If you are ready to become a homeowner, you’ve probably thought a lot about the house hunt. However, as you start your search to find the right home, don’t forget to look for the right loan as well. The financial strain of buying a home is often daunting, which is why there are government loan programs to help home buyers save money while making such a large purchase. One of these options may be for you:

VA Loans

If you or your spouse has served in the U.S. military, you may be eligible for a VA loan. Backed by the Department of Veterans Affairs, VA loans have flexible qualification measures and allow lenders to prepare mortgages for a greater number of borrowers. Eight out of ten VA loan borrowers would not have qualified for a conventional loan, so even if you’re worried about your credit history, this may still be an option for you. With the exception of a few parts of the country that have high costs of living, VA loans have a limit of $417,000 and must be used towards a primary residence (which does include farms). Their major benefits include:

• No down payments
• No required private mortgage insurance
• Lower loan interest rates, as compared to conventional loans

There are service length requirements in order to qualify, but if you are a veteran interested in buying or renovating a home, there is no reason not to explore this great option.

FHA Loans

Similar to VA loans, it’s easier to qualify for an FHA loan than it is for a conventional loan (and you don’t have to be a veteran). Insured by the Federal Housing Association, FHA loans are meant to give more Americans the option of owning their own home, and they have no maximum income limit so anyone can apply for one. You can finance up to 96.5% of your purchase price while still enjoying a minimum down payment of 3.5%, making it easier to start seriously looking for a home sooner, even if your income level is low. While FHA loan amounts are generally smaller than conventional loans, so are their overall costs, thereby saving you money. Closing costs are regulated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and thus kept low, and the mortgage insurance premium is only 1.5%. FHA loans were designed to help homebuyers save money, and it may be the option you’re looking for.

USDA Loans

Another great, money-saving option is a USDA loan. To qualify, you have to live in what is considered a rural area (generally a population of 10,000 or less, but sometimes up to 25,000). There are also income limits, so they are not an option for all in the same way FHA loans are. If you do qualify though, you are eligible for some great benefits. USDA loans require no down payments, even if you want to finance 100% of your purchase price. They also do not require mortgage insurance, another great measure to keep more money in your pocket.

With government loan programs such as these, you can be savvy about your home purchase and save money in ways that conventional loans do not allow for. Don’t let your new home take a bigger toll on your wallet than it has to!

The following guest post is by Robert Stretch. Robert works in marketing for VA Mortgage Center.com

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Ever since I was a young kid, I have been a fan of Benjamin Franklin.

As a  polymath, he was known for being an  author, printer, scientist, inventor, and political statesman. I found stories regarding his scientific experiments and inventions quite fascinating.

In honor of Independence Day, with Ben Franklin being one of the members of the draft committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence as well as being one of the 56 men who signed the document, I thought it would be a great time to share some quotes about money attributed to Benjamin Franklin- many of which are still used quite often today.

• A penny saved is a penny earned.
• An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.
• Beware of little expenses. A small leak will sink a great ship.
• Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor.
• He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.
• If you know how to spend less than you get, you have the philosopher’s stone.
• Remember that time is money.
• I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.

Hope you enjoy and Happy 4th!!

photo credit: raggio(ALL4HIM)productions

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• RSS Awareness Day- The Personal Finance Blogs in my RSS Reader

Update- This offer has expired.

In celebration of Independence Day, ING DIRECT is offering some great bonuses on their products, including their :

Electric Orange online checking accounts, Sharebuilder investment accounts, and their Easy Orange and Orange Mortgages, as well as special referral bonus for existing account holders who sign up friends on July 1st or 2nd.

ING Electric Orange Checking Promotion- If you open an electric orange checking account, ING DIRECT will give you a $76 bonus.

• Open Electric Orange July 1st – 2nd, and make a total of 7 purchases using your Electric Orange Card or Person2Person Payments (or any combination of the two) within 45 days of account opening. Your $76 bonus will be automatically deposited into your account on day 50 (either August 20th or 21st).

Sharebuilder – You can also get a $76 bonus for opening a Sharebuilder account on July 1st or 2nd.

• You must open a new ShareBuilder Account to receive the $76 bonus offer. Please note the $76 credit will post to your account approximately 4-6 weeks after the first trade executes. The $76 offer is not valid with IRA or Education Savings Accounts. First trade must be executed by 12/31/10.

