It’s making us think… what if we bought a house that was half the price?

And ironically, without participating in the corporate rat race on a daily basis, I feel like I’ve also distanced myself from some of the need to drive a fancy car and live in a huge house.

Housing Costs

When looking at housing costs, it’s easy to just look at the mortgage. However there are many other costs that would probably go down as a result of a smaller house. And to come up with a complete financial picture, you have to consider all the costs involved.

• Mortgage Payment – Principal and Interest
• Real Estate Taxes
• Homeowners Insurance
• Umbrella Insurance
• Gas and Electric
• Homeowners Association Dues
• Landscaping and Maintenance

Housing Resources

Are you considering doing the same? Here are some handy resources for home buyers right now.

Valuation. Our house finally listed on Zillow. It’s a easy way to check out approximate house values.

Mortgage Rates. You can get a free quote from to see rates for a refinance or a purchase.

First Time Home Buyer Tax Credits. If you are in the market as a first time home buyer, the $8,000 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit will be a nice bonus. (Or the $7,500 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit for 2008.)

Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan. Rules to take advantage of this part of the economic stimulus plan will be unveiled March 4. I’m anxiously waiting to hear all the details.

Low Mortgage Rates

We’re in a great situation, where we cash flow more than we used to when I had a job; but banks just don’t quite see it that way! Since I don’t officially have an income (banks want at least 2 years of self employment income), and I doubt that any bank around would be willing to include the withdrawals I make from my retirement as true income, I’ve been sitting on the sidelines watching people refinance with great rates.

I’m jealous. It’s hard for me to not take advantage of such historic lows! Although, if we bought a smaller house, I could just have Scott apply by himself to take advantage of a great rate. I know, I know…. not at all a reason to move, but it is something that factors in financially.

Other Considerations

There are many factors that weigh into our thoughts: school system, eventual family size, proximity to both of our families, and many more. We love our house and our neighborhood, but we’re trying to decide if it’s really worth the premium we pay to live here. Would we be just as happy in a smaller house?

At this point, we’re still in the very early stages of discussion. We have more questions for ourselves than answers.

Have you downsized your house? Tell me about it! I’d love to hear your thoughts…

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In other news at the Dupaix household this week, I bought my new car, we’re scheduled to close on our refinance, and our youngest son started to crawl! It’s been a busy week so far.

Gas Prices

It seems like gas prices continue to be a hot topic, so here’s your weekly dose of gas related articles:

• Mapquesting Cheap Gas
• Hack Your MPG: Improve Gas Mileage by 15%
• How Are Gas Prices Determined?

The Life Skills Network

Exciting news from The Life Skills Network! We’ve added two more member sites: Simple Mom and Marc and Angel Hack Life. They are both terrific additions to the network and our goal to give you a one stop shop to get the most out of life.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll see. Simple Mom had a timely post for our upcoming road trip: 13 Tips for Packing Light with Small Children and Marc featured 60 Popular Pieces of False Knowledge that disputed lots of common quotes.

More articles from the Life Skills Network:

• A Letter from Twenty Years into the Future at Frugal Dad
• Does Your Wallet Have A Leak? at The Wisdom Journal
• Please Help Me Find a New Way To Track Personal Finances! at My Super-Charged Life

The Money Writers Network

• Protect Yourself from Catastrophic Loss With the Often Overlooked Umbrella Policy
• Saving Money on Groceries: Picking the Right Store
• What’s the Cheapest Way to Make Long Distance International Calls?
• Increase the Value of Your Home With a Few Simple, Affordable Changes
• How to Buy and Sell Shares on the Stock Market
• Got Our Economic Stimulus Payment, but
• How America grew rich, fat and unhappy

Personal Finance Finds

Here’s the rest of the articles that I’ve enjoyed reading this week:

• Closing a Business
• Looking Back: My Finances 10 Years Ago
• Make Over $200,000 And Pay No Income Tax?
• Renovations And House Price – Reader Question
• Freeze Your Air Conditioning Costs

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It’s completely unbelievable! The homes were not in a flood plain and were uninsured. It occurred to me that something like that, crazy as it might be, could happen to us. So yesterday I got a quote for flood insurance from the National Flood Insurance Program. I probably won’t purchase it, but it was an eye opening experience to have an entire lake disappear.

Now onto my favorite personal finance finds of the week.

Pinyo at Moolanomy recently launched PF Buzz. It features popular personal finance articles of the week. You can submit articles and vote for your favorites. So far I’ve had a lot of fun discovering new sites with it.

Gas Prices

Trimming Our Gas Costs, Plus Saving $5,500 a Year Off The Road
See what they are doing to save money on gas. There’s a neat link in the article that can show you how fuel efficient your vehicle is.

Hybrid vs. Gasoline Vehicle Comparison – Are Hybrids Worth it?
Great analysis to see the break even point on a few popular hybrid cars. We considered the Toyota Highlander when I was shopping for my new car, but the price was just too high to justify, even with the savings.

The Housing Market

How to Get the Most for Your Home When it is Time to Sell by Making a Good Impression
Painting, cleaning, and landscaping. A little goes a long ways when it’s time to sell!

How to Sell a House in a Down Market
Have you ever thought about hiring a home stager? We’ve watched the show on TLC (or is it HGTV?) where the stagers make houses more appealing. It never occurred to me to hire one!

Just for New Graduates

Have a new grad in your life? Check out Gift Ideas for College Grads for a Financial Headstart.

