Carnival of Personal Finance #71

Welcome to the Carnival of Personal Finance! Fat Pitch Financials is your host to this week’s festivities in the personal finance realm of the blogosphere. It’s hard to believe that this is already the 71st edition of this carnival. I still remember when this carnival first started. The Carnival of Personal Finance inspired my Festival of Stocks, which is basically an offshoot of this carnival focused on the stock investing aspect of personal finance.

While you are here, I encourage you to look around Fat Pitch Financials. You might find my articles on personal finance to be of interest. I also think you might find what I’ve done with my son’s Coverdell Education Savings Account to be unique. Finally, if you are really into investing, I encourage you to visit my new site, Value Investing News.

Now that you know a little about me, you can better appreciate my take on this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance. I have sorted the articles by subject and I’ve noted my favorite articles. There are a lot of articles on saving money and investing this week. On that final note, here are this week’s entries to the Carnival of Personal Finance:

Book Review

Review of The Money Coach’s Guide to Your First Million at Mighty Bargain Hunter
A book worth reading according to Mighty Bargain Hunter.

Debt

“Nightmare Mortgages” — What Business Week didn’t report at The Mortgage Reports Blog
Details about Option ARM mortgages and who they may be right for.

Paying Off Old Past Due Bills Without Hurting Your Credit at Searchlight Crusade
A fancy way to pay off your old past due bills without hurting your credit. Hopefully, you won’t have to use this technique because you won’t have past due bills.

Student credit reputation at All Tips and Tricks
All I can say is that I’m glad I’m not a poor student anymore.

Employment

What is the most unusual thing you have done for money? at It’s Just Money
* Editor’s Choice *
A fun article on the unusual things people do to earn money.

ALERT! Open Enrollment Time! at Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge
It’s time to start your planning for next year’s benefits. Do you have a budget? Do you know where you have room to save on taxes and maximize your company’s benefits plan for healthcare, dependent care, and retirement? I need to start working on this. Thanks for the reminder mapgirl.

And the Survey Says… at InsureBlog
What’s YOUR favorite “bennie?” InsureBlog’s Henry Stern reports that vacations and paid holidays top the list (dunh!), but you might be surprised at some of the others that made the Top 10.

Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow at My Financial Awareness
Why does the cliche do what you love and the money will follow work so well? Ah, but having money can often make doing what you love more enjoyable. My advice: Save what you truly love to do as a hobby, because work will always be work.

Introduction to COBRA at Understand COBRA
It looks like there is a new blog out about COBRA, a very important post employment benefit to learn about.

Picking money over time – Are we working too much? at Money and Values
Some thought and tips on how to take back your time.

Starting a business not as risky as thought? at Adventure Money
The statistics for business failure rates are a bit over inflated. Starting a business may be a viable alternative to employment for some.

The Underpaid Middle Class at Manage Your Dollars
Middle class America is feeling the squeeze while corporations are posting record profits. What’s going on here? Maybe we just need to invest in these corporations are recoup some of the squeeze.

General

How Much Would You Spend Without Asking Your Spouse? at Free Money Finance
Now that is a dangerous question.

Humor

Four Simple Steps to Becoming a Billionaire at Long or Short Capital
Tongue in cheek about becoming a billionaire. I had a little chuckle with this one.

Junk Mail Humor Better Than Comedy Central at Wisdom from Wenchypoo’s Mental Wastebasket
Junk mail can be so entertaining, especially when it tries to sell you on financial products.

Insurance

Disability Insurance at Canadian Financial Stuff
The importance of disability insurance to protect your family.

Investigate Gaps In Your Homeowner’s Insurance at Home Insurance Guide
A good reminder to make sure you have proper coverage on your home.

Never A Dull Moment at Getting Out of Debt
A story about the impacts of hitting a deer with your car. The lessons learned from this incident are shared by the blogger and well worth reading.

Investing

How to Calculate Tax-Equivalent Yield at AllFinancialMatters
* Editor’s Choice *
A good post on how to determine if a tax free investment is as good as a taxable bond investment.

How to use XIRR in Excel to calculate annualized returns at Experiments in Finance
* Editor’s Choice *
A great post about using the XIRR function in Excel to calculate annualized returns when you put in money to invest regularly instead of the simple situation where you put something in at the beginning of one period and that’s it.

Index Fund Valuation Matrix at The Real Returns
* Editor’s Choice *
A smart attempt to look at comparing the various P/E values of various index funds. I need to get this data for my own research.

25 Rules to Grow Rich By at Dividend Guy Blog
Highlights and comments on 6 of the 25 rules regarding investing.

6 Financial Cliches That Will Make You Rich at The Digerati Life
Even though these are cliches, some of them have value.

A Quiz: Can you ‘Take Control’ Over Your Investments? at Taking Control Over Money
A reprint of a quiz from Vanguard Investment Services.

Are Timeshares A Scam? at Adventures in Money Making
Timeshares are a service to be used; they are not (normally) an investment. End of story.

How To Turn $100,000 into $98,361 in Six Years! at My Money Path
Sort term profits don’t always lead to success in investing.

Ideological Bear at My 1st Million At 33
Taking an unpopular bearish stand in this market, but one I too share.

Investing In Companies – Stocks or Options? at MillionDollarCountDown
A nice simple overview of the options you have when investing in a public company. The post doesn’t also mention the potential of also investing in a company’s debt.

PFCollege: Try Paper Investing at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity
Jim recommends trying your hand in investing by starting a paper port. Good advice, but it is hard to take stock investing seriously until you have some money on the line.

Southern Peru Copper (PCU) at Dividend Money
A look at Southern Peru Copper’s whopper of a dividend.

