Welcome to the Carnival of Personal Finance #285 – Google Search Money Stories Edition here at Realm of Prosperity!

I loved the refreshing Google ad played during Super Bowl XLIV, which used web searches to tell a story. And once in a while, I like to take things in a creative direction (check out this funky post). So, I’ve created three personal finance-related Google Search stories for your enjoyment as you peruse this week’s fine articles.

Hope you like them and please comment with your favorite video (the last one is another Search Story from Google)!

Editor’s Picks

Let’s start off my favorite articles by paying tribute to the personal finance blog that inspired me to create Realm of Prosperity over 3 years ago.

Bob from Christian Finances presents How to Save Hundreds of Dollars By Taking a Day Off Work. Life will entail making plenty of sacrifices and we will often need to determine whether a certain sacrifice is worth making. Should one less day of income equal much more in savings, is it worth taking a day off?

Elle from Couple Money presents Our Savings System – Reaching Our Goals. If you want an example of an elaborate savings outlook, search no further. Detail has always been recommended when it comes to setting proper goals – key to making them come true.

Miss T. from Prairie Eco-Thrifter presents We’re Spending Without Using Our Brain. The fact that our bodies, as a biological system, plays a huge role in our relationship with money management is often overlooked. It makes us wonder whether we should attribute our spending behavior to our bodies or our personalities.

Bret from Hope to Prosper presents This Year I am Thankful for my Job. The economy remains a rough environment and many of us are glad to have a job that allows us to put food on the table. Other may be more grateful for having a job that meets their financial obligations and intrinsic fulfillment.

Money Management

Kyle from Amateur Asset Allocator presents How Much Liquid Savings Should You Have?.

FMF from Free Money Finance presents How to Retire at 50.

Chris from Dealerity presents Charitable Giving Statistics – What’s normal?

ElizabethG from Modern Gal presents Should We Teach Personal Finance?

Jeff from Before You Invest presents Should You Save Money Or Pay Off Debt?

Miranda from Personal Dividends presents End the Year Financially Fit: 5 Items for Your December Checklist.

Frugality and Saving

N.W. Journey from Networth Journey presents How to Plan Your Spending.

The Wealth Planner from The Wealth Plan presents A Theory on Financial Freedom.

Jason from Live Real, Now presents Quality Time – The Best Way to Enjoy Time With Your Kids.

Michael at The Dough Roller presents 25 Christmas Gift Ideas Under $10.

Mike from Green Panda Treehouse presents The Importance of Money During The Holiday Season.

Ryan from The Military Wallet presents What is a 529 College Savings Plan.

Jim from Bargaineering presents 2011 Retirement 401K, IRA, Roth IRA Contribution Limits.

Tom from Canadian Finance Blog presents How To Save Money Every Month.

Budgeting

Crystal from Budgeting in the Fun Stuff presents Top 5 Reasons Not to Budget.

FruGal presents Your silly season checklist.

Trent Green from Money for Regular People presents 5 Steps to Make an Effective Christmas Budget.

The Smarter Wallet presents Planning Your Budget & The Benefits of Forward Thinking.

Debt

Aloysa from Aloysa’s Kitchen Sink presents How a Debtless Aloysa Became Buried in Debt.

Kris Bickell from Debt Relief Tips presents 3 Things You Can Learn From A Credit Card Calculator.

Craig Ford from Money Help For Christians presents 4 Debts You Should Try to Avoid.

Investing

Ryan from Cash Money Life presents How to Tell if an Option is In the Money.

D4L from Dividends Value presents 6 Dividend Stocks That Will Make You Smile.

Mike from The Dividend Guy Blog presents Socially Responsible Stock List That Pays Dividends.

IS from Intelligent Speculator presents Back to the basics: ETF 101.

Pat from Do Not Wait presents Why It Is Important to Have a Plan.

Money Thinker from Money Thinking presents Basic Market Strategy.

Jim Smith from Ultra High Networth presents My life as a Day Trader or How I lost $5,000.

Alex Garcia from Commodities Universe presents Commodity ETFs – A Quick Guide.