In addition, last week The Life Skills Network had a whole series for new grads. In case you missed any, here are all the articles featuring tips for new graduates.

• 10 Financial Tips for New Grads for New Grads at My Dollar Plan
• 7 Common Interview Questions For The New Graduate at The Wisdom Journal
• Inexpensive Tips For A Greener Life After College at The Good Human
• Tips for Furnishing Your First Place at Frugal Dad
• 5 Do’s and Don’ts Of Living The Good Life For New Grads at My Super-Charged Life

I also skipped the roundup last week to feature tips from readers in: New Grads: 29 Money-Smart Tips.

More Great Personal Finance Articles

Make money now versus make money later

Would you take a job for free now if it offered the chance at a double payout down the road? What if the flip side was zero?

Amazon Kindle: Buy or Not?
I mentioned the Kindle in my list of gifts for dad. Check out the review and find out if the price is right.

Five Jobs with Surprisingly High Salaries
Hmmm, gaming managers? Is that the pit boss at the casinos? As a gambler, I find that salary a little low since the dealers could do the same if not better with tips.

TransUnion Settlement to Let You Get Free Credit Score
I just missed being able to participate in this settlement. Although, I’ve found other options to use for reporting and score monitoring. Check to see if you are eligible for the class action.

Double Carnivals

There’s two weeks worth of carnivals to catch up on:

• Carnival of Debt Reduction #143 — The History of Debt
• The 156th Carnival of Personal Finance: Songs of Summer
• 16th Carnival of Money Hacks
• Money Hacks Carnival #15 – French Open Edition
• Festival of Frugality #128: No Debt Plan Edition
• Carnival of Personal Finance #155 — Time With Family
• The 14th Money Hacks Carnival – Weird Golf Facts Edition
• Festival of Frugality #129 – Try a Little Harder This Week Edition
• Carnival of Money Stories #63 – Gather Round the Campfire!

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Editor Picks:

Nicole presents The Zen And Art Of Coupon Clipping posted at Breaking Even, Inc.. Nicole made a goal to cut off $50 a month from her $250 a month grocery bill. See how she’s doing it.

Nancy presents 2008 Financial Goals Nearly Met posted at sunnyislandbreezes.com. Nancy checks in on how she’s doing on the goals she set back in November. I’ll give you a hint, she needs a new goal since she’s made a lot of progress. Way to go!

Sean presents Goal: Save $500 in Book Expenses using Public Library in 2008 posted at Financial Ramblings. Sean loves to purchase books on Amazon, but he’s committed to using the library instead. He details how many books he’s checked out and how much it saved him.

Chief Family Officer presents We’ve paid off the car – now what? posted at Chief Family Officer. CFO and family just paid off their car loan less than two months after they bought the car. Find out why their new goal is to start saving for another new car, even though they just bought one!

Dollar Frugal presents New Goals for the Mid-Year posted at Dollar Frugal. Once Dollar Frugal pays off the mortgage, they will be debt free. Cheer them on in their stretch goal!

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Don’t Want To Work Forever? Retire On Time With These 10 Tips! posted at The Digerati Life. SVB reminds us: “to get ourselves ready for retirement, we’ll need to weigh our retirement goal against shorter term goals and ensure that we’re not ignoring the important things.”

Cash Money Life presents Deciding What to Do With Your 401(k) When You Change Jobs posted at Cash Money Life. Patrick needs to decide what to do with his 401(k) this month. Find out what his choices are and how he will decide.

More articles about financial goals
Here’s the rest of the articles about goals and planning as they relate to personal finance.

The Dividend Guy presents Keeping and Eye on My Dividend Portfolio Goals posted at The Dividend Guy Blog, saying, “A review of my short-term and long-term investing goals.”

Save Money presents Save Money In An Emergency Fund posted at How I Save Money.net.

FMF presents Why Shopping Around for Car Insurance is a Good Idea (It Can Save You a Ton of Money) posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “A simple example of how to save money on car insurance.”

CMOE presents Improve Productivity With Goal Setting posted at Teamwork.

Nadege presents The actions I took that created my financial peak posted at fabulous finances.

Passive Income Investor presents $2,811 In Passive Income For April 2008 posted at LIVING OFF DIVIDENDS & PASSIVE INCOME.

Tip Diva presents Top Ten Tips – Managing Your Personal Budget posted at Tip Diva, saying, “In uncertain economic times, it’s a smart idea to know where your financial status stands. If you’re looking to start cutting down on expenses, the best way to do so is creating a personal budget”

David B. Bohl presents How To Become Wealthy byLiving Within Your Means posted at Slow Down Fast Today!, saying, “Many of America’s wealthy get that way – and maintain the lifestyle – by making smart decisions about what to spend their money on.”

Brice Hogan presents How to Create an Effective Spending Plan posted at Financialzip.com.

Meg presents A funny thing happened on the way to frugality. . . . posted at Finally Frugal, saying, “An article explaining how we can create a new habit of decreasing spending and increasing savings.”

Mike Leonard presents Debt Management – Anyone for some elephant? posted at Until Debt Do Us Part.

Chris presents 9 Surefire Strategies NOT to Retire Early posted at nomad4ever.

Tyler McKinna presents Staying Motivated With Personal Finance posted at Dividend Money, saying, “How to stay motivated about your personal finances. Finding out what drives you to achieve your financial goals.”

mmhabits presents My Portfolio Dropped 8% – How’d Yours Hold Up? posted at Millionaire Money Habits.

