Best Personal Financial Planning and Personal Investment Articles this Week from Personal Finance Blogs
Carnival of Financial Planning – Edition #124 – January 15, 2010
Welcome to the January 15, 2010 Edition #124 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, Editor
Budgeting
Four Pillars presents The Low Down on Zero Down Payment On A House posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Why it is not essential to have a large down payment for your house.”
Dorian Wales presents The Dangers of Excess Frugality – Budgeting and Balanced Living posted at The Personal Financier, saying, “A more balanced life and balanced goals will help achieve inner peace and acceptance that money is truly a means and not an end. This takes work and time. I suppose on cannot escape the slippery slope I’ve presented but understanding the need for balance early on will save considerable frustration and contribute to early happiness.”
Four Pillars presents Get Out Of Debt With YNAB – You Need A Budget Financial Software Review posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Indepth review of You Need a Budget software.”
Estate Planning
Jeff Rose presents Inheriting Retirement Assets: What You Need to Know posted at Jeff Rose.
The Financial Blogger presents Estate Planning: 5 Reasons Why You Should Have A Professional Among Your Liquidators posted at The Financial Blogger, saying, “managing an estate is more complicated than simply writing a few checks! Fortunately, for those who can afford it, you can name a professional among your liquidators.”
Jeff Rose presents Roth IRA Rules For Minors. Your Kids Guide to Tax Free Money posted at Jeff Rose.
Financial Planning
20smoney presents Personal Finance Manifesto posted at 20s Money, saying, “A comprehensive guide to some of the basic principles of personal finance.”
David presents What to Do With A Windfall posted at Money Under 30, saying, “Studies show that we humans are more likely to spend unanticipated money (ie, a windfall) than anticipated money like our wages. Of course, blowing a bonus or inheritance isn’t the wisest financial move. What should you do with a windfall? Here’s are six simple steps for allocating unexpected cash.”
KCLau presents Tip-tip Kewangan Untuk Rakyat Malaysia posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “Book on Top Money Tips for Malaysians finalised”
Super Saver presents Strategies for Building Wealth and Retiring Early posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “Recently, I ran into a friend who also retired in his forties. We compared notes on what strategies enabled us to retire early. There seemed to be two recurrent themes.”
Dividend Tree presents Building Core Competency for Long Term Survival posted at Dividend Tree, saying, “whether it is running a business or individuals’ investment portfolio, it is important to build a core competency for long term sustainability. In my case, I focus on good quality companies that consistently pay or have potential to pay growing dividends over time.”
Big Cajun Man presents Personal Finance Resolutions for the New Year? posted at Canadian Personal Finance Blog, saying, “Are Financial New Years resolutions a good idea? Yes, but make them achievable, don’t try to boil the ocean, just take small steps!”
Susan Saverton presents Portfolio Asset Allocation posted at Financial Planner Pasadena, saying, “Set your personal investment asset allocation according to your personal tolerance for investment risk. Allocated percentages to asset classes would tend to slowly change with the years, and thus it is key to decide correctly from the beginning.”
Roshawn Watson presents Thoughts on Escaping The Rat Race posted at Watson Inc, saying, “Do you yearn to be free…really free? What would you do if money was not a big limitation? Perhaps the primary reason for increasing your financial literacy is so you may indeed escape the rat race.”
Super Saver presents Spending because of Stimulus Money? Not Us. posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “Although we qualified for the Cash for Clunkers and the new Home Buyer’s Credit program, we passed on on participating, for one simple reason — if we needed it, we would have already bought it.”
Financing a Home
MDP presents How to Break Free from Your Escrow Account posted at My Dollar Plan, saying, “This article talks about the benefits of avoiding an escrow account when purchasing a home.”
Roshawn Watson presents Is Bigger Better? Scaling Down The American Dream posted at Watson Inc, saying, “Today’s post-crash buyers are not willing (nor able in some cases) to extend themselves like before, and the impact on the housing market is substantial.”
