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Carnival of Financial Planning - Edition #230 - March 30,?2012
Welcome to the March 30, 2012 Edition #230 of the Carnival of Financial Planning!The Carnival of Financial Planning takes a long-term view of personal financial planning for individuals and families. The focus is 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!
Budgeting and Economics
Justin presents What Should You Try Before You Take Out a Loan? posted at Budget Snob, saying, There are some situations in which taking out a loan is appropriate, such as buying a house or a car. However, in other situations, loans may not be the best choice. Before you take out a loan, its important to look at your options.
Chris presents The Recession Generation posted at Experiglot, saying, We really are the recession generation.
Tim presents 5 Business Lessons Learned from Monopoly posted at Faith and Finance, saying, Monopoly is good family fun and all, but its also a crash course in business. Here are 5 business takeaways you can learn from the old game Monopoly.
Janet presents Living expense tracking methods posted at Independent Financial Planner , saying, " Many people do not track their living expenses and do not understand the magnitude of their consumption. Failure to monitor your consumption expenditures means that they are flying blindly regarding their future finances. "
Darwin presents The REAL Inflation Rate posted at Darwin's Money , saying, Most Americans feel the government inflation numbers aren't representative of the real inflation they see year to year. Here's your solution.
Financial Planning
Craig Ford presents The Unpopular Truth About the Dangers of a Dave Ramsey Only Approach to Christian Finances posted at Money Help For Christians, saying, "Christians should consider paying attention to other financial authors as well."
Jeffrey presents Can We Stop Gushing Over Our Self-Affirming Financial Bull? posted at Money Spruce, saying, Did the title make you uncomfortable or defensive? Good, it's probably not new news to you that everything likes to read things that simply back up what they already think and do. Finances are no different. We like to have all the answers, and we like to be on the right track. Sure, there are little tweaks here and there but not too much to rock the boat.
Dave presents Passive Investing ? Active Investing ? Alpha Returns posted at Wall Street Nerds , saying, " The Old Testament of indexing is Burton Malkiel?s classic A Random Walk Down Wall Street, first published in 1973 by W.W. Norton and now in its ninth edition. For typical individual investors, without special access to information, it offers what is likely the best financial advice they will ever get: It is hard to consistently beat the market, especially after fees. A passive strategy will do better in the long run. "
Philip Taylor presents We Finally Completed Our Last Will and Testament, Living Will, and Durable Power of Attorney posted at PT Money Personal Finance, saying, Discusses our personal estate planning, as well as our choice to pay a lawyer versus using a website such as Legal Zoom.
Jen presents Make Money While Drinking Beer? posted at Master the Art of Saving, saying, I started thinking about it - can you really make money while drinking beer? Yep, I've decided that it is quite possible for somebody to make money while drinking beer-- though most of these things can also been done by sober people.
Shaun presents What to Do If You are in a Car Accident posted at Smart Family Finance, saying, While being a party to a car accident might be outside your control, knowing what to do after a car accident will help keep you safe and potentially avoid you legal headaches down the road.
TSI presents Where?s Waldo? ? The illusion of superior professional mutual fund manager performance. posted at Skilled Investor Blog , saying, " If investment mutual fund managers were truly skilled at beating the market, then you would expect mutual fund manager performance prowess to persist over time. Unfortunately, the evidence indicates that superior past professional performance among mutual fund managers tends not to persist. Past superior mutual fund performance is simply not a predictor of future superior mutual fund performance. "
Everything Finance presents 7 Fun Ways to Teach Children to Save posted at Everything Finance, saying, Creativity is a child's bread and butter, so why not use that to your advantage to teach them about saving money? These clever tips are ideal for teaching your child how to make smart money decisions.
Kevin presents Would You Destroy An Entire Industry? posted at Thousandaire, saying, If you invented something that would benefit consumers immensely but would destroy an entire industry at the same time, would you release your product?
Eddie presents How Do We Measure Success? posted at Finance Fox, saying, Here's my two cents. Singularly education, money, cars and the circle of friends do not measure ones success. Success is measured with a combo of all the above four.
