Q3 2007: The Personal Finance Blogs in My Reader

It’s been 3 months since last posting my RSS reader list, and since about 40% of the former entries have changed, I figured I should push out an update. The last time, I had 64 Personal Finance sites on the list, and this time I have 82. At one time this summer, I had up to 120 sites, but I did a major purge of about 30 sites a few weeks ago. Those sites hadn’t updated in at least a month, or they had just gone too off topic.

So here is the current list of Personal Finance sites on my Google Reader. If anyone knows a good way to extract these links from an OPML file, please let me know! At least this time, I found a site where I can upload and share my list, and then I copied the HTML from their page. I still had to do some manual editing, but I’d like something faster. A Wordpress plugin would be even better (to show my whole reader list, not just the Shared items).

Also, if you can recommend any PF sites, please do. Shoot me the link via my contact page please. If you leave a comment with the link, I can’t be assured that Spam Karma won’t grab it.

So here they are, in alphabetical order:

1. 1MansMoney
2. Accumulating Money
3. AllThingsFinanacial
4. Ask Mr Credit Card’s Blog
5. Blogging Away Debt
6. Blueprint for Financial Prosperity
7. Blunt Money
8. Boston Gal’s Open Wallet
9. brip blap
10. Cheap as chips
11. College and Finance
12. Consumerism Commentary
13. DebtFREE-Revolution
14. Don’t Mess With Taxes
15. Dual Income No Kids
16. Everybody Loves Your Money
17. Financial Dominance
18. FIRE Finance
19. fivecentnickel
20. Free Money Finance
21. Frugal Babe
22. Frugal For Life
23. Frugal Journey
24. Frugal Panda
25. Gather Little By Little
26. Generation X Finance
27. Get Rich Slowly
28. Grad Money Matters
29. How I Save Money.net
30. I’ve Paid for This Twice Already
31. I Will Teach You To Be Rich
32. Kiss of Debt
33. kmull
34. Lazy Man and Money
35. Living Behind The Curve
36. Make Love, Not Debt
37. Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge
38. MarriedAndBroke.com
39. Mighty Bargain Hunter
40. Million Dollar Journey
41. Money and Such
42. Money and Values
43. Money Ning
44. Money Smart Life
45. Money Under 30
46. Money Walks
47. Money, Matter, and More Musings
48. Moneymonk
49. Moolanomy
50. My New Choice
51. My Open Wallet
52. My Two Dollars
53. My Wealth Builder
54. MyMint
55. MyMoneyBlog
56. No Credit Needed
57. Not Made Of Money
58. One Frugal Girl
59. Personal Finance Advice
60. plonkee money
61. Punny Money
62. Queercents
63. The Sun’s Financial Diary
64. Single Ma’s Fabulous Financials
65. Smart Money Daily
66. Stock Trading To Go
    
67. StopBuyingCrap
68. The Digerati Life
69. The Financial Ladder
70. The Frugal Duchess
71. The Frugal Law Student
72. The Happy Rock
73. The Money Mythos
74. The One Year Exit Plan
75. The Personal Finance Weblog
76. The Simple Dollar
77. The Wastrel Show
78. This Writer’s Wallet
79. Tired but happy
80. We’re In Debt
81. Wise Bread
82. Worldwide Success

I do read through my list every day. I actually read about 20% of the articles, and comment on about 5-10%.

The best personal-finance software

If you're mired in receipts, statements, and bills, there is a simpler way. Money magazine's David Futrelle gives his picks for the best ways to go paperless.

By David Futrelle, Money Magazine contributing writer

August 30 2007: 9:44 AM EDT

(Money Magazine) -- Woody Allen once said that 80 percent of success is just showing up. You could also say that 80 percent of financial success is just keeping track.

Knowing what you have stops you from bouncing checks; knowing how your investments are performing helps you move toward your goals. Trouble is, keeping track can be a royal pain in the posterior. A personal-finance program can ease the ache. Here are our six faves.

The 800MB gorillas

These two programs dominate for good reason. Both let you download your bank and credit card info and pay bills and manage investments online, creating cool charts and tables along the way.

Both offer everything from a cheap basic version (if you're looking for little more than a system for balancing your checkbook) to a pricier one with sophisticated tools to help you pay down debt, save for retirement and more.

Both give tax advice and let you transfer your data into tax prep programs like Intuit's (Charts) TurboTax and H&R Block's (Charts, Fortune 500) TaxCut .

The 2008 editions of these programs, out this month, include several new features meant to help you budget and track expenditures more precisely. (The 2008 versions were unavailable at press time; we tested the 2007 versions.)

Bottom line: You can't go wrong with either program. (If you're a Mac user, your only option here is Quicken.) Quicken and Money aren't perfect, though. They're so big that they can run slowly and be difficult to navigate.

Annoyingly, both try to sell you on other products and services. And they're not cheap especially if you factor in their monthly fee for online bill paying ($6 with Money; $10 with Quicken).

Simpler (and usually cheaper) alternatives

• AceMoney, Windows; $30

AceMoney offers a solid, basic personal-finance package. If you're a frugal sort with only one bank account to track, you can download AceMoney Lite for free.

While the $30 version doesn't include online bill paying, it does let you track multiple accounts and entitles you to free upgrades for life - or at least for as long as the small software company behind AceMoney sticks around.

• MoneyDance, Windows, Mac, Linux; $30

If you're a Mac user, this is the only passable alternative to Quicken. It's sleek and simple to use, and it covers all the basics of personal finance. You can also download an assortment of free "extensions" - useful tools like credit card paydown calculators.

Moneydance doesn't charge for online bill paying, but your bank may.

Managing your money from the back of a cab

• Pocket Quicken, Palm, Pocket PC; $40
• Ultrasoft Money, Palm; $40

Attention, handheld-PC addicts: These two very similar programs are the only ones worth bothering with.

After you manage your finances on your handheld, you can transfer the data into your desktop personal-finance program (as long as that program is Quicken or Money, respectively). Because man cannot live by teeny keyboards alone.

Money Magazine: No Fees? Get It in Writing!