ING Referral Bonus Promotion- If you are a current ING Direct account holder, you can get a $17.76 bonus for referring new friends to the Orange Savings account or the Electric Orange Checking Account on July 1st and 2nd.

• Refer a friend July 1st – July 2nd and for each friend that opens an Orange Savings Account^SM or Electric Orange^SM with a minimum deposit of $250 using the link in the referral email during the month of July, you’ll receive $17.76.

Easy Orange or Orange Mortgage Promotion- Apply online July 1st – July 2nd for Easy Orange or the Orange Mortgage or call a Mortgage Specialist at 1-877-464-3202 and get $776 off closing costs.

This offer is only good until 11:59 p.m. edt on July 2nd, 2010, so hurry if you are interested!

Update- This offer has expired.

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Did you know you can be extremely wealthy and still be broke?

Doesn’t sound like that makes sense, does it, unless you are talking about wealth in some abstract way, as in “my family and friends make me the wealthiest man in the world.”

Well, actually, you can.

One person who is apparently is Elon Musk, who is said to have been used as a model for Tony Stark in the recent Iron Man movies, and is best known for being a co-founder of Paypal, rocket scientist and founder of SpaceX, and co-owner/founder of Tesla Motors.

According to this article, he is broke- as in out of cash- relying on loans from friends for the appx. $200,000 he spends every month.

Apparently, he is going through a divorce and sank his last $35 million into Tesla Motors, leaving him extremely  wealthy on paper, but without sufficient cash flow to pay the bills, so to speak.

You can have all of the assets in the world, but if you can’t pay your bills due to insufficient cash or cash flow, you will likely run into problems- at least most people will.

The article goes on to mention that Tesla Motors is valued at appx. $1.4 billion, and Space X has a contract with NASA for appx. $1.6 billion, meaning in reality, Mr. Musk is actually worth quite a bit.

Although things may be looking up-  Tesla Motors had their stock IPO (initial public offering) yesterday in fact, which likely netted Musk in the neighborhood of $15 million dollars, so perhaps he can start to put his cash flow problems behind him.

There are a couple of money-related lessons can be learned from this- it is a dichotomy of sorts.

Cash flow is king. Most of us won’t be able to borrow large sums of money if we have all of our money tied up in investments, especially ones that might be business related- I know my friends don’t have enough to lend me $200k a month .

Many people who end up really wealthy follow their passions and are willing to take risks- big ones-with their money, investing in what they believe in. Putting their money where their mouth is, so to speak. I don’t know about you, but I would probably have trouble investing my last dollars into a business if I knew I would be running into major cash-flow problems. Would you?

photo credit: Sh4rp_i

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PerkStreet Financial℠, a relatively new online checking account is now offering 2% cash back when using the PerkStreet Financial Visa® Debit Card for signature (non-pin) purchases if you have an account balance of $5,000 or more, or 1% back if your balance is less than $5,000.

Plus, you can earn 5% cash back for the rest of June and July when you:

• purchase ice cream at Ben & Jerry’s, Culver’s, Dairy Queen and Cold Stone Creamery
• make home improvement purchases at Lowe’s, Home Depot and Menard’s
• buy gas by paying at the pump

5% cash back for gas and at home improvement stores is a great deal, PerkStreet also says there will be more opportunities to earn 5% back throughout the year.

Cash Back Debit Card

A cash back debit card tied to an online checking account is a great alternative for those who choose not to use credit cards for all of their purchases or don’t use credit cards at all and want to stick with cash based spending, still allowing you to get rewards back for your purchases which are on par with that of many rewards or cash back credit cards.

About PerkStreet Financial

PerkStreet Financial is an online financial services company offering online checking, offering “perks” in the form of cash back, music, or coffee when you make purchases with your cash back Visa® Debit Card.

A PerkStreet checking account lets you:

• Buy things with your PerkStreet Financial Visa Debit Card, cash or checks
• Withdraw money without a charge at 37,000 ATMs nationwide
• Find an ATM from your computer or mobile phone
• Withdraw money without charge at any merchant that allows you to get cash back when making a purchase
• Transfer money online between your other bank accounts and your PerkStreet checking account
• Pay bills online
• Check your balance online or over the phone and receive balance alerts via email or mobile phone
• Get help over the phone any time of the day – we answer most calls within 30 seconds

Your money is FDIC insured up to the current limits (currently $250,000).

