The Festival of Frugality features our article Want A Lower Bill? Ask For It.  The article can be found under the heading “Saving Money is at the Heart.”

Stop by the carnival to read some great posts.

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Blog Carnivals For The Week Of June 8th

Money Hacks Carnival: Swine Flu edition features our article Credit Freeze: Stop Identity Thieves Cold.  The article can be found under Credit and Debt.

Money Hacks Carnival #64 features our article Close A Credit Card – The Right Way.  The article can be found under Debt and Credit.

Stop by the carnivals to read some great posts.

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Blog Carnivals For The Week Of May 11th

The Festival of Frugality features our article 5 Tips To Cut Your Grocery Budget Down To Size.

Stop by the carnival to read some great posts.

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Blog Carnivals For The Week Of April 20th

1. You need to get your form in before April 15th. In order to extend the due date for your income tax return, you need to file a copy of IRS Form 4868 (available as a PDF). As far of tax forms go, Form 4868 isn’t bad — it’s three and a half pages of instruction and just a half page to complete. However, you will need to have some idea of your estimated tax liability for the year when you fill out the form.
2. When you file for an extension with the IRS, you’re only requesting more time to complete your tax return — you won’t be getting more time to actually pay your taxes. Whether or not you submit a request for an extension, the IRS expects to be paid in full by April 15th. You can submit a payment without a completed tax return, assuming the paperwork is the main issue. Requesting an extension but leaving an unpaid balance can result in penalties and interest.
3. You will need to mail in your Form 4868 to the appropriate address: there are addresses for each region listed in the instructions for the form. You have a variety of options for payment — you can include a check with your form, pay online or even use a credit card.
4. In some cases, you may not actually need to file paperwork in order to get an extension. If you are out of the country on April 15th, you get an automatic extension of two months on your tax return — though you have to live or work primarily outside of the U.S. in order to take advantage of that extension, or be in the military and stationed outside of the U.S.
5. The IRS can choose to refuse an extension: technically Form 4868 is just an application for an extension. However, it’s relatively rare for an extension to be refused, and you can appeal it. The cases in which the IRS will refuse to grant an extension include those individuals who are under court order to file their tax return by April 15th.
6. An extension gives you until October 15th to complete your return. It’s very rare for the IRS to grant further extensions beyond that date, although some exceptions have been made for taxpayers living abroad. That means it’s crucial to complete your taxes within the six-month extension period if you won’t have them in by April 15th. It’s also worth noting that not completing your taxes by April 15th can make filling out related forms, like the FAFSA, problematic.

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6 Things You Need to Know About Tax Extensions

Money Saving Tips Carnival features our article Keeping Your Books On Facebook.  It’s listed under Personal Finance.

Stop by the carnival to read some great posts.

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Blog Carnivals For The Week Of March 23rd

1) Money Hacks Carnival features our article A Credit Card That Rewards Education.  It’s listed under Debt and Credit.

2) The Festival of Frugality features out article The Ripples of Personal Finance.

Stop by these carnivals to read some great posts.

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Blog Carnivals For The Week Of March 9th

1) The Festival of Frugality features our article on Deciding On Your Budget Priorities.  It’s listed in the carnival under Frugal Finances.

2) The Money Hacks Carnival features our article on What Does the Economic Stimulus Plan Mean For You? It’s listed in the carnival under Other.

3) The Carnival of Everything Money features our article After the Stimulus: How Much is in Your Paycheck? It’s listed under Credit.

4) The Money Hacks Carnival – Hope Edition features our article Closing Credit Accounts: The Pros and Cons.  It’s listed under Debt & Credit.

5) The Festival of Frugality – Dr. House Edition features our article 5 Tips For Creating An Emergency Fund.  It’s listed under Money Management.

Stop by these carnivals to read some great posts.

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Blog Carnivals For The Week Of March 1

Wealth Junkies was in one carnival this week:

1) The Carnival of Personal Money Management features our article on Money In A Hurry: Your Options.

Stop by the carnival to read some great posts!

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Blog Carnivals For The Week Of February 16

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Blog Carnivals For The Week Of February 9th

But making the switch to long-term thinking isn’t always easy. We’re used to think about today, tomorrow — maybe as far as next year. Most days, we just feel like we have more pressing concerns than years from now. But the following tips can help you make the shift.

1. Keep your mind on the interest. When we’re talking about long-term anything, it boils down to interest. What kind of interest are you going to pay on your mortgage? What rate of return can you expect on an investment? It’s crucial to understand interest — and stay focused on it.
2. Forget a set retirement age. The fact is that most of us won’t actually retire anywhere near the age we’re currently planning on. Even if we have the money to do so, the likelihood that we’ll actually just quit working cold turkey is decreasing. Instead, it’s important to think about the lifestyle that we want for the rest of our lives. Think about whether you’re going to want some flexibility and what you’ll need to make work less necessary.
3. Practice adaptability. We all know that things change: our expectations of tomorrow (let alone 20 years from now) are probably not going to prove true. But if you practice adaptability in your day-to-day life, adjusting to those changes that affect your long-term plans is much easier.
4. Don’t look at the numbers too often. While having a good idea of what your money is doing is good, knowing every move it makes can actually do you more harm than good. You can get caught up with the day-to-day movements of your money and forget about the forest in favor of the trees.
5. Set short-term goals consistent with long-term plans. Your short-term plans have to help your long-term plans along, which means that you’ll want to set at least some basic short-term goals that will support your long-term plans. Something as simple as getting an extra $500 into an investment account this year can help your long-term plans along (remember compound interest!).