Income
Corey presents How To Make A Killing As A Bar Server posted at Bar Whiz Blog, saying, Although a tight fitting tank top and a pair of orange short-shorts won't hurt, showing skin is not the only way to make a killing as a server. Following these "tips", anyone can make a surprising long-term income from serving.
John presents Wage Slavery and Money Myths posted at Married with Debt, saying, Wage slavery, for some, is an everyday reality. For others, there's no such thing and work is a pleasure.
MR presents Can A Side Blogging Business Help You At Your Primary Job posted at Money Reasons, saying, Can working at a blogging side business help you at your employed day job? I think so and here is my story.
Daniel presents Salary vs Commission: Which Do You Prefer? posted at Sweating the Big Stuff, saying, Do you like working for commission? Do you prefer a salary? There are several compensation options and each has it's own advantages and disadvantages.
Insurance and Risk
Paul Vachon presents Saving Money on Home Insurance posted at The Frugal Toad, saying, There really are no secrets to saving money on home insurance. The trick is to include evaluating your insurance needs as a part of your yearly financial review. Most individuals don't do this and are losing out on potential savings. Here are some of the best ways to save money on home insurance:
Investing
Kanwal presents The Biggest Investment Mistakes Canadians Are Making posted at Simply Investing, saying, I was recently interviewed for this article by Cindy Waxer she writes for publications including Technology Review, The Economist, TIME, Fortune Small Business, and CNNMoney.com. Have a look. ManyCanadians are falling short of their investing goals.
Boomer presents Pros and Cons of Holding Your Mortgage in Your RRSP posted at Boomer & Echo, saying, One investment that is eligible to be held in your RRSP is your mortgage. You need to have enough cash, or assets that can be converted to cash, and hold your mortgage in a self-directed RRSP. You then make your mortgage payments to the RRSP instead of a financial institution.
Bobby Boughton presents Is it Better to Invest or Pay off Debt? posted at ReadyForZero Blog, saying, Ah the age old question: Is it better to invest or pay off debt? This article goes through a few scenarios and helps you decide which is the better route to go.
Dividend Growth Investor presents Does entry price matter to dividend investors? posted at Dividend Growth Investor, saying, "The reason for the lost decade in stocks is that many otherwise quality companies were overvalued in the early 2000s. For example Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) was trading at 29.30 times earnings in early 2000, whereas McDonald?s (MCD) traded at 26.90 times earnings. Even some of the best dividend stocks are not worth paying more than 20 times forward earnings."
Teacher Man presents ETF Investing Low Maintenance and Stellar Returns posted at My University Money, saying, So the big day is finally here and we are ready to unveil our eBook the world. A huge thanks goes out to all of the great help Ive had building and marketing the eBook! Without further ado.
Mike presents What You Need To Know About ETF Investing posted at The Dividend Guy Blog, saying, Everything you need to know on the topic.
Managing?Debt
Steve presents 10 Things You Can Do to Get Out of Debt Starting Today posted at Money Infant, saying, Are you always wondering why you can't get off the debt treadmill and live a satisfying life without constant money worries? 10 things to help get out of debt
Martin presents Do You Know Who Has Your Credit Card Number? posted at Studenomics, saying, The scary possibility of credit card fraud.
Real Estate
A Blinkin presents Should Homeownership Still Be The American Dream? posted at Funancials, saying, This was initially a guest post I wrote for Sam at Financial Samurai. Let me know what you think. There have been numerous studies performed over the years which clearly outline the social benefits of homeownership. In the mid-2000's it was nearly impossible to argue against the advantages of owning a home.
Little House presents Are Homeowners Really More Credit Worthy than Renters? posted at Little House in the Valley, saying, Aren't I, the renter, the more stable consumer than the homeowner who couldn't afford a home to begin with?! Don't my years of rental payments count for something! Why is it that rental payments?aren't?factored into credit worthiness and therefore counted towards my score?
Glen Craig presents What is Mortgage Amortization and How Does it Work? posted at Free From Broke, saying, People get confused when they hear the term Mortgage Amortization. Don't be. It's not that confusing. See what mortgage amortization is and how it works.
Retirement
FMF presents Determine Your Retirement Number?posted at Free Money Finance, saying, The first step in determining how much money you will need to save for retirement is to answer a few basic questions about your future. If you can answer these six questions accurately then your retirement savings number will also be accurate.
