Mortgage Rates Are Low and a Personal Finance Carnival

Mortgage rates are extremely low, and it looks like they may stat that way for a while.

I was reading over at Bankrate.com and each week they have a panel of experts who vote on whether they believe mortgage rates will be rising or falling. The majority of the panel believe that rates will remain where they are or fall.

Based on what I see in the economy, and the potential cheap money that will be flowing out of the fed, I can’t help but believe that mortgage rates will continue to fall as the banks try to loan this cheap money out while they can. I’m just amazed at how low the rates have gotten.

I see 3.5% mortgage rates all day long. What’s even more amazing is when I hear stories about how excited people were when they got their houses for as low as 10-12%!  I hope you have a great week, now onto the carnival!

Shilpan @ Street Smart Finance writes The Buy and Hold Strategy Can Kill Your Portfolio – One of the cornerstone principles of the street smart philosophy is to introspect stereotypical investment ideas prescribed by the main stream media. That includes their buy and hold strategy that most of us mere mortals practice religiously.

Aaron @ Aaron Hung.com writes Cold Hard Cash – You jokingly call it cold hard cash, however there’s not a thing cold concerning it. Cash is an mental substance, about when it comes to precisely what it represents for most of us.

SFB @ Simple Finance Blog writes Maternity Leave in America – “We made a mistake on your paperwork,” the woman from the HR department at my work said in the most inanely chipper voice. My baby girl was a mere seven weeks old, and I hadn’t gotten a decent night’s sleep in nearly two months, so her peppiness – just as much as her words –…

A Blinkin @ Funancials writes My Sincerest Apologies To Mark Zuckerberg – I’ve been kinda hard on Facebook recently and most of it has been unwarranted. Facebook has lost about half of it’s value since it’s IPO earlier this year, but who’s fault is that? The people that have been most affected by (and responsible for) this drop have no affiliation with the company.

IMB @ Investing Money writes Keeping Investment Fees Low – Find out why investment fees matter and how to evaluate which passive fund is better.

Evan @ My Journey to Millions writes Refinance Roadblocks – Perfect credit, spotless payment record, and 12 years at the same job (proof of ability to pay,) and I never imagined it’d be so impossible to take advantage of the record low interest rates. But after 2 failed attempts to lower our rate on our mortgage I had to come up with a new plan.

L Bee @ L Bee and the Money Tree writes GUEST POST-Invest in what you understand. – This is great investing advice, and one that even Warren Buffett follows! – Invest in what you understand.

Passive Income Earner @ The Passive Income Earner writes Dividend Income – August 2012 – Like regular clock work, August provided me with another string of dividends. Aside from dividend increases or switching to higher yield investments, the only way to increase your dividends is to invest more money. Over the past 4 months, I was adding to my Computershare and CanStock accounts but this month, I added to one of my REIT holding; Cominar REIT (CUF.UN).

Sustainable PF @ Sustainable Personal Finance writes How Telecommuting Can Save You Money (and Help the Environment) – Today’s technology makes telecommuting much easier than it was in yesteryear. Companies recognize work life balance and a growing need to remove cars from the road.

Jennifer Lynn @ Broke-Ass Mommy writes The End of Summer Draws Near and a Financial Update – Take a look at my checkbook to see how I’m doing financially! Lurkers welcome!

Ashley @ Money Talks Coaching writes 11 Things You Should Do With Your Money – Ever think What should I do with my money? No? Is it more like Where did all my money go? Either way here is a list of 11 things you should do with your money!

krantcents @ KrantCents writes Are Entrepreneurs Born or Made? – Are entrepreneurs born or made? There are so many college classes teaching entrepreneurship, I thought I would ask the question. See I grew up in an entrepreneur incubator! Both my parents had thriving businesses and did not have the benefit of any college classes in entrepreneurship.

Roger the Amateur Financier @ The Amateur Financier writes Some Tips on Tipping – A guide on how to tip in a way that will ensure good service and allow you to treat those who deserve tips pro

Jen @ Master the Art of Saving writes Buying Our First House: Other Costs – The house is pretty much move-in ready, but we need to get a couple of pieces of drywall for the garage, get a new cellphone, plumb the kitchen for an ice……

CAPI @ Creating a Passive Income writes A Real-Life Story of Passive Income – Have you ever thought about how people are generating passive income? Is it all just a hoax or are there actually people sitting on the beach

SBB @ Simple Budget Blog writes Did Summer Keep You From Budgeting? – Find out how to balance enjoying yourself in the summer and sticking to your budget. I think you will find simplicity is key.

PPlan @ Provident Plan writes Starting a Budget – Budgeting is an important financial tool to accomplish what you want. Start prioritizing your spending and save up for what you really want to do, like travel.

