Valentines Day Roundup

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Well todays is the big day. Cupid is on the prowl to get your heart. I am doing some shopping today for my wife. She said not to get her anything for Valentines Day, so I am out getting her something for Valentines Day.

Cheap Valentine's Day Gift at Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance

Dollar Matters: Fun with Investing at Financial Highway

Fighting Fair: How to Disagree About Money in Marriage at Free Fro Broke

The War on Debt: The Battle Begins at Home at Frugal Dad

Valentine’s Day Plans? at Five Cent Nickel

5 Frugal Valentine’s Day Ideas at Bargaineering

Help, My Spouse is Out Of Financial Control! at Personal Finance By The Book

I was mentioned in these carnivals and roundups:

Carnival of Wealth #25 – Valentines Edition

Personalfinancebythebook.com

Mint.com

Roadrunner.com

Related articles

• Healthy Desserts For Valentine's Day (fitsugar.com)
• Look Smashing on Valentine's day (vanguardngr.com)
• Valentine's Day and Finding a Valentine (socyberty.com)
• Valentine's day also when divorces spike (upi.com)
• Valentine's Day Freebie Roundup (forthemommas.com)

Super Bowl Weekend Roundup

If you are lucky enough to go to the Super Bowl you must be pretty well off. A nice info graphic at Mint.com pretty well sums it up. The median price of 4 tickets to attend is $26,294 according to Stubhub.com. Add to that your airfare, room and food. The ticket price range goes from $2,827 for a seat to $307,500 for Hall of Fame Suites.


 So what kind of person can attend this shindig? The average income is $222,318. The median age is 37 . It splits up to 26% Female and 74% male. Most attendees are executives or professionals. Pretty nice.


In between plays here are a few of the best post on some of my favorite blogs that you can read:


When Can You Lie About Money to Your Spouse? @ Consumerism Commentary

What Should You do if You Get an IRS Audit Letter in the Mail? @ Free Money Finance

Your Take: Divorce Insurance? @ bargaineering

Lifecycle Funds are a Terrible Investment Idea @ Five Cent Nickel

Surviving on Minimum Wage? : An Example Budget @ Free By 50

Can you afford NOT to be in a couple? @ DINKS Finance


Check your mortgage company rules before trying to pay off your loan @ Clever Dude

20SomethingFinance 2010 Tax Guide @ 20 Something Finance

Converting a Principal Residence into a Rental Property – The Solution! @ Million Dollar Journey

How to Cope With Buyers Remorse @ barbarafriedbergpersonalfinance

How Moe Broke Out of His Rut @ personalfinancebythebook


Here are some carnivals I participated in:
FESTIVAL OF FRUGALITY-265-Get Stuff on the Cheap & Help the Earth
Totally Money Blog Carnival #3!
Baby Boomer's Blog Carnival Seventy-sixth Edition

Have a good time watching the game. I know I will.

The Honey Do Weekend Roundup

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Another great weekend coming up and there is plenty to do around the house. The grass needs cutting and the bushes need trimming. If it doesn't rain I can get a lot of work done. In my spare time I'll be ready some great posts that came in this week. Here we go.


The Biz Of Life asks Are You Saving Enough for Retirement?

Consumerism Commentary has Life After Salary: One Month Without a Paycheck

My Money Blog  writes No Time To Budget? Track Your Expenses In 15 Minutes

Man vs. Debt adventure begins How to Drive Like A Grandma, Dominate Charades, Lose a Wedding Ring, Get 7 Miles Per Gallon, and Bet $15,000…

Bargaineering writes Are Certificates of Deposit Obsolete?

Five Cent Nickel  tells us Personal Finance Books are Keeping You Poor

Free By 50 writes Rewards Cards Impact on Spending & Debt

DINKS Finance wants you to know Our Financial Personalities

Clever Dude wants to Keep an eye out for these changes to your Form 1040

20 Something Finance writes Billy Walters: The Most Feared Sports Better in History Tells 60 Minutes why he Avoids Wall Street

Money Under 30 says 30 Years, 30 Things I’ve Learned About Money

Financial Highway writes Money and Ignorance

Invest it Wisely Falling Prey to Temptation: Self Control in an Age of Excess

Here's some nice carnivals I was lucky enough to participate in. The quality of these good stories was great this week, as usual.

Carnivals I have participated in.

