Carnival Highlights For The Week #13 - Self Employed Edition

In reading the Carnivals this week, I looked for articles that were related to home businesses, being self employed or earning side income. Here are my picks for the week:

The Personal Development Carnival is hosted at Live The Power.	My Carnival selection is Attitudinal Service, at Trusted Advisor Associates, which writes good customer service is intellectual. However, great customer service comes from the heart and soul.
The Carnival of Personal Finance #99 is organized by Money, Matter, and More Musings.	My Carnival choice is by Tips for Running a Successful Seasonal Business by GreatFX Business Cards. The secret is managing three areas: budget, revenue, and time.
The Investor's Blog Network (IBN) Carnival #6 is hosted by The Digerati Life.	My Festival pick is by Online Stock Trading which covers Online Stock Trading Mid-Day Trading. It provides a few tips and insights to help reduce the chart watching stress during the day,
The Carnival of Family Life #53 celebrates is one year anniversary at it's founder, An Island Life.	My Carnival choice is Family Business: Cons To Beware posted at Inklings, which gives a quick overview of home business pitfalls and ways to combat them.
The Festival of Frugality #73 is presented by Money Smart Life.	My Festival pick is Save Money While Still Dining Out at Saving for Wealth, which shares money saving gift certificates to reduce the cost of business dinners. OK, this one is a bit of a stretch for the theme:-)
The Cavalcade of Risk is hosted at Getting Green.	My Carnival choice is Managing Risk in a Home Business at Families.com, which shares that they are multiple risk in a home business, including financial, business model, hiring and time management.
The Carnival of Taxes #18 is hosted by Don't Mess With Taxes.	My Carnival choice is Estimated Taxes and Avoiding Underpayment Penalties posted at Five Cent Nickel. How to pay estimated taxes is another "learning opportunity" of being self employed.

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

This marks the final edition of Carnival Highlights for the Week. Based on a discussions at Money, Matter, and More Musings on what readers do not like in Personal Finance blogs, I am discontinuing this segment for now. It seems many regular personal finance blog readers dislike round up articles because the readers have already seen many of the highlighted articles. My site analytics also show these articles have relatively low readership.

My apologies to those readers who have enjoyed this segment. I hope you will equally enjoy the new segments that will replace Carnival Highlights for the Week.


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

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

Copyright © 2007 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Carnival Highlights For The Week #12 - Lessons for Life Edition

In reading the Carnivals this week, I noticed that several had personal finance insights that were also relevant to life in general. This week's highlights were selected based on this theme.

The Carnival of Personal Finance #98 is published at We're In Debt.	My Carnival pick is by Ardini which looks at 3 Steps Towards Solid Financial Freedom Planning. A great concise post summarizing the three steps: Setting Goals, Behavior Change and Regular Communication. This approach resonates with me and also can be applied to other areas of life. If you only have time to read one post in this Carnival, I recommend this one.
The Festival of Frugality #72 is hosted at Frugal for Life.	My Festival choice is Don't Be Afraid to Ask for a Discount, The Sequel by Five Cent Nickel. This post reinforces the concept of if one wants a lower price, one should ask. As a colleague once told me, the worst thing the salesperson can do is say "no." This is another concept that can be applied to other parts of life - e.g. asking for a raise.
The Carnival of Family Life # 52 is at Parenting Toddlers.	My Carnival pick is by Inklings which gives us a run down on the pros to owning a family run business with Family Business: Pros to Embrace. The pros include: Time Together, Experience, Overcoming Hardship and Personal Development. The points are also valuable to other parts of life. The author noted that an upcoming post will discuss the cons of a family run business. Since I am now intrigued by the pros, I plan to check back on the post on the cons.

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.

