The Carnival of Financial Camaraderie Financially Digital Edition!

Happy Saturday and a Happier Memorial Day Weekend (if you are in the US) to everyone! This is Financially Digital’s first hosting of the Carnival of Financial Camaraderie. I want to give a big thanks to the folks over at myuniversitymoney.com for giving me the opportunity to be a part of such a great blog carnival - so after your done be sure to check them out because they hosted the one before this one and are hosting the one after :) 

 

The goal of the carnival is to help empower both students and professionals to learn and really own their financial experiences. I wanted to challenge myself to try to add some kind of theme to Financially Digital’s edition but after sorting through 100’s of submissions I just couldn’t figure out a way to string them together without losing some awesome posts. So like a real carnival I’ll leave it up to you to just make your way around, jaw agape in wonder, and have you pick your own favorites. Unlike a real carnival the sights here are designed to help you do better with your money and not con you out of it - you will also not see anything that resembles anything like a “world largest pig/bear/miniature horse attraction”. 

 

So without further adieu I am going to throw in some editors picks at the top and then carnival up the rest of the submissions! 

 

Editors Picks:

 

Mike presents Partnership Failures and Lessons Learned posted at The Financial Blogger. Always quality stuff here and Mike is a great guy, you will definitely learn something from his lessons. 

 

Barbara Friedberg presents NEW MONEY SERIES FOR THE SERIOUSLY BROKE COLLEGE GRAD posted at Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance. You must check out this new series for broke college grads. Part 1 focuses on tips for cheap living and travel. Great for those internationally minded readers.

 

Kristen presents 11 Free Travel Apps to Save Money posted at My Dollar Plan. Travel can be pricey but lucky for us, there are some travel apps that make it that much easier to not break the bank during travel!

 

Squeezer presents Why Social Security should not be your sole source of retirement income posted at Personal Finance Success. What happens if one depends on Social Security for retirement? I explain the risk and other options that are available.

 

Dr Dean presents Innovative Ideas posted at The Millionaire Nurse Blog. Are you looking for new ideas? Do you want to learn how to look for ideas in a new way? This is an innovative way to expand your search for creativity.

 

MMD presents Six Easy Steps to Figuring Out Your Retirement posted at MyMoneyDesign. When someone says you should save 10% for retirement, what does this actually mean? Will you hit your goals? How do you even know what your goals are? I’d like to offer you my advice for a simple and streamlined introductory approach to figuring out your retirement goals.

 

Amanda L Grossman presents Is Your Frugality Invoked to Stretch Dollars or to Stockpile the Savings? posted at Frugal Confessions. There are two possible outcomes of frugality. One is to stretch your dollar so that you get a lot more in purchases. Come see what the other is. 

 

Sustainable PF presents Why 'No More Lattes' Rarely Works posted at Sustainable Personal Finance. Who wouldve known that all this time we have been pouring caffeine-laced devils brew down our throats every morning?!

 

Kevin presents Do's and Don'ts with your Credit Card posted at Thousandaire. The concept behind credit cards is a simple one: charge now, pay later.

 

Crystal presents Hilarious Hypocrisy posted at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff. Do you even think the wine lady understands how hilarious her life decisions are? How many of us are completely overlooking our own giant blind spots? 

 

Don presents Money Rules When Spending Money posted at MoneySmartGuides. I was recently in Chicago for a charity event. The events were held at the hotel I was staying at so I ended up eating a handful of meals in the hotel. 

 

More Awesomeness:

 

KT presents Easy Energy Saving Tips...posted at Personal Finance Journey. Energy costs seem to rise almost every day, and it can be hard to keep pace with them, especially if you find yourself on a tight budget. While it might be something that some people can just about cope with, for others, simply meeting the cost of their basic energy needs can be awfully difficult.

 

101 Centavos presents Travel Notes: Just Say Ahn-Nyeong Hah-Seh-Yo and Kon'nichi Wa posted at 101 Centavos. Just a couple words is all you need to know when traveling abroad. Hello and thank you and a big smile will open a lot of doors in the East, especially in a business setting, and most especially coming from Americans, renowned foreign-language ignoramuses.

 

Sandy presents Stay At Home Dads on The Rise  posted at Yes, I am Cheap. I’ve discovered a new term, the “Mancession” – a reflection of how badly the recession affect employment for men

 

Jen presents How to Start Saving Money Even if you're always broke posted at Master the Art of Saving. Yep, that's right...broke people can save money too. 

