John J T Arthur

Carnival of Personal Finance: Vacation-time edition

Have you ever noticed how some of the most intriguing stuff in carnivals often appears in the “Other” section, but because hosts don’t quite know what to do with those posts, we often relegate them to the bottom of the page? Well, this week let’s break with tradition and start the Carnival of Personal Finance with interesting miscellany. 

Welcome to the 207th Carnival of Personal Finance!

A nonblogging friend asked me what a “blog carnival” is. I told him it’s a kind of Reader’s Digest for bloggers, bringing together articles from many “magazines” in one publication. As metaphors go, it’s not far off. This week we have another great round-up of posts on a wide variety of subjects, ranging from the practical to the theoretical. I think you’ll find many pieces here that you’ll enjoy. Editor’s Picks are marked with little red hearts. ♥ ♥ ♥

Speaking of enjoying, summertime is about here. It’s hotter than a three-dollar cookstove outside, and we can imagine ourselves in any number of fresh venues…

This and That

♥♥♥ Ben 
Benjamin Kepple’s Daily Rant
The Garden of Financial Delights
The Hieronymus Bosch artwork is only the beginning; this post is too, too good!

Barbara Bryn Klare 
The UpSide of Money
Lending Club: Doing Good While Doing (Very) Well
Interesting report based on an interview with Lending Club CEO Renaud LaPlanche.

Adam 
Your Money Relationship
Money Genie: I Grant You Three Financial Do-overs
It’s a challenge! Adam asks what three things you would do differently, in hindsight, with your finances.

♥♥♥ Trent Hamm
The Simple Dollar 
Preparing Your Information for Disaster 
Many good ideas here! 

J. Money 
Budgets Are Sexy
Look at a Bill, Pay the Bill, Forget about the Bill
Reduce stress by increasing your bill-paying efficiency

Olivia  
Independent Beginnings
Using the Strengths-based Approach in Personal Finance
Think positive!

Kevin 
No Debt Plan
Create a Stop Doing List
Kevin suggests it may be easier to line up habits to stop doing than to follow long lists of new to-do’s. 

♥♥♥ Studenomist 
Studenomics 
Benefits of Attending a Community College
 Well said! There can’t be more than one in a hundred young people for whom these points don’t hold true. 

Learning about Money and Finance

♥♥♥ Pinyo 
Moolanomy Personal Finance
Never Say We Can’t Afford It  
Good thoughts about discussing spending and saving with youngsters   

Debt Kid, guest author 
The Happy Rock
Four Simple Tips to Improve Your Wealth-Building Skills
Some broad areas to work on 

Brad Chaffee  
Enemy of Debt  
Keys to Effective Money Management: The Introduction
 Kick-off for a six-part series

FFB 
Free from Broke
Unbroke—What You Need to Know about Money: Recap 
Review of an ABC documentary on personal finance, with some startling factoids  

Bret 
BretFrohlich.com
How to Get Un-broke by Watching TV
FFB wasn’t the only frugalist who happened to watch ABC the other evening. Bret has some reflections on the significance of the Un-broke show. 

Jeff 
Stretchy Dollar
“The Skinny On…” Books Review and Giveaway 
Jeff reviews a whole series of PF books and offers to give away two of them.  

Budgeting 

Aryn  
Sound Money Matters  
Don’t Bust Your Budget: Remember Key Budget Items  
Good discussion of standard spending items, oddball expenditures, and irregular costs and how to fit them into a budget

Chance  
Personal Finance Software Reviews  
YNAB 3 Review: New Version of YNAB Is Coming! 
For those who need a budget, here’s a program to help. 

Mrs. Modern Tightwad  
Modern Tightwad
Is Deprivation the Best Option?
Common sense beats Suze Orman, hands down. 

Mr. ToughMoneyLove 
Tough Money Love
A Simple Way to Feel Wealthy on a Middle-Class Income
A smart and easy bill-paying strategy goes a long way to put you in control of your finances. 

Credit

RC 
Think Your Way to Wealth 
A Look at the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act of 2009 
A clear, simple overview of the new credit-card bill of rights law. 

