Personal Investment Management and Financial Planning Blog Directory

Personal Financial Planning this Week

The Skilled Investor — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 07:46:34 +0000

This financial article comes to you compliments of: The Skilled Investor's PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG. Find the original article here:

Personal Financial Planning this Week

Best Personal Financial Planning and Personal Investment Articles this Week from Personal Finance Blogs

Carnival of Financial Planning - Edition #131 - March 5, 2010

Welcome to the March 5, 2010 Edition #131 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

Budgeting

Tom @ Canadian Finance Blog presents Budgeting Tools Online And Beyond posted at The Canadian Finance Blog, saying, “One of the biggest obstacles to making and keeping a budget is not knowing where to begin. Thankfully, the Internet age has brought with it some wonderful tools designed to help you keep an eye on your spending.”

Super Saver presents Living on a Cash Basis was a Good Experience posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “Living on a cash basis quickly taught me financial responsibility.”

Control your Cash presents Let’s see how he does with Other People’s Money posted at Control Your Cash, saying, “The word “frugal” makes people think of austerity, of abstention – of self-inflicted pain. That’s not what this is about. This is about spending money – a finite resource for most of us – in the right places.”

The Skilled Investor presents Save More Money posted at Financial Decision Rules, saying, “How much you earn, spend, budget, and save are by far the most dominant determinants of your long-term financial well-being. Self-control in your financial decision-making regarding budgeting and consumption is far more important than clever investing. Expenditure control and budgeting works, while attempts to be clever about investing usually are counter-productive.”

Joe Plemon presents Budgeting Without Bean Counting…5 Great Tips posted at Personal Finance By The Book, saying, “Making a budget isn’t the problem; keeping it is. This post gives common sense hints on how to keep a budget for the long term.”

Estate Planning

Joshua Dorkin presents Worshiping At the Altar of Cap Rates? You Could Be the Next Sacrifice posted at Real Estate Investing For Real, saying, “Using cap rates to buy properties is like playing hopscotch in a minefield — not recommended This article goes into exactly why that is.”

Joe Plemon presents Should You Leave an Inheritance to Your Children? posted at Personal Finance By The Book, saying, “Leaving an inheritance is a dicey issue. Do you? How much? Now or later? This post doesn’t have all the answers, but will challenge your thinking.”

Financial Planning

Ryan @ Cash Money Life presents Financial Mission Statement posted at Cash Money Life, saying, “How to write a financial mission statement to help you reach your financial goals.”

Craig Ford presents The Infinite Advantages Of Paying Cash For A New Car posted at Money Help For Christians, saying, “Compares the long term costs of paying cash and borrowing money to buy a car.”

RJ Weiss presents The Crossover Point of Financial Independence posted at Genyweath.com, saying, “The purpose of this video was to explain to you the crossover point. A very powerful concept that can change the way you manage your money.”

Frank Knight presents Roth IRA Accounts posted at Financial Planning Software, saying, “One of the most complex personal financial decisions is whether to invest in a Roth IRA or Roth 401k versus their traditional retirement account alternatives. For most people, Roth accounts do not make sense financially. For a minority, they are a good deal, but you need sophisticated financial planner software to do the analysis for yourself.”

Dividend Tree presents Building Core Competency for Long Term Survival posted at Dividend Tree, saying, “whether it is running a business or individuals’ investment portfolio, it is important to build a core competency for long term sustainability. In my case, I focus on good quality companies that consistently pay or have potential to pay growing dividends over time.”

Roshawn Watson presents Thoughts on Escaping The Rat Race posted at Watson Inc, saying, “Do you yearn to be free…really free? What would you do if money was not a big limitation? Perhaps the primary reason for increasing your financial literacy is so you may indeed escape the rat race.”

Larry Russell presents Mutual Fund Sales Loads posted at Best Mutual Funds, saying, “With over 60,000 different mutual fund investment share classes sold worldwide, some mutual funds must be better than others, but which ones are they? Superior past performance has simply not been shown to be a reliable predictor of superior future performance. However, low costs can lead you to the best mutual funds.”

Big Cajun Man presents Personal Finance Resolutions for the New Year? posted at Canadian Personal Finance Blog, saying, “Are Financial New Years resolutions a good idea? Yes, but make them achievable, don’t try to boil the ocean, just take small steps!”

Nigel Savers presents Investor Asset Allocation posted at Lifetime Financial Planning, saying, “Diversification has become an axiom of personal investing, because the specific risks of businesses and other investment entities can be reduced or eliminated from a portfolio without reducing expected returns. When you hear that you should diversify your investments, this means that you should diversify your investments completely and globally – now and always. ”

2 Cents presents Why Is Personal Finance a Hot Topic Now? posted at Balance Junkie, saying, “This article looks at changes in the financial landscape that have caused personal financial issues to receive more attention and offers some ways for individuals to adapt to these changes.”

Financing a Home

Roshawn Watson presents Is Bigger Better? Scaling Down The American Dream posted at Watson Inc, saying, “Today’s post-crash buyers are not willing (nor able in some cases) to extend themselves like before, and the impact on the housing market is substantial.”

studenomist presents How To Sell $2 Million in Real Estate Between Your Classes posted at studenomics.com.

Alex Fotopoulos presents When to Refinance a Mortgage? posted at My Trader’s Journal, saying, “Some key points to consider when refinancing your home.”

Super Saver presents Why We Chose a 30 Year Mortgage posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “A 30 year mortgage provided more flexibility in payments than a 15 year mortgage, which benefited us during the financial crisis of 08/09.”

Patrick @ Military Money presents VA Loan Eligibility and Financing posted at Military Finance Network, saying, “Find out who is eligible for a VA Loan and how much money you may be able to get in guaranteed financing. This is great information for any military veteran.”

Financing Education

Praveen presents Will Education Follow the Housing Bust? posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, “Tips for students to avoid excessive loans and debt”

FMF presents Deadly Mistakes on the FAFSA Could Cost You Thousands of Dollars in Financial Aid posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “You needs to know the ins and outs of completing the FAFSA to save thousands of dollars on your child’s college costs.”

ABC presents How Do I Set Up a 529 College Savings Plan? posted at ABCs of Investing, saying, “Instructions on how to set up a 529 college education plan.”

Health Care

Patrick @ Military Money presents Open Enrollment Window Open for Some posted at Military Finance Network, saying, “Open enrollment is the only time of the year that many people are able to make changes to their health insurance elections. Make sure you take advantage of this time to select the best health care option for your needs.”

Income

Dividend Tree presents Three Companies with Sustainable Dividends posted at Dividend Tree, saying, “Even in soft economic environment, there are companies out there that are continuing to increase dividends for their shareholders. While dividend increase is good, it is more critical to make sure we understand that companies can sustain their dividends.”

Investing

ABC presents What Are Money Market Mutual Funds posted at ABCs of Investing, saying, “If you are sitting out the markets then make sure your money is still earning some interest.”

Zach Scheidt presents Internet Bandwidth Finally Generates Profit posted at ZachStocks, saying, “Abovenet Inc. (ABVT) offers bandwidth to telecom carriers and corporations. A strong growth rate along with capital discipline and a reasonable valuation make this company an excellent investment opportunity.”

Ryan @ Cash Money Life presents Beginner Investing Strategies posted at Cash Money Life, saying, “Tips for the first time investor to methodically exmine his or her needs to determine investment goals, how to invest, and where to invest.”

Frank Knight presents Municipal Bond Investments posted at Personal Financial Planning Software, saying, “Municipal bond investments and your state and federal marginal income tax rates: Some investors hold municipal bonds in an attempt to reduce their tax burden. This article discusses the relationships between tax-exempt municipal bonds, bond market returns, marginal tax rates, and investment asset tax location.”

ABC presents Technical Analysis Trading posted at ABCs of Investing, saying, “A short explanation of technical analysis stock trading.”

Four Pillars presents Use Your Cell Phone Apps To Manage Your Money posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Some cell phone apps to help track your finances”

The Financial Blogger presents 2 Minutes Guide to Last Minute RRSP for 2009 posted at The Financial Blogger, saying, “You need to make your RRSP contribution before the deadline: March 1, 2010. So here’s a 2 minute guide to last minute RRSP contributions.”

The Skilled Investor presents Market Timing posted at Personal Investment Management, saying, “You must stay invested in the securities markets to earn market risk premiums. You have to have your money invested and at risk to be paid a risk premium. Attempting to avoid risk or losses by jumping in and out to “time the markets” does not work. Both amateurs and professionals are lousy at market timing.”

Consumer Boomer presents Should You Invest Into a CD or Fixed Annuity posted at Consumer Boomer.

jim presents Roth and Traditional IRA Contribution Limits posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

Intelligent Speculator presents New leveraged ETF’s to suffer from less erosion? posted at Intelligent Speculator, saying, “volatility can have an important impact on the return of the ETF and as time goes by, the return will not be correlated as much with the underlying index it is intended to track.”

Tushar Mathur presents Can’t Control the Markets? Try controlling the Costs posted at Everything Finance, saying, “As 2008 proved, the financial markets are prone to unpredictable periods of turbulence. That can make investing feel a bit like a roller-coaster ride. The disappointing results that many mutual funds posted in 2008 and at the outset of 2009 may have left you feeling concerned over your financial future. You’re not alone.”

Zach Scheidt presents Portfolio Recovery Prices Successful Secondary Offering posted at ZachStocks, saying, “Portfolio Recovery Assoc (PRAA) has traded sharply higher after reporting a strong fourth quarter and issuing new stock to fund future acquisitions. Buying receivables at 3.5 cents on the dollar appears to be paying off.”

jim presents The S&P500 Dividend Aristocrats posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

James Bourne presents Bond Fund Expenses posted at Best Bond Funds, saying, “Financial researchers not have detected a relationship between paying higher fees and obtaining better returns from the bond mutual fund industry. In fact, the opposite seems to be true. Higher expenses tend to mean lower net returns to individual investors.”

Sun presents How to Open An IRA Account posted at The Sun’s Financial Diary.

Ben Dinsmore presents Personal Finance App for iPhone and iPod Touch posted at Trees Full of Money, saying, “My buddy developed this great investment growth calculator application for the iPhone and iPod Touch.”

Tomas Escent presents Securities Trading Applications posted at Nerds on Wall Street, saying, “A little artificial intelligence goes a long way on Wall Street. If you give someone a program, you will frustrate them for a day; if you teach them how to program, you will frustrate them for a lifetime.”

Frank Vertin presents Top 10 Index Funds posted at No Load Mutual Funds, saying, “Useful information on the top ten no load index funds that track the Standard and Poors 500 composite index in terms of lowest costs.”

Dividends4Life presents 18 Dividend Stocks Raising Their Yield On Cost posted at Dividends Value, saying, “For dividend growth investors, there are certain attributes of investments that are more relevant than others, such as yield and dividend growth. To illustrate the power of dividend growth consider that an investment’s yield-on-cost will double every 5 years if they grow their dividend by 15%/year or 7 years at 10%/year or 14 years at 5%/year.”

Mike Piper presents 7 Easy Ways to Get Filthy Rich Using Mutual Funds posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, “A list of not-so-surefire roads to investment riches. :)”

Managing Debt

Silicon Valley Blogger presents What Are The Best Credit Card Rewards Programs? posted at The Digerati Life, saying, “Thanks!”

The Smarter Wallet presents Do Debt Consolidation Programs Work? Reviewing Debt Consolidation Care posted at The Smarter Wallet, saying, “Do debt consolidation programs work? Here’s a look at such a program.”

Big Cajun Man presents Do You Have a Financial GPS? posted at Canadian Personal Finance Blog, saying, “Do you need a financial GPS?”

Brad Chaffee presents Debt Free News From A Debt Free Reader #6 posted at Enemy of Debt, saying, “One of the most motivating things to hear when becoming debt free is stories of those that have tried and succeeded. This is my attempt to spread the debt free message by sharing stories of those people, more specifically my readers.”

The Dough Roller presents Balance Transfer Credit Cards posted at The Dough Roller.

Keith Morris presents Tales of Credit Card Disasters posted at LifeTuner, saying, “Buying stuff you can’t afford only leaves you in one place – debt!”

Paul Van Lierop presents What’s a Good Credit Score? Should you Care? posted at FiscalGeek, saying, “What actually makes up a credit score, what is a good score and more importantly whether or not you should care about it.”

Baker presents 8 Effective Ways to Raise Frugal Kids posted at Man Vs. Debt, saying, “Follow these 8 simple, but effective tips to buck the consumerist trend and raise frugal kids!”

Miscellaneous

FMF presents How to Earn $100 an Hour (Or Save $100,000 in Your Lifetime) posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Who know that something as simple as clipping coupons could save you over $100k?”

MoneyNing presents No One Became Wealthy Worrying for Others posted at Money Ning, saying, “No one knows everyone else’s situation so why try to worry about their finances?”

Pasadena Financial Planner presents Mutual Fund Performance posted at Top Mutual Funds, saying, “Summarizes a research report that compared Vanguard’s passively managed index mutual funds with Vanguard’s actively managed mutual funds. If you invest in any of Vanguard’s investment fund products, you might want to read and understand this study. ”

MoneyNing presents How Do I Teach My Child About Money? posted at Money Ning, saying, “Here’s a few suggestions on how to teach your children about money. How do you do it?”

FIRE Getters presents Smart Refrigeration Lowers Electricity Bill posted at FIRE Finance.

Retirement Planning

Bucksome presents Is a Phased Retirement for You? posted at Buck$omeboomer’s Financial Path to Retirement, saying, “There’s more than one way to retirement and maybe a transition is for you.”

Jules Wells presents Roth Retirement Calculator posted at Retirement Planning Software, saying, “This article helps you understand the trade-offs between “traditional” and “Roth” tax-advantaged retirement plan contributions, including Roth 401k and IRA retirement plans. It helps with the 2010 Roth conversion decision.”

Risk Management and Insurance

Jeff Rose presents How To Get Affordable Health Insurance When You are Self Employed posted at Jeff Rose.

