Look, Links!

A few things that caught my eye recently:

Jonathan's post about funny piggy banks

A way to use a credit card other than spending money with it: make a fridge magnet flower box (via Apartment Therapy)

"In the city where I live, panhandlers are legal as long as they register and wear a reflective vest." (Huh? I'm laughing at the idea of that happening in NYC, but I guess in other cities, people are more likely to be working cars stopped at intersections.) Check out the discussion at Free Money Finance.


And from the mail bag, Jessica from Education.com writes:

Your “Conversation with Dad” post really demonstrates the way a lot of families talk (or don’t talk, to be more accurate) about money. Unfortunately, it’s rarely discussed these days unless someone is in trouble and needs help.

Education.com, an online resource for parents and educators, knows the importance of teaching financial lessons early. They’ve put together a great resource center to help teach kids money management and raise educated consumers, that I thought some of your readers might find useful: http://www.education.com/reference/topic/LifeSkills_AllowanceAndMoneyManagement

And here are 5 smart tips to foster financial literacy in kids, published by Education.com in partnership with the National Council on Economic Education, whose surveys show that “nearly half of our young people don't understand how to save and invest for retirement, nor how to handle credit cards, don't know the difference between inflation and recession, nor how government spending affects them.” Ouch! That’s a lot we can improve on: http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Financial_Literacy/?&page[21]=1

What financial advice would you give a younger you? Feel free to share with your readers and let me know what you think.

And reader Charles suggested this link: Credit Cards Cost, No Matter What

Not sure you've seen this article, but it challenges the notion that even if you pay your credit card bill off each month, it still costs you money since you spend more. Reminds me of the old poker saying, "the person who invented cards was smart, the person who invented chips, a genius."

And Deonne sent this link to an item from the Onion. If cars ran on burning paper, it might be scarily true!

Some new blogs you might be interested in:
Planning to Retire
Smart Personal Finances
Down The Ladder
FlipSide Invest
Dividend Growth Investor

As always, I'm a little late in catching up on correspondence, but better late than never! Thanks for sharing these suggestions.