Friday Finance Findings For September 21st

This week I want to introduce you to a few additional RSS feeds that you may be interested in. Since I also write about financial planning over at About.com, you can subscribe to a few additional feeds to get a double dose of finance reading. When I’m not posting here, I’m probably posting there, so there is never a dull moment. The three primary feeds are:

• About Financial Planning - This feed keeps track of the blog posts that show up on the front page of the site. The blog over there is a bit different than here, but each post takes you to a new article or highlights important personal finance news.
• Financial Planning: What’s Hot – This feed is updated weekly to reflect the article that has received the largest increase in popularity over the past week.
• Financial Planning: Most Popular Articles – The most popular feed updates a few times each week highlighting the most popular articles from the past month.

So, with that out of the way and another weekend approaching, here are some great items from the past week to keep you busy.

Top High-Yield Savings Accounts – Savings account interest rates are going to be a hot topic in the coming weeks and months as the Fed just cut the rate by 0.5%. This will have an effect on many things, and savings accounts are one of them. Find out what the top high-yielding savings accounts are doing.

Lazy Man and Jealousy – It happens to everyone, but you know the feeling when you find out a friend or family member has accelerated their career faster than you, or has achieved some significant goal. But, as Lazy points out, there is more to success than money or a career.

Learning a Little Bit About Dividends – A guest post over at No Credit Needed talks about dividend investing. While the title says you’ll learn a little bit, you’ll actually learn a heck of a lot.

Vanguard Reduces Barrier to Entry for Voyager Services – Nickel points out that Vanguard has reduced the minimum to get into Voyager by 60%. This is good news if you now qualify, as it means fewer fees and more discounts.

Should Healthy People Pay Less for Health Insurance? – This is a very interesting question, and I haven’t been able to form an opinion one way or the other yet, but it could make sense. Do safe drivers pay less for auto insurance? Do healthy people have cheaper life insurance premiums? This is a very interesting read on a thought-provoking question.

12 Ways to Beat Inflation – Inflation is the silent killer to investment returns. Over time and after taxes, your real returns are eaten away by inflation. Everything increases in price over time, but since inflation doesn’t show up on our quarterly statements it often goes unnoticed.

Beware of On-Campus Credit Card Booths – The credit card companies just love to suck new college students in with free t-shirts or other gimmicks, but there is more to be aware of than just taking on more debt than you need. Jim highlights some other very serious concerns.

Why is College So Expensive? – It is no secret that college costs are rapidly rising, but why is that? A guest poster at Free Money Finance explores why this is the case.

How to Use Morningstar to Research Funds – Well, The Sun has done it again and beat me to the punch on a post I was putting together. This is a very well done and illustrated guide on how to use Morningstar to research mutual funds.

A $503,000 Typo? – A wonderful way to try and find deals on eBay is by searching for items with the wrong spelling. People make mistakes when listing items, and those that aren’t spelled properly are less likely to be found via search. MBH shows a tool that can help you find these typos.

Getting to Now: How to Beat the Procrastination Habit – This was a great read for me since I am a terrible procrastinator. Now, I just need to apply some of the great suggestions provided by J.D. and put them into action.