What’s more, there are likely a few more appliances that I’d be eager to buy used, even though there are more efficient, “greener” versions being made today.

I mentioned in the roundup that we bought a used clothes washer and dryer.  We found the advertisement on our local Craigslist, went up, and found the set to be in very good shape.  A comparable set today would cost between $800 and $900, and we bought his two-year-old set for $400.

An $800-$900 washer/dryer set isn’t completely bottom of the line, but it’s not top of the line, either.  A water-efficient, energy-efficient top-load washer, plus a matching dryer, runs about $1,000.  The washer model at this level is Energy Star rated.  (The dryer isn’t, but I think that’s because dryers aren’t efficient in general.  That’s what clotheslines are for.)

There’s a big push for people to upgrade their appliances to more efficient models.  The government is even chipping in 30% of the upgrade cost on selected appliances, up to $1,500, in the form of a tax credit.  (Washers and dryers aren’t included.)  It would seem that we, and our greenness, took a step backwards by buying a used washer and dryer.

Well, it probably will not only less costly overall to get the used appliances instead of the new efficient ones, it will probably be greener, too. I’ll explain.  There are a couple of things to consider:  total cost, and total energy expended.

Let’s use these numbers, which are pretty close to what they were when we checked them out at Lowe’s.  The less-efficient set cost about $30 more per year to operate than the more-efficient set.  At a cost difference of $600 ($1,000 – $400) this means a break-even point of 20 years.  We’d be fortunate if either set lasted this long.  So, the difference in the total cost of ownership is a wash.  (Sorry.)

But what about total energy expended?  It’s true that I’ll burn more energy running the inefficient appliances, but that’s not the only consideration.  The energy-efficient appliances would have been brand-new, meaning they were constructed out of new materials.  This construction process is very costly in terms of energy. We’re giving the used appliances a second chance.  The appliances are already manufactured.  It’s a pretty green way to go, actually.  Why buy new when you can make do?  Why buy new when a place like RepairClinic.com will help you find the replacement parts you need?

It’s helpful to remember the second “R” of being green:  reduce, reuse, and recycle.  Used is great.  Take that, Energy Star!

Thanks to Cash Money Life for including this post in the Carnival of Personal Finance.

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I do software development at work.  A term that gets thrown around a bit is code smell.  It’s a catch-all for any number of programming practices that indicate more serious underlying problems, or that indicate that quick fixes were made that will be more costly to maintain down the road.

Basically, the code smells a little bit.  There’s nothing really wrong with it, but it’s getting close to its “best if used by” date or it’s past it a bit.  You want to incorporate lessons learned sooner rather than later to get the smell out.

Personal finance is the same way.  There are money smells that indicate that, although there’s probably nothing really wrong yet with your finances, your personal finance situation is turning a bit and can get rank further down the road.  Liz Weston’s article, 8 signs you’re headed for financial disaster, calls out a few of these money smells:

• Surprises on your bank account statements. You have some of those extra fees for overdrawing your account in some way, and didn’t expect them.
• Lack of savings. This indicates that you’re tapped out and could easily go into the red.
• Lack of discretionary income. This indicates that your breathing room is gone, and that you could easily go into the red.
• You’ve taken out a payday loan. These are typically viewed as loans of last resort, as they carry very high interest.  This indicates that other funding sources have dried up.

There are others on Ms. Weston’s list, but they’re more indications that things not only smell bad with your finance, they’re downright spoiled.  Missed loan payments, for example, indicate that serious problems have already arrived.

I’d suggest a few more early-warning type indicators:

• You start to ask, “When does the next paycheck come in?” Maybe this one only has a hint of malodor to it, but if there were always three or four paychecks’ worth in the checking account, it would hardly ever matter when the next one came in.  As it is, if this question is being asked, it means that it’s a concern.  There still may be time to shuffle money around from one account to another in order to cover a credit card bill (that still may be paid in full) and the problem is averted.  But it’s still far better to have a lot of cushion in the checking account, not just a small one.
• You start to second-guess yourself about when payments have come out. Related to the above one, earlier this week I had to call up my wife to see if our credit card payment had been taken out of our account.  I knew that it was getting close, and I knew that my next paycheck wouldn’t be deposited until now, so I feared (for a few minutes, anyway) that I had dropped the ball.  What triggered this brief feeling of low-grade dread was seeing my balance on an ATM slip.  It was easily high enough not to bounce anything, but not if my credit card payment hadn’t been taken out already.
• You pull out a fair bit of money from business accounts to fund current personal expenses. If business profits are used to cover current personal expenses rather than grow the business, then this is a money smell because it shows that present demands are cutting into future-oriented pursuits.

