- You are here:
- Home »
- Blog
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.
Intermediate Sprint # 2
- 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
————————————————————————————————————————
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!
————————————————————————————————————————
Click here to enter my free giveaway for 3 sets of 500 business cards from AllBusinessCards.com.
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:
Intermediate Sprint # 3
- How To Get Rich In A Recession (Rich): The article is about strategies to undertake to build wealth in difficult times.
- Buy the Pricey House? Or the Moderate House? (House): My wife and I recently purchased a house. Instead of buying at the top of our “affordability,” we decided to buy a house that we could pay off in less than 5 years. Once paid off, we’ll be able to build severe wealth, and we’ll be in a position to help our community as well! I hope that this post will inspire others to take the same action so that we’ll soon live in a better place!
Intermediate Sprint # 4
- THE Top 10 Bad Financial Lists (Lists): I grow weary and tired of bloggers putting out Top 5, 10, and 20 lists of various financial things that would make our lives better. So, I have devised a most nefarious, ugly, and downright useless list of financial lists (there is the twist) that could ever be published and still be labeled as SFW (Suitable for Work). Careful reading this, you may find yourself suddenly wanting to write a similar list mocking other bloggers.
-
The Standing Blogger…or, Computer as Idiot Box (Standing): We’re told that spending upwards of six hours a day in a seated position (as in, say, blogging and doing any computer-based desk work) can shave years off our lives. Given that few of us are about to get offline, here’s a hack that may save your life.
American Tyler Farrar won the sprint for 1st place with all of the contenders for overall yellow jersey victory finishing safely in the main pack.
You can view the complete results of today’s Tour de France stage by clicking here.
Tour de Personal Finance, Stage 3, Posts 27-30
————————————————————————————————————————
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!
————————————————————————————————————————
Click here to enter my free giveaway for 3 sets of 500 business cards from AllBusinessCards.com.
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:
Intermediate Sprint # 1
- 35 Ways to Make More Money (35 Ways): Even in the best of times, one of the most common questions asked is, “How do I make more money?” While an increase in income can ease the way things work in your personal economy, it won’t necessarily solve all your problems.
- Drop Your Cable Bill – Keep Your Shows (Cable):
Have you ever wanted to save hundreds of dollars a year on your cable bill? Would you like to pay for only the shows you watch instead of paying for hundreds of channels of crap? Do you want to see a really white guy rap? Yes, yes, and absolutely!
- Knowing When To Buy and Sell Stock (Stock): Buying and selling stock is a challenging idea. How do you know when a stock is undervalued or overvalued? How do you know if it will go up or go down? There are a few popular methods to making the best investing decisions, and you can learn how they work here.
- 24 Home-Based Business Ideas (Ideas): This article lists 24 opportunities that we can take advantage of from home to start making some extra income with a home-based business.
The race is going on right now! I’ll share a recap in the post later today.
***Photo courtesy of http://wafermaneuver.com/nick/img/photo/fireworks2.jpg
Tour de Personal Finance, Stage 2, Posts 31-34
————————————————————————————————————————
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!
————————————————————————————————————————
Click here to enter my free giveaway for 3 sets of 500 business cards from AllBusinessCards.com.
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:
- If I Had a Million Dollars, I’d Go Into Debt (Debt): What would I do if I won a million dollars? This post describes how I’d invest every last penny, scrutinizing tax benefits, risk, returns, real estate, and why I would go into debt — yes, I would go into debt — if I were a millionaire. And don’t just take my word for it: Einstein backs me up, and so does third-world poverty theory. Read this post to find out more.
- Do the Amish Pay Taxes? (Taxes): There is a lot of controversy and confusion surrounding the Amish and their tax payments. This is in part because they use some public services without paying for the consumption taxes that fund those services because their consumption habits are much different from the average American’s. Honestly, could you imagine a horse and buggy pulling through a highway toll booth, or an Amish person gambling in a casino?
Intermediate Sprint # 4
- Invest in Both Fitness and Finances (Fitness): Your health is a much more important investment than your personal finance life. Learn how to master both and you’re set for life!