Madison presents Unveiling The Retirement Myth: Book Review posted at My Dollar Plan, saying, There are so many books about saving, investing, and building your portfolio, that it is rare to find a good book about spending down your portfolio, or the distribution stage. The book Unveiling The Retirement Myth by Jim Otar does a great job on explaining the distribution stage, in detail, with actual numbers.
Savings
N.W. Journey presents Start Planning and Saving for the Holidays Now posted at Networth Journey, saying, "Discover why now is the best time to save for the holidays."
Ashley presents Saving For College; How to do it and why you shouldn't feel guilty for not posted at Money Talks Coaching, saying, Saving for college is a huge task. Not only does the cost rise faster than inflation you have a very short time frame in which to save.
Kyle presents How to Save 10 Percent on Your Grocery Bill Without Cutting a Single Coupon posted at The Penny Hoarder, saying, If you're someone who won't use coupons or you're somebody who uses coupons, but wants to save even more, I've got an unconventional way to cut the grocery bill.
Taxes
Cash Flow Mantra presents Update on Income Tax Situation posted at Cash Flow Mantra, saying, For those of you who might be unfamiliar with this part of my financial life, I owe some money to the IRS, and it is not just a little bit. I had to come up with another plan which involved borrowing money from individuals so I could avoid paying more taxes plus a nasty penalty on funds withdrawn from a retirement account. Yes, I am a little like Greece and kicking the can down the road, but I think that things will be getting better.
Money Cone presents Handling Royalty Trusts in Turbo Tax posted at Money Cone, saying, If you own Royalty Trusts in a tax-deferred account, you can skip the tax preparation step and unlike MLPs, owning Royalty Trusts in your 401K or IRAs wont trigger the dreaded UBTI. But if you happen to own them in a taxable account, be prepared to spend some time doing the tax math for each Royalty Trust you own.
Super Saver presents Where's My Refund? posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, "Despite getting a refund this year, I have not filed and therefore know why I haven't received a refund. However, for many that have filed, their refunds have been delayed."
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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Kylie, our 13 year old daughter, asked me last night, if she was overweight. ?I looked at her really funny and told her ?no way!? ?But then, I wanted to know why she felt that way. ?Kylie is very self conscious. ?As a victim of past bullying (unrelated to weight), Kylie has put a lot of time and effort into her appearance and health. ?She has seen how mean kids can be, and she stays active, places concern with portion control, and keeps up with herself so that she doesn?t fall victim again.
Republicans and the Ryan Plan 
Big Government: Swimming in Regulations? 
Breaking News: Corzine Responds to Memo Leak 
Does the IRS Target Rich People? 
Obamacare & the Supreme Court 
BATS Pulls IPO and Dow, S&P Have a Down Week 
Is Rapid-Fire Trading Rigged? 
Smoking Gun Memo: Did Corzine Lie to Congress? 
Oil Shock & Gas Tax 
No Huddle Offense: Carrizo 'Tweets' 
Cramer's Homework on MAP Pharma, Oxford Industries and More 
Lightning Round 
Meredith Corp: The Power of High Yield 
Cramer's Spec Play on Cornerstone OnDemand 
Cramer's Game Plan for Next Week 
Mad Money, March 23, 2012 
Money In Motion Web Extra 
The Buck Stops Here 
Buying Blind 
China's Slowing Pains 
Money Match Up 
Money In Motion, March 23, 2012 
Options Action Web Extra 
The Final Call 
Upside Call: Nike 
In the Money Now 
Options Action, March 23, 2012 
Maria's Market Insight 
Facing the Music of Austerity 
iPad Battery Issue 
Need more options for communicating? Bobsled lets you call or text chat with others on Android devices, or using an iPhone, iPod or iPad over Facebook. Better still, the people you reach out to don?t need to have any phone number.
Getting into shape and losing weight requires a plan. It also helps to note down your progress toward your goals. Enter Fitbit. This app aims to track both your food intake and, with the purchase a separate tracker device, your body motion.
If for nothing else, this game gets points for originality. Main character Johnny, a hormonal youth, wakes up in a bad mood and decides to take his angst out on the world below his urban dwelling by spiting out the window.