The Wealth Builder Carnival #60

Welcome to the sixtieth 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 reference, I have tried to keep the carnival content tightly focused on wealth building and did not include submissions that were off topic. For reading convenience, the posts are listed with a brief summary or comment by the submitter and organized into seven categories: Earning, Insuring and Protecting, Investing, Living Frugally, Retiring, Saving and Taxes.

And now onto the Carnival:

Earning

Matt presents Taking Time off to Recharge: No More Working on Vacation posted at Living In Financial Excellence, saying, "With all the technology available to us, it’s so easy to work while on vacation. We can bring laptops, tablets and even our smart phones to keep up on our business tasks. Whether it’s staying current on email or conducting full-fledged business, the temptation to keep working on your time off is really strong."

Bucksome presents Have You Ever Seen an Ugly CEO? posted at Buck$ome Boomer's Journey to Retirement, saying, "I have been actively working in a few different corporate headquarters over the past 3 years, and there is one thing that I have recently noticed: ugly people don’t often get promoted. Do you believe this to be true?"

Jim Tolley (aka Kidgas) presents Joining the 30K Challenge! posted at Cash Flow Mantra, saying, "Initially, I thought it might be impossible for me to make it to $30,000 in one year, but I created a spreadsheet as part of my initial 30K post for their site and think it might actually be doable now."

Insuring and Protecting

Rachel Cleary presents Insurance Fraud is Driving Up Premiums posted at Business Insurance, saying, "Insurance policies usually renew annually, and that is when consumers notice that their insurance premiums have gone up. There are legitimate reasons for raising insurance premiums. For example, if it was an especially bad year for hurricanes, then there will be a significant increase in homeowners, auto and health insurance claims. To help recover the unexpected spike in payouts, the insurance companies will raise their premiums."

Tyler presents 5 Secrets of Finding Affordable Auto Insurance posted at Auto Insurance Companies, saying, "I Paying for car insurance is pretty much unavoidable, so why not save? "

Investing

MoneyCone presents 10 Stocks For 2012 (& Beyond) posted at Money Cone, saying, "If I were to pick stocks just for 2012, I would be speculating. I prefer stocks for the long term. My top picks for the coming year is not just for 2012, I would like to hold on to most of it even if the returns are less than spectacular."

Dividends4Life presents Are Storm Clouds Gathering For These 7 High-Yielding Dividend Stocks? posted at Dividend Growth Stocks, saying, "Everyone wants to earn more. For investors in dividend growth stocks, the quick way to earn more is to select dividend stocks with higher yields. Swap those 2-4% yields in for stocks earning 7-10%, or more. Before doing making the trade, you should ask yourself the following two questions: 1. Why is the yield higher? and 2. Are these higher yields sustainable?"

Sunil presents Buying Real Estate in Your Self Directed Roth IRA to Escape Taxes and Maximize ROI – Pros, Cons and Other Considerations posted at The Extra Money Blog, saying, "Today I want to discuss buying real estate in IRA – Individual Retirement Accounts to maximize long term return on investment."

Lazy Man and Money presents Don’t Chase Mutual Fund Winners posted at Lazy Man and Money, saying, "I believe buying mutual funds based on the last year’s performance can be a mistake. Top performers are often risky funds that have limited diversity. Instead, well-researched funds that have a high level of diversity are better additions to the portfolio. Though the gains are often smaller in percentage, the risk of large losses is dramatically reduced."

misst presents Investing with the Santa Claus Rally posted at Prairie Eco-Thrifter, saying, "The Santa Claus Rally is one of those events that is expected to happen year to year. It is called the Santa Claus Rally because it occurs right around Christmastime and goes through the end of the year. Each December the markets are usually uplifted and show positive performance."

Marie presents Diversify Your Portfolio to Minimize Risk Taking posted at Money Spending Mommy, saying, "While there is always a certain amount of risk with any investment, if you choose your investments wisely and diversify, you stand a good chance of earning money rather than losing it."

Living Frugally

Justin presents 5 Purchases to Wait On This Holiday Season posted at Money is the root...of all things GOOD!, saying, "For the purpose of this article we are going to assume that all of you share my shame procrastination, and I’m going to give you a heads up on the 5 items to stay away from until after the holidays!"

