Wednesdays are all about personal finance here at Abnormal Returns. You can check out last week’s links including a look at eight investing traps to avoid.
Quote of the Day
"When it comes to investment returns, your long-term goals should determine your benchmarks."
(Sarah Newcombe)
Holiday spending
- Beware the impact that holiday shopping can have on the hedonic treadmill. (blairbellecurve.com)
- Some finance gifts worth giving including "I Will Teach You To Be Rich" by Ramit Sethi. (awealthofcommonsense.com)
- People in debt shouldn't feel bullied into giving gifts this holiday season. (washingtonpost.com)
- How to change your family's gift giving tradition to something more sustainable. (nextavenue.org)
Saving habits
- "Great savings habits" trump pretty much all other personal finance advice. (humbledollar.com)
- Saving and spending decisions outweigh investment performance in retirement. (theirrelevantinvestor.com)
- It's never a mistake to save for a goal. (thesimpledollar.com)
IRAs
- Eight questions to ask when deciding on an IRA contribution. (humbledollar.com)
- Ed Slott, ""Here's a rollover warning as we approach the New Year: Only use direct trustee-to-trustee transfers when moving IRA funds to another IRA." (investmentnews.com)
Personal finance
- Five principles on which to build an investing philosophy. (thefinancialbodyguard.com)
- You can't live life by the numbers, but numbers do matter. (bonefidewealth.com)
- Having (young) children involves some pretty big trade-offs for couples. (330ramp.com)
- Measuring the performance (or impact) of a charity isn't easy or straightforward. (nytimes.com)
- Things to think about if you are planning a career change. (getrichslowly.org)
- 15 reasons to be thankful for Social Security. (humbledollar.com)