Copyright © 2007 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Carnival Highlights For The Week #10

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

The Carnival of Personal Finance #96 is organized by All Financial Matters.	My Carnival choice is Maxing Out Retirement = Saving Too Much? by Personal Finance Advice, which numerically addresses the question of whether someone saved (and sacrificed) "too much" in a specific example. His conclusion estimated the person was saving about 15% of a $100,000+ salary, and was able to do so and "still have fun." The concept of over saving and over sacrificing is one of the hot topics in the Personal Finance Blogosphere. My personal bias is that a better future always requires some sacrifice - e.g. getting higher education for a better paying job, foregoing some things for a comfortable retirement. As long as I can eat well, have good shelter and be safe, I don't actually need too much more :-)
The inaugural edition of the Carnival of Financial Planning is hosted by The Skilled Investor.	My Carnival pick is 15 Financial Lessons from the Demise of Anna Nicole Smith (Yes, I’m Serious) presented at Credit Card Lowdown, which shares 15 estate planning tips learned from her situation. While some of the tips may have more relevance for Ms. Smith's situation (e.g. - don't do drugs), the following were ones that were relevant to me: 2. Hire a good lawyer. 3. Draw up a proper will. 4. Include contingencies in your will or trust. 5. Don't procrastinate. 6. Beware of estranged relatives. 12. Appoint guardians for minor children. 13. Set up trusts.
The Carnival of Education #115 is at Dy/Dan.	My Carnival selection is by What It's Like On The Inside, who wonders How Did We Survive To Adulthood? without car seats, safety belts, bicycle helmets, rubberized playground mats, and hand sanitizers during our childhood. While I would never not use a car seat, safety belt, or a bike helmet for our daughter, I can't help but wondering if we are creating a "less careful" adult population in the future. The same principle can probably be applied to children who are "protected" from making financial choices while growing up.

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.

Copyright © 2007 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

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.

Copyright © 2007 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Carnival Highlights For The Week #7

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

The Carnival of Personal Finance #93 is organized by Tired But Happy.	My Carnival choice is Early payoff: The great mortgage debate, posted at Frugal Zeitgeist, I have been evaluating what I need to do to retire in my forties. My analysis shows that a key enabler will be to eliminate all debt, including my mortgage. I will likely be in the camp of paying of my mortgage in the next few years.
The Investors Blog Network (IBN) Festival #3 is hosted by One Guy's Investments.	My Festival pick is by The Israeli Speculator which presents Where Are The Customers' Yachts?, which revisits the 1920's question of why brokers were getting rich and not their customers. The reason was that brokers made their money on commissions and not stock picks. The same question applies to all the newsletters and blogs that recommend stocks. Friends sometimes ask me about stock investments. I generally preface the discussion with, "If I were really good at investing, I'd be doing it full time, " which is the truth. True, I've had my moments, such as Dell rising 6X in 18 months and Intel calls growing 28 to 56 times in 4 months. However, I am not consistently this good, which requires me to keep my day job:-)
The Carnival of Family Life #47 is at More4Kids.	My Carnival choice is How To Pay Cash for College posted at Thrifty Mommy, which shares some excellent strategies a student can use to keep avoid using loans to pay for higher education. I have one additional suggestions for parents. Start a college saving account when one's child is born and let the power of compounding help.
The 67th Festival of Frugality is presented by Debt Hater.	My Festival pick is Don't Budget to the Penny by Blueprint for Financial Prosperity, which is a devil's advocate post on how detailed to make a budget. I confess, I don't keep a budget. My strategy is to put 25% of our income into savings at the beginning of the month and spend the rest. When I run out of money, I stop spending. Has worked for me for quite a while:-)

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.

