I’m giving away a $50 Amazon Gift Card! I love Amazon, and since the holidays are getting closer, it’ll come in handy for the lucky winner.

Amazon Gift Card Giveaway

I like easy giveaways, so to enter, all you have to do is leave a comment and answer the following:

What is your favorite book about finances and why?

By the way, my favorite is Your Money or Your Life.

The giveaway will end October 9, 2009 at midnight central time. The winner will be announced on October 10.

Leave your answers in the comments.

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And of course, August usually means the kids will be going back to school shortly. When the back to school sales start popping up, it reminds me that summer is almost over… and September is just around the corner.

Popular in August 2008

1. 7 Sneaky Ways Your Health Insurance Can Save You Money
2. 12 Ways the Olympics Can Impact Your Finances
3. Back to School Savings Challenge
4. Digging Out of Dirt and Debt
5. IRS Loses Lawsuit: Refunds for 30 Million Policyholders Possible
6. Unconventional Roth IRA Strategy to Lower Tax Bill

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Want to do the same? If you keep a lot of email, take a glance at some of the emails from last July… I’ll be curious to hear what you find!

Popular in July 2008

1. 10 Important Tasks for Your Mid Year Checkup
2. 7 Ways to Payoff Credit Card Debt
3. 12 Tips to Prepare Your Finances for Vacation
4. I Quit!
5. Tax Savings: How to Deduct Mileage on Your Personal Car
6. 10 Step Plan for Debt Elimination
7. Downsizing It All – Your Work, Your House, and Your Life
8. 4 Things to Consider When Picking the Right Investments

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Here were the most popular articles that were written in June 2008. Many of them still have a lot of relevance this year!

Popular in June 2008

1. New Grads: 29 Money-Smart Tips
2. 10 Financial Tips for New Grads
3. 11 Fun & Frugal Summertime Activities
4. How to Handle Irregular Paychecks
5. We Sold My Car! What Worked and What Didn’t
6. What is Credit Card Arbitrage?
7. Small Business Problem: Advertiser Bounced a Check!
8. Free FICO Scores & Credit Reports

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Here were the most popular articles from last May. Obviously, many of them are still very relevant today, even though the economy has changed considerably from a year ago.

Popular in May 2008

1. Plan Ahead: 6 Steps to Secure Your Financial Future
2. Credit Card Arbitrage Q&A
3. Turn Your Wasted Money Into a Debt Reduction Plan
4. 0% Balance Transfer Credit Card Offers
5. Frugal Tips I Can’t (or Won’t) Do
6. What Happened to My Cell Phone?
7. It’s Wedding Season! Tips to Keep the Costs Down
8. Free Magazines: Finance, Business, and More!

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With my pregnancy winding down to the last month, it reminds me that our upcoming summer of craziness with 3 kids age 3 and under is quickly approaching. I thought it would be a great time to start featuring more personal finance articles from readers.

Benefits

• Publicity for your own website or blog, if you have one.
• Try your hand at blogging, if you’ve been interested, but haven’t felt like taking the leap.
• Win a $25 Amazon gift card for the most popular guest post and a randomly selected guest post.
• Be considered for the writer position described below.

Hiring Writers

In addition to the Amazon gift cards, after I review all the guest posts, I’m planning to make an offer to hire at least one writer. I’ll be basing my decision on the guest post submitted, but I’ll also take into consideration other writing samples you have. Just be sure to differentiate them.

How to Submit an Article

1. Send your submissions to articles@mydollarplan.com for consideration.
2. Text format is preferred, but I’ll also accept submission in email or word documents.
3. The deadline to win the gift cards and be considered for the writer position is Thursday June 4, 2009.
4. Feel free to include any relevant information about yourself that you want me to know.

Requirements

• The content should be a personal finance related topic. If you’re unsure if your article would be appropriate, feel free to contact me first.
• Include a short bio with a link to your site, if applicable.
• The guest post must be YOUR original content and not previously published elsewhere.
• Relevant links are encouraged; but please don’t include affiliate links or keyword links back to your site.

The Fine Print

The offer wouldn’t be complete without including all the official mumbo jumbo, would it? Prepare yourself for the really exciting part…

By submitting an article you are granting me the right to publish it at mydollarplan.com and are agreeing not to submit or publish it elsewhere. Your article may be syndicated by other partner sites but you will always be attributed.