Tony Parker, guest author 
Saving to Invest  
Credit Card Reform: Penalizing the Good for America’s Bad Personal Finance and Spending Habits  
A trip through the looking glass, where “bad” habits are “good” in the eyes of lenders 

♥♥♥ Ask Mr. Credit Card 
The Future of Rewards and Credit vs. Debit
In the aftermath of the credit-card bill of rights legislation, says Mr. CC, the sky is not falling. 

SpendOnLife 
How Good and Bad Information Impacts Your Credit Score Rating, and for How Long
Discussion of the various events that can bear on your credit score and their relative importance

Michael B. Rubin  
Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck  
Top Five Lies We Tell Ourselves about Using Credit Card Usage
Five ideas to drop if you want to drop the card 

David  
Credit Card Offers IQ
Discover Card Doubles Rewards for Military Families 
The title says it all.

TStrump 
The Strump—Financial Blog  
New Card with Chip Feature 
TStrump is pleased to find a new layer of security with a credit card

Debt

Julie Sherrier  
Taking Charge  
Defaulting on International Credit Card Debt? Hmmm.
Interesting article about a new trend in cardholder sleaze

Matthew Paulson 
Fine Tuned Finances  
How to Prioritize Your Debts  
Confused about which bill to put on the top of the pile? Here’s some advice.

Trisha Wagner  
American Consumer News  
Interest Rate Hikes and What You Can Do about Them  
Ways to deal with the threatened increases in credit card rates 

Flexo 
Consumerism Commentary
Debt Reduction Methods and Philosophies: Snowball, Avalanche, and More  
While agreeing that you should do what works best for you, Flexo argues convincingly for attacking high-interest debt first. 

Baker 
Man vs. Debt
Track Your Spending: Win the First Battle in the War on Debt!
Rallying the troops for an all-out war on debt, Baker throws down a challenge.

David R. Lampsen 
Personal Finance Analyst
When Can I Take Money Out of My 401(k)?
Can you—should you?—use 401(k) funds to pay off debt? 

Le Shopping 

♥♥♥ mbhunter 
Mighty Bargain Hunter
Stay Far, Far, Far Away from Swoopo  
In the caveat emptor department, mbhunter reports on a roaring scam. 

♥♥♥ Rajeev Singh 
Money for Investment
Eight Reasons Why You Should Shop at Malls
Here’s a contrarian view—at least for Americans!—on the question of whether local merchants are better for consumers than national chains. Interesting.

The Weakonomist
Weakonomics
How I Saved 15% on My Wedding Ring in 15 Seconds, and 45% Overall 
An inspiring story! Our hero Uncle Scrooge would be proud.

Investing 

Dividend Tree
Sysco’s Adapting to New Realities: Will it Work?  
A dividend growth investor’s rumination on this company’s strategy and future

TIP Guy  
The Income Portfolio  
Do Not Enter the Channels Otherwise 
A buy-and-hold investor defends his strategy  

Marotta Wealth Management, guest author
Free Money Finance  
Investment Strategies Part I: Rebalance into Stable Investments in an Appreciating Market  
Sophisticated, somewhat technical reflections on reallocating your investments

Dan 
Darwin’s Finance  
The Riskiest ETFs on Earth—3x Sector ETF Short/Long
Weekly returns in excess of 20 percent? After you’re done there, I’ve got a mighty fine craps game you can join, out in the garage… 

The Smarter Wallet 
Stock Mutual Funds: Building Your First Investment Portfolio
Recommends considering mutual funds that buy stock as a beginner’s investment tool 

Silicon Valley Blogger 
The Digerati Life
Online Discount Brokers: SmartMoney Broker Survey
An interesting summary of a wide-ranging discount broker evaluation

Dividend Growth Investor 
Master Limited Partnerships for Tax-deferred Accounts
Detailed discussion of the uses of MLPs for IRAs. 

Mr. GoTo 
Go to Retirement
Bonds and Your Retirement Portfolio
For those who can see retirement landfall in the distance, time to learn about the various kinds of bonds 

Joe Light 
Invest Wisdom
The Safety of Municipal Bonds
On the other hand,  Joe is not altogether sure about the reliability of muni bonds…

The Economy

D4L  
Dividends Value  
News of the U.S.’s Demise May Be Premature 
Surprising news for pessimists: the U.S. still leads the world in exports! 

