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LinkStuff – Arrowhead Provincial Park Edition

I recently wrote about our visit to Pinery Provincial park which is a great park.  I think our favourite park from this summer was Arrowhead Provincial park which is near Huntsville, Ontario.

It’s located about three hours north of Toronto and is just outside Huntsville.

What we liked about Arrowhead

  • Campsites were large and private. Couldn’t ask for anything better. We rented a cabin again and it was just lovely.
  • Nice beach.  Ok, it wasn’t Pinery, but the beach area is very nice, although the water wasn’t very warm.  Good enough however.  There is a good rental place on the beach for various watercraft.
  • Nice river.  There is a quiet river leading off from the swimming area which is great for canoeing.
  • Stubb’s waterfall.  There was a small waterfall about 10 minutes walk from our site.  The kids had a great time climbing around the various shaped rocks near the falls.  We did a short hike down a very scenic trail beside the river.
  • Trails – Lots of good walking trails.  There are also mountain bike trails and rentals on the beach.
  • Close to Huntsville.  If you have to make a quick run for food/beer, it’s nice to have stores nearby.
  • Near Algonquin Park.  An Arrowhead pass is good for Algonquin as well.  While there is lots to do at Arrowhead, if you have a rainy day – heading to the Algonquin visitor centre is an option.

We liked it so much, we’re planning a longer trip next year.  Probably five nights.

Anyone else ever been to Arrowhead?  Any other parks you want to extol the virtues of?

On with the links

How to save money wrote a primer about how to use Priceline to get cheaper hotel rooms.  For detailed bidding instructions, you can check out my post on how to use Priceline.

Michael James had an interesting look at market efficiencies or inefficiencies depending on your perspective.

Jim Yih shares why he switched to a cashback credit card.

Mike Piper answers the question – Is rebalancing, market timing?

Boomer and Echo asks – Can you trust advice from your bank?  I say no.

Ellen Roseman has some good advice and resources if you are in the market for a new car.

 

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Carnival of Financial Planning 09-21-2012

Best Personal Financial Planning and Personal Investment Articles this Week from Personal Finance Blogs

Carnival of Financial Planning – Edition #255 – September 21, 2012

Welcome to the September 21, 2012 Edition #255 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

Bob presents What does a financial coach do? posted at Christian Personal Finance, saying, “What is financial coaching? What does a financial coach actually do? If you’re encountering ongoing financial difficulties, financial coaching just might be the ticket. Let’s explore what a financial coach does and see if one is right for you.

Jeff Rose presents I Hate Budgeting. YNAB to the Rescue! posted at Good Financial Cents, saying, “In case I have not made this abundantly clear on the blog – I HATE budgeting. Seriously, I would rather change 24 poopy diapers than to sit down and hammer budget. Luckily, there are guys like Jesse Mecham who aim to make budgeting cool. Is that really possible? Jesse would like to think so.

Maria presents Chi ldren and money: are we teaching our future the wrong things? posted at The Money Principle, saying, “We teach our children mainly how to save. But the relationship between children and money is better developed by teaching them how to spend.

Dan presents Wall Street Markets posted at Wall Street Stocks , saying, ” From the days when front-running involved actual running to the “Victorian Internet era” brought on by telegraphy, we can learn a great deal from looking back at a simpler era.”

Financial Planning

Jacob @ My Personal Finance Journey presents 11 Personal Finance and Life Lessons I Learned from Bicycle Racing posted at My Personal Finance Journey, saying, “This post describes 11 life and personal finance lessons that one blogger gleamed from his time actively training for a lot of intensive cycling races throughout his young adult life. It makes one wonder what personal finance or career lessons one has learned indirectly by participating in other seemingly unrelated activities.

CCS presents Why You Should Regularly Check Your Credit Report posted at Credit Card Smarts, saying, “People don’t take credit reports seriously enough. That could be costing you money. See reasons why you should regularly check your credit report.

SFB presents Money Lessons Learned On Vacation posted at Simple Finance Blog, saying, “I thought I’d budgeted for our family’s trip to Disney World; obviously, I thought wrong. Here are my top 4 money lessons learned on vacation.

PFP presents Tax Management  posted at Pasadena Financial Advisor , saying, “Locate” your investment assets for more optimal taxation.”

