Carnival of Financial Planning

Welcome to Edition #103 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

Madison presents Manage Your Budget by Tracking Your Spending posted at My Dollar Plan, saying, "A terrific budget worksheet to help you track your spending."

Chris presents Energy efficient house to cut your power bills - ceiling insulation for free posted at Home I Own, saying, "Nothing helps a budget like free stuff - get your house insulated for free, and save on bills."

Susan Saverton presents Living Expense Tracking posted at Family Financial Planner, saying, "If you do not understand how much you spend and how much you are saving and investing, you simply do not have a financial plan. This situation dramatically increases your family’s long-term financial risk."

The Smarter Wallet presents YNAB (You Need A Budget) Review, Financial Budgeting Software posted at The Smarter Wallet, saying, "Here's a popular budgeting tool that has great features that assist in reducing your debt."

Dorian Wales presents The Personal Financier: Personal Finance Management: Budget vs. Net Worth posted at The Personal Financier, saying, "While it may be recommended to manage both a budget and net-worth sometimes focus leads to better results."

KCLau presents Thoughtless Spending posted at KCLau's Money Tips, saying, "I was surfing the web recently and an article in Yahoo finance caught my attention. The article emphasizes the need to curb spending on the miscellaneous things in daily life."

Economics

Roshawn Watson presents Have We Stopped Saving Already? posted at Watson Inc, saying, "If this frugality was just a side effect of fear over the decimated economy, will it last now that people are beginning to use that other r-word: recovery?"

Super Saver presents Expecting Another Bubble posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, "Low interest rates are bound to create another bubble. Hopefully, by expecting one, I can protect our savings better that during the housing and financial crash."

Banker Saver presents Living With Low Interest Rates and Poor Investment Performance posted at Banker Saver, saying, "on the economy"

Dorian Wales presents On Causality and Correlation in Economics posted at The Personal Financier, saying, "Causality is perhaps the most fundamental element of empirical evidence available to economists. However, it is also the source of many misconceptions due to its elusive nature."

Roshawn Watson presents The Rich Get Poorer posted at Watson Inc, saying, "The implications of this recent recession have been far-reaching enough to put a big dent in American and world wealth. Both the magnitude of wealth and the number of millionaires decreased profoundly in 2008."

Estate Planning

Jeff Rose presents Taking Care of an Elderly Parent posted at Jeff Rose, saying, "Find of what you need to do when you have to become the parent of your parents."

Financial Planning

CPF presents Will Social Security be around when we retire? posted at Money in the Bible | Christian Personal Finance Blog, saying, "The SSA admits that Social Security will be depleted by 2041..."

jim presents FICO Risk Factor Reason Codes posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

Tom Drake presents How Much Do You Need To Retire? The Rule Of 20 | The Canadian Finance Blog posted at The Canadian Finance Blog, saying, "While the 4% rule has become a standard quick calculation for retirement planning, there is a new rule that is similar, The Rule of 20."

Four Pillars presents Make Home Affordable Refinance Program Changes Eligibility Requirements For Easier Refinancing posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, "Making Home Affordable refinance program eases requirements."

Patrick @ Military Money presents How Much Life Insurance Do Military Members Need? posted at Military Finance Network, saying, "Military members may have different life insurance needs than civilians. Here is information regarding how much life insurance military members should buy, and some resources for finding the best life insurance deals."

KCLau presents I achieved financial freedom at 38 posted at KCLau's Money Tips, saying, "This post is contributed by WaiYin, a reader whom I admire very much because she achieved financial freedom at age 38! Here, she shares how she did it."

nissim ziv presents What Career is Right For Me? Finding the Right Career Path posted at Job Interview Guide, saying, "If you are looking for new ideas about the right career choice, this article offers some good tips on how to answer the question – what is the right career for me and how to find the right career path?"

Tyler Tervooren presents Want to Be More Green? Get Your Finances Together posted at Frugally Green, saying, "When you're just getting started on a path to sustainability, picking all the low hanging fruit is really exciting. Eventually, though, you'll want to make bigger changes in your life. Don't let your unorganized finances get in the way. Put together a plan that will empower you to spend where you know it's important."

