Carnival Highlights For The Week #8

Here are the Carnivals from this past week that I am reading :

The Carnival of Personal Finance #94 is organized by No Credit Needed.	My Carnival choice is 10 Tips on Life and Disability Insurance: How And Why We're Getting More by Silicon Valley Blogger, which shares their current family situation (spouse starting own business and children) and how that affects their insurance thinking. I would also include determining how Disability and Survivor Income Insurance from Social Security can be used to cover part of one's insurance needs. After all, we've all paid for it already and should consider it available (until Social Security goes broke.)
The Tax Carnival #15 is hosted by Don't Mess With Taxes.	My Carnival pick is by Tax Information which offers some help with Costly Tax Mistakes and What You Can Do about Them. This is a good list. Here's what I'm doing to avoid making mistakes. Since I owe taxes, I will pay that amount and file for an extension. That will enable me to ensure that don't miss any items to claim.
The Carnival of Debt Reduction #81 is at Money Walks.	My Carnival selection is by Debt Free 4 Ever, which states it’s 70% Attitude and 30% Hard Work to get rid of debt. I like the point of the article. Getting rid of debt starts with personal commitment and needs hard work. However, getting rid of debt also requires having good (financial) knowledge, which the lack of sometimes cause a debt problem. Here's my build on the title: Getting Rid of Debt is 70% Attitude, 70% Knowledge, and 70% Hard Work. Perhaps, a topic for a future post :-)
The Festival of Stocks #30 is hosted by Investor Trip.	My Festival pick is Dell's accounting problems:the tip of the iceberg posted at Sox First, which opines that Dell is a victim of the "winner's curse" which caused them to miss learning that their business model is now obsolete. I agree. It is hard for a company to transform themselves periodically from what made them successful to what will keep them successful. That's the reason very few companies exist more than a few decades.
The Carnival of Personal Development is presented by Alex Shalman.com.	My Carnival choice is What They Don't Teach You In School posted at The Optimized Life. How to fail, continual learning, leadership, finance, and personal vision were identified self education areas that are important to personal success. I agree that schools are not designed nor responsible to teach these concepts. That's still a responsibility that I have as a parent. Another skill I would add to this list is "critical thinking."
The 68th Festival of Frugality is hosted by Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge.	My Festival pick is Free 12-month supply of contact lens cases & coupons posted at Wise Bread - Living large on a small budget, which shares a Bausch & Lomb promotion for a free year's supply for contact lens cases. Another necessity I can get for free:-) I generally use a contact lens case for several months to a full year. Bausch & Lomb is trying to change my paradigm and will be sending me 12 cases as one year's supply. Since it's free, I'm willing to let them convince me:-)
The Festival of Under 30 Finances #20 is hosted by One Big Mortar Board.	My Festival pick is Starting Early: The Young Adult’s Guide To Personal Finance posted at Debt Consolidation News, which lists 65 elements in their guide. Many of the elements I ascribe to being a good student of finance, which I think is an important skill. Here are ones that have worked best for me: #2 - Pay yourself first, #50 - Choose a job-oriented degree and #61 - Plan for your retirement. One I didn't see and would add is: Only use debt for a home, college tuition, and perhaps one's first car.

I hope you enjoy reading these Carnivals and finding ideas you can use.

Check back on Saturday for the next Reflections and Musings segment.

This is not financial advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

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