Personal Finance Buzz

Welcome to the Money Hacks Carnival #27 -- the Financial Dilemmas edition. In this edition, I am posing a few common financial questions and invite you to participate by answering them on your blog, or provide your input in the comment section below. First up are the Editor's Picks.

Editor's Picks

1. 100 Tips and Tools for a Better, Greener Career at JobProfiles.org -- 100 resources to help you find a career that suits your desire for better, greener employment.
2. Step By Step Guide To Grocery Savings at artofthecoupon.com -- Four great tips on how to save money on food and other household items.
3. 36 Ways to Reduce Your Home's Energy Use at Trees Full of Money -- With energy prices on the rise, and the sustainability of our environment in question, Ben shares some of the energy saving tips that he picked up over the years.
4. Real Estate and Mortgages: Tips for selling or buying a house at Bible Money Matters -- Pete shares his experience with Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University.
5. 10 tips to becoming a Make Money Online sheep at Swollen Pickles -- I normally wouldn't include something like this in a personal finance carnival, but it's freaking hilarious and I couldn't resist.

Dilemma #1: Renting versus buying a house. The traditional answer is to own your own home because you're building equity and there's also tax benefits. What's your opinion and why?

Career

• Five Valuable Business Lessons – From Trump’s hit TV Show ‘The Apprentice’ at PennyJobs.com -- Curt shares the five business lessons he learned from The Apprentice show.
• 10 Advantages of Being a Young Entrepreneur at Anand Dhillon's Self-Help Blog -- Starting your own business and being an entrepreneur is a wonderful experience at any age. However, there are advantages to be a young entrepreneur.

Dilemma #2: Invest versus mortgage pre-payment. The PF Blogosphere is heavily divided on this issue. Personally, I like the financial flexibility of investing over the guaranteed saving of pre-payment. Which one would you choose and why?

Credit and Debt

• Getting out of Debt at Happy to be at Home -- A personal story of Toni's family Path to Freedom to inspire you to get out of debt.
• Best Gas Rewards Credit Cards at Cash Money Life -- Rising gas prices are affecting everyone across the country. A good way to ease the pain is with a gas rewards card. Patrick share some of the best gas reward cards available.
• 5% Cash Back at Supermarkets & Gas Stations at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity -- Jim shares a very cool credit card that gives you 5% cashback on supermarkets, drug stores and gas stations purchases.
• Change in interest rate: Impact on floating rate home loan, EMI and tenure at RaagVamdatt.com -- An in-depth look at the impact of interest rate on home loan, EMI and tenure (Indian market).

Dilemma #3: Should you build an emergency fund or pay down your debt first? I like to save money by paying down debt as fast as I can, but many will disagree. What would you do and why?

Economy

• 10 Things You Need to Know Before You Refinance Your Home at Fiscal Liberty -- Many homeowners think about refinancing at one time or another. Whatever your reason for considering refinancing, there are some things you need to know before you sign on the dotted line.
  
• The Dope on National Debt Revisited at Greener Pastures -- You think you have debt problems? Check out our National Debt.

Dilemma #4: Saving for retirement versus paying down debt. Both are important and can have great financial impact. How would you prioritize the two?

