Tour de Personal Finance, Stage 7, Round 2 – Posts 37-44

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Without further a due, let’s continue on with the 7th Stage (the first Stage of the 2nd round of competition) of the 2011 My Personal Finance Journey Tour de Personal Finance (to follow all of the action, click on the Tour de Personal Finance category link and scroll down to read all the posts involved in this subject).

• I Refused To Pay Someone What I Was Charged (Refused): What do you do when the value of a service or product doesn’t match the price you were charged?  In this personal finance story, you’ll find out how my situation played out (it may not be what you think) and what you can do if you find yourself in a similar situation.

• How I Make Money Blogging (Money): I enjoy blogging more than anything else I’ve ever done as a hobby or job in my life.  My online community is one of the first things I look forward to in the morning and blogging is the last thing I do almost every night.  This post covers how I made nearly $6000 between February and December 2010 doing what I love.  I have since banked another $15,000 and am have started making $3000 or more every month.  Check out how I am turning a hobby into my full time career!
   

• What The Piano Tuner Taught Me (Piano): You can learn a lot from a person by their chosen profession even if that profession is not something you fully understand or are familiar with. Their passion, their spirit, their seemingly perfect fit with the intricate details involved – these things are clear when someone truly loves what they do. That and much more is what I learned from Howard the piano tuner. Read this article to learn more! 

• 15 Things I look at Before Trading a Stock (Trading) : There are 15 key elements I look at before making a sound investing. The ones in this post have been very effective over time! Take a look.

***Photo courtesy of http://search.creativecommons.org/?q=cycling

15 Ways to Save on Car Costs

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Click here to enter my free giveaway for 3 sets of 500 business cards from AllBusinessCards.com.

The following guest post comes to us from Jessica Bosari. Jessica helps consumers learn to save money on car insurance at CarInsuranceQuotesComparison.com. Consumers can read about discounts, learn the facts about car insurance, and compare car insurance companies.

Owning a car can be expensive, especially with rising fuel costs. Here are some ways to cut your expenses without giving up your car.

1. Accelerate and Decelerate Smoothly

Quick starts and stops reduce your car’s fuel efficiency by about 3mpg each time you hit the gas or the brakes.

2. Compare Gas Quotes

Gas comparison has gone high tech. You can look at gas prices with a smart phone app that uses your GPS location to find gas stations in your vicinity, no matter what part of town you are in.

3. Avoid Idling

Unless you own a hybrid or electric vehicle, idling for a few minutes can use as much gasoline as driving for a mile. If you need to stop for more than 10 seconds, turn the car off.

4. Keep the Tires Inflated Properly

Your tires play a large role in your fuel consumption. Make sure they are always inflated properly for the best mileage.

5. Change the Oil Regularly

The oil in your car’s engine helps everything run smoothly and prevents overheating. You will face fewer breakdowns and repairs if the engine oil is always clean.

6. Use a GPS System

Getting lost can eat up time and burn up unnecessary fuel. Program your destinations into a GPS system so that you can find the fastest, most efficient route to your destination.

7. Stay as Light as Possible

Excess weight in your car will cause your car’s engine to burn gasoline faster. Avoid storing unnecessary items in your car or trunk so that your car stays as light as possible.

8. Skip Higher Octane Gas

Most engines do not require high-octane gasoline. Unless you are driving a high performance model, the less expensive options will be fine.

9. Choose Higher Deductible Insurance

You can lower your insurance rates if you choose higher deductibles. Make sure the deductibles are affordable if you need to file a claim, though.

10. Avoid Synthetic Oil

Standard engine oil will keep your engine running well as long as you have the oil changed every 3,000 miles or 3 months.

11. Leave Out Unnecessary Options

When you purchase a car, leave off any options that you don’t need for safety or comfort.

12. Shop for a Car Online

Even if you plan to buy your car from a local dealer, compare prices for similar makes and models online. Some dealerships offer special pricing for online shoppers.

13. Compare Insurance Prices

Your insurance rates can change dramatically from year to year based on several different factors. Keep track of pricing so that you can keep your insurance costs as low as possible.

14. Keep It Slow

The best speed for your gas mileage is 55mph. Driving faster will send you to the gas pump more often.

15. Choose an Independent Mechanic

Mechanics who own their shops have more flexibility when it comes to pricing. You could negotiate a better repair price with an independent mechanic.

