It’s the time of the year again! Basketball is in full swing, so how about a March Madness themed carnival?
Let’s get this show on the road!
Editor’s Picks
- SimpleDebtFreeFinance presents Debt Collectors Using Facebook to Collect! posted at Simple Debt-Free Finance. JT’s take: This blog gets it: wacky things take the cake on MoneyMamba. Debt collectors using Facebook to collect? That’s front-page news! Everyone should read this.
- Kay Lynn Akers presents Financial Pet Peeve: Parents who do not teach their children good financial habits posted at Bucksome Boomer. JT’s take: Cheapest way to get on my editor’s pick sheet is to rant about something I totally agree with.
- Afford Anything presents Giving to Japan: More Complicated than You Think. posted at Afford-Anything.com: Yes, YOU can afford it!. JT’s take: Sad to see that donating is made any more difficult than it need be, especially after such a catastrophe.
- Control your Cash presents Social convention is keeping you poor posted at Control Your Cash: Making Money Make Sense. JT’s take: Social convention is keeping you poor. Don’t you know that popularity is the only product marked up higher than convenience! Love the picture!
- FreeMoneyWisdom presents How to Land a Job in a Recession | Free Money Wisdom posted at Free Money Wisdom. JT’s take: with at least ten percent of the country unemployed by official measure, there are at least a few million people who should read this article.
Money
MoneyTalking presents If money is unlimited why is it needed at all? posted at Money Talking. JT’s take: I love it when people hate money for no reason. Allows a good laugh on the inside.
Retirement & Investing
ObliviousInvestor presents Roth 401(k) vs. Traditional 401(k) posted at Oblivious Investor. JT’s take: An additional thought…you’ve to take your chances on the idiots in DC, too. Anyone want to gamble on Congress?
MoneyHelpforChristians presents Mutual Fund Investing Vs. Index Fund Investing posted at Money Help For Christians. JT’s take: I’m a fan of ETFs, but then again I’m from the new investing generation that can just barely remember fractional quotation.
N.W. Journey presents An Easy to Understand Introduction to Municipal Bonds posted at Networth Journey. JT’s take: with all the fun in the muni market, maybe it’s time to start thinking about moving back in.
RetireHappy presents A Great Money Making Secret posted at Retire Happy Blog. JT’s take: might take a bit more pushing to get me to realize the benefit in donating my money.
The Military Wallet presents What Happens If You Contribute Too Much to an IRA? posted at The Military Wallet. JT’s take: How many people have this problem? Four, maybe?
RothIra.com presents Should I Use a Roth to Buy a House? posted at RothIRA.com. JT’s take: No.
The Amateur Financier presents The Future of Retirement posted at The Amateur Financier. JT’s take: The world’s changing, take notice!
You won’t see a perfect bracket in your lifetime, according to Kansas.com, “By taking the classic 64-team bracket, the number of possible outcomes for those games is 9 quintillion, 223 quadrillion, or 9,223,372,036,854,775,808,” Breen said. “So if everyone in the worldfilled out a bracket once a second (impossible), it would still take them about 42 years to fill out all the possible combinations.”
Real Estate
InvestitWisely presents 10 Innovative Ways You Can Invest in Real Estate | Invest It Wisely posted at Comments for Invest It Wisely. JT’s take: Real estate is looking pretty attractive, especially with credit coming back.
TheFamilyCEOBlog presents How to Find the Money to Pay Off Your Debt posted at The Family CEO. JT’s take: Dave Ramsey’s snowball meets thefamilyCEO’s snowflake.
Outlaw presents Reverse Mortgages: How They Work, Plus Pros and Cons posted at Outlaw Finance. JT’s take: If you plan on retiring on your home equity, you’re doing something wrong. But if you’ve gotta do it, you might as well understand the choice!
Integrated Loans presents Are Stated Income Loans Still Available? posted at Integrated Loans. JT’s take: You don’t have to be a liar to want a liar loan.
Doorfly presents 10 Things to Look for When Shopping for a Condo posted at DoorFly.com. JT’s take: I’d start first with looking for one you own for more than two weeks out of the year. 
