Personal Finance Analyst » Carnivals

Carnival of Money Stories #56 – The Quit Facebook Edition

Anthony — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 02:11:35 +0000

Welcome to the 56th Edition of the Carnival of Money Stories. This week’s edition was inspired by an interesting article that I read regarding facebook.

There were many informative and entertaining blog posts that were entered but many of them were not Money Stories.

If your submission doesn’t appear here, it’s not because it was not appreciated, it just means that it didn’t fit the genre of a Money Story or Experience.

Without further ado, here are this week’s selected entries: (The Blogs with arrows pointing to them have been given the editors nod).

Credit

Mr Credit Card presents Demonstraton Of The Starwood Amex Value Equation posted at Ask Mr Credit Card.

Debt

debt kid presents The Snowball Rolls Again posted at Debt Kid.

BIFS presents Financial Confession posted at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff, saying, “We took a large loan out for bedroom furniture and hoped for the best so we wouldn’t have to use our emergency fund to cover it.”

Barb presents Understanding Credit: Part 3 Esmerelda Revisited posted at Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance, saying, “This story tells of a girl who got herself in debt really fast by her own doing. Esmerelda is like many young people just starting out. Read her story, and learn how to avoid going into debt.”

Investing

2 Cents presents How to Invest a Lump Sum of Money: Reader Question posted at Balance Junkie, saying, “Here’s the story of a reader who received a lump sum payment from an accident injury suffered by her husband. She was wondering how to invest the money, so we tossed the question to readers and received some good responses.”

Silicon Valley Blogger presents What Is Options Trading? An Analogy posted at The Digerati Life, saying, “I discuss what options trading is by using analogies and stories.”

Other

Money Beagle presents I Need To Duplicate Our Christmas Fund posted at Money Beagle.

–> FMF presents Help a Reader: Discussing a Pre-Nup posted at Free Money Finance, saying, “A compelling story and a question: how should one go about asking for a pre-nup?”

Joe Plemon presents Why Joe and Jan Do Not Have Long Term Care Insurance posted at Personal Finance By The Book, saying, “In spite of what the title seem to infer, this post is not about Long Term Care Insurance; it is about Joe and Jan…and why they don’t have any.”

vh presents How a Frugal Find Helped End a Friendship posted at Funny about Money, saying, “Can your frugal habits undermine relationships with friends?”

–> Donna Freedman presents Jam jars and laminate flooring: Why Freecycle rocks. posted at Surviving and Thriving, saying, “I kept five empty oatmeal boxes because I figured someone would want them. And someone did.”

jacqjolie presents The money taboo that should stay taboo – talking to others about their finances posted at Single Mom, Rich Mom.

LeanLifeCoach presents Frugal Printing, Is It Possible? posted at Eliminate The Muda!, saying, “Printer ink costs up to $4,000 per gallon, how frugally can we print?”

Shopping

The Wise Squirrel presents Pac-Man for Free – How About the Real Thing? posted at Squirrelers, saying, “Is there anything from your childhood that you couldn’t have then, but could probably afford now? Something that isn’t practical, but would satisfy a long-term want?”

Next week’s host is My Journey To Millions so please get your entries in early.

Moneydance vs. Quicken: What product suits your needs?

Katie Dean — Tue, 25 May 2010 05:45:14 +0000

Choosing software can be confusing. The variety is getting more extensive and depending on what features you need, will determine the best product for you.

Moneydance

Moneydance is an application for personal finance that was developed by Reilly Technologies. The user interface is geared towards non-accountants although it is a double entry bookkeeping system. Moneydance can be run on multiple operating systems such as: Linux, Mac OS, OS/2, Unix, and Windows.

Online Banking: You can synchronize transactions with your records with the support of OFX, QFX, and QIF files. You can also pay your bills instantly using its online bill pay option.

Schedule: Be on time with your payments, bills, and paychecks. Moneydance tracks all of your overdue bills and calculates interest for your loans.