How about you all? What methods do you use to save money on car expenses? Have you had either good or bad experiences with any of the methods discussed above?


Share your experiences by commenting below!

Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.

• @ Comparing gas quotes – I have mixed feelings about the benefits of doing this, probably partly because I don’t have a SmartPhone.
• Personally, my preferred method of buying gas is to find the nearest BP station and use my 5% cash back BP Visa credit card for all of my purchases. Assuming a cost of gas per gallon of $3.50, this 5% cash back equates to a savings of $0.18 per gallon. 
• In my opinion, I am likely not to find another gas station within close driving distance that will offer me cost savings beyond the $0.18 per gallon that I get at BP with my BP Visa credit card.
• Because of this, I personally don’t do too much gas price comparison when I need to buy gas.
• @ Keeping the tires properly inflated – As we saw in the post last week about saving money on cars expenses, not only can keeping your tires inflated save you money, but it also keeps you and your family safer by preventing tire blowouts! Quite worth it in my book!
• @ Keeping your car as light as possible – I have to admit that I am incredibly bad at this one!
• During my high school years, I drove around most of the time with a set of sub-woofers in my truck. These weighed in at about 70 pounds! Probably not the best fuel efficiency there! haha
• I am also bad at leaving outdoor equipment and other luggage in my car after a trip or excursion. This most likely decreases my fuel efficiency as well!
•  @ Choosing a higher deductible for car insurance – I am a big fan of having a higher deductible for insurance. After all, insurance should be used to protect yourself from catastrophic loss, not for being used to install a new sunroof! 
• For home-owners insurance I think a deductible of $2,500 is perfectly acceptable.
• For car insurance, I would probably decrease the deductible to $1,000, just because you are more likely to get in a car wreck than have your house burn down/get destroyed.
• @ Leaving out the unnecessary options – 
• My family has always been a big fan of this method. In fact, the car I am driving now is so stripped down that it does NOT have any of the following – 1) automatic locks, 2) cruise control, or 3) automatic transmission.
• It is also worthwhile mentioning that you can save about $1000 on the cost of a new vehicle simply by the manual transmission option. Stick-shifts are more fun to drive, and they are also more fuel efficient! Nice!

***Photo courtesy of http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3241/2484541616_90c9b7e9ea.jpg

Tour de Personal Finance, Stage 6, Posts 1-6

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Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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Without further a due, let’s continue on with the 6th Stage (the final Stage of the 1st round) of the 2011 My Personal Finance Journey Tour de Personal Finance (to follow all of the action, click on the Tour de Personal Finance category link and scroll down to read all the posts involved in this subject).

• Can You Make Money and a Difference With Social Impact Bonds? (Bonds): My article explains social impact bonds, a means of investing money with individuals who are trying to accomplish some social good (decreasing recidivism of ex-convicts is a popular one). Investors contribute money that is used to meet these goals, and if the goal is met, the government pays back the money (with interest); if not, the government owes nothing. These bonds have the potential to alter both how governments fund many of their programs and how charitable individuals spend their charitable contributions. These bonds could be the future of investing and charitable giving, all in one package.  

• How to feed a family of 6 on roughly $200 per week (Family):  Groceries account for one of the highest household expenses. However, it is also a variable cost that we can all budget for. Nikki Holloway, a Canadian mother from Arrowwood, AB, who feeds 6 on roughly $200/week, has provided her top 11 tips to putting the money back in your bank account and not on your plate.
   

• People Who Don’t Have Cable Are Better In Every Way, Say Those Without Cable (Cable): People who have given up cable are a special kind of annoying. They look down on those of us who choose to watch TV as some sort of sewer creature. Are they really so much better than us time wasters? You’ll probably not want to click through if you’ve dropped cable…  

• Shepherd And Sheep herder, Story About Your Money (Sheep): This is an inspiring blog post which urges people to take charge of their money matters. The example is drawn from a story of shepherds and sheep herders. A shepherd manages each of his sheep individually with care, where as a sheep herder manages them as a group, without individual attention. The blog post emphasizes the need of being a Shepherd on money matters in order to become aware of every single dollar, including how a dollar is being earned, how a dollar is spent and invested, and how much return is realized.   