Money Magazine is sharing an interesting piece of advice in their September issue. This comes from “The Mole,” the magazine’s “underciver financial planner.” If your financial advisor or broker tells you there are no fees for a particular investment or no risk for some product, ask to confirm in in writing.

Even though my clients relied on these promises [of no fees and no risks from other advisors] when they chose investments, they had nothing in writing to prove it. In fact, within minutes of making those misleading statements, the adviser probably had the client sign a multi-page disclosure document that contained language (buried deep inside) directly contradicting the oral promise. Advisers know no one is actually going to read all the disclosures before signing.

Here’s an easy solution. When your adviser makes an extreme-sounding claim, send him a nice, friendly e-mail articulating your understanding of what he said.

Ask him to confirm it in writing. If the statement is accurate, he should have no problem. If he backpedals, dismisses your request by saying “That’s in the disclosure document” or just calls you up to repeat his oral promise, get very suspicious. If he won’t write, something’s not right.

The Mole’s reports take a look at what happens behind the scenes in the world of financial planning. The more someone has knowledge of what goes on on the “inside” will be in a better position to make good decisions. This piece from The Mole is advise is quite clever; theoretically, an advisor knows better than to formally document a lie and will avoid that at all costs.

How to cut the cost of car finance

If you are one of the more than 400,000 people expected to splash out on a new car with ‘57’ plates next month, be sure to steer clear of showroom finance deals that add thousands to your total bill.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg: With talk of tax cuts for ‘greener’ cars and sizeable penalties on those that don’t make the eco grade, choosing the wrong model could make the costs of a showroom deal pale into insignificance.

So read on about how to navigate your way through the minefield of choosing – and buying - a new car in these confusing times, and we’ll also let you in on how the government might actually be rewarding the worst polluters on our roads.

Pay less for breakdown cover with our best buys

Hurdle #1: Showroom finance
Price comparison site uSwitch estimates that 180,000 new cars will be purchased with showroom finance deals next month, wasting £175 million in the process. “Just because they’re offering the best deal around on the car, doesn’t mean they’ll offer the best way to pay for it too,” says uSwitch personal finance expert Mike Naylor.

Naylor puts the average showroom loan rate at 10.76%, but gives special mention to a certain Perry’s Dealership, which charges an eye-watering 12% APR. There’s absolutely no reason to pay such exorbitant fees when banks are offering personal loan at nearly half that rate– both Moneyback Bank and Youpersonalloan.co.uk offer loans at 6.3%.

So how much will that save you in the real world? Let’s say you buy a Renault Clio Campus Sport for £9,995 and cover that with a five year loan from either of the two lenders mentioned above. Your total bill with yourpersonalloan.co.uk comes to £11,934.61, while Moneyback is marginally more expensive at £11,645.40.

But if you blindly accepted financing from your car dealer at a rate of 10.76%, you would have to fork out £12,973.75 –nearly £1,350 more.

“The message couldn’t be simpler – don’t pay more for the finance on your new car than you have to,” says Naylor.

Give car dealers the swerve with a personal loan

Budgeting 101

Here at The Motley Fool, we're celebrating back-to-school days with financial advice for parents, kids, and students of all ages. Check out the entire curriculum right here.

First, a confession: When I was in college, and for my first few years out of college and in the working world, I was pretty much the worst budgeter ever. Well, maybe not ever. But I was probably tied with lots of other folks, and most of us were making the same mistakes: blowing money as soon as we got it and failing to pay bills on time.

Those two mistakes are related, of course -- if you blow your money and don't have enough to pay your bills, they obviously don't get paid on time. Eventually, I got into a cycle of paying bills late as a matter of routine, using credit cards for overflow expenses, running up an ever-larger balance, and ... well, eventually, it became too much to manage.

The final straw for me came when I was a few years out of college, and my employer switched to a monthly payroll system. It's hard to live paycheck-to-paycheck when the check only comes once a month, and it's even harder when that check comes on the 10th, as mine did, and rent is due on the 1st. Unless I wanted to be living in the streets, I had to learn how to have enough money left on the 1st to pay the rent -- with enough left over to be able to eat until the next check on the 10th.

So after a lot of trial and error, I came up with a plan. Here's what I learned:

• My first budget was stupid. My first few were, actually. Feeling stressed and overwhelmed, I quickly laid out an admirable but completely unrealistic "austerity plan" for getting my finances back on track as quickly as possible. This budget was a masterpiece, with carefully considered categories such as "social life," against which were put absurdly low monthly amounts like "$25." Later, I found out that lots of people start like that, with a budget that shows how they'd like to spend their money -- often in some super-responsible pipe-dream alternative universe -- rather than a plan that works with how they actually do spend.
  
• My budgets got smarter when I worked backwards from my actual spending. Want an eye-opening experience? Track every dollar you spend for a month. The easiest way to do this is to get receipts for everything and save them, and to tally them up weekly so that you can capture details before you forget them. You can do the tallying with Quicken, an Excel spreadsheet, or even a pad of paper -- it doesn't matter. The point is to take a close -- and possibly harsh -- look at your spending.

Once I gathered the data on my actual spending, there were three things I wanted to understand right away:

• Where was the money really going? I never seemed to have enough, even though I seemed to making a reasonable amount. Was I just being sloppy, or was I trying to live beyond my means?

• Did my spending exceed my income, and if so, by how much? I knew it did, but I needed to see it in black and white and discover why.
  
• Where was the waste? How much were late fees and credit card interest costing me? How much of my spending was just needless? Were there ways I could accomplish the same goals while spending less?

Needless to say, the answers to these questions weren't pretty. I was being sloppy, I was living somewhat beyond my means, my spending did exceed my income, and irresponsibility with bills was costing me a lot -- both in terms of money and in terms of stress. After some trial and error, I was able to get my house in order and came up with a budget that reflected hard-won lessons learned and the reality of my financial situation.

I won't bore you with the details of my budget, because they wouldn't be of much use to you. You'll have to come to grips with your situation on your own. But here are some of the big lessons I got out of the experience:

• Money spent with a credit card is still money spent. One way or another, you are going to have to pay for that purchase with actual income eventually. I learned the trick of asking myself "Would I buy this with cash?" before using a credit card. If the answer was "no," then I didn't (and still don't) make the purchase.
  
