Carnival of Personal Finance #119

By TFB

Carnival of Personal Finance #119 is up at Blunt Money. My entry was Best Checking Account Which Is Not a Checking Account. The host did a very interesting crossword puzzle. I skimmed through the articles. Here are some of the topics I’d like to comment on.

Loonie at Parity with the USD? at Million Dollar Journey. The Canadian Dollar already traded above 1.00 USD on some days. I asked on the Bogleheads forum whether it is unprecedented. It isn’t, but the last time the Canadian dollar was worth more than the U.S. dollar was in 1976, more than 30 years ago. See the chart at the end of the article ‘Strong currency, proud currency’ from Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail.

Can You Resist a Bargain? at One Frugal Girl. It’s hard to resist buying something if it’s super cheap. I have a post written up on this exact topic, although from an investing angle. It will be posted tomorrow.

What Is Passive Income? Does It Really Exist? at My Money Blog. I agree with Jonathan. Dividends and rental income are not passive income. They are compensation for risk taking. I can hardly think of anything that is truly passive income.

Not All 401ks Are Created Equal at The Baglady. Of course not. Hardly all of anything are created equal. However I disagree with her implied message that you shouldn’t participate if you have a bad one. Even if my 401k is the worst of them all I would still contribute to the maximum. Nobody is going to stay with their employer forever. A bad 401k will only drag you down for a few years. After you leave, you can roll it over to Vanguard.

A Review Of My Forex Trading at Neural Market Trends. Forget it. Foreign exchange trading is gambling, not investing. Even if it’s only $100, it’s not worth the time.

Understanding Indexed Annuities at Moment on Money. You don’t have to understand equity indexed annuity. All you have to know is that it’s not for you.

Options Extravaganza at The Amatureist Financial Journey. Some more knowledge you don’t have to have. You can do well without knowing anything about calls, puts, straddles, collars, and their infinite number of variations.

WWYD: Buy or Read in the Store? at Queercents. If it’s a good book, buy it. If you decide not to keep it, you can sell it on Amazon or half.com. It will only cost you a few dollars for the reading privilege. Or you can borrow it from the public library. I’m going to buy John Bogle on Investing: The First 50 Years simply for Mr. Bogle’s 1951 Princeton senior thesis that started the index funds revolution.

Should Healthy People Pay Less for Health Insurance? at Money Smart Life. Yeah, why not? Safe drivers pay less for their auto insurance. Smokers pay more for life insurance. Employers pay less for their group health plan if they have lower claims from their employees. Home insurance cost more if the home is in hurricane or earthquake zone.

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Posted on September 24, 2007 under News.

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