Copyright © 2007 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Carnival Round Up For The Week #6

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

The Carnival of Personal Finance #92 is organized by Lazy Man and His Money.	My Carnival choice is Million Dollar Kids - Give me a break by My Financial Journey, which provides commentary on the Yahoo! Finance article on the costs of raising children. I was planning to comment on the Yahoo! article, which puts the high end of raising a child through 17 at $1.6 million, but hadn't done so yet. $100,000 per year to raise a child. Hmm.... we don't even spend that much for our entire family today. The parents of the million dollar children are purchasing lots of items that are not in my set of things to buy:-)
The Carnival of Taxes #14 is hosted by Don't Mess With Taxes.	My Carnival pick is by Tax Tips for eBay Sellers which asks and then answers the question, What taxes are you responsible for as an eBay seller?. The answer is sales, payroll and income taxes. Given the additional burden of tax filing work, it doesn't seem to me it's worth the effort to buy something for $10 to sell for $20 on eBay. I'm also willing to bet the majority of eBay sellers may not be complying with these tax liabilities:-)
The Carnival of Family Life #46 is at Digital Rich Daily.	My Carnival selection is Should Parents Pay For Children's Colleges? posted at Getting To Graduation, which proposes that parents should target for paying 1/2 of the costs, with paying 100% being the exception. This discussion has been going on in the blogosphere for quite a while, with many good points on both sides. Personally, I plan to pay for a 100%, and am acting against that plan. Of course, I may have to pay less that 100% when the time comes, or choose a less expensive school.
The Festival of Under 30 Finances is hosted by Money Crashers.	My Festival pick is Talking Dollars: The 100 Most Famous Quotes About Finance by Debt Consolidation News, which lists 100 quotes on personal and other types of finances. Overall, I like the list of quotes and will use some of them as introductions to future posts. One I especially liked is by Andrew Mellon, "Gentleman prefer bonds." Surely, this is a topic for a future post:-)
The Carnival of Personal Development is presented by The Carnival of Personal Development.	My Carnival choice is Our Lives Tick Off One Second At A Time posted at Enhance Life, which points out that we should appreciate every moment of our lives and the time with those we care about. Well said. My dad once said, "Funny thing about life, no one knows what's going happen tomorrow." To this point, I plan my financial security conservatively to last until my 90s and I interact positively with those close to me in the event it is the last time we see each other.

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.

Copyright © 2007 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Carnival Round Up For The Week #5

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

The Carnival of Personal Finance #91 is organized by The Sun's Financial Diary.	My Carnival choice is by The Stubborn Capitalist who presents The "Get Rich Quick" Fallacy. The article makes the point that "quick" does not mean "easy." In fact, his main learning from trying "get rich quick" programs is that getting rich requires hard work.
The Investor's Blog Network (IBN) Carnival #2 is hosted by Investors Trip.	My Carnival pick is What do you make of a stock market sell-off? by The Digerati Life, which advocates that fundamentals are still good at this time and only traders should consider exiting. I guess I'm a trader:-) I closed out all my 2007 purchases in my personal accounts on March 2, 2007 and am waiting for a clear bottom in the correction. In addition, I am seriously considering opportunities to short stocks for the first time since 2004.
The Carnival of Family Life #45 is at Adventure in the 100 Acre Wood.	My Carnival choice is Great Ways for Kids to Make Money posted at Getting Green. He presents a list of jobs that can help children learn about earning money for work. I would provide the additional possibilityof leveraging the Internet, since age and capital are not as critical in starting a successful Internet business.
The Festival of Stocks #27 is presented by Fat Pitch Financials.	My Festival pick is Is Chico’s Turning the Corner? at One Guy’s Investments, primarily because I currently own Chico's. Unfortunately, I have lost money on Chico's and am hoping that his analysis is right. Hope springs eternal, especially when one's investment has declined:-)
The Carnival of Investing is hosted by The Skilled Investor Blog.	My Carnival choice is Gold As Investment: The Basics posted at Money, Matter, and More Musings, which provides an excellent explanation of a karat and why it is important to the value of gold. Gold always has appealed to me, but jewelry and mining shares are the only forms I have owned to date. The inconvenience and worry related to keeping it are the main reasons I haven't invested in gold bullion or coins.
The Festival of Frugality #65 is presented by The Festival of Frugality.	My Festival choice is Stop The Financial Leakage! by My Two Dollars, which offers good tips on eliminating postage for paying bills, reducing cell phone plan costs, and not wasting water. My additional tip would be to eliminate the cell phone completely as I suggested in Buy Only What You Need.

