Welcome to the August 10, 2012 Edition #249 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
Carnival in Indonesia, photo courtesy Dayoo
Budgeting and Economics
Odysseas presents Should We Be Worried About Corruption & Ineptitude With Student Financial Aid? posted at Wallet Blog, saying, “Matriculation fees, student activity fees…financial aid fees? Has higher education found another way to profit under the guise of being useful and convenient to the students? It would appear so. ”
Wayne presents What to do without a Pay Raise? posted at Young Family Finance, saying, “Find out how you should respond to not getting an annual pay raise. It’s important to approach it with the right mentality. ”
Dan presents Wall Street Markets posted at Wall Street Stocks , saying, ” From the days when front-running involved actual running to the “Victorian Internet era” brought on by telegraphy, we can learn a great deal from looking back at a simpler era.”
YFS presents The 5 Things You Should Never Do During A Job Interview posted at Your Finances Simplified, saying, “The job interview will be the first time that your prospective employers will be seeing you in person. ”
Financial Planning
Maria presents Three short stories on money and technology posted at The Money Principle, saying, “Money and technology is changing the way in which we spend and the things we worry about. I have a sophisticated system to remember my PINs. ”
Sustainable PF presents Sustainability Isn’t Black and White posted at Sustainable Personal Finance, saying, “While doing the green thing seems like it makes sense, especially when you spend the same amount of money, one should really examine purchases critically. ”
Daisy presents Ways We Are Costing Each Other Money posted at Add Vodka, saying, “I was watching TV while babysitting after the kids went to bed and had the only thing that seemed half interesting was a show about shoplifting. ”
PFP presents Tax Management posted at Pasadena Financial Advisor , saying, ” You should also consider how to “locate” your investment asset allocation with respect to more optimal taxation.”
Corey presents How to Save Money: Even Your Milk Money Counts posted at 20s Finances, saying, “Do you find yourself saying that you don’t have enough money? Is it hard to find the pennies necessary to pay the bills? Saving money can be difficult at times for a lot of reasons. Whether it is because you are stuck in contract to lease a car or can’t stop yourself from buying the latest, greatest item, it can be hard to save money. ”
Tushar presents Diversity: the Key Word to Remember When Investing posted at Start Investing Money, saying, “Weve all heard the advice not to put all our eggs in one basket. This certainly holds true for investments. If you were to sink everything into one investment and it lost its value, you could lose a lot of money. However if that investment was one of several, the impact on your savings would be far less severe than it would have been otherwise. ”
Daniel presents Why $200 Lost Gambling Was Better Spent Than $200 Cirque Du Soleil Tickets posted at Sweating the Big Stuff, saying, “In all, we spent about the same amount on the Cirque Du Soleil tickets as we lost playing Craps over the weekend. Where did we have more fun? ”
Pinter presents No Load Bonds posted at Cheap Bond Funds, saying, “Investment research overwhelmingly shows that lower cost fixed income funds tend to yield higher bond investing returns.”
Aloysa presents French Toast in Alaska posted at My Broken Coin, saying, “Vacation. Alaska. Cruise. Right. That odd feeling I got in the beginning of our cruise is not fading away. From day one I felt that we are in some odd dimension where we are forced into a small, inadequate space with mean spirits instead of people. ”
MR presents Working Alternative Work Shifts For More Money posted at Money Reasons, saying, “Working a third or second shift might enable you to dramatically increase your income if you do it right! Read my thoughts on the idea. ”
Kyle presents An Easy Way to Sell Your Stuff When Redecorating… posted at The Penny Hoarder, saying, “There inevitably comes a time in a girls life when she has to redecorate. For me, that time comes around every three years. One day Ill wake up and that piece of art I said Id never get rid of suddenly offends me. Like, literally, I get angry when I walk past it. ”
Income
Eddie presents Many Are House Poor and How You Can Avoid The Same Mistakes posted at Finance Fox, saying, “One of the biggest mistakes Ive seen friends and acquaintances make is to buy a home thats simply too expensive for them. House poor. ”
Neal Frankle presents How to Create Safe Income from Mutual Funds posted at Wealth Pilgrim, saying, “There are many ways to create income from mutual funds. But there are only a few that are really safe over the long-run (which we’ll get to). Many people think that they can buy mutual funds that buy bonds or preferred stocks and that by so doing they’ll safely get the income they want. ”
Insurance and Risk
Glenn Cooke presents The Ins and Outs of No Medical Exam Life Insurance posted at Boomer & Echo, saying, “No medical exam life insurance has higher premiums than a standard life insurance policy, but may actually be less expensive for someone who’s likely to be rated. The tradeoff is in the benefits. ”
Lawrence presents ID theft protection posted at Best Financial Planner, saying, “As a threat to your financial security, you should take the potential for identity theft very seriously. Identity theft sometimes entails a loss of your money, but whether or not you lose money, it can take a very large amount of your time to rectify.”
