Carnival of Retirement – 18th Edition

Welcome to this week’s Carnival of Retirement! Here, you’ll find tips on personal finance and on preparing for retirement financially. Enjoy!

Dr. Dean @ The Millionaire Nurse Blog writes I Can Cut Your College Costs by 40%, Guaranteed! – How can you save big money and still get your degree from that big name University? Let me show you.

MMD @ MyMoneyDesign writes How to Pick Good Mutual Funds for Your 401k or Retirement Plan – Are you struggling to pick some good mutual fund options for your 401k? If so, here are my easy to follow tips for making the best of the choices you have before you.

Ryan @ Early Retirement Investments writes Understand and Avoiding Student Loan Debt at Retirement Age – Understand and Avoiding Student Loan Debt at Retirement Age and Why this is a great idea.

Sustainable PF @ Sustainable Personal Finance writes Recession Gardening to Save Money – I recently discovered a practice that I’d never heard of before – recession gardening.

Debt Guru @ Debt Free Blog writes Paying Off Debt is More than Numbers – Find out why paying off debt is more than just numbers. Many social and mental influences come into play with your finances.

krantcents @ KrantCents writes The 3 N’s of Success – The 3 N’s of Success is the fourteenth in a series of articles to help you reach your goal.

Crystal @ Budgeting in the Fun Stuff writes Build a Home Series: The Waiting Sucks – Mr. BFS and I have been waiting to hear back about pricing on a bunch of options for our new house, but it takes forever to get information!

Daisy @ Add Vodka writes Letting Go Of Ideals – I find that in the PF blogosphere, there is a lot of intertwining with self improvement blogs and I think that by tracking our spending, budgeting, investing, and working toward financial goals leaks into other parts of our lives as well.

Wayne @ Young Family Finance writes Buying the Best Car for Your Money – Buying the best car for your money involves considering quality in addition to the sticker price. Find out if you are getting the best car.

John @ Married (with Debt) writes Addicted to Debt – We don’t really think of debt as an addiction. It’s not as though you have a burning desire to get debt if you don’t have it. You don’t hear about the car owner who recently made their last payment and started to crave making those monthly payments again.

Lance @ http://www.moneylifeandmore.com writes Five Money Milestones by Age 30 (More Like Your First Real Job) – While browsing the web I came across this video the other day “Five Money Milestones by Age 30″. They suggest the five following milestones: Build an Emergency Fund (Six Months of Expenses) Start Planning for Retirement Manage Your Debt Load Set a Monthly Budget and Stick to It Set Yourself Up for Your Future – Start Saving Now!

Amanda L Grossman @ Frugal Confessions writes Sifting Through Energy Company Offers in a World of Deregulation: Part 1 – Two weeks ago while shopping for electricity I gave up. By “giving up”, I mean that after finding out I would be charged a $9.9

FG @ Financial God writes Five Tips on How to Protect Yourself from Getting Financially Destroyed – 1. Invest money in precious metals. Even the gold pessimist Jon Nadler recommends that it is wise to store about 10% of your net assets in the form of physical, allocated gold. This means gold you hold in direct physical possession, or in vaults overseas.

Eddie @ Finance Fox writes I Filed My Taxes, I’m Owing and I’m OK With That! – This weekend I got around to completing my taxes, and without much surprise I’m owning the government $1,800 in taxes.

A Blinkin @ Funancials writes It’s The Economy, Stupid! – With the Presidential election in the U.S. beginning to heat up, it is natural to forget about elections elsewhere in the world. But before our elections start to cause volatility in the Fall, a round of elections in Europe in May could have a very meaningful impact on the marketplace.

Tushar @ Start Investing Money writes Can Fun Money Fit into a Smart Investing Plan? – This Post was Originally published at Can Fun Money Fit into a Smart Investing Plan? on Start Investing Money

Kevin @ Thousandaire writes How to Save Money on Vacation – Use frequent flyer miles, buy your hotel from groupon, and eat cheap foods if you want to save money on your vacation.

Hank @ Money Q&A writes Which Is First: Paying Off Your Debt Or Investing For Retirement? – Should you pay off debt, or should they start a retirement account first? This is a question that has plagued experts forever.

PITR @ Passive Income To Retire writes The Power of Re-Investing Profit – Find out why re-investing profits is advantageous to establishing a sustainable business model.

