Archive for the ‘Blogging’ Category

Thanks to These Blog Carnivals – May 2013

Carnival

Hi again!  Every week, we submit our favorite posts to a variety of blog carnivals.  When we are selected, it is common courtesy (and an expectation) that we link back to those that included us.  So thank you to everyone that included us!!!

Blog Carnivals that Included MWD

Also, as a thank you for reading these carnival updates, I’ll start including at least one giveaway that I’ve seen open recently.  :-)

Giveaways

Thanks to These Blog Carnivals – April 2013

Carnival

Hi again!  Every week, we submit our favorite posts to a variety of blog carnivals.  When we are selected, it is common courtesy (and an expectation) that we link back to those that included us.  So thank you to everyone that included us!!!

Blog Carnivals that Included MWD

Also, as a thank you for reading these carnival updates, I’ll start including at least one giveaway that I’ve seen open recently.  :-)

Giveaways

Thanks to These Blog Carnivals – March 2013

Carnival

Hi!  Every week, we submit our favorite posts to a variety of blog carnivals.  When we are selected, it is common courtesy (and an expectation) that we link back to those that included us.  So thank you to everyone that included us!!!

Blog Carnivals that Included MWD

Carnival of Financial Planning No. 254


Best Articles this Week from Finance Blogs

Carnival of Financial Planning – Money Management Edition #254 – September 14, 2012

Welcome to the September 14, 2012 Money Management Edition #254 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 and Economics

A Blinkin presents This Just In: Stocks Will Rise and The World Won’t End posted at Funancials, saying, “I bring this up because I see lots of nothing. Nothing is what people do when they are too scared to do something. A nice mixture of uncertainty and pessimism has kept many people from investing. Were in what some refer to as a liquidity trap.

Odysseas presents How Foodborne Illness Impacts the Economy posted at Wallet Blog, saying, “Does the food we eat (or don’ eat) impact the economy? You bet your E. Coli it does! Take a look at the far reaching impact food poisoning can have.

Jeremy presents Guilt Induced Frugality posted at Modest Money, saying, “If someone is frugal though, do they constantly maintain that mindset? Some people might be disciplined enough to keep it up, but I think most people still occasionally splurge.

Dan presents Wall Street Markets posted at Wall Street Stocks , saying, ” From the days when front-running involved actual running to the “Victorian Internet era” brought on by telegraphy, we can learn a great deal from looking back at a simpler era.”

PPlan presents Building an Emergency Fund posted at Provident Plan, saying, “Find out how you can build your emergency fund and what to do with it.

Financial Planning

MR presents Fincon12 – A Unique Perspective – Part 1 posted at Money Reasons, saying, “This is my take on the fincon12 conference from a city exploration standpoint! The cost of the conference was worth it just to visit the great city of Denver! More to come soon and other experiences.

Ashley presents Time to Think About the Christmas Budget posted at Money Talks Coaching, saying, “Christmas!! In September?! Are you nuts-o? No I haven’t lost my mind and believe me, it feels less like Christmas here in Phoenix than it does probably

Invest It Wisely presents The #1 Reason Why European Waitresses Love Americans posted at Invest It Wisely, saying, “Perhaps you should not tip that European waitress quite as much as you do when you are overseas?

YFS presents How to Resolve Money-Related Disputes in a Relationship posted at Your Finances Simplified, saying, “Did you know that the average couple spends 250 and 700 hours planning their wedding? This number is INSANE.

Jason presents Top 10 Reasons Why You Need an Emergency Fund posted at Work Save Live, saying, “Reasons You Need an Emergency Fund You’ve heard all the pundits in personal finance extol on the fact that you need to have a emergency fund. I’m not going to preach to you about how much you should have, or where to put it.

Aloysa presents How I Spent $300 on Wicked Parents, a Sick Child and a Slurpie posted at My Broken Coin, saying, “Read my interesting tale of how I spent $200 dollars in the most unusual ways!