PerkStreet has no account minimums, and no monthly fees, save a $4.50 inactivity fee for months when you do not use your account at all- you can avoid this by making a transaction with your debit card, writing a check that clears the account, using Online Bill Pay, initiating a withdrawal or making a deposit to the account.

Opening an Account at PerkStreet Financial

The account opening process is relatively simple and only takes a few minutes- you enter your information, fund your account with a minimum of $25.00 (you can use a bank transfer from an existing account). PerkStreet will send you an email confirming they have received your application, and say they will contact you within 2 business days to notify you of the status. I just signed up myself over the weekend, and the entire process took less than 10 minutes.

ATM Usage-

PerkStreet gives you access to the largest free ATM network in the country (STARsf®), located in the at CVS®, Walgreen‟s®, Target® and 7-Eleven® and more.  USage of ATM’s withing this network are totally free.

Also, according to the FAQ page, they do offer checks for usage with your account, and the 1st book of checks is free, for times when you may need to write a check instead of using a debit card.

Visit PerkStreet.com to sign up for your free online checking account and the PerkStreet Financial^SM Visa® Debit Card.

“The PerkStreet Financial Visa Debit Card is issued by The Bancorp Bank pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc.”

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[Update 6/30/10]- The Senate passed the extension of the home buyer tax credit late Wednesday, effectively extending the Home buyer tax credit deadline for closing on a home until September 30th, 2010, for those who have already signed a contract by April 30th but not yet closed, once it is signed by the President. So those who were under contract by the April 30th deadline will have an extra 3 months to close on the transaction and still qualify for the credit. (Source: NYT article).

[Update 6/29/10]- Last week, the senate failed to pass (due to a Senate filibuster) the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010, putting the 1st time home buyer tax credit extension for those who were under contract by the deadline of April 30th but have not closed yet (original deadline is still June 30th, 2010) in jeopardy.

However, today (6/29/10), the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5623, the Homebuyers Assistance and Improvement Act of 2010, trying again to extend the deadline to September 30th, 2010. The bill will be taken up by the Senate and signed into law by the President to go into effect.

For the latest updates on the homebuyer tax credit issue, subscribe to the RSS feed or via email, I’ll provide updates when and if it passes.

(Original post)

The Senate voted to extend the closing deadline for the first time homebuyer tax credit this past week, hoping to give those who have signed a contract but not yet closed on their home purchase an additional 90 days to complete the closing. The amendment filed by Sen. Harry Reid, to the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010 passed the Senate on Wednesday. The bill still needs approval of the House of Representatives and the President’s signature before it becomes effective, though.

According to Reid:

“Because of this program’s popularity and the time it takes to complete transactions such as short sales, I led the effort today to extend the closing deadline for this tax credit through September of this year — allowing lenders more time to clear a backlog of 180,000 potential home buyers nationwide,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, in a news release after the amendment passed in the Senate this week.

To qualify for the credit, buyers had to be under contract for a purchase by April 30. But under current law they only have until June 30 to close on the sale. Supposedly, many people are having trouble getting their home purchases completed in a timely fashion as many lenders  are experiencing a backlog, and the 90 day extension would give them until the end of September to work through any issues and complete the closing on their home.

I’m sure that many people see this as another attempt to “prop up” the housing market, which, after the qualification period ended on April 30th, saw a drop of over 10% in May, with a month to month drop of single family home construction of over 17% ,  according to this article. But, in this case, if the person qualified by the April 30th deadline, most of the delays are likely out of their hands, and I don’t really see it as a bad thing- although many will argue it’s just extending another government handout.

What are your thoughts- should people who have a contract to buy a house and met the April 30th deadline be given extra time to close and still receive the 1st time home buyer tax credit?

Find out why TradeKing.com was ranked #1 Discount Broker by SmartMoney Magazine two years running! (August 2006 & 2007).

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If you have a checking account at a bank, which most adults do, you’ve probably already gotten emails or letters regarding the new bank overdraft rules effecting ATM and debit card transactions taking effect on July 1st for new accounts and August 15th for existing accounts. Every time I log into my Chase checking account online these days, I  get a screen asking me if I want to sign up for overdraft coverage.

What the banks are asking, in effect, is for your permission for them to charge you up to $30 + for the privilege of covering your account purchases if you have an insufficient balance. With the passage of the new reform last year (federal reserve press release), in order for banks to continue with “business as usual” and charge exorbitant fees when you overdraft your account, you have to agree to it first. Otherwise, your purchase will simply be declined at the point of sale. (Note that banks can still charge overdraft fees without you having to opt-in for checks, as well as recurring monthly charges you have automatically charged to your debit card)

As I mentioned, I have a Chase Bank checking account, and according to this article from the Huffington Post, some people find the sign up page for Chase’s Overdraft Protection confusing, to say the least. I didn’t find it to be too bad, but I understand how some people could.