Consumer Boomer presents Do You Have Enough Homeowner’s Insurance Coverage posted at Consumer Boomer.

Savings

PT presents Strike When the Iron is Hot: Advantages of an Automated World posted at Prime Time Money, saying, “It’s easy nowadays to get set up with automated savings for retirement and other things, and then forget about it. But you’ve got to take action when you’re motivated.”

Joe Plemon presents When Does Saving Turn To Hoarding? posted at Personal Finance By The Book, saying, “This post examines both the spiritual and practical aspects of hoarding, with tips on how to save without hoarding.”

KCLau presents Are You Rich in Internal Assets? posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “pay attention to the internal assets”

The Smarter Wallet presents Start Saving Money! How Banks Pay You To Save posted at The Smarter Wallet, saying, “Some banks encourage customers to save by offering some great savings programs.”

Taxes

Jeff Rose presents What Need to Bring to Tax Accountant To File Your Taxes posted at Jeff Rose.

GLBL presents How to Properly Prepare for Filing Your Taxes posted at Gather Little By Little, saying, “The main causes of tax filing errors are rushing and not having all necessary tax documents on hand.”

Praveen presents Free Ebook: Capital Gains Tax Tips for Traders and Investors posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, “Tax Tips for traders and investors”

Four Pillars presents How Long Before I Get My Income Tax Refund? posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “A guideline for how long you have to wait for a tax refund.”

Jeff Rose presents Missed Tax Deadline? File an Extension posted at Jeff Rose.

The Financial Blogger presents What Can I Deduct to Pay Less Tax? File Your Income Tax with QuickTax Review posted at The Financial Blogger, saying, “I’ve recently been contacted by Intuit (the famous producer of Quicken) to review their latest QuickTax 2009 income tax software. So they sent me a QuickTax 2009 standard edition so I can work with it for a while and to file my own income taxes.”

Four Pillars presents How Many Years Should You Keep Tax Paperwork posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Everyone know you have to keep your tax paperwork around for a while - but how long?”

MDP presents Unemployed Tax Deductions Provide Tax Relief posted at My Dollar Plan.

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.

Technorati tags: carnival of financial planning, blog carnival.

Tags: budgeting, economics, estate planning, financial planning, financing education, income, insurance, investing, managing debt, retirement planning, risk management, taxes

Best Personal Financial Planning

The Skilled Investor — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 06:08:25 +0000

This financial article comes to you compliments of: The Skilled Investor's PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG. Find the original article here:

Best Personal Financial Planning

Best Personal Financial Planning and Personal Investment Articles this Week from Personal Finance Blogs

Carnival of Financial Planning - Edition #129 - February 19, 2010

Welcome to the February 19, 2010 Edition #129 of the Carnival of Financial Planning.

This edition is arranged by subject heading, so that you can browse efficiently.

Enjoy!

The Skilled Investor, Editor

Budgeting

oneadvice presents Credit Crunch Spending Ideas to Keep posted at One Advice, saying, “The credit crunch is over, or so we are led to believe! But don’t let your frugal skills go out of the window just yet. Here are some credit crunch spending ideas you should keep…”

Super Saver presents Living on a Cash Basis was a Good Experience posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “Living on a cash basis quickly taught me financial responsibility.”

Economics

LeanLifeCoach presents Why The GDP Needs A Makeover posted at Eliminate The Muda!, saying, “So what are the alternatives to the GDP? What should we really be measuring? I would argue that the quality, sustainability, and length of a human life should be what we measure, not how many tickle me Elmos or coal plants we produce.”

Estate Planning

The Financial Blogger presents Estate Planning: 5 Reasons Why You Should Have A Professional Among Your Liquidators posted at The Financial Blogger, saying, “managing an estate is more complicated than simply writing a few checks! Fortunately, for those who can afford it, you can name a professional among your liquidators.”

Financial Planning

FlBlogger presents Josh’s 10 Year Financial Plan posted at 20s Money, saying, “An example of an excellent and detailed ten year financial plan.”

FMF presents The Two Financial Measures that Determine the Health of Your Finances (AKA Two Financial Measures to Track Your Finances) posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “The two financial measures you need to grow and track.”

FMF presents Problems with Traditional Financial Planning posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “What’s wrong with much financial planning these days.”

Susan Saverton presents Investor Asset Allocation posted at Financial Planning Pasadena, saying, “Set your personal investment asset allocation according to your personal tolerance for investment risk. Allocated percentages to asset classes would tend to slowly change with the years, and thus it is key to decide correctly from the beginning.”

Tom @ Canadian Finance Blog presents Consider Your House And Career When Deciding Your Portfolio Diversification posted at The Canadian Finance Blog, saying, “You have heard about the importance of a diversified portfolio to reduce the volatility. What many don’t consider is how their house and career could effect the diversification of their investments.”

Financing a Home

Alex Fotopoulos presents When to Refinance a Mortgage? posted at My Trader’s Journal, saying, “Some key points to consider when refinancing your home.”

Financing Education

ABC presents How Do I Set Up a 529 College Savings Plan? posted at ABCs of Investing, saying, “Instructions on how to set up a 529 college education plan.”

Praveen presents Will Education Follow the Housing Bust? posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, “Tips for students to avoid excessive loans and debt”

Jeff Rose presents What’s the Differences between Coverdell Education Savings Accounts vs. 529 College Savings Plans? posted at Jeff Rose, saying, “ESA’s (formerly known as the Education IRA) had been a popular planning tool for college up until the creation of the 529 plan and I very seldom ever come across them.”

Mike presents Is Law School Worth The Cost? posted at The Frugal Law Student, saying, “With the soaring cost of law school tuition, does it still make sense to go to law school?”

Health Care

Zach Scheidt presents Wound Care Technology Offers Growing Profits posted at ZachStocks, saying, “Kinetic Concepts has a unique wound care treatment which is patent protected. With a stable revenue base and increasing global footprint, the company should see its stock price rise rapidly in the coming months.”

Income

Investing

Dan presents 16 New Proshares 3X Return ETFs Coming posted at ETF Base, saying, “A review of several new 300% daily return leveraged ETFs coming to market.”

Sun presents It Could Be Time To Jump On The Buffett Bandwagon posted at The Sun’s Financial Diary.

The Financial Blogger presents 2010 RRSP Contribution Limits, RRSP Contribution Deadline and other RRSP FAQs posted at The Financial Blogger, saying, “I guess you will probably meet with your financial advisor for your 2010 RRSP contribution in the upcoming weeks. So I thought of gathering a few RRSP facts and FAQs:”

Dividend Growth Investor presents Unilever (UL) Dividend Stock Analysis posted at Dividend Growth Investor, saying, “Unilever PLC, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the production and supply of fast moving consumer goods in food, home, and personal care product categories in Western Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Central and Eastern Europe. This international dividend achiever has raised dividends for over one decade.”

Dividends4Life presents 20 Dividend Stocks Riding The Tsunami Of Dividend Increases posted at Dividends Value, saying, “What a difference a year makes. This time last year we were looking at big-name dividend cuts and very few increases. Last week’s 16 increases set the stage for this week’s flood of companies, large and small, raising cash dividends paid to their shareholders.”

Zach Scheidt presents Salesforce.com Shocks Market With Debt Offering posted at ZachStocks, saying, “Salesforce.com (CRM) is issuing $500 million dollars in convertible notes. The dilution to shareholders could drive the stock down and with CRM’s lofty multiple, the risk looks to be very high.”

Alex Fotopoulos presents Gold Chart (GLD) ? More Room to Fall posted at Chart Analysis, saying, “Alex posted a chart of the Gold ETF, GLD, this week and shows how much farther it could fall before finding support.”

jim presents The S&P500 Dividend Aristocrats posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

ABC presents What Are Money Market Mutual Funds posted at ABCs of Investing, saying, “A brief explanation of money market mutual funds.”

The Skilled Investor presents Best Investment Strategy posted at Personal Finance Investments, saying, “Investment costs which are clearly measured, like fees deducted on your monthly investment statement. Most investors are no aware of opportunity costs that arise from sub-optimal investing practices. Opportunity costs like these are much greater than more costs and investment fees that show up on their statements.”

Zach Scheidt presents 2010 ZachStocks Recommendations posted at ZachStocks, saying, “2010 should offer investors both opportunity and risk. Here are four investments which should generate healthy gains in the coming year.”

Praveen presents Just Bought Hyatt Hotels (H) posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, “About Hyatt’s recent IPO and why its a good stock.

Jules Wells presents Simple Personal Investments posted at Personal Finance Software, saying, “Investing often seems almost unfathomly complex, however your best investment strategy will tend to be a simple and straightforward investing strategy.”

Intelligent Speculator presents Yahoo (YHOO)…the next AOL(AOL)? posted at Intelligent Speculator, saying, “Then, think of Yahoo Finance, which used to be the ultimate financial resource. It was a great property to generate advertising revenues and seemed far ahead of any competitors. But look at the website from a few years ago and you will hardly notice any improvements in today’s version.”

Larry Russell presents No Load Stock Funds posted at Best No Load Mutual Funds, saying, “Don’t bother to frantically move your assets from one mutual fund to another or from one ETF to another. Investment research has repeatedly showing academic studies that performance chasing is a bad strategy the most ofter will yield inferior returns.”

Super Saver presents Schwab ETFs - Commission Free for Schwab Clients posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “It’s now cost effective to purchase as little as one share, since there is no commission charge.”

Tomas Escent presents Automated Ivestment Trading posted at Nerds on Wall Street, saying, “A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Wired Markets. In this funny financial book, there are no robots parking your car millions of times, however, right now in milliseconds robots trade millions of shares.”

Mike Piper presents What Can Past Performance Tell Us? posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, “A look at what we can–and can’t–learn from looking at a fund’s past performance.”

Frank Vertin presents Stock Index Funds posted at S&P 500 Funds, saying, “When you buy an S & P 500 index mutual fund through a broker or investment advisor you can increase substantially your purchasing costs, while you drive up your recurring annual expenses through asset management and other fees. Financial advisors most often will not recommend to buy index mutual funds with very low fees.No load, low cost index mutual funds don’t pay financial brokers and advisors nearly as well as front loaded, high fee, active mutual funds.”

FMF presents Anyone Buy Physical Assets? posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “A lively discussion on the pros and cons associated with investing in gold, silver, land, and the like.”

Mike Piper presents Index Funds: Are They Really Passive Investing? posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, “Index funds are known as a passive investment vehicle, but can you really “set and forget” with them?”

Managing Debt

The Dough Roller presents What Credit Score do You Need to Buy a Home? posted at The Dough Roller.

David presents » Spend Analyzer by Discover Card–A Free Money Management Tool posted at Credit Card Offers IQ.

Patrick @ Cash Money Life presents Comparing Debt Consolidation, Debt Management and Debt Settlement posted at Cash Money Life, saying, “There are three main types of debt relief agencies, those that deal in debt consolidation, debt management and debt settlement. This article covers what you need to know about all three.”

The Smarter Wallet presents Do Debt Consolidation Programs Work? Reviewing Debt Consolidation Care posted at The Smarter Wallet, saying, “On debt management and debt consolidation.”

Big Cajun Man presents Do You Have a Financial GPS? posted at Canadian Personal Finance Blog, saying, “Do you need a financial GPS?”

Keith Morris presents Fine Print: Understanding a Credit Card Offer posted at LifeTuner, saying, “Just because Congress passed a law that is aimed to help consumers avoid getting ripped off by credit card companies, doesn’t mean they aren’t going to try.”

Miscellaneous

nissim ziv presents Resume Writing Examples posted at Job Interview Guide, saying, “Writing a resume that summarizes effectively experience, skills and competencies is challenging for many people. A professional resume serves as your first impression on a prospective employer.”

MoneyNing presents No One Became Wealthy Worrying for Others posted at Money Ning, saying, “No one knows everyone else’s situation so why try to worry about their finances?”

Susan Saverton presents Personal Financial Plan posted at Family Finance Planning, saying, “You need a system that is efficient with respect to your time and your costs, when to develop, implement, and track a personal investment plan.”

Frank Knight presents Prevent Identity Theft posted at Best Personal Finance Software, saying, “You need to be proactive and take easy steps to prevent becoming a victim of identity theft. Identity theft is increasing dramatically and it takes a huge amount of time to clean up the mess once you get hit with identity theft.”

Patrick @ Cash Money Life presents How to Get Your Free FICO Credit Score posted at Cash Money Life, saying, “Tips on how to get a free copy of your FICO Credit Score, and how to avoid getting charged without your knowledge.”

FIRE Getters presents Knock Out Your Financial Problems Like Rocky posted at FIRE Finance, saying, “One befitting story which is an uplifting example for those of us struggling with financial problems is that of Sylvester Stallone. His perseverance and courage is heart rending and has always inspired us to the core of our beings.”

Retirement Planning

Consumer Boomer presents How to Rollover Your 401k Into a Roth IRA posted at Consumer Boomer, saying, “Before 2010, it was much more difficult to rollover your 401k into a Roth IRA.”

RJ Weiss presents Roth IRA Contribution Deadline for 2009 posted at Genyweath.com, saying, “Did you know that you can still contribute to a Roth IRA for 2009, even though the year has already passed?”

Joe Plemon presents Retirement Funds Tanked? Time to Redefine Your Retirement. posted at Personal Finance By The Book, saying, “When your retirement nest egg isn’t what you hoped for, don’t despair. It is time to redefine your retirement.”

Tom @ Canadian Finance Blog presents Avoid The Financial Trap Of A Reverse Mortgage - Canadian Finance Blog posted at The Canadian Finance Blog, saying, “A reverse mortgage is a product that allows you to borrow a lump sum amount based on your house value.”

Ray @ Financial Highway presents RRSP Deadline – Limits & Options posted at Financial Highway, saying, “Reminder of to contribute to your retirement plans and last minute tips and tricks.”

Patrick @ Cash Money Life presents Excess Roth IRA Contributions posted at Cash Money Life, saying, “Contributing too much to your Roth IRA may subject you to 6% penalty tax. Find out what you need to do to correct over contributions.”

