Best Personal Financial Planning and Personal Investment
Articles this Week from Personal Finance Blogs
Carnival of Financial Planning – Edition #231 – April
6, 2012
Welcome to the April 6, 2012 Edition #231 of the Carnival
of Financial Planning.
The Carnival of Financial Planning
takes a long-term view of personal financial planning for individuals
and families. We focus on efficient and sustainable personal financial
planning practices that can lead to lifetime financial
security.
This edition is arranged by subject heading, so that you can
browse efficiently.
Enjoy!
The Skilled
Investor, Editor
Budgeting
and Economics
Miss T. presents How to Ditch Your Expensive Cable Bill without Losing All of Your TV Shows posted at Prairie Eco Thrifter,
saying, “When you are weighing the following alternatives to cable, you
want to think about how much you really watch television. For example,
if you watch television two hours a day (fourteen hours a week), and
your cable bill is $100 per month, then you are paying about $1.75 per
hour of television. Also, consider someone who watches about four hours
a week (sixteen hours a month). Theyre paying $6.25 per hour of
television. This person pays much more because he watches television
less often. So, it might make sense for him to ditch his cable bill. By
doing this little exercise, you will have a better idea of how
expensive your television habits really are.
Janet
presents Expense
budget tracking posted at Fee Only
Financial Planner , saying, ”
Many people do not track their living expenses and do not understand
the magnitude of their consumption. Failure to monitor your consumption
expenditures means that they are flying blindly regarding their future
finances. ”
krantcents presents Why Did I Start My Business? posted at KrantCents,
saying, “Why did I start my business? I wanted to know if my reasons
matched theirs. I wanted to know if I was like Warren Buffett, Steve
Jobs, or Bill Gates.
Financial Planning
Suba presents Perfectionism On The Job: What It’s Costing You posted at Broke Professionals,
saying, “I was a perfectionist – until the world’s worst day at work
made me realize what I once considered my greatest strength on the job
was actually my biggest weakness.
Aloysa presents Five Lessons on How To Survive in a Ghetto Apartment posted at My Broken Coin,
saying, “From day one I slowly started to learn what was appropriate
and what was not in my hood. Over time I acquired a set of certain
survival skills that came in handy for a single girl who found herself
living alone in a ghetto apartment.
Frank presents Passive Index
Fund posted at Individual Investor Strategies,
saying, “Short-term mutual fund trading is a zero sum game played
against other very well informed mutual fund traders and other
securities market traders. On average, higher mutual fund turnover is
far more likely to result in lower investment fund performance —
instead of superior risk-adjusted performance.”
SFB presents Size Doesn’t Matter: Why Bigger Isn’t Always Better posted at Simple Finance Blog,
saying, “American culture seems to suggest that bigger is better – but
I’ve found three cases where size doesn’t matter when it comes to your
family’s finances
101 Centavos presents A Labor Shortage? Surely You Can’t be Serious… posted at 101 Centavos,
saying, “China running short of people? But they’ve got a billion and a
half people over there. Surely you can’t be serious… I am serious,
and don’t call…
John
presents
Learning about finance and investing posted at
Personal Financial Planning , saying, ”
I have reached the conclusion that 99+% of the financial information
that is easily available through the media and the Internet is:
self-interested and biased, superficial and non-implementable,
historical in nature or just current “noise” reporting without any
actionable utility, and/or poorly researched, just plain wrong or
unmitigated rubbish.
”
Madison presents How I Earned $1175 Chase Cash Back Last Month posted at My Dollar Plan, saying, “A great read for those of you looking to plan out some purchases around big “cash back savings!
Kathryn @ Financial Highway presents Interview Questions posted at Financial Highway,
saying, “This guide not only tells you what the interview questions are
but also provides insight into what the interviewer is really asking
and what types of answers will help you get the job.
Daniel presents Why I Already Won The Lottery posted at Sweating the Big Stuff, saying, “I did not win the lottery over the weekend, but, I feel pretty lucky anyway.
PFP
presents
Financial planning reading posted at Best
Financial Planner , saying, ”
When I work with clients to develop their customized lifetime financial
and investment plans, they often ask what they should read to improve
their financial literacy.
”
Don presents The End of Buy and Hold? posted at MoneySmartGuides,
saying, “I received a free one year subscription to Money Magazine for
buying something I cant for the life of me remember what it was. In any
case, there is an article that interviews Andrew Lo from M.I.T.
