Finance Carnival for Young Adults Money Life and More Edition

Welcome to the Finance Carnival for Young Adults! This week it was my turn to host. I’d like to thanks 20′s Finances for putting this carnival together. The articles below can definitely help out young adults with their finances.

Robert @ The College Investor writes 4 Ways to Interpret A Changing Dividend Policy – Dividends are more than just cash paid out to shareholders. They are also a way for companies to signal a message to shareholders. Remember, there are times when dividends matter and when they don’t, but you need to know how to interpret a change to the dividend policy.

Robert @ Kids Ain’t Cheap writes Dismissing The Notion That Kids Are Overly Expensive – These are a few of the areas that, in my opinion, continue to get over estimated and parents can make up substantial savings.

Roger Wohlner @ The Chicago Financial Planner writes The Ameriprise 401(k) Lawsuit – What Does it Mean to You? – A lawsuit brought by a group of current and former employees of financial services firm Ameriprise has been allowed to proceed. The main issue is that Ameriprise offered a number of its proprietary mutual funds as options in the plan; these funds were allegedly expensive compared to other non-proprietary options that could have been utilized. Further it is alleged that these funds paid revenue sharing and other fees to Ameriprise and several of its subsidiaries.

Jeff Rose @ Good Financial Cents writes How A Cushy Job Can Be Your Ticket To Financial Freedom – Are you bored with your job? Are you tired of what you do on a day to day basis? If your current job pays decently well and you are so good at your job that you have a decent amount of free time to relax, why not put that free time towards your own financial independence?

Michael @ Financial Ramblings writes Thirteen Ways I Use Evernote to Make My Financial Life Easier – Over the past few years, Evernote has evolved into my “goto” place for storing and retrieving all kinds of information. And yes, I even use it to help streamline certain aspects of our finances.

Jen @ Master the Art of Saving writes You’re So Vain—You Probably Think This Post Is About You – Is it being vain to spend so much money on making yourself look or feel better? Where should the line be drawn? What if these little (or large) changes make somebody feel more confident, is that a bad thing?

Jen @ PF Carny writes Steps to Determine If You Are Ready to Open Your Own Business – If you are working for “the man” at a 9 to 5 job, you may dream of nothing more than venturing out on your own and being your own boss. This is the true American dream, and in this age of the Internet, it has become a reality for many people.

Tony @ We Only Do This Once writes How to Stay One Paycheck Ahead of the Game – Stop living paycheck to paycheck. Use this approach to break this habit.

Michelle @ The Shop My Closet Project writes My Student Loans are like Godzilla-trying to ruin my life! – I have some student loans. Enough that up until a few years ago I would lose sleep over it because I couldn’t wrap my head around two things: how could I have been so oblivious and stupid!? The other was: how am I going to get out of this mess? My loans were like Godzilla

Mary Rhodes @ Fine Tune Finances writes 4 dumb reasons why people take a loan out – Loans if you’re responsible can be really beneficial to your finances, however there are times when getting a loan is probably not the smartest thing you can do.

John @ WILD about Finance writes Are Big Companies TOO Big to care? – Small shops and independents are going out of business at an alarming rate, so with a future of ‘big businesses’ looking like the future, we ask do they really care?

Wayne @ Young Family Finance writes Should You Pay off Your Mortgage Early? – The dream of many homeowners is to let out an exhalation of breath and cheer at the same time they send the last check into the mortgage company well before their 15 or 30 year loan ends.

Daniel @ Sweating the Big Stuff writes Roth vs. Traditional IRA: Have The Rules Changed? – While the Roth IRA rules haven’t changed, the permanent tax changes should make us think about what we think is common knowledge.

Amanda L Grossman @ Frugal Confessions writes I Could have Used these Free Online Dating Sites in My Early Twenties – Whether you are in a small town, a large city, or somewhere in between, meeting people is hard to do.

Kanwal @ Simply Investing writes Don’t Have Any Money To Start Investing? – I sometimes hear from folks that they would like to start investing but don’t have any money right now. It’s true that it takes money to make money, however you might be able to invest in dividend stocks without requiring any new money.

Suba @ Broke Professionals writes My Cup of Tea and the Big Picture – I am a micromanager and a workaholic – but rather than increasing my efficiency at work, these attributes are keeping me from seeing the big picture.

