The Simple Dollar
Everything You Ever Really Needed to Know About Personal Finance on the Back of Five Business Cards

The Digerati Life
8 Lessons I Learned From The Cheapest Family In The Nation

We will be hosting a number of Guest Bloggers very soon. Stay tuned. Contact me if you would llike to write for us.

This week brought some great posts from the M-Network and beyond:

M-Network

• Paid Twice talks about becoming an accidental investor.
• Being Frugal explains how to avoid Murphy’s Law.
• Single Guy Money flaunts his 1 million dollar umbrella.
• Plonkee Money has an extensive interview with Fabulously Broke.
• Moolanomy begins a series on finance basics.
• Gather Little by Little responds to a reader asking how to include a 401k in their net worth calculation.
• Debt Free Revolution debates a commenter about the use of credit cards.
• Christian Personal Finance shows you how to budget with ING Direct.
• Dough Roller continues his comparison of personal finance to chess in Protect Your King, Protect Your Assets.

This week my post, Give Your Graduate the Gift of Financial Education, was included in the Carnival of College and Finance at College and Finance. This is my first foray into this carnival, but I must say I was impressed with the quality of articles. Go check it out!

My most popular post this week was an oldie – Earn Huge Returns at Prosper.com.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

The M-Network has added a couple of more members as you can see by the M-Network blogroll to the right. I’d like to highlight a couple of great posts from our two newest members – Debt Free Revolution and Single Guy Money:

• Debt Free Revolution thinks that paying bills is fun. I admire their enthusiasm, but I’m nowhere close to thinking that paying bills is a good time.
• Single Guy Money discusses a sly coworker who hides money from her husband. I think sneaking behind your spouse’s back like this is reprehensible and calls into question the character of the person that is doing it. Also see Being Frugal’s post which asks her readers if they keep secrets from their spouse.

This week I submitted my post about Giving Your Graduate the Gift of Financial Education to the Carnival of Financial Planning.

The most popular post on Financial Dominance this week was What is the 4% Rule.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

I don’t want to fan the flames anymore, but Plonkee added her two cents. Anyways, on to my favorite posts of the week!

From the M-Network:

• Paid Twice tries to find the balance between living for today and saving for tomorrow
• Plonkee tells us why he chose a less lucrative career
• Gather Little by Little says there is no such thing as good debt
• Being Frugal explains how she is going to celebrate the start of the school year
• Moolanomy asks if you are guilty of these top 10 money wasters

From other great bloggers:

• Finance is Personal has a very timely post on 7 ways to avoid foreclosure
• The Digerati Life wants you to know the cost of having kids
• No Credit Needed shows you how to video tutorial on using the envelope system to manage your cash – Very cool. Easier to visualize by seeing rather than reading.

My most popular post this week was What Do I Need to Retire?

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Here are my favorite posts from the M-Network and beyond:

• Moolanomy points out 10 baby steps to financial recovery.
• Plonkee wonders what is the most important thing to insure.
• Gather Little by Little gives helpful tips for moving.
• Paid Twice talks about the motivational power of the X.
• Free Money Finance asks what you would do if you had a high paying, unrewarding job.

My most popular post of the week was Maximize Your Paycheck.

If you have been lurking around my site a while and don’t want to miss a post, consider subscribing to my RSS feed. If you prefer, you can also subscribe by email to receive the previous day’s posts each morning.

Here are my top picks for the week:

• The Digerati Life gives advice on determining whether to keep or sell stock options. Very important if a large portion of your compensation or bonus is in stock options.
• Get Rich Slowly discusses the tyranny of stuff. I completely identified with his thoughts on “stuff” once he realized he could live without them. I’ve told my wife that if I wasn’t married with children I could probably live like a monk. (well, I guess I would need a computer and internet access to blog)
• Blueprint for Financial Prosperity delves into the art of envelope budgeting. I had never heard of this method until I met my in-laws. It worked very well for them.
• Clever Dude answers my question about why he chose an interest-only mortgage over a fixed rate mortgage. In his case, I agree with him that the interest-only mortgage was a good decision. However, I also know he is very disciplined in making sure he manages the rest of his financial situation well.
• The Simple Dollar debates the age-old argument of whether to pay down debt or invest. Read the comments to this post as well to hear both sides of the argument.

My most popular post this week was 6 Ways to Increase Your Kids’ Financial Intelligence. If you haven’t read it yet, follow the link and leave a comment with your feedback.

Also, please welcome Moolanomy to my blogroll. I’ve been reading his blog for a couple of weeks now on my RSS reader and am very impressed with his articles. I encourage everyone to subscribe to the Moolanomy RSS feed.

• Clever Dude shows how he reduced his debt by over $58,000 – Way to go, Clever Dude. Very impressive.
• Consumerism Commentary gives a list of 50 credit cards offering 0% APR on purchases – Definitely do some extra research for any catches.
• No Credit Needed talks about 10 inexpensive toys his kids love – My kids like to use empty diaper boxes as racecars and plastic bowls to make pretend food.
• Mighty Bargain Hunter explains the trick to finding really good deals on housing – I don’t have the patience to wait on my primary residence, but her post is also good when thinking about investment properties.
• The Digerati Life gives tips to save money on your wedding – My wedding was less than half of the average wedding cost, but I don’t know that there is anything I would add.
• A reader at The Simple Dollar wants to know how to invest $50 million – Give it to the pros. There are too many variables for the average “personal finance guru” to have any idea about the best place to put that amount of money.

I encourage you to visit these personal finance blogs and add them to your RSS reader if you haven’t already.

• The Simple Dollar answers a reader who asks if it is better to pay off debts now or avoid future debt.
• Mighty Bargain Hunter shows that debt troubles are not just for low wage earners. Some of the high wage earners I know are in this exact position. They think retirement savings are a “middle class” problem.
• Free Money Finance shows thathome prices may be falling faster than the statistics show.
• Five Cent Nickel is looking for the very best 529 plans. I am currently participating in the Illinois plan he mentions and am very excited about their decision to switch to Vanguard index funds. Vanguard + index funds = super low fees.
• Consumerism Commentary talks about the team experience in the University of Phoenix MBA program. I always wondered what the team experience would be like in a 100% online class. After reading his post, I am very happy I decided to obtain an MBA the normal way.
• All Financial Matters asks if employers should reduce 401(k) investment options to encourage employee contribution by reducing complexity. I added my two cents in the comments.
• No Credit Needed has some great ideas for speeding up your debt reduction and increasing your savings. All the ideas are common sense, but are often overlooked.