Frugal Living and Saving Money

Buying a New Car: This Year or Next? - If you're in the market for a new car, FiveCentNickel will let you know when it makes more sense to buy this year's model that's been out for a while vs. next year's new model. (Heck, my vote is to buy used, but if you're thinking about a new car, give this a read!)

Frugal Baby Supplies - The Common Room has great tips on how to get frugal with the ever-necessary and expensive baby supplies. Be sure to read the tips in the comments, too!

Bargains on computers - Sarah at Frugal Underground shares a secret on how to score some great bargains on used corporate computer systems.

22% Lower Cable/Phone/Internet - Caitlin at Clutter2Cash shares how she cut her telecomm bill by 22% with two phone calls. Not bad!

General Finance and Your Life

Do You Know How Much You're Worth? (Many Personal Finance Bloggers Do): here's an ever-important reminder from Free Money Finance that your net worth is the important gague of how you're doing financially -- not how much neat stuff you have.

Fees, fees, fees, a very thoughtful post from Ginsberg at The Earning Curve, goes over many of the different types of account service fees you're likely to encounter and how they affect your bottom line, especially as an investor with limited capital.

Kids Want The Darnedest Things - Consumerism Commentary's Flexo discusses the parental dilemma of how to give your children nice things without spoiling them. Includes links to several other good resources on the topic.

Revenge Can Be Profitable - Don Surber shares an anecdote about Henry Harmon making a handsome profit buying and then selling the company that once gave him the boot.

Investing and Your Future

Really Creative Financing For College - Fiancial Baby Steps, the creative blog of a three-month-old (!) girl already on her way to great savings, writes about a couple of the more creative ways to finance college.

New Ideas to Beef up Retirement Savings - Dan at Tick Marks comments on a Kiplinger's article on ideas for preparing financially for retirement.

Speculating vs. Investing - Jon at Smart Money Daily considers the subtle difference between speculating and investing and "speculates" (sorry, Jon) on which is better for all concerned.

Cruise control investments - MightyBargainHunter gives his take on the U.S. federal government's "L funds" that automatically shift to more conservative investments as your target retirement date approaches. He offers a sound warning about removing your attention from your investment allocations.

Monte Carlo Simulations: An Overview - Financial Fruition explains the Monte Carlo Simulation, an asset allocation tool that provides growth predictions for several possible scenarios, good and bad, instead of just assuming that, for example, stocks will go up a constant percentage each year.

Mapping Stock Market Extremes - In a similar theme, Ironman from Political Calculations has done some intersting analysis of the historical returns for the S&P 500. He also provides a calculator that figures the best and worst returns you could have realized within any specified time period.

Investor Profiles - Canadian Capitalist looks at the different investing styles of a few different successful small investors, but explains why they might not be for everyone.

Let Someone Else Do It - some advice from the Fiscal Times on when you might want to use an index fund, mutual fund, or even a private money manager for money that you have invested for the long term.

Social and World Issues

Welfare and Racism - In a post sure to generate some debate, Raving Conservative explains why the US welfare system is racist and keeping minorities down. He also offers a few opinions on what might be done to rectify the situation.

Dividends, Values, and Humanity - The Dividend Guy presents a thoughtful reminder that we, the richest people in the world, ought to invest in the causes we value as well as ourselves.

The Avian Flu Virus - Getting Finacially Prepared - this article from Personal Finance Advice discusses some of the things you can do to be prepared for an Avian Flu outbreak.

Insurance (and Assurance, Too)

Asking the Wrong Questions - InsureBlog kicks off a 3-part series aimed at understanding insurance rate increases and what you might do about them.

Why a Safety Deposit Box? - some solid advice from Big Cajun Man at Canadian Financial Stuff about why you should get a safety deposit box. (I should do that, too!)

Part D, what you must know - The Happy Capitalist discusses the new Medicare prescription drug coverage, and why, if you are a Medicare participant, you should be thinking about this soon!

Health Savings Account Search - Initial Quotes - reports on progress searching for affordable alternatives and using Health Savings Accounts.