Friday Finance Findings For August 8th

I’ve always considered getting the CFP designation, and this week I just heard that it might be easier for me than before. Since I already have the CRPC, the College for Financial Planning is now offering a 3 week bridge course that covers the retirement module of the CFP education requirement. This means that in as little as 3 weeks, I could already be 20% completed with the CFP education program. This is an interesting offer since it could effectively shave off many months of studying that would have otherwise been directed towards that part of the program.

So, I’m going to be contemplating this over the weekend, and I need to make a decision soon since space is limited in the class and it starts on September 3rd. This designation isn’t needed for my current line of work, but it also can’t hurt, and would obviously be tremendously valuable throughout my career. I need something else to do like I need a hole in the head, but it could be a great way to jump start the CFP process for me. So, while I think about spending my free time studying, you can enjoy these great articles from the past week.

Strategies to Weather a Bear Market – Everyone is looking for ways to protect their investments in this tough market, but sometimes doing nothing can be your best strategy. That is, if you invested properly to begin with.

Make Morey Money & Be Happy in Your Job Using a Work Portfolio – If you’re one of the many people faced with finding a new job, this advice is just for you. Building a work portfolio is going to be much better than just quickly putting together a resume and cover letter.

Frugal Tip: Write it Down – It’s been said before that things are more likely to be accomplished if they are written down. This goes for everything, including money. Find out how writing things down can help you save money.

Monthly Checklist To Help Speed Up Your Debt Reduction And Increase Your Savings – For those of you trying to pay down that debt so you can begin saving even more money, NCN has a bunch of great tips that will help you make the most of both paying down debt and saving.

Is Eating Organic Food Worth the Money? – This will depend on the person, but in most cases, I could care less about organic if it costs a good deal more. If I’m pricing something at the store and there is little or no difference, I’ll grab organic, but I’m not going to obsess over it and spend twice as much money on groceries either.

5 Signs Your Job Sucks – Do you feel that your job sucks, or do you go to work everyday not realizing your job sucks? Brip Blap has 5 traits that could certainly mean your job does in fact suck.

15 Tips for Saving Money While You Still Have a Job – If you’re fortunate enough to have a job right now, even you can benefit from saving some money. So, Madison has put together a list of 15 tips to save money even when you do have steady income.

Don’t Pay Your Children’s College Education – While this was a devil’s advocate post, I have to say that this is actually the right advice for most parents. If saving for your child’s education sacrifices your ability to save for yourself, then you’re doing it wrong.

How Would You Grade Your Money Management Skills? – How do you, and how might your kids stack up when it comes to money management education? SVB dissects the latest Schwab survey that looked into how different age groups and generations perceived their money management skills.

Harvey Mackay’s Favorite Morals – JLP has a great list of Harvey Mackay’s favorite morals. 42 of them to be exact. There are some great ones on the list, and some of them really make you stop and think.

10 Hottest Mutual Funds in 2008 – People are always looking for the hot new investment, so here are 10 of the hottest mutual funds in 2008. But keep in mind, hot doesn’t always mean best.

Can You Trust Bankrate’s Bank Safety Ratings? – Talk about safety of banks and which ones are safe from failure is all the rage lately, and nickel examines Bankrate’s bank safety rating scores. Are these a good indicator of the true safety of your bank?

How Much Will You Fight for in the Checkout Line? – Mighty Bargain Hunter shares a story about how much it takes to make a stink in the checkout line about an incorrect price. For me, I’m not going to go to great lengths to worry about anything under a dollar or so, but if there is a significant error, I’ll certainly want to get the right price.

Over 5 Million Unclaimed Economic Stimulus Checks – Ahh, government efficiency at its best. Remember the fact that the government spent $42 million and more just to inform people about the stimulus? That didn’t seem to work considering there are still over 5 million unclaimed checks, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars.

Related posts:

1. Friday Finance Findings For August 24th
2. Friday Finance Findings For August 10th
3. Friday Finance Findings for August 1st
4. Friday Finance Findings For August 3rd
5. Friday Finance Findings For August 31st