Stock Mutual Funds presents Top Stock Mutual Funds posted at Low Cost Index Funds, saying, “This article discusses the 10 ten very low cost stock index mutual funds that track the Standard and Poors 500 large capitalization stock index.”

Patrick @ Military Money presents Why Military Members Should Open Roth IRAs posted at Military Finance Network, saying, “Military members have 3 distinct advantages when opening Roth IRAs, including possible tax free contributions, time extensions to contribute, and low current tax brackets.”

Risk Management and Insurance

Consumer Boomer presents Term Life Life Insurance is Cheap to Buy posted at Consumer Boomer, saying, “Term life insurance coverage is cheap these days. Make sure you don’t pay too much.”

Jeff Rose presents How to Buy Affordable Term Life Insurance posted at Jeff Rose.

Consumer Boomer presents Should You Annuitize with an Immediate Annuity? posted at Consumer Boomer.

Jeff Rose presents Do You Need a Long Term Disability Income Insurance Policy? posted at Jeff Rose, saying, “In my earlier working years, I wasn’t complete sold on disability income insurance.”

Savings

KCLau presents Are You Rich in Internal Assets? posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “pay attention to the internal assets”

jim presents Best Free Checking Accounts posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

Taxes

Darwin presents Winners and Losers Under Obama’s New Tax Plan posted at Darwin’s Finance, saying, “A detailed review of winners and losers under the Obama tax plan for 2010 and beyond.”

ABC presents Should You Prepare Your Tax Return By Hand Or Use Tax Software? posted at ABCs of Investing, saying, “Is it better to prepare taxes by hand or use tax software?”

Four Pillars presents Income Tax Changes to Be Aware of On Your 2009 Return posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “New tax deductions and changes for your 2009 return.”

Four Pillars presents Should I E-File My Taxes Or Mail Them? posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Is it safer to e-file taxes or mail them?”

Peak Personal Finance presents Advantage of Having a Tax Professional Do Your Taxes posted at Peak Personal Finance, saying, “Sometimes it pays to hire a professional.”

MDP presents When is the Tax Deadline? posted at My Dollar Plan.

ABC presents Income Tax Brackets And Marginal Tax Rates for 2010 posted at ABCs of Investing, saying, “Complete list of income tax brackets and marginal tax rates.”

Super Saver presents Six Reasons to Consider Consulting a Tax Advisor posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “Although I believe many people are able to do their own tax returns correctly, I think there are six situations when it may be worth consulting a tax advisor, because of the complexity of interpreting the tax laws.”

David de Souza presents Tax Rebate Forms ? Tips and Advice posted at UK Tax Blog, saying, “Some tips and advice for when you complete your tax rebate forms this year.”

MDP presents Do You Have to Repay the Making Work Pay Tax Credit? posted at My Dollar Plan.

Four Pillars presents How To Organize Your Tax Paperwork posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Some suggestions for organizing your tax paperwork”

jim presents How Does the IRS Pick Tax Returns to Audit? posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

FMF presents Two Tax Credits that Could Save You a Bundle posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Two tax credits that could save you a good amount if you qualify.”

Patrick @ Cash Money Life presents How to Organize Your Tax Documents posted at Cash Money Life, saying, “Tips on how to manage your tax documents to make it quicker and easier to fill out and file your taxes.”

Four Pillars presents Income Tax Software – Desktop Version Versus Online Version posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Comparison between filing taxes with online version vs desktop version.”

Technorati tags: carnival of financial planning, blog carnival.

Tags: budgeting, economics, estate planning, financial planning, financing education, income, insurance, investing, managing debt, personal finance advice, personal finance blogs, retirement planning, risk management, taxes

Personal Investment Articles this Week from Personal Finance Blogs

The Skilled Investor — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:42:27 +0000

This financial article comes to you compliments of: The Skilled Investor's PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG. Find the original article here:

Personal Investment Articles this Week from Personal Finance Blogs

Best Personal Financial Planning and Personal Investment Articles this Week from Personal Finance Blogs

Carnival of Financial Planning - Edition #127 - February 5, 2010

Welcome to the February 5, 2010 Edition #127 of the Carnival of Financial Planning.

This edition is arranged by subject heading, so that you can browse efficiently.

Enjoy!

The Skilled Investor, Editor

Budgeting

Super Saver presents Living on a Cash Basis was a Good Experience posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “Living on a cash basis quickly taught me financial responsibility.”

BWL presents Make Your Own Personal Budget: Articles, Tips, & Resources posted at Christian Personal Finance, saying, “This is a look at some great tips, tools, and other resources for getting a great budget set up!”

Four Pillars presents The Low Down on Zero Down Payment On A House posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Why it is not essential to have a large down payment for your house.”

SVB presents Money Management Software For The Desktop: YNAB 3 Review posted at The Digerati Life, saying, “We discuss a top notch budgeting tool.”

Quirky Momma presents Tips for Moms, Activities for kids by Quirky Mommas » Blog Archive » Pinch those Pennies: 50 Tips to Be Frugal! posted at quirkymomma.com, saying, “We are trying to pay off our mortgage in advance - a 6% guaranteed return on investment. Here are 50+ things we are doing to pinch pennies!”

Economics

20smoney presents Finding Deflation posted at 20s Money, saying, “A look at where deflation is popping up in the economy and how it might affect certain investments.”

Estate Planning

Jeff Rose presents Inheriting Retirement Assets: What You Need to Know posted at Jeff Rose.

Financial Planning

Consumer Boomer presents Should You Convert an IRA to Roth IRA In 2010 posted at Consumer Boomer.

Jeff Rose presents Unforeseen Consequences of the Roth IRA Conversion posted at Jeff Rose.

Consumer Boomer presents Roth IRA Conversion Calculators: Should You Convert? posted at Consumer Boomer.

RJ Weiss presents Should I Stop Saving for Retirement To Save For My Wedding? posted at Genyweath.com, saying, “Is it OK to stop saving for retirement, to pay for your wedding? I believe so. Here’s why.”

The Dough Roller presents Best Online Banks posted at The Dough Roller.

Financing a Home

Peak Personal Finance presents How Much Mortgage Can You Afford? posted at Peak Personal Finance, saying, “Many people overlook these extra costs of home ownership.”

Alex Fotopoulos presents When to Refinance a Mortgage? posted at My Trader’s Journal, saying, “Some key points to consider when refinancing your home.”

April presents Does Renting Make Sense? posted at Get Rich Slowly, saying, “We’re not about to move, but you know what? If I had it to do again, I’d never buy this house. If we had stayed where we were, we’d now have just four years left on our mortgage. But knowing what I know now, I might even be inclined to rent. For most folks, renting isn’t a bad option.”

Financing Education

FMF presents Revisiting the Value of a College Degree posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Is a college degree worth the cost? It is if you do it correctly.”

Praveen presents Will Education Follow the Housing Bust? posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, “Tips for students to avoid excessive loans and debt”

Health Care

Income

FMF presents Five Ways to Make Good Career Decisions posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Five steps to managing your career correctly.”

My Journey presents The Basics of Personal Finance are Not Hard It Doesn’t Matter if you Make $46,000 or $460,000 posted at My Journey to Millions, saying, “It doesn’t matter what you make if you can’t follow the basics of financial planning”

Investing

GLBL presents Investing Baby Steps #1: Know Who You Are posted at Gather Little By Little, saying, “So the very first step before starting to invest is to determine your investor profile. I would suggest you meet a financial advisor so he can help you understand the questions and provide additional information regarding the market.”

ABC presents What Are Money Market Mutual Funds posted at ABCs of Investing, saying, “A brief explanation of money market mutual funds.”

jim presents The S&P500 Dividend Aristocrats posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

TIP Guy presents Future Order Book: What Does it Mean? | TIPBlog.in posted at TIPBlog.in, saying, “I am not saying future order line up is not good or it has no meaning. It does matter. However, I am not aware of any effective method to translate tofuture EPS. Therefore, we should look at other parameters and not focus too much on order books.”

FMF presents Reflecting on 2009 Returns Provides Lessons Going Forward posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “What we learned in 2009 can serve to benefit our investments in 2010.”

Marc Ryan presents Dividend investing: is it closet stock picking? - IndependentInvestor.info posted at IndependentInvestor.info, saying, “In this commentary we look at some of the disadvantages of dividend investing. First and foremost, contrary to an index-based approach, dividend-based investing runs up against the rock of Gibraltar of modern investing: diversification. And in practice this technique starts looking like old fashioned stock-picking, on whose shores so many boats of investors have sunk. And the dividend-focused investor also exposes himself to additional risks which we label as irrational factors, that is to say risk factors that are unrelated to the fundamental profitability of the companies issuing those dividend-paying shares.”

Abdulrasool Sumar presents How to Retire as a Millionaire with your 401k Plan and 7 Strategies to Achieve Growth of your 401k Plan posted at 401k, saying, “Learn the story of Knute Iwaszko who saved $1 million in his 401k plan with a $60,000 annual salary and paying the costs to raise 5 kids. You do not have to be a Goldman sachs CEO or a whiz kid on Wall Street making millions!”

The Investor presents How to run your portfolio like a hedge fund posted at Monevator.com, saying, “In this article I introduce some techniques used by hedge fund managers and others to ‘hedge their bets’ when investing.”

Patty Pedersen presents Good Stocks to Buy When Stock Market Correction is Over posted at AlphaProfit MoneyMatters - Investing Blog, saying, “Good stocks bought at the end of a stock market correction can deliver outsized returns. Here are 3 good stocks to buy across 3 different sectors.”

Praveen presents Just Bought Hyatt Hotels (H) posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, “About Hyatt’s recent IPO and why its a good stock.

stockman presents Chart Base Patterns posted at Learning Stocks, saying, “A key to being a succesful stock trader is learning how to spot chart base patterns and when to buy a stock. A chart base often acts as a foundation for stocks to “jump” off of; to begin a large share price increase.”

Dividends4Life presents 10 Dividend Stocks Increasing Yield On Cost posted at Dividends Value, saying, “Most casual income investors focus on current yield, which is important. However, if your objective is to build a portfolio of securities with increasing income, then Yield on Cost is an excellent metric to measure your progress.”

Mike Piper presents What Can Past Performance Tell Us? posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, “A look at what we can–and can’t–learn from looking at a fund’s past performance.”

healthylivinggal presents The Problem With Dow ETFs posted at ETFdb.

Managing Debt

Big Cajun Man presents Do You Have a Financial GPS? posted at Canadian Personal Finance Blog, saying, “Do you need a financial GPS?”

The Smarter Wallet presents How 0% Balance Transfer Credit Cards Can Save You Money posted at The Smarter Wallet, saying, “How balance transfer cards can save you money if used appropriately!”

Brian McKay presents New Credit Card Rules - How the New Credit Card Laws Affect You posted at MonitorBankRates.com, saying, “A new set of credit card rules takes effect February 22, 2010 and you should be aware of the new rules. The new credit card laws are positive for consumers and offer consumers a new set of protections.”

MoneyNing presents 0% Credit Card Basics - The Difference Between 0% Purchase and 0% Balance Transfer Credit Cards posted at Money Ning, saying, “Know the difference between the two 0% credit cards so you know which card to choose for maximum benefit.”

Miscellaneous

MoneyNing presents No One Became Wealthy Worrying for Others posted at Money Ning, saying, “No one knows everyone else’s situation so why try to worry about their finances?”

The Smarter Wallet presents Check Your Credit Score From Credit Reporting Agencies posted at The Smarter Wallet, saying, “How you can check your credit score.”

nissim ziv presents Top Executive Search Firms - Executive Job Search Sites & Services posted at Job Interview Guide, saying, “The Internet technology has dramatically changed the way job seekers conduct their job search. With the click of a mouse, one can distribute his/her resume to thousands of employers and recruiters. However, here comes the hard part – you would want to apply to positions for which you are qualified and these within your job target.”

Retirement Planning

ABC presents Roth IRA Contribution Limits For 2010 posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “2010 Roth IRA contribution limits.”

Jeff Rose presents Will You Work Past Your Normal Retirement Age? posted at Jeff Rose.

Risk Management and Insurance

Jeff Rose presents Should You Buy Mortgage Protection or Term Life Insurance? posted at Jeff Rose, saying, “Mortgage Life Insurance, in most cases, is a waste of money.”

Consumer Boomer presents Should You Annuitize with an Immediate Annuity? posted at Consumer Boomer.

Patrick @ Military Money presents COBRA Benefits 2009 Economic Stimulus Recovery Act posted at Military Finance Network, saying, “The 2009 Economic Stimulus Plan includes additional COBRA and unemployment benefits.”

Evolution Of Wealth presents 7 Ways Your Group Disability Will Fail posted at Evolution of Wealth, saying, “Most people want to believe that their group disability insurance coverage will be there when they need it. Unfortunately, most employers are more concerned with cost versus coverage. This leaves the group disability grossly inadequate for the people that rely on it.”

Savings

Deposit Accounts presents How to Build a CD Ladder (Infographic) posted at Deposit Accounts.

KCLau presents Are You Rich in Internal Assets? posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “pay attention to the internal assets”

Taxes

jim presents How to Report Tax Fraud & Tax Cheats posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

MDP presents 2010 Tax Brackets posted at My Dollar Plan.

Heidi presents Four Free or Cheap Ways to File Your Taxes posted at Little People Wealth, saying, “Summarizes four different ways that you can file your taxes online for free or cheap.”

Four Pillars presents 2010 Income Tax Deadline for 2009 Taxes posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Income tax deadline for this year.”

David de Souza presents Tax Rebate Forms ? Tips and Advice posted at UK Tax Blog, saying, “Some broad tips and advice on completing your tax rebate forms this tax season.”

Technorati tags: carnival of financial planning, blog carnival.

