Sweet Jehovah, another Carnival of Wealth already?

April 3, 2011

Looking for something family-friendly? Sorry, wrong carnival.

Looking for something family-friendly? SORRY, WRONG CARNIVAL

Indeed it is time for another Carnival of Wealth. Which is great. Our monthly chance to not only see what our fellow financial bloggers are doing, but let them write most of the post for us. The following posts have been selected for their educational and/or comedic value. (Oh, and Marilyn Stowe of the Marilyn Stowe Family Law & Divorce Blog? You can stop your multiple submissions anytime now. No one here cares about the latest in divorce case management and procedure in the UK. This is a personal finance carnival. You folks speak English in England, right?)

Let’s start with Jeffrey Patrick Lui at JPLui.com, who’s giving us his new year’s resolutions. (LUI is also a backronym for “Living Under Imagination.”) These resolutions are for Chinese new year, according to him. Which was 6 weeks ago. Fortunately, he should be able to track his progress in time for Hebrew new year (September 29.) Apparently we’ll be seeing more of Jeffrey Patrick at his brother’s place this year. Can’t wait.

Glen at Parenting Family Money knows what utter misery children can bring to a household. In addition to ruining your sleep patterns, your finances and your sanity, they can also do a job on your furniture.

From Tom (via Brianna, via Matt) at Stupid Cents comes this helpful post on how to determine what factors determine your credit score. Until those secretive bastards at Fair, Isaac & Company give us the formula, this is the best we can do.

If you’re a man, or a childless woman, please move to the next entry. For the rest of you, Jessica at MomVesting explains how mutual funds work. It’s “mom”: America’s favorite new prefix.

The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (Canada’s answer to America’s FCC) requires that a certain proportion of radio and TV content be of Canadian origin, and sometimes it seems as though the CoW operates the same way. This week, Jim Yih at Retire Happy Blog tells his fellow hosers how to find help with their taxes.

Wait. There’s more of that, this from the halls of academia. Kevin at Invest it Wisely offers a guest post written by a Ph.D. who uses charts, graphs and jargon to explain something about the best way for retirees to earn income.

Are you familiar with Bill Eater? We were initially disappointed to find out that that wasn’t the actual name of this week’s contributor. While Mr. Eater unfortunately doesn’t exist, in his absence Jessica Bosari rails against celebrities acting as spokespeople for financial companies.

We can usually count on Mike Piper at The Oblivious Investor to provoke thought, and this week is no exception. Should you claim Social Security benefits early and invest the money? The answer isn’t as obvious as you might think.

If you’re ready to introduce your kindergartner to the exciting world of personal finance blogging, there’s no better place to start than with the elementary prose of Dividend Stocks Online and this week’s submission on the phenomenon of something called “dividend aristocrats.”

/wants so, so badly to do an interpretation of “The Aristocrats”
/doesn’t

We recently ran a post from someone named Madison DuPaix, and were convinced that it was a stage name. This week’s “come on, that’s got to be a pseudonym” entry is from Paula Pant at Faith & Finance. The esteemed Miss Pant writes about the 7 Deadly Sins and what they can teach us about money. Seriously, this is a fantastic read and in keeping with a recent observation we made here at CYC, people who grew up in non-English-speaking countries somehow seem to make some of the most erudite personal finance bloggers.

Ramsay at Moneyed Up gets your attention with the inspiring opening line, “Over the years, the maximum allowable 401k contribution has increased to a level that enables anyone who avails themselves of it to create a meaningful income source while enjoying significant tax savings along the way”, and it just gets more gripping from there.

Did you know that you shouldn’t ignore warning lights on your car’s dash? The Sun’s Financial Diary also recommends you should buy in bulk if you want to save money. Stay tuned for next week’s submission, “Lighting $20 bills on fire: good or bad?”

Hiring a financial adviser is so important that it supersedes the correct use of pronouns. Consumer Boomer gives us “10 questions to ask a financial adviser before using them”.

Sometime in the next decade, Money Reasons’ son and daughter are going to start asking him if they can “borrow” some cash. He’ll refer them to this post and explain that instead of giving them a fish, he had stocked a pond years earlier.