Roger the Amateur Financier @ The Amateur Financier writes 6 Mental Money Mistakes, and How to Avoid Them – A guide to the mistakes that we make with money, and some suggestions on how they can be avoided to maximize our level of money in the future.

Crystal @ Budgeting in the Fun Stuff writes Life’s Priorities – Take a New Look Regularly – I’ve been writing here for almost 3 years and have found a common thread in my money posts – I seem to change my financial priorities every few months, lol.

Corey @ Steadfast Finances writes 3 Step Easy Debt Reduction Diet – Find out simple ways to reduce your debt. Start with stop looking for an easy way out.

Ray @ Squirrelers writes 3 Reasons to Hire a Pro to Do Your Taxes – It can be tempting to do things on our own instead of hiring a professional, and often it can be smart. When it comes to taxes, however, it can often be a good use of time and money to hire a pro – as this post discusses.

DPF @ Digital Personal Finance writes 3 Types of Income – The type of income we rely on can change over the course of our life. While we may start by leaning on earned income, it’s not what we hope to rely on later in life, as this post discussed.

CAPI @ Creating a Passive Income writes Become a Guinea Pig in the Name of Passive Income – Unlike lab rats, which are unscrupulously enlisted, human participation is coerced through financial incentive. Find out if it is worth it.

SFB @ Simple Finance Blog writes Say No to Gym Memberships: How to Get a Great Workout for Free – Can’t afford gym memberships. Here are a few ideas to get a great workout for free, from building your own equipment to workout tips

Bryan @ Gajizmo writes House Poor – How Much Home Can I Afford? – Don’t be “house poor” – it’s a common mistake and one of the simplest things people do to avoid destroying their personal finances. A mortgage is probably an American family’s largest monthly expense, and it likely won’t be paid off anytime soon, so purchasing a home you can afford and still have money left over to invest is essential to your ability to build wealth and a retirement nest egg.

Jason @ Work Save Live writes The One Car Family – How We Make it Work – In this day and age, where 3 car garages seem to be the norm, how is it possible that a family of two adults, a toddler, and two dogs make it with just one car?

Ashley @ Money Talks Coaching writes How Much Do You REALLY Pay in Taxes? – I worked on a special project last month. As we went through the month, tracking our spending, doing our budget, I added in a special category for taxes

krantcents @ KrantCents writes Rental Property Investing Tips – I love rental property! Where else can you leverage your investment for thirty (30) years at a low interest rate and have someone else pay for it? Real estate and rental property are not risk-free; however it is one way to accumulate wealth! It starts with savings and how you invest your money.

Tushar @ Finance TUBE writes Make Your Own Diet-Meal Program to Save Money – Today I will talk on how to make your own diet-meal program to save money. Now that is February how are your resolutions going? I know many people still wanna lose weight and save money. But sometimes it’s impossible to do both at the same time.

Corey @ 20s Finances writes Investing Money: How Much is Enough? – Experts often advise to invest 10-20% of your income. Find out how much you should invest and how it affects your future.

Invest It Wisely @ Invest It Wisely writes How To Avoid Your Own Personal Financial Cliff – How to be prepared for all kinds of eventualities even if the going is good for you at the moment and there is a big wad of cash in your bank account.

MMD @ My Money Design writes How to Invest a Million Dollars and Why You’ll Need to Know How Someday – If you think you know how to invest a million dollars by putting it in stocks and bonds, you could be doing yourself a big disservice. Here’s another way..

Edgar @ Degrees and Debt writes Who Doesn’t Like Freebies? – Collection of ways to get freebies!

PPlan @ Provident Plan writes Pros and Cons of Self Employment – Find out if self employment is right for you. There are positives and negatives to each.

Hank @ Money Q&A writes Are You Saving Enough For Retirement In Your 401k? Probably Not!! – There are a few rules of thumb that you can look at to find out how much money you need to save in your 401k for retirement, but we are simply not saving enough for retirement.

John @ Fearless Men writes 5 Shopping Strategies for Online Savings – Shopping online has been the craze the past few years. Every retail store better have an online presence if they want to keep up with their competitors. But what do we, the shoppers, need to know so we don’t get scammed into spending our heard earned money?