Tags: financing education, personal budgeting, personal capital gains taxes, personal earned income, personal economics, personal estate planning, personal financial advice, personal financial blogs, personal financial planning, personal insurance, personal investing, personal retirement planning, personal risk management, personally managing debt

Best Personal Financial Articles

The Skilled Investor — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 04:46:35 +0000

This financial article comes to you compliments of: The Skilled Investor's PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG. Find the original article here:

Best Personal Financial Articles

Best Personal Financial Planning and Personal Investment Articles this Week from Personal Finance Blogs

Carnival of Financial Planning - Edition #126 - January 29, 2010

Welcome to the January 29, 2010 Edition #126 of the Carnival of Financial Planning.

This edition is arranged by subject heading, so that you can browse efficiently.

Enjoy!

The Skilled Investor, Editor

Budgeting

Four Pillars presents The Low Down on Zero Down Payment On A House posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Why it is not essential to have a large down payment for your house.”

Lovelymary presents 100 Extreme Ways to Save Serious Money posted at Accounting Degree.com.

JL 4 Media presents 10 Things You Buy Now and Pay Later posted at Live Life to the Fullest, saying, ““Buy now pay later” highly encourage consumers to satisfy their wants NOW, whether they need it or not. “Buy now pay later” lure people to acquire their wants as easy as swiping their shining cards.”

Economics

Joshua Dorkin presents Imprudent Use of Leverage: A Contrarian Opinion posted at Real Estate Investing For Real, saying, “Contrarians zig while other investors zag. They hold to the belief that most people receive news too late and act irrationally. This contrarian thinks now is a great time to buy real estate.”

Estate Planning

Jeff Rose presents Inheriting Retirement Assets: What You Need to Know posted at Jeff Rose.

Financial Planning

Jeff Rose presents Unforeseen Consequences of the Roth IRA Conversion posted at Jeff Rose.

Evolution Of Wealth presents Are You Happy? posted at Evolution of Wealth, saying, “People get so caught up in numbers that they think if they can just change the number it will fix their problem. When in fact a problem can only be fixed at it’s root, at it’s cause. You must dig down to the cause of the problem to fix it. This begins with mentality.”

Ray @ Financial Highway presents 7 Money Lessons From Monopoly posted at Financial Highway, saying, “Monopoly is not only a fun game, but also a very educational one. Sharing 7 money lessons I learned from monopoly and many other lessons my twitter followers learned.”

Curt presents What is the Likelihood of Hyperinflation in 2010, 2011 or 2012? Part 3: How to Break the Cycle before Getting to Hyperinflation posted at PennyJobs.com.

Financing a Home

James Staine presents New FHA Rules! (how does this effect Portland?) posted at Oregon Mortgage Blog, saying, “Federal Housing Administration is planning to introduce new rules by increasing its cash position and lower its risk profile for about a year. This increase will affect the down payment, as the first payment amount changed by FHA would increase from 3.5% to 5% down. This increase will affect the down payment, as the first payment amount changed by FHA.”

Leslie Brown presents Time For A Real Estate ETF? posted at ETFdb.

Alex Fotopoulos presents When to Refinance a Mortgage? posted at My Trader’s Journal, saying, “Some key points to consider when refinancing your home.”

Financing Education

Praveen presents Will Education Follow the Housing Bust? posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, “Tips for students to avoid excessive loans and debt”

FMF presents Revisiting the Value of a College Degree posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Is a college degree worth the cost? It is if you do it correctly.”

Health Care

Faithe Jamse presents 17 Healthcare Trends that Are Actually Bad for Us posted at Masters in Health Care, saying, “Computerization, recession issues, the digital divide and even the price of gas all affect people and their health care. This list of seventeen healthcare trends and why they might be bad for us shows that some issues might be debatable.”

Income

FMF presents Three Easiest Ways to Earn More Money posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Here are the three best ways you can add some extra money to your pocket.”

Jeff Rose presents FDIC Coverage Limit Expiration Extended Through 2013 posted at Jeff Rose.

Investing

Craig Ford presents Should I Pay Off My Mortgage or Invest? posted at Money Help For Christians, saying, “Evaluates the benefits of paying off a home instead of investing.”

ABC presents What Are Money Market Mutual Funds posted at ABCs of Investing, saying, “A brief explanation of money market mutual funds.”

Darwin presents Business Development Companies – Excellent Overlooked Investment Strategy posted at Darwin’s Finance, saying, “If you haven’t heard of Business Development Companies, this article highlights some of the opportunities and risks associated with these high yield investments.”

Consumer Boomer presents Dollar Cost Average Your Way to a Successful Retirement posted at Consumer Boomer.

jim presents The S&P500 Dividend Aristocrats posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

Sam presents Investing in Gold posted at Surfer Sam and Friends, saying, “Gold is a precious metal found underground around the world. Gold is considered by many as a store of value and a safe haven for wealth in economic crisis. One of gold’s important properties is psychological, because it is so closely associated with money. All the gold that has ever been mined would hardly fill a cube with the length, width and height of a tennis court. The total gold production of all time totals about 140,000 tons.”

The Financial Blogger presents Note to Myself: Key Points to Investing During a Bear Market Part1: Remember High Yield Bonds posted at The Financial Blogger, saying, “This is what I am doing with the recent market crunch of 2008. Some people generated amazing returns by taking little risk. Here’s how they did it.”

youngandthrifty presents Tax Free Trading Account (a souped up TFSA) posted at youngandthrifty.ca, saying, “About Tax Free Trading Accounts (TFSA’s earn you a measly 1-3% but the options are less limited with TFTA’s). TFTA’s is like the “opposite” of RRSP’s in Canada.”

20smoney presents Long Term Outlook For Wal-Mart Is Excellent posted at 20s Money, saying, “A look at the long term potential of investing in Wal-Mart stock (WMT)”

jim presents Your Take: How Do You Evaluate Brokers? posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

Darwin presents Darwin’s Inverse Leveraged Short ETF Strategy – Incredible Results Outlined posted at Darwin’s Finance, saying, “Astounding new strategy that changed the face of investment for me forever. Come see how I achieved double digit gains in any market by shorting leveraged ETF pairs and exploiting value decay due to daily rebalancing.”

Dividends4Life presents 13 Dividend Stocks With A Great Attribute posted at Dividends Value, saying, “I couldn’t begin to estimate how many different stocks are traded around the world. There are many participants, but few players. Though the population of stocks may be large, there are only a precious few that are worthy dividend stocks.”

Praveen presents Just Bought Hyatt Hotels (H) posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, “About Hyatt’s recent IPO and why its a good stock.

Mike Piper presents Lending Club Risks and Costs posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, “A read through Lending Club’s prospectus and accompanying disclosures suggests that it’s somewhat higher risk than many investors seem to think.”

Managing Debt

David presents American Express Preferred Rewards vs. Premier Rewards Gold Card posted at Credit Card Offers IQ.

Miscellaneous

Jeff Rose presents Why You Should Check Your Credit Report Regularly posted at Jeff Rose.

Tom @ Canadian Finance Blog presents New Year’s Resolutions For Your Personal Finances posted at The Canadian Finance Blog, saying, “While we all hope to have our personal finances in order all year long, a new year can give us a fresh start to change some of the areas that need improvement.”

Roshawn Watson presents Americans Have Loss Financial Hope posted at Watson Inc, saying, “A recent study highlights how Americans have loss hope for getting rich”

Retirement Planning

ABC presents Roth IRA Contribution Limits For 2010 posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “2010 Roth IRA contribution limits.”

FMF presents Six Mistakes to Avoid When Converting to a Roth IRA posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “In 2010 high income earners can convert a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. But they need to be sure and avoid these mistakes.”

Super Saver presents Roth IRA: To Convert or Not to Convert posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “Since anybody will be able to convert funds from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA, in 2010, a question is whether is it makes financial sense to do a conversion or not.”

Jeff Rose presents Required Minimum Distributions Resume for 2010 posted at Jeff Rose.

Risk Management and Insurance

Consumer Boomer presents Time to Review Your Life Insurance posted at Consumer Boomer.

The Dough Roller presents How to Instantly Compare Auto Inurance Quotes Online posted at The Dough Roller.

Savings

FMF presents What Makes You Think You Can Do Your Own Taxes? posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Are you leaving money on the table by doing your own taxes?”

MDP presents Savings: Starting from Scratch posted at My Dollar Plan.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Ally Bank (GMAC Bank) Review posted at The Digerati Life.

MoneyNing presents How to Deal with Frugal Naysayers posted at Money Ning, saying, “There’s a better way to deal with all the naysayers.”

KCLau presents Are You Rich in Internal Assets? posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “pay attention to the internal assets”

jim presents Consider Moving Your Money to Local Banks posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

The Smarter Wallet presents Top Online Savings Accounts For Savvy Savers posted at The Smarter Wallet, saying, “On online savings accounts.”

FIRE Getters presents A Simple Budget That Works? posted at FIRE Finance.

Taxes

Patrick @ Cash Money Life presents Do You Need An Accountant? posted at Cash Money Life, saying, “Do you need to use a tax professional for filing your taxes? A tax professional not only offers expert tax advice, but can do the job more quickly and accurately than you can.”

Four Pillars presents 2010 Income Tax Deadline for 2009 Taxes posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Income tax deadline for this year.”

Ben presents TurboTax Software vs Manual Income Tax Returns posted at Money Smart Life.

Technorati tags: carnival of financial planning, blog carnival.

Tags: money budgeting, money capital gains taxes, money economics, money estate planning, money financial planning, money financing education, money managing personal debt, money personal finance advice, money personal finance blogs, money personal income, money personal insurance, money personal investing, money personal retirement planning, money personal risk management

Financial Planning from Personal Finance Blogs

The Skilled Investor — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 04:36:35 +0000

This financial article comes to you compliments of: The Skilled Investor's PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG. Find the original article here:

Financial Planning from Personal Finance Blogs

Best Personal Financial Planning and Personal Investment Articles this Week from Personal Finance Blogs

Carnival of Financial Planning - Edition #125 - January 22, 2010

Welcome to the January 22, 2010 Edition #125 of the Carnival of Financial Planning.

This edition is arranged by subject heading, so that you can browse efficiently.

Enjoy!

The Skilled Investor, Editor

Budgeting

Abigail Perry presents Should you correct others’ mistakes? posted at i pick up pennies, saying, “If a clerk makes a mistake in your favor, are you obligated to say something? How big does a mistake need to be before you say something?”

Four Pillars presents The Low Down on Zero Down Payment On A House posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Why it is not essential to have a large down payment for your house.”

Four Pillars presents Get Out Of Debt With YNAB – You Need A Budget Financial Software Review posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Indepth review of You Need a Budget software.”

Dorian Wales presents The Dangers of Excess Frugality – Budgeting and Balanced Living posted at The Personal Financier, saying, “A more balanced life and balanced goals will help achieve inner peace and acceptance that money is truly a means and not an end. This takes work and time. I suppose on cannot escape the slippery slope I’ve presented but understanding the need for balance early on will save considerable frustration and contribute to early happiness.”

Estate Planning

Jeff Rose presents Inheriting Retirement Assets: What You Need to Know posted at Jeff Rose.

Jeff Rose presents Do You Need a Power of Attorney? posted at Jeff Rose.

Financial Planning

Consumer Boomer presents Mistakes to Avoid in Financial Planning and Insurance for Boomers posted at Consumer Boomer.

Ben Dinsmore presents 6 Financial Tips for a Prosperous New Year posted at Trees Full of Money, saying, “Start the New Year off right by reviewing these 6 simple strategies for a prosperous 2010.”

Super Saver presents Strategies for Building Wealth and Retiring Early posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “Recently, I ran into a friend who also retired in his forties. We compared notes on what strategies enabled us to retire early. There seemed to be two recurrent themes.”

KCLau presents Tip-tip Kewangan Untuk Rakyat Malaysia posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “Book on Top Money Tips for Malaysians finalised”

Susan Saverton presents Portfolio Asset Allocation posted at Financial Planner Pasadena, saying, “Set your personal investment asset allocation according to your personal tolerance for investment risk. Allocated percentages to asset classes would tend to slowly change with the years, and thus it is key to decide correctly from the beginning.”

Financing a Home

Alex Fotopoulos presents When to Refinance a Mortgage? posted at My Trader’s Journal, saying, “Some key points to consider when refinancing your home.”

Financing Education

FMF presents Revisiting the Value of a College Degree posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Is a college degree worth the cost? It is if you do it correctly.”

Divinelysmile presents The University Of The Future posted at Best Colleges Online.

Herbert Aitken presents Which College Majors Pay the Most? 25 Excellent Studies and Rankings posted at College Stats.org.

Praveen presents Will Education Follow the Housing Bust? posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, “Tips for students to avoid excessive loans and debt”

Health Care

Shakira Dawn presents Top 50 Hospice Care Blogs posted at Nurses assistant, saying, “Hospice care, whether it takes place in the home or in a facility, is often marked with the idea of comfort, and being surrounded by loved ones.”

Income

FMF presents How to Get a Raise or Promotion posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Details on how to get a raise and a promotion.”

April presents 9 Sneaky Expenses That Eat Away at Your Income posted at Get Rich Slowly, saying, “Figuring your real hourly wage is an awesome tool when trying to compare two income opportunities that aren’t similar to begin with.”

Evolution Of Wealth presents Diversifying Your Income Streams posted at Evolution of Wealth, saying, “An immediate annuity can be a great tool to provide guaranteed income throughout retirement. The key is that annuitization should not be your only stream of income. It should be used to diversify your income streams and relied upon for it’s guarantees while you combat inflation with your other investments.”

Investing

ABC presents Index Funds vs ETFs posted at ABCs of Investing, saying, “An explanation of index funds and etfs and a comparison of the two investment products.”

20smoney presents Boost Your “Yield” By Writing Covered Calls posted at 20s Money, saying, “A look at how you can boost your return on a position by writing covered calls. In this post, I include a generic example as well as some specific trades I’ve executed.”

jim presents The S&P500 Dividend Aristocrats posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Online Discount Brokers: SmartMoney Broker Survey posted at The Digerati Life, saying, “We cover the discount brokers that made the latest SmartMoney broker survey.”

