Archive for March, 2010

My IRA’s Asset Allocation (March ’10 Update)

By: Green Panda | Date posted: March 31, 2010 (8:00 am)

The first quarter of 2010 is finishing up and it’s about time to check up on my Roth IRA. I don’t like to check constantly as I’m investing for the long term and I don’t want to get caught up in the weekly hype of what to buy and what to sell.

What exactly is asset allocation and why is it important?

In short, your asset allocation is your plan for your investment contributions. How are you going to invest? Are you going to put it in stocks, mutual funds, bonds, ETFs, etc? While that may seem like a simple decision to make, it carries risks and rewards.

Historically, while stocks tend to perform well in the long run, it’s volatile in the short term. Bonds offer less risk in volatility but you also tend to get a smaller return. It’s a trade off you have to weigh for yourself and budget accordingly. Having the proper asset allocation means adjusting your allocation to fit your goal of either aggressive growth in the long term, stability of your money in the short term (for people retiring soon), or somewhere in between.

If you’re retiring in a few years, you want to be be conservative and not have most of your investments in stock. Your focus is probably going to be on stability as you’re planning on living off of it for a couple of decades. I have decades before I retire, so I’m focusing on more aggressive mutual funds.

My Roth IRA’s Asset Allocation

I currently have my Roth IRA at Sharebuilder and it’s been pretty cheap to keep it there. However, there are plenty of options if you’re looking for a place to open up an IRA:

E-Trade (Annual fee and minimum are waived when you sign up for electronic statements)
Vanguard (Some funds require $3,000 minimum)
T. Rowe Price
Charles Schwab ($1,000 minimum is waived if you direct deposit $100/month)

Right now, here’s what the asset allocation is:

I have a decent amount in cash because I want to buy into a Vanguard mutual fund, but they have a large minimum to purchase. I’ll probably pick it up next month.

Ask Reader’s Thoughts

How are your retirement accounts doing? What’s your current allocation for your investment account? Are you going to change them?

If you haven’t gotten started, now is a great time to start. The sooner you start saving for retirement, the better compound interest will treat you when you retire.

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Posted in Retirement | 2 Comments »

How Many Credit Cards Should I have?

By: Mike | Date posted: March 30, 2010 (5:45 am)

Too much credit is as bad as no credit at all. This is what we usually say in the banking industry. If you have too many credit cards in your wallet, it could hurt your credit score or worse, hurt your balance sheet when it comes time to pay them off! However, if you have only one card, it could hurt it as well… Are credit cards good for your credit score? Actually, they are!

A few reasons to avoid having too many credit cards

Most people tend to think that credit cards were created with an evil purpose in mind (even more evil than the one who created unsecured personal loans ); forcing you to spend more than you can afford and causing you to pay extorsionist interest rates to greedy financial companies in return (mwahahaha!).

Paying with a credit card is like buying goods with “virtual” money for some people. Since they don’t actually take the dollars from their pocket, they feel like they didn’t spend any money… until they get their bill!

Besides temptation, I can’t really say why it would be bad to have more than one credit card. I actually believe that you are better off taming the beast once and for all and learn how to use a credit card responsively.

What is the magic number then?

When people ask me how many credit cards they should have, I tend to answer 3 to 4. Why so many? The very first reason is to have a credit card per company: In my wallet, I have a Mastercard, a Visa and an Amex. While I always use my Mastercard (this is the one that gives me the most points and warranty extension), it sometimes happen that a merchant doesn’t accept it. This is why having credit cards from different companies can be an asset.

The second reason to have more than 1 credit card in your wallet is to protect myself from fraud. If my main card is cloned, it will be cancelled right away by the company and I will receive my new Mastercard in about 10 days. If I’m on vacation during that time, it could be quite a pain to wait 10 days without a credit card. This is when I would use my other cards in the meantime.

The third reason to have 3 to 4 credit cards in your wallet is less known by the public: This will help you build a stronger credit score. One of the key points while calculating your FICO score is the balance of your outstanding debts versus your authorized limits. Take a look at this example:

John has only 1 credit card with a maximum limit of $1,000. He has made a few purchases on the card and his balance is $800. Therefore, his debt utilisation ratio is 80%.

Mary has 4 credit cards of $1,000 limit each and only used the first one. With the same balance of $800, her debt utilisation ratio is down to 20%.

Mary will end-up having a stronger credit score than John because according to the FICO score calculation method, she is far from being maxed out. The theory is that she is better able to manage her credit in a more responsible manner. Interesting isn’t it?