Ted Jenkin @ Your Smart Money Moves writes The Best Financial Move A Young Adult Can Make Get A J-O-B! – I just had a birthday last week which always gives you a chance to take stock on where you are and where you are going.

Debt Guru @ Debt Free Blog writes How Living In Debt Can Put You Behind – Having a considerable amount of debt puts you at a huge disadvantage to achieving financial security. Find out why you should avoid debt.

JP @ My Family Finances writes How Does the Average Family Deal with Increasing Gas Prices – As gas prices shoot into the sky, families seek ways to deal with painful trips to the pump.

Wayne @ Young Family Finance writes Credit Cards – How and WHY You should Use Them – Find out why you should use credit cards and why you could be hurting your finances if you are avoiding them to control spending.

Don @ MoneySmartGuides writes The Rich Are Getting Richer – A recent study found that The Rich (the top 10 Percent incomes) increased their income by one-third from 1985 through 2010. The speed at which incomes increased for those earning more increased at a faster pace over the same time period.

Tushar @ Start Investing Money writes How to Buy Private Stock – Most people are aware that it’s possible to buy stock in various companies with the hope of it going up in value. However it’s not correct to say that all stock is the same. There are two types of stocks – public and private stocks. Public stocks are the ones most people are familiar with.

MMD @ My Money Design writes Retirement Income Planning with Author Daniel Solin – Wouldn’t it be great to use as much as 5.5% for a withdrawal rate for your retirement income planning? According to author Daniel Solin, we may be able to use an indicator to make this a reality!

Miss T. @ Prairie Eco Thrifter writes 5 Easy Ways to Save Money in the Kitchen – While there are many good tips about how to save on your groceries that’s not the only place where we spend too much money in the kitchen. Take a look at the following tips to see how you can cut back on your kitchen expenses.

Aloysa @ My Broken Coin writes Work. Life. Balance. Hell. – Currently, I am really juggling things! Read about my struggles to keep everything in the air!

Eddie @ Finance Fox writes Don’t Let Fear Sucker You Into Payment Protection – Financial institutions love to use fear in order to sucker people into signing up for products or service that you really don’t need.

investeem @ Investeem writes How does arbitrage work? – We explain how investors can exploit mispricings in the market via arbitrage and why arbitrage opportunities disappear fast in efficient markets.

PITR @ Passive Income To Retire writes Buying Dividend Stocks/ETF’s – Have you considered buying dividend paying investments? Find out why I chose to do it and how it can benefit you.

TRL @ The Retired Landlord writes Biggest Mistake in Real Estate Investing – Do you want to avoid the most common mistake in real estate investing? Find out what it is so you can stay clear.

Penny Thots @ Penny Thots writes A Spicy Way to Celebrate Fall – Green chiles — a spicy, savory addition to any Mexican dish, from enchiladas to rellenos, even chili verde. But did you know that green chiles are also a harbinger of fall?

Paul Vachon @ The Frugal Toad writes Frugal Living Made Easy – Frugal living is all about making informed and deliberate choices in how to spend money. In other words, frugality allows me to get more value for my hard earned dollar and who wouldn’t want that?

SB @ One Cent at a Time writes 25 Ways to Reduce your Insurance Premium – The article describes various ways to reduce your insurance premium pay out on health insurance, auto insurance, home insurance and life insurance.

Tushar @ Finance TUBE writes What are Credit Unions?? – Not for the Profit Cooperative Credit Unions are not for the Profit Cooperative serving groups or members who have something in common such as employment in a company, membership in an association or residence in a particular Geographic area. More than 82 millions of US citizens are members of Credit Unions.

Sean @ One Smart Dollar writes The Automatic Millionaire Book Review – One of the most popular personal finance books is The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach. Here is my review on how this book can help you.

Jon the Saver @ Free Money Wisdom writes Top 10 Cheapest Activities to do with the Kids this Summer – Did you know that there are tons of cheap summer activities you can do with your family? With a little creativity, summer can be quite cheap!

BARBARA FRIEDBERG @ Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance writes HOW TO GET A BIG PAY RAISE WITHOUT USING THE BRIEFCASE TECHNIQUE – A unique way to get a big pay raise in any economy.

Daisy @ Add Vodka writes How To Stop Being a Pushover – I wrote a guest post for Cordelia Calls it Quits early this year about quitting being a pushover.

Corey @ Steadfast Finances writes The US Middle Class is Losing the Labor Competition with the Middle Class of the World – Find out how the US middle class is failing in comparison to the rest of the world.

Sicorra @ Tackling Our Debt writes My Adventures in Europe – Traveling between the UK and anywhere in Europe is quite cheap. You can either fly for next to nothing or take the train. Having discovered this I made a plan to…

Corey @ 20s Finances writes Four Tips For College – Here are four tips to help navigate you through your college career and avoid college debt.

