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My Toyota is American, the Colosseum is Sinking and a Carnival

toyota logo 300x300 My Toyota is American, the Colosseum is Sinking and a CarnivalHi Everyone! Happy Monday! I’m just coming off of vacation, and it was really needed! This week looks like it is off to an interesting start too. Here are some interesting things that I’ve found in the last week. When I purchased my Toyota a few years ago, I had to answer questions from some relatively patriotic people about “how I could have purchased a foreign vehicle.”

My answer to them: it isn’t as foreign as you might think. Sure, the profits go elsewhere, but considering profits only represent about 6% – 9% of the total price of the car, I was helping the US far more by purchasing my Toyota. Obviously, I got looks of shock when I claimed my Toyota was more American than Ford or GM (GASP!), but the truth is the truth.

Well, to surprise you more, Toyota Camry is the most American car for the 4th year in a row squeaking by the Ford F150. Now, going over to Italy, apparently the Colosseum is sinking on one side, and engineers are monitoring to see what their course of action is. I hope they can figure out what to do, because I do have plans to see it someday! With all of that said, I hope you’re off to a great week, and now, onto the carnival!

Lance @ Money Life & More writes Passive Income: Not As Passive As You Think – If there is one topic personal finance bloggers absolutely love it is passive income. According to wikipedia, “Passive income is an income received on a regular basis, with little effort required to maintain it.” There are two key phrases in this definition that will help you define what passive income is to you.

Bryan Maltier @ Gajizmo.com writes Millionaires By The Numbers – Up Close and Personal – Meet the millionaires of the United States. With 8% of all U.S. households qualifying as millionaires, the million-dollar club is more attainable than ever with the right financial habits and attitude.

Eddie @ Finance Fox writes If You’re Traveling, Don’t Forget To Pack Travel Insurance – Travel insurance protects more than just the expense of your flight.

Don @ MoneySmartGuides writes New Consumer Finance Protection Bureau – 9 Things You Need to Know – The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau was created to help regulate financial businesses and protect consumers from the kinds of practices that contributed to the recent recession.

BARBARA FRIEDBERG @ Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance writes 3 PRODUCTIVITY TIPS FROM MY SUMMER VACATION – Put all the same type of tasks together. Work through them quickly and with focus. Next move on. Don’t recheck, reread, and review. It’s a waste of time. Once done with a task, don’t come back to the same task to do just one more little bit. That is totally inefficient. Move on.

Passive Income Earner @ The Passive Income Earner writes Dividend Growth Index – 2012 Q2 Results – We are currently in our 3rd quarter of the Dividend Growth Index (DGI)which started back in September 2011 as a project to see how our picks (a group of dividend focused bloggers) would perform over time compared with an index. Here is a background on the Dividend Growth Index (DGI).

PPlaner @ Provident Plan writes Shop Around for Your Property, Not Your Bank – Looking for a home? If so, then you know shopping around for both your mortgage and your new home can save you thousands of dollars.

Luke @ Learn Bonds writes How to Predict Inflation and Deflation – Inflation is something that market participants care a lot about. How exactly do you go about predicting inflation? Learn here.

MMD @ My Money Design writes What are Mutual Funds and How Do I Invest in Them? – Have you ever wondered what are mutual funds? This is your complete guide to understanding mutual funds and getting started on them as part of your investment strategy.

J.P. @ Novel Investor writes How Often Should You Do An Investment Review? – Tracking your investments is more than glancing at those monthly statements. A regular investment review needs to be done.

Darwin @ Credit Resource Center writes The Upcoming “Fiscal Cliff” and What it Means to Your Finances – Something you’re going to start to hear a lot more about in the American press is the impending “fiscal cliff” set to occur at the end of 2012. No, it’s not the Mayan calendar end of the world prophecy, but many politicians and newscasters are treating it as such.

Sustainable PF @ Sustainable Personal Finance writes Do Parents Have To Help? – Just how far should parents go to ensure their children have reduced debt burden after they graduate?

Ted Jenkin @ Your Smart Money Moves writes The Best Time To Buy A Home Might Be Now – From a financial perspective, the window for pouncing on a once-in-a-lifetime deal on a home might be narrowing.

Aloysa @ My Broken Coin writes My Top 10 Worst Shopping Mistakes – Read these top 10 worst shopping mistakes! Do you do the same ones?

YFS @ Your Finances Simplified writes How I Almost Got Cheated out of 650 bucks – So as you all may know we recently purchased our 3 rental property. I did a lot of talking about in the following posts.

Daniel @ Sweating the Big Stuff writes The 6 Best Wedding Gifts To Give – Don’t know what to get the bride and groom? Here are some great suggestions that you simply can’t go wrong with!

