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With Thanksgiving only one week away, one of the biggest shopping days of the year — Black Friday — is on the horizon.
Most years, I get caught up in the consumerism, but this year — there's just not that much that I need. Add in the fact that most deals aren't actually that great, and it just makes sense to save and not spend.
This week, we participated in the Carnival of Personal Finance, hosted by The Digerati Life. Fred's post on Alan Greenspan and economic regulation was included.
Check out some of the highlights from the carnival.
Investing vs. Paying Down Debt - Which Way Should You Go? - Personal Finance Analyst
Personal finance isn’t always crystal clear and making a decision between heftier debt payments and investment is a perfect example of that. In order to get the right answer, you’ll need to compare the actual “dollars and cents” value of each option and to assess that result in terms of your own personal outlook and money management skills.
Get a higher return for your money - Blogging Banks
Most individuals have money in regular checking accounts which they use for their regular day to day expenses and deposits. The main issue with these regular checking accounts at banks is that they pay very little in interest rates – sometimes lower than half a percentage point per year.
Free Online Personal Finance Tools - Hustler Money Blog
Here’s a complete free list of online account aggregation services for personal finance.
Well, the presidential election is finally over. But the work is just beginning — as we saw by the quick 1,000 point drop on Wall Street in the first two days with president-elect Obama, nothing is going to change overnight.
An election/economy post — 4 Tips for Shopping at Thrift Stores (Or How Not to Spend Like Sarah Palin) — was included in this week's Carnival of Personal Finance, hosted by The Sun's Financial Diary.
Check out a few of the great posts from the carnival:
Manage Money - Outsource Your Money Handling Tasks - Minding My Own Business
In today’s world of the Internet, e-commerce and e-banking there exists another viable option. You can outsource the tedious tasks. I don’t mean hire an employee to pay your bills, but rather take advantage of modern day conveniences to automate routine Money Handler tasks. Doing so will enable you to spend your valuable time being a Money Leader and a Money Manger instead.
How Much Should You Pay to Save Time? - Political Calculations
Jim, as we recently noted in the latest edition of OMM, saved a lot of out-of-pocket money by butchering his own chicken, but wondered if it was really worth his time to do all the extra work, rather than just buying the various chicken parts already prepared. Cathryn wondered the same thing about buying pre-peeled onions, pre-manufactured lunches for children, and baking a pie from scratch.
We've set up the tool to answer Jim's question about whether or not it's worth his extra time to do his own chicken butchery, but you're more than welcome to change the input values according to the make-vs-buy scenario you may be more interested in.
10 Ways to Become Financially Independent - Happiness is Better
There are many ways to becoming financially independent. I don’t think most people become financially independent through any single method. I’m sure it’s an iterative process that usually takes many years, at least 10 (I threw that number out there), to complete.
Wow — it's tough to believe that it's already November. It's been exactly one year since we made the move from Boston to Washington DC.
This week, we participated in the Carnival of Personal Finance #176 - Financial Armageddon Edition at Master Your Card. Fred's 1929 and 2008: Why Distribution of Wealth Matters was included.
Some of the good reads from the carnival include:
The Dangers of Online Bill Pay and Automatic Deductions - The Smarter Wallet
When our money travels along the ether, we don’t usually think about it much. But according to the Electronic Payments Assocation (or Nacha), the electronic payment network upon which our automated payments travel, the error rate for our money transactions occur at a rate of 38 for every 100,000 bill payments.
That doesn’t seem like much, but if it happens to you or to me, it’s one time too many.
Mobile Banking Review: Online Banking With Your Cell Phone - Money Smart Life
Do you need to transfer money from one account to another? Do you need to check your available balance before making a large purchase? Mobile banking is the way to go for those of you who don’t want to use the automated robot that answers the customer service number. In this article, I’ll highlight the major players in the mobile banking sector, costs associated with it, the capabilities available, and benefits/consequences of mobile banking.
Saving 10% of your money is like "paying an extra bill" - Budgets are Sexy
The point is that it's all budgeted into "bills" really. The mortgage, the credit card, the utilities, the savings, the 401k, etc.
I really like this "way" of thinking, so it's totally going into my back pocket for the next time someone asks for advice
A nice and simple concept to get your mind right. You gotta like that.
It's been a slow week here, thanks to being offline for some holidays and traveling for the day job. But we're back in the swing of things and have a great week lined up for you.
We participated in this week's Carnival of Personal Finance, #175 hosted by Budgets are Sexy. We submitted The Declaration of Financial Independence: ING Direct.
Check out some of these great stories:
10 More Money Saving Websites With Ongoing Big Fat Deals - Greener Pastures
10 time saver and money saver sites I use to get a little extra mileage out of my budget.
My criteria: I don’t lay out my credit card number unless I know the site’s legit.
How to Maintain Optimism in Tough Economic Times - Tough Money Love
But you know what? We have not given up hope. We can still see the light and are more determined than ever to finish the job we started, to reach the financial goals we set, and do it on our schedule. How is that possible after the all of the damage that has been inflicted upon our net worth? That’s a question that I am now asking myself because to be honest I am surprised at how calm I am at this point.
