7/16/2007

70 Tidbits and Tips on Personal Finance

The 109th Carnival of Personal Finance – “First Post” Edition

Your first bicycle. Your first day at school. Your kid’s first word. The first time you won the state lottery (or not). Life contains many firsts — and this is the first time we’re hosting the Carnival of Personal Finance.

Welcome to the Mint Blog. If this is your first visit, we encourage you to subscribe to our RSS feed.

To celerbrate our first hosting, we have listed each of the blog submissions below along with their first post — aka their blog birthday (when available). Check out the submissions below, if you find the blog interesting, subscribe to their RSS feed and leave a little note on their first post!

We’re glad you’re joining us today and we hope you enjoy this carnival (bonus fun facts below).

Mint’s Note: For those that don’t know, blog carnivals are weekly collections of interesting post from across the blogsphere. This week’s Carnival of Personal Finance is hosted by yours truly, The Mint Blog. Submissions are placed in specific categories and listed in no particular order.

Editor’s Choice:

• Think About Your Finances Before Having (More) Children from Money, Matter, and More Musings. Golbguru muses on the questions you should ask in regards to finances before you consider having children. A very interesting read along with a lively discussion and input from the community. Golbguru’s first post: 8/21/2006.
• Five Accounts You Absolutely Must Have (And Four You Don’t) from Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. The title is probably pretty self explanatory. Jim writes about five financial accounts you absolutely must have and four you can definitely live without. The five must have: high-yield online savings account; savings/checking at a credit union; retirement account (Roth IRA, 401k or equivalent); accessible checking account (ubiquitous ATMs); credit card account (yes, really). Jim’s first post: 1/31/2005.
• Canceled Oldest Credit card from The Finance Buff. TFB went against conventional wisdom and canceled his oldest credit card. No big deal, he says. We agree (specifically for his situation, anyway). TFB’s first post: 10/05/2006.
• Campaign Against Financial Myths: Part 4 – Mortgage & Home Ownership from Grad Money Matters. Ispf continues his series on financial myth by debunking ten common financial myths to mortgage and home ownership. Ispf’s first post: 11/19/2006.

General

• Net Worth VS Cash Flow from To One Million and Beyond. Matt compare and contrast the difference of net worth and cash flow. Matt’s first post: 9/4/2006.
• An Emergency Fund in Action: Our $500 Weekend from Living Behind the Curve. Dani shares a real-life story on why emergency funds are important. Dani’s first post: 5/20/2007.

Tips

• Don’t Pay For Identity Theft Insurance, Here’s How To Protect Yourself For Free from My Money Blog. Jonathan’s first post: 12/6/2004.
• Why Giving A $10,000 Tip Is A Bad Idea from the Saving Advice Blog. First post: 9/21/2005.
• How to Make a Plan to Achieve Financial Freedom, Part 1 From Journey to Financial Freedom.
• 2007 State Sales Tax Holidays for Back-to-School Shopping from Raising Four Boys. First post: 1/01/2006.
• The best deal in career advancement from Debt is Scary. Kimble outlines four reasons for college students who think they might want to get an MBA in the future to go ahead and apply as seniors. Kimble’s first post: 4/19/2007.
• Attention Shopaholics: Alternatives to Spending when You are Trying to Save from Picture of Wealth. Jen’s first post: 3/25/2007.
• Are you ready for an unpaid leave? from Money Liberty. Curtis’ first post: 5/17/2007.
• Additional income possibilities: side jobs from Plonkee Money. Plonkee’s first post: 2/23/2007.
• Dealer Financing Good or Bad from Money and Credit. Colonel Cash’s first post: 3/11/2007.
• Financial Blogs: Overcoming the Poverty of Attention from The Financial Philosopher. Kent’s first post 11/01/2006.
• How to prepare for joblessness: Saving the third check for a rainy year! from Life Lessons from Chess. Steve’s first post: 6/03/2007.
• The Art of Not Buying Things on Sale from Make Your Nut. DDL’s first post: 12/28/2006.
• Make a few hundred extra dollars a year at work – legitimately from Family Finance Blog. FFB wrote about how he made a few extra hundred dollars per year by volunteering to be a purchasing agent at work. FFB’s first post: 5/29/2007.
• How to Prevent Whole Foods From Becoming Whole Paycheck from Penny Pinching Newlywed. Olivia gives seven tips on shopping at whole foods without blowing the budget. Olivia’s first post: 7/06/2006.
• Overdraft Fees Becoming More Popular from Consumerism Commentary. Flexo writes about how banks are making increasing amounts of money off of their customers by being sneaky about it. Flexo’s first post: 7/16/2003.

Credit

• Credit Card Bonus Chasing and Your Credit Score from Five Cent Nickel. Nickel’s first post: 5/01/2005.
• Getting The Most Out Of Your Credit Card Reward Program from My Two Dollars. David’s first post: 11/10/2006.
• I Know Why I’m Fat! It’s Because of My Credit Cards! from Blogging Away Debt. Tricia takes a closer look to see if having credit card debt is related to being fat, as one article suggested. Tricia’s first post: 2/16/2006.
• I Don’t Do Credit Card Arbitrage from Advance Personal Finance. KMC’s first post: 5/21/2007.
• Be Credit Smart: Beware of the “Larry Rule” from Smart Money Daily. Jason writes about how Larry Lindsey, one of seven people on the world’s most prestigious financial board got denied a credit card from Toys R’ Us. Jason’s first post: 1/21/2005.
• Amex’s Business Gold Card Bonus Explained from Money Smart Life.

