Carnival of Financial Planning - February 28 2009 Edition
Welcome to the February 28, 2009 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
Savings Toolbox presents Finding Yourself unable to Make Your Mortgage Payments? posted at Savings Toolbox.
Pasadena Financial Planner presents Living Expense Tracking Methods posted at Pasadena Financial Planner.
Larry Russell presents Financial Planning Reading List posted at Pasadena Financial Planner.
Economics
Ella Moss presents New Economy, or Buy American, Stupid! « Zodiac Times posted at Zodiac Times, saying, “So, the new stimulus package is passed, hopes are up, markets are down, and recession deepens. Everyone is blaming the housing market, unscrupulous bankers and inept previous administration. But very few seem to understand the true roots of our woes, and how deep our economic problems go.”
The Investor presents The recession is not a lifestyle choice posted at Monevator.com, saying, “In a strange echo of the frivolous attitude that stoked up the debt bubble in the first place, much of the media seems to see the recession as a new ’story’, just as they’d salute skirts going back above the knee or the return of cashmere.”
Estate Planning
Astrid Lee presents Suze Orman posted at World Healing, saying, “Suze Orman, the popular TV advisor on personal finance and about how get out of debt, talks in this video clip about how to get into your heart when determining how much to give to charities. … more”
Financial Planning
Qwoter.com presents Top 3 Successful Investing Factors - Stock Tips & Investment Advice - Qwoter posted at Stock Market College - Investment Advice & Stock Tips, saying, “Although there are many things an investor can do wrong in the markets, there are only a few things he or she can do right. We are all well aware of how important risk management, discipline, and a good investment method can be. Yet without a doubt, they are all useless in the hands of a trader who is psychologically inept or self-destructive. It is unfortunate that investors still believe in the myth that a better system will make them better investors.”
BankMan presents Limit Six Savings Account Withdrawals Per Month posted at High Yield Savings Accounts, saying, “Be careful when making withdrawals from online bank accounts - too many can cause extra fees!”
keevisr presents Loan Info Central: How Student Loans Work posted at Loan Info Central, saying, “Students have many options for financing the cost of college. Loans are just some of those options. However, all avenues for securing scholarships and grants should be pursued before trying to find a loan. This is because scholarships and grants do not have to be paid back, while loans do. There are many different types of loans available for consideration, and many factors of which you should be aware.”
keevisr presents Loan Info Central: Plus Student Loan posted at Loan Info Central, saying, “College expenses are high; there is little argument over that. Students and parents of students often need financial help in order to get into and subsequently get through the years of education that leads to an advanced degree. Thankfully, there is a somewhat new student loan program available that help out with these costs. The Federal Parent PLUS Loans can help those parents with good credit histories to borrow money.”
Pinyo presents How To Deal With A Job Loss posted at Moolanomy.
Financing a Home
Raily Arena presents Tips That Will Get Your Home Sold Quicker posted at How to Sell Your Own Home.
Curt presents How to Take Advantage of the Real Estate Correction posted at PennyJobs.com.
KCLau presents How to Refinance your Home Loans Smartly posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “Lists several reasons why home owners would benefit from switching their loans to a new loan with lower interest rates”
Health Care
GeekMBA360 presents How much should I deduct for 401K, HSA, and FSA during recession? posted at GeekMBA360.
Income
Ben presents Preparing for a Layoff: Job Tips for Staying Employed in a Recession posted at Money Smart Life.
Investing
FIRE Getters presents What Should We Do If Our Mutual Fund Goes Belly Up? posted at FIRE Finance.
Silicon Valley Blogger presents Zecco vs TradeKing: Which Online Stock Brokerage Account To Choose? posted at The Digerati Life, saying, “Thank you!”
Jeff Rose presents 8 Unusual Things to Hold in Your IRA posted at Jeff Rose.
The Smarter Wallet presents A Stock Trading System For Shorting Stocks: How To Short Estee Lauder posted at The Smarter Wallet, saying, “Thanks!”
Dan Cote presents Investing in Companies With A Lot of Cash and Little Debt posted at Earnings Per Share, saying, “In turbulent times like these, it is important to make sure that the companies you are investing in are financially stable. One way to determine this is by looking at the company’s balance sheet and comparing the amount of debt they have with the amount of cash they have. If a company has a lot of cash and little debt, they will have more opportunities and provide more stability to shareholders than less fortunate companies who have little cash and a lot of debt.”
Michael Cohen presents Even If We Are The Next Japan, Stocks Aren’t Necessarily A Short posted at Stock Investment, saying, “There’s a good chance our economic future will mirror Japan’s Lost Decade. Even so, stocks aren’t necessarily a sell at today’s levels.”
Manshu presents Gold Funds - Expense Ratios and Minimum Investments posted at OneMint, saying, “There are several mutual funds and ETFs that offer avenues to invest in gold. This article provides a list of such mutual funds along with their minimum investment and expense ratios.”
Dividends4Life presents Coca-Cola: A Real Dividend Aristrocrat posted at Dividends Value, saying, “Coca-Cola (KO) is the real thing in more than one way. KO was the King of Pop, long before Michael Jackson was born and after raising its quarterly dividend 8% to $0.41 per common share KO can wear its aristocrat crown another year.”
FMF presents Frugal Millionaires Love Index Funds posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Million aires recommend and use index funds.”
Investing School presents Brokerages with Free Stock Trading posted at Investing School, saying, “Want to trade stocks for free? Here are a whole bunch of ways to do so.”
jim presents Investment Clubs posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.
