Ever wondered what it’s like to grease a palm or two? Wondered whether it would actually work? I know I did and I’ve never greased a palm in my life but story about “bribing” maitre’ds of high end restaurants in New York makes me want to.

Here’s a gem of a story by Michael Lewis about moving to a huge house they can’t afford in New Orleans (don’t worry, he’s renting). “When Michael Lewis and his family move into a house they can’t afford, he gets a taste of the new American nightmare.” (BTW, Portfolio is a great magazine, I flipped through one issue the other day at the dentist’s waiting room and I think I’m hooked. Unfortunately, my local library doesn’t carry it but I have put in a request for it. It might join the only other subscription I pay for, Wired, which is also another Condé Nast publication, if they reject the request)

The wealth effect is related to lottery sales too. As the economy sinks, lottery sales are soaring. “Given that the fortunes of our state-run lotteries are inversely proportional to the state of our economy, it’s no surprise that America’s lotto kiosks are currently reporting heretofore unheard-of earnings.”

As people, we often think we have a good handle on things but, when we finally put pen to paper, we discover we aren’t as informed or accurate as we’d like to believe! David at My Two Dollars recently created their first budget and discovered they were off - by a lot. “It is unbelievable how much money you spend when you start tracking each and every dime! You always think of the big things; rent, mortgage, cars, insurance, food - but what about the incidentals that rarely get included in budgets when you are trying to sort out how much you can spend.”

SVB has a positive bank stock story to tell. Her former employer was one of the still solvent banks and a part of her 401k was held in that bank’s stock. After a 7% jump one day, she decided to sell her entire position in anticipation of a rollover. Since a rollover would result in the sale of all those assets, it’s better to make the decision now rather than let the paperwork do the deciding.

What can you expect if your mortgage company fails? In a nutshell, nothing. Just keep paying and wait for more info.

Lazy Man is still away on vacation traveling the world but I wanted to point you towards a guest post I wrote there about whether you can trust online banks. Funny part about Lazy Man’s vacation is that it comes at a time when the financial world is imploding, how inconsiderate of them!

Earlier this week I gave 40 money tips for college students but I wish I saw Broke Grad Student’s post on 10 ways to get free food, because then I’d be able to claim fifty money tips!

And last but not least, in the gasoline strapped South, Nickel saved himself a lot of gas just by slowing down. In an totally unscientific study, Nickel found that dropping his speed from 75 to 65 improved his gas mileage by a whopping 28%. Lesson of the day? Drive slower!

I hope you enjoyed reading this series as much as I enjoyed writing it. While there are certainly more than seven horrible personal finance “things” you can do, the seven I outlined jumped out at me as things you shouldn’t miss if you could avoid it.

The 7 Deadly Sins of Personal Finance

1. Skipping Emergency Funds
2. Raiding Retirement
3. Don’t Budget
4. Don’t Plan For The Future
5. Don’t Get Adequate Insurance
6. Being Penny Wise, Pound Foolish
7. Don’t Enjoy Life

There were a few others that I thought about but passed on, many of which became fodder for the Devil’s Advocate posts, but if there is one you think really trumps one of the seven above… please tell me in the comments.

If you want to compare the economic policies and plans of Presidential hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama, CNN Money has a good comparison between the two on a variety of issues from Social Security to Personal Taxes.

Jeremy at Generation X Finance has a very good explanation of why the GAO report of 2/3rds of companies paying zero tax is political hogwash. Besides Jeremy’s good points, famous United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit judge Learned Hand once said - “Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one’s taxes. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands.”

SVB tackles the question of saving for college, a question I’m going to put off for a little while.

Nickel’s favorite cashback credit card is the Blue Cash from American Express, a card I don’t have. It seems to have a lot of great features, like a comparison of your cashback performance, and good cashback categories as well.

The Consumerist confirms once again why I love Southwest in publishing it’s top 3 most and least “fee crazy” airlines. Southwest was they’re #1 least fee crazy airline.

