Best Personal Financial Planning and Personal Investment Articles this Week from Personal Finance Blogs
Carnival of Financial Planning – Edition #170 – January 15, 2011
Welcome to the January 15, 2011 Edition #170 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 and Economics
MoneyNing presents Winter On a Budget posted at Money Ning, saying, “Here are a few ways to spend the winter on a budget. How do you save money?”
Jeff Rose, CFP presents 20 Easy (and Unusual) Ways for College Students to Save Money posted at Jeff Rose, saying, “There may be money saving tips that college students may not be considering. Here are a few of those tips.”
The Skilled Investor presents How to Save More posted at Personal Financial Strategy, saying, “Budgeting and self-control in consumption is far more important than clever investing. Expenditure control and budgeting works, while “clever” investing usually is counter-productive.”
Money Beagle presents 2010 Review of Annual Spending Categories posted at Money Beagle, saying, “Last year, I presented an outline of some of our annual recurring expenses, and looked how we did for the previous year. I thought that was a cool thing so here’s our 2010 numbers compared to prior years.”
Darwin presents US Debt Ceiling Explained – MAJOR Vote Coming Up posted at Darwin’s Money, saying, “The US debt ceiling has hit the roof – and needs to be raised again by an act of Congress next month. Find out why this is important and what it’s all about”
Estate Planning
Karen Chan, CFP, University of IL Extension presents The Simplest Estate Planning Tool: POD — University of Illinois Extension Blog posted at Plan Well, Retire Well, saying, “65% of Americans do not have a will. But even without a will, you can determine who will inherit many of your assets and make it easy for them to take ownership of those accounts. This little tool could be called a secret because most people don’t know about it.”
Financial Planning
FMF presents Free Money Finance: Nine Guiding Financial Principles posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Nine money principles that should guide almsot any financial plan.”
N.W. Journey presents The Importance of Financial Goals posted at Networth Journey, saying, “Tips on how to reach your financial goals.”
Larry Russell presents No Load Mutual Funds posted at Best Index Mutual Funds, saying, “Superior past performance has simply not been shown to be a reliable predictor of superior future performance. However, low costs can lead you to the best mutual funds.
Writers Coin presents Setting Smart Goals: Getting Things Done posted at The Writer’s Coin, saying, “Setting goals is OK, but setting SMART goals is the way to get things done.”
MoneyThinking presents Should I Buy a New Home or Should I Build One? posted at Money Thinking, saying, “Now, there are some obvious questions you should ask yourself when you consider whether you should build your home or if you should buy one outright”
Frank Knight presents Strategic Asset Allocation posted at Best Personal Financial Planning Software, saying, “When you are already there and invested in an asset class, you are following a passive asset allocation strategy. Tactical asset allocation strategy advocates suggest that you can anticipate the crowd, but flow-of-funds studies show that almost all tactical asset allocation fund flows are late money flows that chase performance after valuations have already moved.”
Madison DuPaix presents 6 People You Can’t Afford to Lie To posted at My Dollar Plan, saying, “Your financial stability requires complete honesty on your part – read on to find out why.”
Jeff Rose, CFP presents The Importance of Battle Drills in Your Family Life posted at soldieroffinance.com, saying, “Do you have enough to pay cash, or do you have to put it on your credit card? Do you have enough in savings to take care of it? Most importantly, what does that do to your monthly budget? These are the types of drills you need to run through as a household just to see what happens.”
Dave@50plusfinance presents Recession Lessons Learned In 2010 posted at 50 Plus Finance, saying, “This last has been the icing on the cake with changing our financial habits for the better. Never again will we waste money or not save and budget.”
Health Care
studenomist presents How to Save Money On Student Health Insurance posted at studenomics.com, saying, “A look at how you can save money on student health insurance.”
Income
Mike @ Green Panda presents How to Search for My First Job posted at Green Panda Treehouse, saying, “How you can land your first source of income.”
Investing
Dividends4Life presents 22 Dividend Stocks Building Long-Term Returns posted at Dividends Value, saying, “Investing in Dividend Stocks is a long-term strategy. Frequent buying and selling of dividend stocks can significantly increase your expenses and taxes, thus lowering your returns. A growing dividend is a strong indication of a company’s increasing intrinsic value. Great companies that increase dividends tend to have rising share prices over time.”
Jessica presents CD Ladders posted at MomVesting, saying, “CD ladders can be a great tool for making the most of your cash, so let’s take a close look at them.”
DGB presents 3 Reasons Why I Go Dividend Investing in 2011 posted at The Dividend Guy Blog, saying, “A synopsis of my currently revised investment strategy.”
