Carnival of Money Pros

Welcome to this week’s Carnival of Money Pros!  Enjoy the posts and leave your opinion in comments.

John @ Calling the Puts writes Save Money by Learning to Spend Wisely – The first step to investing is saving, and the key to saving money is learning how to spend it properly.

Lance @ Money Life & More writes How to Write a Check – In today’s environment I personally wouldn’t surprised at all if you don’t know how to write a check. Writing a check seems like a pain with the options you have for paying your bills today. However there are just some times when you don’t have many other options other than writing a check.

Kurt Fischer @ Money Counselor writes Does Repossession Cure Debt? – Let’s say you’ve been laid off or suffered other bad luck, and you can no longer afford to make both payments on your two cars. Would turning over a car to its lienholder and walking away solve your problem?

J Wayne @ All Things Finance writes The True Cost of Car Ownership – Car ownership costs much more than people think. It’s not just a matter of what you pay each month, but many more factors such as depreciation, insurance, fuel, interest and taxes.

harry campbell @ Your Personal Finance Pro writes Why Borrowing From Your 401k is a Bad Idea – here aren’t many loans out there that allow you to borrow without a credit check and pay yourself interest, but that’s what a 401k loan does. Sounds pretty awesome right? Well it isn’t all good, and although pundits argue that 401k loans are a good alternative to commercial loans and definitely a better choice than an outright distribution, a 401k loan goes against the whole principle of retirement investing.

Glen Craig @ Free From Broke writes What is a MLM Business and What You Need to Know About Them – Ever hear about a MLM business in the news and wonder what they were? Or perhaps a friend talked about multi-level marketing? We’ll answer ‘what is a MLM business?’ and more in this article.

CCS @ Credit Card Smarts writes Tackling Debt: Start with the Credit Cards – You want to tackle your debt. Great. But where to start? See why you should look to your credit card debt first when you aim to tackel debt.

Squeezer @ Personal Finance Success writes Dividend basics and important dates to remember – Dividends are when companies pay shareholders (investors) for owning a portion of the company. Money must be invested by a specific date to earn the dividend.

Sara @ Cultivating Wealth writes Business and Personal: Keep ‘Em Separated – Are you running your personal and business expenses out of the same account? If so, you are not alone. I find that many freelancers, independent contractors, or entrepreneurs make the same financial mistake. Here are some of the benefits of separating your business and personal bank accounts:

Eddie @ Finance Fox writes The Cold Hard Truth On Being a Personal Finance Blogger – What I Learned In Less Than 2 Years! – Looking back now at your blogging journey, you can agree with me on this: Being a blogger and blogging is anything but easy.

Ryan @ Early Retirement Investments writes How Solar Power Can Make You a Passive Income – Learn how solar power can make you passive income. I bet your in for a small surprise!

Corey @ 20s Finances writes Young Adult Retirement Planning – Benefits of Saving a Lot Early – Find out when you should start saving for retirement and how much you should be saving for retirement.

Wayne @ Young Family Finance writes Steps to Achieve Financial Security – Learn three basic steps to achieve financial security. Everyone should be striving for this goal because of what it offers.

Crystal @ Budgeting in the Fun Stuff writes Budgeting Can Change Your Life And Get You Out Of The Debt Hole – Budgets and budgeting are the key to savings and getting out of debt.

Amanda L Grossman @ Frugal Confessions writes My Advice to a Person Budgeting for the First Time – Someone asked for my help this past week in creating a budget for their household.

Jon the Saver @ Free Money Wisdom writes Lack of Liquidity May Be Why You Don’t Feel Rich – Having a lack of liquidity has real negative consequences that can be really bad for your finances.

SBB @ Simple Budget Blog writes Is Budgeting Worth Your Time? – Find out how you can keep budgeting simple and avoid the time consuming tasks that are often associated with managing your finances.

L Bee @ L Bee and the Money Tree writes 7 New Home Budget Busters – I had originally set a goal for this month of not letting my spending get over 1k. I topped this number easily and upon further examination realized there were several culprits. I moved into a new apartment two months ago … Continue reading →The post 7 New Home Budget Busters appeared first on L Bee and the Moneytree.