I do not guarantee all articles will be published. I will only publish quality content that I feel readers will benefit from. I reserve full editorial rights, and may add or delete content and links and edit for grammar or clarity.

… I told you it was exciting! Now, go get started on your guest post!

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Of course it was only fitting to follow it up this year with For Sale: My Dollar Plan. For my dearly gullible readers, thanks for all the well wishes! I truly appreciate your thoughts!

And even though I’m not selling, there was some truth in there. Yes, we really are having a baby this summer and we did come to a decision about downsizing. Check back tomorrow to see the results.

Happy April Fools’ Day… now stay on your toes the rest of the day!

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Perfect timing! Just after I wrote the ShareBuilder Review yesterday, I saw an offer for Free Money to open a new account.

ShareBuilder is offering a $25 $50 sign up bonus for first time account holders!

How to Get Your Sign up Bonus

1. Open a new ShareBuilder account using the Promo code: 25WCFA
2. Purchase one security.
3. The $25 $50 credit will be added to your account about 4 weeks after your first trade.

ShareBuilder

Here are some additional terms and conditions from ShareBuilder for the bonus offer:

You must open a new account with ShareBuilder and deposit at least $25 to be eligible for this promotion. ShareBuilder will deposit a $25 bonus approximately 4-6 weeks after your first $25 deposit. The $25 bonus offer is available for Individual, Joint and Custodial accounts only. Offer not valid for IRAs or ESAs. The $25 bonus from ShareBuilder is not available for withdrawal for 90 days after it is awarded to your account. This offer is not valid with any other offers and is non-transferrable. Limit one ShareBuilder account bonus per unique customer or custodial beneficiary. ShareBuilder reserves the right to terminate this offer at any time and to refuse or recover any promotion award if ShareBuilder determines that it was obtained under wrongful or fraudulent circumstances, that inaccurate or incomplete information was provided in opening the account, or that any terms or ShareBuilder’s Account Agreement has been violated.

For more details and information about ShareBuilder, check out my full ShareBuilder Review.

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Unfortunately, I hit a road block. I got married. Five years ago.

Changing Your Name on Financial Accounts

For the women out there, you know that changing your name is a daunting task, especially if you have a thriving financial world full of bank accounts, credit cards, and brokerage accounts. Ironically, the credit card companies were easy, and could be taken care of with one phone call. Other companies wanted so much documentation, it wasn’t worth the time and money.

After about a year of working to get all my documentation changed to my married name, I gave up. I decided that I would forever have two names and left my maiden name on about a third of my accounts.

I haven’t had much of a problem. In fact, Fidelity even changed my name on my new solo 401k back to my maiden name, after I filled out all the paperwork using my married name. I tried to explain to them that their records are outdated, but after a 20 minute discussion, I gave up.

Paying to Change Your Name

I was happily coexisting with my split persona, until my broker informed me I would have to pay a fee to reregister the stock in my name before I could sell them. One of the stocks was 1 share of Pfizer worth only $17. After selling it, I would actually owe them money!

No thanks.

Finding a New Broker

I’m busy looking into cheap online brokers that want to take my certificates with a different last name, without paying a ridiculous fee for each one. I made my short list with brokers that I’m familiar with or already have an account with:

• TradeKing
• Zecco
• Sharebuilder

For the record, it was Scottrade where I was trying to deposit the shares. Normally a convenient option, since I have a local branch.

My last resort will be to deposit the shares with the transfer agent, but I was trying to sell them for cheaper.

Final Thoughts

I would have never thought when writing about Tips to Keep Wedding Costs Down, I needed to include the financial considerations of a name change!

If anyone has had a similar problem, I’m all ears on a cheap way to get this fixed. I have more certificates in the future to deal with.

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Here’s a look back at 2008 for My Dollar Plan:

January

• I caught an episode of a popular TV show and couldn’t resist running the numbers on Deal or No Deal. I also Canceled my Sprint Service for a cheaper plan.
• As my maternity leave winded down, I asked Should I Stay Home or Go Back to Work?

February

• I decided to Go Back to Work and assessed my Life Mix Pie Chart.
• I made plans to Sell My Car and told my Husband: What to do if I die!

March

• I revealed Our Dumbest Purchase Ever and started to Consider a Refinance.
• I also had a surprise in my taxes and had to Recharacterize an IRA.

