A Yakezie Mother’s Day Roundup

This week’s roundup includes posts from my fellow bloggers participating in the Yakezie challenge.

Young and Thrifty offered a brief review of Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers-The Story of Success, a book I enjoyed as well.

The Amateur Financier asks Does Success Skew Your Perception? This one really got me thinking, which of course is what I find best about reading others’ blogs. Roger starts with a discussion of Trent’s success at The Simple Dollar, and how he feels Trent implies that others can duplicate his own success blogging. He goes on to offer other examples such as “easy as riding a bike,” and since Roger never leaned to do so, that expression is an oxymoron. (uh, please pass me another jumbo shrimp.) I understand Roger’s point perfectly. For me, some things are simple. Years ago, I had my five year old daughter change a broken light dimmer. I walked her through every step, but touched nothing. The response I got from most adults was (a) they wouldn’t even do such a thing themself, and (b) that what I did was dangerous. I offer this anecdote to tell Roger that I do get it, and I wish him success in whatever he pursues.

Cool to be Frugal offered her own link post with Friday Link Love: Home Ownership Edition, Mrs Frugal included the Money Mavens Network posts and others who all discussed aspects of home ownership costs. Thank you for the shout out.

Beating Broke posted an update, My Wife Quit Her Job: One Year Later, an ongoing series about how his wife quit her day job to start her own business with with two of her friends. A risk, of course, but glad to see it’s doing well so far.

Aaroan at Clarifinancial asked If Death is Simple, Why is Life Insurance Complicated? A discussion of a pretty straightforward question I’ve often asked myself as well. Henry David Thoreau once said “Simplify, simplify.” (Yes, that’s the whole quote, sorry) I believe that most people who buy policies other than term don’t actually understand the product they were sold. Simplify, my friend.

My Financial Objectives introduces the story of One Red Paperclip in which we find a fellow (claims) to have started with that paperclip and after 14 trades, had a house. Of course, he wrote a book about it, which I’ve not run across just yet. My reading schedule is pretty full, but I’ll keep it in mind.

And last, A guest post by Kathryn Katz at Single Money Guy asks Are Your Friends Enabling Poor Spending Habits? I don’t doubt that we are influenced by those around us, this post will help you look at your own spending habits and how your friends help or hurt your finances. An interesting read.