My Family’s Money

Here are some of the things I have been reading around the web:

I’ve Paid For This Twice Already … posted a good article about maximizing MyPoints rewards. It is a pretty good article for working your way around the MyPoints arena but the wisdom and logic she uses to find out the best strategy for the rewards available are universal and apply to almost any rewards program you could ever find yourself in. They are also good strategies for finding bargains and deals in just about everything from food, to electronics, to pet monkeys. The pet monkey market is particularly cut-throat and confusing so these topics will help me out a lot.

Web-Dosh had clued me in to CentSports.com with post a about his favorite money makers. You can bet on sporting events for free … without any risk of losing your money. You only start off with $0.10, but turning that into $10 (the minimum payout) only takes 8 consecutive successful bets where you bet all you got and double your money. I’m not sure how likely I am to win 8 consecutive bets, but who cares – its free money for everybody!

Consumerism Commentary mentions some different ways to store an emergency fund. I have been thinking about putting some of our emergency fund into a Roth IRA as well, but since I have read articles both by the Flexo and Me vs. Debt (who just decided to us her Roth IRA as an emergency fund) I think I won’t feel so brilliant anymore for coming up with the idea a few weeks ago. Apparently, more brilliant-er people thought it up way before and somehow I stole it with my crazy ESPN. I see sports people …

Brip Blap hosted the Carnival of Financial Goals where he included an article by Lazy Man that caught my attention. I think I like reading about people in their early years earning a substantial alternate income and having a net worth in the hundreds of thousands. While I don’t work in a job that will get me any where near a 6 figure salary any time soon (like Lazy Man did), it still helps me feel like its possible to build enough alternate income to kick the work habit and really be productive.

My Good Cents posted an article that linked to some neat tips about shopping at Target. It sounds like my wife and I may have to go to Target on Tuesdays for all the cheap canned foods. We recently found some oh so soft toilet paper on clearance there so I am excited to expand the number of luxury items we can buy on the cheap.

The Digerati Life got me think about how dollar averaging works because it is a way to take advantage of dips in the market while minimizing risk. It may not hold the highest potential for maximum returns, but it really seems like the safest, easiest, and least time consuming way to manage the fluctuations in a market.

Carnivals I participated in:
Carnival of Cash Back & Rewards
The Superbowl of Personal Finance
Ethics, Values and Personal Finance – Super Wednesday Girls Scout Cookie Edition

Articles Feature in Carnivals This Week:
Did I Make the Right Credit Card Choice?
What Would You Do With A Penny?
Ethiopia, Equality, and the Principle of Fairness

Note: I am really interested in the Carnival of Ethics, Values and Personal Finance. I will probably be picking a few of the articles that really stick out to me and writing responses/how-they-make-me-feel posts about them before the next carnival gets posted next month.