SBB @ Simple Budget Blog writes Another View of the Simple Retirement Plan – Planning for retirement doesn’t take a rocket scientist. It just takes commitment and utilizing the tools that are available to everyone.

Don @ MoneySmartGuides writes The Truth About Tax Deductions – Now that tax season is upon us, many look for ways to reduce their taxes (hopefully most of you took advantage of some deductions before the end of the year).

Debt Guru @ Debt Free Blog writes Why I Want to Help Others Live Debt Free – People live with debt like it’s no big deal. I write so that others can know how and why to live debt free.

Kyle @ The Penny Hoarder writes Can You Base a Business Idea on Your Hobby? – Everyone has at least one hobby they do when they’re feeling bored or want to take their mind off other things such as work. However, did you know that you could be able to turn almost any hobby or special skill you have into a job or perhaps a business? This infographic will show you.

Miss T. @ Prairie Eco Thrifter writes How to Get Your Budget to Balance – Here are a few tips on how to get your budget to balance.

Kyle @ My University Money writes More Money for Beer and Textbooks – If you are about to begin your post-secondary journey, are currently trying to navigate those bumpy waters, or know someone that is, More Money for Beer and Textbooks is the cure for massive student debt, credit card bills that grow larger by the month, and the stress that accompanies financial worries.

Mike @ Personal Finance Journey writes Creativity Can Make You Debt-Free – Easy unique and out of the box ways to get rid of debt. We give easy workable tips on how to pay off debt creatively.

John @ Married (with Debt) writes Married… and Almost Out of Debt – When my husband and I tied the knot, we were $55k in debt. By the end of our newlywed phase, it was nearly $200k. Here’s how we got out of debt… almost.

Wealth Effect Blogger @ Your Wealth Effect writes 8 Investment Lessons from the Recent Grammy Awards – If you read too many personal finance blogs you start to see investment lessons in random places such as the recent Grammy Awards.

Maria @ The Money Principle writes Dealing with debt: frugality is not the answer – When coping with financial trouble many people resort to frugality; here I argue that increasing one’s income and not simply frugality is the answer.

Tushar @ Start Investing Money writes Penny Stocks Could Cost You a Pretty Penny – Okay so the title is designed to catch your eye. But if you are thinking about investing in penny stocks it is worth realizing you could lose a lot of money in doing so.

A Blinkin @ Funancials writes Barack Obama Is a Genius – We Should Raise The Minimum Wage – In the State of Union Address on Tuesday, President Barack Obama revealed a master plan that will guide our country over the next 4 years and – hopefully – leave a lasting legacy.

CF @ The Outlier Model writes Choosing NOT to participate in my employee stock plan – Sometimes taking advantage of all your employee benefits isn’t in your best interest…yet. I chose not to enroll in my employee stock plan until my budget could accommodate it.

Barbara @ Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance writes How to Find the Best Loan – What to Look for in a Lender - How to find lender. Cut borrowing costs.

L Bee @ L Bee and the Money Tree writes When Does Personal Finance Stop Being Personal and Start Being Stupid? – Personal finance is personal-How many freaking times have you seen that cliché of a line in PF blogs?

Andrew @ Student-Finance writes What is Centrelink? – A great article for Australian Students. helps them understand the welfare benefits payments that The Australian Government provides to help Students get through University.

Miranda @ Excess Return writes 3 Investing Fees You Shouldn’t Be Paying – As an investor, the goal is to obtain the best possible return. Unfortunately, there are a number of items that can erode your returns. Taxes, inflation, and fees all reduce your real returns from your portfolio. While there is only so much you can do about paying taxes and offsetting the ravages of inflation, there might be a little more you can do about paying fees.

John S @ Frugal Rules writes 4 Reasons Why Having an Investment Plan Will Save Your Butt – Investing in the stock market can be difficult for many, especially if they have no plan in place. An investment plan can help guide your investing decisions so you’re working smarter and not harder, which will in turn help your long term investing approach.

Jules Wilson @ Faithful With a Few writes 10 Ideas For a Home Business – Home Business Ideas can oftentimes lead to scams. Here’s how you can use your own skills, knowledge, and experience to earn money from home!

Jules Wilson @ Fat Guy,Skinny Wallet writes Lessons Learned from New Insurance Cards – Were your Health Insurance Cards Stolen? If so, read this post to find out exactly what you need to do and what you have to be careful of!