 

Beating Broke presents TradeKing and Zecco Announce Merger posted at Beating Broke. I think it’s a bit interesting that TradeKing and Zecco are merging. There are, obviously, several online trading giants out there (talking babies anyone?) that they are competing with and if they remain separate, they can’t really compete. Together, they might be able to do so.

 

SB presents How to Control Stock Trading Impulses posted at One Cent at a Time. People with investible money often gets attracted to stocks after reading an article or two. It is important to not buy out of impulse. Take time, do research and set some guidelines to control your impulses

 

Jacob @ My Personal Finance Journey presents Biggest Threats to Getting Out of Debt posted at My Personal Finance Journey. Paying off debt isn’t easy, but you probably already realize that. Perhaps knowing which obstacles to expect will help you overcome them as you go. This post describes possible sources of trouble when trying to get out of debt.

 

Dave presents Fighting About Money? Remember The 3 P’s! posted at Financial Conflict Coach. If you find yourself fighting with a spouse/partner, parent, child, family or friends about money- try using the “3 P’s” to calm things down. 

 

Shawanda Greene presents 7 Timeless Tricks for Mastering the Job Interview posted at You Have More Than You Think. Classic, yet often ignored, advice on how to impress during a job interview. 

 

Robert presents How Safe Are Your Finances from Your Kids? posted at The College Investor. The USDA has calculated the costs of raising a child for both single parent households and dual parent households, and it can cost anywhere from $118,590 to $250,262 to raise a child to 18 years of age. And then you get to college!

 

Jeff Rose presents Should You Buy Mortgage Protection or Term Life Insurance? posted at Good Financial Cents. If you are shopping to buy your first home, you might find yourself with a decision whether to buy mortgage insurance. Here's a look at what makes the most sense for a first time homeowner. 

 

FINAL THOUGHTS:

 

There were 100’s of posts to make it through. Just so you all know how I did this - my method essentially - was that I started with the earliest submissions and picked the ones that I thought best represented how you can make the best out of your financial experience or learn something. If you didn’t make the list it’s not that I didn’t like you! I’m always up for adding more love though to this round up. So if I missed you please throw your info in the comments below and I’ll keep this carnival growing, after a review of it of course. 

Start Up Infographic for Small Business Week

It's still Wednesday and I wanted to make sure that I had a post up for everyone. I've been scouring the web for all things business development this week and I happened to come across this awesome infographic from the good folks at udemy. I wish I had these graphic design skills because it would make everything I write about so much more interesting...but that's a skill set for another day. 

This infographic takes all the different roles and hurdles start-ups of all kinds have to face in the big blue ocean that is the business world. As you get towards the bottom of it start to pay attention to who the consumer's of your goods are. I hope this food chain doesn't scare you or deter your efforts but it's important to put your energy into a frame of reference. Especially if you are like me - every new idea isn't always a winner so make your choices and allocate resources wisely. 

I would love to hear about your businesses and where you think you are in this ecosystem. If you can't find yourself in this infographic where do you think you should be and what creature of the briney deep might it look like? 

Small Business Week!

It’s Small Business Week! This is like Christmas for small businesses - or rather a holiday that makes it about them. Maybe it’s more like a beauty pageant but everyone that’s a small business wins?! Well you get the idea. It’s great for a few reasons that I talk about in my video today along with some solid resources that we can all use a refresh on every once and awhile. One of the morals of the story is to go out and support the small businesses in your community. We all get so busy and in our own routines that we can miss some great local spots. It’s those spots that help to continue to support our local communities. If you aren’t a business owner yet then take this week to think about what you might want to put out and produce for the world. There is going to be a ton on the web all about the different stages of developing business plans and models. You can even enlist the help of a guy like me here at Financially Digital :) Hope you enjoy the video and the links that go along with it! 

Can An Accident Be Good For Your Financial Plan?

We always talk about planning, saving, and preparing as a means to achieving our goals and aspirations. Sometimes things happen that can steer those plans off course. If you are one of my students then you know that I am constantly saying – life happens. When life happens even the best plans can catch a snag or in the worst case be derailed entirely. Having a plan is great but having the foresight and ability to come out of a negative with a handful of positives is even better.  One unexpected in particular is recovering from some kind of accident. 