The NCAA tournament is big business for the NCAA and participating colleges. North Carolina is estimated to have received nearly $5 million in income for their participation in the past five tournaments.
Credit n Such
HelpMeTravelCheap presents 6 Questions to Ask Before Applying for an Airmiles Credit Card posted at Help Me Travel Cheap. JT’s take: travel doesn’t sound as cool as cash, so I usually avoid these things but hey, you may like airline cards.
Echo presents Best Air Miles Rewards posted at Boomer & Echo. JT’s take: I’m glad someone is on this, there are almost too many rewards options that its easy to pass up the good ones for the not so good ones.
Sun presents Credit Karma vs Quizzle vs Credit Sesame: Which One to Choose? posted at Earn More Invest Wisely at The Sun’s Financial Diary. JT’s take: not a credit card, but a comparison of ways to check your credit situation. I had never heard of either one before.
CreditDonkey presents Top 8 Cash Back Credit Card Myths posted at CreditDonkey.com Tips. JT’s take: I can dig it. There are definitely a few variables that make cash back credit cards more or less attractive for each person.
Your TV is worth a lot of money! The NCAA derives 90% of its revenues from the NCAA tournament, of which it owns 100%.
Lifestyle
LiveReal, Now presents You’re Gonna Die, Part 1 posted at Live Real, Now. JT’s take: I don’t have a bucket list, should I? Maybe I’ll make a “to do before I die list” before I die—yep, that’s my new goal!
Sustainable PF presents A $12.43 Electric Bill for a 2600 Square Foot Home?? posted at Sustainable Personal Finance. JT’s take: Great blog over here. I’m usually not very eco-friendly, mostly because I see most proposals as resource negative, though SPF is great in covering ways to cut down on consumption and waste while saving money. I wish other “sustainable advocates” would take this approach, as it is very convincing.
Crystal presents Should Money Matter in Marriage? | Budgeting In the Fun Stuff posted at Budgeting In the Fun Stuff. JT’s take: Umm..duh. It’s easy to say that as someone interested in finance and money management, but I’m sure there are plenty of people that take the hands-off approach. Me? So biased I can’t possibly see the other side on this one, and apparently neither could the commenters.
Dr. Dean presents Money Success | The Millionaire Nurse Blog posted at The Millionaire Nurse Blog. JT’s take: Love it, man. Wealth is a long-term project that requires patience, hard work, and emotional investment, but the results are worth it!
Barb Friedberg presents QUICK PERSONAL FINANCE TIP; LOW COST JOB INTERVIEW CLOTHES posted at Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance. JT’s take: Money isn’t the problem, I just don’t have style.
Software presents Expensify: Free Online Expense Managing Service posted at Free Software. JT’s take: Whoohoo, free software. I’m a Mint fan, but I can be converted.
Buck Inspire presents Set Limits, Be Limitless posted at Buck Inspire. JT’s take: I’ve wanted to see that movie. Interesting perspective on how limits make you limitless.
Estimates suggest that $192 million in producitivity is lost due to participation in brackets, mid-day game checks, and a general lack of interest in work when games are live on TV.
Saving Money
BWL presents 4 Things to Remember When Furniture Shopping posted at Christian Personal Finance. JT’s take: I hate salespeople, and furniture sales people are probably #2 after used car sales people.
Clariity presents How to Budget & Save Money When Planning for Your Family Vacation posted at Living With Clariity. JT’s take: Going after serious oil spills is just as effective for saving money! I recommend it to anyone.
Gen-Y Wealth presents Is a programmable thermostat worth the expense? posted at Gen Y Wealth. JT’s take: If I’m going to buy electronics, it won’t be a thermostat…unless it saves me money!!
John presents What is Discretionary Income? posted at Passive Family Income. JT’s take: What is “something that I don’t have enough of for $1000,” Alex!
CFB presents Save Money During Spring Cleaning Season posted at Canadian Finance Blog. JT’s take: Cleaning, what’s cleaning? Good point, though, if you’re going to spend so much money on new cleaner, you might as well just get a maid!
