Welcome to this week's Carnival of Financial Planning. This edition is arranged by subject heading, so that you can browse efficiently.
Enjoy!
Budgeting and Economics
- Jason presents 6 Spring Break Ideas for Families posted at One Money Design, saying, Check out these spring break ideas for families to get the most out of this great opportunity to spend time with your kids and have some fun!
- Sustainable PF presents Building Your Home Food Storage posted at Sustainable Personal Finance, saying, One of the principles of sustainable living is to improve your self-reliance. If you want to save money, as well as improve your ability to handle financial setbacks, one of the things you can do is build home food storage.
- David presents An Illustrated History of Wired Capital Markets posted at History of Wall Street , saying, " Looking into the workings of modern securities markets is like looking under the hood of a Prius hybrid car. There are so many complex and obscure parts it’s hard to discern what’s going on. History repeats and informs in market technologies. 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."
- Jon the Saver presents What Should You Do With Your First Pay Check in College? posted at Free Money Wisdom, saying, When you get your first paycheck in college you often wonder what to do with it. Use these tips to spend your first paycheck in college wisely.
- Jason presents 6 Things You Must Discuss Before You Get Married posted at Work Save Live, saying, As a financial coach Ive learned that my job involves much more than helping people with their finances. Im often a marriage counselor, psychologist, and a motivator. Before you need the whole marriage counseling aspect, lets try to spearhead a few of the most issues couples face.
Financial Planning
- Corey presents 7 Smart Tips For Teaching Your Kids About Money posted at Steadfast Finances, saying, Teaching your kids about money doesn't have to be difficult. Learn great tips to teach lessons about money to your children.
- Eddie presents How Do We Measure Success? posted at Finance Fox, saying, Here's my two cents. Singularly education, money, cars and the circle of friends do not measure ones success. Success is measured with a combo of all the above four.
- Jester presents Three Tips to Increase Efficiency posted at The Ultimate Juggle, saying, Find out how to stay productive as the year progresses.
- Dividend Ninja presents Recent Buy: Husky Energy HSE posted at The Dividend Ninja, saying, Today the bad news on markets caused the TSE to slip nearly 80 points in midday trading. Commodity prices sank on reports of slower growth in the euro zone and China, which fueled concerns over the demand for Canadian resources. This was exactly the good news I was waiting for, as my order for 100 shares of Husky Energy HSE was filled at $25.49 per share.
- Corey presents 7 Smart Tips For Teaching Your Kids About Money posted at Steadfast Finances, saying, Teaching your kids about money doesn't have to be difficult. Learn great tips to teach lessons about money to your children.
- Sean Bryant presents Top 4 Things You Should Be Doing in Your 20s for Financial Security posted at One Smart Dollar, saying, In your 20's this is the time when you start heading down the right or wrong path towards financial security. This article gives you four tips to make sure you are heading in the right direction. Thanks for your consideration.
- 101 Centavos presents Prospect Generators in Mining The Global Outsourcing Trend Continues posted at 101 Centavos, saying, The mining industry seems to be no different with regards to exploration. Major mining companies used to have exploration divisions, staffed by competent geologists who scoured the planet for mining resources. Nowadays, the flavor of the month along with rare earth elements seems to be companies who follow the -prospect generators- model.
- Evan presents What Is the Elective Share? posted at My Journey to Millions, saying, The Elective Share also known as a Spouses Right of Election can make the actual distribution of your estate much different than you originally planned. Here is why:
- PFP presents Asset Allocation, Investment Asset Tax Location, and Emergency Cash Management posted at Pasadena Financial Planner , saying, " As you move your cash, bond, and stock financial assets into lower cost, more broadly diversified investment mutual funds and/or ETFs, you should also consider how to “locate” your investment asset allocation with respect to more optimal taxation. "
- Boomer presents A Lifetime Plan For Managing Your Money posted at Boomer & Echo, saying, As your life changes, so do your money needs. Heres a money plan you can use every step of the way.