• Why You Should Donate More Money to Charity (Donate): There are so many reasons people do not give to charity. We’d rather keep the money to ourselves, it requires action, and it won’t have any effect are just a few. This year, we should be donating more than ever, and here are 8 compelling reasons why.  

• Not So Extreme Couponing: Couponing for the Rest of Us (Couponing): The Extreme Couponing show on TLC may be entertaining to watch, but it’s not very practical or appealing for most of us. Here’s how the rest of us can save big money with couponing without using extreme couponing tactics.    

Tour de Personal Finance, Stage 5, Posts 7-10

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Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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Without further a due, let’s continue on with the 5th Stage of the 2011 My Personal Finance Journey Tour de Personal Finance (to follow all of the action, click on the Tour de Personal Finance category link and scroll down to read all the posts involved in this subject).

• Four Ways to Make Money in Real Estate (Four): Despite the bursting of the real estate bubble, there is still an opportunity to profit from real estate provided you have an exit strategy in mind prior to purchase.  There are four ways to make money in real estate.  Maximizing the potential of these four real estate profit centers can help any investor make the most out of any purchase. 

• Getting Stated With Your Money Idea (Idea): Don’t know where to start or how to promote yourself? This article gives you the starting steps as well as a stack of ways to advertise and promote for free or very cheap. It is also an excerpt of my book 365 Ways To Make Money.
   

• Why Pursue a Side Business When You Already Have a Successful Career? (Business): The majority of individuals are oblivious to what their true tax expense is. It is our biggest expense, more than food, clothing and shelter. This post emphasizes the crux of my blog and explains why everyone should have a side gig to maximize financial abundance and get ahead in life. 

• Bicycle In The City (Bicycle): This article was produced out of both frustration at city traffic congestion, and with optimism for real alternatives to the car. Cars are stressful, from financing the purchase to filling the tank. There must be a better way. Cities that integrate the bicycle and support carless lifestyles are the way forward.   

Online Identity Theft – An Example of How to Protect Yourself, Your Sanity, and Your Money

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Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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Sadly, I get emails ALL OF THE TIME (probably about 1-2 per day) attempting to lure me in to entering my personal information so that fraudsters can steal my money, my credit, or worse.

These scams run the complete gamut of the personal finance realm – from eBay and PayPal to Bank of America and Social Security.gov. It really is ridiculous how far in to society these scams have perfused!

I’ve finally decided that I’ve kept these examples bottled up too long, and that it is time to share one with hopes that you can avoid these traps as well!

Background

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you probably are aware that I use Bank of America for my only remaining brick-and-mortar bank checking account. I chose Bank of America when evaluating my different checking account options because they have thousands of branches all over the US, which come in handy since I seem to have moved a lot over the past few years.

Bank of America doesn’t have the most favorable checking (and especially savings) account options, however, I have been satisfied so far. And, I probably will stay with this bank unless they start charging a monthly account maintenance fee.

Bank of America Scam

Several days ago, I received the email shown below to an email address that is NOT linked to my Bank of America checking account (this is a good clue #1, but there will be more on that topic below). The email was supposedly sent from support@bankofamerica.com. Pretty impressive right?!

***Please do not click any of the links below***

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Dear Valued Member,

BOA Member Services Team

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Analysis of Scam and How to Know It’s a Fraudulent Email

If we closely dissect this email that I received, several things blatantly stick out that we can use to protect ourselves from falling for this terrible scam.

• Scam Clue # 1 – 2011 BOA LLC
• The first aspect of this email that makes me a little skeptical is the copyright line that says, “Copyright – BOA LLC 2011.”
• Last time I checked, Bank of America was incorporated, right?
• However, often times, these companies do have subsidiaries, so we’ll note this as a “red light” and continue on with our inspection!
• Scam Clue # 2 – Email address this was sent to
• Another clue that gives us a red light to the validity of this email is the fact that it was sent to one of my secondary email accounts that was associated with my bank account 4-5 years ago. 
• One would think that a powerhouse like Bank of America would be advanced enough that they wouldn’t need to send an email to an address that was 4 years old. Let’s get real here!
• Scam Clue # 3 – Actual URL of Link
• Clues 1 and 2 above are sufficient to give us some doubt about how valid the email is, but the definitive proof that this was a fraudulent email can be found by simply hovering your cursor over the link in the email and viewing the URL that the link is pointing to.
• If we do this, we find that the url is pointing to the following site (minus the ALL CAPS warning I added to make sure you all don’t click on this) – http://205.234.223.200/~chrystof/server/portfolio/fashion_forward/bankofamerica/bofa/update/THISISASCAM!!!!!!DONOTCLICK
• Let’s take a moment to appreciate the components of this URL, shall we? First, let’s take note that the secured sign-in website for Bank of America has the following URL – https://sitekey.bankofamerica.com/sas/signonSetup.do.
• The URL on the email, however, has a nice little IP address (probably to a server the scammer set up to make it hard to track them down) followed by some sort of personal name abbreviation! 
• Looking at this information, it is clear that this is a scam. However, if you didn’t hover your cursor over the link to see the URL and just went by the anchor text showing (www.bankofamerica.com/secured/updates), one can see why people would fall prey to this, especially less Internet-savvy folks.