Steven R. Bennett presents Real Estate Investing – Buyer’s Perspective posted at Living Trusts – Post Mortem Administration, saying, “About real estate investments.”
Alex Fotopoulos presents When to Refinance a Mortgage? posted at My Trader’s Journal, saying, “Some key points to consider when refinancing your home.”
Financing Education
Jeff Rose presents How Can a Grandparent Help Finance a Grandchild’s Education posted at Jeff Rose.
FMF presents Revisiting the Value of a College Degree posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Is a college degree worth the cost? It is if you do it correctly.”
Praveen presents Will Education Follow the Housing Bust? posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, “Tips for students to avoid excessive loans and debt”
Health Care
Patrick @ Military Money presents Open Enrollment Window Open for Some posted at Military Finance Network, saying, “Open enrollment is the only time of the year that many people are able to make changes to their health insurance elections. Make sure you take advantage of this time to select the best health care option for your needs.”
Income
Dividend Tree presents Three Companies with Sustainable Dividends posted at Dividend Tree, saying, “Even in soft economic environment, there are companies out there that are continuing to increase dividends for their shareholders. While dividend increase is good, it is more critical to make sure we understand that companies can sustain their dividends.”
Investing
ABC presents Fixed Income Investments posted at ABCs of Investing, saying, “A description and some examples of fixed income investments.”
jim presents Your Take: How Do You Evaluate Brokers? posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.
Sun presents The January Effect: Is It Real? posted at The Sun’s Financial Diary.
Darwin presents 2009 Global Stock Market Returns – Every Country ETF Ranked posted at Darwin’s Finance, saying, “Returns for all countries for 2009 – Insightful and Surprising (US was toward the bottom even with our rally!)”
Silicon Valley Blogger presents TradeKing Review: How Does TradeKing Measure Up? posted at The Digerati Life
Alex Fotopoulos presents Gold Chart (GLD) ? More Room to Fall posted at Chart Analysis, saying, “Alex posted a chart of the Gold ETF, GLD, this week and shows how much farther it could fall before finding support.”
Zach Scheidt presents 2010 ZachStocks Recommendations posted at ZachStocks, saying, “2010 should offer investors both opportunity and risk. Here are four investments which should generate healthy gains in the coming year.”
jim presents Where Dividend Stocks Fit in Your Portfolio posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity
Tushar Mathur presents Can’t Control the Markets? Try controlling the Costs posted at Everything Finance, saying, “As 2008 proved, the financial markets are prone to unpredictable periods of turbulence. That can make investing feel a bit like a roller-coaster ride. The disappointing results that many mutual funds posted in 2008 and at the outset of 2009 may have left you feeling concerned over your financial future. You’re not alone.”
Praveen presents Just Bought Hyatt Hotels (H) posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, “About Hyatt’s recent IPO and why its a good stock.
Larry Russell presents Top 10 No Load Funds posted at Best No Load Mutual Funds, saying, “Don’t bother to frantically move your assets from one mutual fund to another or from one ETF to another. Investment research has repeatedly showing academic studies that performance chasing is a bad strategy the most ofter will yield inferior returns.”
The Smarter Wallet presents ETrade Review: Best Stock Broker For Online Investors posted at The Smarter Wallet, saying, “Review of Etrade.”
Curt presents Investment Outlook for 2010, a Year of Difficult Decisions posted at PennyJobs.com.
Control your Cash presents 3 Investments for the next decade posted at Control Your Cash, saying, “Where should you invest in 2010: Get back to basics.”
Zach Scheidt presents Salesforce.com Shocks Market With Debt Offering posted at ZachStocks, saying, “Salesforce.com (CRM) is issuing $500 million dollars in convertible notes. The dilution to shareholders could drive the stock down and with CRM’s lofty multiple, the risk looks to be very high.”
Kyle Dunning presents 200 Best Blogs, Free Courses and eBooks for the Business Student posted at Online Colleges and Universities Education Database, saying, “Hundreds of free eBooks, online courses and great blogs to learn about investing, personal finance and general business skills.”