Dividends4Life presents 6 Stocks Giving The Gift of Dividend Growth posted at Dividends Value, saying, “Christmas is a time of giving. Families and loved-ones give gifts to each other. People give money to the needy and charities, while others give their time to help those that are not quite as fortunate. It seems that everyone is involved in giving this time of year, even corporations. Dividend growth stocks give a gift that keeps on giving – ever increasing dividends!”
Frank Vertin presents Best Index Funds posted at Index Mutual Funds, saying, “Top ten no load index funds that track the Standard and Poors 500 composite index in terms of lowest costs.
Intelligent Speculator presents Top ETF’s in 2010 posted at Intelligent Speculator, saying, “A look at the best ETF’s from the whole year.”
Alexander presents Kellogg’s Consistent Dividend posted at Dividend Stocks, saying, “Kellogg’s stock pays a dividend of $1.62 which equates to a dividend yield of 3.20%. This yield is slightly higher than the historical yield of 2.60%”
Patty Pedersen presents Fidelity Mutual Funds: Best, Worst, and 2011 Forecast posted at AlphaProfit MoneyMatters – Investing Blog, saying, “Fidelity Select Automotive (FSAVX) appears set to take honors for being the top performing Fidelity fund in 2010. This article provides insights on Fidelity funds that are likely to do well in 2011.”
Tomas Escent presents Stock Trader Automation posted at Nerds on Wall Street
Mike McFate presents Today?s Trade: Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) posted at CompanyInvest.com, saying, “Provides technical chart analysis for a great trade that could yield 10-12% in 2-4 weeks! Also, you can view the portfolio and see the performance of past picks.”
Mike @ Green Panda presents How Much Money Do I Need for a House Down Payment? posted at Green Panda Treehouse, saying, “How much will you save for your home down payment?”
Pat @ DNW presents Reduce Your Debt Level to Save for Retirement posted at Do Not Wait, saying, “Reduce your debt today to improve your retirement planning.”
Dividends4Life presents 10 Stocks Expected to Grow Their Dividends in 2011 posted at Dividends Value, saying, “In this space we normally look at companies that have recently raised their dividends. However, as the year draws to a close there were very few companies of note increasing their dividends this week. With that, I thought it would be interesting to see who were the big dividend raisers in 2010 and what we might see in 2011. Here are ten companies for your consideration:”
Mike Piper presents Does This Count as Market Timing? posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, “People often ask whether a strategy “counts as market timing.” That’s the wrong question, of course. All that matters is whether it’s a good idea.”
2 Cents presents 2011: What to Watch posted at Balance Junkie, saying, “Here are 7 themes that could affect your money in 2011. Watch for them in the headlines.”
The Skilled Investor presents Stock Market Timing posted at Personal Investment Management, saying, “Always stay invested to earn risk premiums. You must have your money invested and at risk to get risk premium returns. Jumping out and in or “timing the markets” doesn’t work.”
FMF presents The Beauty of Index Funds posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Index funds have low costs and thus outperform most other investing options over long periods of time.”
FMF presents Final Advice from a Dying Investor posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “A dying investment expert tells why he thinks index funds are the way most people should be investing.”
Aussie Investor presents Best Shares To Buy In 2011 posted at Australian Investing, saying, “With 2010 out of the way, it’s now time to turn our our attention to 2011. While I’m sure we’d all like to have a crystal ball which we could look into to see what shares prices have done up to the end of 2011, the reality is the future is unknown. So where do we look for the best shares to add to our investment portfolios in 2011?”
Ryan @ CML presents How to Interview a Financial Planner posted at Cash Money Life, saying, “Tips on how you can interview, screen, and hire a financial planner to help you manage your money; includes tips on doing a background check to verify credentials.”
The Financial Blogger presents Mutual Funds Penalty Fees – To Switch or Not to Switch posted at The Financial Blogger, saying, “Should I sell my funds and pay the penalty fees? Or Should I keep my investment portfolio as is?”
Jessica presents Dividends and Dividend Yields | MomVesting posted at MomVesting, saying, “Let’s continue our path toward stock term education by looking at “dividends” and “dividend yields”.”
Dividends4Life presents 2 Dividend Stocks Building Future Yield and 10 Going Ex-Dividend in January posted at Dividends Value, saying, “Driven by computers that cost more than the average person will earn in their lifetime the investment markets move at light speed. To keep pace hedge funds, mutual funds, institutional investors and multi-billion dollar money managers spend large sums of money on high-tech tools to give them an edge. So, what chance does a small individual investor have?”
DGB presents 2011 Top 10 Canadian REITs List posted at The Dividend Guy Blog, saying, “A solid list for all of the Canadian investors out there.”
