Carnival of Personal Finance #85

Good morning and welcome to the 85th Carnival of Personal Finance! Before we get started, I’d like to say a few words of introduction. First of all, if you’re new to FiveCentNickel then welcome! If not, then welcome back!

This site is nearly two years old, and the archives contain a virtual treasure-trove of personal finance information. Feel free to poke around and explore. You might also be interested in subscribing to the site feed (via RSS or e-mail). It’s a full-text feed, so you’ll get every word that I write delivered to your doorstep free of charge. In case you don’t know, my wife and I also run a joint parenting weblog called Raising4Boys. As with FiveCentNickel, we offer a full text feed via either RSS or e-mail.

Anyway, lets get to the Carnival. As usual, we received a lot of entries this week. Most were appropriate, but some were not. I decided to enforce the submission guidelines a little more stringently this week, so… If I happened to notice that your submission has previously been included in another Carnival, I kicked it out. And if I happen to notice that it’s in another Carnival later this week, then I may go back and remove it. Likewise, if it was over two weeks old (or lacked a date), off-topic (in my opinion), or just plain spammy, then it didn’t make the cut. And if you didn’t submit by the deadline… Well, sorry.

With that said, I’ve picked out a smattering of “Editor’s Choice” posts that caught my eye. After that, I’ve listed all other submissions that met the Carnival criteria. There are 57 58 articles in all (I left one out by accident — be sure to click through and read the last article at the very end of the Carnival to make up for my oversight!).

» Jim from Blueprint for Financial Prosperity leads us off with A Historical Look at Tax Brackets. If you think you’re paying to much in taxes right now, take a look at how bad things have been in the past!

» Andy from Money Walks put together a nice primer on mutual funds called Mutual Funds 101.

» Lou Keeble from Stranger in a Strange Land put together an interesting critique of the Motley Fool investing strategy (and their reported returns) called A Fool and His Money… .

» Pete from My Financial Awareness has some deep thoughts for you about accepting your lot in life. His article is called Acceptance of Your Financial Situation Can Be Freeing.

» Dan Melson from Searchlight Crusade has an insightful piece called What to Do When Your Loan is Declined. If you’re thinking of buying a house, you should check it out. Actually, check out all of Dan’s writings — they offer a boatload of valuable insight.

» My Financial Journey put together an amusing piece on the odds of winning the lottery called Get Rich!! Play the Lottery!! Somebody has to win!!. Check it out. It’s good for a chuckle.

» Blunt Money ran a detailed Quicken report on spending based on twelve years of data. The resulting post is called That’s a Lot of Money. I picked this one for the idea more than the article itself… It’s really interesting (and a little scary) to dig back through your old data to see where your money went.

» The Stubborn Capitalist has a an entertaining little guide to help you recognize the difference between frugality and just being cheap. Be sure to go check out Frugal vs. Cheap.

» NCN from the No Credit Needed Blog put together a nice piece on goal-setting called Creating a Personal Finance Goal.

Next up are the balance of the submissions in all their cut-and-paste glory. Some are great, and just missed inclusion as an “Editor’s Choice.” Others are good, solid contributions. And the rest? Well… You’ll have to be the judge on that…

FMF presents Three More Ways to Insure Income for Life During Retirement posted at Free Money Finance.

mbhunter presents More Retail Jobs Being Replaced by Machines posted at MightyBargainHunter.com.

Flexo presents Investing: Real Estate vs. Stock Market posted at ConsumerismCommentary.

jim presents Roth 401k vs. Regular 401k posted at My Retirement Blog.

mapgirl presents True Me Up, Baby! posted at Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge.

Scott presents The Wealthy Barber posted at My Life and Times.

Chuck presents High Yield Business Savings Accounts posted at The Finance Journey.

Living Almost Large presents Keeping Up With the Joneses or Not? posted at Living Almost Large.

Sun presents Understanding M*’s Total Return and Investor Return posted at The Sun’s Financial Diary.

Stingy Student presents Student Loan Corporation Doesn’t Know Jack posted at Stingy Students.

Andy Oshiro presents General tips on Insurance posted at Exchange Ingredients.