Ray @ Squirrelers writes Penny Pinching on Basic Needs: Why? – Many folks micromanage pennies when it comes to small expenses. This post discusses whether or not we should focus on these types of expenses, or the bigger ticket ones

Aloysa @ My Broken Coin writes How Much Money Are We Supposed to Spend on Friends? – Friends. My biggest monetary pet peeve lately. Nowadays it is not easy to be a good friend. Nor it is cheap anymore.

Jennifer Lynn @ Broke-Ass Mommy writes Clearing Out the Clutter – Clutter is the enemy to us all! Read my attempt to conquer it!

Jester @ The Ultimate Juggle writes Make Time To Enjoy Life While Swimming in Chaos – You never know what is around the corner, so make sure you make time to enjoy life! You only get one shot at it!

A Blinkin @ Funancials writes Should I Die This Year or Next Year? – 2013 Federal Estate Taxes When you’re dealing with a death in your family, the last thing you want to think about is what fraction of the estate goes to the United States government. What’s remarkable is that depending on WHEN you die, that fraction could be significantly higher (or lower).

YFS @ Your Finances Simplified writes 2 Home Buying Tips That People Never Tell You! – I would like to talk about home ownership, in particular, mortgages. Now everyone tells you that home ownership is better than renting.

Suba @ Broke Professionals writes Brown Bag It: Tips For Making Cheap Lunch – Deciding to brown bag it doesn’t meal relegating yourself to a life of school lunches with PB&J and baby carrots. Here are my favorite adult lunch ideas.

Jen @ Master the Art of Saving writes Preparing Our Finances 4 Home Ownership – By estimating our mortgage and bills and preparing our finances for home ownership now, we can begin to adjust our budget to avoid a financial apocalypse later.

Corey @ Steadfast Finances writes Should You Invest in Dividend Stocks? – Find out if dividend stocks live up to the hype. The payment structure seems to have an advantage on other stocks, but is that really the case?

PPlaner @ Provident Plan writes Is Prepaid or Traditional the right credit card for you? – Last week I talked about whether you should avoid debt. In case you haven’t read the article, I talked about how managing our finances, like much of life, is never black and white. This applies to debt. In many ways it may be advantageous to be debt free, but not always.

Sustainable PF @ Sustainable Personal Finance writes That Old Refrigerator May Be Costing You – Got an old fridge? Tired of soaring energy costs? Here are some strategies to save you money!

Debt Guru @ Debt Free Blog writes Prioritizing Your Debt Pay Off – Find out the best strategy to paying off debt. Learning the best way to pay off debt can motivate anyone to get started now.

JP @ My Family Finances writes No. You Don’t Need to Buy Life Insurance for Your Children – Buying life insurance for your children to guarantee insurability is like paying money to protect hypothetical people.

MR @ Money Reasons writes Is A Roth IRA One Of The Best Protection Against High Future Tax Rates? – With tax hikes more than likely in the future, is a Roth IRA your best protection against the government being able to tax all of your money?

Jason @ Work Save Live writes 4 Ways to Build an Emergency Fund Faster – Should You Have an Emergency Fund? Despite conventional wisdom suggesting that it would be wise to have a stash of savings set aside for unforeseen events that life could throw your way, many Americans opt to forgo the safety net and face life’s challenges on a whim.

MMD @ My Money Design writes Blogging Tips from All the Dumb Mistakes I Made My First Year – I made a lot of mistakes within the first year of my blog. Here’s a look back at them and my blogging tips for doing things the right way!

Shawanda @ You Have More Than You Think writes How to Make Extra Income With Online Odd Jobs – Where to find fresh opportunities to supercharge your earnings without the hassle of starting a traditional business.

