Welcome one and all to the 7th Edition of the Finance Fiesta!  This is the first carnival I have ever hosted, so hope it’s a good one for you.  I am LAL, and I’m a 20-something DINK trying to achieve financial freedom.  Look around and enjoy.  Hope you come back again.

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Opening tomorrow is the movie Mamma Mia.  A fantastic musical, I wonder how it will translate on the movie screen tomorrow?  So from this we draw inspiration for the categories. This is an outrageously large carnival but I decided to include everyone.  Please enjoy.

Editor’s Choice (Mamma Knows Best)

These are the one’s Mamma would give you to make a perfect financial future.  These posts are the ones Mamma would say she knows best.  I give these posts the thumbs up as the best of the week.

Mr. Credit Card from Ask Mr Credit Card answers a question from a reader “A Collections Company Sold my Debt After it was paid off.”  This explains in detail the steps to take when your debt has been sold off and you have paid it off.

Ken Clarke from College Saving @ About.com writes to inform us that “Four Neighborhoods that will pay for your child’s college education.”  He gives us options that if you live certain school districts 4 universities will offer your child a free ride.  Wow.  What can I say? 

KCLau from KCLau’s Money Tips gives us a “Tutorial: How to Calculate your investment Portfolio Return.”  He gives examples of what different portfolio’s look like. And has as a excel spreadsheet you can download to calculate your returns.

Since I’m biased and because I wanted to let everyone know about a terrific freebie deal, here’s my post for “Free Movie Tickets.”  I wish my mom were here to Mamma Mia with me, I know she’d love it.  So use this promotion to Buy one, get one free!

Dad #1 (Debt) - American Architect Sam. 

Americans love debt, and are synonmyous with it.  This section will have articles relating to beating, dealing with debt, credit cards, and/or loans.  There are a lot of different methods to dealing and handling loans and debt.

Trevor from The Financial Nut tells us the words of wisdom his dad handed him “You’ll always have a car payment.”  While he realizes now the mistake, there is a lot of truth in that statement.  Even when you have a paid for car you have to continue saving for a replacement eventually as well as maintanence and repairs.  So the “car payment” never goes away it just goes to your bank account until later.

J.Money from Budgets are Sexy tells us all about the bad of loaning money to family in “I loaned my uncle $100 and will not be getting it back“.  Many of us have been in that position of loaning family money.  But why bother calling it a loan?  We all know once it’s given it’s a gift never to be seen.

Kristy from Master Your Card gives us “6 Simple Ways to Prevent Identity Theft.”  She gives us all some tips to keep your “in real life” self protected.  I’ve done everyone on the list and yet my identity was used to buy a Sprint Cell Phone.  Guess there is always people out there willing to go further.

Card Blogger at My Credit Card Blog writes to a detailed and informative “List of 0% Balance Transfer Credit Card Offers” available.  He also explains when a 0% Balance Transfer might help to pay off debt faster.  I didn’t even know there were that many cards out there, but hey it does help A LOT in paying off CC debt.  Check it out.

Micheal Geoffrey from Debt Smackdown presents “Discipline yourself to spend less.”  He says that people need to practive discipline to get and stay out of debt.  You have to use “tricks” like making leftovers, grocery shop with a listm, etc to get out out of debt.  I agree spending habits take a long time to change.

William Blake at Debtopedia.com writes to explain “Understanding your Debt Consolidation Options.”  He explains the different programs like credit counseling, debt settlement, and debt management companies.  Understanding what options are out there is essential in making a plan to get out of debt.

MBB of Money Blue Book writes a detailed and in depth post about “What’s my Credit Score and How is FICO calculated.”  He explains the different factors involved in calculating your FICO score and why it’s important.  Well I know my score is 800, which about what it was 10 years ago, funny how it hasn’t changed.

Helen from Bankaholic writes about “5 Credit Card Fees you probably didn’t know about.”  She gives a list of fees which most people are probably unaware of.  And if they aren’t aware they probably shouldn’t have credit cards, but that’s personal opinion.

Dad #2 (Frugality) - British Banker Harry 

Since he’s a banker and british, that should make him frugal and conservative.  Thus articles in this area deal with frugality.  So read and enjoy these tips for making your life cheaper.

Ashley from WideOpenWallet writes a review about a book “Green Living: Drive Smarter.”  The books explains how much damage we are doing by driving fuel inefficient cars.  And how much we could save.  Check out the post and leave a comment to enter to win the book.

DMH from Daily Money Hack explains “Lessons from Farecast.”  He gives us advice to wait until 2-8 weeks before your trip to buy tickets, at least according to a predictive algorithm he uses.  I use Kayak to determine if the rate I find is a good deal.

Following DMH’s tip, Megan from Counting my Pennies tells us about her “Adventures in Air Travel.”  Having already bought her airlines tickets home, six months early!, unexpected adversities arose.  Wow, I can’t imagine being so planned, I’m lucky to plan the next month.

From Cash Money Life of Cash Money Life he gives us a free link to “Blockbuster Total Access - Free 30 day Trial.”  This is a neat freebie if you watch movies.  I’m still a redbox fan because I don’t watch more than a movie a week maybe.

