The Best of Finance Blogosphere

Here are some great articles from around the Blogosphere for your weekend reading.

• Golbguru @ Money, Matter and More Musings has a detailed article on percentage traps. An interesting look at how percentages are used to con people. I found the example that explains arithmetic mean vs. geometric mean the most interesting! Check it out.



• SJean @ Stacking Pennies has a touching article about co-signing for an education loan for her sister. It is always very hard to refuse when your family asks you to co-sign a loan, but when the reason is something noble like a student loan, it makes it so much more harder. But how long can you keep the support? When and where do you draw the line? A very personal account of the situation.



• Plonkee @ Plonkee Money has a very thought provoking article on the point of money. I don’t think it is selfish at all if your goals are to first feed yourself and provide for yourself, before giving away in charity. Even after your basic needs are met, if you still do not contribute for charity, then that is selfish.



• Dividend Guy on the Dividend Guy Blog has a great article on how to involve family in investing. I wonder if trying to get 6 and 4 year olds interested in investing is a bit too ambitious, but I think the idea is great and will work well with slightly older kids.



• Little Miss Moneybags has an interesting article about social costs which continues the discussion started by Madam X at My Open Wallet. Which one saves you more money – being social or anti-social?



• Matthew Paulson @ Finance is Personal has some really good information on How to save money while adopting a child. I would suspect that most people will not need this information, but for the few that go through this process either voluntarily or due to circumstances, this is some really good information!



• Dawn @ One Woman’s Journey has a nice little primer on budgeting. It is a nice, balanced article with a lot of life experience thrown in. A great read even for those that already have a budget in place.



• SVB @ The Digerati Life takes a look at the harsh realities of the cost of living in the Bay Area. I love California, but there’s a reason why I prefer to live in Texas :)



• Sun @ The Sun’s Financial Diary takes a look at HSA accounts. My company started offering this last year and because of the high medical expenses that we expected this year, we turned it down. But we are not sure how to benefit from it in the future years. I will watch out for what Sun will decide about his wife’s HSA account. I think if there is some way to take advantage of a financial situation, Sun will find out, and as they say, you can see farther on the shoulders of a giant :)

That wraps it up for now. More great articles from the blogosphere next Sat/Sun.