Thanks for all the submissions! Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of financial goals using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Kids & Family. Life & Happiness. Goals & Money.

In that order (and no, the & signs don’t count!) While I write about money like it’s the answer, it’s not my top priority. Here’s who I’m calling on next to share their six word memoir:

• Frugal Dad
• My Super-Charged Life
• Quest for Four Pillars
• July Bucks
• No Debt Plan

$50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway

Don’t forget, if you haven’t entered the $50 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway you still have until Thursday night to enter. Now, onto my favorite personal finance picks this week…

Housing Market

Common Costly Blunders When Selling Your Home
One of the tips that I noticed: “Remember that what you NEED from your home may not be what you’ll GET from your home in today’s real estate market.”

The Pros and Cons of Going Into Foreclosure
Wow. I guess I didn’t realize there were pros of foreclosure! Although I can see how some of the choices are better than the alternatives.

More Personal Finance Favorites

Have you seen the tiny, tiny little car buzzing around town? It’s a Smart ForTwo and it actually passed the insurance crash test!

How I Invested My Roth IRA This Year
Remember back when I told you that you could invest Lazy Man’s Roth IRA money? See where the money ended up.

Get $206 in Free Groceries!
My local grocery store is doing the 10% bonus for gift cards. The problem is that you have to spend the entire economic stimulus check there. For us that is $1800 +$180, or almost $2,000 in groceries. It would take us over 8 months to buy that many groceries! Since we get 5% back on all our groceries with a cash rewards credit card we’re going to pass. I think it’s a great deal for people who are getting smaller checks though.

Time Management And Money Management
NCN finds that “one of the root causes of poor money management is poor time management.” I love reading about time management because I never feel like I have enough time in the day for everything I want to do.

By the Numbers

• Six Painless Steps to Reduce Monthly Expenses by $130 at Frugal Dad
• Ten Steps To Take When You Are In Financial Trouble at Generation X Finance
• Three Ways Your Boss Can Save You Money on Gas at Money Smart Life
• 10 Things That Bring Success in Personal Finance #10 Part 1: Take Ownership at Prime Time Money
• 13 Ways to Slash your Gasoline Bill at Master Your Card

More Great Articles

• How Much Money You Have Defines Your Life at My Super-Charged Life
• Why you need to write your goals down at Brip Blap
• Concentrate On Savings First at Quest for Four Pillars
• Reader Mail: How Do I Reduce Investment Fees? at Million Dollar Journey
• Are These Myths Preventing You from Saving for Children’s Higher Education? at The Sun’s Financial Diary

Carnivals

• Carnival of Money Stories
• Carnival of Financial Goals
• Carnival of Personal Finance
• Festival Of Frugality
• Money Hacks Carnival #11, Money Hacks Carnival #12 and Money Hacks Carnival #13

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Recently I’ve been on a roll, first I learned to text message on my Sprint Centro with the SERO plan and now I’m finally into some of the technology on the web. Here’s how to find me:

• Twitter: My Dollar Plan: Read what I’m doing.
• Stumble Upon: Madison DuPaix: See what articles I like this week.
• Facebook: Madison DuPaix: I’m still learning what exactly I should be doing with Facebook!

Want to learn more about me and My Dollar Plan? David at My Two Dollars interviewed me recently.

Economic Stimulus Money

Your Economic Stimulus Check is Coming
The IRS pushed up the schedule and the first checks began arriving this week.

Adding 10% to Your “Economic Stimulus” Rebate
A great idea to stretch your rebate dollars even further at Krogers… I just wish we had one!

Economic Stimulus Rebate – Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about your rebate check: the who, what, when and how much.

The Day Job

Build A Business Before You Go Solo
This is a timely article for me after I was handed the news about our pension plan. It is important to get things sorted out before relying on a new business.

Speaking of job quitting… Brip Blap did just that last week. Read the good and the bad about his new move and see if it will be permanent.

Allowances

Reviewing my children’s allowances
With two kids still in diapers, we haven’t hit the allowance phase, but it is something I’m considering. See how one family does it and if it is working or not.

Do You Pay Your Kids an Allowance?
Instead of an allowance, this family uses a commission schedule.

By the numbers:

• 34 Ways To Save Money On Car Expenses
• Simplify Your Savings in 5 Simple Steps
• 10 Tips to a Wildly Successful Garage Sale
• 6 Ways to Find Additional Money
• 13 ways to save when grocery shopping!

Other articles I enjoyed this week:

• How to Eliminate Mutual Fund Deadbeats from your Portfolio
• Military: Save Money With (Almost) Free Vacations
• Subprime Mortgage Crisis Is Going To Cost Us Money
• Smith Manoeuvre Portfolio – April 2008
• Blockbuster Free Trial

Carnivals

• Carnival of Personal Finance #150 includes Retirement Planning Checklist: 43 Tasks to Get You Ready!
• Festival of Frugality #123: The Supercapitalism Edition included Are You Missing Some Money?
• The Carnival of Money Hacks will go live today at Money Hacks.

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My husband researched it and found that it is a typical scam the con artists try to pull on people selling a car. They never take possession of the car and you never get the money they offer, but they get away with your money.

My favorite article of the week

Play the Annual Invest Lazy Man’s Money Game.
Want to invest someone else’s money? You can! He is letting readers invest his Roth IRA contribution. I love to invest other people’s money!

Saving Money on Food

How I managed to spend almost $9000 on lunch this year at Brip Blap.
Looking at the cost of eating out versus bringing your own lunch and investing the difference and the money really adds up!