• Separate needs from wants. During the time my woes were going on, I spent many nights and weekends playing guitar in a rock band. I had been telling myself I "needed" various bits of expensive musical equipment and had been spending accordingly. But I didn't "need" the guitar stuff the way I needed to pay my rent or the electric bill. Simple as that sounds, it took me a long time to really internalize that point.
  
• Open bills right away. Don't throw 'em in a pile and ignore them until the lights get shut off. Look at them when they arrive, figure out how and when you'll pay them, and get any unexpected charges into your financial plan for the month. It may not be your idea of fun, but you'll save a ton in late fees and save yourself a boatload of stress, too.
  
• Save. Even if you're in college, having a few hundred bucks stashed away for unexpected expenses can make a big difference in your financial security and sanity. If you're getting steady checks from a part-time job or from home, try to put aside a little bit out of each one. And when you're out, saving becomes even more important. Once your finances are stabilized, start building up a rainy-day fund. And, of course, get enrolled in your employer's workplace savings plan and start saving for retirement. The sooner you start building wealth, the wealthier you'll be in the end.

For more great info on getting your budget in order, check out the Fool's Budgeting discussion board as well as these features:

• Setting Up a Budget
• Budget Denial
• Balancing Your Budget

For answers to all kinds of money questions, take a 30-day free pass to our Motley Fool Green Light personal-finance service right now. There's no obligation to subscribe.

Fool contributor John Rosevear welcomes your questions and comments. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

eChristianFinance.com Launches

(PRLEAP.COM) Living according to the Biblical principles of finance has never been easier with the launch of www.eChristianFinance.com, a comprehensive personal finance website. eChristianFinance.com provides Christians with the ultimate resource for personal finance articles, investment research, financial calculators, scriptures, quotes and much more. With a powerful integrated search tool, dozens of articles and live data feeds, eChristianFinance.com is the most extensive source of Christian finance articles and tools on the Internet.

Site visitors have access to the entire site for free, including 15 different subject areas ranging from Family Finances to Investing and from Stewardship to Debt. eChristianFinance.com helps visitors develop a solid understanding of the Biblical concepts of budgeting, money management, and tithing. In addition, the site offers research and concepts that are applicable to every day life and will help individuals succeed in business and in life. Knowledge-enhancing features such as the �Monthly Poll� found on the site�s homepage and monthly newsletters help users build their financial knowledge and receive site updates.

"We are very excited about the launch of eChristianFinance.com,� said Joshua Goodwin, eChristianFinance.com�s CEO. "Many of the concepts that financial guru�s want to charge thousands of dollars to teach you are found in the Bible. This site allows us to present personal finance topics from the perspective of the Word of God without charging users a dime."

eChristianFinance.com fills the need for a Christian-centric finance website. The easy to navigate site encourages viewers to spend time exploring the vast resources available on the site. While the financial tools and new daily content results in a high visitor return rate.

For additional information please visit http://www.eChristianFinance.com.

Carnival of Personal Finance

Carnival of Personal Finance

Welcome to this week's edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance.

For those of you looking for/expecting the book giveaway I've been doing all month, please check back for the next one at the end of the day on Monday.

For those of you who do not know what a carnival is, check out Best Practices for Driving Traffic with Blog Carnivals and How to Get Your Blog to 100,000 Visitors and Beyond, Step 13; Participate in Carnivals. This particular carnival is one where personal finance bloggers submit their best posts for the week and a host (me) posts them. Then readers scan through the list (a lot in this case -- it's a popular carnival) and read the posts that interest them.

I'm sticking with my usual method of hosting a carnival -- listing a summary of each piece with the author's reason for submitting the post to the carnival (for those that submitted one) and/or a bit of the post itself as a summary -- so you readers know what to expect before you get to the post. In addition, I am posting the entries in the order they were submitted.

With that said, here we go with my picks as the best of the bunch:

• Smart Money Remains Fully Invested - The market hasn’t been performing too hot lately. Should you care? As I read posts of personal finance bloggers liquidating accounts and encouraging readers to get out and wait until they feel confident in the market again, I see people falling into the single biggest trap in investing: trying to time the market.

• You Don't Own Real Estate. Real Estate Owns You. - Many Americans believe that real estate can do no wrong as an asset class upon which they can build wealth. I disagree. Building wealth through real estate depends on your ability to distinguish among the three types of real estate ownership – investment, speculative, and personal. If you don’t know the differences, you may soon discover that you don’t own real estate, real estate owns you.

• What Were You Thinking When You Purchased Your Home? - So one might wonder, why Michael purchased a home he could not afford. His rationale, an interest-only loan helped us buy a house in an expensive county where we wanted to live and eventually send our children to school.

• Cheap Healthy Vacation Food: 61 Tips for Travel Eats on a Budget - What follows is the ultimate guide to saving dough on food while you’re away, with extra emphasis on healthy options.

• Choosing Between the Roth or Traditional 403b/401k : Our Decision Process - This is about our personal decision process in choosing between a Roth or Traditional 403b retirement plan at work. We cover both the basic differences and also our specific situation and outlooks.

And here are the rest -- still lots of good stuff here. Just because something isn't at the top of this list doesn't mean it's not good. These entries are mostly listed in the order in which I received them:

• Charities and their Management Expense Ratios - This article deals with calculating the management expense ratios of charities. This will help determine if the charity in question is using your donation dollars efficiently. The basic premise being that the charity should minimize their internal expenses and maximize the amount of money that goes towards the intention of the charity.

• How To Avoid Defaulting on Mortgage Payments - In the US, and to a lesser extent in the UK, increasing numbers of homeowners are struggling to meet their mortgage payments and are facing the possibility of their home being repossessed. If this is the case and you are struggling to pay your mortgage, these are some actions, which can potentially save your home being repossessed.

