It's nearly the end of January, and there hasn't been much snow so far, which is always an odd thing for Pennsylvania. It makes me a bit, you know, paranoid. The last winter the weather had been this nice this far into the season, it ended up being all the worse for the rest of the season. It makes me a bit nervous, thinking that the next time I have to travel somewhere, I might have to dig my car out from five feet of snow to do so.
Of course, there are advantages to the winter holiday; it's much more acceptable to spend most of your day inside when the weather is so cold and there's so much precipitation to worry about. And when you're inside, most of the day, you can spend more of your time online, catching up on all the great articles that have been written and posted. Of course, a particularly good source of articles is the Yakezie network. Want some examples of just the sort of articles in the Yakezie network (as well as from those writers who want to join the group)? Well, read on, and enjoy a TON of such articles:
Yakezie Carnival Posts
Penge Snak! – Hybrid Cars: Are They Worth The Hype? “Think we'll ever see a gallon of gas at $1.89 again? Probably not.
Sales of hybrid cars has gone through the roof in recent years and the popular notion is to save money … but do you actually save money buying a hybrid? Is it worth it compared to cheaper high-milage cars?
The Frugal Toad – How Frugal Living Can Build Wealth Frugal living does not mean shopping in thrift stores and having soup every night for dinner. Being frugal simply means being deliberate in how you spend money, not impulsive. There are many ways to be frugal but the key to making frugal lifestyle changes permanent is to find ways to save money that will work for you.
Money Cactus – Wealth Creation and the Secret to Happiness Money can buy a lot of things, some say it can even buy happiness. Here is my definition of the secret to happiness, how does it stack up to yours?
Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance – WHY YOU NEED FEEDBACK FOR SUCCESS THIS ONE DISCUSSES HOW THE PAINFUL COMMENT….”You may not like what I'm going to say,” is a blessing in disguise. Take feedback well and prosper.
TotallyMoney – The two savings accounts you must have Simple budgeting and saving tips for the new year.
Thad Thoughts – Scanning and Evernote Using Evernote as a destination point for scanning adds incredible value to your MFP and provides ready access to your scans. This article explains the values and the processes for getting scanned documents straight in to Evernote.
The Loonie Bin – Buying to impress Most people let spending define who they are. One has to break free from this mindset and the key is to start small and improve slowly.
See Debt Run – The debit-only strategy Reasons why it is better to avoid using cash entirely, and instead favor entirely electronic payments (debit).
My Journey to Millions – My American Express Spending: December to January Last month I almost had a panic attack when I ran these numbers and found out I spent over $5,400 on my American Express Card. (Probably closer to $4,400 after being paid back and rebates receives). This month’s $3,100 is still much too high for my tastes and it seems it comes from one main expenditure: FOOD.
Invest It Wisely – Problems with Askimet? Try These Great Free Alternatives Akismet was once the only game in town, but this is true no longer. Here is a list of plugins that can improve upon or even replace Akismet entirely.
Money Cone – How to Cancel DirecTV without Paying a Penalty Yes I actually did cancel DirectTV before the end of my contract without paying a fee and without even asking (at least not directly)!
Living in Financial Excellence – My (Lame) Debt Free Story Last week I was interviewed by Jon White on his Debt Free Living podcast about how my wife and I got out of debt and how we live without debt today. I’m pretty modest and I don’t think we have a sensational story, but it’s still worth sharing since we don’t talk about the specifics a whole lot on our show.
Live Real, Now – Insurance Thankfully, I sock a bit of money away every month to cover things that break. It’s my warranty fund. That, combined with a good(hopefully) find on eBay, means that losing my phone, while irritating, isn’t going to break my budget. It won’t actually touch my budget in any way.
Beating Broke – Are Personal Loans a Scam? Truthfully, there is very little different between a personal loan and a payday loan.
Newlyweds on a Budget – Taking control of our finances How one young couple hopes to take control of their finances, pay off debt and save money in 2012.
Smart Family Finance – Get Your Family Out of Debt Being in debt can feel like you are being held captive by your finances. Many find that once they begin getting into debt, it begins to spiral out of control. There are ways to get out of debt if you put your mind to it, and focus on being debt free.
