Best Personal Finance Blog Posts: Yakezie Carnival for January 6

This week I’m pleased to host the first Yakezie Carnival of the new year here at MoneyWisePastor.com, highlighting some of the best personal finance blogs out there.

The Yakezie Carnival is brought to you to by the network of personal finance bloggers of the Yakezie.

You can submit your articles or sign up to host at Blogger Carnivals.

There a ton of great articles in this week’s carnival.

I’ve grouped the posts into a few categories, starting with “New Year’s Resolutions & Goals” since this is a great time to make some new personal finance goals for 2013.

Then I starred (*) the first article in each category to indicate that these were my “editor’s choice” picks.

New Year’s Resolutions & Goals

*Jason @ Frugal Rules writes A New Year, a New Opportunity – With the New Year soon upon us it’s a great time to reflect on the past year and use it as a guide post for the next year. What things would you like to accomplish? What stretch goals do you have?

Pauline @ Reach Financial Independence writes 2013 financial goals – Have you set yours?

Wayne @ Young Family Finance writes My New Years Resolutions – While some people may hate new years resolutions, I have come to enjoy them. In the past two years, my wife and I have accomplished a lot more because of resolutions or goals, if that’s the term that you prefer to use. Most people associate resolutions with weight loss.

Cash Flow Mantra @ Cash Flow Mantra writes Review of 2012 – Since everyone is doing it, I figure why not review 2012. First, I will start with some goals I made for the year and see what I was able to accomplish.

Got goals and resolutions? This year, join the 100 Day Challenge and achieve your goals like never before.

Daisy @ Add Vodka writes Getting Back On Track With Goals – Having success in past years with my goals, this year I am going at my 2013 goals with new vigor.

Evan @ My Journey to Millions writes How Did I Do with My 2012 Goals and Objectives? – In almost every “goal” post for 4 years I have talked about taking better care of myself. Then in the review posts (including this one below lol) I have failed. Notwithstanding, lets see how I did on everything.

Deacon @ Well Kept Wallet writes Top 10 New Years Resolutions for 2013 – According to a study by the University of Scranton’s Journal of Clinical Psychology, 34% of people make New Year’s resolutions that are money related. In fact, this is a 4% increase from the previous year. Learning how to manage money well seems to be a trend and I hope to help people with that. However, money is not the only subject on people’s minds. Here is a list of the top 10 New Year’s Resolutions for 2013.

Miss T. @ Prairie Eco Thrifter writes 6 Tips for Setting Better Goals – Whether you are setting goals for the new year, or whether you just want to continue to improve yourself, here are 6 tips for setting better goals:

Drew @ Objective Wealth writes How To Make Resolutions That Work – Why most people fail to keep their New Year’s resolutions, and how taking a longer-range and more selfish view for goal setting can lead to success.

Credit Cards, Reviews, & Cash Back

*Lance @ Money Life and More writes How Much Cash Back I Earned From Credit Cards in 2012 – Many people dismiss using credit cards to gain some extra income. Using credit cards to gain rewards or cash back is not for you if you can’t control yourself. I never spent more than I would with cash (despite the studies you’ve read) and I always pay my balance off in full every month.

Jason @ Work Save Live writes Harley Davidson(R) Visa Credit Card Review – The Harley Davidson credit card boasts great rewards, Visa Signature perks, and no annual fee.

Matthew Allen @ The Pay Off Credit Card Network writes Can I Pay My Credit Card with Another Credit Card? – Are you wondering, can I pay my credit card with another credit card? The answer is a two-fold yes! There are two parts to the answer because the person asking the question could be wondering one of two different things.

Holiday Gift Giving

*Jen @ Master the Art of Saving writes Potentially The Best Christmas Gift Ever: Mini Survival Kits – Usually for Christmas we buy presents for our household and for anybody that we’ll be celebrating Christmas with. For example: last year, we went over to my parents house for Christmas dinner, so we got presents for each of them.

Michale @ Financial Ramblings writes What to Do When a Gift Card Won’t Work – Ever wondered what would happen if you damaged the number when scratching off redemption code on the back of a gift card?

Amanda L Grossman @ Frugal Confessions writes 6 Unique Stocking Stuffers for Under $5 – Stockings hung by the chimney (or mantle, or wall) with care are sometimes an afterthought on Christmas morning.

Hank @ Money Q&A writes What Should You Do With Your Unwanted Gift Cards – What should you do with unwanted gift cards? there are several alternatives that you can use to get rid of those unwanted gift cards and either earn cash or exchange them for gift cards that you do want.

