Carnival of Retirement – 3rd Edition

Welcome to the third Edition of the Carnival of Retirement. If you want to submit a post for next week’s edition, please use the submission form. Next week’s edition will be hosted by Joe at Retire by 40.

It’s amazing how my perspective on retirement has already changed. We get a lot of submissions based that aren’t explicitly talking about retirement. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t related. In fact, retirement planning is as much about reducing your spending, investing wisely through your career, and your lifestyle hobbies as it is 401k’s and places to retire. We’ve decided to be inclusive of anything that could help those thinking of retiring. I hope you enjoy this week’s selection.

Retirement

Ryan Bales from Budgetable published What Interviewing Keith Weber Taught Me About Retirement, saying, ‘Great interview we did with retirement expert Keith Weber about retirement.’

Andy from My Retirement Blog published The Number One Retirement Fear, saying, ‘According to an AARP study recently released, health care issues are the number one biggest fear retirees have. Is retirement affordable? The biggest challenge for most potential retirees is the cost of care and the ability to stay healthy through retirement. Experts claim one will need an extra $200-$300,000 to pay just for health care.’

Wayne from Young Family Finance published Retirement Planning for Young Families, saying, ‘Find out what the first step of retirement planning should be for young families.’

Eddie from Finance Fox published Million Dollar Question: Should I Use My Savings To Pay Down Debt or Fund My Retirement Plan?, saying, ‘Mortgage vs RRSP. TFSA vs Student Loan. Credit Card Debt vs RRSP. TFSA vs Mortgage. RRSP vs Car Payment. Lots of different situations, some of us are in one of these and others may have two or more different forms of debt to pay down.’

Lazy Man from Lazy Man and Money published Time to Buy that Vacation/Retirement Place?, saying, ‘The interesting thing is that as we were considering this, I opened up this month’s issue of Smart Money and James B. Stewart’s Common Sense column mentions buying that vacation/retirement place now… for the exact reasons were were considering… he’s looking for “something that’s cheap and likely to appreciate.”‘

Jon the Saver from Free Money Wisdom published Why Early Retirement Is So Important to Me, saying, ‘Too many people are stuck in 9-to-5 jobs and can’t be a part of anything meaningful because of their life commitments. I have been in college and now graduate school for the past 7 years and I know the feeling of constantly being busy all too well. Because I don’t want to the person who can’t help with anything, I am working towards financial freedom in order to free up my time while I am still young.’

Frugal Lifestyle

Aloysa from My Broken Coin published Live A Little: Have A Latte, saying, ‘This is a new series I am starting on this blog. It is called Live A Little, and it is not about how to save more by cutting expenses and living frugal. It is about spending, but in an intelligent way.’

Suba from Broke Professionals published Five Ways to Save Money and Get Fit at Work, saying, ‘Now that the New Year is here, we are all looking for ways to trim down the expenses and the waistlines. Here are a few ideas on how to do that before or after work or at lunch time. Use Lunch Get some exercise on your lunch break. Read this article for more ideas!’

Amanda L Grossman from Frugal Confessions published Health Insurance Companies Give Financial Incentives for Good Habits, saying, ‘Since I discussed a ‘stick’ approach my health insurance company began on January 1, 2012 by charging a higher premium for smokers than for non-smokers, I’d like to take the time to discuss a ‘carrot’ incentive approach!’

Investing / Increasing Income

Jacob @ My Personal Finance Journey from My Personal Finance Journey published Investors Who Ignore Valuations Are Like Overeaters Who Ignore the Risk of Heart Disease, saying, ‘This post describes the risks of ignoring market valuations in one’s investment strategies, discusses the errors in the old approach for calculating safe withdrawal rates, and draws attention to these problems which if ignored, could seriously harm one’s retirement portfolio.’

Don from MoneySmartGuides published Radical Idea to Create Jobs, saying, ‘I have many crazy ideas. Most aren’t fit to become reality like my spray-painting lawnmower for when the summer heat turns your grass brown. But every so often, I come up with something that I feel holds merit.’

Jester from The Ultimate Juggle published A Side Income, saying, ‘Finding a side income can go a long ways to meet your financial needs. Find out how to manage your time and make it happen.’

