Carnival of Moneypros

The Carnival of Money Pros is brought to you to by the Money Pros Team, and you can submit articles at Blogger Carnivals.

Lance @ Money Life & More writes Should I Get a Smartphone Update! – Am I Glad I Got a Smartphone? After about a month and a half of owning my smartphone I am extremely happy I got it! My biggest concern was the smartphone data bill, a whole $30 a month. Thing is, I rarely buy things for myself and am definitely not a big spender…

Kurt Fischer @ Money Counselor writes Need Cash? Pawn Something. – You may not identify with the stereotype of one of those people who pawn belongings. But if you need cash urgently and don’t have an emergency fund, pawning something isn’t your worst option. So maybe you should be one of those people.

Shilpan @ Street Smart Finance writes Why I blog and Why You Should, Too! – Have you ever thought — if you are a blogger — to pull the curtain on your blog? You are not alone! Every blogger has faced this conundrum. With so many pieces of a puzzle to tackle, it’s easy to lose track of the source of inspiration. I’ve committed preposterous act of losing focus three years ago after launching my first blog, and experiencing a short-lived success.

Suba @ Broke Professionals writes Being Responsible: 5 Things Adults Do – Being responsible – it sounds like a bore, something old people do. But adult responsibilities mean more than just funding my 401(k). What says adult to you?

BARBARA FRIEDBERG @ Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance writes MBA SERIES; ARE BONDS SAFER THAN STOCKS? – Bonds are usually less volatile. So, if you are looking for fewer ups and downs in your portfolio, then bonds are certainly less risky.

Maria @ The Money Principle writes Three short stories on money and technology – Money and technology is changing the way in which we spend and the things we worry about. I have a sophisticated system to remember my PINs.

Bridget @ Money After Graduation writes make pre-payments on your student loan debt to make progress – On Monday I blogged about how much I’ve overpaid my student loans. Well, I keep a running tally of a number of my student loan metrics, including how much of my payments go towards the principal balance and how much just pays off interest: Note where it says the net paid off is about $5,100.

Shawanda @ You Have More Than You Think writes Would You Accept Food Stamps If You Didn’t Need Them? – If I qualified for food stamps, I’d get them. After all, every dollar I save on food is a dollar I can invest in my business.

PPlaner @ Provident Plan writes Should You Avoid Debt? – Too often people in both niches of finances and religion identify a situation as black and white when it is actually gray.

Passive Income Earner @ The Passive Income Earner writes How To Invest in Gold – Gold can be seen as a safe haven for many when confidence is low in the markets and in the economy. Gold value per ounce is a regular metric being shared globally through daily news along side your country’s currency and oil prices.

Deacon Hayes @ Well Kept Wallet writes How to Buy a Home WITHOUT a Mortgage – About 6 years ago, I didn’t even think this was possible. I thought the only way I will ever own home is to borrow money. Man, was I mistaken. Looking back at all of the interest I have paid to banks makes me sick. I knew there had to be another way and there is.

Jennifer Lynn @ Broke-Ass Mommy writes Financial Check-Up; Our Vacation at Cape Ann – Broke-Ass Mommy is a blog that chronicles the tribulations of being a mother with limited income

Debt Guru @ Debt Free Blog writes Living in Debt without Hope? – Find out how having debt can take all of your hope away and what you can do to get it back and pay off your debt.

Jen @ Master the Art of Saving writes Find Our First House-Check! – We’ve only been searching for our first house for around 2 months now. About 2 months ago, we were pre approved for a home loan using the USDA Guaranteed Loan..

PITR @ Passive Income To Retire writes Passive Income by Leasing a Car? – Have you ever considered passive income by leasing a car privately? I have! Here are the details.

Jon the Saver @ Free Money Wisdom writes Three Reasons You May Not Want to Make Extra Mortgage Principal Payments – These three reasons are great advice for why one should not make extra mortgage payments. While some may disagree, these are great reasons.