Budgeting: Budget your monthly expenses to your actual income. Moneydance will show you where you are over or under budget.

Portfolio: Track your investments and keep your portfolio up to date. You can view the total value of your investment accounts such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and CDs.

Import: Any program that exports data using the QIF format will be imported by Moneydance.

Compatibility: Moneydance can run on almost any operating system. This gives you maximum flexibility.

International: Moneydance is used in over 75 countries and offers support in eight languages. It makes it easy for tax reporting by tracking and calculating VAT and GST.

Privacy: You will be able to encrypt and password protect your data for increased security and privacy.

Quicken

Intuit Inc. developed Quicken as a personal finance management tool. There are various versions of Quicken available such as: New user, Basic, Deluxe, Rental Property Manager, Premier and Home & Business. Most versions of Quicken are specialized for United States and Canada. Although it can be used more widely no matter what country it is. Quicken operates on Macintosh and Windows. As you can see Quicken offers more options than Moneydance depending on what version fits your needs.

Features	Quicken Deluxe	Quicken Premier	Quicken Home & Business	Quicken Rental Property Manager
Organize Finances	*	*	*	*
Secure Online Banking	*	*	*	*
Easy Tax Preparation	*	*	*	*
Budget	*	*	*	*
Set Goals	*	*	*	*
Manage Investments		*	*	*
Manage Business Income and Expenses			*	*
Manage Rental Property				*

Quicken is a better choice for business’ or anyone that needs more options. Moneydance is an alternative for individual needs. It also depends on what operating system you are using. Try to keep all this in mind when choosing your product.

Personal Finance Carnival Round-Up – #47

Anthony — Wed, 19 May 2010 18:10:28 +0000

Hi Everyone,

Here are some Blog Carnivals that we participated in over the last few weeks. Enjoy!

- Carnival of Personal Finance #253 (The Demotivational Version) was hosted by Punch Debt In The Face and you can find our post entitled US Economic Recession History… This Isn’t Anything New… listed there.

- Carnival of Taxes #70 (The May Day Edition) was hosted by Don’t Mess With Taxes and you can find our post entitled How to Value a Charitable Donation listed there.

- Festival of Frugality was hosted by Beating Broke (The Earth Week 2010 Edition) and you can find our post entitled Frugality vs. Deprivation: Does Saving Money Damage Your Quality of Life? listed there.

- Carnival of Money Stories #52 was hosted by Carnival of Money Stories and you can find our post entitled It’s the Grocery Game… And I’m Actually Interested listed there.

- Money Hacks Carnival #114 (The Hollywood Edition) was hosted by Nerd Wallet and you can find our post entitled Enjoying a Cheap Summer listed there.

- Festival of Stocks (IRA’s, ETF’s, Dividends Edition) was hosted by Quick Trades and you can find our post entitled iShares: A Leader in Exchange Transfer Funds (ETFs) listed there.

Personal Finance Carnival Round-Up – #46

Anthony — Sat, 08 May 2010 17:51:25 +0000

Hi Everyone,

Here are some Blog Carnivals that we participated in over the last few weeks. Enjoy!

- Money Hacks Carnival #112 (The Savannah Edition) was hosted by Mrs. Nespy’s Frugal World and you can find our post entitled Disneyland Package Deals Offer a Great Vacation Opportunity listed there.

- Festival of Stocks (IRA’s, ETF’s, Dividends Edition) was hosted by Quick Trades and you can find our post entitled iShares: A Leader in Exchange Transfer Funds (ETFs) listed there.

Personal Finance Carnival Round-Up – #45

Anthony — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 19:51:06 +0000

Hi Everyone,

Here are some Blog Carnivals that we participated in over the last few weeks. Enjoy!

- Carnival of Personal Finance #252 (Famous People with Tax Troubles Edition) was hosted by The Wisdom Journal and you can find our post entitled The Benefits of a Recession… No, Seriously. listed there.