Larry Russell presents Top 10 No Load Funds posted at Best No Load Mutual Funds, saying, “Don’t bother to frantically move your assets from one mutual fund to another or from one ETF to another. Investment research has repeatedly showing academic studies that performance chasing is a bad strategy the most ofter will yield inferior returns.”

Praveen presents Just Bought Hyatt Hotels (H) posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, “About Hyatt’s recent IPO and why its a good stock.

Curt presents What is the Likelihood of Hyperinflation in 2010, 2011 or 2012? Part 1: Why is Inflation So Hard to Stop and So Easy to Start? posted at PennyJobs.com.

jim presents Your Take: How Do You Evaluate Brokers? posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

Marc Ryan presents 2009: the good, the bad and the ugly of the past year (and even decade) posted at IndependentInvestor.info, saying, “What a memorable year! In this, the second and last of our year-end 2009 commentaries we review the many highlights of the year for a self-investor in three categories: the good, the bad and the rest. In particular, how did the crisis affect investor behavior? Were you in panic mode in March at the absolute bottom of one of the worst markets on record? Instead of trying to forget the beginning of 2009, it would be preferable to remember both the ups and downs of the year, and draw a few lessons for the future. And let’s not forget the conduct of our governments and regulatory agencies during the crisis, which left much to be desired”

Dividend Growth Investor presents 2010’s Top Dividend Plays posted at Dividend Growth Investor, saying, “The reason for the selection of these stocks is that each of them paid an above average yield and was trading at attractive valuations. Another reason was that the dividend was well covered from cash flows for all stocks.”

The DIV-Net presents McCormick and Company - Stock Analysis for Dividend Growth Portfolio posted at The DIV-Net.

jim presents Where Dividend Stocks Fit in Your Portfolio posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity

20smoney presents Is The Stock Market Bottom Still To Come? posted at 20s Money, saying, “A look at possible theories why we may have much further to fall in the stock market.”

Aussie Investor presents Best Shares To Buy In 2010 posted at Australian Investing, saying, “Buying shares over the past couple of years has certainly been a hair-raising experience for most of us. It’s been an extraordinary roller coaster ride. So how do we restore our investment portfolios back to their former glory? In this post, the author offers some tips to help you find the best shares to buy for 2010.”

Dividends4Life presents 6 Dividend Stocks Increasing Their Yield posted at Dividends Value, saying, “Just as picking fruit from a mango tree does not harm it, living off dividends does not damage the investment’s ability to produce future results. A portfolio of dividend investments will not only provide income in retirement, but can be passed to your children who can continue to reap the benefits.”

Mike Piper presents How to Choose ETFs for Your Portfolio posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, “Tips for selecting which ETFs to include in a low-cost, diversified portfolio.”

The Skilled Investor presents Best Investment Strategies posted at Personal Financial Investments, saying, “Investment costs which are clearly measured, like fees deducted on your monthly investment statement. Most investors are no aware of opportunity costs that arise from sub-optimal investing practices. Opportunity costs like these are much greater than more costs and investment fees that show up on their statements.”

Tomas Escent presents Investment Portfolio Trading posted at Nerds on Wall Street, saying, “A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Wired Markets. In this funny financial book, there are no robots parking your car millions of times, however, right now in milliseconds robots trade millions of shares.”

MoneyNing presents How to Get Your Wife to Invest posted at Money Ning, saying, “Talk and discuss. Learn how to get your significant other to invest!”

Jules Wells presents Simple Investing posted at Personal Financial Planning Software, saying, “Investing often seems almost unfathomly complex, however your best investment strategy will tend to be a simple and straightforward investing strategy.”

Frank Vertin presents Index Stock Fund posted at Best Index Funds, saying, “When you buy an S & P 500 index mutual fund through a broker or investment advisor you can increase substantially your purchasing costs, while you drive up your recurring annual expenses through asset management and other fees. Financial advisors most often will not recommend to buy index mutual funds with very low fees.No load, low cost index mutual funds don’t pay financial brokers and advisors nearly as well as front loaded, high fee, active mutual funds.”

Tabitha Mcivers presents Ultimate Guide To Agricultural ETFs: Agriculture ETF Investing 101 posted at ETFdb.

Managing Debt

Joe Plemon presents Is There Such a Thing as Good Debt? posted at Personal Finance By The Book, saying, “Joe examines different types of debt to determine which, if any, can be considered “good”.”

Patrick @ Cash Money Life presents How to Get a Free Credit Report From AnnualCreditReport.com posted at Cash Money Life, saying, “How to get a copy of your free credit report from annualcreditreport.com, the only official website to receive your free credit report.”

Miscellaneous

Evolution Of Wealth presents Don’t be Buridan’s Ass posted at Evolution of Wealth, saying, “It is easy for us to not commit to a decision. Have you ever considered the consequences of inaction? What is it costing you not to do something? It’s not as easy to see but it might very well have a huge affect on your financial future.”

Frank Knight presents Stop Identity Theft posted at Best Financial Planning Software, saying, “You need to be proactive and take easy steps to prevent becoming a victim of identity theft. Identity theft is increasing dramatically and it takes a huge amount of time to clean up the mess once you get hit with identity theft.”

Susan Saverton presents Personal Finance Plan posted at Family Financial Planning, saying, “You need a system that is efficient with respect to your time and your costs, when to develop, implement, and track a personal investment plan.”

nissim ziv presents Online: Career Assessment Test : Top Career Assessment Tool in the Market posted at Job Interview Guide, saying, “The purpose of a professional career assessment is to have a clear written career vision – a career aspiration and a better understanding of how you operate.”

Retirement Planning

Jeremy presents Think Twice Before Doing a Roth IRA Conversion if You Are Using Account Assets to Pay the Taxes Due posted at Generation X Finance.

Jeff Rose presents Required Minimum Distributions Resume for 2010 posted at Jeff Rose.

Bucksome presents What’s Your Number? posted at Buck$ome Boomer’s Journey to Retirement, saying, “How to figure out the nest egg needed for retirement.”

Abdulrasool Sumar presents What is a 401k Plan? History of 401k Plans & Annual Developments Timeline from 1978 - 2003 posted at 401k, saying, “As at 2003, total estimated number of 401k plans in America was 438,000 with assets totaling $1.9 trillion & 42.4 million active participants.”

Top Stock Mutual Funds presents Stock Mutual Funds posted at Top Index Funds, saying, “This article discusses the 10 ten very low cost stock index mutual funds that track the Standard and Poors 500 large capitalization stock index.”

Frank Knight presents Roth Retirement Accounts posted at Financial Planner Software, saying, “One of the most complex personal financial decisions is whether to invest in a Roth IRA or Roth 401k versus their traditional retirement account alternatives. For most people, Roth accounts do not make sense financially. For a minority, they are a good deal, but you need sophisticated financial planner software to do the analysis for yourself.”

Craig Ford presents Should Retirement Be The Goal of Life? posted at Money Help For Christians, saying, “This post helps you establish and evaluate your retirement goals.”

lifestyles presents How 15 Rent Houses Can Retire You Faster than a $1 Million 401k posted at Lifestyles Unlimited Real Estate Investing and Mentoring, saying, “Referencing the 5 year plan and 5 ways real estate investing makes you money, Brian Lee compares 15 rent houses to a $1 million 401k. He makes an excellent case for real estate investing as the best vehicle for financial freedom.”

Risk Management and Insurance

Consumer Boomer presents Is a Variable Life Insurance Policy the Best Investment for You? posted at Consumer Boomer, saying, “Variable universal life insurance shouldn’t be overlooked or dismissed. Why are there such conflicting opinions over variable universal life insurance policies?.”

Savings

Paul Kamp presents Should the FDIC Limit Bank Interest Rates? posted at Don’t Quit Your Day Job - Personal Finance, Economics and Investing, saying, “If you happen to have a savings account at a bank considered under-capitalized - prepare for your savings rate to decrease. New FDIC rules make the interest rate limit 75 basis points over the nationwide average. How will this change the savings climate? Read to find out.”

MoneyNing presents How to Deal with Frugal Naysayers posted at Money Ning, saying, “There’s a better way to deal with all the naysayers.”

jim presents Consider Moving Your Money to Local Banks posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

KCLau presents Are You Rich in Internal Assets? posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “pay attention to the internal assets”

Taxes

Jeff Rose presents Tax Information Checklist: Get Ready to File Before The Deadline posted at Jeff Rose.

David de Souza presents Tax Rebate Scam Emails Continue - Beware - posted at UK Tax Blog, saying, “Beware of a new round of scam Emails being sent to people warning of unreported income. Whatever you do, do not press on any links within these Emails.”

Roshawn Watson presents Will the “Fat Tax” Come to a State Near You? posted at Watson Inc, saying, “Perhaps residents of Alabama have one more reason to make weight loss a top New Year’s resolution: their wallets. Alabama’s controversial “fat tax” may revolutionize how we think about health.”

Peter presents 10 Year End Tax Deductions And Credits That You Can Claim In 2009 posted at Bible Money Matters, saying, “Here is a list of 10 year end tax deductions that you can take to lower your tax bill.”

PT presents Tax Preparation Checklist posted at Prime Time Money.

Jeff Rose presents Roth IRA Rules For Minors. Your Kids Guide to Tax Free Money posted at Jeff Rose.
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.

Technorati tags: carnival of financial planning, blog carnival.

Tags: budgeting, capital gains taxes, economics, estate planning, financial planning, financing education, managing personal debt, personal finance advice, personal finance blogs, personal income, personal insurance, personal investing, personal retirement planning, personal risk management

Personal Financial Planning This Week

The Skilled Investor — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 07:03:35 +0000

This financial article comes to you compliments of: The Skilled Investor's PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG. Find the original article here:

Personal Financial Planning This Week

Best Personal Financial Planning and Personal Investment Articles this Week from Personal Finance Blogs

Carnival of Financial Planning - Edition #124 - January 15, 2010

Welcome to the January 15, 2010 Edition #124 of the Carnival of Financial Planning.

This edition is arranged by subject heading, so that you can browse efficiently.

Enjoy!

The Skilled Investor, Editor

Budgeting

Four Pillars presents The Low Down on Zero Down Payment On A House posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Why it is not essential to have a large down payment for your house.”

Four Pillars presents Get Out Of Debt With YNAB – You Need A Budget Financial Software Review posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Indepth review of You Need a Budget software.”

Estate Planning

Jeff Rose presents Inheriting Retirement Assets: What You Need to Know posted at Jeff Rose.

Jeff Rose presents Roth IRA Rules For Minors. Your Kids Guide to Tax Free Money posted at Jeff Rose.

Financial Planning

20smoney presents Personal Finance Manifesto posted at 20s Money, saying, “A comprehensive guide to some of the basic principles of personal finance.”

David presents What to Do With A Windfall posted at Money Under 30, saying, “Studies show that we humans are more likely to spend unanticipated money (ie, a windfall) than anticipated money like our wages. Of course, blowing a bonus or inheritance isn’t the wisest financial move. What should you do with a windfall? Here’s are six simple steps for allocating unexpected cash.”

KCLau presents Tip-tip Kewangan Untuk Rakyat Malaysia posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “Book on Top Money Tips for Malaysians finalised”

Super Saver presents Spending because of Stimulus Money? Not Us. posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “Although we qualified for the Cash for Clunkers and the new Home Buyer’s Credit program, we passed on on participating, for one simple reason — if we needed it, we would have already bought it.”

Financing a Home

MDP presents How to Break Free from Your Escrow Account posted at My Dollar Plan, saying, “This article talks about the benefits of avoiding an escrow account when purchasing a home.”

Steven R. Bennett presents Real Estate Investing - Buyer’s Perspective posted at Living Trusts - Post Mortem Administration, saying, “About real estate investments.”

Alex Fotopoulos presents When to Refinance a Mortgage? posted at My Trader’s Journal, saying, “Some key points to consider when refinancing your home.”

Financing Education

Jeff Rose presents How Can a Grandparent Help Finance a Grandchild’s Education posted at Jeff Rose.

FMF presents Revisiting the Value of a College Degree posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Is a college degree worth the cost? It is if you do it correctly.”

Praveen presents Will Education Follow the Housing Bust? posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, “Tips for students to avoid excessive loans and debt”

Health Care

Income

Investing

ABC presents Fixed Income Investments posted at ABCs of Investing, saying, “A description and some examples of fixed income investments.”

jim presents Your Take: How Do You Evaluate Brokers? posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

Sun presents The January Effect: Is It Real? posted at The Sun’s Financial Diary.

Darwin presents 2009 Global Stock Market Returns – Every Country ETF Ranked posted at Darwin’s Finance, saying, “Returns for all countries for 2009 - Insightful and Surprising (US was toward the bottom even with our rally!)”

Silicon Valley Blogger presents TradeKing Review: How Does TradeKing Measure Up? posted at The Digerati Life

jim presents Where Dividend Stocks Fit in Your Portfolio posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity

Praveen presents Just Bought Hyatt Hotels (H) posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, “About Hyatt’s recent IPO and why its a good stock.

The Smarter Wallet presents ETrade Review: Best Stock Broker For Online Investors posted at The Smarter Wallet, saying, “Review of Etrade.”

Curt presents Investment Outlook for 2010, a Year of Difficult Decisions posted at PennyJobs.com.

Control your Cash presents 3 Investments for the next decade posted at Control Your Cash, saying, “Where should you invest in 2010: Get back to basics.”

Kyle Dunning presents 200 Best Blogs, Free Courses and eBooks for the Business Student posted at Online Colleges and Universities Education Database, saying, “Hundreds of free eBooks, online courses and great blogs to learn about investing, personal finance and general business skills.”

MoneyNing presents How to Get Your Wife to Invest posted at Money Ning, saying, “Talk and discuss. Learn how to get your significant other to invest!”

jim presents How to Determine Your Asset Allocation posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

Dividends4Life presents 4 Dividend Stocks in the Good Category posted at Dividends Value, saying, “Virtually everything in this world can be placed into a few basic categories. This is especially true for Dividend Stocks when looking at their historic performance and expectations for the future.”