So, as we all undoubtedly concluded from the information above, the correct course of action with this email would have been to permanently delete (I wish there were some sort of police you could call to report these people easily!).

However, before concluding this post, I wanted to share a fool proof way that I’ve found to avoid scams such as these. I simply make it a practice never (unless absolutely required) to click links in email that lead me to sites asking to enter personal information, passwords, etc. 


Instead, if I receive an email alerting me to take action with one of my accounts, I open up a new browser, type in the generic URL of the company’s website, and log-in from there. This ensures that your online safety is maximized.

How about you all? Do you receive many scam emails such as the one I shared above? If so, what steps do you take to identify it as fraudulent/fake? 


Share your experiences by commenting below!

***Photo courtesy of http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2285/1594411528_1512b1aad5.jpg

Tour de Personal Finance, Stage 5, Posts 11-14

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Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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Without further a due, let’s continue on with the 5th Stage of the 2011 My Personal Finance Journey Tour de Personal Finance (to follow all of the action, click on the Tour de Personal Finance category link and scroll down to read all the posts involved in this subject).

• How to Spend Money Wisely (Spend): Learning how to spend money wisely comes in 3 parts: understanding your spending goals (because spending wisely equals spending according to YOUR values), reviewing your current spending for ways to save, and implementing strategies to spend more wisely. 

• Gratitude: The Key to Happiness (Key): There was a quote I heard as a young girl that I have never forgotten. “If the only prayer you say in your life is ‘thank you’, that would suffice.”- Meister Eckhart. It’s amazing how one simple, easy, positive action can change so much in a person’s life. One of the things that has had the biggest effect on my life is the realization of the power of gratitude. Simply giving thanks. It has affected everything. It has made me a more positive person; A more productive person; A better achiever; A better wife, daughter, and sister; A happier person. I’m still not perfect, but gratitude has made me better for everything and everyone. Can it change your life as well? I can guarantee it!

• Will You Be Able to Retire on $1 Million? (Retire) Inflation is eroding the value of that $1 million nest egg; as the years march forward, there is a very real possibility that you will need much more than a $1 million nest egg to live the lifestyle you want. Here’s what you can do to stretch your nest egg further — even if you don’t have $1 million to retire on.
   

• Alternative Investments: Dirt (Dirt): I wrote this post to highlight a different class of investment – farm land, not in the sense of agribusiness, but more from a personal perspective.  I’m finding out that a number of personal finance bloggers keep vegetable gardens, in the same way that earlier generations raised Victory gardens.  Keeping a garden is a good way to save on grocery bills, to name just one reason, and “making dirt” is a good way to invest sustainably.

Tour de Personal Finance, Stage 4, Posts 15-18

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Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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Without further a due, let’s continue on with the 4th Stage of the 2011 My Personal Finance Journey Tour de Personal Finance (to follow all of the action, click on the Tour de Personal Finance category link and scroll down to read all the posts involved in this subject).

• An Argument for Privatizing Social Security (Argument):  Just as our country’s finances reach a critical point, Social Security is set to start failing. Social Security makes up 1/5 of our federal budget and is facing a huge deficit if changes aren’t made quickly.  This article argues that privatizing Social Security could be a permanent and sustainable solution. 

VERSUS

• Overheard In The Break Room, an xtranormal animation (Overheard): I made an xtranormal animation after I overheard this conversation in the break room at work. It is hilarious, don’t miss it. Yes, there is a financial lesson in there somewhere.
   

