Economy and Your Finances Carnival Aug 16th 2009

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Welcome to the August 16, 2009 edition of this carnival. I’ll be out visiting the King Tut exhibit here in Indy, so I’ll be having a good Sunday. I hope you are having a good Sunday too, and here are some great posts to make it better.

Personal Finance

David presents 0% Balance Transfer Offers posted at Credit Card Offers IQ, saying, “Here is one of the largest list of 0% balance transfer offers on the Internet.”

The Dough Roller presents Will the ‘Real’ FICO Credit Score Please Stand Up posted at The Dough Roller, saying, “When you check your FICO score, make sure you get your real FICO score, and not a fake!”

Patrick @ Cash Money Life presents Is Your Car Eligible for the Cash For Clunkers Program? posted at Cash Money Life, saying, “Eligibility criteria for the Cash for Clunkers Program.”

Patrick @ Military Money presents Is REDUX Retirement Worth it? posted at Military Finance Network, saying, “REDUX is a military retirement option that offers military members a $30,000 Career Service bonus in return for a lower monthly pension. But is it worth it?”

The Dough Roller presents List of Free Prepaid Credit Cards posted at The Dough Roller, saying, “Review of prepaid credit cards that are free or low cost.”

Patrick @ Money Saving Deals presents Chase Bank $150 Coupon Code for New Chase Checking Account posted at Cash Money Life Deals, saying, “Get a $150 sign up bonus with Chase Bank Checking Account.”

Barbara Williams presents 100 Money-Saving Hacks for Living Large on a Student Budget posted at Online Courses.

Brian presents Healthcare Costs Of The Obese posted at How To Live a Longer Life, saying, “Politics aside: Until we start spending less on marginal life extension and start focusing on the obesity epidemic in America healthcare costs will continue to rise regardless of future healthcare reform.”

Ashley Cook presents Easy Ways to Save Money at the Gas Station posted at Saving Money Today, saying, “With rising gas prices and pressure on the economy, pinching pennies at the gas pump can add up to some seriously big bucks.”

Harold presents Cash for Clunkers – An Uncertain Future posted at The Car Enthusiast, saying, “Although the Cash for Clunkers program has been quite popular, it has faced its fair share of challenges and criticisms.”

SpendOnLife.com presents 12 Little-Known Credit Facts posted at SpendOnLife.

Lazy Man and Money presents How I Saved Hundreds in a Half Hour posted at Lazy Man and Money.

Jeff Rose presents Changing Careers? How To Become a Certified Financial Planner posted at Jeff Rose.

Pinyo presents 15 Insider Insurance Shopping Tips From State Farm posted at Moolanomy.

FIRE Getters presents New Money Rules for Financial Security – #6. Diversification posted at FIRE Finance.

debt kid presents Why I’ll Never Get Another 30 Year Mortgage posted at DebtKid.

Managed Services presents Pricing Your Services in Tough Economic Times posted at Managed Services Blog.

Ben presents Market Capitalization: An Overview posted at Money Smart Life.

Debt Freedom Fighter presents The Correct Way to Report Cases of Identity Theft posted at Discover Debt Freedom!.

kathryn presents Easy Ways to Slash Bank Fees posted at Out of Debt Christian, saying, “Bank fees continue to go higher and higher, which means that avoiding them is more important than ever! With fees deducted directly from your account, it can be tough to notice that may have been charged hundreds of dollars per year just for the privilege of using your own money! Fortunately, you can cut these fees to nearly zero by taking just a few easy steps:”

Wise_Bread presents 5 Good Reasons to Keep Your Clunker posted at Wisebread.

MatthewPaulson presents Borrowing Against Home Equity – The Dangers posted at Fine-Tuned Finances.

Deposit Accounts presents Maintain Your IRA With an Annual Checkup posted at Deposit Accounts.

Chris McClelland presents Paypal adds fees, and really hopes you don posted at Lucrative Investing.

Debt

Master Your Card presents How to Pull Off A Successful Credit Card Dispute posted at Master Your Card, saying, “It’s happened to all of us. You buy something in a store, and when you get it home, find out that it just doesn’t work. Maybe you’ve made a purchase online and it arrives damaged or isn’t the item you thought you were getting. Perhaps you’ve stayed in a hotel or flown on a plane and found out after the fact that they’ve added charges and fees that you weren’t expecting. Or maybe the cashier just swiped your card too many times and you were charged twice for the same purchase.”