Carnival of Wealth #21 – Jan 16 2011 Edition

Carnival of Money Stories 89 Happy Birthday Dr. King Edition

Totally Money Blog Carnival #2

Festival of Frugality – Spend It Edition

Also Mentioned on:

DINKS Finance

Enjoy your weekend. I'm going to go and click on some links.

Related articles

• 50 Articles About Understanding the Risks of Transferring Credit Card Balances (balancetransfercreditcards.org)

A Freezing Friday Round-up

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It's been a cold week here. We had to put a few logs on the fire to keep warm. So with a nice cup of coffee and a list of links to some fantastic blogs, we are staying warm. I hope you are too. Here are a few of my favorite for the week.

Don’t Get Rich Any Slower Than You Have To at Get Rich Slowly

Our Identity Theft Experience at Personal Finance By The Book

Ignite Video: Tips For Buying A New Car at My Money Blog

How to Pay a Tax Bill You Can’t Afford at Consumerism Commentary

MBA CLASS 2011; Risk vs. Reward at Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance

New Year’s Predictions And Why Bernanke Sports A Beard at Living Off Dividends

Scholarships Can Be Found for Almost Anything at Free Money Finance

Why Your Tax Withholding Went Up at Bargaineering

Learning to Live on One Income (By Choice) at Five Cent Nickel

The Difference Between Metaphor and Action at The Biz of Life

Americans do NOT spend 6 Billion Hours on their Taxes at Free by 50

What is Groupon? at DINKS Finance

The Top 15 Cheapest New Cars of 2011 at 20 Something Finance

5 Lessons Dave Ramsey Taught Me About Healthy Living at Frugal Dad

How to Invest in Vanguard Funds Using ETFs — and Save Money While You’re at It at Invest It wisely

Financial Fast: Week One at Canadian Finance Blog


Carnivals I have participated in:

Carnival of Wealth #20 – Jan 9 2010 Edition

Festival of Frugality – Craigslist Edition

My Twitter Newspaper

The finance-is-personal Daily

Related articles

• Buy a Car the Same Way You Buy an HDTV for Big Savings [Personal Finance] (lifehacker.com)
• Save Money by Paying Upfront Instead of Over Time [Personal Finance] (lifehacker.com)
• Calculate the Monthly Cost of Your Debt - Then Get Rid of It [Personal Finance] (lifehacker.com)
• Make More Money: How to Supercharge Your Income (getrichslowly.org)
• Conduct a Financial Fire Drill to Assess Financial Health [Personal Finance] (lifehacker.com)

Best of the Best Weekend Round-Up

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The first week of the new year is now behind us. Getting back to the normal non-holiday work week and it feels great. The new year got off to a good start. I  hope yours did to. Here are a few of my picks for the best of the weeks posts.

What Does a Trillion Dollars Look Like? at The Biz of Life

Old Habits for a New Year at Get Rich Slowly


The Myth of Ownership at Consumerism Commentary

An Example of How to Retire Early at Free Money Finance

The Power of Passive Investing by Richard Ferri at Bargaineering

Financial Tips for Couples in 2011 at Five Cent Nickel

$5 Gas is Coming... Eventually.... at Free by 50

It’s Friday…And Time for a Book Giveaway!  at DINKS Finance

Get it On. Child Tax Credit Extended through 2012 at 20 Something Finance

The Big Fat Guide to Kicking Debt’s A** at Money Under 30

Why I’m Happy with a $500 Car Repair Bill at Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance

Online Banking: Depositing A Check From Home at MoneyCone

The Importance of Sleep for Wealth Creation at Squirrelers

Can Rich People Get to Heaven? at Personal Finance By The Book

Financial Resolutions at Canadian Finance Blog

I was mentioned this week at:

DINKS Finance

Personal Finance By The Book

Blog Carnivals I participated in:

Baby Boomers Blog Carnival Seventy-third Edition

Carnival of Financial Planning - Edition #169 

Carnival of Money Stories

Carnival of Wealth #19 – The New Year Edition

Festival of Frugality: Cheapest Man Alive Edition

I could of mention at least 25 more posts that were so well done and informative this week. The quality of articles in the personal finance blogosphere were outstanding. Must be all that holiday cheer washing of in to the new year.

