The Carnival of Financial Camaraderie #42 
39 Comments
This carnival is hosted every second week by My University Money and you can submit articles at Blogger Carnivals. Thank you to Justin and Teacher Man for setting up this carnival. And thank you to Don for setting up an awesome carnival hub.
It’s been quite a while since I’ve hosted a carnival here at Modest Money. In all honesty it will probably be my last time hosting. While I love to share posts from other bloggers, it seems that many bloggers don’t really appreciate the hosts of these carnivals.
About half of the submissions were from bloggers treating this as a one way link dump. It was actually fairly interesting to see who took that approach. I was disappointed to see that the one way crowd included some of my blogger friends.
So here are this week’s carnival features from the people who are willing to support the system…
BUDGETING
Matt @ Living in Financial Excellence writes It Might Be Time to Make Some More Money – I know “in this economy” jobs are tough to come by and I know it’s hard to find time to get a second job, etc. etc. etc. But the bottom line literally remains the same: You don’t have enough money coming in so you need to go get more money coming in.
SB @ Finance Product Reviews writes Barclays Online Saving Account Review – Barclays Saving account product targets US consumers with an instant access saving bank account and longer-term CD products. Read if it is good fit for you
BUSINESS
Steve @ Brip Blap writes How Companies Miss the Big Picture – Companies need to realize that it’s not always just about the “big things” like salary and titles. Little perks can make a big difference, and they aren’t always just perks. It doesn’t even have to be something like upgrading a sick business traveler from coach class. It can be small things like letting employees take time off for doctor’s appointments, or letting people come in a hour later and leave an hour later if that suits their lifestyle better
CAREER & EDUCATION
Kevin @ Thousandaire writes Skills, Not Education, Make You Money – You don’t need a college education to get a great job and make money. You just need valuable skills.
PPlan @ Provident Plan writes Is Self Employment a Viable Career Option? – Find out if self employment or running your own business is the right thing for you.
Amanda L Grossman @ Frugal Confessions writes Ways to Take Advantage of Back to School Sales (Even if You Don’t have Kids) – I opened up my Sunday paper this past weekend and saw that back to school sales have already begun.
Roger the Amateur Financier @ The Amateur Financier writes Job Hunting Success – Three Job Application Methods – Hunting for a new job! Learn these Three Job Application Methods to help you out!
YFS @ Your Finances Simplified writes Could You Survive At the Povery Line? – Sometime ago, very early in my blogging career. Ha, I’m writing this as if I didn’t start blogging in October of 2011. Time sure does fly.
Little House @ Little House in the Valley writes Don’t Go Back to School Handbook – Recently, there’s been some backlash towards college with some opponents arguing that it doesn’t make financial sense for everyone. I’ve always been a proponent for education, but even I’m feeling a little bit of this sentiment with rising college costs, student loan debt soaring, and a stagnant economy.
Young @ Young And Thrifty writes How To Get Your Employer to Pay For School – The decision on whether or not to go back to school to upgrade your skills (whether you are talking about a graduate degree, a diploma, or a certificate program of some kind) often hinges on the financial viability of it.
FINANCIAL ADVICE
Jason @ Live Real, Now writes Counting Cards: How to Cheat at Blackjack – Counting cards doesn’t tell you specifically what’s going to happen during each hand, it just tackles the statistics of the game. It moves the odds in your favor, by up to 2 or 3 percent. Over one hand, this won’t help, so don’t sweat losing a hand here and there. Over an entire shoe of hands, you should be able to steadily win more than you lose.
Paul Vachon @ The Frugal Toad writes Family Finances – Tips for Avoiding Conflict – Discussing the family finances causes more arguments between couples – 3 per month on average – than any other topic. So what causes most arguments about finances? The majority of couples state that misunderstandings between needs versus wants are at the root of most disagreements.