Don @ MoneySmartGuides writes 5 Ways to Waste Money This Holiday Season – The holiday season is here again and the time has come to fly off to your favorite destination, do the things you have always dreamt of doing, see the places that you have dreamt of seeing, eat the foods that you have wanted to taste, meet interesting people you have never met before and maybe fall in love if you are still single.

Jason @ Live Real Now writes My Favorite Present – My favorite Christmas present this year was the one I gave to my 13 year old son. Allow me to walk you through his evening….

Ted Jenkin @ Your Smart Money Moves writes Should I Tip The Housekeeper? – It’s a big holiday week in the United States with many of you off to some vacation destination to spend time in sun and fun or skiing away from dawn until dusk.

Roger the Amateur Financier @ The Amateur Financier writes Five Quick, Easy, and (Relatively) Inexpensive Gift Ideas – It’s almost here! Yes, Christmas comes tomorrow, the day that many of us (particularly those of us who are under age twelve) wait for all year.

Loans & Debt

*PPlan @ Provident Plan writes Do you want to pay off your debt faster? – We currently have a little over $30,000 in student loans and a mortgage that sits at around $110,000 to pay for which we are working on eliminating.

Corey @ Steadfast Finances writes What You Need To Know About Debt Relief – Being in debt can be incredibly stressful. The logistics of just trying to remember who you owe money to and when you have to pay them are enough to drive you crazy, but on top of that you have to deal with all of the uncertainty, fear, sacrifices, and damaged relationships.

Kyle @ The Penny Hoarder writes 4 Ways Plow Your Way Out of Debt – If you find yourself deep in debt, you may feel hopeless, but know that you have the tools to get yourself out of debt and recover financially. Here are some steps to follow that can help you get out of debt quickly:

Tony @ You Only Do This Once writes Reflections on a Journey Towards Debt Freedom – After acknowledging a spending problem that has gone on for decades, 2012 consisted of 12 months of laser like focus on paying off debt once and for all.

Jeff Rose @ Good Financial Cents writes The Debt Movement: Taking Down $10 Million of Debt in 90 Days, Together – The Debt Movement is more than just a big number. It’s about giving people the tools, the motivation and the belief that they can finally taste financial freedom.

KK @ Student Debt Survivor writes Avoid Student Loans Like the Plague – Student debt can put a real damper on your ability to build wealth. Use these 6 tips to avoid student loans all together, or to keep the principle you borrow as low as possible.

Ryan @ Early Retirement Investments writes When Can You Eliminate Private Mortgage Insurance? – Hate PMI, don’t know what it is? Read more on when you can eliminate it!

Joe @ Midlife Finance writes Getting A Loan: Fast – Money’s short. Too short, in fact — you have a payment coming due. Where can you come up with the money — fast?

Saving & Investing

*A Blinkin @ Funancials writes Where Will You Be When The Bond Bubble Bursts? – Over the last 30 years (since about 1980), interest rates have declined steadily. The inverse relationship between interest rates and bond prices means that – as interest rates fall, bond prices rise. This also means that – as interest rates rise, bond prices fall.

Tony @ You Only Do This Once writes Open Multiple Savings Accounts – By creating many savings accounts for regular yearly expenses, I have alleviated the need for credit cards and stress. Here are the steps to create a savings plan for yourself…

Join Michael Hyatt and Dan Miller at Innovate, a two-day intensive event focused on unleashing the creativity within you to create a life where wisdom meets passion.

MR @ Money Reasons writes Year End Investment Portfolio Analysis – Read how well my accounts have done during these past 4 years with my Year End Portfolio Analysis calculation! Personally, I was pleasantly surprised!

Tushar @ Earn More and Save writes Unconventional Investment Series: Investing in Art – This week’s Earn More and Save -Unconventional Investment Series- covers investing in art.

Luke @ Learn Bonds writes Yield to Call – What it is and how It Works – In this article we discuss yield to call, how it works, and how yield to call is different from yield to maturity.

Tushar @ Finance TUBE writes Why It Makes Sense to Convert Annuities into Cash? – Today I will be talking about why it makes sense to convert annuities into lump sum of cash. The easiest way to understand an annuity is to think of insurance in reverse.

MMD @ My Money Design writes My Stocks with High Dividends Income Report – December 2012 – Stocks with high dividends are a great way to create passive income, lower tax payments, and retire early. Here is my 2012 Quarter 4 performance report.

Dustin Small @ Stockodo writes What is the difference between price and value? – One very common misconception that newcomers have to Value Investing is the difference between the price of the stock and what we call it’s underlying or “intrinsic” value. In this article I take an in depth look at the difference between the two and try to explain it in terms understandable by novice investors.