Related articles

• Tax Carnival #78: Happy Tax New Year! (dontmesswithtaxes.typepad.com)
• The Best of Get Rich Slowly (2010 Edition) (getrichslowly.org)
• Homeschooled Kids Blog Carnival # 17 (blogging2learn.wordpress.com)

New Years Eve Roundup

The New Year will begin very soon, it's a fresh start for all of us. Around the house we are decompressing from Christmas still. One more weekend to go before things get back to normal. The kids will be back in school and the tax returns carnage will start. This week on the Blog scene we had some pretty good reading . I picked out a few of my favorites.

Mint.com has really done a great job this year including this item. 5 Personal Finance Lessons From “The Biggest Loser”

Squirrelers.com says to think about your decisions in Penny Wise and Dollar Foolish: When Not to Be a Cheapskate

Personal Finance By The Book really hit it on the head with the gift giving at Christmas with Rethinking Our Family Christmas Gift Exchange

Canadianfinanceblog.com had some great and interesting insights on Christmas shopping with Annual Shopping Tips

The Biz OF Life Is always keeping an eye out on our wasteful government with another great article called Top Charts of 2010

Bargaineering.com had a great post about True Wealth Isn’t About Money , I agree.

Fivecentnickel.com told about Jim Otar’s book “Unveiling the Retirement Myth.” Free Retirement Planning Book

Dinksfinance.com had a great post about my favorite subject planning your financial life. We can’t predict our future, but we can make a plan

Cleverdude.com is cutting up some credit cards.And then there were 7…credit cards

20somethingfinance.com is listing all the free things in life with 10 FREE Financial Services to Help you DOMINATE your Financial New Year’s Resolutions

frugaldad.com is celebrating being 3 years old. Happy Birthday and a great post A Letter to Frugal Dad Readers: The Last Three Years

barbarafriedbergpersonalfinance.com has some great tax advice for us with TAX HELP; Tips to Lower Your Tax Bill

Carnivals I have participated in:

Carnival of Money Stories #86: New Year’s Resolution Edition

To everyone Happy New Years.

The 7 Days Till Christmas Roundup

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There is only seven days to go till the big day. This week we will be making our last minute preparations. We are trying to stay warm but there's nothing better than a sipping hot chocolate by the fire. I have listed some of my favorite posts for this past week. Here we go:

Get Rich Slowly says A Non-Consumer Christmas: Simple Gifts for Kids and Grown-Ups

Jim over at Bargaineering explains the 2010 Bush Era Tax Cuts Extenders Bill Explained

Five Cent Nickel writes about The Cheapest 529 Plans

DINKS asks Could You Live Without Your Credit Card?

Knsfinancial is Putting Money In Perspective

Moneycrashers writes about 4 Financial Norms to Challenge During the Current Economic Crisis – When Heroes Become Villains

Out of Debt Again asks Who Had The Most Financial Impact On You As A Child?

Couple Money says check out 10 Services to Evaluate Regularly

Financial Samurai says Let’s Just Be Regular People 

Young and Thrifty.ca gives us 5 Tips to Help You Save Money During the Holidays

Invest It Wisely tells us 5 Responsible Ways to Use Credit Cards

Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance says Puff Daddys got it all together

RESILIENCE & WEALTH; inspired by Sean P. Diddy Combs

Personal Finance By The Book teaches  Financial – And Life – Lessons From 40 Years of Marriage 

I hope your weekend is good.

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Related articles

• The Simple Dollar Weekly Roundup: Christmas Carols Edition (thesimpledollar.com)
• Must Hear Monday: Christmas Album Roundup (self.com)
• Weekly Roundup - Facebook Tips Edition (frugaldad.com)
• The Simple Gifts of Christmas: Music (everydaygyaan.com)

A Get Some Rest: Weekend Roundup

Here's a list of my favorite posts of the week:

Over at DINKS there is a challenge to save. Could You Save $5 Every Day for One Year?

At Bargineering they are talking about taxing online purchases. Your Take: Should Online Purchases Be Taxed?

Get Rich Slowly tells us about The Dangers of Store Credit Cards

Five Cent Nickel says there are Life Lessons From E.T.

Personal Finance By The Book writes about being truthful. Dealing With Poor Performance: Lessons From Simon Cowell and Jesus Christ

Free Money Finance write how frugality is spreading with Americans Trying to Save Money by Cutting Back

The Biz Of Life budget post describes how the US Budget is out of control. What's 16 Feet Tall and 43,000 Pages Long?

Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance write how rich we really are.
ARE YOU WEALTHIER THAN YOU THINK? What do Success and Wealth Mean to You?

