The Amateur Financier

Wow, time flies so fast, it must be riding in a supersonic jet.  It’s amazing how quickly the time seems to go by.  Just four weeks from now, I will be taking my last final of the semester, and thus be officially one year away from graduating from graduate school and having my Master’s degree.  Then I shall be a master (of biochemistry, I suppose; hey, you can’t become the master of the universe overnight).

I will be doing my best to keep my blog fully updated and keep participating in all my social groups, in real life and online.  The Yakezie, for example are running their writing contest soon, and I’ve already pledged to donate (as you can too, in case you were wondering).

But as you might guess, it does tend to mean that I don’t get to spend as much time reading and commenting on other great blogs as I would like (although, with how many great blogs there are out there, I would need several copies of myself to keep up, it seems).  Still, I do get around to reading some blogs, which brings us to a few of the best posts of the past week:

Good Yakezie Posts

Are Credit Unions as Good as Banks? by The College Investor

Lost Wallet: What to Do Before It’s Gone by Live Real, Now

Today Babci Turns 78 by Sandy L (the First Gen American)  (Happy (Belated) Birthday, Babci!)

Passive Income: The Path to Extreme Wealth by Derek of Passive Family Income

What is Your Debt Costing You? by Joe Plemon of Personal Finance by the Book

Costs to Remember When Looking into a New House on My Journey to Millions

Claiming Canceled Debt as Income on Little House in the Valley

5 Tips on Selecting a Financial Planner on Couple Money

Where The Amateur Financier Was Featured

The Carnival of Wealth #33 on Personal Dividends featured my post on (Almost) Last Minute Tax Tips

The Totally Money Blog Carnival #13 on Thousandaire included that same post (what can I say, it was pretty popular)

Sandy L., who remains the First Gen American, included my post on The Future of Entertainment (and expressed an interest in fanfiction) in her weekly Favorites post

Merry Groundhog Day, everyone!  Hopefully, you’re safe and warm at home, rather than forced to confront the massive, continent sized storm moving across the US.  Here’s also hoping that Punxsutawney Phil didn’t see his shadow, so we can get some warm weather here soon!

While groundhogs are surprisingly good at predicting the weather, when it comes to money, you’re best served by ignoring them.  In my home state of Pennsylvania, for example, the state lottery system uses Gus, the second most famous groundhog in Pennsylvania, as their mascot.  While the commercials are cute and entertaining, you shouldn’t take money advice from small furry animals, particularly when they recommend gambling.  If you want to must gamble, do so responsibly, using only money you can afford to lose; regardless of what the groundhogs might tell you, there’s no such thing as a sure bet.

Now, onward with the good posts from this past week, as well as the upcoming contests:

Contests and Giveaways

The Canadian Finance Blog is celebrating its second anniversary by giving away several books, software packages, and CDs.  Fill out an entry form for the chance to win.

Sweating The Big Stuff provides an opportunity to win H&R Block at Home software, just in time for tax season.  I used H&R Block software last year, for both me and my fiancee, and it was pretty straightforward.

Melissa of Mom’s Plan provides the links to several giveaways for kids, as well as portable food products from GoPicnic.  She seems to run quite a few of these giveaways, so keeping an eye on her blog would be a good idea for those of you who like to enter for the chance to win.

Good Yakezie Posts

Work is a Curse and It’s Adam’s Fault…Or Is It? – An interesting Biblical take from Joe Plemon about whether part of  Adam’s punishment for tasting the Fruit of Knowledge of Good and Evil was to be forced to work.  Hopefully, most of you consider your work as meaningful, rather than a punishment.

Are Women Naturally More Trustworthy Than Men? – Financial Samurai provides several advantages that women have in negotiations compared to us menfolk.  I’m not sure that ALL women are more trustworthy than ALL men (that Pope fellow seems pretty honest), but as general populations, I’d have to agree and give women the edge.

Calculating the Interest on a Payday Loan – As if you needed more reasons to avoid payday loans, Evan of My Journey to Millions calculates the interest rates charged by some of them at 3685%.  If you can possibly avoid it (and bank overdraft fees, which also have ludicrous repayment amounts), do so; your wallet will thank you.

Youngandthrifty’s Mint.com Review – Pretty much exactly what the title states, a review of Mint.com from Youngandthrifty (particularly, the recent expansions north, into Canadian personal finance institutions).  The grade is a bit mixed, but overall seems to jive with my Mint experiences.

7 Tips for Creating Wealth – Ryan of Planting Dollars shares seven simple tips to create wealth.  None should be very surprising if you’ve done much personal finance reading, but it’s always nice to hear good advice once again.

Where The Amateur Financier Was Featured

Miss Thrifty breaks up the 91st Carnival of Money Stories by interlacing the entries (including my post on Keeping Your Emergency Fund Handy) with a story from Guy de Maupassant.  It’s a really good story, although a bit on the sad side.

