You’re probably well aware by now, but Haiti has been hit by an earthquake. As is frequently the case with international disasters, there is a silver lining: it’s brought out the best in people, inspiring donations and volunteers across the globe. It’s truly wonderful to see how giving people can be when they have the chance.
Unfortunately, the tragedy has also inspired some of the worst in people; scams attempting to exploit the tragedy have appeared almost as quickly as new of the earthquake. This makes it all the more difficult to ensure that your money will actually be used to help people who need the aid, rather than going to fill some scamster’s pocket. If you follow a few simple suggestions about your giving, though, you should be alright:
-DO NOT Click on Any Strange Links: If you are sent an email telling you to click a link to donate, don’t do it; there are just too many possible ways for a scammer to have those links misdirect you or use the link as an opening to your computer. Check out any potential charity sites without relying on links in the messages you are sent.
-Verify That the Charity is Legitimate: There are plenty of sources to determine whether you are donating to a legitimate charity or not. I personally like JustGive.org and the Better Busines Bureau charity site. If anyone sends you a suggestion of a charity to which you can donate, be sure to check it out on one of these sites first, to make sure it’s legit.
-Don’t Forget the Charity When the Earthquake has Passed: It’s easy to remember to donate when there is a great tragedy and everyone is talking about ‘what can we do to help’. Once the crisis is passed, though, it’s just as easy to forget about donating; instead, try your best to keep up regular donations, to help build up the coffers of charities like the Red Cross that will aid victims of disasters in the future.
In short, be cautious with your personal information (as you should be, anyway), check up on the charity, and while you’re thinking about it, consider making your donations regularly in the future. On that note, let’s cover some of other good personal finance blogging advice that’s been floating around.
Good Blog Articles
No Spend January – It’s not a bad way to try to save some money; trying not to spend any money for a month (or even a week for those of us who can’t go quite that long) can show you how little you really need to spend in order to live a good, fulfilling life. Good luck to LuLuGal of How I Save Money on her attempt at a No Spend Month this January.
Celebrate! Three Years of PTY – Stephanie of Poorer Than You celebrated three years of blogging last week. I’m incredibly impressed at her for sticking with it; I’m coming up on one year next month, and already I’ve seen how hard it to keep going with a blog like this over the long term. Keep up all the good work, Stephanie; here’s to three more great years (and then some)!
The Best Post On eBay, And It’s All About Love and Money – There are few things more integral to modern human experiences than love and money, and few things funnier than when they are combined in a witty fashion. The Financial Samurai brings back to the forefront an exchange on eBay that is one of the funniest exchanges between a man and woman I’ve ever read. Read it, laugh, then weep for the future of our species.
How To Be Successful In The New Year – An excellent list of helpful hints for being more successful in the new year from Lazy Man and Money. Apparently he initially published it last year, and is republishing it due to popular demand; good thing, because it does have lots of good advice for making your resolutions stick in this new year.
Watching Less TV Will Not Make You Rich – One of my vices is watching too much TV (in the realm of several hours a day, minimum). Apparently, there is a link between watching TV and spending more money, which is less than good. On the plus side, as Frank of Bad Money Advice points out, this link doesn’t mean that I will necessarily spend more as a result (and even if that was the case, each hour of added television is only associated with an additional four dollars of spending, which isn’t too bad).
What Is Glass-Steagall? – With the recent problems with financial institutions that are ‘too big to fail’, there’s talk about bringing back Glass-Steagall, the law that kept different financial services (investing, insurance and banking) apart, in different organizations. As the Weakonomist points out, there would be some advantages to renewing this division, but who knows how long until there are calls to repeal it again?
Why I Don’t Want to Retire Early – It’s a rare person who doesn’t want to leave their work, but apparently Mrs. Micah is one of them. She raises several very good points; if you are doing something you love, why leave? Personally, I think that reaching the point where I can retire or not, as I choose, is one of my biggest goals; more money leads to more options, and I do like having options.
Where The Amateur Financier Has Been Featured
The Carnival of Mutual Funds 3 hosted by Beat Mutual Funds featured my post on Negative Dollar Cost Averaging
The Carnival of Debt Reduction featured my post on Keeping Your Resolutions: Paying Down Your Debt
The Carnival of Money Stories hosted by Dough Roller featured my post on Looking Back on 2009
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