Well, it is now September, the time of year when students begin to dread the ever closing time when they will have to go back to school (if they haven’t already). I’m well past the joy and pain of school, myself, but I still have to be aware of the start of school because I’m dating a current college student. Between her starting school now and my new job, it’s going to be much be harder to find the time to go out to see her.
Of course, there’s plenty else to keep me busy: my new job, the impending Labor Day Holiday, and of course, trying my best to keep up to date with my blog. (It’s been kind of tough lately, with the new job and trips out to my fiancee every break from work that I’ve had, but I’m still here!) In the spirit of keeping the joy and wonderment of this blog flowing to your eager eyes, here are a few of the more interesting blog posts I’ve read from the past week, and my thoughts on them (in case you thought I was trying to avoid doing any real writing for this blog entry):
Review: A Million Bucks by 30 – I have to be honest, whenever I see a book that claims to show me a way to retire before the age of fifty, my internal warning system goes off. At best, they seem to rely on investment methods much riskier than I would be comfortable using myself, and at worst, they are little more than ways to enrich the authors at your expense. However, Stephanie makes a very good case for A Million Bucks by 30; it seems like a story of a pretty normal guy, peppered with money saving tips. As she notes, first looks can be deceiving.
5 Reasons to Take Another Look at DRIPs – A guest post on Consumerism Commentary looks into DRIPs, or Dividend ReInvestment Plans, a phrase purposely mis-capitalized to make the acronym work. The basic idea is to buy stock directly from a company, who will then use the dividends to purchase even more shares of stock for you. It’s a pretty decent article, and not a bad investment plan, assuming you are only interested in owning stock in a few very large, dividend paying companies. Otherwise, sticking with a brokerage will save you on time, if not investing costs.
Buying a Home Without the Money – WC Porter writes on Wisebread about considering a house purchase, even without having a twenty percent down payment, due to many of the compelling ‘incentives’ that currently exist. While the article itself is kind of interesting for mentioning things like the current tax credit and low mortgages, what’s more interesting is the comments. Yes, over the course of the comments, just about every argument both for and against such a purchase was raised, and eventually, WC decided against the purchase. (Which, as an aside, is what I would recommend, after reading that he would have no emergency after spending on his partial down payment.) I find it kind of interesting, just how talking it out and getting feedback can help the decision process.
5 Things Your Parents Didn’t Teach You About Money – I’m a sucker for lists, and having posted on how my mother influenced my current financial acumen, I could hardly resist this post from Green Panda Treehouse. There are quite a few things you’ll never learn from your parents (at least, not directly) when it comes to money, and her last point, on the trade offs of making a lot of money, is enough to make you reconsider your plans to forgo every indulgence in order to a millionaire by thirty.
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