Welcome to the May 02, 2008 edition of collection of personal finance articles by others.

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RaagVamdatt.com Pick Of The Fortnight

Heather Johnson presents 5 Ways to Build Personal Wealth posted at Yielding Wealth | Personal Finance.
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 9 out of 10

Here, she offers practical advice on building personal wealth and obtaining personal financial security. Some excerpts:

- At the end of the day, there’s no bulletproof method for maintaining personal wealth.
- There’s just no substitute for hard work, resourcefulness, and informed decisions.
- If you try any of these few ways of building personal wealth, you just might be surprised at the results that dedication yields.
- Don’t ever put all of your savings into one idea without careful consideration.
- Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither can wealth nor financial security is.

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Barb A. Ryan presents Asset Allocation, Investment Asset Tax Location, and Emergency Cash Management posted at Pasadena Financial Planner. This article discusses personal investment portfolio asset allocation and some considerations about where to hold different classes of financial assets from the standpoint of more optimal taxation.
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 9 out of 10

Mike Leonard presents Dealing with banks and financial institutions – one of life’s great mysteries posted at Until Debt Do Us Part, saying, "Countless times I’ve hung up in frustration when I’ve called my bank. The automated voice on the end of the phone simply doesn’t seem to understand the urgency. ‘Your call is important to us’ – Yeah well obviously not that important because otherwise you would have answered the phone!!! Argh! Why do I waste my time? At one stage my attitude was let them call me when there was a problem. The thing is if your bank is calling you, you know you have a big problem."

He goes on to provide 10 great tips on how to deal with the bank representatives over the phone.
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 9 out of 10

Larry Russell presents The Financial Services Industry is Still the Largest S&P 500 Sector - Even after the Collapse of its Stock Values posted at THE SKILLED INVESTOR Blog, saying "Over thirty years, the financial services sector became the largest US equity market sector, as it grew more rapidly than any other US industrial or service sector."
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 9 out of 10

Dorian Wales presents How to Make Saving More Rewarding and Tangible: 5 Practical Tips posted at Personal Financier. Here, you can find 5 small (and implementable!) steps to achieve regular savings.
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 8 out of 10

Brice Hogan presents How to Become A One Income Family posted at Financialzip.com, giving very useful tips on becoming a financially fit one-income family.
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 8 out of 10

FIRE Getters presents TIPS for Inflation and Deflation! posted at FIRE Finance, explaining "Treasury Inflation Protected Securities", or TIPS, and how they can be helpful during inflationary and deflationary times.
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 8 out of 10

Sarah presents Are You Ready to Buy a House? posted at Tips To Save Money. Learn To Be Frugal, saying, "Buying a house is the American dream, but does your current financial situation allow for it?"
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 8 out of 10

David Carter presents Which is Better Roth or Traditional IRA? posted at David Makes Cents.com, saying, "Goes over the pros and cons of both Traditional and Roth IRAs."
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 7 out of 10

Jeremy Zongker presents Understanding Frozen Credit posted at Creditor Web, where he talks about Credit Freeze in detail - and explains the difference between a Credit Freeze and a Fraud Alert.
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 7 out of 10

Christopher Johnson presents Biweekly Mortgage Payments posted at christopheraaronjohnson.net, where he explains what Biweekly Mortgage Payment is, and illustrates how it can save you big money.
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 7 out of 10

FIRE Getters presents Investing – Riding the Recession with Awareness, Planning and Investment posted at FIRE Finance, where you can find the definition of recession, a brief history of past recessions, and strategies to beat the recession.
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 7 out of 10

Faron Benoit presents Budgeting 101 posted at Financial Learn, where you can find step-by-step guidance on creating a budget.
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 7 out of 10

Ken Clark, CFP presents States That Offer Income Tax Deductions for Contributing to a Section 529 Plan posted at Saving for College - About.com, saying, "A list of states (with amounts) that offer a tax deduction for funding a Section 529 college savings plan."
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 7 out of 10

Jed Norwood presents Study and Prepare to Trade the Forex Market posted at Forex Strategy, saying, "Studying, preparing, and making a trading plan is essential to being successful in the Forex market."
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 7 out of 10

