The Wealth Builder Carnival #2

Welcome to second edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival. The purpose of this carnival is to collect articles from the blogosphere on building, preserving and keeping enough wealth for a comfortable retirement.

For this carnival, I have organized the posts in seven categories: Earning, Investing, Insuring and Protecting, Living Frugally, Retiring, Saving and Taxes. I have acknowledged bloggers who are in Technorati's Top 100 Finance blogs by showing their 8/16/2010 rank in parentheses. Finally, for some submissions, I have added my perspective and comments relative to the post topic.

And now onto the Carnival:

Earning

Pinyo (#7) presents Your Income is Your Greatest Wealth Building Asset posted at Moolanomy, and recommends growing it, investing it, and saving it.

Gal Josefsberg presents How To Get A Raise posted at Equally Happy, saying, "Have you ever considered whether or not you deserve that raise you want? We all think we deserve more money, but do we really?" The key is deliver much more value to a company than one is paid.

Investing

Dividends4Life presents 3 Signs of an Impending Dividend Cut posted at Dividends Value, saying, "Most investors are not surprised when a company cuts its dividend. They saw the early warning signs well in advance of the actual cut. Here are three signs that a company is heading toward a dividend cut."

Dividend Growth Investor (#63) presents 24 Dividend Paying Companies Confident in the Economic Rebound posted at Dividend Growth Investor, saying, "It is interesting to note than when management expects rosy business conditions in the next two to three years, dividends have a higher chance of getting raised. Back in 2007 and 2008 when the economic picture was particularly gloomy, the boards of directors of many companies cut dividends in anticipation of financial Armageddon. While the economic situation is not as good as it were during the 1990’s, nevertheless the boards of many companies have started raising dividends at an increasing pace. This is a bullish sign, as it shows that managers are mostly optimistic for near-term business conditions."

BWL presents No Fee Roth IRAs At Scottrade posted at Christian Personal Finance, saying, "Don't you just hate being charged an annual "IRA fee"? Me too, but finally a broker is deciding to do away with it..." Low fees are a good way to increase investment returns. I checked with the brokers I use, Charles Schwab and TDAmeritrade, and both also do not charge annual fees for IRAs.

Sun (#16) presents Watch Those Fees to Improve The Performance of Your Portfolio posted at The Sun’s Financial Diary, writing, "One of the more often overlooked methods of increasing your return is the one you have the most control over – reducing portfolio expenses."

Living Frugally

FMF (#5) presents Two Mind Hacks to Lower Your Expenses posted at Free Money Finance, saying, "Two unique ways of looking at money challenges that can leave you much better off financially." I like this idea. By reducing my living expense, I can reduce the amount of savings needed for retirement. Although not mentioned, I could probably put more to savings each month by using these mind hacks.

Lauren Mendel presents Running on a Budget posted at Richly Reasonable - Successes and failures, all in the name of living reasonably., saying, "A gym membership can get pricey, particularly if you're not sure that you'll use it enough to make it worth your while. Family-style programs are a little more cost efficient, but a single membership can sting you right in your budget." I agree that there are many low or no cost ways to exercise. Also, I like "pay as you go" options. As a retiree, I can pay for only those months that I am using the gym, which typically is in the winter. During the summer months, we choose the "free options" to exercise.

Silicon Valley Blogger (#9) presents How To Find Coupon Codes Online posted at The Digerati Life, reporting that finding a coupon can be as easy as a single search or e-mail away. I agree that coupons can save a significant amount of money. Sometimes just asking will get also get a coupon, as I did recently for a car repair.

Retiring

Pfstock presents Random Thoughts on Early Retirement posted at PFStock.com, offering common themes of and perspectives on those who have done it.

Saving

My Wealth Builder (#26) presents The Only Saving Strategy You'll Ever Need posted at My Wealth Builder, saying "Paying ourselves first was an important element of our wealth building strategy."

Taxes

Arjun Rudra (#78) presents How To Make Your Mortgage Interest Tax Deductible posted at Investing Thesis, saying, "For US homeowners, mortgage interest is automatically tax deductible. But for Canadians, the write-off is not so straightforward. In order to make your mortgage interest tax deductible, homeowners must be able to prove that the money is being reinvested and is not being used for personal expenses."

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of The Wealth Builder Carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

For more on Ideas You Can Use, check back every Thursday for a new segment.

This is not financial or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

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