Flexo wrote about a study that says sleep makes you smarter.

Have a great long weekend!

David at My Two Dollars posted a great list of twenty-five frugal ways you can reused everyday household items this week. I’ve never thought about soaking wine corks in alcohol to make a fire starter but we are saving our corks to make a bulletin board. David also blogs at a sustainability/environmentalism blog called The Good Human.

Financial Ramblings put together an incredible list of personal finance blogs ranked by post frequency, age, and some other facts. I had no idea I put up 72 posts in July, I guess I’ve been keeping myself busy lately! I try to put up at least two posts a day on the weekdays and then some random commentary-type or book review or otherwise entertaining posts on the weekends… but 72 is a ton. Thanks for including me!

SVB has a fun post this week about how much the top bloggers earn - looks like many pull in some decent wages for their work.

Jeremy of GenXFinance has a good suggestion - start your garden projects now while good deals can still be had.

Nickels writes about how safe credit unions are, looking at some resources you can use to assess the health of your NCUA-insured CU.

Can you eliminate $500 of expenses each month? It’s a tall order but I’ve talked about looking at your trimmables, or things you can live without, while focusing on saving towards a goal, rather than just saving for savings sake, as good mechanisms to help you.

Wise Bread contributor Sarah Winfrey wrote about the Pa-doink Principle which is essentially the opposite of the Latte Factor and another name for Snowflaking. The Latte Factor is where you spend small amounts on things that add up, the Pa-doink Principle is where you save small amounts and it adds up. Either way, it’s savings!

Enjoy debts? Trent at The Simple Dollar offers up one of the great debates in personal finance - should you pay off debt or save towards retirement? I say contribute to get the employer match, then pay off debt. You can’t look towards the future until you’ve faced your past.

The Best Interest Rate Banks blog has a good resource for ABA Routing Codes for Online Banks. Also, Daily Money Hack has a post about a Commerce Bank $10 promotion for book friendly kids.

Have a great weekend!

Thanks to everyone who voted in Alpha Consumer’s third Alpha Consumer Challenge on the best frugal date idea, we managed to squeak out a win by a single percentage point! I’ll get a copy of Break Down Your Money: How to Get Beyond the Noise to Profit in the Markets, by Fox Business Network reporter Tracy Byrnes, and after I review it, I’ll send it to Funny About Money who came in second. Better to share the love when you get it!

The Money Writers all talked about their investment performance this year, a great group project idea! They all naturally wrote about it but here are a few of them:

• Financial Bloggers Reveal Their Stock Portfolio Returns (Mid-Year 2008) by SVB of The Digerati Life
• The Money Writers Portfolio Project: An Inside Look at My Portfolio and Performance This Year by Jeremy of Gen X Finance.
• I Share My Asset Allocation (as do 7 other Money Writers) by Lazy Man
• Investment Performance Update - Bleeding Money! at Money Smart Life

Nickel offers up some advice for entrepreneurs in MBN’s monthly writing project.

David is quite the Google Docs connoisseur and discovered a nice new set of personal finance templates worth checking out. There are “hundreds of free templates, from Business Plans to Budget Tracking to Resumes to Thesis Outlines.” Looks like some useful stuff.

A lot of my friends have been traveling the world lately so when I stumbled upon (literally!) How to Travel by Cargo Ship, I had to check it out. None of my friends were traveling by cargo ship, the thought of doing so is really appealing. Would I want to do it? Not sure, I’m afraid I’d get stir crazy and my wife doesn’t do well on ships, but who knows???

This week I had the pleasure of chatting with Tess Vigeland of American Public Media’s Marketplace Money show, BeingFrugal.net’s Lynnae and Steve of Brip Blap for an upcoming segment on personal finance bloggers. It was a lot of fun and an honor to participate in a show that I listen to every week (I listen to the Morning Edition and daily show every day, Money is only on during the weekends) and a lot of fun to chat with Lynnae and Brip Blap . I don’t know when it’ll appear but I’ll keep you all posted.