BARBARA FRIEDBERG @ Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance writes 5 TIPS TO GET RICH AND BUILD WEALTH – Building wealth is a key to independence and freedom; and it’s not all about the money. More people get depressed, get divorced, and get stressed over money issues than most other worries. By eliminating the living paycheck to paycheck fears and building long term wealth, emergency savings, and money for retirement, you remove one of the life’s greatest stressors.

krantcents @ KrantCents writes Start a Business at 59 Years Old? – Would you start a business at 59 years old? Bob Chinn did! His seafood restaurant is the highest grossing restaurant in the United States. It is not in New York or Chicago or Los Angeles! It is in Wheeling, Illinois. It is just thirty (30) miles from Chicago.

Maria @ The Money Principle writes Real estate ownership: a blessing or a bother? – I am on holiday and the real estate problems I have in Bulgaria is heavy on my mind. To rent or to sell?

Don @ MoneySmartGuides writes Living Paycheck to Paycheck – In my recent wanderings on the world wide web, I came across an article on CBS MoneyWatch that said 38% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. This is up from 31% back in 1997.

A Blinkin @ Funancials writes The Ideal Budget for a Single Guy (Age 24) – The transition from college student to young professional can be one of the most fun times in your life, but it can also be a time of stress. The increasing inflow can be extremely exciting, but only if it exceeds the increasing outflow. The bills that mom and dad used to cover (without your knowing) are now directed to your mailbox. This article will tell a 24 year old single guy how to budget.

TRL @ The Retired Landlord writes Real Estate Leverage – Using it to Your Advantage – Are you wondering what real estate leverage is? Find out the answer and how to leverage your money to build wealth faster without the risk.

Roger the Amateur Financier @ The Amateur Financier writes Couples and Money – Splitting the Bills – A guide for couples on how to split the bills they are now facing together, presenting three different ways and the advantages of each.

Passive Income Earner @ The Passive Income Earner writes Is RIM a Good Investment? – Research In Motion (RIM for short) has been an icon for Canada with their Blackberry but the fierce competition it has faced since Apple came out with the iPhone has challenged their market hold on the smartphone. Not only has Apple taken a bite of their market but so has the Android based smartphones.

Evan @ My Journey to Millions writes Increasing My Annual Income 10% – Knowing how much you made one year compared to the previous can help you quickly gauge if you’re properly handling your money. If you earned 10% more this year but only have a 3% increase in savings where did the other 7% go?

Miss T. @ Prairie Eco Thrifter writes 8 Ways to Save Money on Groceries without Coupons – While TV reality shows usually concentrate on one tip – using coupons – there are plenty of ways to save money on groceries that involve things other than cutting coupons out of the Sunday paper. Let’s take a look at some of the tips I use here at my house.

Jason @ Live Real, Now writes Selling Your Home: The Real Estate Agent – The hassles of selling a home include marketing, an objective price analysis, advertising on the internet and in newspapers, providing a yard sign, negotiating the sale price, reviewing and filling out the contracts, and navigating the entire process for you. The aren’t meaningless duties, so make sure you are getting what you pay for if you hire a realtor. You need to find the right realtor for you.

Beating Broke @ Beating Broke writes I Quit My Job: Where I Went Wrong – I tried, through my previous posts, to adequately cover the reasoning, and process, of quitting my job. One thing that I didn’t cover, however, was the mistakes I made along the way.

Mr. Money @ Smart on Money writes Can You Contest that Will? – Many of us think of the will as the final word in inheritance. However, this is far from the truth. Some things, like beneficiaries listed on retirement accounts and life insurance policies, supersede what is in a will. And, there is always the possibility of contesting a will if you feel as though distribution wasn’t what it should be.

Peter @ Bible Money Matters writes How Much House Can You Afford to Buy? Should You Buy Less than Your Means Allow? – There is no shortage of advice when it comes to figuring out how much house you can afford. Let’s take a look at some expert opinions, figure out what banks will approve you for, and figure out what is usually the most financially sound decision to make when buying a new home.

Little House @ Little House in the Valley writes Stay Organized with Your Finances – So how can a disorganized person become more systematic with their finances? It’s really not all that mind-boggling. Here are a few tips to get started:

Lazy Man @ Lazy Man and Money writes Real Estate: To Invest or Not to Invest? That Is the Question – When it comes down to it, I view real estate investing as the ultimate in forced savings. We had to come up with the down payments and we lose a couple hundred dollars a month. (That negative cash flow was a consequence of buying at the height of the market for reasons other than “investing.”) The expected result in 15 years is profound. It is a significant portion of our early retirement planning and it provides great diversification of our income in the future.

