I really need to get something off my chest about the thing that bothers me the most around holiday time.  It’s not the busy roads or hordes of people mindlessly flocking to the mall.  It’s not dealing with people everyday who are stressed out to the max.  It’s not even the barrage of Christmas colors and songs that hits you everywhere you go.  All of those things suck.  But it’s not what annoys me the most.  The thing that annoys me the most is…garbage day.

Yes, garbage day.  The day the nice garbage men come around and collect our built up waste for the week.  It is usually on an assigned day of the week.  In our neighborhood it is Friday morning, meaning you put it out on the curb Thursday evening.  Sounds simple enough.  Now, even those nice garbage men need days off.  They work for the county after all, so they get all major holidays off.  Which means the day they don’t work, the garbage doesn’t get collected.  They made a system for this that has been in place since the dawn of time: if your collection day is on the holiday or after, your new collection day will simply slide to the next day.  You can even go on the county’s website and they have a nice little chart that will tell you the EXACT DAY when your trash will be picked up.  Sounds easy enough right?

WRONG!  This is not easy for about 50% of the people living in your neighborhood.  (I have driven through my neighborhood and verified this percentage like a crazy man.)  They have lived in this neighborhood through many holidays, yet they will invariably always put their trash out the day before a holiday.  Someone will see that someone else put their trash out, and will feel the urge to do the same.  Yet they know full well that tomorrow is Christmas and nothing happens on Christmas, including the trash getting collected.  But they do it anyway.  This pattern repeats itself on New Years Day, the Fourth of July and other national holidays.

Now, there is nothing horribly wrong with putting your trash out when it’s not going to be collected the next day.  You’re stinky refuse will just be on display for your neighbors to enjoy for a day longer.  Not the end of the world.   What is disconcerting about it is the herd mentality.  It makes you do things that you shouldn’t be doing, even though you know better.  I would wager that pretty much every homeowner in my neighborhood knows that the trash is collected the day after your usual day when it’s a holiday.  I’ve seen and talked to many of my neighbors and they seem like fairly intelligent people.  Even if they don’t know when the exact collection day is, I’m sure they have an inkling that the collection schedule usually changes around holiday times.  But still, like every holiday, a lot of people will put their trash out on their usual day because other people are doing it.

Wow I just spent about 500 words talking about trash day.  The moral of the story is to avoid the herd mentality!  It makes smart people do stupid things.  This is oh so prevalent in the world of money, and it can get you in a lot of trouble.  The examples are almost endless.  The big one which gets people in a lot of trouble is Keeping up with the Joneses.  This is when people buy things that are more expensive than they need or can afford.  “Hey that cool looking guy down the street got a BMW.  Let me check online and see if there are some deals in the area.”  Before you know it you end up in a showroom and sign off on a car which will cost you $500 a month for many years.  And your 5 year old Honda was working great all this time.  This is a classic example of following the herd even though you know that money could be put to better use.

Another thing the herd does?  They don’t save for the future.  They’re too busy keeping up with their neighbors to do so.  According to a report by the National Institute on Retirement Security, one third of people between ages 55 and 64 have saved NOTHING for retirement.  That’s right, 33% of the country will have to work until they die or depend on social security or family in their latter years.  The median amount of savings among this age group is $12,000.  That’s about how much they spend taking the entire family on the obligatory 2 week long Disney World vacation.

The herd has no idea what they’re doing when it comes to saving for retirement, so don’t be one of them.  The most efficient way to save for retirement is to cut your unnecessary expenses and use that extra cash flow to contribute to your retirement accounts.  If you get a raise or sudden influx of money, funnel it into your retirement and forget about it.  You already proved you can live without that money so you don’t need to spend it all.

There are so many examples when following the herd is the wrong financial move (more future post ideas!)  Lifestyle inflation and not saving for retirement can be two of the more disastrous ones.  Don’t worry about what the average person is doing financially, because they’re probably doing it wrong.

