August 23 2007 Edition of the Carnival of Financial Planning

Carnival of Financial Planning - August 23, 2007 Edition

Welcome to the August 23, 2007 edition 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

Budgeting

Millionaire Mommy Next Door presents Take Inventory: Identify Your Spending Values (Baby Step #2) posted at Millionaire Mommy Next Door, saying, “Identifying, prioritizing and living according to our personal values is key to our financial well-being. Once we’ve identified what truly makes us tick, our financial decisions will be guided in alignment with our values. If we live true to our values we are bound to feel fulfilled, content, peaceful and happy. Yes, I believe that under these circumstances money can indeed contribute to our happiness.”

evelester presents The Budgeting Secret that saved our Marriage » Housewife Confessions posted at Confessions of an Everyday Housewife, saying, “a software based on Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace method.”

Silicon Valley Blogger presents How To Look Good On A Budget: The Business of Beauty posted at The Digerati Life.

Financial Planning

teaspoon presents Do You Have an Emergency Fund? - If Cash is King, Then Don’t Neglect His Good Looking Brother, the Prince of Credit! posted at www.TeaspoonFinance.com - Financial wisdom, one teaspoon at a time…, saying, “This post discusses the ideas of investing your emergency fund cash (payoff high interest credit card debt, fully fund 401Ks, fully fund ESPPS, etc.) and replacing your emergency fund with all credit emergency fund. This will allow you the opportunity to put your automatic savings cashflow to powerful longterm investments.”

Warren Wong presents Why You Should Invest For The Long Term posted at Personal Development for INTJs, saying, “Are you buying and selling stocks a lot? Here’s why you should invest for the long term.”

edithyeung presents The Money Series – How to Manage and Maintain your Bank Account? posted at Edith Yeung.Com: Dream. Think. Act..

Financing a Home

John Crenshaw presents Top 3 Reasons Mortgage Rate Shopping Will Kill You posted at Truthful Lending dot Com, saying, “It’s true, contrary to popular belief, shopping for the lowest mortgage rate can actually harm you. Dispel this myth and others at Truthful Lending dot Com.”

FMF presents Who’s to Blame for America’s Mortgage Mess? posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Who’s responsible for the subprime mortgage mess?”

Ian Welsh presents Reaping What You Sow: Hedge Fund and Housing Bubble Edition posted at The Agonist, saying, “The policy decisions by the Fed and the Bush administration affecting the housing and financial markets make it clear that bailouts will be for lenders, not for homeowners. Be prepared.”

Lucynda Riley presents Don’t be a slave to debt posted at Grit in my Teeth.

Dan Green presents To Know Where Mortgage Rates Are Moving, Watch The Proper Indicators posted at The Mortgage Reports, saying, “Last week proved why “easy” isn’t always “best”.”

Tushar Mathur presents Features that add Resale Value to a Home posted at Everything Finance.

Financing Education

Super Saver presents College Costs and Average Debt at Graduation posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “The “Best Values in Private Colleges” shares some excellent schools which won’t require a lot of debt, on average. These schools have made it a priority to reduce the debt load for attending college. Check out Princeton (#6) and Harvard (#3). Of course, the next major challenge is to get accepted at one of these great schools!”

Scott H presents 32 Weird Scholarships Almost Anyone Can Get posted at College and Finance.

Chief Family Officer presents Affordable Alternatives to Preschool posted at CFO: Chief Family Officer.

Income

Matthew Paulson presents Ten Ways to Earn Extra Cash When You’re in a Crunch posted at Getting Green.

Eric Stanley presents How To Start Saving Money posted at Personal Finance Blog Articles, saying, “Here are three strategies you can put to work immediately in your life-”

Thomas Humes presents Value Creation Creates Wealth posted at Wealth Building World, saying, “If you truly want to be rich then you need to find a way to create as much value in the world as possible. Rich people go around asking themselves what they can do better for other people. They understand that if they can make life easier and/or better for as many people as possible, they will get rich.”

Investing

The Financial Blogger presents Double Dipping: Another Leverage Recipe Part 1 posted at The Financial Blogger, saying, “The Double Dip was issued from a combination of two financial products. The first one is the investment loan (yet again, another leveraging strategy!) and the other one is the RRSP. You can earn double tax return by following this leverage technique.”