B.B. presents Easy Ways to Earn, Make, and Give Free or Cheap Gifts posted at Beating Broke, saying, "Just because your Christmas budget may be tight this year, there is no reason to stress out over gift giving. Most people are appreciated at the thought behind the gift. Always pair the gift with a special card or note to really show the gift receiver how much you appreciate and care for them"

Sustainable PF presents Dangers to Stockpiles posted at Sustainable Personal Finance, saying, "Right after we moved in, I started buying extras of almost every non-perishable food item we ever used just so I’d have it ready in my awesome pantry for the next time we craved it. Long story short, having a stockpile has not been good to us."

DJ presents Love to Dine Out? – How to Save Money with Restaurant Coupons posted at The Family Wallet, saying, "Dining out does not have to be expensive. Look for coupons that offer you a deal on your meal but pay close attention to the restrictions. You can save money dining out, whether you dine out once a month or once a week."

Lisa presents Saving Money: Buying A Used Car posted at Thriftability, saying, "With year-end deals flooding the TV screen, many people consider using their holiday bonuses to trade in that old clunker and buy a different vehicle. If you’ve been considering buying a quality used car, but are afraid of getting ripped off, read on for tips on making this major purchase.
There are many credible, honest used car dealerships out there and if you are prepared before you ever leave the house, you might just save money and drive off with a good deal on a nice, clean used car."

Jon Elder presents Start Thinking Like a Millionaire in 2012 posted at Free Money Wisdom, saying, "2012 is the year you start getting serious about your finances and achieving your goal of becoming a millionaire."

Retirement

Ashley presents Sending a Little Extra to Retirement posted at Money Talks, saying, "My husband and I found ourselves in the fortunate position to get rid of our $70 a month cell phone bill. To me, the financial nerd, the most exciting part of that is the fact that we can actually get rid of a bill. You don’t get that chance very often."

Saving

Mike Knowlton presents How do your Saving Habits Rank vs. a Squirrel's? posted at RatRaceExodus, saying, "Squirrels are better than us at saving. Learn to trick yourself into saving like a Squirrel."

Taxes

Clint Cora presents W8BEN Form For Canadians And Foreigners Who Work In The US posted at Motivation Diversity Success Blog, saying, "To help foreigners who get some income in the US reduce withholding tax"

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.

Technorati tags: the wealth builder carnival, blog carnival.  

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

This is not financial, earning, insuring, investing, living, retiring, saving, tax, or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

A High Dividend Portfolio in Retirement Accounts

For 2012, my plan is to build high dividend paying stock portfolios in our retirement savings accounts. My target is to create a portfolio of stocks that pay 3-4% dividends and have a history of increasing dividend payouts.  The reason for executing this plan in retirement accounts is to avoid short term volatility being an issue.  I won't be able to withdraw from my retirement accounts without penalty for over five years which will give the investments time to recover from any short term declines.

Stocks that I will be considering include the Dogs of the Dow and S&P high dividend yield stocks .  I will also try to buy on dips to maximize the dividend returns.

For more on Strategies and Plans, check back every Monday for a new segment.


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

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Happy New Year - Good Bye 2011

Happy New Year

May 2012 be a happy, healthy and prosperous year for you and your family.



Photo Credit: morgueFile.com, Kenny Knickers

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

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Entitlement versus Opportunity

"From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs."  ~ Karl Marx

The middle class was created by opportunity and the middle class is being destroyed by entitlement.   Unfortunately, all the current politicians campaign on providing more entitlements.   The Democrats are biased to providing entitlements to the masses.  The Republicans are biased to providing entitlements to businesses and the wealthy.  Both parties are biased to providing entitlements (Social Security and Medicare) to the elderly.

The entitlement mentality of the politicians is destroying the initiative and drive that people had to achieve being in the middle class.  Now everyone expects it is a right to be in the middle class instead being something that's earned.  Here are some common entitlements:

• Higher education.   The government provide grants and student loans to people that want to attend college.   Unfortunately, some people take out large loans for degrees that are not particularly employable.  
• Home mortgage deductions.   The current tax code allows for the deduction of home mortgage interest.  This may cause some borrowers to take out larger mortgages that they would otherwise do.
• Credits for children.  People with incomes below certain thresholds can get Earned Income Credit up to $5751 and a Child Tax Credit of up to $1000 per child.
• Extended unemployment.  With 99 weeks of unemployment payments available, some people are choosing staying on unemployment rather than take a job that pays below unemployment compensation.   Unfortunately, this is keeping people out of the workforce longer which may make them less employable.
• Business subsidies.  There are numerous cases:  solar energy subsidies, oil and gas tax credits, GE paying zero corporate income tax, bank bailouts and auto manufacturer bailouts. 