Tushar @ Start Investing Money writes Tips for Choosing High Yield Mutual Funds – If you are considering investing some cash in mutual funds, it makes sense that you’d want to invest in the best ones you can find. So called high yield funds are the best ones to look for, since they provide you with the opportunity to enjoy the highest possible yield you can.

Passive Income Earner @ The Passive Income Earner writes A Short Story about the Gold Bullion – Gold Bullion is a symbolization of the majority of gold available in the market place. Buying and selling of gold bullion can be done in the form of gold coins, gold bars or ingots. This form of gold is convenient from the point of view of handling. It is usually processed further for appropriate use.

Personal Finance Tips

*Glen Craig @ Free From Broke writes How to Take Charge of Your Financial Destiny – You may think your finances are out of your hands but really YOU are the one who controls the reigns. See how to take charge of your financial destiny.

Daniel @ Sweating the Big Stuff writes The Most Powerful Moves to Make With Your Money in Your 20s – Ah you got to love being in your 20s. Life is amazing. You can get away with anything….

Ashley @ Money Talks Coaching writes Tracking Your Spending Will Change Your Life – If I could close my eyes and make one change in everyone’s finances I know what it would be. It wouldn’t be to have everyone pay off their debt.

Sustainable PF @ Sustainable Personal Finance writes Why Solar Power Rocks – Solar energy has become one of the most popular alternative methods for providing power to a home.

Grayson @ Debt Roundup writes The Best Personal Finance Tips of 2012 – I have put together some of the best personal finance tips from 2012 directly from the best bloggers. You will find over 30 great tips that will help you start out 2013 right!

Michelle @ The Shop My Closet Project writes Minus $330-What a way to start the New Year – I think it was New Years Eve 2006. Things were not going well. I was suffering from a lack of passion encompassing basically everything. The problem was made worse by a severe lack of direction and the beginning rumblings of the recession that would soon sweep down on us like a storm. Money was tight because I had too many debts and not enough month and a serious lack of personal focus.

Krantcents @ KrantCents writes Progress Is Never a Straight Line! – Progress is forward movement toward a destination or goal. In education, changes are made often and the results are mixed! Have test scores increased from the changes? If they did, that would be progress. We need progress in everything we do. Business and your personal life are based on achieving goals.

SFB @ Simple Finance Blog writes 5 Cheap Ideas To Entertain Your Kids When School’s Out – When my kids are on school vacation, I tend to go a little insane. That’s why I’ve got a list of cheap ideas for keeping them busy when school’s out.

Invest It Wisely @ Invest It Wisely writes Happy Holidays – So, if the world hasn’t ended and this post goes live… Happy Holidays!

Debt Guru @ Debt Free Blog writes Best Financial Practices for an Organization – In the past month, I have slowly adjusted to working a new job at a non-profit. I am currently working in Operations for a small organization and so it means that I am in charge of any and all of the day-to-day items. This includes both website maintenance and also the finances.

Maria @ The Money Principle writes The Best of The Money Principle 2012 – The Money Principle – The Best of The Money Principle 2012Couple of days ago I was casually browsing the internet; one of these sessions when you have no purpose and keep your expectations low – this way you won’t be disappointed when most of what you come across ranges from the trivial to the absurd.

Jennifer Lynn @ Broke-Ass Mommy writes December Distractions & Frustrations. – Noticeably I have been absent this week, and the third “Hi, are you dead?” type of email just popped into my inbox. I am fine, my zexy kittens. It just has been a frenetic, nutsy type of week.

Ray @ Squirrelers writes Squirreling Gone Wild #34: Punished for Being Frugal – Frugality can be a great thing, but sometimes we can go too far to save a few pennies. Or, in some cases, picking up coins too!

Christopher @ This That and the MBA writes How To Sell on Craigslist and Do It Successfully – These tips will help you receive high bids and top dollars for the items that you sell on craigslist.

Suba @ Broke Professionals writes Yes Virginia, You Can Change Your Own Oil – Perhaps it is just me, but it seems that a lot of us no longer do any type of maintenance on our own cars anymore – especially us girls! If you have a vehicle and are strapped for cash, you can still care for your car well by handling a few fairly straightforward maintenance tasks yourself.

Crystal @ Budgeting in the Fun Stuff writes Settling in at Home – Pictures as Promised – After some requests, here are some new photos of our house and some pictures of me as a Chick-Fil-A mascot cow.