The Dough Roller presents Asset Allocation in Action–Value vs. Growth Mutual Funds posted at The Dough Roller, saying, “A look at buying value versus growth stocks as part of an overall asset allocation strategy.”

Jeremy Wong presents Analyzing Financial Statements | Ratio Analysis posted at Personal Finance Guide | FinanceMind, saying, “Ratio analysis is an advanced technique used to analyze a company’s financial statements. It can give you some insights into a company’s profitability, management efficiency, financial stability and even uncover investment opportunities.”

Babak presents Was That Capitulation? posted at Trader’s Narrative, saying, “Last week retail investors pulled more money out mutual funds than even the week following September 11. Meanwhile, the institutional investors are buying with both hands. Which do you wan to side with? the emotional retail investor or the plugged in sophisticated insitutional investors?”

Bryan C. Fleming presents Buying into a Down Stock Market posted at Bryan C. Fleming, saying, “Did you ever think of playing the stock market? Why not just watch me loose all my money instead. In this artile I talk about buying into a down stock market. Yes, it’s just like gambling… only legal!”

Michael Emilio presents How To Recognize the Full Value of Your Real Estate Investment posted at MichaelEmilio.com, saying, “As a real estate investor, one of the most important qualities you should develop in yourself is the ability to recognize what is the full potential of a property. This can give you a huge edge over your competition that only sees properties in their current state. Many times, this current state is much less profitable than what it could be.”

Vahid Chaychi presents What Is Forex and How to Make Money with It? posted at Internet and Search Engine Marketing, saying, “Forex is one of the best work at home opportunities. It is good because it doesn’t need any marketing, referring and recruiting. If you learn it properly, you can make lots of money but it can be also risky if you start trading before you learn.”

ChristianPF presents Warren Buffett Quotes posted at Money in the Bible | Christian Personal Finance Blog, saying, “Over 30 of my favorite quotes about money and investing from Warren Buffett, the world’s greatest investor.”

Warren Wong presents How To Pick A Good Stock posted at Personal Development for INTJs, saying, “Do you know how to pick a good stock? Here’s how to find a good long term investment!”

Larry Russell presents The Biggest Personal Finance Story of the Past 30 Years (Part 2) posted at THE SKILLED INVESTOR Blog, saying, “The biggest personal finance story of the past 30 years has been the dramatic growth of the market capitalization of financial services firms within the U.S. equity markets. The reason that this is so important to your personal finances is pretty straightforward. Simply put, most individuals pay far too much for financial products and services. Their continuing over payments show up in the increasing value of financial services company stocks. People have paid far too much for years, and the industry’s excessive charges have been increasing for years.”

Allen Taylor presents Good Stock Investments - How To Spot The Best Stocks For Your Portfolio posted at Investing World Today, saying, “So what are some good stock investments for your portfolio? Just about everybody wants to know this. The truth is, the answer all depends on what type of investor you are.”

Christopher Busillo presents Getting Started posted at My Financial Education.

Managing Debt

FIRE Getters presents Protect Your Credit And Identity posted at FIRE Finance.

Ryan presents The Dirty Dozen Credit Card Traps posted at Care on Credit, saying, “Do you know what’s in the terms and conditions for your credit card? Did you know you can often have a varying APR, annual fee, cash advance fees, foreign currency fees and even non-usage fees? Learn about these and more…”

John Wesley presents 7 Tips for Avoiding a Lifetime of Debt posted at Pick the Brain.

Jason Elder presents 100k In Credit Card Debt Is No Reason To Go Bankrupt posted at A Bankruptcy Lawyer’s Blog, saying, “Years ago bankruptcy was only used by business to obtain relief from its debtors. Today 1 out of every 7 people has filed bankruptcy and walked away from thousands of dollars of credit card debt.”

Aaron Wakling presents Protecting Your Credit Card Information Online posted at The Credit & Credit Card Blog, saying, “While shopping online is the latest and greatest trend for consumers, hackers and other dishonest people have also turned to online shopping as a way to obtain credit card information for fraudulent use.”