These are examples of entitlements which need to be changed.  Instead of entitlements, our economy needs to create more opportunity: make it easier to start and run a business, a simplified tax code and building infrastructure to enable economic growth.

Politicians seem to be about giving everybody the entitlement of being middle class.  When I see a candidate who supports the right to rise or achieve instead of more entitlements, that person with definitely get my vote.  

For more on Reflections and Musings, check back every Saturday for a new segment.

Photo Credit: morgueFile.com, Author Name

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

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

The Wealth Builder Carnival #59

Welcome to the fifty-ninth 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 reference, I have tried to keep the carnival content tightly focused on wealth building and did not include submissions that were off topic. For reading convenience, the posts are listed with a brief summary or comment by the submitter and organized into seven categories: Earning, Insuring and Protecting, Investing, Living Frugally, Retiring, Saving and Taxes.

And now onto the Carnival:

Earning

Jonathan from Debt Loans presents Can't Make Ends Meet? Time To Get Creative. posted at Money Mum, saying, "Perhaps you recently lost a job, you have a large number of unexpected medical bills, or you’re trying to pay for university tuition. Instead of letting stress get the best of you, be proactive and consider bringing in some extra cash in a new, creative way."


Linsey B. Knerl presents Ask 1099 Mom: How Can I Advertise my Business for Free? posted at 1099 - Mom, saying, "While the best methods of advertising may require a cost up front, there are some reputable ways to get your name out there. Here are a few of the best ideas from our community:"

Marie presents Can't Sell Your Home? Rent It Out and Earn posted at Money Spending Mommy, saying, "When they find out that they won’t be able to solve their problems by selling their homes, many homeowners just give up and let the foreclosure take its course. But that’s not necessarily the only solution. You may be able to rent your home out and earn the money you need to make your mortgage payments."

Insuring and Protecting

DJ presents Life Cover – What will you leave in your will? posted at The Family Wallet, saying, "Having a valid will is extremely important but making sure that you have something worthwhile to leave behind is also crucial. Would anyone want to leave their loved ones to struggle financially, worrying about making ends meet? A life cover policy can buy peace of mind and provide a financial lifeline for those left behind."

Khaleef @ KNS Financial presents Pay For Spray: Firefighters Let Another House Burn Down Over $75 posted at Faithful With A Few, saying, "A pay for spray policy has lead to firefighters standing by and watching multiple houses burn down over $75. Share your thoughts about this form of insurance, and read how it can be improved."

Chelsea Prescotti presents Credit-Based Car Insurance Rates posted at CreditScore.net, saying, "Most individuals believe that car insurance rates are based primarily on the driving record and the potential risk of the driver. While hitting another car or getting a speeding ticket will undoubtedly increase an individual’s car insurance premium, many drivers do not realize that there is another factor insurance companies take into account, one that is unrelated to driving ability."

Investing

Sustainable PF presents Sustainable Index Investing Is A Joke posted at Sustainable Personal Finance, saying, "You shouldn’t bother with sustainable index investing. Instead, do like the rest of the market does. Put your cash in the spot where you feel it’ll get the best return. Then, if you’re so inclined, spend your profits on whatever environmentally friendly hippie stuff you want. Investing should be about making money, not saving the world. The two just don’t mix."

Barb Friedberg presents Reader Question; SHOULD I INVEST IN A CLOSED END FUND? posted at Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance, saying, "Learn about closed end mutual funds. Get the basices to figure out whether they are for you or not?"

Jim Tolley (aka Kidgas) presents An Explanation of the Stock Option Collar posted at Cash Flow Mantra, saying, "In reality, a collar is really not all that difficult to understand. It consists of owning a stock (being long), owning a protective put against that stock, and selling a covered call against that same stock. As always, a real-life example is in order so I will provide just that."

Investor Junkie presents REITs vs. Real Estate Investing posted at Investor Junkie, saying, "Investing in REITs and direct investment in real estate both come with advantages and disadvantages.

Kanwal Sarai presents Are These Your Top 4 Reasons For Buying Mutual Funds? posted at Simply Investing Blog, saying, "In this article we’ll examine why many people choose mutual funds… and why mutual funds may not be your best bet for improving your portfolio."

