Friday Finance Findings for February 25th

Happy Friday! I wanted to thank everyone who entered the TurboTax drawing this week. We had a bunch of entries and four winners. If you didn’t win this time, no worries. Keep your eye out for other contests in the future.

I usually like to use these Friday link roundups to complain about the cold weather, but I’ll refrain this week (even though it is still cold and snowy). Instead, last week I spent some time and drove out to Lake Michigan to get some pictures of the frozen scenery. Here are a few photos from the outing:

If those made you cold, you can warm up by reading these great finance links from the past week.

Craigslist Cars: 7 Steps to Get there Before the Vultures! – Craigslist can be a great place to find a car, but you’re fighting against hundreds or even thousands of others searching for the same cars. So, here’s how you can beat the vultures and score your dream car.

10 Things I Want My Kids to Learn About Money Before They’re Adults – If you have kids, then you obviously want to make sure they have money smarts before heading out on their own. Many of us never got a formal financial education when we were young so it makes sense to make sure our kids are better off. Here are a few things Frugal Dad wants to teach his kids.

Easy Home Maintenance Tips – One thing I hate about owning a home is the regular maintenance. It seems like there’s always something to keep you busy on a nice summer weekend. Here are a few tips that can help make sure your home is running smoothly and maybe even prevent a larger repair down the road.

Substitute, Improvise, and Make Do With What You Have – We always want more and more, but sometimes you have to sit back and look at what you already have. If you’re smart, you can make do with with a little improvisation.

Don’t Get Bamboozled Like These Professional Athletes – Isn’t it sad that professional athletes often make millions on top of millions of dollars only to squander it away? It is a common problem in professional sports, and while they are dealing with millions, their lessons can be applied to your life as well. Just at a smaller scale.

Buying a Vacation/Retirement Home (Part 4) – Lazy Man continues his vacation/retirement home series. This is part four of the installment.

Yield Chasing as an Investment Strategy? – We always advise people not to change returns, but what about chasing yield? Could this actually be a viable investment strategy?

EverBank MarketSafe Diversified Commodities CD – Here’s something a little different. A way to diversify across different commodities. Sun has a detailed look at these investment vehicles.

interview with credit card assist – Head on over to Steve’s site to check out an interview he did with the Bell Hazelton of Credit Card Assist.

More great reads:

• The perfect retirement myth
• Asset Allocation is a Sloppy Science
• 9 Tips to Owning A Successful Small Business
• How Much Does Netflix Cost You?
• My Wife Spends Too Much Money
• Ethical Dilemma ‒ Choosing Foreclosure to be a SAHMWhere is My IRS Form 1040 Tax Package (or Where Can I File Free)?