Carnival of Financial Planning - November 29 2007 Edition

Welcome to the November 29, 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

Sagar presents 50+ Online Tools to Research, Select, and Donate to Charities posted at Credit Card Lowdown.

poetloverrebelspy presents Do Vacations Spoil Everyday Budgeters? posted at Less Than a Shoestring, saying, “Our values travel with us when we travel. If you have accepted strict budgeting measures and practice them at home, there is no reason why you can’t follow the same while on vacation. This blog more generally contains tips, tricks and suggestions for enjoying travel with minimal expenditure.”

KCLau presents Top 21 List of Financial Software Applications for Efficient Money Management posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “Managing money is a lot of work. But with the help of technology, it is just a matter of inputing data. Here is a list of all the softwares and online applications that can assist you to keep track of your finance more efficiently.”

Economics

Shaun Connell presents Money, by Ayn Rand posted at Reason and Capitalism, saying, “Millions try to make money online before understanding what money is, and how the system works. Here it is explained — a must read. Hosted by a teenager who earns a full time income online.”

Doug Boggs presents The Dollar vs. the Euro? posted at Boggs Development Group, LLC, saying, “I was talking with a friend last night and she had mentioned that she was told that the dollar is going to merge with the Euro. I wanted to laugh, as I have not heard anything like that previously, as well as the fact that the dollar is still much too entrenched into the global economy and the primary peg for global valuation. But, perhaps she knew something I didn’t.”

Dax Desai presents 8 Reasons Why the Dollar Will Continue to Fall posted at Dax Desai, saying, “8 Reasons Why the Dollar Will Continue to Fall”

Financial Planning

Four Pillars presents Unified Theory of Everything Financial - Canadian Edition posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “A Canadianized version of Dilbert’s “Unified Theory of Everything Financial”.”

Matthew Paulson presents Don’t Waste Your Money. Get NBA Quality Sneakers for $15.00. posted at American Consumer News.

KCLau presents What’s Your Time Worth? posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “Value of money is always tied to time element. If you work, you need to understand the basic concept that you’re trading your time for money. Time is a nonrenewable resource, but money? You will be able to make much more money if you understand the relationship between time and money. That’s why one of the fundamental subjects of financial planning is “Time Value of Money”.”

Charles H. Green presents Trust-based Selling® in the Real World: Case Study #24 posted at Trust Matters, saying, “What to look for in a financial planner or wealth manager.”

Financing Education

Sam presents Free Money for College. Claim Your College Cash ! Surfer Sam posted at Surfer Sam and Friends, saying, “Financial aid, grants, loans. You don’t have to be a straight A student to get a scholarship. College education is going to be expensive. Where will the money come from? You can get money for your education from many sources. Some college money is free, some requires your services, some money must be paid back. Here’s the gist of free money for college.”

Income

American Entrepreneur presents How to Start a Business without Quitting Your Day Job posted at American Entrepreneurship.

Christine presents The Exchange Rate - The Euro vs The Dollar - The Declining Dollar posted at Me, My Kid and Life: An American Single Mom Living in France, saying, “Living in France off the steadily declining dollar. One woman’s experience with earning an income online via US dollars while living in France and paying in euros.”

Emmanuel presents Is it easy to earn money? posted at Emmanuel Oluwatosin: Inspiring Excellence, Realising Ambitions.

MEHUL presents Journey to the Jungle: Importance of a good trading plan posted at JOURNEY TO THE JUNGLE, saying, “ways to follow your trading plan and its importance”

Investing

Kurt Brouwer presents Money Market Mutual Funds Try To Avoid Breaking the Buck posted at Fundmastery Blog, saying, “How some money market funds got caught up in troubled debt investments.”

Matthew Paulson presents How to Plan for Retirement If You Don’t Get a 401(k) or a 403(b) at Work. posted at American Consumer News.

Larry Russell presents Where’s Waldo? - The illusion of superior professional mutual fund manager performance. posted at THE SKILLED INVESTOR Blog, saying, “The effort to find those few supposedly superior money managers willing to sell their services sufficiently cheaply is a costly, time consuming, and futile, “Where’s Waldo?,” searching exercise for the individual investor. Many money managers will claim to be superior and few or none actually will be. If such superior money managers did exist, then there should be dozens or hundreds of them who prove their superiority year after year after year. Unfortunately, the scientific finance literature indicates that this is not the case. This year’s star money manager tends to be next year’s average or laggard money manager.”

Everything Finance presents Why Passive Investing beats Active Investing posted at Everything Finance.

Edith presents What’s a Cap Rate? posted at Stewart Hsu.

Pinyo Bhulipongsanon presents How Much Should We Invest Internationally? posted at Moolanomy, saying, “Exploring the topic of international investing — is 25% international exposure too much, or too little? Why?”

Logan Flatt, CFA presents It’s Future Cash Flows, Stupid! posted at PowerWealth.com.