Suba @ Broke Professionals writes The Hidden Costs of My Husband’s New Job – My husband’s new job has come with some major hidden costs. Here’s what we’re doing to attempt to deflect his job’s negative impact on our bottom line.

Tushar @ Start Investing Money writes Why is it Important to Create Your Own Unique Investment Plan? – Read my article on why it is important to create your own unique investment plan!

Bridget @ Money After Graduation writes What you can learn about blogging from 50 Shades of Grey – Oh yeah, you read that right. I promise this is NOT a joke post. I have some serious advice for you guys here. Just like Christian Grey, I don’t mess around! Now, I’m not going to launch into a lengthly review about the book, though I am tempted.

SFB @ Simple Finance Blog writes What is Offshore Savings? – Offshore savings is an aspect of offshore banking that focuses on just savings accounts. This is a popular option for many people looking to diversify where their cash is held, but don’t necessarily need the full features of an offshore bank. Having an account offshore can offer diversity that being in a single country cannot…

A Blinkin @ Funancials writes Your Obsession With FREE – Are you drawn to things that are BOGO (buy one get one free)? I’m guessing you are. We all are. The sound of FREE is music to our ears. Why? Because it’s not only free, it’s RISK FREE. The majority of us are such sissies that we would rather “not lose” than “win.&

Jon the Saver @ Free Money Wisdom writes Should You Invest with Less the $5,000? – If you have a small amount of money, should I invest on a regular basis? Let’s answer this question together and start multiplying our money!

L Bee @ L Bee and the Money Tree writes Everyone remembers their first…. – Credit Card that is…. I remember one day in late fall of 2005 I didn’t have money to pay for some sisterhood retreat I wanted to go on. So I got online and applied for my first credit card. It was shockingly easy and I received it in the mail less than a week later.

Corey @ 20s Finances writes Five Ways Anyone Can Make Extra Money – Ever since I started making a little extra money from my hobby (and realizing the difference that it makes on your monthly budget), I have been a little obsessed with different ways to make money. There is so much more that you can do with extra money. The idea of it being extra money can be dangerous though because it can encourage more splurging.

PITR @ Passive Income To Retire writes Why Blogging is a Respectable Business – Find out why blogging is a respectable business model and why it aligns with the future of online usage.

Crystal @ Budgeting in the Fun Stuff writes Life is Too Short to Spend Time Ironing Sheets – Here is the list of things that I refuse to waste time on since they do not give me enough satisfaction to justify the time spent. Life is too short.

Kyle @ The Penny Hoarder writes How to Earn Extra Money by Renting Out your Home Wi-Fi – Why not make more money by renting out Wi-Fi access at your home?

Daisy @ Add Vodka writes Handling Mistakes at Work – When I first started in internship #1, I was so excited to get a little bit of real world experience in my field.

Wayne @ Young Family Finance writes Tips for Buying a New Car – Learn a basic step-by-step guide for buying a new car. It’s not as easy as you might think.

krantcents @ KrantCents writes The 3 Y’s of Success – The 3 Y’s of Success is the twenty-fifth in a series of articles to help you reach your goal.

Call Me What You Want Even Cheap @ Call Me What You Want Even Cheap writes Cash Or Plastic – This post is about which is better to carry around with you cash or credit

Teacher Man @ My University Money writes Student Lines of Credit – Student lines of credit are great to have because of the insanely low interest rates. We’ll show you why these are superior to most loans.

Young @ Young And Thrifty writes Starting Your Career Rurally – Starting Your Career Rurally can give you an edge over people living in the cities, we’ll show you why.

Jen @ Master the Art of Saving writes We’re Buying Our First House! – Around a month ago, my husband came to me and said that we really need to buy a house right away. Scary! I’m the one who handles the budget and all the money…

Corey @ Steadfast Finances writes Should You Build Your Own Home? – Owning a home is the dream of most middle-class families. Not only does it offer the ability to be in control of your own housing environment (as opposed to renting), but it offers long term financial security. Yet, it’s not always attainable. As we have mentioned before, buying a house can be difficult with the recent economy.

JP @ My Family Finances writes Average Family Spending On Back-to-School Shopping in 2012 – This year total family spending will be a record $83.8 billion. How do you stack up against the average family spending on back-to-school shopping.

MR @ Money Reasons writes Earning 25 Percent On My Previous Mortgage Payment – Earning 25 Percent On My Previous Mortgage Payment by overlapping some awesome money instruments

Maria @ The Money Principle writes Cuts in public spending are not going to affect front line services! – In this post how cuts in public spending affect adversely public services is discussed through my latest business trip experience.

Amanda L Grossman @ Frugal Confessions writes My Family’s Circle of Savings – I try to imagine the looks on the faces of Transportation Security Administration Inspectors when they x-ray my bag full of liquids, perishables, drugs

Kevin @ Thousandaire writes I Saved a Bunch of Money on Food Last Week – I identified a spending problem and I fixed it. I saved a bunch of money by not eating out last week.