Justin at Money is the Root tells us this week that “saving more and spending less is a central theme for financial management.” He helpfully adds that eating healthy and exercising are…well, they’re either important or unimportant for maintaining health, we can’t remember which. So you’re going to have to read the post to find the answer.

The days of the smoke-filled boiler room aren’t behind us. The rooms have just moved online and gotten harder to track down a physical address for. Pinyo at Moolanomy explains what to do if your stockbroker goes out of business.

We were hoping that Outlaw Finance contained money-saving tips from Billy the Kid and Jesse James (“Never hold up a fast-movin’ stagecoach. That means it just dropped off its payload, reckonin’ as it ain’t weighed down by silver.”) Instead, this week’s post is about how to save money. Guess what? You should pay off your debt and set savings goals.

A submission containing actual research and useful information? Say it ain’t so. George at Fat Pitch Financials throws a big one down the heart of the plate with his list of the S&P 500’s cheapest companies (measured by price relative to book value.) Why is this guy’s Alexa rank only in the 500,000s?

Here’s another one for your pre-schoolers. Tear them away from The Wiggles for a second and show them this entry from Charles Chua C K at the recursively titled All About Living With Life, who tells us why debt is bad.

This might be our funniest post yet:
Submitted 18 months after publication? Check.
Far too long? Check.
Full of patently obvious advice? Check.
Superfluous use of the word “literally”? Check, although that’s not as bad as incorrect use of the word “literally”. (“The world is literally her oyster.”)
Written by a psychic? Check.
Who’s gravy-training off her more famous husband (or ex-husband, we’re not really sure)? Check and mate.  Erin Pavlina, everyone.

Credit Donkey* avails us of extended warranties offered by credit card companies. They’re a great and risk-free way to save money, operating under the assumption that you’re not so dumb that you’re carrying a balance.

Kyle Berks at Integrated Loans offers this post on how to improve your credit score after bankruptcy, which is like learning how to breathe after getting a lung removed. WARNING: in the picture of the post’s author (not Kyle), he’s not just doing the wink-and-the-gun, he’s doing the rare wink-and-double-gun.

Oh, for crying out loud. Someone who calls herself Harriet at something called Human Services Degree chose to submit something on the personal finance subtopic of not going on vacation. Perhaps that counts as personal finance, if you think hard enough. First off, no one under 90 is named Harriet. Second, how can you use the word “staycation” and have any self-respect? Too bad Harriet’s not a guy, maybe he’d have a “bromance” brewing. Perhaps with a frenemy.

How do you eliminate your college credit card debt in 2 years? That’s easy – blackjack and roulette! (Hint: never bet on red, it comes up less than half the time.)
But apparently Neal Frankle at Wealth Pilgrim doesn’t like fun solutions like that. Instead, he suggests taking responsibility. Sheesh, what a buzzkill.

If you’re traveling through time and happen to catch Wesley Snipes in 1999, please send him this submission from Steve at 2011 Tax on how to make nice with the IRS. Trust us, Mr. Snipes will thank you.

The answer is yes. The question is, Should I quit my 9-to-5 job? Sonia Naidu at Fuel2Drive argues the exact opposite point, we think.

One of the best ways to start an intercenine war within your family is to create a lucrative business and then let your heirs figure out what to do with it once you’re dead. Evan at My Journey To Millions explains how for the well-prepared, nothing succeeds like succession.

Looking for a financial advisor? Carlos Sera at Financial Tales suggests that you look at his checklist. And you’ll never guess what he does for a living.

You’re right, this week’s CoW isn’t quite preachy enough. Everything Finance at Talking About Green reminds you that the Internal Revenue Service’s managers have chosen to play favorites with people who own wood-burning stoves. So now, while you’re turning CO2-burning trees into useless cinders to heat your home, you can not only kid yourself into thinking that you’re being ecologically benevolent, you can get paid for it!

If you missed Control Your Cash’s guest post on balance sheets, Alex Young at Yell0BrickRd explains them simply.

Finally, from the “putting in effort is a waste of time” subsection, MM (it stands for “Miniscule Missive”) at Black Swans & White Crows not only borrowed his blog’s name from Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s pop sociology tome of the moment, but MM also managed to send us a submission that’s only 69 words long – including the obligatory 2 reader questions at the end. (This paragraph’s description of MM’s submission is 71 words long.)

