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First, here is a story that most of us are familiar with:

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But don’t worry! here is the perfect solution to our problems. It’s a new bank in town that promises to lighten your financial burden.
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And now for some interesting posts from fellow bloggers:

• Parallels Between Gambling And Investing by Jonathan @ My Money Blog.

Personally, this makes me worry a lot about the self-directed nature of many people’s 401k/403b/TSP plans. Do they really know that they are investing in? The 401k industry seems to rely on the fact that most people just go with the default choice given to them. Few people question their investment choices. I don’t have the article on me right now, but something like 80% of 401(k) holders have no idea what expenses they are being charged on their retirement accounts.

• Festival of Frugality #70 by NCN @ No Credit Needed Blog. NCN has done a great job putting together some nice articles. Here are some of my favorite posts from the festival:
  • Here’s Why I Like My Relatively-Frugal Lifestyle by ISPF @ Grad Money Matters.
  • You Want Fries With That? @ Frugal Zeitgeist.
  • Repair or Replace? by Mapgirl @ Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge.
  • How College Students Save on Textbook Costs @ Queercents.

• Paint Your Rooms for Free OnLine by Sharon @ The Frugal Duchess.

• Why Women Don’t Ask for Raises? by Single Ma @ Single Ma’s Fabulous Financials. Here is another article on women and money (this is a commentary on this article that appeared in a recent TIME magazine issue): Women & Money: did Suze get it wrong? by Wanda @ Well-Heeled.

• Starting A Business With Pocket Change @ Personal Finance Advice.

• Decorating Tips and Tricks by Dawn @ Frugal for Life.

Here are a few articles worth reading (thinking about) this week.

• The Festival of Frugality #69, “Save All Week Long” Edition by SVB @ The Digerati Life. SVB has done a great job in compiling a ton of articles for the festival. Some of my favorite picks are Joys of Frugal Living! by Dawn @ Frugal for Life, Frugal lawncare - Part II Overseeding by MFJ @ My Financial Journey, What Does It Mean to Be Frugal When You’re Wealthy? by Frugal Law Student.

• Money Question: Where to Put the Money? @ The Sun’s Financial Diary. This is the first of a series of questions asked by readers, and answered by a few bloggers. The main objective is to encourage reader participation…so head over and feel free to contribute your answer and/or criticize other answers.

• Top Ten Things I Learned On My Vacation Through The Southwest by David @ My Two Dollars. Vacations can be really instructive….for example, here is a part of what David learned:

I saw poverty like I had not seen poverty, and that is saying a lot as I live in Los Angeles, where this is a ton of it. The way that some people live out in the in country is amazing, in broken down hovels with 30 cars in the yard with a rusted water storage container. We have more than we need.

• ING Direct Threatened to Close My Account by Flexo @ Consumerism Commentary. Does everyone know about the 6-withdrawal limit on most online savings accounts? Read this post and see what happens when you exceed the limit. If you have multiple accounts at ING Direct, you must read this.
  

• The American Dream @ Money Monk. What’s your definition of the American Dream? When do you know you have it all? Some food for thought.

Having a nice cushion in the bank, owning a piece of property, working at a job you love, having an enjoyable life with your family is to me, The American Dream !

• I Am Not My Debt: Daily Meditation @ 3 Things About Money. There is more to life than debt. Here is some more food for thought.

Before I log off, here are links to some carnivals of the week:

Carnival of Education: Week 114 @ The Education Wonks.

Carnival of Personal Finance #95 @ Accumulating Money.

Carnival of Entrepreneurs #18 @ Startup Spark.

Blain @ Stock Trading 101 is running a short term stock trading contest. A group of blogs including this blog have shown interest in participating in the contest. The idea is to get some participation in the contest from a variety of reader groups and have some fun. My selfish motive is to learn something about short term stock performance predictions.

Here are the rules:

1. Entries will be accepted till Sunday, April 8, 2007 @ 12AM EST.
2. Readers are invited to provide two estimates:
   • One stock (represented by a ticker symbol) that you think will provide a high return for the week (stock picks must be over $1).
   • Predict the value at which you think the Nasdaq will close at on Friday the 13th.
3. To participate, just add a comment to this post (Blain will track your picks from here) mentioning the two items listed above.
4. The contest runs (your predictions and stocks will be tracked) officially from Monday April 9 until Friday April 13, 2007.
5. There are three ways to win: having the top stock pick, closest Nasdaq close, or best overall community pick average.

The other blogs that are involved in the contest are:

• Stock Trading 101
• Chris Perruna
• Million Dollar Journey
• Clever Dude
• The Bull Trader
• Derrich.com
• Investoid

So go ahead, leave a comment, flaunt your stock picking skills, and massage your ego.

