Category Archives for Blogging

What Is Your Best Day-to-Day Money Saving Tip? – My Personal Finance Journey Guest Post Today at Happy Simple Living

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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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Happy Friday evening to everyone!

Just wanted to pass on a quick reminder to stop by my Yakezie friend’s, Happy Simple Living, site to read up on my latest guest post!

The topic of this guest post was, “What is your best day-to-day money saving tip?” Click on the link below to read about my tips! Enjoy!

How I Save Big Money on Food and Drinks – Yakezie Blog Swap Guest Post

7 Painless Ways to Save 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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• I love the idea of using your loose change to get your son interested, and more importantly, started, in saving and investing.
• One thing I might do differently is to use the opportunity to teach him about the miracle of compound interest by investing the loose change in low-fee index mutual funds. The return and risk are higher, but due to his long-term investment horizon (because he is so young), he would have potential to have more money in the long run.
• I thought I was the only one that had so much fun picking up random loose change on the sidewalk and in parking lots!
• One good place to find loose change “gems” is at a laundromat! You’d be surprised how many people drop coins at that type of place!
• It’s interesting to hear you mention finding unclaimed assets! I actually just read about how David Back recommends doing that as well in the book, Debt Free For Life. Pick up a cheap, used copy of this book from Amazon if you all haven’t done so yet! It’s well worth the read.

Yakezie Challenge Completed!

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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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Interested in a FREE $10 BP Rewards Card? Click here to find out how you can win one!

Good Wednesday evening everyone! Even though I am about a week late on this post, I figured that it would be acceptable to employ the “better-late-than-never” approach.

On July 20th, 2010, My Personal Finance Journey joined the Yakezie Challenge when my Alexa traffic ranking was 1.3 million. The objective of the Challenge is to increase the readership of my site to within 200k within a 6 month time frame.

Note: You can take a peek at my post announcing this at the following link – Announcement of MPFJ Joining The Yakezie Challenge.

From July 2010 until the middle of December, my days were pretty much consumed by my first semester of classes in my Chemical Engineering PhD program. As a result, my Alexa ranking fell but then leveled off at 500k. This was not quite as quick of progress as I would have liked!

However, during the semester break from classes, I was able to commit more time to my blog, and I am pleased to announce that the site dropped below an Alexa ranking of 200k during the last week of January, 2011. Coincidentally, this was almost exactly 6 months after joining the Challenge!

Currently, my Alexa traffic ranking is ~175k, and hopefully, we can keep up the momentum. But, we’ll see how the semester goes!

Free Android Apps For All – My Personal Finance Journey Apps Customized To Fit Your Smart Phone!

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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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Interested in a FREE $10 BP Rewards Card? Click here to find out how you can win one!


Good Tuesday afternoon everyone!


I am very excited to announce that today, with the irreplaceable and amazing help of Jesse Michelsen (one of my Yakezie friends) of Blog2Android, My Personal Finance Journey now has an app for Android phones to make it even easier to stay up to date on the postings and community discussions here on the site!


You can download, install, and/or find the QR code for this app at any one of the links below for FREE! Have fun and let me know if you have any questions.


Android Pit.com – My Personal Finance Journey (MPFJ) Blog App
AndroidLib.com – MPFJ Blog App
AndroidZoom.com – MPFJ Blog App
AppBrain.com – MPFJ Blog App


Below is a little preview/screenshot you can take a look at to get a feel for how the app will appear on your phone.

Carnival of Money Stories # 90 – Average Incomes Around The Globe – January 24, 2011 Edition

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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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***Photo courtesy of http://modernsynthesis.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/800px-ukrainian_salary_map.png?w=720&h=503

My Personal Finance Journey’s First Ever Guest Post For Another Site!

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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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Today is truly a historic day in the history of My Personal Finance Journey. In the past year that we have existed, we have featured nearly 30 great guest posts from many different contributors.

However, during this time, I have either been too shy, too stubborn, too busy, or too greedy to reach out and write a high quality guest post for another site.

All excuses aside though, as I mentioned in my blogging goals post a few days ago, one of my important targets to hit for 2011 is to write at least one guest post for another blog per month.

Today, I am happy to report that my first guest post went live on one of my favorite personal finance sites, Free Money Finance. You can read the complete post by clicking on the link below!