The Carnival returns to Personal Dividends next week, and will be back here on the 1st Sunday of next (and every) month. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

*How did they not go with the infinitely more awesome “Credit Burro”?

Filed Under: Carnivals Tagged With: , , , ,

Carnival of Wealth #28, the CYC March 2011 edition

March 6, 2011

Do a Google Image Search for Carnival of Wealth and this guy pops up for some reason.

Welcome to the Carnival of Wealth, yet again. This is our first presentation as your permanent monthly guest hosts, thanks to Arohan at Personal Dividends. We are the Joy Philbin to his Kelly Ripa*. We’ll be back with another CoW a month from now, and every month, until the end of time. Now let’s get started.

Money Crashers nailed it. The next time someone tells you about how high-income people should pay their fair share of taxes, rub this post in their face and remind them that being rich and earning a lot of money are different things.

Don’t let Zoe’s typos at Mind of Z get in the way of a valuable lesson about a similar topic – how you shouldn’t mistake ostentatious displays of wealth for wealth itself.

Congratulations to Mark at Stock Pursuit, this week’s early bird winner. He set an unofficial Carnival of Wealth record by submitting a post that pimps TradeKing a week before the deadline.

Both the lousy budgeter and the ESL student in your life will enjoy the journalistically trained Miranda Marquit’s latest contribution at Pinyo’s Moolanomy, detailing how to pay your federal taxes via an installment plan.

Neal Frankle at Wealth Pilgrim knows that working for the man sucks on wheels. That’s why he’s listed 9 tips for the aspiring or incipient small business owner.

Boomer and Echo are well aware that passive investing is a far more agreeable way to earn money than sweating is. Here they drop the details of some of Canada’s biggest low-risk investment vehicles.

Madison DuPaix at My Dollar Plan self-styled this as a “great post”, and who are we to disagree? Here she shows how to analyze your spending and ensure your finances are in line with the use of handy visual aids.

The extremely comprehensive Free Money Finance road-tested (or more accurately, got his readers to road test) some of the latest income tax prep packages. This week, he gives us the results for Complete Tax PremiumMVP.

Read this post from Credit Card Guru at Credit Card Forum about using credit cards for car rental insurance. Better yet, go back in time and send the post to 20-year old me who used a fake ID to rent a car from a crooked Polish immigrant, brought it back with an imperceptible nick in the windshield and spent the next year paying off an American Express card.

101 Centavos shares his random thoughts on money. Warning: 101 Centavos likes to work blue. This post contains the word “scuzzy”.

You read your mortgage documents, signed them, then decided you wanted out halfway through? No problem! Your fellow taxpayers are here to cover your dishonor. Consumer Boomer gives details and doesn’t even attempt to pretend that personal responsibility is important anymore.

Yo, dude! Tired of, like, going to BankRate to compare interest rates? Bromoney has your back, bro, with a FireFox add-on to track rates automatically.

Add PT at PT Money to the list of people who will tell you: you don’t need to be overly capitalized to start a business. But you do need to start a business if you ever want any hope of tasting financial security coupled with freedom.

It wasn’t easy, but we stayed awake to the end of Janet Russell’s jeremiad against bad mutual funds at Best No-Load Mutual Fund. Here’s a synopsis, quoted in her gripping prose: “The investment research literature does provide some modest evidence that substantially inferior past mutual fund performance is more likely to lead to inferior mutual fund returns in the future. Excessive costs and high management expense ratios are the likely culprits, when explaining sub-par diversified investment fund returns.”  Read her post in Ben Stein voice for extra giggles.

Don’t spend $200 on a gym membership when you can spend $2000 on liposuction. And don’t spend $2000 on liposuction when you can finance it with a medical credit card and end up paying $5000. Tim Chen at Nerd Wallet shows us an exciting new way to squander your money.

Do we dare run a post from something called Fast Payday Cash Advance Loans? Only as a warning. Warren Stephen apparently thinks that’s the kind of thing we’d endorse. We only wish he’d sent us the post on that page entitled “Can You Use Payday Loans for Gambling?” Seriously, it’s on there.