Also a bit confusing, and again, I’m using Chase as the example here, but I would guess other banks are similar, is the difference between overdraft coverage and overdraft protection.

Overdraft coverage allows Chase to cover your overdrafts, and charges a $34 fee- and up to 3 overdrafts in a day -so if you have 3 items paid for by overdraft coverage in a single day, they will charge you $102.  Chase Overdraft Coverage flyer (pdf).

However, a much cheaper option (again, at Chase) is overdraft protection, where you link a Chase savings account or credit card to your checking account to be used to cover any overdrafts, and Chase will only charge you $10 (max per day, also, from what I understand) to cover any overdrafts. Chase Overdraft Protection page.

Obviously, this would be the way to go, and if you end up overdrafting 3 items in one day, could save you $90.

According to the overdraft coverage flyer, overdraft coverage would still help you out if your linked savings account, for example did not have sufficient funds to cover your purchases. It seems to me though, if you get to that point, you have bigger problems to worry about.

The point of all of this is to make sure you know what you are signing up for  with overdraft coverage, overdraft protection, or whatever your bank calls it.

If you don’t have a problem with business as usual (and hopefully don’t overdraft much), then go ahead and sign up- but a better and cheaper option would be for overdraft protection (as Chase calls it) with a linked savings account or credit card in the unfortunate event that you do overdraft your account. If you would rather have your purchase declined, then you can do nothing- the new rules are such that you have to opt-in in order to continue with overdraft coverage and the cdorresponding fees.

Are you going to opt-in for overdraft coverage? Why or Why Not?

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With interest rates hovering at fairly historical low levels, maximizing the return on your savings is still very important. Online bank accounts are a great place to keep your emergency fund, as you can keep a degree of separation, making it easier to truly use it for emergencies only.  While savings account rates are pretty  low historically right now, they will likely begin to rise some time in the fairly near future.

Why open an online savings account?

An online savings account can offer some advantages that traditional bank savings accounts do not offer, such as:

• Higher interest rates
• Minimum or no fees for transactions or maintenance
• Not as accessible as a regular savings account

Below are some of the top online bank accounts and interest rates updated as of June 6th,2010

SmartyPig- 2.15% APY (on balances under $50,000)

Smartypig is not a conventional savings account per se, but is FDIC insured, and accounts are held at West Bank. Smartypig is a goal driven savings program, where you can set savings goals that you can make public to others to keep yourself accountable, and  friends or family can also contribute to your goal.

• FDIC Insured
• The minimum requirement for a savings goal is $250.
• A minimum deposit of $25 is required to start and maintain a savings goal, minimum monthly contribution of $10 per goal. One time contributions can be made.
  
• Interest accrued daily and posted quarterly.
  

Discover Bank- 1.40% APY

Discover Bank High Yield Savings Accounts, one of the newer online high yield accounts on the block, currently offers a very competitive 1.35% APY. While it does have a minimum deposit of $500, if you have that much save already it is not much of an issue, as there is no minimum balance required thereafter.

• Minimum deposit of $500 required
• No minimum balance
• FDIC insured

Ally Bank- 1.29%

Ally Bank, formerly GMAC Bank, was named 2009’s Best Online Savings Account by Kiplinger Magazine, this past December. Offering competitive rates and great customer service, Ally has become quite popular since

• No fees, no minimums
• FDIC insured
• Daily compounded interest
• No minimum to open

HSBC Advance -1.10%

HSBC Advance (formerly HSBC Direct)- HSBC Advance is an online banking arm of HSBC bank, which does have physical branches.  Unlike many other online savings accounts, you can access your money via ATM. Named “best online savings account” by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance in 2006.

• FDIC Insured
• $1.00 minimum to open account
• No fees for transfers, does not have to be HSBC checking account
• Can withdraw funds via ATM
• No minimum balance

ING Direct-1.10% APY

ING DIRECT is one of the oldest and well-known online high yield savings account. I’ve had an ING Orange Savings Account since 2002 (wow, has it really been that long?), and have been please with the service and competitive interest rates over the years.