How do you keep yourself focused on long-term goals and plans? If you have anymore tips, please share them: even though I’m convinced of the importance of long-term planning, I know that I struggle to keep myself working for the long-term, rather than some short-term goal that might not actually do me all that much good. I’m always looking for a little more long-term inspiration, and I’d love to hear your suggestions.

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5 Tips For Taking The Long View With Money

The Festival of Frugality features our article on Adding In a Roommate.

Stop by the carnival and read some great posts!

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Blog Carnivals For The Week Of February 2nd

Money Hacks Carnival – Presidential Edition features our article on Skip the Get Rich Quick Schemes.  It’s listed in the carnival under The Value of Hard Work.

Stop by the carnival and read some great posts!

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Blog Carnivals For The Week Of January 19th

In a way, the housing boom that led to our current situation was a get rich quick scheme: banks thought that they could make money quickly by extending credit to a whole list of people who couldn’t buy homes previously. They forgot that there was a reason those borrowers didn’t qualify for normal mortgages. And borrowers also saw an opportunity to make money on the quick: home prices had an upward trend and many home buyers figured that they could buy a house, live in it for a few years and turn around and sell it at a profit. Sure, quick meant three or four (or even more) years in this example, but it was a way to get a whole lot of money than a person could otherwise.

Recognizing Get Rich Quick Schemes

The problem seems to be that everyone wants the opportunity to get money for less effort than they’re used to putting out. And, in many cases, there are ways to do so. But there is rarely just money for free — and it’s necessary to remember that fact when you’re looking at an opportunity. Returning to the housing market for a moment, think about the sense of free money that accompanied many home sales even a few years ago. Some people managed to successfully cash in on rising home values, but there was practically no consideration of the risks that went along with the purchase of a house — risks that went far beyond dropping home prices.

I’m not suggesting that a house is a bad investment. However, I am suggesting that treating the purchase of a home as a get rich quick opportunity — as anything less than a long-term investment — is just looking for a way to make money without much work. And that sort of situation is risky at best.

Scams Versus Schemes

Those ads I mention often fall into the category of outright scams. Unfortunately, when someone offers you an opportunity with returns on either your time or your money that are just too good to be true, it usually is. There are plenty of get rich quick schemes out there which are legitimate, however. Although they are legal, they’re still not a great idea. In general, they carry a level of risk that could wipe you out if you don’t make the big win. It’s a matter of gambling something you can’t afford to lose. If you can’t afford to take on the level of risk associated with a plan, it’s probably worth skipping — even if it seems like a really good idea. If you can afford it — well, it’s up to you.

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Skip the Get Rich Quick Schemes

The Money Hacks Carnival features our article What Does Obama’s Economic Recovery Plan Mean For You?

It’s listed under Economy.

Stop by this carnival and read some great posts!

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Blog Carnivals For The Week of January 12th

1) The Carnival of Personal Development features our article on Set Yourself Up For Success: Plan Your Financial Goals.  It’s listed in the carnival under Personal Finance.

2) The Tax Carnival features our article on Property Taxes Troubles To Watch For.

Stop by these carnivals and read some great posts!

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Blog Carnivals For The Week Of January 5th

Starting at the beginning of the year, FICO scores will be calculated based on a new formula. The change is partly based on the increased abilities of technology meant for tracking consumer spending, as well as the fact that more consumers have credit available to them than when the FICO score was created. Fair Isaac Corporation will use the new formula to better describe and rank credit problems. In tests, the new FICO scoring system was able to predict defaults 5 to 15 percent better than the older model.

There will be several key changes that are likely to change your credit score. For one thing, the new formula offers a little more forgiveness for someone who has only one missed payment, as long as it’s isolated. In the past, a FICO score focused on the number of accounts a person had open and the amount of credit already available to them. The new formula will focus more on the balances actually carried on a consumer’s accounts.

One key technique for improving a credit score will go out the window with the new FICO score: piggybacking, or allowing someone with lower credit to be added to an account in order to improve their credit, will be harder to do. Typically used by parents who add their children to an account in order to jump start their credit history, the practice has been heavily abused in recent years by individuals with high credit scores selling their names. The reduced benefit to authorized users of accounts will cause some problems, according to Kiplinger: “…many of those authorized users are women. Many of them rely on their husbands’ FICO scores, and it will now take longer for those women to build up their own credit scores.”

Equifax and TransUnion will be switching over to the new system over the course of 2009. There’s no word yet on whether Experian will be making the switch soon.

In part, Fair Isaac’s change is in response to the current economic situation: lenders were unsure of the reliability of credit scoring models. That, combined, with their own economic issues, caused lenders to severely limit the credit they’re willing to offer. There is some hope that with a more reliable method of predicting defaults, lenders will increase the credit they’re willing to offer.

