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Well, it was another stellar week on the carnival front. The nerds are always doing homework, but we still love to collaborate with our finance nerd friends and share some insights (that’s not cheating, right?) Here is the 5th edition of the Nerdy Finance Carnival, bringing you more long-term and life-goal tips than usual, but still plenty of money saving pieces in the mix. Take a look and get your nerd on.

The submissions

Our friend Roger over at The Chicago Financial Planner gives us Lousy 401(k)? – Maybe it’s You Not Them. Check out his insights on 401(k)s and tips for how you can get the most bang for your buck.

Steven from Grocery Alerts brings Seven Refillable Items – Saving Money & the Planet. The nerds are all about saving cash, and Steven can help you do so on your next shopping trip.

Dividend Growth Investor presents Dividend Paying Stocks for Retirement Income. The concept of dividend stocks for retirement is relatively simple and involves a few easy to follow rules: Accumulate a certain amount of money, invest that money regularly in quality companies that pay a dividend, and when the dividends from these income stocks exceed your expenses you are financially independent.

Sean from One Smart Dollar gives us the tried and true Credit Unions vs Banks – Which is Best for You? Find out how he weighs in on the debate.

Savvy Scot gives us How Much is Enough? He thinks he has the keys to helping you invest right and be able to retire by the time you are 50. Sounds good to us, check it out.

Jeremy at Modest Money writes Does Everyone Need An Emergency Fund? – I just cannot wrap my head around the concept that apparently everyone should tie up a large sum of money in a low interest savings account. While it does make sense for people with debt problems, it just does not seem logical for anyone with decent credit. In such cases a small emergency fund should be adequate.

Investor Junkie at Investor Junkie writes Are Cash IPOs Really That Bad? – There is no reason why any early investor or founder should have to go down with a ship. Obviously no one wants to see a ship go down. No one wants to be stuck in the middle of an ocean with no way out. But no one should have to put 100% of their net worth in a single opportunity. So why do we demand that people never cash out?

Deacon Hayes at Well Kept Wallet writes The Purpose of an Emergency Fund – Emergencies happen and you need to be prepared. If you were to have the transmission go out on your car, how would you pay for it? Would you put it on a credit card? If the emergency cost you $2,000, how long would it take you to pay off that card? With an Emergency Fund, you can plan for the unknown.

SB at One Cent at a Time writes Earning Quick Money – $100 a day – various tips to earn quick cash in a day without investment . This article lists various ways to earn $100 in a day legally and without a single penny of investment.

SB at Finance Product Reviews writes Iberia Bank Visa Gold Card Review – Almost Lowest APR Card in the Market – We reviewed Iberiabank visa gold card card and found it to have one of the lowest APRs in the industry, this can be an excellent choice for your short term cash need.

Glen Craig at Free From Broke writes The Pros and Cons to Refinancing Your Mortgage – These days refinancing your mortgage loan seems like a no-brainer, right? But there are real pros and cons to refinancing that you need to be aware of.

CCS at Credit Card Smarts writes Use a Balance Transfer Credit Card to Save Money as You Pay Off Debt – A balance transfer can be a great way to lower your interest rate on a loan and help you pay off your loan faster. Balance transfer credit cards are an example of this.

Earth and Money at Earth and Money writes Seven Reasons for Renting over Buying – There’s a lot of reasons to buy property, but sometimes its better to rent. Here’s seven reasons why renting is better than buying.

Paul Vachon at The Frugal Toad writes Forex Pattern Recognition – Although pattern recognition programs cannot yet outperform experienced technical analysis in terms of accuracy, they can usually provide a relatively quick and numerically accurate graphical analysis of a forex price chart.

Krant Cents at KrantCents writes The 3 Z’s of Success – The 3 Z’s of Success is twenty-six in a series of articles to help you reach your goal.

Shawanda at You Have More Than You Think writes Changing Jobs? Why Cashing Out Your 401(k) Could Be a Costly Mistake – When a job change occurs, many workers cash out their 401(k), which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in retirement assets.

Passive Income Earner at The Passive Income Earner writes Why Hold High Yield Stocks – High yield investments can play a part in your portfolio. Even though I am a fan of the 10/10 rule of investing which focuses on the growth of a dividend stock,a high yield dividend stock (or income trust) can have a part in a portfolio. In fact, I have high yield investments in my portfolio.