Robert D. Flach presents Get Your Free Credit Report Today! posted at The Wandering Tax Pro.

Martin presents Beware: 0% APR Game posted at Money Blog SiteBank.

tc presents Advisers ARE Better Than Commission Advisers posted at InvestmentsLoans.net.

FIRE Finance presents Research – Safekeeping of Records posted at FIRE Finance.

Steve Faber presents Debt Consolidation Loan Problems You Must Avoid posted at Debt Free.

Getting To Enough presents How Did You Really Do Last Year? posted at Getting To Enough.

Elizabeth presents What’s it Worth to You? Liquor, Lotteries, and Cast Iron Pans posted at Money for the Rest of Us.

Silicon Valley Blogger presents The American Idol Career Path: Reality Bites posted at The Digerati Life.

Clever Dude presents 3 Methods to Pay Down Debt (aka Snowballing Debt) posted at Clever Dude.

Lua presents Switching to Geico posted at Save Money.

Yan presents De-LIGHT-ful Savings posted at Pro Bargain Hunter.

TFB presents Tax Software: Online or Desktop? posted at The Finance Buff.

Jose Anes presents Your Manager Does Not Want You to Leave: Does He/She? posted at Money And Investing.

Mr. Credit Card presents Transfer HELOC to Balance Transfer Credit Cards? posted at Ask Mr. Credit Card’s Blog.

Trent presents Deconstructing Robert Kiyosaki posted at The Simple Dollar.

Paula presents Lose Weight; Fatten Your Wallet? Is That Really True? posted at Queercents.

Paul Michael presents Can You Really Make Money From Taking Online Surveys? posted at Wise Bread.

The Dividend Guy presents Watching Dividend Payments Grow posted at The Dividend Guy Blog.

Brett McKay presents Do You Believe in Money (or Law School) Magic? posted at The Frugal Law Student.

Super Saver presents Retirement Calculator Evaluation Roundup posted at My Wealth Builder.

Scott On Money presents Credit Score Going Down, Down, Down posted at Scott On Money.

Manny presents Success Master Skills – Saving Money posted at Success Books.

King of Debt presents Closing The Orchard Bank Credit Card posted at We’re In Debt.

Smarty presents Money Management 201 posted at Growing Money.

Kevin Surbaugh presents How To Plan The Unexpected posted at Becoming & Staying Debt Free.

Sagar Satapathy presents Know How to Borrow posted at Debt Consolidation Lowdown.

TJP presents Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? posted at Investor Trip.

Paul Smith presents Magazine Tips and their effect on shares posted at Investing using Fundamentals on the Aussie StockMarket. (Editor’s Note: Ignoring taxes and trading costs can be hazardous to your wallet.)

MakingOurWay presents The Great Big Lie About Personal Finance Blogging! posted at MakingOurWay.

William Wallets presents Creating a Fixed Income Ladder posted at A Financial Revolution.

Sharon at Frugal Duchess presents ‘Stomp the Yard Movie’ Features Work-Study College Student posted at Frugal Duchess.

Ben presents Our Personal Finance State of the Union Address posted at Money Smart Life.

Tricia presents Would You Lend $750, 000 to Complete Strangers? This Man Has posted at Blogging Away Debt.

Peg presents Musings on Commuting posted at “Ai ya!”.

David presents Received Student Loan Check Today, What Should We Do With It? posted at My Two Dollars.

Finance Girl presents Prioritizing Between 401(k) and Roth IRA Contributions posted at Financial Fitness.

Jonathan presents Model Retirement/Investment Portfolios: A Comparison posted at My Money Blog.

Larry Russell presents Evaluate the Historical Investment Performance of Mutual Funds and ETFs, but Only AFTER Using Other Screening Criteria posted at The Skilled Investor Blog.

ISPF presents 12 Tips for Finding the Best Financial Aid posted at Personal Finance for Students and Fresh Grads.

(That one just above is the one that I forgot. Click it! Read it!)

That’s it! Thanks to all who participated, and double-thanks to all who help get the word out by linking back to the Carnival. Have a great week!