How Much Is Your Smart Phone Data Plan Really Costing You? – Free Money Finance

How about you all, other personal finance bloggers? Are you being better than me and keeping up the guest posting on other sites?! I know I have been bad about this in the past.


***Photo courtesy of http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k2j8qFXzOU8/Rxpq520An1I/AAAAAAAAAw0/lFPw07VwvdI/s400/globebutton_large.jpg

My Personal Finance Journey Blogging Goals for 2011

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Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” for “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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With this being a new year and all, I’ve decided to lay out some blogging goals for My Personal Finance Journey during 2011. I have also added a reminder on my Outlook calendar to track our progress pertaining to these goals each month.

By doing, this I am hoping that it provides us with more accountability and visibility to what we are doing and where we want to go with this community/blog.

Share your experiences by commenting below!


***Photo courtesy of http://www.workfromhomenetworkmarketing.com/images/Reach-For-Stars.jpg

Carnival of Personal Finance #292 – Most Expensive Homes in The World Edition

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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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Welcome to this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance, a weekly listing of the top personal finance articles around the blogosphere in the following categories – taxes, money management, investing, career, debt, frugality, credit, economy, finance, real estate, saving, and budgeting.

The theme for this week’s carnival is the most expensive homes in the world! I hope you enjoy the posts and amazingly huge home pictures and that you can stop by My Personal Finance Journey on my non-carnival days as well!

This week, we had 76 total submissions. However, listed below are this week’s top 3 editor’s picks. Congrats to the three winners!

1. Len from Len Penzo dot Com presents My Ketchup Taste Test: Surprise! Guess Which Brand Topped Heinz.

2. Shaun from Money Cactus presents Why the Global Financial Crisis has Improved My Work Wealth, and says, “Ever feel like you spend too much time at work and not enough time doing other things you love? Here’s a formula you can use to improve your working wealth and how I have implemented it!”

3. Barbara Friedberg from Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance presents MBA Class 2011; Risk vs. Reward, and says, “Understand the relationship between risk and reward and become a smarter investor. There is an unavoidable trade off between risk and reward. If you desire a higher return on your investment, you must take greater risk.

And, listed below are the rest of this week’s great article submissions.

Taxes


Daniel from Sweating The Big Stuff presents Federal and State Estimated Quarterly Tax Payments are Due!.

Jason from One Money Design presents Tax Refund Estimator: Best Calculators to Estimate Your Tax Refund, and says, “Will you owe the IRS money this year? Check out these three tax refund estimator calculators you may find helpful in planning for 2011 taxes.”

Silicon Valley Blogger from The Digerati Life presents 2011 Federal Tax Brackets & Rates, 2011 Standard Deductions, and says, “Some things you need to prepare for this year’s taxes.”

Amanda from My Dollar Plan presents Investing in Tax Lien Certificates and Tax Deeds, and says, “Don’t know much about this investment option? Read this to find out about Tax Lien Certificates & Tax Deeds.”

Craig from Free From Broke presents 2011 Federal Income Tax Brackets, and says, “See what the 2011 income tax brackets are and where you fit.”

Junior Boomer from Consumer Boomer presents 2011 Dividend Tax Rates, and says, “Find out what the future tax burdens will be for many Americans across the country in 2011 how it will affect you. “

Jeff Rose from Good Financial Cents presents 2011 Energy Tax Credit for Home Improvements, and says, “Here’s how you can save money on your taxes by making home efficiency upgrades to your home.”

Craig Ford from Money Help for Christians presents Start Online Tax Filing Free with TurboTax, and says, “Use free online tax services to file your taxes or to get a point of comparison to review the work of your tax accountant.”

Money Management


RC from Think Your Way To Wealth presents Developing Your Financial Willpower.

Clint from Accumulating Money presents Recent Grad Confused about Personal Finance? Empower Yourself through Education.

Pf blogger from Personal cents presents Looking to retirement.

Tom @ Canadian Finance Blog from Canadian Finance Blog presents 6 Financial Habits to Take Control of Your Money, and says, “Take control of your money by learning financial habits like manage your debt, live within your means and know where your money is invested.”

Nicole from Nicole and Maggie: Grumpy Rumblings presents Adventures in Cell Phone Purchasing, and says, “Nicole and Maggie discuss pre-paid phones vs. monthly plans and remind everybody to check their provider to see if they offer an employee discount.”

vh from Funny about Money presents Ten Ways to Deal with Bag Lady Syndrome.

