Power of Trying Something New – Personal Finance Review

Do you ever feel like the growth in some area of your life has hit a plateau and you don’t know what to do about it?  One of my friends was recently in that situation and took action that reminded me we sometimes have to move out of our comfort zone and try something new to make progess.

This is the friend that I introduced to selling on eBay who not too long ago became my eBay partner.  His wife is staying at home with their new kid and he started an eBay business to supplement their income.  He had been seeing steady growth but not enough to earn the money he had planned on.  He realized he needed to try something new in order to break through the income barrier he was facing.  After researching many different options, he decided to spend alot of money buying pallets of goods from Liquidation.com to resell on eBay.

It wasn’t an easy choice, he was spending almost all of his earnings to date on the deal and had never done anything like it before.  Despite the doubt and all the reasons not to do it, he bought the products, took a day off from work to have the pallets delivered, and dove into listing the inventory.  Using his new approach he’s able to list more items, faster, and make higher profit margins.

I was pretty impressed with my friend’s willingness to try something new and take a risk.  I’m really glad its working out for him and offered to be an investor when he needs a few thousand dollars to buy more products.  To me, it was a great example of how we have to be willing to change to grow.

Personal Finance Review

Some weeks are better than others in terms of personal finance content online and this week was just chock full of good stuff so this is a longer review than normal.  Enjoy the articles:

Lazy Man & Money has an article I really liked called Your Financial Football Team, that reminded me of my Personal Finance for Sports Fans series and Is Your Investment Portfolio a One Man Team?

Suns Financial Diary reminds us that we’re not the only ones feeling the pain of the financial markets, things aren’t pretty with Chinese ADRs either.

The Digerati Life has a great article on beating the average investor’s returns with the Simplest Investment Portfolio and Generation X Finance reminds us of the importance of The importance of disability insurance.

No Credit Needed is pretty well read when it comes to debt reduction and offers his Favorite Books About Debt Reduction And Credit.

Free Money Finance warns that little expenses can add up, the Mighty Bargain Hunter covers banks obligations on foreclosed property, and Five Cent Nickel lists 12 commonly missed tax deductions.

Blueprint for Financial Prosperity gives us 8 Reasons To Do All Your Shopping Online, make sure you also read how to save money on shipping when shopping online.

Many people are asking the question whether they should refinance after all these interest rate cuts, Get Rich Slowly takes a look in Are Mortgage Rates Tied to the Federal Funds Rate?

The Simple Dollar takes a look at online personal finance analysis tools like Mint and Wesabe and My Money Blog talks about a new online payment system called MoneyExchange that’s offering a $25 bonus to signup.

If you’re not tired of reading about money yet, here are some more good posts from the M-network: 

–75 Frugal Hacks for Your Home @ Being Frugal

–Prosper – the Ebay of Person to Person Lending @ Cash Money Life

–Making Money in Real Estate with Fixer-Uppers @ Gather Little By Little

–The Big Rocks of Life @ Moolanomy

–Money Mistake Monday – The Learn Before You Invest Syndrome. @ My Two Dollars

–American sub-prime crisis: should the rest of us care? @ Plonkee Money

–The Real Cost of Homeownership @ Single Guy Money

–How to buy partial shares of Berkshire Hathaway with ShareBuilder @ The Dough Roller

–The “Can We Afford The Payments” Mentality @ Paid Twice

Personal Finance Review – Market Turmoil Edition

Markets are down, what should we do?  My best advice is to tune it out.  It may be hard to do since it’s all over the news but for my part I’m just going about business as usual.  Let’s look at what others are saying about the tough economic times:

The Digerati Life has a video on the stock market ruining your life and Generation X Finance asks whether an economic stimulus package will help the markets.

Free Money Finance is buying all the way down, Five Cent Nickel reports on the Fed’s major rate cut, and Blueprint for Financial Prosperity asks should you refinance?

If you’re wondering which type of investments are best to have during market uncertainty, read Sun’s comparison of active & Passive mutual funds.

As things get nasty, make sure you’re building an emergency fund like No Credit Needed and check out 21 money-saving sites listed at Get Rich Slowly.  You could also look into taking a second job or starting a side business over at the Mighty Bargain Hunter.