Frugality

• Back To School - Savers Guide at FIRE Finance -- Back to school season is here and FIRE Finance gives us a well thought out strategy to combat rising costs.
• Frugal Textbook Buying Tips at Realm of Prosperity -- Another back to school article. This one focuses on how to save money on textbooks.
• Booking A Hotel Through An Online Travel Site May Not Be Worth It at Free From Broke -- Using an online travel site isn't always worth it. In fact they could be ripping you off! Sometimes the best deals may be from the hotel itself.
• Two Games You Really Don't Need at Wisdom From Wenchypoo's Mental Wastebasket -- Shares her thought on discounts and rebates offer by various store. In the end, it's better to stick with inexpensive and save your money upfront. Why wait to get your money back?
• The HDTV Challenge: Update 4 at Not the Jet Set -- The gang at NtJS is buying a $1,400 HDTV and they are doing it by selling things they don't need.
• Save Money on Gas by Tracking Your Mileage at Five Cent Nickel -- Nickel was able to improve his gas mileage by 15%. And now he's sharing a more general tip for saving money on gas: track your mileage mileage.
• Frugal Slipcovers: How I Made Over My Living Room for $200 at Sound Money Matters -- Aryn shares her slipcovers adventure. She can blog and sew -- what else can you ask for. Good job with the slipcovers.
• More on the Saving Advantages of a Whole-House (Attic) Fan at Free Money Finance -- FMF shares a great way to cool your house at one-tenth the cost of running your central air conditioner.
• Women's Institute: Thrifty Goddesses? at Miss Thrifty -- The Women's Institute (known as the WI) is big in the UK. Its members hold a formidable reputation for household know-how. But Miss Thrifty was not impressed.
• A Guideline For Your Budget And Spending Plan at The Happy Rock -- The Happy Rock shares some budgeting tips.
• Open A WTDirect Savings Account and Earn Up To $250 at The Digerati Life -- SVB shares information about WTDirect Savings Account that 3.31% APR and sign up bonus.
• Being frugal when temptation strikes (is really hard) at Living Well on Less -- You have been eying it for over a year and it's finally on sale...50% off. What do you do? Break your frugal habit and buy it or skip?
• Is Your Lawn Sucking You Dry? 6 Ideas to Save Money and Water at No Debt Plan -- Some people are putting thousands and thousands of gallons of clean, treated water on their lawns. That can get very expensive very quickly.
• Save Money on Formula and Diapers - 3 Tips That Work at Modernparent.org -- Diapers and formula add up to a lot of money each year. In this article, a mom shares her first-hand experience on how to save money on these essential items.
• One Hour With Teri Gault – Part Six at Momma's Blog -- This is the 6th part of "One Hour With Teri Gault" series, the result of a telephone interview with Teri, the founder and CEO of The Grocery Game and TeriToday.com.
• How to Lower Your Cell Phone Bill and Free up Cash at CellPhones.Org -- A few tips on how to lower your cell phone bill.

Dilemma #5: Frugality versus cheap. What are the key differences between these two qualities?

Investing

• Roth IRA: Wrought Your Way To A Brighter Retirement at Personal Finance Analyst -- The differences between Roth IRA and the Traditional IRA are quite simple. However, the implications of those differences are not as simple.
• My Bottom 5 Stocks at Dividends4Life -- A look at D4L bottom 5 stocks and his brief analysis for each.
• Making Your Hard Earned Dollars Work Harder For You at Think Your Way to Wealth -- Are you putting your money to work? Is it doing all it can do for you? Is it losing value, being eroded away by inflation? Here are some things to consider when it comes to "putting your money to work".
• FNBO Direct’s Online Savings Account Review at Savings Toolbox -- First National Bank of Omaha entered into the online savings market through a division they now call FNBO Direct. This is a review of FNBO no-fees, no-minimums 3.50% APY savings account.
• A Venture Capitalist’s Advice on “Regular” Investing at Can I Get Rich On A Salary -- What would the father of venture capitalist investing advice be like? Read and find out.

Dilemma #6: ETFs versus mutual funds. Both are fantastic investment products, but which one would you choose and for what reasons?

Making Money

• Growing Assets Almost For Free at The Shark Investor -- Here are some ideas for growing your assets and income without big start up capital.
• Additional $15 Bonus From Revolution Money Exchange at My Dollar Plan -- Madison shares information about RevolutionCard and the offer for a free $15! Use your card for three purchases of $25 each, and you’ll get $5 for each purchase.
• A Beginner’s Guide To Selling In Online Classified Ads and Auction Sites at Ready To Be Rich -- Fitz offers some simple tips on how to start selling online for extra income. We usually have junk just lying around the house. Here's a way to turn them into cash.
• Characteristics required for successful blogging at $aving to Invest -- Are you interested in making more money by becoming a blogger? In this article, Andy shares his experience candidly with the rest of the world.

Dilemma #7: Good debt versus bad debt. Is there such a thing as good debt?

Other

• How To Dispute Your Property Taxes at Tallahassee Real Estate Blog -- A detailed look at Tallahasse real estate market and whether or not homeowner could dispute the still rising property taxes.
• Your Future without Debt! at Everything Finance -- If you are a high school graduate that doesn't know much about finance (except how to write a check and balance your check book), here are some advice:
• You Think Making More Money equals happiness? Think Again at Personal Hack -- While each person has a unique set of blind spots, a very common is associating happiness with a higher income. Another common blind spot is associating weight loss or having a great body shape with happiness. Do you have these?
• How do I love the credit union? at Funny About Money -- Someone really dig his credit union.
• Time for another "Would you rather" question! (a hard one) at Budgets are Sexy -- If you have to choose between giving $1 million to your friends and family versus getting $500,000 for yourself, which one would you choose?
• How to calculate MPG at ChristianPF -- Bob provides some basic tips on how to calculate your MPG and shares a nifty online tool that calculate and track your MPG for you.

Thank you for participating in the Money Hacks Carnival! Next week, the carnival will be hosted by Saving To Invest.