So which credit cards do I need?

I think you should select one credit card that gives rewards points or cash back while the other 2 or 3 should be no fee cards without many incentives. You only have to use the first one and forget about the others. They won’t cost you a thing but they can be useful to build a strong credit history and protect you in case of fraud.

Posted in Credit Cards and Deals | Comments Off

Things I am Doing Before Selling my House

By: Mike | Date posted: March 29, 2010 (5:33 am)

When I was a kid, my parents used to switch houses every year or so. They were basically ancestors of what we call “house flipping” today. 25 years ago, house flipping was not very popular and there were not 10 “flip that house” reality TV shows. They were not really staging the house either. But they were good at finding a property with potential and exploiting it within a very short period of time. At that time, home staging was putting a few flowers and shrubs in the front yard then painting the whole house with up-to-date colors. Theses days, it is a bit more complex than this . I am looking to sell my house either this year or next (I have not decided yet, but I know that I want to leave). Regardless if I make the move this summer or next year, I should “prepare” my house for success. So here are the 5 things I am currently doing to make sure I get the best price for my property:

#1 Updating the colors

There are 2 things to say about the color of the walls in my house: they reflect my taste but they also need to be updated! It’s been about 5-7 years since the rooms were painted so they don’t look as fresh as they used to. On top of that, we are big fans of darker or punchy colors such as a dark red in the stairway. In order to make our house bigger and more neutral, we have decided to paint the first floor with tints of gray and white. The living room will look bigger and it will be neutral to suit anyone’s taste.

#2 Make it look new

We have 2 young children (2 and 4 years old). They have obviously grown up in this house and we made a few “modifications” along the way. There was also the safety barrier that left a few holes in the walls. These things don’t really bother us in our day to day lives, but when it’s time to sell, your house must look as new as possible. This is why we will repair these minor details before selling. We want to create a “wow” when the potential buyers come into our house.

#3 Change a few things around

My wife and I moved in together when we were 19 and we still have several pieces of furniture and picture frames from that time. Now is the right time to refresh our decor by changing a few items around for others that look better. Everything will flow according to the new color scheme on the first floor.

#4 Look at the market

Before putting my house on the market, I will carefully look at the current market and evaluate properties that have sold and those still for sale that are similar to mine. People tend to believe that their house is the most beautiful and that everything is better, this is why I am looking more at data than at pictures. It is important to look at the following:

- size of the house

- age of the house

- size of the lot

- number of bathrooms

- number of bedrooms

- if the basement is finished or not

- quality of flooring

- any equipment that comes with the house (pool, AC, central heating, alarm system, central vacuum, etc.).

This will ensure an accurate comparative market analysis so you can set the right selling price for your property.

#5 Sell it myself

I don’t want to deal with a real estate agent. They cost an awful lot of money and I don’t feel like they bring any added value. Since I already work in the banking industry, I am well aware of the process and the paperwork. A few years ago, I helped my parents sell their home by themselves and they saved about $16,000 in real estate commissions. This is a considerable chunk of change .

So we are already starting the preparation as I write this article because we want to make sure to have our house ready when we finally decide to put the “for sale” sign in front of the property.

Author: Mike.

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Posted in Property | Comments Off

Green Panda Roundup Links

By: Mike | Date posted: March 26, 2010 (7:08 am)

We have been pretty busy this week as we want to put our house for sell. We did a bit of home staging as we wanted to refresh our interior. I’ll write more about it next week!

In the meantime, here are some great reads around the blogosphere:

2010 IRS Federal Home Energy Tax Guide @ 20 Something finance. This is a very well written and complete guide to home energy tax guide. As saving energy is good for the planet and for the pocket, you should take a look

How to finance a car in a smart way @ Money under 30. Since spring is coming, several people will buy cars. There are ways where you can save money by getting the right financing for your needs.

Living off the income @ Oblivious investor. If you are looking for a great retirement plan without having headaches, you should consider living on the fruit of your investments.

Uncovering a scam that saved us $1,700 @ Enemy of Debt. You are never too cautious when dealing with a third party!

What is financial literacy? @ Canadian Finance Blog. This is a great initiative to teach personal finance to people. Great job!

Best car extended warranty for free @ Wealth Pilgrim. Great way to have more for your bucks… especially when it’s free!

