Financial Simplicity Carnival #10

I kicked around a few ideas for the theme of this carnival – the Kentucky Derby was yesterday, for example, and Mother’s Day is next week (have you sent your mom a present yet?) but in the end I couldn’t pass up playing around with the coincidence that this is the tenth edition of the Financial Simplicity Carnival.  That means there’s an order of magnitude more Financial Simplicity Carnival posts than there were when Nick launched it!  And if any of you haven’t seen the Scale of the Universe video yet (it’s been around quite a while) you really must take 5 minutes to watch it now!  It shows the structure of the world, solar system, galaxy, and universe from 1 meter to 10²⁶ meters.  Going smaller from 1 m is just as awesome, I think – the engineering research I do is on the scale of 10^-6 meters and our lab does stuff down to 10^-8 to 10^-9 meters.

Now on to the carnival!

Making Money

Jeff Rose presents The 13 Best New Small Business Ideas and Opportunities to Start Today posted at Good Financial Cents. “Have you caught the entrepreneur bug and are wanting to start your own small business? Here’s 13 ideas to quit your day job and start making real money on your own terms.”

Adam presents The Reality of Self-Employment posted at Magical Penny. “I didn’t intend to become an entrepreneur…but here’s how I did it.”

Teacher Man presents How to Stand Out in the Scholarship Process posted at My University Money. “Like many other aspects of the transition from high school to university, applying for scholarships is another way it can be easy for students to become overwhelmed and easily discouraged.”

Investing

Todd Tresidder presents Payoff Mortgage Early Or Invest – The Complete Guide posted at Financial Mentor. “This definitive guide explains the surprisingly complex issues surrounding your best choice for excess income – either paying off your mortgage early to reduce debt or investing to build savings. It provides a step-by-step process for making this important decision.”

Don presents Saving For College posted at MoneySmartGuides. “Some parents make the mistake of neglecting saving for their retirement so they can save for their child’s education. I explain why this isn’t a wise idea.”

David John Marotta presents The Shiller Ten-Year P/E Ratio posted at Marotta On Money. “What we would really like to measure are the changes in price (P) that cause a company with a good long-term track record to look relatively cheap. Economist Robert Shiller created just such a measurement.”

Spending and Budgeting

SB presents Best 3 Credit Cards For Travel Rewards in 2012 posted at Finance Product Reviews. “We searched all travel rewards cards, analyzed their features and then listed the top three in 2012 based on the research. These are the top 3 leading travel rewards cards in USA in 2012.”

Mike presents Watch Out: Pitfalls of Credit Card Rewards Programs posted at Rewards Cards USA. “It’s important to understand that there are pitfalls associated with rewards programs. Participating in a rewards program, if you aren’t careful, can actually turn into a real problem, leaving you in debt – and without the rewards points you thought you had.”

Paul Vachon presents The Effect of FICO Credit Scores on Wealth Creation posted at The Frugal Toad. “We all know that a good credit score can result in a better interest rate on loans but you may be surprised to learn that a bad credit score can affect you in ways you might not have thought about. In addition to paying higher interest rates, a poor credit score can result in higher insurance premiums, denial for employment, or having to pay a security deposit when leasing an apartment or opening a utility account.”

Nick presents How much house is too much posted at Step Away from the Mall. “Buying a house is never a simple process… here’s my thinking about how to buy just enough house for my family.”

Sean presents Rent, Don’t Buy posted at One Smart Dollar. “Do you have a home project that needs to get done, but a $500 tool is standing in your way? Save your monday and don’t buy it, just rent.”

Liana presents Is the LivingSocial Credit Card Worth Getting? posted at Card Hub. “Discounts for already discounted goods and services? That’s what the new Living Social Credit Card is offering. But, is this really a deal for the consumer? Let’s take a look…”

Lance presents Five Money Milestones by Age 30 (More Like Your First Real Job) posted at Money Life and More. “While browsing the web I came across this video the other day “Five Money Milestones by Age 30″. They suggest the five following milestones: Build an Emergency Fund (Six Months of Expenses); Start Planning for Retirement; Manage Your Debt Load; Set a Monthly Budget and Stick to It; Set Yourself Up for Your Future – Start Saving Now!”

Sean presents What Is the Best Day to Buy Specific Items posted at One Smart Dollar. “Did you know that you can save money just buy making purchases on a specific day of the week or month?”

Debt Reduction

Ben Feldman presents Know Your Options: The 5 Different Ways to Get Out of Debt posted at ReadyForZero Blog. “We want to help you understand the five major ways that Americans get out of debt. There are many unreliable and even predatory companies out there that will take advantage of you if you’re not careful, so you must do your research and understand how these options work and decide which get-out-of-debt method is right for you.”

Curtez Riggs presents Looking For A Military Loan: Why Do So Many Service Members Have Bad Credit posted at Life After The Army. “Hindsight has 20/20 vision. Looking back, I can see the mistakes so clearly, I wonder what motivated me to get into this mess in the first place. It all began the first time I walked into a payday loan company and inquired about their services. It sounded easy enough and all I wanted was a couple of hundred bucks. How much trouble could that cause – a simple $200 loan? Before I knew what was happening, there I was. In a pickle. I was relying on payday loans just to pay off the one I received during the last pay period.”

Tim presents Til Debt Do Us Part posted at Faith and Finance. “There’s a reason the phrase ‘Til Debt do Us Part’ has become a catch phrase. It’s because consumer debt erodes marital satisfaction over time for newlyweds. Every newlywed (and married couple) should read this.”

Christopher presents Dear Debt, I am going to defeat you!!! posted at This That and The MBA. “What does national financial literacy month mean to you?  Well for my wife and I, we have set up a plan to pay down some of our debt. We have accumulated some debt over the past few years.”