Living Frugally

B.B. presents 4 Frugal Ways to Keep Young Kids Busy During Christmas Vacation - Beating Broke  posted at Beating Broke, saying, "There are plenty of frugal ways to keep the kids, especially your preschool and elementary school kids, entertained during the Christmas vacation. Consider the following activities:"

Lazy Man and Money presents Save Money with a HARP-Refinance on an Investment Property with PMI posted at Lazy Man and Money, saying, "Having lived in Chumpsville long enough, I decided to call up my lender and see what they could do for me. I came to them as almost a perfect example of who shouldn't get their interest lowered. I had three things going against me."

Matt presents 090 Financial Excellence: Saving Money at Christmas Time posted at Living In Financial Excellence, saying, "Today I share tips and tricks from the Financial Excellence community about how to save money on Christmas gifts, decorations, and other holiday expenses."

misst presents 3 Vital Tips You Need to Start a Frugal Lifestyle posted at Prairie Eco-Thrifter, saying, "If you are planning to live a frugal lifestyle, it is important to know that you are not depriving yourself. Instead of looking at it this way, think of the act as a way of saving money for your future benefit. At the same time, you should look at the many benefits frugality has provided in many people. Even though they have all the money in the world, they have simple lives free of all the complexities."

Jon Elder presents Savvy Shopper Sites for Bargain Hunters posted at Free Money Wisdom, saying, "Some websites actually PAY you to shop! Another one I will be mentioning is a site that lists all the freebies that are being offered by companies currently while showing you the deals that you can score.
Here are a few of those websites:"

SavingMentor presents How To Save Money On Internet Service posted at HowToSaveMoney.ca, saying, "This guide will show you how you can reduce your Internet costs, upgrade your service for less, and increase or eliminate your bandwidth caps."

Jonathan from Debt Loans presents Cheap-o-vision: Save Money on Your Movies posted at Wallet Watcher, saying, "The following tips ought to help you keep the burden of movie entertainment costs lighter and your wallet a bit heavier."

Retiring

MoneyCone presents HOWTO Calculate Your Retirement Income posted at Money Cone, saying, "In this post I’m going to show you how to find out what your income will be at retirement, if you continue saving what you are currently saving. No, no worksheets or spreadsheets or complicated calculations! Not on this blog! I want to highlight a FREE Retirement Income Calculator I found very useful."

Saving

Mr. Money Smarts presents Why NOW Is The Best Time To Start Saving For Retirement posted at Smart On Money, saying, "Actually, years ago was the best time to start saving for retirement. As soon as you started earning income was the best time to save for retirement. But now is the second best time to start saving for retirement."

Taxes

Super Saver presents Strategies to Lower Federal Income Taxes in Retirement posted at My Wealth Builder, saying, "As a retiree, I've learned that I have additional opportunities to minimize our tax responsibility. I gladly use those opportunities to send less of our hard earned money to the wasteful federal and state governments."

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.

Technorati tags: the wealth builder carnival, blog carnival.  

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

This is not financial, earning, insuring, investing, living, retiring, saving, tax, or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Wait and See

For the last week of 2011, I plan to hold our current long and short positions.  At this point, I expect the market to positively biased, as fund managers do their end of quarter window dressing purchases.  However, I continue to believe there are significant economic and monetary issues in the EU in addition to the continued fiscal issues here in the U.S.

Right now, put and call options appear to be the most attractive investment option.  The premiums seem very high due to economic uncertainty, even though the implied market volatility is low.  If  the market continues to rise, I will consider selling way out of the money naked calls against my company stock options.  That way if the market falls, I will be able keep the premium as profit and if the market rises, the gain in the stock options will more than offset any losses incurred by the call.

For now, I won't be selling any naked puts.  Also, I will continue to update my list of dividend paying stocks to buy should the market decline significantly again.

For more on Strategies and Plans, check back every Monday for a new segment.

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

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Be an Inspiration - Part II

After watching Courage Under Fire and The Last Samurai this weekend, I've decided to renew my commitment to be inspirational.  About a year ago, I wrote about being an inspiration when blogging.  I'm now going to ensure the principle of being an inspiration is part of my personal life, especially with my family.   2012 may be a tough year and  I want to be prepared to be a positive factor.

Be An Inspiration will be one of my life purposes.

For more on New Beginnings, check back every Sunday for a new segment.

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

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Teaching Financial Competence

"Know thyself." ~ ancient Greek aphorism

In one of my professional development courses, I remember seeing the four box description of the conscience competence learning model.  Specifically, the model describes a transition from unconscious incompetence, to conscious incompetence, to conscience competence, to finally unconscious competence.  The model proposes that learning progresses from not knowing how to do something to eventually doing something entirely due to habit.  One problem with this learning model is the inherent belief that all learners can become at least consciously competent in any chose area.