We’re embarking on a typically spend-happy few weeks, and things can get really busy.  Please take time to smell your finances!

Any other money smells I’ve overlooked?

Thanks to A Gai Shan Life for including this post in the Carnival of Personal Finance.

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Happy Friday the 13th. Check out these lucky links from my reader:

• Five Cent Nickel has a guest post from Money Help for Christians with several good tips on how to find a good deal.
• Digerati Life reminds us that not all cheap houses are bargains.
• The Simple Dollar relates the Hawthorne Effect to activities at work.
• Generation X Finance lists out how to avoid Holiday Financial Hangover.
• Consumerism Commentary’s potential staff writer discusses the trouble with target date funds.
• Wise Bread asks whether extended warranties are ever a good deal.
• Free Money Finance explains why you shouldn’t buy tires at Costco.
• ChristianPF says it’s time to make up your Christmas budget.
• Money Ning advises taking time to make more money.

Cash Commons, a great place to ask money questions, now has a full page of registered users and over 70 questions in the mix.  A special thank-you to these bloggers who popped over this week, as well as all of the other active members:

• No Credit Needed
• PF Firewall
• Josh Tuttle of Josh and Lorena
• The Balanced Spreadsheet
• Reduce Debt Faster

Have a great weekend!

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ChristianPF discussed how badly some mail-order cash-for-gold places pay.  The linked showed proof of a wide range of payments, ranging from peanuts to tiny peanuts.  While a pawn shop would pay $50 for a particular amount of gold chain, the three mail-order cash-for-gold companies paid $37.67, $11.50, and $5.70.

But even beyond that, it’s hard to tell whether some of the companies are careless, incompetent, or outright fraudulent in how they identify the items they’re sent.

Watch the video and see if you can find what I’m talking about.

Did you catch it?

I’ll cut to the chase:  Go to 0:36 in the video and here’s what’s said:

“We recently did a test with one eighteen-karat gold chain.”

Now fast forward to 1:33.  They show the payment information from GoldKit.com.  It says:

Gold 14k $5.70

GoldKit.com identified the chain as 14-karat, but it was actually 18-karat, according to Stacy Johnson, the reporter doing the piece.  GoldKit.com didn’t identify the purity of the gold correctly.

For a moment, let’s give GoldKit.com the benefit of the doubt, and say that they weren’t able to identify the purity of the gold chain because they got the center piece of the chain, and there was no gold purity mark on the chain.  If you were in their shoes, would you (a) guess at the purity, or (b) return it to the customer, saying that you can’t value it reliably?

One more reason to avoid these places, I guess.

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A friend at work mentioned a few days ago that he was interested in getting some solar panels.  He’s already taken a few steps to make his family more self-sufficient and less reliant on public utilities, and this is the next step.

I began to wonder what kind of money solar panels were going for.  So I hit up my trusty source: eBay.

I did a search for “solar panels” and checked the completed listings for items that sold.  I sorted from highest total price (final bid price plus shipping) to lowest.  Here’s what sold on the first 400 listings last night:

This is a very rough calculation, of course. I took new and used, monocrystalline and polycrystalline, with and without extra stuff, with cracks and without, all different brands, and just took the total cost and divided it by the total wattage to get the cost per watt. The average of the 84 auctions: $3.59 per watt.

How fast do solar panels pay for themselves? To figure this out we need to know how much electricity would cost elsewhere.  For us, it’s 9 cents per kilowatt-hour.  Let’s say that my power needs are 1 kw, 12 hours per day.  One kilowatt of solar panels will cost me $3,590, plus installation, which I have no clue, but let’s say that it brings up the cost to $5,000.  So, there I go, I’ve paid for my power needs.

If I pay 9 cents per kilowatt-hour, that’s $1.08 per 12 hours (day).  Diving this into $5,000 gives me a payback time between 12 and 13 years.  It’s a pretty expensive alternative at those prices.  Plus, I’m not even looking at power losses, cloudy days, tree shade, aging of the panels, etc.  It’s likely a better deal for people in sunnier states (and higher metered energy prices).

