Here are some *truly* interesting facts and reminders I picked up from the financial blogosphere last week:
- You can be successful at credit card arbitrage though it takes some superb organizational ability.
- There’s now a way to short the entire market! Cool, you no longer need to short individual stocks.
- Bi-weekly mortgage plans are a rip-off.
- If you’re lucky enough to catch a historic home run baseball, you’ll owe taxes on it whether or not you sell it!
- This volatile market has woken us up. It has caused some bloggers to buy into the market as well as sell out of it. Everyone of course, has various reasons for doing so, but I found this behavioral dichotomy quite curious.
For the details and more stories, check out this roundup!
Awesome Articles Last Week
The Sun’s Financial Diary: (Not Exactly) The Price Of Credit Card Arbitrage - I was more than a little impressed to read that Sun has 41 credit card accounts plus an approximate $100,000 credit card balance for purposes of performing credit card arbitrage — making money on borrowed money. Think he’s jeopardized his credit score? Think again! This is a fascinating read, like so many others that Sun has produced. I’m particularly fascinated because I’m incapable of doing this kind of money management even if I wanted to; I’m just not organized enough!
Lazy Man And Money: How I increased my income 62% in 14 months… - Lazy Man tells a great story about how he’s managed to pick up more money in the last year or so. Hint: It took him relocating to a different part of the nation to do this.
Money, Matter and More Musings: I Am Happy When The Market Goes Down- Looks like more people are putting their money on the line during this volatile time in the stock market! We’ll see how it pays off.
Money Smart Life: How About Credit Card Savings Plans for Small Web Businesses? I can only agree with this idea.
Gen X Finance: Think the Stock Market is Going Down? Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is and Profit From It - Thanks to this post I’ve caught wind of “Short ETFs”. If you’re interested in alternatives to the typical asset classes in your diversified portfolio, you may want to check this out.
Free Money Finance: Forget Biweekly Mortgage Payment Plans - The message here: To save money, don’t sign up for those automatic biweekly payment schemes, just do do extra payments manually.
Mighty Bargain Hunter: Another good reason to pay cash for a car - What’s this with everyone’s cars falling apart lately? Our van is due to be replaced next year and we’re thinking of paying for its replacement in cash.
Five Cent Nickel: Online Banking Comes of Age? - I’ve had online banking forever and frankly, I wonder why there are people who still don’t sign up for it.
Blueprint For Financial Prosperity: We Liquidated Our Target Retirement 2050 Fund - Jim has decided to cash out for now due to the negative market climate and other reasons. I’m not doing anything except “nibbling” on some equities at the moment. We’re waiting for a lower low in the stock and real estate markets before we jump in completely.
And here are some blogs I’ve gotten to know recently.
Chief Family Officer: Six Reasons to Take Control of Your Finances NOW - Some nice reminders about how we can successfully tackle the important aspects of our lives.
Cash Money Flow: Catch Historic Baseball, Pay Thousands! Wow! Didn’t know you would owe money on a historic baseball whether or not you keep it!
The Bag Lady: A Checklist for Financial Matrimony - Just found out that The Bag Lady from Silicon Valley is preparing for her wedding. Nope, NOT ME! I’m talking about the *other* bag lady here. She’s drafted a financial check list for those of you who are getting married.
Last Week’s Carnivals
Hot Finance Carnivals!
CotC - Carnival of the Capitalists for August 6, 2007: Thanks for the Honorable Mention!
Carnival of Shopping #20: Cool poetic theme 
Carnival of Ethics, Values and Personal Finance
Festival of Stocks 48
Carnival of Financial Planning — August 9, 2007 Edition
Financial Review - August 7, 2007
Personal Finance Money Tips - August 6, 2007
Carnival of Money Stories
Working With Pets Blog Carnival - Monday August 5th
Best of Me Symphony
Thanks for the mention.
Thanks so much for the mention!
I never understood the credit card arbitrage plan. I would be scared to death to borrow that much money for a measly 5% return.
Whether or not your credit score falls is not the issue; just the extra time and energy it takes to manage your running debt with BofA is too much for me
@Stock Market Investing,
That’s how I feel as well about credit card arbitrage. I’m pathetic when it comes to being organized enough to keep track of all the payments and cards you would need to make something like this worth your time, energy and expected returns. But there are people who are certainly much more suited for this sort of thing. I’m just not one of them!