Credit

Neal Frankle from Wealth Pilgrim presents Need To Borrow Money? 5 Tips to Keep You Safe.

Marjorie from CardHub.com presents Get Your Credit Card Interest Rates Lowered.

Jeff Weber from Smart Balance Transfers presents What are Balance Transfer Fees and Should You Pay Them.

MD from Studenomics presents Are Free Money Offers Always Good?

CreditCardGuru from Credit Card Forum Blog presents Visa vs. MasterCard: Who’s Better?

Michael from Consumerism Commentary presents Citi Dividend Platinum Select Card $100 Cash Back.

David from Credit Card Offers IQ presents 4 Cards With $100 Cash Back Offers – Which One Is Right For You?

Silicon Valley Blogger from The Digerati Life presents Top Hotel Rewards Credit Cards To Save On Travel.

Tim Chen from NerdWallet Credit Card Blog presents Rewards Showdown – Chase Sapphire vs Capital One Venture.

Ben from Money Smart Life presents Credit Card Promotions for Holiday Shopping.

Craig from Free From Broke presents SimplyCash Business Card From American Express OPEN Earns Your Business Real Cash – Right Away.

Real Estate, Taxes, and Career

Simon from Realm of Prosperity presents How to Keep Your Landlord Happy.

Debt Ghost from Debt.se presents Scams of Bank and Mortgage Servicers.

Ken from Spruce Up Your Finances presents How a Home-based Business Helps You Reduce Taxes Even More – Part I: Deductions.

Philip Taylor from PT Money presents 2010 Tax Brackets: What Is My Tax Bracket?

Mike from The Financial Blogger presents Looking For The Perfect Job.

Economy

Darwin from Darwin’s Money presents How Inflation Impacts the Poor the Most.

Janet from Credit Cards Canada presents Online Spending Continues to Surge [Infographic].

Arjun Rudra from Investing Thesis presents Discussing Sovereign Debt, Global Economics and Investing with Jonathan Wellum of RockLinc Investment Partners.

Other Great Reads

Shaun from Money Cactus presents Designing Your Wealthy Life.

Madison from My Dollar Plan presents Quicken Tip List Former Money Users Will Like.

Mark from Buy Like Buffett presents My Favorite Financial Book and The Worst Finance Book That I Have Ever Read.

Paul Williams from Provident Planning presents Where to Keep Your Will and Other Important Documents.

Ramsay from MoneyedUp presents Are You Ready for Cyber Monday?

Len Penzo from Len Penzo dot Com presents How to Pick the Perfect Christmas Tree (In 3 Easy Steps).

It was an honor to host this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance. Remember to leave your comments about the videos!

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A new personal finance blog ranking list has launched by Money Crashers with another comprehensive group of money-related websites in the blogosphere. We personal finance bloggers can never complain about the increasing efforts to put ourselves on the map!

Money Crashers ranks the personal finance blogs with their own formula that produces a score based on these metrics:

• Feedburner subscribers
• Twitter followers
• Alexa rank
• Compete rank
• Technorati rank
• Google PageRank
• Yahoo! inbound links
• SEOmoz mozRank
• SEMRush Search Value

Currently, Realm of Prosperity is rolling with a rank of #185 out of 375. Not a bad spot – but, of course, up is where I’m looking. Additionally, this may open a new directory for potential advertisers to seek out blogs for advertising opportunities as WiseBread’s blog list has done for many other bloggers.

Check out the list here and browse through the many other awesome personal finance blogs around.

On to some great posts that are very much deserving of your attention:

• The Essential Power of Surrounding Yourself With Like-Minded People… at Man vs. Debt. A smoother path to accomplishing goals is to have the company of those with the same goals. The positive reinforcement from the pool of like-minded people drives the flow of success!
• Minimalism Begets Manliness at The Art of Manliness. Take another look at the side of life that gives a cold shoulder to the material world. Along with wise words from some of the most influential men ever, lets see the things of greater value than money.