April

• I found out I was Missing Some Money and worked on Diversification of our Income.
• My company announced an early retirement package and gave us Two Weeks to Decide. I decided I needed a couple more months and Passed on the Opportunity.
• Readers highlighted their 30 Money Saving Tips.

May

• Even though it is fun to save money, I detailed Frugal Tips I Can’t (or Won’t) Do.
• I also covered Tips to Keep the Wedding Costs Down for the newly engaged readers.

June

• I finally Refinanced our Mortgage and Created CD Ladders.
• In addition, We Sold My Car and I started the Kids & Money Site at About.com.
• I also covered How to Handle Irregular Paychecks and What is Credit Card Arbitrage?

July

• I Quit! and made plans to Make Early Roth IRA Withdrawals.

August

• We Dug Up The Water Pipes at Our House, which was quite an event!
• I also came up with an Unconventional Roth IRA Strategy to Lower our Tax Bill.

September

• The election race heated up, and I chimed in with My Advice for Sarah Palin in addition to detailing the myth about the $7,500 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit.
• To celebrate my last day of work, I detailed 29 Steps I Took to Leave the Workforce at Age 29.

October

• Markets took an interesting turn during The Great Bailout of 2008.
• I Reshuffled My Whole Cash Back Credit Card Plan to compensate for some cards cutting back their rewards.
• I asked: Do You Report All Your Income? and was in awe by the amazing debate in the comments!

November

• We celebrated our First Anniversary at My Dollar Plan and I Opened a New Solo 401k.
• My Frugal Dream Came True when CVS opened in my area, and I made a master plan for readers to score Free Stuff on Black Friday.

December

• Our Adventures in Digging came to an end.
• With the market drop, I also contemplated Taking a Loss on an IRA among other End of Year Tax Planning Ideas.

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Hard Times and Desperate Measures

People are having a harder time raising the money to pay their bills. Some people are willing to do just about anything, including selling platelets, donate eggs and sperm, and selling their hair, to make enough money to survive.

According to the article Short on Cash at MSNBC, there has been a significant increase in people inquiring about selling body fluids and parts.

“Increasingly, industry officials say people are hoping to trade spare body fluids, tissues and other parts for payments that can range from $20 to $50 a pop for blood plasma to $60 to $100 for a shot of sperm, $200 for a shiny ponytail and up to $7,000 for a fertile egg.”

Selling Body Fluids

Time commitment. Be aware that selling body fluids is not an hour process. You will be tested to make sure that you are in good health and disease free. In the case of fertile eggs, it can take up to six months before you see your first paycheck. You need to be prepared to be turned down after going through a lot of tests and find another way to get some extra money.

Impact on body. From personal experience, donating fertile eggs can be very taxing on your body. If you are afraid of needles, this is not the way for you to snag money to pay for college. You will automatically be turned down if you are over the age of 32 and at some clinics 29 years old is the cut off.

Time and travel. Check with clinics that pay for plasma. Some clinics only pay for your time and travel, not for the plasma itself.

Frequency. You are also restricted to how often you can donate. In the case of plasma, you can donate twice a week. Sperm donations can be made up to 10 times per month. Fertile egg donations will depend on the clinic and your health, but it does take a month to go through the process to be able to donate eggs. Donating enough hair to make a wig can take up to a year or more depending on how fast your hair grows. Some organizations will not take your hair if it has been colored or permed.

Motivation. Some people do donate because they want to help and the money is just a bonus. Helping couples to bring home a healthy baby or someone who needs plasma or giving hair to make a wig for someone going through cancer treatments is more of a motivation than the money.

Check out The Hair Trader if you are interested in selling your hair. To find a blood bank near you to sell plasma, go to BloodBanker.com. Call your local fertility clinic to inquire about selling eggs or sperm.

You can also check out my free money page for more ideas.

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I’m planning to hit the after Christmas sales tomorrow to get some new Tree Trimmings and Holiday Decorations for next year.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday! If you don’t celebrate Christmas, hopefully you got the day off work anyways, and you can enjoy that.

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The first set of ideas were featured in 10 Amazing Frugal Gift Ideas Under $20. I’ll highlight more ideas later this week.

Winners

Now, on to the winners, generated at random from the Random Integer Generator.

1. $50 Amazon Gift Card: Joshua.
2. $25 Amazon Gift Card: David Gresh.
3. Finance books and materials: Ashley Domes.