Suba @ Broke Professionals writes How Playing Monopoly Can Improve Your Financial Knowledge – How Playing Monopoly Can Improve Your Financial Knowledge is a post from: Broke Professionals if you enjoy it, please visit us and subscribe to the Feed. If you haven’t played Monopoly before, you should download it to your phone or buy the board game. Don’t worry, there’s not much difference.

KT @ Personal Finance Journey writes Do You Take an Honest Look at How You Spend Your Money? – When you see your friends buying nice things such as a new car or a second home, do you automatically think that they have gone deep into debt for the purchase or do you secretly envy them and think they must have come into some money? Do you think, some people have all the luck

PPlan @ Provident Plan writes Seven Deadly Sins and how they lead to Financial Disaster – Learn how the seven deadly sins offer financial guidance.

Lazy Man @ Lazy Man and Money writes Lending Club Update – May 2012 – When I did my last Lending Club update in September of last year, I was making 7.13% return (according to Lending Club, but there is disagreement on how to an accurate number with regard to P2P.) So with the advantage of more time and a bigger sample size of loans, what do we have today? It looks like this:

MR @ Money Reasons writes Learning Versus Watching TV As Entertainment – Learning instead of Watching TV can be very rewarding! Why not try to learn something simple and quick and see if you find it rewarding or not?

Ashley @ Money Talks Coaching writes We Maxed Out Our Roths! – We are having a good April! Earlier this week I revealed that we refinanced our house.

Don @ MoneySmartGuides writes Is Tipping Out of Control? – Growing up, I would see my parents tip the waiter or waitress at the restaurant where we ate. I would see my Dad tip the barber for cutting our hair. Other than that, there wasn’t much tipping done.

YFS @ Your Finances Simplified writes Top 11 Reasons You Should Use Yodlee MoneyCenter –   You should keep track of your finances. It is as easy as that. Whether you decide to use a pen and paper, a spreadsheet, or an online account aggregator, you should have an idea of how much you are spending and on what.

Steve @ Money Infant writes 5 Smart Things to do With Your Money – The following was written as a guest post for MI: Learning to make your money work for you is a good idea for anyone who has suffered from the economy in

Jen @ Master the Art of Saving writes I Hate Housecleaning…But I Love Earning Opportunities – I’m not one of those people who enjoy cleaning; I absolutely hate housecleaning. No way that sticking to my routine was worth passing up an earning opportunity.

Shaun @ Smart Family Finance writes Ways Your Family Can Invest In Gold – As many world economies continue to stagnate in today’s weak global economy. Investors are looking to broaden their portfolio horizons and gold is one investment that is popular.

Jason @ Work Save Live writes How to Retire Comfortably: Start With the End in Mind – I hope you enjoy the 4th post of my ‘Understanding Retirement Planning & Investing’ series! If you’ve missed the first three posts be sure to check them out! Everything You Need to Know About a Roth IRA & Why to Start One.

Jeremy Waller @ Personal Finance Whiz writes How to Wreck Your Car, Buy a New Car, Refinance Your Mortgage and Pay off A Credit Card at The Same Time – What a crazy month it has been. I feel like I’ve gone through a financial blender. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, my beloved Jeep was totaled. I was rear-ended by someone going 60 mph. My car didn’t stand a chance. State Farm estimated it would cost $10,132.95 to repair. But, the Jeep was This post was originally posted to Personal Finance Whiz.

Jon the Saver @ Free Money Wisdom writes Do Your Kids a Favor and Open a 529 Plan – Did you you can benefit from a 529 college savings plan if you open one? you can avoid taxes and shelter your money for future expenses!

Aloysa @ My Broken Coin writes Curb Your Spending with Pinterest – Yes, you’ve read it right and no, I have not lost my mind. I believe that you can curb your spending with Pinterest. If you’ve been reading this blog for some time now, you know then that I am a shopper and a spender.

Kyle @ The Penny Hoarder writes How to Make $24/Hour Teaching English Classes Online – If you know how to speak a language, you qualify for this freelance job. There’s a world full of people that are trying to learn how to speak English.

101 Centavos @ 101 Centavos writes Using Cattle Panels to Support Tomato Plants – Staking up and supporting tomato plants has got to be one of the more time-consuming pastimes of the home gardener, and there’s plenty of ways to do it.

