Blog roundup 9/19/19

Links

It's been a while since I posted a financial blog roundup! Since I've been sitting on this one for several months, it's time to share:

Data isn't everything.
http://theirrelevantinvestor.com/2018/04/04/the-limits-to-data/

How early retirement can help you live longer (but may contribute to cognitive decline if you don't challenge your mind):
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/27/how-research-shows-you-can-live-longer-if-you-retire-early.html

Do you need an LLC for that?
https://www.abandonedcubicle.com/do-you-need-llc/

6 things I want my teenager to know about money:
http://www.familymoneyadventure.com/6-things-i-want-my-teenager-to-know-about-money/

Robert Kiyosaki is a salesman, not a financial expert, as this extremely thorough discussion demonstrates:
https://www.johntreed.com/blogs/john-t-reed-s-real-estate-investment-blog/61651011-john-t-reeds-analysis-of-robert-t-kiyosakis-book-rich-dad-poor-dad-part-1

• On a related note: https://johntreed.com/blogs/john-t-reed-s-real-estate-investment-blog/63395139-real-estate-b-s-artist-detection-checklist-part-1
• And https://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=1982669&page=1

How to tell the fake rich from the real rich:
https://www.moneymozart.com/how-to-identify-the-fake-rich-from-the-real-rich/

The 15 Best Articles for Your Financial Health (Sept 2017)

The 15 (or so) Best Articles For Your Financial Health, September 2017

Is frugality an idol for some people? http://katesmalley.com/good-money/

https://chadashby.com/2014/02/18/is-frugality-really-a-christian-virtue/

How this guy and his spouse deal with $150,000 in student loan debt: http://commoncentsmillennial.com/10-ways-to-destroy-your-student-debt-lessons-from-a-bitter-postgrad/

• Dealing with debt? Check out my summary of two popular debt-destruction approaches, as well as my own advice, here: http://froogalstoodent.blogspot.com/2017/03/trick-yourself-out-of-debt.html

Trick yourself out of debt!

Trick Yourself Out of Debt

As this tragic story demonstrates, debt can have life-shattering consequences. Seriously, follow that link and read the story. I’ll wait here.

Done? OK, welcome back! Pretty somber stuff, huh?...

For all the talk about money—how to save it, how to manage it, how to invest it, how to pay off your debt, which app is best to help you stick to a budget—there is very, very little talk about the emotional side of money. And that’s a topic that we obviously cannot continue to ignore!

You may have heard of the so-called ‘debt snowball’ method: pay off the debt with the lowest amount owed; once that’s paid off, put that extra money toward the next smallest debt, and so on.

Some people take issue with this, since it’s more productive to put your money toward the debt with the highest interest payment first—the so-called ‘debt avalanche’ method. Advocates of the debt avalanche often fail to understand why people would use the obviously inferior debt snowball method instead.

The importance of financial literacy

A recent article published online by Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/sites/nealegodfrey/2015/04/12/why-dont-our-kids-have-the-money-smarts-to-live-in-the-real-world/) laments the lack of financial literacy in America today, reporting the alarming finding that 40% of Americans grade their own understanding of personal finance with a C, D, or F! Moreover, over half of American adults don't have an emergency fund big enough to cover 3 months worth of expenses.

The author joins in the recommendation that parents and schools combine to teach fiscal responsibility to our children--but first, adults need to understand it themselves!

Until everyone is financially savvy, we will all need to keep up the fight and advocate the Millionaire Mindset!

Happy saving!

Finance meme

Grammatical mistakes aside, Kermit really knows what he's talking about in this meme:

http://www.hekaheka.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/kermit-7.png

Happy saving! :)

Interesting reads, Jan 2015

Here's some more useful and/or interesting content for you from blogs and other sources around the Web:

For the married: http://www.frugalrules.com/teach-your-spouse-frugal/
For the engaged: http://canadianbudgetbinder.com/2015/01/12/engaged-five-money-conversations-say/

A great article about finding your mission in life:
http://blog.phroogal.com/leave-job-without-plan-finding-lifes-mission/

For anyone:
http://professorsavings.com/probably-never-thought-youd-fall-love-kentucky-will-watching-video/
http://moneybulldog.co.uk/frugal-fix/
http://www.frugalwoods.com/2014/12/22/our-festive-and-frugal-100-christmas/

Good advice regarding the changing nature of retirement savings, and what you can do about it: http://retirementsavvy.net/multiply-your-streams-of-income/
http://www.moneyjournal.com/5-ways-to-achieve-income-diversity/

Some good advice about groceries: http://moneysavingdude.com/groceries-on-a-budget/

http://www.frugalwoods.com/2014/05/30/do-you-really-need-that-dont-be-owned-by-your-stuff/ (sounds kinda like The Millionaire Mindset! Great minds think alike...)

