Friday Finance Findings for July 9th

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend. It’s hard to believe that the year is already more than half over, but nothing we can do about it now. Before you know it we’ll be talking about the holidays, end of year finance tips, and taxes! But let’s not get ahead of our selves and just enjoy the summer. This heat wave is subsiding and it should be a great week coming up.

In other news, I wanted to drop a few hints about an upcoming eBook I have in the works. It’s chocked full of great information and will be completely free. I’m putting the final touches on it this week and hope to have it ready to distribute by the end of next week. Newsletter subscribers will get the first crack at it, so if you aren’t already, sign up at the bottom of the post. I send out regular emails every week or two covering a lot of different financial topics and I’m sure you’ll find some value there.

Finally, for those of you who may be interested in the back end aspect of blogging I did a short phone interview with Problogger and you can find it here. I spent some time talking about how I got started, where I am now, and some of the things that helped me along the way.

Last, but not least, I want to remind you that you can follow me on Twitter and Facebook where I try to interact with readers as much as I can and share some stuff that I don’t get a chance to here on the blog.

Emergency Fund or Retirement First? – This is a common question for people just starting out. Both items are important so how do you decide which one to put money towards first? Well, it isn’t always a simple answer.

average career salaries – Ever look back at your career choice and wonder if you’re making what you should be or wish you had chosen a different career altogether? Steve reminds us there’s more to overall career earnings than just starting pay.

Combine Credit Cards To Earn Up To 4% In Rewards – Credit card rewards are great, but combining cards to earn up to 4% on purchases is even better. Learn how!

Learning the Hard Way and Being Ready to Learn – Some lessons are best learned the hard way. We can read all the books and blogs we want, but it often isn’t enough. That’s when learning the hard way is the best way. Here’s a story for you.

Make-Ahead Meals to Save Money – Cooking at home is a great way to save money, but you can go one step further and start cooking meals ahead of time for meals later. It will save you money, time, and they can even be used to replace those expensive lunches at the office.

New Bank Account Overdraft Rules – I wrote about this a few times in the past, but the rules are changing for overdraft protection at your bank. Get the skinny on the changes here so you won’t be caught off guard.

Tips on Buying a Laptop… – If you’re thinking of buying a new laptop this is a good place to start. There are a lot of things to consider when you make that purchase so it can be confusing. Lazy Man breaks down his purchase.

Are You Spending Intentionally? – Check your spending habits and you may be surprised.

Are Losses on the Sale of a Home Tax Deductible? – Oh how I wish they were. At least I wish selling a primary residence for a loss was deductible. Here are the details about deducting losses from a home sale.

Gift Tax – Ever wondered about the gift tax? After all, the IRS loves to tax anything they can so how come we don’t hear more about the gift tax? Well, here’s a good introduction to the gift tax, when it applies, and how much it will cost you.