- krantcents presents The 3 K's of Success posted at KrantCents, saying, The 3 K's of Success is the eleventh in a series of articles to help you reach your goal.
- John presents Learning about personal 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. "
- SFB presents Sorry, Dave Ramsey: I Still Use Credit Cards posted at Simple Finance Blog, saying, I'd heard about financial guru Dave Ramsey's envelope system for using cash instead of credit cards. Why a cash only lifestyle isn't for me.
- Luke presents A 14.34 Percent YTM Opportunity in James River Coal Company Bonds posted at Learn Bonds, saying, James Rivers's senior unsecured note, CUSIP 470355AG3, is asking 72 cents on the dollar 14.34 Percent yield-to-maturity before commissions.
Income
- Mike presents The Holy Grail of Blogging: Passive Income posted at The Financial Blogger, saying, What's your passive income like from blogging?
- Laura Edgar presents State Benefits on Prepaid Cards: Why Consumers Lose Out posted at NerdWallet, saying, "Prepaid debit cards might represent lower costs for cash-strapped states, and higher revenue for the card-issuing banks, but they arent so great for the people who receive government benefits. These cards come with a ton of hidden fees. If youre already dependent on government benefits, you probably dont have much money, so every little fee hurts."
- John presents A Five Step Process for Making Money by Selling Online posted at Passive Family Income, saying, If youd like to give scouting items at estate sales or thrift stores a try, here is a five step process for selling online that will walk you through it.
- FMF presents How Much Income Do I Need For Retirement? posted at Free Money Finance, saying, The amount of income you need during retirement is a simple question on the surface, but like all the assumptions that go into calculating your retirement number, it is shrouded in controversy.
Insurance and Risk
- John presents Anyone Have a Clue When it Comes to Blue Insurance? posted at Wallet Blog, saying, If you only knew who's insuring you. Blue insurance could have you singing the blues.
- Sarah presents Lifetime trade-offs between investment portfolio risk and investment returns posted at Do-It-Yourself Financial Planning , saying, " When making personal finance and retirement planning decisions, individuals must confront the dilemma that, historically, 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. "
- John Bartal presents Why do I need a private disability insurance plan; wouldn't Social Security cover me? saying, "While Social Security does offer disabled people, and their families, benefits, it can be a long process before you are able to claim disability through Social Security. More than that, even if you are able to get the disability benefits early, they still do not go into effect for at least six months."
Investing
- Marc Ryan presents Vanguard verdict: Canadian actively-managed mutual funds under perform indexes, saying, "Every so often another study comes out casting a critical eye on the performance of the mutual fund industry, and Canada is no exception. The last study by Morningstar gave Canada a failing grade for mutual fund expense levels. Now Vanguard has published its own study, which finds that Canadian mutual funds have underperformed the indexes."
- Eleanor Blayney, CFP® presents Knowing what you don't know… :: Directions For Women posted at Directions For Women, saying, "Women are less confident about what they know relative to what can be known. Their confidence crisis becomes particularly acute when the “domain is male-oriented.” Finance, and investing in particular, is certainly one such testosterone-rich domain."
- FamilyMoneyValues presents Women Investors posted at Family Money Values, saying, Why Bother With Investing? If all you do is save the money you earn (especially at today's near zero savings interest rates) you will never grow your money.
- MMD presents Why I Finally Sold My Apple Stock posted at MyMoneyDesign, saying, After its recent rapid price increase, I finally sold my shares of Apple. Was I insane? Or was I just removing emotion from the situation and taking advantage of a terrific opportunity to lock into those capital gains?
- William presents Inferior Mutual Fund Performance posted at Best No Load 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. "
- Tushar presents What Does Investing in Kids Really Mean? posted at Start Investing Money, saying, When we talk about investing we typically think about money. This is understandable but when it comes to kids, money is not the only way we can invest in them.