 

Accidents can happen in any environment you can think of, but their causes do vary. It’s not just the moving vehicle variety that can slow you down.  They could happen at home, in the office, in a supermarket or even in traffic, but if they do, there’s always a possibility that you could become injured after it happens. That can definitely put a kink in your plan. If you aren’t injured (which is hopefully the case) there will always be costs – opportunity, time, money, etc.  It can be stressful but with a bit of help you can keep your plans moving with as little disruption as possible. Remember even in tough times – the goal should be to act as efficiently as possible.  First thing, instead of wondering what to do, you should find someone to help act as your fiduciary. Someone to act as your fiduciary or support is important and will allow you to focus on your family or the rest of your plan. This is where there could be the possibility for a positive to come out of a negative. With help from experts like First4Lawyers, you could find that compensation for your illness or injuries could be yours, but how do you know if you’re entitled to it?

 

The main thing about knowing whether you’re entitled to compensation is whether the accident was caused by another party. There are several scenarios where, if the accident was because of someone else’s negligence, then you are entitled to make a claim. For example, if you were involved in a collision on the road where another driver smashed into your car, giving you an injury such as whiplash, then you can make a claim. Other incidents such as slipping on a wet floor when you weren’t notified of the risks involved can also give your reason to make a claim.

 

If making a compensation claim, there are some more things to take into account such as who’s at fault, how the injury you picked up will affect you physically and how, if at all, it will affect your finances. If you know who was to blame for your injury, have suffered a loss of earnings and face any additional costs for healthcare, then your claim has a realistic chance of being successful, while the compensation won can meet the costs faced in the aftermath of the injury.

 

One of the biggest components to getting your plan back on track is keeping organized. These incidents can happen in the blink of an eye and take time to recover from. So, even with the help of a fiduciary, it’s important that you keep records straight. 

 

No one likes or should be looking for something bad to happen. If it does though you don’t have to fight it alone and it shouldn’t undo all your hard work up until that point. The more organized you are the more efficiently everything can be played out. I am not advocating that you go out and look for somewhere shiny to slip and fall but, everything has a cost. It’s important that you can recover from those costs and move on.  It’s definitely not a lottery but a bit of a windfall can help get your plan back on track and possibly even give it a leg up. 

What's going on with Facebook?

Poor Facebook. Over 900 Million friends and the stock is taking a dip today - having some NASDAQ sized technical difficulties did not help the situation at all. There’s a ton on what’s happening right now over the descent of the Facebook share value. While Financially Digital isn’t a fast breaking news source, I did want to round up a bit of the news bytes to give a 30,000 foot view of what’s going on. 

 

Let’s start at the IPO. NASDAQ had some difficulties in getting the shares listed properly. That 30 minute delay actually caused several hours of headache for investors. Everyone from large institutions to individual investors had to even wait some time to see if their trades had been executed. I know I wouldn’t be a happy camper if I were trying to get in and out of Facebook on the first day. 

 

Was it too big? There were talks that Morgan Stanley was helping to keep the share value propped so that it wouldn’t fall below the IPO release on the first day. That makes sense because it’s no good for anyone if there is a exodus sized sell off by institutions on day one. But what about day 2. Today Morgan Stanley has reported to ease off with it’s support, coupled with the hysteria and pressure, is leaving Facebook a little anemic at the moment. Another thing to think about was the sheer volume of shares released. Did the underwriters do enough homework to see how much actual demand there was - maybe miss the fact that there could be a surplus of shares...basic econ 101 type stuff (they should take my econ class). There is also a difference between internet hype and actual commitment, which is getting harder and harder to discern against these days. 

 

Where’s the value? I’m not saying Facebook can’t make money. Four Billion in revenue certainly proves that this is a viable business model. Also creating an online community that has attracted and connected over 900 million people is no small feat either. I mean I know people who use Facebook as their primary means of communicating with the world. What I don’t understand is where trading at 100+ price-to-earnings make sense for them. For the most part their revenue comes from advertisers, marketing, apps, and a few other places but that’s it. What’s Price-to-Earnings you ask: P/E = Market Value Per Share/Earnings Per Share. What this ratio tells us is how much people are willing to pay per dollar of earnings. So if the P/E = 100 then investors would be willing to spend $100 for every $1 in earnings. This is one of the oldest and easiest metrics to calculate but it can be one of the most challenging to interpret. like I said, where’s the value? 

 

Should you buy? Well if you are looking at it as something cool to own a few shares of - like buying some Americana from an antique store right now I’d say go for it. It could be a bargain and if you hold it for long enough it could be worth something. If you are looking to make this a part of your portfolio I would be inclined to put this on my watch list. New stocks are very irrational - and with Facebook in particular all the hysteria doesn’t help. I would say give it a few days and just watch the prices. Let all the institutional dust settle and watch for a floor. It looks pretty promising right now as it’s dropping into the low thirties. Analysts like Wedbush Securities are still bullish on a target of $44/share so there might still be a bargain in there somewhere.