I’ll contact each of you directly by email for shipping.

More Contests

Looking for more contests to participate in? Check out Simply Contests complete with giveaways, contests, and freebies!

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Do you love entering contests and signing up for freebies? You can check out the new Simply Contests blog featuring as many easy to enter sweepstakes, contests, and freebie offers that she can find. You can also subscribe to her feed to stay on top of all the contests!

Test Your Color IQ

Want to take your mind off your finances for a few minutes in this crazy economy? Test Your Color IQ is a fun visual test that I stumbled on a few weeks ago. I’m addicted to trying to get a perfect score. (You may need to select a country first, before it will give you the test.)

OK, back to personal finance…

Money and Your Mindset

Feeling Rich in a Broke Economy
“It can feel good to feel wealthy, especially in hard times, and it can be surprisingly small things that get you there.”

Money is 100 Percent Emotional
“When you can identify your fears, you’ll be on your way to redefining your relationship with money, because simple self-awareness is half the battle.”

What desperation looks like
Could you handle a layoff? Do you live paycheck to paycheck without even realizing it? An interesting perspective from Steve, who is about to be laid off.

Are You Struggling With Financial Decisions?
Ben’s theory that we “avoid making these decisions because we’re time poor, uncertain about the fine print, and fearful of the outcome.”

More Personal Finance

Manage the Family Finances by Cutting Expenses AND Increasing Income
Some options for earning income from home when money is tight.

All About Annuities
Check out the pros and cons if you have ever considered buying an annuity.

Investing for College Requires a Slightly Different Approach Compared to Investing for Retirement
Breakdown by age bracket of considerations and a possible asset allocation for each age group.

Living Frugal With Other People’s Money
When you are traveling on company dollar… are you as frugal as you are with your own money?

Circuit City Bankrupted
Time to watch for deals as the stores close up and clearance out products.

By the Numbers

• 10 Signs Of A Stock Market Bottom
• Top 7 Financial Tips for Newlyweds
• How $100 Could Save Your Child’s Life
• The $1000 Emergency Energy Rebate
• 3 Easy Steps To Get Started With Investing.
• 5 Infallible Ways to Lower Your Income Taxes

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• Retirement Planning
• Investing
• Frugality
• Free Money
• Tax Strategies

Going forward, I’ll do my best to make the core articles about these topics and work in the others when it makes sense. You can check out all the votes to see the numbers.

Thank You

Thanks for making it a great year! I had no idea this time last year that I would meet so many wonderful people and I would have so much fun writing about finances. I owe a big thank you to you, my readers!

I love hearing from you! But of course, as long time readers know, I suck at email! I read every single one, but I don’t always get out a timely reply. However, I also save many of them to write about in the future, so you might see your question in an upcoming article.

Personal Finance Favorites

Every Wednesday I highlight articles that others have written that I like during the week. Learning about personal finance takes a community and there are many fabulous articles. Here are my favorites this week from The Money Writers and more:

Seven Unique Side Hustles To Keep Your Family Finances Afloat
Looking for a little bit of extra money during a hard time? Here are some ideas from Frugal Dad to keep you going.

8 Tips For First Time Home Buyers Entering This Real Estate Market
Thinking of buying a new house right now? Here are some great considerations that will help you on your way.

Get 4% or More Return for Your Money
Do you have cash on hand? Sun finds some places where you can earn a decent return even as rates are so low right now.

A zero-sum world view
Is building wealth a zero sum game (another words, someone else’s must go down for yours to go up)?

How To Avoid The Biggest Mistake You Always Make
My favorite is start right now. There’s no time better than today to start whatever it is that you’ve been putting off — financially or otherwise.

Back To Basics: 8 Tips For Investing Money To Build Wealth
“Simple, practical information to help you grow wealth” … a great article in the ongoing Back to Basics series at My Super-Charged Life.

Our Early Retirement Plan: Introduction (Part 0)
Lazy Man and Money is doing a 5 part series on his early retirement plans. Also check out Our Early Retirement Plan: Where We Are Now (Part 1) and Our Early Retirement Plan: My Personal Income (Part 2).

A Primer on Reverse Mortgages
What is a reverse mortgage and how does it work? Here are the pros and cons if you were ever considering one for yourself or a family member.

Worst Rewards Credit Cards – What’s Hidden in the Fine Print
I laughed out loud at this creative take on our current world and credit cards.

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