The Amateur Financier

Another week, another Carnival I’m hosting.  It seems like I’m spending almost all my time putting together collections of other peoples’ writing.  If I didn’t get the opportunity to read so many great posts, I’d start to get upset about the whole situation.

This week, I’m taking the reins of the Best of Money Carnival from Free Money Finance.  The hardest part of the whole thing was narrowing down the list of submissions to the top ten posts that were offered up.  Trying to find the ten best posts from the many good ones that were contributed made for the quite the agonizing choice.

It would have been much easier if I could make the decision based on a purely on the basis of a mathematical, quantifiable measure, like the top grossing movies of all time (adjusted for inflation, so they’re not all from the past two decades).  So, enjoy the top ten posts in the world of money blogging, as well as the top ten grossing movies of all time, as we work our way up to the top of both lists:

10. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Released: 1937; Worldwide Gross: $784,000,000; Best Known For: Starting the Disney movie empire, as well as endless amounts of ‘Princess’ marketing

Joe Plemon presents What to do With $60,000 posted at Personal Finance By The Book, saying, “A senior citizen couple has $60,000 in a passbook savings account. What should they be doing with the money?”

9.The Exorcist Released: 1973; Worldwide Gross: $796,000,000; Best Known For: Scaring the Bejeesus out of an entire generation of people, and making Linda Blair a household name (she’s a household name, right?)

RJ Weiss presents Where to Start Investing: Asset Location for Gen Y posted at Genyweath.com, saying, “When I started investing, I made a lot of wrong moves. If I would have followed this simple flowchart, I could have saved myself a lot of time and money.”

8. Doctor Zhivago Released: 1965; Worldwide Gross: $894,000,000; Best Known For: Being a deep, complex story without an almost impossible to spell title.

Patrick @ Cash Money Life presents Traditional IRA or Roth IRA for Young Investors? posted at Cash Money Life, saying, “Should young investors open a Traditional IRA or a Roth IRA? Find out the advantages and disadvantages of each.”

7. Jaws Released: 1975; Worldwide Gross: $922,000,000: Best Known For: Scaring a generation of swimmers away from the beach, and particularly skinny-dipping.  Thanks for that, Jaws!

Darwin presents Do You Invest in Companies You Find to be Morally Repugnant? posted at Darwin’s Finance, saying, “Do You Invest in Companies You Find to be Morally Repugnant? An examination of whether investing with your integrity or your wallet is the best way to go.”

6.Titanic Released: 1997; Worldwide Gross: $924,000,000; Best Known For: Filling the romantic dreams of every Generation Y girl I know, and making Leonardo DiCaprio a household name.

LeanLifeCoach presents Don’t Bank On Statistics posted at Eliminate The Muda!, saying, “You cannot rely on statistics when it comes to investing. Using the principles of Lean Management you can improve your odds of making the best investing and money management decisions.”

5.The Ten Commandments Released: 1956; Worldwide Gross: $943,000,000; Best Known For: Giving Charleton Heston something to do before he started running the NRA.

Evolution Of Wealth presents 4 Reasons to Talk to Your Creditors posted at Evolution of Wealth, saying, “The natural reaction to getting a call from a creditor is to avoid it, don’t answer, don’t call back. Today more than ever creditors know that they need to work with you in order to get some money. They’ve learned some is better than none. It can definitely be in your interest to talk to your creditors.”

4. E.T. the Extra-Terrestial Released: 1982; Worldwide Gross: $943,000,000; Best Known For: Reminding us all of the importance of phoning home

Neal Frankle presents 5 Best Mistakes I Ever Made posted at Wealth Pilgrim: Money Management Advice, Financial Stess Management, Addiction Recovery Plan & Resources, saying, “The vast majority of the “mistakes” I made turned out to be the most helpful moves of my life. The same might be true for you too.”

3. The Sound of Music Released: 1965; Worldwide Gross: $1,025,000,000; Best Known For: Providing a helpful reminder of the ‘Do, Re, Mi’ musical scale, and telling us that the hills are alive.

vh presents Seven painless ways to save | Funny about Money posted at Funny about Money, saying, “Funny, surprised to discover about $16,500 hiding in various checking and savings accounts, describes the way this “found” money came about.”

2. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope Released: 1977; Worldwide Gross: $1,282,000,000; Best Known For: Inspiring generations of geeks everywhere in a way only rivaled by Star Trek.  Nerd Power!

Mike Piper presents How to Retire on Half as Much Money posted at The Oblivious Investor, saying, “Cutting your investment costs may halve the amount of money you need saved in order to retire.”

1. Gone With The Wind Released: 1939; Worldwide Gross: $1,455,000,000; Best Known For: Being the highest grossing movie (adjusted for inflation) ever, and ‘Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.’

FIRE Getters presents What is the Current Unemployment Rate? posted at FIRE Finance, saying, “Unemployment has been a rising concern since the US economy went into recession. At present, the US government is telling us that the economic stimulus is working which implies that the recession is over.  But if we take a look at the the unemployment numbers, can we arrive at the same conclusion? In most reports concerning the US economy, the unemployment rate is frequently mentioned. But many are at a loss for understanding what this number really means.”

That concludes this edition of the Best of Money Carnival.  I hope you enjoyed the short review of film history, and you enjoyed even more the wonderful contributions to the carnival from all the great bloggers.  Thanks for the opportunity to host this, and I’ll see everyone tomorrow!

(All images taken from Amazon.com.  All rights to the movies reserved to their respective creators and owners.  All jokes made in good fun.)

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