Amanda L Grossman @ Frugal Confessions writes Mustang Budgeting and Other Methods of Implementing a Budget – On the way to work one morning I started playing with the speedometer button on the Mustang. One push of the button showed me the length of each trip.

Corey @ Steadfast Finances writes Difference between Homeowners and Renters – Do you think it’s better to rent? Do you think it’s better to buy a home? While there are many who would suggest that buying a home is always the best option, it isn’t as clear cut as it should be. Buying a home means taking on a lot more risk.

Ryan @ Early Retirement Investments writes How to Add Curb Appeal to Your Home – If you’re thinking about selling or renting your home, or if you’re just having a house party next week, you don’t want your first impressions to be bad. That is why adding some curb appeal to your house is a great do-it-yourself project for any budget. If you only have a few dollars, or want to revamp the entire front of your house, there is a project for you.

Kyle @ The Penny Hoarder writes An Easy Way to Sell Your Stuff When Redecorating… – There inevitably comes a time in a girl’s life when she has to redecorate. For me, that time comes around every three years. One day I’ll wake up and that piece of art I said I’d never get rid of suddenly offends me. Like, literally, I get angry when I walk past it.

Sustainable PF @ Sustainable Personal Finance writes Sustainability Isn’t Black and White – While doing the green thing seems like it makes sense, especially when you spend the same amount of money, one should really examine purchases critically.

Kevin @ Thousandaire writes I Spend Less than 50% of My Pretax Income – As I was updating my net worth this month I realized that my net worth has increased over $31,000 in the past 12 months.

Evan @ My Journey to Millions writes $1000 Challenge and August Goals – Anyone interested in a little $1000 challenge? Because after my bumpy spending habits last month I need a challenge to get me serious about saving again and I don’t want to do it alone.

Miss T. @ Prairie Eco Thrifter writes Seven Ways to Save Money on Life Insurance – There are many choices to be made when purchasing life insurance, just as there are many advantages to having the right life insurance policy. To help you make the right choice – and to help you save some money – here are a few tips to help you on your way.

Crystal @ Budgeting in the Fun Stuff writes Scoring $1200 in Travel Vouchers – It’s no secret that most airlines oversell their flights anticipating a certain number of no-shows. Here are tips to receive free travel vouchers!

Earth and Money @ Earth and Money writes Ethical Mutual Funds – A Better Way to Invest? – Investing ethically can make real transformative change in corporate actions without sacrificing financial returns.

MMD @ My Money Design writes How to Retire on 500K with the Greatest Potential – Is it possible to retire on 500K? It may be tough, but there are certainly ways of maximizing your options while creating a safe portfolio.

Jacob @ I Heart Budgets writes How To Save Money: Billing Mistakes (Part 1) – Have you ever looked at your bills closely? You may be over-paying them and wasting hundreds! Read how to save money on bills and keep more cash!

Jester @ The Ultimate Juggle writes Learning How to Save Thousands on Your Mortgage – Find out some basic tips to save money on your mortgage.

Penny Thots @ Penny Thots writes The Rule of 72 – If you want a quick calculation to get idea of when you can expect your money to double or what interest rate you need to earn to meet a savings goal, the Rule of 72 is a great tool in your arsenal.

Little House @ Little House in the Valley writes Temporary Appears to Be the New Normal – An innovative company called SQFT is taking advantage of the new “temporary”: matching vacant retail space with businesses that want space for short periods of time. The idea is quite brilliant.

Peter @ Bible Money Matters writes Motif Investing Review:Theme Based Investing – Using Motif Investing can be a great way to save on commissions and fees. Let’s take a deeper look in this Motif Investing review.

Peter @ Bible Money Matters writes How Our Goal Based Spending Account Keeps Us from Overspending on Vacation – We also have a goal based savings account for our vacation expenses. We put a little bit of money in that account every month, and when it comes time to go on vacation, we usually have more than enough money in the account to pay for all the expenses. For this trip we had close to $3000 saved in our account for all the expenses from flight and hotel to shuttles, meals and souvenirs.

