The Amateur Financier

Ah, the dentist.  There are few members of the medical community who inspire so much fear and trepidation (well, perhaps anyone who asks us guys to ‘turn our heads and cough’, but that’s a different sort of fear).  In fact, I don’t know about you, but the first thing that pops into my head when I hear the word ‘dentist’ is Steve Martin’s song from ‘The Little Shop of Horrors’, where he rejoices in the pain that he causes, well, everyone:

Still, in spite of their somewhat…unfortunate reputations, dentists are a vital part of the health care community, and any of us who hope to be chewing with our own teeth well into retirement will have to see the dentist occasionally.  Such is the case for my Sondra.  She is going to have some serious dental work done over the next several weeks, which is obviously going to be less than fun for her.  Luckily, she has me there to help her get to the dentist and get home, as well as generally taking care of her.  It won’t make it any more fun, but at least she’ll be well provided for.

So, that’s what I have to look forward to this week; let’s hope your week is a better less dentist filled.  While you consider carefully if you’ve been brushing your teeth enough to avoid a similar fate, have fun reading through the following good personal finance articles:

Good Yakezie Posts

I Can’t Help You Budget if You Can’t Help Yourself – If you write about budgets and personal finance, you’re likely to be asked more than once for help setting up a budget by friends, relatives, and readers.  Unfortunately, as Elle of Couple Money notes on Yakezie.com, all the budgeting in the world won’t help if you don’t stick with said budget.

July 2011 Love Drop: Felicity – Speaking of Elle from Couple Money, she also has a rather pertinent reminder about the Love Drop program.  If you, like me, want to support the Love Drop program (and particularly if you, like me, have the bad habit of forgetting about the Love Drop Program), now could be the perfect time to donate and get caught up.

10 Money Saving Tips for Your Home – As you might guess from all the Frugal Friday posts I’ve been doing lately, I do enjoy money saving tips.  Here are ten good ones from Prairie Eco Thrifter to help keep your home, and your money, too.

Why Don’t You Just Work At McDonald’s? – With a title like that (as well as my own experience as a former McDonald’s worker), how could I resist including this article?  Luckily, it’s also a very poignant look at what you should be doing with your finances as a young person, courtesy of MD at The Financial Blogger.

6 Quick Ways to Create an Emergency Fund – It’s always good to have an emergency fund handy; it’s not always easy to find ways to fill it, though.  Luckily, Tim at Faith and Finance has a pretty good list of ways to find the money you need to build a decent reserve.

How to Increase your Net Worth – When you are Young and Thrifty, it can be sometimes be hard to grow your net worth.  But if you follow this advice, you should find yourself with a substantial net worth growth in no time at all.

18 Amazing Facts You Didn’t Know About Your Credit Card – I suppose I could quibble that I did know several of these facts already, but when Len Penzo is going to be so kind as provide an interesting (and entertaining) list of credit card facts, I’m not going to quibble.

How to keep Your Mind Strong and Your Memory Sharp – Alright, while not technically a personal finance post, I can’t resist anything that attempts to get us to strengthen our minds.  While I might not agree with all of the suggestions on PF Firewall (trying to remember ALL of your passwords sounds like an exercise in insanity), trying to keep your mind sharp is a goal we all can shoot for.

Where The Amateur Financier Was Featured

My post on Determining Your Risk Tolerance was included in the latest edition of the Yakezie Carnival.

My post covering What I Want to Pass Onto My Children was featured in the Wealth Builder Carnival #43.  Thanks a bunch!

That’s it for this weekly round-up; here’s hoping you come back next week!  (Assuming you aren’t devoured by a giant, man-eating plant in the meantime.)