- Investor Junkie presents Mutual Funds vs. ETFs posted at Investor Junkie, saying, Mutual funds and ETFs are both linked to the investments held in the funds, and they provide the opportunity to purchase a number of investments at once, in a sort of lot. It is important to note, however, that there are differences between the two.
- Jack Parker presents Top No Load Funds posted at Preferred Investment Funds, saying, "Some mutual funds and ETFs must be better than others, but which ones are they? How can you tell before the fact?"
- Ken Faulkenberry presents Planning Investment Accounts For Retirement posted at AAAMP Blog, saying, The benefits offered by retirement investment accounts make them an important foundation for retirement planning. Here are the major investment accounts for retirement.
- Beating Broke presents Spread Betting: How Does It Work? posted at Beating Broke, saying, Spread betting, in a financial sense, is betting on the markets based on how you feel they will perform. If you think the markets will go up, you bet on them going up (go long). If you believe they will go down, you bet on them going down (go short). The betting itself is pretty simple.
- Don presents Buy and Hold: The Path to Wealth posted at MoneySmartGuides, saying, Its no secret that I am all for passive investing.
Managing Debt
- Mike presents Annual Fee Credit Cards Might Be Worth The Cost posted at Rewards Cards USA, saying, One of the bits of advice consumers are often given about credit cards is to avoid those with annual fees at all costs. In some cases, though, annual fee credit cards can be worth the cost.
- Mike presents MBNA WorldPoints MasterCard Review posted at Rewards Cards Canada, saying, The MBNA WorldPoints MasterCard is a no fee card that still offers generous rewards points and the flexibility to redeem your points for pretty much anything you want.
- Jeri Ford presents When Should I Cancel My Credit Card?, saying, "If you signed up for a credit card for points you'll need time your cancelation correctly."
- Craig Ford presents 5 Proven Reasons Why Co-Signing a Loan is Worse than Gambling, saying, "Discover why co-signing a loan is such a bad idea."
Real Estate
- LaTisha presents How to Save in Your New Home posted at Financial Success for Young Adults, saying, Despite good intentions, its often hard to stretch a paycheck for the duration of a full month. Over the years you learn certain tricks to make your budget budge that little bit further, but when you set up home for the first time it can be hard to know just where to start.
- Suba presents Our House On The Market: Month One posted at Broke Professionals, saying, My husband and I have our house on the market. We're learning firsthand what sells a house, and passing our experiences on to you.
- Aloysa presents Healthcare: Two Sides of One Story posted at My Broken Coin, saying, Not a lot of people realize or know what countries across the ocean offer to their people in terms of healthcare. When a few months ago I went back home, to Lithuania, I was fascinated by some of the benefits people have access to.
- Jeremy Waller presents Infographic: How Much Do People Spend On Coffee, Lunch and Gas for Work? posted at Personal Finance Whiz, saying, Im sure youve heard before how quickly things like coffee and lunch can add up if youre buying them every day. Anecdotally, Ive talked to a number of people who are making coffee at home and are bringing leftovers for lunch to save money.
- YFS presents 30 Tips For First Time Home Buyers posted at Your Finances Simplified, saying, Buying a home for the first time can be an exciting experience, but there are a lot of things that can go wrong if you dont do your due diligence first. Before you even begin the house hunting process its essential to stock up on some words ...
Retirement
- FMF presents Why Calculate The Savings Needed For Retirement? posted at Free Money Finance, saying, Do you want to be able to maintain your standard of living in your golden years? Do you want to know how much money you can afford to spend every month so that you dont run out of money before you run out of time? Do you want to know how much money you must save each month to reach your retirement savings goals? If you answered yes to these questions then the only way you can find the answers is to calculate your number. Anything less is guessing.
