Welcome to the 174th Edition of the Carnival of Personal Finance.  To commemorate Columbus Day, this week’s theme is Christopher Columbus - And Other Great Risk Takers That Have Changed History.

Editor’s Picks:

Penny Nickel from Money and Values presents Understanding the financial crisis: the basics, and says, “A explanation of what has happened to put the financial system in crisis, as a prologue to exploring the role of irrational behavior and the ways we can protect against it in our personal finances.”

Sam from Fix My Personal Finance presents When Greed Takes Over.  Sad, but true.

Steve from brip blap presents 7 mistakes not to make in a crisis, and says, “Watching the market these days you can be forgiven for a case of the heebie-jeebies. I’ve got them. ”

A little hope here from nickel at FiveCentNickel, who presents Recovering From a Stock Market Decline.

Dorian Wales from The Personal Financier presents The Credit Crisis Presents a Rare Opportunity for Learning and Experience, and says, “For those of us who weren’t here to witness a crisis up close the current credit
crunch offers a rare opportunity to learn.”

Over the years Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) has become a somewhat controversial hero of American and Spanish History.  One thing is for certain, however.  He was a great risk taker, that changed how the world was perceived  “The longest any ship (European or otherwise) had gone without making landfall did not much exceed 30 days when Columbus embarked on his first audacious voyage,” states Wikipedia.  And thought it was generally accepted by great thinkers of his time that the world was round, the masses still believed otherwise.

 

 

Budgeting

vh from Funny about Money presents Battening Down in the Hurricane.

Careers

Anonymous JD from Broke Law Student presents 3 Financial Aid Tips for Law Students , and says, “In the current economic climate many blog readers may be tempted to go to law school rather than enter the job
market. I explain some strategies on saving money in financial aid. ”

Andy from Saving to Invest presents American Employees: Cheap to Fire , and says, “A look at the cost of firing American employees compared with other countries”

Mary from American Small Business News presents Show Customer Appreciation During the Holidays.

Credit

David from Arrive Financial presents If you pay your credit card late, it matters just how late you are.

BeThisWay from Are You Going To Be This Way the Rest of the Time I Know You? presents Financial Instability Aftershocks Affect Your Credit, Too.

Mr Credit Card from Ask Mr Credit Card presents Some Questions About Reward Cards.

Credit Addict from creditaddict.com presents Borrowing on the Decline, Consumers Turn Away from Credit Cards.

Debt

Ashley from Wide Open Wallet presents Rate Cuts:What does it mean?.

Tom from Prosper Lending Review presents Need a p2p loan? Avoid Zopa, and says, “I’ve been studying and blogging about p2p lending for over a year. Imagine my surprise when I was turned down for a Zopa loan despite a credit score above 700. This is my warning to others looking for a p2p loan.”

Ron from The Wisdom Journal presents 3 Different Debt Payoff Strategies

Julie Sherrier from Taking Charge presents The (not surprising) psychology behind minimum payments.

Lewis and Clark didn’t always know where they were going.  Ken Burns, creator of the PBS special on these famous explorers, puts it this way “On February 28, 1803, President Thomas Jefferson won approval from Congress for a visionary project, an endeavor that would become one of America’s greatest stories of adventure.

Twenty-five hundred dollars were appropriated to fund a small expeditionary group, whose mission was to explore the uncharted West. Jefferson called the group the Corps of Discovery. It would be led by Jefferson’s secretary, Meriwether Lewis, and Lewis’ friend,William Clark.

Over the next four years, the Corps of Discovery would travel thousands of miles, experiencing lands, rivers and peoples that no Americans ever had before.”

Economy

Mrs. Common Cents from Our Common Cents presents Bright Words For Dark Days, and says, “Some inspiration and a positive look at the current events. ”

Aryn from Sound Money Matters presents Are We Headed for a Major Economic Depression?, and says, “I’m trying to calm the fear and panic with this post.”

BTG from Bridging The Gaap presents BTG Explains: What Is The Credit Crisis Part 2: The COLLATERAL!.