Jester presents Not Enjoying A Family Vacation By Focusing Too Hard On Money posted at The Ultimate Juggle, saying, “I had to work on my spouse so that he would enjoy the family vacations we go on and not focus too hard on money! Perhaps you should do that same.

Michelle presents See Elephant Run posted at See Debt Run, saying, “How do you eat an elephant? One credit card payment at a time, of course! Add two teaspoons of love and a pinch of support for optimal flavor.

Parker presents Index Funds posted at Preferred Funds, saying, “Some mutual funds and ETFs must be better than others, but which ones are they?”

Ted Jenkin presents The Best Financial Move A Young Adult Can Make Get A J-O-B! posted at Your Smart Money Moves, saying, “I just had a birthday last week which always gives you a chance to take stock on where you are and where you are going. I still believe that making clear concrete goals and monitoring them closely on an ongoing basis is still the most powerful tool that people can adopt in their lives to get where they want to go more quickly. I love that idea of checking off what got accomplished each and every year and setting new challenges for the next year by constantly raising the bar.

Pinter presents No Load Bond Funds posted at Cheap Bond Funds, saying, “Lower cost fixed income funds tend to yield higher bond investing returns.”.

Daisy presents How to Deal with a Difficult Coworker posted at Add Vodka, saying, “Ive had my fair share of having to deal with difficult coworkers. This makes me sound like Im the problem, and to be honest I probably was part of the problem.

Don presents 12 Month of Goals: September posted at MoneySmartGuides, saying, “Welcome to the start of another month. September is an interesting month as you start to see cooler weather, but the threat of an Indian Summer is still a possibility.

Tushar presents What Kinds of Mutual Funds Can You Get? posted at Start Investing Money, saying, “Are you thinking about getting a mutual fund? Read my information about the different types.

Income

PITR presents Getting your Business Off the Ground posted at Passive Income To Retire, saying, “Every business begins with an idea. But an idea alone does not make a successful venture. You need to develop and hone many aspects before you can really get your business off the ground. From conducting a market analysis to picking the leading business bank accounts, here are the essentials for getting your business up and running.

Insurance and Risk Management

Glen Craig presents Renters Insurance Quotes – What You Need to Look For posted at Free From Broke , saying, “Most people don’t think they need renters insurance. And when they do get quotes they don’t understand what to look for. See what renters insurance is made up of.

Lawrence presents Identity theft protection posted at Best Financial Planner, saying, “Identity theft sometimes entails a loss of your money, but is always take a very large amount of your time to fix.”

Investing

TRL presents Why I am Interested in Real Estate Investing posted at The Retired Landlord, saying, “Find out what I find attractive about real estate and what it offers me. In other words, find out why I love real estate investing.

Dave @ Excess Return presents How to Pick Good Dividend Stocks posted at Excess Return, saying, “Learn how to pick dividend stocks. Understand key terms like dividend yield and dividend payout. Evaluate stocks based on business fundamentals and growth.

Franklin presents Traditional and Roth Accounts  posted at Early Retirement Planning , saying, “For most people, contributions to traditional tax-advantaged plans will probably provide a higher net present value over their lifetimes than Roth accounts.”

Dan presents Ramping Up Yields with the SuperDividend ETF posted at ETF Base, saying, “Not to be outdone, this new “Super Dividend ETF delivers with astronomical yields and performance.

Kelly presents Personal risk tolerance posted at Investment Risk, saying, ” Individual investors with different risk tolerance fare more satisfied with strategies aligned with their risk and return profile.”

Managing Debt

Liana presents Q2 2012 Credit Card Debt Study posted at Card Hub, saying, “Perhaps the best way to build your wealth is to start by staying/getting out of debt. If these statistics don’t scare you, I don’t know what will.

Daniel presents Do You Prefer Advice From An Expert Or Someone Who Has Had Experience? posted at Sweating the Big Stuff, saying, “While nobody is perfect, I pride myself on making as few financial mistakes as possible. Thats not to say every investment Ive made has gone well, but for the most part I dont waste money and have made pretty good decisions regarding my personal finances. I take advantage of my credit cards by paying them.