Here are some handy resources for you to get going on this:

• MSN Money Market Summary

• MarketWatch.com

• How to Save for Retirement by Madame X @ My Open Wallet. Consider this as a Retirement-101 handout. A must read for young people who are just starting to think about ways to save for retirement (and for not-so-young people who have not yet considered Roth IRA as an option).

• Charmin Shrinks With Exposure to Air, Bush Economy by Michael @ Money Musings. An interesting observation by Michael’s wife on the shrinkage of Charmin rolls with time. This is tempting me to set up a controlled experiment on Charmin rolls over a few months.

• Festival of Frugality #68 by Mapgirl @ Mapgirl’s Fiscal Challenge. Check this out for a wide variety of money savings tips on stuff from free contact lenses, to frugal dining, to cosmetics, to frugal exercise, to (most importantly!) frugal ways of winning over ladies !

• Cutting Dishwasher Costs: Tips from a Sears Expert by Sharon @ The Frugal Duchess. Some quick practical tips to extend the life of your dishwasher. Sometime in the near future, I will have more to write on this….more specifically on whether a dishwasher is needed at all.

• Beware of One-size-fits-all Financial Advice by Dimes @ Dimes to Dollars. This post resonates with some of my thoughts posted on this blog in the past. Here is what Dimes have to say about financial advice from gurus:

It can be fun and informative to read their various guides, plans, and frameworks in a quest to become wealthy, financially free, debt-free, or whatever. But really, you’ve got to be judicious in interpreting what you read, because not all advice is created equal, and not all advice is appropriate for everyone.

• Who Pays for Credit Card Rewards and Rebates? by TFB @ The Finance Buff. TFB does some critical thinking on the funding sources for credit card rewards. Are you (the consumers) paying for your own rewards or rebates?
  

• What does being rich mean? by Plonkee @ Plonkee Money. Think over this the next time you are in an introspective mood.

Forbes released the 2007 list of billionaires this week. Check it out. Here are is a small excerpt from Forbes website to get you started:

There were 178 newcomers, including 19 Russians, 14 Indians, 13 Chinese and 10 Spaniards, as well as the first billionaires from Cyprus, Oman, Romania and Serbia….

….The average billionaire is 62 years old, two years younger than in 2005. This year’s new billionaires are seven years younger than that. Of list members’ fortunes, 60% made theirs from scratch.

Recently, I did some rough analysis on the 2006 list of billionaires in this post. May be I will do something similar for the latest list, in time to come.

Anyways, let’s get to the latest edition of the Sunday Review.

A Follow-up to the Dave Ramsey Mortgage Post - This is Interesting! by JLP @ AllFinancialMatters.com: JLP runs some quick (and interesting) numbers to compare two situations: 1. Get rid of your mortgage very very early by making large payments, and 2. Instead of paying it off early, invest the additional amount over the span of the mortgage. Read the comments on this one !

Survey Finds Many Workers Fail to Save Enough, Make Poor Investment Choices by Jeremy @ Generation X Finance. Jeremy reviews the findings of a latest survey by Watson Wyatt Worldwide.

…people are not saving enough and many of those who do are not investing the money properly. This isn’t news, but some of the actual statistics are shocking. For instance the number of higher income earners having less than one year’s worth of salary saved up and they have been employed for over 20 years.

I am going to read that survey carefully. I am especially interested in what Watson Wyatt Worldwide defines as “enough” when they say “workers don’t start saving soon enough, don’t save enough”

Buy that Big Screen TV You Want and You’ll Still be Fine When You Retire by Sun @ The Sun’s Financial Diary. Read this after you finish reading Jeremy’s article above. Notice the contrasting point of views some of these surveys are giving out (although this one is specifically about retirement) ? Pretty soon we will have something like this: “Survey finds that huge number of contrasting surveys are confusing people about savings and retirement trends.”

Should You Quit School Because You’re Brilliant? by SVB @ The Digerati Life. SVB analyzes pros and cons of leaving behind the conventional education system in pursuit of that bright spark in your brain. Honestly, even if I have that rare brilliant idea about doing something independently, I don’t have the guts to leave school and go after it. May be, this attitude also makes me a *bad* investor of sorts.

Festival of Under 30 Finances - Money & Love Edition @ Money Smart Life. A question was posed for the festival participants “What is the worst money move you’ve made either because of or in spite of LOVE?“. There are some interesting answers, and a few posts on the subject. Here is one of the answers:

I turned down a very lucrative job offer so that the better half and I could stay close by. Financially, it was a bad move. Emotionally and relationship wise, the best one! Money, just cant compete with love

Investing 101 - Lump Sum Performs Better Than Dollar Cost Average by Super Saver @ My Wealth Builder. Super Saver contemplates on some features of dollar cost averaging (DCA). There are links to a couple of interesting articles that compare the DCA approach to the lump sum investing approach.