Jeff Rose presents What Is a Family Trust and Should You Set One Up? posted at Good Financial Cents, saying, “A family trust is a relatively simple and inexpensive, but potentially powerful legal vehicle, with many benefits for a wide swath of individuals.

Parker presents Index Funds posted at Preferred Funds, saying, “Some mutual funds and ETFs must be better than others, but which ones are they?”

Invest It Wisely presents Freelancing Revenue Report: Out of the Trenches and Climbing Up the Mountain posted at Invest It Wisely, saying, “Status Report I’m now in the eighth month of entrepreneurship – my, how time flies by! Much has happened since I took the plunge, read about my discoveries along the way.

PPlan presents Lending Money to Family and Friends posted at Provident Plan, saying, “Many individuals have been stuck in this situation: your friend complains that they have no money, and then they either directly or indirectly ask you if you

Income

Liana presents What You Need to Know About Joint Credit Card Accounts posted at Card Hub, saying, “With the latest set of rules on access to credit, it can be difficult to see how you can build individual credit. One way that an individual without a paycheck can build independent credit is with a joint account. But it is necessary to understand what a joint account is first.

Insurance and Risk Management

Jeff Rose presents Reasons for or Causes of Higher Life Insurance Premiums posted at Life Insurance By Jeff, saying, “High or Higher Life Insurance Premiums can be determined by the severity of the health issue and what steps that policy seekers are using to address the issue. When underwriters see that a person has had long-term health issue with no signs of improvement then there will be higher premium cost since there would be the potential risk of that policyholder succumbing to any debilitating disease.

Lawrence presents Identity theft protection posted at Best Financial Planner, saying, “Identity theft sometimes entails a loss of your money, but is always take a very large amount of your time to fix.”

Passive Income Earner presents Family Finance: Understanding Your Car Insurance posted at The Passive Income Earner, saying, “The importance of understanding your car insurance costs and what it provides you.

My Own Advisor @ My Own Advisor writes How I Save Money on Auto Insurance – With auto insurance, you hope to avoid making a claim but if you need to, there is comfort in knowing you’ll get the best possible coverage for premiums paid. Here are ways I save money on auto insurance. I hope these tips help you as well.

Investing

Super Saver presents Recognizing a Losing Stock Trade posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, ” Use of these four letter words likely means the stock is a losing trade.

Kanwal presents Your Friend Just Gave You a Hot Stock Tip. What do you do? posted at Simply Investing, saying, “A friend, colleague or relative just gave you a hot stock tip. What should you do? Should you run out and go buy this stock? No! The simple answer is, Thanks, Ill look into it.Buying a stock, bond, mutual fund, or any other investment without doing your own research is not investing it is speculating.

Div Guy presents High Dividend Yield Stocks: What’s Wrong With Them posted at The Dividend Guy Blog, saying, “The reasoning behind high yield dividend stocks.

TSI presents Morningstar Star Ratings posted at The Skilled Investor , saying, “Because the stars are very widely used and often misunderstood, these are articles to help investors make more rational decisions about the stars.”

Dividend Growth Investor presents Dividend Investors are Getting Paid for Holding Dividend Stocks posted at Dividend Growth Investor, saying, “Dividends provide a return on investment, which is much more stable than relying on capital gains. Investors who select quality dividend paying companies with long histories of dividend increases can ignore the day to day fluctuations in the markets,as long as the company is paying the dividend every month/quarter like clockwork.

Franklin presents Traditional and Roth Accounts  posted at Early Retirement Planning , saying, “For most people, contributions to traditional tax-advantaged plans will probably provide a higher net present value over their lifetimes than Roth accounts.”

Managing Debt

Sean presents Gangnam Style in America posted at One Smart Dollar, saying, “Spending beyond our means is a huge problem all throughout the world and is the reason why so many people get themselves into debt. The popular YouTube video Gangnam Style shows how this is a problem in a South Korean neighborhood.

Jason Steele presents 5 Really Cool Things Your Credit Card Issuer Will Do, Just for Asking posted at PT Money Personal Finance, saying, “Not only does it not hurt to ask for these certain things from credit card companies, many times they’ll do what you ask, including these 5 requests.

Carrie Smith presents The True Secret to Paying Off Debt posted at ReadyForZero Blog, saying, “Do you know the true secret to paying off debt? In this post, Carrie Smith talks about the one thing that helped her finally eliminate debt from her life.