Mr. Money @ Smart on Money writes Tired of Credit Card Offers? Take Your Name off the Marketing Lists – At some point, I’ll probably cut off the credit card offers. And I’ll also want to stop the flow of other junk mail. The good news is that it’s possible to do this — do it fairly easily.

YFS @ Your Finances Simplified writes The 5 Things You Should Never Do During A Job Interview – The job interview will be the first time that your prospective employers will be seeing you in person.

Beating Broke @ Beating Broke writes 4 Top Mobile Apps to Help You Pay off Debt – Here are my top picks or debt management apps that can help get your finances in shape for 2012:

Steve @ Brip Blap writes Teaching Children about Money – To all intents and purposes, some children do not have any idea about finances and how their parents are able to get money for all their ‘needs’ and ‘wants’. It is therefore important that parents take the time to teach their children about money when they are old enough to grasp financial concepts.

Roger the Amateur Financier @ The Amateur Financier writes Couples and Money – Combining Your Accounts – A short guide to how you can combine your finances with your new spouse shortly after your wedding or later in your marriage.

Wayne @ Young Family Finance writes What to do without a Pay Raise? – Find out how you should respond to not getting an annual pay raise. It’s important to approach it with the right mentality.

J.P. @ Novel Investor writes Easy Tax Equivalent Yield Formula and Chart – The idea of not paying taxes sounds great, but are you getting the best return on your money? Knowing the tax equivalent yield will help you decide if a tax-free bond will give you a better return than a taxable bond.

Jason @ Live Real, Now writes Becoming a Landlord – The good news is that we have potential renters already. Assuming they are still ready to shack up when her lease is up in February, we won’t have a tenant hunt.

John @ Married (with Debt) writes 6 Crazy Things I’d Do with a Billion Dollars – Imagine you won a billion dollar lottery. Would you be boring or go crazy with your purchases? Here’s what I would do…

Corey @ 20s Finances writes How to Save Money: Even Your Milk Money Counts – Do you find yourself saying that you don’t have enough money? Is it hard to find the pennies necessary to pay the bills? Saving money can be difficult at times for a lot of reasons. Whether it is because you are stuck in contract to lease a car or can’t stop yourself from buying the latest, greatest item, it can be hard to save money.

L Bee @ L Bee and the Money Tree writes It’s time to set some goals. – Every person has financial goals. Any financial blogger worth their salt generally shares these goals and their progress with an audience.

MR @ Money Reasons writes Working Alternative Work Shifts For More Money – Working a third (or second) shift might enable you to dramatically increase your income if you do it right! Read my thoughts on the idea.

Luke @ Learn Bonds writes The Limitations of Credit Default Swaps – Here’s why it is more important to focus on bond prices than CDS when talking about default potential.

Jason @ Work Save Live writes Teaching Children about Money – Teaching My Future Children about Money I was in the store the other day and ahead of me in line was a little girl with her mom. The girl was throwing a tantrum about not getting a candy bar. Talk about annoying.

Hank @ Money Q&A writes When Does Your Frugality Become Unethical? – Can frugality become unethical? Where is the line we cross when pinching your pennies is no longer morally acceptable? Are some cases of being frugal borderline illegal too?

A Blinkin @ Funancials writes My Investment Strategy Fully Explained – I invest in markets where there is real supply-and-demand and fundamentals really matter. E.g. currencies and commodities. Other wise, I’ll be competing against other traders who are just (if not more) savvy, resulting in a game in which no one wins.

Aloysa @ My Broken Coin writes French Toast in Alaska – Vacation. Alaska. Cruise. Right. That odd feeling I got in the beginning of our cruise is not fading away. From day one I felt that we are in some odd dimension where we are forced into a small, inadequate space with mean spirits instead of people.

Invest It Wisely @ Invest It Wisely writes Olympic Reading for your Week – O-no: Ring-shaped bagels at the House cafe in Camberwell, south London was told to take down the Olympic-themed display by southwark Borough Council.S

Ashley @ Money Talks Coaching writes Saving for Retirement is Like Going on a Road Trip – What if I woke up one Tuesday morning and decided to take my kids to Disneyland that day? Now, I live in Phoenix.