Susan Saverton presents Personal Investing Strategies posted at Family Financial Planning, saying, "When pursuing optimal financial planning and investing strategies and controlling your costs and capital gains taxes, you also need to establish a time-efficient system to monitor, adjust, and adhere to your financial plan. You need to control and limit the time that you spend on your financial planning, and you need to focus your planning efforts on the most effective activities."

The Smarter Wallet presents How To Build Good Credit and Clean Up Bad Credit posted at The Smarter Wallet, saying, "Here's how to work on cleaning up your bad credit."

Big Cajun Man presents Mid-Year Personal Finance Check Up posted at Canadian Personal Finance Blog, saying, "Mid year is a good time to go over your plan for the year to see how well you are doing, so do it now!"

Financing a Home

Alex Fotopoulos presents When is it Smart to Refinance a Mortgage? posted at My Trader's Journal, saying, "Some key points to consider when refinancing your home."

Patrick @ Cash Money Life presents What Do You Do When You Face Possible Foreclosure? posted at Cash Money Life, saying, "What are your options when you face foreclosure?"

Financing Education

FMF presents A College Debt Nightmare posted at Free Money Finance, saying, "A warning for all those parents and students looking to borrow for college expenses."

Jody T Fransch presents Tips to Managing Student Finances posted at jody fransch.

Praveen presents Students Beware! Colleges, Tuition, Loans, and Debt - Will Education Follow the Housing Bust? posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, "Tips for students to avoid excessive loans and debt"

Income

FMF presents My Jobs, The Dream Job Turns into a Nightmare posted at Free Money Finance, saying, "The story of how my dream job turned into a nightmare, what I learned from the experience, and what lessons you can apply from it to make your career more successful."

Praveen presents Easy Ways to Generate Cash posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, "Easy ways to generate extra cash"

Investing

Darwin presents How do Stock Options Work? Trade Calls and Puts – Part 1 posted at Darwin's Finance, saying, "Everything you need to know about getting started in stock options - from income generation and protection of profits to pure speculation"

Dividends4Life presents Five Stocks Raising Their Dividends posted at Dividends Value, saying, "My grandmother once made the statement, “Everyone I know is either dead, or dying.” Everyone I knew was either getting married or having kids. Contrary to the perception from popular media, not all companies are cutting dividends, many are still raising them, and some are starting a new dividends."

Pinyo presents Which Discount Broker Is Best? posted at Moolanomy, saying, "Choosing the right broker for your investment style is an important matter. I could save you a lot of money in fees and commissions in the long-term and boost your overall returns."

ABC presents Different Types of Stock Market Indexes posted at ABCs of Investing, saying, "How different types of stock market indexes work."

FIRE Getters presents New Money Rules for Financial Security - #6. Diversification posted at FIRE Finance, saying, "One of the basic money rules about a portfolio was that it had to be diversified to reduce our risk of losses. Well all of us know that diversifying our portfolios did not stop us from losing money in the recent downturn of the stock market. What went wrong?"

Tom Escent presents Quantitative Finance posted at Nerds on Wall Street, saying, "Think of this book as sort of a Hitchhiker’s Guide to Wired Markets. There are no robots parking cars for six million years, but there are robots trading millions of shares in six milliseconds, so maybe that’s close enough."

MoneyNing presents Rental Property vs REIT posted at Money Ning, saying, "Which is best? Getting a rental property or investing in REITs? Here we weigh in."

Jae Jun presents AAPL Stock Valuation with Value Investing | Old School Value posted at Old School Value, saying, "Do you love Apple? Do you own the stock? Then find out what the intrinsic value of Apple (AAPL) is a value investor."

James Williamson presents Best Green Mutual Funds: How To Invest in Green Technology posted at Inside Mutual Funds, saying, "Green Mutual Funds are a great way to invest in both an emerging technology and in an industry that is thriving and has huge potential for the future. This article explains what green mutual funds are and how they are good for both the planet and your portfolio."