Finance Tips 101 presents Pocket Some Hard Earned Cash By Saving On The Electric Bill posted at Finance Tips 101.

CreditCardAssist.com presents Calculate the Length of Your Credit Card Debt posted at Credit Cards Blog | CreditCardAssist.com, saying, “Discusses the importance of calculating the payoff period conservatively for your balance transfer to avoid finance charges on the back end.”

Bob Brooks presents Tax Receipts Report Largest Drop Since 1929 posted at Bob Brooks – Prudent Money Blog.

Economics

Dividend Tree presents BRIC Acronym ? Does it Have Any Relevance? posted at Dividend Tree, saying, “there are fundamentally significant differences in BRIC nations. According to me there is no way one can club these countries together. This is once again a delusional concept purported by financial firms to sell their fund-based products.”

The Seven Scholars presents Special Drawing Rights: Potentials and Pitfalls of a New Reserve Currency posted at The Seven Scholars, saying, “Discussion the possibility of replacing the dollar as the reserve currency with the basket unit Special Drawing Rights.”

Cameron Daniels presents Comparing Forms of Entitlement Programs, Part II posted at Don’t Quit Your Day Job – Personal Finance, Economics and Investing, saying, “The lack of liquidity in the Earned Income Tax Credit is one of the reasons for the rise of the payday loan industry. This is one advantage that living wage laws have over negative taxes.”

Darwin presents Oil Gas Price Correlation: How to Estimate the Impact of Oil Prices on Your Wallet posted at Darwin’s Finance, saying, “A user-friendly tool to calculate the impact of oil on what you pay at the pump – as you’ll see, the relationship is anything but simple.”

Dan at Everydayfinance presents Child Costs 2008-2009: $221,000 thru 17 (Before College Costs!) posted at Everyday Finance, saying, “This article breaks down a recent government report outlinging the sticker shock associated with children – over $200K each excluding college!”

ChristianPF presents Timebanking: The new money-saving movement posted at Money in the Bible | Christian Personal Finance Blog, saying, “The Time Banking movement is all about bartering our hours…”

Zach Scheidt presents Retail Data Fails to Inspire posted at ZachStocks, saying, “Retail Sales and Initial Jobless Claims continue to call economic recovery into question. True to recent trends, the market appears to be shrugging off data.”

Investments

Michael Schindler presents 4 Benefits of Index Fund Investing posted at Your Personal Finance Source.

TIP Guy presents Power Companies leading the Renewed IPO Buzz posted at TIPBlog.in, saying, “Both Adani Power and Indiabulls Power have no operating history, and even then they are being priced at 30+ P/E. Agreed they are all potential future growth opportunities. However, individuals buying into these IPO as already paying higher valuations i.e. the future growth has already been priced into these values. Where is the potential for capital growth?”

The Investor presents Thoughts on the summer stock market rally posted at Monevator.com, saying, “Many people are asking how sustainable the bounce back in the market is, but perhaps too few people are scared they’ll miss this one in a generation chance to invest when the market is down over a decade…”

Silicon Valley Blogger presents Stock Market Index Analysis: Predicting An S & P Reversal posted at The Smarter Wallet,

Jae Jun presents 2009 Top 40 Best Stocks to Retire On: Part 4 | Old School Value posted at Old School Value, saying, “Analyzed all 40 of Fortune’s Best Stocks to Retire on list of 2009. View the results now.”

Vahid Chaychi presents Money Management Is the Critical Part of Forex Trading posted at Forex Signals | Forex Market Analysis | Online Currency Trading Education, saying, “Money management is the most important part of forex trading. Without following the money management rules, forex trading will be nothing but loss.”

Stocks

Zach Scheidt presents Genoptix Inc. (GXDX) Adding Physicians and Growing Revenue posted at ZachStocks, saying, “Genoptix Inc. Reported a strong quarter adding customers and increasing revenue by 63%. The oncology diagnostic firm will continue to see growth regardless of health care reform direction.”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of this carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.