Happy New Year everyone!  I’m so not looking forward to trash day this week.

Though this Roundup series is pretty new, this is going to be the last one for 2013.  It’s always good to reflect on the past year and make sure next year is even better:

–2013: Looking Back by The Broke and Beautiful Life:  In this post, Stefanie shows us how New Year’s resolutions are done.  They should be written down and tracked as the year goes on.  While you may not meet all of your resolutions, achieving most of them is a lot better than achieving none.  Great job Stefanie and hope you have a great 2014.

–Should you Contribute to a 401k or IRA when in debt?  Apply the 5% Cutoff Rule by 20SomethingFinance:  Saving for retirement while in debt has been an age old question.  And the answer differs depending on your situation.  I firmly believe that saving for retirement early on in life, even if it just a little bit, is a great move.  As your debt is being paid off, you can then increase your retirement contribution.  The key is to not give in to lifestyle inflation which would lead to a decrease in your debt repayment and/or retirement contribution.

–2014 New Year’s Resolutions by FrugalPortland:  In keeping with the theme of excellent New Year’s resolution posts, here is a great one.  It’s great that these awesome bloggers are willing to put their resolutions out there for everyone to see.  I can’t think of a better way to make yourself accountable while motivating your readers.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Here’s the latest round up of great articles around the personal finance world:

–Bad Retirement Advice by Student Debt Survivor:  The key to having a healthy retirement fund is to start early.  You don’t even have to be contributing a lot, just $50/month to start.  The power of compound interest is so profound that it is not a smart move to put off contributing to retirement.

–5 Tricks to Save Money At Starbucks by Frugaling.org:  Getting coffee at Starbucks has become a staple for many people nowadays.  While the idea of paying 4-5 bucks regularly on a drink doesn’t seem too appealing, there are some ways to bring that price tag down.  Obviously, an even better way would be to reduce or eliminate the amount of times you visit Starbucks.

–Want to Save $100,000 on Your Mortgage?  Improve your Credit Score by Enwealthen:  Improving your credit score is one of the easiest and quickest ways to spend less.  Most people will get a home mortgage or auto loan at some point in their life, and having an excellent (not just good, but excellent) credit score can make all the difference.  The main things to remember are to pay your bills on time and use a credit card every once in a while.

–The lessons I learned paying off all$35,000 of my credit card debt in 2013 by Debt Blag:  Getting into credit card debt can be very debilitating to your finances.  This post shows you how to do it the right way.  Cut your expenses as much as you can, work your butt off and put any extra payments towards the debt.  If you’re not willing to make the big changes, that debt will always haunt you.

–Marriage and money: the financial implications by Color Me Frugal:  Marriage is a big step on so many levels, and is definitely a big financial step.  If a couple have very different views on finances, there can be some things that need to be worked out.  Getting both partners on the same page is imperative.

Much thanks to the following bloggers who shared my work on their pages:

–Carnival of Financial Independence at Reach Financial Independence

–Personal Finance Carnival at Aspiring Blogger

–Yakezie Carnival at Faithful With a Few

Enjoy these great posts from great writers I’ve found this week:

–Reader Case Study: Hair on Fire! by Mr Money Mustache:  A fascinating post that analyzes the budget of a family that wants to retire but doesn’t think they ever will.  Sometimes it takes drastic changes to get where you want to go.  Those drastic changes can be really unpleasant at first, but staying the same will more than likely keep us in the same situation we are currently in.

–The FTC Sheds Light on the True Cost of Minimum Payments by Claire Murdough:  Have you ever looked at your credit card statement and seen the little box that says how long it will take to pay off the balance with minimum payments?  Don’t think Visa is doing you a favor by letting you know that.  You should do everything you can to avoid making only minimum payments, and this post goes into more detail why.

–Loosening My Purse Strings by Broke Millennial:  With all the focus on saving money and making more money, sometimes we need to take a step back and actually try to enjoy it  Money is made to be spent or given, and we can’t take it with us after we die, so it’s okay to spend once in a while on something we value.