Last week was crazy so maybe squeeze in some rest this week. I still have some shopping to do and if you do, why not get it done this weekend. 

Related articles

• The Best of Get Rich Slowly: November 2010 (getrichslowly.org)
• Save Money by Paying Upfront Instead of Over Time [Personal Finance] (lifehacker.com)
• Use the Reverse 4% Rule to Trim Expenses and Bolster Your Retirement Savings [Personal Finance] (lifehacker.com)
• Best of - Personal finance posts (christianpf.com)
• Best Money Tips: Feel Better, Look Younger (wisebread.com)

Pre-Thanksgiving Weekly Round-Up

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Welcome to my Pre-Thanksgiving Round-up. It has been a busy week with work and getting the house ready for next weeks eating extravaganza. From around the web some of the best articles.

Over at Personal Finance By The Book an interesting post on extended warranties. Why I Said “Yes” … and then “No” to My Cell Phone Protection Plan

Jim Wang at Bargineering had a great post on the governments budgeting problems called You Fix The Budget . It has a link to the New York Times site where in a game you actually fix the budget.

Mint.com has fun post called Five Fun Financial Holiday Gifts for All Ages. It's a gift giving guide for you holiday shopping pleasure.

Squirrelers.com has an interesting post on being more productive, 10 Tips to Improve Productivity. I always find something in a list like this to help me be more organized.

Canadian Finance Blog has some great tips to stop the holes in our budgets, 5 Non-Essential Expenses that are Bleeding your Budget. It's some great information on fine tuning your budget. 

Get Rich Slowly gets advice from billionaire Mark Cuban. He's asked "What to do with a windfall?" his answer was very interesting, check out Advice from a Billionaire: What to do With a Windfall.

Dinks Finance has an interesting post on family dynamics and money, When Do We Have Enough Money? With parents, children and combined families the fun never stops.

Financially Poor has some steps to take to get your significant other on board financially, How To Get Your Partner On Board With Finances - 3 Ways.

I hope these links keep you busy over the weekend. Don't forget that turkey at the store. And I don't mean your spouse.

Your Weekend Roundup

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Welcome to the Weekend Roundup. I am listing some of this weeks great posts. Enjoy.

• Over at Personal Finance By The Book, Joe had a great post "How Do You Define Wealth? Hope For The Little Guy". It was very thought provoking and personally challenged me.
• The Biz of Life has been running a great series of videos, one of my favorites was "Does Government Intervention Help or Hurt In the Long Run?" Its an interesting look at government intervention in our financial markets.
• Consumerism Commentary wrote a post "The Worst Investment California Has Seen" it tells of Meg Whitman's spending of $160 million of her own money running for governor of California. It received a boat load of comments.
• Get Rich Slowly had me thinking with their post "More Women Participating in Retirement Plans". It was a good look at what the lady's are doing and should be doing with their finances.
• Canadian Finance Blog post for potential home buyers "Owning a Home - Be Prepared For the Expenses". It's an eye opener for you first time home buyers.
• Oblivious Investor has good advice for investing, "Simple Investing Is Better Investing". Good advice for beginners or pros.

Good news for me, I was mentioned at Mint.com. How Do You Handle Your Finances? Mint's Personal Finance Roundup".

Halloween Weekend Blog Roundup

Image by Brandy Shaul via Flickr

Welcome to my first Halloween Weekend Blog Roundup. Here's a list of some of the best articles on the web this week.

•  Avoiding Financial Disaster - New Work, No Debt from Canadian Finance Blog.
•  Eight Win-Win Tips For Boomerang Kids and Their Parents from Personal Finance By The Book.
• Are Your Values Money-Makers Or Money-Losers from Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance. Don' t forget to check out her new book "20 Minute Guide To Investing".
•  How To Read Your Investment Statement from Do Not Wait
•  Does It Matter Who Is The Main Provider Between Husband and Wife? from Squirrelers
•  Book Review: Economics In One Lesson from Invest It Wisely
• My Experience With Unemployment from The Biz Of Life
•  DINKS Choice: Dividend Mutual Funds From Dinks Finance

Here are some ways to save a little money.

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•  Last-Minute DIY Halloween Costumes from WiseBread
•  Energy Savings With LED Light Bulbs ( and a Giveaway!) from Bargaineering
•  How To Reduce The Expense Of Gasoline from Moneyning
•  How To Find A Low-Priced Plumber That Won't Rip You Off from Len Penzo

Enjoy and Happy Halloween.