Don't Mess With Taxes

Well, this apparently is the week of change here at the ol' blog. Regular readers know that I've been posting a Tax Carnival here on a more or less regular basis since June 2006. The time has come, however, to put the Tax Carnival on hiatus. I've enjoyed the interaction with tax and personal finance bloggers. The carnival has personally provided me with a look at other folks' tax takes, which is always a good thing. But as the saying goes, life just insists on keeping on keeping on. I had already cut back from biweekly carnival postings to monthly.... Read more →

Whew! What a week it's been and it's only Tuesday! I need a break. So what better way to kick back and relax but to check out some of the great personal finance blogging that's been going on while I've been submerged in the housing bill. Yes, housing is a key financial consideration, but there are many other money matters we all should pay attention to. Well, not to worry. Jesse at You Need a Budget has tracked some the blogosphere's finest financial wisdom and put it into the 163rd Carnival of Personal Finance. Among my favorites this week are:... Read more →

Using baseball as its backdrop, the credit card blog Taking Charge has put together an impressive line-up of items for the latest Carnival of Personal Finance. Many thanks to Emily for her stellar effort as manager of this 162nd team of money bloggers. With 74 "players," including my look at FDIC protection, jockeying for an at-bat, we have quite a enviable challenge in deciding who's at the plate first. So we'll start with several: Your financial life on one page (FLOP) from Christian Personal Finance, Five steps to save for a home down payment from Money Under 30, and The... Read more →

You know it, you love it, you want more of it. I'm talking, of course, about money. So you'll definitely want to visit the Money Hacks Carnival #18. This week's host is Hank at My Investing Blog and he gives us a wealth of financial blogging tips, along with a lesson on the history of money. My post on getting tax help to pay for your kid's day camp is among the many, many, many Money Hacks posts. Here are few timely, summer travel related posts that also are part of the carnival: $$$ Broke Grad Student's very timely 9... Read more →

The latest Carnival of Personal Finance is now available at Alpha Consumer. The theme for this 151st PFC is managing money in tight times. Some of my favorite carnival bloggings this week include: Smart Easy Money takes a look at America's relatively low-priced gasoline. Trees Full of Money tells us how to get the best price for your car by selling it yourself. And Squawkfox is back. In a previous Carnival, she listed 10 things not to carry in your purse or wallet. This time she looks at 10 essentials to carry with you at all times. My post on... Read more →

Thanks to The Happy Rock for hosting the latest Carnival of Personal Finance. This week's edition is #149 and true to the history of the Carnival, it contains a wealth of interesting and useful financial bloggings. Here are some that caught my eye: The Personal Financier offers advice on How to Make Saving More Rewarding and Tangible. Squawkfox unintentionally exposes her handbag and shares with us 10 things you should never carry in a purse or wallet. Smart Money Daily kicks off a home-selling series with a look at the pros and cons of FSBOs, aka "For Sale By Owner"... Read more →

Money Hacks Carnival #6, Famous Hackers Edition, is now available. Thanks to Bible Money Matters for hosting this edition. A few of my faves: Prime Time Money's look at state AG websites and toolkits to combat ID theft. 10 Tips On How To Negotiate posted at Wealth Building Lessons. The Digerati Life's 5 Different Ways To Build An Emergency Fund. 10 reasons to stick with the stock market posted at The Orange Paper. You'll find lots more in the 6th Money Hacks Carnival, including my piece on rebates and combat pay, so head on over and give 'em a read. Read more →

Calling all fans of Doug and Bob MacKenzie, the late, great comedy program SCTV, the Great White North and personal finance advice. You'll find it all in this week's Personal Finance Carnival #143 hosted by the Canadian blogger Quest for Four Pillars. No need for NAFTA here. There's lots of good money advice flowing unfettered across this unguarded Internet border. Such as: Money Under Thirty's reasons why we spend more than we should, prompted by a review of the book "Going Broke: Why Americans Can't Hold On To Their Money." Value For Your Life's tips on how to get your... Read more →

This week Broke Grad Student takes us back to school with the 141st Carnival of Personal Finance. With her creative curriculum, this College Years Edition offers us the blog version of a financial MBA. Among my favorite lessons: Feminist Finance's upcoming nuptials got her thinking about just how a Wedding As Status Symbol came about. The simple nickel's analysis of shopping at a discount store in Does Your Costco Card Really Save You Money? Wise Bread's list of Six Horrible Financial Products You Should Avoid. The Financial Blogger's conclusion that too many of us falling into The Trap Of Working... Read more →

The latest Carnival of Personal Finance is now available for your financial reading pleasure. Thanks to this week's host The Dividend Guy. Entitled "The Passion Edition," this 137th edition is "dedicated to those passions that keep us moving forward and provide us with all the excitement and fulfillment that life has to offer." In that regard, here are some items from the Carnival that I found particularly inspiring: Finances For Couples from Plan Your Escape takes a look at how one husband and wife manage their finances; Why the Recent Market Decline Isn’t That Bad from Advanced Personal Finance offers... Read more →

