Financial Simplicity Carnival: Three Days Grace Edition

It’s never too late, even if I say it will be alright, still I hear you say…sorry I was singing the song Never Too Late by Three Days Grace. Well here it is…welcome to the 12th edition of the Financial Simplicity Carnival.  Thank you to Nick at Step Away From The Mall for starting this great carnival with some of the best bloggers from around the world!
This is my second time hosting a carnival and I am super stoked at hosting this week’s carnival so without further ado here are this week’s editor picks:

Glen Craig presents Education: Your Hedge Against Inflation posted at Free From Broke . You’re wondering what your best hedge against inflation is. Maybe gold? Stocks? How about education? Yes, education can be a great hedge against inflation

Jeremy presents Keeping Up With The Joneses In The Digital Age posted at Modest Money. As the internet has evolved and we truly enter the digital age as a society, the biggest enemy of our personal finances has been quietly growing stronger and stronger. No it’s not inflation. It’s not government taxes. It’s something much less obvious. It’s those pesky Joneses!

Ted Jenkin presents Please Slap My Hand When I Spend Money! posted at Your Smart Money Moves. The simple rule is this. If there is money in your pocket, then it’s sure to catch fire sooner than later and burn a hole in your pocket. It doesn’t matter if it is a new pair of boots you see in a magazine, a remodeling of your bathroom that could probably wait, or staying at the best hotels like a Ritz Carlton or the Four Seasons. Gen X’ers have seen a terrible recession over the past few years, but the trend is returning that spending money is a hard habit to break. Gen X’ers have that Cyndi Lauper slang in their minds and ‘just wanna have fun’.

$ Making Money $

MMD presents Yes, People Still Fall for Pyramid Schemes posted at MyMoneyDesign. Do people still fall for get-rich quick schemes? This group of people I came across in OH did. While traveling for business, I stumbled upon a meeting of people at a restaurant who were being given a sales pitch for something that clearly sounded like a pyramid scheme. Here is my story.

Anisha presents The Chase Liquid Prepaid Debit Card: Yeah, It’s A Game-Changer posted at NerdWallet. There’s been a growing trend away from fee-heavy prepaid cards to cheap, debit-like offers. So why is the Chase Liquid so exciting? Because anyone, anywhere in the United States, can get it.

Steve presents Personal Tax Planning posted at 2012 taxes. There are a few ways in which one can achieve this and they include the reduction of one’s income, increasing deductions and making use of tax credits.

Lance presents How I Paid for My Hobby posted at Money Life & More. Hobbies are a lot of fun, but there is one thing that prohibits many from taking part in their favorite hobby as much as they would like to. Cost. Hobbies, while fun, can be expensive. This post explains how I paid for them.

Spending and Budgeting

Shondell presents The Year I Bought Dollar Store Gifts For The Family! posted at Call Me What You Want Even Cheap. This article is about the year I decided to go cheap on Christmas gifts to pay off my mortgage faster. I was one year away from paying it off and knew that if I saved on Christmas gifts, I would have gotten to my goal sooner of having no mortgage.

FMF presents The Difference between Needs and Wants: Getting Spending Under Control posted at Free Money Finance. Achieving financial security is greatly dependent on our ability to make wise choices when it comes to spending money. Spending, not earning, is the key to financial security (though both are important, of course). And yet we live in a society where over-spending is almost the norm. The result for many people is a pile of debt and all the nasty struggles associated with it. It’s certainly not the pathway to financial security.

Emily presents Joint and Separate Money Series: Individualized Marriage and Money Management posted at Evolving Personal Finance. I review a paper wherin the hypothesis is that couples who have more individualized marriages will tend to have more separate money management styles. Results include which group has higher marital satisfaction – joint, separate, or hybrid. What do you think of the authors’ definition of individualized marriage?

Sean presents How is my Credit Line Determined? posted at One Smart Dollar. Understanding how your credit line is determined can be a great way to start understanding your finances.

AverageJoe presents The Waiting is the Hardest Part posted at The Free Financial Advisor. When tragedy strikes many people feel the need to take care of important financial affairs. This could be a huge mistake.

Investing

Jason presents Tips to Pick a 529 Plan for Your Child’s College Savings posted at One Money Design. Interested in learning about 529 savings accounts? Learn how to pick an independent 529 plan for your child education savings plan.

Don presents What is Inflation? posted at My Dollar Plan. You hear about inflation all of the time, yet many do not understand what it is or how it is measured. If you’re one of those people, this is a must-read!

Nick presents Sometimes it’s about way more than math posted at Step Away from the Mall. Am I the only one who gets way too caught up in “math” sometimes? Sometimes I lose track of what’s really important to me?

Shannon McNay presents Credit Unions vs. Banks: Which Should You Choose? posted at ReadyForZero Blog. In the years since the financial crisis, scrutiny of banks has only grown worse. It’s enough to make some people want to go back to the old days of stuffing cash under their mattress! However, in order to protect your money it is important that you put it into a bank. The real question is, which banks should you trust? As resentment towards big banks simmers, people are flocking towards their local credit unions for their banking needs. How can you decide which is right for you? We break it down for you here!

JB presents Are Banks Really In It For You? posted at My University Money. Learn from my mistakes and never assume the banks are in it for you. They aren’t, in fact they make a killing off you so don’t make it easy on them whenever they try to push a product on you.

Debt Management

Miranda presents Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps posted at Bargaineering. A look at Dave Ramsey’s classic 7 baby steps program.

Don presents Pay Off Your Student Loans: A Q&A With A Recent Grad posted at MoneySmartGuides. This is an interview with a recent college grad and how she has paid off over $25K in student loans. It shows others in the same situation the debt can be overcome and is inspirational.

Jason Steele presents Key Things You May Not Know About Your Credit Card Until Your Account Is Opened posted at SBT Credit Card Blog. Credit card companies have bad reputations for a reason, one of which is the fact that they hold back key information from consumers when they apply for credit cards.

Khaleef Crumbley presents 4 Reasons Why I Will Not File For Bankruptcy posted at Faithful With A Few. To file for bankruptcy is not an easy decision. Even though it has become more common, here are 4 reasons why I will never do it!

To add a little pizazz to the middle of the week….let’s see how many make it all the way to the bottom?? Something completely random and unrelated to finance…How tall are you?

Thanks for visiting and taking a look at this week’s great posts!!!

Photo By: Jman’s Skittles