Echo presents Best Balance Transfer Credit Cards In Canada posted at Boomer & Echo, saying, “Balance transfer credit cards can be a good deal under the right circumstances. A 0% balance transfer card can give you time to get your spending under control and pay off your debt.

Real Estate

Wayne presents Self-Employment – Is it all it’s Cracked Up to Be? posted at Young Family Finance, saying, “For as long as I can remember, I recall hearing the notorious work from home scams. They seem more popular today, but maybe it is just because I am spending more time on the internet.

Suba presents Why We’re Taking Our House Off The Market posted at Broke Professionals, saying, “After dropping our asking price to the basement, we’ve given up on selling our house – at least for now – and have decided to take it off the market.

John presents Auditing Your Emergency Food Stash posted at Married with Debt, saying, “Let’s talk about your emergency food stash. You do have an emergency food supply for your home, right? I’m not talking about hoarding buckets of grain in your basement in anticipation of the 2012 Mayan Apocalypse.

Retirement

Dividend Growth Investor presents How to retire with dividend stocks posted at Dividend Growth Investor, saying, “Investing $1000/month in a portfolio of dividend stocks yielding 3% today, which has a dividend growth of 12% per year, would generate over $26,300 in annual dividend income in 24 years. If dividends are reinvested, chances are that this investment would generate much more than $39,600 per year in 24 years.

Whitney presents Retirement Software posted at Retirement Savings, saying, “Build up your investment portfolio, and weather potential financial risk and misfortune across your lifetime.”

Knowles presents S&P 500 Funds posted at Large Cap Index Funds, saying, “The Schwab S & P 500 Index Fund tracks the S and P 500 stock index and is one of the top 25 lowest cost index mutual funds.”

Savings

Jon the Saver presents Save Money Easily: 4 Things You Can Live Without posted at Free Money Wisdom, saying, “Save money easily with these top four tips. Saving money can be a pain but with proper planning it can be really easy!

TSI presents Work and wealth posted at The Skilled Investor, 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.”

Taxes

Darwin presents 2013 FICA Tax Explained and Strategies posted at Darwin’s Money , saying, “The 2013 FICA tax is set to change which will impact your take home pay next year. See what it’s all about and where it’s headed given government inflationary estimates and tax policy.

Monroe presents Roth IRA Conversions posted at Do-It-Yourself Finance , saying, “Roth account contribution and asset conversion strategy decisions need financial planning software tool.”

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.

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Transitioning to Blue Collar Work

transition to blue collar work

I’ve had a big change in my work schedule which has caused me to become less visible around the web, so I thought I’d update y’all on why.

I recently had an opportunity to take a voluntary leave of absence from my desk job and work on a 2-month project (no, I’ve not been fired; this is temporary) where I’m on my feet all day, doing repetitive physical labor and working with my hands. I wanted a change to help get out of the sitting on my ass rut at work, so I took it.

This means that I’m not in front of a computer during the day to respond to comments, visit other personal finance sites, or interact on Twitter (my apologies to all my friends). When I get home I’m too tired to visit my own site, let alone open my email or surf the web. I haven’t checked my Google Analytics in days, and I don’t know what my Alexa ranking is anymore.

I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t easy to transition from a desk job to hard work. My back aches sometimes at night. I’m exhausted and filthy at the end of the day. My hands are in constant pain from repetitive motions and are covered in paper cuts and rubber-band burns (I’m working with large stacks of cardstock).

But it feels great.

It feels great to be waking up early and keeping the blood flowing and the heart rate up most of the day. It feels great to not have to worry about high-level projects that are being sabotaged intentionally and unintentionally by idiots. It feels great that my phone doesn’t ring after I get home from work because someone is depending on me 24/7.

Brent from On Target Coaching asked in a comment on my last post what my philosophy of work is. He thought I was coming across as someone who dislikes work, which isn’t entirely true (though I can see why I come across that way sometimes).

I’d say I enjoy work that makes sense and serves a purpose. In my career, I spend a lot of time at work with nothing to do, on call. There is no reason I can’t be at home, except my bosses are jerks.  Needless to say, I’ve grown intolerant of people who are unable to work smarter, not harder. I am also disdainful of the “work until you die” movement, which I also referenced in my last post.

