Hello everyone, I hope you all have some nice plans for Memorial Day weekend. My wife and I are going to a friend’s house this weekend for a little BBQ. It will be nice to kick back and enjoy an extra day off.

Book Giveaway Winner: First, thank you to everyone who entered. These little giveaways are fun for me, and I will try to do one every month or so. I have another book review this week, and a couple more to follow. Congratulations to Lise B., who was randomly selected from all the entries for the book giveaway. Lise, I sent you an e-mail requesting your address, and I will get the book in the mail soon.

Selecting the winner: The winner were selected with a random number generator from the website Random.org. To verify and label entries, I placed each valid entry in an Excel spreadsheet, assigned it a number, and then “rolled the virtual dice” so to speak. Congrats, Lise!

Guest article at Brip Blap: Steve published a guest article that I wrote for his site: Sharpen Your Soft Skills. Soft skills are important in any work environment, and having strong soft skills increases your chances of being hired and keeping your job. Check it out to see some examples of soft skills and how you can improve yours.

Carnival of Careers: Brip Blap noticed a gaping hole in the blogging world and decided to fill it. He created the Carnival of Careers, which will be a weekly collection of articles on career management and other career topics. I’m looking forward to this because I often write about career topics. Here is more information about the Carnival of Careers.

Six Word Memoir: I was recently tagged for to write a 6 word memoir by David from My Two Dollars and Kevin from Rich Credit Debt Loan. Many of you are familiar with David’s work, but I thought I would introduce you to Kevin’s new site.

Kevin currently runs multiple websites including one about Golf Courses and Golf Tips, and Rate Ladder, which tracks P2P lending. He also writes for the Prosper Blog. Kevin recently started the website Rich Credit Debt Loan to write about growing cashflow and wealth through leveraging debt. Using debt to build wealth is considered controversial by some, but a proven business model by others. In my opinion, not all debt is bad - it’s what you do with the debt (e.g. using it to build a business instead of buying depreciating assets). I look forward to reading some of Kevin’s business ideas and ideas for creating wealth.

David wrote: Money Means Nothing Without One’s Happiness.

Kevin wrote: Financial Freedom Equals Cashflow Leveraged Wealth.

I wrote my 6 word memoir a couple weeks ago, and I used the same one my wife wrote: The Best is Yet to Come.

I am a big believer that life is a journey not a destination, and I think “The Best is Yet to Come” really sums that up nicely. I would hate to think I’ve peaked at age 28.

Favorite articles of the week

Here are a few of my favorite personal finance and career articles from last week. I hope you enjoy them.

• Single Guy is celebrating his birthday today, and he gave himself the gift of reducing his debt: Paid Off A Past Financial Mistake - The Car Loan. Congrats on paying off your car, Single Guy, and happy birthday!
• Pinyo shares how to protect yourself against identity theft.
• David asks Are You Ready To Manage Your Parent’s Money And Healthcare? This is an important question to ask if your parents are getting up in years.
• Paitwice is giving away a $50 gift card to Smarty Pig! Check it out, and good luck!
• Plonkee shares some tips on how NOT to get a job.
• How Much Money You Have Defines Your Life by Jeff at My Super-Charged Life.
• How to Survive Losing Your Purse or Wallet. Great article at SquawkFox.
• Ron asks, What’s the WORST Financial Thing That Could Happen? This is a great article about why you need disability insurance.
• You know the economy is bad when the state decides to lay off its teachers. Unfortunately, Kevin from No Debt Plan and his wife have to deal with this because his wife got a pink slip.
• JD shares an example of a real life millionaire next door. He did it the right way, living frugally, investing, reusing instead of buying new, and more tips that anyone can do to become wealthy. These are great principles that anyone can learn from.

This week’s carnivals:

• The 140th Carnival of Debt Reduction: Circus Day Edition was held at Prime Time Money. My article, The Real Cost of Withdrawing Retirement Funds Early, was included and selected as an Editor’s Choice. Thanks for the honor!
• The 126th Festival Of Frugality – If I Had A Car Edition was held at The Financial Blogger. My article, Wedding Tips – Involve Your Family and Friends, was included.
• Money Hacks Carnival #13 — Money Saving Hacks Edition was held at Moolanomy. My article, No, I Won’t Accept Your Counter Offer, was included.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

 Print This Post | | PF Buzz It!

~/~

Do you like what you're reading? Then please consider leaving a comment below, subscribing to my feed, or visiting my Greatest Hits page for more!