Carnival Of Retirement 2nd Edition

Welcome to the 2nd Edition of the Carnival of Retirement. If you want to submit a post for next week’s edition, please use the submission form. Next week’s edition will be hosted by Corey at 20s Finances.

Thank you everyone for submitting your posts to the Carnival of Retirement. Sorry I didn’t include every submission, but I would like to highlight posts related to retirement and long term saving/investing. Have a great time reading these article and don’t forget to work on your retirement plan this year.

Retirement

Andy from My Retirement Blog published Retirement Planning Requires Action, saying, ‘If you are starting to think about your own retirement, you are on the right path. You have taken the first step towards achieving that dream retirement. You may need to spend some time writing down your goals and/or expectations for retirement, but asking the questions is where everyone begins. Yet, just thinking about retirement’

PITR from Passive Income To Retire published Is it Possible to Retire on Rental Properties?, saying, ‘Not only is it possible to retire on real estate, there are many benefits that you need to take advantage of.’

Jeffrey from Saving Advice published Retirement Planning: consider Your Time as Well as Your Money, saying, ‘The biggest problem in retirememnt is what to do with your time. Most of us can’t wait to quit working, but once we quit, what do we do? We say we want to travel, spend time with family, play golf, or just sit on the porch, but after a lifetime of work is that enough? ‘
SB from One Cent at a Time published When is the Right Time to Retire, saying, ‘Depending on your age and saving situation you might ponder on taking early retirement. When we work, we postpone many good things for post retirement life hence, it’s important that you thoroughly plan your retirement to decide on when to start retired life and start engaging in activities you cherish most.’

Evan from My Journey to Millions published Why the Hell Are There New Active Public Pension Plan Participants?, saying, ‘Why in the hell are new public employees still able to join State backed defined benefit pension plans?’

Mr. Money from Smart on Money published Double Check Your Employer’s Retirement Plan, saying, ‘When you work for an employer, you might have access to benefits, including a retirement plan. Your company’s retirement plan — usually a 401(k) — can be a way to help you build your nest egg through the power of investing and compound interest. However, you want to double check to make sure that your employer’s retirement plan is what you want to be devoting your resources to.’

Frugal Lifestyle

Kyle from The Penny Hoarder published Get Paid to Reduce Your Energy Usage, saying, ‘There are some money-saving ideas that you’ve no doubt heard a million times. Some of the most oft repeated tips are how to reduce your energy bill. Turn off the lights. Lower the thermostat in the winter. Buy an energy efficient water heater. Those are all great ideas, but one company is taking it a step further to help motivate us. Read on to learn more!’

Amanda L Grossman from Frugal Confessions published A Great Site to Sign up for Email Offers, saying, ‘Learn about this great tool to hone your frugal skills like I do!’

Darwin from Darwin’s Money published No Cost Refinance – A No-Lose Financial Move?, saying, ‘A no-cost refi is starting to make more sense to me now that I’ve read more about it, and I was especially surprised to see the number of no-cost refinance companies out there. I’ve been contemplating a refi for some time now and had initially put it off due to the exorbitant fees…’

Don from Money Reasons published Home Security! Deciding to Spend or Not to Spend, saying, ‘It’s Jan 1, 2012 at 4:14am, my dog started barking like an entire gang was at my front door trying to break in. Much like the dad in Clement Clarke Moore’s poem, Twas the night before Christmas, I sprang out of my bed in an adrenaline pumping state ready to encounter whatever threat might exist.’

Wayne from Young Family Finance published Appropriate Tip, saying, ‘Find out what an appropriate tip is when you are eating out. How much are you overspending?’

Increase Income

Peter from Bible Money Matters published Lending Club Returns at 11.23% Despite My First Charged Off Loan, saying, ‘While Lending Club had a good year, the returns I saw last year were good as well, better than I saw in my retirement or savings accounts. I think Lending Club and social lending in general are a great way to diversify your savings and investments especially in turbulent times like we’re going through right now.’

Daniel from Sweating the Big Stuff published How I Made Money on a $371 Visit to the Mechanic, saying, ‘After bringing in my car for maintenance, I was given a loaner for a 1,000 mile to and from San Francisco. Just how much money did that save me?’

KT from Personal Finance Journey published Should You Leave a Life Insurance Policy to Your Kids?, saying, ‘Determining whether or not to purchase a life insurance policy is a big decision. Many of us want to leave something behind for our family, but there are a few things you need to consider before taking on a monthly premium!’

Kevin from Thousandaire published Do the Experts Know Anything about Picking Stocks?, saying, ‘I’ve been investing in the stock market for over four years now, and at times it’s been downright ugly. The only investing strategy that makes sense to me is buy and hold. Short term investing, even for just one year, seems like a complete crap shoot to me. Read why!’

Suba from Broke Professionals published How to Prepare to Give an Effective Presentation, saying, ‘Presenting ideas, products and information is an integral part of being in business. Whether you are trying to convince the boss to give you a raise; nudge your customer into buying the latest shiny product the company makes; or pry venture capital lose from an angel investor, you need presentation skills. Read on to lean my thoughts.’

LaTisha from Financial Success for Young Adults published Little Futures on the Prairie, saying, ‘Do you remember Little House on the Prairie? If Pa had known about the futures market he could have made money selling a futures contract. Futures introduction.’

Mike from Saving Money Today published Why I Like Stocks That Pay Dividends, saying, ‘One of the best ways to increase your net worth and build wealth over time is to invest in stocks that pay dividends. ‘

Bryan from Pinch that Penny! published Investing: P2P Lending vs. Bank CDs, saying, ‘In this post, I compare the pros and cons of P2P lending when compared to investing in CDs.’

Miss T. from Prairie Eco Thrifter published How to Make Millions with Passive Income, saying, ‘Passive income is actually very difficult to create. It takes a well-thought-out business plan, it takes hard work initially with no guarantee of success, and there’s often scoffing along the way from all the people that think you’re crazy for trying something so unheard of.’

Other Long term goals

Corey from 20s Finances published Different Types of Financial Aid, saying, ‘Learning the different forms of financial aid can make all the difference in reducing your college debt.’

101 Centavos from 101 Centavos published Interview With Foster Wilson of MESA EXPLORATION, saying, ‘Mesa Exploration formerly Mesa Uranium is a junior exploration company active in Utah and Arizona. I bought shares of MSA MSJAF on the pink sheets …’

YFS from Your Finances Simplified published Our Net Worth Increased By 125k in 1 year, saying, ‘So last year turned out to be really good for the YFS household. How good? Well I’ll let you decide. At the start of 2011 our net worth was $122,403.43. At the start of 2012 our net worth is $246,756.54! That is a serious gain, IMHO!’

Kevin from Invest It Wisely published Millionaire Teacher: The Nine Rules of Wealth You Should Have Learned in School, saying, ‘Andrew Hallam is an excellent teacher, and he continues to inspire and motivate me through his passion toward finance and life. He uses humour and anecdotes to get us interested in the message, and then to show that he’s serious, he backs it up with a comprehensive set of references and research.’

Jon the Saver from Free Money Wisdom published Why You Shouldn’t Save for Your Kid’s Education, saying, ‘American families have fallen into the trap of taking care of every need of their kids. We need to bring back “old-school values” and make kids work for their education. A college education is not a right, it’s a privilege.’