If you’re short on cash, don’t put it on your credit card, instead get a loan at Lending Club, who Lazy Man reports recently made some updates to their lending site.  When money is tight, be sure not to waste it like Golbguru did recently.

If you’re looking for some ways to take your mind off of the down market check out the 2^nd edition of the Carnival of Peer Lending or the latest edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance.

Musical Money – Carnival of Personal Finance #102

Come sing your money worries away at the Carnival of Personal Finance – Musical Money edition! Everyone loves a good tune, I’ve set about half of the submissions to music from Pink Floyd, Linda Ronstadt, Tupac Shakur, Kenny Rogers, The Beatles and more….. Check out the editor’s picks then look around for your favorite songs, enjoy!

Editors Picks
These articles caught my eye, who knows which will catch yours. Read on to find out.

-Alice Cooper has “Skeletons in his closet”. The Financial Jungle warns us about The Dirty Secret Behind Closet Index Funds. Don’t pay fees for a managed fund that mirrors a low-cost index fund.

-“Mmm mmm, my makeup’s got a secret”, says Madonna. SavingAdvice lets us in on a little secret with Costly Secrets Cosmetic Companies Don’t Want You To Know. “Often, the same company will produce both an expensive and an inexpensive line under different brand names, and the products will contain virtually identical ingredients.” Sneaky!

-Anothery sneaky sales tactic, My Two Dollars warns you Why Your Next Mattress Will Never Be Free. Consumers beware the tricks retailers use to get you into the store and make the sale.

-“If I could turn back time”. The Dough Roller reflects on inflation predictions from 1978. What can we learn from the past?

-EquityScout :: Real Estate Investing presents Investors vs. Speculators :: which one are you? I first read about investors vs speculators in Benjamin Graham’s Intelligent Investor. The same logic applies to real estate.

-The Money Mythos presents Why you need more than an index fund, “you can increase your returns for the same, or less, risk”. If you have all your your money in an S&P index fund, here’s a look at how you can diversify.

Musical Money

-Forget lost salt shakers in Margaritaville, how about tax havens in Dominica!

-When Wierd Al says “I think I’m a clone now”, if others are using your identity you just might be as well. Fraudfiles warns us of Synthetic Identity Fraud.

-You’ve got to know when to hold ’em. Know when to fold ’em. Know when to walk away and deduct your losses.

-If you and Carole King think, “It’s too late baby, now it’s too late”, then you’re wrong! It’s never too late, start saving for retirement now.

-Ever wonder why your credit reports don’t match across TransUnion, Experian, Equifax? Like the Beastie Boys said, it’s Ill Communication.

-Are we “Puttin’ On the Ritz”? Lazy Man and Money presents Are We Living Larger or Living Differently?

-“We don’t need no education!” Campus Grotto disagrees with Pink Floyd and gives us ten tips for getting a scholarship.

-Althought the Broadway musical Rent is very popular, Paul advises us not to rent but buy a home instead.

-The Bullet Boys say it’s all about the “money, money, money!” Here’s a way to put some extra money in your checking account, $75 by May 31st.

-While British band Madness sings about “Our House, in the middle of our street”, My Personal Finance Odyssey asks was buying a more expensive house a good investment?

-While De La Soul sings about Shopping Bags, ProBargainHunter talks about his smart shopping philosophy.

-“You gotta fight! For your right! To be independent of your parents, huh? I thought it was “to party”! I guess it’s not the Beastie Boys, plonkee asks whether she can take money from her parents and still be independent.

-How do people with average IQ scores end up rich? They think like Tupac, it’s just “Me Against The World” . Research shows these people make their own rules, get knocked down and get up again, succeed through social intelligence, and take more risks which lead to more rewards.

–It’s the end of the world as we know it! A falling dollar, Social Security pyramid scheme, and incredible government deficits, are almost dragging our whole world direct to an economic collapse. In addition Fil-am tells us how the falling dollar will effect us.

-As the Beatles sing about the Taxman, Kristine asks are you ready for the ecommerce tax?

-Even though Alice Cooper lets us know “Schools out for summer!” Save to Quit reminds us there’s life after summer and tells us Paying for College–4 Secrets You Should Know.

-“Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, Life Goes On”, with universal life insurance and additional life insurance.