Investing
Dividend Growth Investor presents Dividend Stocks For Long Term Wealth Accumulation posted at Dividend Growth Investor, saying, “Companies that pay dividends are typically mature enterprises, with a proven business model that generates enormous amounts of free cash flow. These companies do not need to reinvest all of their profits in order to maintain and grow their business. In essence they “spend” less than what they earn, and share the excess with shareholders in the form of dividend payments. ”
Teacher Man presents Mutual Fund Managers = Minor Leagues posted at Young And Thrifty, saying, “Mutual funds managers don’t hold a candle to the hedge fund managers. They make TONS of money and its almost impossible to replicate. ”
Willie presents Superior Fund Performance posted at NoLoad Funds , saying, ” Screen out inferior mutual fund performance — but only after using other ETF and mutual fund selection criteria. Superior or even average mutual fund performance in the past simply does not predict similar fund performance in the future.”
TRL presents Investing in Real Estate from a Distance posted at The Retired Landlord, saying, “Find out why I am considering investing in real estate in a different market than the one in which I currently reside. ”
Kelly presents Investment risk tolerance posted at Investment Risk, saying, ” Individual investors with different levels of investment risk tolerance for financial risks tend to be more satisfied with risk management strategies, which are better aligned with their financial risk and return profile.”
Managing Debt
Shannon McNay presents How Does Student Loan Consolidation Work? posted at ReadyForZero Blog, saying, “This post describes how student loan consolidation works and even discusses the pros and cons of consolidation. Recent graduates sifting through the myriad of information need to look no further than this article to find everything they need to know. ”
Sean presents Student Loans for Graduate Students posted at One Smart Dollar, saying, ” If you are thinking about going to graduate school you don’t want to miss this article on how you can properly pay for it. ”
Jon the Saver presents Three Reasons You May Not Want to Make Extra Mortgage Principal Payments posted at Free Money Wisdom, saying, “These three reasons are great advice for why one should not make extra mortgage payments. While some may disagree, these are great reasons. ”
Real Estate
Corey presents Difference between Homeowners and Renters posted at Steadfast Finances, saying, “Do you think it’s better to rent? Do you think it’s better to buy a home? While there are many who would suggest that buying a home is always the best option, it isn’t as clear cut as it should be. Buying a home means taking on a lot more risk. ”
Ashley presents Saving for Retirement is Like Going on a Road Trip posted at Money Talks Coaching, saying, “What if I woke up one Tuesday morning and decided to take my kids to Disneyland that day? Now, I live in Phoenix. ”
Retirement
Nick presents Should You Save for College or Retirement First? posted at My Dollar Plan, saying, “College & Retirement are competing for attention with regard to savings more than ever before. Read this for an interesting perspective on the issue. ”
Franklin presents Traditional and Roth IRA posted at Retirement Planning , saying, ” Many taxpayers puzzle over whether to contribute to traditional versus Roth tax-advantaged retirement plans. For most people, contributions to traditional tax-advantaged plans will probably provide a higher net present value over their lifetimes.”
Brock presents Retirement Spreadsheet posted at IRA Account Investment, saying, “Whether or not to make investments into “traditional” tax-advantaged employer accounts and IRAs versus investing in “Roth” tax-advantaged employer accounts and personal IRAs is never a straightforward nor simple financial planning decision.”
Savings
Hank presents When Does Your Frugality Become Unethical? posted at Money Q&A, saying, “Can frugality become unethical? Where is the line we cross when pinching your pennies is no longer morally acceptable? Are some cases of being frugal borderline illegal too? ”
Freedom presents Savings Rates posted at Financial Freedom Plan , saying, ” Understand how your current savings rate and retirement withdrawal rate would affect all of your retirement assets.”
JP presents How to Make Your Recipes Cheaper and Healthier Too posted at My Family Finances, saying, “Cutting down the average family grocery bill means making small changes to how you cook. However, those changes can mean better quality and healthier food. ”
Taxes
Kevin presents I Spend Less than 50 Percent of My Pretax Income posted at Thousandaire, saying, “As I was updating my net worth this month I realized that my net worth has increased over $31,000 in the past 12 months. ”
Paul presents Retirement Planning posted at Tax Planning Software, saying, “Retirement planning software should automate the development of lifetime projections that incorporate tax laws and rules associated with tax-advantaged retirement investment incentive programs such as traditional IRA, Roth, 401k, 403b, SEP, Keogh, and other retirement plans.”
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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| SB is a husband and working as a software professional for a Fortune 100 corporation in Florida. Thanks for visiting the blog.
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