But on the other side of the equation, will power prices go up?  Will it be rationed?  Will it even be available?  This gets back to my friend’s original motivation:  self-sufficiency.  In any case, this is something to keep on the radar.

My analysis might use a little fine-tuning.  Any other things that are important to consider?

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An old friend to the Carnival of Debt Reduction has agreed to host milestone Carnival #200.  No Credit Needed just confirmed to me that he’s ready to go for next week!

To sweeten things up a bit, I’ll throw in $75 worth of Amazon gift certificates!

• $25 Amazon Gift Certificate to one person who encourages people, either on their blog or on Twitter, to submit an article to Carnival of Debt Reduction #200.  Up to two entries per person for this prize are possible.  You can get one entry for doing the following:  writing a blog post that announces Carnival #200 and links to the CoDR submission form and sending it to me by 11:59 PM, Eastern Daylight Time, on Saturday, July 11th, 2009, using my contact form.   You can get another entry for tweeting about submitting to Carnival #200 before 4 PM, EDT, on Sunday July 13th.  Please include @mbhunter so that I can count your tweet:

RT @mbhunter Submit to Carnival of Debt Reduction #200 here http://bit.ly/EhsFD by 5PM Sunday EDT – host is No Credit Needed! @ncn

• $25 Amazon Gift Certificate to one person who links to, or tweets about, Carnival #200 after it’s posted.  Two entries per person possible:  One for writing a post that links to NCN’s Carnival #200 and sending it to me by Wednesday, July 15th, 2009.  Another for tweeting with a link to Carnival #200, and @ncn (and @mbhunter so I can count your tweet) by Wednesday, July 15th, 2009.
• $25 Amazon Gift Certificate to one person who posts a comment on NCN’s Carnival #200 by Friday, July 17th, 2009.  One entry per person.

So there you go!  Enjoy the last part of the week!

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Please take a moment (or more than a moment) on this Memorial Day to remember those who paid with their lives fighting for the United States of America. Please also pray for the protection, and the safe return, of those who are on the front lines now.

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It’s always enjoyable to host and see people’s submissions for the Carnival of Personal Finance.  I always learn something new.

It’s hard to believe that this is Carnival #201.  It continues to get more popular.

We’re in the second half of Financial Literacy Month.  Have you seen my series on getting back to basics?  If you enjoyed that, you might also enjoy subscribing to my feed or following me on Twitter.

Anyway, here are this week’s included posts, categorized for your viewing pleasure.  I hope you learn something new, too!  Next week, FIRE Finance is on the slab.  Have a great week!

Money Management

• The Paycheck Chronicles gives ten good ways to shop safely online. The Internet’s a great place to find deals, but be smart!
• Wealth Pilgrim asks, “Who will spend your beneficiary’s money?” Just setting up a trust isn’t enough.  He explain what else is necessary.
• Uh oh!  Moneymonk is mad at Suze Orman! Whatever did she do to you, Moneymonk?
• Quest for Four Pillars has some sources for free tax filing software for (Canadian) students and low-income folks. “Canadian deadline is Apr 30 so it’s still applicable,” he says.
• Suburban Dollar has a bread-and-butter tutorial on  budgeting and knowing your spending. Good checklist of spending categories  there.
• Bargaineering (or, the blog formerly known as Blueprint for Financial Prosperity) discusses the government’s Making Home Affordable Mortgage Refinance & Modification Program.
• Sound Money Matters runs through  the dos and don’ts of combining finances after the wedding. (Combining our finances was something I did without thinking because it was what my parents had done, and it worked out all right for us, but it just as easily could have backfired.)
• Personal Finance Start-Up Blog chats about high-interest rate checking accounts. (And about the Braves.)
• American Consumer News advises proceeding with caution when adult kids want to return home.
• Ask Mr Credit Card responds to some readers’ comments about his take on Suze Orman’s advice.
• Free From Broke advises discussing your finances before tying the knot so that money doesn’t ruin the marriage.  (And I’ll add keep discussing it after tying the knot, too!)
• Cash Money Life says to give generously, even (especially?) during rough times.
• Beating Broke contends that personal finance is a life skill.
• Five Cent Nickel hosts a guest post containing lessons learned on a shuttle ride at the car dealer.