Investing Toolkit presents Stock Picking Pros and Cons: Should You Buy Individual Stocks? posted at Investing Toolkit, saying, "I cover the pros and cons of picking individual stocks."

Patrick @ Cash Money Life presents Scottrade, OptionsHouse, and tradeMONSTER Review posted at Cash Money Life, saying, "Reviews of Scottrade, OptionsHouse, and tradeMONSTER, three of the top online discount brokerage firms."

Marc Ryan presents IndependentInvestor.info - Certificates of deposit vs. preferred shares posted at IndependentInvestor.info, saying, "A popular technique for investing in certificates of deposit is by building a ladder of CD’s of different maturities. An expert on preferred shares, has just written a report which is highly critical of such an approach, and proposes instead investing in preferred shares. Is such criticism well founded, and what are the pro’s and con’s of investing in preferred shares?"

ABC presents Investment Real Return posted at ABCs of Investing, saying, "A simple explanation of investment real return."

Jimmy Atkinson presents Do Leveraged ETFs Have a Place in Client Portfolios? | ETF Database posted at ETFdb.

Dividends4Life presents Dividend Stocks: Lowering Risk By Increasing Dividends posted at Dividends Value, saying, "There is no risk-free path to accumulating wealth for a comfortable retirement. Every angle has been tried and failed. Inherently, individual stocks will carry higher risk due to the lack of diversification. You can mitigate some of this risk by selecting solid dividend paying companies."

Zach Scheidt presents Oil Inventory Report Fuels Market Rally posted at ZachStocks, saying, "Declining oil inventory sent the markets higher Wednesday. The assumption was that lower inventory was a sign of economic demand. While it appears there are some hidden details not yet priced in, several attractive energy opportunities are emerging."

Tushar Mathur presents Can't Control the Markets? Try controlling the Costs posted at Everything Finance, saying, "As 2008 proved, the financial markets are prone to unpredictable periods of turbulence. That can make investing feel a bit like a roller-coaster ride. The disappointing results that many mutual funds posted in 2008 and at the outset of 2009 may have left you feeling concerned over your financial future. You're not alone."

Larry Russell presents Best Noload Mutual Funds posted at NoLoad Mutual Funds, saying, "Taken as a whole, the vast body of investment research studies show that there really are better approaches to buying and owning mutual funds and ETFs. You do not need to frantically chase fund performance. Performance chasing simply does not work."

Frank Vertin presents Best Index Funds posted at Best Index Funds, saying, "Buying an S&P 500 index fund through an investment counselor can substantially increase your initial purchasing costs and and drive up your annual management expense fees. Unfortunately, the vast majority of individual investors buy mutual funds and ETFs through brokers and investment advisers. Rarely do financial advisors recommend that you buy index funds with low fees. This is because low cost, no load mutual funds do not pay them as well as loaded, high fee mutual funds."

Zach Scheidt presents Chart Industries Rides Natural Gas Trend posted at ZachStocks, saying, "The Natural Gas Trend may be turning higher. This servicing company has its hands in many markets including LNG storage, shipping and distribution both domestically and abroad."

Dividend Tree presents Which High Do You Prefer? posted at Dividend Tree, saying, "High profitability or high income, or high EPS growth rate as a standalone does not provide a true picture. We can get a true picture by looking for consistency. Two simple statistical measures of average and standard deviation can help us measure consistency."

Dorian Wales presents The Personal Financier: Diversification is Dead. Long live Diversification posted at The Personal Financier, saying, "Don’t give up on diversification through asset allocation just yet"

The Skilled Investor presents Personal Investment Management posted at Personal Investment Manager, saying, "Investors more easily understand investment costs that are directly measurable, such as fees deducted on investment statements. However, many investors ignore or are unaware of the opportunity costs of their sub-optimal investment behaviors. Opportunity costs are usually much more difficult to measure directly, but these investment costs can be even higher than more visible investment fees."

Managing Debt

Bouch presents My Wife's Spending is out of Control posted at MoneyStance - Money Making Opportunity Reviews, saying, "How is Alex to pay off a half million dollars in debt when his wife’s spent over $4,000 in incidentals this month."