The 41st edition of the Carnival of Money Stories is now up. I really like this carnival because it makes sure that all the items are indeed personal. And I'm pleased to report that my potential $7,000 e-payment error made it into this Carnival. And below are three of my favorites postings that also are part of this edition of Money Stories. When her bank's debit card error put I've Paid For This Twice Already… in a potentially embarrassing situation, she notes that "I never realized how much of my self worth was tied up in my ability to successfully... Read more →

The Carnival of Personal Finance #130 is now now up at Money $mart Life. Since there's so much good financial information on the carnival, M$L offers his editor picks in an introductory audio file. You can listen while you scroll through the many offerings. A couple of my favorites: Five financial goals for life, not just for the coming year, from My Dollar Plan. Confessions of a credit card junkie from BankerGirl. She has a problem with easy credit, but is working to overcome the addiction. My item on aspirational investing also made the cut. If you get a chance... Read more →

It's Carnival Monday! Personal Finance Carnival 129, hosted by Patrick at Cash Money Life, is now available. In addition to 80 great personal finance items, Patrick slips in lots of fun money trivia; hence the subtitle of this week's Carnival (and the photo there to the right): the World Currencies Edition. I am honored that my item on "toy" credit cards for kids made the Editor's Choice list. A couple of other postings on that list also caught my eye: Budgeting and Time Management; Two Surprisingly Interrelated Skills from I've Paid For This Twice Already… . It's definitely a topic... Read more →

The 128th Carnival of Personal Finance, Investment Truth Edition, is now live. This week, it's courtesy of Blain at Stock Trading To Go. As usual, you'll find an impressive collection of financial tips, advice and insight at the PF Carnival. Below are a few of my favorites this time. Not surprisingly, they have a holiday shopping hook. 10 Tips For Being A Smart and Safe Consumer by Silicon Valley Blogger Myth: Big Sales = Big Savings from MoneyMyths.org 99 Life Lessons Learned from Quitting Corporate America by Edith Yeung OK, that last one isn't about the holidays, except maybe leaving... Read more →

Thanks to Million Dollar Journey for hosting the 126th Carnival of Personal Finance. MDJ collected 89 items for this edition. To make it easier for readers, they're arranged by financial category. Here are some of my favorites: As a self-professed vidiot, Satellite TV Guru's 5 Ways to Get More for Your Money with Satellite and Cable entry naturally caught my eye. Finance and Fat asks question we've all raised: When is it Okay to Spend Money? F&F's query is particularly pertinent with the holidays bearing down. And sticking with this topic, I would terribly remiss if I didn't mention a... Read more →

David at Search and Serendipity is the host for the 60th I and the Bird. This particular birding carnival is notable not just because David is a fellow Texan, but also because he's produced the first birding blog carnival to be hosted by video. Amid the more than 30 postings from birders worldwide, David gives up four videos. Be sure to view each, including the outtake reel. But the core of every I and the Bird is, of course, the collection of fantastic reports from birding bloggers, or blogging birders. Among my favorites this time are: The photo blog from... Read more →

We're sailing along, not necessarily to a new world but to a world of financial information with today's Columbus Day edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance. Hosted by Ask Mr. Credit Card, the 121st Personal Finance Carnival intersperses this week's collection of financial tips throughout a Q&A session with our leading presidential candidates. Among the discoveries: Is penny pinching really the road to wealth? How to live on a minimum wage and Tips for getting low-cost health insurance. You say you're looking for financial info from the wealthier end of the spectrum? Then don't miss the review of the... Read more →

For someone who's long been out of school and has no kids in college, I know I've been focusing on education a lot. Maybe it's because last month my high school class held its 33.3 year reunion. Yeah, a math-oriented, trained engineer came up with the unusual commemoration date (I'm talking about you Mark!). Unfortunately, I couldn't make it. Another classmate sent photos (thanks Luis!), although I think he might have forwarded the wrong ones. Most of the people in the digital snapshots looked way older than me, or so I keep telling myself! Personally, I'm going to keep visualizing... Read more →

Today's going to be a full one, but I wanted to get a quick post up this a.m. before heading out to a lunch meeting. The bad thing about my meeting -- aside from the fact that everyone in the group wants to eat so early! I guess they start their days, and have their breakfasts, a few hours earlier than I do. -- is that schlepping through downtown Austin traffic to get to it is going to take almost as long as the event itself will run. The good thing about the meeting is that it features a panel... Read more →

The latest Carnival of Homeowners is now up at Homeowners Insurance Lowdown. Among the selections for this 12th edition is my item on how foreclosures in your neighborhood could mean higher tax bills for you. A few of my other faves include: Tired of looking out your window and seeing a neighbor's trashy house? The Digerati Life has 10 ways to handle that problem property. I haven't had much time for reading lately, but that doesn't keep me from adding to my Amazon wish list. Edith Yeung has some financial books she says we just can't miss. And if you... Read more →