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.

Copyright © 2007 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Carnival Round Up For The Week #4

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

The Carnival of Personal Finance #90 is hosted by Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge	My Carnival choice is $5k Crunch presented by InsureBlog, which shares the numbers on how everyone CAN afford mandatory health insurance, no matter what their income. Given that a health catastrophe can be major wealth destroyer, I agree. I would not take risk of not being insured.
Towards Better Life #6 is hosted by Toward Better Life.	My Carnival pick is When Not to Buy a House posted at Silicon Valley Real Estate Blog, which list five reasons when one should avoid thinking about buying a house. I absolutely agree with him, especially his point about needing an "exotic mortgage."
The Carnival of Money Stories #6 is hosted by Money, Matter and More Musings.	My Carnival choice is Timeshares: Should we buy one? at It’s Just Money. A great story that illustrates my opinion about buying a timeshare - The best deal one gets is in the sales presentation - i.e. the free dinner, gift or lodging. For me, "no" is the right answer on whether to buy.
The Carnival of Taxes #13 is hosted by Gina's Tax Articles.	My Carnival pick is Money Monday: Choosing A Tax Professional Is No Longer a Coin Flip by Queercents. This article is an excellent, comprehensive and informative post on how to choose and evaluate a tax professional. I would add, "Get a referral from a financially savvy colleague or friend who has worked with a good tax professional."
The Festival of Under 30 Finances is hosted by Money $mart Life.	My Festival choice is Ouch: Experiencing Volatility posted at An English Major’s Money. Stock market investing is always fun in a rising market. In today's choppy markets, volatility and stomach wrenching drops are the norm. While I don't like it, I believe the latter situation is what one needs to expect for the next few years.

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

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

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

Copyright © 2007 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Carnival Round Up For The Week #3

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

The Carnival of Personal Finance #89 is hosted by Binary Dollar.	My Carnival choice is Free Money: Federal Excise Tax Refund posted by Simple Guru. This is about the one-time $30-$60 tax credit for a federal phone tax from 2003-2006. I chose this post because many filers have not taken the credit. To date, out of 34 million filers, 10 million people have not claimed the credit, which is available to everyone. (I think the reference is a Wall Street Journal article, which I can't find at the moment.)
The inaugural edition of the Investors Blog Network (IBN) Festival is hosted by BioHealth Investor.	My Festival pick is Big Business Betting on Your Second Life! presented by SciTech Investor. Virtual money=Real money, virtual lives and real companies - an exciting blurring between reality and what can be. However, I agree with SciTech Investor that my real life (versus a virtual world) is where I want to spend my time.
The Carnival of Family Life is hosted by Modern Sage.	My Carnival choice is Do It All presented by Home School Daze, which points out that a good strategy may be to choose a few things versus doing it all. I fully agree. Doing what's important or needed (and avoiding the unneeded or unnecessary) should be the highest priority.
The Festival of Frugality #63 is hosted by Stingy Students.	My Festival pick is My 25 Frugal Habits & 5 Spendthrift Confessions by The Frugal Duchess, which make the point that no one is 100% perfect in their strategies. While every habit is not for everybody, the list is a good starting point if one is looking for ideas. Personally, I use about 10 of the frugal habits described.
The Carnival of 30s and 40s Personal Finances: The Wealth Accumulation State is hosted by Making Our Way.	My Carnival choice is presented by the host, Making Our Way, and is titled Thoughts on portfolio construction & All About Asset Allocation. The post reminded me that Small Cap and Value stocks tend have higher returns over the long term. In thinking about my own portfolio, I am under represented in Small Cap, at this time. The reason is that, historically, Large Caps outperform Small Caps in the later stages of the economic recovery, which is the current stage, theoretically. Based on this article, I am going to revisit my Small Cap portfolio allocation.

