Carnival of Wealth, September 4 Edition

September 4, 2011

This is technically more county fair than carnival, but whatever

Is it Sunday already? First Sunday of the month? Then we hope you made the minimum payment on your credit card bill, and will have the balance paid off by 2027. Without further ado, here are the latest personal finance blog posts that made the cut. Again, these are actual posts from actual people (and maybe an SEO robot or two):

BREAKING NEWS: Starting next week, we’re moving the Carnival back a few hours. It’ll now post on Monday mornings here in North America. That should add a little excitement to the lives of our readers who work in offices, especially those in the Eastern Time Zone, as they sit at their desks madly refreshing the page and anticipating the Carnival’s arrival in their dull, predictable lives. No one ever does that on a Sunday night. Or you can also just go to ControlYourCash.com/feed to get notified instantly.

Again, these are the least average personal finance blog posts of the week, or at least the least average among the ones we received. If you want to get in on next week’s fun, submit here. Deadline is midnight, every Saturday.

(Aside: We’ve reached the point where we’re going to start every carnival off with a grammar lesson for the submitters who can’t write in functional English. Today, we’re going to learn the difference between plurals and possessives:

I bought the dogs some food.
I can’t find the dog’s leash.

See? The first one is a plural, and doesn’t take an apostrophe. The second one is a possessive, and does. You’re welcome.)

This week’s first entrant is a post-by-proxy. You know those CoinStar machines in the supermarket? The ones that let you pour your loose change into the slot and redeem it for paper currency? Of course you do, and you might even be dumb enough to use them. (If you let your loose change grow so big that it can’t fit in your car’s cupholder in the first place, you’re the 21st century equivalent of the Collyer brothers.) Nelson at Financial Uproar points out that using CoinStar machines is putting your money in an investment with a guaranteed return of -10.9%. Yet some people swear by it. If Nelson thinks an appeal to logic is going to convince retards to change their behavior, he’s got an exasperating life ahead of him.

Our research shows that nothing has started off with two Canadians since last year’s Juno Awards. Again, we love to break tradition at Control Your Cash. Sustainable Personal Finance explains the magic of compound interest, and the importance of paying yourself first: a stratagem that for whatever reason doesn’t come naturally to most people.

Few people write guest posts as well as Neal Frankle does, and this week the Wealth Pilgrim stops by Dough Roller to remind us yet again that retirement isn’t magic. You need to plan, forecast, save and invest now so you can drive around the continent in a Winnebago and complain about kids and their baggy pants later.

Did we mention we’re up for a Plutus Award this month? And that the guy who’s tallying the votes is intelligent, forthright, handsome and a god among men? That’s Flexo at Consumerism Commentary, who gives us 10 Tips to Avoid Overdraft Fees.

Speaking of awards, this week’s “Infomercial Masquerading As A Blog Post” is from Tim Chen at Nerd Wallet, who lists the Best No-Fee Credit Cards. (Redundancy saved by strikethrough. If a card charges a fee, then by definition you shouldn’t use it.)

Our three favorite Phil Taylors are that 334-pound rookie behemoth who debuts for the Browns this week, the guy who used to drum for Motörhead, and the creator of PT Money. This week he hands the reins to Ryan Sandberg, who lists 5 things you’re doing wrong if you want to build wealth. Here’s a creepy picture of Mr. Sandberg.

Can you handle another list of 5? Well, you’re getting one. Staff Writer (almost certainly not his real name) at Deliver Away Debt presents ways to pay off your student loans faster. He waits until #4 before going to the time-tested “just complain”.

You’re applying for a new job? Sorry to hear that. (Nothing personal, we just hate and hated working for other people.) But as long as you’re there, don’t leave money on the table. Free Money Finance explains how to negotiate.

Why should Australians move to another country to retire? Cheaper produce. Seriously. At least according to Kelly at Frugal Living. (By the way, Kelly: Bali? Not a country.)

Sweet Lord, another list of 5? Jonathan Milligan at CPA Career Coach presents that many “cool” ways to use Indeed.com. Because nothing’s “cooler” than posting your résumé, teens. Including cigarettes and sex.

Posts like this one from HSH are always fun. Richard Barrington lists the 12 best cities not to live in, but to live in the suburbs of. He even ratiocinates his findings to the 2nd decimal place. (To give him credit, he does practice what he preaches, living in a small town outside Rochester.)