INVESTING
Beating Broke @ Beating Broke writes Lending Club 2Q2012 Update – After it’s all said and done, the one late loan in the bunch could end up dropping the rate below 13%, but it hasn’t been written off yet. If, however, it remains in a late, but paid, status, my rate is doing pretty well. As of 7/4, my account is showing a NAR (Net Annualized Return) of 13.58%.
Cash Flow Mantra @ Cash Flow Mantra writes Dividend Income Report for Q2 of 2012 – It has been my belief that I shouldn’t be saving with the goal of living off my savings when I retire. Rather, I plan on investing in assets that produce income and living off that income.
Kanwal @ Simply Investing writes When is the best time to buy stocks? – When is the best time to buy stocks? Should you try and time the market? No, market timing doesn’t work. It is always a good time to buy quality dividend paying stocks when they are undervalued. No one can predict the future. Analysts, financial experts are no good at predicting the future than you and I.
Tushar @ Start Investing Money writes Do You Know Enough to Be a Successful Stock Market Investor? – For many people the obvious route to take when thinking about investing is to head for the stock market. But is this really the wisest route for everyone? There is certainly a lot of money to be made with stocks and shares.
J.P. @ Novel Investor writes How To Avoid Securities Fraud – People fall prey to investment scams, Ponzi schemes, pyramid schemes, and IPO scams all the time. Here are the best ways to avoid it.
SFB @ Simple Finance Blog writes My Dirty Mortgage Qualification Secret – Despite the fact that I’m in the market for a new home, I’ve yet to secure a mortgage qualification. No, I’m not lazy – I’m just self-employed.
MMD @ My Money Design writes How to Read and Evaluate Basic Stock Metrics – Have you ever looked at a stock online and wondered what all the metrics represent? Which ones are good and what is their significance? This exercise walks through a stock page on CNN Money and explains the importance of each of the metrics to you.
SB @ One Cent at a Time writes Forex Trading Pros and Cons – Forex trading and stock trading are two different forms of financial trading. They may both represent two different ways to make money from the financial markets, but they have some subtle differences
OTHER
Jefferson @ See Debt Run writes How to Turn Your Kids Into Olympic Athletes – As you see athletes performing in the London Olympics, you may wonder what it took to get there. How can you help your own kids one day become olympic athletes?
Lance @ Money Life & More writes Credit Card Sign Up Bonuses: How I Made $443 in 5 Minutes – Toward the beginning of my blogging adventures I wrote about how I was in the market and shopping around for a new AC unit. Well I finally took the plunge and bought a unit. They aren’t cheap though so, per usual, I was looking for ways to take advantage of expending a large amount of money.
BARBARA FRIEDBERG @ Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance writes CHEAP SUMMER VACATION TIPS – This year’s getaway is to Vegas! We are taking our daughter and mom on a four day, three night trip. The room and airfare for the four of us is $1,100.00.
Shawanda @ You Have More Than You Think writes Innovative Money Saving Tips – With the recession showing few signs of abating, more and more people are being forced to tighten their belts.
A Blinkin @ Funancials writes How I Got Engaged: A Love-Love Story (Part II) – If you’re already sick of reading about my blossoming love then come back tomorrow as I’ll have some fresh new content focusing on how you can improve the relationship between you and your money.
krantcents @ KrantCents writes The 3 X’s of Success – The 3 X’s of Success is the twenty-fourth in a series of articles to help you reach your goal.
Suba @ Broke Professionals writes Be Prepared – Be Prepared is a post from: Broke Professionals if you enjoy it, please visit us and subscribe to the Feed. “Chance favors a prepared mind” – said Louis Pasteur, the French chemist, microbiologist and the pioneer of the germ theory of disease.
Jennifer Lynn @ Broke-Ass Mommy writes A Candid Look At My Finances – Once every few months I peek at my finances to crunch some numbers and receive an overview of my financial well-being, and I’m tickled pink to share with you. Ready? Here’s how my July numbers are shaking out…
Don @ MoneySmartGuides writes Improve Your Credit Score – If you’ve embraced a new, responsible financial future, it can be troubling to find you’re still not getting the credit you need, when you need it.
