I usually read a lot of personal finance blogs every day. Even though many of my favorite bloggers seem to be slowing down, I enjoyed a number of great posts in July. Here are some of my favorites.
Blue Lobster at Millionaire on the Prairie writes Retirement Is Not An Age. It’s A Bank Balance. I agree with her whole-heartedly.
For most of us, we would have no bank balance if we had no job. David Johnson at Humble Dollar reflects on his first paid venture (at age 10) in (lessons) Learned on the Job.
To get ahead financially, you need to spend less than you earn. Keeping a job is important, as is keeping a lid on your spending. Joshua Becker at Becoming Minimalist goes through some of the ways advertisers and stores persuade you to part with your money in The Hidden Truth Behind Retail Pricing.
I think a lot about retirement. At my age, I am not sure if I will retire early, or just retire. Maybe the name isn’t all that important: according to From One Geek to Another, maybe I’ll just be Quitting With Style.
When I do finally retire, my dream is to have a home without a lot of clutter. Knowing me, it won’t be spare or empty; I just don’t want to have piles of things to sort through. Two posts from No Sidebar really spoke to me on the subject this month: 5 Gifts that Minimalism Will Give You spells out what I hope to see, much better than I can; and Decluttering Jumpstart: 10 Items to Let Go of Today is a good prompt for the days I feel stuck with my clearing out projects. I especially like their advice at the end: decluttering is not about perfection; it’s about making gradual improvements that enhance your quality of life.
Morgan Housel writes at Collab Fund about social debt, the expectations of those around you that they have a stake in your earnings. This is (one of the reasons) why, he says, lottery winners and sports rookies blow through so much of their money. He posits it’s better to be Rich and Anonymous.
One of my goals when starting this blog was to be less anonymous, and engage more with the blogging community. I was tickled pink to be acknowledged as a supporting commentator in Broke Girl Rich‘s 10 Years of Blogging: A Retrospective. Also: 10 years of blogging? That’s amazing!
Do you have any favorite posts for the month? Or a preferred a way to keep track of new posts? (Many thanks to Frogdancer Jones for reminding me to set up a Feedly page!)