Sean @ One Smart Dollar writes Gangnam Style in America – Spending beyond our means is a huge problem all throughout the world and is the reason why so many people get themselves into debt. The popular YouTube video Gangnam Style shows how this is a problem in a South Korean neighborhood.

Real Estate

Miranda @ Financial Highway presents Steps to Buying a House posted at Financial Highway, saying, “If you are interested in buying a house, though, there are a number of steps you need to follow. A home purchase is a major commitment. It’s not something to be taken lightly, especially since you will be asking a lender to allow you to borrow a large sum of money. You need your ducks in a row if you expect to successfully buy a home.

TRL presents Real Estate Vacancy – How to Shorten the Time between Tenants posted at The Retired Landlord, saying, “Find out how you can shorten real estate vacancies and minimize the additional cost for you, the landlord.

Retirement

SBB presents Simple Retirement Plan posted at Simple Budget Blog, saying, “Does the complexity of retirement planning or investing keep you from actually doing it? Find out how to simplify the process and get started today.

IMB presents Do You Need the Money You’re Investing? posted at Investing Money, saying, “Your need for the money that you are investing will influence how you invest the money.

Whitney presents Retirement Software posted at Retirement Savings, saying, “Build up your investment portfolio, and weather potential financial risk and misfortune across your lifetime.”

Jamie presents How I Invest for Retirement posted at Financial Footsteps, saying, ” See how I allocate my portfolio and why I do not own any bond funds.

Knowles presents S&P 500 Funds posted at Large Cap Index Funds, saying, “The Schwab S & P 500 Index Fund tracks the S and P 500 stock index and is one of the top 25 lowest cost index mutual funds.”

MMD @ My Money Design writes Social Security Spousal Benefits – Hook Me Up Elderly Sugar Momma! – Being married may not only entitle you to Social Security spousal benefits, but there’s a strategy that you could use to really maximize your benefits to full potential!

Savings

Corey presents How to Have Fun For Cheap posted at Steadfast Finances, saying, “Enjoying your free time does not have to break the bank. Find out how to have fun for cheap!

Freedom presents Saving Rates posted at Financial Freedom Plan  saying, “How your retirement withdrawal rate would affect all of  your retirement assets.”

Taxes

John presents Why are Small Businesses Still Paying for the War of 1812? posted at Wallet Blog, saying, “Earning is an important factor in obtaining money to invest – When 75% of business in the US economy are Small Businesses, you would think that ridiculous tax burdens wouldn’t be imposed by local municipalities. But that just isn’t so. Take a look at one of the factors that drives out small business and hinders job creation.

Paul presents Retirement Tax Planning posted at Tax Software, saying, “Retirement planning software should automate projections of traditional IRA, Roth, 401k, 403b, SEP, Keogh, and other retirement plans.”

Other

CAPI @ Creating a Passive Income writes Passive Income: The Secret of Making Money While you Sleep – Passive income is often the way to create income while you sleep. Find out several ways you can do it.

Aloysa @ My Broken Coin writes What I Wish I Knew About Life and Finances In My 20s – If we could turn back time, I wish I could go back to when I was 20 and do it again! Read my thoughts!

Daniel @ Sweating the Big Stuff writes Why Doesn’t Homeowners Insurance Cover Floods? – There are a lot of reasons why people can’t buy a home. In addition to the usual reasons, we can now add the high cost of homeowners insurance.

Suba @ Broke Professionals writes The Psychology of Saving – The Psychology of Saving is a post from: Broke Professionals if you enjoy it, please visit us and subscribe to the Feed. Saving is hard, especially when you don’t have much discretionary income. Saving over years and years is harder still. People do get saver’s fatigue.

Rod @ ROD Blog writes PerkStreet Financial checking account review – PerkStreet Financial Review : Is it a good alternative to the local big banks? Today there is no shortage to the amount of checking accounts out there to choose from and many of them don’t have any distinguishing features to set them apart from the competition. Once you eliminate the accounts that carry a fee,…

Amanda L Grossman @ Frugal Confessions writes Waste Not Want Not: Leftover Orange, Lemon, and Lime Peels – I studied abroad in London for a semester in college.

MR @ Money Reasons writes Saving Money Repairing Your Own Dryer – Instead of spending well over $1,000, I decided to saving money and DIY! Read and watch how repairing your own dryer can be accomplished for 9 dollars

YFS @ Your Finances Simplified writes How to Save For A Child’s Higher Education – According to an article posted in CNBC.com, the cost for an academic year from 2010-2011 is approximately $56,500 including tuition plus room and board.