Invest It Wisely at Invest It Wisely writes Important Steps in the Home Buying Process – Here are the important steps in the home buying process. See if you agree.

Lance at Money Life & More writes It Pays to Ask For More – Coke Zero Commercial “And…?” – I can’t count the number of times I’ve gotten something more simply because I asked for more. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t just say “and…” with no reason to back it up and have someone give me free money. You always need a reason and shouldn’t just expect a hand out.

Hank at Money Q&A writes The Four Of The Best Car Insurance Discounts – Car insurance is an extremely competitive business which is great for the individual consumer. Most car insurance companies will keep their rates low in order to attract and keep consumers.

Wayne at Young Family Finance writes The Cost of Being Sick – Being sicks can put a huge strain on your normal life. It can not only cost you a lot of money, but cause social disruptions.

MR at Money Reasons writes Spending Money Fail! How We Spend More Than We Realize – How spending on a car repair cause great financial anguish while the lunches I’d had that week cost even more! It funny what we worry about financially.

Sustainable PF at Sustainable Personal Finance writes Want to Boost Your Savings? Consider a TFSA – One of the most interesting options that Canadians have when it comes to saving money is the Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA).

Jester at The Ultimate Juggle writes The Personal Power of Changing a Blog Theme – Change is important in life, sometimes just a little change like a blog theme can greatly change your attitude!

Ashley at Money Talks Coaching writes Childhood Money Memories – I went to a financial seminar this past weekend and one of the exercises was to think as far back as you could and tell a 2 minute story about a money memory

PPlaner at Provident Plan writes Signs of Dysfunctional Finances – Find out if your finances are dysfunctional. Do you find carry a credit card balance or live paycheck to paycheck? If so, it might be time for a change.

Jennifer Lynn at Broke-Ass Mommy writes Boo To Those Sneaky Bank Fees – Sneaky bank fees suck, read my recent bad experience with them and why I think they are wrong!

Roger the Amateur Financier at The Amateur Financier writes Job Hunting Success – Retooling Your Job Hunt – Some advice on how you reshape your job hunt if you aren’t successful, and increase your chances of standing out from the crowd as you do.

SFB at Simple Finance Blog writes How Does Corporate Finance Work? – Corporate finance is the finance of companies and businesses, and the tools used to make financial decisions for businesses. The primary goal of corporate finance is to increase the value of the company. Most corporate finance issues can be broken down into either long-term or short-term goals and decisions. For example, capital spending, long-term financing…

A Blinkin at Funancials writes What is Supply Trade Finance? – Supply trade finance is when a company uses a bank (usually an international bank) to facilitate the transfer of goods or services, while also facilitating the payment for said goods or services in exchange. Basically, if you’re a US-based company, you don’t want to pay for goods from China until you are guaranteed they are on their way.

Aloysa at My Broken Coin writes What Would You Take With You in Case of a Fire? – I feel that I became too materialistic, too attached to stuff. If anything dreadful happens to us, I will be devastated by a loss of material things that took years to accumulate. I realize that material possessions are just bits and pieces of our lives and not really us. So if a fire happened, what would you grab first?

Corey at Steadfast Finances writes Investing in Real Estate Basics – I am an aspiring real estate investor. I don’t have direct experience investing in real estate, but several of my closest friends and family members own at least one rental property. I don’t just want to follow the crowd, because most people don’t think highly of investing in real estate.

Jon the Saver at Free Money Wisdom writes 13 Part-time Jobs With Benefits – Do you want some good news on the employment front? Here it is: you can get employee benefits on many part-time jobs.

Corey at 20s Finances writes Why Investment Fees Matter – Corey previously wrote about how time is your new best friend. This is all because of compound interest. The more time you have to let your investments grow, the more your money can compound upon itself and grow faster. It almost sounds too good to be true, and unfortunately it is when you look at it in terms of investment fees.

Crystal at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff writes Student Loan Advice – Check out my student loan advice, see if I can help you. (check out our education page or our professor interviews to learn more about student loans while you’re at it)

PITR at Passive Income To Retire writes Want to retire? Answer these 3 Questions! – Find out what three questions every person should ask in preparation for retirement.

Kevin at Thousandaire writes Social Security Taxes the Poor to Benefit Rich White People – The people who live the longest (rich white people) benefit most from Social Security. We need to stop taxing poor people to give money to rich people.