The fourth Totally Money Blog Carnival was kind enough to include my post about Taco Bell’s ‘meat’.  The ‘motivational’ posters included always make me laugh.

That same post was also included in Mrs. Accountability’s post on 4 Ways to Use Up Vegetables So You Don’t Waste Food, which does have some pretty interesting suggestions (I would not have thought of pizza, but I’m generally a cheese and pepperoni guy, anyway).

Well, it’s time to make good on my promise; you provided advice to help me improve my blog, and as promised, I’m going to be giving out a few magazine subscriptions.  *Starts a drumroll*  The winners (who were contacted by email, in addition to seeing themselves listed here) are:

• Kevin of Invest It Wisely,
• The Financial Samurai, and
• Kay Lynn of Bucksome Boomer

Thanks to everyone who entered (that is, left me comments on how to boost my blog’s popularity and money-earning potential); all the help was greatly appreciated, and I hope that you enjoy your magazine subscriptions!

With all the contest details out of the way, it’s time for the real fun: the round-up!  As always, let’s see what other contests are currently ongoing:

Contests and Giveaways

Jayson, of Realized Returns, is giving away a Kindle for his ‘Read My Drivel, Win a Kindle’ contest.  My Future-Mother-In-Law got one for Christmas and just loves it; I’d be afraid I’d end up spending even more on books (or in this case, book downloads) than I do right now.  Still, very, very generous.

Kevin of Invest It Wisely is still giving away a copy of We Have Met The Enemy, which has a nice self control theme.  Since self-control underlies most issues in personal finance (as well as health, education, relationships…), it definitely sounds like a good read.

Kay Lynn, the Bucksome Boomer, clued me in on a new site, Lucky RT , from J. Money of Budgets are Sexy that can help you find all the giveaways occurring on Twitter.

The Yakezie, a great group as always, are giving away a copy of The Millionaire Next Door, widely touted as one of the most influential books in the personal finance realm.  Subscribe to a few feeds, do a few tweets (by Saturday), and you could win a copy.  I could also mention the Yakezie Scholarship and its Saturday submission deadline here, but as they are already overwhelmed with entrants…

Young and Thrifty reviews and gives away the book Smarter Than the Street, an interesting (although, just to judge from her summary, likely infuriating to me) take on how to out invest Wall Street.

Credit Cards Canada is (still) hosting a guest blogging contest with a January 31st deadline; with time starting to wind down, I suppose I need to get a move on.

Good Yakezie Posts

3 Easy Financial Resolutions Every Gen Y Should Follow – I know, I know, you’re probably all resolution-ed out by now, but Young and Thrifty provides a few simple suggestions to members of Generation Y (that is, us children of the eighties and nineties) on how to improve our financial situation this year, quickly and easily.

Resolutionize Your Finances: Savings – While we’re pushing resolutions on you, check out the Bucksome Boomer’s guide to the several different types of accounts you should consider.  It’s always good to have layers of money to fall back on in a pinch.

Why I Pay Off ‘Good’ Debt – Red of the Girl with the Red Balloon blog shares her motivation for paying off her student loans, even if they are ‘good’ debt.  She raises some good points about how constricting even moderate, ‘good’ debt can be on your life and psyche.

Nature Vs. Nurture: How Important Are Parents In Determining Financial Success? – An interesting discussion, brought up by the Financial Samurai.  Personally, I think it’s hard to know what percent of your success to attribute to your genes, to your upbringing, to your own effort, and to sheer dumb luck; it’s likely a different mix for every one.

Clean Your Shoes With a Banana Skin – Some posts I feel the need to include just because of the title.  Luckily, this post from Miss Thrifty also includes some interesting (and creative) ways to put your used banana skins to good use.

How Laziness Helped My Finances – In this case, by not bothering to change her contribution levels, WellHeeled is on track to max out her 401(k) contributions by July.  When it prevents you from doing something detrimental, laziness can actually be a virtue.

Going Carless: Does It Make Sense? – Kevin of Invest It Wisely is considering various options as his lease nears its end.  It’s an interesting look at the many options available, transportation-wise.

Gen Y Comparison-Who Do You Look More Like? – An interesting comparison for people of my generation from Kevin of 20s Money.  I resemble A more, although I have a few B traits I’m still trying to work out of my system.

Paid What You Are WORTH? – The Millionaire Nure blog shares a few points on why salaries can vary so much between professions (that Superstar effect at work), and how you can maximize your worth.

Earn A Living Doing What You Love – Flexo shares some of his thoughts on how to make money doing what you love (in his case, blogging) and some of the psychological barriers that stopped him from trying to do so earlier.  As a would-be semi-pro blogger, it definitely provides some insight on the attitude I need to take.

