Today is a special day for a friend of mine. Instead of celebrating Valentine’s Day they go out for a special date for Groundhog Day. It’s a great idea to avoid the crowds and save some money since many of the restaurants raise their prices for the special Valentine’s Day menu.
I hope the Groundhog announces spring is here, I really can’t handle much more winter…. we’ve had just over 58 inches of snow to date!
Now, onto the roundup…. here’s the best of the personal finance world for the week:
Rocket Finance coordinated a series on Home Finances: Mortgages & the Real Cost of Ownership [1]Â including my article on why we have an adjustable rate mortgage [2].
In Your Wallet
How To Guard Against Identity Theft in 5 Easy Steps [3] at Not Made of Money. My favorite tip: Inspect your credit card receipts to be certain that they don’t disclose your entire credit card number.
Making a Just One Club [4] card from The Wallet Hack [5]. This is a great idea! Now I don’t have to carry around a bunch of loyalty cards anymore…. although some people may add a new card with the plans for a new Social Security debit card.
Education
How Do Finance Professors Invest? [6] Turns out 2/3 use low cost index funds. That sounds very similar to my approach [7]Â or another very simple investment portfolio [8].
Along the lines of education, the 2008 Financial Times MBA Rankings [9] came out this week, once again naming the Wharton School number one. Â
Also check out a great site I recently found out about educating kids on money: It’s a Habit [10].
Your IRA
You still have a couple months to fund your 2007 IRA [11]; I’m starting to fund mine via investment snowflaking [12]. If you’ve already funded your 2007 IRA and you are working on your 2008 IRA here’s the changes [13] you should know about. Â
Other articles I liked:
- Your financial goals don’t have to be sensible [14].
- For the animal lovers, here’s how to save money on your vet bills [15].
Carnivals
- I hosted the Carnival of Debt Reduction [16].
- Carnival of Taxes [17]Â featured Organize and prepare to do your taxes quickly [18].
- Festival of Frugality [19] featured ten easy energy savings tips [20].
- Carnival of Personal Finance [21] featured Money Matter for All Ages [22].
- Carnival of Money Stories [23].
Since I was busy with the money matters series last week, we have two weeks of Carnivals to catch up on:Â
- Festival of Frugality featured guide to couponing [24].
- Carnival of Personal Finance [25] featured how to monitor your credit report [26].