Diamonds in the rough roundup 11/22/13

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.