Coupon Tips and Tricks That Can Cut Your Grocery Bill By 80%
Tips to combine loss leaders with coupons, stock up when things are on sale, and donate the extras to charity.

Frugal Recipe: Beef Stew at Million Dollar Journey.

Kids

Lots of great articles about kids and money this week:

• Ten Ways You Can Teach Your Kids About Money
• Principles Parents Must Teach Their Children If They Ever Want to Get Rid of Them!
• Morningstar’s Best and Worst 529 College Savings Plans

Other articles I enjoyed:

• Saving Money, Saving Fuel, Saving The Environment at The Good Human
• 12 Household Uses for Used Plastic Containers at Frugal Dad
• Microloans Make A Difference For Those Living In Poverty at My Super-Charged Life
• Think Your Mutual Fund Fees Are High? at The Wisdom Journal
• Thank You, Yahoo!, for Perpetuating the Use of Home Equity as Cash at Generation X Finance

Carnivals

• 149th Carnival of Personal Finance
• Carnival of Money Stories included What I Learned About Taxes This Year…
• Money Hackers Carnival featured Do You Back Up Your Financial Data? as an Editor Pick!

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Photography by: greefus groink

Editor’s Picks

No Credit Needed presents Beware Of The Laundry Detergent Cap posted at No Credit Needed. He found the recommended amounts for detergent are not what the lines look like on the cap!

Squawkfox presents Top Five Frugalicious Snacks (A Visual Guide) posted at squawkfox. These are great ideas for healthy frugal snacking. My favorite is the apples and peanut butter!

Aryn presents 13 Frugal Ways to Celebrate Spring Fever posted at Sound Money Matters, saying, “In honor of spring, I have 13 frugal ways to celebrate the season – one for each week.” It’s a great list of ideas to get outside and enjoy springtime without spending a fortune.

Jason presents Prepare Your Home for Summer Energy Savings posted at The Frugal Dad. Change the direction of your ceiling fan and other helpful tips will get you started on energy savings for the summer.

Terry presents Where to Find the Cheapest Travel Deals posted at Savvy Frugality. Included are some interesting ideas, like being a courier.

C Duran presents Budget Organic – How to Spend Less for Organic Foods posted at Jinxy Knows Best, saying, “Eating organic is great for your health and for the environment, but it’s not always so great for your wallet. But, with these tips, you can eat organic foods without breaking the bank.” We’ve been considering joining a CSA, so this was a good reminder for me to do some research.

Photography by: christopher.woo

Yan presents 14 Easy Ways to get the best Shopping Deals posted at buxr.com.

Alex presents Car Buying Tips posted at Home Life Weekly.

R.Pettinger presents 10 Simple Ways to Save Money at Work posted at Mortgage Blog.

vh presents Real Wealth posted at Funny about Money.

Amy presents Five Find for Friday – Free Things to Do in Atlanta posted at The Q Family Adventure.

Thursday Bram presents Cutting the Grocery Bill: Reducing the Cost of a Good Spice Rack posted at Wise Bread.

Steve presents How to Save Money on Air Tickets posted at DebtBlog.

Kris presents Free Cooking Lessons Part II: A Beginner’s Guide to TV Chefs posted at Cheap Healthy Good.

Bryce presents Farmer’s Market posted at Save and Conquer, saying, “You can save money at a local farmer’s market and get healthy and scrumptious food as well. It doesn’t hurt to haggle, as well.”

Photography by: TooFarNorth

Rio Rivas presents The importance of keeping investment expenses to a minimum posted at Get Financially Fit! saying, “Using average mutual funds may cost you a quarter of your nest egg”

Finance Girl presents When I’m Debt-Free, I’m Buying the Expensive Toilet Paper! posted at Finance Gets Personal.

Ron presents 5 Ways I Plan To Survive The Recession posted at The Wisdom Journal.

Lightening presents Reducing the Grocery Budget – Buy Generic posted at Lightening Online.

Penny Nickel presents Delicious homemade ice cream means more for my money posted at Money and Values.

Raymond presents The Difference Between Legal Tax Avoidance and Illegal Tax Evasion posted at Money Blue Book.

FMF presents Wisdom from Readers: Saving Money and Performance of Index Funds posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Save money by getting AAA discounts.”

Chief Family Officer presents Drugstore vs. Department Store Makeup posted at Chief Family Officer.

Shana presents Smart Easy Money: Budgeting is Only for Lean Times?? posted at Smart Easy Money.

Pinyo presents A Dollar Saved Is Better Than A Dollar Earned posted at Moolanomy.

Photography by: greefus groink

Paid Twice presents My Frugal Travel Tip ~ Pack Your Own Snacks posted at I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

Kyle James presents Fun and Frugal Spring Family Activities posted at Rather-Be-Shopping.

Steward presents Save to Buy … If You Buy At All posted at My Family’s Money.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Serious Savers Who Died Very Wealthy posted at The Digerati Life.

GBlogger presents How The Word “Free” Makes Us Lose Our Minds posted at Can I get Rich on a Salary.

David presents 10 Tips for Finding a Shared Living Space posted at Money Under 30.

Dollar Frugal presents New Work Clothes posted at Dollar Frugal.

Jacob presents The value of hobbies posted at Early Retirement Extreme, saying, “Do you pay for your hobbies, do you enjoy them for free, or do you even get paid to have fun?”

Stephanie presents Beat Rising Food Prices – Grow Your Own posted at Unclaimed Money.