Since having our daughter, who is now seven, I believe the learning model is different.   To me, everyone starts out at a stage of unconscious incompetence and unconscious competence.  For example, my daughter tells me she "knows" how to do many things she can't do.  My daughter also can do many things well, but she doesn't consciously know how.  A good example is riding a bike.  I was able to teach my daughter how to ride a bike without explaining the physics of why it works.  I just had to let her unconscious competence of balance take over.

Now that I'm in my fifties, I feel I've reached a stage of conscious incompetence and conscious competence.  I know what I'm good at doing and what I'm not good at doing.  For example, I'm sure that I won't good be at day trading.  Outside of personal finance, I know that I'm definitely not good at creating art or musing.  So I don't try be good at doing any of these.  Similarly, I know I'm pretty good in financial decisions and choices.    At my stage in life,  I choose to improve those areas which I'm good at doing.

The middle stage is one of transition from unconscious competence and incompetence to conscious competence and incompetence.  Getting through this interim stage as quickly as possible is one of the great challenges of young adulthood.  It's during this stage that many mistakes are made because unconscious incompetence may be confused with conscious competence.  For example, many people who took adjustable rate mortgages at greater than 100% of home equity may have believed they were consciously competent.  In fact, it is more likely that they were unconsciously incompetent with respect to financing a home.

For financial matters, I hope to help my daughter become unconsciously competent and then transition to conscious incompetence and competence as quickly possible.

For more on  Crossing Generations, check back every  Thursday for a new segment.

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

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

The Wealth Builder Carnival #58

Welcome to the fifty-eighth 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 reference, I have tried to keep the carnival content tightly focused on wealth building and did not include submissions that were off topic. For reading convenience, the posts are listed with a brief summary or comment by the submitter and organized into seven categories: Earning, Insuring and Protecting, Investing, Living Frugally, Retiring, Saving and Taxes.

And now onto the Carnival:

Earning

Will presents Want To Blog Full-Time? Ignore "Warnings";, Listen To Advice! posted at Former Banker, saying, "Becoming a full-time blogger takes time, money, dedication, and unfortunately, most people who try will fail. Which side you end up on depends partly on getting the right information."

oilhand99 presents How to Calculate the Profitability of Your Small Business Idea posted at Trees Full of Money, saying, "Most successful investors have either started or aspire to start their own small business. This helpful article will teach you the "academic" way of calculating the profitability of your small business idea."

misst presents Top 5 Must Know Negotiation Tips To Get Anything You Want posted at Prairie Eco-Thrifter, saying, "Negotiating can be done in almost any area of our life. We can negotiate to get a good price on an item in a garage sale, or we can negotiate to close a million dollar deal. Whatever it is, stocking up in negotiation tips can help you get what you deserve, or even more. Below are five of the most basic (and the most important) negotiation tools you can use for any situation in life."

Lazy Man and Money presents Musings about Kids and College posted at Lazy Man and Money, saying, "I was in a conversation the other day with someone who seemed really intelligent an accomplished. I was quite enjoying it, but when the conversation turned to their kids and college, I was surprised by this person's philosophy. She said something to the effect of: I told my daughter to just take the classes that interest her. There's no need to focus on a direction."

Insuring and Protecting

My Journey presents Unequal Distribution to Heirs posted at My Journey to Millions, saying, "I was working on an interesting estate planning case today and I thought I would get people’s opinion on the subject. At the end of the day this client wants to leave his assets in an unequal distribution schedule to his three children wherein one of the children will receive the lion’s share of the 8 digit estate."

Investing

MoneyCone presents If You Own Mutual Funds Or ETFs, Don’t Ignore This Metric posted at Money Cone, saying, "Lipper Metrics are just a tool to help the investor navigate the ocean of ETFs and mutual funds. Having an understanding of this rating system should go a long way in making the right decision when it comes to investing."

Dividends4Life presents 7 High-Yielding Mega-Cap Stocks posted at Dividend Growth Stocks, saying, "There is perceived safety in size. Giant corporations aren't randomly grown. Instead, they are carefully built through superior management and foresight. Often these are more mature companies that also offer stability and predictability, usually at the expense of dynamic growth. These are your mega-cap stocks."