- Carnival of Debt Reduction was hosted by Carnival of Debt Reduction and you can find our post entitled Can I Negotiate Credit Card Debt Reduction? listed there.

- Carnival of Money Stories #49 (The Sakura Spring Edition) was hosted by Foreigners Finance and you can find our post entitled It’s the Grocery Game… And I’m Actually Interested listed there.

Personal Finance Carnival Round-Up – #44

Anthony — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 16:35:03 +0000

Hi Everyone,

Here are some Blog Carnivals that we participated in over the last few weeks. Enjoy!

- Carnival of Taxes #64 (Groundhog Day Edition) was hosted by Don’t Mess With Taxes and you can find our post entitled A List of Tax Deductibles You Might not Believe listed there.

- Carnival of Stocks #178 was hosted by Compounding Life and you can find our post entitled The Gold ETF Situation listed there.

- Carnival of Debt Reduction was hosted by Carnival of Debt Reduction and you can find our post entitled A Smart Approach to Credit Card Debt Relief listed there.

- Festival of Frugality #215 was hosted by Pragmatic Environmentalism and you can find our post entitled Seeing Savings – Online Glasses listed there.

- Money Hacks Carnival #102 (The Build A New Blog Edition) was hosted by Passive Income Now and you can find our post entitled The Best Free Budget Worksheets on the Internet listed there.

Personal Finance Carnival Round-Up – #43

Anthony — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 16:46:05 +0000

Hi Everyone,

Here are some Blog Carnivals that we participated in over the last week. Enjoy!

- Carnival of Personal Finance #241 was hosted by My Journey To Millions and you can find our post entitled Do You Save with Legal Zoom? Is it Worth the Risk? listed there.

- Carnival of Debt Reduction (It’s Working Edition) was hosted by Eliminate The Muda and you can find our post entitled Credit Card Debt Consolidation Loan Guide listed there.

- Festival of Frugality #214 was hosted by Ultimate Money Blog and you can find our post entitled Finding New Egg Coupon and Promotional Codes listed there.

- Carnival of Money Stories #38 was hosted by My Journey To Millions and you can find our post entitled Borders Coupons Leave Money for Chai Tea Lattes listed there.

Personal Finance Carnival Round-Up – #42

Anthony — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:52:34 +0000

Hi Everyone,

Here are some Blog Carnivals that we participated in over the last week. Enjoy!

- Carnival of Personal Finance #240 (The Support Haiti Edition) was hosted by Million Dollar Journey and you can find our post entitled The FCRA, Secret Scores and Why Credit Consumers are Flying Blind–Again listed there.

- Money Hacks Carnival #100 was hosted by Ultimate Money Blog and you can find our post entitled Do Credit Unions Offer the Best Credit Card Options for You? listed there.

- Carnival of Money Stories (The Springtime in Arizona Edition) was hosted by Funny About Money and you can find our post entitled It’s the Grocery Game… And I’m Actually Interested listed there.

Personal Finance Carnival Round-Up – #41

Anthony — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 12:33:42 +0000

Hi Everyone,

Here are some Blog Carnivals that we participated in over the last week. Enjoy!

- Festival of Frugality #212 (The New Beginnings Edition) was hosted by Yes I Am Cheap and you can find our post entitled Student Advantage Discount Card: This Looks Like a Bargain! listed there.

Personal Finance Carnival Round-Up – #40

Anthony — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:18:22 +0000

Hi Everyone,

Here are some Blog Carnivals that we participated in over the last week. Enjoy!

- Carnival of Personal Finance #238 (The 5 Tricks To Keep Your Resolutions For The Year Edition) was hosted by The Financial Blogger and you can find our post entitled Calculating 401(k) Early Withdrawal Fees, Look Before You Leap… listed there.

- Festival of Frugality #211 (The How To Eliminate The Muda And Live More Frugally Edition) was hosted by Eliminate The Muda and you can find our post entitled Finding Orbitz Promotion Codes to Cut Travel Costs listed there.