The Ultimate Juggle – Efficiency for your Business If you are trying to be more efficient at work, you may be curious of ways to maximize your time and lower your costs. Jester and I certainly value the importance of multitasking, but sometimes this just isn't an option.
MoneySmartGuides – Live A Life of Wealth If I were to ask you to describe what being wealthy means to you, how would you answer? A young me (late teenager) would have answered that question as follows: Wealthy to me is a huge house with an outdoor pool, but now I see wealth differently.
Financial God – Immigrant Workers Are Coming to a Shore Near You to Steal Your Jobs! Silicon Valley has been put on notice: A new startup, Blueseed, plans to set up ship just 12 miles off the coast. These ships will hold hundreds of bold and creative entrepreneurs from countries such as India and China. They will circumvent immigration laws and restrictions by placing their ships just outside of the territorial! admin@financialgod.com
Beating The Index – Hyperion Exploration Carries Strong Operational Momentum into 2012 Hyperion Exploration exited 2011 with a bang; the company was able to exceed its exit guidance by spending less capital than anticipated. I believe this strong operational momentum will carry into 2012 with the upcoming operational update and the 2012 capex program due at any day before the end of this month. Find out why!
Money Spruce – Making Space For Roommates: Are the Savings Worth the Hassles? Sharing an apartment with roommates can save money, but it often means making other sacrifices too. I weigh the pros and cons of roommates for my next move.
My Broken Coin – Stop Being Cheap and Invest In Yourself The following post was featured in a blog swap in November 2011 at My Personal Finance Journey. Now, that I have many more readers and much better exposure, I decided to publish it on my blog. I am a spender. But even big spenders like me have their limits.
The Penny Hoarder – How People Buy Real Estate with “No Money Down” Some of my favorite infomercials include the ridiculous No Money Down real estate videos. If you haven't already wasted your $360, allow me to spill the beans.
KrantCents – Term Life Insurance Is My Choice! Term life insurance is my choice, should it be yours? We all know that life insurance is important, so it is a matter of choice which one is right for you. If you are young, healthy and expect to stay that way, term life insurance should be your choice.
Funancials – Are You A Mental Accountant? I hope most of you have had a chance to read my previous article about The Legend of the Man in the Green Bathrobe. If you haven't, go back and read it. It's a prerequisite for continuing this post. I anticipated what the responses would be in the comments before they came rolling in.
Passive Income To Retire – My Blog Owning Strategy Find out my blog owning strategy that I am using to approach building up my multiple blogs.
Finance Fox – 5 Rules to Teach Your Kids About Credit Cards Some parents think that credit cards are evil and that keeping kids on the other side is the only way to keep them safe. My parents just never had the time or true knowledge to share anything with me about credit cards.
Darwin's Money – Mortgage Activity Gone Wild Due Record Low Rates – Are You Taking Advantage? Last week, there was a 20% surge in mortgage activity driven primarily by refinancing activity from record low rates. The mortgage banker's association said seasonally adjust refinances were up 26% while home purchase loan activity was up 10%. Something's Working! What are you going?
Your Finances Simplified – Can I Survive At the Poverty Line? I completed my interview with 107 WINA on Sunday December 18th concerning my article on “Can you survive the poverty line?”. I would like to thank Wendy Edwards for reaching out to me and giving me the opportunity to conduct the interview.
101 Centavos – Nickel-Plated Trailers: a Centavos Dividend Portfolio Update With the last portfolio update back in November, we're about due for another one. Some new additions to the lineup: United Mobile Homes (UMH), read more to find out my lineup!
Money Reasons – Are Famous Personal Finance Authors Too Rich To Understand You? Do rich personal finance authors forget what it's like to live in the middle? Do you think personal finance bloggers walk the walk and talk the talk better?
Sweating the Big Stuff – Should Tax Evaders Be Given A Safe Haven? The IRS has given tax evaders who have hidden money in offshore accounts a chance to avoid jail time, netting the IRS at least $4.4 billion.
Broke Professionals – Need a $100,000 a year Job? Be a Butler and Earn Big Bucks The job market has been bad for a very long time, but there are high paying careers out there. Apparently being a butler is one of them! Free room and board plus up to a hundred thousand dollars a year why not consider being a butler? You don't even need a college degree, and Need a $100,000 a year Job? Be a Butler and Earn Big Bucks!
