Weekly Round-Up: Fiscal Cliff Resolution

If you have any interest in politics, finance, or news in general, you probably woke up on New Year’s Day to see that after months of debate and discussion, there has been an agreement reached to avoid the fiscal cliff.  There is a LOT to learn about the deal (hence the reason I am simply including a link rather than writing out all the details myself), but it seems that an agreement was finally able to be achieved between both Democrats and Republicans.  (The full bill detailing which is available here, if you want something to put yourself to sleep tonight, or remind yourself that the number of members of either party who read the entire bill is likely zero.)

I’m not going to get into the politics of this agreement, partially because I’m not that big on politics (or at least, arguing about politics online), partially because I’ve already seen both sides of the aisle maintain that this is a victory for their side, but mainly because I’m sure that this is far from the last we will hear about financial problems resulting from politicians not being able to come to an agreement in Washington.  (For example, there is another debt ceiling coming by February, possibly leading to the same brinkmanship we saw back in 2011.)

So, fun times for Washington, less fun for those of us who aren’t politicians and spent the last few months wondering when (or if) an agreement would be reached, and how we would need to modify our monetary holdings to account for the changes made by the decision.  But enough of the political issues from this last week; I’d rather spend the time going over some of best blog posts.  Let’s start with that, then.

Great Yakezie Posts

A Sincere Merry Christmas to Atheists, Non-Christians and Those Who Hate Christmas – Christmas tends to bring up heavy emotions, both positive and negative.  One of the best approaches I’ve seen toward handling the negative emotions is covered here by Wealth Artisan, who attempts to ensure that everyone is properly wished a happy holiday season.

10 Essential Factors of a Retirement Planning Checklist – There’s a lot of things that you need to do when planning for retirement, and Good Financial Cents provides a thorough and well-explained list.  Definitely something to consider as you try to get your financial situation prepared for retirement.

How Negotiating With Groupon Increased My Sales by 48% – It’s almost always a good thing to negotiate whenever possible; it can cut down your expenses and increase your income, among other things.  Sunil of the Extra Money Blog shares an example of how negotiating with Groupon benefited a business in which he invested.

Can Bankruptcy Get Rid of Student Loans? – Short answer, no.  As detailed over at My University Money, it’s extremely hard to clear student loan debt from your ledger, especially compared to things such as credit card and mortgage debt.  The best approach to handling student loans is to limit your initial debt and get a decent paying job when you graduate.

What’s Your Big Why? – There’s a lot of different money-management techniques out there, some I’ve mentioned here already.  Afford Anything points out that before you start choosing a technique, you need to focus on your ultimate goal for your money and investment plans.

15 Ways to Upcycle and Save Money – Do you want to save money and the environment?  If so, you can check out the suggestions from Free Money Wisdom for ways to re-use old materials available in new and useful ways (that is, ‘upcycle’)  to save yourself money and help the environment.

Alright, that’s it for this week.  Here’s to a great week, and a year where everything goes well (and maybe, just maybe, we don’t have to deal with any more of these government problems).