1. Who says blogging is the only way to earn money online? Here are a few other ways to make money online without blogging presented by The Financial Blogger.
2. The Cost of Our Jobs by Kristina of DINKS Finance may make you want to rethink about what you should consider when applying for and accepting a new job.
3. Most of us need to a car to get to and from work. It is in fact already considered a necessity. But do you know what’s your car really costing you? This article by Money Under 30 tells us exactly what a car can cost us these days.
4. 20somethingfinance lists The Top Ten Cities for Young Professionals. I think location is one of the key things to consider when looking for a job. Read on!
5. What are the things you can’t live without? Studenomics has a list of College Dorm Room Essentials.
6. The Financial Samurai posts that Senior Workers Outnumber Teenage Workers for the First Time. And no, he isn’t kidding.
7.Budgets are Sexy presents: Introducing Strip Budgeting. Budgeting does not need to be boring!
8. Weddings: Spend or Splurge. Len Penzo says that A Big Fat Expensive Wedding is Stupid is as Stupid Does.
9. Christmas in July: How to Save More than $500 by Christmas is a very helpful post for us who would want to be spared from the hassles of Christmas shopping..and budgeting.
10. Building a strong financial foundation is very important to be able to maintain that momentum all throughout. Christian PF discusses how.
11. Want to buy a house? Before you do, check out the 5 Good Reasons buying a house requires planning by Money Smart Life.
12. The Wealth Pilgrim gives out the list of 19 Great Jobs Without A College Degree — And how to get them fast. So what are you waiting for?
13. Saving isn’t an easy thing to do. But every step towards your goal counts. Here, Smart on Money shares Three Steps You Can Take to Turn Your Financial Life Around.
14. “Should you overestimate your retirement needs?“, “How much should you save for retirement?”. These are a few questions running through our minds. pt Money will help clear your mind from these questions.
15. Do you spend more than you can afford? Do you justify these expenses by stating that these are necessities or investments? Read more about the Fallacy of OPM – Other People’s Money and see what the Fiscal Geek has to say.

Carnivals:
Green Panda Treehouse has been included in this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance #267 at Beating Broke
and also in Carnival of Money Stories #64 – No Debt Plan Edition.

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Loaning money from family– the post that you need to read. Us young people have a lot that we want to do and we want to do it right now. Once college is done it feels like it’s time for us to take over the world. We all would like to have the money to:

• Start our own business.
• Pay off debt.
• Travel the world.

The only problem is that it feels like it takes an eternity to save up for any of these above options. This is when a loan seems like an excellent idea. Unfortunately, it’s extremely difficult to obtain a bank loan for traveling or starting your own business (and the interest rates aren’t the greatest). The only way to alleviate some of the stress of student loans is to consolidate your student loans.

The next logical step to ponder for many, is a loan from a family member– yes loaning money from family, a very sensitive topic but somebody has to cover it. Before you make any decisions regarding family and money, you need to consider the following questions:

How strong is our relationship?

How long have you known this person? Would the awkwardness that goes along with creating a lender-borrower relationship make it difficult to hang out? Everything could be perfectly fine with this person until money comes in the way. You need to take an honest look at your relationship and if money would hurt it. Chances are that yes it would. I know that’s not the answer that you want to hear, but it’s unfortunately more common for money to hurt relationships than strengthen them.

Who is this person to you?

What is your relationship with the lender? Your rich Uncle Fred will have an easier time loaning you a few thousand dollars, than your middle-class cousin Steve. You need to truly comprehend who this person is to you before you decide to ask them for money. You really don’t want to put anyone in an awkward position. You also don’t want to shed a negative light on yourself by asking someone for a loan that you really shouldn’t.

What if I can’t pay back this money?

This is a very sensitive area. You’re loaning the money with the greatest intention in the world to pay it back. However, what if life turns into a roller coaster and paying the money back within a specified deadline becomes impossible? Is there a backup plan? How will the lender deal with this?

There needs to be a contingency plan in place. You could offer to pay the individual the money back in set intervals. You could also offer to pay the money back through offering your services. Whatever the contingency plan is, it must be clearly identified and agreed on by both sides before you borrow the money.

One last final note– even though you’re dealing with family, you still MUST get everything down on paper, with the signatures of a few witnesses. You need to put emotions aside for a few minutes and agree to the terms of this financial agreement. A handshake agreement might work when you buy someone lunch, but not when thousands of dollars are at play.

My take on financial agreements between family members?

I wouldn’t do it. I stay away from this at all costs. I have loaned money to my younger brothers in the past, without expecting to be paid back (more of a gift). Maybe I will get paid back one day down the road, but I knew going in that I didn’t want to create a lender-borrower relationship with someone close to me. When it comes to anyone that’s not a parent or a sibling, I wouldn’t even entertain the idea. Nothing good could come out of it. I’m not telling you to turn your back on someone with financial woes, but you really do need to protect the relationships that matter to you by not getting money involved.

