Carnival of Personal Finance #325: Labour Day Weekend Edition

Welcome to the 325th edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance — Labour Day Weekend Edition! This weekend is the beginning of a new season, a new semester of school, and represents change, reflection, and a focus on the future. It’s been a good summer, with lots of heat and nice weather, but now we need to face the colder weather ahead and think about what we’ve done in the year, and where we want to go next.

Editor’s picks

First, the editor’s picks. These articles happen to be posts that I personally enjoyed, and I hope that you enjoy them as well:

1. Bob from ChristianPF presents How To Raise Your Children to be Generous. This is a great post by Joe Plemon where he shares his wisdom and experience in teaching his children to be generous with their hearts. He says, “We all want our kids to be generous givers and these are some things that we can do as parents to help teach them…”
2. Shaun from Money Cactus presents Get what you want, when you want it. He had a desire to buy something without resorting to credit, and he was able to do it. He says, “If you want something badly enough, there is always a way to get it without resorting to debt. Here is how I got what I wanted by thinking outside the square.”
3. Bret from Hope to Prosper reminds us that the future is changing faster than we believe, and we need to be ready to adapt. He presents 3 Reasons to Stop Living in the Past, and says, “Things that have worked well in the past aren’t necessarily going to work well in the future. The pace of change is accelerating and the conventional rules of work, education and investing are becoming obsolete.”

There were plenty of great submissions — here are the rest:

Budgeting

• Nicole and Maggie: Grumpy Rumblings presents What do you think about no-spend days?, and says, “Do no-spend days work? For whom and under what circumstances do they work? Why don’t they always work? The answers are provided in the comments by our readers.”

Career

• 20 and Engaged presents The Storm Hits: We’re Laid Off, and says, “My husband was just laid off, after I’ve been unemployed for 9 months. We’re now figuring out what to do.”
• Passive Income Now presents Is Working 40 Hours a Week Enough?, and says, “How many hours a week do you work?”
• The Financial Blogger presents More Reasons Why People Fail At Making Money Online, and says, “A few reasons why some of us might not make it.”

Credit

• CardHub.com presents No Credit Cards for Purchases Under $10?, and says, “Soon the provisions set down by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act will become a reality, including merchants rightfully being entitled to decline credit card transactions that they deem unprofitable, something industry experts believe to be a positive occurrence.”
• Credit, Eh presents Will You Be in Debt Longer Than You Think?, and says, “We all like to think that we will be debt free sometime, but just hoping to be debt free won’t get the job done. You actually have to make a plan, and then keep with it.”
• The Frugal Toad presents When is it OK to Blow The Budget?, and says, “Standard and Poor’s recently downgraded the US credit rating due in major part to the inability of the Congress to provide leadership on economic issues.”

Debt

• One Money Design presents How NOT to Get Out of Debt: Avoid These Mistakes, and says, “Serious about getting out of debt? Learn how NOT to do it first!”
• Money Smart Life presents 10 Ways to Get Out of Debt, and says, “Ten tips to help get out of debt.”

Economy

• FIRE Finance presents What is the Current Inflation Rate?, and says, “Inflation is one of the perennial pests which eats away the purchasing power of your hard earned dollars. For those of you who are thinking about reaching FIRE need to keep a constant eye on inflation. So the next question is how do you find the current rate of inflation in USA?”

Frugality

• Canadian Finance Blog presents Your Eyeballs Shouldn’t Be So Expensive, and says, “A look at the high price of contacts, from the eye exam, the contacts themselves and the insertion lesson. Your eyeballs shouldn’t be so expensive.”
• Free Money Finance presents Save Money by Teaming with Your Neighbors, and says, “There are a TON of products and services that you can save on if you team up with your neighbors.”
• Heartland Living on a Budget presents How to Afford a Doula (Birth Assistant), and says, “Do you need a doula, or birth assistant? If you decide you do, this post will tell you how to make it affordable.”
• Pinch that Penny! presents The Premium Paid for Convenience, and says, “This article talks about how I paid more for something (booze!) because it took less time than going some place where I could buy it cheaper.”
• TotallyMoney presents Bargain hunting tips for car boot sales, and says, “Tips for finding bargains in garage sales.”