Robert @ My Multiple Incomes writes Profiting from Binary Options – Many traders get absolutely mystified about how to trade binary options. Many see it as guesswork and proceed to approach it with a gambler’s mindset by trading on hunches.

Robert @ The College Investor writes Trading Gold: A Beginner’s Guide – Even in a situation where a sector is underperforming, traders can always shift their investments elsewhere and still get returns if they know what they are doing. One of these assets that holds potential for profits is gold.

Robert @ Entrepreneurship & Life writes Best Practices to Grow Your Business by Word of Mouth – Selling to new customers can be hard. They know that you are in it to make money, and if you don’t have a good reputation or references, you might have a tough time. Rather than give new potential customers the hard sale, it could be best to build a strong word of mouth marketing approach so your customers do the selling for you.

Don @ MoneySmartGuides writes Money Saving Discounts – We are all familiar with couponing thanks in large part to the Extreme Couponing shows that air on cable. Recently, businesses have turned to using the internet to offer discounts through coupon codes.

Daisy @ Add Vodka writes Ways We Are Costing Each Other Money – I was watching TV while babysitting (after the kids went to bed) and had the only thing that seemed half interesting was a show about shoplifting.

krantcents @ KrantCents writes Red Flags of Personal Finance – A red flag is an indicator of potential problems. It means danger, stop or caution because of something ahead of you. In personal finance there are a number of things to watch for or avoid to be successful.

TRL @ The Retired Landlord writes Investing in Real Estate from a Distance – Find out why I am considering investing in real estate in a different market than the one in which I currently reside.

Ted Jenkin @ Your Smart Money Moves writes Fancy Vacation: Your Kids Won’t Remember A Thing – It seems talking to people over the past couple of years that taking a memorable fancy vacation is important thing on the minds of many parents.

SFB @ Simple Finance Blog writes 5 Tips for Students to be Frugal – College costs continue to rise every year, and that is just for tuition. The costs of just living as a college student have also continued to rise. Here are some tips and tricks to be frugal in school so that you can save your money for things that really matter! 1. Rent, Don’t Buy Textbooks …

JB @ My University Money writes Things That Universities Don’t Want You To Know – Universities are known for making money by any means necessary. Look around for opportunities to bypass their monopoly once in a while.

JP @ My Family Finances writes How to Make Your Recipes Cheaper and Healthier Too – Cutting down the average family grocery bill means making small changes to how you cook. However, those changes can mean better quality and healthier food.

Eddie @ Finance Fox writes Many Are House Poor and How You Can Avoid The Same Mistakes – One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen friends (and acquaintances) make is to buy a home that’s simply too expensive for them. House poor…

Tushar @ Start Investing Money writes Diversity: the Key Word to Remember When Investing – We’ve all heard the advice not to put all our eggs in one basket. This certainly holds true for investments. If you were to sink everything into one investment and it lost its value, you could lose a lot of money. However if that investment was one of several, the impact on your savings would be far less severe than it would have been otherwise.

John @ Calling the Puts writes Why Are So Many Personal Finance Bloggers Broke? Money Camp A U.S. Marine’s Response to a Bank’s Nice Gesture Did I Dream Too Big??? Secular Bear – My observations and thoughts on why so many personal finance bloggers are broke and why my blog is doomed.

Melissa @ Bargaineering writes Surprising Frugal Tips from Millionaires & Billionaires – We often think of millionaires and billionaires building luxury homes like Ramsey and living rock star lives complete with catered meals, servants, outrageous shopping, personal assistance, and private jets, but the shocking fact is that many of them live a frugal life just like you and your fellow Bargaineering readers. Surprised? I was, too. Yet here are some of the uber-rich and their frugal habits:

Everything Finance @ Everything Finance Blog writes The Benefits of a Balloon Mortgage – While not for everyone, there are several benefits of a balloon mortgage.