It’s adorable that Tim Fraticelli at Faith and Finance thinks that people will heed his list of 33 ways to make money off the clock, but it’s there if you want it. Our favorite suggestion of his is to let people park on your property if you live next to a stadium, even though

To be honest, I’m not sure if you have to have a special permit, but it was worth bringing up as an idea!

Thanks for that, and thanks on behalf of the people who are good at graphic design yet never thought of charging people for it.

(FirstCreditCardResource.org, you sent 5 horrible posts this week, each worse than the previous one and each with a different byline. At this rate, sooner or later you’ll stumble across a contributor who can write. When you do, we’ll reconsider you. In the meantime, learn from someone literate. Such as…)

The efficient market is the stuff of hypotheses and textbooks. Mike Piper at The Oblivious Investor understands that that’s not how the real world works, but wonders whether it’s worth it to spend your time looking for inefficiencies.

Diversify your portfolio, create an emergency fund, don’t panic…Consumer Boomer has figured out all the things you should do to avoid stock market pain. A welcome relief, because we never would have thought of any of that.

We’ve got a new trusting soul entrant this week, the modestly styled Personal Finance Whiz. He got our attention by claiming that he’d figured out how you can pay a $221,800 mortgage off in only 5 years. So how do you do it?

By making $4,185.64 monthly payments! Wasn’t that easy?

Michael German at Everything Finance Blog gives half-hearted recommendations for credit cards “for job seekers”, who presumably want different rewards and credit limits than the rest of us. There’s also some meaningless references to interest rates in there, which any CYC reader knows are the least important features about credit cards.

Wait…there are wimmens who make more money than their men? Sure. Maybe those same females will even be voting and driving some day. Next thing you know they’re going to be attending school, too. Crystal at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff lives in this future world, and apparently her husband allowed her out of the kitchen long enough to write about it.

Thanks again for joining us. Y’all come back next week, right?

Filed Under: Carnivals Tagged With: , , ,

An especially festive Carnival of Wealth

August 7, 2011

It's not a carnival until Ramit Sethi and the Man vs. Debt guy show up (redhead at right is unidentified)

My, that was gratuitous.

It’s time for our monthly visitor. Let’s call her “The Carnival of Wealth”. Except now she’s our weekly visitor. Last year Arohan at Personal Dividends had the brilliant idea of putting all the best personal finance blog posts in one place. Then he had the slightly less brilliant idea of letting Control Your Cash host it every 31 days, give or take. Then last week he threw all caution to hell and let us host it permanently. Every single week. You ready? Welcome to the new regime.

Let’s start with a new entrant, Eric J. Nisall of DollarVersity (no, you’re thinking of Eric W. Nisall. Come on, try to keep them straight.) He asks, like a journalist’s loaded question, “Owning A Home: Less Attractive Going Forward?” He needed to specify “going forward” just in case time decided to buck tradition and start moving in reverse.

There’s nothing like reinforcement to make you feel good. Tim Chen at Nerd Wallet ranks the 13 best hotel credit cards, and we praise his refusal to consider interest rates as a criterion. We won’t spoil the ending for you, although we do think he ranks the no-fee HiltonHHonors card way too low at #3. (This comment written while enjoying the perks of a no-fee HiltonHHonors American Express card.)

When we were speedy teenage drivers, getting a ticket meant you got to sit through a gruesome film titled Red Asphalt. It showed drivers who paid scant attention to speed limits and thus had their bodies turn into road stew. In that vein, we present Jim Wheeless’ post from Aloe For Better Living. Yup, he thinks a pyramid scheme is the answer to your financial worries.

If you thought Carson Palmer was just another douchey USC quarterback (Good Lord, there have been a lot of them: Todd Marinovich, Sean Salisbury, Rob Johnson, Matt Leinart, Mark Sanchez…) think again. Evan at My Journey to Millions points out that in exchange for getting the hell beaten out of him every Sunday, Palmer took his money and invested it. Now Evan’s financial hero (and maybe ours) is using his f***-you money status to teach his boss a lesson.

You’ll feel like Carson Palmer after a Troy Polamalu hit, on artificial turf, in cold weather, once you read (assuming you make it through) D4L’s post at Dividend-Growth-Stocks. Sample line: “The Energy Sector includes businesses engaged in the production and sale of energy products.” We haven’t researched it, but we’ll take his observation on faith.

Kevin at Invest it Wisely features a guest post from LaTisha (one word, like Bono) on how to plan for retirement. For some reason her post contains a photo of Mark Twain smoking a cigar.

PayPal lets you deposit checks via Android or your iPhone? Why is this not bigger news? MoneyCone walks you through the details. (Time out- heading to the Android market for the PayPal app. Now all we need is a check.)