Craig Ford at Money Help for Christians offers the greatest money-back guarantee in the history of commerce. If you buy his book and don’t like the way he spells his name, he’ll refund your money. (Whereas if you try to get a refund on your copy of Control Your Cash: Making Money Make Sense, not only will we not grant it, we’ll send your email address to any number of animal porn sites.)

Who gets an IRS Form 1040 in the mail these days? Fewer than 8% of us, according to (a different) Craig at Free From Broke. So where can you get yours if you can’t print your own? At your local library, among other places. (No figures available on what percentage of us still use libraries.)

Think you’ve uncovered every tax deduction available to you? Our system is so unnecessarily arcane, you can always dig a little deeper. Just ask Matt Jabs at Debt Free Adventure, who’s discovered 10 deductions you didn’t know existed.

Our Australian friends at Pepperstone are dropping American dollars like Pacman Jones at Spearmint Rhino. Read what these foreign exchange mavens have to say about other major currencies in the short term, and why.

Apparently ladies are part of the workforce these days. And according to Create A Cash Flow Show, some of these gals who work in direct sales were named among the top 30 in their field. How do we know? Lady #18 told us. Read about DebB and the other 29 women who needed to fill time while their husbands were working and kids were at school honorees here.

Patently obvious advice? We’ve got it! More specifically, Charles Chua C K has it at the repetitively named All About Living With Life. Louis’ brother suggests that you budget, set aside contingency funds, and, to lower medical expenses, you should…(wait for it)…maintain robust health.

2¢ at Balance Junkie examines passive investing and whether it’s for everyone. (As usual, her post is thought-provoking and comprehensive. This layered, detailed post is NOT for ESL students.)

Credit Donkey came hard with the exclamation points this week, with a helpful post on how never-before-conceived stratagems such as brown-bagging and walking to the corner store instead of driving will make you a trillionaire in zero seconds flat. Thank you, Credit Donkey.

Robert at The College Investor is flying with neither a net nor a proofreader. He explains investing in petroleum stocks, exchange-traded funds and oil futures this week.

Meanwhile, Krant Cents explains how retirement can be as dismal as work if you don’t prepare, and Paul Foley at Living With In-Laws says something about a TV show and how it ties into earning money, or something.

Roger Wohlner is a dapper gent with a can-do attitude and a blog about financial planning. And a big fat “I told you so” to all the people who panicked when the market hit its nadir 2 years ago. Guess what? It bounced back. Like that wasn’t eventually going to happen. And now that stocks are high again, guess what people are doing. #weneverlearn

For all your reading-about-tax-preparation-software needs, Steve at the contemporarily titled 2009 Tax has a gripping, thrill-a-minute post about…well, we couldn’t make it all the way through but there were no obscene images on the page so we’re running with it.

Jeff Rose, CFP and all-around badass, brings worthwhile posts week after week. This time is no exception, as he gives tips on how to file an amended tax return at Good Financial Cents.

It just wouldn’t be a Carnival of Wealth without at least one entry written by an Indian remote assistant working from a list of SEO keywords, would it? Thanks to Rajit “Alex” at FinancialTreatment.blogspot.com for a technically accurate if woefully uninteresting post about personal financial planning. Show this one to the kids back in Bangalore and maybe one day you’ll have your own URL. (There were worse entrants than that this week, but we didn’t want this turning into the Mongoloid Olympics.)

Our favorite post of the week? Mike Piper at Oblivious Investor wouldn’t make a good zealot, because he has the annoying habit of looking at issues from every conceivable angle. For instance, successful entrepreneurs have a set of characteristics that most people don’t. Well, what if unsuccessful entrepreneurs have that same set and we’re only exposed to the winners? Same goes for mutual funds, and Mike explains why.

And finally, from yours truly, a reminder of our contest that’s going on AS WE SPEAK and concludes later this month. Tons of Amazon gift cards, copies of TurboTax, books and even cash to give away. Click here.

Thanks again, and we’ll see you next time. Join us on April 3 for another exciting edition.

*Pop culture reference courtesy of Google.

