It's my pleasure to host the first annual edition of the Best of Money Carnival, the blog carnival that recognizes the top 10 personal finance posts each week. Yep, we're celebrating one year of carnivals this week!
Let's get right to the good stuff. Here are the ten best personal finance posts (IMO) submitted for this week along with a description of each post:
10 - Which Comes First: Earning or Saving? - The number one financial principle is to live on less than you earn. Right? Or do you need to get those earnings up first? This post helps the reader think it through.
9 - 10 Budget Wedding Ideas From a Satisfied Bride - The wedding industry is full of people with ideas and opinions about what the perfect wedding should look like, what is appropriate to spend for “the best day of your life”, and what a bride simply cannot do without. Perhaps this is why the national average wedding budget for 150-guests has ballooned to $30,000! But Paul and I didn’t play by their game. We did things our way, and we were extremely satisfied with the results. Here are ten things that Paul and I decided to not include in our day to keep wedding costs down and our approximate cost savings.
8 - Deep Thoughts: Tipping - Some thoughts on tipping, that odd (and oddly complex situation that arises every time you dine out (among a large and increasing number of situations).
7 - Statistics Schmamistics in Financial Planning - Statistics do not really matter to us individually. Our individual outcomes may be added to a statistical sample, but our outcomes are ours and only ours. None of us will enjoy 20% success; each one of us will be either successful or not successful at all.
6 - How to Make a 6 Figure Income Working at Home: Interview w/ My Wife Quit Her Job.com - Ever wanted to be a stay at home parent while running an online business? How about making 6 figures per year doing it? If so, check out this interview from one couple that did and how you can too!
5 - 5 Good Habits for a DIY Investor Using the Internet - People have lost more money by not checking advice than they have lost through the stock market. Most people make the assumptions that if it's in print, its correct and if it's from a reliable source, it's correct. I hope to educate people to take action in educating themselves. This post gives actual case study to show the consequences of blind trust.
4 - Co-Signing For A Loan: Never A Good Idea Unless You Like Paying For Other People’s Stuff - Thinking about co-signing a loan? Don't do it unless you like paying for other people's things!
3 - Passive Investing and the Ostrich Effect - The most ardent passive investors will tell you to completely ignore financial commentary in order to avoid straying from your financial plan. I can’t bring myself to take that approach with our money. It seems to me that those who advocate this are falling victim to The Ostrich Effect, which is a behavioural finance term for investors who ignore risky financial situations by pretending they don’t exist.
2 - Defining the Terms of the Stock Market - We’ve compiled 25 of the most used terms when buying and selling stock.
1 (the winner) - Efficient Market Hypothesis: So Are Markets Efficient? - Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT), which is widely used by the financial industry, can serve investors very well. But, as many investors know, MPT has been criticized more vigorously in recent years. MPT is the model for proper asset allocation and portfolio diversification. By constructing a portfolio of assets that have a low or even negative correlation, an investor can, in theory, reduce overall portfolio risk and maximize returns.
And there you have them -- the top 10 personal finance posts of the week and the kick-off of year #2 of the Best of Money Carnival. Here's to another great year!
Thanks for hosting this great Carnival. I am honored to be a part of it!
Posted by: Joe | June 01, 2010 at 08:49 AM
Thanks for including me!
Posted by: Money Smarts | June 01, 2010 at 09:31 AM
Thanks so much for including my post on the Ostrich Effect and for hosting a great carnival!
Posted by: Balance Junkie | June 01, 2010 at 09:54 AM
Thanks for including our post in this list of interesting reads!
Posted by: Money Obedience | June 01, 2010 at 11:34 AM
Thanks very much for including me; I'm glad that my guide to tipping made the grade. Have a great second year of the Best of Money Carnival!
Posted by: Roger, the Amateur Financier | June 01, 2010 at 09:39 PM
Thank you for including me.
Posted by: Kim @ Money and Risk | June 02, 2010 at 04:24 AM
WOW Thanks for making me number 1, Man! :) Thanks so much FMF. Very honored to make the list. This is an awesome edition.
Posted by: The Digerati Life | June 09, 2010 at 09:39 PM