• Should the State Make Our Will? Better Not! - The state assumes everyone's objectives are exactly the same. Do we want our assets to be distributed exactly the same way as my neighbor, the grocer or the librarian? Obviously our assets, our beneficiaries and our wishes are not necessarily the same as those of others.

• What to do with an extra $2000? - What should we do with an unexpected bonus from work? Goof off, or be financially responsible with it?

• How Long is Your Lever? - As the financial markets have recently displayed, leverage can work for or against its user. Learn more about financial leverage and how to lengthen your lever...

• Floyd Norris -- Greatest 25 Years in Market History - The past 25 years have been the best period of that length in stock market history.

• Upgrading Your Home: Want vs Need - How do you know when it is time to upgrade your house?

• Pay yourself first, and not just financially - Personal finance isn't just about using dollars and cents as the only way to measure money. If time = money, then your time spent at work, is also considered to be a financial expense. So take a break, and take stock of how much money (time) you are spending at your company, and how much of an return you are getting out of your invested time.

• ETFs Vs. Mutual Funds - An article comparing ETFs Vs. Mutual Funds for use in an IRA.

• A Holistic Approach To Finances and Happiness - Finances may feel important, but over obsessing about money is unbalanced and certainly not healthy. Here are tips for more conscious living and developing a
  different perspective.

• Top 10 money wasters, are you guilty? - From my personal experience, I can sincerely say these are the biggest money wasters around.

• Why Our Next Car Will Be New - In order to buy a used car with confidence, we'd have to do way more research and preparation than we have the time or inclination for.

• On "Averaging Down" - In a simple fashion, this means reducing the mathematical average of your cost of an equity by purchasing more shares after it declines in price.
• How to Deal With Market Volatility - Some suggestions about how to avoid panicking when your portfolio drops in value.

• Newlyweds and Foreclosures -- Why Home Purchasing and Wedding - Today on the front page of Yahoo! Finance there was an article reporting that foreclosures went up 93% since last year. This made me wonder how many of those foreclosed homes belonged to young newlyweds.

• How to find money - My personal account about how I found over $1500 of my rightfully earned
  money just by picking up the telephone, and how others can do the same.

• The New Investor's Toolkit - A list of helpful free or low cost resources for investors just getting started.

• Three Ways to Make Money Investing - Here are three ways I have found to make money in the stock market.

• Yet another post about insurance - The perfect way to decide whether you need insurance.

• 7 Helpful Tips When Moving - Moving is tough, both physically and emotionally. Here are 7 tips to make moving a little easier and make a stressful activity less stressful.

• Does plug-in hybrid car really save money? - Let’s get down to earth and examine what financial benefits the plug-in hybrid (PHEV) actually offers besides the cool factor of investing into green technology and saving environment.

• PF Blogs I read, and Why - This post is about the PF blogs a relative newbie to personal finance reads--never mind that the newbie is 58 years old!

• Frugal Wedding Tips - Here are some simple, and practical money saving tips for planning a wedding.

• You can't trust that Carfax report! - So the lesson here is this: Always take the used car into a trusted mechanic for inspection before sealing the deal. Oh, and be sure to ask whether the car has been in any accidents. Don’t just trust the Carfax report alone.

• Emergency funds and how they are hurting our savings - I have a recommendation to everyone out there that is just beginning to think about saving. Don’t listen to the experts. Sure its great advice and we should all have an emergency fund, but we all should also all have at least a million saved by retirement (but how many of us actually will). My recommendation is to start with a micro-goal.

• Budgeting For Dummies Part 2: Evaluating Your Budget - We are going to evaluate that budget and see how effective it is. There are 5 main steps we are going to follow: Tracking, Assigning, Assessing, Establishing, and Applying Surpluses.

• 5 Things The Marshmallow Test Can Teach You About Money - Tina is an intellectually-gifted bartender who struggles to pay her bills. Tina serves martinis to Susan. Susan is no more intelligent than Tina, but Susan is a millionaire. If not intelligence, then what explains the difference between success and failure? And what do sticky, gooey marshmallows have to do with it?

• Getting Rid Of Clutter - Stopping The “But I Paid For This Already!” Syndrome - Just because you paid for something does not mean it is bringing any value to your life; on the contrary, it could be causing you great distress.

• Be Wary of Foreclosure Assistance Scams - The following story about Jennifer Falke and her family is one that you should be knowledgeable of if you are looking towards a third party to help you negotiate a positive resolution to your foreclosure woes.

• Optimizing Medical and Auto Insurance - One of the things I’ve been looking at lately was how to optimize our insurance policies. Here’s what I came up with.

• Twentysomething’s Quick Guide to Retirement - In our age group, saving for retirement comes in one of two forms - IRA or 401(k). Both are easy to understand and I’ll explain them both right now.

• Using A Public Claims Adjuster - Before you hire an adjuster, make sure you really want the help. Then, after you’ve shopped around, check into the background of the one you’re thinking about signing with. You can check with the National Association of Public Insurance Adjusters for information about your adjuster and see how he or she has been doing.

• Mamacita's Nursing Care - How about a first-class nursing home that runs less than $50 a
  day, plus all the warm, beautiful weather you can stand?

• How to Profit from the Cyclical Nature of Biotech Stocks - Anecdotally, I've heard before that Biotech stocks do well in the fall due to the preponderance of trade/medical conferences where they highlight their clinical findings, pipelines and emerging technologies. My findings actually support this claim and I have the perfect strategy to capitalize on this phenomena.

• Has The Housing Bubble Burst Yet? A Closer Look At The Signs - Is it time to make your move or should you wait a little longer and see if the price declines even further?

• True Story of Landlord-Tenant Dispute - This is a true story of how a shady landlord tried to bilk his tenants for more money than they really owed; and how a judge put the smack down on the greedy landlord. Good advice for both landlords (don't be like this jerk) and tenants (know how to stand up for your rights) inside.

• I Could Use Someone Else's Credit Card to Buy My Groceries - Credit cards are very insecure!

• When Would Be the Best Time for Leveraging? Right Now! - As the market just went down by a few percent, many people wonder if it's a good timing to borrow to invest. In fact, it is one of the best time to start.