Jen @ Master the Art of Saving writes Moving in July-Escaping the Crappy Apartment – July is turning out to be a crazy month for us. The craziness is bringing change, both good and bad—and it’s really stressing me out. One of the biggest changes is that we are moving out of our apartment in July.
Aloysa @ My Broken Coin writes Why We Lie About Money – People tend to lie about money. I have yet to meet a person who would never say a lie, even a small lie. Some of us choose to conveniently omit truth. Some of us choose to tell so called “white lies.” Some of us blatantly make up stories to make ourselves look good. Some of us lie to avoid trouble.
Maria @ The Money Principle writes What you are worth and six strategies to increase your value – We are worth what people are prepared to pay for our labour. Learn how to calculate your worth and six strategies to increase it.
Crystal @ Budgeting in the Fun Stuff writes Is Your Television Making You Poor? – Does television lead you to make poor spending decisions?
Invest It Wisely @ Invest It Wisely writes Are People Shooting Themselves in the Foot With Income Reports? – I’ve always had fun looking at the income reports of others, as it’s so interesting to learn how people are doing, how about you?
Tyler @ Poor Student writes Internetoholic – First off let me say that I find it very annoying when people create words like “chocoholic” or “shopaholic”. What is chocohol? Shopahol? We have people who really like chocolate or shopping but do not understand word endings.
Passive Income Earner @ The Passive Income Earner writes When To Consider Life Insurance – When you are young and starting in the work place, life insurance is probably not something you even want to consider and you certainly don’t want to add another monthly expense to your long list. However, there are certain life milestone that should make you want to review the need for life insurance as it can play an important role in family finances.
Wayne @ Young Family Finance writes Should You Buy a Pool? – Should you buy a pool? Make sure to consider the costs of a pool and whether it is teaching your children good spending habits.
John @ Married (with Debt) writes US Bank Internet Banking – US Bank Internet Banking is a great way to save money, time, and keep your finances organized. Click through for my personal review.
JP @ My Family Finances writes Is a Prepaid Debit Card a Good Way to Teach Your College Student about Credit Cards? – The average college student has over $3,100 in credit card debt. Is a prepaid debit card a good way to teach your child about how to manage a credit card and avoid the norm?
Hank @ Money Q&A writes Five Ways To Save Money At The Movie Theater This Summer – There are tons of great ways to save money at the movie theater this summer. Here are several of my favorites to save money at the movies.
Thank you to all the bloggers who keep carnivals going. It’s just unfortunate that so many others take advantage. Ironically some of those people even host carnivals themselves.
Anyways, enough of my rant. If you were included, social shares and links are much appreciated.
Have you hosted a carnival recently? Did you notice the same trend? Do you think carnival hosts should include posts regardless of whether the submitted blogs follow submission expectations?
39 Comments
Thanks for hosting and including me this week!
Lance @ Money Life and More recently posted..Random Thoughts, Round Up and Carnivals #13
No problem Lance. I’m really interested to see how much your blog takes off after your great mentions on other blogs this week.
Me too! Can’t wait!
Thanks for the inclusion and hosting, I really appreciate it.
krantcents recently posted..Friday Night Links: Series Edition
You’re welcome. Despite my rant, it is still enjoyable connecting with the bloggers who do keep carnivals going.
Thanks for hosting and including both my articles.
SB @ One Cent At A Time recently posted..Landlord Insurance – Passive Income Earner’s Defense
No worries SB. You made me just double check that I didn’t include 2 from the same blog though. I forgot that you have more than one blog.
Thank You for hosting and mentioning.
The Archivist recently posted..Mention in Blog Carnival
No problem Archivist. Best of luck with your blog.
Thank you for hosting and for your hard work and the inclusion. I appreciated your email! Thanks for your patience with me while I learn the “ropes” and system, even if I may not be as quick-on-the-share as some others. You’re awesome Jeremy!
Don’t worry about it Lauren. I completely understand that new bloggers have a lot of different things to learn early on. Even for some experienced bloggers it takes a while to really learn things. Reach out to me with any questions at all.
