This year is definitely not looking to be a green Christmas… and that’s great! We’ve already had a couple of heavy snow falls this winter, and the snow is already getting pretty deep. I haven’t been home for the holidays for the past three years, so I’m looking forward to enjoying a snowy Christmas.
Favorable mentions
The Daily Crux sent a horde of traffic to my site when they featured the article “3 Unconventional Investment Moves to Make in 2011” on their investing page. Thanks guys!
Invest It Wisely’s posts of the week
- The Skinny on Creativity: A Book Review – Is creativity genetic, or can it be learned? Can we all improve our own creativity? This is my favorite of the “Skinny on” series so far.
- Enter and Win in Our Skinny Christmas Giveaway! – I am giving away over $230 in “Skinny on” books. Entering is easy and painless, so don’t miss your chance to win a copy!
- Avoid Bankruptcy the Smartest Way – This guest post by Shaun Nichols talks about different ways to avoid falling into the pit of bankruptcy.
- Post at Yakezie: Improve Your Alexa Ranking and Have Fun at the Same Time – I recently posted at the Yakezie on improving your Alexa ranking through building up community and through some small site optimizations.
Giveaways
I am currently giving away over $230 in “Skinny on” books; entering is painless and easy, so don’t miss your chance to win a copy!
Bucksome Boomer is also currently running a few gift bash giveways over at her site… check them out!
Ebooks
Happy Heart and Mind recently published “Meaningful Celebrations“. It’s free to download and no registration required!
Weekend Reading
- HELOC Portfolio: Mission Accomplished (Beating The Index)
- Mich has an interesting post up about using home equity to invest. Although there are risks to using leverage, especially double margins, there are also benefits to having liquidity when the price is right. Take a look to see Mich’s stellar performance so far.
- Babci’s Rules of Personal Finance (First Gen American)
- Sandy shares some great personal finance rules from her mom, Babci.
- Bruschetta (101 Centavos)
- 101 Centavos shares his favorite bruschetta recipe. I love bruschetta, but I didn’t know that it should be pronounced “broo-skeh-tah” and not “broo-she-tah”. 😉
- Caught in the 9th Grade (Yakezie)
- Do people deserve second chances? Sam from Financial Samurai shares a story about being caught shoplifting in the 9th grade, and how he learned from the experience. (To answer my own question, I believe that they do.)
- Dividing an Inheritance with Siblings (Squirrelers)
- What happens when the deceased’s instructions conflict with the official will? What is the fairest way to divide up assets? On top of the stress of mourning the recently passed, one also has to deal with the responsibility of winding down the estate in a fair and responsible manner. Squirrelers shares a story where a note left by the mom conflicted with the official will, and the results that followed.
- From $18,403 to $124,514 In A Single Year! (The Financial Blogger)
- TFB shares some insights into his recent online successes.
- How to Import a Car to Canada (Car Negotiation Coach)
- Sustainable Personal Finance has a great guest post up on how to import a car to Canada. Just why are things more expensive in Canada, anyways?
- My 12 Biggest Blogging Mistakes (Buy Like Buffett)
- Buy Like Buffett shares his 12 biggest blogging mistakes. Definitely useful information if you are a blogger!
- Net Worth (MomVesting)
- Momvesting has a post up about net worth, how to calculate it, and what it means for you.
- Tax Cuts, Unemployment Extended Round Up and Uncommon Money News (Watson Inc)
- Roshawn asks us what it’s going to take to lower unemployment, and has a great roundup as well.