Hank from Own The Dollar presents Lobbying Congress and Other Politicians Is Big Business Especially for Bailout Companies, and says, “A look at the companies who lobbying politicans and then need to be bailed out by the American taxpayers.”

Dan from Everyday Finance presents Bailout’s Done: Now it’s Time to Assess BLAME , and says, “This article investigates the causes of the current financial crisis, who knew what when, and who’s to blame.”

Silicon Valley Blogger from The Digerati Life presents Financial Crisis In The Media: Is The Economic Crisis Overhyped? 

junger from Online Savings Blog presents 3 Things the Presidential Candidates Can’t Say About the Economy (But Should).

Curt from PennyJobs.com presents Year End Predictions.

Kevin from The Red Stapler Chronicles presents An Idiot’s Guide to Fix the Economy.

Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck from Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck presents The world is not ending: Three days with 3,200 financial planners, and says, “Financial planers and financial planning clients have come a long way since the days when day-trading was considered mainstream investing.”

Tanesha Morgan from Personal Finance Analyst presents WaMu Failure Affects Us All.

Patrick Bateman from My Personal Finance Journey presents Tax Loss Carryforwards = Huge Tax Savings Ya’ Jerk!.

Finance

Kimberly Palmer from Alpha Consumer presents How to Stay Up When Stocks Go Down, and says, “How to deal with the stress of the market’s plunges.”

Millie Kay from The Smarter Wallet presents I Need To Fix My Car! 7 Steps To Smooth Car Repairs.

Henry Stern, LUTCF, CBC from InsureBlog presents Stormy Weather: From The P&C Files, and says, “It’s not just Wall Street that’s stormy, Hurricane Ike actually hit Ohio. With that in mind, InsureBlog’s Henry Stern asks if you’ve reviewed your home and business policies lately, to make sure you’re adequately covered.”

Tisha from American Consumer News presents Forget Citigroup - Wachovia Acquired by Wells Fargo.

Frugality

Fabulously Broke from Fabulously Broke in the City presents http://fabulouslybrokeinthecity.blogspot.com/2008/10/kraft-dinner-comfort-food-or-crap.html, and says, “Kraft Dinner seems to evoke a lot of emotions in people across all ages, genders and lifestyles. To some, it represents a time of scarcity and pain, but to
others, it’s secret comfort food.”

Finance Girl from Finance Gets Personal presents Enemies of Frugality, Part 1: Brand Loyalty.

Orange from Orange Dealing with Money presents What am I giving up?.

Holly from Holly Is Stopping Shopping presents An Organised Kitchen, and says, “Thought this might interest some other people as it’s working wonders for me!”

Randy from Fiscal Zen presents 25 Savvy Tips for Car Buyers and Owners.

PT from Prime Time Money presents International Travel Tip: Making Inexpensive Phone Calls.

FIRE Finance from FIRE Finance presents 12 Tips To Lower Your Heating Bill.

Richard from Student Scrooge presents The “No-Tip” Restaurant.

In 1903, William and Orville Wright, two bicycle shop owners from Dayton, Ohio, took flight in their famous flying machine.  It spawned a new age of  travel that changed the world. 

 

 

 

 

 

Investing

D4L from Dividends4Life presents Seize The Opportunity: Four Value Priced Stocks, and says, “Each day I hear
disgruntled comments due to losses and see many people looking for an out. “The fact is people are scared and the only thing they’re doing is selling,” said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer’s Investment Research. As a
dividend and value investor, these are the times we live for - value priced stocks and golden dividends.”

Hank from Military Money Might presents Using a Stock Screener to Find the Perfect Individual Stock to Buy, and says, “A post about finding new stocks to consider buying through an online stock screener. ”

Money Ning from Personal Finance Blog by Money Ning presents NotCaring About the Wild Stock Market Swings, and says, “Focus on what’s important and you won’t be as worried about your wealth!”

Sun from The Sun’s Financial Diary presents What Zecco Has Done to Improve Their Service: An Interview with Zecco Trading.