Tushar Mathur presents Zecco: Free stock Trades ? posted at Everything Finance, saying, “For a while, Zecco had one great advantage over a lot of other online stock brokerages — the offer of free stock trades if you can handle a small requirement. Just open your online stock brokerage account with them for $2,500 and you would be entitled to 10 free stock trades per month.”
Qwoter.com presents Stock Market Investing Basics posted at Stock Tips, saying, “Before thinking about investing in the stock market you will want to first make sure to learn the stock market investing basics and not just simply jump in and start trading right away.”
Larry Russell presents 7 Ways to Pick the Best Noload Mutual Funds and ETFs posted at Best No Load 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.”
Managing Debt
Heather Levin presents The Benefits of Paying Off Your Mortgage Early | The Greenest Dollar posted at The Greenest Dollar, saying, “Here are the pros and cons to paying off your mortgage early, plus the strategy I’m using to pay off my own.”
Abigail Perry presents How to deal with debt collectors posted at i pick up pennies, saying, “A useful primer on dealing with debt collectors — calls, letters, etc. A short set of basic rules, as well as some useful links to help you better know your rights.”
DebtLite presents What Are the Root Causes of Debt? posted at Debt Advice.
PicktheBrain presents The First Investment a Beginner Should Make posted at Beginner Investing.
Insurance Toolbox presents Do You Have to Pay “Charged Off†and Other Old Debt? | Fine-Tuned Finances posted at Fine-Tuned Finances.
Raj Patel presents The Cost of Having Too Many Debt Accounts posted at DebtGoal, saying, “An explanation of three debt payment strategies to reduce overall debt and how one’s choice of strategy causes significant difference in the time required to clear the debt.”
PicktheBrain presents How to Protect Yourself From Credit Repair Scams posted at Credit Rescuers.
Miscellaneous
Livingalmostlarge presents I’m not frugal posted at LivingAlmostLarge.
Raj Patel presents Understand Your Credit Score posted at DebtGoal, saying, “An article on how banks understand and use credit scores, how one’s credit score is determined, and the basics to managing and leveraging one’s credit score to improve their financial status.”
Patrick @ Cash Money Life presents How to Start a Blog for Fun or Profit - Introduction to a Series posted at Cash Money Life, saying, “Tips for starting a blog as a home based business. This is the first article in a multi-part series.”
Credit Shout presents Best Credit Card For Your Credit Score posted at CreditShout.
Retirement Planning
Jeff Rose presents Is Your Pension Safe When Your Company Files Bankruptcy? posted at Consumer Boomer.
Sam presents New !! Your IRA Retirement Savings Plan. Details for Tax-Free Savings posted at Surfer Sam and Friends, saying, “Your IRA Retirement Plan Details for Tax-Free Savings Almost anyone can set up an IRA and start saving for retirement. Retirement can be the best time of your life if you have enough money to enjoy it. Plan ahead. Avoid coming up short when you retire. 1. What is an Individual Retirement Account, IRA? 2. How Much Money Will You Need to Retire? 3. Three Steps to Set Up Your IRA Retirement Plan 4. There are Three Types of Individual Retirement Accounts, IRAs 5. How Much Can You Contribute to an IRA Retirement Plan? 6. How Much of My IRA Contribution Can I Deduct? 7. Making Withdrawals from Your Regular IRA Retirement Plan 8. How to Avoid the Penalty for Early Withdrawal From an IRA Retirement Plan 9. The Regular IRA Retirement Plan Has an Penalty for Under-Withdrawing 10. Use an IRA Retirement Account for Estate Planning.”
Risk Management and Insurance
The Financial Blogger presents Critical Illness, Long Term Care and Disability Insurance – What’s in it for me? posted at The Financial Blogger, saying, “I decided to explain the difference between the critical illness, long term care and disability insurance.”
Dividend Tree presents Performance Measure for Risk-to-Dividend posted at Dividend Tree, saying, “Discusses a measure for risk-to-dividends, which can be used by individual dividend investors.”
Savings
jim presents Highest Short-Term CD (Certificate of Deposit) Rates posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.
nickel presents CD Ladders in a Low Interest Rate Environment posted at fivecentnickel.com, saying, “Strategies for getting the most from your savings when rates are falling.”
Brian McKay presents Best CD Rates posted at MonitorBankRates.com, saying, “The current economic crunch is changing the savings habits of the average American. Certificate of deposit rates have been coming down, but the U.S. savings rate has been going up.”
Taxes
Karissa Martin presents Tax Time Blues posted at Recession Obsession, saying, “Don’t pay an arm and a leg to file your taxes on-line. We recommend this easy site.”
Jacqulyn Richey presents First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit posted at Las Vegas Real Estate News, saying, “A breakdown of the tax credit in the new bill.”
Super Saver presents Tax Cuts in Stimulus Bill - Who Gets Help posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “Here’s my brief summary of the Stimulus Bill tax cut benefits for individuals by income level.”
ChristianPF presents Tax deductions for volunteer work posted at Money in the Bible | Christian Personal Finance Blog, saying, “Don’t forget to deduct expenses for volunteer work!”
Deposit Accounts presents Get the Most Out of Your Tax Refund posted at Deposit Accounts.
kathryn presents Get Your Taxes Done for Free! posted at Out of Debt Christian, saying, “Tax time is never fun. Even if you’re getting a refund, the hassle of organizing your paperwork and filling out those forms can be tedious. If you prefer to have someone do your taxes for you, here is a way to not only get them done for FREE, but get paid to get them done!”
Barb A. Ryan presents Asset Allocation, Investment Asset Tax Location, and Emergency Cash Management posted at Pasadena Financial Planner.
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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