The Tuesday PF Roundup - #2

This week's roundup comes on the back of some pretty exciting facts and figures for 'Retire at 40'. The main one is that I passed 100 subscribers. This actually happened to be one of my goals when I started this blog and I wanted to achieve it in less than 3 months - I'll be three months on Thursday, so that's good.

Anyway, on to the roundup.

The Tuesday PF Roundup - #2

Photo: jamesjordan

KrystalAtWork wrote about No More Buying Lunch.

This is a classic article and one which a lot of PF bloggers have in their arsenal. Spending all that money on on lunch and not brown bagging it adds up to a fair amount each year, not because lunch is so expensive but because there are so many opportunities to spend money - 5 days a week in fact (usually). This also means there is plenty of opportunity to save money too.

Single Guy Money spoke about how he Helped a Friend Organise her Finances.

It's almost sad to say but I think many of us actually like doing this and in all honesty it's not about the numbers. I have had many chats with my friends over the past few months and the single overriding thing I take from any conversation I have with people wanting to sort out their finances is this:

Great, that'll be another person who I can hang out with when we all retire early!

Yes, it's about being able to help someone else and talk about a subject close to my heart but in all honesty it's about them being able to also do the same as I am. There will be lots of time to hang out and go biking in a few years time.

Pat wrote at SmartPassiveIncome about The One Thing You Must Know About Passive Income, or Else!.

Sometimes you think you're mostly there with passive income but many times you still have to do something. He's right in that, you just must not have to do anything at all. I spoke about this in a previous post about Passive Income where I said that you must take you out of any equation for making money, that way, the sky is the limit.

Retired Syd spoke about not having any more performance reviews.

This definitely seems like a good thing, not having to go through those stale and boring reviews each and every year. In fact, the reason why I like them most is not to get a pay-rise (though that helps) but to hear and make sure I am doing what is expected of me.

Trent at The Simple Dollar talked about The Best Moment of your Day.

I have always found that writing a journal (a private one, not a web-based one) helps sort through your thoughts for the day. I also found that it could sometimes take a fair amount of time (each day becoming longer and more detailed). Instead, just write about the best moment of your day - that way you also have less to read when you pick it up in a few years!

Links In

I managed a few mentions this week, including a high profile link on Smart Spending:

• How Much Money do you Really Need
• One Dollar Giving

and I was also featured on some carnivals:

• 87th Carnival of Money Stories
• Carnival of Financial Planning
• 182nd Carnival of Personal Finance

Thanks to everyone for the links and for keeping on reading.

Any other posts you think should have been highlighted from this past week? This is your chance to highlight a post that you are proud of.

New Series - The Tuesday PF Roundup - #1

I read a lot of PF blogs and each and every day I find new nuggets of information that I'd like to discuss but each of which wouldn't necessarily fill a whole article. I also find a lot of information that is best linked to so you can read the original.

To let you know what's happening in other areas of the PF blogosphere I shall be starting a new series called 'The Tuesday PF Roundup'. Head over to these other articles, leave a comment and say hi from me!

The Format

Photo: iainb

The format for my roundups will be a little different to a number of other weekly massive linkfests I see and instead I'll choose just a few - but good - posts. This will depend on how many I have seen in the past week but hopefully around 5 good ones rather than 20 or 30 average ones. This means you should get to see a higher quality sampling than just another long list of links. I shall be adding my own take on each post, whether I agree, disagree or have something to add.

Please get in touch if you have any opinions of the format of The Tuesday PF Roundup since I'd love to hear any improvements you can suggest. I don't want this to be just another set of links with the sole intention of getting trackbacks but instead a short list of potentially useful links.

P.S. I shall also be choosing an image which I like, for no other reason than that and not necessarily PF related either. Just for funsies.

The Tuesday PF Roundup - #1

Smart Passive Income talks about A Passive Income Mistake: Knowing and Doing Everything.

I agree mostly with Pat here but I think in his original case he didn't know how successful he was going to be and also getting to know and understand how the site (and the web) fits together is experience he wouldn't have had if he hadn't done it himself.

Of course, now he's successful, it's good to be able to get someone else to do the work for you whilst you concentrate on the aspect of creating good quality content.

Frugal Me talks about There is no Spoon.

We're always led to believe that when we want to do a job, there is one - and only one - tool for the job and it's a necessity too. Stephen mentions the use of spoons to take a tire off a bike though I have seen a couple of people do it recently without any implement at all. So, no need to spend extra buying unnecessary things, just do it with imagination and a healthier savings account.

Michael Kwan talks about Power of the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.

When chatting to my friends about paying the house off and retiring at 40, whilst working a four day week, I sometimes add "I know it's insane but that's the plan". I do this, probably so that my friend doesn't think I'm a complete lunatic and that my grasp on real-life is still strong. However, I also know for a fact that this outcome is definitely going to happen! If I don't believe it's going to happen, I can hardly expect others to believe me! Michael finishes off with a great quote:

If you want to be happier, try smiling. Your mind will follow.

Which is exactly how I feel most of the time.

Miss M talks about Zero Based Budgeting

This seems like a great idea to me. I have my budget all sorted but that just covers my expenses, not every dollar that I earn. Sounds like a great idea and one I will be trying out soon.

Personal Finance Advice talks about The Money-Wasting Days of our Lives.

I have spoken about a number of these things before in 10 Little Sacrifices but Jeffrey goes a little further to show how many of these things, every day, really does add up. Just as a random thought: I don't think I've ever put a washing machine load on which was less than half full so I'm almost shocked people would actually do this. Just wear another shirt! :-)

Any other posts you think should have been highlighted from this past week?