• Big Party, Small Budget - The obvious challenge of having a large party is tackling the expense of feeding and hosting so many people. I’m happy to report that we managed to throw our shindig for roughly $100, give or take - and that was being generous, almost half of that going to beer. Here’s some pointers for your next big bash.

• Bad Credit Card Application Fees and Fineprints - If you have bad credit and need a credit card, there are issuers who are willing to issue credit cards to you. But these cards will have more fees than regular credit cards. These are the fees you have to be aware of.

• Financial blogging differences between men and women? - Discusses financial books targetting women and if there are blogging differences between men and women.

• Re-Balancing - While I encourage people to re-balance their portfolio periodically, the current recommendations are misplaced due to the fact that many of the securities recommended are still grossly overvalued.

• How to Save Money and Make Your Clothes Last Longer When Doing Laundry - An article on how to do laundry in a manner that keeps your clothes lasting longer and your wallet in better shape.

• Free Books Online - Here are some ways to save on books.

• City Dweller's Income Slashed, Happiness Discovered - Why life has become more fulfilling during unemployment.

• Why Do People Accept Wedding Gifts? - By merely "accepting" gifts are we in fact "expecting" gifts? If thoughts and good wishes are all that matters, why accept gifts in the first place?

• Thank You For Being a Friend - 11 Lessons About Frugality and Simplicity That I learned From The Golden Girls.

• Money Markets Galore - I have a money market account, but until recently, I didn’t realize their was more than one kind, and after beginning my research, I quickly realized that their isn’t a single good source of information. At least, not one that I found.

• Stop Being Poor! What Low-Income Earners Can Do To Get Off Minimum Wage - How do the working poor survive with such earnings especially in areas where the cost of living is through the roof?

• 6 Ways to Retire Poor - A satirical take on how NOT to retire.

• Very Happy With Illinois 529 Savings Plan - Gives the main benefits of the Illinois 529 plan.

• 50 Ways You Know You Are An Emotional Investor - You know you are an emotional investor if...

• How to Make Money in the Stock Market - Considering that there are roughly 250 trading days in a year, this means that missing out on the best 0.02% of the investing days over this 20 year period (i.e., the best 10 of 5000 days) would’ve reduced your total return by nearly 40%!

• Ten Life Lessons I’ve Learned In The Pursuit of Getting Rich - Each and every job we have can teach us important lessons. Here are 10 lessons I've learned from 10 different occupations I've held.

• Zen and The Art Of Personal Finance in 4 Steps - Explores applying some of the principles of Zen to personal finance.

• My experience with LendingTree, and free gift cards - LendingTree is not so much a “search engine for mortgage loans” as it is an owner of patented automated loan-facilitation technology and a seller of mortgage loan leads.

• Didn't Get a Raise, Now What? - You asked for a raise, and even though you made your case very well, your request was denied. This article offers a few ideas about how to take the "no" and move forward in a productive way.

• Americans’ Net Worth in the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) - Net worth is a favorite topic in the buck-o-sphere (personal finance blog-o-sphere) and many people pounce on a government or media report to see how they stack up against their fellow Americans. You need to understand the source of the information and know how to read economic and financial reports correctly.

• A Reader Asks #6 - The post is a response to a comment from an earlier post, "What Happens When You Die?"

• The Real Estate Bubble and Tips to Protect you from it - This is an article about real estate bubble and what is the relationship between it with your journey to financial freedom.

• MBA Options Part 1: Do You Need an MBA? - I'm looking at getting an MBA and I've started a series looking into the entire decision process. Hopefully the series will help some people decide for themselves whether or not an MBA is something that can further their career and is worth the cost.

• How to Start Your eBay Business Without Credit Card Debt - You can start selling on eBay without going into credit card debt to fund your initial investment.

• Ah... The Joys of Home Ownership - After all, how much can a microwave cost, right?

• 401k Mistakes - When I joined my current company, I simply rolled over the funds from my previous company’s 401k into the new one’s. Big mistake.

• Bank fees are almost always reversible - Just talking about how if you call up the bank and talk to them, they will generally reverse many of those silly fees that they charge you. In my case, I got charged $5 for typing a number in wrong on the ATM machine!

• The Stay-At-Home Parenting Question Hits Home Hard - As much as a part of me cries out to be a stay at home parent, it simply isn’t in the cards for us right now. That doesn’t change the fact that my son’s shouts of “Dad! DAD!” and subsequent crying as I was leaving tore me up to the point that I stopped my truck on the way to work because I was so upset.

• What Do You Do With Your Coins? - I only store coins less than a quarter. I find it easy to spend quarters so I keep quarters outside the jar.

• Learning More About My 403b Plan - I work for a tax-exempt organization so, instead of having a 401k, I have a 403(b). My retirement contributions are sent by my employer to the company that operates the 403(b), but the responsibility for allocating those contributions rests with me. I’m rather new to the “investing game” and I’m taking the time to research the various mutual funds available to me inside my 403(b) plan.

• Lose Weight, Not Money - One of the ways to save money in the long term is to maintain good health. And one of the main ways to maintain good health is to exercise and be physically fit. The only problem is that while getting in shape may save money in the long term, joining a gym takes a whack at your wallet in the short term.

• How to Find, Choose and Open an Online Savings Account - Online savings accounts are one of the newest, safest and best ways to make your money work for you.

• I Just Turned One Hundred! - I just turned one hundred posts old! This is a list of what I've accomplished, what I've learned, and how I've grown!

Thanks for visiting the Carnival of Personal Finance!

10 Tips for Buying a Residential Rental Property, Part 1: Buy at the Right Price

By Sasha on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007

This is the first in a ten-part series about residential rental properties based on my experiences.

Looking to diversify your investments and take advantage of the current dip in real estate prices? While by no means a passive investment, if you’re up to the challenge, residential rental property ownership can provide not just additional short- and long-term income, but tax benefits as well. While I’m no tax expert, dummies.com has a nice little overview in their article, Enjoying Rental Property Tax Breaks.

But the trick’s in the buying. An error at this critical stage is one you’ll pay for again and again over the life of the property, so it’s important to be a well-informed and cautious buyer, taking the time to do the necessary research.

