Welcome to the April 11, 2009 edition of personal finance blog carnival.  This is the first addition of the Personal Finance Blog Carnival.  This will be a weekly carnival featuring some of the best personal finance blog articles of the week.

Banking

Bank Savings Review presents Four Banks Give Back TARP Already posted at Bank Savings Review, saying, “We’ve got to hand it to the banks that’s already been able to hand back the TARP. Hopefully, only responsible banks will survive after this crisis so we promote responsibility.”

Bugdeting

Tiffany Colter presents We are tired of talk posted at Hidden Leaks, saying, “Are you tired of false hopes and empty promises? Fed up with being a victim of your financial circumstances? Find out what it means to have a balanced life with hope and action mingled together.”

My Cool Mommy presents 10 Cool Sites To Help You Save Money posted at MyCoolMommy.

Credit and Debt

Credit Card Addict presents Reduced Credit Card Limits Hurting Credit Scores posted at CreditAddict.

Money Tipper presents How to Opt Out of Unsolicited Credit Card Offers posted at Money Tipper.

PFCreditCards presents Credit Cards are Evil Just as Knives are Sharp posted at PF Credit Cards, saying, “If you are going to complain that credit cards are sharp, you might as well complain that knives are sharp as well”

Earning Money

Kelsey presents Legitimate Paid Surveys posted at Cash To Spend – Online Paid Surveys.

freefrombroke presents No Job Is Below You posted at Free From Broke, saying, “There’s no room for job snobbery when you can’t make ends meet!”

Nate Desmond presents 23 Warning Signs of Scholarship Scams posted at Debt-free Scholar.

Khan presents Milking the Part-Time Cash Cow posted at Higher Education and Career Blog, saying, “A part-time job would merely be something just to get you through the lean times.”

Investing

James Fowlkes presents Would You Have Been Sucked in by Bernie Madoff? How to Avoid a Ponzi Scheme posted at JamesFowlkes.com, saying, “Thansk for reviewing my post for inclusion in your blog. These tips will save your readers from being tricked by the next Madoff/Stanford.”

Investing School presents Beginning with Options Trading posted at Investing School, saying, “Options can be an amazingly easy way to protect yourself and reduce risk. However, it can also be very dangerous if misused.”

Todd presents Warren Buffett’s Credit Rating posted at The Personal Finance Playbook.

Frank Vertin presents Just Buy Index Funds Directly posted at NO LOAD INDEX FUND, saying, “Buying an S&P 500 index fund through an investment counselor can substantially increase your initial purchasing costs and and drive up your annual management expense fees. Unfortunately, the vast majority of individual investors buy mutual funds and ETFs through brokers and investment advisers. Rarely do financial advisors recommend that you buy index funds with low fees. This is because low cost, no load mutual funds do not pay them as well as loaded, high fee mutual funds.”

Personal Finance Education

Manish Chauhan presents How to use losses to reduce tax posted at Smart Investor, saying, “This post teaches how to use your losses to reduce your tax liabilities”

Roman Richi presents Consolidation of Student Loans posted at Student Loans Consolidation Review, saying, ““Looking for Student Loans Consolidation? Here’s Cheap Student Loans information for you! | Federal Loans Consolidation Information Services””

Larry Russell presents Most Individual Investors Are Poor Personal Portfolio Managers | Personal Investment Management posted at THE SKILLED INVESTOR Blog, saying, “Investors more easily understand investment costs that are directly measurable, such as fees deducted on investment statements. However, many investors ignore or are unaware of the opportunity costs of their sub-optimal investment behaviors. Opportunity costs are usually much more difficult to measure directly, but these investment costs can be even higher than more visible investment fees.”

Real Estate

Brian McKay presents Home Equity Line of Credit (HELOC) posted at MonitorBankRates.com, saying, “Mortgage rates and home equity line of credit rates are so low now we just found another great deal.”

Saving Money

Heidi presents Ten Money Saving Tips for Gardeners! posted at Little People Wealth.

Buck Weber presents Save Money on Meds posted at THE BUCK LIST, saying, “How do you get the highest quality drugs you need for the lowest price? One option is to purchase what you need using the internet.”

Steve Faber presents Cheap Car Insurance for a Young Driver – How to Get It posted at Cheap Car Insurance, saying, “Car insurance is one of many people’s largest expenses, especially if you are, or have a younger driver. Here is how to cut it down to size a bit.”

Ishan B presents 10 Tips to Reduce Car Expenses posted at Save Few Bucks, saying, “Expenses on your car are one of the biggest drain on your wallet. We sometimes do not realize the complete impact of these. However, if you try to add up the all the expenses that we have to do on our car every year (including insurance, gas, any repairs, state inspection etc.), you will be really amazed with the amount. So, I decided to write this article about some Money Saving Tips to reduce Car Expenses.”

Dollar Frugal presents Norton Let Me Cancel! posted at Dollar Frugal.

Nate Desmond presents Giveaway: Free TurboTax Online Premier Tax E-Filing posted at Debt-free Scholar.

John Howshall presents What To Do With Your 2009 Tax Refund posted at John’s Investing Tips.

KCLau presents 5 Ways To Take Charge Of Our Finances posted at KCLau’s Money Tips, saying, “Are we doing the right things when it comes to managing our finances? Ask yourself five questions to know if you’re on the right track.”

Dave presents Cheapo Ink Jet Cartridges Part 2 posted at Cheapo Groovo.

Diego Cervantes presents The Ultimate Guide to Free Samples: 50+ Ways to Get Free Product Samples posted at Bankling.

SpiKe presents How To Control Lifestyle Inflation And Survive The Recession – Practical advice on personal development, productivity and GTD posted at Organize IT.

C. E. Dowalt presents Who stole the money: Congress posted at Money Confidential.

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of personal finance blog carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
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