• FDIC Insured
• No fees or minimums
• Ability to set up “sub accounts” for different savings goals

FREE trial – Get out of Debt with DebtGoal

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Bing, owned by Microsoft, which is in direct competition with Google for search engine customers, announced yesterday it is ending its Bing Cashback online shopping program, with the last day that you can earn cashback from shopping through Bing being July 30th, 2010.

According to this Bing forum post announcing the end of the cashback program,the Bing cashback program did not gain the broad adoption Microsoft had hoped, and they will take what they learned and develop new programs for shoppers and advertisers.

Some additional details from the Bing forum post:

So what does this mean for Bing cashback users? Well, until July 30th at 9:00 pm PST, it’s business as usual, with cashback offers still living within Bing. After that, Bing cashback will discontinue, though you will have a year to redeem any cashback you have earned through your cashback account consistent with the cashback Terms and Conditions. In addition, Microsoft will provide 12 months of customer support to ensure a smooth transition.

I’ve only taken advantage of the Bing Cashback a few times, so I can’t really say that it will have an effect on my online shopping habits very much. But many people loved the Bing Cashback program and made somewhat of an art out of saving money shopping online by using the program.

Here is a thread on slickdeals lamenting the demise of the Bing Cashback program, with some members posting some pretty impressive totals of the amount they’ve saved through Bing.

Have you taken advantage of the Bing Cashback program when shopping online? Are you disappointed/upset that it is ending, or does in not make much difference to you?

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10 Budgeting and Personal Finance Tips for New College Graduates

It’s graduation season, and many new college grads will (hopefully) be starting their 1st job, if they had any luck in this somewhat weak economy.

For many new graduates, along with starting a new, full time job as they enter the workforce for the first time will come the first real, steady paycheck.

When the money starts to come in regularly, it is very easy to want to start buying things you feel like you can “afford” now that you are making money. However, it can be easy to get into financial trouble with that type of mindset- some people have trouble making the adjustment to a new and frequently larger source of income.

Here are 10 personal finance and budget tips for new college grads.

1.) Make a Budget- Creating and living on a budget is an important step in controlling your finances and spending less than you earn, the key to financial success. You can spend money on things you want, recreation, and socializing, but you have to live within your means and place limits on the amount you spend in those categories. Check out my article on why budgets are important for links to some personal budget worksheets you can use to set one up.

2.) Start slow- First off, take things slow with your new found source of income. You don’t have to start paying for meals & drinks for everyone, now that you can afford it, nor do you have to buy yourself a whole new wardrobe now that you are a member of the adult work force. Take things slow with your spending, and you’ll likely realize you don’t really need to spend as much as
you think.

3.) Resist the urge to splurge- If you’ve gone through life thus far without much money, it can be tempting to splurge some on yourself with your new source of income. Limiting your shopping opportunities, including online, as well as keeping yourself busy, can help resist the urge to splurge on things you don’t really need.

4.) Wait on the new car- For a lot of graduates, a new car is one of the first things they want to buy when they graduate, especially if they’ve been driving around an old “beater” while still in school. If you have a drivable car, waiting as long as possible is a smart money move, as well as buying a used car instead of a new one.

5.) Check and pay attention to your credit report & credit score- Now is the time to start building credit, so be careful when signing up for credit cards, taking loans, etc. Keep up to date with your payments, and don’t let your credit card balances get too high. Here’s how you can check you credit report regularly for free.

6.) Assess your debt situation, and start paying it off-If you were lucky enough to make it through college without any debt, hats off to you, you’re doing great. For many though, both student loans and credit card debt can pile up while in school. Now is the time for focusing on what debts you have, especially bad debts like credit cards, and start paying them off aggressively.

7.) Start investing for retirement- The magic of compound interest is on your side as a young adult. The earlier you start investing for retirement (and the more you save, of course), the sooner you will reach financial freedom.

8.) Rent for a while or live at home- Don’t be in such a rush to buy a place to live either, whether it is a house or condo. The housing market is still struggling, and may go down further, for all anyone knows, and you may not want to tie yourself down to a city or area when you are young. Living at home is not a bad idea, either, and can save you quite a bit of money-which you can save for that down payment when you are really ready to buy a place to live.

9.) Work hard- and as much as possible-Work hard- don’t expect things to get handed to you, and start thinking about your job as a “career”. Getting ahead at work and becoming known as a person who “gets things done” will do wonders for your future salary increases.

