Carnival of Financial Planning – Edition #244 – July 6, 2012

Welcome to the July 6, 2012 Edition #244 of the Carnival of Financial Planning, hosted at Invest It Wisely.

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

Budgeting and Economics

John presents What the FBI’s ‘Operation Card Shop’ Means for Your Financial Security posted at Card Hub, saying, “Fraud is a hot topic in the personal finance world. Most of us try to take steps to prevent it. But, what are authorities really doing about the issue? It looks like a whole lot more than we might have thought! ”

Daniel presents The First Three Things You Need To Do If You Lose Your Job posted at Sweating the Big Stuff, saying, “Millions of Americans are out of work. Take these tips to find out what you should do if you suddenly lose your job. ”

Janet presents Expense budgets posted at Independent Financial Planner , saying, ” Many people do not track their living expenses and do not understand the magnitude of their consumption.”

Financial Planning

FMF presents Why Conventional Wisdom Isn’t Always the Best Advice posted at Free Money FInance, saying, “US News has a post on what to do if you receive multiple job offers. At least that’s the title. The REAL issue they address is what to do if you get an offer from a company you like, but have one pending/in the works with a company you like better. Their advice is spot on IMO: contact the second company and tell them you love them but have another offer. Then ask them if they can speed up their process so you will know whether or not they will offer you a job. Good strategy. ”

krantcents presents The 3 V’s of Success posted at KrantCents, saying, ” The 3 V’s of Success is the twenty-second in a series of articles to help you reach your goal. ”

Jen presents Earn Money Online: Swagbucks posted at Master the Art of Saving, saying, “Swagbucks is my favorite way to earn money online, I’ve earn hundreds of dollars from them so far and couldn’t imagine life without it. Different ways to earn.. ”

PFP presents Financial planning reading posted at Financial Planning Reader , saying, ” Clients often ask what they should read to improve their financial literacy. ”

Odysseas presents Why We Need a Return to Direct Democracy This Independence Day posted at Wallet Blog, saying, “Can the internet help citizens and consumers be more directly involved in democracy and policy? Perhaps so, and the basic idea can easily reach into investing and other financial areas as well.”

MR presents Reasons for a Non-working Allowance for Kids posted at Money Reasons, saying, “This is the reasons for a non-working allowance plan for kids, and my kid’s history with such an implementation of a non-working allowance. ”

Amanda L Grossman presents Ideas to Save Money on Video Game Addictions posted at Frugal Confessions, saying, “There are four video games I’ve enjoyed in my lifetime: Mario Brothers, Tetris, Sim City, and The Sims. ”

DL presents Global Financial Markets  posted at Nerds on Wall Street , saying, ” Stock markets are almost perfectly transparent, with full information available to all, and the best electronic clearing and settlement in history. These technologies were omitted in building the skyscraper of cards (“house of cards” seems too mild) out of collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), credit default swaps (CDSs), synthetic collateralized debt obligations (SCDOs), and the rest.”

Hank presents 20 Things I Should Have Known About My Finances At The Age Of 20 posted at Money Q&A, saying, “I cant really remember what got me thinking about this list of what I should have known better about my finances in my 20s. Maybe it was Coreys list of 16 Ways To Improve Your Finances that make me think. Heaven knows that I have made a few financial mistakes along the way. ”

CCS presents How to Choose the Best Credit Card Rewards Program for You posted at Credit Card Smarts, saying, “There are some great credit card rewards programs out there. But how do you pick which is best for you. See what to consider when you look for a rewards program.”

Mike presents Single Income Household, The Best Kept Secret for Happiness posted at The Financial Blogger, saying, “Can you survive off just one income in one household? Yes. In fact it’s a secret to happiness. ”

Income

Jeff Rose presents 25 Easy Ways To Make Money posted at Good Financial Cents, saying, “There was time when I was young and flat broke. I was working, making decent money, but I was spending it just as fast – in fact, faster! I was constantly searching the classifieds looking for ways to make money fast. ”

PITR presents Key Traits of Passive Businesses posted at Passive Income To Retire, saying, “Find out what makes businesses with passive income so successful. ”

PPlan presents 3 Basic Steps for a Small Business posted at Provident Plan, saying, “Starting a small business may sound like a great idea. ”

Insurance and Risk

Jeff Rose presents 30 Year Term Life Insurance Rates posted at Life Insurance By Jeff, saying, “In this day and age when you buy something, it always comes with an extended warranty. It usually costs extra but the intent is to give you peace of mind for the lifetime of that product. Unfortunately, many of these extended warranties only last maybe another three, four, or five years. What if you could buy a product that offered a 30-year guarantee? ”

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

Kanwal presents Why Do Companies Care So Much About Their Share Prices? posted at Simply Investing, saying, “When you buy shares in a company, you are generally buying shares from a shareholder who is willing to sell those shares. For example if you buy $1000 worth of shares of Walmart, that $1000 goes to the seller of those shares not to Walmart.”