Stock sell rules at Investing Guide
It looks like the author of this post is coming to the conclusion that selling overvalued companies is the way to go. I agree!

Withdrawing Funds From Upromise at fivecentnickel.com
I’m a user a Upromise so I found this post about withdrawing funds without investing in a 529 rather interesting.

Other

Ten Money Questions for Abigail Garner at Queercents
“For several years, Abigail Garner has been at the forefront of the Queerspawn movement. Queerspawn means that you are an adult child of one or more LGBT parent(s). Abigail is the author of Families Like Mine: Children of Gay Parents Tell It Like It Is. She provided Queercents with poignant views on family finances, the challenges of owning a small business and trying to fuse the label “rich and famous” with reality.”

Personal Development

Napoleon Hill’s Law of Success Podcast Series #02/16 – A Definite Chief Aim at Cultivate Greatness
Part of a podcast Series covering Napoleon Hill’s Law of Success

The Secret of Highly Productive People at My Bubble Life
A few tips on staying productive.

Planning

Are you being “managed” out of your money? at Enough Wealth
Fees, especially hidden ones, can really cut into your investment earnings, so focus on keeping them low. Apparently financial fees are not just a problem in the U.S., Australia appears to be gaining on us in this category. I hope they discover fee-only planners.

How Do Independent Couples Divide Up Expenses? at Lazy Man and Money
A look at how couples split their expenses. Surprisingly, I’ve never spent much time on this issue. It seems to come naturally for me and my wife even before we married.

Inflation: Your Portfolio’s Worst Nightmare at Smart Money Daily
I too fear inflation but I don’t overlook it.

Planning on the Cost of Our Baby at Amateur Investor
Oh man, I don’t need another reminder as too how expensive kids are. However, now that I have no life, I’m saving a lot in entertainment costs.

Teaching Kids the Value of a Dollar at raising4boys.com
This is a topic I need to start working on with my son.

The Power of a Good Graph at We’re In Debt
An article about the motivational power of a financial graph. Just be careful that you don’t lie to yourself with statistics.

Using a Financial Advisor at My Wealth Builder
A bloggers relationship with their financial planner.

When Should I Collect Social Security? at My Retirement Blog
A good question to ask when your planning your retirement. (What’s up with the colors on this site?)

Real Estate

The Real Return on My Rental Property at 2million
* Editor’s Choice *
A good breakdown of one real estate investor’s rental returns.

Build Your Wealth in Real Estate #2 at eFIPO
It’s hard to believe the interest in investing in real estate is still so strong, at least by bloggers (maybe they are real estate agents). This article covers flipping, renting and lease to own options. I’ll pass unless your selling at half off.

How Freakonomics Killed The Deal at The Mortgage Reports
“An extra $5,000 on a sales contract only earns $350 extra to the Realtor
– incentives are not aligned and this was exposed in Freakonomics. In a rising
market, the seller is the loser. Same phenomenon in a flat or declining market,
however, and the Realtor may be saving the day (and the deal).”

Spotlight on Cape Verde at Renthusiast
International real estate investing is very tricky. Make sure you really understand local laws and have a trusted local representative, especially investing outside of developed countries. This article is way outside my circle of competence.

Three Mistakes That Can Cost You Thousands When You Sell Your Home at Debt Free
Tips for avoiding money loosing mistakes when selling real estate. My tip: Avoid selling in the current market.

Retirement

Do Worry About Retirement But Beware Of Overkill at Money, Matter, and More Musings
I’m not sure I agree with this one. A good does of healthy worrying is needed to prevent a disaster of a retirement. I see too many worrying too little.

Saving

Eating Breakfast to Save Money? at The Simple Dollar
* Editor’s Choice *
I like eating breakfast and I like saving money even more. This article is a winner worth reading.

6 (Worthless) Excuses for Not Saving Money at Single Ma’s Fabulous Financials
A bloggers take on a recent Bankrate.com article on excused used for not saving.

6 excuses why people don’t save money at The FRAUDFiles Blog
A summary of a Bankrate.com article on excuses why people don’t save money.

Are you missing some money? at Don’t Mess With Taxes
“You don’t have to go digging under couch cushions to find unexpected
cash. You state treasury may have some money for you that you simply forgot about.”

Car sharing services save you money and make you money! at The Good Human
I like car sharing services but they won’t make you money unless you invest in one of these companies or start your own and even then I’m not so sure.

Costco Doesn’t Save Me Money at Getting To Enough
How is it that a favorite store of frugal shoppers doesn’t save shoppers money in the end? I knew Charlie Munger was too smart to be involved in a money loosing business. Also, check out the percentage of profit at Costco made up of the annual fees reported in the company’s annual report.

Getting Off The Dime at Ask Uncle Bill
A smart daughter gets ahead.

Getting the Most from a Savings Account at How Do People Get Rich?
Can’t argue with moving to a high interest online savings account. However, this article misses several good online bank options, but commentors have already filled in the blanks.

Hide Money From Yourself at Binary Dollar!
Saving money by hiding it in separate accounts.

Reports – Summer Wonders Of The Free Money Forest at FIREFinance
A creative post on credit card and bank account signup bonuses.

Saving More on Your Christmas Shopping at Mom Advice
A discussion about using Ebates for holiday shopping.

Ways I Save Money: The 90-Day Ruleat Blogging Away Debt
Some tips to curb impulse spending.

That concludes this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance. You can learn how to submit articles or even host a future Carnival by visiting the Carnival of Personal Finance’s website. Next week’s Carnival of Personal Finance will be hosted by It’s Just Money.