What’s your take on the issue of family and money? Have you been involved in such an agreement before? How did it pan out?

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I’m a bit late, but I usually like to check my IRA asset allocation and see if I need to make any adjustments to contributions. I made a few tweaks, but I’m pretty much keeping to my plan.

Asset allocation has a big impact on your account’s performance. You basically determine your assets allocation on factors, such as:

• Time -How long will it be before you retire and start withdrawing? The longer you have, the more risk you can take.
• Risk Tolerance – Some people are naturally more conservative than others. If the recent ups and downs have you wondered, then you may not want to put all you money in emerging markets for example.

Not Too Late to Contribute

Don’t get discouraged if you haven’t opened an account up. It’s still not too late to contribute. You have until you file taxes to make your contributions. If you file your taxes mid February 2011, you can make contributions that count for 2010 until mid February.

How much can you contribute to your IRA?

Right now you can contribute $5,000/year to a Roth IRA if your modified AGI is :

• $167,000 for married filing jointly or qualifying widow(er),
• $116,000 for single, head of household, or married filing separately and you did not live with your spouse at any time during the year, and
• $10,000 for married filing separately and you lived with your spouse at any time during the year.

Source: IRS Publication 590

Curious to Learn More?

Mike has some great posts here on getting the right asset allocation for you.

• Know Your Asset Classes
• A Closer Look at Fixed Income Assets
• Invest in the Market When People Have Chickened-out
• What Are My Other Investing Options?

Don’t be afraid to ask others about what they’re asset allocation is and how they chose it. While there are some principals people should follow with how they design their portfolio, there is a lot of leeway based on individuals risk tolerance.

If you don’t have the time or interest in adjusting and balancing your portfolio, you may want to check out a target retirement fund. It is supposed to adjust as the years pass and it will become more conservative the closer you get towards retirement.

How are your retirement accounts doing? What’s your current allocation for your investment account? Are you going to change them?

According to many of my friends (myself included), I am still just a kid. In fact, I really like to describe myself as a kid with kids. I am only 28 (turning 29 before the maple leaves turn red ) but I feel that I’ve had an interesting financial timeline so far. There are a few important steps in my life that happened and helped me realize several very important facts about personal finance. So here is my financial timeline and what I have learned so far:

8-15 Years old: My First Contact With Money

At the age of 8, I had my very first contact with money. I will always remember that day where I thought that everything deserves a reward… I had spent about 30 minutes shovelling snow on my parents’ patio while they were shovelling some serious snowfall in the driveway. Once I was done, I asked my father to be paid since I had worked pretty hard (according to me anyways!). He looked back at me and gave me a quarter… I was so insulted at first! Then, I realized that sometimes, helping is what matters, not getting money for every single thing you do in life .

Later on, at the age of 13, I’ve probably learned my biggest lesson; the hard wall of going bankrupt. My dad lost his job and 2 months after, we were leaving our house for a small shack in far far away land. It was hard to grow up as a teenager without a single penny in my pockets but I promised myself to never go bankrupt, ever. Since then, I’ve always been careful when spending money and made sure I make more than I have spending each year!

15-20 Years old: Feeling like a king while really being a jester

Man, these were the good years! I was working 35 hours a week (in a dollar store and for my dad’s new company), no debts and a lot of money in my pockets . While I was not making much in reality, the fact that I was living in my parents’ home and that I didn’t have any bills to pay made me feel like a millionaire.

I traveled across Europe, had a nice car and played all the video games available for my Playstation . I was able to go through school without any debt as well… life was good!

20-25 Years old: Learning the ropes

At the age of 20, I left my house while I hadn’t finished with my bachelor degree. My girlfriend (now my wife) and I simply had to leave the parent’s nest to live our life. It was hard as we rapidly got into debt since I was not working full time yet.

During these 5 years, I finished my bachelor degree, paid off my debts, bought land, sold it, bought my first house, sold it, and bought my second house while having 2 kids. This was a crazy period for us as we learned how to manage our budget, buy real estate and manage our careers while raising a family.

25-29 Years old: Establishing the first stones of my success

These are definitely the best financial years of my life so far. I’ve completed my MBA, started an online company and I also work as a CFP. I now work 4 days a week and my wife is at home and takes care of the kids. My only debts are my mortgage and a car loan so we are in a good position to start saving money and look forward to the future.

It wasn’t easy to get where I am but I certainly appreciate it every day. Not having money problems is a piece of mind that is priceless! I’ve now slowed down my rhythm in order to appreciate life and my family. There is nothing more fun than spending an afternoon with the kids running around while I walk hand in hand with my wife!