8 stupid fees consumers hate to pay (but often do anyway) @ Len Penzo. I HATE printing ticket fees…. Hockey tickets are already expensive enough

Where do you see yourself in 10 years @ Fiscal Geek. This is an exercise everybody should do once in a while.

Value Averaging; an automated investment strategy @ Money Help For Christians. This is probably the best way to make your portfolio grow without many worries. Simple, easy and efficient!

Posted in Blog Round Ups | 3 Comments »

Eating Well While Being Frugal

By: Green Panda | Date posted: March 24, 2010 (8:00 am)

We’re not frugal people just to be frugal. We’re not just looking at price when deciding on our groceries and restaurant options. We want to eat well and still have some money left in our wallets. Here are some ways we save on food without depending on ramen.

Trader Joe’s- Shoping There Without Going Broke

You can’t mention trader Joe’s without mentioning some 3 Buck Chuck. That what we originally went to the store to get. Slowly, we started trying out other items. For us, we love some of the easy to prepare meals they have for those busy nights. We’re trying not to go for the convenient, but unhealthy fast food options.
Friends recommended looking at Trader Joe’s easy prep items. We loved their lasagna and stuffed peppers as dinner options.I found the bagged salads better tasting and cheaper than the ones at Walmart. Having a price book is a good idea when shopping at Trader Joe’s. Making impulse buys can be quite easy in the store.
Whatever grocery store we go to for good, having a plan helps us make smarter choices and save money.

Make a Grocery List:This seems really elementary, but creating a shopping list important step. Grocery stores are designed to make you buy more, whether you need to or not. It might difficult to come up with a proper grocery list at first. An easy way to get started is thinking of the meals you like to eat. Do you like spaghetti, chicken wings, or tacos? Break the meals down until you have a list of items.

Use a Price Book: I have talked about making price books before, but I mention it because it works. Many people think of price book and think it’s overly tedious and don’t think it’s time well spent. It’s actually easy to start a price book and it can simplify your shopping trips and save you some money.

Warehouse Clubs – Always a Good Deal?

I mentioned before how our Costco membership has saved us quite a bit of money. I didn’t however really get into detail about our food and bulk item savings. Warehouse clubs can be advantageous for some people and a not a good deal for others.

You can’t mention warehouse clubs without discuss membership fees. Each club it’s own fee structure. I’m listing the basic membership fees.

Costco Gold Star Member ship ($50/year):

BJ’s Inner Circle Membership ($45/year):

Sam’s Club Advantage Membership ($40/year):

Run the Numbers

You have to consider the following questions before just going on a shopping spree in the warehouse: How many are you planning to feed? How quickly can you finish the food? We’re a small family of two, so some bulk items aren’t good buys for us based on the amount we eat and our limited freezer space.

We’ve used Costco to buy our juices, rice, food for parties at our house (great deals on those!), pasta, and meats. It’s worked well for us and we’ve saved some money too. There some other tips I’d recommend if you’re buying at a warehouse club.

Buy meat in bulk and freeze: We try to get a good amount of meat on sale, divide it up for sevral meal, and then freeze it. That tip drops the cost per pound down. When we get home, for example, I have broken down ground beef into several bags for meatloaf, spaghetti, tacos, hamburger helper, etc.

Take advantage of sales that you’d actually buy without the sale: Sometimes I want to buy something because it’s on sale. It’s not something that we use a lot or even at all. When you do that you’re not really saving money, you’re spending more. It’s not bad if you do this once a shopping trip if you want to expand your menu, but if you’re on a tight budget, try to minimize this.

Happy Hour = Fun Nights on a Budget

We’re big fans of eating out with friends and family and making it a special occasion. It’s great to go somewhere, have a really good evening of catching up, and not having to worry about cooking and cleaning. We get out occasionally and want to make the most of it without draining our budget.

Know the Specials: This is something we started when we were dating in college and were on a tight budget. You canfind some great happy hour and early bird specials if you ask around. We enjoy going to Brio’s happy hour because of the food (and their mojitos).

Buy an Entertainment Book: We have saved some money with one of those Entertainment books. We have gotten 50% some of our meals with the Buy One, Get One Free coupons. while trying out new places is great, just make sure the book is encouraging you to spend more; those defeating the purpose.

Your Thoughts
How do you save money while eating well? Where do you splurge?