Shawna from Making Money Make Cents presents How To Do A Personal Finance Gap Analysis – And Why You Should.

Pat S. from compounding returns presents Your Checklist for Financial Freedom, and says, “A checklist to take you from here to retirement with a step by step explanation of why each factor builds on the other.”

Bob from Christian Finances presents Juggling the Baby Steps, and says, “You know Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps to financial freedom. Perhaps you’ve even destroyed your non-mortgage debt and built that hefty emergency fund! You’re even a Financial Peace University graduate! Great job! But inevitably then comes the question: What next?”

N.W. Journey from Net Worth Journey presents 3 Tips to Protecting Your Spouse, and says, “Tips for keeping your information private.”

FMF from Free Money Finance presents Seven Financial Resolutions for the New Year, and says, “Here are seven practices to take you from pauper to prince or princess if you add one each year.”

Mike from The Financial Blogger presents 30 Financial Moves Before You Turn 30, and says, “30 smart money moves for all 20-somethings out there.”

Roshawn Watson from Watson Inc presents Setting The Course For The Impossible, and says, “What’s possible for you is determined by your capacity to believe.”

Investing

Dividend Growth Investor from Dividend Growth Investor presents Six Consumer Stocks to own in 2011, and says, “The companies that could benefit from the increase in consumer spending all have diversified portfolios of strong brand names, wide moats and high returns on equity. Their strong fundamentals have enabled them to weather several recessions over the past 2 decades and have also allowed them to increase dividends for over a quarter of a century. “

Matt from Dividend Monk presents Four Things I’m Bullish On Going Into 2011, and says, “Four areas of stocks, including several specific companies for each category, are mentioned as places worth having a look this year. “

PT from PT Money presents Discount Brokers vs Mutual Fund Companies, and says, “When you begin investing with a broker there are a couple of main types to choose from. There are pros and cons to each.”

Grace from GRACEful Retirement presents Bonds–Trying to Get Some Perspective, and says, “A near-retiree’s dilemma–Grace needs bonds in her 401(k) but now is the worst time to be buying them. What to do?”

Sean Smarty from Grow Money presents Advantages of Index Funds.

Financial Uproar from Financial Uproar presents My Research Process When Buying A Stock, and says, “Many investors don’t do the proper research when they buy a stock. Maybe the process I take can be helpful.”

Mark from Buy Like Buffett presents The Beginners Investing Guide.

Mike from Experiglot presents ETF Asset Allocation Portfolio, and says, “How to properly set up your portfolio with ETFs.”

Mike from Do Not Wait presents Business Owners: Getting Ready to Retire!, and says, “How business owners can prepare for retirement.”

IS from Intelligent Speculator presents A good day to be an Apple shareholder.

Div Guy from The Dividend Guy Blog presents 2011 Top 10 Canadian REITs List, and says, “An interesting read for all of the Canadian investors reading this.”

Mike Piper from Oblivious Investor presents Emerging Market Risks, and says, “Why are emerging market mutual funds thought to be high risk?”

D4L from Dividends Value presents Who Owns The Top Dividend Stocks?, and says, “The internet provides investors with so much useful and interesting information. I could not imagine going back a decade or so and trying to analyze stocks without the internet. One of my job responsibilities is the statutory reporting for the corporation I work for. Filing 10-Ks, 10-Qs and other such required reports is often tedious, but it gives me a great appreciation of what information is available, including who owns some of the top dividend stocks.”

Jessica from MomVesting presents Investing in Another Mom, and says, “Expand your investing horizons: We need to support and invest in each other. Whoever it is, taking a moment to invest in them will reap some serious benefits in their lives.”

Career

ElizabethG from Modern Gal presents Tips for Maximizing Income.

Squirrelers from Squirrelers presents Top Five Job Search Strategies, and says, “With one’s career being an important part of cash flow for most people, it makes sense to know how to effectively find a job. This article summarizes five strategies.”

MD from Studenomics presents When College is Not Worth The Money, and says, “Some occasions where college is not a great investment.”

Debt


Ramsay from moneyedup presents Use Extra Income To Pay Off Student Loans, and says, “Once you have high interest debt, like credit cards, paid off, it’s a good idea to turn your attention to student loan debt.”

