The Best of Finance Blogosphere: “Mandatory PF courses in Ohio” Edition

According to this news article personal finance courses will be mandatory in Ohio high schools starting 2010, according to a new bill. Well, about time someone took a step in this direction. I hope this will spread to other states as well, and by the time my (yet-unborn) children attend high school they will learn all about responsible money management :)

Now on to some great articles I came across last week.

• The Baglady picked up on my musings last week whether parents should try to influence their children’s college applications, in a poignant post about how Asian parents influence their children’s success. In addition to the great article, there is also an interesting discussion going on in the comments. This was definitely the best article I read (and participated in) this week!


• Another article that I liked a lot is 8 steps to a six figure salary @ Brip Blap. This is some great advice, very practical and very honest.


• SVB @ The Digerati Life has a great post about being frugal while you watch your hygiene. I loved the article, but the picture she chose to include scared me to death! I am seriously reconsidering ever having any kids :)


• David @ My Two Dollars asks Are You Maximizing Your Credit Card Rewards Program? Well, I get 5% cash back on the money spent at the gas pump, but other than that it is all just 1% cash back every where. Not as good as getting 5% at the grociery stores as well, but I never did lay my hands on a card that would give good cash back rewards as well as a great balance transfer offer for my arbitrage game.


• Cathy @ Chief Family Officer write about her choice to go the DIY route instead of joining Weight Watchers. I have a bunch of friends at work who are doing Weight Watchers and I never understood why they would want to pay someone to do something they so easily can do by themselves for free. As a matter of fact, I offered to keep track of one of my friends points for half the price – she just laughed at me. Again, I wonder why :)


• If you ever plan to move to Canada, you must read this article at Loonies and Sense which compares the savings plans in US vs. Canada.


• Patrick @ Cash Money Life has an interesting article listing the 25 ways in which he saves money. It’s a classic list with some additional things that you don’t normally think of such as “drive smoothly” and “take care of things”. A good reminder.


• If you are into dividend stocks for generating passive income, you should check out this article by Sun @ The Sun’s Financial Diary about dividend paying foreign stocks.


• Glblguy @ Gather Little By Little has an honest confession in his post titled old habits die hard. But I am glad to read that he has opened a Mint account to fix the lapse. I think what I took from this post was that, Yes old habits do die hard, but new habits can help stop them from causing any serious damage!

That's all for now. Hope y'all have a great weekend!