Frugality

• Free Money Finance highlights Nicolas Cage as “one more example that you CAN spend it all no matter how much you make.”
• Christian Personal Finance lists six things you can buy that will pay for themselves in a year.  (One of them surprised me.)
• 6Bubbles runs through a few questions to ask when deciding whether to buy that sale item or not.
• And Art of the Coupon, hot on their heels, outlines five questions to ask before any purchase.
• What’s frugal, and what’s just cheap? My Findependence Day delves into this topic.
• Fine-Tuned Finances weighs options on whether to fix that old computer or buy a new one.
• Fiscal Fizzle (great name!) runs through seven ways to stop eating out from killing your budget.
• Christian Money Mountain suspects gas prices are on the way up again and gives some mileage-improving tips.
• Almost Frugal goes back to the frugal basics and talks about controlling spending.
• Budgets are Sexy wonders if coupon lovers are treated differently by employees.  (If I even suspected that a business didn’t like me using a coupon, I’d probably never go back.)
• Penny For My Thoughts discusses menstrual cups as a recession beater. (This is beyond my experience, of course.)
• Savings Toolbox asks how efficient CF bulbs are.  (Apparently efficient enough to pay for themselves in a year.)
• PayLessForFood explains why now is the perfect time to try store-brand products.

Saving

• Million Dollar Journey recommends banking your raises.  (Very sound advice.)
• Finance for Physicians outlines some moving tips specific to new physicians that can save money and hassle.
• My Life ROI gives some ideas on what to do with all of that extra money. (Fortunate position to be in, no?)
• Erik Folgate describes some automation and subaccount magic you can do with your ING savings account.
• Automatic Finances reinforces this by giving five reasons you should be automating your savings.
• PennyJobs wonders if  a depression is inevitable.  (Love the smoking analogy in this post.)

Finance

• Always the Planner explains what financial security means to her. (I understand the save-too-much thing.)
• Good Financial Cents outlines seven questions to ask your financial planner.
• InsureBlog advises looking into DI PDQ ASAP, because “all the great finance tips in the world can’t help you if you lose your income.”
• Pecuniarities challenges us: “If  you’ve never fallen off a horse, you just haven’t ridden enough.” (Try to brace yourself for the falls, though!  This isn’t an excuse to file for bankruptcy!)
• Out of Debt Again predicts that your check should get bigger in April, and explains why.
• Green Panda Treehouse shares tips on saving money on health insurance, doctor visits, and prescriptions.
• Deposit Accounts brings a gardening analogy to bear on the concept of reducing debt and increasing saving.

Investing

• Triaging My Way To Financial Success (yes, he’s in healthcare!) shows how to determine a master portfolio allocation.
• ABCs of Investing gives a brief description of investment policy statements.
• FIRE Finance visits an old friend:  the Rule of 72.
• Dividends Value analyzes Nucor Corporation and Caterpillar in the context of the recession and how they responded to it.
• Money Ning discusses the impact of costs on mutual fund returns.
• Darwin’s Finance (survival of the fiscally fittest?) wonders if Advanta high-yield notes are worth the risk.
• Stock Trading To Go is skeptical of bear market rallies.
• Dividend Growth Investor presents some covered call option strategies for hedging against losses.
• Chief Family Officer suggests a way to avoid getting killed by one rotten investment.
• Financial Highway gives an insider view on advisor conflict of interest.
• Generation X Finance is wary of trying to time the market.
• Go To Retirement discusses the risks and benefits of owning gold for retirement.
• Prime Time Money talks on the topic of tax-deferred and tax-free retirement plans.
• Modern Gal wonders how various markets will hold up under inflation.
• The Sun’s Financial Diary has a discount broker comparison.
• IntelligentSpeculator has an, ummmm, unusual investment opportunity.  (”I take it you’re not Capt. Crunch, sir?”)

Reviews

• The Smarter Wallet reviews Microsoft Money and discusses a bunch of the features of the program.
• The Digerati Life show whether TradeKing measures up to the competition.
• Harvesting Dollars wonders if the Bank On Yourself strategy is for real.
• Personal Finance Software Reviews reviews NeoBudget.
• Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck would have liked a little more out of UPromise.  (What do you think?  I haven’t gotten much money out of UPromise, but it’s a cash-back program, so I’m not too worried.)

