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An Ides of May Roundup

Let’s start this week with the latest and greatest from my fellow Money Mavens – first Craig Ford explains Mutual Fund Investing Vs. Index Fund Investing. Craig will teach you the important distinctions that can help maximize your investments.

Monevator discussed Pay off the mortgage or invest? A well-reasoned, balanced discussion on this topic. The decision isn’t always so clear cut.

At The Military Wallet, Ryan offer the Best Military Credit Cards. I think as long as you pay the card off in full, credit cards are a great tool to help manage your finances. Not quite the devil’s tool The Dave makes them out to be.

Tom Drake, my Maven friend to the north wrote What To Do With Your Tax Refund. A great list of ideas for your refund or really, any found money, a bonus check, inheritance, etc.

Back on the subject of mortgages, Len Penzo wrote The 15-Year vs. 30-Year Mortgage Debate: Why 30 Is Better. Lot’s of comments on that controversial idea. For a multitude of reasons, I’m in agreement with Len.

Another article I enjoyed – 6 types of purchases you should always charge on your credit card. The anti-card gang ignores some of the protection that most good credit cards offer you.

{ 2 comments… add one }
  • Augustine May 16, 2011, 11:29 am

    Splurge 10% of the tax return because you deserve it? That’s quite an asinine statement! The only right advice about a tax return is that you shouldn’t have a significant one and that you need adjust your W4 and put the amount that used to be lent interest-free to the government in an interest-bearing account.

  • JOE May 16, 2011, 11:47 am

    Funny, of the blog posts I highlighted, this was the one thing that stuck in my mind. Personally, I feel I nailed the return just right if I owe money, just shy of paying a penalty. I’ve basically borrowed at zero percent. For others, I’ve always advised to tweak withholding to where their refund is sub $500.
    I’ve run into the “feeling” responses that told me that many people use it as forced savings, and no amount of “but it’s at zero return” will change their view on the process.

    It was with this in mind that I passed along this article. If you save all year, and want to spend this tiny amount, who am I to argue?

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