Here is my own mini-carnival for this Sunday, bringing you some choicest handpicked articles written by my blogging friends in the past week. 
How to stop nickel and diming yourself into the poorhouse! by Kirby @ Kirby on Finance. If you agreed with me on my perspective of the latte factor, you must read this. It’s a personal story of the author on how he is doing it the other way round. Instead of the latte, he started cutting on the Red Bulls. Give your brain some counter arguments and perhaps you will have a better solution for Kirby.
Avoid 10 Common Debt Reduction Mistakes by NCN @ No Credit Needed. Read about 10 insightful and practical suggestions on debt reduction. Here is a glimpse into #9:
Don’t argue with your spouse about money.
The Most Important Money Lessons for the Youth by ISPF @ Personal Finance for Students. This is about teaching the younger generation about money management and debt early on. I think parents and teachers together can make this thing happen. On a related note, I have mentioned before that I had my first *bank* account (complete with a passbook) when I was in 5th grade. I could never thank my parents enough for making me do that.
9 Reasons Why I Love My Credit Card by SVB @ The Digerati Life. The arguments are straightforward and do make a point. I agree with SVB on this one. Sometimes, I think we blame credit cards just because it’s easy to blame them instead of pointing a finger at ourselves for our bad financial management. Btw, I love my credit cards too.
Why You Should Help Pay for Your Child’s Education by HC @ One Big Mortar Board. My wavelength matches with these thoughts. Agreed, not every parent will be in a position to afford paying for the entire length of child’s/children’s studies…but parents should do their best in order to reduce the financial burden on their kids. If you are thinking “oh, I want to teach them reality by holding their feet to the fire”, I don’t think that’s a good approach when it comes to your child’s education. There are numerous other ways of teaching your kids about financial responsibility…and not funding your child’s education is not one of them.
Could You Save Less and Still Retire With Enough? by JDRoth @ Get Rich Slowly. JD wonders if financial consultants are scaring you into worrying too much about your retirement. I have expressed similar worries in one of my earlier posts and so have some other bloggers. Here is an excerpt from JD’s post:
The economists are not saying that one shouldn’t save for retirement; they’re saying that the average person may be able to save less than they’ve been led to believe.
I have a simple suggestion, don’t just chase a numerical goal; ask yourself “why” each time to set some incredible retirement number for yourself. If you rely too much on retirement calculators, you should read this.
Image sources: www.rosemarycompany.com, www.abcmoney.co.uk
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Good stuff Golb! Very insightful bunch of articles here. Always enjoy your roundups.
*Says something provocative*
If you’re going to be a parent, you need to be willing to take on all the associated responsibilities that come with it, including helping the child figure out how to finance college. This could include saving for college, nurturing talent, working for a college in a tuition-remission capacity, etc. If you’re not willing to do all that, maybe you should not become a parent. After all, it’s unfair to burden a child with bad parents.
Golbguru,
As always, a very good Sunday Review. Fully agree on helping with my children’s education. One of my parental responsibilities is to prepare them to be on their own. For me, education, among other things, is a key preparation item.
Golbguru,
Personally, I’d rather oversave (by drinking fewer lattes:-) than undersave for retirement. The consequences of oversaving are easy to correct should that be the situation. I can spend more later in life
On the other hand, the consequences of undersaving for retirement could be really painful.
During the week, I had found an article I wanted to read, but had to put it off for later (darned life, always interferes with something or the other :)), but this review reminded me of it. So, thanks!
As ever, the best links! I found the retirement calculator article very thought-provoking…thanks!
Thanks so much for the link! The kind attention from you and mapgirl actually convinced me to submit this to the CoPF (something I rarely do).
Hey! Finally had some time to really look at this site — LOVE it. Wish I was better at following all of this terrific advice. I’ve now linked to you from TheBusyDad!
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