Free Money Finance March Madness, Round 1, Posts 97-112

We're continuing with the first round of Free Money Finance March Madness (if you wonder what's going on in these posts, see my article announcing March Madness and/or click on my March Madness category link and scroll down to read all the posts involved in this subject.) I've listed each "game" (one post versus another) in segments along with the wording provided by the author when the post was submitted. Be sure to comment which one you like the best out of each set of two as commenters have the chance to win a free book. Here we go:

GAME 49

• Financial Security - Financial security is something that people relate to retirement, investing, and wealth. For me, financial security is insuring that my money is protected from hackers, thieves, and overall bad people. We’ve taken a multitude of steps to defend our financial information. With identity theft on the rise, I feel that securing your finances is a critical component in insuring your financial security. Therefore, I’ve listed some of the main things we done thus far.

VERSUS

• I am getting a credit card - Crossing over to credit card usage. After 5 years of only relying on my debit card, I have decided to venture out into the exciting and enticing world of credit cards (but responsibly, I promise).

GAME 50

• Bye

VERSUS

• 10 Ways to Cut Your Restaurant Bill Big Time - I love to eat out but I hate to spend money. The cost of a lunch here and a dinner there can add up quickly. Now with these tips you can grow your net worth and eat out too.

GAME 51

• Sharp Minds Love the Sharpe Ratio - Even novice investors know that the key to picking a good investment is to balance risk vs. reward and the Sharpe Ratio lets us do that.  Many people have never even heard of the Sharpe Ratio and those that have don't know how to use it.  This post gives a theoretical and practical explanation of the Sharpe Ratio and how you can use this simple ratio to make the right investment decision that rewards you in the best way for taking a risk.

VERSUS

• The True Cost of Owning a Home - Not a true devil's advocate post, but certainly a biased look at home ownership and many of the costs that are ignored when someone says that buying a home is no brainer decision.

GAME 52

• Sixteen ways being disorganized costs you money - Organized folks stand a better chance of achieving a healthy financial life than disorganized folks.  Here are sixteen reasons why.

VERSUS

• Estate Planning - Everyone needs to plan for their untimely demise, so as to make sure their wishes happen posthumously.

GAME 53

• Alternative Income Streams and Progress - This introduces the concept of continuously updating your alternative income (much like net worth) every month. There are a few bloggers who do it, but it's usually quarterly. The concept of reminding yourself about your alternative income each month is extremely valuable.

VERSUS

• Towards a Better Financial Future (Even If You Don't Have a Penny to Save) - What if someone is in a temporary situation where their income does not allow any room for savings? What can they do to ensure a better financial future? What lessons would you share with them based on your personal experiences?

GAME 54

• Applied Materials is Trying to Get Us Drunk - Listening to conference calls can be boring, and the prospect of finding a good investment nugget is often dim. Sometimes, you just need to have a little fun with them.

VERSUS

• Buyers Who Don't Want A Buyer's Agent - This one is about one of the most common mistakes home buyers make, not engaging a buyers agent to work on their behalf.  Mostly, it's due to not understanding the way things really work.  Difference it can make in the value you get: multiple tens of thousands of dollars on the immediate scale, and a whole lot of heartache later.

GAME 55

• Ten Ways Anyone Can Go to College With Zero Student Loans - I was inspired to write this one after seeing so many of my friends burdened with student loans even into their 30s. This is one of my best articles because people who follow its advice could stand to save themselves tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loan payments and interest.

VERSUS

• Kids and Money - Are you trying to teach your children about money?  This is the super-simple system that I use to teach my kids about money and money management.

GAME 56

• Automatic Savings Plan - This cinderella post of the FMF March Madness Tournament starts the first half of the game with the basics of opening an online savings account. The halftime entertainment is an explanation of creating an automatic savings plan.  As the game winds down, I challenge you to increase your recurring deposit until the game ends with a buzzer-beater and you steal the victory.

VERSUS

• My Financial Journey's Pimp Ride - How I roll and my feelings towards vehicles.  I personally like to diversify my vehicle expenses and never like to invest too much money into a car at one time.  If something major were to go wrong I would just cut my losses and buy another one (how's that for low maintenance costs).  This philosophy has allowed me to easily save tens of thousands of more dollars for retirement versus spending that money on new fancy cars that in a few years would worth a fraction of the price you would have bought them for.  There isn't a whole lot of depreciation with a car like mine.

Comments

[Nick]

49. Financial Security
50. 10 Ways to Cut Your Restaurant Bill Big Time
51. Sharp Minds Love the Sharpe Ratio
52. Sixteen ways being disorganized costs you money
53. Alternative Income Streams and Progress
54. Buyers Who Don't Want A Buyer's Agent
55. Ten Ways Anyone Can Go to College With Zero Student Loans
56. My Financial Journey's Pimp Ride

[Jo]

49) Financial Security--Good Advice
50) Bye
51) True Cost-this was great, many of us don't think of all the extras
52) 16 Ways-I printed this one out!!
53) Towards a Better Financial Future
54) Tie (Sorry really can't decide)
55) Kids and Money-Good advice and ideas. I didn't totally agree with everything in the other one.
56) Pimp Ride (This was a really hard one, both were really great! But Pimp Ride had some more original ideas than the other.)

[LivingAlmostLarge]

49. Financial Security
50. 10 ways to cut your eating out bill (bye)
51. True cost of home ownership
52. Estate planning
53. Towards a better financial future
54. Buyer's who don't want a buyer's agent
55. College with Zero Student Loans
56. My Financial's journey pimp ride

[NCN]

49... Financial security
51... True Cost
52... 16 Ways
53... Alternative Income
54... Buyers
55... Kids and Money
56... Automatic

[Dan Melson]

My votes
51: Sharp Minds Love the Sharpe Ratio
54: Buyers Who Don't Want A Buyer's Agent
55: Ten Ways Anyone Can Go to College With Zero Student Loans

[Pete]

51 True costs
52 16 ways
53 towards a better financial future
55 10 ways
56 My financial journey

[Ray]

49. Financial Security
50. 10 ways to cut your eating out bill (bye)
51. Sharpe Ratio
52. Estate planning
53. Towards a better financial future
54. Buyer's who don't want a buyer's agent
55. College with Zero Student Loans
56. My Financial's journey pimp ride

[salty]

49. Financial Security
50. 10 ways to cut your eating out bill (bye)
51. Sharpe Minds
52. Estate planning
53. Alternative Income
54. AMAT
55. College with Zero Student Loans
56. Auto Save