-“Take a little trip, Take a little trip… Low rider don’t use no gas now”. My Own Millions presents 11 Ways to Save Gas and Robert gives us One Road to Lower Gas Prices.

-This author contests the latest price gouging law even though it passed. He “fought the law and the law won.” Everyday Finance presents Should our Lawmakers Save us from Free Market Forces?

-Don’t worry Happy Rock, Linda Ronstadt tells you, “Somewhere out there” is a personal finance system that is right for you.

-“Round, round get around, I get around”. While the Beach Boys weren’t talking about stocks, getting around to all different types of investments and avoiding a 100% stock investment helps keep your portfolio diversified.

-“Mamma told me there’ll be days like this”. What would we do without mamma? The Digerati Life sounds off on mom’s pay.

-“Bye, Bye, Miss American Pie”. Where will you be the day the music dies?A new study shows that the American Dream is getting harder to achieve with each generation.

-“He works hard for his money”, and Kevin found a way to save hundreds of it with Geico.

-The Time & Money group asks, Homebuilders Rallying: How Could This Be? In my opinion it looks like they’ll be “shot down in a blaze of glory!

-MoneyChangesThings offers a $300 prom challenge & financial education for “Mary Jane’s Last Dance”.

-“You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes….” My Money Blog presents In Defense Of Buying: Our Housing Situation Explained. Johnathon knows what he wants but might have to wait out the real estate market to get what he needs.

-Can Prosper make me “free to do what I want any old time”? Finandom asks if we can leverage Prosper to achieve financial freedom?

-“Like a rollin stone”, Accumulating Money asks if we can rollover our 401k while still employed?

-Two years ago Getting Green decided to stop “workin for the man every night and day” and get serious about his debt.

-“Don’t look now, There’s a monkey on your back! Why can’t you set your monkey free?” HOWTO: Tackle Your Debt in Five Simple Step.

Investing

-The Sun’s Financial Diary presents Zecco Free Trading Account Opened, Plus a Review.

-Stock Trading 101 presents 6 Tips to Becoming a Successful Online Investor.

-FiveCentNickel presents Net Worth vs. Net Investable Assets.

Opportunities A Plenty presents Are Commodities the Next High Yield Investment?

-InsureBlog presents Taking Time (Off, that is). “Think you’re ready for your retirement? Here are some disturbing stats that show you might not be.”

-Money Analyst helps us decide Roth IRA vs. Traditional IRA – Which one is Better.

-My Wealth Builder presents Risk Allocation In A Wealth Portfolio.

Investment Jungle does some in-depth analysis into Encore Wire Company (WIRE)

Real Estate

-Salt Lake Real Estate gives us Condo Questions You Shouldn’t Forget To Ask.

-Smart Money Daily presents How Skipping One Phone Call Cost Me $100k. “I felt like I needed to decide if I wanted to be rich or poor…obvious answer right. If I wanted to not be poor, we needed to purchase a house…ASAP.”

-Grad Money Matters presents Rent Vs. Own: A Look at Our Expenditure Then, and Our Expenditure Now.

-Plus 6 presents Don’t buy a home warranty.

Credit & Debt

-Don’t let anyone borrow money, Money and Credit presents Family Screwing.

-Here’s one that could be titled “How to lose money with credit card arbitrage” from Moneymonk, Credit Card Arbitrage.

-Cash Money Life presents Debit Cards – Take Them or Leave Them?

-Mighty Bargain Hunter presents Debit, schmebit!

-Money, Matter, and More Musings presents Forcing Credit Card Awareness: There Should Be A Credit Card Qualifying Test.

Personal Finance

-Queercents presents Almost Debt Free: Organize Finances with Goals and Simple, Repeatable Systems.

-Blunt Money presents Automating Your Finances.

-Flexo from Consumerism Commentary presents How to Make Money With John Adams Presidential Dollar Coins.

-Fundszine presents Emergency fund.

-Home Finance Freedom presents Best-Worst Financial Measures: How To Track Your Financial Independence and Security.

-The Money Well presents Are You Pouring Money Down The Drain?

-Poorer Than You presents State of the War Address, an update on the financial objectives she set for herself at the beginning of the year.