- Franklin presents Traditional IRA and 401k Versus Roth IRA and Roth 401k Contributions posted at Retirement Planning , saying, " Many taxpayers puzzle over whether to contribute to traditional versus Roth tax-advantaged retirement plans. For most people, contributions to traditional tax-advantaged plans will probably provide a higher net present value over their lifetimes."
- Super Saver presents Working for a Bully Boss posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, In the company from which I retired, managers go through significant training on being a manager. While I didn't agree with all my managers, all of them were good managers. I never worked for someone that I considered a bully boss. Since retiring, I've worked a several managers that I consider bully bosses.
- Dan presents 401(k) Annuities as a New Retirement Option posted at High Yield Edge, saying, The administration just loosened rules for new 401(k) annuity options for workers. Check out the rules, pros and cons and how this may be used to supplement your retirement.
- Whitney presents Retirement Savings Worksheets posted at Retirement Savings, saying, "While personal wealth should measure current financial investments and other salable assets, it should also measure your ability to sustain your household budget, build up your investment portfolio, and weather potential financial risk and misfortune across your lifetime."
- FMF presents The Safest Retirement posted at Free Money Finance, saying, I'm sure you all have seen discussions about what is deemed to be a "safe withdrawal rate from your savings during retirement. Can you take out 4%, a bit more, or a bit less? Or does it depend? And what if you live longer than you expect and run out of money? What's your back-up plan in that sort of scenario?
Savings
- Wayne presents How Much to Save for College posted at Young Family Finance, saying, Determining how much to save for college can be difficult. Find out how much you should save.
- Daisy presents Ridiculous Things I Do to Save or Make Money posted at Add Vodka, saying, Sometimes, the things I do blow even my own mind. Im really not even all that ridiculously frugal; I believe in quality over quantity, and completely understand the value in spending more to get a better item.
- TSI presents Personal earnings, expenditures, and savings determine wealth posted at The Skilled Investor , saying, " How much you earn, spend, budget, and save are by far the most dominant determinants of your long-term financial well-being. Self-control in your financial decision-making regarding budgeting and consumption is far more important than clever investing. "
- Corey presents Extreme Frugality posted at 20s Finances, saying, When I first started out this blog, I went through a series of frugal tips. I prided myself with coming up with weekly tips on how to help people save money. I know that cutting your expenses is the first step to financial responsibility. Regardless if you are making more money, if you spend more money than you earn, you will be poor.
- Amanda L Grossman presents Consumers are Sale-Desensitized, and for Good Reason posted at Frugal Confessions, saying, I have a healthy dose of skepticism when perusing retailer and department store websites and seeing their reported percentage savings on products.
Taxes
- Monroe presents Evaluating Roth IRA Conversions posted at Do-It-Yourself Financial Planning , saying, " This article could help you to make a more informed decision about your family’s Roth investment strategy. 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. "
- Bill Smith presents Bringing Down the Burden of Tax Debt – Offers in Compromise, saying, "People all over the world are struggling with debt in the current global financial climate. For most people these debts will be to do with credit cards and..."
- Roger the Amateur Financier presents It's Tax Time, Yet Again! posted at The Amateur Financier, saying, A guide to a few different approaches to filing your taxes as we get next tax season. In particular, we look at tax software, getting professional help, and yes, doing them yourself.
- J.P. presents First-Time Home Buyer Credit Is It Time To Repay? posted at Novel Investor, saying, The first-time home buyer credit provided tax help to anyone who was eligible. The bad news is, it may have to be repaid.
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.
Thanks for the mention!
Posted by: Echo | April 02, 2012 at 11:33 AM
Thanks for the mention also!
Posted by: InvestorJunkie | April 03, 2012 at 04:45 PM
Thanks for the inclusion and hosting
Posted by: krantcents | April 06, 2012 at 04:45 PM
Thanks for all these great links. Now I have something to pour over this weekend. I will definitely take a peek at 7 Smart Tips For Teaching Your Kids About Money.
Posted by: George | June 18, 2012 at 09:15 PM