Tim Ramsey presents Consumer Debt Is A Financial Killer posted at My Debt Relief Blog, saying, “A crucial step in creating wealth is to reduce your dependence on credit cards and ensure future monthly payments on all of your cards combined never exceeds 10% of your after tax income.”

Retirement Planning

Steve Faber presents - Boost Your Retirement Plan – Stick Around Just a Bit Longer posted at DebtBlog, saying, “If you’re one of the thousands of workers that decided it would be so much more fun to head out to the clubs, go skiing, or buy a boat to pick up chicks, I hope you had a blast. That’s especially true if you had your fun at the expense of your 401(k) or IRA contributions.”

KCLau presents How A Fresh Graduate Plan to Retire in 8 years posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “A committed fresh graduate tells his story about his desire to plan for retirement as soon as possible.”

Brian presents What Do I Need to Retire? posted at FinancialDominance.com.

Chris presents How much money do you need to retire? posted at nomad4ever, saying, “USD 1 Million? 2 Million? 5 Million? Or just 200.000? Are you kidding me - how can I *retire* now!? How shall I finance my retirement? I will need *loads* of Cash, Gold, Insurance or Credit! I need my Hummer, the BMW X3 for the wife, my penthouse for the mistress, the Wanker’s Club Membership and my Arian German Sheppard! Oh really! Poor you!”

Risk Management and Insurance

Golbguru presents What Is Gap Insurance? Who Needs It And Who Does Not? - A Graphical Interpretation posted at Money, Matter, and More Musings, saying, “A detailed explanation of gap insurance with the help of some graphs.”

Amanda Harris presents Life Insurance posted at Pajama Mommy.

Savings

bluskygirl presents How To Save Money, Even When You Think you Can?t! posted at Goddess, saying, “Learn some new ways to save money in your daily life that won’t leave you feeling like you’ve restricted yourself. Most of these tips are so friendly you won’t even know you’re saving.”

Taxes

The Skilled Investor presents Summary Table of Traditional IRA and Roth IRA Tax Rules, posted at THE SKILLED INVESTOR Blog, saying, “For your convenience, the table provided summarizes 2007 rules for traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs. The table has a left-hand column of questions and 12 columns of information. Read the first four questions in the first four rows to determine which of the twelve columns would apply to you. Once you have done this, you should have found one “traditional IRA” column and one “Roth IRA” column that apply to you. Read the remaining questions further down the table to compare the various traditional IRA and Roth IRA rules that affect you. Be careful to distinguish between the rules about whether you can make a contribution and whether an allowable contribution is tax deductible.”

Miscellaneous

Eric Hudin presents Protecting Your Finances and Assets Offshore posted at My Estate Planning Career Blog, saying, “When it comes to the question of when to protect your assets and finances offshore your financial, legal and tax advisers will always tell you there is no such thing as taking action to protect your fiscal situation too soon, especially if you want to go offshore for some form of direct affluence protection reasons.”

Tushar Mathur presents What is ACH ? posted at Life of a Resident Alien….

Sam presents Become a Millionaire posted at Surfer Sam and Friends, saying, “Live the Life of a Millionaire. It Doesn’t Take a Lot of Money. And It Doesn’t Take a Lot of Work. The Four-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss”

Roshawn Watson presents Conversations From The Corner Office posted at Watson Inc, saying, “Check out my exciting interview with Van Crouch, President and CEO of Van Crouch Communications. Learn from someone who has truly won in life. Van is a nationally-known motivational speaker, best-selling author, and highly desired business consultant. In my exclusive interview, Van shares his secrets for dominating in money and life. You will gain Van’s insights on getting rich quickly, paying yourself first, weathering a financial storm, and much more!”

FitBuff presents Brain Gym Exercises: Get Fit, Get Smart posted at FitBuff.com’s Total Mind and Body Fitness Blog, saying, “Ever been at work or faced with a problem and thought to yourself, “Hmm, I sure wish I had a few extra neurons to help me come up with a creative solution?” Who hasn’t, right? Well, check out this new study that shows you how you can literally increase the number of neurons your brain produces!”

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.

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