• Get out of Credit Card Debt (and Stay Debt Free) (Debt): Geting out of credit card debt is a difficult and daunting task. Using a balance transfer can make the process easier, but the key ingredients to success are willpower, the ability to stick to a budget, and the ability to sacrifice and live below one’s means until debt issues are resolved. 

• 6 Easy Ways To Get Advertisers for Your Blog or Website (Easy): A look at six easy ways to get advertisers for your blog or website.  This article gives a step-by-step description on what to do and how to sell yourself and your site.

***Photo courtesy of http://s0.geograph.org.uk/photos/05/05/050524_61440933.jpg

Emergency Funds – Are They Essential?

The following is a guest post. Enjoy!

When it comes to emergency funds, most people have strong opinions one way or the other about the value of this type of account. While some believe that this is the secret to peace of mind and stability, others believe it to be an unnecessary precaution. There are several different factors to take into consideration when it comes to deciding whether or not this is the right option for you.

What is the Purpose of an Emergency Fund?

When you have an emergency fund, the idea is to have money available in the case of the unexpected happening. This means that when an unexpected bill arrives, something happens and your car is totaled, or you get in a wreck and need surgery, you have the money necessary to take care of the problem. There is no reason to make a charge on a credit card, and there is no reason to borrow money from friends and family members. It gives you a sense of independence when problems arise.

Benefits of an Emergency Fund

When you already have the money that you need on hand, you don’t worry so much about what you will do when the unexpected happens. You know that you have the emergency fund, and you can take care of most of the problems that will come your way.

For some people, sleep will come a little easier at night when they can worry less. If you have your emergency fund in a general savings account, your money may be earning interest. While it probably isn’t going to be much, there is going to be some type of return on your “investment.”

Where to Invest Your Emergency Fund

Shop around to find the best place to set up this account. Read the terms and conditions carefully to find out if there are penalties for withdrawals and what the minimum balance needs to be.

On the downside, if you don’t invest the money, you aren’t really getting anything back. In an interest bearing account, the money will actually be working for you. You will see that the money you deposit is earning something and not just sitting somewhere waiting to be used in case of an emergency.

Cons of Having an Emergency Fund

If you use the cash from your emergency fund to pay for unexpected expenses, you are partly missing out on a chance to build your credit. A prepaid debit card or an actual credit card can also make it easy to take care of these emergencies, and on the upside, they are also helping your build positive credit when you make payments on time and pay off the balance.

Balancing the Pros and Cons of an Emergency Fund

Having an emergency fund is a personal decision that only you can make. There are several different options that you can choose from that will help you balance out the positive and negative aspects of an emergency fund.

Here are two options to consider:

• Keep half of your money in cash and the other half in a higher interest-earning account. This way, you have the money that you need and you are earning interest.
  • As you continue to save, add the extra money to the interest bearing account.
• When a major expense arises, use your credit card to pay off the amount that you owe. Then, use your emergency fund cash to pay off the card. This way, you still have the cash so there is no need to worry and you are able to add to your personal credit score.

How about you all? Do you have an emergency fund? How many months worth of expenses do you target to have in the account? Do you feel an emergency fund is necessary? 


Share your experiences by commenting below!

Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.