Where The Amateur Financier Was Featured

The 21st Carnival of Wealth hosted on Personal Dividends included my post on 50 Cent, Penny Stocks, and Twitter.  That’s not the only place, though; it was also the best post (whoo-hoo!) on the Best of Money Carnival and included in the Totally Money Blog Carnival #2.   Something about celebrities always makes for a good story.

On the subject of the Totally Money Blog Carnival, I participated in the Inaugural Edition, as well, and think I forgot to mention it here.  It included my thoughts on keeping up with your resolutions.    This post also happened to be featured in 20th Carnival of Wealth; somehow, I’ve really managed to fall behind with listing these blog carnivals.

Mrs. Accountability enjoyed (well, appreciated is probably a better word) my tale of woe in Roger’s Bogus Journey.  At least something good came of it, I suppose.

Well, it’s been an interesting week, automotively speaking.  Let’s start with the bad news: after my less than fun journey to my fiancée’s house last Friday, I took my car in to get fixed and ended up spending over $300 in order to get my headlights fixed.  This has most definitely put a bit of a crimp on my already tight finances, and when you’re only making about $1100 a month, spending nearly a third of your earnings just to allow you to use your car at night (or during another snow storm) again is a bit rough.

The good news, though, is that the car is fixed, running fine, and while $300 is pretty expensive, compared to the cost of buying a whole new car (or even doing major repairs), it’s still a pretty good bargain.  Plus, besides inspiring my post on Monday, this whole incident also led to a few readers contacting me and expressing their sympathies, and in one case, sharing a list of the 20 best blogs for amateur mechanics (an area where I could definitely use some more skills, I don’t mind telling you).

All in all, not nearly as bad as it might have been.  I do hope this is the last trouble I have with my car for a while, though; the costs of keeping it running do add up pretty quickly.  Now, onto the good posts from this past week:

Contests and Giveaways

Credit Cards Canada is hosting a guest blogging contest (of all things), where the winner has the opportunity to win $1000 (among other prizes).  I’m a brave enough blogger to say that such a windfall would be the most impressive payout I’d have gotten from blogging up to this point, and so I’m definitely going to enter myself by the January 31st deadline.

The Silicon Valley Blogger shares some Online Contests Galore; a set of three individual contests I won’t bother to link to individually.  (Why repeat work that’s already been done?)  For two of them, you have until the end of the month, although one ends on Monday…

Melissa of Mom’s Plans provides a review and giveaway opportunity for the Pear Budget budgeting system.  While I personally don’t share her skepticism of Mint.com and other ‘automated’ budgeting systems, I understand why people do, and Pear Budget sounds like a pretty handy alternative.

Life and My Finances is giving away a $25 Amazon gift card by the end of this month.  If you, like me, seem to spend more on books or other media than almost anything else, this would definitely be a nice little bonus.

The College Investor is giving away a copy of TurboTax 2011 Deluxe Edition, but you’re going to need to move fast; the contest ends at 11:59 pm on Friday!

Kevin of Invest It Wisely talks about falling prey to our temptations (as we sometimes do) and offers a copy of We Have Met The Enemy, a book about self control, to one lucky reader.  On that subject, I won one of his recent giveaways, and received a copy of ‘How to Profit in Gold’ yesterday; just a note that yes, people do actually win these contests!

Don’t forget that I’m running my own contest, and you still have time to win (although, not too much time, so don’t dawdle!)

Good Yakezie Posts

The Golden Voice Homeless Man Who Never Lost Hope – One of the first major news stories of the year, and easily one of the most inspiring, is the story of Ted Williams.  As the Financial Samurai relays on Yakezie.com, it is an inspiring and hopeful story (and hopefully Ted manages to make it through rehab with his optimism intact.)

Can Rich People Get Into Heaven? – Joe Plemon asks one of the eternal questions, about the link between wealth and rewards in the afterlife.  Personally, I agree with him (and Jesus, for that matter), that the wealthy, who are given much, have much that is expected of them to be considered worthy.

Helping One Person at a Time with Micro-Giving Network Love Drop – Evan, of My Journey to Millions writes about a truly amazing idea, and encourages others to participate.  I’m certainly going to do my part, to the best of my ability, and I hope others follow suit.

Why I’m Happy with a $5000 Car Repair Bill – Especially pertinent to me given my current situation, it does help to put the expenses of keeping my car running into perspective.  Thanks for the reminder of why I prefer (relatively) small repair bills to buying a new car, Barbara Friedberg!

10 Free Ways to Improve Your Mood – It’s always nice to get a healthy boost of positive energy in your life, and if you can do it without eating into your financial reserves, all the better.  Kay Lynn (the Bucksome Boomer, an excellent name, by the way) shares some of the ways she boost her own mood, most of which should help you, as well.

P.S. Happy birthday, Mom, if you happen read this (I know you’re not that big a computer person).  And for those who think this round up was too short (owing in part to me getting ready to see said mother), don’t worry, I’ll do an extra long round-up as soon as I am able to make up for it!