Posted in Eating Out and Groceries | 7 Comments »

Best Personal Finance Ebooks From Bloggers

By: Mike | Date posted: March 23, 2010 (2:27 pm)

2 weeks ago, Adam Baker from Man Vs Debt launched his first ebook; Unautomate Your Finances. Just before that, about a month ago, Peter Anderson from Bible Money Matters did the same thing. Since those 2 ebooks are amazing and I know there are several great personal finance ebooks written by bloggers, I thought I would start gathering them into a single post.

So today I am publishing the Best of Personal Finance Ebooks page. Since I am already sure that I have forgotten a few good ones, I am starting you off with this list and I’ll be adding more along the way, preferably with your help. Make sure to share your favourite personal ebooks by commenting at the bottom of this page!

Best Personal Finance Ebooks from Bloggers:

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Ebook Title: Blueprint For How To Make Money With A Blog

Topic: Make money blogging

Blog: Bible Money Matters

Price: $29.95 (really worth it!)

What is it?: You are looking for a way to make more cash, you are thinking of having a blog or you do have one but you don’t know how to turn a profit from it? This ebook is for you.

This complete ebook is a real blueprint to make money with a blog. In the first pages, you will learn how to choose a topic, setup a website and start blogging. For those who know the basics, midway through the book you will learn how to promote your site and increase traffic. And for those who already have a solid blog and have started to make a few bucks, you will compliment your knowledge in terms of useful plugins, different ways to make money and most importantly, how to optimize monetization on your blog. I will personally use the last 10 pages of the ebook in order to increase my online income.

I would have liked to see more advanced techniques on how to make even more cash (things such as improving affiliate success, how to build high income earner articles or pages) but I guess this will come in a future ebook from Peter who did an awesome job on this one.

Favorite Quote: “If blogging to make money is serious to you, then treat it like a business” By Frugal Dad from Blueprint For How To Make Money With a Blog.

Get it: Blueprint For How To Make Money With A Blog

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Ebook Title: Unautomate Your Finances

Topic: Money Management

Blog: Man vs Debt

Price: $17.00

What is it?: Before buying the book, you get a 5 minute video produced by Adam Baker (the author and blogger behind Man vs Debt). I was delighted by the small window he opened to his mindset about personal finance. “There are no easy solutions. It’s going to take hard work… We explored our own lives for ways we can raise our consciousness… It’s not a system, it’s an idea, it’s a concept”.

This ebook is a revolution opposing the “normal way” of managing personal finance established by our society. This is a great story about a man who wins his battle against debt and pay off his unsecured personal loans. But instead of sharing a magical way to get out of debt and get control over your personal finance, Baker offers an interesting way to drive your battle against debt: unautomate your finances to realize what you are really doing with your money instead of following the crowd.

Finance automation has been great, yet over time, as is the case with many other beautiful ideas, people have drifted away from the idea’s core. Instead of using technology to simplify how we manage money smartly, we just streamlined everything. This was done without consideration if it was good or not for our personal finance.

This ebook is refreshing and will lead you to another way of thinking about your personal finance. I’d suggest it for everyone as it will help you realize what really matters.

And most importantly, I had fun reading his book! It is filled with quotes, I just couldn’t stop smiling while reading!

Favorite Quote: “Unautomation is…

…the process of re-attaching and re-sensitizing ourselves to our financial lives

…the art of peeling away the excess and attacking the underlying problem.

… the exercise of designing your financial life without the assumptions that feed our consumerist society.

… the realization that car payments may not be a fact of life and that mortgages don’t have to last 30 years.”

Get it: Unautomate Your Finances

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Ebook Title: 52 Ways to Make Extra Money

Topic: Making extra income

Blog: PT Money

Price: Free! (must register to the free PT Money mailing list)

What is it?: Born from one of his posts which made the front page of MSN.com, PT decided to extend his thoughts on making extra bucks and created this great ebook. While you won’t be able to apply the full 52 ways (bar tending, teaching swim lessons and writing a blog may require different skills and knowledge ), I am sure you will be able to increase your level of income with those ideas.

What I also like about the book is that PT doesn’t leave you with just the idea. For some ideas that seem more complicated, he also provides you with quick steps to achieve your goal.

Among the interesting ideas, we found becoming a mystery shopper, sell your body (not the old fashion way but by selling plasma, hair, eggs and sperm), tutoring and staging homes (especially in today’s market!).

Favorite Quote: “This may not seem like much, but it adds up extremely fast!”

Get it: 52 Ways to Make Extra Money

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Ebook Title: How to Save Money on Everything

Topic: Saving money

Blog: Money Ning

Price: Free! (must register to the free Money Ning mailing list)

What is it?: If you are looking to save money somewhere, you will surely find something interesting in this book!