Warren Wong presents What Is The P/E Ratio And What The Price Earnings Ratio Means posted at Personal Development for INTJs, saying, “A description of what the P/E ratio is and what the price earnings ratio actually means.”

Brian Brady presents Canadian Investors, American Real Estate: The Currency Play - Mortgage Rates Report posted at Mortgage Rates Report.

Commodity Investor presents New Commodity Trading in India posted at commoditywealth.com, saying, “Blog about investing in commodities such as precious metals (gold, silver), energy and oil, wheat, and even livestock commodity futures and options”

Dax Desai presents ETF’s for the Falling Dollar posted at Dax Desai, saying, “ETF’s for the Falling Dollar”

Managing Debt

Kalyn presents LifeEdit.net: Debt and Your Health posted at LifeEdit.net.

Christine presents The Dollar Drops Again! How the Exchange Rate Affects Travel. posted at Me, My Kid and Life: An American Single Mom Living in France, saying, “Thinking about how you spend before you travel so you don’t need to think about how you spent once you’ve returned home.”

Storm presents Make coffee at home and save money posted at Watch Me Become A Millionaire, saying, “I will be the first person to admit that I will occasionally go and spend around $4 for a latte at a coffee place. In order for me to achieve my ultimate goal of financial independence, I have to curtail this activity somewhat. But again, going to extremes on any matter is usually, in my opinion, not a productive thing to do.”

Tezza presents Should You Get Rid Of High-Interest Debt Before You Start Saving posted at 4 Eva Young, saying, “When it comes to debt elimination, it is often easier to face the problem by trying to dig yourself out of debt instead of facing your reasons why you are in debt to begin with. If all you focus on is debt elimination by gritting your teeth and embarking on a disciplined debt repayment schedule you will eventually pay off all your debt but you would have missed a vital opportunity to face your current causes of why you get yourself into these kind of predicaments to begin with.”

James presents Strategies for Getting Out of Debt posted at Payday Loan Cheapskate, saying, “The main key point here is your commitment. Your determination to get out of debt will be the major driving force that will motivate and guide you in continuing all your efforts.”

Retirement Planning

David B. Bohl presents Who Else Wants to Live FOR NOW and FOR LATER? posted at Slow Down Fast Today!, saying, “I’ve been thinking lately about a candy I used to get as a kid. It was called “Now & Laters,” and the little jingle was, “Have some now, save some for later.” It was actually a pretty dumb jingle, as I recall. But the idea has been rolling around in my head because I’ve been thinking about the conflicting messages we sometimes get. We’re told to save for the future, prepare for what’s ahead. That’s good advice. We’re also told to live the now, enjoy the moment and appreciate what we have. That’s good advice. Some people have difficulty doing both.”

Ralph Morgan presents What If You Make Maximum Retirement Contributions For 20, 30, 40 Years? (Superannuation) posted at Enough Wealth, saying, “An Australian view of what amounts can be accumulated by maxing out retirement contributions for 20, 30 or 40 Years.”

David B. Bohl presents Small Business Trends Column: Entrepreneurs, Does Retirement Fit Into Your Plans? posted at Slow Down Fast Today!, saying, “The values and beliefs of the Baby Boomer generation were handed down to us from our parents, many of whom survived the post-war era and Great Depression. The underlying message became loud and clear, and formed a blueprint for life: If I just work hard enough and long enough, my life will turn out just fine — eventually – and it will all be worth it in the end. Many of us do not fit or identify with the generation we are born into.”

Harold L Lowe presents Saving for Retirement - Another Crossroad posted at Harold L Lowe.com.

Risk Management

Doris Chua presents Random Thoughts on Insurance posted at Doris Chua: Organics & Your Health, saying, “Basically, getting an insurance coverage is about preparing for the unexpected and having the assurance that our loved ones’ needs are looked after should any misfortune befalls us.”

Larry Russell presents Diversify To Avoid Investment Fraud posted at THE SKILLED INVESTOR Blog, saying, “Stories about investment fraud often seem to include the phrase “his or her life savings.” There should never be a moment during your lifetime when your life savings are not heavily diversified across many investment vehicles and firms.”

Miscellaneous

Fred Black presents Banks + Debt = Evil posted at Fred Black: Internet Business Blog..

Matthew Paulson presents How to Get Your Invention Patented and Sold Without Getting Scammed posted at American Entrepreneurship.

FMF presents You Don’t Have to Make a Fortune to Become Rich posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “It doesn’t take a bundle of money to become wealthy.”

Tony H presents Don’t Get Money Worshiper Syndrome posted at The Scholarpreneur, saying, “Avoid the pitfalls of “Money Worshiper Syndrome.”

Andrew Michaels presents Freedom: Start Young, Live Simply posted at Lifecrafting, saying, “This article is about financial independence and freedom and how to get it. What are you working for? Why do you spend the hours of your life in a cubicle? Are you living your life how you want to right now, or putting off life for 30 years for an eventual “retirement day”. Take a look at your life.”

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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