Investing

• Boomer & Echo presents How Do You Analyze Potential Investments?, and says, “Here are three ways you can analyze potential investments to decide if they are worth it – quantitative analysis, fundamental analysis, and technical analysis.”
• Consumer Boomer presents Gold ETF Investing, and says, “Here’s a look at investing in gold and how it could possibly help you.”
• Dividend Growth Investor presents Altria Group (MO): High Dividend Growth Stock, and says, “Despite all the issues that tobacco companies have faced over the past decade, the increased regulation has created an environment which has helped deliver solid results for shareholders. While the number of smokers decreases each year, the increases in cigarette prices more than compensate for that. As a result Altria has increased dividends for 44 years in a row.”
• Dividend Growth Stocks presents 7 High Quality, Low Beta Dividend Stocks, and says, “Dividend stocks are sometimes referred to as defensive stocks since many investors flee to them in an economic downturn. Their dividends, if sustainable, provide a minimum level of positive return. This cushions the downward pressure from the market. But what happens when the market turns up?”
• Good Financial Cents presents Dollar Cost Averaging: An Overview, and says, “With the help of dollar cost averaging, you can build your portfolio in small increments.”
• Intelligent Speculator presents Why Do You Want To Be A Billionaire?, and says, “Do you want to be this rich?”
• My University Money presents Hedge Fund Managers Would Be Great At Fantasy Football, and says, “Teacher Man brings investing and fantasy foot ball to the same playing field.”
• Oblivious Investor presents Dealing with Stock Market Volatility, and says, “The recent volatility in the stock market has many investors scared. What’s the best way to respond with your own portfolio?”
• Squirrelers presents The September Effect and Stock Market Returns, and says, “September has historically been a poor performing month for the markets, on average. Of course, averages can be tricky!”
• Stock Pick Review presents Can You Beat the Market?, and says, “A 1200 word-look at beating the market, with quotes from relevant books, an honest view of index funds from a stock picker, and a quick explanation that long-long-term profit isn’t necessarily the only goal when investing.”
• The Dividend Guy Blog presents 3 Hidden Truths about Market Crashes – Why They Crash When They Are Handled By Professionals, and says, “Can you handle the truth?”

Money Management

• Consumerism Commentary presents How to Qualify for a Mortgage Without a Steady Paycheck, and says, “The American Dream is still to own a home but banks are tightening up their lending requirements. No paycheck makes it tough to secure a mortgage, but not impossible.”
• Financial Uproar presents God Probably Won’t Approve This Post, and says, “Maybe it’s because I’m not religious, but I don’t get tithing. I argue that maybe it’s not in anyone’s best interest to do it.”
• Green Panda Treehouse presents Make Smart Money Moves This College Semester, and says, “A few smart moves to make this term.”
• Money Health Central presents Weekend ToDo List With Staying Power, and says, “If Labor Day prompts the urge to make resolutions in you too, choose a small step for this weekend toward better money management.”
• The Dough Roller presents The True Cost of a Car Over Its Lifetime, and says, “A lot of consumers factor in the costs of insurance and fees when buying a new car, but there’s a lot more to it than that.”

Other

• DollarVersity presents My 7 Links: Finally Getting It Done, and says, “Another entry in the long list that is the “My 7 Links” meme.”
• Smart Spending presents Why you need a keychain flashlight, and says, “If the lights go out for even a little while, the darkness isn’t just scary. It’s dangerous.”

Real Estate

• Narrow Bridge Finance presents Home Buyer’s Guide: Part I – Finding Home, and says, “I am buying my first home, and I have learned a lot about the home buying process. Here I share my first tips on how to find a place you will be happy with.”
• Retire Happy Blog presents Your home is a focal point in retirement, and says, “Your relationship to your home is a very personal one. Evaluate your living arrangements in retirement as the focal point of your lifestyle.”

Retirement

• Sustainable Personal Finance presents How to Save for Retirement: Pay Yourself First, and says, “One of my favourite personal finance books is The Wealthy Barber written by David Chilton… the first tenant to developing a personal financial plan and how to save for retirement is to pay yourself first.”

Taxes

• Stupid Cents presents Tax Brackets Explained, and says, “Since our tax brackets may change soon, I decided that I should explain tax brackets. I wanted to know how our tax liability will be affected.”
• Wallet Blog presents Hurricane Recovery Tax Benefits Explained, and says, “Hurricane Irene has done an estimated $7 -13 billion in damage over 10 East Coast states. Given the widespread devastation, many of you were likely affected in one way or another, so here are five steps that will help you to minimize financial loss and expedite recovery.”

Thanks for the great submissions, everyone, and hope you all have a great long Labour Day weekend.