IMB @ Investing Money writes Investing Money is Important – Find out why investing money is important. You could be missing out on a lot of money.

Daniel @ Sweating the Big Stuff writes What Determines the Value On Your Home Loan? – You’ll see a lot of three-letter acronyms thrown around as you shop for a home loan: APR, FHA, PMI. It’s enough to make your head spin. But there’s one mortgage acronym – LTV, short for loan-to-value ratio – that’s always puzzled me. Read more to get the lowdown!

Robert @ Entrepreneurship & Life writes Be Professional, Even Off the Clock – If you own a small business, you are linked to your brand whether you like it or not. Last year, I had the pleasure of joining hundreds of online small business owners at the Financial Blogger Conference in Chicago. Each person there was the face of their brand.

Robert @ My Multiple Incomes writes Should You Get Your Masters? – There are also many factors to think about when deciding whether or not more schooling is for you. These factors can include the value/goals, cost and time.

Robert @ The College Investor writes How to Use High and Low Beta Stocks and ETFs – Beta can be used to create a balanced portfolio. When investment professionals talk about risk, they are usually talking about beta, or how much a portfolio will rise or fall with the broad market. A fund with a beta of 0.5 would be less “risky” than a fund with a beta of 2. You can expect much more volatility in a fund with a higher beta than a fund with a lower beta. Here’s how you might use beta in your own portfolio:

Invest It Wisely @ Invest It Wisely writes I Don’t Need to Worry about Retirement Yet, Do I? – When is it time to worry about your retirement savings? Read my article to learn when…

Dr. Dean @ The Millionaire Nurse Blog writes They’re Your Medical Records, Too – Medixbase is an online medical record system developed by Michelle Mourre, RN. With Medixbase you’re in charge of your records and they’re readily available.

Penny Thots @ Penny Thots writes Lessons Learned from Octomom – Now that her octuplets are three-plus, Octomom’s advancing out of toilet training and into a whole new period in life. A new house, career…kindergarten! Thanks to her sterling example, I’ve learned all sorts of interesting lessons:

John @ Married (with Debt) writes We Did It: Debt Free – How we became consumer debt free, and how you can too. Intentional living for married couples. Get out of debt.

PITR @ Passive Income To Retire writes Negotiating Your Salary and Benefits – Find out important career tips and what you can do to negotiate your way to a better job.

Hank @ Money Q&A writes Fee Based Vs Commissioned Based Financial Planners – There are two main types of financial planners – fee based and commission based. Both types of financial planners provide financial advice on how to best manage most aspects of your financial life.

Ted Jenkin @ Your Smart Money Moves writes 4 Tax Law Changes We Need To Make Permanent – With the presidential election beginning to heat up in America over the next several months, we are all going to hear a lot about income taxes.

Luke @ Learn Bonds writes Emerging Market Debt: Having Your Cake and Eating it Too – Emerging market debt trades at – twice the yield of developed country debt and triple the fundamentals.

Tushar @ Start Investing Money writes How Are Stocks Classified? – Read my article to learn how Stock are classified, and in the process gain a possible new perspective on them.

Daisy @ Add Vodka writes Planning For Homebuying – I will admit that I am really not always the most patient of people. When I get something in my head, I want it now. Not in a year, not in three months, NOW.

Kevin @ Thousandaire writes Prepare For An Emergency Today!!! – Let me tell you a story about what happened to me and my girlfriend Tag over the weekend. It was seriously one of the scariest moments of my life.

Paul Vachon @ The Frugal Toad writes Decidiing When to Retire – Deciding when to retire can be a difficult decision to make. Will I have enough income from my retirement accounts, pension, and social security to live comfortably in retirement?

