Yakezie Carnival: Easter Sunday Edition

The Yakezie.com

For my birthday (last week) I wanted my bike tuned-up and to finally open that investment account that I had been researching for months. Well, I got both. My bike is now shifting smoothly and I finally opened up a mutual fund through USAA. It’s a very conservative, low-cost fund that I can manage myself. After months of research, opening up a slow-moving, long-term wealth building fund seemed appropriate. I already dabble in stocks (which are doing quite well) and adding the mutual fund was a good balance. It will earn a higher APR than my savings account even after factoring in the .01% of fees and taxes. I’ll begin adding that amount into my Boost My Savings bar shortly.

Now for some links around the Yakezie Blogosphere for Easter, Sunday:

Saving Money

• The Saved Quarter with….Making the Most of Daily Deal Sites – stretching the savings on sites like Groupon even further!
• Not Made of Money with….Hidden Costs of Buying A House
• Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance with….The Down Side of New Electronic Stuff-There’s always something.
• Narrow Bridge with…The Sale Fallacy. Do you really save?
• Money Talks Coaching with…An irregular income can feel like an insurmountable problem when trying to make a budget.
• Control Your Cash with…6 Out of 8 People Reading This Are Idiots
• Free from Broke with…ING Direct Electric Orange Saves the Day – Sending Paper Checks
• Parenting Family Money with…Selecting the Best Cell Phone Plan for your Child

Investing

• MoneyCone with….Are you an aggressive investor or a conservative investor? Your portfolio’s beta holds the key!
• Money Help for Christians….3 Ways to Deal with a Declining US Dollar
• Wealth Artisian with….Dividend and Conquer. Dividend investing should be a staple of any portfolio, but often people allow their fear of market volatility to stop them.
• Darwin’s Money with…Day Trading’s a scam.  The commercials don’t tell the full story.  Here’s the proof!
• PT Money with…Best Ways to Save for Retirement

Housing

• My Journey to Millions with…What Is Portability in Estate Planning?
• The Ultimate Juggle with…How I Won a Condo. This post describes how I entered a radio contest and actually won. It has been a huge financial benefit to me and my family.
• Retire by 40 with…Why Buying a Home is Better than Renting

Money News, Tips, and General Stuff

• My Personal Finance Journey with……Financial Goals Update – April 2011. A look at my progress against my short term, mid term, and long term financial goals for the 2011 year.
• The College Investor with….Leasing a Car is a Bad Financial Move
• Everyday Tips and Thoughts with…Hate Your Job? It Could Be Worse. It can be easy to get frustrated with your job when you don’t love what you do. However, perhaps all you need is a new perspective to help you appreciate the job you have.
• Wall Street Chalkboard with…Getting A Side Job To Curb the Effects of Inflation. An extra job will curb the effects of inflation, which include high prices for consumer durables, a higher cost of living, and less loans.
• Squirrelers with…Giving While Getting Nothing Back Can Be Cool
• The Millionaire Nurse Blog with…My Search For a 5% Cash Back Gas Card
• Invest is Wisely with…My Changing Personality
• Mom’s Plan with…Four Ways to Get Dinner on the Table Part Two: Prepare Meal Components. While your meal won’t be ready and waiting for you if you use the meal component method, you will save yourself a great deal of time when preparing the meal.
• Budgeting in the Fun Stuff with…Explaining a Health Savings Account, HSA
• Money in the 20′s with…Applying to MBA Programs, Step 1 – Why MBA
• Money Reasons with…Getting Rich By Creating An eBay Opportunity. This is a story about a tech contractor that I use to work with who through his ability to see opportunities was able to become rich.  In this article I discuss the eBay opportunity that he discovered.
• Wealth Informatics with…Bug out bag
• Smart on Money with…President Obama Signs Repeal Of 1099 Tax Reporting Provision Of Health Care Plan. The stringent new 1099 tax reporting requirements put in place by the Health Care Reform law last year have now been repealed.

Thanks to everyone who submitted their articles. This was a terrific turnout!