Budgeting

• Paying For Retirement explain why he uses Mint.com for his tracking.
• Man Vs.  Debt just doesn’t get the concept of married with separate finances.
• Studenomics has some experience with making sure that budgeting works and shares.

Credit and Debt

• Sense to Save characterizes charging her honeymoon was a big financial blunder.  (Perhaps, but I wouldn’t be beating myself up too much on this one.  At least she doesn’t regret the honeymoon.)
• Taking Charge recommends a physical reminder to think before swiping that credit card.
• CreditCardAssist observes the sentiment turning against credit cards.

Real Estate

• Erica Douglass has some talk on investing in real estate.
• Funny about Money wonders if real estate: is looking up.
• Apply For Credit discusses whether avoiding payments on your mortgage is a good idea. (I hadn’t heard of this as a strategy, but the conclusion seems right.)
• Growing Money posts an update on their Philadelphia rental property.
• Stop Foreclosure Blog has ten fatal mistakes homeowners make.
• Canadian Finance Blog presents a cheaper way to buy timeshares.
• First Recession sees an interesting silver lining to the economy: It’s a renter’s market.

The Economy and Career

• Weakonomics gives an overview of the Massachusetts economy.
• PlinkPlink can talk the recession talk complete with buzzwords.  Can you?
• Passive Family Income outlines the benefits of home-based jobs.
• The Personal Financier gets all deep and stuff, and explores the irony of human nature.
• Money Beagle asks if the Sunday paper is going extinct.
• Tough Money Love questions whether the billions in aid to the states are doing any good.
• Kids & Money has a quickie on summer jobs for kids.

Taxes

• Yielding Wealth likes getting back as little as possible on her tax return.
• Uh-oh:  Steadfast Finances reports that local governments are starting to charge for accident response. (We’re going to see more of this, I think.)
• Greener Pastures observes that state budget shortfalls mean higher taxes.
• The Happy Rock does a gross-income retrospective.
• M is for Money explains tax write-offs for 401(k) losses.
• My Dollar Plan answers some last-minute tax questions.

Other

• Money Young asks: “Are you living for today or tomorrow?”
• Keep My Dollar presents eight ways to keep your car running well.  Maintaining a vehicle properly will make it cost less.
• Amateur Asset Allocator is keeping the recession in perspective.
• Stumble Forward sheds light on five flags that you might be looking at a scam.
• My Journey to Millions gives some tips for planning for a child with special needs.
• The Strump is finally getting a will.
• Poorer Than You shows how to file the free application for federal student aid without parental information.
• Not strictly personal finance but I love this guy’s enthusiasm:  Punch Debt In The Face does successful blogging, BTTF style. This guy does money rap for hire, too.

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My father-in-law and I went to Circuit City this weekend to see how the liquidation sale was going.

Man, the lines were long.  The main line was about 15 deep most of the time I was there, and they had several other cashiers.  The crowds weren’t quite Black Friday crowds, but they were impressive.

The discounts were pretty much what I expected: 10% off everything with a few categories that were 20% off.  Nothing that impressive.  The liquidation company is trying to milk the merchandise (as it should).  It makes sure that the merchandise meets the market, and the market consists of people besides those who will only pay cents on the dollar.

I saw one person relaying item prices on a cell phone.  I saw another person with a price list and a pen.  Some people weren’t in too much of a hurry to buy things.  These folks were probably like Green Panda and knew that the prices weren’t spectacular yet.  I too had a few items in my hands but had second thoughts, so I put them back.

I’ll go back again, though.  The selection will go down, but the deals will get better.

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Welcome to this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance!  It’s always a pleasure to host this carnival and I appreciate and thank Flexo from Consumerism Commentary for giving me the opportunity to host again.

This past Friday was Independence Day in the United States, so this week’s Carnival will present a few snapshots of the American Flag over its history.  You may click on each image for a larger version.

The “Betsy Ross” Flag. Though the Flag Resolution of 1777 specified the number of stripes, their color, the color of the upper-left field, and the number of stars, it did not specify an arrangement of the stars.  This is what Betsy Ross came up with.  One point of each star points outward from the center of the circle.

Finance articles

• Money Sense warns us of six loan pitfalls to avoid.  It’s always good to do due diligence before signing any loan paperwork.  And if sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
• InsureBlog pondered the effect of computer modeling on property and casulalty insurance determination.