RC presents Your Health and Money- Save Money by Living Healthier posted at Think Your Way to Wealth.

Photography by: cheesy42

Mmhabits presents Wealth and Weight Loss posted at Millionaire Money Habits.

David presents Beauty in Simplicity: Steps for Decluttering Your Life posted at Slow Down Fast Today!

Single Guy Money presents Avoid those Bank Fees posted at Single Guy Money.

Deborah presents The American Frugal Housewife posted at Pennies To Nickels.

Nickel presents Save Money by Fixing Things Yourself posted at Five Cent Nickel.

Lazy Man and Money presents Feeling Poor: Here Are The Two Largest Reasons Why posted at Lazy Man and Money.

Ryan presents Hunting for Discounts: Mail Order vs. Local posted at Uncommon Cents.

Wenchypoo presents Inflation—Here We Go Again posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo’s Mental Wastebasket.

Poetloverrebelspy presents Why I Love/Hate RyanAir posted at Less Than a Shoestring.

Photography by: Mr. Mystery

Sarah presents When persnicketiness and frugality meet posted at 20saver.

Be This Way presents I’ve Finally Found the Line posted at Are You Going To Be This Way The Rest of The Time I Know You?.

KCLau presents Financial Security: How you feel it? posted at KCLau’s Money Tips.

Lisa presents Free Time or More Money-Which is it? posted at Greener Pastures: Personal Finance, saying, “When I was just out of college, all I wanted was money. Now, pushing fifty, all I want is time.”

Grace presents Free is Such a Lovely (and Dangerous) Word posted at GRACEful Retirement.

Dorian presents The Personal Financier: How to Make Sure this is your Dream Home: 7 Practical Tips posted at Personal Financier.

The Happy Rock presents Easter Spending Without A Plan posted at The Happy Rock.

Frugal Duchess presents Ask for Camp Scholarships! Money is Out There posted at The Frugal Duchess.

Frank presents Buy an S&P 500 Index Fund with Low Costs posted at No Load Index Fund.

Thanks to all the participants in the festival. Submit your article to the next edition of Festival of Frugality, hosted by Consumerism Commentary, using the carnival submission form.

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Photography: nozai

A slang term for a caboose.

Editor’s Picks

Cindy tells her daughter there are No More Excuses! 50 Free or Low Cost Budget Tools posted at Oh My Aching Debts. This is an incredible list including many options: online, Excel, paper, and downloads. I’m a proud user of at least one of these!

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Do You Really Know How Much It Costs To Own Your Car? posted at The Digerati Life. This is perfect timing since we are busy shopping for our new car. It’s often easy to forget about maintenance, insurance and opportunity cost when looking at the sticker price.

mmhabits presents The Money Spectrum posted at Millionaire Money Habits. The spectrum is a great visual to determine where you fall and where you want to be.

Aryn presents Manage Car Expenses with a Goodyear Card posted at Sound Money Matters. Credit cards sometimes get a bad wrap. Check out how to use one to your advantage to get discounts oil changes.

RC presents Vending Machine Economics: The Convenience Factor posted at Think Your Way to Wealth. Find out the real cost of using the vending machine and see if it makes sense.

Ted presents Where to Buy, Sell and Trade Textbooks posted at CampusGrotto. One thing I remember from college was the steep price of textbooks. Ted lists some great resources to get them cheaper and recoup some costs when you are finished with the books.

Photography: edit felix

A piece of equipment used for traction in the sport of curling.

Debt & Credit

William presents Are You Balancing Your Bank Statements Every Month? posted at Becoming Debt Free.

Peter presents My 5 Biggest Money Mistakes posted at Bible Money Matters.

Lisa presents Getting a Break on Your Student Loans posted at Greener Pastures.

Pinyo presents Dave Ramsey’s Baby Step 6: Pay Off Home Early posted at Moolanomy.

Raymond presents Zero Percent Balance Transfer Credit Cards With No Fees posted at Money Blue Book, saying, “I’m currently earning interest free income from my balance transfer credit loan during my time off from work.”

Rio presents Create a financial plan posted at Get Financially Fit!

Mike presents Is Prepaying Your Mortgage a Mistake? posted at Richer by the Day.

Photography: Salvatore88

Slang in New York for a taxi.

Income & Investing

Rick presents Income Allocation 101: How Much Should I Save? posted at Increase Revenue, Decrease Cost.

Living Off Dividends presents Monthly Passive Income Crosses $2,000 Mark!

Mark presents We Saved Like Bandits, and Invested in Businesses posted at The Butler Project featuring an interview with a multi-millionaire.

Foxie presents The Downfall of Knowledge posted at Dreaming of Ferraris.

Chris presents Two Recession-Proof Investment Picks for 2008 posted at Martial Development.

Aussie Investor presents Dividend Yield Investing For Beginners posted at Stock Market Investing For Beginners.

KCLau presents Top 39 Essential Rules of Investing posted at KCLau’s Money Tips.

A clever or quick fix to a computer program problem; in a similar vein, a “hack” may refer to works outside of computer programming. For example, a math hack means a clever solution to a mathematical problem.

Tax, Savings, and More

Free From Broke presents Tax Documents You May Need.

PT presents 3 Ways To File Your Taxes For FREE posted at Prime Time Money.

Terry Dean presents 8 Steps to Create Your Internet Business posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry Dean.