RJ Weiss from Gen Y Wealth presents Pay Off Low Interest Debt or Invest?, and says, “If you have the money to make a lump sum payment and pay off a low interest loan, should you do it?”

Reviews

Sun from The Sun’s Financial Diary presents 2010 Year in Review.

Kevin McKee from Thousandaire presents Don’t Pay Off Your Student Loans, and says, “A compelling argument why paying off student loans instead of investing that money elsewhere is like throwing away money.”

Credit

Tim Chen from NerdWallet Credit Card Blog presents Capital One Credit Cards: Which is Right for You?, and says, “Capital One is one of the largest credit card issuers in the US, so it stands to reason that they offer a little something for everyone.”

Money Beagle from Money Beagle presents Now’s A Good Time To Check Your Credit Report.

Kim at MMI from Blogging for Change presents Should you get a vanity credit card?

Economy

Stuart from Pennywise2Pennyworth presents Do You Tip at Buffets? (You Should!), and says, “Tipping isn’t just for services rendered…For the low-wage worker it is an absolute necessity to supplement a non-livable wage. THIS is why you need to tip at a buffet (better yet, raise minimum wage to a realistic “livable” wage).”


Frugality

The Smarter Wallet from The Smarter Wallet presents The Many Uses of Baking Soda, A Cheap Household Cleaner, and says, “Some great ideas on how to save on cleaners and other household items by using baking soda as an alternative!”

Control Your Cash presents Man of the Year 2010, and says, “Awarding the prize was a tough decision. The incumbent, Bob from Las Vegas, did nothing to disgrace himself. Nor did runner-up Brandon Jennings, one of the most underpaid players in the NBA but a guy who knows the value of a buck.”

Jason from Live Real, Now presents Quit Smoking: My First Frugal Move…Ever, and says, “Smoking is expensive. I’ve saved $10,000 since I quite.”

Donna Freedman from Smart Spending presents 20 minutes to keep your house clean, and says, “Need to slash your budget? Fire your housecleaner and pick up a broom. This won’t take long. “

Miss T from Prairie Eco-Thrifter presents 7 Free Ways to Lose Weight.

Finance

Miranda from Personal Dividends presents Will You Get a Raise in 2011?.


Real Estate

Mike from Green Panda Treehouse presents How-to Pick the Right House For a First Time Home Buyer, and says, “A look at how you can pick the right house as a first time home buyer.”

Saving

Adam from Magical Penny presents Confessions of a Procrastinator -And Why You Should Be Saving For Retirement Today, and says, “It’s hard to tell the effect of an extra few hours of preparation could have made in some instances but one thing where the impact of preparation is not in question is when it comes to saving for retirement.

Budgeting

Money Thinker from Money Thinking presents So, Today, I Went to the Store , and says, “Isn’t that exciting? No, not really. Anyway, today, I went to the grocery store down the street from my house. We’re supposed to get this big snowstorm this week, so I thought it would be in my best interest to go get some things in case I got snowed in…”

Crystal from Budgeting in the Fun Stuff presents Eating Out on a Budget, and says, “This is a great post that covers some ways you too can eat out on a tight budget.”

Other

Well Heeled from Well Heeled Blog presents Non-Traditional Engagement Rings: Thinking Beyond the Diamond, and says, “Diamond engagement rings are expensive, but if you want something a little unique and are open to non-diamond gem stones or lab-created stones, you can find something beautiful, meaningful, and probably for much cheaper than a diamond.”

Miss Thrifty presents Miss Thrifty Manifesto, Revised: New Year, New Me?.

Dan from Taking Charge presents Cleanliness lesson from ATMs, toilets, germs and Charlie Sheen.

FruGal from FruGal presents Fighting winter blues on a budget.

Neal Frankle from Wealth Pilgrim presents 3 Weekend Jobs that Pay $50 an Hour, and says, “If you want to earn some extra serious cabbage and don’t have a lot of time to do it, I have 3 ideas you’ll be interested in learning more about.”

Ron from The Wisdom Journal presents A Resolution Worth Keeping: Get An Insurance Checkup, and says, “There are several resolutions worth keeping this new year. One of them should be to review your insurance needs. Let’s face it: Your life changes on a daily basis but rarely do we make the needed tweaks and changes to our insurance. Here’s what to look out for:”

Bogey from Back Nine Finance presents Best Financial Move for 2010: Spending More.