Teacher Man @ Young And Thrifty writes Risk Taking: Intelligent vs Non-Intelligent – When we told select family and friends that we were going to purchase this website, we got some stunned looks and some other words of support. The interesting part about that varied reaction is the fact that we intentionally haven’t told many people.

Sean @ One Smart Dollar writes Rent, Don’t Buy – Do you have a home project that needs to get done, but a $500 tool is standing in your way? Save your monday and don’t buy it, just rent.

SB @ One Cent at a Time writes Saving Money or Earning Money Where to Put your Priority? – The problem comes when you are choosing one over the other or, giving priority to one over the other, due to limited time and resources. A guide to help you make informed decision.

SB @ Finance Product Reviews writes Best 3 Credit Cards For Travel Rewards in 2012 – We searched all travel rewards cards, analyzed their features and then listed the top three in 2012 based on the research. These are the top 3 leading travel rewards cards in USA in 2012

Daniel @ Sweating the Big Stuff writes Things I’d Buy If I Were Rich – It’s fun to daydream about what we’d do with more money than we could ever need. Here’s my list of items I’d like to have if I were in that situation.

Paul Vachon @ The Frugal Toad writes The Effect of FICO Credit Scores on Wealth Creation – We all know that a good credit score can result in a better interest rate on loans but you may be surprised to learn that a bad credit score can affect you in ways you might not have thought about. In addition to paying higher interest rates, a poor credit score can result in higher insurance premiums, denial for employment, or having to pay a security deposit when leasing an apartment or opening a utility account.

Corey @ 20s Finances writes Why Cars are Destroying Our Society – What kind of car do you drive? Are one of those people that worries about breaking down on the side of the road because your car is older than most high schoolers? Or are you someone who loves the smell of a new car. We all know that smell – it’s not just a sign of its recent production date, but is also about comfort, security, and assurances (aka warranties).

Maria @ The Money Principle writes Money for all seasons II: income, spending and age profiles and received wisdom – In brief, I see the expectations of pitfalls in different -seasons- are the following.

Jeffrey @ Money Spruce writes Hitting a Financial Knowledge Peak (and What Really Matters) – I’ve spent the past 2 years+ absorbing all the personal finance knowledge that I possibly can. Books, blogs, webinars, conferences, and more – I’ve read a ton on a wide range of topics. I don’t know everything, but I still feel like I’ve hit a knowledge peak.

Van Beek @ Stock Trend Investing writes Investing in Google Stock – Google has been a hot stock for the last few years, and if you’re thinking about getting started investing, you may be considering investing in Google stock. I mean, why not? If you could double or triple your investment, who wouldn’t? Well, you should carefully consider your investment in Google stock, or any stock, based on these following things.

Penny Thots @ Penny Thots writes Active Vs. Passive Investing – If you have read my bio, you will see that I embrace buy-and-hold investing with mutual funds, also known as passive investing. You may be asking what exactly is passive investing and how does it differ from active investing? Or better yet, what is active investing? Well, I’m glad you asked. Here is a brief explanation of both approaches to investing:

Robert @ My Multiple Incomes writes My Monthly Income Stream Report – April 2012 – The biggest thing I learned this month is to STOP paying attention to what Google is doing and focus on my content and what I can control.

Boomer @ Boomer & Echo writes Beat Inflation With Rising Dividends – One way to beat inflation is to focus on companies that continuously raise their dividends, such as the “Dividend Aristocrats.” This gives you a stream of income that rises as fast as the cost of living.

Sicorra @ Tackling Our Debt writes Let’s Talk Money – The Series – With Erika at From Shopping to Saving – Please check out this week’s Let’s Talk Money interview with Erika from the very popular blog known as From Shopping to Saving.

Kraig @ Young, Cheap Living writes How to Handle Life When it Attempts to Drive You Nuts – I’ve been through more than my fair share of drama and hard times in my short life so far. On the positive side, I’ve learned a lot. It has also motivated me to not let it or any future road blocks stop me from pressing forward with hope and inspiration.

J.P. @ Novel Investor writes Bond Basics: Bond Price And Yield Relationship – One of the more confusing aspects of bond investing is the relationship of bond price and yield. In a time where interest rates are at all time lows, understanding the bond price and yield relationship is important.

You can submit your post for the next edition of Carnival of Retirement here – Carnival of Retirement submission form.  Next week’s edition will be hosted by Portfolio Princess.