John presents Have Free Banking Accounts Gone the Way of the Dinosaur? posted at Married with Debt,
saying, “Its over. The days of free checking have gone the way of the
free check under your hood and wash your windshield at the service
station.
Dave
presents Active
Investing – Alpha Returns posted
at
Wall Street Nerds , saying, ”
The Old Testament of indexing is Burton Malkiel’s classic A Random Walk
Down Wall Street, first published in 1973 by W.W. Norton and now in its
ninth edition. For typical individual investors, without special access
to information, it offers what is likely the best financial advice they
will ever get: It is hard to consistently beat the market, especially
after fees. A passive strategy will do better in the long run.
”
Steve presents Living Like a King in Bangkok posted at Money Infant,
saying, “I thought that before I give you some insight into my own
Bangkok budget I would put to rest the rumors of living like a king on
$5000 a month in Bangkok.
Income
Jeremy presents Outsourcing Online Business Tasks To Earn More Money posted at Modest Money,
saying, “Do you run one of the many online business that could benefit
tremendously from outsourcing? Read about how a seasoned internet
marketing professional learned how to use outsourcing to earn more
money.
Super Saver presents Three Signs of Being on the Fast Track posted at My Wealth Builder,
saying, “Career advancement is one of the best ways to increase income.
Being on the fast track is a way to increase income even faster. Here
are some of the signs I’ve noticed when people are on the fast track.
Mike presents Would You Declare Your Income? posted at The Financial Blogger, saying, “How transparent are you?
Insurance and Risk
MMD presents Which is Better ? Term or Permanent Life Insurance ? Part 2 posted at MyMoneyDesign,
saying, “Should you buy cheaper Term insurance that will expire or the
more expensive Permanent insurance that is guaranteed for life? Let me
share with you two real quotes I received, and well crunch the numbers
to figure out which one is the better alternative.
Larry presents ID
theft protection posted at Objective Financial
Planner,
saying, “As a threat to your financial security, you should take the
potential for identity theft very seriously. Identity theft sometimes
entails a loss of your money, but whether or not you lose money, it can
take a very large amount of your time to rectify.”
Investing
Dividend Growth Investor presents The Lost Decade: Opportunity of a Lifetime for Dividend Investors posted at Dividend Growth Investor,
saying, “After two severe stock market declines due to the tech and
financial sector implosions, investors are again projecting the past
onto the future. This time however, investors are forecasting doom and
gloom. Currently, stock valuations are at their lowest levels in years.
Pierre presents How The 4% Retirement Rule Converts To Dividend Investing posted at Intelligent Speculator, saying, “We apply this rule here.
Frank Pinter presents No Load Bond
Mutual Funds
posted at Cheapest Bond Funds,
saying, “Investment research overwhelmingly shows that lower
cost fixed income funds tend to yield higher bond investing returns.”
Paul presents What Goes Up, Must Come Downs posted at Make Money Make Cents, saying, “Heres a little insight to the current bull market and why it may be smart to be a little cautious.
TSI
presents Should
you pick investments according to the
Morningstars? posted at
The Skilled Investor , saying, ”
Individual investors and their advisors appear to make investment
decisions that are heavily influenced by the Morningstar Rating system.
Because the stars are very widely used and often misunderstood, these
are articles to help investors make more rational decisions about the
stars.
”
DJL
presents Global
Markets in Distress
posted at
Nerds on Wall Street , saying, ”
Stock markets are almost perfectly transparent, with full information
available to all, and the best electronic clearing and settlement in
history. These technologies were omitted in building the skyscraper of
cards (“house of cards” seems too mild) out of collateralized debt
obligations (CDOs), credit default swaps (CDSs), synthetic
collateralized debt obligations (SCDOs), and the rest.
”
Managing Debt
John presents Do You Know What Your Bank is Charging For? posted at Wallet Blog,
saying, “Make sure you read your statements carefully every month. If
it doesn’t look right, it probabaly isn’t. Don’t get charged more than
you should.
Liana presents Payment Allocation posted at Card Hub,
saying, “When you’re paying off credit card debt, It’s good to know
what best to do. Understanding “payment allocation may help you get
that debt down faster!
Ashley presents Skipping the Mortgage Payment to Pay the Car Loan? posted at Money Talks Coaching,
saying, “I read this article the other day about the order in which
people pay their bills, or rather, the order in which they do not pay
their bills.