Jester @ The Ultimate Juggle writes Are car parks really businesses? – As part of an initiative to promote retail, some parking fees are being waived in the West End this weekend. The beginning of the Olympics saw a drop in footfall in central London areas which retailers believe may be due to repeated warnings about traffic congestion and overextended transport hubs.

A Blinkin @ Funancials writes Buying a Car Won’t Help You Reach Your Dreams – I was flipping through the pages of Money Magazine when an advertisement caught my eye. The ad was promoting the All-New 31 MPG Highway 2013 Honda CRV. To soccer moms all over the world, this car is hella cool.It’s also hella expensive.My problem isn’t with the car itself, but instead with the Money Magazine advertisement.

 

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Carnival of Financial Planning using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Linkstuff – Pinery Provincial Park Edition

Welcome back!  Hope everyone had a good summer. I know I did.

One of the great things we did this summer was camping.  We only only did one weekend doing tent camping, and the rest were in a Yurt or a Cabin which is a new feature in some Ontario provincial parks.  Basically it’s a cabin without running water.  It makes it a lot easier to pack and set things up which means we are far more likely to go.

This summer we spent four weekends “camping” at various provincial parks and I can assure you that if we were tenting for all of those weekends, at least half of them wouldn’t have happened.

Our last camping trip was to Pinery Provincial Park, which is located on the shores of Lake Huron near Grand Bend, ON.  This park is quite huge and features absolutely no privacy on the campsites, however the fantastic beach made up for it.  The weather was nice, the sand was great and the water was warm, so it was hard to complain about anything.

After leaving Pinery, we made a short stop in nearby Port Franks, Ontario where my grandmother used to live.  I have memories of her place from when I was a child and I thought it would be neat to try to find her old house.  My dad gave me directions which were out of date, since there was a new road in the area.  I found one house that was a possibility and talked to the owner who directed me to his neighbour.  The neighbour was 80 years old and apparently knew every resident who had ever lived in Port Franks.  I told him my Grandmother’s name and not only did he remember her and was able to direct me to her house – he also told me an amusing story about once seeing her trying to walk a dachshund dog and five pups (she used to raise them).

Her small cottage wasn’t there anymore and had been replaced by a large house.  I think the lot was the same size, but I didn’t recognize anything.  Nonetheless, it was interesting to return to the area where she had lived.

Globe & Mail mentions

I did an interview with Roma Luciw of the Globe & Mail recently and two articles came out of it:

Roma & I both have young kids and after chatting about the summer, it turned out that she was at the Pinery park camping on the same weekend we were.  Too bad we didn’t run into each other, we could have done the interview on the beach.

Best article of the last little while

Girls Just Want to Have Funds wrote a great piece called Are you treating your business like a hobby?  Don’t expect to get paid. It’s a funny article related to running a small business and even if you aren’t interested in the topic – it contains the best hooker analogy ever.  I loved this article

On with the articles

Mike Piper answers the question – Is 100% stocks ok for a retirement portfolio?

Miranda lists 30 ways to make more money over at Financial Highway.

Dan Bortolotti answers a good question about ETF trading liquidity.  A good read if you are thinking of buying an ETF with a low trading volume.

Boomer & Echo has 4 investing mistakes to avoid.  Send this one to a friend.

Steve L wrote a pretty good article about not listening to the media for investment advice.  His message is that bad news sells.

 

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Carnival of Financial Planning – Edition #247

Best Personal Financial Planning and Personal Investment Articles this Week from Personal Finance Blogs

Welcome to the July 27, 2012 Edition #247 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

Young presents Starting Your Career Rurally posted at Young And Thrifty , saying, “Starting Your Career Rurally can give you an edge over people living in the cities, we’ll show you why. ”

Charles presents The Rise of Digital Currencies posted at Wallet Hub , saying, “Is digital currency where we are heading? Take a tantalizing glimpse at a cashless future! ”

Janet presents Expense budgets posted at Independent Financial Planner , saying, ” Many people do not track their living expenses and do not understand the magnitude of their consumption.”