Frank Knight presents Muni Bond Retirement Software, posted at Best Financial Planning Software, saying, “Municipal bond investments and your state and federal marginal income tax rates: Some investors hold municipal bonds in an attempt to reduce their tax burden. This article discusses the relationships between tax-exempt municipal bonds, bond market returns, marginal tax rates, and investment asset tax location.”
Intelligent Speculator presents Verizon (VZ) dividend analysis posted at Intelligent Speculator, saying, “Some thoughts on the dividends provided by Verizon.”
Mike presents ETF Asset Allocation Portfolio – How To Build your Portfolio posted at Experiments in Finance, saying, “How you can build your portfolio with ETFs.”
Managing Debt
Craig Ford presents Why You Shouldn’t Let the ‘Business’ in Business Credit Card Fool You posted at Money Help For Christians, saying, “This post compares the advantages and disadvantages of the ‘business’ credit card.”
David presents A Guide To Understanding Annual Percentage Rates posted at Credit Card Offers IQ.
Jeff Rose, CFP presents Credit Score Scale: What is a Good Credit Score? posted at Jeff Rose, saying, “Your credit score is one of the most important bits of financial information about you. Find out what a good credit score is and how your score can help/hurt you.”
Jeff Weber presents How to Avoid Common Balance Transfer Mistakes posted at Smart Balance Transfers, saying, “If you do a balance transfer correctly, you are basically guaranteed to save money on interest and reduce the time it takes to get out of credit card debt. But if you make mistakes, you can wind up getting little benefit from these transactions.”
Silicon Valley Blogger presents Chase $100 Cash Bonus From Ink With Ultimate Rewards Card posted at The Digerati Life, saying, “Here’s a review of one of my favorite rewards cards from Chase.”
Miscellaneous
Super Saver presents Senior Discounts Begin at 50 posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “This year, I learned that some of the stores had a 10% discount for seniors age 50 and older. I had previously thought that the earliest senior discounts began was at 55 with most senior discounts starting at 60 or 62.”
Intelligent Speculator presents If I were Google CEO Eric Schmidt for one year posted at Intelligent Speculator, saying, “How I would run Google for one full year.”
studenomist presents Top Three Dream Jobs of 2010 & Why They’re So Popular posted at studenomics.com, saying, “A look at the three most popular jobs of 2010.”
MoneyNing presents Does Making More Money Make You Rich? posted at Money Ning, saying, “Does it? How do you define rich?”
Jeff Rose, CFP presents Gift Card Gotchas: Problems to Watch Out For posted at Jeff Rose, saying, “While the recent rules have gone into effect to limit the problems associated with fees and expiration of gift cards, there are still some things that you need to be aware of.”
MoneyNing presents OMG Kids Are So Expensive! posted at Money Ning, saying, “How much should kids cost?”
Joe Plemon presents Rethinking Our Family Christmas Gift Exchange posted at Personal Finance By The Book, saying, “An over the top gift exchange this past Christmas has spurred our family to rethink our Christmas celebration. We are making changes.”
DGB presents 3 Questions To Help You Sell Your Stocks posted at The Dividend Guy Blog, saying, “Questions you must answer before you decide to sell your stocks.”
Joe Plemon presents Trade the Drudgery of New Year’s Resolutions for the Excitement of Pursuing Your Dreams posted at Personal Finance By The Book, saying, “Pursuing dreams is more fun and productive than making resolutions. Give it a try!”
Pasadena Financial Planner presents Vanguard Index Funds posted at Top Mutual Funds, saying, “Compares Vanguard’s actively managed mutual funds and Vanguard’s passively managed index mutual funds. Vanguard investors should read and understand this study.
Job-Interview-Site.com presents Analyst Resumes: Samples of Analyst Resumes posted at Job Interview Guide, saying, “Here, you can find standard resumes samples for the different positions of an analyst such as: business analyst, intelligence annalist, financial analyst, BPO, QA, market research, equity analyst and many more.”
Jeff Rose, CFP presents 7 Steps to Getting Your Free Credit Score Through CreditKarma.com posted at soldieroffinance.com, saying, “To receive your free credit score on Credit Karma is very easy, and it is the same credit score that your banker will be looking at when they are deciding the terms of your next loan, or the score your credit card company will be looking at.”
Jim Wilkerson presents Choose Mature Noload Mutual Funds posted at Best No Load Funds, saying, “Very young stock and bond mutual funds are more likely to put you into the position of being an experimental guinea pig of mutual fund companies and the ETF industry.”
Joe Morgan presents Avoid Debt: Don’t Be A Second-Hander! posted at Simple Debt-Free Finance, saying, “Ayn Rand is a well known author and philosopher and while her writings are often viewed through politics she can teach us about debt and frugality too.”