The Financial Blogger presents Note to Myself: Key Points to Investing During a Bear Market Part1: Remember High Yield Bonds posted at The Financial Blogger, saying, “This is what I am doing with the recent market crunch of 2008. Some people generated amazing returns by taking little risk. Here’s how they did it.”
The Skilled Investor presents Best Investment Strategies posted at Personal Financial Investments, saying, “Investment costs which are clearly measured, like fees deducted on your monthly investment statement. Most investors are no aware of opportunity costs that arise from sub-optimal investing practices. Opportunity costs like these are much greater than more costs and investment fees that show up on their statements.”
MoneyNing presents How to Get Your Wife to Invest posted at Money Ning, saying, “Talk and discuss. Learn how to get your significant other to invest!”
Tomas Escent presents Investment Portfolio Trading posted at Nerds on Wall Street, saying, “A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Wired Markets. In this funny financial book, there are no robots parking your car millions of times, however, right now in milliseconds robots trade millions of shares.”
jim presents How to Determine Your Asset Allocation posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.
Frank Vertin presents Index Stock Fund posted at Best Index Funds, saying, “When you buy an S & P 500 index mutual fund through a broker or investment advisor you can increase substantially your purchasing costs, while you drive up your recurring annual expenses through asset management and other fees. Financial advisors most often will not recommend to buy index mutual funds with very low fees.No load, low cost index mutual funds don’t pay financial brokers and advisors nearly as well as front loaded, high fee, active mutual funds.”
Jules Wells presents Simple Investing posted at Personal Financial Planning Software, saying, “Investing often seems almost unfathomly complex, however your best investment strategy will tend to be a simple and straightforward investing strategy.”
Dividends4Life presents 4 Dividend Stocks in the Good Category posted at Dividends Value, saying, “Virtually everything in this world can be placed into a few basic categories. This is especially true for Dividend Stocks when looking at their historic performance and expectations for the future.”
Mike Piper presents Asset Allocation with a 401(k) and IRA posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, “A system for managing a portfolio that spans multiple providers–one for your 401(k) and another for your IRA, for instance.”
Managing Debt
Lynnae presents Why Tracking Expenses Important When Paying Off Debt posted at beingfrugal.net, saying, “The first step in paying off your debt is knowing what you spend each month. Tracking your spending will help you see where you’re overspending, so you can plug those budget leaks and get down to the business of paying off your debt quickly.”
The Smarter Wallet presents How Debt Management Programs Affect Your Credit Score posted at The Smarter Wallet, saying, “Can debt management programs have an impact on your credit score? We review this issue in this article.”
James Staine presents 10 Myths about Reverse Mortgages posted at Oregon Mortgage Blog, saying, “Oregon Mortgage Blog comprises informative articles that talk about residential mortgage types, and the types of mortgage borrowers.”
Patrick @ Cash Money Life presents How to Get a Free Credit Report From AnnualCreditReport.com posted at Cash Money Life, saying, “How to get a copy of your free credit report from annualcreditreport.com, the only official website to receive your free credit report.”
Mark presents Why Having A Good Credit Score Isn?t Great In 2010 posted at Crushing The Credit Bureaus, saying, “It is now more important than EVER that you re-evaluate what you think is a high FICO credit score and what lenders think is a high credit score. If you have low scores, you must repair credit report now.”
Miscellaneous
Patrick @ Cash Money Life presents How to Get Your Free FICO Credit Score posted at Cash Money Life, saying, “Tips on how to get a free copy of your FICO Credit Score, and how to avoid getting charged without your knowledge.”
Frank Knight presents Stop Identity Theft posted at Best Financial Planning Software, saying, “You need to be proactive and take easy steps to prevent becoming a victim of identity theft. Identity theft is increasing dramatically and it takes a huge amount of time to clean up the mess once you get hit with identity theft.”