Budgeting articles

• A Dollar a Day turns “no credit needed” on its head and asks if you could go cashless.
• Passive Family Income discusses how they plan for the added expenses of house guests.
• Fix My Personal Finances gives some tips on surviving on a single income.  (Something I’m learning to do now.)
• Living Almost Large wonders how large a financial buffer is needed.
• Discover Debt Freedom gives five tips for finding financial freedom, especially for folks who could improve their spending habits.

The 15-Star Flag. This flag was in use from May 1st, 1798 through July 3rd, 1815, and the two extra stars represent the states of Vermont and Kentucky.  This flag inspired Francis Scott Key’s Star-Spangled Banner.  It is also the only flag since the original flag to have fifteen stripes rather than thirteen.

Credit and Debt articles

• The Money Wise Coach makes the argument that debit card fraud is much worse than credit card fraud.  The post contains steps on how to prevent this kind of fraud and how to detect it early if it happens.
• Cash Back Ideas has $24k in debt that isn’t going to get paid off anytime soon.  (If he’s making money, why not?)
• Bible Money Matters asks whether credit card rewards are really worth it.  There are definitely a lot of gotchas with credit cards and it pays to watch them.
• Mend Your Money weighs in with some tips for shopping less if you sense that you’re shopping too much.
• Queercents asks an interesting question: “Would you risk your life to get out of debt?“
• Ask Mr. Credit Card gives a few questions to consider before signing up for a credit monitoring service.
• Money Smart Life questions whether gas credit cards are the best antidote against high gas prices.
• American Consumer News explains the benefits of using a 529 credit card.
• Not Made of Money lists four tricks to bump up your loan payments in order to pay off your loan early.
• My Dollar Plan gives seven tips to remember and practice when paying off credit card debt.  (Are you considering the tax ramifications of selling assets to pay off your debt?)

Career articles

• Dollar Frugal broaches the somewhat sticky topic of a woman’s tradeoff between career and family.
• Save and Conquer shares how to tell customers what they need.  (It also looks like he borrowed GenX Finance’s old avatar for his post.)
• Digerati Life lists jobs that survive in a slumping economy.
• One Chance To Live loves options.  (Not just call options or put options, but career options, and lots of other kinds of options.)
• American Small Business News lists some illegal interview questions that you might want to be aware of if you’re looking for a job or otherwise involved in the hiring process.

Articles on the Economy

• Cash Money Life comments on food stamps and the economy.  There’s a lot of meat in this one and I’m sure the discussion will continue to be lively.
• Greener Pastures discusses the point at which the cost of frugality becomes too high, cast in terms of the business methods that bring Wal-Mart’s everyday low prices.
• Smart Easy Money is concerned about peak oil and the effect on retirement plans.  (This doesn’t get nearly the discussion it deserves in the personal finance community.)

The 48-Star Flag. I was reminded of this one when we went to see Indiana Jones 4.   This flag was the second-longest-running flag in this country’s history; it was in use for 47 years from July 4th, 1912 through July 3rd, 1959.  (Following the 15-Star flag, all new flag designs have been introduced on July 4th.)

Frugality articles

• Free Money Finance says: “You can save money by weighing your produce.“
• Go Green Travel Green shares over 450 — yes, that’s right, over four hundred fifty — hypermiling tips.  You’ll probably save money on gas just because you’ll be stuck at home reading all of those tips!
• Harvesting Dollars struggles with contentment about spending.
• Refurbished GPS runs through the numbers on buying a refurbished GPS package as opposed to a new one.  Note: This blog is a bit of a one-trick pony but the principle can save you a ton of money if applied to more purchases than just a GPS.  Buying used when it makes sense is a great way to save money.
• The Family Wallet has come up with three ideas for entertaining your kids inexpensively this summer.
• Broke@$$ Student weighs in with an extensive list of frugal beauty tips.
• No Debt Plan advocates ditching the SUV and getting a scooter.
• Frugal Fu adapts a kinder, gentler, and greener relationship with food.