Here's a cartoon with a great message about hard work: http://i.imgur.com/xWzjHUQ.jpg

Some other interesting and/or thought-provoking reads:
http://www.frugalrules.com/smallest-to-largest-debt-payoff/
http://www.moneybeagle.com/2015/01/spending-money-dont-recipe-disaster.html
http://www.frugalrules.com/festivus-for-the-rest-of-us/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/11112194/Millionaire-couple-split-over-cancer-philanthropy.html
http://www.outliermodel.com/2015/01/09/4-good-jobs-science-minded-people/
http://www.wellkeptwallet.com/2015/01/4-ways-to-pay-off-debt-fast/
http://embracingsimpleblog.com/ready-embrace-simpler-life/
http://www.makingsenseofcents.com/2015/01/how-to-manage-your-finances-effectively.html
http://moneybulldog.co.uk/would-you-consider-becoming-a-frugaltarian/
http://deardebt.com/blog-changed-life-j-d-roth-get-rich-slowly/

And, unrelated to finance, an article on tech for geeks like me: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-carrizo-carrizo-l-notebook-apu,28345.html

Quality entertainment for a bargain! :)

More helpful links, 9/29/14

As always, I try to bring you the best content! Sometimes, other writers make a point so well that I have nothing to add!

Without further ado, here are some of the best articles I've found recently:

Froogal Consumption

Froogal Consumption

As promised in my previous article on Why Being Cheap Costs More, I expound here on how to shop frugally. Whereas conspicuous consumption focuses on image and flash, Froogal consumption focuses on getting the maximum value for a quality product.

Value, rather than price, is a critical concept here!

A new perspective on student loans

A Yahoo! finance article (link at end of this post) describes a pretty clever way to picture your student loan debt. Rather than some relatively large, abstract figure like $20,000; think of it in terms of what your monthly payments will be when you graduate.

"Old Economy Steve" may give you advice that was fine for his generation, but not so good for yours

More great sources of information

I found two links that have great information, and I found them to be very helpful, so I figured I'd pass them along.

They're both written by Kraig Mathias of Create My Independence. He's promoting the same lifestyle I am in my post on The Millionaire Mindset.

The links are here:

The Millionaire Mindset

The Millionaire Mindset

I want to get this idea out there now: your mindset is far more important than your income level. Many people think a large income leads to financial security...and they're dead wrong. I'll show you why. 

6 (+5 more) simple ways to save

If you have your own apartment (or house) and you're responsible for paying utilities, there are simple ways to cut waste and save $$$. Here, you'll find 6 that you may not have thought of:

A way to make (a little) ca$h on the side

Just ran across this article, which advances a new idea for making a little money: http://www.thepennyhoarder.com/make-money-venting-your-frustrations/#.  I didn't know this was even possible, but it holds a lot of promise! Just a thought for those of you with experiences to share.

But be aware that it will probably require good writing skills. So if your teachers have told you that you have trouble communicating an idea clearly and concisely, or if you hate English or writing composition classes with a burning passion, this may not be a good money-making method for you.

How to listen to the music you want, for free

I found the following web page thought-provoking:  http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/buying-vs-streaming-music.html

This is an interesting analysis, but is a false dichotomy (i.e. that you have to pay to stream vs. pay to buy a song). There are other options, as mentioned by a few people in the comments. For example, Pandora, Grooveshark, Spotify, and Last.fm are well-known free music streaming services. Lesser-known ones are listed on Lifehacker, along with strengths of each: http://lifehacker.com/the-best-streaming-music-services-you-arent-using-but-476372723

YouTube is also an overlooked option: it offers auto-playlists based on certain songs or bands that you like, or you can create your own playlists and add songs to them. You'll have to put up with ads on some of the videos, but it does allow customization and a high degree of user control--all for free!

Interesting story

Though this doesn't necessarily apply to college students, it's a good tip if you're wondering how to make ends meet: http://www.debt.org/blog/cord-cutting-cable-frugal-man/ Try re-considering your 'must-haves.' (Story found courtesy https://plus.google.com/communities/116393177625731626010 the +Financial Literacy Google+ community)

Tips for college students

Despite what books, TV ads, financial planners, and others would have you believe, there is no big 'secret' to being financially successful. There are, of course, lots of tax loopholes, complicated investment methods, and other such tricks to making money.

Unless you are a CPA, tax lawyer, investment banker or otherwise want to be involved in studying the myriad financial laws of this country (and possibly others, as well), a simpler approach probably sounds good to you.