Filed Under: Carnivals Tagged With: , , ,

The umpteenth weekly Carnival of Wealth

January 23, 2011

UPDATE: We fixed the comments. Say whatever you want. The filthier the better.

Pass the kettle corn and shake hands with the bearded lady, as the Carnival stops by Control Your Cash for one glorious week. If you’re unfamiliar with how this works, it means we’re hosting posts about wealth and how to accumulate it, written by our fellow personal finance bloggers. Just like a real carnival, only with h1 tags and a comment box.

Not that kind of carnival

Thanks to ringmaster Arohan of Personal Dividends for letting us host. Let’s get started.

In Equatorial Guinea, where life expectancy is 38, people don’t have to worry about which assisted-living facility they’re going to dump their grandparents off in. Unfortunately, we First-Worlders don’t have that luxury. If you’ve already placed a bottle of pills and a handgun next to your doddering great-aunt and she still hasn’t gotten the hint, Consumer Boomer explains how much a spot in an old-folks’ home can set you back.

If you don’t have a Capital One credit card yet, you’re just not trying. America’s most ubiquitous issuer is the subject of this post by Tim Chen at Nerd Wallet, who tells you which of Capital One’s myriad cards to get and why.

Paying cash for a hotel room? What the hell is wrong with you? The mysterious Silicon Valley Blogger is pimping her own favorite credit cards, ones that reward you with hospitality just for spending money.

Meanwhile, Mr. Cents at Personal Cents gives his modern take on a ancient but often disregarded axiom: that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

It just wouldn’t be a carnival without Free From Broke making an appearance. As FFB puts it, “as bloggers, we work hard providing content to our readers. Then we get hit with taxes! Ouch. See the tax deductions you may be eligible to take to lower your taxable income.”

Carrying big wads of cash everywhere might be impractical and risky, but sometimes it seems to beat the alternative. Credit Card Guru at Credit Card Blog gives the lowdown on credit card inquiries and how long they can stay on your report.

Tip O’Neill said “all politics is local.” Whether that’s true or not, it is certain that regardless of what’s happening across the globe, all economics is personal. From Susan Howe at Budget Life, the stories of people who never gave up in the toughest financial times of their lives.

Is your county broke? How about your state? How about your country? (Haw!) Madison DuPaix, which sounds an awful lot like a stage name, blogs at My Dollar Plan. With fiscal crises looming everywhere, she’s found some interesting ways elected officials and government functionaries are trying to stretch their taxpayer revenue.

Maggie Larche at Free Market Money argues what we’ve been saying for years – if you can eliminate debt that’s costing you 17%, that’s better than any investment that earns 16%.

SSgt Jeff Rose (ret.) quit college to serve 9 years in the Army National Guard (in the infantry, no less), went to Iraq, returned to earn his degree, became a Certified Financial Planner, started his own firm, founded Good Financial Cents (and Soldier of Finance) and raised a couple of kids. What have you done with your life? Here he shows you how to create a budget for 2011.

Roth IRA or traditional? Odysseas at Wallet Blog has your answer.

Ramsay at MoneyedUP thinks that if you’re going to hop on the gold train, you should have done so several stops ago. Instead he favors a different, more viscous commodity.

You have no idea how tax brackets and withholding work, do you? Fortunately, Mike Piper at Oblivious Investor does. And he knows how to explain it. He literally wrote the book on it (see his website.)

Barb Friedberg Personal Finance reminds us that persistence leads to success, gleaning wisdom from Daniel Goleman (the guy who wrote Emotional Intelligence.) They recommend having a short memory, which might be the best advice we’ve heard since “check the spare tire pressure before you go off-roading, not during.”

But I want a return on my investment NOW!!! Step back and get comfortable. It’s going to take a while. FMF at Free Money Finance explains in detail what you should already know, which is that people who wait until the last minute to invest probably aren’t going to get rich.

This week’s carnival is bi-hemispheric. Aussie at Australian Stock Market Investing Blog echoes the sentiment of legendary investor Benjamin Graham, that dividends are the investor’s secret weapon. Rising prices are great, but dividends are a lot more reliable.

Wait, we’re not done with that half of the globe. From Papua New Guinea and Money Help For Christians, Craig Ford tells you how to file self-employment taxes (in the U.S., silly.)