Paid Twice presents How I Almost Got Suckered Into Selecting A Prize posted at I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

T Struck presents Avoid Identity Theft – Don’t Go Phishing posted at Daily Money Tips.

The Investor presents Who’s your Star Wars money hero? posted at Monevator.com.

Christina presents A really stupid idea posted at Northern Cheapskate, saying, “A look at the subprime mortgage mess”

GBlogger presents 5.01% Interest On A Checking Account? posted at Can I Get Rich on a Salary.

Hill Robertson presents Are You Working for the Weekend?

Marc and Angel presents 11 Practical Ways to Spend Your Money.

R.O. presents How to stack your first million posted at Japan Man.

FIRE Getters presents Save Gas – Tips To Save Money On Gas! posted at FIRE Finance.

A Money Hack? A clever solution to a financial problem.

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Free Money Finance put together a fun March Madness tournament featuring 64 personal finance articles. The winner gets $500 to the charity of their choice. I’m playing for the March of Dimes. I have two articles included. You can vote for the first in Round 1 which was announced yesterday:

My article How Do I Organize 181 Accounts? is facing off against I want to be rich like you at Single Guy Money in Game 6. You can also see the full bracket.

E-book

The Money Matters for All Ages E-book is ready to download! It’s free, so be sure to get yourself a copy. Thanks to My Two Dollars, Moolanomy, and Quest for Four Pillars who all worked very hard turning the series of articles into a fantastic e-book!

Carnivals

• Carnival of Personal Finance had a fun college theme and included How Do You Handle Unexpected Expenses?
• Festival of Frugality included Free Gift Cards from MyPoints.
• Carnival of Money Stories featured Leaving Money on the Table… On Purpose!
• Carnival of Debt Reduction included my article on Selling My Car: The First Steps.
• The very first Money Hacks Carnival featured Reallocating Credit Limits for Bigger Balance Transfers.

More Carnivals (from last week)

• Carnival of Debt Reduction featured 2008 Budget Series: Vehicles.
• Carnival of Personal Finance included Tips and Tricks for Financial Organization.

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Money and Income

My Two Dollars identified his sources of alternative income. I’m especially interested as it is one of my goals in 2008 to work on passive and alternative income streams.

With raises on the way soon, I’m going to do my best avoid the wealth effect or increasing our spending with increased income. See what Flexo at Consumerism Commentary is doing with his raise.

Lynnae is only paying $800 for preschool! Wow… that’s a big difference from our projected preschool cost in the fall.

Pay all your bills at the same time by changing the due dates at Prime Time Money.

Calculators

I love calculators! The Digerati Life has 10 great calculators. Here’s another early retirement calculator from Five Cent Nickel and some of my favorite calculators.

Big Decisions

A couple personal finance writers revealed their upcoming plans. Trent at The Simple Dollar is quitting his job. Congratulations and good luck Trent! Millionaire Mommy Next door is considering leaving their rental behind and living like vagabonds for the summer!

Here’s some more articles that caught my eye:

• Gazelle Budget Life at Gather Little By Little.
• The Verizon Triple Play at Chance Favors.
• Eight Retail Ripoff Tactics at The Wisdom Journal.
• ABC of Wealth Building at Moolanomy.
• Buying REIT ETFs or investment trusts? at Quest for Four Pillars.

photo credit: wannabehipster

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From celebrating frugally to funding your Roth IRA, you’re sure to find an article you love. We have 95 great articles in this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance. Next stop for the carnival: The Financial Blogger.

Photography by: Philgarlic

Here’s the one’s that stole my heart (editor picks):

David at My Two Dollars presents 5 Frugal Ways To Make Your Valentine Swoon. I especially like the idea of cooking from scratch!

If none of those ideas jumped out, you are sure to find a frugal idea in Trent’s huge list of 100 Great Tips For Saving Money For Those Just Getting Started at The Simple Dollar. You’ll notice number 5 to make your own gifts would be a great money saver for a Valentine’s Day present.

Free From Broke comes clean to let us know that the 2008 goal is not going as well as planned in Roth IRA Goals Update. Thanks for being honest… hopefully you can divert a little money you might have been planning to spend on Valentine’s Day by using the tips above and invest it in your Roth IRA instead.

In case you wanted to spend “a little” more on your Valentine and were inclined to buy a 1000 acres in Napa with a mansion for $35 million, it’s too late, someone from France beat you to it. Find out why foreigners are hot on buying in America at The Digerati Life in We’re On Sale: Time To Buy America!

Feeling a little pinched to be spending any money on a “Hallmark Holiday?” Depending on where you are from and the cost of living in your area you may find Struggling on a Six-Figure Income in line or out of this world. Make sure to read the big discussion at Free Money Finance.

Thinking of getting a piggy bank for your Valentine? From “papier-mache piggy banks” to “Titanium-reinforced Kevlar® piggy banks inside a force field” Mighty Bargain Hunter helps you determine how strong you need your piggy bank to be to help you meet your goals in How strong is your piggy bank?

Finally, Valentine’s Day is about celebrating love. Lynnae’s tip to make sure your wife knows how much she means to you in 7 Things Women Wish Men Knew About Money is a perfect reminder for the upcoming holiday at Being Frugal.

Special Mention

Here’s some more articles that stood out. I figured they deserved a little heart.

Ryan from Millionaire Money Habits presents 8 Habits of Millionaires. As a huge fan of planning my favorite is number 2: Have a plan and work the plan.