Jeremy @ Modest Money writes Does Everyone Need An Emergency Fund? – I just cannot wrap my head around the concept that apparently everyone should tie up a large sum of money in a low interest savings account. While it does make sense for people with debt problems, it just does not seem logical for anyone with decent credit. In such cases a small emergency fund should be adequate.

Sicorra @ Tackling Our Debt writes Are You an Impulse Spender? – Are you an impulse spender? Do you spend money because it is fun to spend? Do you often find yourself looking at your…

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Deacon Hayes @ Well Kept Wallet writes Get the Most Out of Your Vacation – Kim and I are in Singapore this week visiting friends. We saved up for 18 months to make this trip happen and we have finally arrived. The weather is a little more humid than we’re used to but the island is beautiful and the people are great. In the midst of our travels I thought I would share 5 things you can do to get the most out of your vacation.

Jennifer Lynn @ Broke-Ass Mommy writes Bitcoin, the ‘Comeback Kid’ – Bitcoin is a fascinating concept! Read about how it’s making a comeback and see if it could have a place in your financial arsenal?

Roger the Amateur Financier @ The Amateur Financier writes Job Hunting Success – Interview 201: At the Interview, and Beyond – Some advice on how to appear more confident and assertive during your job interview, as well as following up after your interview

John @ Married (with Debt) writes Does America Need Small Businesses to Fail? – Does the American economy need small businesses to fail? And from this question: does the economy depend on having both losers and winners?

Jason @ Work Save Live writes Saving a Down Payment For a House – Our Journey June 2012 – Saving a Down Payment for a House The end of May and throughout the month of June presented a lot of great changes for us.

SB @ One Cent at a Time writes Earning Quick Money – $100 a day – various tips to earn quick cash in a day without investment . This article lists various ways to earn $100 in a day legally and without a single penny of investment.

SB @ Finance Product Reviews writes Iberia Bank Visa Gold Card Review – Almost Lowest APR Card in the Market – We reviewed Iberiabank visa gold card card and found it to have one of the lowest APRs in the industry, this can be an excellent choice for your short term cash need.

Shawanda @ You Have More Than You Think writes The Rent vs. Buy Debate: Why Renting Makes Sense – Is it better to buy vs rent? Buying your home may give you the warm and fuzzies. But before you take on the expensive cost of home ownership, run the numbers.

Hank @ Money Q&A writes Five Professional Athletes Who Are Struggling Financially – I always find it so interesting to see some of the inner workings of professional athletes and famous people’s finances. Below are five professional athletes who filed bankruptcy.

Jester @ The Ultimate Juggle writes Starting Out Rich Is Not As Satisifying As Becoming Rich – My background from being poor to working and believing that I could become wealthy.

Glen Craig @ Free From Broke writes The Best Credit Card Offers – Finding the best credit card offer can give you a ton of rewards and perks and make your spending more efficient. Here are some of the best credit card offers around.

Earth and Money @ Earth and Money writes Seven Reasons for Renting over Buying – There’s a lot of reasons to buy property, but sometimes its better to rent. Here’s seven reasons why renting is better than buying.

Paul Vachon @ The Frugal Toad writes Forex Pattern Recognition – Although pattern recognition programs cannot yet outperform experienced technical analysis in terms of accuracy, they can usually provide a relatively quick and numerically accurate graphical analysis of a forex price chart.

Lance @ Money Life & More writes It Pays to Ask For More – Coke Zero Commercial “And…?” – I can’t count the number of times I’ve gotten something more simply because I asked for more. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t just say “and…” with no reason to back it up and have someone give me free money. You always need a reason and shouldn’t just expect a hand out.

About Wealth Artisan

Hi There! I'm Kris, founder of WealthArtisan.com. I love entrepreneurship, business, finance, & running Wealth Artisan. Follow me on Twitter.

Comments

  1. Hey Timothy,

    Welcome back from the vacation!

    Thanks for hosting and for posting my article The Best Time To Buy A Home Might Be Now

  2. We just returned from a camping trip, had a blast and now back to the grind!

    Thanks for including us Tim!

  3. Welcome back from vacation and thanks for including my article in your roundup!

  4. Thanks for inclusion and hosting, I really appreciate it.

  5. Thanks for including our post. Have a great week!

  6. Thank you for the inclusion! It’s always a treat!

  7. Thanks for hosting and thank you for including the Credit Resource Center! This is a really good roundup!

  8. Thanks for including my post Timothy. And good point about your Toyota being American. That remaining 90%+ obviously provided some jobs for a bunch of people.

  9. Thanks so much for including my post Timothy! Hope you had a great vacation!

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