Financial Simplicity Carnival- The April Fool’s Edition

What better day to host our first carnival than April Fool’s Day?  Nick from Step Away From the Mall has been doing a great job with The Financial Simplicity Carnival, which he started earlier this year, and we are honored to take a turn at hosting.

Editor’s Pick (Michelle):

Editor’s Pick (Jefferson):

Jeremy from Modest Money talks about his experience with starting a side business.  Finding a niche and starting a website for extra income?  All you need to do is find that niche and put in some hard work, then after some time, it sounds like you can make some extra money for little upkeep.  Sounds like a great plan to me!  Thanks for so generously sharing the secrets, Jeremy!

Best of the Rest.  Don’t be an April Fool; read these articles!

Teacher Man from My University Money  goes through the good, the bad, and the ugly of students who have credit cards.   I remember when I was 17 and touring the campus of a college, I was approached by someone from Citi Bank who asked if I would like to apply for a credit card.  I was only 17–soon to turn 18, but it didn’t matter to her.  She knew I had no business signing up for a credit card.  In fact, she was hoping for it.  The less I knew, the more trouble I would get into!  Of course, you do need credit as a young adult.  You need credit for everything.  Teacher Man explains why it is critical that students today are given some education on personal finances.  Educating our youth–isn’t that a novel idea?

Drew from Objective Wealth submitted an article from the voice of his robot who wrote about how to save…like a robot.  The post was very cute and funny, just like robots should be!

David, the self-help happy guy wrote a funny, short-n-sweet post about mooses and beavers.  Okay, not really, but if I told you what it’s about, you would already have the gist and then not click.  I want you to click!  Read it yourself!  It will take you 5 minutes, make you laugh, and teach you a valuable lesson.

My Money Design talks about his decision to sell his apple stock, and the heart-breaking aftermath of watching said stock continue to rise after the sale.  We’ve all been there and it’s tough, but MMD talks about his decision-making process and the importance of removing your emotions from these types of ventures.  Very true.  After all, our emotions are fully developed by 3 years of age, and would you really let a 3-year-old make important, financial decisions for you?  Didn’t think so.

Dr. Dean, from the Millionaire Nurse,  talked about Millenials and Money, telling the real-life story of an overly frugal old man who left his money stashed in every nook and cranny of his home when he died.  Dr. Dean talks about the potential causes of this sort of behavior and then relates them to current attitudes of young people in the world today.  He warns that there are dangers to being too conservative with your money.

Phil from PTMoney.com offered some great tips for how to start a habit of saving money.  Moving from spend-first, to a save-first attitude can be a major shift in thinking for some people, and Phil offers some great tips for how to get out of the gate.

Free Money Finance, always a wealth of great financial info, talked about how the concepts behind getting ahead financially are straightforward.  They then turn this around a bit, showing you which characteristics you will need to build within yourself to get there.

Card Hub posted an amazingly detailed breakdown of the types of credit cards that you should be looking for as you move through each phase of life.

Anisha from Nerd Wallet talked about a radical new change in the pre-paid card world, where American Express will actually offer direct deposit to the card.  She further breaks down the benefits of the card and wonders if it is the best prepaid card available.

Jocelin from One Money Design provided some terrific tips on how you can build a nice wardrobe on the cheap.  We will certainly be utilizing some of these tactics in setting up a summer wardrobe.  It looks like these tips were written for women, but men and children can also benefit.

Drew chimed in from over the pond on his site Objective Wealth, discussing common thoughts on how much money we really should be putting into savings.  Do you know?  Well, if you’re not a total smarty pants, read the article!

Faith and Finance offered up A Simple Guide to Becoming a Millionaire, discussing the ins and outs of how we can get to that big round number.  There is no try.  There is only do or do not.

Aaron from Three Thrifty Guys, which has had a ton of great content lately, compared personal finance to the game of golf.  Jefferson does like to golf on occasion, so this post had him smiling.  If only golf didn’t cost so much.  Do you know how many outfits I can buy for a membership to one of those places?!  One day, babe..

Carly contributed an awesome guest post to youngandthrify.ca , talking about her experience writing for a baby boomer retirement magazine.  Too young to think about retirement?  To get in the mood, grab yourself some prune juice and start complaining about the lawn.  Wait, I do those things already.  Carry on…

Sean from One Smart Dollar  discussed four things that you need to do in your 20′s to make sure that you head down the right path towards financial security.  1.) Stop partying. 2.) Stop drinking so much. 3.) Stop dating losers. 4.) Stop partying.  <–Those are mine.  Sean’s are much better.

Odysseas from Wallet Blog talked about the Occupy Wall Street movement and some new proposals about credit score reform.  Interesting stuff!  Was this letter sent yet??

Some of you submitted articles relating to Jeff Rose’s Roth IRA movement.  There are few better ways to save up for your retirement than by investing in a Roth, and some of the PF world’s finest all chipped in with their takes:

Kevin from Free From Broke wrote “Withdrawing Money From a Roth IRA: How Does It Work and When Can I Do It?”  There were so many Roth IRA posts this week, but this one stuck out to me as being well-written, informative, and interesting.  Good job, Kevin!

Melissa from Parenting Family Money wrote “Opening a Roth IRA for a Child – Help Your Child Get Ahead in Retirement.”  Hey Mom?  Did you do this for me secretly and you’re just waiting for my birthday to tell me?  Because that’d be sweet!

I hope you all enjoyed our first carnival and didn’t get too sick on the carousel.  Remember, focus on the horizon!!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

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