Chief Family Officer was trying to switch to all cash but it ended after only two days. Find out why in The All Cash Spending Experiment is over (yes, already). The good news is that they did learn something as they found they don’t have to use cash just to save money.

Quest For Four Pillars decided it would be good to convince a friend Why ETFs Are Better Than Mutual Funds during a dinner-time conversation. See if the friend took his advice…

If you aren’t sure if ETFs are right for you, check out the review from Richard Ferri on whether an investor should buy ETFs or mutual funds at The Dough Roller. It includes a very informative rundown of the costs considered.

Still looking for some more free ideas to celebrate with your Valentine? Cindy from Oh My Aching Debts has a great list of Frugal Valentines. My favorite is the breakfast in bed.

Here’s another idea for a completely free Valentine’s Day. Do what Ashley from College of Cash is doing and watch a movie and snuggle in I Don’t “Do” Valentine’s Day.

Jeremy from Generation X Finance put together 15 Ways to Establish and Improve Your Credit History and FICO Score. It takes time to fix, but Jeremy has some great tips including working with your local lenders.

Photography by: naama

Finance

• Pinyo from Moolanomy explains I Missed My Goal, Dealing With Failure.
• I’ve Paid For This Twice Already… presents The Pursuit of Perfection and What Happens Next.
• Praveen from My Simple Trading System walks us through The 62/70 Solution for Claiming Social Security Benefits.
• The Financial Blogger prepares us in case of financial emergency in The 4 Steps Personal Finance Drilling.
• The Div Guy uses NetworthIQ for Tracking Net Worth. Here is how he got started.
• Kevin from No Debt Plan presents The No Debt Plan: Pre-Step #1: An Honest, Positive Attitude.
• InsureBlog explains why “keeping it simple” can be so rewarding in To Be Continued on health insurance.
• Smarty from Growing Money presents Consolidate Accounts and Save Time.
• Bible Money Matters lists the 5 things I can’t do without.

Money Management

• Randall from Credit Withdrawal presents Dave Ramsey and the Great Debt Payoff Debate.
• Kimberly Palmer from Alpha Consumer explains how to navigate sticky situations in Dealing With Family, Friends, and Money.
• Ron from The Wisdom Journal examines the relationship between men, women, and money in 7 Things Men Wish Women Knew About Money.
• Are You Going To Be This Way the Rest of the Time I Know You? presents How Do They Sleep at Night? Part 4 – Banks and their Usurious Fees.
• Alison from This Wasn’t In The Plan presents Checks and Balances and My Credit Card.
• Erik from Money Crashers presents Four Tips for Dealing with Money and Family, and says, “Here are some tips for what to do when your money mixes with your family. “
• Money and Values explains The Psychology of Money: Sad people are willing to pay more.
• Blunt Money reveals Why poor planning often equals higher spending.
• RacerX from Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Money explains what happens when you skip asking an important question in Learning Finance from “The Smartest Guys in the Room”.
• GRACEful Retirement presents Saying Goodbye to Life Insurance.

Taxes

• In time for tax preparation, Jim from Blueprint for Financial Prosperity gives us a List of Free Tax Preparation Services.
• Stacking Pennies presents Is the Mortgage Interest Deduction Fair?
• Mercedes from Common Sense with Money presents Debt and Income Taxes.

Budgeting

• Lisa from Greener Pastures: Personal Finance presents Life On a Spreadsheet.
• Cheap as chips details situations where Making use of the interest free period works and the pitfalls.

Photography by: TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³

Real Estate

• Lily from The Honest Dollar discusses Mortgage Rates Up – Refinancing Up in the Air?, and says, “Why my boyfriend and I aren’t refinancing our apartment.”
• Dan Melson from Searchlight Crusade presents Differences Between Loans Look Smaller Than They Are.

Frugality

• Aryn from Sound Money Matters explains how to Save Money on Books using book swaps and the library.
• The Happy Rock presents Free 80 Hour Dual Tuner Series 2 SD Tivo.
• Terry from Savvy Frugality puts it all together in Of Course the Economy is Bad…It’s an Election Year!
• Plan Your Escape tells us how to Be Frugal Without Depriving Yourself.
• Marc from Askix – Making Every Penny Count teaches us how to make your own gifts in 5 Inexpensive Homemade Gifts.
• Debbie from American Consumer News presents How to Give Gifts That Are Inexpensive and Practical.

Credit

• Single Guy Money says, “My Credit Card Companies Miss Me“, they’re offering him balance transfers.
• Ana from Debt Free Revolution presents Bank of America Takes Rate-Jacking to a New Level.
• Megan from A Dollar a Day asks Credit Reports – Why Haven’t You Checked Yours?
• Raymond from Money Blue Book put together a List Of Airline Credit Card Offers Providing Free Miles.
• Colonel Cash from Money and Credit presents How to dispute a credit card billing error.
• Handling Finances explores the conditions where credit card debt makes good financial sense in When Credit Card Debt Makes Sense (and When to Run Away).
• Building Equity in Toronto presents the second post in a three- part series on Tips on optimizing and simplifying your credit card use experience.
• Mr Credit Card from Ask Mr Credit Card presents Some Credit Card Trends I Foresee in 2008.

Debt

• Dorian Wales from The Personal Financier presents When is it Reasonable to Take a Loan? Consider These 4 Questions.
• Smart Easy Money asks Budgeting: When Do You Change Yours?
• One Girl’s Quest reveals My secret to debt reduction success.
• No Credit Needed presents Debt Cures For Living Debt-Free.
• Cynthia from Debt Marathon presents The Kick in the Butt You Need.