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

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

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

Copyright © 2007 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Carnival Round Up For The Week #2

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

The Carnival of Personal Finance #88 is hosted by Stock Market Beat.	My Carnival choice is 5 Important Ways to Protect Yourself Against Job Loss by Debt Free. The guidance is a mix of diversification, having contingency plans, and having the right knowledge.
The Carnival of Debt Reduction #75: Diamond Jubilee Edition is hosted by Money, Matter and More Musings.	My Carnival pick is Shift Your Thinking to Reduce Debt presented at Extreme Perspective. It's a real life story that shows investing in real estate can be a lesson about debt management. I agree. In the past, I had found myself trying to justify debt and negative cash flow for real estate because it was an "investment." The reality is that it is still DEBT. Fortunately, I was never able to convince myself and didn't buy the properties :-)
The Festival of Stocks is hosted by The Stock Geek.	My Festival choice is Warren Buffet Buys More USG and More presented by Fat Pitch Financials, which highlights Mr. Buffet's recent buys and sells. If only I could know what Warren Buffet bought and sold before he did it:-)
The Carnival of Taxes #12 is hosted by Don't Mess with Taxes.	My Carnival pick is Reduce taxes by fighting your property appraisal posted at Trying To Get It Right. The excellent coaching tip to getting a reduction are: Follow instructions, do your homework, and meet deadlines. I will keep these in mind for when I receive my next appraisal of my home for taxes.
The Carnival of 30s and 40s Personal Finances: The Wealth Accumulation State is hosted by Making Our Way.	My Carnival choice is Leaving Taxes to My Accountant presented by Ask Mr. Credit Card, which provides good reasons for using a tax professional. I would love to outsource this annual task to an "expert." However, my personal experience with tax accountants has been less than stellar. While we were on an international assignment, my taxes were done by one of the major accounting firms for four years. In two of the years, I found errors which resulted in a higher refund. In another year, the accounting firm rechecked the filing and found an error (in data provided by my company) resulting in another significant refund. In only one of the years, there were no changes, perhaps indicating the return was done correctly. Admittedly, while I am not a tax professional, I prefer to read my returns in detail before signing them. And it is concerning to me that I found errors in two out of the four returns done by a professional tax preparer. On the other hand, I also admit that it is getting more difficult for me to keep up with all the new tax laws. So I continue to look for a tax professional that will meet our needs.

I hope you enjoy reading these Carnivals and finding tips you can use. I have moved my Carnival reviews from Tuesday (Ideas You Can Use segment) to Saturdays since several Carnivals that I read publish after Tuesday. In the Saturday review, I will be adding a bit more commentary to the review to fit into the Reflections and Musings theme.

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

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

Copyright © 2007 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Carnival Round Up For The Week

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

The Carnival of Personal Finance #87 is hosted by 2 Million - My Journey To Financial Freedom.	My Carnival choice is from Money $mart Life with Why We Should Save As Much Money As We Can since you don't know what the future will bring. I agree, the consequences of over saving are much better than the consequences from under saving.
The Festival of Frugality #61 is hosted by Hustler $$$ Blog.	My Festival pick is How to stop nickel and diming yourself into the poorhouse! by Kirby on Finance, which proposes a systematic way to eliminate $2-$3 "splurges." This is another good way to "buy only what one needs."
The Carnival of Family Life is hosted by Colloquium.	My Carnival choice is Kids And Money posted at No Credit Needed Blog, which describes the system used to teach their daughter about managing money. This system is similar to many others about which I have read. I will use a version of this when our daughter is old enough.
The Cavalcade of Risk #19 - Valentine's Day Edition is hosted by My Wealth Builder.	My Cavalcade pick is Tontines - A Way Out of a Pension Jam at Pension Risk Matters, which reports on a 350 year old risk management tool that can provide guaranteed income for retirees. Tontines appear to address the issue of potentially over saving or under saving for retirement. I like the idea and will study it further for my own retirement use.