Investor Junkie @ Investor Junkie writes Betterment Review: Asset Allocation Made Easy – Betterment was created to make investing as easy as opening a bank account. Traditionally investing, and asset allocation require basic finance skills of which many individuals lack. If you were to use an investment advisor usually that option is only available to high net worth individuals, or their fees are quite cost prohibitive. Betterment gives similar investment advice, in an automated fashion, and at a much lower annual fee.

Sicorra @ Tackling Our Debt writes 30 Simple Ways to Save Money – What happens when you suddenly realize that you are actually living pay check to pay check, or worse yet, you are barely able to pay your bills on time? If you suddenly find yourself in a situation like this here are 30 simple ways to save money throughout the year.

Sean @ One Smart Dollar writes Student Loans for Graduate Students – If you are thinking about going to graduate school you don’t want to miss this article on how you can properly pay for it.

Jason @ Modest Money writes Mistakes to Avoid When Buying a Home – Buying a home can be one of the most exciting times in your life. However, in many cases the initial rush of emotions and thoughts of being a homeowner cloud our minds from making an intelligent decision – one that will be best for your financial future.

Greg Field @ NerdWallet writes NerdWallet’s Best Travel Cards – Here are NerdWallet’s reviews and picks for the best travel credit cards available right now. Great information for anyone planning to travel, Enjoy!

Teacher Man @ Young And Thrifty writes Mutual Fund Managers = Minor Leagues – Mutual funds managers don’t hold a candle to the hedge fund managers. They make TONS of money and its almost impossible to replicate.

Steven @ Grocery Alerts writes Celebrity Couponers – Did you know that these celebrities all clip coupons? Sarah Michelle Gellar, Kate Gosselin, Hilary Swank, and even NBA star Rob Hibbert clip coupons. Couponing is really in vogue these days so we created an infographic that shows the popularity of coupons with celebrities.

SB @ One Cent at a Time writes 101 Ways to Save Environment and Energy – 101 ways to save environment around you. These 101 energy saving tips are ever important for us to follow. The tips include Gas, water, pollution and electricity saving techniques. If you follow at least a few the planet can be a better place to live.

SB @ Finance Product Reviews writes Zecco Trading Review – This is an honest review of Zecco Online brokers. Zecco is not free anymore but they have a very good trading platform which is easily lowest in the business of discount brokers. Read this review for more

Holly @ Club Thrifty writes Why I Prepay My Mortgage – Retirement planners and finance geeks look at me like some sort of circus freak when I say I’m prepaying my mortgage. Here are my reasons.

Greg Field @ NerdWallet writes NerdWallet’s Top Cards for Small Businesses – Here are NerdWallet’s picks for the best credit cards for small business. Save some serious cash, Enjoy!

Mrs. PoP @ Planting Our Pennies writes Our Diversified Real Estate Portfolio – How we turned the biggest RE bust of the past 30 years into the biggest buying opportunity of our lives – seeking a place to live, cash flow, and medium-term value appreciation.

Lina @ Baby Alerts writes 7 Easy Ways for Moms to Save Money – With the tough economic time we have been facing, the role of mother has gotten even tougher. There is less money to go around, and if anyone has ever risen a child, then you know how expensive it is. Indeed, it is a tough world out there for most mothers, and when it comes to the expenses of raising a child there are a number of ways to save money.

Steven @ Canadian Personal Finance writes What is an Olympic Medal worth to an athlete? – Did you know that some countries award their athletes for their performance at the London Olympics? I wanted to share a roundup of some countries and their financial incentives for their athletes.

Glen Craig @ Free From Broke writes USAA Free Checking Review – No Fees and Lots of Convenience – USAA Free Checking offers up fee-free checking with many other great benefits. See more about USAA’s checking and why it could be a great choice for you.

CCS @ Credit Card Smarts writes Analyzing Store Credit Card Offers – Store credit cards, or retail cards, always seem like a great deal at the register but there are some things about them you need to know about.