This is why I like blue-collar work. It makes sense and you are done at quitting time. I think we’ve made a big mistake in this country by intentionally destroying blue-collar America. I hope it’s not because the plutocrats that run our country think lesser of working people, people who didn’t want to go to college, or who weren’t right for college.

They forget that we need to make more than just money in this country.

 

Life is About More than Work

Someone recently shared with me their formula for dividing up the day:

I spend eight hours working, eight hours with family, and eight hours sleeping.

Obviously this won’t work for everyone, especially business owners, but I thought it sounded like a pretty good division. Heck, it doesn’t always work for me, as my job comes with busy seasons where I work more hours.

I dread being at a party or out on the town and get into a conversation that involves “So what do you do for a living?” I hate answering it or discussing it with people. I guess it tells you a lot about someone to know their chosen profession, but it isn’t a part of what I would call a stimulating conversation. I’d rather someone ask me if I have kids. or about my hobbies.

 

New Online Project

I’ve also been working on a new website/business to offer high-end luxury tours of Istria, Croatia. I’ve built much of the site, and I’ll let you all have a peek at it soon.

In the meantime, if anyone is interested in learning more about it, or has any advice on growing a travel/tourism website, shoot me a note.

 

Carnival Update

I’ve been pretty bad about acknowledging those sites that have featured my articles in recent weeks, so here they are.

 

Be Wary of Corporate Personal Finance Advice

small businesses

I think it goes without saying that we should always be mindful of who is paying the money to get their message in our ears or eyeballs, and online personal finance is no exception.

Recently I read a post on a major corporate-owned personal finance blog written by a CFP who calls himself a retirement expert.

Except he’s a retirement expert that says “retirement is too risky” and that he never plans to retire.

Seriously?

That’s like being a member of a church your entire life and having the priest tell you on your deathbed, “I was just joking about that God stuff. It’s not real.”

It’s not hard to figure out why many retirement planners constantly talk in doom-and-gloom scenarios. They want to scare you to sell you things.

In the post, the author hints that the goal of work is wealth building. For me, the goal of work is retirement. I don’t want to work a day longer than I have to.

The corporate blogger said that retirement is dangerous for your wealth.

No shit?

In one of my more popular posts on the Early Retirement Extreme movement, I imagine becoming an “Early Retirement Planner,” someone who works not on commission, but on their success in helping you retire early. This would be in contrast to those retirement advisors who tell you that “70 is the new 60!” as they speed off in their sports car you bought them.

Remember: It’s in their best interest that you work as long as possible and save for retirement as long as possible, even if you die with hundreds of thousands of dollars in a brokerage account, money you never even needed in the first place.

If you want to leave a large chunk of money to your heirs, that’s fine, but it’s okay to ease up and not work yourself to death in the process. Leave a little bit and enjoy your life while you are young.

I left a comment on the above-mentioned post expressing my sadness about the tone of the post, and of retirement planners in general. Someone responded to my comment by saying that studies are showing more people are accepting the fact that they will work in retirement. I replied that I wasn’t surprised that people are changing their attitudes about work, given that Wall Street and multinational corporations have been working to do just that for decades.

If you read the comments on most retirement-themed posts, there are plenty of ambitious worker bees who always express sentiments like “I don’t ever plan to retire!” and “I just can’t see myself ever not working!”

Like I’ve said in the past, I don’t judge people who define themselves by their work. I can’t relate to them, but I’m not mad at them. Some people have found their true callings through work, and I’m glad for those people.

 

Be Wary of Corporate Personal Finance Advice

As the years go by, more and more of the blogs and personal sites you visit are being sold to larger advertising companies beholden to even bigger companies – sometimes unbeknownst to the readers. That makes it easier to reinforce the cultural ideas that are already taking hold: work hard, borrow big, spend it all, what vacation?

Even when they aren’t selling things, they are selling ideas and new cultural norms, and they have nothing but time to wait until they take hold and become reality.