Vera Lang from BeSafeInsure.com gives us “Safe Driving Tips to Reduce Your Car Insurance.”  She says with most car accidents being being caused by human error, she suggests these basic reminders to being safer. And being a safer driver will save you in the long term in car insurance.

Dad #3 (Wealth Building)- Swedish Writer Bill

Dad #3 is a writer.  Writers are creative so this section will be for investing, making money, and creating wealth.  Look through these articles to get ideas on how to build your own wealth.

Raag from Raag Vamdatt asks the question “The stock market is falling - Time to invest?”  I certainly think so, but read to find out if Raag does.

Fred Black at pfInternet.com enlightens us about the “Toilet Paper Millionaire.”  He tells us that money is disposable and when you realize that true wealth can be built.  I wonder if I’ll ever have enough money to treat it like toilet paper?

PFI of Passive Family Income writes about “Researching Foreclosure information as a New Income Stream.”  He tells us about the start of his journey into becoming a landlord of foreclosed properties.  Especially his new 7 day trial to www.foreclosure.com.  I wonder what the results will be?

Joe Manausa from Tallahassee Real Estate Blog explains to us “Understanding Trends in Real Estate.”  Actual inventory trend analysis helps us to understand the overall movement of our residential inventory over a period of time.  The longer the period, the less “noise” affects our view.  Well I hope RE makes a come by in the next few year when we’re looking to sell.

Passive Income Investor from Living off Dividends tells us that he broke “Passive Income finally breaks $3000/month!”  He explains in depth how he gets makes his passive incomes from ads, referrals, etc.  WOW.  I’m impressed!  I don’t make that working!

Anand of AnandDhillion.com writes to tell us “How to Master Money and Wealth.”  He says the key to financial success is managing your money well.  The posts details how to manage your money on any income level.  I agree good money management is essential to stay out of debt.

John Szram from John Szram.com talks about “how I made money by accident.”  He made a couple of bucks just from his blog.  Nice.  Pass along the luck.

BFF Rosie and Tanya (Personal Finance) - Fun

The articles in this section will relate to relationships and money and general personal finance, because best friends help you out in many ways. Thus articles in this section are general articles about money and finance.  Read through and

Jim from Blueprint for Financial Prosperity examines whether money will become obsolete in “Star Trek: How we will abolish Money.”  He discusses whether we can move as a society away from valuing money.  So much so that we no longer save because all our needs will be meet without money.  Hmm..I wonder if that’s possible?

Lisa from Greener Pastures presents “the Psychology of Money: The power of suggestion can cost you.”  She says that marketing studies have shown people value those items which they pay more, whether they are more valuable or not.  Honestly I get more of a rush for getting something as discounted as possible.  I thought most people feel a rush in “getting a deal” instead? 

Aryn of SoundMoneyMatters gives us a list of “The Documents you need in case of Emergency.”  She covers not only the list of documents but suggestions of where to keep them and potentially a backup copy.  Personally my stuff is mostly electronic on a CD which I’ve found is easier to update and keep track of.

Larry Russell from Pasadena Financial Planner gives post about “Living Expense Tracking Methods.”  He says that tracking your spending is time consuming, but necessary for financial stability. I have to agree, I spend about 1-2 hours a week reconciling our spending with receipts, tracking our spending, and paying bills.  It’s a never ending cycle.

Nadege of Fabulous Finances explain to us about “The actions I took that created my financial peak.”  Those actions peaks last year and have somewhat slipped this year.  But he’s hoping to create a 6 month EF by the end of the year and asks where we will be at the end of the year?  Me, I have no idea.

Dorian Wales from the Personal Financier explains to us “Budgeting as a Family Activity.”  She says encouraging your family to take part in budgeting is cruical for success.  I agree, but growing up my parents never asked my opinion, and now my DH doesn’t care.  Guess it’s my way or no way.

Toni Graybill of Maximize Health and Wealth writes “the Road to Wealth is Stuff.”  He gives us reasons why you should have lots of stuff.  But questions whether stuff = wealth?

The Silicon Valley Blogger from The Digerati Life examines “The true cost of relocating.”  She says it can be a very expensive undertaking. I agree, however I’ve found that most people who relocate do so because they are unable to find job opportunities where they live and need a job.

Tanesha from Personal Finance Analyst writes about “Pet Insurance: Fido Gnawing at your finances.”  Something near and dear to my heart, but I don’t actualy have pet insurance. I’ve looked at the costs and with a lot of things not covered discovered it wasn’t worth it.

Anna of To Be Debt Free writes about “How to instill good values in Children.”  She says that money habits start at home and parents are responsible for teaching kids.  I gotta agree as you can see from my earlier post this week.

Jeremy from Taking Charge writes “Houston Credit Union Nixes Loose Change.”  A credit union in the area no longer gives change when they cash checks. Instead it is donated to the credit union’s charitable foundation or you can deposit it directly into an account.

So that’s it for this week’s Finance Fiesta!  Thank you for stopping by and I hope you had a great time.