 |
I (Adina J), a self-confessed personal finance snob, select a handful of excellent PF articles from the week gone by. The TimelessFinance Sunday Reader serves these pieces to Readers of refined tastes. And because we all need a bit of comedic relief at the end of a long week, I’ll label one Personal Finance Fail — a self-explanatory category. |
Article submissions are accepted at your author’s TimelessFinance Gmail, adinajtf@gmail.com. Recommendations are welcome, but the TF Sunday Reader is not a quid pro quo link circle. Don’t be disappointed when your article is omitted. I am writing this column for Readers like me — the ones who want dependably good content to peruse on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
This week started slow, with 95% of PF blogs rushing out their monthly spending/goals/net worth updates. I know these posts probably help to keep bloggers “honest”, but they don’t exactly make for the most riveting of reading. Our very own Joe Wood even had the temerity to sneak my to-do list into his monthly goals list. Sneaky. Luckily, things picked up by Wednesday, and I am happy to present another batch of excellent posts to go with your morning coffee, and spare you my fall-back plan: random vacation snapshots of yours truly with commentary on how getting wasted in Ibiza really helped me gain a better sense of myself. I’ll save that one for another week – let that be a warning to you, fellow bloggers, to make sure your game is stepped up at all times.
W at Off Road Finance told us to stop worrying about people stealing our trading strategies. Following his advice was very easy for me – I don’t have a trading strategy. Yet. (Probably a sign that I need to visit W’s blog more often.) But I totally get what he’s saying. I used to worry that if everyone applied the frugal shopping tips I post on Blue Collar Red Lipstick, I would never be able to find all those amazing bargains at my local consignment and thrift stores. Then I realized that I was being silly; no one reads BCRL. Nah, I’m just kidding. It’s because there will always be more people out there going through the over-spending-shame-purge cycle, and replenishing the supply for people like me.
Paula at Afford Anything talked about the difference between saving for goals and saving for flexibility (and why she does the latter). I think the bottom line, though, is a Joe-endorsed concept: just save. (Editor Joe’s Note: it is.) It doesn’t really matter why, as long as you do it. With that said, I concur with Paula’s approach because, to me, saving is about freedom – the freedom to do as you please. Just another word for flexibility.
This week, Get Rich Slowly featured a guest post from Robert Brokamp (of the Motley Fool) who discussed at length all the various financial risks that you will need to mitigate. His advice on mitigation options might be a tad generic, but the comprehensive checklist is useful in itself as a financial “to-do” list. Don’t you just love those?
Once again, Control Your Cash writes what we’re all afraid to come out and say: we love our cars. Actually, CYC didn’t write a paean to your Kia; they just talked about the liberty afforded by car ownership, but the love was all there (in the subtext). So, time to own up and confess: I, too, prefer being a carbon criminal to riding the bus.
| Get Canada’s best Credit Card deal, the Smart Cash MasterCard® Credit Card, today! |
Although not strictly in the PF game, PK at Don’t Quit Your Day Job knocks it out of the ballpark with a post on why cutting algebra from school curricula is a stupid idea (and a sign of impending doom). At one point in the middle of his (excellent) article, PK makes a modest proposal (in the spirit of Swift) to eliminate grades as a way to address the so-called problem of school-being-too-hard (a.k.a. you-didn’t-study-hard-enough-itis), but I can inform him that schools in my home town are already one step ahead of the trend. Let me introduce you to the “no zero” policy. Yep, no kid can ever get a zero, even if they hand in NO work. And that is in the land of the (supposed) better school systems, Canada. I think I just pulled a muscle doing a triple eye-roll/head shake/face palm.
Finally, we come to the Personal Finance Fail of the Week. This week’s “honouree”, Lance at Money, Life & More, has decided to break free from the PF herd and take a radical stance on dividend stocks; specifically, he’s decided that they are a bad idea. Probably. He thinks. Maybe. Hey, he’s not an investment advisor or anything, and this post is based on nothing more than some vague intestinal rumblings he experienced whilst watching The Suze Orman Show. Or did he really just get around to reading his own writing and feel sick to his stomach? But here’s a tip: if you can’t stand squarely behind your opinion, don’t share it.
That’s all for the Sunday Reader. Check back on Wednesday for part 3 of 4 in my series on work wardrobes. Have a good week!
I have a feeling that Money Life And More is going to be a regular feature in the fail section. Call it a hunch.
lol ML&M is to me what the Hamm-ster is to CYC. I beamed with pride when I saw Adina has joined my game of mocking that tool.
Do you guys have Arrested Development (and do you watch/have you watched it?). Your description of grades seems like it comes straight from Maeby’s school, haha (and no, the C- isn’t a real C-).
AD is my favourite TV series of all time. Great reference. No idea if Adina has seen it though.
Dude! It is MY favourite show of all time. Give me some credit, jeez!
lol this is truly one of those “great minds think alike” moments.