Bankman presents What Are My Debt Relief Options? posted at High Yield Savings Accounts. JT’s take: More yield, more money.
PT presents 10 Things You Can Do Today to Spend More Wisely posted at PT Money. JT’s take: Action steps one at a time.
FruGal presents Inexpensive hay fever remedies posted at FruGal. JT’s take: Allergies are for wussies. Just kidding, I’m glad not to have any. They seem to be a pain in the rear.
$100 million is wagered on NCAA games in Las Vegas each year….
Making Money
The Investor presents What the Buffett family has always known about cash posted at Monevator. JT’s take: How to make it, that’s what they know.
Darwin presents Little Known eBay Service Offers Hassle-Free Immediate Cash for Your Electronics posted at Darwin’s Money. JT’s take: About time eBay realizes that listing and bidding on something is just too much work. Convenience sells!
But another $2.4 billion is gambled on backets illegally, outside of Vegas.
Taxes
MDP presents TurboTax Free Premier Tax Filing posted at My Dollar Plan. JT’s take: Free stuff, go get it.
Current Events
Financial Uproar presents Nuclear Power Isn?t Going Away posted at Financial Uproar. JT’s take: I hope not. I get tired of seeing huge changes in legal and regulatory environments in response to short term crises.
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This concludes this week’s Totally Money Blog Carnival. If you would like to host a future carnival, head to Totally Money and signup to host. To submit a future article to the travelling Totally Money Carnival, click here.
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, I love all of your personal takes!!! Great carnival JT! Thank you so much for hosting!
Thanks for hosting. Been so busy my bracket is still blank. Maybe next year…
Thanks for hosting! Haha, I like your personal take. It’s so true, the masses need to be informed. i think it’s something like 1/3 of the US lives off government handouts, scary times!
Thanks for mentioning us JT! Glad our non-preachy but SAVE YOUR MONEY style works for the non-eco’s out there!
Thanks for including my article on air miles rewards JT!
Thanks for the link. Amazing stats on the NCAA tournament. Did you see the Butler Pitt ending? Insane.
Great carnival! Thanks for including me. Go Jayhawks!
Awesome.. Thanks for including my article here. You Rock
@Crystal – Thanks for allowing me, it was a great experience all around!
@DrDean – I’m not much for filling out a bracket…I’ll just buy a powerball ticket in its place.
@Jon – Scary times, indeed. There are jobs out there (I promise!) but there aren’t jobs out there for those who don’t go the excellent mile. You had a great article, and one that could definitely help someone in the hunt for a job.
@SustainablePF – You’re converting me, slowly but surely. You’ve got a great niche going in showing how eco-friendly doesn’t have to be anti-wallet.
@Echo – Absolutely! Thanks for participating.
@Buck – Butler’s games will be the few that I watch this year, mostly because it’s a regional interest for me. I couldn’t believe the end…I thought that late foul would be the end of it, but go figure it would be ANOTHER late foul that again reversed the game. NCAA is definitely one of those tournaments where you only have to watch the last two minutes of each game. That one was a blast!
@Julie – Thanks for your participation, I like how you linked snowflake in with a snowball–clever!
@Ishan – Absolutely! Good to see that there are more free alternatives to managing your money.
We try to show being eco friendly can be PRO wallet! Cheers pal. Also glad one thing I DO PREACH about, using your spammer plugin that you use now, is being used. Best plugin every for those who HATE CAPTCHA!
Thank you for the inclusion!!
Thanks for including us. Here’s an interesting tidbit, from our own scientific estimates: $2.4 billion more is wagered illegally on the men’s tournament than on the women’s.
@Kyle – Thanks for playing. It was definitely a good experience to host a carnival, and I look forward to the next.
@Greg – I like the cut of your jib. I definitely won’t doubt the accuracy of your statement, though I do doubt the science.
Great job!! I like the comments!
Thanks for including my post and I also appreciate the personalized comments!
@Barb & Invest it Wisely – Thanks for the comments, and for sending in an article for the blog carnival. I’m really happy with the turnout seeing as my blog is so new.
I love the March Madness theme! Good carnival.
Thanks for the editor’s pick! Great list of articles.