Mike Piper presents Asset Allocation with a 401(k) and IRA posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, “A system for managing a portfolio that spans multiple providers–one for your 401(k) and another for your IRA, for instance.”

Managing Debt

Lynnae presents Why Tracking Expenses Important When Paying Off Debt posted at beingfrugal.net, saying, “The first step in paying off your debt is knowing what you spend each month. Tracking your spending will help you see where you’re overspending, so you can plug those budget leaks and get down to the business of paying off your debt quickly.”

The Smarter Wallet presents How Debt Management Programs Affect Your Credit Score posted at The Smarter Wallet, saying, “Can debt management programs have an impact on your credit score? We review this issue in this article.”

James Staine presents 10 Myths about Reverse Mortgages posted at Oregon Mortgage Blog, saying, “Oregon Mortgage Blog comprises informative articles that talk about residential mortgage types, and the types of mortgage borrowers.”

Mark presents Why Having A Good Credit Score Isn?t Great In 2010 posted at Crushing The Credit Bureaus, saying, “It is now more important than EVER that you re-evaluate what you think is a high FICO credit score and what lenders think is a high credit score. If you have low scores, you must repair credit report now.”

Miscellaneous

Big Cajun Man presents Men’s Health posted at Canadian Personal Finance Blog, saying, “The little blue pill factor in Male Health…”

nissim ziv presents Career Goals: Examples of Career Goals and Objectives posted at Job Interview Guide, saying, “It is only when a person has a clear thought about his/her career goals and objectives that he or she gets ultimate satisfaction from his/her job and therefore progress faster. This article covers many examples for your career goals & objectives.”

Retirement Planning

Consumer Boomer presents Best Options for Your 401k posted at Consumer Boomer, saying, “When it comes to 401(k), what are your best options? There’s a ton of information out there that could confuse a Harvard graduate and the landscape is forever changing.”

Jeff Rose presents Best Retirement Plan For Small Businesses posted at Jeff Rose.

Joe Plemon presents Are You Eating Your Retirement? posted at Personal Finance By The Book, saying, “When looking for a way to fund your retirement, the answer could be on your dinner plate…you could be eating your retirement.”

Jason @ Redeeming Riches presents Are You Holding a Retirement Time Bomb? posted at Redeeming Riches, saying, “By contributing to your 401k you could be creating a giant tax-time-bomb!”

eHow presents How to Save for Retirement for 20 and 30 Year Old posted at FaithAllen, saying, “This article talks about retirement planning for people that are in their 20s and 30s.”

Risk Management and Insurance

Evolution Of Wealth presents Financial Strength of Insurance Companies posted at Evolution of Wealth, saying, “In a pile of misinformation, financial strength of an insurance company has to be included. The reason here is that most people don’t understand nor are they ever properly explained how to accurately measure the financial strength of these companies. Most of the time the average consumer isn’t given all of the information so hopefully this will help you with your value decisions.”

Savings

Evolution Of Wealth presents Cash Is Clementines!?! posted at Evolution of Wealth, saying, “For the average person that has a problem with debt cash makes sense. For the rest of use, cash will only slow us down. Cash is not king. Focus instead on the power of LUC (liquidity, use and control).”

jim presents Consider Moving Your Money to Local Banks posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Savings Account Rates: Where Are The High Returns? posted at The Digerati Life, saying, “We check out the latest savings account rates for cash accounts.”

MoneyNing presents How to Deal with Frugal Naysayers posted at Money Ning, saying, “There’s a better way to deal with all the naysayers.”

Mary Jones presents 97 Ways to Save Money in College posted at MRI Technician Schools.

KCLau presents Are You Rich in Internal Assets? posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “pay attention to the internal assets”

Taxes

FMF presents When You Should and Shouldn’t Do Your Own Taxes posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “When does it make sense to do your own taxes?”

Suzane Smith presents The 10 Most Obscure Tax Deductions You Should be Using this Year posted at Executive MBA Programs.

Technorati tags: carnival of financial planning, blog carnival.

Tags: budgeting, economics, estate planning, financial planning, financing education, income, insurance, investing, managing debt, retirement planning, risk management, taxes

Best Financial Articles from PF Blogs

The Skilled Investor — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 06:59:41 +0000

This financial article comes to you compliments of: The Skilled Investor's PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG. Find the original article here:

Best Financial Articles from PF Blogs

Best Personal Financial Planning and Personal Investment Articles this Week from Personal Finance Blogs

Carnival of Financial Planning - Edition #123 - January 8, 2010

Welcome to the January 8, 2010 Edition #123 of the Carnival of Financial Planning.

This edition is arranged by subject heading, so that you can browse efficiently.

Enjoy!

The Skilled Investor, Editor

Budgeting

Curt presents 2009 Budget Reflections posted at PennyJobs.com.

Four Pillars presents Get Out Of Debt With YNAB – You Need A Budget Financial Software Review posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Indepth review of You Need a Budget software.”

Lovelymary presents 100 Inspiring Personal Finance Posts for the New Year posted at Accounting Degree.

Estate Planning

FMF presents Three of the Biggest Estate Planning Mistakes posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Three estate planning mistakes you’ll want to avoid.”

Jeff Rose presents Inheriting Retirement Assets: What You Need to Know posted at Jeff Rose.

Financial Planning

Financing a Home

Peak Personal Finance presents New Year Financial Resolution: Refinance posted at Peak Personal Finance, saying, “Plan to save money on your housing expenses this year!”

Alex Fotopoulos presents When to Refinance a Mortgage? posted at My Trader’s Journal, saying, “Some key points to consider when refinancing your home.”

Financing Education

Jeff Rose presents How Can a Grandparent Help Finance a Grandchild’s Education posted at Jeff Rose.

Praveen presents Will Education Follow the Housing Bust? posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, “Tips for students to avoid excessive loans and debt”

Health Care

Jeff Rose presents Caring for Your Aging Parents posted at Consumer Boomer.

Patrick @ Cash Money Life presents Open Enrollment Health Insurance Options posted at Cash Money Life, saying, “what you need to know about the common health insurance options available from most employers during the open enrollment season.”

Income

April presents It’s More Important to Be Happy Than to Be Rich posted at Get Rich Slowly, saying, “True happiness comes when you learn to be content with what you have. If you don’t take the time to figure out what Enough means to you, you’ll always be unhappy with your financial situation.”

FMF presents Why a High Income Often Doesn’t Translate into a High Net Worth posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “A high income often doesn’t translate into a high net worth. This is why.”

Investing

Jae Jun presents How to create online investment tracking spreadsheet posted at Old School Value, saying, “Use this free stock tracking spreadsheet or learn how to create your own dynamic online portfolio tracking spreadsheet that is always up to date. You can now view it anywhere, anytime.”

NetBiz presents Why Dollar Cost Averaging Can Get You Rich | Your Finish Rich Plan posted at Your Finish Rich Plan, saying, “The “Louie The Loser” scenario is an illustration of the power of compounding. In fact, compounding is so powerful that it almost cancels out the negative effects of bad timing. In a nutshell, this is proof that if you want to start investing, you don’t have to wait for “the right moment”. If you put time on your side, you’ll win.”

One Family presents Fair Isaac Corporation (FICO) - Stock Analysis posted at One Family’s Blog, saying, “An analysis and recommendation of Fair Isaac (FICO) stock.”

Lazy Man and Money presents Is Investing Without Goals Like Golfing without a Putter? posted at Lazy Man and Money, saying, “Inspired by Simple Dollar’s post, this article examines the analogy from a different point of view.”

Marc Ryan presents Six advantages of dividend investing: a critical assessment posted at IndependentInvestor.info, saying, “What are the benefits of dividend investing? In this commentary, we look at the six main arguments put forward by proponents of this approach to investing: a source of regular, tax-favored income characterized by above-average returns, offering down-side protection in bear markets, facilitating dollar cost averaging investing, and inducing corporate management to deliver more stable, better-reported earnings. What’s not to like? The arguments seem compelling, but on second look, lose some of their luster. In a subsequent commentary in our series on dividend investing we will look at the disadvantages.”

Zach Scheidt presents Chimera Investment Corp – Discipline Yields Success posted at ZachStocks, saying, “Chimera Investment Corp (CIM) is trading at a discount price and offering investors an attractive dividend yield. While the mortgage market could experience volatility, Chimera stands to benefit from its newly disciplined approach”

MDP presents How to Earn High Returns with Lending Club posted at My Dollar Plan, saying, “Highlights some tips for investing with Lending Club and earning high returns.”

Mike Piper presents Investing in a Taxable Account posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, “What’s the most tax-efficient way to invest once you’ve maxed out your 401(k) and IRA contributions for the year?”

Steve Alexander presents Magic Formula Stock Review: Vector Group (VGR) posted at MagicDiligence - Optimizing Joel Greenblatts Value Stock Strategy, saying, “Vector Group is a holding company with the main operating unit being Liggett Group, the maker of discount cigarette brands Liggett Select and Grand Prix. A dividend play with a 11% yield, does this stock look like a good Magic Formula choice?”

jim presents Where Dividend Stocks Fit in Your Portfolio posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity

Super Saver presents Choosing Certainty or Additional Returns posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “Here’s how we choose between certainty and additional returns.”

Praveen presents Just Bought Hyatt Hotels (H) posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, “About Hyatt’s recent IPO and why its a good stock.”

KCLau presents Case Study: Consolidating Personal Loan, Mortgage and Credit Card Debt posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “Important lessons on investment”

MoneyNing presents How to Get Your Wife to Invest posted at Money Ning, saying, “Talk and discuss. Learn how to get your significant other to invest!”

jim presents How to Determine Your Asset Allocation posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

Managing Debt

The Smarter Wallet presents How To Get Your Free Credit Report and Score posted at The Smarter Wallet, saying, “Some tips on how to get your free credit report and score. I also discuss some of the things to watch out for when you look for your credit information.”

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Balance Transfer Credit Card Tips, Facts and Traps posted at The Digerati Life

The Dough Roller presents How to Find a “Good” Bad Credit Credit Card posted at The Dough Roller, saying, “”How do I get a credit card with bad credit?”"

Miscellaneous

Joe Plemon presents How Do You Measure Success? posted at Personal Finance By The Book, saying, “Do you equate success with being a super achiever or is it possible to be successful by simply doing worthwhile activities? This post explores the measurement of success.”

Big Cajun Man presents Men’s Health posted at Canadian Personal Finance Blog, saying, “The little blue pill factor in Male Health…”

nissim ziv presents 15 Top Resume Objectives Examples posted at Job Interview Guide, saying, “Employers and recruiters review hundreds of resumes every day. Therefore, writing a resume that stands out from the crowd is a key success factor for job seekers. An eye-catching resume will increase your chances of getting a job interview.”

Retirement Planning

Risk Management and Insurance

Jeff Rose presents Tax Break for Hybrid Annuities and Long Term Care Insurance posted at Consumer Boomer.

Patrick @ Cash Money Life presents Save Money on Auto Insurance Rates posted at Cash Money Life, saying, “Tips on how to save money on your auto insurance rates, including multi car discounts, multi-line policies, defensive driving courses, and more.”

Savings

jim presents Consider Moving Your Money to Local Banks posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

MoneyNing presents How to Deal with Frugal Naysayers posted at Money Ning, saying, “There’s a better way to deal with all the naysayers.”

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Savings Account Rates: Where Are The High Returns? posted at The Digerati Life, saying, “We check out the latest savings account rates for cash accounts.”

KCLau presents Are You Rich in Internal Assets? posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “pay attention to the internal assets”

Four Pillars presents $8,000 Credit For First-Time Homebuyers Extended 6 Months – Not Increased To $15k posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Home buyers credit extended 6 months.”

Taxes

GreenBridge Advisors presents Ask Questions Before Letting Someone Do Your Taxes posted at Let’s Blog Money.

Technorati tags: carnival of financial planning, blog carnival.

Personal Finance Articles this Week

The Skilled Investor — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 02:49:28 +0000

This financial article comes to you compliments of: The Skilled Investor's PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG. Find the original article here:

Personal Finance Articles this Week

Best Personal Financial Planning and Personal Investment Articles this Week from Personal Finance Blogs

Carnival of Financial Planning - Edition #122 - January 1, 2010

Welcome to the January 1, 2010 Edition #122 of the Carnival of Financial Planning.

This edition is arranged by subject heading, so that you can browse efficiently.

Enjoy!

The Skilled Investor, Editor

Budgeting

Four Pillars presents Get Out Of Debt With YNAB – You Need A Budget Financial Software Review posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Indepth review of You Need a Budget software.”

Estate Planning

FMF presents Three of the Biggest Estate Planning Mistakes posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Three estate planning mistakes you’ll want to avoid.”

Estate Planning

Jeff Rose presents What is the Purpose of a Trust? posted at Jeff Rose.

Financial Planning

FIRE Getters presents Americans Living Without Bank Accounts? posted at FIRE Finance, saying, “Last weekend we were wondering how many Americans live without bank accounts. Our first thought was not many. Curious to know the facts we started researching on the web. We were stunned to find that 17 million Americans have no bank accounts! And 18% of the rest of the population that do have bank accounts use non-traditional banking services like pawn shops and payday lenders.”

Financing a Home

Alex Fotopoulos presents When to Refinance a Mortgage? posted at My Trader’s Journal, saying, “Some key points to consider when refinancing your home.” Roshawn Watson presents Is Bigger Better? Scaling Down The American Dream posted at Watson Inc, saying, “Today’s post-crash buyers are not willing (nor able in some cases) to extend themselves like before, and the impact on the housing market is substantial.”

Financing Education

Praveen presents Will Education Follow the Housing Bust? posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, “Tips for students to avoid excessive loans and debt”

Health Care

Jeff Rose presents What’s the Best Health Savings Plan For You? posted at Jeff Rose.