Why not start the roundup right with a couple posts from Lynnae and Steve? Steve’s latest post is about work life balance. We deal with it here as well, my wife has a 40 minute commute that artificially inflates her “at work” time by an hour and a half each way. Fortunately her office is moving to a new facility five minutes away, but for many the answer isn’t that easy.

Lynnae has a great vacation tip for her Tightwad Tuesday series: rent a vacation home. You pay a little more but you get a lot more than if you go the regular hotel route.

Interviews!
I also had a little three question interview with Shark Investor in which I bared my soul, shared all the secrets I knew, and gave away money. I actually didn’t do any of that but I did answer three questions and had a good time doing it, go check it out.

Preparation Is Crucial
What separates the people who are financially successful and those that find themselves always mired in debt? Preparation. Money Saving Mom is a blog I just discovered that I absolutely love. Besides compiling all the great couponing deals in an easy to read manner, she’s also what I consider financially successful. I have no idea what her bank account balance is but it’s not important because of how she responded to a negative comment on her site. A commenter lambasted her about van and how she should just buy a new car. She could buy a new car, but she hadn’t planned or prepared for it… so it’s not going to happen. “But here’s the deal: while we have money in our bank account, we don’t have money saved or allotted for a new vehicle or even a used vehicle.” That thinking separates those that are financially successful and those mired in debt.

Do Not Mix Business With Friends
A post on Alpha Consumer caught my eye this week, it was a sad story of a friendship gone wrong in a business transaction. If you want a legal perspective on the case, Kim called on Kathryn Dickerson, a partner at Smolen Plevy, a Vienna, Va., law firm.

If you want my opinion, it’s that if you mix friendship with business, be very clear in expectations and get everything in writing to avoid conflicts. I’ve heard many a story where friends thought there was an understanding… until there wasn’t, because nothing was written down and memories fade.

Unlimited Usually Doesn’t Work Out
We, as human beings, are really bad at predicting usage and so this Consumerist article about NYC Unlimited Metrocards, which is highlighting a NYTimes article, isn’t that surprising. We usually overestimate how much we plan on using something and so the a la carte option, of paying as you go, may usually work out better than the unlimited option. Ahhh we are so predictably irrational!

Here are a few other great posts in the blogosphere you should check out:

• Lazy Man is selling his endorsement of Prosper loans to the highest bidder! Buy his endorsement and pay a lower rate, it’s totally worth it! (it’s a joke)
• SVB writes about the MPG illusion, fuel efficiency is on everyone’s mind with high gas prices.
• Nickel discusses freezing your credit, a great preventative measure if you don’t foresee needing credit (or don’t mind the hassle).
• Flexo wonders if we’re turning it around or is our market optimism a little early. Personally I think it’s early, all these CDOs still have to get unraveled and considering how corporate accounting works…
• I haven’t seen it yet but guess what Kung Fu Panda can teach you about becoming a millionaire!
• Need something cheap to do this weekend? How about this list of 100 free things to do this weekend from The Simple Dollar?
• Last but not least, Jeremy of GenXFinance writes from the front lines: Changing Your Risk Tolerance Based on a Bear Market.

Have a great weekend everyone!

PaidTwice is looking at long term disability insurance, a topic I’ve been considering too. One important point she makes in the post has nothing to do with insurance - “… things I don’t know anything about intimidate me.” I’m certain a lot of people feel this way, I know I do, but it’s always important to not let fear make your decisions for you.

The key to losing weight is eating fewer calories than you burn each day. A side effect is that you spend less money on food! SVB is so right, “we should be investing in our health.”

Ben has a good framework for analyzing whether you should change jobs. Some of the criteria are financial, but it’s not always about the cash.