Investor Junkie @ Investor Junkie writes Picking Good Mutual Funds – Spotting quality funds and separating them from lesser-quality funds can be done in only a few minutes of research. Here’s what you need to look for before buying into any actively-managed mutual fund:

Michelle @ Making Sense of Cents. writes Money or Passion? – Do you work for Money or Passion? Having a mix of the two would be great, but that doesn’t work for everyone.

Melissa @ Bargaineering writes Frugal Home Security Tips – If you want to protect your home but don’t want to spend money on a pricey security system, there are plenty of techniques you can use.

Teacher Man @ My University Money writes Investing In Yourself Doesn’t Have To Be Expensive – There is plenty of buzz out there these days about “investing in yourself”. Usually it is in reference to some magical product that you should buy. The logic is that by investing in what they have to offer, you are really just spending the money to improve themselves, and really, who doesn’t want that?

Young @ Young And Thrifty writes How Far Would You Go to Score a Deal? – This is my journey to get myself 16,500 free Aeroplan points. It took a while, but in the end I was able to take a mini vacation!

Boomer @ Boomer & Echo writes Are You Counting On An Inheritance? – Many boomers are not well prepared for their own retirements and are expecting an inheritance windfall to reduce their debts and provide an income.

Deacon Hayes @ Well Kept Wallet writes Why it Pays to Go Back to the Store – Every time I go to Fry’s, they post the ads on the right as soon as you walk in the door. I have made it a habit to go over to see if there is anything that is a good deal or worth looking at. Well, this time I noticed that a radio I had bought within the past 30 days was on sale for $20 less. I remembered that they had a price match guarantee and decided I would ask if they would give me the difference.

Jeremy @ Modest Money writes Vehicle Insurance � Better Safe Than Sorry – I am sure none of you are guilty of this, but amazingly some people take the risk of driving without insurance. Here in BC that is illegal�and a pretty dumb risk regardless where you live.

Holly @ http://clubthrifty.com writes Real Estate Rehab: Confessions of a Houseaholic – I am ashamed to admit this but…my name is Holly…and I have a problem. I am addicted to real estate. Please feel free to read on and share in my story.

Holly @ Club Thrifty writes Real Estate Rehab: Confessions of a Houseaholic – I am ashamed to admit this but…my name is Holly…and I have a problem. I am addicted to real estate. Please feel free to read on and share in my story.

J.P. @ Novel Investor writes What Are Target Date Funds? – Target date funds were created as an easy way to invest for retirement. It’s probably one of many options in your retirement account. But is it for you?

SB @ One Cent at a Time writes How to Effectively Manage Different Financial Accounts and Information – Effectively managing financial institution accounts is equally important as saving money. Still we don’t usually put much attention on managing side of the personal finance. In personal finance, diversification is as important as managing that diversified portfolio. Do it effectively

Marie at FamilyMoneyValues @ Family Money Values writes Dad’s Real Estate Investments – The real estate investing experiences and lessons learned from my Dad – a greatest generation vet.

Everything Finance @ Everything Finance Blog writes Timeshares: Trap of all Traps – Timeshares have taken so much heat over the last few years that pretty much everyone knows to steer clear. But do we really know why they’re so bad in the first place?

Melissa @ Mom’s Plans writes Why You Need Life Insurance – Life insurance is now more affordable than ever. You may think you don’t have the money to buy it, but I urge you to evaluate your expenses.

Shilpan @ Street Smart Finance writes The Best Investment Strategy for Growth and Income – There is no doubt that both value and growth investing styles have their share of staunch followers. Those who believe in Graham and Warren Buffett’s value investment style believe that growth investing is for roulette players. On the other hand, growth investors believe that value investing is a thing of the past with mediocre return at best for the serious investors.

Steve @ Canadian Personal Finance writes Is it OK to get a discount if you are good looking? – Would you turn down a discount because you were good looking? A customer received a discount for being good looking. This was simply a joke by the server but honestly it brings up a good question, do good looking people get discounts?

Emily @ Evolving Personal Finance writes How to Make an Irregular Income as Regular as Possible – I outline a simple strategy for dealing with irregular income – with whiteboard drawings!

Matt @ Dividend Monk writes Dividend Discount Model Overview – A concise overview in plain English on how to determine a fair stock price.