Suba presents The Hidden Costs of My Husband’s New Job posted at Broke Professionals , saying, “My husband’s new job has come with some major hidden costs. Here’s what we’re doing to attempt to deflect his job’s negative impact on our bottom line. ”

Financial Planning

Hank presents Five Professional Athletes Who Are Struggling Financially posted at Money Q&A , saying, “I always find it so interesting to see some of the inner workings of professional athletes and famous people’s finances. Below are five professional athletes who filed bankruptcy. ”

Aloysa presents My Top 10 Worst Shopping Mistakes posted at My Broken Coin , saying, “Read these top 10 worst shopping mistakes! Do you do the same ones? ”

Jeremy presents Does Everyone Need An Emergency Fund? posted at Modest Money , saying, “I just cannot wrap my head around the concept that apparently everyone should tie up a large sum of money in a low interest savings account. While it does make sense for people with debt problems, it just does not seem logical for anyone with decent credit. In such cases a small emergency fund should be adequate. ”

Marie at Family Money Values presents Considerations When Starting a Family Business posted at Family Money Values , saying, “If you and your spouse are thinking about starting up a website together; or if you and your grown children are wanting to work together to buy and manage real estate; or, in fact, if you want to involve your family or close friends in any business venture; know that family owned businesses can have special problems. If they aren’t addressed, you stand to ruin family relationships in addition to suffering business losses. Here are tips on things to consider when starting a family business. ”

Amanda L Grossman presents My Family’s Circle of Savings posted at Frugal Confessions , saying, “I try to imagine the looks on the faces of Transportation Security Administration Inspectors when they x-ray my bag full of liquids, perishables, drugs ”

Luke presents How to Predict Inflation and Deflation posted at Learn Bonds , saying, “Inflation is something that market participants care a lot about. How exactly do you go about predicting inflation? Learn here. ”

PFP presents Tax Management  posted at Pasadena Financial Advisor , saying, ” You should also consider how to “locate” your investment asset allocation with respect to more optimal taxation.”

Daisy presents Handling Mistakes at Work posted at Add Vodka , saying, “When I first started in internship #1, I was so excited to get a little bit of real world experience in my field. ”

Invest It Wisely presents How Hard is It to Become a Freelancer? posted at Invest It Wisely , saying, “Do you find that the world is becoming a little bit more entrepreneurial, these days? Read my experiences and see if you agree! ”

A Blinkin presents Your Obsession With FREE posted at Funancials , saying, “Are you drawn to things that are BOGO buy one get one free? Im guessing you are. We all are. The sound of FREE is music to our ears. Why? Because its not only free, its RISK FREE. The majority of us are such sissies that we would rather -not lose- than -win- ”

Income

Liana presents Does Unemployment Damage Your Credit? posted at Card Hub , saying, “Does being unemployed damage your credit score? Perhaps not in-and-of itself, but the side effects of unemployment can. It’s important to understand what can hurt your credit while you’re out of work and how to prevent any damage. ”

PITR presents Why Blogging is a Respectable Business posted at Passive Income To Retire , saying, “Find out why blogging is a respectable business model and why it aligns with the future of online usage. ”

Lance presents Passive Income: Not As Passive As You Think posted at Money Life & More , saying, “If there is one topic personal finance bloggers absolutely love it is passive income. According to wikipedia, “Passive income is an income received on a regular basis, with little effort required to maintain it.” There are two key phrases in this definition that will help you define what passive income is to you. ”

Insurance and Risk

FMF presents Shopping for Insurance posted at Free Money Finance , saying, “Since “regularly shopping for insurance was #31 on my list of the 52 best money saving tips, I thought I’d follow my own advice and compare our current insurance costs to those offered by other companies. ”

Sally presents Risk and returns posted at Do-It-Yourself Finance , saying, ” More conservative portfolio investments have yielded substantially lower investment returns than the returns that riskier investments have delivered. With either lower or higher risk-adjusted market return strategies, you simply cannot have your financial cake and you eat it too.”

Investing

Jon the Saver presents Should You Invest with Less the $5,000? posted at Free Money Wisdom , saying, “If you have a small amount of money, should I invest on a regular basis? Let’s answer this question together and start multiplying our money! ”

Kelly presents Investment risk tolerance posted at Investment Risk, saying, ” Individual investors with different levels of investment risk tolerance for financial risks tend to be more satisfied with risk management strategies, which are better aligned with their financial risk and return profile.”