Saving

• Ciaran from Chance Favors presents ‘My Two Cents’ On How To Avoid Cell Phone Termination Fees.
• FIRE Finance presents Free Hosting & Free Domain For Businesses Courtesy Microsoft!
• J.C.’s Money Blog explains How the Federal Reserve works and why the interest rate on my savings account dropped.

Photography by: celinet

Investing

• Patrick from Cash Money Life analyzes the Roth IRA Versus Traditional – Which is Better?
• Jorge from My Adventures into The Street put together a guide on How to Read the Fed Funds 30 Day Futures Rate.
• Eric Toya from Leonard Wealth Blog presents The Super Bowl Indicator: does it work?
• Steward from My Family’s Money reveals what they learned in Investment Strategy Update – One Month.
• My Retirement Blog asks Where Should I Open A Roth IRA?
• American Small Business News presents Dive Right In, The Sharks Won’t Bite: Recommended Reading for Entrepreneurs.
• Ryan from Uncommon Cents presents The Joy of Index.
• Squawkfox compares ING Direct Streetwise Funds Vs. TD Index e-Series Funds, and says, “This is good news for Canadians considering we pay some of the highest management expense ratios (MERs) in the world. However, I believe the average investor could do a lot better than ING’s Streetwise Funds by simply constructing their own portfolio using TD e-Series Funds. Here’s how to do it!”
• One Snarky Chica with Issues presents A look at some investing strategies.
• JS from Smart Money Daily tells us How to Buy Foreclosed Homes.
• Mariam from Money Relations presents Stock Market Rules: How much institutional ownership for individual investors?
• John Hunter from Curious Cat Investing and Economics Blog presents Starting Retirement Account Allocations for Someone Under 40.
• Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck reminds us Even “reputable” stock tips can be dangerous, and asks, “So why do reputable magazines make stock recommendations? And what happens when a magazine actually prints the wrong company name and ticker for their stock pick?”
• Create Increasing Passive Income from stocks with above average dividend growth presents Why
  do I like to invest in dividend aristocrats?
• Dividends4Life presents Tech Stocks in a Dividend Portfolio?!

Career

• Amanda Milne from Value For Your Life presents How to Survive Losing a Job.
• Matt from One Million and Beyond lost his job recently. Here’s his Next Steps. Good luck Matt!
• Dog Ate My Finances presents Breaking Free From 9-5, and says, “Small business is scary when you’re just starting.”
• Tim from Canadian Dream: Free at 45 presents The New Mercenary, and says, “We are not out for big salaries, but rather the best benefit package.”

Economy

• David from Money Under 30 asks if Americans will live within our means in A Country Without Credit?
• Aaron Stroud from On Financial Success presents It’s hard to be optimistic when you forget the past.
• Richard Epley from Blue Jeans Millionaire presents Bear Market?

Reviews

• Million Dollar Journey presents Book Review: Retire Rich from Real Estate.
• Jason from All About The Ben explains his views on a new peer-to-peer lending site in ZOPA USA, Finally, And It Is Quite A Disappointment.

Other

• Dawn from iowahippiechick explains the finances of owning dogs in Meet Buddy & Fugee.
• Brooke from Dollar Frugal presents Why We Don’t Need Trucks.
• Feminist Finance explains Books And Their Covers, and says, “You frequently can’t tell who’s on track financially just by looking at them.”
• Debtbeater relates values to personal finance in Values.

Finally, one special Valentine goes out to My Wealth Builder. Super Saver, 40-something, retired in October. Here’s a rundown of how they are doing: Retired Life – A Four Month Report Card.  

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What does all this snow make me think of? Money!! Remember the lady who made over $40,000 per year selling tumbleweeds? I keep thinking there must be a way to ship some snow to those who want it! Of course the cost to keep it frozen during transit makes it not possible, but it’s always fun to brainstorm!

The big news this week is that the Senate passed the Economic Stimulus package. The IRS will begin sending out checks in May. I’m trying to figure out how to make sure we will get our $300 for our youngest son. I’m guessing the IRS will use tax returns not social security cards and due to the timing, they’ll probably use last year’s return. Since our son wasn’t born yet he isn’t listed on our 2006 taxes. Does this mean he won’t get a check or do we have to do something special to make them aware of him? If anybody knows, I’m all ears!

Articles I Enjoyed This Week

• Quest for Four Pillars has a terrific article detailing Ponzi schemes.
• Prime Time Money details how they organize their 50+ online accounts. It seems I’ve finally found a partner in crime (aka organizing a ridiculous number of accounts)!
• Plonkee is going to Ireland for the weekend to visit family. Check out the expenses when visiting family. 
• Jaimie at Paid Twice paid off her credit cards!
• Mrs. Micah is also celebrating as her site reached it’s 6 month anniversary. In that time she has paid off her credit card and started a Roth IRA. Congrats Jaimie and Mrs. Micah!

Carnivals

I’ve already highlighted the Carnival of Personal Finance and the Festival of Frugality this week since my article Investment Snowflaking was up for the MVP vote.

Banker Girl hosted the Carnival of Money Stories. My article Should I Stay Home or Go Back To Work? was included as an editor pick!

The Carnival of Everything Finance was posted at Everything Finance. My article on Financial Strategies for Infants and Young Children was included.

I’m busy preparing to host the Carnival of Personal Finance tomorrow! If you still haven’t submitted an article, be sure to do so by 5 pm.

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