In other news from my blogger friends, Lazy Man and Money was chosen as the Blog of the Week by JLP’s AllFinancialMatters.com (congrats Lazy) and Binary Dollar got pulled over by ArkansasBusiness.com for including Arkansas in the list of “…some of the most stereotypically boring places to live in the United States”

Image sources: $50 bill house - www.themoneyalert.com; man with bulbs - www.runet.edu

Welcome to the 6th edition of the Carnival of Money Stories. This relatively new carnival is a product of Andy @ Money Walks‘ original idea with valuable inputs from SVB @ The Digerati Life. Since it is just starting out, there is a high probability that some of the content might overlap with the contents of other carnivals about money and finance. However, I am pretty sure that, in time to come, the carnival will shine with it’s own distinctive color, and will set itself apart from all other carnivals out there. With this positive hope in our hearts, let’s now begin with the submissions. There were 27 submissions in all of which 16 have been included in this edition. Only one submission from each blog was considered.

Money related posts with a personal touch

Adaptation: Lessons learned from being unemployed by Amy Lin @ Wisebread. Looks like unemployment is not that bad after all. There’s a popular saying, “Necessity is the mother of inventions” …after reading Amy’s article, I coined an analogous saying - Adversity is the mother of all adaptation. Or perhaps, stability makes us complacent. Think about it while reading this article.

Preparing Our Taxes Will Be A Cinch, Paying Them Won’t by Silicon Valley Blogger @ The Digerati Life. SVB shares her tax preparation experience using an “enrolled agent”. Apparently, she is having trouble with the cost basis information for her investments. I had similar trouble during last year’s tax time…and unfortunately, I have no idea what I did about it eventually. Most probably, it’s going to bite me this time too.

When Reality is Different Than Perception by Super Saver @ My Wealth Builder. Super Saver gives some examples of times when what you see is just an illusion. Here is one of his examples:

When I was about four years old, I remember becoming frantic when my uncle paid cash for a gasoline purchase. I kept telling him that my dad had a plastic card that enabled him to get gas without using any money. I recall thinking that my uncle was wasting money because he didn’ t have a plastic card.

Taxes and the Three Martini Lunch by Bill @ Ask Uncle Bill. Another one in the honor of tax season. Apparently, I just realized that I am having a hard time focusing on anything that has to do with taxes. Probably, some of you may extract more sense out of non-deductible martini expenses that Bill is talking about.

Timeshares: Should we buy one? by LA MoneyGuy @ It’s Just Money. LA MoneyGuy says he has a hobby of attending timeshare presentations and wonders whether he should buy one. There are some interesting comments on this post (most of them discouraging him from the idea of buying timeshares)…make sure you read them.

How I live on $600 a month by Matthew Paulson @ Getting Green. Hmm..interesting. You know, I have been with students who live comfortably within $400 a month in my town …and I am not talking about old times, this is just about 2 years ago. I guess cheap living is a virtue of not-so-large university towns.

“The Science of Getting Rich” Evaluated, Part Two by Debra Moorhead @ Debra Moorhead.com. I didn’t find much of *science* in here, but it may probably appeal to a section of readers.

Ten Money Questions for Jennifer Chrisler by Nina Smith @ Queercents. Jennifer Chrisler is the executive director of Family Pride, a national non-profit organization. Nina of Queercents asked Jennifer to share her views on money, relationships, equality and happiness.

Cash Flow is King by Wilson Ng @ Reflections of a BizDrivenLife. By the way of an example involving his student, Wilson talks about the importance of cash flow. Here is an excerpt that will give you an idea of what his student was up to:

He was risking virtually all his savings to build up a fast food restaurant. Not only that, he was going to borrow an amount that was twice his own money to fund the remaining amount. What’s more, in order to be able to build the restaurant, he was going to build the restaurant on a lot that he proposed to lease - as a way to lessen initial investment and a way to get a better location.

Tim of My Money Forest Contributes To Brass Magazine by Tim @ MyMoneyForest. Not much of a story here, but I thought it may be appropriate to congratulate Tim on the inclusion of his article in Brass Magazine - a publication aimed at informing young people about money. May be, you can try and get some good contacts from him.

Money related general knowledge posts

Don’t look for any personal stories in the following entries. These are some helpful “how to” type of posts dishing out some free advice. The titles are pretty much self-explanatory and hence I will abstain from adding my own jargon in trying to explain what the articles are about.

How to: Make Money with Balance Transfer Arbitrage by Jimmy Atkinson presents @ Ask the Advisor.

What Does it Take to Start a Startup? by John Wesley @ Pick the Brain.

