By: Roshawn Watson

Today I am honored to host the Yakezie Personal Finance Carnival. Thanks to all who sent me your best stuff! For the uninitiated, Yakezie primarily consists of a network of personal finance bloggers with a deep commitment to helping each other reach traffic and other blog-related goals. Additionally, the Yakezie Scholarship is underway, which is done in the spirit of selflessly helping others.

Before I share with you some great links, I wanted to revisit some comments I made about dreams because dreams are so important to your financial future. John Maxwell wrote that his dream allows him to give up at any moment all that he is in order to receive all that he can become.



In the past, what I have mistaken for a lack of discipline, I now interpret as sometimes a lack of hope. Hope deferred makes the heart sick. If you’ve had your dreams crushed, how can you be excited about the future? If you are not excited about your future, it will be an uphill battle to garner the discipline and birth the habits necessary to bring financial abundance into your life. At a conference a few years ago, the keynote speaker kept re-emphasizing that the dream is the fuel. It would do us all well to internalize that statement. We can decide the vehicle (stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, real estate, businesses, jobs, royalties, etc.), but the dream is what motivates you to stick with your plan when adversity strikes, when stock values plummet, when a business fails. For more, please read Through The Looking Glass.

Don’t underestimate the power of your dream: remember, the dream is the fuel!

Thought question: please share with me what are your dreams?

Invest It Wisely analyzes the likelihood of a gold bubble as its value approaches $1500 in Gold Revisited: Is $1500 Near

BarbaraFriedbergPersonalFinance gives her negotiating tip, detailing how her cheap find at a NYC street fair turned into an elegant addition to my home.

The Millionaire Nurse explains What Quantitative Easing Part 2 Means To You



“Dreams are, by definition, cursed with short life spans.” – Candice Bergen

KNS Financial asks what things what he pays for that he shouldn’t in 4 Things You Shouldn’t Pay For

Everyday Tips shares experiences from being a working mom and a SAHM and the perspectives gained from both in Lessons Learned From Working And Staying At Home

Money Help For Christians provides this spreadsheet for people using a debt snowball to pay off debt



“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside of us” – Norman Cousins

Money Reasons asks Do Movies and TV Shows Affect Your Purchasing Decisions?

Cheapskate Sandy shares her results after One Year On Prosper.

Squirrelers argues Frugality Can Be Expensive

Watson Inc (that’s me) shares his Radical Thoughts About Our Culture of Debt at Frugal Dad

Note: my normal link round up and Uncommon Money News will not be featured this week