Well, that concludes this week’s edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance! To all of this week’s participants – it was an honor to be able to read and get involved with such high quality articles!

Next week’s carnival, # 293, will be hosted by our good friends at Living Richly On A Budget and is scheduled for January 24th, 2011. Be sure to submit your articles for next week’s edition, using the following handy submission form.

Also, if you’re interested in hosting a future edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance, you can apply using this form.

Best of Money Carnival # 86 – Best Cartoon Theme Song Jingles

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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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Welcome to the Best of Money Carnival (a weekly listing of the top 10 personal finance posts)– Best Cartoon Theme Song Jingles Edition!  


I hope you enjoy the flashbacks and the posts – and then come back to visit My Personal Finance Journey on my non-carnival days too.


This week, we had 62 articles submitted. Below are my choices for the Top 10 Personal Finance posts of the last couple of weeks (that were submitted properly of course) in countdown order (from 10 to 1).  A big congrats to all of this week’s winners!

10. Darwin presents Value of Tax Shield Explained – MBA Mondays posted at Darwin’s Money. The value of tax a tax shield is explained here. Ever wonder why people and businesses love to borrow so much? Here it is put to the numbers test.

9. Mike Piper presents Stocks or Mutual Funds: Which Should I Buy? posted at Oblivious Investor. Ever wonder which route you should take? This post will answer a lot of your questions.

8. Echo presents Gifts That Keep On Taking posted at Boomer & Echo. This post explains what to do when you receive a gift that requires you to upgrade your lifestyle (aka spend more).

7. Wise Bread presents Paper Checks: Going, Going, Gone posted at Wisebread. A look at the slow decline of paper payments and what other options are available. Where do you stand?

6. Miranda presents Are You Responsible for Your Spouse’s Debt? posted at Moolanomy. Ever wondered if you’ll be liable for the debt of your fiancée once you get married? This post will answer your questions.

5. Michael presents Six Great Ways To Introduce Kids to Stock Investing posted at The Dough Roller, saying, “It’s never too early to teach kids about money and specifically, stock investing.”

4. Kevin McKee presents Good Debt Exists (and it’s Awesome!) posted at Thousandaire, saying, “Some people don’t believe in “Good Debt”, which is sad because people use it every day to make a lot of money. Don’t avoid low-interest debt; use it to your advantage!”

3. Ryan @ CML presents How to Interview a Financial Planner posted at Cash Money Life. This post gives some good tips on how you can interview, screen, and hire a financial planner to help you manage your money; includes tips on doing a background check to verify credentials.

2. Flexo presents Should You and Your Spouse Combine Money? posted at Consumerism Commentary, saying, “Be prepared to get stares from your spouse if you continue to keep your money a secret from each other.”

And, last, but obviously not least, this week’s overall winner……

1. The Amateur Financier presents I Couldn’t Make This Up: 50 Cent, Penny Stocks, and Twitter posted at The Amateur Financier. This post shares a lesson of caution about penny stocks, derived from the tale of 50 Cent and his use of Twitter in a pump and dump scam. Enjoy and most of all, learn!

Well, that concludes this week’s Best of Money Edition. To all participants – it was a pleasure reading your articles this week!


Please submit your posts to the next edition of the Best of Money Carnival using the carnival submission form. The next carnival (#87) will be hosted by Live Real, Now and is scheduled for January 24, 2011. 


Also, If you’d like to host a future carnival, send FMF an email asking for a slot.


***Photo courtesy of http://www.theliberaloc.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/scoobydoo.jpg

Happy One Year Anniversary to My Personal Finance Journey

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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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My my how time has flown! Today, January 16th, 2011 marks the official one year anniversary of My Personal Finance Journey.

One year ago on this day, the first post on this site went up describing a $30 Bonus Sign Up Offer for a Chase Amazon Credit Card. Brings back great memories to look at the first few posts of this blog!

Thanks to everyone for making this past year a great success. We’ll continue to bring you all great content and a warm community as long as you all will tune in!

As a token of our appreciation, we will be holding a free giveaway contest very soon for a $25 Wal-Mart giftcard (basically the same as cash with how many options Wal-Mart has these days!). Be on the lookout for more information to follow shortly!


Keep on learning!
-The My Personal Finance Journey Team

***Photo courtesy of http://www.wayneschools.com/schools/high/waynevalley/clubs_and_activities/sda/images/party.gif