J.P. presents How Often Should You Do An Investment Review? posted at Novel Investor , saying, “Tracking your investments is more than glancing at those monthly statements. A regular investment review needs to be done. ”

Willie presents Superior Fund Performance posted at NoLoad Funds , saying, ” Screen out inferior mutual fund performance — but only after using other ETF and mutual fund selection criteria. Superior or even average mutual fund performance in the past simply does not predict similar fund performance in the future.”

Dividend Growth Investor presents Casey’s (CASY) Dividend Stock Analysis posted at Dividend Growth Investor , saying, “Currently, Casey’s is attractively valued at 18.70 times earnings, and has an adequately covered dividend. I do realize that some of the great growth stories end up yielding little, but could more than compensate for that through strong total returns over time. Companies like Casey’s have the potential to be a multibagger over the next few years. ”

Managing Debt

Joe Morgan presents Is Paying Off Your Mortgage Early A Good Thing Or Bad Thing? posted at Simple Debt-Free Finance, saying, “Paying off your mortgage early is a hotly debated topic in personal finance circles. Proponents of “debt free” living say it’s a no brainer, while financial “experts” often say it’s a bad move and indicates people are thinking about money in the wrong way. So who is right? Read more to see both arguments.” 

Ben Feldman presents Can The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act Help You? posted at ReadyForZero Blog , saying, “The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 is a little known law that can save you a lot of money if you’ve been involved in a foreclosure or a short sale recently (or will be soon). This post will help you understand how it works. ”

Teacher Man presents Student Lines of Credit posted at My University Money , saying, “Student lines of credit are great to have because of the insanely low interest rates. We’ll show you why these are superior to most loans. ”

Sustainable PF presents Do Parents Have To Help? posted at Sustainable Personal Finance , saying, “Just how far should parents go to ensure their children have reduced debt burden after they graduate? ”

Real Estate

Crystal presents Life is Too Short to Spend Time Ironing Sheets posted at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff , saying, “Here is the list of things that I refuse to waste time on since they do not give me enough satisfaction to justify the time spent. Life is too short. ”

Jen presents We’re Buying Our First House! posted at Master the Art of Saving , saying, “Around a month ago, my husband came to me and said that we really need to buy a house right away. Scary! I’m the one who handles the budget and all the money. ”

YFS presents How I Almost Got Cheated out of 650 bucks posted at Your Finances Simplified , saying, “So as you all may know we recently purchased our 3 rental property. I did a lot of talking about in the following posts. ”

Retirement

David John Marotta presents Fund a Teenager’s Million-Dollar Retirement posted at Marotta On Money , saying, “We teach teenagers a lot more about sexuality than we do about money. This can confuse them about what they should be learning. Give this article to a teenager and encourage him or her to start a Roth IRA. ”

Brock presents Retirement Spreadsheet 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.”

Pierre presents What If…We Were Months Away From The Next Depression…. posted at Intelligent Speculator , saying, “Are we on the verge of something worse? ”

Emily presents If I Were My Financial Advisor, What Would I Tell Me? posted at Evolving Personal Finance, saying, “I ask myself: If I were my financial advisor, what would I tell me? I take a look at the uglier aspects of our financial situation to which we have become inured”

Savings

SFB presents What is Offshore Savings? posted at Simple Finance Blog , saying, “Offshore savings is an aspect of offshore banking that focuses on just savings accounts. This is a popular option for many people looking to diversify where their cash is held, but don’t necessarily need the full features of an offshore bank. Having an account offshore can offer diversity that being in a single country cannot. ”

Freedom presents Savings Rates posted at Financial Freedom Plan , saying, ” Understand how your current savings rate and retirement withdrawal rate would affect all of  your retirement assets.”

Taxes

FMF presents Are Investment Management Fees Tax Deductible? posted at Free Money Finance , saying, “I often get asked, “Are investment management fees tax deductible? The answer is not a simple “yes or “no. Like many tax questions, the answer is “It depends.”

Monroe presents Roth Conversions posted at Do-It-Yourself Finance , saying, “Key to you making a better decision about your lifetime Roth account contribution and asset conversion strategy is the need for a sophisticated financial planning software tool.”