Income

Curt presents If Your Business is Going to Survive Next Year Consider Raising Your Prices posted at PennyJobs.com.

Investing

jim presents Where Dividend Stocks Fit in Your Portfolio posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity

Diane Steward presents The Definitive Guide To Cotton ETF Investing posted at ETFdb.

Steve Alexander presents Does Magic Formula Investing Provide International Diversification? - MagicDiligence posted at MagicDiligence - Optimizing Joel Greenblatts Value Stock Strategy, saying, “Economic experts recommend investors dedicate 30-40% of their stock portfolio to foreign firms. Does following Joel Greenblatt’s Magic Formula Investing strategy automatically meet that recommendation?”

20smoney presents Investing Psychology – Accumulating Assets posted at 20s Money, saying, “The appropriate way to view accumulating assets.”

Control your Cash presents Our non-endorsement of the week. posted at Control Your Cash, saying, “We show you why penny stocks aren’t worth the price”

Dividends4Life presents 7 Low-Debt High-Rated Dividend Stocks posted at Dividends Value, saying, “When selecting a dividend growth stock there is really only one factor that is important – sustainability. As we evaluate many aspects of a company, what we are really trying to determine is if the company can continue to raise its dividend indefinitely into the future.”

Mike Piper presents How to Rollover Your 401k into a Roth IRA posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, “If you’ve left your job, it’s possible to roll your old 401k account directly into a Roth IRA.”

Super Saver presents Choosing Certainty or Additional Returns posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “Here’s how we choose between certainty and additional returns.”

ABC presents What Is Private Equity Investment? posted at ABCs of Investing, saying, “An explanation of private equity investing.”

Praveen presents Just Bought Hyatt Hotels (H) posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, “About Hyatt’s recent IPO and why its a good stock.”

jim presents Introduction to FOREX Investing posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity, saying, “An in-depth article on how investing in foreign currencies work.

Zach Scheidt presents Blackstone Sees Improving Trends posted at ZachStocks, saying, “The Blackstone Group, LP (BX) reported earnings and the stock is trading sharply higher. The environment is improving for the private equity company as liquidity and risk premiums increase.”

KCLau presents Case Study: Consolidating Personal Loan, Mortgage and Credit Card Debt posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “Important lessons on investment”

MoneyNing presents How to Get Your Wife to Invest posted at Money Ning, saying, “Talk and discuss. Learn how to get your significant other to invest!”

Zach Scheidt presents Netsuite Investors Begin to Doubt Growth posted at ZachStocks, saying, “Netsuite Inc. (N) has seen revenue growth trend significantly lower. The cloud computing technology firm is trading at an excessive price given its growth prospects and the aversion to risk we are seeing in the market.”

jim presents How to Determine Your Asset Allocation posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

Managing Debt

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Balance Transfer Credit Card Tips, Facts and Traps posted at The Digerati Life

David presents List of Credit Card Foreign Currency Transaction Fees posted at Credit Card Offers IQ.

Miscellaneous

BankShout presents How To: Prevent Overdraft Fees posted at BankShout.

nissim ziv presents Your Work Experience – Interview Questions and Answers posted at Job Interview Guide, saying, “These are only a few of many work experience interview questions that you may face. Some questions may be easy to answer, while others may have you reaching for the best way to respond. Preparation is the key to having confidence while talking about your work history and future goals.”

FMF presents 10 Tips to Be Assured of a Website’s Security When Shopping Online posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Simple but effective tips on being safe while shopping online.”

Tom @ Canadian Finance Blog presents 10 Ways To Reduce Your Cable Or Satellite TV Bill posted at The Canadian Finance Blog, saying, “With the majority of households looking for ways to cut their expenses, television might be the first non-essential bill you’ll want to look at. Fortunately there are a few ways to save money on your television bill.”

Big Cajun Man presents Men’s Health posted at Canadian Personal Finance Blog, saying, “The little blue pill factor in Male Health…”

Retirement Planning

Joe Plemon presents How to Purchase Long Term Care Insurance: Ten Great Tips posted at Personal Finance By The Book, saying, “Long Term Care Insurance is not easily understood. This post will walk the reader through the process of understanding and purchasing Long Term Care Insurance.”

Super Saver presents Why I Consider Myself Retired posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “Since I retired while still in my forties. I know that some people questioned whether it was really a retirement or whether it was just simply a job resignation, followed by unemployment.”

Jeff Rose presents 401k Rollover to IRA: How To Consolidate Your Retirement Accounts posted at Jeff Rose.

Jeff Rose presents What are Deferred Compensation Plans? posted at Jeff Rose.

Super Saver presents Maximizing our Social Security Benefits posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “A strategy know as the 62/70 solution appears to be most promising, allowing us to have the proverbial cake and eat it too.”

Risk Management and Insurance

Jeff Rose presents Life Insurance Reality Check – Do you have enough? posted at Jeff Rose, saying, “Life insurance is an important component of your financial planning.”

The Dough Roller presents Should You Add Rental Car Reimbursement to Your Auto Insurance? posted at The Dough Roller.

Tom @ Canadian Finance Blog presents Do You Have Enough Insurance On Your Home? posted at The Canadian Finance Blog, saying, “When you first bought your house, you most likely got insurance to cover against disasters like fires and storms. Since that time, has the value of your home stayed the same?”

jim presents Finding Affordable Self Employed Health Insurance posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity, saying, “As a self-employed person, finding affordable and reputable medical insurance can be a big challenge.”

FMF presents Life Insurance Reality Check – Do you have enough? posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “How to know if you have enough life insurance.”

Savings

MoneyNing presents How to Deal with Frugal Naysayers posted at Money Ning, saying, “There’s a better way to deal with all the naysayers.”

Four Pillars presents $8,000 Credit For First-Time Homebuyers Extended 6 Months – Not Increased To $15k posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Home buyers credit extended 6 months.”

KCLau presents Are You Rich in Internal Assets? posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “pay attention to the internal assets”

MoneyNing presents 10 Reasons to Have a Library Card posted at Money Ning, saying, “Library is still one the best way to spent your time. Here are 10 reasons why you want a library card.”

KCLau presents Caring for the Elderly posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “Problems faced by the elderly”

Taxes

Jeff Rose presents Tax Planning Demystified posted at Jeff Rose.

David de Souza presents Make Checking Your Tax Code Your New Year’s Resolution posted at UK Tax Blog, saying, “A profitable New Year resolution should be to check your tax code and get it corrected before the end of the tax year.”

Patrick @ Cash Money Life presents Tax Tips for Children and Newborns posted at Cash Money Life, saying, “Many people are aware of the child tax credit, but here are some other tax credits and deductions that you maybe eligible for if you have children.”

Super Saver presents Accelerating Tax Deductions to 2009 posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “We’ve decided to accelerate appropriate 2010 tax deductions to 2009 to maximize our Schedule A itemized deductions, and take the standard deduction for married filing joint in 2010.”

Technorati tags: carnival of financial planning, blog carnival.

Personal Finance Planning

The Skilled Investor — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 19:32:35 +0000

This financial article comes to you compliments of: The Skilled Investor's PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG. Find the original article here:

Personal Finance Planning

Best Personal Financial Planning and Personal Investment Articles this Week from Personal Finance Blogs

Carnival of Financial Planning - Edition #121 - December 25, 2009

Welcome to the December 25, 2009 Edition #121 of the Carnival of Financial Planning.

This edition is arranged by subject heading, so that you can browse efficiently.

Enjoy!

The Skilled Investor, Editor

Budgeting

Joel Gray presents How To Save Money Using Gift Cards posted at Finance Tips 101.

Four Pillars presents Get Out Of Debt With YNAB – You Need A Budget Financial Software Review posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Indepth review of You Need a Budget software.”

Economics

Curt presents The Fed’s Recovery Plan Is Based on Fooling Everyone Holding Dollars posted at PennyJobs.com.

Estate Planning

Jeff Rose presents What is the Purpose of a Trust? posted at Jeff Rose.

Financial Planning

RJ Weiss presents 73 Must Read Personal Finance Posts of 2009 posted at Genyweath.com, saying, “After an entire year of reading personal finance blogs, these were my favorites from 2009.”

The Shark Investor presents Playing Big posted at The Shark Investor, saying, “Too often people who want to start a startup or any kind of small business do a major mistake from the beginning. They try to play big hoping that this will make their business big.”

The Amateur Financier presents The Amateur Financier Millionaire To-Do List posted at The Amateur Financier, saying, “A guide to how I intend to build my net worth up to one million dollars over the course of time. It includes the methods by which I will add to my net worth building and investing my personal finances.”

Smac20 presents Top 10 Questions to Ask your Investment Advisor posted at Investing in Canada - TSX Personal Finance, saying, “The Questions you need to ask your Investment Adviser to find out if they should be managing your money or if you should fire them.”

Financing a Home

Dan Green presents How To Pick A Closing Date That’ll Lower Your Mortgage Rate posted at The Mortgage Reports, saying, “But, sometimes, the easiest way to save money on your mortgage is to pick a better closing date. It’s all about Rate Lock Commitments.”

Alex Fotopoulos presents When to Refinance a Mortgage? posted at My Trader’s Journal, saying, “Some key points to consider when refinancing your home.”

Financing Education

Praveen presents Will Education Follow the Housing Bust? posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, “Tips for students to avoid excessive loans and debt”

Health Care

Jeff Rose presents What’s the Best Health Savings Plan For You? posted at Jeff Rose.

Income

FMF presents Great Thoughts on Thank You Notes posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “And easy way to advance your career and help you get the job you want.”

Investing

Marc Ryan presents Dividend investing: everything you wanted to know about it (or almost) - IndependentInvestor.info posted at IndependentInvestor.info, saying, “Do you, consciously or by happenstance, invest solely or mostly in dividend-paying stocks? Maybe you have been thinking about it. Many investors follow a policy of dividend investing. Our readers have asked how it compares to index investing. Being fans of the latter approach we expected dividend investing to compare rather unfavorably, but the reality turned out to be more ambiguous. So we decided to devote several commentaries to dividend investing. We first look at its background and history. In subsequent commentaries we will look at its advantages, its disadvantages, and finally the different ways of putting it into practice (e.g. directly, through dividend reinvestment plans or through mutual or exchange-traded funds).”

ABC presents Foreign Exchange Trading posted at ABCs of Investing, saying, “A short explanation of foreign exchange trading.”

Super Saver presents Choosing Certainty or Additional Returns posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “Here’s how we choose between certainty and additional returns.”

Praveen presents Just Bought Hyatt Hotels (H) posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, “About Hyatt’s recent IPO and why its a good stock.”

ABC presents What Is Private Equity Investment? posted at ABCs of Investing, saying, “An explanation of private equity investing.”

jim presents Introduction to FOREX Investing posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity, saying, “An in-depth article on how investing in foreign currencies work.”

The Dough Roller presents Why Some Online Credit Card Applications Say ‘Hurry Up And Wait’ posted at The Dough Roller.

FMF presents Free Money Finance: 17 Common Investing Pitfalls and Their Remedies posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Investing mistakes to avoid.”

Silicon Valley Blogger presents HSBC Direct Online Savings Account Review: With Free ATM Bank Card posted at The Digerati Life, saying, “On saving with a popular bank.”

Writers Coin presents Is Option Trading Really That Complicated? posted at The Writer’s Coin, saying, “Trading options sounds scary, doesn’t it? Did you know it’s less risky that trading stocks? Find out more about the world of options and see if it’s right for you.”

Dividends4Life presents 8 Dividend Stocks Delivering Tangible Value posted at Dividends Value, saying, “Sometimes when companies are tight on cash, they will declare and pay a stock dividend in lieu of a cash dividend. Most shareholders feel like they are getting something. But are they really? In short, a stock dividend is nothing more than a glorified stock split.”

Jonathan Lai presents Financial Planning DIY: Investment: Do Your Very Own Investment Plan posted at Financial Planning DIY, saying, “This is the fact. Nobody knows better than youself on what you actually need. Therefore, there will be no one, except yourself, able to design an investment plan that really meet your needs.”

KCLau presents Case Study: Consolidating Personal Loan, Mortgage and Credit Card Debt posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “Important lessons on investment”

Dividends4Life presents 5 Stocks Giving The Gift of Dividend Growth posted at Dividends Value, saying, “Christmas is a time of giving. Families and loved-ones give gifts to each other. Many people give money to the needy and charities. It seems that everyone is involved in giving this time of year, even corporations. Dividend growth stocks give a gift that keeps on giving – ever increasing dividends!”

MoneyNing presents How to Get Your Wife to Invest posted at Money Ning, saying, “Talk and discuss. Learn how to get your significant other to invest!”

jim presents How to Determine Your Asset Allocation posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

Ben presents Joining an Investment Club posted at Money Smart Life.

Managing Debt

David presents List of Credit Cards that Pay Cash Back for Gas posted at Credit Card Offers IQ.

Joe Plemon presents How to Work Out Settlements With Debt Collectors posted at Personal Finance By The Book, saying, “My son and daughter-in-law were wondering if they should try to settle some old debts. This post is the story of what they tried and how it worked.”

The Smarter Wallet presents FreeCreditReport.com Review: Not a Free Credit Report posted at The Smarter Wallet, saying, “I discuss how certain sites advertised as offering free credit reports actually don’t tell you the whole story.”

Matt Jabs presents Credit Card Debt Reduction How To Handbook posted at Debt Free Adventure!, saying, “Right or wrong, at the end of the day there are a lot of people in credit card debt who want out… and they want out NOW. This post is written for those people! Consider this article your “How To Handbook” for credit card debt reduction…”

Miscellaneous

Lazy Man and Money presents Top 10 Sneakiest Business Tricks posted at Lazy Man and Mone

Lloyd presents Best Bond Fund posted at Bond Index Funds, saying, “There is not good reason to invest in bond mutual funds and ETFs with higher fees. Pick the lowest cost broadly diversified index mutual funds and get better results and more sleep.”

nissim ziv presents Job Performance Appraisal Methods: Job Performance Evaluation Tips posted at Job Interview Guide, saying, “If you are in the position of evaluating the performance of employees, you don’t often have a choice of which method to use. Most companies have a standard evaluation process that must be followed. Yet, you want to make sure that these performance appraisal methods work to help you accomplish company goals through your employees.”