Financial Success for Young Adults – Some Unusual Savings Tips If you find yourself short of cash when it comes time to add to your ISA, it may be time to consider a few money saving tips for individual savings accounts.
Thousandaire – My Budget Spreadsheet is Too Much Work My budget spreadsheet is too complicated. I'm making things easier on myself and switching to Mint.com
Money Q&A – How I Recently Invested In A Rock Band There are tons of other great projects on Kickstarter that you can invest in like the new Crowfield album. Kickstarter is a great way to invest in a rock band and other awesome projects.
20s Finances – Confessions of a Street Canvasser Have you ever been walking down the street in New York City, Boston, DC, Chicago, or San Francisco and been stopped by a young person carrying a clipboard and wearing a charity t-shirt? This strange phenomenon has a name street canvassing.
My Retirement Blog – How Much Should You be Saving? The following is a guest post. When you are young, retirement seems to be a lifetime away. Being told that you should save for that day is difficult to comprehend. But the fact of the matter is that even if we are young and healthy and fit, we have parents and grandparents who are older. So the question is how much should you be saving?
The College Investor – Using a Brokerage as your Bank Have you ever considered using your brokerage as your bank? Here are some reasons why you should!
My Multiple Incomes – Top Blogging Verticals A look at some of the top blogging verticals.
Entrepreneurship Life – Are Office Politics Killing Your Business? A look at how office politics can kill your business.
The Dividend Ninja – What Should I Invest In for 2012? Part-2 I originally set out to write a wrap-up of investing strategies for 2012. While I was writing this post, the thought occurred to me why not ask the other well known bloggers and financial writers what they think? Here's what I asked them: “What do you think is the most important lesson investors need to remember going into 2012? Where do you think the best investment opportunities for investors will be?”
MoneyGreenLife – Read The Fine Print When Applying For Balance Transfer Credit Cards Balance transfer cards can be godsend for those who have outstanding credit card debt, especially if the fee to transfer the balance is waived and the interest on the transferred balance is 0%. But read the fine print!
Bucksome Boomer – Recession Romance: Frugal Recipe to Show Your Love There are plenty of frugal date ideas to make Valentine’s Day special without tearing your wallet to shreds. But for me, the recipe that hits the heart every time has three simple ingredients – Appreciation, Care and Respect.
Money Beagle – Making One Good Decision Is The Key To Everything One good decision leads to another and to another and so on…
Smart Wealth – Can You Eliminate PMI? Until recently, I always thought that you had to get to 80% loan to value by either paying down your mortgage, or hoping that your home’s value rises and then refinance to eliminate PMI.
Money Is the Root – Blog Goals and Updates, 2012 – #3 Reach earnings of $30,000 from all blogging related activites in 2012. (This is $2,500 per month average, I’m at $1,735 through so far, can I do it?)
Sustainable Life Blog – The Easy Workout Want to start going to the gym but having a tough time getting motivated? Here's how I handle that.
American Debt Project – I Want to Invest in Real Estate #1: Here's How I'm Getting Started A beginner's take on jumping into real estate. Tread slowly and out more money down!
Married (with Debt) – Talk About Money: How to Do It the Right Way We all talk about money, but how we do it with the people we love can have a big impact on how our advice is taken. Let's explore when it's appropriate to talk about money, and to whom we should give advice.
Free Money Wisdom – The Legend of the Three Magic Spells for an Inexpensive Date Although the girl was by no means of high social status, tradition dictated that he demonstrate his fondness for her in a manner which in some fashion involved the spending of money in a substantial amount. Still, as a gentleman, chivalrous to a fault, he was unwilling to consider an solution which involved her having to surrender any of her earnings, even if it was small.
Thriftability – You Don't Have to Live on Less – Ask for a Raise When it comes time to ask for a raise, there are many details to consider. Here are several tips to follow.
Money Talks Coaching – 5 Myths of Budgeting Everyone can and should budget their money. The budget is the starting point of all things financial. You can’t make informed decisions about your money until you are know (and ideally are controlling) where you spend your money
Cash Flow Mantra – What Would I Do with $50,000 “Recently, Joe over at Retireby40.org discussed his options for a $50,000 emergency fund, and I must confess that I thought they were rather poor. Now Joe has certain requirements, and I am not trying to change his mind regarding them. But he did ask the question posed in the title and since my answer was going to be longer than could be held in a comment, I thought I would write a post about it.