KT presents 5 Ways to Save on Interest on Student Loans posted at Personal Finance Journey,
saying, “The average college student graduates with $25,000 in student
loan debt. Many more students have higher balances than this. If you
are repaying your student loans, there are several strategies you can
utilize to pay less in student loan interest. Consider the following:
Automate your payments.
Real Estate
Crystal presents House Hunting on Pause posted at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff,
saying, “It was a short daydream, wasn’t it? Just last week I was
talking about house hunting and now I am back to my original thought,
no way.
Ryan presents Demand for Rental Property and Residential Contracting is Expanding posted at Early Retirement Investments,
saying, “Lately, it seems like the demand for rental property and
residential property are on the rise! Read how these areas are expanding
Retirement
Tushar presents Filing for Bankruptcy – How Retirement Accounts Are Affected posted at Start Investing Money,
saying, “Bankruptcy is a horrible thing to endure, but in these
uncertain economic times, it is becoming an all too common occurrence.
Miranda Marquit presents When You Should Consider a Roth IRA posted at Best Rates In,
saying, “The Roth IRA provides a way to help you take advantage of the
power of compound interest while at the same time enjoying some tax
benefits. And, even if you cant contribute to a Roth IRA, you can still
convert a Traditional IRA to a Roth later but you do have to be careful
of the tax consequences, which can be quite severe if you convert a
large amount
J.P. presents The Roth IRA: The Piece To Your Retirement Puzzle? posted at Novel Investor,
saying, “The popularity of the Roth IRA has brought a myriad of
questions about which IRA is best for retirement savings. The answer
is, it depends.
Frank Knowles presents S&P
500 Index Funds posted at Large Cap Funds,
saying, “The no load index fund strategy of the Schwab S & P
500
Index Fund tracks the S and P 500 stock index. This no load index fund
was listed as one of the top 25 lowest cost index mutual funds in a
research study.”
Tim presents What is a Roth IRA and How Does it Work? posted at Faith and Finance,
saying, “A Roth IRA is one of the best ways to save for your
retirement. Start it early and youll see the power of compound interest
in action.
Div Guy presents You Are Thinking About Retiring? You Must Read This Article posted at The Dividend Guy Blog, saying, “A must read while planning for retirement.
Kevin presents The First Step to $1 Million of Net Worth posted at Thousandaire,
saying, “A 20 year old reader sent me an email asking me how to
approach his finances. Get rid of debt and start a Roth IRA are the two
first steps.
Brock presents Best
Retirement Software posted at IRA Account
Investment,
saying, “Whether or not to make investments into “traditional”
tax-advantaged employer accounts and IRAs versus investing in “Roth”
tax-advantaged employer accounts and personal IRAs is never a
straightforward nor simple financial planning decision.”
FMF presents What the heck is early semi retirement posted at Free Money Finance.com,
saying, “Everyone knows what traditional retirement entails right? You
work for 40 years, save diligently and are rewarded with lunch and a
gold watch and you ride off into the sunset to play golf, garden,
travel or whatever else gives you pleasure. Early retirement is pretty
much the same, but is reserved for those who either live quite frugally
and can afford to ditch the rat race early or have amassed a
considerable fortune. But what is the blazes is early semi retirement?
Savings
Philip Taylor presents 7 Savings Habits to Begin Now posted at PT Money Personal Finance, saying, “For those who currently have NO savings account, ideas to help kick start a savings account.
Financial Freedom
presents
Savings Rates posted at
My Financial Freedom Plan , saying, ”
Understand how your current savings rate and retirement withdrawal rate
would affect all of your lifetime personal financial planning goals
”
Taxes
Jon the Saver presents Six Questions About the Federal Income Tax posted at Free Money Wisdom,
saying, “These are six questions you should ask yourself when it comes
to the federal income tax. Make sure you’re not overpaying the
government!
Steve presents Maryland Senate Votes To Increase Tax Rates For High Income Earners posted at 2011 Tax,
saying, “The proposal dubbed the millionaires tax was approved after
liberal-leaning Senators refused to approve a smaller tax rate for all
taxpayers unless the rich took a special hit.
Paul Tabbet presents Retirement
Planning Software
posted at Tax Planning Software,
saying, “Retirement planning software should automate the development
of lifetime projections that incorporate tax laws and rules associated
with tax-advantaged retirement investment incentive programs such as
traditional IRA, Roth, 401k, 403b, SEP, Keogh, and other retirement
plans.”
That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article
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using our carnival submission form. Past
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