Jim Tolley (aka Kidgas) presents Europe Fatigue and Dividends posted at Cash Flow Mantra, saying, "I have had enough of hearing about Europe and their debt crisis. Actually, I have had enough of watching the impact of constant hope followed by inaction on my portfolio."

Living Frugally

Kevin presents The 3 Stages of Financial Freedom posted at Invest It Wisely, saying, "Last week, I talked about the three stages of financial despair. This week I am going to look at the flip side, the three stages of financial freedom. We all want to get out of the rat race, but before we get there, we need to get out of the hole and onto level ground."

Jason@LiveRealNow presents Say Please posted at Live Real, Now, saying, "I took a look at all of my accounts and utilities to decide which ones I was willing to change, drop, or reduce. The two I came up with were Dish Network and CenturyLink DSL. My plan was simple: Look for their introductory offers; Compare to my current price; Call; Ask if existing customers are as important as NEW customers; Finally, be nice!"

SavingMentor presents Using Freezer Cooking As A Way To Reduce Your Grocery Budget posted at HowToSaveMoney.ca, saying, "Don’t be intimidated by freezer cooking. It can be as easy or as hard as you make it. If you just simply double your recipes when you are cooking your dinner, you will have a stocked freezer and more money in the bank, before you know it."

Justin presents The Importance of Cash Management posted at Money is the root...of all things GOOD!, saying, "I’m willing to bet that many of you who read this article will probably disregard the need to forecast and manage your cash flow. I can’t urge you enough that it can and will help improve your life and your finances."

Marie presents Dorm Living and Other Money-Saving Tips for College Students posted at Money Spending Mommy, saying, "If you’re going to school full-time, you’ll have a limited number of hours each week to work and earn money. So it’s important to learn how to cut costs and live on a budget. Here are some money-saving tips that will help."

Jonathan from Debt Loans presents Renovating Your Home on a Budget posted at Wallet Watcher, saying, "Turn your dreams into reality by converting your home into a blissful sanctuary without spending a fortune. By doing pre-renovation research on design, materials and colour scheme and adopting the above-mentioned strategies, it is possible to cut costs without compromising on quality."

Theresa Torres presents How to Choose Seasonal Produce to Save Money posted at Health On A Budget, saying, "We don't have to spend a lot of money to have a healthy diet. We can still enjoy our favorite fruits and vegetables and still have value for our money by following these tips."

Retiring

Paul Vachon presents Estate Planning Basics - What You Need to Know posted at The Frugal Toad, saying, "Have you ever thought about what would happen if you became incapacitated or died? What would happen to your home and other assets? Do you have a will and does your spouse know what your final wishes are? An estate plan is a set of legal documents that will make sure that your final wishes are taken care of."

Matt presents 089 Financial Excellence: How Much do you Need to Retire? posted at Living In Financial Excellence, saying, "Most people wait until they’re ready to retire and then wonder if they can retire. If you wait that long, it’s waaaaay too late, and you probably won’t be able to retire. You need to have a plan early and start working the plan early."

Saving

Mr. Money Smarts presents Paying For Your Child’s College Tuition posted at Smart On Money, saying, "If you have college-bound kids, and if you are planning to be the primary contributor to their tuition costs, there are practical means for saving money towards college and for reducing the bill. Here, then, are some tips that every parent in this situation should keep in mind:"

Taxes

Bucksome presents Tax moves to make before the end of the year posted at Buck$ome Boomer's Journey to Retirement, saying, "There may be some last minute strategies that you can look into to reduce you tax burden."

Sunil presents IRS Tax Form 1099 Reporting is Mandatory for Your Online Business posted at The Extra Money Blog, saying, "It’s never too late to comply with tax law, even if you have to go back and request retroactive forms from previous years. Don’t wait and get started today."

Linsey B. Knerl presents Taxes and Your Small Business: Are You Ready? posted at 1099 - Mom, saying, "If you are a very new business, and haven't begun to track your expenses and income for the year, it's not too late! If you are an old pro, and simply need to collect all your documentation for easy tax preparation, now is the best time to get started."

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.

Technorati tags: the wealth builder carnival, blog carnival.  

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

This is not financial, earning, insuring, investing, living, retiring, saving, tax, or wealth building advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

Links to Carnivals from December 13 - 19, 2011

Here are the links to the Carnivals in which My Wealth Builder participated from December 13 - December 19, 2011:

Carnival of Financial Camaraderie #12

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

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

Copyright © 2011 Achievement Catalyst, LLC