10.) Save, Save, Save!!- As someone who did not do much saving for the first 5 to 10 years out of college, let me tell you- emergencies and “rainy days” happen a lot more than you think. As with investing for retirement, the sooner you start, the better off you will be financially.

• 10 Great Ways For College Graduates to Start Off on the Right Track with Their Finances
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A few days ago, I posted a link to Suze Orman’s new website, MoneyMindedMoms.com, with a brief description of the site, and a note that the site was offering a free download to “5 Simple Ways to Save $500″ when you signed up for a newsletter. I hadn’t downloaded it at the time, but since then, I have received a couple of emails and a comment that having to sign up for the email newsletter was “the catch”, in order to get the free download, and they were not sure it was worth the trouble.

Since I had brought it to their attention, and for those who decided not to deal with hassle of signing up for Suze’s newsletter,  I thought I might give the download of  “5 Simple Ways to Save $500″ a quick look see and share my thoughts with you guys.

The download is 7 pages long, with 5 categories where you can save money-each one contains 3 to 5 tips, for a total of about 20 money saving tips spread across the 5 categories. Below are the 5 categories, along with my favorite tip from each- they’re OK in general, nothing earth-shattering, but sometimes being reminded of money saving tips you may have already heard isn’t a bad thing- there were a few I hadn’t thought of or hear before.

1.) Face the Facts- Saving money on looking good, i.e., hair, face etc. Tip- Go a week longer between haircuts, which seems quite doable and probably wouldn’t be noticed by too many people.

2.) Drive in to Big Savings- Saving money on your car. Tip- Look into increasing your car insurance deductible to save money- this is one I have been meaning to take care of myself, but haven’t done so yet on my 9 yr. old car- I need to get on this!

3.) Food for Thought- Tip- Focus on using leftovers. This one can be difficult at times (spaghetti again!), but it can definitely cut down on your food waste, and save money in the process.

4.) Party and Pleasure for less- Save on parties and fun. One interesting tip here is to start requesting that friends not bring gifts to your kids birthday parties, (only family would give your kids gifts), in order to start a precedent for kids your child is friends with. Now depending on the age, they may get quite mad at you for starting this, but I do agree- kids get WAY too many gifts these days, and it seems like trying to stop the madness, so to speak, would be good. I just don’t want to have to be the 1st one to tell my kid he’s not getting gifts from his friends at his b-day party- maybe I can talk my wife into it .

5.) Home-in on Savings- Saving around the house. Tip Reduce your cell phone or cable plan by one “level” of service, in order to save money. This sounds like something most people could probably do without much effort or pain.

Overall, it wasn’t too bad- it’s a short 7 page download, with somewhat good tips- it may not be your cup of tea, but if you want to download it, you can sign up for the newsletter and do so here. As a side note, you can always unsubscribe at the bottom of the email newsletters if you decide it’s not for you- it only takes a few clicks to unsubscribe.

Rent unlimited movies from Netflix for just $8.99 per month.

• Suze Orman’s New Money Minded Moms Site
• Use 2008 Expenses and Spending to Plan for a More Financially Successful 2009
• Teaching Kids the True Value of Money
• Free Money Saving Tips- 66 Ways to Save Money
• 10 Tips for a Financially Stress Free Christmas

Browsing through the morning paper with my coffee this morning, I came across a coupon flyer with an advert for Suze Orman’s new blog type website, called MoneyMindedMoms.

I visited moneymindedmoms.com to check it out, and it has sections on managing debt, feeding your family, and others, as well as financial calculators  for debt, tracking expenses, and calculating interest. It also has video clips from her show on CNBC. It does not have a lot of content as of yet, so time will tell if it is regularly updated like a blog, or is more of a static type website.  And while it’s geared towards moms, obviously, it looks like it has money saving tips useful for anyone- moms, dads, and single people alike.

You can also sign up for her newsletter and get a free download of “5 Simple Ways to Save $500″ when you do. I haven’t downloaded and read it yet, but I plan on doing so to see if there are any useful tips.

Let me know your thoughts if you’ve checked it out.

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• Mini Review- Five Simple Ways to Save $500 from Suze Orman’s MoneyMindedMoms Site
• RSS Awareness Day- The Personal Finance Blogs in my RSS Reader
• Celebrate “America Saves” Week
• Have You Jumped on the Coupon Bandwagon Yet?
• Single Step Personal Finance Challenge- Credit Card Debt Elimination