There are countless money savings tips that go from childcare to skiing. At the beginning of the book, you will find the table of contents with all the places where you can save money. This way it is very easy to navigate from one topic to another.

Favorite Quote: “I’m tired of paying for everything and I’m sure you are too… I asked around for help in putting together this ebook, which focuses on saving money for the average joe (that’s you and me!).”

Get it: How to Save Money on Everything

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Ebook Title: Frugal Food & Fitness

Topic: Frugality and food

Blog: Squawkfox

Price: Free!

What is it?: It’s more than a book about saving on food. It’s more than a recipe ebook. It’s more than a ebook about frugal ways to stay fit. It’s the 3 of them altogether in one free book!

Fun to read and colourful, Kerry Taylor, the author of 397 ways to save money, brings us a great book to put us back on the right track to frugal living and staying fit for at reasonable costs.

Recipes are easy to follow and easy to understand (I like cooking but I am not great with fancy and complicated meals!). As with any great cookbook, you will see what your meal should look like for each recipe. What I like is that the photos were not taken by a professional; they were taken by Kerry herself!

I really like the last part of her book where Taylor presents various frugal ways to stay fit. Among them, you have 3 walking plan schedules (from the coach potato to the walking machine). At the end of the book, you also get a free printable workout log. Definitely a must if you want to stay fit!

Favorite Quote: “… spending big bucks on diet supplements will help us lose weight and get fit. It’s all a bunch of bulls$it”.

Get it: Frugal Food & Fitness

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Ebook Title: 99 Painless Ways to Save Serious Money

Topic: Saving money

Blog: Dough Roller

Price: Free! (must register to the free Dough Roller mailing list)

What is it?: Another great book about saving money on little things in your house. The author concentrates his book on how to save on simple things that will have an immediate impact on your monthly budget. While some of them are obvious (like buying programmable thermostats), other tricks are smarter (how to cancel cable and still watch TV).

Out of the 99 ways to save money, you will surely find a few tips to add to your own list!

Get it: 99 Painless Ways to Save Serious Money

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There you have it, the list of all the Personal Finance Ebooks from bloggers I have found so far. I’ll be updating this list and doing more reviews in the future.

Author	Title	Topics	Cost	Get it
PT Money	52 Ways to Make Extra Money	Make More Money	register to free mailing list required	Click Here
Bibble Money Matters	Blueprint For How To Make Money With A Blog	Make Money Blogging	$29.95	Click Here
Man vs Debt	Unautomate Your Finances	Manage Your Money	$17	Click Here
Simple Trading System	Stock Market Secrets	Investment	$0	Click Here
Simple Trading System	Capital Gains Tax Tips for Traders and Investors	Taxes	$0	Click Here
Money Help for Christians	Short Term Missions Handbook	Missions Handbook	$9.95	Click Here
Pasadena Financial Planning		General Financial Planning	$0	Click Here
Money Ning	How To Save Money On Everything	Frugality	register to free mailing list required	Click Here
Squawk Fox	Frugal Food Fitness	Frugality and Fitness	$0	Click Here
Various Bloggers	Money Saving Tips for the Hollidays Guide	Frugality	0$	Click Here
Various Bloggers	Money Matters for All Ages	Money Management	0$	Click Here
Bargaineering	College Grad Money Guide	College Money Management	register to free mailing list required	Click Here
The Wealth Pilgrim	Money Academy for Couples	Money Management	$27	Money Academy For Couples
Balance Transfer Credit Card	Balance Transfer Ebook	credit card	$0	Balance Transfer Ebook
Dough Roller	99 Painless Ways to Save Serious Money		register to free mailing list required	Click Here

Author: Mike.

Posted in Book Reviews | 8 Comments »

How To Start A Bank

By: Mike | Date posted: March 22, 2010 (5:00 am)

This guest post comes from Michael, a contributing editor of the Dough Roller, a personal finance and investing blog, and Credit Card Offers IQ, a credit card review site.

Every American has a dream of one day owning their own successful and profitable business. Usually when you think of self-owned businesses, you imagine dry-cleaners, restaurants and law and medical practices. But how many people do you think wake up in the morning wanting to start their own bank? The venture is not as difficult as it may sound.