Big Cajun Man presents Men’s Health posted at Canadian Personal Finance Blog, saying, “The little blue pill factor in Male Health…”

Retirement Planning

Jeff Rose presents Warning! The 80% Rule May Not be Enough to Retire posted at Jeff Rose, saying, “The basis for the 80% spending rule is that your living expenses are expected to decline once you retire thus your spending should decrease without forcing you to lower your lifestyle.”

Arohan presents The 3 Most Neglected Aspects of Preparing for Retirement | Personal Dividends posted at Personal Dividends, saying, “Planning for retirement is one of the key American dreams but many of us fail to do an adequate job of it. Here are the 3 most neglected aspects of retirement planning according to Craig Israelsen, an academic and author”

Jeff Rose presents 401k Rollover to IRA: How To Consolidate Your Retirement Accounts posted at Jeff Rose.

Writers Coin presents IRA to Roth IRA: The New Conversion Rules posted at The Writer’s Coin, saying, “The rules for converting an IRA to a Roth IRA have changed. Find out you should consider this option in your own portfolio.”

Jeff Rose presents What are Deferred Compensation Plans? posted at Jeff Rose.

Risk Management and Insurance

My Life ROI presents 6 Tips to Lower Your Homeowners Insurance Costs posted at My Life ROI, Getting the Best Return On Life, saying, “Often times people keep their homeowners insurance the same year after year. However, by analyzing your interests and making sure they align with your coverage, you could wind up saving a ton of money!”

FMF presents Life Insurance Reality Check – Do you have enough? posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “How to know if you have enough life insurance.”

Savings

Billeater presents Food Storage Tips That Save Money posted at Billeater.

KCLau presents Are You Rich in Internal Assets? posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “pay attention to the internal assets”

Four Pillars presents $8,000 Credit For First-Time Homebuyers Extended 6 Months – Not Increased To $15k posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Home buyers credit extended 6 months.”

FMF presents How to Get Consumer Reports Online Access for Free posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “A simple yet effective way to save on a great online resource.”

MoneyNing presents 10 Reasons to Have a Library Card posted at Money Ning, saying, “Library is still one the best way to spent your time. Here are 10 reasons why you want a library card.”

KCLau presents Caring for the Elderly posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “Problems faced by the elderly”

Taxes

Darwin presents FICA Tax Rates 2009, 2010 – How They Work and Why They Matter posted at Darwin’s Finance, saying, “FICA Tax Rates 2009, 2010 – How They Work and Why They Matter. Plus, a strategy to get a “tax bonus” this year if you time your income right.”

Jeff Rose presents Tax Planning Demystified posted at Jeff Rose.

David de Souza presents Tax Rebate when Leaving the Country - Tips and Advice posted at UK Tax Blog, saying, “Many people leave the country to get away from the cold weather in the Winter. With the snow this past week many more are going. If you leave the country be sure to check if you are due a tax reate.”

Wenchypoo presents Something NOT to Do: Turn Your Tax Refund into a Savings Bond posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo’s Mental Wastebasket, saying, “This is how Obama intends on getting our tax refunds from us…for future congressional spending. Haven’t we seen enough of how these idiots spend our money? Why give them more?”

Technorati tags: carnival of financial planning, blog carnival.

Financial Planning Articles

The Skilled Investor — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 04:23:16 +0000

This financial article comes to you compliments of: The Skilled Investor's PERSONAL FINANCE BLOG. Find the original article here:

Financial Planning Articles

Best Personal Financial Planning and Personal Investment Articles this Week from Personal Finance Blogs

Carnival of Financial Planning - Edition #120 - December 18, 2009

Welcome to the December 18, 2009 Edition #120 of the Carnival of Financial Planning.

This edition is arranged by subject heading, so that you can browse efficiently.

Enjoy!

The Skilled Investor, Editor

Budgeting

Roshawn Watson presents Becoming A Financial Champion posted at Watson Inc, saying, “Last week, I was counseling a college student about building a firm financial foundation. Upon reflection, here are three nuggets that profoundly changed my financial life.”

Four Pillars presents Get Out Of Debt With YNAB – You Need A Budget Financial Software Review posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Indepth review of You Need a Budget software.”

Economics

nissim ziv presents How to Get Promoted At Work posted at Job Interview Guide, saying, “Have you been working at a job for a while now and feel that it’s about time for you to get promoted? Well, that’s one part of your problem. For some reason you’ve put getting promoted on a timetable. You have to work at a company or in a certain position for a certain amount of time until you can expect to be considered for a better position, right? Wrong. Read Further”

Estate Planning

Jeff Rose presents Your Estate Planning Checklist posted at Jeff Rose.

Jeff Rose presents What is the Purpose of a Trust? posted at Jeff Rose.

Financial Planning

The Dough Roller presents SEP IRA Contribution Limits (2009 & 2010) posted at The Dough Roller.

Roshawn Watson presents Are Wealthy People Dishonest? posted at Watson Inc, saying, “Are the wealthy dishonest? While it is certainly a fair question, it is also a polarizing one. The typical dichotomy is that there are some who feel like there is absolutely no way for honest people to get ahead financially while the wealthy often feel maligned for their prosperity.”

Susan Saverton presents Investment Asset Allocation posted at Financial Planner Pasadena, saying, “Set your personal investment asset allocation according to your personal tolerance for investment risk. Allocated percentages to asset classes would tend to slowly change with the years, and thus it is key to decide correctly from the beginning.”

Financing a Home

Alex Fotopoulos presents When to Refinance a Mortgage? posted at My Trader’s Journal, saying, “Some key points to consider when refinancing your home.”

Roshawn Watson presents Should You Buy A House Outright? posted at Watson Inc, saying, “Suppose you find yourself in the somewhat unique predicament of having the resources to purchase your house outright without a mortgage. Is it then financially-wise to make the purchase?”

Financing Education

Praveen presents Will Education Follow the Housing Bust? posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, “Tips for students to avoid excessive loans and debt”

Angela Martin presents 100 Essential Lifehacks Every Student Should Know posted at Online Colleges.org.

Health Care

Jeff Rose presents What’s the Best Health Savings Plan For You? posted at Jeff Rose.

Income

Investing

Super Saver presents Choosing Certainty or Additional Returns posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, “Here’s how we choose between certainty and additional returns.”

Praveen presents Just Bought Hyatt Hotels (H) posted at My Simple Trading System, saying, “About Hyatt’s recent IPO and why its a good stock.”

MoneyNing presents How to Get Your Wife to Invest posted at Money Ning, saying, “Talk and discuss. Learn how to get your significant other to invest!”

Darwin presents New Margin Requirements for Leveraged ETFs Whack Retail Investors but Don’t Address Ignorance posted at Darwin’s Finance, saying, “While regulators thought they were protecting investors by raising margin requirements for leveraged ETFs, they did nothing to address the underlying issue - complete ignorance of how they actually work.”

jim presents How to Determine Your Asset Allocation posted at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.

The Dividend Guy presents I Am An Active Procrastinator posted at The Dividend Guy Blog, saying, “Procrastination is often referred to as a bad habit. However, when it comes to investing, it can be beneficial!”

20smoney presents Why Do So Few People Understand Investing? posted at 20s Money, saying, “A look at the reasons why most people fail to obtain an understanding of investing beyond the basics.”

Jules Wells presents Best Strategy for Investing posted at Personal Financial Planning Software, saying, “Investing often seems almost unfathomly complex, however your best investment strategy will tend to be a simple and straightforward investing strategy.”

The Smarter Wallet presents Scottrade Review: Best Online Brokerage posted at The Smarter Wallet, saying, “On scottrade, a popular stock brokerage.”

Frank Vertin presents Index Stock Funds posted at Best Index Funds, saying, “When you buy an S & P 500 index mutual fund through a broker or investment advisor you can increase substantially your purchasing costs, while you drive up your recurring annual expenses through asset management and other fees. Financial advisors most often will not recommend to buy index mutual funds with very low fees.No load, low cost index mutual funds don’t pay financial brokers and advisors nearly as well as front loaded, high fee, active mutual funds.”

Larry Russell presents Best No Load Mutual Funds posted at Best No Load Mutual Funds, saying, “Don’t bother to frantically move your assets from one mutual fund to another or from one ETF to another. Investment research has repeatedly showing academic studies that performance chasing is a bad strategy the most ofter will yield inferior returns.”

Tomas Escent presents Investment Trading Strategy posted at Nerds on Wall Street, saying, “A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Wired Markets. In this funny financial book, there are no robots parking your car millions of times, however, right now in milliseconds robots trade millions of shares.”

The Skilled Investor presents Low Cost Investment Strategies posted at Personal Financial Investments, saying, “Investment costs which are clearly measured, like fees deducted on your monthly investment statement. Most investors are no aware of opportunity costs that arise from sub-optimal investing practices. Opportunity costs like these are much greater than more costs and investment fees that show up on their statements.”

Mike Piper presents Risks Involved in Buying Bonds posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, “It’s true that bonds tend to have less risk than stocks. But that doesn’t mean they’re risk-free!”

Heather Sanders presents Definitive Short Dollar ETF Guide: Inverse USD ETFs posted at ETFdb.

Managing Debt

Joe Plemon presents Debt Free in One Year: A True Story posted at Personal Finance By The Book, saying, “A true story of how my son and his wife worked their way out of debt during their first year of marriage.”

Matt Jabs presents Lending Club - My Review of Social Lending posted at Debt Free Adventure!, saying, “Is Lending Club right for me? Those of you who read DFA on a regular basis know I am on a mission to free myself and my family from the bondage of high interest and all other debt. For the last 7 months I have been trimming excess fat from every part of our budget and after making many positive changes have recently shifted my focus on getting a few big wins. That’s when I stumbled upon Lending Club…”

oneadvice presents Ways to Have a Credit Crunch Christmas posted at One Advice, saying, “Worried about your credit card bills come 2010? There are ways to have a credit crunch Christmas - don’t miss out on these top tips…”

Credit Shout presents Best Credit Cards for Carrying a Balance posted at CreditShout.

Miscellaneous

nissim ziv presents What is Career Planning and Development? posted at Job Interview Guide, saying, “Career development is an ongoing process, one that you should be focused on as you approach a career and progress through it. Your goals and solutions need to be very specific. This isn’t to say that you can’t revisit your planning and development and make adjustments (after all, life isn’t 100% predictable and we are not, in fact, robots) but writing out your career plan will make your goals more attainable because they become concrete and will remind you of the steps necessary to achieve what you desire.”

No Load Bond Funds presents Bond Mutual Fund posted at Bond Index Funds, saying, “There is not good reason to invest in bond mutual funds and ETFs with higher fees. Pick the lowest cost broadly diversified index mutual funds and get better results and more sleep.”

Dorian Wales presents A Temple Restaurant and a Clearing House for Tickets – Two Observations of New York City posted at The Personal Financier, saying, “New York City is my favorite destination in the world. Any opportunity to visit again, whether on business or pleasure is a joy. With each visit a new light is shed on some other aspect of the city. I’d like to share two such spotlights with you.” (Editor’s note: Dorian is right about Peter Luger. Best steakhouse around.)

Susan Saverton presents Personal Investment Plan posted at Family Financial Planning, saying, “You need a system that is efficient with respect to your time and your costs, when to develop, implement, and track a personal investment plan.”

Paul Kamp presents Spotlight on Giving in the U.S. posted at Don’t Quit Your Day Job - Personal Finance, Economics and Investing, saying, “Contrary to popular (worldwide) belief, the United States is not a country of cheap people. As a matter of fact, we donate more to charity than any other country - by more than double as a proportion of GDP.”

Retirement Planning

Richard presents How to Stretch an IRA For Your Beneficiaries posted at Consumer Boomer.

Jeff Rose presents What are Deferred Compensation Plans? posted at Jeff Rose.

FMF presents Free Money Finance: 2010 Roth Conversion: Factors to Consider Before Making a Decision posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Thoughts on whether or not to convert to a Roth IRA.”

RJ Weiss presents How To Complete a 401K Rollover to a Roth IRA posted at Genyweath.com, saying, “There are many advantages to completing a 401K rollover to a Roth IRA. The purpose of this post is to make sure a 401K rollover is the correct transfer for your situation and to lay out the steps necessary for a successful transfer”

Risk Management and Insurance

Jeff Rose presents Why Term Life Insurance is the Best Choice posted at Jeff Rose.

Jonathan Lai presents Insurance: Protection or Investment? posted at Financial Planning DIY, saying, “Choose the right insurance to meet your protection needs in the right way”

Savings

Four Pillars presents $8,000 Credit For First-Time Homebuyers Extended 6 Months – Not Increased To $15k posted at Quest For Four Pillars, saying, “Home buyers credit extended 6 months.”

FMF presents How to Get Consumer Reports Online Access for Free posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “A simple yet effective way to save on a great online resource.”

KCLau presents Caring for the Elderly posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “Problems faced by the elderly”

MoneyNing presents 10 Reasons to Have a Library Card posted at Money Ning, saying, “Library is still one the best way to spent your time. Here are 10 reasons why you want a library card.”

KCLau presents Are You Rich in Internal Assets? posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “pay attention to the internal assets”

Taxes

FMF presents Free Money Finance: Preparing For The Death Tax Debate posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “The great estate tax debate wages on…”

David de Souza presents Tax Returns for Landlords. posted at UK Tax Blog, saying, “Due to house prices decreasing, more people are renting their properties instead of selling. This post offers 5 helpful tax return tips to people renting their properties at the moment.”

Ben presents Year End Tax Planning Tips Follow Up posted at Money Smart Life.

FMF presents Fourteen Tax Management Techniques posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “Tips for saving on taxes.”

Technorati tags: carnival of financial planning, blog carnival.