I hope you enjoy reading these Carnivals and finding tips you can use. I have moved my Carnival reviews from Tuesday (Ideas You Can Use segment) to Saturdays since several Carnivals that I read publish after Tuesday. In the Saturday review, I will be adding a bit more commentary to the review to fit into the Reflections and Musings theme.

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

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

Copyright © 2007 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

My Carnival Reading for the Week of 2/4/07

Here are the Carnivals that I will be reading this week:

The Carnival of Personal Finance #86 is hosted by The Simple Dollar.	My Carnival choice is Retirement Savings Contributions Credit presented by A Penny Saved, which shares how one may qualify for a tax credit of up to 50% (maximum $1000 per person) for retirement contributions. Married couples with an adjusted gross income (AGI) less than $50,000 and singles with an AGI less than $25,000 may qualify.
The inaugural edition of Carnival of 30's and 40's Personal Finances presented by Making Our Way.	This new Carnival is scheduled to post on February 7, 2007.

I hope you enjoy reading these Carnivals and finding tips you can use. Check back every Tuesday for the Ideas You Can Use segment.

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

Copyright © 2007 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Carnivals I Am Reading This Week

Here are the Carnivals I am reading this week:

The Carnival of Personal Finance #85 is presented by Five Cent Nickel.	My Carnival pick is Acceptance of Your Financial Situation Can Be Freeing by My Financial Awareness, which makes the excellent point that one should be accountable for one's financial situation.
The Festival of Stocks is hosted at One Guy's Investments.	My Carnival pick is Wafer Fat for MEMC (WFR) posted by the host, One Guy's Investments, which makes his case for keeping the stock even though he has made over 200% and it is at a 10-year high.
The Carnival of Investing #58 is at The Digerati Life.	My Carnival choice is from A Financial Revolution which posted What the Hell is Beta? He provides a good layman's explanation of Beta and how to think about using Beta when doing analyses for investing.

I hope you enjoy reading these Carnivals and finding tips you can use. Check back every Tuesday for the Ideas You Can Use segment.

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

Copyright © 2007 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

My Carnival Reads for This Week

Here are the Carnivals I am reading this week:

The Carnival of Personal Finance #84 is presented by Blueprint for Financial Prosperity.	My Carnival pick is Good Debt, Bad Debt, No Debt by Ask Uncle Bill. It's about a decision made by student to not use debt to pay for her education.
The Festival of Frugality #58 is hosted at The Simple Dollar.	My Carnival pick is Amazon Discount Shopping posted by Pro Bargain Hunter, which shows how to quickly find all the discounted merchandise on Amazon.com.

I hope you enjoy reading these Carnivals and finding tips you can use. Check back every Tuesday for the Ideas You Can Use segment.

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

Copyright © 2007 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Carnivals I Will Be Reading This Week

Here are the Carnivals that I will be reading this week:

The Carnival of Personal Finance #83 is presented by Young and Broke.	There were over 70 excellent posts in this Carnival. It was difficult to narrow down the choices to only two Carnival picks. In my first Carnival pick, FMF explains the biggest barrier to becoming wealthy at Free Money Finance. Hint: It's not how much one makes, it's how the money is being used. For the second Carnival pick, No Credit Needed shares his 2007 goals. NCN has a challenging goal of saving 60% of his gross income for 2007. Wow!
The Carnival of Family Life #37 is posted at More4kids.	My Carnival pick is Walking In A Winter Wonderland For $1,300 posted at The Digerati Life, which shows a frugal winter vacation alternative to Disneyland that was great fun also.
The Festival of Frugality #57 is hosted at FIRE Finance.	My Carnival pick is Top 25 Personal Finance Myths posted at Your Credit Advisor, which shares common misconceptions people may have about money, investments, debt, and wealth.

I hope you enjoy reading these Carnivals and finding tips you can use. Check back every Tuesday for the Ideas You Can Use segment.

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

Copyright © 2007 Achievement Catalyst, LLC