Hank from Money Q&A published Four Great Benefits Of Buying A House, saying, ‘There are many great benefits of buying a house such as wealth creation, tax savings, forced savings, and others. Renting should not be your default option when there are so many great benefits of buying a house.’

Kyle from The Penny Hoarder published 4 Reasons You Should Not Invest in Real Estate Right Now, saying, ‘A few weeks ago we shared with you some reasons why this might be a good time to invest in real estate and this week we wanted to present the other side of the argument. Here are four good reasons not to buy real estate right now…’

A Blinkin from Funancials published CD’s are for Hypocrites, saying, ‘I would venture to say that there are two investment products people learn about before any others Stocks and CDs Certificates of Deposit. Assuming most people learn about these two options when theyre young, I would think the way they were explained was elementary. Something like stocks are risky CDs are risk-free. But are they remembering inflation?’

ETZ25 from Entertainment Timez published Starting Up A Roth IRA For Kids, saying, ‘My son now has earned income and we are starting up a Roth IRA for him to participate in. Read why are are starting a Roth IRA for Kids!’

PITR from Passive Income To Retire published Generate passive income – How to do it, saying, ‘If you want to generate passive income, you need to know the two ways that people establish a passive income.’

LaTisha from Financial Success for Young Adults published What is a Portfolio?, saying, ‘A portfolio is made up of assets. There are five major asset classes of intangible financial instruments; Stocks, Bonds, Options, Futures, and Foreign exchange.’

101 Centavos from 101 Centavos published How NOT to Invest in Water, saying, ‘I’ve been reading quite a bit about water lately. Set a Google alert for water scarcity India China, and your inbox is bound to fill up with stories of water scarcity.’

Shaun from Smart Family Finance published Lottery Winner Loses Everything in Four Years: Smart Approaches for Families with Income Windfalls, saying, ‘Lottery winners are famous for winning fortunes and then losing them. That is because it is easy to make financial mistakes when families run into income windfalls. However, there are a few approaches to help you to make smart decisions and minimize the risks of losing everything.’

Miss T. from Prairie Eco Thrifter published The 4 Biggest Myths of the Stock Market, saying, ‘There are several stock market myths that unfortunately have begun to become so real in investors’ minds that they are scared away from investing. Here are a few of those myths.’

Other

YFS from Your Finances Simplified published 4 Tips to Improve Credit Even After A Bankruptcy, saying, ‘A bankruptcy can be a financial event which wrecks credit and hurts a consumers ability to qualify for loans. Its effects can be felt for years afterwards, as it appears on a credit report for 7-10 years depending on what type of BK you file for.’

Erika from Newlyweds on a Budget published My Plan to Lose Ten Pounds in Three Months, saying, ‘Have you joined the 10-Pound Challenge yet? Lose ten pounds in three months, win money! Everyone needs a plan to lose ten pounds in three months. We all want to lose weight fast and find the easiest shortcut to get there. ‘

Kevin from Thousandaire published Claim Your Unclaimed Property, saying, ‘Check to see if you have unclaimed property free money waiting for you. Just search at your state’s website and you might have something!’

Mich from Beating The Index published NAL Energy to Underperform in 2012?, saying, ‘I believe the stock will underperform in 2012 based on running 2 set of scenarios which indicate the company is not in its best shape.’

Corey from 20s Finances published Why Financing a Car Can be a Bad Idea, saying, ‘If you are looking to get a car and you don’t have enough money saved to purchase the car outright, you may be tempted to get a car loan so that you don’t have to wait. But is this really the best route to take?’

krantcents from KrantCents published How Students with NO Credit History, Can Begin to Build a Financial Record, saying, ‘Here are 3 ways to allow young adults to safely build credit without the risk of going into debt.’

Money Beagle from Money Beagle published My Job History (Part 1): The Golden Decade, saying, ‘The journey of a career takes many twists and turns. Here are a few of mine.’

Don from Money Reasons published My Son Is A Young Entrepreneur, saying, ‘This is about my son’s transformation in becoming a young entrepreneur. Not bad considering he is only eleven.’

Jeffrey from Money Spruce published Five Reasons to Give Up Goal Setting, saying, ‘Should we give up goal setting to achieve more success? Goals are something everyone uses, but is it the most effective for getting things done. Here’s a discussion why it might not be.’

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