The Amateur Financier

This is a less than desirable situation; if you are a regular reader, you’ve probably noticed that last week, around New Year’s Eve, I just stopped posting.  There are several reasons for this (most having to do with personal issues and the start of the new year), but needless to say, it’s set me back a little bit.  I’m still trying to get caught up, both with my posts and with my blog reading, but alas, this back tracking means that I’ve been writing posts and dating them for previous days for most of the last week.  (I’m writing this post on Friday, but it will be ‘published’ the previous Wednesday, for example.)

Why share all this?  Well, I was hoping that my readers would want to know what was going on in my life, and I wanted to allay any fears that I was leaving the blog or not going to be updating as often (I assure you, I’m still as eager to write for the Amateur Financier as I was when I first started last year).  Now that I’ve assuaged all your fears, it’s time to get into the meat of the issue, the good blog entries from last week:

Good Blog Articles Last Week

10 Best Money Moves – A guest post on The Digerati Life from Mr. Credit Card, this is a pretty good list of ways to get yourself into better financial shape this coming year (similar to my own ‘Resolution Week’ this week).  I particularly like the suggestion to learn your investment returns net of fees and taxes; it’s hard to know if you should change your allocation if you don’t know how you did.

Why New Year’s Resolutions are Stupid – On the subject of resolutions, Studenomics makes a fairly good case that New Year’s Resolutions are, in fact, stupid.  I do agree that resolutions, at least as practiced by most people, aren’t terribly helpful; you get a boost toward your exercise/dieting/personal finance goal in January, maybe into February, but then it falls by the wayside by March.  If you can keep with it, though (or at least, don’t feel the need to wait until a particular date rolls around to get started), resolutions can be a decent way to help get yourself motivated.

8 Reasons You Should Get a College Degree – While it’s not doing me too much good at the moment, I definitely don’t regret getting a college degree.  If you worry that you might, give My Life ROI’s list of reasons to pick up a college degree to give yourself a nice jolt of confidence.  Plus, there’s plenty of fun possible in college itself; just keep telling yourself that and it should keep you motivated.

Since When Does ‘Clipping Coupons’ Mean That You’re Poor? – A very good question, and one I’m not sure I’d ever be able to answer.  Darwin of Darwin’s Finance does a great job of explaining why coupon clipping is a good use of time for almost everyone, and provides evidence that coupon users are actually more well to do than non-clippers.  Just one of those odd twists to what you think the world is like, I suppose.

2009 Success and 2010 Plans – Like most of us have been doing during this calendar roll over (not just a regular yearly one, either, but to a year that ends in zero), Mrs. Micah goes through her successes in 2009 and some of her plans in 2010.  Her amazing score on the GRE (1570 out of 1600, which is outstanding) particularly struck me, since I’m planning on taking on the GRE sometime in the near future.  (But more on that at a later date…)

How Much of Your Donation Makes It To The Charity? – A good question, raised in this case by the Weakonomist.  If you’re going to donate to charity (and it’s definitely a good idea, especially when so many are in need of help, it’s important to know more about them from an impartial source, to make sure that most of your money goes to the needy.  (Check my post on choosing charities for more on how I evaluate a potential charity to learn more of my suggestions.)

The Secret to a Great Blog and a Great Business – On the Writer’s Coin, there is a very good point made: if the content on a website is good enough, people will accept high amounts of ads (or for that matter, pay substantial fees or go through other substantial barriers) in order to access that content.  Something to keep in mind for the would-be professional bloggers out there (including myself).

Do You Have Money Left Over At The End Of The Month? – It’s pretty much the most basic tenet of personal finance: spend less than you earn.  J. Money of Budgets Are Sexy makes this point abundantly clear, pointing out that if you just find out how much you are gaining or losing each month, you’ll be that much closer to getting your finances under control.

That’s it for this week; although I imagine there were plenty of other good articles in PF blog land, I didn’t have time to read any of them (which sadly, is not really that far off).  Read and enjoy, everyone!

• Weekly Thoughts: Trick or Treat!
• How to get Ahead of the Game: Three Tips for Students
• Keeping Your Resolutions: Preparing for Retirement

• Dispelling Common College PF Myths
• Blogging for Money Guide
• New Year's Resolution-A-Rama