My own experience with six rental properties has taught me a few things worth sharing. My first tip follows:

1. Buy at the right price.

While this may seem obvious, there’s more to this topic than meets the eye. A bargain now will help you to better withstand fluctuations in property value over time so you can profit if and when you eventually sell. Whether working with a realtor or solo, you need to develop a deep understanding of what constitutes a “value” price in the neighborhood(s) you’re looking at. As an investor, you can keep making low-ball offers and wait for the deal you want, but great bargains generally get snapped up, so you need to be able to act quickly once your target’s in sight. Obtain pre-approval if you’re hoping to mortgage the property, and know your expected interest rate and monthly payment, since that’s part of your profit equation.

You also need to benchmark rental prices for comparable units in the area, getting a feel for demand. The local classifieds are a great starting point for this, and a few hours of research should give you a good basis for determining what you can charge. Just make sure to factor in for utilities (electric, gas, oil, water, sewer, cable, etc.) if they’re included.

Depending on your personal goals, there may not be enough of a spread between what you will pay out monthly in mortgage, taxes, and utilities and what you can charge. Figure out what your spread needs to be, and analyze every house you consider against this amount. My rule of thumb, since I’m looking to make a yearly profit without much additional out-of-pocket investment beyond the down payment, is that there needs to be at least a $500 difference per month between income and costs.

This doesn’t mean that if I take in $1,500 in rent monthly and pay out $1,000 monthly in costs, I’m making $6,000 a year in pre-tax profit. Things like licensing, repairs, maintenance, advertising, court costs and even months of lost rent may need to be covered out of this money. It is unwise to assume that your unit will be consistently rented all year, so make sure you can cover the mortgage and expenses even with a few months of vacancy. For me, $500 a month is the minimum spread acceptable, as it means I can absorb a reasonable number of additional expenses per year and still at least break even. Of course, a bigger spread is preferable, as it means more profit. If you’ve got a few good options to consider, the spread can aid in your decision-making.

Ask Mint | Giving the gift of life and security

A single-premium policy is the perfect gifting idea for a newborn

The insurance business in India isn’t just growing, but also becoming more sophisticated in terms of product offerings. To help readers keep ahead of developments in this business, Mint features a Q&A on insurance every Monday.

I am a 45-year-old businessman. I have just taken a a Rs75 lakh home loan. I am confident that I will be able to service it. But what if something untoward happens to me? Is there a life insurance plan to insure the home loan? Should I go for it?

Your liability increases the moment you sign on a home loan, which makes it necessary for one to take a life insurance plan. This will help ensure your loved ones a respectable life even if something untoward happens to you. There are two options: You can go for a Pure Term Plan for a sum equivalent to the housing loan. Thus, in the case of any unforeseen event, the insurance cover will come in handy for the family as it would not be burdened with any loan liability. The other option is a Mortgage Reducing Term Assurance Plan that is designed to give borrowers a life cover equivalent to their home loan. With such plans, the objective is to introduce customized risk protection at an affordable price. The payment of equated monthly instalments progressively brings down the outstanding loan over the years and the insurance cover also reduces.

I work in an advertising agency and have been recently blessed with a daughter. My father wants to buy a gift for my daughter. I have suggested a life insurance plan. Does it make sense from a long-term perspective?

You are absolutely correct in suggesting a life insurance policy as a gift from her grandfather. Children’s life insurance is thoughtful, practical and a valuable gift that can help a child take the first step towards financial security.

A single-premium policy is the perfect gifting idea for a newborn. A single-premium policy is a plan where you pay for the insurance policy with only one payment. In other words, it gives the assurance that with a one-time payment, the plan for the child continues and, hence, would help to provide for the critical milestones in her life.

Readers are welcome to write in with their queries to askmint@livemint.com. The questions will be answered by senior executives from leading insurance firms.

This week’s expert is Rajesh Relan, managing director, MetLife.

Check Your Financial Info Anytime, Anywhere

By Terry Savage
TheStreet.com Contributor
8/26/2007 10:19 AM EDT

The next generation of financial organization has arrived. It's called Geezeo. And it means you can get to your personal financial information anywhere, at any time.

If you're away from home you can easily find your current checking account and credit card balances -- even if you don't have access to a computer. Now with a discreet glance at your cell phone, you can have all your financial information literally at your fingertips.

It's the next stage in real-time access. Geezeo puts you in control of your money by giving you real-time access to your accounts at thousands of banks and credit card companies through text messaging. Having that information could save you from huge overdraft and over-limit fees. It could even save you the embarrassment of having your credit card rejected when you reach to pay for dinner.

Text messaging of your account balances is the latest development at www.geezeo.com, a personal finance Web site that declares itself to be a "social finance" destination. The finance aspect is the fact that they securely aggregate your financial data from major banks and credit card companies, and soon will include mutual fund and brokerage firms. The "social" portion of the personal finance site is a series of online discussion groups, where peers discuss issues ranging from credit to investing.

That , in itself, is a significant difference from most personal finance software, which allows you to view your data securely, but in solitude. Geezeo.com lets you keep your financial information private but facilitates communication with others in the community to help you make financial decisions. Tools at the site help track your progress as you pay down debt or save for the future, as well as share ideas with others who have similar goals.

Personal finance sites that revolve around "social networking" in general are becoming very popular. For example, www.networthiq.com allows you to post your financial information -- including cash, investments, debt, etc. -- for all to see and comment upon. It requires users to manually update monthly balances. Another social networking site, www.Mint.com, allows bloggers to share stories about their personal finances. And www.Wesabe.com is a site for group networking about personal finance topics. Geezeo.com is the only one that securely and privately aggregates your own data on a daily basis by either downloading or "scraping" balances from all the sites to which you have authorized access.

But the truly breakthrough technology is the fact that you can now gain access to all this information in real time on your cell phone -- any text enabled cell phone. In effect, your mobile phone becomes an extension of the Web site.

It's a technology that is aimed directly at the 18-to-35 age group that is actively using text messaging. But don't let the youthful aspect of this concept fool you. Two-way mobile banking is the wave of the future.