Retirement Planning
Jeff Rose, CFP presents What Happens When You Over Contribute into IRAs? posted at Jeff Rose, saying, “Is it really possible to save too much? When it comes to contributing to your IRA, it can.”
Larry Russell presents Roth IRA Calculator posted at Retirement Planning Tools, saying, “Trying to decide about a traditional IRA to Roth IRA conversion without first having a comprehensive lifetime financial plan in place makes absolutely no sense. Without such a plan, you cannot figure out whether or not you are likely to achieve the tax savings in retirement that would warrant paying higher taxes now.”
Silicon Valley Blogger presents Should You Cash Out of Your Retirement Savings Plan? posted at The Digerati Life, saying, “The pros and cons of cashing out your retirement savings prematurely (before you retire).”
Super Saver presents Social Security Withholding is a Tax and Not a Premium posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “The recent Health Care Bill lawsuits have revealed a common about Social Security.”
Jeff Rose, CFP presents 2011 401k Contribution Limits – Save For Your Future posted at Jeff Rose, saying, “Here are some important facts about the 401k contribution limits for 2011.”
Walter W. Fouse presents Top 10 Large Cap Funds posted at Best Mutual Fund, saying, “This table of low cost top 10 S&P 500 mutual funds has been organized with the lowest cost index fund first. Nevertheless, each of these S & P 500 index funds is among the least costly on the market.”
Jeff Rose, CFP presents 7 Things You MUST Know About Roth IRA Rules for 2011 posted at Jeff Rose, saying, “You need all of the current information regarding the current IRS regulations concerning the Roth IRA. This article takes a look at the Roth IRA rules for 2011.”
Sun presents Does Automatic Enrollment Improve Retirement Saving? posted at The Sun’s Financial Diary.
Frank Knight presents Roth ConversionRetirement Planning Software posted at My Financial Freedom Plan, saying, “Whether to invest in a Roth IRA or Roth 401k versus their traditional retirement account alternatives is one of the most complex personal financial decisions. Roth accounts do not make sense financially for most people. They are a good deal, for a minority, but you need to do the analysis.
Pat @ DNW presents Business Owners: Getting Ready to Retire! posted at Do Not Wait, saying, “How business owners can begin their retirement planning.”
Risk Management and Insurance
FMF presents Free Money Finance: Six Ways to Buy Long-Term Care Insurance Right posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Six tips that will help you make the most of buying long-term-care insurance.”
Jules Wells presents Investment Risk Questionnaire Investment Software, posted at Financial Answers saying, “There is a way for you to get a much better assessment of your risk tolerance than you would from a simple conservative versus aggressive financial industry investor questionnaire.”
Ryan @ CML presents Gambling on Death – Life Settlements and Viaticals posted at Cash Money Life, saying, “Life settlements and viatical settlements are a way for elderly individuals and terminal patients to sell their life insurance policies while they are still living, so they can use the proceeds to pay for medical bills or other needs.
Taxes
N.W. Journey presents What Does That Gift Really Cost posted at Networth Journey, saying, “Understand the basics of the gift tax.”
Super Saver presents Reduces Taxes by Using an IRA Charitable Rollover posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “The IRA charitable rollover has been extended through 2012.”
Madison DuPaix presents 2011 Payroll Tax Cut: What Your Paycheck Will Look Like posted at My Dollar Plan, saying, “Find out exactly how the 2011 Payroll Tax Cut will impact your paycheck.”
David de Souza presents 3 New Year’s Tax Resolutions You Should Make posted at UK Tax Blog, saying, “Guide to three easy New Year’s Resolutions you can make in 2011 in order to pay less tax”
Financial Freedom presents IRA ContributionsRetirement Tool, posted at Financial Freedom, saying, “The Roth tax optimization puzzle for asset conversions, as well as for annual Roth contributions during working years, is one of the most complex decisions that the ridiculously complex US taxation and retirement planning system forces upon individuals.”
Craig Ford presents Self Employment Tax Information | An Easy Guide to Self Employed Tax posted at Money Help For Christians, saying, “This useful guide helps people understand the self employment tax process.”
N.W. Journey presents Free Tax Return Preparation Help posted at Networth Journey, saying, “Tips on how to find free tax preparation assistance.”
Craig Ford presents Start Online Tax Filing Free with TurboTax posted at Money Help For Christians, saying, “Use free online tax services to file your taxes or to get a point of comparison to review the work of your tax accountant.”
David de Souza presents One million more people to be affected by tax mistakes posted at Tax Return Blog, saying, “Tax Mistakes – We look at the tax blunders affecting millions of UK taxpayers”
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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