What do you mean by one-way link dump — they don’t link back? I’ve noticed that happens with the bigger carnivals. Thanks for the include and for putting this together!
Invest It Wisely recently posted..Random Thoughts and Readings for the Week: The Heat Continues!
Yeah that’s what I meant. And it’s mostly the more experienced bloggers, the ones who likely do know the expectations. I think they forget that by linking back it helps everyone who takes part in the carnivals. The more people who don’t link, the more that practice spreads until the benefits are diminished for everyone.
I hadn’t really thought about it. I do always link back, although I haven’t commented on a carnival thanking for inclusion. I should really start doing that.
I just looked at the numbers for when I hosted the Yakezie Carnival 3 weeks ago. 72 articles, 18 pingbacks, and 13 thank you comments. Even if the thank yous and the pings were from different people, that’s less than half.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the thank you comments. Those are a little pointless in my opinion. I still do them myself, but more as a reminder to myself that I have added that post to my list of acknowledgements. Some bloggers might appreciate the thank yous though. I’m sure with the carnival you hosted the people pinging and thanking were primarily the same people.
Part of the problem is that newer versions of wordpress don’t seem to have properly functioning trackback sending. So many people never know they get accepted. Of course they could be more proactive about it. When I host I do take the time to e-mail all bloggers that were included. There’s not much point to bother with a blogger who hasn’t mentioned the word ‘carnival’ in their post ever or in several months.
The trackback thing is what’s been getting me! I have no idea if things have been included or not. It’s also a bit aggravating when Carnival submissions say they will email to notify and don’t (yes, I’ve checked my Spam). I fell across one by accident that was included, but haven’t got my feet under me yet from vacation :S
Anne @ Unique Gifter recently posted..Gift Basket for a Wedding Shower
No unfortunately with carnivals you can’t rely on trackbacks or e-mails. I admit that I’ve found carnival mentions months later, but I still link back when I do find them. What I try to do is pay attention to which carnival mentions other bloggers post about. If it’s something I don’t recall checking out, I’ll drop by to see if I had left a thank you comment.
The last carnival we hosted was a flop. We didn’t get comment love, tweet action, RT’s, link-backs…nothing…from more than half the entrants. It definitely soured my views of carnivals, but I forgive and forget wayyy more easily than you (not saying I’m a better person, Jeremy…just saying I have a faultier memory!) so we will probably host again at some point, but just be more vigilant about hunting down the offending bloggers!
Michelle recently posted..Giveaway : Six Months Running From Debt
I’m just more picky about this stuff because the SEO side of things is always on my mind. It bugs me a bit to see that so many people are helping a good strategy die off.
I wish I had noticed your carnival not getting comments. I try to give carnival hosts a heads up when I see that people obviously aren’t finding their mentions. These days you pretty much have to spend the time to e-mail all participants that were included. It does waste a bunch of time, but it’s worthwhile in my opinion.
I said I probably wouldn’t host again, but I guess it depends on what kind of results I see from this one. I was just particularly bitter right after checking through all submissions to see who mentions carnivals on their blogs.
It’s nice to see you making it a point to talk about those that don’t link back to the carnivals. It is pretty annoying to see some people taking advantage of the system while others are helping add to it.
Thanks for the inclusion though Jeremy!
lol hopefully I didn’t sound too bitter about it. It’s just not very logical since it is all those return links that make carnivals really powerful. I guess those people are content with less powerful links for everyone.
Hey, I haven’t put any time into carnivals, because they are mostly too large for me to read everything, and I feel like my post would just get lost in the sea of other links,
Also, how do you know people are not linking back to this article before you even post it? Don’t you have to post the article and then people can share the link? I feel like I’m missing something here.
Jacob @ iheartbudgets recently posted..Our Debt Payoff Story
Yep the links most definitely get lost to people browsing them. I doubt anyone visits all the links included. The thing is, search engines will find all the links which is the important part.