/checks Google Maps to make sure that PNG lies entirely below the Equator. It does, but it’s close.

Suba of Wealth Informatics writes far better in English than you do in whatever your 2nd language is. Here she makes a guest appearance on The College Investor, explaining 5 ways Facebook is costing you money. Why people enjoy sharing details of their lives with strangers and pseudo-friends, we have no idea. Or at least one of us doesn’t.

/will never be on Facebook, and even wishes his own site didn’t require an “About Us” page

The cities with the fastest growing job markets? No, not there. Not there, either. Yes, there. And a bunch of places you probably never imagined. PT at PT Money lays them out in handy point form.

How’d your investments make out last year? Kevin McGee, a/k/a Thousandaire, almost doubled the S&P 500 with his turbo-powered, risk-embracing 401(k) strategy.

What will $50 get you on the stock market? Aside from 1/12 of a share of Google, that is? More than you might think. Mark at Buy Like Buffett explains how to get in and get diversified for less.

From the mellifluously titled Banks That Don’t Use Chex Systems, WB explains: “now more than ever, it is very important to have a good credit score. Not only does it make it easier to borrow money, most big financial transactions that you are part of will be impacted by that 3 digit number.”

WARNING: this is what happens when you hire an Indian remote assistant to do anything more complicated than data entry. If you enjoy reading SEO keywords piled together haphazardly until something resembling a blog post emerges, then we draw you to Save Few Bucks and this curious diatribe on school textbooks. Excuse us, textbook buying solutions for all your textbook needs. Improving your textbook experience. Heck, we’ve got a carnival to fill.

Alright, enough diversion. At The Sun’s Financial Diary, the Sun tells us what happened to his net worth in the previous year, breaking it down in detail and providing charts. BONUS: according to his About Us page, you can leave a comment on his blog in Chinese and he’ll respond in kind.

What’s more fun than budgeting? Nothing that we’re aware of. Michael Duchesne of Management Degree explains not just why to measure everything, but what and how to.

If you think the list price for a home is the price you’re out of pocket, you’re delightfully naive. Ann Douglas at DoorFly explains closing costs and how they can vary.

New to Control Your Cash? One point we hammer is that a credit card’s interest rate is irrelevant. As long as the issuer doesn’t charge you an annual fee and gives you a large enough credit limit and sufficient rewards, they can charge you 4,357,199% and it shouldn’t matter. In other words, if you’re carrying a balance, you’re an idiot. So this post by Jeff Weber at Smart Balance Transfers is analogous to us telling you smoking is retarded, but here are some low-tar cigarettes you might be interested in. Enjoy. And try not to inhale.

We’re not even close to done. Joe Plemon at Personal Finance By the Book gives us Part 3 of a 4-part series on budgeting. He not only explains how to plan a budget, but gives pointers you never considered.

You’re not going to believe this, but setting goals, starting early and researching are important. No, really. The Amateur Financier gives us 7 financial tips for young people.

Ask the average Canadian for financial advice, and the response will be “never leave your waiter a gratuity.” Not so from Tom at The Canadian Finance Blog, who lists ways to save money on things that go on sale once a year.

Boomer & Echo are Canadian, too. Here’s a post that makes great washroom reading – or something to kick back on the chesterfield and enjoy while wearing your track pants and runners. Either way, “shed’-ule” some time to read it. Given how strong the Canadian dollar is relative to its American counterpart, Boomer’s adding some U.S. dividend stocks to his quarto (that’s what Canadians call a portfolio, eh?)

Alright, one more shifty Canuck. Our most thought-provoking (and potentially depressing) submission comes from 2¢ at Balance Junkie. Thinking about investing in China and/or Ireland this year? Inflation and overleverage might make you change your mind.

Let’s get Arohan himself up on stage to play a number, shall we? The Carnival of Wealth founder comes strong with a piece on the silent killer: no, not hypertension. Inflation.

And finally, here’s a recent one of ours, on how to get tenants to make you rich.

Wanna get in on next week’s fun? The Carnival never stops. Go here for details, where you’ll find old posts, future hosts, and rules for submitting.


Filed Under: Carnivals Tagged With: , , , , ,
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