Monday, January 08, 2007

Best of the Carnival of Personal Finance

The latest Carnival of Personal Finance is up at Get Rich Slowly. It features my post on my emergency fund policy, and is packed with other great stuff as well.

Since it's so packed, please allow me to point you towards a few of my favorites:


Ask Uncle Bill offers some provocative thoughts on the minimum wage. Those of us who consider ourselves dedicated to social justice are often reflexively in support of anything that seems like it will improve the lives of the working poor, but perhaps we should first devote some serious thought and study to whether or not raising the minimum wage truly does offer that improvement.

ISPF details the 7 steps that made him debt-free. Tons of bloggers have done this, but I appreciate the focus here on the connection between the personal and the financial aspects of personal finance, rather than just the mechanics ("save money"!).

Living Almost Large wonders, "Is life passing me by?" I think this is a common concern, especially amongst young people trying to be financially responsible. Myself, I think it's important to strike a balance (I would tell LAL that maybe she could make saving for an amazing trip a priority savings goal rather than just putting it on credit or putting it off in favor of "more important" financial goals).

Nagel of General Finance explains how to open a mutual fund account. He offers a step-by-step guide to picking a mutual fund, stopping short only of walking you through the setup process. Given my insatiable craving for detailed how-to articles of this type (especially about investment accounts), I think this article is a gem.

Blueprint for Financial Prosperity plays devil's advocate in the rent-or-buy debate, taking the renters' side. An interesting counterpoint to the default goal of buying a home.

Welcome to everyone finding my blog through J.D.'s awesome carnival hosting, and enjoy!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thannks, I'm not sure if I can raise it's priority on my list. And nothing goes on CC that can't be paid in full, I have never spent like that and I'm not about to start for a trip. But I wonder about racheting down savings for other stuff instead.

English Major said...

That's what I'd do, LAL--and, in fact, what I am doing. I don't think I could bring myself to put travel (or, truly, anything) that I couldn't immediately pay off on credit. I don't, however, have any trouble saving aggressively for travel while I put drips and drops of money into a mini-E fund.