10 Simple Ideas to Save Thousands of Dollars per Year by David @ Worldwide Success.

Money and philosophy posts

OK, I have to admit that I had a hard time understanding the central idea behind the entries below…and whatever is hard to understand can be safely classified as *philosophy* For most of you these may be just general rants, but who knows *shrug*…may be some of you can find the meaning of life and universe, etc., after reading between the lines.

Money Plant by Gazzali Maidin @ Beneficial Learning for Outstanding Generation.

Don’t Eliminate Your Debt, Attract Abundance! by Maria Palma @ The Good Life.

What is Money? by Nenad Ristic @ Money Conciousness

That’s all for this edition of the Carnival of Money Stories. Hope you enjoyed your stay. You can submit your money stories to the next edition of the carnival by clicking here.

‘Adapt or die’ image source: tiki.oneworld.net

I have been very lazy (and busy) of late and haven’t mentioned a few carnivals that some of my blogger friends worked hard on hosting this week. Today I woke up at 4:00 pm and my body is still crying for more sleep. This is partly because of a stressful week at work, resulting in lack of sleep during weekdays, and partly because, to relieve some of the stress, I was playing Age of Empires till very late in the night yesterday (btw, computer games are evil time black holes). Whatever. Let’s get back to the carnivals.

Carnival of Personal Finance #88 hosted by William Trent @ Stock Market Beat. Here are some of the interesting entries:

• Financial Lies - Ways We Convince Ourselves It’s OK To Spend by Jeffrey Strain @ Personal Finance Advice.
• Invest in Gold — Buy Gold by Sun @ Sun’s Financial Diary. I am suddenly intersted in this after reading this article on CBS Marketwatch about the possible rise in the value of gold in the time to come.
• My entry for this carnival was Analyze This; Late Fees And Other Penalties Are Necessary.

Carnival of Money Stories #5 hosted by SVB @ The Digerati Life. This is a relatively new carnival, but is gradually gathering steam. Some interesting carnival submissions were:

• How I Milk Sacred Cows for Cash by Sharon @ The Frugal Duchess.
• Huge stupid tax…timeshare by LAL @ Living Almost Large.
• My entry for this one was The Story Of My Investment In A Motorcycle.

Festival of Frugality #62 hosted by Lazy Man @ Lazy Man and Money. Nice job with the baseball theme. :). Some entries that I liked:

• Test Your Buyer’s IQ: Quit Wasting Money On Costly Crap by SVB @ The Digerati Life.
• How To Cut Living Expenses by Nina @ Queercents.
• My entry was It’s Easier To Be Frugal When You Are Single; True Or False? Check out some interesting comments on this one.

From the previous week, here are some carnivals that I failed to mention on time.

• Carnival of Personal Finance #87 @ 2Million.
• Carnival of Debt Reduction #74 @ Blogging Away Debt.
• Festival of Frugality #61 @ Hustler’s $$$Blog.

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

Here are some links to interesting articles from the week that was.

Understanding Your Financial Fortress by Jim @ Blueprint for Financial Prosperity: Browse through medieval castles and armored knights to understand the supporting roles that various accounts play in order to guard your financial health.

Lessons From The Poker Table by Super Saver @ My Wealth Builder: Some poker table tips that may help you manage your finances …or may be you can implement some poker tips directly and increase your finances

How Much House Can You Afford? by JLP @ AllFinancialMatters.com: JLP lists a 3 step approach towards figuring out whether you can afford your monthly mortgage payment. His 3 steps follow the guidelines presented in “The Road to Wealth” by Suze Orman. You don’t need to be thinking about buying a house to read this…just have fun playing around with the numbers and see how far you are from your dream home.

Of Loan Refinancing, Debt Consolidation And LowerMyBills’ Dancing Cowboysby SVB at The Digerati Life: All I have to say for this is “lol” . Here is what SVB tries to explain:

If you were ever in the market for a mortgage, would you ever get it from those gyrating silhouettes that have been stalking you online?

Towards a Better Financial Future (Even If You Don’t Have a Penny to Save) by ISPF at Personal Finance for Students: ISPF shares my concern over the spending habits of students, and offers a few helpful tips to improve the situation.

Bad Job-Hunting Tips You Must Avoid, Part 1 and Part 2 by Flexo @ Consumerism Commentary: There are 8 rules to look up in this 2-part series. I don’t agree with some of the points, but it still worth reading. The posts are presented in a format that comments on an article by Penelope Trunk @ Yahoo Finance.

Tap Water is Just Toilet Water, Bottled Water Company Says by Sharon @ The Frugal Duchess: Some stuff that’s just ridiculous. Going with the company’s concept, I have drank toilet water all my life..that’s comforting. On a related note, read this to figure out what’s going on with these bottled water companies, half way around the world.

So there, a mini Sunday carnival for y’all. Hopefully, you guys will finish reading everything before the Super Bowl.

Image sources: www.battelle.org, www.delorie.com