Carnival of Personal Finance #218 – "Chuck Norris" Edition

Hello, and welcome to the 218th Carnival of Personal Finance! I’ll be your host today, along with my trusty sidekick Mr. Chuck Norris himself (in spirit). Now, you might be wondering what Chuck Norris has to do with personal finance, and to that I can only answer that I really have no idea ;) BUT, what I do know is that his recent fame is starting to fade (again), and I just can’t stand by and watch it happen.

So today, we whip out some of our favorite Chuck Norris Facts to refresh our minds and give us a little *kick* to help start the week. After all, what’s life without Chuck Norris? (Don’t answer that Jack Bauer). I hope you enjoy these handpicked articles:

Editor’s Picks:

“If you have five dollars and Chuck Norris has five dollars, Chuck Norris has more money than you.”

1. My Two Dollars: Cut Spending By Looking At Hours Of Work Put In To Pay For Stuff – Yes, love it! Brilliant way to put things in perspective before you make a big purchase (or any purchase for that matter). Want a flat screen? How many hours of work will that cost you? If that # scares you, it’s best to rethink ;)
2. Realm of Prosperity: The Infomercial Copycat Method of Debt Reduction – Haha, this one just cracked me up. Another excellent way to get your mind right though, that’s for sure. I don’t want to give it all away, but one of the keys here is to break up your payments in a way that helps build momentum and confidence. Great read.
3. My Financial Journey: $100,000 in principal by Age 30 – Final Recap – I’m a huge fan of setting & sticking to goals, and this blogger shows us that it really can go a long way. Read on for a recap of the goal they set 3 and a half years ago, and how it all breaks down :)
4. Free Money Finance: Does a Pleasant Attitude/Personality Help You Succeed? I say hell yeah 100%. I had a boss once tell me that one of the main reasons she hired me was because I smiled a lot and brought positive energy. Gotta love that :) Not all employers place such a high importance on this, of course, but it’s still a good reminder that attitudes do come into play.
   
5. Saving Cents in the City: Lessons I Could Learn from My Younger Self – Value Cash – An excellent story about the value of money! And from a blog I hadn’t had the pleasure of reading yet too – thanks for submitting and inspiring!

Frugality:

“Apple pays Chuck Norris 99 cents every time he listens to a song.“

• The Centsible Life presents The One Car Experiment.
• Doughroller presents 11 Things We All Buy, But Don’t Need.
• Bible Money Matters presents 7 Attributes Of High Net Worth Individuals.
• Thrifty Little Blog presents Time-Expensive Gifting.
• Oil and Garlic presents Keeping Up With The Joneses…Through Food.
• Free By 50 presents How To Get Thousands of FREE Books.
• Fiscal Geek presents Sell your Used Cell Phone and Get a Free Trade In.
• Free From Debt Guy presents Temporary Nos Will Yield Permanent Yeses.
• Fine Tuned Finances presents Getting The Best Deal on a Car.
• Tough Money Love presents Cost Comparison Shopping for Professional Services.
• Financial Methods presents Stupid, Pointless and Worthless Frugality Tips.
• The Happy Rock presents The Library Still Rocks! Yes, I Like The Free Movies And More.
• Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck: Negotiate your cable bill – How I lowered my cable bill.
• Are You Going To Be This Way the Rest of the Time I Know You? presents Using What You Have – Landscaping the Yard.
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Saving:

“Chuck Norris can touch MC Hammer.”

• Provident Planning presents Should a Christian Have an Emergency Fund?
• My Findependence Day presents Increasing Cash Flow Is The Key To Wealth.
• Bargaineering presents Best CD Rates.
• Single Guy Money presents Saving For Christmas.
• Money Help For Christians presents How to Find the Lowest Prices on Books: A Guide for College Students.

Credit:

“When Chuck Norris calls 1-900 numbers, he doesn’t get charged. He holds up the phone and money falls out.”

• Rabbit Funds presents Removing a collections account from your credit report.
• Stumble Forward presents How Cutting Your Available Credit Can Hurt You.
• The Smarter Wallet presents How To Build Good Credit and Clean Up Bad Credit.

Money Management:

“When you’re Chuck Norris, anything + anything is equal to 1. One roundhouse kick to the face.”

• Punch Debt In The Face presents Go Big or Go Home.
• Fiscal Fizzle presents 55 Ways to Simplify Your Finances.
• Man Vs. Debt presents Top 16 Pieces Of Your Information Identity Thieves Crave.
• Studenomics presents Financial Risks & Gambling With Your Money In Your 20s.
• Sound Money Matters presents How to Avoid Overdraft Protection Fees.
• Financial Updates presents Let’s Change Our Money Habits.
• Banker, Saver presents Are You FDIC Insured? Make Sure Your Money Is Safe.
• Modern Gal presents Teaching Your Parents About Money.
• Good Financial Cents: 7 Things That Make Good Financial Cents For College Students.
• Money Under 30 presents We’re Getting Married (In a Week!) How Will Our Finances Change?

Investing:

“In an act of great philanthropy, Chuck made a generous donation to the American Cancer Society. He donated 6,000 dead bodies for scientific research.”

• Christian Finances presents How to plan for retirement without Social Security.
• The Dividend Guy presents Recession, Shopping, and Investing.
• Go To Retirement presents Retirement Income and the Myth of Equity Risk.
• Prime Time Money presents Roth IRA Rules.
• FIRE Finance presents New Money Rules for Financial Security – #7. Retirement.
• Darwin’s Finance presents How do Stock Options Work? Calls and Puts.
• Dividends Value presents Dividend Stocks Secret Ingredient.
• Automatic Finances presents There Is No Level Playing Field.
• The Personal Financier: Dollar Cost Averaging – Practical Lessons From Recent Experience.
• Money Smart Life presents Stock Analysis – Price to Earnings Growth, Debt to Asset Ratio, & Dividend Yield.

General Finance:

“How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could Chuck Norris? (All of it)”

• Mrs Bankrupt presents For Love of Money.
• Money Blue Book presents How I Started Blogging To Make Money Online.
• Modern Tightwad presents What You Won’t Talk About Colors What You Will.
• Free From Broke presents Cash for Clunkers – Who Wins, Stimulus or Environment?
• The Incidental Economist presents Estimating a Retirement Budget.
• M is for Money presents Jingle Mail Pays Off for One Person.
• Growing Money presents The Big Layoff at My Work Place.
• The Digerati Life presents Personal Loan Interest Rates from Lending Club.
• Adventures in Debt presents Is the Micro-Payment for You?.
• Don’t Quit Your Day Job… presents The Next Bubble: Your Taxes.
• Insurance & Finance presents I Need a Personal Loan Quick But I Have Bad Credit.
• Personal Finance By The Book: Good Questions on $8,000 First Time Homebuyer Credit.
• Help for Your Personal Finance: How And When To Refinance A Mortgage: Rule Of Thumb.
• The Canadian Finance Blog: What Should You Do In A Recession? Buy Your Own Island!

Whew, that’s a LOT of articles! I hope you enjoy some of these as much as I did. It’s always great to see new sites popping up with fresh content, so thanks to everyone who participated :) If you like what you saw here today, sign up to my RSS feed and see what else we’re about. Stay tuned for next week’s carnival hosted by Your Money Relationship.

God Bless all,