Nick @ A Young Pro writes The Value of Real Networking – You read a lot of posts these days about how to improve your LinkedIn profile or how to use social media to network. This is not one of those posts. This post discusses the value of real networking with real people.

Jon @ Novel Investor writes The Evolution Of Index Investing – What once was a simple comparison tool, the market index has evolved into the complex index investing strategy we have today.

Sean @ One Smart Dollar writes Understanding The Child Tax Credit – t’s tax time so you are going to want to make sure you fully understand the child tax credit to maximize your tax savings.

Mrs. PoP @ Planting Our Pennies writes An Addition To Our Edible Equity – After meeting with our new financial planner, Mrs. PoP figures out that some of the PoP’s retirement equity is a bit more accessible (ie. edible!) than previously assumed.

Deacon @ Well Kept Wallet writes How to Create a Budget – I had someone ask me recently, “How do I put together a budget?” It dawned on me that budgeting is not a straight forward process. It does take some explaining as well as trial and error to start to get the hang of it.

KK @ Student Debt Survivor writes My Secret For Paying off $30K In Student Loan Debt – When I finished graduate school I owed $30,304.87 in student loan debt. Curious about how I got myself into and out of that mess?

Grayson @ Debt RoundUp writes Want to Save Money? Here Are 13 Ways! – We all think about saving money, but have we thought how easy it really is. Here are 13 things that you can save you money and they are easy to do.

Lazy Man @ Lazy Man and Money writes A Crazy Computer Purchase – There are several reasons why I don’t want to buy a computer at this time. There’s really never a good time to buy a computer and be future-proofed, but this is a particularly poor time. Maybe for back to school or Black Friday this year, you’ll start seeing cheaper prices on several components hit the stores.

Peter @ Bible Money Matters writes Smarterbucks Review: A Program to Help You Pay Down Student Loan Debt Faster – SmarterBucks is a new reward program that has a very specific use for the rewards–to pay down student loan debt.

Michelle @ Making Sense of Cents writes How We Handled $32,000 in Student Loans – Almost eleven years ago I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and $15K in debt. I was lucky to only have this much in loans as my parents for some and I had paid cash for two years myself by working summers in high school.

Alexis @ FITnancials writes 10 Tips For When Eating Out – I often get asked what foods I eat when I dine out. Sometimes I like to treat myself, but on the days I don’t treat myself I usually stick to a few rules. Here are some tips to stay on the healthier side while dining out.

Jason Hull @ Hull Financial Planning writes Can You Ever Get Back From the Frugal Tipping Point? – The millionaire in a trailer who refuses to turn the heater above 65 degrees. At what point is frugality too much, particularly when you have made it and have enough in the bank to ensure you won’t become a cat food connoisseur?

Everything Finance @ Everything Finance Blog writes Free Money Is Everywhere, If You Know Where to Look – After years of being a Penny Hoarder, one remarkable thing I have discovered is that free money is everywhere. Yes, you may need to jump through some hoops to get that free money, but so what? It is free money!

Little House @ Little House in the Valley writes What’s Distance Worth? – Los Angeles has become a sprawling metropolis that is completely car-dependent because affordable homes in decent neighborhoods are in the boonies. So what is distance worth? Is it worth moving 15-20 miles away to become car dependent, spend an hour or more commuting for the nicer, less expensive house? Or do I settle for a fixer-upper in a shabbier, older neighborhood but ride my bike more often?

Emily @ Evolving Personal Finance writes What’s an Impulse Purchase? – How do you define “impulse purchase?” Does it have to do with the amount of time spent considering it, the amount of money on the line, or something else?

Jacob @ My Personal Finance Journey @ My Personal Finance Journey writes Getting Your Security Deposit Back after Renting an Apartment – When it comes to security deposits, you need to protect yourself as a tenant in order to receive the maximum security deposit when you move out. Here are the lessons one writer learned over the years when it comes to getting your landlord to refund your deposit promptly.

Glen Craig @ Free From Broke writes Is the YOLO (You Only Live Once) Mentality Dangerous for Your Finances? – You Only Live Once (YOLO) sounds great until you have to pay your bills later on. Don’t get fooled by the YOLO mentality.

Wow… that was a ton of links to great articles! I hope you found a couple you wanted to read! Have a great day