Another Sunday Personal Finance Roundup

Jason at Automatic Finances asks When Will You Have Enough? This brief post makes you think. About your quest for more and more stuff. When is enough, enough? A similar thought is raised in Money Help For Christians’ How Much Savings for Retirement is Enough? A bit of a different perspective, we’re offered a Bible quote which supports the dangers of a hoarding mentality, and accumulating wealth for its own sake.

In Money Relationship, Adam asks Good Debt vs. Bad Debt: Isn’t It All Bad? I have mixed feelings on this issue. Why do we need to assign the words good or bad to this inanimate object? Instead we should look at the big picture of one’s finances. My mortgage, costing less than 10% of our income may have a higher balance than my neighbor’s, yet his may be 40% of his income. Finance isn’t absolute, it’s personal.

B Simple at Simple Financial Lifestyle posted 10 Simple Ways to Save without cutting coupons. After my first reaction to the title (Hey! What’s wrong with coupons?) I read through the list and found it pretty, well, list worthy. For those who on a tight budget, there’s nothing list a review of the things to look at to find places to save.

Christian PF’s Craig wrote about Five Reasons to Stop Contributing Toward Retirement. Fair enough, in anyone’s financial life there are situations that call for a change in plans. Flexibility is often a good thing. On the flip side, I’d be wary of stopping a matched 401(k) deposit. No matter what the factors are.

Visual Economics produced a series of Cost of Home Ownership charts which help to put the housing bubble in perspective. Yearly Income vs Housing Costs makes for a stunning chart but the lack of normalizing for the drop in mortgage rates that took 30 year mortgages from a high of nearly 17% in the 80’s to under 5% recently is a bit of a disappointment. I’d have liked to see a chart comparing monthly income to the monthly mortgage payment for the median home. Maybe another time.

Jeff at Deliver Away Debt knows How to Calculate Net Worth. If you haven’t read his blog or tweets, Jeff is working extra hours delivering pizza to pay down his debt. I’ve used Jeff’s story as an example when people say they can’t make ends meet and tackle their debt. No matter what your situation, there are two approaches: cut spending or raise your income. Jeff’s story shows that where there’s motivation, there’s a solution.

I’ll close this week’s roundup with a special post, How to Keep Spouses From Growing Apart posted at Redeeming Riches. Not by Jason, RR’s blogger, but by his Mom. Admittedly, it’s not quite a PF article, however, a happy marriage is the path to a happy family and Mom’s advice and insight here is a good read.

Joe

By the way – Last Call for a chance to win a copy of Your Money Ratios. You can sign up for the drawing by signing up for my RSS email subscription. I will choose the lucky winner between 6 and 8 pm tonight. (East Coast Time) Good luck!