Steve from Quest For A Million presents I Cannot Sit Idly By, and says, “Discusses how we’re handling the market meltdown.”

Patrick from Military Finance Network presents Be Careful Where You Get Your Investment Advice, and says, “Investors need to be careful where they get their investment advice - there may be an agenda behindit .”

Joseph from Debit versus Credit presents Stock Market Basics: Investing for Beginners, and says, “One of the key steps to building wealth is investing. The stock market is one popular place in which you can invest your money. However it’s best to have a basic understanding of how the stock market works before putting your hard-earned money into it.”

Super Saver from My Wealth Builder presents Bear Market Survival Skills, and says, “Knowing all this hasn’t improved my returns during the current bear market. However, it has enabled me to stay invested this time, while waiting for the expected turnaround. ”

ABC from ABCs of Investing presents Dividends, and says, “A short, simple and concise description of stock dividends.”

AJC from How to make $7 million in 7 years … no scams, no schemes! presents Show me the
money!, and says, “Do you know where you are headed financially? Will you be ‘rich’, ‘comfortably off’, or just ‘poor’? This article will show you how to select a lifestyle that you want and decide how much income you will need to support it.”

Bryce from Save and Conquer presents Dollar Cost Average, and says, “Dollar cost averaging (DCA) does not work to your advantage in a rising market. DCA certainly does work to your advantage in a falling market. DCA also helps smooth out a volatile market. This post looks at each of those statements.”

Patrick from Cash Money Life presents Pros and Cons of Dollar Cost Averaging, and says, “The pros and cons of dollar cost averaging.”

Shadox from Money and Such presents The Retirement Gold Mine, and says, “The current bear market means that now is the perfect opportunity for young folks to start saving for retirement.”

Dividend Growth Investor from Dividend Growth Investor presents Top 20 one day percent decreases in Dow Jones , and says, “Most reporters focus only on the largest one day point drops in the Dow Jones index. The truth however is that the current one day point swings are smaller in actual percentage terms.”

Kevin from No Debt Plan presents Paying Off Debt vs. Investing in this Economic Environment, and says, “With the markets down so much, should you consider investing over debt repayment?”

There’s much controversy in what constitutes, and who invented, the first computer.  “In 1941, Konrad Zuse (1910-1995) created the first fully-automated, program-controlled, and freely-programmable computer for binary floating-point calculations, and later, the basic programming system, Plankalkül,” says The Computer Museum History Center, in Mountain View, California.  The Museum further went on to say that “His contributions were so striking, and made under such adversity, that we have made an exception to our usual practice and named him a Fellow posthumously.”

 

 

 

 

 

Money Management

Shelley Elmblad from About.com Financial Software Blog presents How Do You Chip in for Pizza Online?, and says, “Need to collect money from a group of people who are nowhere near your geographic location? Check out 4 Ways to Share Expenses and Collect Money Online.”

Jeff from Minding My Own Business presents Personal Finance Roles and Responsibilities Defined, and says, “Managing your own money requires leadership, management and work. Ultimately the leadership and management roles are where I’m striving to be when I deal with my money. This article examines my ideas regarding the three roles related to personal finance.”

NtJS from Not the Jet Set presents The Need Meter, and says, “How do you decide what is a need and what is a want? When does a need become an emergency? Better yet, how do you effectively communicate that to your spouse and
others? We have something that might just help with that…”

Kevin Wright from The Frugal Rebel presents Something to Learn from the Financial Meltdown, and says, “This was a post about greed and how we need to look beyond it for financial freedom.”

FFB from Free From Broke presents Best Financial Advice You’ve Received, and says, “I was too foolish to listen to the best financial advice I received.”

Tyler from www.brokefamily.com presents Starting A Small Business Series: Part 1 Getting A Name And An Idea, and says, “Im trying to create an alternative stream of income and in the process help others do the same.”

Bob from Christian Finance presents Should you pull your money out of the bank?, and says, “When you should and shouldn’t pull your money out of the bank.”

jim from Blueprint for Financial Prosperity presents 8 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Sell.