Investing articles

• Military Finance Network makes a bold statement about the only mutual fund you should invest in.  (Hint: It’s not the Banguard California Raisins 500.)
• Christian Personal Finance explains why a diamond ring could be a terrible investment.  (Not that California Raisins are much better.)
• The DIV-Net makes a case for combining dividend investing and value investing, and explains some calculations to evaluate a particular choice of investments.
• Dividend Growth Investor discusses and analyzed the dividend pattern of McDonald’s.  (Is a double-top pattern actually bad for this company?)
• My Retirement Blog admonishes us to not gamble with our retirement nest egg.
• Thornton Wealth Management points out the difference between investment returns and investor returns.
• Trees Full of Money wonders if some of us might actually be saving too much for retirement.
• Everyday Finance talks about some not-so-everyday oil investing opportunities.
• My Wealth Builder says it’s time to short stocks.  (I don’t have the guts to do this, but yes it really is.)
• Blunt Money wonders if single stocks are too risky.  (Only if you pick the wrong one.)
• The Dough Roller warns that a Roth 401(k) retirement plan could hurt your nest egg.
• Uncommon Cents defines what speculation is and warns against it.  (Good advice.)
• The Dividend Guy lists six warning signs that a company could cut its dividend.
• Think Your Way to Wealth gives a short tutorial on the Roth IRA.
• Amateur Asset Allocator thinks that PRPFX is an interesting alternative.
• Money and Values is deciding amongst the many varied retirement account options.
• Growing Money Blog reports on the June results of their Stock Market Challenge.  (This seems like a good shot at some prizes — only six entries competing for a $25 gift card last month.)

50-Star Flag. This is the current design for the US Flag.  It is the longest-running design as of last year.  The two additional stars represent Alaska and Hawaii.  This design is on permanent display on the Moon.  Proper display of the flag on web sites demands the following colors:  #BF0A30, #FFFFFF, and #002868.

Money Management articles

• Money Ning advocates keeping things simple.  (Is it a coincidence that ning means “tranquility?”)
• Moneymonk takes a quick stab at what income level should be sufficient.
• Accumulating Money explain what a health savings account is.  (If you have one available to you then it’s worth considering.)
• Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck doesn’t mince words to say that not taking advantage of your job’s benefits is dumb.
• Blueprint for Financial Prosperity shares a secret: Online banks aren’t all about rates.
• Sound Money Matters says it’s time for a mid-year financial check-in!
• Saving Advice gives some tips on how to stay motivated as you work toward your financial goals.
• The Financial Blogger gives us part two of a series on how to find a good financial advisor.
• The Personal Financier teaches kids about finance through Monopoly.  (I love Monopoly, but no one likes to play the way I do: to the death.)
• Monroe on a Budget warns that the rules of college financing have changed.
• Dreaming of Ferraris (ha great name) says that life is about choices.
• Value For Your Life is saving for a trip and running a contest!
• Can I Get Rich on a Salary is a tad skeptical about hiring a financial planner.
• Money Answer Guy discusses the benefits of a cash-only lifestyle.

The Future 51-Star Flag. Looking ahead, this is the likely design for the flag should another state accede, like for example the accession of Puerto Rico or the District of Columbia.  The US Army Institute of Heraldry has plans for flag designs with up to 56 stars.

Saving articles

• Taking Charge talks of some developments that credit card companies are taking to ease the pain at the pump.  (This appears to be more help to gas station owners but consumers could see some of the savings.)
• $aving to Invest gives us a list of easy ways to cope with rising gas prices, both by finding alternatives to driving and by changing your driving habits.
• Personal Finance Analyst has a bunch of ways to save if you want to shop at Coldwater Creek.  (Man I had never heard of this store before.)

Other articles

• Beating Broke tells where they began their journey at reducing their debt.  (Everyone must start where they are and this story looks like it’s making good progress!)
• Budgets Are Sexy doesn’t take candy from strangers but he talks personal finance with them.
• Daily Money Hack shares that a little planning with a rental car can possibly avoid a one-way rental fee.
• You Need A Budget wonders if we’re raising our kids to be a bunch of pansies.
• Quest For a Million just can’t get fuel efficiency out of his head.
• Paid Twice outlines the first steps to considering long-term disability insurance.
• Are You Going to Be this Way for the Rest of the Time I Know You? – this week’s winner of the Fiona Apple Blog Naming Award — discusses the tax difference between business and hobby.

Thanks for reading this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance!  Have a great week, and please remember to link to the carnival if your article was included.

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