Buck Inspire @ Buck Inspire writes Avoid Finance Charges, Use AutoPay! – We work so hard for our income. Don’t let finance charges from not paying your bills on time eat away at your savings. Setup AutoPay in a minute and don’t worry about it again.

Everything Finance @ Everything Finance Blog writes Save Money on Car Insurance by Shopping Around – For a savings of more than $300 a year, of course I was going to change our car insurance! Do not feel the need to be loyal to your car insurance company. To them, you are just a number. You need to watch out for your own money and make sure you’re getting the best deal available to you.

Barbara Friedberg @ Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance writes WHAT IS WEALTH? – Can you get rich and still buy what you want? Yes. Find out how.

CAPI @ Creating a Passive Income writes Passive Income: So, You’ve Won the Lottery?! – If you win the lottery, you need to know what to do with it. Poor financial planning has ruined many previous winners, so don’t let this happen to you.

NoTrustFund @ Where’s My Trust Fund writes A Spending Cleanse – Start the year of right by creating good spending habits.

Matt @ Living in Financial Excellence writes Putting Perspective on the Fiscal Cliff and the Idiots in Congress – As a financial counselor, I coached countless people through financial makeovers. There was one obvious trend for all my clients who were successful in righting their financial ships – none of them reached success easily. All of them had to make major sacrifices in their spending behaviors to make it work. Our nation is no different.

Eddie @ Finance Fox writes Are Money and Success the Same Thing? – No, money and success are not the same thing.People need to stop defining themselves by their money or what it can buy them. Money and success are not the same.

TDB @ Tax Deduction Blog writes Master the Tax Credit Maze: A Short Primer on Child Tax Credits – What is a qualifying child in terms of the child tax credit? How do you figure out if your child qualifies? The answer is surprisingly simple.

Andrew @ 101 Centavos writes The Good Life in 1958 (or not) – To quote Will Rogers, things ain’t what they used to be and probably never was. According to the American Enterprise Institute’s blog (AEIdeas) in the good old days of 1958, workers had to toil and slog for months to be able to afford spiffy consumer goods like toasters and TVs that today are available for a mere pittance.

PK @ Don’t Quit Your Day Job… writes Your New 2013 Tax Rates – Surprisingly (depending which news channel you listen to), even when we steered away from the Fiscal Cliff, we steered directly into higher taxes. Here’s a summary of the taxes that are now in effect.

Little House @ Little House in the Valley writes Davis Was a Disappointment but Fulsom Was a Fave – I finally made it out to the Sacramento/Davis area and checked out a few towns I had on my list. To back track a bit, Mr. LH and I have been toying with the idea of moving to Northern California from Southern California. We still aren’t 100% set on the possibility of a move, but there are some pros and cons of staying versus leaving and vice-versa.

Girl Meets Debt @ Girl Meets Debt writes Cheap Date Ideas – The ideas that I am going to suggest are not going to be new, earth-shaking creative, but I can promise that they are all going to be fun and might even impress your significant other for suggesting something that is easy on his (or her) pocket.

Philip @ PT Money Personal Finance writes How to Buy a House with No (or Low) Money Down – Brandon Turner of Bigger Pockets discusses loans that are still available for anyone who wants to purchase a home with $0 down. He also addresses the bigger question of IF you should even do that.

Mrs. PoP @ Planting Our Pennies writes Easy DIY – Get Rid of Fluorescent Lighting – Do you have scary fluorescent lighting straight out of the 1980’s? Check out the PoP’s easy and cheap update to bring your lighting into the 21st century.

Career & Retirement

*Corey @ 20s Finances writes It’s OK Not To Go To College – Going to college may not be necessary to get a good job. Find out if going to college is right for you.

Joe @ Retire By 40 writes A Little Active Income Goes A Long Way In Early Retirement – While passive income is good, you’ll most likely have to get creative if you want to retire by 40. Most people won’t be able to generate enough passive income by this age so it’s good to generate some active income to bridge the gap to full retirement.

Aloysa @ My Broken Coin writes A Wacky Way to Create a New Career – Still, that game and reality show contestants are household names can help you launch a new career–if you win big.

Jon the Saver @ Free Money Wisdom writes Should You Relocate to Find a Job? – There are some great reasons to relocate and some really really bad ones. Make the move wisely and lessen the burden on your finances.

Thanks to everyone who submitted a post this week!  And next week, be sure to visit Narrow Bridge Finance, for the 1/13/2013 Yakezie Carnival.

What are your top resolutions or money goals for 2013?

Apparently, these were popular…

• How Magic Jack Works
• The Bible and Money
• 10 Costly Money Mistakes to Avoid
• IRS Tax Help for Pastors