As for knowing people won’t link back, it’s not foolproof, but I searched all submitted blogs for the word ‘carnival’. Unless by the slim chance this was their very first week submitting to carnivals, that would show whether they normally link back to them or not. Since I knew this was an existing problem, I wasn’t going to freely link to everyone and edit the post later.
Thanks for the hard work Jeremy! Honestly I haven’t hosted one yet because I’m afraid of the amount of work that would go into it. And I could do a better job of linking back; I do always try. Sometimes I don’t get a ping from WordPress and I find out that I made it in weeks later.
My Money Design recently posted..Overcoming Envy – Why Do We Hate Other People’s Success?
As long as you make some effort it’s what counts. You just have to be in the habit for watching out for which carnivals other bloggers mention.
There is a fair amount of work that goes into hosting a carnival. Despite my bitching, it should still be worthwhile. The more time consuming ones are where you are obligated to limit the list to just your favorite posts out of the submissions.
I haven’t hosted a carnival yet, but plan to in the Fall. This is a really great discussion you’ve started, and very enlightening. I find I get trackbacks about 75% of the time for carnivals, and I always link back in my end of week roundup (which means there is usually a 4-5 day delay between the carnival going up and my linking back). How much work is it really to put these together – I thought the carnival organization systems pretty much gave you the outputs ready to go?
Earth and Money recently posted..Seven Reasons for Renting over Buying
Sounds like you actually get a decent trackback success rate. I’m lucky to get any at all. I’m thinking you must have an older version or wordpress or maybe your web host doesn’t block them.
There are 2 main blog carnival hubs. One does give you the full html file the post, but I wasn’t willing to link to the freeloaders which added a lot of time. The other carnival hub sends you one e-mail for each submission which makes it very inefficient. The other time consuming part is notifying everyone that they were included. Most of those people would not know otherwise due to the unreliability of trackbacks.
Good to know. I don’t think its a WordPress thing, I always keep up-to-date with the latest versions. I’m putting together my carnival round-up right now, and out of 7 carnivals to which I was accepted, I got trackbacks for 5 of them. I was able to track the others through email/google.
Earth and Money recently posted..Tetra Pak – The Sequel
The problem is likely more due to problems on the blog who is hosting the carnival. It could even just be that there was too many links on the page to send trackbacks to everyone.
Thanks for hosting. I don’t always link back that week, but I do so within 2 weeks. Though I’m sure there are some that slip through the cracks. I think many people take the carnivals for granted. A lot of stuff is automated, so it’s easy to not link back. Not saying it’s right, but it happens. When I host carnivals, I get a decent amount of pingbacks. Even my Round Tables, which I choose who to list each week get a decent amount of pingbacks. As my blog has become more popular, I’ve gotten more, but I would say probably 20% do so.
MoneySmartGuides recently posted..Chaikin Stock Research Review
The time frame isn’t a big deal since it is understandable that you might not find some right away. I know I’ve linked back to some months later since I didn’t find it originally. The problem is the people who purposely don’t link back at all. It seems like a selfish approach to me. That’s why I was surprised to see some blogger friends doing that. Honestly it makes me trust those people a little less.
Thanks for hosting the carnival and for including my post, Jeremy.
Jen @ Master the Art of Saving recently posted..Spending & Saving: Money & Our Kid
No problem Jen. Keep up the good work on your blog.
Thanks for hosting Jeremy, you are right about most of the submissions not using social media to promote or linking back. I have hosted several carnivals and I can sympathize with you! I appreciate your efforts!
Paul @ The Frugal Toad recently posted..Family Finances – Tips for Avoiding Conflict
I accept that the social media part is not really expected, but they should be realizing they are limiting their benefits by skipping that part. The linking is another story though. It wasn’t really sympathy I was aiming for though. I was more just trying to guilt people into following the expectations
Matt, Kevin, & Young: great posts!
Thanks for hosting
No problem Tom.
Thanks for the mention Jeremy!
Anytime Kanwal. Keep up the great work on your blog.