Frugal Confessions – How to Save Money on Dieting Comparing diet program costs is one way to maximize the amount of money you have to spend on dieting (or to make you run the other way with your hard earned money), see how they stack up against one another!
Master the Art of Saving – Everybody Can Have an Emergency Fund! If you don't have an emergency fund at all, then why not start with a goal of $100? Sure it's not going to be too helpful should a big financial emergency.
Young Family Finance – Cheap Movie Alternatives It isn’t uncommon for young families to be strapped for cash. When you are looking for creative ways to save money without making a huge sacrifice, it is time to get creative. With the popularity of motion picture, it is hard to give up movies. Yet, going to the movies is not getting cheaper.
Stock Trend Investing – Are You Missing the Rally with Your Stock Market Strategy? How to avoid impulsive investment decisions when stock markets fluctuate as much as they have done recently? Here is a tip.
Squirrelers – Will Less Teens Driving Today = Fewer Expensive Car Purchases in the Future? Becoming of age to drive a car was once a rite of passage. Is that changing, based on recent data? Also, will these trends lead to fewer expensive car purchases in the future?
CultOfMoney – Tactical Asset Allocation (TAA) Portfolio “My overall goal is to maximize my returns give a few conditions. I want “limited” risk, I want low draw downs (aka low downside volatility), and I don’t want to spend hours and hours every day managing my money. The theory that I am using is based in relative strength or momentum. The academic research shows that there are lasting affects that I am trying to harness. Therefore, my model weights the top performing sectors more heavily than the poor performing sectors. As you can see above, Large Cap Domestic currently gets a 15% portfolio weighting, while Foreign Emerging Markets only get 5%”
Personal Finance Whiz – How Much Should I Have Saved For Retirement By Age 30? For the past 5 years I've been systematically investing 6% of my income with a 50% employer match each month. But is that enough? What amount do I need in my retirement accounts by age 30 to be confident that I will have enough to retire on?
Everything Finance Blog – Itemized Deductions Vs. Standard Deduction To determine if you should file with itemized deductions or the standard deduction, you also have to look at the cost of filing the long tax form (itemized deductions) vs. the short tax form (standard deduction only). It costs an extra few hundred dollars to fill out the longer tax form, so you want to make sure the overall worth of your itemized deductions will cover the extra expense.
Budgeting in the Fun Stuff – Hanging with Blogging Buddies – Just What I Needed I spent last weekend in Los Angeles, California hanging out with my close blogging buddy, Suba from Wealth Informatics, and meeting up with a bunch of other bloggers along the way. It ended up feeling like I was just hanging out with my friends back home – it was that relaxing and awesome.
Saving Money Today – Homer Simpson’s Top Ten Business Ideas Time and again Homer Simpson has tried to start his own business to help support his family. These are the best of his ideas.
The MoneyTrail Blog – Books for Kids & Teens that are Great for Teaching about Money I absolutely love using literature as a method for teaching kids and teens about money. Here are some of my favorite books for young readers and teens.
Meal Plan Rescue – Food Waste is a Choice I'm always shocked by how much food gets wasted so I've shared some tips to help people use the groceries they buy. No reason to throw money in the wastebin!
Off-Road Finance – Adjusting to Market Volatility This article looks at what market volatility is, how it's measured, and how it impacts you as an investor or trader.
Prairie Eco Thrifter – What Buddhism Teaches Us about Personal Finance The Buddhist lifestyle is one of self discipline, self improvement, motivation, self empowerment and mindfulness. This is exactly how I want to live. All of these principles can also be applied to our own situations, even when it comes to managing our personal finances. Today I want to explore what Buddhism teaches us about personal finance.
Saving Advice – Trying to Lose Weight? Don't Get Scammed There are many products and companies that play to this desire for quick, easy weight loss, but almost all of them are scams or at least worthless junk. If you want to lose weight but keep your money, here are some things to look for to avoid getting scammed.
