Smarter Money Management

If you're new here, subscribe to my RSS feed to easily see all the latest money management tips, tools and resources. Thanks for visiting!

Welcome to the Best of April 2008. Here you’ll find the best articles, posts, tools, resources and news about money, finance and investing from the past month.

News & Analysis

Subprime Mortgage Squeeze Causing Rise in Foreclosures

A New York Times’ article described the impact the subprime mortgage crisis is having on foreclosures in some areas, using this graph to depict the problem (click on graph to enlarge):

Clinton’s Earn $109 Million

The Clinton’s released their tax returns through 2006, which show that they earned a cool $109 million. Here’s the breakdown from a WSJ article:

Unemployment hits 5.1%

Unemployment hit new highs in recent times, rising to 5.1% as this chart depicts:

From Capitalism to Socialism: 101

I got this snippy comment the other day (I love snippy comments). I followed the link and found my way to The Wastrel Show. Very entertaining.

Who Owns the Car Companies? (UPDATE)

Check out this infographic to see the complexities of the auto industry.

Smart Spending

BookMooch

Exchange books online for free.

How To Clean Your Entire House The Natural Way For Mere Pennies.

This is definitely a post to bookmark if you’re looking to get rid of all the chemicals in your house and to save some money at the same time.

10 Ways New Parents Overspend On Their Newborns

Here are some great money saving ideas for soon to be parents. And a belated congrats to Pinyo over at Moolanomy!
Handling My Finances in a Slow Economy

Most believe we are now in a recession, and Single Guy Money explains some of the steps he’s taking to weather the storm.

9 Tips to Save Money on Your Next Computer

Having just purchased a MacBook Pro, I can really relate to this article, particularly the suggestion to buy a refurbished computer.

When Times are Tight: 168 Frugal Tips to Make Your Dollar Stretch

You can tell that spending less money has really been on the minds of the M-Network blogs. Here’s a great list of money saving tips, and yes, there really are 168 of them.

Money Tools & Resources

Kiyosaki’s rich dad, poor dad: a book review

Rich Dad, Poor Dad–you either love him or. . . well, you don’t. Check out what Plonkee thought of the book.

The Financial Freedom Ratio: A Better Way To Measure Your Net Worth?

Here’s a great way to evaluate your net worth.

5 No-Nonsense Ways To Retire Your Debt Quickly

Posted at Prosper’s blog, The Digerati gives us some great tips to climb out of debt.

Laddering CDs at ING Direct

Jim at Blueprint discusses a great tool for laddering CDs at ING Direct.

A Peek Inside Vanguard’s Portfolio Watch

As a Vanguard fan and shareholder, this was a good tool to learn about.

BuyUCoffee

Let me just say that I report the news, what you do with it is up to you. Here’s a dating service where you set the price you’d accept to go out with another for a cup of coffee.

Personal Finance 101: Comparing Debts and Developing a Debt Repayment Plan

Here’s another post on getting out of debt. Having control of your debt is critical to financial independence, so take note.

Building Your First Budget

And while you’re climbing out of debt, you might as well build your first budget. JD talks about the 60% solution, which I read and followed years ago. It’s a great starting point if budgeting is new to you.

50 Tips to Help Establish Your Emergency Fund

And then you can go right to building up your emergency fund.

Articles & Studies

10 Can’t Miss Ways To Kickstart Snowflaking

I’ve mentioned snowflaking before, and it’s a must-read if you’re looking to tackle your debt. It represents one of the most important aspects of sound money management–recognize that the little things we do with our money, in the long run, determine whether we ever achieve financial independence.

What’s Wrong With Being in the Middle Class?

Mrs. Micah asks a thought-provoking question about being middle class.

10 Good uses for a credit cards

I laughed when I read this article. As some one who regularly uses credit cards and carries around quite a lot of credit, I always enjoy hearing a different perspective.

Making Money Online

If you make money online, whether blogging or something else, you’ll find these sites and articles of interest:

Google PageRank Explained

Cool Infographs is, well, cool. It’s a great site, and this article about pagerank is. . .cool.

May 2nd, links, free templates and a game

I’ve mentioned Self Made Minds before, and it is a must-read. In this article they link to new Wordpress theme by Revolution that is worth checking out.

Now More Than Ever: 50 More Excellent Blog Designs

I can only assume everybody online, whether they are interested in making money or not, reads Smashing Magazine. Here is another installment in a series of posts highlighting some of the best in blog design. They haven’t chosen The Dough Roller yet, and I am confident they never will.

Are the Keyword Research Tools Accurate?

Court’s Internet Marketing School is a must read, period.

Optimization Tips for Adsense

Here’s a great post on optimizing Adsense.