-Rich Minx presents Money and Work Lessons via The Simpsons.

-The Finance Buff presents Successful Business Strategy: Selling Hope.

-Cheap as chips presents Making it happen.

-Stingy Student presents Throwing Away Money

-Living Almost Large presents Tipping for Takeout?

-Make Your Nut presents Advice for New Graduates: The Tao of the Job Hunt.

-FIRE Finance presents Online Checking Accounts: Part 3 – FreeNet Checking From EverBank.

-FitBuff presents How to Get Free Cable & Phone.

-Growing Money presents A Meeting With My Financial Planning Consultant.

Encore

If you enjoyed this musical treat, sign up for daily financial insights from Money Smart Life, you can even have them delivered directly to your inbox!

Thanks for visiting this edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance! If you’re interested in hosting a future edition, look for your chance to apply.

Be sure to check out this week’s Festival of Frugality over at Blogging Away Debt. Have a great week!

Carnival of Ethics, Values, & Personal Finance #7

Welcome readers, I hope you are feeling ethical and full of values today!  If not, you’re in the right place at the right time.  The articles below will hopefully give you some food for thought about money and it’s place in your life. 

The first half of the articles deal with the ethics and values of personal finance in one way or another. I’ve included a quote from each post to give you a taste of it’s content. The second half of articles consist of interesting posts, not necessarily having to do with ethics or values in my opinion, that you might want to check out if you have time.

Ethics & Values

Wanda presents Why give? (Or, what if you derive no utility from giving?) posted at Well Heeled.

“If giving DOESN’T make you feel better, if you feel NO sense of obligation to people outside your family or community, if you are financially successful and appreciative of what you have WITHOUT giving, if you don’t have a religious reason for being charitable, why would you give?”

Tracy Coenen presents Investigation of Usana points out the problems with MLM posted at FRAUDfiles.

“However, the vast majority of Usana’s “sales” are achieved only thru the marketing of the “business opportunity.” That is, without the promise of riches, the vast majority of distributors would never purchase any Usana products. “

Tim Abbott presents Berkshares: Local Currency Strengthens Community and the Bottom Line posted at Walking the Berkshires.

“Berkshares represent a community reinvesting in itself, rediscovering its history and revitalizing its economic and social prospects through the use of local script.”

Nina Smith presents WWYD: Paying Children for Good Grades posted at Queercents.

“… we ponder if pay for performance is a child appropriate reward system.” 

Stingy Student presents The End of Affirmative Action posted at Stingy Students.

“Affirmative action is holding back minorities much like wealthy parents who give their adult children financial outpatient care”

Henry presents Investing in Life Insurance Policies: How the Grim Reaper Can Make a Ton of Cash. posted at Binary Dollar!.

“The investor buys the policy and continues to pay the premiums until their old person kicks the bucket.”

bdurfee presents Sharing the Wealth posted at Thinking-Rich.com.

“Changing our attitudes toward money can change our lives by making us more open to wealth. Money is not a four-letter word – so use it!”

Ririan presents 22 Useless Myths That Can Cost You Money posted at Ririan Project.

“Money is the root of all evil, I think a much more accurate statement is that the lack of money is the root of all evil”

Web Financial Planner presents How rich is rich enough? posted at Web Financial Planner.

“It’s all a matter of perspective – and summoning up the ability to toss aside the guilt and anxiety and simply take one small, successful step after another.”

David Weliver presents What I’ve Learned About Money posted at Money Under 30.

“Earning a living is hard work; not spending it all is even harder. The root of all evil is not money, but greed.”

Mr Credit Card presents Did Funky Diner Deserve Any Extra Credit Card Tips? posted at Ask Mr Credit Card’s Blog.

“Would you have even gave any extra tip at all?”

Alvaro Fernandez presents Baby Boomers, Healthy Aging and Job Performance posted at SharpBrains.

“… an increasing likelihood that some lawyers may be practicing in less than ideal conditions for their clients, beyond a reasonable ‘brain age’.” 

Leon Gettler presents Gatekeeper lawyers posted at Sox First.

“In effect, the idea would turn lawyers into auditors. The would have to be independent, sceptical and their first duty would be to investors.”