John @ Married (with Debt) writes What’s Next? – Many of you have been asking what we will do with our money now that we are debt free minus the house. This is also something I’ve asked myself. In the short term, I plan on saving every penny to build up an emergency fund of three Thanks for reading the RSS version of What’s Next? which originally appeared at Married (with Debt) Please click through to comment if you enjoyed!

Daniel @ Sweating the Big Stuff writes What’s The Difference Between an Authorized User and a Joint Account Holder? – After Lauren and I joined our finances, next up were the credit cards. Did we want to add her as an authorized user or as a joint account holder?

Amanda L Grossman @ Frugal Confessions writes Financially Limiting Your Partner – This is a difficult topic to cover. I’ve hesitated each time I have attempted to write this article over the last six months. Read why you may have to limit your partner!

Invest It Wisely @ Invest It Wisely writes 5 Ways to Keep Expenses Low as an Entrepreneur – Read these 5 ways to keep expenses low as an entrepreneur, see if you are skipping any savings!

Maria @ The Money Principle writes Four reasons for not automating our car and home insurance – Automating bills is a great time saver but it can also make us neglect information. Here are four reasons not to automate car and home insurance.

CF @ The Outlier Model writes So you want to get a job in computers? – There are many advantages to getting a job in the computer science field. Check out some of the benefits and why you may consider it a profitable career.

harry campbell @ Your Personal Finance Pro writes AMEX Twitter Sync Promotion: How I Turned $180 at Best Buy Into $200 in Amazon Gift Certificates – After two years of churning credit cards for sign-up bonuses, I’ve amassed quite a collection of cards. I’m almost embarrassed by how many I now have, but one great benefit of having so many cards is the ongoing promotions. With some companies you might save a couple dollars here, or get a discount there, but one company stands above the rest when it comes down to promotions for current card members: American Express.

Jason @ Work Save Live writes Why Are Credit Cards Bad? – Are Credit Cards Bad? For years of my life I swallowed that large Dave Ramsey pill. I’m not going to lie, I learned how to budget, build up an emergency fund, started saving for retirement, and we began slowly working our way out of debt.

Suba @ Broke Professionals writes Would You Boycott Chick-Fil-A? – Chick-Fil-A CEO Dan Cathy pissed off the left when he came out against same-sex marriage, but will a boycott of his restaurant change change anything?

Luke @ Learn Bonds writes Interest Rates Have Moved Higher: What That Means for Bond Investors – A look at how a large move higher in interest rates has affected bond investors in some of the major segments of the bond market.

Crystal @ Budgeting in the Fun Stuff writes I Do Not Feel Money Guilt – Stop whining if you refuse to do anything about your current situation. I do not feel guilty about having what I work to have. I do not feel money guilt.

Jester @ The Ultimate Juggle writes How Many Vacation Are Too Many Vacations? – I’ve been vacationing too much this year, and it’s showing, ready my views on too much vacationing!

Shawanda @ You Have More Than You Think writes My Top 10 Most Favorite Frugal Things (An Update) – In early 2010, I shared My Top 10 Most Favorite Frugal Things. A lot has changed since then.

Will @ Hacking the Bank writes Combining Finances Before Marriage – People have traditional not lived together before marriage, but new statistics show that 60% of couples choose to cohabitate before tying the knot. With many marriages ending due to financial issues, should these couples also consider combining finances before marriage?

Jeremy @ Modest Money writes On The Road Again – Managing Your Finances On Your Travels – Life on the road can wipe out your life savings in what seems like no time at all. However, there are a few ways to reduce your costs so that you can travel for longer on less money, making your return that little bit easier.

Glen Craig @ Free From Broke writes Are Online College Classes Right for You? – Online classes are becoming more and more a part of the college syllabus. But are online college classes right for you? See some pros and cons to online classes.

Jefferson @ See Debt Run writes The Cost of Pet Ownership – A glimpse into the world of pet ownership costs. Adding a furry friend to your family can be quite pricey, and if you are struggling, you might want to find a cheaper alternative.

Lance @ Money Life & More writes I Maxed Out My Roth IRA and You Can Too! – On August 31st I maxed out my Roth IRA for 2012 and it was a great feeling. Normally I’d max it out over the course of an entire year. This year was slightly different.

Giselle Peters @ The Canadian Profiteer writes Extensive Inside Look into Questrade – The Authoritative Review – Here’s an exhaustive in-depth look into the inner workings of Questrade, one of the biggest discount stock trading brokers in North America; from the perspective of an average consumer.

James Petzke @ This Is Common Cents writes Write a Killer Resume – Writing a killer resume may get you a job.