- Building a Better Blog (Blogging): My online life started with finding the wide world of personal finance blogging and starting my first blog. Building up a blog is what brings advertisers knocking on your virtual door and it gives credibility for other online ventures like staff writing. Here is how I built up my site as quickly as possible.
Today was the Team Time Trial in the 2011 Tour de France. This is a special event because viewers get to watch a group of 10 riders power through at 55 kph around a course in flashy skin-suits and $12,000 bikes. Nice right?!
It is also a cool event because it tends to have a pretty significant impact on the outcome of the overall Tour de France race. In today’s race, the US based Garmin-Cervelo team won the stage and placed sprinter/overall hard-man Thor Husovd in the yellow jersey!
Of the favorites for overall victory at the end of the 3 week bike race, the best placed riders are Andy and Frank Schleck, Cadel Evans, and Bradley Wiggins. Alberto Contador is over a minute back. However, he is such a good climber that he’ll most likely be able to recover most of this lost time when the mountains start.
***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/cthe/145144226/sizes/l/in/photostream/
Tour de Personal Finance, Stage 2, Posts 35-38
————————————————————————————————————————
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!
————————————————————————————————————————
Click here to enter my free giveaway for 3 sets of 500 business cards from AllBusinessCards.com.
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:
- 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.
- The College Student’s Guide to Investing (College):
: A step by step way to get starting investing for beginners, especially those just out of college!
Intermediate Sprint # 2
- How much money do you really need to retire with dividend stocks? (Dividend): My post discusses the fact that investors do not need one million dollars to retire. With the right dividend growth stocks that regularly raise distributions every year, investors could live off the dividend income stream and never have to touch the principal. The rising dividend payment would protect the income stream against inflation. The rising dividend payment will also make shares more valuable over time, leading to an increase in the value of these shares.
- Random Acts of Kindness Can Bring Riches of Happiness and Experience (Kindness): Quite naturally, many of us – including me – are focused on our own finances. That said, it’s often so profitable in a broader sense to practice kindness and generosity. This post shares a simple story of an encounter that brought me happiness in helping someone in need.
Today is the Team Time Trial. It is going on right now! All of the highest-placed teams have yet to finish, so I’ll share the complete recap/update in the Stage 2 competition post later today!
***Photo courtesy of http://images.cdn.fotopedia.com/flickr-3296070443-hd.jpg
Tour de Personal Finance, Stage 1, Posts 39-42
————————————————————————————————————————
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!
————————————————————————————————————————
Click here to enter my free giveaway for 3 sets of 500 business cards from AllBusinessCards.com. The last day to enter the giveaway is July 4th!
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 games (the posts from Sprints 1 and 2 were posted earlier today at the following link):
- My Brand New Car (Car): If you enjoy personal finance advice that challenges conventional thinking (i.e. always buy used), check out this post on why I bought a brand new car. I may have just had bad luck, but used vehicles don’t work for me. When I buy new, I know all the regular service is being done on a timely basis and I know how the car has been driven. I’m leery of cars being sold that are only one or two years old – what is the matter with them? You might think I’m an idiot, but ultimately my time and (especially) my peace of mind are much more important in this case than saving some money.
- 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!
Intermediate Sprint # 4
- 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 Is Your Favorite Board Game To Teach Financial Literacy (Game): Many families recognize the bonding experiences possible, educational & entertainment value, and inexpensiveness of having a regular family game night at home. Playing family games that also teach financial concepts is an excellent way to have fun while helping your kids (and sometimes yourselves!) learn and practice financial concepts. This article analyzes five board games, telling you what the game can teach you and your family about finance; detailing little known facts about the game and sharing our personal experiences with the game.
Today was Stage 1 of the 2011 Tour de France. The race traveled from the Passage du Gois La Barre-de-Monts to the Mont des Alouettes Les Herbiers. It was supposed to be a flat stage to get us started in the 2011 race and not have much effect on the overall race.
However, at the end of the day, Philip Gilbert won the stage, and due to several late crashes, most of the main contenders for the overall (yellow jersey) classification lost anywhere between 1-2 minutes. This included last year’s winner and overall favorite, Alberto Contador, from Spain.
Tour de Personal Finance, Stage 1, Posts 43-46
————————————————————————————————————————
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!