Steve presents A Look At Free 2012 Tax Filing Opportunities posted at 2012 Taxes , saying, “There is not much that people can get for free these days. Hardly anyone would think of ‘free’ and ‘taxes’ in the same sentence either. Still, it turns out there are free 2012 tax filing opportunities. ”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of Carnival of Financial Planning using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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LinkStuff – Good Samaritan Edition

Every once in a while I like to highlight something positive that someone has done.  Last year I wrote about the nice guy who didn’t get mad when my son ran a shopping cart into his car at Canadian Tire and now I have another story.

This week, I tried out a new pannier (bike bag) in which I can carry various things, such as lunch, to and from work.  The pannier attaches to a rack which is installed over the rear wheel of my bike.  It worked great on my commute to work, but when I got home from work, I noticed a problem – the bag was gone. 

It was on the bike when I left work, but fell off somewhere along the way home.  This was a problem – I had a brand new lock in the bag, my keys and two movies which I had gotten from the library.  The lock was about $100, the car key would have been expensive to replace and I suspect replacing two library DVDs wouldn’t be cheap either.

I rode back to work on the same route, but didn’t see the bag anywhere.  Fortunately, I checked my phone and my wife had called to say that some nice fellow cyclist had picked up the bag and dropped it off at a nearby library.  Because of the movies, the librarian was able to determine who the bag belonged to and called my house.  I picked up the bag right away, so it was only out of my possession for about 45 minutes.

So thanks a lot to the nice lady who recovered my bike bag – you saved me a lot of money and hassle.

On with the links

Americans have enjoyed depositing their checks by taking a picture with their smart phone and emailing the photo to their bank.  Now Canadians will be able to enjoy this as well.  I can’t wait.

 SheBloggs had an interesting story about how some people are snobs when it comes to starting their own business.  One thing the article doesn’t point out is that if you have a bit of cash flow, you can start a business without doing any of the grunt work yourself.

 The Oblivious Investor has the perfect investment philosophy when he says A “Good Enough” portfolio really is good enough.

Michael James nails an investment “guru” for his poor investment advice.

Boomer & Echo had an interesting comment on Home Equity Line of Credit – Friend or Foe? I call my HELOC a good friend.

Canadian Mortgage Trends highlighted the absurd scenario where the Finance Minister is telling big banks to raise their rates.

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Carnival of Financial Planning 04-06-2012

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
to the next edition of Carnival of Financial Planning
using our carnival submission form. Past
posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

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Categories
Announcements

LinkStuff – Model Train Show Edition

Recently, I took my family to the Model Railroad Club of Toronto show.  If you ever get a chance to attend this show or something similar in your city, I strongly urge you to do so.

I’m not really into model trains myself, but the club has been working on their display since 1938 and it is quite impressive.  The kids enjoyed it as well.  I kept a sharp eye out for the Swayze Express, but unfortunately did not see it.

Of course, part of me was wondering what amazing things this group could accomplish if they spent their time doing something useful.  😉  I’m kidding of course – it was amazing.

Here’s an article with pictures and a review from the show.

On with the links

David Olive from the Star wrote an interesting article stating that Warren Buffet is irrelevant.

I think Frugal Trader is pondering a Tim Horton’s franchise.  Some interesting franchise information in the post and comments.

Financial Highway looks at six fun jobs that pay well. Some great ideas if you’re looking for a career change!

A rather amusing description of a librarians’ union rally.  I’m staying clear of all picket lines – you never know what will set off those librarian goons.  😉

Today is the last day to get a free Kindle version of Mike Piper’s Investing Made Simple.  The paper book is only $5.  And no, you don’t need a Kindle to read it on your PC.  You can see my review of Mike’s book (the first edition).

Categories
Announcements

LinkStuff – Valentine’s Day Edition

In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, I thought I would share this true love story:

My daughter (age 3) tells me every day: “Daddy, I love you.  I don’t love you as much as I love Mommy, but I still love you a lot”. 

I’m thinking an appropriate response might be “Honey, I love you.  I don’t love you as much as your brother, but I still love you a lot”.  😉

On with the links

Morris Rosenthal wrote a smirk-tastic article.  Are you an over-smirker?

Boomer & Echo says that the first time home buyer must choose between a HBP or TFSA.

Canadian Capitalist warns that investing in magazine stock picks is a bad idea.

Ever wonder if those public marriage proposals ever end in failure? This article has some examples. The last story is the funniest.

Michael James discloses that the choice between TFSA or RRSP depends on your personality.

The Oblivious Investor writes Vanguard spotlights simplicity.