Other Submissions

Samuel Peery presents Applying GTD principles to your personal finances – Part 1 posted at Getting Finances Done.

tc presents Simple Living – 25 ways to save money posted at InvestmentsLoans.net.

Steve Faber presents – How to Save Money Everyday – A Different Perspective posted at DebtBlog.

WBL presents Improve Your Credit Score by 100+ Points posted at Wealth Building Lessons.

ISPF presents Maximizers and Satisficers posted at Grad Money Matters.

The Frugalist presents 27 Fun Ways to Destroy Your Old Credit Card posted at Frugalist.

Bryan C. Fleming presents Saving Money: $704.51 in 14 Weeks posted at Bryan C. Fleming.

Linda presents Why I save my money posted at MoneyMonk.

Kevin Kinchen presents True Success posted at Creative Power of Thought: Thoughts Become Things.

Brandon Peele presents Spiritual Autolysis posted at GT.

John presents WWYD: Use a Coupon on a First Date? posted at Queercents.

FIRE Getters presents Experiences – Availability of Funds After Cashing a Big Check posted at FIRE Finance.

Thanks for reading! You can submit your article to the next edition of Ethics, Values & Personal Finance using this carnival submission form. Have an ethical day 🙂

Carnival of Money Stories #8

Personal Finance Week in Review – Rock Chalk Jayhawk

Finally, the Kansas Jayhawks have made it back into the Elite Eight! There is an exciting weekend of basketball ahead of us, enjoy! On the personal finance front, here were some good articles this week.

Jeremy at Generation X discusses a morbid but necessary topic, the cost of dying and continues his 24 signs you could be in financial trouble series.

Henry reminds us that even rich guys like Yao Ming like to save money.

Sun has a nice comparison using UPromise and BabyMint to help save for college and Flexo reminds us that we can actually use Upromise to pay for our own student loans.

Digerati Life lets us in on foolish money moves that have cost her more than $1000 each; hopefully we can avoid making these ourselves.

Trent at The Simple Dollar gives up 17 tips for getting our dream job.

Lazy Man is focusing on peer-to-peer lending on Prosper this week and addresses some common Prosper complaints.

Golbguru continues his look at investing in gold, covering some of the important concepts in gold price.

As interest rates drop, Nickel talks about when to refinance your mortgage.

Have a good weekend!

Taxes On My Mind

As tax season approaches and we can feel the breath of the IRS breathing down our neck the Carnival of Taxes seems more and more relevant. The latest edition lets us know why our Adjusted Gross Income is the most important number on our tax return, includes reviews of tax preparation software and a little about The Ernst & Young Tax Guide 2007.

My contribution covered the Streamlined Sales Tax Project and how it will likely affect those of us that shop online. Sales tax is the largest revenue earner for most state governments. They’re missing out on enormous amounts of revenue as the popularity of online shopping increases and they’re working on tapping into it. I say BOOOO!

Carnival of Investing – Super Bowl Edition

The world of sports shares many common aspects with investing; such as analysis, strategy, performance, discipline, statistics, winners, and losers. Of course the financial stakes are often higher in investing than sports but there’s still a lot we can learn from watching teams and coaches prepare and play their game. What better place to look for examples than one of the premier sporting events in the world, the Super Bowl!

The Super Bowl is known for it’s commercials and halftime show. On the commercial front, this carnival is made possible by Money Smart Life. If you enjoy your visit here, please subscribe to my feed for daily updates on personal finance in your life. You can also check out the Investing section of the site. Stay tuned for the halftime show coming up later.

Rookies
The great thing about new talent is watching the rookies grow and develop. Here is some advice for rookie investors hoping to someday come through with a “big play” in the financial Super Bowl.

Andy presents How to invest with a low budget posted at Money Walks. Remember rookies, everyone starts somewhere. You can’t be a star without being a rookie first.

Ed Mamula presents Ed Mamula.com; It Has to Hurt a Little posted at Book-Smart and Battle-Scarred Trading and Investing. You’ve gotta take some hits to learn to play with the big boys!

FMF presents Charles Schwab Agrees with Me – He Loves Index Funds and Says You Should Concentrate on Your Career posted at Free Money Finance. Index funds may not be very exciting for the new investor but they’re smart.