Big Cajun Man presents Men’s Health posted at Canadian Personal Finance Blog, saying, “The little blue pill factor in Male Health…”
nissim ziv presents Career Goals: Examples of Career Goals and Objectives posted at Job Interview Guide, saying, “It is only when a person has a clear thought about his/her career goals and objectives that he or she gets ultimate satisfaction from his/her job and therefore progress faster. This article covers many examples for your career goals & objectives.”
Susan Saverton presents Personal Finance Plan posted at Family Financial Planning, saying, “You need a system that is efficient with respect to your time and your costs, when to develop, implement, and track a personal investment plan.”
Tom @ Canadian Finance Blog presents New Year’s Resolutions For Your Personal Finances posted at The Canadian Finance Blog, saying, “While we all hope to have our personal finances in order all year long, a new year can give us a fresh start to change some of the areas that need improvement.”
Retirement Planning
Consumer Boomer presents Best Options for Your 401k posted at Consumer Boomer, saying, “When it comes to 401(k), what are your best options? There’s a ton of information out there that could confuse a Harvard graduate and the landscape is forever changing.”
Jeff Rose presents Best Retirement Plan For Small Businesses posted at Jeff Rose.
Joe Plemon presents Are You Eating Your Retirement? posted at Personal Finance By The Book, saying, “When looking for a way to fund your retirement, the answer could be on your dinner plate…you could be eating your retirement.”
Super Saver presents Roth IRA: To Convert or Not to Convert posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “Since anybody will be able to convert funds from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, in 2010, a question is whether is it makes financial sense to do a conversion or not.”
Top Stock Mutual Funds presents Stock Mutual Funds posted at Top Index Funds, saying, “This article discusses the 10 ten very low cost stock index mutual funds that track the Standard and Poors 500 large capitalization stock index.”
Jason @ Redeeming Riches presents Are You Holding a Retirement Time Bomb? posted at Redeeming Riches, saying, “By contributing to your 401k you could be creating a giant tax-time-bomb!”
Frank Knight presents Roth Retirement Accounts posted at Financial Planner Software, saying, “One of the most complex personal financial decisions is whether to invest in a Roth IRA or Roth 401k versus their traditional retirement account alternatives. For most people, Roth accounts do not make sense financially. For a minority, they are a good deal, but you need sophisticated financial planner software to do the analysis for yourself.”
eHow presents How to Save for Retirement for 20 and 30 Year Old posted at FaithAllen, saying, “This article talks about retirement planning for people that are in their 20s and 30s.”
Risk Management and Insurance
Evolution Of Wealth presents Financial Strength of Insurance Companies posted at Evolution of Wealth, saying, “In a pile of misinformation, financial strength of an insurance company has to be included. The reason here is that most people don’t understand nor are they ever properly explained how to accurately measure the financial strength of these companies. Most of the time the average consumer isn’t given all of the information so hopefully this will help you with your value decisions.”
Patrick @ Military Money presents COBRA Benefits 2009 Economic Stimulus Recovery Act posted at Military Finance Network, saying, “The 2009 Economic Stimulus Plan includes additional COBRA and unemployment benefits.”
Savings
Evolution Of Wealth presents Cash Is Clementines!?! posted at Evolution of Wealth, saying, “For the average person that has a problem with debt cash makes sense. For the rest of use, cash will only slow us down. Cash is not king. Focus instead on the power of LUC (liquidity, use and control).”
jim presents Consider Moving Your Money to Local Banks posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.
Silicon Valley Blogger presents Savings Account Rates: Where Are The High Returns? posted at The Digerati Life, saying, “We check out the latest savings account rates for cash accounts.”
MoneyNing presents How to Deal with Frugal Naysayers posted at Money Ning, saying, “There’s a better way to deal with all the naysayers.”
Mary Jones presents 97 Ways to Save Money in College posted at MRI Technician Schools.
KCLau presents Are You Rich in Internal Assets? posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “pay attention to the internal assets”
Taxes
FMF presents When You Should and Shouldn’t Do Your Own Taxes posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “When does it make sense to do your own taxes?”
Suzane Smith presents The 10 Most Obscure Tax Deductions You Should be Using this Year posted at Executive MBA Programs.
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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