Yakezie Shoutouts:

• Take 2.5 years off from work at The Wealth Artisan. This article offers an enlightening perspective by taking a mathematical approach to showing how much time we give up by not being a little more proactive on repaying our debts. The number may be slightly mind-numbing but it hits home!
• Do You Have A Debt Buddy? at Delivery Away Debt. Sharing one’s personal debt is very much like delving into one’s age or salary – matters that some prefer to keep private. But, if there is someone who you can talk to about debt, that person can be a source of encouragement (like the friend in the gym who pushes you to try harder).

Carnivals that Realm of Prosperity recently participated in:

• Carnival of Personal Finance #278 – Thanksgiving Edition at Canadian Finance Blog

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My participation in the challenge has been progressing nicely since I joined the Yakezie challenge roughly one and a half months ago. As I schedule this post, my Alexa ranking is 349,245.

It’s amazing to see that I started at 1,115,170.

Climbing over 760,000 spots in under 2 months seems to be quite an accomplishment already but I know there is still a long road ahead. This rate of growth is not sustainable as it does become more difficult to increase ranking as you get higher up.

Breaking Alexa rank 200,000 is the goal of the challenge but there is no glory in climbing the ranks and then fall (which many bloggers have done). My side goal is to keep Realm of Prosperity above the rank 200,000 line for years to come.

Some initiatives I’ve taken to completing the challenge is to guest post (something that I’ve done from time to time). Another upcoming gig is hosting the Carnival of Personal Finance at the end of November – and I’ve got a fun theme up my sleeve, so stay tuned for that!

Another dose of great posts around the web:

• An Attitude for Being Debt-Free at Clever Dude. The ability to adopt the mentality of a debt-free individual is the first step in making it reality. The debt-free attitude is what keeps the fire burning.
• 10 Guaranteed Ways to Limit Your Earning Potential at PT Money. It is always a good idea to make good use of your time and money. Don’t make these mistakes if you want to stop yourself from being more than you can be – and grow creativity, financially, and mentally.

Yakezie Shoutouts:

• Learn From Drake: Sell Yourself at Finance Your Life. Each of us has our own personal brand. At any point in life where we want to make an impression, we have to sell ourselves to be successful. Drake, a popular hip hop artist, did just that and has made a name for himself.
• The index investor’s road map for avoiding financial hazards at Monevator. Index investing is great approach to building a retirement portfolio but some rookie investors still find it to be complex. This is great guide that compasses the role of an index investor.

Carnivals that Realm of Prosperity recently participated in:

• Carnival of Personal Finance: Little Red Riding Hood Edition at Well Heeled Blog

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No, I didn’t jailbreak my iPhone, never did, and don’t intend on doing it.

Regardless, I haven’t found any need to have to pay for an iPhone application. The predominant apps that seem quite enticing are addictive games, which is a form of fun that I don’t find entertaining on a phone – I prefer rocking out to PS3 games with hardcore graphics on a 50-inch HDTV.

Plus, many popular apps are free. Banking, news, music, and social media apps cost nothing.

I do look up on various app tracking websites for any deals when certain apps go on sale. And by that, I mean when they’re free for a limited time. Others may not be as conservative as they succumb to the tempting iTunes purchases such as Angry Birds.

Interesting articles on personal finance:

• The Active versus Passive Decision at Free Money Finance. The choice between actively managed or passive investments has always been a hot debate. Hot funds have the potential of greater returns and greeters losses while passive investing is the simpler approach. But, the determining factor may be expense ratios.
• The diminishing returns of a college education at Pop Economics. An elaborate foresight on the economics of a college education and the effect on future job opportunities. Yet, I agree that a college education is still recommended.

Yakezie Shoutouts:

• How Those “Easy Payments” Can Wreck Your Finances at Personal Finance By The Book. Commercial trickery makes it so simple to bring something into your life without the ability to pay for it. Eventually, we realize how detrimental it is to our financial situation.
• If You Can’t Live on $40,000 Per Year, It’s Your Own Fault at Len Penzo dot Com. I feel like I can live on very little and I have. College was great training for thrifty spending habits. Are you living on way too much?

