Free Money Finance March Madness, Round 1, Posts 17-32

Here we go 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 9

• Tips for choosing and using frequent flyer programs - Here are a dozen ways to make the most of your flying with frequent flyer programs.  From choosing the right airlines to using your rewards wisely, this post will start you on the right path if you're new to frequent flying, and give you food for thought even if you've been flying and earning for a long time.

VERSUS

• Throw Away your 401K - I came to the realization that limited investment choices, unclear administration fees, taxation as regular income instead of dividends, and early withdrawal penalties hurt the overall effectiveness of a 401k plan.

GAME 10

• Electric Orange — ING's Paperless Checking Account - I think this is probably the first couple of reviews of ING's Electric Orange account (Google "Electric Orange" and this post will be the first one on the list of returns).

VERSUS

• Make Multiple Debt Payments Every Month - I used this technique to get out of debt.  Don't be afraid to make multiple payments to a single account!

GAME 11

• Wisdom from Tao – “Chase After Money and Security and Your Heart Will Never Unclench” - Some of the financial advice out there focuses on the dollars and cents, yet forgets about the type of life we want to live.  The advice tells us that by saving for retirement we can live a stress-free in our retirement years.  However, we can lose our focus on what really brings us happiness if we end up chasing after every dollar and cent to secure our retirement. Thus, learn how to set up a financial plan where you can then step back and enjoy life.

VERSUS

• Ten unconventional uses for the penny - Now that pennies are illegal to melt, you may as well find ways to use them.  Need a fuse replaced?

GAME 12

• Counter-Intuitive - A good part of Intuit's business is TurboTax - so the company should do well during tax season, right? Yes and no. Historically the company has its best seasonality then, but the stock works just the opposite. Knowing when to buy and sell this stock is important.

VERSUS

• Understanding Your Financial Fortress - A fun post chock full of pictures in which I draw the analogy of your personal finances into that of a financial fortress, complete with a moat, high tower, and castle walls. It's a unique way of looking at your finances and hopefully one in that resonates with anyone regardless of their financial situation.

GAME 13

• Is life passing me by - This is just a query as to why I'm doing what I'm doing and if it's the right thing to do.  I don't know if all this frugalness is worth the sacrifice or if I'm going overboard.

VERSUS

• Powerless Without Plastic? - A power outage makes me wonder, are we powerless without plastic? Think of all the ways we're dependent on electronic transfers of money.

GAME 14

• Financial Planning is Life Planning - I have always been smug with my assumption that a sophisticated finance professional will take care of all my wealth creation needs. But the day my over friendly and over smart advisor came, I was more confused when he left than when he had entered!! He talked about sophisticated jargons, terms, options, technology, software, analysis and at the end of it asked me to decide on my own risk appetite. To be fair to my financial advisor, he helped me understand that one must take responsibility for oneself. In the process I have learnt that Financial Planning is Life Planning.

VERSUS

• 7 Steps That Made Me Debt-Free - A balanced post that is informative while at the same time sums up our personal efforts to become debt-free.

GAME 15

• Bye

VERSUS

• Why There Is Money in Fixer Properties - This post shows the cost of making home buying decisions emotionally, by going over the differences in price and expense between making the emotional decision to buy the beautiful home, versus buying one that is basically solid.  Difference: Often over a hundred thousand dollars. The difference in payments on the loan is plenty for you to afford the work yourself.

GAME 16

• Ten Simple Ways to Cover Your Ass(ets) - Saving and investing are only part of the equation... You also have to protect the wealth that you've managed to amass, no matter how much or little that may be.

VERSUS

• Marry for Love. And Money. And Some Other Stuff - Telling people to marry for money? What could I be thinking? It might be the sign of an unhealthy relationship, but marrying someone who is as financially savvy and sound as yourself is a key to making a marriage work. This is one of my best posts because it could save a lot of people who think they're right together from unhappy endings.

Comments

[Henry]

Here are my votes:
9. Throw Away your 401K
10. Make Multiple Debt Payments Every Month
11. Ten unconventional uses for the penny
12. Understanding Your Financial Fortress
13. Powerless Without Plastic?
14. 7 Steps That Made Me Debt-Free
15. Why There Is Money in Fixer Properties
16. Marry for Love. And Money. And Some Other Stuff

9. Tips for choosing frequent flyer
10. Multiple payments
11. bye- I am a little biased towards my article - Wisdom of Tao
12. Understand your financial fortress
13. Powerless without plastic
14. life planning
15. Bye
16. 10 ways to cover your assets

[Sun]

9. Tips for choosing frequent flyer
10. Electric Orange — ING's Paperless Checking Account (I guess I am supposed to vote for myself :D)
11. Ten unconventional uses for the penny
12. Counter-Intuitive
13.
14. Financial Planning is Life Planning
15. Why There Is Money in Fixer Properties
16. Ten Simple Ways to Cover Your Ass(ets)

[Elizabeth]