————————————————————————————————————————
Click here to enter my free giveaway for 3 sets of 500 business cards from AllBusinessCards.com. The giveaway entry period ends July 4th!
The brackets were finalized earlier today and can be found at the following link – Tour de Personal Finance 2011 Bracket.
Without further a due, here we go with the first 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 games:
Intermediate Sprint # 1
- How I Went From 30K To 100K in 5 Years (100K) I went from an admin clerk making 30K to a financial professional making over 100K in only 5 years. That’s the equivalent of getting annualized raises of 27% per year. How did I go from 30k to a 6 figure income in 5 years? Here’s my story!
- My 80-Year-Old Wedding Dress: Behold! (Dress) When Miss Thrifty planned her wedding, she wasn’t so much a Bridezilla as a Frugalzilla! Find out how the UK blogger found a 1920’s gown for just £25 ($40) and restored it in time for the Big Day.
Intermediate Sprint # 2
- 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.
- Income Multiples v Affordability (Income) Most borrowers looking for a mortgage have one main question when they speak to a mortgage advisor: ‘How much can I borrow?’ In past years, this would have been a pretty easy calculation to work out based on your income and outgoings, but these days the situation has come full circle. Instead of telling you how much you can borrow, a mortgage advisor will often ask you: ‘How much can you afford?’ In this article, I look at the move from ‘income multiples’ to ‘affordability’ in mortgage underwriting.
Today was Stage 1 of the 2011 Tour de France. The race traveled from the Passage du Gois La Barre-de-Monts to the Mont des Alouettes Les Herbiers. It was supposed to be a flat stage to get us started in the 2011 race and not have much effect on the overall race.
However, at the end of the day, Philip Gilbert won the stage, and due to several late crashes, most of the main contenders for the overall (yellow jersey) classification lost anywhere between 1-2 minutes. This included last year’s winner and overall favorite, Alberto Contador, from Spain.
***Photo courtesy of http://images.cdn.fotopedia.com/flickr-3292521102-hd.jpg
Tour de Personal Finance 2011 Brackets Finalized
————————————————————————————————————————
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!
————————————————————————————————————————
Click here to enter my free giveaway for 3 sets of 500 business cards from AllBusinessCards.com.
Good afternoon personal finance fans!
Before I head out on a bike ride today, I wanted to do a quick post to let you all know that I have finalized the 2011 Tour de Personal Finance competition brackets.
The brackets can be downloaded/viewed at the Google Docs link below.
Tour de Personal Finance 2011 Brackets
For this being the first year we’re doing this, we had a very good turnout with a total of 46 entries!
The competition will begin later tonight with the first “Stages.”
***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/romyarlyn/2713872305/sizes/l/in/photostream/
Interview at NarrowBridge.net – My Personal Finance Journey
————————————————————————————————————————
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!
————————————————————————————————————————
Click here to enter my free giveaway for 3 sets of 500 business cards from AllBusinessCards.com.
Happy Saturday everyone! The Tour de France 2011 is now among us, as it officially started earlier today with Stage 1! I really enjoy this time of year.
Going along with the celebratory ambiance I am feeling today, I wanted to express my gratitude to Eric over at NarrowBridge.net for interviewing me about my experiences as a personal finance blogger so far.
You can view the complete interview at the link below.
Personal Finance Blogger Interview – Jacob @ My Personal Finance Journey
A summary of the various topics/questions addressed in the interview can be found below:
1) How did you get started in personal finance blogging? What was your inspiration?
2) On your site, you mention that you hope to “Unravel some of the myths around investing and personal finance that are ever-present in today’s society”. What is the biggest myth you have found since you started blogging? What is the real deal behind the myth?
3) If you wish you knew one personal finance tip when you were 18, what would it be?
4) What is the biggest personal finance lesson you learned the hard way?
5) Outside of blogging, what has been the biggest change you made to your financial life that made a difference? (i.e. making more money, frugal changes, budgeting, investing)
Some other good personal finance blogger interviews can also be found at NarrowBridge.net at the links below! Enjoy!
Interview – Evan @ My Journey to Millions
Interview – Glen @ Free From Broke
***Photo courtesy of http://www.rumor.net/gallery//d/758-2/DSC04978.JPG