Recent carnivals that Realm of Prosperity participated in:

• Carnival of Personal Finance #273 – Labor Day Edition at Sustainable Life Blog

(Photo credit: koka_sexton)

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Music is a powerful tool in setting the ambience for whatever task I’m trying to tackle. And, sometimes, I just get sick of hearing the same songs over and over again so the advent of Internet radio was nice.

Whether it is writing a post, tweaking a website, working out, and plain old web surfing, I like that I have some great options available. Here are some of my favorite places for music:

• Pandora Radio
  My favorite Internet radio so far. I set a few stations with a song or artist that I like and it automatically plays music that are similar. Pandora Radio is great for discover new music that I would never have encountered on my own. I use it primarily to listen to ambient instrumental music for my writing sessions. There is a 40-hour per month limit but continue down the list for other options.
• Last.fm
  Last.fm is very much like Pandora Radio where you enter an artist or genre and it plays similar tunes. My next favorite option when I use up my time with Pandora Radio.
• nuTsie
  With nuTsie, I get to choose lists of songs in a specific genre or year. When I select the Top 100 Songs of 2000, I return to the days of middle school. There is no limit to how long you can listen but there is a limit to how many times of you can skip a song.
• iHeartRadio
  If I’m in the mood for listening to the good old radio, I switch to iHeartRadio for my local music station and listen to the hot new tunes that everyone else is listening to.

Now on to some great posts:

• Why do we want everything this instant? at Pop Economics. Ever wondered about the neurological behavior that drives us towards instant gratification? We are human after all – and there are just some things we cannot control such as the impulsive mishaps with money.
• How a Savings Account Expert Saves His Own Money at Bucks New York Times Blog. It is easy to see how many of us personal finance bloggers handle our savings but it’s not often that we get to delve into the money management styles of those who consider themselves experts in the field.

Yakezie Shoutouts:

• The Thin Line Between Minimalist & Moocher at Well-Heeled Blog. If we chose to live with less, there are time when we must turn to others for stuff we need. At that point, a minimalist lifestyle could intrude on the lifestyles of others.
• Dear Graduate, do you want to retire in five years? at Early Retirement Extreme. As a recent graduate, this letter-style post that evoked a motivational path that sets itself apart from the typical rat race. It shows that learning and growth should not stop after graduation. Continue doing so will allow us to reach our goals quicker.

Check out this awesome guest post I contributed:

• Sun Tzu’s Art of War Applied to Your Battle Against Debt at Financial Samurai

Recent carnivals in which Realm of Prosperity participated:

• Carnival of Personal Finance #272 – Yogi Berra Edition! at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff
• Festival of Frugality #245 – The Exorcist Edition at Canadian Finance Blog

(Photo credit: C.P. Storm)

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Something happened this week that reaffirmed my decision last month to start taking backups seriously.

So, I was making a small edit to an old post on WordPress. As I clicked “Update”, the “Posts” section went blank and my Dashboard showed that I had zero posts.

Apparently, all pages on Realm of Prosperity had disappeared!

I have no idea what happened but I logged straight into my web hosting server and restored the most recent WordPress database backup. I am so fortunate to have built a solid backup system just for occurrences like this.

Everyone Needs Backups
As a blogger, amateur photographer, and self-taught web designer, I’d like to believe that my digital content is very important. With our immense reliance on technology nowadays, everyone has some vital documents and files that require multiple backups.

My inspiration came from a blog post by world class photographer Chase Jarvis on his photography workflow (the video is very educational). He stresses redundancy and off-site storage so I tried my best to have multiple backups in different places.

Sure, I am no professional but my website and files mean the world to me so I treat all my files as if it were part of a professional business.

My Backup Procedure

1. Using the WP-DB-Backup plugin, I schedule a daily backup to my Gmail account.
2. When that email hits my inbox, I also download a copy of that backup to the Dropbox folder on my Macbook Pro.
3. At the end of each day, I use Apple’s Time Machine software to backup my entire laptop to an external hard drive, which is rotated weekly with another external hard drive.