Frank Curmudgeon 
Bad Money Advice
The Efficient Market Theory Hoax
A thorough and skeptical discussion of Efficient Market Theory  

Saj
Barel Karsan
Passing the Smell Test
Expresses concern about investing in Meade. 

Real Estate

♥♥♥ Erik  
Erik Folgate  
Is Your Home a Good Investment?
Erik begs to differ with the current popular wisdom on the value of residential real estate.

Jeff Rose  
Good Financial Cents
Buying Property at Auction: What You Need to Know  
Wish I had enough cash to do this… 

♥♥♥ Dan Melson 
Searchlight Crusade
The Measurement Unit for Desirability is Dollar
This post contains some of the best commonsense advice about real estate that I’ve seen. 

Insurance

DR 
Dough Roller
How to Find Affordable Health Insurance Online
This could come in handy if you’ve been laid off: DR has discovered an online tool to simplify the nightmare of buying private health insurance.      

 

 

Career and Workplace 

David Nofsinger  
Spiffy Links: Great Links to Personal Finance  
Give a Great Interview  
Advice and tips for effective job interviewing 

Amanda
Value for Your Life
When Career Plans Change…Again
Big changes afoot for Amanda and her DH!

Buck
The Buck List
Can You Make a Living without a Job?
Review of Barbara J. Winters’s 
How to Make a Living without a Job

Retirement and Planning for Retirement 

MoneyNing  
Avoid the Financial Headache in Retirement
MoneyNing urges long-term planning for a secure retirement. Would that some of us had reckoned on a major recession someplace during all that planning!

Super Saver 
My Wealth Builder
Our Recipe for Early Retirement Interesting reflection on what it takes—especially in a weak economy—to escape the rat race.

ElizabethG
Modern Gal 
Investing for Early Retirement
A variety of considerations to think about

Travel and Entertainment   

Kyle  Suburban Dollar
Frugal Tips for Visiting Theme Parks
Travel-wise strategies that can save you surprising amounts of money on a trip to Disney World and its relatives 

PF Income  
Passive Family Income
Tips on  How to Be Frugal at the Zoo  
Good ideas, a couple of which would take a stalwart parent to pull off 

Rants and Ruminations 

Bob 
InsureBlog
Pop Saved from Sin Tax  
Whew! The kids (and the grownups who like their water mixed with sugar) are safe, but… Uncle Sam wants your bottle of wine! More than just a funny squib: Bob has some serious thoughts about the benefits the proposed sin taxes are meant to provide.

Wealth Pilgrim 
What Would It Take to Make You Quit Work Tomorrow? 
Good question! This is a thoughtful essay about ethics, the workplace, and how we relate to both. 

♥♥♥ The Incidental Economist 
The Finance Buff  
Sweet Frugality: Lessons in a Cup of Tea
TIE draws a revelation from a ten-pound bag of sugar.

Curt 
PennyJobs.com
The Folly in Believing the Government Can Fix the Economy with Quick and Thoughtful Action
Curt eyes the theory underlying the Administration’s resuscitation efforts and sees much amiss. 

vh
Funny about Money
Flaws in WHOSE Healthcare System?
The U.S. health delivery system bears some uncanny resemblances to Mexico’s.

Images, all from Wikipedia Commons:

Cook’s Bay: Rv
Provence: Nepomuk
Sydney: Diliff
Mexico City: Robmiles
Japan: Public domain
  Rome: Lalupa
Scotland: Val Vannet
British Columbia: HighInBC
Copenhagen: Mahlum, Wikipedia Commons
  Washington, D.C.: Hellohowareyoudoing
Las Vegas: BrendelSignature
Omaha: Ron Reiring
  Taipei: Alton Thompson
  Florida Keys: Mwanner
  San Francisco: Paul H.
  London: William M. Connolly

Click on an image to see it in all its radiant splendor!

Related posts:

• Carnival of Personal Finance Comin’ Our Way
• Carnival of Personal Finance
• The Personal Finance Confession Project: Do as I say…