Roshawn Watson presents Outrageous Law Transfers Parents' Debt To YOU posted at Watson Inc, saying, "With few exceptions, such as a divorce decree, you are not legally liable for debts you have not personally signed for or agreed to pay. There is an inherent sense of fairness to this principle: your finances cannot be obligated to pay for something without your consent (except perhaps to the taxman or to your dependents). However, an archaic law in Pennsylvania is being enforced to make adult children to pay for their parents' debts."

Raj Patel presents Quick Guide to Paying Down $10K in Debt posted at DebtGoal, saying, "Concise advice for paying down the average consumer amount of $10,000 in debt."

MoneyNing presents AnnualCreditReport.com For Free Credit Reports posted at Money Ning, saying, "AnnualCreditReport.com should be the only way to get a free credit report."

Miscellaneous

Four Pillars presents 2009 Cash For Clunkers Program - Trade In Your Old Junker For Money posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, "A comprehensive look at the new Cash for Clunkers trade-in program."

Noload Bonds presents Bond Index Funds posted at Bond Index Funds, saying, "Simply put, if you pay higher bond mutual fund fees, then these bond management expenses tend just to be a deadweight loss to you. The best bond fund buying strategy is to pick only very low-cost no load bond funds."

Retirement Planning

Jeff Rose presents Using a Roth IRA to Maximize Your Wealth posted at Jeff Rose.

Miss M presents We’re Short $1500 Per Month posted at M is for Money, saying, "We're dreaming of early retirement, but are we earning enough to realize our dream? I've punched the numbers and it seems we're short."

PT presents Roth IRA Rules posted at Prime Time Money, saying, "Thanks!"

Nesher presents Planning Checklist for 1 To 3 Years before Retirement posted at Planning your Retirement Smart Way, saying, "Highlights on the financial planning specifics, when you are close to the retirement age - 1 to 3 years before retirement."

nissim ziv presents Retirement: Careers after Retirement ? Planning Advice posted at Job Interview Guide, saying, "The retirement ages all over the world are decreasing. While previously people used to retire at the age of sixty or even seventy, today the people are retiring from professional lives even at the age of fifty or even forty."

Risk Management and Insurance

Jeff Rose presents Is a Health Care Flexible Spending Account a Good Idea? posted at Jeff Rose.

Patrick @ Military Money presents COBRA Benefits Subsidy in the 2009 Economic Stimulus Recovery Act posted at Military Finance Network, saying, "The 2009 Economic Stimulus Plan includes additional COBRA and unemployment benefits."

Retirement Planning

Super Saver presents A Gift of Retirement Funds posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, "A relatively small lump sum investment of $10,000 can lead to a significant sized nest egg at retirement."

Jeff Rose presents 5 Year Rule for Roth IRA Qualified Distributions posted at Jeff Rose, saying, "How to get your money out of a Roth IRA tax and penalty free all depends on the five year rule."

Super Saver presents Planning to Retire Later also has Risks posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, "The option to continue working is no longer easily controlled by the employee."

Top 10 Index Funds presents S&P 500 Index Funds posted at Top 10 Index Funds, saying, "Buy these top 10 very low cost no load S&P 500 index mutual funds directly. You do not have to pay the heavy added expenses of buying through a stock broker, financial adviser, investment adviser, or investment counselor."

Savings

Patrick @ Money Saving Deals presents Quicken 2009 - $20 Discount Offer posted at Cash Money Life Deals, saying, "Get the latest coupon codes for Quicken 2009, including Free Quicken Online and free shipping for all purchases."

Curt presents In the Eye of the Storm, Get a Jump on Frugal Living and Start Saving Today posted at PennyJobs.com.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents YNAB (You Need A Budget) Personal Budget Software Is 10% Off posted at The Digerati Life, saying, "Thanks!"

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.

Comments

[FIRE Finance]

Thanks for hosting the carnival and including our post. Best wishes ahead :).
Cheers,
FIRE Finance