Therefore, I have 4 backups of my blog, 3 backups of all my work, and 2 backups of my entire hard drive. Dropbox is great off-site online backup medium. I put one of the external hard drives on the other side of the house to be on the safe side.

Is my backup configuration too much? No, I like sleeping at night knowing that if anything happened, I wouldn’t have lost much. Besides, the whole process takes 5 minutes of my day.

This may be handy advice to these bloggers who are pumping out such great posts:

• What’s Wrong with the Modern Personal Investing World at Redeeming Riches. Investing is considered essential to those who want to build wealth but there are many flaws in the system that makes it much tougher to achieve our financial goals.
• 3 Guerrilla Tactics to Get Rid of Clutter at 20 Something Finance. Accumulation of stuff is a prime evil that diverts focus and attention – leading to reduced productivity. I strive to keep my life simple with fewer things so these tactics would surely be useful.
• The Five Minute Rule at Bargaineering. Keeping your finances simple allows for more efficient money management. If something get to confusing for you to understand, then you probably shouldn’t delve any more into the matter – especially when it puts your money at risk.

A few carnival that Realm of Prosperity participated in:

• Carnival of Personal Finance – Getting’ Hot in Here Edition at NerdWallet
• Carnival of Financial Planning – Edition #151 at The Skilled Investor

(Photo credit: Sarabbit)

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Lately, I’ve been on the hunt for an affordable gym chain that does have really bad reviews when I type the company name and “scam” in a Google search. Most of the gyms around my area are notorious for smooth sailing up to the point where you want to terminate your membership.

For example, Bally’s gym scam revolves around a shady renewal/cancellation policy. Plenty of members have said that some gyms continue charging them despite no longer being a member or stating that their membership somehow was re-activated without their knowledge.

Many friends of mine are members of Bally’s and offered to refer me for a cheaper price. I’ve been skeptical and almost agreed at one time. But, I know that their content with the gym exists only because they haven’t tried to leave yet. That’s when the trouble starts.

Sigh. It is a fruitless endeavor.

The YMCA seems like a very nice place but it is definitely not one of the affordable options. I guess you get what you pay for in the fitness industry. But, the deceptive business practices of the popular chains are ridiculous.

Anyway, onto some more interesting stuff around the personal finance blogosphere:

• Earn more money. It matters more than everything else combined. at Pop Economics. We always ramble on about how to save, budget, and invest but the key component to our personal finances is income. Without it, we cannot save more or invest more. So why don’t we care about making more money?
• A Hypothetical Conversation Between a Stock Picker and an Indexer at AllFinancialMatters. This post offers a deeper look at the mechanics of the stock market that introduces an interesting reasoning for index funds. Great food for thought for every investor.
• Beware when trying to find deals at Clever Dude. Bargains are not bargains if you end up spending more than you intended. All too often do we search for great deals online and end up buying things we don’t need – and we did it just because we thought we’d be saving a bunch when we really weren’t.

Check out these carnivals that Realm of Prosperity participated in:

• Festival of Frugality at Wealth Junkies
• Carnival of Finance at Funny About Money

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This week’s hot topic wasn’t Apple or BP, it was Lebron James. Despite rapidly rising to become one of the elite players in the NBA, Lebron and the Cleveland Cavaliers have been unable to accomplish the great feat of securing a championship ring.

Now that he reigns loose from the confines of Cleveland, he chose the Miami Heat as the next team for which he’ll play – accompanied by Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

To fit all three superstars into the team, they’ll have to cut their salary and they’ve all agreed to do so if necessary. The team chemistry and roles are of the most concern at this point.

All the hype and media on Lebron’s decision is warranted as it will change the NBA league and the game of basketball. Right now, their goal is to win a championship – something money cannot buy. Many people are willing to take a job with a lower salary if they know that it’s what they love to do and want to do.

Would you take a salary paycut when an opportunity offers the chance to collaborate with great people who will help you reach your goals?