The Chef presents Investing into Intangible Assets posted at Recipe For Financial Freedom. Even though an athlete may not be the fastest or strongest, they can still play an important role through qualities such as leadership, communication, or determination. Although an early investor’s net worth may not be very high, don’t forget to figure in the intangibles.

Fantasy Football
No football season would be complete without a fantasy footall league to help you track and trade your favorite players. Having the right tools to analyze this year’s top picks can make or break the season. The same can be said about screeing tools for investing. Read about “seven scientifically based fund selection criteria and reports on the capabilities of free on-line website tools to do screens using these criteria.” The Skilled Investor presents On-line screening of mutual funds and ETFs: minimum requirements posted at THE SKILLED INVESTOR Blog.

Coaching
We’re all the coach of our own investments. Here are some strategies and tips we don’t want to forget as an investing coach.

FIRE Finance presents Investing – Asset Allocation – Part 1 posted at FIRE Finance. What coach would recruit a star running back but no quarterback? This lopsided offense would have no balance. So why would an investor stick to only one asset class?

jim presents Why You Should Rebalance Your Portfolio posted at My Retirement Blog. A good coach makes adjustments at the end of the season to prepare for the next. Rebalancing your portfolio will help keep your money team on top.

William Wallets presents Use Limits Orders When Buying Stocks! posted at A Financial Revolution. A seasoned coach knows the proper tools to use in different situations. This article discusses when to use limit orders instead of market orders.

The Dividend Guy presents Watching Dividend Payments Grow posted at The Dividend Guy Blog. When a coach wins a Super Bowl like the Colts did this season, reinvesting their success into the team should help make it even better next year. The same with investing, plowing your gains back into your portfolio can help you leverage the power of compound growth.

Dominic presents Online Compound Interest Calculator posted at Trader Knowledge. A coach needs numbers and statistics to help assess where they are and project where they could be. Use this compound interest calculator to determine where you could be years down the line.

Trent presents Macbeth’s Take on the Employment Report posted at Stock Market Beat. Scouting your opponent is part of being a being a good coach. Part of being a good investor is scouting the financial environment you’re working in. This article reminds us to look for trends in market reports.

Michael K. Dawson presents Investing in China Railways posted at The Time and Money Group.

Kevin presents Use Prosper and get a 312% Increase over a CD Ladder for Your Emergency Fund posted at RateLadder.com. A coach’s plan doesn’t always go as expected. Having a failed play with no backup plan in the 4th quarter of the Super Bowl could spell disaster. As an investor, having an emergency plan is key.

Dan Melson presents The High Cost of Waiting To Buy A Home posted at Searchlight Crusade. Any coach knows the value of home field advantage. Dan talks about the cost of not investing in your own home field.

Referees
Everyone loves to hate the ref. Not a Super Bowl will go by without one coach or the other challenging a call. They don’t always get it right but without them the game would turn into a brawl the likes of which we haven’t seen since the Ron Artest debacle.

Max presents Forget Day Trading Forex posted at RecycleMoney.com. Without regulations to referee the Forex markets, Max argues that Forex trading is not a wise move.

Leon Gettler presents Sarbanes-Oxley: is that really a wolf at the door? posted at Sox First. Calling a game too tight can slow down the pace of play and frustrate the players. Does Sarbanes-Oxley slow down the American markets, read this article to here Leon’s opinion.

Analysts
Sports analysts are full of projections and opinions on the pre-game show, Sports Center, sports talk radio, and in the newspaper. They offer insights into the game and sometimes make ridiculous claims or predictions. The world of investing is also flush with analysts and the Super Bowl of Investing is no different. This week we have insight and analysis on market conditions and individual stocks from several sources.

H.S. Ayoub presents Government Contract Could Set Hollis-Eden Stock Soaring posted at BioHealth Investor.

Brian Schumacher presents Charts of the Week – CLRT and AZL posted at $$ Trade 4 Cash $$.

Spencer Hill presents Hill Asset Management February Market Outlook posted at Hill’s Personal Finance.

wcsinvestor presents Reasoning about Two Sub-prime Lenders posted at Worst-case Scenario Investing.

Paul Smith presents Quick Analysis of 0 -10c stocks with PE under 10 posted at Investing using Fundamentals on the Aussie StockMarket.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Mad Money Mayhem For Stock Pickers posted at The Digerati Life.