J. Money from Budgets are Sexy presents Would You Rather: Take a big $ loss now, or slowly over time?, and says, “Fun “would you rather” question! Which would YOU pick?”

The Financial Blogger from The Financial Blogger presents How To Beat Inflation, and says, “Find out about tricks to beat inflation while it’s a 3-4%.”

DR from The Dough Roller presents How to Harness the Stunning Power of Financial Regret, and says, “Financial regret is a powerful emotion. This article describes how we can harness that stunning power and use it to our benefit.”

Debbie from Destroy Debt presents All I Really Needed to Know About Managing Money I Learned From Music.

Debt Freedom Fighter from Discover Debt Freedom presents Want to Get Your Credit Report for Free.

Money Answer Guy from Money Answer Guy presents How to Ensure my Loved Ones Know What to do In Case of the Unexpected.

Madison from My Dollar Plan presents 11 Ways to Save on Car Insurance.

Mr. ToughMoneyLove from Tough Money Love presents Stop Thinking About that Year End Bonus, and says, “This is not the year to be spending that bonus before you receive it.”

Real Estate

Frugal Babe from Frugal Babe presents Diversify By Paying Down The Mortgage.

Reviews

FrugalTrader from Million Dollar Journey presents Online DVD Rental Comparison (Canada), and says, “Thanks for hosting!”

Saving

Matt from Steadfast Finances presents Microsoft’s Live Search Cashback Program Saved Me 20% on My Ebay Purchase!

Dave from Money Under 30 presents Pay Yourself First: How to Do It and Why It Works.

Brooke from Dollar Frugal presents I Love The Airline.

John Cain from Saving Advice presents Ten Ways to Save Money and Lose Friends, and says, “If you value saving money more than keeping friends, I have the perfect article for you. Follow these 10 simple steps and you will not only save money, but also drive away those pesky friends.”

Todd from Harvesting Dollars presents Why Must Parents Pay For College.

Sivan Segev from Not cheap, Fiscally concerned presents It’s ok to dream, money is to be used, set some goals , and says, “A pep talk about setting goals to encourage saving money with the intent to use it.”

Hank from Own The Dollar presents Reissue Big Dollar Bills to Help People Hide Money in the Mattress, and says, “More people than ever want to stuff their money under their mattress, and the strategy would be a lot easier to hide their life savings under the mattress with large bills.”

RC from Think Your Way To Wealth presents 31 Ways to Save on Health Care and Medical Costs.

Taxes

FMF from Free Money Finance presents Are “Taxes” and “Giving” the Same Thing?, and says, “Should taxes we pay be counted as giving?”

Kay from Don’t Mess With Taxes presents Bailout breaks for you and me!, and says, “Come and get your portion of pork via tax breaks served up in the financial services bailout bill!”

Finally we have Richard Branson - 245 richest man on the planet (Forbes 2008) and founder of Virgin Galactic, the first ever private space flight company.  NASA predicts that space tourism will be a $10-$20 billion dollar industry in the next 20 years.  Branson says “Let the Journey Begin.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other

Scott from The Passive Dad presents Renting Garage or Driveway for Passive Alternative Income, and says, “It was a fun article to write and could help people earn some additional income.”

Clint from Accumulating Money presents The Idea Behind Pet Insurance.

Kyle from Amateur Asset Allocator presents What If Your Life Insurance Company Goes Bankrupt?, and says, “While the risk of losing all your life insurance benefits due to an insurance company bankruptcy are practically zero, the risk of partial loss is not insignificant.”

LAL from LivingAlmostLarge presents Appreciating what you have.

Ryan Suenaga from Uncommon Cents presents Breaking it Down: the Least I’d Need to Know.

That’s it for the Carnival of Personal Finance,#174.  I hope you enjoyed it.  Be sure to check in at Budgets Are Sexy next week for Carnival of Personal Finance,#175.

And remember-

Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.-Andre Gide

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