Narrow Bridge Finance – How I Ripped People Off With Store Credit Cards In high school, I worked after school and on weekends as a cashier at a large retail chain. Despite my working less than half the hours of my full time counterparts, I consistently managed to reach the top of our weekly credit card signups contests.
Faith and Finance – 16 Great Jobs For 16 Year Olds We’ve all known what’s it’s like to be a 16 year old looking for a good job. Here are 16 job ideas that any 16 year old can do to make some extra money.
Redeeming Riches – 4 Easy Ways to Winterize Your Car Winter is upon us and if you haven’t winterized your car, you should be thinking about it soon. Use these tips to keep your car running strong in the winter.
My University Money – Afraid of Life? Grad School Isn’t the Answer Many have of course moved on to jobs, others to careers, and still others are pursuing leisure travel or other whims. One option I am seeing taken more and more is to go back to grad school.
Investor Junkie – Why Your Small Business Should Offer a 401k The following are six reasons that your business should offer a 401K program to its employees.
HowToSaveMoney.ca – Buying on Sale: Are You Really Saving Money? It seems that everybody loves a good sale, but the real question is when you buy stuff on sale are you really saving money? Well, sure, you are saving money off the regular price of that particular product at that particular store, but is that even meaningful?
Frugal Living – Financial Software for Your Computer Whether you are running a small business, creating a family budget or filing your taxes, there is a myriad of computer software available to serve your financial needs. Many of these programs not only help declutter that mess of financial papers you may have lying around, but also allow you to see exactly where your money is coming from and where it’s going.
RamblingFever Money – Should You Get a Loan for Your Car or Pay Cash? In this hypothetical example, two sisters pay the exact same amount monthly for their cars over a five year period. One sister ends up with a 1-year old car worth $20,000 and the other sister ends up with a 5-year old car worth $11,000. How is this possible?
Don't Quit Your Day Job… – How Did Mitt Romney Get a $20.7 Million IRA? Mitt Romney, almost unbelievably, has an IRA worth between $20.7 and $101.7 million. How is that possible? DQYDJ crunches some fake numbers and attempts to answer the question!
Little House in the Valley – Mint.com for My Significant Other I don’t intend to relinquish my obsession, I mean responsibility, with our finances, but I realize it’s important for my significant other to know what bills we (I mean “I”) pay, when they’re due, and how to pay them. I’d hate for something to happen to me and my SO to be completely clueless as to what to do next. So, I signed up for Mint.com – for his sake.
Mom's Plans – Debt Snowflake Challenge #4, Get Your Food Costs Under Control Just like you should plan when you go out to eat, you should also plan to curb your grocery expenses. Hopefully you regularly make a menu plan. You might want to consider implementing freezer cooking too.
The Millionaire Nurse – You wanna be work-happy? Or work sad? Burnout is the commonly used term for those whose “giver” got up and left. Here are some tips to keep work from getting the best of you.
PT Money – The Costa Concordia Tragedy and the Need for Travel Insurance Uses the cruise ship tragedy as a springboard for a discussion on the necessity of travel insurance.
One Cent At A Time – 8 Tricks to Get Cheap Flight Tickets Over the years, I learned to be more observant, practical, and strategic with my flight ticket purchases. They became some of my techniques in looking for cheap flights. If you want to get them at a bargain, take note of these tips.
The University Of Money – Best Gold ETF for 2012 Gold is the safest asset class in these tough economic times and gold ETF make it simple to invest in gold.
Stock Market Basics – Best stock market apps for iphone and Ipad With tablets and smartphones becoming a rage you will need these apps to keep track of your portfolio and help analyse the stock market.
Thirty Six Months – Think you can't afford to budget There is always a hard to budget and it is easier than you think.
Free From Broke – TurboTax Online Review TurboTax has become the industry standard for online tax preparation. See the different tax software editions are available and which one is best for you in this review.
Parenting Family Money – How to Save on Groceries When You Have a Food Intolerance “When you discover you have a food intolerance, your diet has to change. But you'll find that groceries get expensive. Save with these tips.
Watson Inc – Goals Are NEVER Enough: 3 Reasons You MUST Cultivate Your Desires Having a strong desire towards high goals is a phenomenal way elevate your performance. Here are 3 reasons to cultivate your true desires.
There you go, more articles than you can shake a stick at. Enjoy reading through some truly impressive articles!