Getting Geezeo Started

The two most important things you need to know about Geezeo.com can be said in one short sentence: Geezeo is free and it is secure.

The security is at the same high level as online banking Web sites. Geezeo does not store your personal account numbers, nor your passwords that gain access to your bank and credit cards. They use Amazon.com's (AMZN - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr - Rating) secure hosting platform, and are a partner of CashEdge, the leading financial aggregator used by top banks and mutual fund companies.

The service is free. As the site gains momentum, Geezeo expects to be paid a referral fee by financial services providers that are part of a "matching service" linking users to products they need. Those products must either save the user money by offering lower rates on credit cards or other loans, or help the community member make money, such as a high-yielding savings account. They're in the process of developing a members rating service for those products.

All you have to do to get started is go to the Web site and set up an account, select the bank and credit card accounts you want to track and then submit your mobile phone number. The process takes just minutes. The only hitch I found is that in order to work with the site, you need a browser such as Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox, which are easily downloaded. (Just go to www.mozilla.com for a free download of Firefox.)

Getting Geezeo Organized

In recent weeks, Geezeo.com has added "tagging" functionality to help users figure out where their money went. Since nobody writes checks anymore, the younger generation has been dubbed "Gen P" -- for plastic! And everyone knows that money simply "disappears" when you use a debit card!

Geezeo now "tags" every transaction that comes through your bank account or debit card or credit card -- putting it into a category and, thus, making it simple to track spending. Users can even create their own tags. Then a click of your mouse creates a graphic -- a bar chart that shows clearly where all your money went!

The "social" aspect of this Web site adds a new dimension to these Geezeo Tags. You will soon be able to compare the percentages of what you spend on different categories with the averages for those in your age and income group.

In effect, Geezeo has taken personal finances to the next level -- the "fingertip" level. No longer are you bound by software that resides on your home or office computer. You can access Geezeo.com from any computer, anywhere. And, when you're not near a computer, information will arrive securely on your cell phone in the form of a text message.

Now, you can't hide from your money. And that's The Savage Truth.

Personal Finance Money Tips - August 25, 2007

Welcome to the August 20 26, 2007 edition of personal finance money tips. Sorry for the delay of the carnival because for the past week I’ve been staying in the hospital. My son is delivered premature and we all stay in the hospital until he is discharged on 24th Aug. I hope these links and articles will keep you busy during this weekend.

My Best Tips in August:

1. How a fresh graduate plan to retire in 8 years
2. What is capital guaranteed fund? Should you invest in a capital protected fund?
3. Learn about zero-coupon negotiable instruments of deposit.
4. Replace your regular investment with the protection feature of investment-linked insurance.
5. What can you do if your insurance claim is rejected?

General Tips

Will Mitchell presents Masaru Emoto’s Messages in Water posted at www.SparkedBlog.com.

Dean presents Top 10 Best Bargain Fast Food Meals posted at Mr. Cheap Stuff, saying, “Cheap Eats.”

Jason Elder presents 100k In Credit Card Debt Is No Reason To Go Bankrupt posted at A Bankruptcy Lawyer’s Blog, saying, “Years ago bankruptcy was only used by business to obtain relief from its debtors. Today 1 out of every 7 people has filed bankruptcy and walked away from thousands of dollars of credit card debt.”

Aaron Wakling presents Protecting Your Credit Card Information Online posted at The Credit & Credit Card Blog, saying, “While shopping online is the latest and greatest trend for consumers, hackers and other dishonest people have also turned to online shopping as a way to obtain credit card information for fraudulent use.”

Eric Hudin presents Protecting Your Finances and Assets Offshore posted at My Estate Planning Career Blog, saying, “When it comes to the question of when to protect your assets and finances offshore your financial, legal and tax advisers will always tell you there is no such thing as taking action to protect your fiscal situation too soon, especially if you want to go offshore for some form of direct affluence protection reasons.”

Allen Taylor presents Good Stock Investments - How To Spot The Best Stocks For Your Portfolio posted at Investing World Today, saying, “So what are some good stock investments for your portfolio? Just about everybody wants to know this. The truth is, the answer all depends on what type of investor you are.”

Tim Ramsey presents Consumer Debt Is A Financial Killer posted at My Debt Relief Blog, saying, “A crucial step in creating wealth is to reduce your dependence on credit cards and ensure future monthly payments on all of your cards combined never exceeds 10% of your after tax income.”

Eric Stanley presents How To Start Saving Money posted at Personal Finance Blog Articles, saying, “Here are three strategies you can put to work immediately in your life-”

Thomas Humes presents Value Creation Creates Wealth posted at Wealth Building World, saying, “If you truly want to be rich then you need to find a way to create as much value in the world as possible. Rich people go around asking themselves what they can do better for other people. They understand that if they can make life easier and/or better for as many people as possible, they will get rich.”

Jimmy Atkinson presents The Day Trader’s Toolkit: 100 Free Online Apps for Professionals posted at Forex Blog.

Sam presents Become a Millionaire posted at Surfer Sam and Friends, saying, “Live the Life of a Millionaire. It Doesn’t Take a Lot of Money. And It Doesn’t Take a Lot of Work. The Four-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss”

Bryan C. Fleming presents Buying into a Down Stock Market posted at Bryan C. Fleming, saying, “Did you ever think of playing the stock market? Why not just watch me loose all my money instead. In this artile I talk about buying into a down stock market. Yes, it’s just like gambling… only legal!”

Mike Carpenter presents Saving Makes a Difference posted at The Mortgage Bullet.

Phil B. presents 13 Steps to be Productive « Phil for Humanity posted at Phil for Humanity, saying, “Ever wonder why some people are so productive all of the time while other people never accomplish anything?”

Nigel Swaby presents Should I Buy Real Estate Now? posted at Salt Lake Real Estate Blog.

Wealth Accumulation - Real Estate, Retirement & Investment

Shadox presents How Is My 401K Doing? posted at Money and Such, saying, “A new survey of 401K assets offers some interesting insights into how people save and invest for retirement. I compared my own 401K plan savings to people in my age and tenure groups.”

