Carnival Of Personal Finance

The college football-themed Carnival Of Personal Finance is up at No Debt Plan.  Kevin has put together a great round up of personal finance articles from more than 80 bloggers.  It’s tough to pick my favorites, but here goes…

Grad Money Matters has a good post about chasing money, and how it’s a never-ending journey.  My husband and I decided years ago that quality of life is much more important than money.  We’ve chosen to keep our business limited to just the two of us, even though we could make more money if we expanded and hired other agents to work for us (we regularly get calls from people who want to work for us).  We’d make more money, but it would come with more headaches and less freedom.  And when our son was born, I chose to quit my second job, in order to spend more time at home with him.  It’s always a juggling act… it’s just a matter of finding your sweet spot on the spectrum of work, money, and fun.

Living Almost Large has a post about the envelope.  You know the one… it gets passed around at work whenever someone is sick, getting married, having a baby, retiring, etc.  Lots of interesting thoughts in the comments on this one too.  At the library where I used to work (and still do, as a sub), a card would get passed around pretty frequently, but rarely was money included in the deal.  We’d all sign the card wishing the coworker well, and that was that.  A few exceptions: We had a coworker whose garage burned down a couple years ago, and it turned out that they were underinsured and had to pay a good deal to rebuild it.  Everyone chipped in money.  Our library director’s son passed away unexpectedly last year, and everyone chipped in money for a memorial scholarship fund at his university.  And another coworker had a baby nine weeks early this spring, and people chipped in to help with the various preemie stuff that they needed.  This year we had three new babies at the library, and most of the employees got baby books for the new moms.  A good idea, since baby books are pretty inexpensive (most were $5 – $10).  We are a very close-knit group, and when coworkers are going through rough spots, people wanted to pitch in.  But for the most part, it’s usually just a card, without money.

Hello Money has a good post about life insurance.  My husband and I own a life/health insurance agency, and almost all of the life insurance policies we sell are term.  It’s the least expensive, and for most people, it’s exactly what they need.  We might not be getting the biggest commissions, but we’re making our clients happy, which is key to keeping them as clients.

Thanks for hosting, Kevin!