It’s no secret that the US government right now is shutting down bank after bank. But if you have a strong business sense and the dedication to see it through, there’s no better time than the present to get into the banking industry. On the surface, the task at hand may seem extremely daunting, but the beauty about owning a bank is that it’s just like owning any other small business venture; Take one step at a time.

STEP 1 – Evaluate Your Assets

In order to start you’re bank, a few things are needed in the “idea” process. Unless you are extremely confident about your financial position, this is not the business for you. When deciding whether or not you’ve got the right idea, you should ask the following questions:

Will I be able to raise the necessary capital in order to start a charter bank? Different states require different capital amounts to open a bank, but a safe number is $10 million.
What sets my bank apart from others in the area? In order to have a successful bank, you need to have a large customer base and that doesn’t come easy. Does your bank offer a higher interest rate than others? Does it provide better and friendlier customer service? No matter where you decide to open your charter bank, make sure it will be a welcomed community asset.
Do I have the skill set to run a bank? If you’re educational background is in turf management, then the dream of owning a bank probably isn’t the right one. Owning and operating a charter bank takes a huge amount of financial knowledge, and unless you know it all, move on to something else.

STEP 2 – Research the State Requirements

The quickest and easiest step in the process, knowing exactly what is needed in order to operate a bank in your state is crucial. There’s nothing more deflating then thinking you’ve got it all figured out, only to find out that you haven’t followed procedure. The state requirements can usually be found at the Department of Financial Institutions and if you don’t know where that is, any state employee will gladly point you in the right direction.

STEP 3 – Develop a Fundraising Plan and Employment Plan

Finally getting into the meat and potatoes portion of the idea, this is the step where you find out if your dream can become a reality. How are you going to generate the necessary capital in order to open this charter bank? Just as importantly, who are going to be the people in the executive positions making the tough decisions?

Raising a large amount of money means having excellent personal skills and excellent “salesman” skills. The bank you have envisioned better have one awesome set of ideals in order to not only raise this kind of money but to attract a high caliber employee away from another company.

STEP 4 – Fill Out the Required Paperwork for Approval

Once you feel you have the entire package in place, the next thing to do is generate an approval from the state. After filling out a quick form online or in person, you can expect to receive a thick packet in the mail with all of the required paperwork. Included in this packet are:

Financial questionnaires
Financial reporting sheets
Eligibility checklists
The request for your business plan
The request for your financial and employment plan
The request for your bank’s proposal

Making sure that you have filled everything out to its absolute potential, mail the documents back to the state and play the waiting game. Most applications are returned in a few weeks, but the process has been known to take up-to three full months.

STEP 5 – Make It Happen

With approval from the state, the only thing left to do is execute. Raising money, building your bank (or your website if you are looking at an online bank), hiring employees and developing a marketing strategy are all now on your to-do-list. Depending on your efficiency, the dream of owning you own bank could be more realistic than you ever thought possible.

Posted in Banking | Comments Off

And the Winner of the iPod Touch is…

By: Mike | Date posted: March 19, 2010 (5:32 am)

Whoa! This has been quite a hectic week! While we are finishing the integration of Green Panda to our online business, we are already starting to work on some new stuff. For example, we are working on a new design for Green Panda that should come live within the next 2 months…

When buying a blog, there is a lot of analysis and strategy development to do. You want to clearly understand where the blog is and why it is there. Then, you want to select the right direction and start working on how you will make the blog grow. While I am already quite busy with The Financial Blogger and Gather Little By Little, adding another blog is quite a challenge! Anyway, I think things will smoother a little bit in the future and we will be able to move to a 4 to 5 posts a week schedule shortly. I’m pretty excited about this new project!

So the winner of the iPod Touch is….

You were a lot to comment and I really appreciate your feedback. This will also help me creating a great list of article ideas for the future. But before I announce the winner (yup, you’ll have to read till the end ot know if you will have a new iPod shipped at your house!), here is some link love for the week:

Buy or rent @ 20 something finance

6 money saving tips when life gets hectic @ Money under 30

Money can’t buy love @ Poorer than you

Should I open a bank account online? @ Studenomics

10 jobs I’d like to try someday @ Budgets are sexy

How to get your first credit card @ The Digerati Life

3 lessons I’ve learned in 3 years of marriage @ Man vs Debt

How to apologize for an error? Martyr yourself! @ Financial Samurai

How to learn investing without a formal education @ Bible money matters

Tips on selling on Craigslist @ Debt Free Adventure

Stick with stocks or pay off your mortgage? @ Frugal dad

All right… and now the winner is….