9. Tips for choosing and using frequent flyer programs
10. Make Multiple Debt Payments Every Month
11. Wisdom from Tao – “Chase After Money and Security and Your Heart Will Never Unclench”
12. Understanding Your Financial Fortress
13. Is life passing me by
14. 7 Steps That Made Me Debt-Free
15. Why There Is Money in Fixer Properties
16. Ten Simple Ways to Cover Your Ass(ets)

[Nick]

9. Throw Away your 401K
10. Make Multiple Debt Payments Every Month
11. Ten unconventional uses for the penny
12. Understanding Your Financial Fortress
13. Powerless Without Plastic?
14. 7 Steps That Made Me Debt-Free
15. Why There Is Money in Fixer Properties (bye)
16. Marry for Love. And Money. And Some Other Stuff

[raising4boys.com]

GAME 9 Throw Away your 401K

GAME 10 Make Multiple Debt Payments Every Month

GAME 11 Ten unconventional uses for the penny

GAME 12 Understanding Your Financial Fortress

GAME 13 Powerless Without Plastic?

GAME 14 Financial Planning is Life Planning

GAME 15 -bye-

GAME 16 Ten Simple Ways to Cover Your Ass(ets)

[NCN]

Game 9... Throw Away 401K
Game 10... Multiple Payments
Game 11... Penny
Game 12... Fortress
Game 13... Life Passing
Game 14... 7 Steps
Game 15... Bye
Game 16... Ten Simple

[Jeremy]

9. Throw Away your 401K
10. Make Multiple Debt Payments Every Month
11. Wisdom from Tao
12. Understanding Your Financial Fortress
13. Powerless Without Plastic?
14. 7 Steps That Made Me Debt-Free
15. Why There Is Money in Fixer Properties
16. Marry for Love. And Money. And Some Other Stuff

[Dan Melson]

9 Tips for choosing and using frequent flyer programs
10. Make Multiple Debt Payments Every Month
12. Understanding Your Financial Fortress
14. 7 Steps That Made Me Debt-Free
16. Ten Simple Ways to Cover Your Ass(ets)

one bye (thanks) two no preference.

I assume this means you aren't taking anymore entries! I thought I had until the 1st. Procrastination got me! :) My votes this round
9. Frequent Flyer
10. Multiple Debt Payments
11. Wisdom from Tao
12 Financial Fortress
13 Powerless
14 Bye
15 Marry for Love

[FMF]

Yep, sorry. I posted a couple of times about the date change -- you must have missed those.

[Madame X]

9- Frequent Flyer
10- Multiple Debt Payments
11- Wisdom from Tao
13- powerless without plastic

a few votes from me... not sure if you ever got any of my submission emails? I got 3 bounceback messages, which yahoo takes forever to deliver...

[Jo]

9) Frequent Flyer
10) Make Multipayments (I do!!)
11) Wisdom from Tao-very wise article!!
12) Financial Fortress
13) Is Life Passing me by?
14) Seven Steps-good advice
15) Bye
16) Ten Simple Steps-Simple and easy to follow always good!

[bluntmoney]

Here are my votes:
9. Tips for choosing and using frequent flyer programs - because I've always wondered about the mysteries of those programs, and this post offered some good ideas.
10. Make Multiple Debt Payments Every Month - love this idea.
11. Wisdom from Tao - very...wise :)
12. Understanding Your Financial Fortress (is that Cinderella's Castle as the high tower?)
13. Powerless Without Plastic (gotta pick my own entry)
14. 7 Steps That Made Me Debt-Free - clear & concise.
15. Why There Is Money in Fixer Properties
16. Marry for Love. And Money. And Some Other Stuff (this was a close one, but I went with this one because it was funny)

[Super Saver]

Here are my votes:

9. Tips
10. Orange
11. Tao
12. Counter-Intuitive
13. Plastic
14. Life Planning
15. Fixer Upper
16. Cover Assets

[LivingAlmostLarge]

9. Frequent Flier
10. Electric Orange
11. Wisdom from Tao
12. Financial Fortress
13. is life passing me by - bias
14. Financial planning, life planning
15. bye
16. Marry for Love

[Lazy Man and Money]

9. Throw Away your 401K
10. ING Orange
11. Pennies = fun!
12. Financial Fortress
13. Life passing me by
14. Seven steps to debt freedom
15. Bye
16. Cover your assets

[My New Choice]

Game 9: Throw Away your 401K
Game 10: Electric Orange — ING's Paperless Checking Account
Game 11: Ten unconventional uses for the penny
Game 12: Understanding Your Financial Fortress
Game 13: Is life passing me by
Game 14: 7 Steps That Made Me Debt-Free
Game 15: Why There Is Money in Fixer Properties
Game 16: Ten Simple Ways to Cover Your Ass(ets)

[Liz J]

9 Tips
10 Make multiple debt payments
11 Ten unconvential uses for a penny
12 Understanding your financial fortress
13 Powerless without Plastic?
14 7 Steps
15 bye
16 Ten simple ways

[Liz J]

9 Tips
10 Make multiple debt payments
11 Ten unconvential uses for a penny
12 Understanding your financial fortress
13 Powerless without Plastic?
14 7 Steps
15 bye
16 Ten simple ways

[FMF]

Madame X --

I received your email (late) and responded. Maybe my email didn't make it through?