Economics
- I Predicted the Mortgage Fraud Crisis (Yes, I am cheap)
- Welcome to the Ludwig von Mises Institute of Canada! (Mises Canada)
Investing
- 2010 Asset Allocation – It’s time to rebalance (Retire by 40)
- 5 Income Trusts I’m Following: Part 5 with Liquor Store Income Fund (TSE:LIQ.UN) (The Passive Income Earner)
- Perfect Investments for The Lazy Investor (Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance)
- Staying Away from Herds (Canadian Finance Blog)
Miscellaneous
- A Subtle Message to Anyone Who Cared to Hear It (Mises Blog)
- Are we doing the right thing? (Grumpy rumblings of the untenured)
- Assembly required – a consumer’s rant (Larry MacDonald)
- Compost: Premium Soil for Free (Sustainable Personal Finance)
- Could You Survive? (Budgeting in the Fun Stuff)
- Europe freeze death toll hits 60 (Press TV)
- Home Theater PCs: A Cost Effective Way To Save Money (Young & Thrifty)
- How To Find a Job (Part 1 of 2) (The Wealth Artisan)
- How To Find a Job (Part 2 of 2) (The Wealth Artisan)
- NJ City Collects Over $1Million in 3 Months From Red Light Cameras (Faithful With A Few)
- Silicon Valley billionaire backs futuristic philanthropy (Mercury News)
- Simon Says: Financial Wisdom From a 10 Year Old (Personal Finance By The Book)
- Swiss Bank Client Was Refused His $40 Million of Gold (The Wise Buck)
- Things That Make Us Happy! (Money Reasons)
Motivation
- Do You Have Excusitis? Cure Yourself Now! (LifeAndMyFinances.com)
- “If You Don’t Know, You Can Feel It Somehow” (Aloysa’s Kitchen Sink)
Personal Finance
- How Do You Plan For Christmas Expenses? (Everyday Tips and Thoughts…)
- How to deal with $10 million – what would you do if you won the lotto? (Ultra High Net Worth)
- Minimalist Challenge #4 (Dividend Monk)
- Most Overlooked Costs For Owning A Home (Money Green Life)
Politics
- How governments cook the books (Incompressible)
- I Love Capitalism (2oo years under Capitalism: A Video by Hans Rosling) (DIY Investor)
- What’s So Great about Representative Government? (Mises Daily)
- Why I won’t be flying to the USA anytime soon (The Righteous Investor)
Technology
- Turning Kids From India’s Slums Into Autodidacts (Wall Street Journal)
- Watch This Girl Age 10 Years in 85 Seconds! (video) (Singularity Hub)
- Why Google PageRank Could Be a Thing of the Past (Traffic Generation Cafe)
My roundup includes sites that mentioned Invest It Wisely over the past week; thanks for including me, and please let me know if I forgot to mention you!
I am grateful for all of the great commentary, feedback, and mentions that I get from each and every one of you, and I greatly appreciate it. Thanks for stopping by, and if ever you have any questions or feedback, just let me know!
Videos of the week
The above was first seen here: Lifestyle Shock.
Many more great videos can be found over at The Biz of Life.
I hope you all had a great weekend.
Thanks for including us!
And we’re still taking comments and opinions on whether or not we’re doing the right thing.
Thanks for the mention Kevin. Have a great week!
Mike
Thanks Kevin! I need to go sign up for the Skinny giveaway!
Thanks for the mention Kevin! Glad you are enjoying the material on our new site!
Hey Kevin, Thanks for including my post in your roundup. SPF did a prettty good job for his first ever guest post!
First, thank for the mention!
Wow, that’s a very impressive list of readings! Watching that girl age 10 years in 85 seconds was incredible! It’s amazing how the eyes were almost always in the center (maybe photoshop)? It must have taken a long time to put together!
Thanks for the link! And thanks for the weekend reading list. Good stuff.
Hello Kevin, thanks for the mention. Hope you’re keeping warm up there with all the nasty white stuff. Today it was 29F and with the wind blowing hard, outside chores were no fun at all.
Thanks for the mention!
Hey Kevin!!! Thanks for including my post in your round up. I’m happy that your post was featured on the Daily Crux. I really liked that post!
Love thos RSA videos! That’s a lot of snow if that’s a current picture!
Chilean miners baby! Love that Google video too.
Thanks for the link Kevin!
Is that an actual picture of your neighbourhood?? There’s so much snow!!!!
I heard there was a crazy snowstorm back East (I was trying to withdraw my RRSP home buyers plan and was freaking out because back east, the bank was closed!).
Wonderful list… thanks. It’s been a great read this weekend.
Thanks Kevin! Your roundups are always impressive!
Thanks Kevin!
I miss the snow already this year! We had a few spots of rain yesterday and a sand storm so it was raining mud for a short while!
Hey, thank’s a lot for the mention! I appreciated your posts as well and will be reading some you mentioned that I have missed.
Kevin,
Thanks for another spectacular roundup. You know how to raise the roundup bar!! I appreciate being a part of it.
Thanks for the mention Kevin, Awesome videos as usual!
Thanks for the link!
FYI its too hot here – +30c everyday at the moment. Almost wish it would snow!
@Money Reasons
Pretty crazy what’s being done with technology these days! I guess it’s only a matter of time before “life logging” becomes more widespread.
@101 Centavos
It’s a little chilly these days. It’s 14F outside right now, with a bit of wind and snow blowing.
@Roshawn @ Watson Inc
I’m also happy. I’m glad that you enjoyed the post!
@Financial Samurai, @youngandthrifty
Haha, by January or so it does look like that in some parts around here.
@Jim Smith
Right, it’s summer down there right now? Lucky guys 😉
@Everyone
Thanks for the great comments and for stopping by! 🙂
Great roundup! I am one who believes that everyone should have a basic to intermediate education in economics (of course having a graduate degree in economics makes me a little biased). I think studying economics can help one to better evaluate decisions and can help with critical thinking! I actually plan to do a series to that end in January.
I agree with this as well… looking forward to it!