Walter W. Fouse presents Avoid Large Actively Managed Mutual Funds posted at Best No Load Funds, saying "Big mutual fund portfolio positions and higher percentage ownership of any company’s stocks and bonds are not good for actively managed mutual fund's performance".
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 7 out of 10

Finance Tips 101 presents The Pros And Cons Of Personal Loans posted at Finance Tips 101, where you can find a discussion about Annual Percentage Rate (APR), penalty charges, Payment Protection Insurance (PPI), etc.
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 6 out of 10

Raymond presents List Of the Best Online Discount Brokers posted at Money Blue Book.
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 6 out of 10

Raymond presents ING Direct Referral Links posted at Money Blue Book, saying "New ING account customers can create $25 referral links to give to others".
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 6 out of 10

Leaving The Folks presents Creating a Budget posted at Real World Advice, saying, "Setting a budget can go a long way to helping you save money and cut down on debt."
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 6 out of 10

Value Seeker presents Stock Investment Resource: Stock Market Investing Tips - Is Small Cap Value The Key For 2008? posted at Stock Investing, saying, "Small cap value stocks performed poorly in 2007. Will 2008 see a resurgence of small cap value?"
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 6 out of 10

KCLau presents Everything you are looking for about Bursa Malaysia posted at KCLau's Money Tips, saying, "A list of sources for you to learn about stocks and shares"
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 6 out of 10

KCLau presents How to Identify and Invest in the Hot Stocks of Tomorrow posted at KCLau's Money Tips, where he provides a review of the book "Finding the Next Starbucks" written by Michael Moe.
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 5 out of 10

Amy S Quinn presents Top 25 Most Influential People in Forex posted at Currency Trading.net, where you can find a nice compilation of influential people - central bankers, government officials, and people from the industry.
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 5 out of 10

Jeremy Zongker presents a cartoon on Election Promises posted at Debt Comics.
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 5 out of 10

Investing Angel presents Studying The Stock Market Trends During Recession » Free Stock Market Investing Tips posted at Stock Tips, asking the question "Has the market bottomed out?", and giving us tips on what to do in times like these.
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 5 out of 10

Sally Thompson presents Recession Proof Your Portfolio: 50 Best Blogs for Free Investment Advice posted at Currency Trading.net, where you can find a collection of 50 blogs on subjects like general investment, stocks, derivatives, foreign exchange, real estate, etc.
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 5 out of 10

KCLau presents Insurance Planning Guide for Malaysians [Review] posted at KCLau's Money Tips, saying, "A review of Insurance planning guide for Malaysians. This book was written to make you more aware of life insurance protection. Hopefully it will prevent you from suffering and regretting over buying insurance for the wrong reasons"
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 5 out of 10

Phil B. presents No Long-Term Planning is Stupid << Phil for Humanity posted at Phil for Humanity, saying, "In my humble opinion, far too many people are choosing short-term satisfaction over long-term planning."
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 5 out of 10

Raymond presents The Best Online High Interest Savings Accounts posted at Money Blue Book. This is a list of the high interest online savings account offers.
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 5 out of 10

Heather Johnson presents Top 5 Online Portfolio Management Tools posted at My Simple Trading System.
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 5 out of 10

Joe Manausa presents The Real Estate Market - When Will We See The Turn? posted at Tallahassee Real Estate Blog, saying, "It seems that many people have an opinion on real estate, and many have speculated that the worst is behind us. While I’m excited to think that some of the stories in the media could actually turn positive soon, I feel that some simple concepts can reveal where we truly are in this current real estate market cycle."
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 5 out of 10

freefrombroke presents Best And Worst College 529 Plans From Morningstar posted at Free From Broke, saying, "The top 5 best and worst 529 plans were released by Morningstar."
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 5 out of 10

Brice Hogan presents Building a Strong Financial Foundation | Financialzip.com posted at Financialzip.com, saying, "The simple steps it takes to set up a retirement plan."
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 4 out of 10

The Fund investor presents Why Invest In Mutual Funds? posted at Mutual Fund Investing Tips, saying, "Many people invest in mutual funds without really understanding the benefits of this type of investment vehicle."
- RaagVamdatt.com Rating: 4 out of 10

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