The FICO reconfiguration is a case of good news, bad news. For some consumers, the new formula will spit out a higher credit score. For many others, it’ll offer a lower score. But, either way, credit will be at least a little easier to get than it has been of late.

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FICO Reconfigures Credit Score Formula

On Tuesday, we covered the left-hand side of a stock quote in Make Sense of Stock Quotes, Part One. In Part Two, we’re tackling the right-hand side — where the good stuff is kept. The statistics listed on this side of a stock quote give a solid indicator of how the stock has performed recently and whether it’s a good purchase (or a good sale).

Day’s Range: Over the course of a day, a stock’s price can rise and drop significantly. The day’s range shows just volatile a stock has been over the course of the day, helping an investor judge whether it’s moving around too much to be a solid investment.

52wk Range: The 52 week range provides the same information as the day’s range — but for the last year. It’s not unusual for the range to be wide over the course of a year (especially with a stock market as problematic as we have today), but it’s worth checking to why a stock reached the extremes.

Volume: This number describes the total number of shares of a particular stock traded throughout one day.

Avg Vol (3m): The average volume is the average number of shares traded daily over the past three months. If today’s volume differs significantly from the average volume, it’s worth looking into why before buying or selling a stock.

Market Cap: Market capitalization is the total dollar value of the company, as determined by multiplying the cost of a share as of the last trade by the total number of shares.

P/E: The price/earnings ratio is a projection of a stock’s earning potential. The ratio is calculated by dividing the cost of a share as of the last trade by the amount the stock’s price has increased by over the past year. If a stock has a P/E ratio over 25, it’s expected to perform very well in the future.

EPS: EPS stands for earnings per share. This number is calculated by determining how much money you would have earned if you purchased a share of a particular stock last quarter and sold it today.

Div & Yield: The dividend is the payment made to shareholders based on the company’s profits. The yield is the dividend expressed as a percentage of the price per share. Extremely high yields often indicate companies on the verge of financial distress.

With the statistics listed on the right-hand side of a stock quote, you can tell not only how well a stock has done for investors but also learn how heavily it’s being traded and get an indicator of how a company will do in the future. There are plenty of reasons to research a stock further before purchasing it — after all, if you are going to risk your money, you want to do so in a good investment — but a stock quote provides the absolute basics you need to know before trading a particular stock. They’re easy to find, as well. Even Yahoo! provides up-to-date stock quotes.

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Make Sense of Stock Quotes, Part Two

The quote above is from Yahoo! Finance. It holds a wealth of information about American Express (at least as it was at 2:43 P.M.) — but that information does require a certain level of decoding. Being able to interpret stock quotes is crucial if you’re planning on investing in the market. Knowing the current price really isn’t nearly enough, especially if you’re trying to take the stock market’s current problems into consideration.

The top of the stock quote lists the company’s name, as well as the ticker symbol (AXP) is at the top. The market where the stock is traded (in this case, the NYSE) is also listed. Below this information is two columns of numbers.

Last Trade: This is effectively the current stock price — it’s the amount that a single share of stock last sold at. This price is determined by open market trading by buyers and sellers.

Trade Time: The last trade took place at the trade time listed. It is not uncommon to find that the trade time is at least a few minutes behind your current time, especially online. If the trade time is significantly out of date, get a new stock quote before making a decision.

Change: Change is simply the difference between the current last trade price and the price before that. While it can be an indicator of what the stock is currently doing, it isn’t a particularly good indicator of a stock’s performance — even through the current day.

Prev. Close: This number lists the price a share of the stock as of the end of the last day of trading.

Open: The open is the first price paid for a stock today.

Bid & Ask: Quite a bit of the time, you’ll see both these field blank or listed as ‘N/A’. The bid is the highest price that a principle brokerage firm has said that it is willing to pay for a a particular stock at a particular time. The ask is the reverse — the lowest price that a principle brokerage firm will sell a stock at.

1y Target Est: This number is the projected price for a single share of this stock one year from today. However, the one year target estimate isn’t a particularly good indicator of what a stock might do in the next year. It’s just the median projection of a number of different market analysts: Some analysts might be projecting much higher or much lower prices.

Wait! Isn’t there another column of stock data to look at? Yes — and we’ll be going over that side of a quote on Thursday. In the meanwhile, though, it’s worth mentioning that while all the information listed on the left hand side of our stock quote can contribute to the decision to buy or sell a particular stock, none of it is enough to really judge the value of a stock. The stats we’ve covered so far only really describe what a stock has done in the past two days. They’re still useful to keep an eye on, however — if only to time the purchase of a sale or purchase a little better.

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Make Sense of Stock Quotes, Part One

The Carnival of Personal Development features our article on A Credit Card-Free Holiday Season?

Stop by the carnival to see some great posts!

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Blog Carnivals For The Week Of December 1

1) Festival of Frugality features our article on Buying Vs. Downloading For Free: The Better Financial Choice

2) Carnival of the road to financial independence #1features our article on 6 Ways to Fight Inflation

Stop by these carnivals to read some great posts!

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Blog Carnivals For The Week Of November 17