–3 Unconventional Ways to Super-Charge Your Savings by Afford Anything:  Saving lots of money is the key to reaching your financial dreams.  No one can argue against that.  Being able to save a lot of money can be tricky though.  I think the best combination is to find ways to make more money and save more money.  The combination can be very powerful and can give you that extra savings boost you need.  This post does a great job in illustrating just that.  It also shows how you have you have to be willing to do some things you are not usually willing to do in order to save and earn more.

–Rules of Thumb to Ignore by The Wealth Gospel:  There are certain unalienable rules when it comes to finances (such as Financial Commandment #1).  But depending on your goals, some of these rules might not work for you.  This great post talks about a few of those rules.

Hey everybody.  Take a glance at the latest Carnival of Personal Finance.  I’m sure everyone will find one or two posts that will help them out.  Thanks.

Check out the 12/8/13 edition of the Yakezie Carnival.  Many great articles submitted, especially the last one alllll the way at the bottom!

Greetings everyone.  Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving holiday weekend and did not participate in the madness known as Black Friday.  Here are some posts that I enjoyed this past week:

–Government Record $41.3 Billion in Student Loan Profit by The Student Loan Sherpa:  Sobering post on the profit made from student loans.  While the argument can be made that this number is not entirely accurate, the idea of the government actually profiting off student loans is baffling.  An educated population is a key factor in driving a country forward.  You would think this would be enough of an incentive rather than profiting off its citizens and making them poorer.

–How I Overcame the Lure of Lifestyle Inflation by Green Money Stream:  Lifestyle inflation is probably the main reason most people are in debt nowadays.  Once we get that job we’ve been working so hard for, we want that new apartment, car, furniture and various electronics.  This is a great post by GMS describing her brief foray into lifestyle inflation and how she reacted by cutting her expenses and vowing never to get into it again.  She was in a great position not having any credit card or student loan debt to begin with, but many Americans are not so lucky and once they fall into the trap of lifestyle inflation, it can take drastic measures to get out.

–The power of speaking up by Kristin Wong:  This article has some great examples of the power of just asking.  Our economy is a consumer driven one, which means any organization worth their salt will do what it takes to please the customer.  From getting credit card interest rates reduced to free hotel room upgrades, simply asking for something more will have a good result.  And what’s the worst case scenario?  They say no.  You will live to fight another day.

–Why I’m leaving PNC Bank for Simple.com by MoneyMattersMan:  As you can see from my last full post, I’m heavily biased towards online banks.  This post by MMM showcases yet another example of how an online bank blows the big banks out of the water.  He focuses on the lack of fees with Simple.com, an online bank I have not heard of but will definitely check out.  Chalk up another one for the online checking account.

–Passive vs Active Investing by Making Money Fast and Slow:  This article really clarifies the age old debate of active vs passive investing.  Being a passive investor myself, active investing seems like a huge risk to me, but many people have made lots of money with active investing, so there is definitely some value to be had.  Because of time commitments with work and family, passive investing seems like the way to go for me.  If I had a good amount of time (and of course money) to spare, I could see myself doing some active investing.

Head over to Barbara Friedberg’s page and check out the submissions to this week’s Carnival of Personal Finance.  Barbara’s page is chock full of good info, and so are all the week’s submissions.  Hopefully we can all learn a thing or two from these great articles and apply them to our lives.

–Active Income is Much More Enjoyable Than Passive Income by Financial Samurai:  We all dream about making lots of passive income, money that just pours into our accounts without us doing anything.  This, of course, takes a lot of work upfront and is a lot easier said than done.  But can making active income be eventually more fulfilling than passive income?  I believe it all comes down to maintaining a balance, as you can build up streams of passive income (investment dividends, rental properties etc.) while opening up time for you to pursue what fulfills you.