Some other thought-provoking articles around the blogosphere:

• Poverty or Simplicity: The Choice is Yours at Christian PF. Choosing to have less doesn’t imply your lack of wealth. Clutter has always added to worry and stress. Minimalism, whether it was result of poverty or not, is a choice that may lead to a more fulfilling life.
• Traditional vs. Roth IRA: Decide Which is Best for You at Good Financial Cents. This is a decision that troubles many people looking to build their nest egg. I’ve sounded out my reason for choosing a Roth IRA over a traditional IRA. You probably want to check out the beautiful infographic if you have this decision to make.
• Automate or Unautomate Your Finances? at Free From Broke. Personal financial management has seen a breakthrough with automation, but it has its own drawbacks. I automate part of my finances and actively manage the other. But, you may have your own method that works for you.

Check out the recent carnivals in which Realm of Prosperity participated:

• Carnival of Money Stories Independence Day Edition at Out of Debt Again

(Photo credit: Keith Allison)

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Over my many years of dealing with shipping services from purchases and selling on ebay, Amazon, and etc., I’ve had a flawless history of everything going smoothly. This week was the first time that I find that USPS.com indicated a package has been successfully delivered while my mailbox was empty.

Even the many times before that no one was home to accept and sign for a package, it eventually ended in my hands without too much of a hassle. Despite this package worth only about $15, it is still an irritable feeling to find that my stuff is being stolen (I assume). The one thing I’m hoping for is that it was delivered to the wrong address by an incompetent postal worker and that the kind person who received it would send it back and USPS would redelivered, correctly.

“Once disloyal, a hundred times unused.” Guess I’ve got to be more scrupulous with the shipping details when I order things online. Sigh…

My misfortune shouldn’t deter you from peeking at these interesting articles:

• Other People’s Priorities Don’t Have to Be Your Priorities at The Simple Dollar. Peer pressure and the feeling of being left out play a major role in the many folks who try to match the lifestyles of their friends when they can’t afford it. You are doing what they want to do, not what you want to do. Say “no, thanks” once in a while.
• How to Invest Like a Hedge Fund Manager at DoughRoller. Hedge funds, no matter how much people hate them, are powerful forces that affect the prices of many large companies out there. With the ability to move the market, why not take a look at how they are doing it and maybe get a piece of the action.
• Great Financial Advice From The In-Flight Safety Handbook at Enemy of Debt. It just goes to show that self-preservation should come before helping others. If you can’t help yourself, you won’t be able to lend a hand in the first place. This shouldn’t apply to just your money – apply it to all aspects of life.

Realm of Prosperity participated in these carnivals this week:

• Carnival of Personal Finance – Women in History Edition at SimplyForties

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A brewing desire to enter the world of photography has finally been fulfilled as I bought a new DSLR camera (the Canon Rebel XS). The first thing that hit me was – photography is an expensive hobby. An all-out photographer could have a camera hanging on his neck that is costs as much as a nice used car – with his gear bag worth even more.

I’ve got to admit that I’ve got the upgrade bug, where I’m constantly looking for new lenses and accessories. It is something is would devastate my bank account and I know it! So, knowing how dangerous it is, I’ve decided to get better at taking good photos and learn before jumping into something I’m not ready for – not like I’m looking to become a professional photographer (though I wouldn’t mind it as another source of income).

Maybe now, I’ll be using some of my own images for blog posts instead of having to rely on the great community of Flickr users.

Enough about photography, let’s check out some interesting posts from this past week:

• Can You Be Content While In Debt at Delivery Away Debt. Most of us got into debt because of the joy of shopping and the new stuff that we get – often at the swipe of a credit card. Now, many suffer the consequences. What’s done is done. But, have you realized that removing debt can make you happy too?
• Automation: Why You Don’t Have to Feel Bad About Spending Ever Again at Personal Finance Ninja. Automation of your finances has be a long renowned method towards financial freedom. When all the right things are done automatically, the extraneous (aka. the spending) should not become a part of a guilty conscience.
• Simple Investing Advice From Warren Buffett at All Financial Matters. Warren Buffett is the one person whose footsteps many aspiring investors want to follow. If you’d follow the advice that millionaires gives, why wouldn’t you take the advice from one of the world’s wealthiest?

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