• @ Purpose of an emergency fund – First, I have to disclose that I am a big supporter and promoter of people having an emergency fund. I carry an emergency fund myself in which I target holding 6-9 months worth of my normal expenses. In fact, I place so much importance on having an emergency fund that in my account hierarchy, saving money for this type of fund is at the top of the list, right alongside having health insurance and paying off your credit card debt monthly minimums.
  • Having gotten this disclosure out of the way, I’ve found that a lot of people get confused about the actual purpose of an emergency fund.
  • An emergency fund, as the name suggests, is for unexpected serious expenses that are necessary for your normal income creation to occur.
  • Examples of what would fall in to this category are unexpected car expenses, health care deductible bills, paying the $2,500 deductible on my condo insurance policy if my apartment burned down, buying a plane ticket to your relative’s funeral half way across the country, living expenses if you are downsized/fired from your company, etc.
  • Examples of what would NOT fall in to the realm of what an emergency fund should be used for are $10,000 wedding rings, a new couch that you desperately need, a $5,000 surgery for your dog (unless you already have this savings factored in to your emergency fund amount), or a vacation to the Bahamas.
• How much money to place in your emergency fund – It seems like there are several opinions on how much money one should place in to your emergency fund. The general consensus seems to be to place anywhere from 3-9 months worth of expenses in this account. The logic behind these numbers is that this is generally the period of time needed for someone to find a new job, in the case that they are let go from their past job.
  • Personally, as a fairly cautious person by nature, I tend to prefer staying on the high-end of this rule-of-thumb time frame (6-9 months of expenses).
• @ Where to place your emergency fund – In this day and age, there are of course a plethora of options for where you can place your emergency fund. I’ve discussed these different options at the following link – Bank Savings Options – My Personal Finance Journey. The options are listed briefly below:
  • Bank savings account
  • CD
  • Money market mutual fund
  • Money market saving account
  • Of these 4 options, the one that I personally feel is the best to use (even though interest rates in the US are INCREDIBLY LOW!) is a money market savings account.
  • By using a money market savings account, which generally has high interest, stability for your money, and good history in not defaulting, you don’t need to invest half your money in cash and half in a “high-interest-earning account” (as suggested above in the post) because your money will already be in a dependable, high-interest earning account.
  • My favorite options for a money market savings account at this point in time are either ING Direct or DollarSavingsDirect.com.
• @ Cons of an emergency fund – Personally, I don’t really feel that there are any cons of having an emergency fund.
  • The one con mentioned above about using an emergency fund to pay for unexpected expenses slowing a person’s credit accumulation down doesn’t, at least in my opinion, apply to today’s society since we are already making most of our purchases on a credit card anyway.
• @ Paying for the emergency expense via credit card and then reimbursing yourself with money from your emergency fund –
  • This is a great idea! By paying for the emergency expense with a credit card (if possible), your purchase is protected against fraud, and you will also accumulate cash-back or other reward points, if offered by your credit card.

***Photo courtesy of http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3112/2346575422_7054222273.jpg

Tour de Personal Finance, Stage 4, Posts 19-22

Without further a due, let’s continue on with the 4th Stage of the 2011 My Personal Finance Journey Tour de Personal Finance (to follow all of the action, click on the Tour de Personal Finance category link and scroll down to read all the posts involved in this subject).

Also, if applicable, I will give a brief description of the stage of the Tour de France that took place the same day as the competition.

How to Vote

You can vote for the two articles (one from each intermediate sprint) you’d like to see proceed in the Tour by commenting in the comments section below and telling which are your favorites.

I’ve listed a keyword after each post title to make it easy to vote (as a made-up example, you can just comment: Sprint 1: Mutual; Sprint 2: 401k, etc.) Be sure to comment which one you like the best out of each set of two! Criteria for the best article is completely up to you, but you can use these factors as a guide: 1) post of your favorite blogger, 2) most interesting post, 3) most thought-provoking post, 4) most unique post, or 5) most actionable post.

Here are today’s competitions:

• The SCAM Series: The Death Star Laser (Scam): Ever wondered how much the Death Star Laser would cost? If you have slightly nerdy tendencies like myself, then maybe you have. Then again, I’m kinda unique… but you should find out the answer to this incredibly intriguing question anyway! Hint: It’s a really, really big number. 

• This isn’t your grandparents’ recession (Grandparents): Ever since the recession began I think there’s WAY too much blaming of the victims. I’m good and sick of hearing pundits grumble about how lazy and soft Americans have become, and how we ought to take a few lessons from the Great Depression. Here’s the thing: The world was a different place back then. Heaven knows I’m no apologist for slackers, credit-card spendthrifts or people who won’t take anything but the “right” job, but a lot of the advice our elders offered/modeled isn’t relevant today. Plenty of folks are in big trouble not because they’re lazy, but because of complex personal, local, national and global economic issues.

• The Greatest Impact On My Finances And My Best Financial Tool (Tool): I’ve got a financial tool that not only will help me build wealth but makes me a better person as well.  Interested to see what I’m talking about?  Read on to find out more.

• Firefighters Let House Burn and Pets Die Over $75 (Burn): Firefighters allowed a home to burn down, taking with it pets, precious heirlooms, and memories…all because the owner forgot to pay $75! See the full story and share your thoughts on the “pay to spray” rule, and on the concept of insurance!

***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/teamtraveller/3341178546/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Tour de Personal Finance, Stage 3, Posts 23-26

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