–How accidents can change your perspective on life and money by Moneystepper:  Graham writes a great reflective post based on a recent biking accident he had.  It caused him to re-think and make adjustments to his current goals.  A great reminder that we all have a limited time on this Earth and we never know when it’s going to end.  We should make sure what we’re doing is important and worthwhile, and make sure we are enjoying the journey and not just focusing on the results.  Glad to see he is recovering well.

–Too much bad personal finance advice out there by Punch debt in the face:  Short and sweet post exposing some of the poor financial advice out there.  Financial advice should not be cookie cutter because everyone is in a unique situation and everyone wants different things out of life.  Some people love fancy cars but hate traveling.  Telling a person like that to not buy a new car even if they can afford it and will enjoy it is simply bad advice.  If they are in debt and are not able to afford the car, that is another issue.  But personal finance should be personal, so you have to adapt it to your situation.  With my blog I like to give my take on different issues along with stories of my life.  There are a few financial rules which everyone should follow (see Financial Commandments).  But after that, personal finance should be personal.

–Large Tax Refund!  Oh Wait……..Darn I’m Getting a Large Tax Refund! by Life, Dollars, and Sense:  Getting a large tax refund is a big point of contention for some people.  This post does a nice job of summing up the advantages of NOT getting a large refund.  And that is having more of your money when you need it rather than letting the government hold it for you.  Most people fall on the side of not getting a huge refund because you don’t want to be giving the government a no interest loan with your money.  But i feel for those who have trouble saving, there is some value of getting a large refund but making sure that you spend it on debt or put it into savings.

–How I learned to Stop Procrastinating, & Love Letting Go by Zenhabits:  Short and sweet post that gets to the root of solving procrastination and other mental crutches that we tend to rely on.  By looking into why we rely on some of these crutches and focusing on what habits will get us to where we want to be, we can learn to be a lot happier with ourselves and our performance.

Being a finance blog lurker for many years before starting my own, I’ve come across my share of awesome and helpful articles.  With the Diamonds in the Rough roundup I would like to showcase a couple of great bloggers and their articles which I’ve found helpful this week.  Enjoy:

–Yes, You Do Need an Emergency Fund by Broke Millennial:  A great article about the importance of having an emergency stash of money in case the inevitable emergency happens.  Also talks about the importance of having an emergency fund even when paying off debt.  This is a slightly contentious issue in the finance world, as some propose forgoing an emergency fund entirely while paying off debt.  I side with Broke Millennial on this one as having an emergency fund will allow you to keep making debt payments if a tough situation arises.

–Predictably Irrational by Mr. Money Mustache:  A review about some of the ideas from the book Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely.  MMM once again gives some very thought provoking stuff about market norms vs social norms and how we humans are very loss averse.  These traits make it easy for marketers and advertisers to focus their efforts in order to part us from our money.  A unique look on the age old topic of psychology in money.

–5 Steps To Successfully Monetize Your Blog by Frugaling.org:  Blogs are a lot of work, and usually start as a labor of love.  It is nice, however, to be able to make some monies in the process.  Sam gives a great overview of some of the ways he was able to start making some good money from his blog relatively quickly.  A great reference for beginner bloggers.

–The Financial Pros and Cons of Community by The Broke and Beautiful Life:  This is a great post about the financial effects of being entrenched in certain cultures.  In this case, the writer Stefanie talks about her experiences growing up with a Ukranian background.  There can be certain expectations and expenses from being very involved in family and culture.  At the end of the day, I believe it definitely helps being part of a vibrant culture because there is a great opportunity to network and create lasting memories.

–Ultimate guide to Cash Back Shopping by Abigail Perry: Buying stuff online is a lot easier and a lot of times a lot cheaper than buying i the store.  Another perk to online shopping is the usage of cash back portals.  Just go to your usual shopping sites through the portals and you can get varying amounts of cash back for your purchases.  As usual, it’s not a deal if you weren’t going to buy it anyway, but a little cash back is nice for your regular purchases.