Make A Wish Weekly Roundup

I wanted to reach out to all of you again to see if you could spare it in your budget to send a few dollars to the Make A Wish Foundation. My buddy Scott is organizing the third Ghent Bar Tour benefiting the Make A Wish Foundation and FMF and I have agreed to match dollar for dollar donations up to $1000 for anyone who donated and let us know. Right now, to my knowledge, only one person has taken us up on that (much link love to No Credit Needed and his generosity!); so please, if you can spare it, any amount would help the cause!

You could always jump on the $250 American Express business card promotion and take a part of that and send it to MAW. I think you’ll want to act quickly because the $250 Chase Freedom card promotion was available and gone very quickly.

Now, onto this week’s roundup…

• As if you really needed it (if you do, then read this article), but here are five reasons you need to care about your FICO score.
• Use your turn signals in Virginia or suffer the wrath of a $1,050 fine! This law in Maryland, if enforced, would net the state billions.
• I guess a million doesn’t buy you much anymore these days, according to Jonathan Clements, it won’t set you up for a comfortable retirement either.
• Looking for ways to cut vacation costs? FMF lists five ways.
• Flexo answers a reader question about timing credit card payments.
• SVB looks at the Google Doodler and proclaims it the best job in the world!
• At Money Smart Life, read about the power of marketing and the power of Victoria’s Secret. “Fairly regularly, they send people a certificate for a free pair of underwear - no strings attached. When we use it, though, reciprocity tells us we should really probably buy something else.” So true, so true.
• Lazy Man is running a pretty juicy contest (his first!) where you can win a $200 high end leather briefcase.
• Do you have anything against Wal-Mart? I personally don’t but you’re welcome to share your thoughts with Golbguru.
• Sun talks about his mid-year adjustments, which is always a smart move. Personally I think that once a year is a bare minimum but when you only course-correct once a year, you might miss something or react too slowly; so give your stuff a once over.
• Jeremy points us to a free personal finance course at UC Irvine, sounds interesting!
• At my Home Insurance Guide, I outline the importance of comparison shopping for homeowner’s insurance, though it applies for everything. The difference is staggering.
• Do you have lots of free time? Check out these 30 free ebooks about personal finance over at Mint.
• At Roth IRA Explained, I discuss when Roth IRA contributions can be made.
• Curious about reverse mortgages?