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As more people become aware of environmental issues and strive to reduce their carbon footprint, “green living” is becoming more common. The expense of becoming more green is almost always higher than other, less “green” options; but the good news is that over time your green living choices will save you money on a daily basis as well as on your taxes in the form of a tax credit during the year you purchase or put a green energy system into service.

What are Tax Credits?

There is some confusion between tax credit and tax deduction for many people. A tax deduction reduces your taxable income by a percentage, rather than the full amount which results in lower taxes but not by the amount of the deduction. Tax credits reduces your taxable income dollar-for-dollar, which makes them more valuable than a tax deduction in terms of savings at tax time. Realize that these tax credits are non-refundable. In other words, they can lower your tax liabilities to zero but refund you money below $0.

Federal tax credits for green energy not only save you money on your taxes, but offer further savings through lower energy bills, better gas mileage on fuel-efficient vehicles, as well as a reduction in air pollution (which was the goal of cash for clunkers). Some states offer rebates and tax incentives on green energy purchases and upgrades, too.

Tax Credits for 2010

For the 2010 tax year, there are a number of tax credits given for various green energy upgrades and purchases.

Home Energy Efficiency Property Improvement Tax Credits: you receive a federal tax credit up to 30% for the first $5k you spend on improving your home’s energy efficiency through new windows, insulation, roofs, air conditioners, doors, and heating systems (non solar). In other words, for going green you can save up to $1.5k a year. Understand that to qualify this must be an existing home and your main residence. This credit is set to expire at the end of 2010.

Residential Renewable Energy Tax Credits: you receive a 30% tax credit for installing solar energy systems like water heaters (solar) and electricity; geothermal heat pumps, wind turbines and residential fuel cell and microturbine systems through December 31, 2016. Realize unlike the credit above this credit applies to new construction, and second homes as well.

Automobile Tax Credits: you receive a tax credit for purchasing or leasing hybrid gas-electric vehicles based on the vehicle’s fuel economy and weight before 12/31/2010. Vehicles must use less gasoline than other vehicles in it’s weight class, and must meet emissions standards to qualify for tax credit. Alternative-fuel, fuel-cell vehicles, plug-in vehicles and diesel vehicles with lean-burn technology are eligible for tax credits as well. If the manufacturer sells at least 60,000 vehicles then the credit disappears. There are other limitations so check with the IRS.

Plug-In Electric Drive Vehicle Credit: There was a modification to the credit for qualified plug in vehicles (electric) bought after 12/31/2009. As long as the vehicle is purchased new, has 4 or more wheels, weighs less than fourteen-thousand pounds and is battery propelled (with at least four kilowatt hours) you can take a minimum $2.5k credit and a maximum $7.5k credit contingent on the battery life. Check the IRS.gov website if you have questions.

Electrical Plug In Vehicle Credit: There is also a new tax credit for 2 plug-in vehicle types, low speed vehicles and 2 or 3 wheeled vehicles. Low speed vehicles must have electric motors and at least 4 kilowatt hours of battery life. 2 or 3 wheeled vehicles to qualify must also have an electric motors with a battery that at least last 2.5 kilowatt hours. The credit equates to a maximum $2.5k tax credit if purchased before 1/1/2012.

Cash for Appliances: When you need a new appliance, look for the energy efficient version of the appliance for tax credit savings (be aware not all Energy Star products qualify so check with the IRS). Realize that only washers, certain refrigerators, and dryers are eligible. This program is like the “Cash for Clunkers” program that was enacted. In addition to the reduced electricity use of the new appliance, you can get a credit at tax time. Be sure to check your State (energysavers.gov/financial) to see if the program is still valid as certain states have run out of money (since the Federal government had the administration done by each state). The Cash for Appliances program includes a $50 credit on the purchase of a new energy efficient refrigerator, and is included in the 30% credit you can receive for the first $5,000 spent on qualified home improvements for the federal tax credit.

Central Air Conditioning Rebate: If replacing an outdated and inefficient central air conditioning unit; or installing a new central air unit, you can get up to a $500 rebate. If you’re able to combine this rebate with a factory or in-store discount, you could really double or triple your savings.

When transitioning to a green lifestyle, you’re not only putting money back in your pocket through tax credit and ongoing savings on energy costs – but you’re also doing your part to preserve our environment. Make sure your home improvement makes sense. For example, if you have windows, doors, and insulation that is not efficient, putting a new efficient and more powerful heating system in will do you no good.

This guest post was provided by TaxDebtHelp.com, a central online destination for taxpayers needing IRS tax debt relief tips and guidance. Find self-help articles, and answers to questions pertaining to common IRS problems.

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