PK presents Predicting the S&P 500 Closing Price (Early) July 2012 Edition posted at Don’t Quit Your Day Job…, saying, “Count me as one of those people that would rather use options as an indicator than as an investment vehicle. Here’s an example of using options prices to guess where the market (um… S&P 500) is headed – surely interesting information for anyone who invests in US stocks! ”

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.”

Luke presents World Bond Funds: Do You Know the Risks? posted at Learn Bonds, saying, “Thinking about investing in a World Bond Fund? There are several risks unique to world bond funds that should be addressed before investing. ”

Squeezer presents Why i refuse to invest in gold posted at Personal Finance Success, saying, “Investing in gold is a foolish idea that will likely lead to failure. I view gold as too large of a risk for the average investor. ”

Parker presents Index Funds posted at Preferred Funds, saying, “Some mutual funds and ETFs must be better than others, but which ones are they? How can you tell before the fact?”

Div Guy presents How Long Do You Hold Your Stocks? posted at The Dividend Guy Blog, saying, “We look at holding stocks and investment strategies. ”

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.”

Managing Debt

John presents A 3 Step Way to Guilt-Free Vacation Spending posted at Married with Debt, saying, “When you work hard and save up, you deserve guilt-free spending on your vacation. Learn how to fight back against vacation haters. ”

Sustainable PF presents The Dollars and Cents of Your Bathroom posted at Sustainable Personal Finance, saying, “Employ a green approach to your bathroom and see respectable savings. ”

Ben Feldman presents Student Loan Grace Periods are NOT Going Away posted at ReadyForZero Blog, saying, “You may have recently heard a bit of false news: that there will be no more grace periods on student loans. Despite the fact that headlines have been running this since last week, this is not true. This post will help you understand what changes will be taking affect on student loans. ”

Real Estate

SFB presents Could You Survive In A One-Car Household? posted at Simple Finance Blog, saying, “Changes to my husband’s job could make it more feasible than ever to become a one-car household. But does it really make sense to sell our second car? ”

Squeezer presents Is renting or owning a house the best option? posted at Personal Finance Success, saying, “In 2001 I purchased my home. At that time, it was the right decision for me because for what I was paying in rent in a 2-bedroom apartment, I could have a mortgage on a house. However, I want to talk a little about what I have learned since owning my house. ”

YFS presents Home Buying Tips That People Never Tell You! posted at Your Finances Simplified, saying, “I would like to talk about home ownership, in particular, mortgages. Now everyone tells you that home ownership is better than renting. Some people would say renting is better than home ownership. I don’t really care what you do-I just want you to do what’s best for you and your finances. ”

Retirement

Wayne presents Best Approach to Retirement Planning posted at Young Family Finance, saying, “Find out how your approach to retirement planning can affect your entire life. ”

Squeezer presents Do not depend on one source for retirement posted at Personal Finance Success, saying, “Retirement is an event that every worker wishes to achieve. Retirement allows most to relax and live from the earnings from earlier years. However, one can only retire if he or she has made smart retirement choices along the way. ”

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.”

Whitney presents Retirement Planning Software posted at Retirement Savings, saying, “While personal wealth should measure current financial investments and other salable assets, it should also measure your ability to sustain your household budget, build up your investment portfolio, and weather potential financial risk and misfortune across your lifetime.”

Savings

Eddie presents How Do You Become Rich? posted at Finance Fox, saying, “The key characteristic between the rich and rest of us is their ability to take chances. Without risk the rewards are minimal. ”

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.”

Taxes

Daisy presents Celebrity Tax Avoidance posted at Add Vodka, saying, “One of the most infuriating things about saving, particularly if your frugality has been inspired by the current economic climate, is knowing that there are extraordinarily wealthy people out there not paying their dues when it comes to tax. ”

Monroe presents Roth Conversions posted at Do-It-Yourself Finance , saying, “Key to you making a better decision about your lifetime Roth account contribution and asset conversion strategy is the need for a sophisticated financial planning software tool.”

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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