Frugal presents The Coming 2008 Headline News – Long ADM (Archer-Daniels-Midland) posted at 1stMillionAt33.

Halftime Show
There were several submissions to the Carnival of Investing that had interesting content but were not directly related to investing. These articles are provided for your reading pleasure as the Carnival of Investing Halftime show.

Bryan C. Fleming presents Million Dollar Savings Club Update: Week 5 posted at Bryan C. Fleming.

Murad Ali presents The importance of keeping business cash on hand posted at The New Business World.

Martin presents A Different Approach to the Emergency Fund posted at Money Blog Site.

Sagar Satapathy presents Americans: World’s Worst Savers posted at Debt Consolidation Lowdown.

Final Analysis
One final lesson to leave you with as we wrapup our coverage of the Carnival of Investing Super Bowl edition. Peyton Manning was awesome on Sunday night but a key reason the Colts won the Super Bowl was because of defense. You can’t win with just offense. Invest wisely and grow your money but don’t forget to play defense too.

We’ve come to a decision on the MVP of the game, it’s you, the readers! Thanks for reading the Carnvial of Investing Super Bowl Edition! If you had a good time, please subscribe to my feed for daily updates on personal finance in your life.

Job Security, 401k to IRA, Credit Card Mistakes, & Restaurant Bills – Carnival Roundup

This week at Money Smart Life I touched on a variety of financial topics including job security, turning your 401k into an IRA, credit card mistakes, and saving money when eating out.

Endless Gibberish hosted the Carnival of the Capitalists where I talk about the pros and cons of having a “secure” job that you don’t really like.

When people get fed up with their job and move on to greener pastures they should remember to roll their 401k over into an IRA. I discussed the benefits of rolling over into an IRA in the Carnival of Investing over at the Sun’s Financial Diary.

This week I had two articles that were by far the most fun to write. The 10 Worst Credit Card Mistakes College Students Make was featured in the Carnival of Personal Finance at Young and Broke and 10 Ways to Cut Your Restaurant Bill Big Time was in the Festival of Frugality over at FIRE Finance.

If any of these articles float your boat be sure to sign up for daily updates of similar tasty finance treats! Have a great weekend!

Festival of Frugality #54

Welcome to one of the most happening festivals around! Internet Explorer users please excuse the mess as the uplanned hosting caught me in the middle of a theme upgrade. I didn’t have time to do each submission justice with a comprehensive review so all I can say is, get ready to meet some frugal people! Without further ado, I give you all the festival!

David presents How a $3.85 drink at Starbucks affects your bottom line. posted at My Two Dollars.

Alison presents Why I Have a Fake Christmas Tree posted at Bargain Quest.

TMT presents I Was Rejected By Lowe’s Home Improvement posted at The Money Tortoise.

Super Saver presents Do It Yourself and Save Money posted at My Wealth Builder.

FMF presents Save Money on Prescription Drugs by Getting Free Samples posted at Free Money Finance.

Steve Faber presents How to Put an Extra $100,000 in Your Bank Account posted at Debt Free.

FIRE Finance presents Frugal Tip – Wink, Flash And Get 50 Free Digital Prints This Christmas! posted at FIREFinance.

Moneywalks presents Problem with people who ?wants? to save posted at Money Walks.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents There’s Treasure In My Trash posted at The Digerati Life.

Joe Caterisano presents Debt solution posted at Penny Pinching.

Nina presents LED Holiday Lights: Eco-Friendly & Reduces Your Electric Bill posted at Queercents.

Sagar Satapathy of BizNicheMedia presents Tips To Reduce Debt & Stay Out Of Bankruptcy posted at Bankruptcy Reader.

Stingy Student presents Dell coupon posted at Stingy Students.

jim presents Always Rent Economy Cars and Avoid Airports posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

makingourway presents SHOPPING: a neat little gift posted at makingourway.

Lisa Knight presents Dust covers for new fangled sweepers. posted at The Frugal Momma.

Matthew Paulson presents Of Diets and Dollars posted at Getting Green.

Hope you’re feeling more frugal than ever after all those great tips. Have a Happy New Year, now go out and be frugal!

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