George Courtney jr presents The Smart Way to Use Your Home Equity posted at The Authentic Bartender Blog.

Warren Wong presents Stop Checking That Stock posted at Personal Development for INTJs, saying, “Are you constantly checking your stocks? Here’s why you should stop doing that and live your life.”

Matthew Paulson presents Ten Ways to Earn Extra Cash When You’re in a Crunch posted at Getting Green.

Warren Wong presents How To Pick A Good Stock posted at Personal Development for INTJs, saying, “Do you know how to pick a good stock? Here’s how to find a good long term investment!”

Millionaire Mommy Next Door presents How to Make Money Management a Family Affair posted at Millionaire Mommy Next Door, saying, “Our children learn from our example. If we behave as though money management is painful, secretive, or confusing, we thwart our children’s financial future. Is this what we want for our children? Of course not. We all want our children to acquire the tools necessary to power their own future financial independence and freedom. How can parents raise financially-savvy children ? Here are some suggestions.”

Larry Russell presents The Biggest Personal Finance Story of the Past 30 Years (Part 2) posted at THE SKILLED INVESTOR Blog, saying, “The biggest personal finance story of the past 30 years has been the dramatic growth of the market capitalization of financial services firms within the U.S. equity markets. The reason that this is so important to your personal finances is pretty straightforward. Simply put, most individuals pay far too much for financial products and services. Their continuing over payments show up in the increasing value of financial services company stocks. People have paid far too much for years, and the industry’s excessive charges have been increasing for years.”

KCLau presents How A Fresh Graduate Plan to Retire in 8 years posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “A committed fresh graduate tells his story about his desire to plan for retirement as soon as possible.”

Warren Wong presents Why You Should Invest For The Long Term posted at Personal Development for INTJs, saying, “Are you buying and selling stocks a lot? Here’s why you should invest for the long term.”

Erek Ostrowski presents Getting Out Of Debt (Part 4: Stick To The Plan) posted at Verve Coaching, saying, “You have to adopt the practices and disciplines that lead to debt reduction to create a solid foundation for building wealth…”

Wealth Management - Mortgage & Debt

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Blogging Does Not Cause Marriage Problems, Lack Of Financial Sense Does posted at The Digerati Life.

Mark Kimsey presents Applying For A Mortgage Online posted at PrsnlFinance.com.

Ryan Russell presents OSAs are MVPs posted at My Money Thinks, saying, “Online Savings Accounts (OSAs) have become one of the most popular offerings of online banks. In some ways, they seem too good to be true. In others, they seem to be the smartest and safest place to store and grow cash.”

Sagar Satapathy presents All You Need is Love and a Good Financial Plan: 17 Finance Tips from the Beatles posted at Credit Card Lowdown, saying, “When you’re in need of a little financial pick-me-up, who do you turn to? Someone you trust, someone who has experience dealing with money, and probably someone who has a generally optimistic view on life. So who might that person (or persons) be in your life? The Beatles, of course! John, Paul, Ringo, and George may not be personal friends of yours, but after reviewing 17 of their most insightful business and investment tips, you’ll be surprised at how much brighter your financial future shines.”

Kislay K Verma presents Convenience Cards posted at Expressions, saying, “Don’t be scared of credit cards! Use them to be your friends!”

John Crenshaw presents Top 3 Reasons Mortgage Rate Shopping Will Kill You posted at Truthful Lending dot Com, saying, “It’s true…you will cause yourself nothing but pain by shopping for a mortgage based on rate alone. Read on to find out what I mean.”

Sagar Satapathy presents Penny Pincher Extensions: 20 Essential Firefox Add-ons for Frugal Web Shoppers posted at Credit Card Lowdown.

Tushar Mathur presents What is ACH ? posted at Life of a Resident Alien….

Roshawn Watson presents Conversations From The Corner OfficeThanks fo vi… posted at Watson Inc, saying, “Check out my exciting interview with Van Crouch, President and CEO of Van Crouch Communications. Learn from someone who has truly won in life. Van is a nationally-known motivational speaker, best-selling author, and highly desired business consultant. In my exclusive interview, Van shares his secrets for dominating in money and life. You will gain Van’s insights on getting rich quickly, paying yourself first, weathering a financial storm, and much more!”

Steve Faber presents - Boost Your Retirement Plan – Stick Around Just a Bit Longer posted at DebtBlog.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents 7 Tips On Claiming Your Tax Deductions for Business and Charitable Contributions posted at The Digerati Life, saying, “Thanks for hosting!”

Wealth Protection

Jimmy Atkinson presents Everything You Need to Know about Marriage and Money posted at Ask the Advisor.

KCLau presents Investment Replacement Feature in Investment-linked Policy that Beat Unit Trust posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “Investment-linked plan (ILP) is probably the first life insurance policy you buy in Malaysia if you are below age 30 this year. The new business premium collected for ILP will exceed traditional policy in the very near future. In this article, I will show you a special add-on rider that makes ILP stands out as the most wanted policy by young people. This feature is called “investment replacement“.”

FIRE Getters presents Energy Saving Tips For This Summer posted at FIRE Finance.

Nigel Swaby presents Credit Crunch? - Tips for Mortgage Qualification posted at Salt Lake Real Estate Blog.

Robert D Flach presents IF YOU BELIEVE THAT I HAVE A BRIDGE FOR SALE CHEAP posted at THE WANDERING TAX PRO.

Robert D Flach presents IF YOU BELIEVE THAT I HAVE A BRIDGE FOR SALE CHEAP posted at THE WANDERING TAX PRO, saying, “Sorry - the original submission contained an error in my email.”

edithyeung presents The Money Series - You Are Not Going to Live Forever posted at Edith Yeung.Com: Dream. Think. Act..

Ryan presents The Dirty Dozen Credit Card Traps posted at Care on Credit, saying, “Do you know what’s in the terms and conditions for your credit card? Did you know you can often have a varying APR, annual fee, cash advance fees, foreign currency fees and even non-usage fees? Learn about these and more…”