Investing

• Making the Case of Having Alternative Investments in Portfolio from The Sun’s Financial Diary. Sun’s first post: 6/09/2006.
• Give me a E, Give me T, Give me N. Go ETN! from AskDong. Dong writes about Exchange Traded Notes and shares his viewpoint on the financial security. Dong’s first post: 1/17/2006.
• Destroy Your Retirement Nest egg with Happy Thoughts from Home Finance Freedom. J’s first post: 3/7/2007.
• The Commodity Futures Market from Accumulating Money. Clint’s first post: 9/30/2005.
• Annuity Puzzle from Think Like the Rich. 6/19/2007.
• Why Most People Get Returns Less Than The Market from My Wealth Builder. 8/13/2006.

Relationship

• Joint Accounts: One for you, One for me, One for us from Clever Dude Personal Finance. Mike’s first post: 6/06/2006.
• Sleeping with Money: What Happens to One Happens to Both by Paula from Queercents.com
• Couples and Money from Lazy Man and Money. LMM’s first post: 5/08/2006.

Housing

• Saving on Apartment Rent from FILAM Personal Finance. 4/25/2007.
• Using Mortgage Calculators to eliminate debt from My Journey to Eliminate Debt. Louise dives into the importance of understanding a mortgage and the values of using calculators to make bigger impacts with extra payments. Louise’s first post: 6/12/2007.
• Special Programs Means Potential Special Problems from Searchlight Crusade. Dan highlights problems you may face when you utilize special low income program to fund your housing loan. Dan’s first post: 6/08/2005.
• 7 tips to saving more on apartments from Coddleshell. Keith shares seven simple tips that everyone should know before looking for apartments. 6/20/2007.

Musings

• Can Money Make You Happy? from Millionaire Mommy Next Door. 7/07/2007.
• Name Discrimination! How It Affects Job and Career Choices, Life Status, Overall Success from The Digerati Life. Silicon Valley Blogger’s first post: 7/30/2006.
• Coupons: Money Saver or Time Waster? from Free Money Finance. FMF muses on the effectiveness of coupons. Check out the lengthy discussion from the community.
• Why Personal Finance is Important to Me from Single Ma’s Fabulous Financials. Single Ma’s first post: 12/18/2005.
• Multiple Streams of Income from Million Dollar Journey. FrugalTrader questions the effectiveness of multiple streams of income. First post: 12/07/2006.
• Hypothetically Speaking… from InsureBlog. Henry Stern shares some alarming news about how your family history can affect what you pay on life insurance. First post: 1/31/2005.
• Rude Awakening from Journey to Financial Freedom. Nick’s first post: 5/03/2007.
• Emergency Fund or Credit Card Debt. Which one to pay first? from Married and Broke.
• At Least Try to Protect Your Identity from We’re In Debt. King’s first post: 4/23/2006.
• How to be a Gold-Digger Cash Money Life. Patrick’s first post: 3/19/2007.
• Officially an Investor from My Money and My Life. Story girl’s first post: 4/24/2007.
• Retailers Use Your Mind Against You from The Happy Rock. First post: 4/19/2007.
• Frugality, Morality & Harry Potter from Graceful Retirement. Grace debates purchasing from large corporation at a saving vs. local businesses at a higher price. Grace’s first post: 6/05/2007.
• Balancing Work, Goals, and Family from Daddy Financials. Rad muses on balancing between work, financial goals, and family. Rad’s first post: 3/05/2007.
• Want to Get Rich? Stop Escaping from Reality from PowerWealth.com. Logan’s first post: 5/26/2007.
• The Life Pursuit of Money from INTJ Personal Development.
• The Canadian Way of Paying from the Financial Blogger. A post with an interesting point of view on people avoiding taxes by paying cash. Financial Blogger’s first post: 11/15/2006.
• Emergency Fund or Credit Card Debt. Which one to pay first? from Married and Broke.
• The American Dream from Moneymonk. Moneymonk’s first post: 10/20/2006.
• Apple’s iPhone and Paris Hilton Inspire Us To Be Rich from Money Ning. Money Ning’s first post: 10/29/2006.
• Gratitude and the Garage Door Opener from Money Changes Things. First post on 12/21/2006.
• No Expense Is Fixed from Fiscal Musing. Limeade challenges the category of “fixed expenses” in personal finance. Limeade’s first post 2/27/2007.
• Are You Cheap or Are You Dumb? Finding that Perfect Balance from Stop Buying Crap. First post: 4/05/2005.

Retirement

• Aging Gently from brip blap. First post (re-launch): 6/29/2007.

Miscellaneous

• History of Mechanical Toy Banks from Frugal Law Student. First post: 10/28/2006.
• How We Track Our Money from Personal Finance at KMull.com. Kevin’s first post: 10/26/2006.
• Folks are out to get pawn shops from Mighty Bargain Hunter.
• Socially Conscious Gas Guide, Part 1: Environmental Rankings from Money and Values.
• A Letter from a Collection Agency from Journey2Retirement. J2r’s first post: 6/05/2007.

Fun Facts on Submissions:

Oldest Blog: Flexo’s Consumerism Commentary in July of 2003! “Close second” would be Jonathan’s My Money Blog in December of 2004.

Youngest Blog: MMN’s Millionaire Mommy Next Door in July of 2007. Close second would be Keith’s Coddleshell in June of 2007.

Most popular month to start a blog: Five blogs in October of 2006.

Blog birthdays in…

2003: 1; 2004: 1; 2005: 9; 2006: 24; 2007: 26

That’s all for this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance. Thanks for visiting!

If you find any error or omission, please let us know and we’ll have it fixed right away. Next week’s carnival is hosted at Fat Pitch Financial.