We used to give the Canadian bloggers their own little corner of the Carnival, but there are so damn many of them that it’s no longer practical. Janet from Credit, Eh points out that interest rates are heading up, so she offers some tactics you should consider. Not “execute”, just “consider”. So we think you should consider reading her post. Have you considered reading it? Good. So let’s..

…make fun of Australians instead. J.E. Cornett at Wallet Watcher has tips for saving money on vacation. He suggests splurging on activities you like while scrimping on amenities you don’t. That JUST MIGHT be crazy enough to work.

Congratulations to Carrie Smith at Careful Cents: Financial Advice That Makes Cents, the first person in the history of the English language to notice that “cents” and “sense” are homonyms. She thinks you should spend less than you make in order to build wealth, and that debt “should be thought about carefully.” Thank you, Carrie.

Mike Piper at The Oblivious Investor. We freaking love this guy. Outspoken and intelligent, with actionable advice and education. This week Mike explains the concept of “maximum tolerable loss” when allocating assets; just a quick rule of thumb for investors trying to put together a portfolio.

The aptly named Investor Junkie is in full pimp mode this week, partnering with brokerage Trade King. They’ll give you $100 if you open an account this month and make 3 trades. Yes, because as any rich investor knows, the more frequently you trade, the richer you’ll get. And TradeKing makes trading easy and fun!

Before you read Jason’s slightly depressing post at Live Real, Now, go out and buy yourself a pet wellness plan. Then hopefully, you won’t be stuck with the agonizing dilemma too many pet owners face when Mittens eats rat poison or Fido gets hit by a car. (This post contains “punting bunnies into a lake”, our favorite line of the week. Well, second after D4L’s one about the energy sector.)

This week Neal Frankle at Wealth Pilgrim hits on a couple of topics almost as cheery as sick pets: divorce and spousal death. If you live in a community property state, learn about what can happen to your assets when your marriage comes to an end.

Another newcomer (at least, we don’t remember him) is Billy Hart at Inmessment. (Get it? It’s a portmanteau of “mess” and “investment”.) He walks you through the basics of opening an investment account. Next week, we’ll walk him through the basics of spelling. (It’s “outweigh”, Ace. Not “out way.”)

J.B. at My University Money is back. (We can tell he’s Canadian because they say “1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th year” instead of “freshman, sophomore…” et al.) J.B. says you should hit up your college’s (excuse us, “university’s”) financial aid office to see if there’s any extra scratch lying around.

Okay, this one’s different. A futures market for hurricanes? Kyle Taylor at The Penny Hoarder showcases a website that lets you hedge your losses in the event of a natural disaster.

Steve at 2011Taxes.org must have spent hours on this piece about subsidies/taxes for major oil companies.

Another Australian? Indeed. Kelly at Frugal Living watched a comic-book superhero movie and decided to distill some financial lessons out of it.

Marie at Money Spending Mommy (more like “Mommy Spending Money”, amirite fellas?) explains how you can save on taxes when starting a home-based business if you write off the relevant expenses. She doesn’t mention how to incorporate or set up an LLC, but we’ll get to that in a Control Your Cash ebook soon enough.

D.J. at The Family Wallet has written the internet’s 54,312,954,297th post on frugality. You’re not going to believe this, but you need to distinguish between needs and wants. Also, you should monitor your expenses and maintain a positive attitude.

Whoa! Actual content? Consumer Boomer gives us value, explaining delayed annuities and how they guarantee future payouts for the patient investor.

We’re not sure what we like more: Charles Chua C K’s name, or the title of his blog. All About Living With Life joins the chorus of auric bugs with a 7-point plan for buying gold. He lists its high price as a selling point, which makes us wonder how he feels about undervalued securities.

Next week, even more red meat. We promise. Until then, adios and #HOOgah!

Filed Under: Carnivals Tagged With: , , ,

These Carnivals of Wealth don’t arrange themselves

August 3, 2011

Here’s how it works. 4 days out, we solicit our fellow personal finance bloggers for contributions to the Carnival. They submit here. If we like it, we run it. If it sucks so badly that we can make fun of it, we run it. If it falls in the unforgiving middle, maybe someone else will run it. So if you’re a blogger, you know what to do. If you’re a reader, sorry about the brief post. Join us back here for something more substantial Sunday. And browse the archives for our own content at your leisure.

Filed Under: Carnivals Tagged With: , , ,
« Previous Page
Next Page »