Saving Is In Again: Thomas Stanley on the Glutton Economy - Cash on the Barrelhead
Hemispheres, the United in-flight magazine, just published a short piece I wrote last spring about saving to become wealthy called Hey, Big Spender.
It includes a quote from Thomas Stanley, author of The Millionaire Next Door. At the time I wrote it, the idea of being frugal still seemed quite out of step with the culture, but Stanley says it’s a habit that never goes out of style for those who hold onto their wealth.
This week, we participated in the Carnival of Personal Finance #174, hosted by Greener Pastures. As you can imagine, many of the posts dealt with the up-and-down stock market and the general state of the economy.
The carnival included our own 3 Things the Presidential Candidates Can't Say About the Economy (But Should).
While there weren't many posts about online banking or using the Internet to save you money, there were a number of good stories to read.
Be Careful Where You Get Your Investment Advice - Military Finance Network
Here are some investment tips you should beware:
An “inside tip” isn’t inside information if it is published
Beware of agendas and scams
Beware of the office day trader
There are no guarantees
Stop Thinking About That Year-End Bonus - Tough Money Love
Mr. ToughMoneyLove has lots of experience with year end bonuses, both as a recipient in my younger days and more recently as an employer distributing them. My message today is to encourage all of you who have reason to expect a bonus to stop thinking about it.
Pay Yourself First: How to Do It and How It Works - Money Under Thirty
What does it mean to pay yourself first? Think about how you usually manage your money every month. If you’re like most responsible people, you get your paycheck and pay your bills. Even if you don’t stick to a budget, you probably have an idea of how much your bills are and how much you have left over. After your bills are paid, you kind of spend the rest without much thought.
This week, we participated in the Carnival of Personal Finance hosted by Sound Money Matters.
While there weren't too many stories directly related to online banking and using the Internet to save you money, there were a lot of great tips. Here are a couple of the highlights:
The 60 Percent Solution and Mint.com - Cash on the Barrelhead
Super, super cool, because everything goes into pie charts, which is the only way that money (or math of any kind, really) makes sense to my brain. Just click, and you can see one month of where your money is. Or three months, etc. Click on any pie slice for the gory details of what your money is doing. After we’ve got enough data in it, we’ll be able to see (in bar graph–I like those, too) how our spending stacks up against other people.
29 Steps I Took to Leave the Workforce at Age 29 - My Dollar Plan
At age 29 I left the corporate world behind and I’m embarking on a new chapter in my life: spending more time with my kids (ages 1 and 2), following my passion (teaching others about personal finance), and an overall life of freedom not tied to a JOB! Here’s how I did it (and how you can too!)
Are You a Millionaire in the Making? - The Dough Roller
Becoming a millionaire is about the simple, daily choices we all make. So with that, let’s see whether you are a millionaire in the making.
This week, we participated in the Carnival of Personal Finance #170, hosted by The Personal Financier.
It included the embarrassing, but true story of how I went to the wrong airport for my flight to Denver.
There are a number of great posts in the carnival, but here are three right up our alley:
Switching to Paperless Statements to Save Money, Time and the Planet - Our Fourpence Worth
But after years of accessing my accounts and paying bills online, and running out of places to stash all my account statements, I’ve decided that it’s probably a better system that will end up saving me money, time (which is also money), space and paper cuts.
Protecting your identity and financial information online - Finance ViewPoint
In today's cyber-age these type of scams and phishing emails are growing and unfortunately new victims are found every day. However there are a number of easy and cost effective ways you can protect your identity and financial information if you transact over the Internet.
Why Paying Bills Electronically Is Good for the Environment - BrokeFamily.com
Want to go Green?
Well, here’s an easy way to be kind to the environment - receive and pay your bills electronically.
This week's Carnival of Personal Finance is up at Money Ning. It includes Why an iPhone is a Worthy Investment.
Here are a couple of the highlights that'll save (and make) you money.
Saving for Specific Goals at ING - Handling Finances
Once you’ve entered all your information and started an account at ING, it’s extremely simple to create additional separate accounts for various purposes. You just pick which type of account (checking or savings — I only use savings) and give the account a name.
Save to Retirement Fund or Emergency Fund? - My Retirement Blog
If you’re just starting out, you may be put to the decision of whether you should fund your retirement accounts or fund your emergency fund. In order to answer this question, you need to have a grasp of your total financial picture and you can do so by asking yourself the a few questions.
Readers' Choice: The Best High-Yield Online Savings Banks - Five Cent Nickel
I frequently receive e-mails asking which online savings account is the best. With that in mind, I asked FiveCentNickel readers to list their favorite online savings banks. Even though the interest rate landscape is constantly changing, I thought that it would be worth compiling the results into a handy list of the best online savings accounts.
Objective Personal Finance Answers Are Hard to Find - The Skilled Investor's PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG
Very often, people do not have access to disinterested and reasonably priced advice and information. Financial advisors are expensive, whether or not you pay them directly. No advisor can work without compensation. If you do not pay your advisor directly, then the industry will. When the industry pays your advisor, your best interests may quickly fly out the window.