Lazy Man is helping me be lazy, but highlighting some of the good articles in the July 2008 issue of Money magazine. Next up, straight digital link so I can download it straight to my brain a la Johnny Mnemonic.

Time for your mid-year checkup! Jeremy would like you to cough please. Just kidding, he just explains the importance of and what you should be doing in the checkup.

Nickel’s been on a gas saving tear lately, check out his latest gas saving tips. Flexo warns about the wisdom of the crowd.

And I leave you on this fine weekend with a solid money hack whenever you rent a car. If you’re doing a one way trip and want to avoid the one-way rental surcharge, ask the rental company for a car that’s from the location you’re dropping it off at. It won’t work every time, but you never know.

Today concluded the fourth consecutive week of my friends’ moving (though I missed the first week because of my wife’s birthday) and I think we’re all moved out. What’s interesting is that three of the four couples were moving into new homes they had purchased, which decreases the likelihood that they’d be moving in the next few years. Consequently, that meant only one couple moved into another rental so we’ll probably be moving them again next year. We’re all in our late twenties, so it’s natural that more of us are entering the ranks of homeowners, it’s only a matter of time before the rest fall in line.

One other surprising item is that of the four, I believe only one dared to rent a U-Haul truck and that was today. Even more surprising is the fact that they had no problems; that’s surprising considering the deluge of comments on my I Hate U-Haul post written nearly three years ago. Maybe U-Haul has cleaned up its act but I doubt it. I’ll still never rent a U-Haul truck.

Weekly links after the jump.

(read full article…)

If the weather holds up for Monday, we’ll be getting our new roof installed. Ahhh the joys of home ownership. We’ve made a bunch of repairs / improvements to the home in the few years we’ve lived here and I’m seriously wondering when my bag of riches is supposed to arrive. Everyone told me that the path to wealth was through homeownership but I’ve yet to figure out how that works. Of course I jest, I love owning a home and wouldn’t trade it for renting any day. However, if I were to sell, I’d probably benefit from reading Nickel’s tips on how to sell in a down housing market and Jeremy’s more verbosely title home selling tips, many of which are appropriate for up markets too.

This week I’ve written quite a bit about the tax plans of John McCain and Barack Obama since they’re the leading candidates for the Presidency. The Tax Policy Center published a preliminary analysis of the two tax plans and made it available to the public.

One of the risks of budgeting to the penny is that you might miss a penny or two or, in the case of Madame X, a thousand or two every once and a while. Unfortunately, even the most diligent will have leaks every once and a while, just don’t let it get you down.

This week Trent shared his entrepreneurial inspiration, his father, and the impact he had on him. “Entrepreneurship isn’t about starting and building a giant corporation. It’s about the freedom to choose what you want to do - and when you’ve found it, chasing it yourself and building it into whatever you want it to be.” Very true.

SVB shares a good post on how to protect your job during a recession while Ben writes about how to save money on a diamond. “Diamonds are forever… on your credit card.” Instant classic!

Lazy Man shared some tips on travel while the entire M-Network did a great series on it. Their series on frugal vacationing is very appropriate given the season and the need to make every dollar stretch even farther:

• Backpacking through Europe, Australasia or North America at Plonkee Money
• How Not to Honeymoon (and how to!) at Mrs. Micah
• Vacation Savings Account at Single Guy Money
• Vacation in the Off-Season to Save Money and Avoid Crowds at Cash Money Life
• Riding The Rails With Amtrak at My Two Dollars
• 5 Great Travel Reward Credit Cards at The Dough Roller
• Low cost summer family vacations at Gather Little By Little
• 9 Vacation Tips and Ideas at Moolanomy
• Getting Deals on Airline Tickets at I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…
• Frugal Vacation Ideas at Being Frugal
• Be Flexible and Save at Plonkee Money
• Finding The Good Deal at My Two Dollars
• Are season passes for amusement parks worth it? at Gather Little By Little
• If You Have An Emergency at I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…
• Tips for Traveling with Children at Being Frugal