Ted Jenkin at Your Smart Money Moves writes Three Ways Credit Card Companies Can Trick You – When the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was put into place, credit card holders were supposed to benefit from the new

Tushar at Start Investing Money writes Should You Use the Internet to Explore Investment Ideas? – Why not use all the resources available to you for investment ideas? The internet is a great way to do it!

Bridget at Money After Graduation writes Why I travel – Read my philosophy with respect to traveling and why I love it (we love it too!).

Daisy at Add Vodka writes Why Babysitting is an Awesome Side Hustle – I babysit as a side hustle. I watch two kids that live fairly close to where I work. It works out perfectly, because I get off at 4:00 and I start babysitting at 4:30 a couple of days a week.

John at Married (with Debt) writes Workplace Stress – The verdict is in – your job is killing you. More specifically, workplace stress is killing you. This means we’ve come full circle from our days as cavemen, when our biggest source of stress was finding food.

Luke at Learn Bonds writes Can we Trust Corporate Bond Credit Ratings? – Although there is a lack of trust in the rating agencies after the financial crisis you can still trust corporate bond credit ratings.

Eddie at Finance Fox writes Seven High Paying Part-Time Jobs – A part-time job can also be used to increase retirement savings, supplement business income, and an effective way of dealing with stagnant salaries.

Daniel at Sweating the Big Stuff writes Top Five Stress-Free Vacation Tips – Imagine having a stress free vacation: nothing too expensive, no crowds, and no worrying about how things are going back at work. Here’s how to do it.

Suba at Broke Professionals writes 6 Things to Do This Summer to Boost Your Promotion Potential – Here are six things to do this summer to boost your promotion potential!

YFS at Your Finances Simplified writes A Few Reasons Why Asset Allocation is Important – When it comes to investing, many people recommend that you diversify your accounts. The idea is to not put all your eggs in one basket.

Jen at Master the Art of Saving writes USDA Guaranteed Home Loan – I knew absolutely nothing about USDA guaranteed loans when we applied for one. So I thought I would share a little bit about what I’ve learned so far………..

Kyle at The Penny Hoarder writes Earn Extra Cash As a Personal Paparazzi Photographer – Are you an amateur or professional photographer wanting to put your talent to use while earning some money in the process? Here is what you can do to earn extra money.

Maria at The Money Principle writes The Limits of Social Acceptability: payday loans and credit cards debt – Payday loans have bad reputation. In this article we discuss some ways in which they can be used reponsibly.

J Wayne at All Things Finance writes 8 Ways To Earn Income When Interest Rates Suck – 8 investment strategies that will generate a much higher income than CDs and money market accounts. Rates are too low to invest your money in low yield products.

Barbara at Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance writes ARE YOU CUT OUT TO BUY A FIXER UPPER? – The lure of real estate investing is great. This article outlines what it takes to buy, renovate, and resell real estate. Find out if this potentially lucrative endeavor is for you.

L Bee at L Bee and the Money Tree writes The Magic of Compounding Interest on Student Loans – Below is a guest post by Drewski. In addition to being my main squeeze he also used to work as a broker in New York City and currently helps teach brokerage exams. Aside from being uber qualified, as a graduate student he knows first hand the cold fist that is compounding interest.

Amanda L Grossman at Frugal Confessions writes Frugal Cures for Cubicle Fever – I am reading a fantastic book right now that has caused bursts of belly laughter to escape from my mouth at random moments throughout the day.

J.P. at Novel Investor writes Risk Basics: Understanding Interest Rate Risk – The last few years we’ve seen historically low-interest rates and a rising concern over interest rate risk. We need to understand interest rate risk, its effect on different assets, and how to mange it all.

MMD at My Money Design writes Using the Dogs of the Dow to Buy the Best Dividend Paying Stocks – Use the Dogs of the Dow investment strategy to buy the most stable and highest dividend paying stocks available in the market.

Anne at Unique Gifter writes 4 Wedding Food Savings Tips (for guests) – Attending a million weddings this summer? Just going on vacation? Here are some ways to save your money on Food, as a guest. This works especially well if you’re in a hotel with a group of people!

That concludes the 5th edition of the Nerdy Finance Carnival. As always, keep the submissions and tell your friends!

-NerdWallet