Best Personal Finance Writing – Week 33

Best PF logo

In case you didn’t notice, the BPFW series has been on hiatus for about a month, due to our vacation and my inability to transition from vacation back into “real life.”

That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been a ton of great writing in the last month (there has).

Today we are going to a surprise party for one of my best friends, a defense contractor who just returned from 4 months in Afghanistan. It will be nice to see him, safe and sound.

I still haven’t got the whole picture of what exactly debt freedom will mean to our bank account, as this first month still requires a payoff of some of our vacation spending that was put on our foreign-transaction-fee-free Chase Sapphire Preferred Card. Plus we had to pay half of our daughter’s school tuition.

For most of us, this is back to school time, which means more expenses. With my wife being a teacher, this is an important time of the year for our household. It means those three girls who haven’t really had anywhere they absolutely had to be will now have to transition back to a daily schedule.

I guess the big news around here is that I redesigned the site. It needed a face lift. There are a few areas that are still broken (the RSS feed for one), and for some reason my share bar is totally ruined by Internet Explorer, the worst browser ever created. If you are using IE, I apologize, and I must also ask, WHY? Get thyself to Google Chrome or Firefox. Trust me.

 

BEST PERSONAL FINANCE AND LIFESTYLE WRITING OF THE WEEK 

  • Chuck Rylant writes a great story about when he was a police officer, and indecision almost killed him. I must admit that I didn’t see the ending coming. Great read.
  • Club Thrifty writes about the value of taking a vacation. Yes, they can be expensive, but for some of us, they are a necessary recharge of the soul.
  • Nick at Step Away from the Mall shares a story of extreme frugality to get out of debt and asks, where do we draw the line?
  • Modest Money featured a post with some thoughts on investing. I’m zeroing in on investment articles lately as I try to play catch-up and learn what I need to learn.
  • Daisy at Add Vodka shares what it’s like to live in a country with universal health care.

 

CARNIVAL CATCH UP

Because of vacation, I haven’t published my carnival features around the web, so here’s a catch up from the past few weeks.

Carn. of Financial Camaraderie at My University Money
Carnival of MoneyPros at Aaron Hung.com
Carnival of Retirement at Young Family Finance
Festival of Frugality at CashNet USA
Wealth Artisan’s FinCarn at Wealth Artisan
Y & T’s Weekend Ramblings at Young and Thrifty
Yakezie Carnival at The College Investor
Canadian PF Happy Hour at Canadian Personal Finance
Carn. of Financial Camaraderie at Money Counselor
Carnival of MoneyPros at Finance Product Reviews
Carnival of Retirement at Debt Black Hole
Carnival of Financial Planning at Money Reasons
Financial Carn. for Young Adults at 20s Finances
Nerdy Finance Carnival at Nerdy Finance Carnival
Wealth Artisan’s FinCarn at Wealth Artisan
Y & T’s Weekend Ramblings at Young and Thrifty
Yakezie Carnival at See Debt Run
Carnival of Retirement at Life Insurance by Jeff
Carnival of MoneyPros at Making Sense Of Cents
Totally Money Carnival at James Petzke: Graduating with a Surplus
Yakezie Carnival at Kylie Ofiu
Wealth Artisan’s FinCarn at Wealth Artison
Canadian PF Happy Hour at Canadian Personal Finance
Financial Carn. for Young Adults at 20s Finances
Y & T’s Weekend Ramblings at Young and Thrifty
Nerdy Finance Carnival at Nerdy Finance Carnival
Carn. of Financial Camaraderie at The University of Money
Carnival of Financial Planning at Broke Professionals
Wealth Artisan’s FinCarn at Wealth Artison
Yakezie Carnival at Passive Income to Retire
Totally Money Carnival at Money Challenge
Carnival of Fin. Camaraderie at Modest Money
Carnival of Retirement at Master the Art of Saving
Y & T’s Weekend Ramblings at Young and Thrifty
Festival of Frugality at One Smart Dollar
Best of Money Carnival at Wealth Pilgrim

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